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, and we've been busy adjusting to some changes around the office; instead of dragging out those details and living in the past, we are moving forward and continuing our Desk series. We hope you enjoy this post as much as we do!

This week, we are featuring the office and desk of Holly Mathis, a stay-at-home mother of two as well as the designer/blogger behind Holly Mathis Interiors.  While educated and trained in Museum Studies and History, Holly began pursuing design and homemaking as a career in 2005, when she had her first child and when her home was featured in the June issue of Better Homes & Gardens. In addition to providing a more flexible and family-friendly schedule for the new-to-motherhood Holly, running her own decorating business allows Holly to pursue her true loves and follow family tradition (her mother is a real estate broker, her grandmother was a decorator, and her great grandfather was a carpenter and builder).  Here's what Holly has to say about her work:

I love the process of seeing a house become a home. Whether new construction, remodeling, or somewhere in between, all homes have hidden potential. Holly Mathis interiors specializes in helping clients define their style and achieve their decorating goals within a reasonable budget and timeline. From choosing new cabinets or paint colors, placing accessories, rearranging your current furniture for better flow in a room, or working with your current items or maybe shopping for new ones, I do it all. I love to be involved in helping make a house feel more like home. 

Although based out of the Houston area, Holly helps customers across the country make their house a home. With her own house, Holly has done a wonderful job of homemaking. Pictures of projects, progress and ideas adorn her blog. Holly took a moment from her busy schedule (she just had her second little boy) to share with us about her desk, office, preferences and inspiration.

The Desk: An old bank "bench" from my hometown bank... you know, the type of place you would stand and fill out a deposit slip before going up to the teller. It has a marble top, and I have used it for a kitchen island, potting bench on my back porch, and now as a work desk!
Chair: Always standing!
Clock: cell phone
Charging: ipod, cell phone, portable dvd for 4 year old!
Paper: I love scrap paper for personal projects and inspiration boards. I love Jenni Bowlin Designs, she has great stuff!
Color: I am loving orange lately, but don't have any in my house. I hate to say brown, but it is true... it's great for little boys!
'Thank You': It is not said enough these days; being gracious and truly thankful is so important.
Flat Note Stationery or Folded Note Cards: I love flat notes!
Handwritten or Emailed: BOTH, my strategy is say it quickly by email and then officially by note. Really nice, thoughtful things are so rare these days, they should be savored and really appreciated.  
Favorite Current Trend: Using typography in decorating; I even put "letters" on my Christmas tree!
Favorite Stationery: So many... I love heavy, engraved stuff, beautiful monograms, but also fun note cards from Target. I love Sharp & Sally, Boatman Geller, Sarah & Abraham, Laura Goessling Design, lots of neat things on etsy right now, of course Whitney English, and Kris-10 Creations!
Last Party Invitation Sent and Occasion: Christmas 2007 girl party?? Too long!!
Book (current, recent or favorite): Blue Like Jazz
Magazine: I miss Cottage Living so much!
Organization: I love the Vera Bradley organizer and tons of baskets, especially wire! This blue organizer on my desk is now by my back door; it's my kitchen office.
Calendar: Kris-10 Creations--she has a great birthday calendar too!
Day-at-a-glance: I just had a baby in July... I have no idea what average is going to be, but so far it is pretty sweet.
Current Projects: Nursing, getting big brother into PreK, learning to juggle TWO boys and SOME work, oh and losing baby weight; professionally, working on lots of baby rooms for expectant moms... so fun!!
Planning: on doing more online consultations, so many women love working this way and it is great for me as a mom with a new baby!
Business: Keeping my business small, enjoying every little project but not letting it overtake my first priority: home.

Whether it's her house or yours, Holly puts all her effort into making it a home... because, really, home and the family in it are what matter most to her. What a lovely way to live!

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.

That said, we understand that, in the craziness of life, picking out stationery is seldom a priority and is often overwhelming. We also know that it is quite tempting to simply email, Facebook or Tweet someone an invitation, birthday wish or congratulations. In reality, sending a physical, professionally printed invitation for a "we should get together and do dinner... how does Tuesday work for you?" situation simply doesn't work. For bigger life events like birthdays, graduations, weddings, births, planning is completely possible, and stationery fast becomes a must in commemorating that milestone. 

Over the next week or so, we are going to look at some life situations and show how finding stationery, and coordinating it to your personality or taste or circumstance, really isn't that hard. We hope you'll stay with us for this, and that this little series is both helpful and enjoyable.

