Once a designer for television shows and record companies and an Art Director for multiple publications, Caroline Smalley has taken her design talents to a more personal level: custom stationery. Now a mother of four and the designer behind and owner of Push the Envelope, Smalley has a lot to keep her busy. That did not stop her, though, from taking a moment to share her office with us. Like her stationery, Caroline's office is bright and colorful, with touches of whimsy, sparkle and a healthy dose of usefulness. Here is what she shared with us:

The Desk: a giveaway from a 60's little girls bedroom set, repainted glossy aqua
Chair: still searching for a comfier one...
Clock: none, just check on my computer
Calendar: I love my undated Post-it calendar next to my desk
Charging: camera and ipod
Book (current, recent or favorite): just finished Dominick Dunne's Another City, Not My Own. I am so sad he just passed away.
Magazine: I have an addiction to well-designed magazines, actually to all magazines. So many of my favorites are gone, though. I loved Blueprint and Domino.
Paper: Love it all. Usually, I print on an eggshell finish. I keep lots of scraps around for inspiration, also lots of watercolor blocks of various sizes.
Color: Always love shades of green, from lime to moss.
'Thank You': Can never be said too often. I learned the importance of Thank You notes from my mother and grandmother.
Flat note or Folded: Either, depending on how much I have to say.
Handwritten or Emailed: Handwritten. I am obsessed with finding the best pens, too.
Stationery/Fashion Trend: Love retro geometric patterns.
Favorite Stationery: There are so many great choices out there...
Recently Used Stationery (& Occasion): I sent my girls letters and mystery novels when they were at summer camp
Office type: home office
Organization: HA! I m always working on this, controlled chaos.
Day-at-a-glance: Each day is different depending on projects. I try to schedule specific days each week for PR, production, design, marketing. All of this mixed in with busy family life with four kiddos.
Inspiration: I always listen to music when I am working, that is an inspiration. I am inspired by everything, my family, the outdoors, fashion... 
Current Project(s): getting my Holiday 2009 designs on my site
Planning: targeting ads and blogs for fall giveaways
Business: Busy!

Part of the workspace and storage in Caroline's office, and her husband's guitars. "Only after the fact did I realize I painted my desk to exactly match!"

Little baskets, boxes, jars and cans organizing ribbon, brushes, envelopes and glitter. Says Caroline: "I love working with glitter... it is so beautiful, I want to sprinkle it on vanilla ice cream or put a spoonful in my coffee!"

Last, but not least, her aqua desk, Post it calendar, and beloved chair (aren't we all searching for a comfier one, though?)...

Thank you, Caroline, for sharing your office with us... It is perfectly colorful, quite organized, and absolutely charming!

We love what we do here, from the products we sell to the blog that we update. Lately, though, you may have noticed a lack of updating. We could make excuses, but we won't. This blog does need help, and we're not afraid to ask for it.

In truth, this blog is for you, our readers. Our goal is to inform and inspire you, and occasionally feature new products of ours that we love. With that in mind, we're hoping to take this blog in a new direction. The direction, though, is up to you. Since this blog is for you, we want it to be about you and your interests... what do you, dear readers, want to see? What would help you, interest you, inspire you? Is it baby-themed stationery ideas, party planning tips, etiquette rules that you have never gotten a straight answer on? Is it real-life uses of our products? Is it glimpses into the lives of other readers? Let us know, and we'll do what we can to make it happen.

Perhaps what we have loved most about our blog is the opportunity it has given us to peer into the lives of our readers. Our "Desk" series accomplishes this well, and over the last year we have featured many beautiful and charming desks, offices and people. Would you like us to continue this series? If you are a blogger/designer/stationer extraordinaire/crafter/photographer (or anyone, really) and would like yourself, your desk and your business featured on our website, contact us! We'd love to feature your darling desk!

