the pleasure of your company

How to Prepare a Brie for Baking

2011-12-10T11:39:00.001-05:00

One of the easiest and most-loved party appetizers is a baked Brie with a scrumptious topping. There are several ways to prepare a Brie for baking and how you do it depends on personal taste. The purpose of preparing it is to allow steam to escape and prevent the Brie from puffing up or bursting, and to facilitate the serving process.
The simplest way to prepare it is to score the top rind of the cheese in a star pattern.
Another way often used is to remove the top rind of the cheese entirely; this is the best technique for those who like a bit less rind with their cheese and it allows the toppings to mix into the cheese better.
The third way is a combination: Score the top rind of the cheese in a star pattern. Then cut the Brie in half horizontally. Place the bottom half of the cheese in a baker, top with 1/2 the toppings, place the top half of the cheese on top and cover completely with toppings.
Whichever way you choose, it will be delicious. The Brie bakers we carry at the store, pictured above, are always popular gifts - $22.50 each and they come with a box of topping mix. And the toppings we carry - both dry mix and ready to serve - make quick work of preparing the Brie: Cherry Jubilee, Cranberry & Almonds, Maple Walnut, Apple Pecan, Pear & Rosemary, Sweet Onion, Maple Apple and more - yum!

A Child Leaves Your Home......

2011-08-20T14:30:00.004-04:00

This is the best card ever to send to a son or daughter off to college. Can anyone read this without tearing up? And laughing at the same time?

Inside: One day I was boosting you onto a school bus and the next you're leaving home. I didn't know it would be this difficult because believe me, there were times I couldn't wait to get you out of the house. But now as you're leaving to begin a new life, I'm recalling a million ordinary moments.....the jokes, the triumphs, the failures, even the fighting.....because HOME is where you are loved, not for what you do or who you are but just because you're there.

Off to College

2011-08-07T17:12:00.009-04:00

So many kids are getting used to their new college routines and some questions are bound to come up about how to handle situations they encounter. Plus how to make healthy quick meals that don't break the budget. We have a couple great books for you to mail off to your favorite student:

The College Dorm Survival Guide gives expert advice on everything from avoiding the Freshman 15 to decorating a dorm room. $12.95

College Cooking has healthy recipes for people with very little equipment, very little experience and very little money. $19.99 Tuck a couple recipe cards with easy family favorites inside and maybe they'll eat a little better.
Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Graduate School! Adam Ruben spent 7 years at Johns Hopkins University getting his PhD in Molecular Biology and turned his experiences into a standup comedy act. the book is hilarious and gives a wecome break to anyone who is overwhelmed and burned out by grad school. The book has gotten great reviews by graduate students and they recommend it to new grad students. $12.00

Tomorrow, we'll post about some really funny gifts to send along

Congratulations to the Louie Winners!

2011-05-18T14:27:00.005-04:00

The LOUIE Awards are the greeting card and stationery industry's Oscars and Grammys. Card designers and publishers submit the very best of their best work for judging in 53 categories and they are truly little pieces of art and poetry on paper. I've been a judge for the LOUIE's several times, and it is a very difficult job to help pick one winner in each category when so many of the cards are so beautifully done - the kind of cards and sentiments that give you goosebumps or a hearty laugh when you read them.

This year we are pleased that some of our favorite publishers won top awards. Crane & Co's beautiful sympathy card won the honorable mention (3rd place) for overall 2011 Card of the Year, Great Arrow Graphics' cards took top honors in three categories, and other categories were won by Museum of Modern Art, Anna Griffin, Compendium, Madison Park and Amy Smyth. Congratulations to everyone who stood out in a large crowd of exceptional work!

Need Gifts for the Class of 2011 Graduates?

2011-04-19T10:34:00.014-04:00

Haute Papier is having a Graduation Promotion!

Stock up on the perfect gift for all the graduates in your life with the "five for the price of four" special on petite silk stationary boxes.

Each Petite Stationary Box includes one beautiful Thai silk box with 35 letterpress note cards and envelopes. (Return address and liners optional).

Choose from a variety of monograms, motifs, and ink colors to personalize each stationary set.

The original price per box is $90 and with the special promotion each box costs $72.

Stop in to place your order before June 13th!

Dabney Lee Moderne on sale!

2011-04-01T13:10:00.005-04:00

Here's the first of a series of specials and offers during the month of April: 20% off personalized stationery from the Dabney Lee Moderne album! Dabney Lee Moderne is one of our favorites - a modern mix of notecards, letterpressed or flat-printed on luxurious papers in bright colors and contemporary patterns. I have some with my name on it and always get compliments when I use it for personal notes.

Sales runs through April 20th - delivery will be by May 7th in time for Mother's Day and graduation gifts.

Something Special for Your Birthday!

2011-03-21T11:30:00.000-04:00

A great way to celebrate birthdays in your house is to have a birthday place mat and apron made by Peking Handicraft for the person of honor for their special day. Starting with breakfast and continuing throughout the day, think of how special the honoree will feel when they get to wear the apron or use the place mat. Not only is this especially true for children but for the child in all of us! They also add a little extra when you need a birthday something to give to a friend or colleague.

Both are made of cotton and can be machine washed and dried.

The apron costs $22.50 and the place mat just $10.

My Glass Runneth Over With Love

2011-02-07T17:02:00.004-05:00

Some places bring back fond memories. Some places are on your list to visit. We are now carrying Cat Studio glasses from 45 states and cities and one would be perfect to fill with Hershey's kisses as a Valentine's Day memory or a surprise to come. Hide tickets to Paris in a Paris glass? That would be one fine gift for your honey!

Cat Studio glasses: $12.00 each

We're Lovestruck!

2011-01-12T11:06:00.003-05:00

We have personalized Valentine's Day cards for the first time ever! 50 cute designs for girls and boys and each order comes with matching stickers.

20 cards, 20 stickers - $18.00

40, cards, 40 stickers - $32.00

Larger quantites available

Orders have to be placed by February 1st for delivery the week before Valentine's Day, so come on over!

Baltimore Magazine Shop Crawl

2010-12-03T10:59:00.005-05:00

Baltimore Magazine and the shops at Green Spring Station hosted a VIP Shop Crawl last night. The wine flowed, the strolling musicians had everyone singing along, and there were discounts and specials everywhere!

Betsy Rider was at The Pleasure of Your Company offering free on-the-spot personalization of Graphic Image leather journals, passport covers, dated diaries, luggage tags, photo albums and notebooks and it was a hit with our customers. You haven't missed out - we are continuing the free personalization through December 7th with delivery for Christmas.

We had a big crowd turn out and this morning the store looked like we'd had a party the night before, but we're putting everything back in place and still have great gifts galore!

On our Christmas wish list: that Baltimore Magazine continues to hold the Shop Crawl here at Green Spring Station - it's a great event and becoming a wonderful annual tradition.

The Perfect Finishing Touch

2010-11-22T16:36:00.005-05:00

With the stock for Envelopments invitations, we can now order postage in matching Envelopments patterns and artwork. Another company, Lallie, has begun offering postage with artwork for their invitations, too. What a nice finishing touch for invitations! We remember the days when we were still trying to get our suppliers to add matching colors of envelopes - who would have ever thought the postage could match, too?