Congratulations! You're expecting a little baby boy in the next few months, and your mind has turned toward all things baby: cribs, blankets, showers, birth announcements. With so many options, what do you choose? Let's look at some of the possibilities. Perhaps you've registered at Babies 'R' Us for your nursery decor; they really do have some adorable sets. If you're having a boy, you might have selected one of the sets below:

A nautical theme, a sports theme, a classic baby boy nursery, a trucks theme and a jungle theme (obviously our favorite, since we've chosen 1, 2, 3, 4 to display). Absolutely adorable, but what does that have to do with stationery? Nothing, if you want. Or everything, if you like. Let's look.

If you chose a nautical nursery, we have two sets of nautical stationery to coordinate. Our Red Nautical set includes an invitation (perfect for baby showers), note cards (for thank you notes after the baby shower), stickers (which can be print with your address or simply the baby's name), gift cards (perfect for sending to family with pictures), and a placemat (to keep your table somewhat clean as baby grows up, or to use as a door sign). If red is not your favorite color, but the nursery still has a nautical theme, consider our Light Blue Nautical line: stickers, return address labels, gift cards (which can be enclosed with shower invitations and contain registry information), invitations, and announcements (great for sending as birth announcements to friends and family). Or, if your baby boy is already here, you can use our Light Blue Nautical digital photo card as a birth announcement and picture for friends and family to enjoy and keep! Other options include our Red Prep Stripe note card and invitation, our Red Chevron stationery, our Navy Rope stationery, or our Anchor stationery.  

For sports, our All Star line an excellent choice, and our Trucks line continues the theme set by the bedding above.  For the Classic Boy Nursery, our Andrew Train, Blue or Brown Swiss Dot, Blue Prep Stripe, Navy Braid and Taylor Blue lines all tie in the masculine tone with classic shades of brown and blue.

Since the Jungle nursery is our favorite, we'll show you how this all works with our Jungle stationery. You've chosen your favorite Jungle bedding (although we're having a difficult time doing so--they're all so cute), and your best friend/sister/neighbor/coworker has offered to host a baby shower for you. You can choose from several different jungle-themed invitations: 

From left to Right: Jungle Party, Jungle Buddies, Jungle Party, and Jungle Boy (also available for Girls) Invitations

The best part about these invitations is that they can be used for more than baby shower invitations; they can be birth announcements, birthday party invitations, class trips to the zoo, flyers for camps with a jungle or safari theme, and so on. In this case, though, they make adorable baby shower invitations. For those into scrapbooks, imagine a set of these: baby shower invitation, thank you card, birth announcement, first birthday, and so on, all following the same theme.  Which leads us to the next part of the Jungle set:  

The Jungle Buddies announcement card, top left, is one way to announce the birth of your baby boy after he has arrived; another way is our Jungle Buddies photo card (right), with a photo of your precious addition digitally printed on the card (perfect for far-away family and friends unable to come and visit your newborn in person). Our Jungle Party note card can be used as thank you notes for the baby shower, or later on as stationery for your child. Lastly, our Jungle Party placemat carries the jungle theme into your newborn's childhood (plus, our placemats are reversible, and the other side can have a completely different design). 

Obviously, none of these cards are limited to showers for baby boys and their mothers; there are many more uses, occasions and ways to enjoy them. We love our products, and we want to show you how wonderfully easy they are to use, and how life events and your preferences--in this case, nursery decor for a baby on the way--can be a source of inspiration in choosing stationery. Come back next week for more!

This week's Desk post features that of Cathe Holden, the craft blogger and graphic designer behind the blog Just Something I Made. A while back, Cathe sent us pictures of her office as well as information about her workspace and business. Here's what Cathe had to say:

