Holiday Cards

In the past, while I have not much cared to bother with holiday stuff around the house, I take the sending of holiday cards very seriously.  I love papergoods: from fine and fun papers, to greeting cards, to stationary, to fine pens, to lovely postage stamps - it really is the small stuff which makes me smile.

Well.... if I am being honest about it, papergoods and cashmere.

But, yes, back to the point -- a paper store really is such a treat for me.  And I am really lucky that I have a best friend who loves this stuff as much as I do and a partner who is completely accepting of my quirk and is understand when I am perusing ebay for under facevalue beautiful stamps.  Yes, I am someone who still hand-writes letters at times other than the holidays.

Last week, while sticking to my trying one new thing or going one new place a week, I found myself in Old Ballard. (BTW - last week I reached my goal and then some!)  Originally I went to Old Ballard after an appointment on that side of town as I was trying to visit a vintage shop there.   Sadly it was not going to open for another four hours and I just was not willing to stick around that long.

Still, I figured that I would wander the cute streets that I had driven down and venture into the shops, as I was not going to give up on my continuing endeavor to explore my new city.  So, that is how I found my way into LUCCA great finds.

Picture of Lucca - courtesy of their website

Walking into Lucca was like walking into a curiosity shoppe - black walls, white ceiling, heavy chandeliers, large botanical charts on the walls, the chic animal heads that are popular right now, boxes of magic and palm reading type stuff, beautiful art, wonderful smells - soap, candles, teas.  It was such a delight just to walk in the door.

Picture of Rosner Soaps - courtesy of their blog

There was one smell that kept piquing my curiosity - it was a smell, something that I know rather well but could not place.  That was until I found the tiny bar of lemongrass soap nose-high on a shelf.  I am not sure who makes the lemongrass soap that they sell, but it reminded me so much of the soaps from Rosner Soaps in the little arts and crafts town of Sugar Loaf, NY.  The Rosner Soap shop (where I spent a few fun summers minding the shop while the owners were overseas) has a space is a bit more raw than Lucca's, but the spaces remind me so much of one another even beyond the smells.  Both are so inviting, and walking into both I feel is calming.


As I kept on walking toward the back of Lucca, I really was not sure what was in the way back room.
But when I walked in to find a room full of cards, stationary, wrapping paper, ribbons, and other such supplies, I knew that I was going to be there a while (and would have easily and happily have dropped about $350.

Image courtesy of Lucca's FB page.

Their holiday cards are just stunning.  LUCCA Paperworks - Vintage Art Rescue is seemingly separate from but related to LUCCA great finds.  The Lucca Paperworks cards are available in their shop - as well as cards from others like John Derian and Rifle Paper Co. - but they are also sold wholesale through their website so that other retailers may stock beautiful these paper treasures.

The process of taking existing vintage images making them into high quality cards is far from simple, if you want to do it right.  Anyone with an HP color laserjet can print out something, but the color, balance, sheen, paper stock, texture and weight of these cards is spot on.  The cards are works of art in and of themselves. 

I picked up a few holiday cards while I was in their shop, and another card of theirs which I framed and will soon be hanging somewhere in the house.

This year only a few of my nearest and dearest will be receiving holiday cards from Lucca.  But in my continued desire to give local Lucca, will be one of my first stops for treasures, unique finds, lovely smells, and beautiful papergoods.

Hopefully these gorgeous cards will grace the mailboxes of many happy homes this holiday season!