Posting on Facebook Revisited

2010-11-20T08:22:00.005-05:00

Deborah Hefter, one of the partner/owners at Envelopments, emailed me this comment in answer to our earlier post about pictures on Facebook. Hadn't thought about Facebook turning everyone's life into a reality show, but it's so true.
"Andy Warhol once said "Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." Little did he know that with the Public Forums of Facebook, Twitter and Video chatting, that anyone can now have their own reality TV shows going 24/7.
It is an interesting dilemma, this mash up of social graces and technology, I would imagine that etiquette books will continue to re-write passages to include all these new mediums. The question is, how do we now control our own preference for what is made public and what is reserved for our families and closest friends. Will future invitations need to include a non-disclosure agreement?"
The Envelopments blog is always good reading - the owners and designers all post and there are many points of view: http://blog.envelopments.com

This is an Interesting Idea

2010-11-19T10:49:00.003-05:00

We understand that customers hate the hassle of having to go to the post office to get stamps for greeting cards they need to send, so we have stamps available for purchase with your greeting cards at The Pleasure of Your Company. But here's a new approach under consideration at the USPS, and it's an even more convenient idea. The article is long - if you want a one-sentence synopsis, it's that greeting card manufacturers would supply postage-paid envelopes with greeting cards.

The news that the United States Postal Service has been experiencing hard times is not news. Hoping to breathe some life into the struggling mail system the USPS has proposed a postage-free greeting card test. With correspondence volume dropping 14 percent since 2002 and first class letters and cards dropping by nearly three billion pieces in 2010, the need to revitalize correspondence is obvious. Many blame the increasing popularity and pervasiveness of electronic communication, but many consumers have bemoaned the extra step required of providing postage. In fact at the recent Greeting Card Association (GCA) Convention in Sanibel, FL, a young woman on a panel of college students noted that she would be more likely to mail cards if a stamp was included.
The experiment which was filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission on November 8, relies on the use of the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) and is based on the concept that consumers will be more likely to use first class mail if they don't have to provide postage on their own.
While the idea has merit, there are still many issues to iron out as even those in the industry who are proponents of the plan will attest. Under the proposal, greeting card manufacturers will pay the postage based on sales information along with a scan of the IMB captured during the mailing process.
The IMB encodes tracking information that is read by the processing equipment and price information is recorded. The greeting card companies that participate would receive a unique mailer ID for the market test as serialization is required for envelopes used in the program. This would identify the company who will be responsible for paying the postage once the envelopes are mailed. An imprint stating "No postage Necessary if Mailed in the United States" will be placed in the upper right corner of the envelope where postage would normally go. The greeting card companies will be charged 48 cents for cards and envelopes with a combined weight between one and two ounces plus the second ounce price for sales/scans. This pricing is just for the test and the agency has stressed that the pricing is open to adjustment in the future.
Participating companies will have to meet specific mailpiece design requirement and have design approval before distribution. The mail will be processed and delivered the same as standard single-piece first class mail.
This is just the early stages of planning and clearly there are many concerns for greeting card manufacturers to consider before deciding to undertake this system.

Congratulations to Prince William and Kate!

2010-11-16T12:37:00.005-05:00

Weddings, or at least one long-anticipated wedding, will be in the news spotlight for the next nine months or so. It will be fun to see what predictions are made, and what choices Kate Middleton actually makes for her wedding.

I found this website for London wedding planner, Mark Niemierko. It is interesting to see how the British do so many things just a little different than we do. Loved the photos of the buffet tables and desserts and some of the locations are to die for. We'll be looking at more British websites to get new ideas for our Baltimore brides.

30 Years and Counting

2010-11-15T08:23:00.016-05:00

Today, November 15th, is the 30th Anniversary of Lynn and I opening our first store at Harborplace. That first little store in Harborplace was more of a party and entertaining store than the stationery store we've become. We were reminiscing about some of the best sellers from the early 80s: pinatas, Murphy's Law posters, funny cocktail napkins (remember the one with "Dinner will be ready when the smoke alarm goes off"?), Rubik's cubes, Paper-By-the-Pound, Mrs. Grossman's stickers, the Preppy Handbook, Baltimore shot glasses, aprons with funny sayings and the first personalized items - mugs, paper lunch bags, and balloons with names on them.

We were remembering people who have worked for us over the years. In 1980, most of them were college girls and a few guys, and they were all younger than me. In 2010, most of the staff have mothers younger than me! And it's always a big surprise when someone from the past stops in to say hi, with a teenager in tow who looks exactly like I remember their mom or dad looking when they worked at the store years ago.

We opened a second store at Green Spring Station in 1983, and gradually added more stationery and invitation printing to the mix, which grew into the niche we've become known for. In 1984 or so, we started printing birth announcements and it was always fun to watch the kids we announced as they celebrated milestones in their lives. Christenings, 1st birthdays, kindergarten graduation, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs as they turned 13, camp stationery, Sweet 16s, high school and college graduations, 21st birthdays. And then, last year, we started working on weddings for five of them - a very big milestone. Will 2011 have the first baby born to someone we did birth announcements for?

It's ironic how full circle we've come in 30 years. When we opened The Pleasure of Your Company, the economy was in a recession, the nature of retail was changing, and mind-blowing new technology was about to change everything. So many things we take for granted were very new in the 80s. For the first time, food, entertainment and shopping were all mixed together and people wanted shopping to be an experience rather than just a trip to the store. And new technologies were just emerging - car phones, desktop computers and printers, VCRS, video games, fax machines, bar coding, a microwave in every home. How many people truly remember what it was like to not be able to buy the latest version of Windows, or the Adobe Creative Suite off the shelf and have to do the programming themselves? Thank goodness we had Lynn, who could write the programming we needed. The learning curve to incorporate these into our lives was a lot like now, as we learn to use smart phones, all the social media, aps, the possibilities that GPS opens up for retail, compete with internet shopping, and so on.

And so we've come full circle - in 1980, there were a handful of stationery stores in Baltimore. The number grew to 11 or 12, but the recession has cut it back to a handful again. Technology is an opportunity and a challenge - the motto over my desk, "everything is changing and change is accelerating" has never been truer. Entrepreneurship is thriving - I think the megabusinesses who can drive pricing and the little businesses who can change on a dime and morph quickly are the businesses who will survive another decade.

We are at 30 years and counting - still standing, still morphing, still keeping up with the changes. The photographs of the store will look as different in 5 years as they have in all the pictures we've taken in the last thirty. We are thankful for this wonderful adventure - thankful to Jim Rouse for his vision of a downtown renaissance where we could start a business, thankful to the great staff we've had over the years, thankful for the relationships and friendships we have with our vendors, thankful for great landlords, and most of all, thankful to the wonderful customers who have come in year after year and always supported us - you are THE BEST!!!