We want to take the interactions of our "Desk" series and carry it over to some new features. We want to interact with you more. Here are a couple of our ideas:

• We are passionate about stationery, and we love helping people find the right stationery for their needs. If you are planning a party or need help picking out stationery, contact us. Give us the scenario, and we'll help you... and feature you and your selections on the blog. 
• If you have already thrown the party, used our cards, or bought our fabulous office products (who doesn't love pretty file folders?) to organize your space... tell us, send us pictures, and we'll feature you on the blog.  

If you have other ideas, let us know. As we said before, we want this blog to be interesting and useful to you, but we need to hear from you to make that happen. So leave a comment or send us an email, and hopefully we can work together to make this blog what it needs to be: an inspiration.

It's been a while since we last updated! In the middle of weddings, birthday celebrations, shipping out new product and new albums, markets, holidays and projects, blogging plans were set aside. But we're trying to get back in the swing of things!

So, what have we been doing? We planned the "forgotten" quarterly birthday celebration. The birthday girls for this quarter usually plan these things, and thought we had completely forgotten their birthdays. One Friday, while they all were gone, we started scheming and preparing. When they came in Monday morning, they found signs leading into the office, their desks covered in balloons, and the ultimate birthday scavenger hunt. One loading dock door, kickboxing dummy, old-fashioned press, stuffed monkey, mac Photobooth, email from our National Sales Manager, bowl of Jello, bathroom sink and decoy frozen pie later, they found their ice cream cake and we all celebrated! Lots of laughs were had that day (and some work managed to get done, too), and we now hope they know we will never forget their birthdays!

Two girls in our office got married at the end of June. Jamie, who has been working here on breaks from school for several years, married her high school sweetheart on Friday, June 26th. Since Jamie would be moving after the wedding, we said our goodbyes beforehand with a wonderful shower (and with LOTS of cake!). Nicole, who started working here last fall, married her college sweetheart the day after Jamie's wedding. Lots of changes for these girls, and best wishes to them and their husbands!

Besides these big events, we've been staying busy with markets (Dallas and now Atlanta), new product coming in and shipping out, new albums coming in and shipping out, tidying up the office and warehouse, long-term projects, and holidays (who doesn't love watching fireworks with friends and family?). We can hardly believe it's July; this year has simply FLOWN by, and before we know it it will be time for the holidays. 

We promise that we will make every effort to get this blog back on track, so please bear with us as we do so. In the meantime, enjoy this picture from the quarterly birthday celebration:

We hope you are enjoying life as much as we are! Never stop celebrating!

Do you have a darling desk? We are currently looking for bloggers/designers/stationers extraordinaire to highlight in our "Desk" feature. Email us at whitneyenglish@yahoo.com if you'd like to share a photo of your desk with us, or to suggest other blog topics and ideas. As always, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get updates on new designs, warehouse sales, and industry events.

During one of the few slow moments we had at the show, we managed to take some pictures of our new products as displayed in our booth:

 

 

Following the pictures clockwise from the top left (which is like walking around our aisle-side table), you can see our coasters, our match boxes, our signature candle with its box and our note pads. 

The patterns for our Classic Collection were carefully selected to coordinate with lasting home interior trends, and we focused on creating a collection of matching gift items that can be given in a variety of combinations for practically any occasion. We also hoped to make these gifts feel personalized without the high cost of customized products, and we achieved that by preprinting initials on the product. We are quite happy with how the collection turned out, and we hope you enjoy it too! The coasters and note pads are now on our shelves and available for purchase; to order them, please contact your sales rep or one of our retailers. We are still waiting on the matches and candles, as well as working diligently to upload all of our new products to our website.

For all of you who stopped by to see us at the show, we hope you enjoyed seeing up close all of the exciting new products we have to offer. If you are a retailer and were unable to attend the show but would like more information on these products and regular news updates from us, please contact us for more information or sign up for our newsletter (we promise, we won't spam you or sell your information). Keep checking back, here, as well for updates on when these new products will be available and on our site. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Special thanks goes out to Janet, our National Sales Manager, for taking these wonderful pictures!

Please excuse the delay in updates... we've been settling back in after the National Stationery Show, and updating fell from the top of our list.  