The Desk: Something I found on craigslist for $100. It was custom built for the previous owners in the Pottery Barn style. It's two cabinets on the end with one long 9-foot surface and a pencil drawer in the middle, all in a distressed creamy white paint. I replaced the hardware with bin pulls and matching chrome knobs. It is the perfect fit for my tiny garage studio, spreading out under the window to the back yard lined with Redwood trees. It stores printer papers and transfer sheets, desk accessories (Post-It Notes, rulers, tape, etc.), computer disks, all my glues and boxed vintage ephemera. 
Chair: An office chair left over from my design firm days, recently recovered in a fun red and white cotton print.
Paper: Anything I can get to run through my desktop printer, and I've tried just about everything, including old brittle book pages. 
Calendar: In my head - not the best system.
Clock: On my Mac 
Charging:My cell phone, my MacBook, my little Canon digital camera battery.
Inspiration: My large design and vintage image library in our living room, all sorts of magazines, design blogs and Etsy artisans. For logo designs, logolounge.com is unmatched. 
Color: Kiwi, poppy orange, Cath Kidston red, turquoise, black & white, and just the right pink.
'Thank You': I never write enough 
Flat note or folded: Folded as a habit, but I'm thinking flat is a bit classier (since you ask)! 
Handwritten or emailed: Handwritten is priceless, but e-mailed is better than nothing and often completely appropriate.
Stationery: Custom is cool. 
Organization: Drawers, bins, slots, containers and more drawers. I can never get enough of vintage parts cabinets. Old suitcases for vintage papers.
Book: Mine, once I write it. An inspirational crossover between graphic design and crafting/DIY.
Magazine: I really miss Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion. As a graphic designer, I feed off of Print and HOW Design's annuals.
Planning: Daily inspiring blog posts, client projects, finding the perfect wonderful paying projects to put three kids through college.
Business: Logo design by trade, inspirational blogging by passion.

We absolutely love all the bins, big and small, that organize everything, as well as the charming little details and fresh, soothing colors. Thank you, Cathe, for sharing your desk with us! 

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.

We are always in need of photographs around here; primarily, we use them as samples for our photo cards, but they also inspire us through color, pattern, setting, occasions and subjects. We love looking at the photographs that customers send in with their orders, especially of the little kids and families. Last November, we knew we would need photographs to use with the new designs for 2009. Instead of using pictures of our friends and family, as we have in years past, we called upon our blog readers to submit pictures. There were a few stipulations (submitters had to hold the rights to the photograph and allow us to reproduce any selected pictures, the photos had to meet quality criteria, and had to be appropriate), but anyone whose pictures were selected won a gift certificate for our photo cards. Pretty cool, right? Lots of people submitted pictures, and we used as many as we could. This is where Mika Beth comes in to our lives. She sent us the following pictures:

How could we not fall in love with the vibrant, rich colors, the clarity, and the patterns? Simply beautiful!! We had to know more, see more, so we visited Mika Beth's website, which consists of galleries of her photographs (divided into portrait and senior categories), Bebe and Beau (a boutique with which she is affiliated), and her blog (where she showcases recent photo shoots). The business is run by Mika Beth and her husband (she takes the pictures, and he does the books), and her passion for her vocation and subjects shines through. We asked her for more pictures, to use or inspire us or simply to look at, and she sent us TONS! Here's a sampling of her work:

These family pictures are wonderful for framing on the wall, preserving in an album or scrapbook or sending out to family and friends on a photo card.

These portraits are all amazing! Some of them are senior pictures, capturing youthfulness on the verge of adulthood, while others are pictures of children in all their beauty. Her attention to detail--blades of grass or leaves in the background, a twinkle in an eye--is stunning, and the colors perfectly accentuate the subjects. And the subjects' emotions--playfulness, independence, innocence, love, peace, joy, strength--all shine through. Simply wonderful work!

Oh, the babies. Mika Beth seems to have a true passion for photographing toddlers, babies, infants, and newborns (especially fresh from the hospital newborns). She captures their innocence and beauty, their personalities (because those are already starting to come through), their sweetness and serenity. They are all so beautiful, and her lens does them justice. Mika Beth, these babies make us smile.

So, why have we introduced you readers to Mika Beth? First, she is a talented photographer whose works should be enjoyed by many and not kept hidden away. Anyone near Arkansas should give her (or her husband) a call to set up something. Second, to show the value and power of photography at capturing and preserving moments. Whether you hire a professional or not, take some family pictures; you will want them down the road. Third, to show how photographs, people or events in life (births, birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc) can provide inspiration. Is a loved one graduating soon? Getting married? Having a baby? Turning four? Are you stumped on how to celebrate these events? Over the next week or two, we'll take a couple of these pictures and use them as inspiration pieces for choosing stationery and invitations. So please, come back next week for more.