Posting Pictures on Facebook

2010-11-10T13:54:00.008-05:00

We are always encountering new etiquette situations, and some have come up because social media is rewriting the rules. I was working with a customer who, like most brides, has to cut her guest list for the wedding. She says that whenever one of her friends attends a wedding, they post pictures on their Facebook page of the wedding - no full names or details given, but obviously you can recognize some of the people in the photos.
So her dilemma is this: people who are not invited will see some of the people in the photos who were invited and their feelings will be hurt. Some of her friends will Tweet what a great time they are having at the wedding and others will see those posts. She really feels that this could be a problem for her at work, among her friends and with extended family. What does she do? Is there anything she can do?
It is a different world. Five years ago, you could get away with telling the non-invited, "the wedding is very small," "our families are so large," "my parents invited so many of their friends," "the place only holds 100 people," and chances were that no one saw contradictory wedding pictures later. Your little white lies were never caught. But now, on Sunday, you log into Facebook, and see that half the college sorority was invited (and you weren't), or a lot of people from the office were invited (and you weren't), or that it was a very large wedding (and you didn't make the cut).
This is the first time I've heard a bride genuinely concerned about Facebook pictures and Tweets, but it probably won't be the last.

Custom Acrylic Trays

2010-11-10T13:04:00.011-05:00

The simplest things can make a party very personal. We found acrylic trays with a slot for a removable paper insert and it opens up all kinds of possibilities for the same tray to be used over and over.

For a wedding, we show a monogram printed on fuchsia stock and mounted on black damask to coordinate with the wedding colors. For a baby shower, we've personalized it with the mom-to-be's name. You can personalize the tray for a holiday party, to celebrate someone's birthday, with a corporate logo, with a boat or beach house name, or with the bride and groom's names and wedding date.

The trays come in 2 sizes, 12"x12" and 12" x 17", and have deep sides, which make them perfect for serving drinks or hors d'oeuvres. The paper insert in under acrylic and protected from moisture and food.

Don't these make you smile?

2010-11-10T12:24:00.008-05:00

Cupcakes are here to stay as wedding and party desserts and favors. They just need some fancy clothes to be a perfect centerpiece or replace a traditional cake.

We are having fun with our new cupcake wrapper dies. The wrappers can be die cut from any paper or card stock so the choices in colors and patterns are endless - we can match any wedding or party decor imaginable.

For the Event Planners Dinner, we made cupcake wrappers from Envelopments black damask card stock, decorated them with fuchsia flowers and added rhinestones for a little sparkle. Creations by Gale baked the delicious chocolate mocha, carrot, and vanilla cupcakes for us and they were a big hit. By the time we remembered to take a photo of the cupcakes on a glass-tier display, they were almost gone!

Our New Save-the-Dates

2010-11-10T12:00:00.005-05:00

Many engaged couples want to send a photo along with their save-the-date information. I personally love to see a photo on a save-the-date, since sometimes we don't know the fiances of our out-of-state nieces and nephews and we get to "meet" them for the first time.

So we are always playing with new and different formats for save-the-dates. Here's the newest one and it is getting great reviews. These save-the-dates will stand up vertically or horizontally, but we've also figured out how to fold them so they can be mailed in a regular envelope.

Haute Papier - Buy 4, Get 1 Free

2010-11-03T11:59:00.004-04:00

Here's a great offer from Haute Papier, but you have to act quickly - it ends on November 8th. Haute Papier is celebrating their 4th Birthday with a Buy 4, Get 1 Free offer on their popular silk boxes of letterpressed, personalized stationery. And the best is that they are the only company we work with who will let you personalize the cards in the 100-card Grand Box 4 different ways, so you can order some for each person and some as Mr. and Mrs. It's a request we get often from our customers and they have responded to it. And the silk box beautifully packages the stationery for gift-giving.

This offer is worth a $60 -$100 discount, so who on your holiday list could use some fine stationery? A handwritten note on fine stationery makes such a difference - there's no way to make a better impression on someone than to take the time to write them a personal note.

Pop-Up Invitations

2010-11-02T16:04:00.005-04:00

Everyone has seen the pop-up, 3-dimensional greeting cards, but did you know that you can have an invitation made as a pop-up card? We've been working with a company who can take our artwork or photographs and turn them into full-color cards with lasercut pop-ups, and they are fabulous show stoppers!

The Philadelphia skyline invitation is our most recent - created for the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Founder's Breakfast in Philadelphia next week. Every year they want a great invitation to turn out 100s of people to a sellout breakfast at 6:00 a.m. and we think this one had major Wow factor.

Pricing depends on the complexity of the artwork and the number of lasercut layers: cards shown here would range from about $1000/100 cards to $1500/100 cards + design fee.

Stop in and look at the whole collection of pop-ups we've done.

Signature Drinks

2010-11-01T11:43:00.003-04:00

At many wedding receptions, brides and grooms are serving a signature drink - it might be their favorite cocktail, or a local specialty like Southsides, or it might be a drink chosen for its color. A tray of drinks in the wedding color or colors offered to guests as they arrive at the reception can playfully set the theme at the beginning of the party.

We have a new book in the store, Signature Drinks, that has recipes for cocktails in every color you can imagine. Traditional Bellinis are made with pureed white peaches and prosecco, but the photo shows that they can be made in every color with other fruits and prosecco or champagne.

Here's the recipe for a Bellini that would be popular at the holidays:

Poinsettia Bellini

Mix fresh crushed cranberries with simple syrup and let them infuse for at least 1-2 days.

In a 1 pint glass, mix:

2-3 cranberries from cran-syrup mixture

1/2 oz. of the cranberry-infused simple syrup

1/2 oz. Orange Cognac

1 fresh-squeezed orange wedge

Muddle until contents are mixed. Fill glass with a brut champagne. For a sweeter drink, add Cointreau.

Wedding Planners Dinner

2010-10-20T12:56:00.009-04:00

Top: the planners from Celebrations Unlimited

Bottom: Tina Murphy from University of Maryland; Andrew Zill from Feats, Inc.; Heidi and Zozzie from Innovative Party Planners; Anne Berman from Anne Berman Events

A few weeks ago, The Pleasure of Your Company hosted a dinner for all the wedding and event planners in Baltimore. We've brought so many new things into the store for weddings and parties of all kinds and we wanted to show them off. Over the next few posts, we'll share all the new goodies with you.

If you have a wedding or other event coming up in 2011, we hope you engage one of these wonderful planners to help you - they always know the newest and the best and their talents and services make it a stress-free day for you.

Happy Pennants

2010-10-14T11:46:00.004-04:00

When you see a string of pennants flying, it always brings to mind one of two things: a car dealership, or someone is celebrating something. Pennants are showing up more and more at all kinds of parties - not just casual birthday parties, but also at Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties and wedding receptions. They are fun and colorful and their movement lends light and airy energy to the fete.

We recently added a pennant die to our die collection and found a new way of using it - each triangle is a "placecard" with the guests' table assignment. You can string the pennant outside between trees, or criss cross it on a wall inside. The names are easy to read from 8'-10' away. It's a fun way of displaying your table assignments and costs about the same as traditional calligraphed placecards.

Holiday Twist Cards

2010-10-13T11:31:00.006-04:00

Envelopments has put a new twist on holiday cards! Their design team never runs out of creative ideas and they developed a new format in two sizes - printed panels or photographs can be mounted on two sides and the card "twists" to show both panels.

The new format will be available through December 17th, but we hope they keep it available for save the dates in 2011. So many brides want a save the date that incorporates a photograph and these are perfect and they stand up well for display.