THE CLASSIC COLLECTION

Allow us to introduce the Classic Collection:

The definition of classic varies, depending on whom you ask and what is being discussed. Generally speaking, the terms time-tested, enduring, fundamental and traditional all apply. For our Classic Collection, we chose patterns that we believe will endure and outlast momentary trends as well as speak to a wide variety of people. Some of these patterns are brand new, debuting in this release (if you've been following this week, you've already seen versions of them), while others are adaptations of our bestselling patterns. We preprinted each note card in the Classic Collection with an initial, providing a touch of personalization without the cost of customized stationery. There are twenty four note cards in the Classic Collection. With all letters, except Q and X, almost everyone's initial is included. For our retailers, we also offer a twenty-four spot spinner to hold all the letters (the standard spinner is still available).

We also took our Classic Collection one step, or rather four steps, further. We expanded our inventory selection to include several new products, and they are:

    

We now offer: mini note pads (four inches by four inches, gummed and with an initial preprinted in the lower right corner), coasters (slightly smaller than the note pads, but with rounded corners and the initial centered), match boxes with colored-tip matches, and a candle with our signature scent (a crisp, clean scent with citrus notes, herb references and a hint of florals). The note pads, coasters and match boxes are all available in complementing pattern/initial combinations, allowing your home or office to be completely coordinated. The continuity of patterns with initials makes it simple to pull together a personalized gift set--for example, note card, match box and candle--for almost anyone and every occasion.

We are truly excited about our Classic Collection and hope you are too! As with the other sneak peek items this week, these are not yet up on the website, but we are working putting them up there. Please keep checking back here, and we will let you know when all of our new release is on the website and available for purchase. Until then, have a wonderful day, enjoy this long holiday weekend, and go celebrate!

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the very last day of the National Stationery Show (today was the last full day). We loved meeting all of you, putting faces to names and sharing our new products; thank you so much for coming out and seeing us!  For those of you able to attend tomorrow, do stop by our booths (3408-3412) to check out our new patterns, designs, and products. For those of you unable to attend, stay tuned here!

NEW NOTE CARDS

Here is a sampling of our newest batch of note cards:

• Available in several color schemes on note cards and invitations, the new Jenni pattern is a retro, funky floral (top left)
• The Reef pattern, shown above in Brown and in Coral, is an updated version of one of our bestsellers, Coral (top center and right)
• The Ikat pattern--available in several colors, and shown in coral--is a simplified, casual version of a traditional fabric print (middle left)
  
• Our Beijing pattern, shown above in Green, is structured and classic, an excellent choice for personal stationery regardless of current trends (middle right)
• Whimsical and fun, our Allison pattern is available in several colors for both invitations and note cards; personally, the Pink invitation is our favorite of the pattern (bottom left)
  
• Delicate and dainty in ecru and aqua, our Lace pattern is a wonderful choice for formal or traditional stationery (bottom center)
  
• With trees of all shapes, colors and sizes, our Pink Trees note card is a great choice for little girls who love nature (bottom right)

While these note cards are not yet up on our website or shelves, we are doing everything we can to get them up there soon. We hope that you enjoyed this sneak peek, and that you'll be checking back for the rest of this collection (yes, there are more) and for the other sneak peeks coming this week. Leave us a comment and let us know which note card here is your favorite (it really does matter to us). Have a fabulous day, and go celebrate something!

It's spring again, and that means things are changing. We are cleaning up the warehouse, rearranging the office and getting everything ready for a fresh start. While some of our old favorite patterns are disappearing into retirement, we are elated and excited about our new release. We've been working on it for months and have been anticipating its release at the show and on our website. For those of you able to attend the National Stationery Show, we highly recommend that you stop by our booths (3408-3412) to check out our new patterns, designs, and products; we would truly love to see you and show you everything new. For those of you unable to attend, we will be highlighting some of these new products this week. Stay tuned for more!