The Desk: A bar-height table so I can work comfortably sitting down or standing up. 
Chair: A $14 bar stool from Ikea decorated with an evolving decoupage of my favorite favorite fabric swatches - I add to it each season.
Paper: Legal pads and scraps of paper. I re-use all sorts of paper to try to be somewhat earth-friendly! 
Calendar: From paper source - love it! 
Clock: My studio manager, Jayne, requested a clock for the longest time, I finally broke down and bought her one! 
Inspiration: My new inspiration window is an antique window that I have had for years. It was from my Aunt and Uncle's home in Georgia, so I have some sentimental attachment to it. It has lost all but one of its panes of glass. I filled the open spaces with fabric covered cork and left the remaining glass as a "dry-erase" board. I have hung the window above my desk and I post important and inspiring things to it. 
Color: Lots of pink! 
'Thank You': I have a collection of thank you notes and try my best to remember to always say thank you! 
Flat note or folded: Both 
Handwritten or emailed: Handwritten 
Stationery: The Polka Dot Press, The Paper Princess, and Whitney English 
Organization: A constantly evolving process; I am always trying out new ways to be more organized, stream-lined and efficient.
Book: The Bible.
Magazine: "Where Women Create", "Country Living" and "Southern Living"
Planning: My business partner, Liz, and I live on opposite ends of the country, so we plan by conference call A LOT, but we try to meet somewhere and have marathon planning sessions at least four times per year.
Business: Sweet Funky Vintage, a children's clothing trunk show company. We celebrate individuality and creativity so much, our trunk show customers can design their own custom children's clothing. We also offer our designs for purchase through our website. All of our high quality clothing is handmade in the United States. Best of all - our social mission invites our customers to join with us to support women and children in our communities and across the nation.

 

Now, let's see what Liz had to say:

The Desk: A counter-height cutting table from Joann's, not fancy but functional. My other desk is anywhere I can carry my laptop: swim practice, the back porch, the car, etc. 
Chair: Who sits down? 
Paper: Yes, please, and lots of it! I am a list maker. Post its are indispensable. 
Calendar: I have two. One is a planner from Borders; I am always in search of the perfect planner (so constantly changing, but this one works for now). The other is a spiral-bound undated from Paper Source where I can plan out my week's "to do" in the studio. 
Clock: pink face Tag Heuer on my wrist 
Charging: Various places... there's already too much electrical stuff in the studio. 
Inspiration: The fabrics! They speak, I listen. 
Color: Yes, color. I am a color girl. The first thing I do in a new house is PAINT! I love orange, pink, lime and turquoise. 
'Thank You': My grandmother always taught me to thank a giver in person, but if they are not present, a thank you MUST be written promptly. 
Flat note or folded: Flat! I love the simplicity of a flat card. 
Handwritten or emailed: Handwritten, no question 
Stationery: I must admit, I'm a stationery ho. Anything cute, and it doesn't have to be actual stationery. I just saw Whitney's recipe cards in a local entertaining store that carries our aprons, and I am COVETING them... nevermind that I don't have time to transfer the actual recipes OR cook them! Seriously, Whitney English of course as well as The Polka Dot Press, Target, Tiny Prints and whoever strikes my fancy. 
Organization: YES! The studio collapses into chaos in the middle of every season, but for the most part is pretty organized. I can't pack on an unmade bed or work in a chaotic environment. 
Book: I am looking forward to reading the big stack on my nightstand on vacation. Historical fiction, James Patterson, nutrition and fitness, and any magazine I can get my hands on!
Magazine: (my preferred reading material) I regularly read Self, Real Simple, Oprah and More; I often pick up Southern Living, Country Living, Sew Hip, Shape, Body and Soul, Martha Stewart... I could go on...
Planning: My partner Missy and I try and get together several times a year to long-range plan for Sweet Funky Vintage. Our best planning sessions are over a glass of wine and a good meal! We are on the phone daily planning advertising, catalog layout, fabrics for the next few seasons... you name it. The planning never ends, it seems. 
Business: Missy and I started Sweet Funky Vintage two years ago. It is amazing how far we have come. We love our customers and they love us. "Celebrating Creativity" is our new tag line and describes our line perfectly... we love to watch our customers (mothers and daughters) plan outfits together and see what they come up with. The business is constantly evolving and surprises us at every turn. I don't think either of us could have imagined (though we hoped) that Sweet Funky Vintage would be where it is so quickly. This season we have a catalog in the works!

Thank you both for opening your offices and desks to us! They are full of fabric, color and inspiration (not to mention coffee and chocolate--mind if we stop by?), and we absolutely love them!

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.