Vintage Brooch and Button Bouquets

2010-10-11T16:12:00.007-04:00

When a bride tells us about something different she is doing for her wedding, we are curious and often go on the internet and see if we can find a picture of her idea. Last week a bride mentioned that she is carrying a bouquet full of her grandmother's collection of vintage brooches. Sounds wonderful and very sentimental and we found a couple photos of how vintage items can be incorporated into a striking bouquet for something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

Photos: Brooch Bouquet - Flourish Designs; Vintage Button Bouquet with Reclaimed Leather - Lil Fish Studios

Creative Table Numbers

2010-10-10T12:18:00.004-04:00

Many of our clients think beyond traditional numerals and do something creative to designate the tables at their receptions. We often name the tables for significant places the bride and groom have known growing up - towns, schools, vacation spots - or the places they have traveled to. At the Peabody Library, we've done the tables with book names.

We love what this bride did - she numbered the tables, but they were numbers that pertained to fun facts about Baltimore. Each table also had a card with all the fun facts listed on it for the guests to share.

Table number frames are available for rental at The Pleasure of Your Company in several colors and shapes - $2.00 each with our numerals already in them. Or you can, for an additional set up charge, create your own fun table names.

Good News on the Holiday Sale!

2010-10-04T10:32:00.000-04:00

Crane and William Arthur have extended their holiday card sale. Holiday cards, invitations and photocards from the Crane and William Arthur albums will continue to be 20% off through October 15th.
All other holiday albums are still on sale at 10% off through the end of October.

Random Number for Drawing

2010-09-22T10:18:00.004-04:00

Don't forget to sign up for The Pleasure of Your Company's emailed newsletter. It's the only way you'll learn the details of all the specials and sales that we are offering and our vendors are offering. Right now, we have the 20% personalized holiday cards, photocards and invitations sale, an offer from William Arthur for 25 free wedding invitations, and a gift certificate offer for up to $50 from Crane's to be used on your next Crane purchase, and a bunch of other offers.
And we'll enter your email address into a monthly drawing for a basket of products from The Pleasure of Your Company, value $70-80, and they are always something fresh and new that we've just started carrying.
To pick the monthly winner, we found a great new website, http://www.random.org/. We enter in the number of email addresses on our list and it randomly chooses the number of the winner's place on our list. It's a fun site with lots of apps.

We love Smock!

2010-09-17T14:19:00.006-04:00

It is a joy to work with companies like Smock Paper. We are big fans of letterpress at The Pleasure of Your Company and this small, boutique company in Syracuse, NY, is at the top of their game with the historic art of letterpressing on antique cast-iron presses. And the best thing is that they are environmentally responsible printers and try in every way to have an eco-friendly company and product. Smock prints their beautiful designs on bamboo paper - a fast growing, sustainable and renewable resource that is grown without the use of pesticides or fertilizer. You can read more on their website about their environmental initiatives and programs.

At The Pleasure of Your Company, we have the largest selection of letterpress invitations in the Baltimore area - albums from many fine companies like Julie Holcomb, Smock, Elum, Copper Willow, Dauphine, Elizabeth and Homer, Oblations, Peculiar Pair Press, Real Card Studio, and others. If letterpress is your passion, too, stop by and find the invitation you love.

Placecards

2010-09-10T15:24:00.003-04:00

If you are ordering special placecards for your wedding, add in an extra 25 or even 50. They won't be very expensive and you can use them throughout the reception - for welcome bag tags, for little signs and notes - and everything will stay coordinated.

Image from Dog n' Bird Artful Wedding

September Email List Drawing

2010-09-03T10:27:00.003-04:00

Every month we draw the email address and name of one of our customers who has signed up to receive The Pleasure of Your Company's enewsletters and they win a great prize. Congratulations to Linda Brown - winner of the August drawing and a basket of Lilly Pulitzer stationery, napkins and photo album!

We have a new basket for the September drawing and it's a wonderful selection of merchandise from Anna Griffin: spiral notebook, lunch tote, pencil case and boxed thank you notes. A little bit of a back-to-school look, but everything would work equally well for an off-to-work ensemble or for the person who is heading out for a day of meetings and volunteering. The value of September's prize is $75.00.

Good luck - hope you win!

Wedding Sale from William Arthur!

2010-08-16T12:02:00.006-04:00

Buy at least 75 wedding invitations from William Arthur or Vera Wang and get an additional 25 free!

For Fall 2010 brides who have waited until now to order invitations (better do something quick!) and for Spring 2011 brides, this is a great way to save a bundle on your wedding invitations. The sale runs now until November 1st and includes invitations from William Arthur Vols. I & II, Special Occasions, Vera Vang Weddings, and Vera Wang Celebrations - thermography, engraved, letterpress.

Come in and see the albums - lots of great choices for every bride and every budget.

New Colors for Fall

2010-08-04T10:18:00.006-04:00

Pantone is best known as the supplier of the Pantone Matching System - a tool for matching colors and communicating colors. A customer in Baltimore can pick a color - PMS 285 - for an invitation and a printer in California will print in exactly that color.

They also watch trends in colors and forecast what will be popular in fashion, textiles, and home furnishings. Nothing says "60s," "80s," or "modern" more than the colors associated with that period of time. If you are interested, here is the fall forecast of the top 10 colors, along with pages of clothing interpreted in those colors by top designers.

http://www.pantone.com/images/pages/20710/2010-02/index.html

Thank You, Baltimore Magazine!

2010-07-21T17:29:00.006-04:00

Thank you, Baltimore Magazine, for naming The Pleasure of Your Company Baltimore's Best Stationery 2010! We are thrilled and very honored to be chosen.
This year's Baltimore's Best is a great issue - it will be read cover to cover several times and we'll see you at the Baltimore's Best party in August.

Off to College!

2010-07-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

It's almost that exciting and apprehensive, happy and sad, proud and teary time of year to pack kids off to college. Take a picture of the whole family and send it in this frame that shows you are all there watching over them.

We have the frames ready-made in the store for purchase or they can be special-ordered in school colors. $50.00, add $4.00 shipping for special orders.

Wedding Cake Boxes

2010-07-17T08:00:00.003-04:00

Everyone needs a way to gather cards and envelopes at a wedding or a Bat Mitzvah. Our cakes are made of three fabric-covered boxes, all with removable lids. The bottom box has an opening for guests to slide their cards into. After the wedding or party, all your mementos can be stored in the boxes - invitations, programs, extra photos, shoes, favors, toasting flutes, unity candles, menus, and so on.

Usually, we are asked for boxes covered in white or ecru fabric, but a recent bride supplied her own chocolate and turquoise fabrics to match her wedding and we made the cake in the photo. She loved it!

We always have a few of the three box cakes with flowers in stock - they are $100.00. Custom cakes are the same price and take about 10 days for delivery.

Our New Baltimore Items

2010-07-16T10:00:00.003-04:00

A couple new items just arrived for our expanding Baltimore and Maryland gift section!

Etchings of Baltimore landmarks from the Inner Harbor through Fell's Point surround these all-purpose wine glasses. The black and white tea towels have every important Baltmore landmark on them. And our new napkin gift boxes have 50 napkins with the saying "The great thing about living in Baltimore is that if I don't know what I'm doing, someone else always does" and 50 napkins with our new Baltimore skyline artwork. Exclusively at The Pleasure of Your Company!