THE NEW SOIRÉE

The Whitney English line has long been defined by bold, fresh colors, modern twists on classic patterns, and detailed designs. In addition to this, one of our earlier collections featured hand-drawn illustrations and party themes. Our newest release has all these features, and a few of our favorites are below:

    

• Our Wild Thing Pink invite is a fun mix of sweet and sassy, making it an excellent choice for bachelorette parties or personal showers (also available in aqua)
  
• With animal prints, ribbons and pretty drinks, our Girly Drinks invite would be perfect for a birthday celebration, bachelorette party or ladies' night on the town
• Featuring aprons, mixers, cookies and spatulas, the Aqua Kitchen Tools invitation is a delightful choice for kitchen showers
• An adorable collection of bowls, oven mitts and spatulas makes this invitation a great choice for kitchen showers or bake sales

   

• With a classic bouquet of pink roses, this sweet Brides Bouquet invitation works well for bridal showers or luncheons, or even casual weddings
• Cupcakes, champagne and gifts make our Party and Presents invitation an excellent choice for bridal showers or birthday parties
• Sweet pastel dots are contrasted by a feisty zebra print on our Crazy Confetti invitation, an excellent choice for a variety of celebrations
• Our White Fiesta Flowers invitation features festive dots arranged in circular patterns and is versatile enough to be used for birthdays, bridal showers, fiestas, graduation parties, luncheons and other happy occasions (also available in red)

    

• Diagonal stripes in warm colors make our Olé Stripe invitation festive enough for fiestas but cute enough for a variety of occasions
• Our Piñata Dot invitation features concentric circles in festive hues and is an excellent choice for occasions of all sorts
• Our Pickles and Ice Cream invitation got its inspiration and name from an infamous pregnancy craving; the result was this adorable and humorous card, an excellent choice for baby showers

  

• Because men also celebrate birthdays, our Brown Geometric Cake invitation features masculine colors and a tempting tiered chocolate cake (also available in pink)
• Who doesn't love a cook-out?  Our Fancy Grill invitation is an excellent choice for backyard barbeques or birthdays, or summer get togethers
• Use our Ketchup and Mustard invitation to invite your friends to a picnic at the park, backyard cookout, birthday party or ball game... very summery and very fun
• Our Barware invitation is a classy and masculine invitation, an excellent choice for your man's birthday party or a poker night

    

• Our Blue Piece of Cake invitation is an excellent choice for birthday parties, whether it's their first or fortieth (also available in pink)
• Adorned with trucks, elephants, puppy dogs and cake, our Puppy Dogs Tails invitation is an adorable choice for a little boy's birthday
• Our Campout invitation is a great choice for sleepovers, weekend trips or other outdoor activities
• With microphones, guitars and music notes, this Gray Teen Guitar invitation is a great choice for those wanting to rock any occasion (also available in pink)

Well, it's almost here: the National Stationery Show. It always surprises me how fast it comes around again every year, but I have to give props to the Whitney English/Hicks Paper Goods team: this year, we are prepared. Friday morning, five of us will get on a plane to head to New York City to show our wares, and we are EXCITED! After months of product research development, new stationery and invitation design, marketing planning, and paying attention to the tedious details that make so much difference, we are done! And we can't wait to give you some special sneak peeks here on the blog!

Check back with us over the next week. Nicole, resident blogger extrordinaire, will be presenting everyone with some fabulous tidbits in the coming week. You'll flip when you see the new stationery from our new Whitney English Correspondence Album, designed in response to requests from many of our retailers. Hicks Paper Goods will be debuting a darling new Holiday II album, with more of the popular gift stickers and photo cards you went crazy for last year. We have an amazing new blank stock release--it's HUGE! Of course, we can't spill all the beans right now. There are still a few surprises in store.

If you're headed to NYC as well, please stop by the Javits Center and say hello to us in booth #3408. If you'd like to follow along in real time, several of us will be twittering from the show floor. You can find out more by following us on Twitter.

P.S. If you've tried to email us in the past two days, we have to apologize: our email has been down. Please don't hesitate to call us at 405.608.0061 if you are concerned that your communication has not reached us.