Buckets of Fun

2010-07-15T14:01:00.005-04:00

We love our new summer buckets! The Towels bucket is perfect filled with rolled beach towels, ready to take out to the pool or beach, or filled with fresh white towels in the corner of a guest bath.
The red crab bucket is the perfect size for everything from flip flops, toys, bath supplies, books and magazines. Or you be more literal and use it to carry crab mallets and knives to the table and the crab shells and pickings away.
We have a good selection of buckets in the store, or you can choose your patterns, colors and special order a personalized bucket. Prices range from $50.00-$90.00.

Happy Summer!

2010-07-13T08:20:00.002-04:00

This has nothing to do with stationery, invitations, or The Pleasure of Your Company. It's just pure fun showing what a long ride downy oshun Route 50 could be.

Calling Cards

2010-06-26T10:32:00.002-04:00

New uses for an old tradition! In the 1800’s and early 1900’s, a person could of course not pick up the phone, email, text, or post something on Facebook and keep up with their friends and acquaintances. What they did have available were calling cards to request or announce a visit, and a very elaborate set of rules and rituals surrounding their use. This post on the Gentlemen’s Use of Calling Cards is amusing – it describes the subtle ways a calling card could be used to start a friendship, request a visit, brush off a friendship, express congratulations, condolences, or let people know you were leaving on a long trip. The traditional small card engraved only with a name is rarely seen today – we use them to send with a gift and to enclose with a graduation announcement and that’s about it.
In today’s world, we have new and not necessarily improved ways to communicate, but calling cards still have a useful place. Far from a rigid set of rules, you can design a calling card or maybe two different ones to give out exactly the information you want a group of people to have. And freed from the socially correct choice of only engraved black ink on an ecru card, you can choose from many paper colors, ink colors and motifs. Being creative and distinctive is the way to go with your calling cards.

You can do a purely social card with your home address, home and cell phone numbers and email address. My husband and I have cards like this that also have our work phone number them - we give them to people who need to know all the different ways they could contact us.

Some of our customers have a social calling card with their Maryland address and contact info on one side and their summer/winter address and contact info on the other side. We've done cute motifs to differentiate the two homes - one side with a compass pointing north, and one side pointing south, or a crab on the Maryland side and a seashell on the Florida side. And see the Marcus Buchanan card below - we have skylines and landmarks available for many cities, including Baltimore.

A new twist is a calling card with snail mail info on the one side with the phone numbers, and on the other side, email, Twitter, blog, Facebook and website info.

And, one of my all time favorites is a young child's calling card with their name and "have your people call my people" next to their phone number, which they can give out to set up their playdates.

Sign Up for the Monthly Drawing

2010-06-21T15:06:00.006-04:00

We love to keep in touch with our customers, and we've decided that email is a more efficient way to do it than the postcards we've sent for years. News can be completely up-to-date - no weeks-long printing and then trying to figure out when to mail so you'll get it at the best time. And most people's email follows them when they move - no postcards coming back to us.

We promise not to bug you - we'll just be sending out a short newsletter once in awhile when we really have something good to say, like sales, special offers and deals.

So to entice you to help us make the switch, we'll be drawing a customer's name (actually, email address!) for a prize once a month. This month we're starting with a great leather 2011 desk diary by Graphic Image. It's similar to the photo, but red leather with 2011 embossed. Graphic Image used to manufacture the popular MomAgendas, and this agenda is laid out like those, just not so Mom oriented. It's a $68.00 diary.

To enter this month's drawing, sign up in the store, or sign up using the form on the right hand column of this page.

Hotel Welcome Bags

2010-06-20T09:31:00.007-04:00

Hotel Welcome Bags - they seem to either be expensive to put together or, if you cut corners, they look cheap. So we were on a mission: to create a great hotel welcome bag, with personal message and filled with Maryland goodies, for $10.00. And we did it!

What we like most are the bag tags that we designed. You have a choice of 6 designs or the Baltimore skyline, and your choice of the color of the backing card on the tag. We print your message on the face of the tag - you can write a personal welcome to your guests, print transportation information for the weekend, print an invitation to the Sunday Brunch or whatever else you want.

The bags are glossy white cub-size totes, with your choice of 8 colors of tissue, and your choice of 10 colors of tulle ribbons. The bags, tag, tissue and ribbons are $3.50 each, with a $15.00 one-time set up charge for the message. The only other extra is a $20.00 art charge if you choose to use the Baltimore skyline artwork drawn by our great calligrapher, Karen Schoelkopf.

We are partnering with the Nut Farm at Green Spring Station to fill the bags. They have a menu of Utz's Crab-flavored potato chips, Berger's cookies, Otterbein's mini-cookies, caramel popcorn, and other treats, and you can get a nice snack assortment for $6.50.

And if you need the service, assembly and delivery to hotels is also available.

Changes, Changes

2010-06-19T15:20:00.012-04:00

We just found out that our popular line of personalized frames from Marye-Kelley is going to go up in price a little on July 15th. The frames are now $47.00, which includes personalization and shipping, and they will be $50.00. So between now and July 15th, take advantage of the lower price for back to school frames and holiday gifts.

And we are sorry to say that Coton Colors will not be offering their personalized ceramic plates and platters after August 1st. They will still be making ceramicware, but not offering personalization. We've done some great looking orders for customers, including a group of Ravens football chip and dips last year. So if there's anything you want to order, we have about 5 weeks to get the order in before they are gone forever.

Summer Color

2010-06-18T16:09:00.006-04:00

For an instant summer makeover, add a couple of these colorful pillows to your decor. They work well together as pairs or a grouping. We like the oblong flock of birds pillow layered in front of the cat pillow and the oblong fish pillow layered in front of the dragonfly and the butterfly pillows. Pillows are made from natural fibers, hand-appliqued, and have embroidered accents. $32.00 small, $42.00 large.

Joseph Joseph Index Cutting Boards

2010-06-16T12:21:00.007-04:00

Joseph Joseph has done it again. Last year they came out with their innovative set of 8 nesting bowls and measuring cups - colorful, compact, fun, and great for small galley kitchens, student apartments, boats and other tight spaces.

Their newest set, the Index Chopping Boards with Knives, is another award-winning kitchen product. The storage case holds 4 color-coded chopping boards - one for fish, one for raw meat, one for vegetables, one for cooked food. 4 color-coded knives of differing shapes and sizes come with the set - so you can safely handle the different foods with no worries about cross-contamination. Great for compact kitchens and tight spaces and it's stylish enough to accessorize your kitchen counter.

Dishwasher safe. Available online.

Happy Graduation - Class of 2010!

2010-06-12T12:20:00.004-04:00

Green Spring Station has been full of young women in white dresses and young men in coats and ties, coming for lunch to celebrate after a very special morning. Congratulations to all of you who have successfully finished a chapter and have so many more to look forward to.

Sayings are on greeting cards from the Quotables line.

The Fart Fairy is here!

2010-06-06T07:16:00.007-04:00

The Fart Fairy – the long-awaited, much-anticipated fourth book in Bobbie Hinman’s fairy series arrived in the store yesterday! In this story, the mischievous fairy, accompanied by his pet skunk, Stinky, takes responsibility for the sounds and odors of every day life. “I just heard a funny sound, did you hear it, too? I think a fairy made that sound. It couldn’t have been you!”
Her previous books, which all include a CD recording, are wonderful for kids ages 4-7. The Knot Fairy visits children while they sleep and is responsible for the knots in their hair. The Sock Fairy is responsible for lost and mismatched socks, and holes in toes. The Belly Button Fairy makes sure that every child has a belly button and that it’s right in the middle of their tummy.
Author Bobbie Hinman lives in Bel Air and visits the store once a year for a book signing – we’ll let you know when she’s coming again.
All books are $15.95. Mention you saw it on our Facebook page or Twitter and you’ll get $2.00 off your copy! Click on the book title to purchase online.

Oh So True, Hon!

2010-06-04T10:20:00.003-04:00

A best seller at the store are these Smalltimore cocktail napkins with the message: "The great thing about living in Baltimore is that if I don't know what I am doing, someone else always does." Available in many summer colors. $8.00 pack of 20

New USPS Butterfly Stamps

2010-05-31T08:50:00.008-04:00

Our customers like square greeting cards - something about the symmetry of a square makes artwork look very appealing. But the US Postal Service considers square envelopes as "non-machinable" mail and charges a surcharge in postage, and if you send a card without the extra postage, it will come back to you in the mail. Frustrating.
The recent issue of the first USPS Butterfly stamp helps tremendously. Card manufacturers can print a silhouette of a butterfly on their envelopes, and it will alert the customer that this card requires extra postage and they can ask for "the butterfly stamp" at the post office. The postage is currently $.64. If the postage goes up, a different butterfly stamp with the correct amount of postage for a square card will be issued.
At The Pleasure of Your Company, if you buy a square card, no need for a special trip to the post office - we sell the $.64 stamps at the register. Just ask for the butterfly!

Have Fun at the Beach!

2010-05-30T09:46:00.004-04:00

School's out for many, pools are open and it's a beautiful day for the beach. Happy 3-day weekend!

Bungalow Scout Pocket Rocket checklist: towels, drinks and snacks, flip flops, sunglasses, sunblock and lotion, paperbacks and magazines, cellphone, playing cards, lip balm, coverup, hat - it will hold more - what did we forget?

Photo credit: kir.blog.com

They're Back!

2010-05-28T10:00:00.000-04:00

The Green Spring Station Farmer's Market returned for a second season beginning May 22nd through November. The market will set up on Saturdays from 2-5 p.m. on the north parking lot at Green Spring Station (Stone Mill Bakery side of GSS).

Farms:

Albright Farm, Cedarhill Farm, Foggy Hill Farm, Hillside Meadow Farm, Maison Nord Natural Farm, Pahl's Farm, Stoecker Farm, Tuckey's Mountain Grown Farm

Baked Goods:

Dangerously Delicious Pies, Quite a Stir, Scotty's Goody's, The Revolutionary Confection Co.

Specialty Goods:

Acer Landscaping and Nursery, Bees by the Bay, Chesapeake Bay Old Style Sauce Co., K.C.'s Cuisine, Lisa Anne's Toffee Apples and Sweets, Radebaugh's Florist, Savory Soups, Shorty's Underground Ribs, Two Oceans, True Foods, The Nut Farm & Creamery, You and Me Soaps, Parfections (On-site opening day and then each Saturday September 18 - November 22)

Come early - the good stuff flies out of the market!

No More Mixed up Laptops

2010-05-27T11:55:00.005-04:00

At the store, we all work on the same brand and model of laptop. And I'm sure that many families bought a couple of the same laptops and groups of students all share the same brand. It was easy to get them mixed up. No more.

We can personalize our laptops with laptop skins - wipeable, protective, removable vinyl skins. They are available in different colors, with artwork and with quotes like the Curly Girl quote pictured here - great designs for every member of the family and every age group. No more turning laptops over to see which one has your "purple X" on it - you know which is yours at a glance. $22.50.

Our first order sold fast, before we got them up on the website for sale - when the next order gets here in a week or two, we'll have them online.

Wedding Inspiration

2010-05-26T11:07:00.011-04:00

Love the inspiration boards on Snippet and Ink - love how Kathryn pulls colors and looks together and creates a theme for a wedding. We've always wanted to be able to do that at The Pleasure of Your Company - to go beyond the save-the-dates, the invitations, the wedding programs, menus and placecards and help our brides create weddings with a signature look and many special touches.

At the National Stationery Show, one of our goals was to find sources for party and reception accessories and through sources at the show and networking with other store owners across the country, I think we've done it. It will take all summer for everything to come in and for us to pull it all together, but when we are there we will have literally hundreds of choices in papers - solids, patterns and die cut shapes - and coordinating paper lanterns, paper flowers, pennants, tags, labels, bags, favors, menu pockets, table numbers, placecards, ribbons, parasols, fans, luminaries, rice paper decorations, cocktail picks, cupcake wrappers and stands, vinyl monograms and banners, and on and on.

Are we excited? You better believe we are!

Photo credits for these wonderful inspiration boards:

Snippet and Ink board #480

Snippet and Ink board #477

Great Grad Gifts

2010-05-26T10:09:00.006-04:00

Need a gift for your favorite 2010 grad? Every grad can use a frame for a picture of all their peeps on graduation day. We have decoupage frames in stock for many of the local schools or you can personalize a frame with any school name and colors. $47.00, includes personalization and shipping.

Thank you, Mary-Kay

2010-05-21T16:37:00.005-04:00

In a perfect world, customers come in with plenty of time to spare in getting their invitations and stationery on time and they never have any trouble getting approval from everyone and taking proofs off hold and moving orders forward. In the real world, we work every day with far less time than we really need on many orders, and we are on the phone begging and bribing (we'll send Berger's cookies!) our suppliers for favors for our customers.
When we need to get something from Crane in a hurry, you've heard us say that we have someone at Crane we can call for a favor, and she'll pull off small miracles. This is Mary-Kay, Crane's Customer Service Manager, in Crane's booth at the National Stationery Show. I can't tell you how many of you have gotten your holiday cards, party invitations, wedding invitations, wedding programs, and menu cards on time - and just in the nick of time - because Mary-Kay took the order under her capable wing and walked it through Crane and made sure it left the building. She is a wonderful one-of-a-kind, and thank you, Mary-Kay!

2010-05-19T11:27:00.003-04:00

I was delighted to be invited to a luncheon on Monday, hosted by Crane, with special guest Darcy Miller, "Paper Passionista" and Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Weddings. Darcy shared her thoughts on how brides are describing the weddings they are planning for 2010-2011. Some new descriptive words are popping up:

Light and Airy

Romantic and Passionate

Playful, Witty, and Fun

Colorful

Thoughtful

Artisanal

As I walked the Stationery Show with these words in mind, I started to see how we could carry these descriptive words into stationery and invitation design and I really, really like the result. We picked up invitations by new designers that are light and airy, and colorful, and invitations from new designers who have designed timeless invitations with a touch of whimsy and playfulness. In a year when many stores are complaining that there isn't much fresh and new out there, I don't think The Pleasure of Your Company will have that problem.

A Paris State of Mind

2010-05-18T18:31:00.002-04:00

Found this new greeting card and what a wonderful sentiment. The Gertrude Stein quote inside says, "America is my country and Paris is my hometown."

A Sure Sign of Summer

2010-05-14T16:52:00.001-04:00

What says "summer party" more than strings of party lanterns outdoors? These paper lanterns are from the Jonathan Adler collection and they've been really popular at the store.

Here's a tip we learned for getting paper lanterns to stretch out to a full round sphere:

Hang the lantern and then insert a full (unopened!) can of soda sideways in the bottom hole, so the weight of the can pulls the lantern taut. Then, very, very, very lightly mist the lantern with a spray bottle of water. Don't wet it - you just want to very slightly dampen it. When the lantern dries, it will be permanently round and wrinkle-free.

Dishing Up Maryland

2010-05-13T15:08:00.006-04:00

We are huge fans of Lucie Snodgrass, and her wonderful book Dishing Up Maryland and her support of local Maryland agriculture. Why?

If we enjoy the beauty of the open land, the farms, the orchards, and the pastures that we pass by in the counties, we have to support the efforts of the farmers and producers who make their living off the land. If they don't have a market for their products, they can't keep the land and it will become just one more developed area.

It's "green" and it supports our local economy when we buy more food locally that isn't traveling by truck or plane from a long distance.

Food that is grown to be marketed locally tastes better and is more nutritious. It can be picked when ripe and farmers grow varieties more for taste than for ship-ability. Who, besides me, thinks that tomatoes and peaches and strawberries tasted better when we were kids than they do now? The varieties of produce grown for shipment all over the country are developed to last for weeks and bounce around in a trailer over the interstate and be the perfect size and color - good taste and good nutrition are not the priority.

So let's jump in and encourage her to keep spreading the word about good, local Maryland food.

Check out her video. The book is available at the store or for purchase online.

Bawlamer on the Map

2010-05-12T15:26:00.007-04:00

We love the great line of state and city pillows from CatStudio and we've been pestering them for a couple years to add a Baltimore pillow. Finally, it's on the drawing board and they've asked us to help them gather a list of 30-35 local landmarks to include on the pillow. First, should they name it: Baltimore, Bawlamer, or Welcome to Bawlamer, Hon!?

Here are our ideas for what they could include. Our list is too long and we probably missed something really obvious. We welcome your feedback on what we missed, what should come off the list and maybe how a name should be tweaked. Some places would be on the pillow as names; some places and ideas would show up as small drawings.

Inner Harbor, National Aquarium, Harborplace, Maryland Science Center, AVAM, Power Plant, Ft. McHenry and a flag, Camden Yards, M&T Bank Ravens Stadium, Washington Monument, Mt. Vernon Place, The Shot Tower, BMA, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, Hampden, the Avenue at Christmas, a "Hon" beehive, blue crab, steamed crabs, Natty Bo beer, Old Bay seasoning, Berger's cookies, the JFX, Charles Street, rowhouses and marble steps, the Maryland Zoo, Babe Ruth museum, a raven, a Baltimore Oriole (the bird), Edgar Allen Poe, the USS Constellation, a sign pointing "Downy Oshun", "ain't the beer cold!," the Walter's Art Museum, Fell's Point, B&O Railroad, a lacrosse stick, the Basilica. Pimlico racetrack and The Preakness, Lexington Market, Domino Sugar sign, Bromo Selzter tower, Bethlehem Steel plants, Little Italy, Haussner's (OK- RIP, but what a landmark it was), Charm City.

So please weigh in with your suggestions and we have a nice contest on Facebook for our fans who comment on the pillow.

The Maryland pillow shown above is available in the store or for purchase online.

Plum on The Runway

2010-04-22T09:06:00.007-04:00

Our little Springer, Plum, still comes to work with us every day. She is the Social Director of Green Spring Station and on her walks, she greets and catches up with as many people as possible. In fact, one man, observing how many women came over to say hi to Plum, told us that "she's met more women in five minutes than I've met in a year" and offered to take her on walks. On rainy days, she comes back soaked, and then of course, tries to cuddle up to someone. So, we were up in New York and I found the cutest little hooded raincoats for dogs, with appliqued pink crabs on the back, and little pouches where the raincoat can be folded to a small size, and I got one for Plum and some for the store. We tried it on Plum, and this photo was snapped in a very momentary pause before our little tomboy resumed bucking, kicking, twirling and somersaulting to "get this thing off of me!" So while Plum is looking for the gift certificate to return hers and get some new toys instead, we do have them at the store for dogs who don't prefer the drowned rat look.

Founding Fathers Find New Fans

2010-04-08T11:56:00.007-04:00

Quick: what are the first 10 amendments of the United States Constitution called?

Maybe you haven't brushed up on American political history for awhile, but many of your graduating seniors know it's The Bill of Rights.

We have a palm-sized leather bound version of The Constitution that would be a perfect gift for History, American Studies, Political Science and Law graduates. The book contains the whole Constitution, along with The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation and other documents which give insight into the thoughts of our founding fathers.

The book is $22.00, and the cover can be personalized with your graduate's name for an additional $10.00.

Super Quick & Easy Dinners

2010-04-07T10:12:00.008-04:00

Standing in line at the grocery store, I look at the covers of magazines in the rack and there's usually one with an article on "Dinner in 30 Minutes!" That's 20 minutes more than I have to get something started, so I'm always on the lookout for quick, easy, yet very tasty, shortcuts. And I've found a whole bunch of them - the Stonewall Kitchen sauces carried at The Nut Farm here at Green Spring Station.

Current favorite - Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce. Take two 1 lb. pork tenderloins, put them in a zip-lock bag and add a half a bottle of Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce. Squish around to distribute the marinade and refrigerate for the day. That takes about 1 minute. In the evening, bake in a 375 oven - I use a temperature probe to tell when they are cooked to the right temperature. But they cook fast and you have to be careful not to overcook. Serve with more of the sauce - so good!

The Stonewall Kitchen website has another recipe for this sauce that I'll try - nothing better than caramelized onions to dress up a hamburger or steak.

Caramelized Onions with Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
2 large Vidalia onions,(or other sweet onions) thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Stonewall Kitchen Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce

Directions
1. Melt butter in a large skillet.
2. Add onions and cook covered until the onions have softened.
3. Mix in the Stonewall Kitchen Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce.
4. Cook with cover off until the onions are dark brown.

If all their sauces are this good, are there are many, many of them, we'll eat well all summer!

What Gets Us Really Excited?

2010-04-06T10:39:00.010-04:00

We are paper lovers, paper connoisseurs, and paper snobs. When we know our favorite paper suppliers are releasing new patterns and colors, we pester our UPS driver to come early so we can see if the boxes of new samples are here yet.

This year, it was well worth the wait! The Envelopments new release, the biggest one they've ever done, has major WOW factor. Luscious new colors in exactly the pallette that our brides want - yellows, grays, purple, plum and aubergine, black and white, spring greens, berry reds, intense greens, neutral khakis. And the new patterned papers will be equally popular.

And we are excited, too, to expand the printing processes offered on Envelopments. Wonderful local letterpresser Gilah Press has tested the Envelopments metallic-finish stock and can letterpress it with clean, crisp impressions - might sound easy, but we've never found anyone before who could deliver this kind of printing quality on metallic paper.

So stop by and see, touch, and play with all the new papers.

We Don't Sell Chocolate, or Do We?

2010-04-01T13:32:00.004-04:00

We were in NY at a gift show, having lunch with a group of stationery store owners from across the country, and a couple of the women were raving about the Bellagio Sipping Chocolate they sampled in Bellagio's booth. Well, we don't sell chocolate at The Pleasure of Your Company, but we noted the booth number to stop by and see what they were gushing about.
One sip of this deliciously decadent chocolate, and The Pleasure of Your Company added a new category of merchandise! We had to have it for ourselves, so we've brought Sipping Chocolate and Bellagio Unsweetened Cocoa in to the store.
Here's their recipe for Dark Chocolate Cupcakes, which are absolutely amazing:

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
8 T unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 C Bellagio Unsweetened Cocoa
3/4 C all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 large eggs
3/4 C sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t salt
1/2 C sour cream

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan with cupcake liners. Combine butter, chocolate and Bellagio Unsweetened Cocoa in heatproof bowl. Set bowl over simmering water until completely melted, then whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine. Whisk in eggs, then add sugar, vanilla, and salt until incorporated. Whisk in 1/3 C flour mixture over cooled chocolate mixture until combined. Add sour cream, and remaining flour mixture until fully incorporated.
Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake 18-20 minutes. Set muffin pan on wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Once cooled, remove from muffin pan and frost with icing.

The Bellagio recipe booklet available in the store has a recipe for chocolate frosting, for double decadence.

Wedding Day Cover Up

2010-03-07T11:41:00.002-05:00

They call it a honeymoon pajama top, but we think we have a better idea for wearing this pretty shirt. With buttons all way down the front, V neckline, and ruffled sleeves, it’s perfect for wearing over jeans on your wedding day while you sit for hair and make-up. Focus on the word “Bride” embroidered in blue over the pocket and you have a great photo of the bride getting ready.
Available in small and medium sizes, $48.00

We're Full of Surprises!

2010-02-18T12:05:00.005-05:00

It's fun to walk into a party with a bouquet of flowers or balloons, but we found something we like even better. This 33" Grande Cornucopia will bring a smile to everyone who sees it coming. It's full of surprises for anyone young at heart - a crown, confetti popper, bubbles, sparklers, fortune candle and cookies, games and vintage style toys, Cracker Jacks and even a $2 bill. Each little gift is individually wrapped and a surprise ball is full of little favors. The Grande Cornucopia is $38.00 and comes in a smaller size for $18.00. One other thing we love about it - it's made in America.

Celebrate with Good Wishes

2010-02-18T11:08:00.004-05:00

ECO FRIENDLY. CHEMICAL FREE. RECYCLED & RECYCLABLE. MADE IN AMERICA.

Cardboard Design’s Wish Tree is “a new tradition at the White House,” according to Mrs. Obama. First Daughter Sasha tells us how it works: “It is made out of cardboard. And so you can write down a wish and you roll it up and then you can put it in one of the holes and it might come true.”

The Christmas tree at the White House held over 9000 wishes, a few more than most of our customers will want to gather. But Cardboard Design also makes Wish Hearts and a Wish Frame that hold from 24 to about 500 wishes. Just like at the White House, your own guests are invited to write their messages, memories and well-wishes on tiny slips of brightly colored paper, creating a stunning display that makes for not just a great conversation piece but a fabulous decoration to boot.

The Wish Frame is a unique alternative to the traditional wedding guestbook and to the tradition of having guests write wishes and put them in a fish bowl. Think what fun it would be to open and read one wish every month on your anniversary date. And the company assures us that the Wish Frame can be spray painted to match your wedding colors and we can cut wish papers in colors to match your invitations.

Check out their website for a really cool video of what it is and how it works: http://www.cardboardesign.com/cardboardSpeaks.php

More info on the White House Wish Tree from the pine street art works blog: http://seesaw.typepad.com/blog/2009/12/cardboard-wish-tree-at-the-white-house.html

Cardboard Designs are a truly special and poignant way to commemorate the most special occasions or celebrate everyday hopes and dreams. And, perhaps best of all, it’s totally green!
Wish Hearts in two sizes ($14.50 and $25.00) and the Wish Frames are available at The Pleasure of Your Company.

Go Away, Snow!

2010-02-18T08:33:00.002-05:00

A friend sent this to us. After a good laugh, we add our fervent "Amen" to the sentiment. It will be nice to start our sentences with something other than "weather permitting....."
If you have a free evening this weekend, think about having dinner at a local restaurant. Most of them have lost three weekends on top of bearing the huge costs of removing snow from their parking lots. They would love to see you!

Eeboo: New Stuff for Kids

2010-02-17T09:32:00.001-05:00

We picked out so many great new products for the gift section of our store at the NYC International Gift Fair a couple of weeks ago. Shipments are coming in daily, and we wanted to share some of our favorites with you. Just arrived is Eeboo, a cute line of educational tools for kids:

Good Manners Flashcards

Learning and teaching manners, politeness and responsibility has never been so fun and easy. These precious pigs are the perfect aid to help the little ones learn the nice thing to do in many situations. The flashcards are suggested for ages 3 and up, but we never think it’s too early to start teaching good manners!

Tell Me a Story Cards

Spend some quality unplugged time together with this fun pre-reading activity for young children and adults. Cards provide story prompts to inspire little ones’ imagination and exercise their creative skills. Instructions are included for a variety of games and activities.

Tell Me a Story Stickerpad

While building literacy skills, this pad includes 50 perforated pages and 96 stickers providing hours of imaginative wonder and fun for the young reader and for you.

And there's lots more from Eeboo, including matching games, foreign language flash cards and Respect the Earth cards that teach children to do just that. Eeboo passed its first customer test in the store. Right after we unpacked it, a customer let her 4-year-old granddaughter pick an item and she had so much trouble picking out just one, they bought two!

The Little Black Book of Wedding Vendors

2010-02-15T14:06:00.005-05:00

Style Me Pretty has always been one of our favorite blogs for wedding inspiration and resources. They really have the pulse of the brides who come into The Pleasure of Your Company - savvy, chic women with one eye on the traditional and classic and the other eye confidently on their own taste and choices and they put together amazing weddings.

So we are absolutely thrilled that Style Me Pretty has tapped The Pleasure of Your Company to be part of their exclusive Little Black Book of Wedding Vendors. A big thank you to Abby Larson and her staff - we are honored to be part of your community!

Bride's Choice Awards 2010

2010-02-05T13:27:00.001-05:00

Press Release
Lutherville, Maryland – February 05, 2010 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced The Pleasure of Your Company has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Invitations!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

The Pleasure of Your Company is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that The Pleasure of Your Company is among the very best Invitations within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at Wedding Wire

About WeddingWire, Inc.

WeddingWire is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding vendors. WeddingWire enables engaged couples to search, compare and book over 100,000 reviewed wedding vendors nationwide, from wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding vendors, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. In addition, WeddingWire has partnered with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) to provide its network of local vendors and online wedding-planning tools in the Weddings section of www.MarthaStewartWeddings.com. For additional information, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

Cocktails, of course!

2010-01-19T17:18:00.000-05:00

For thousands of years, people have been getting together for sips, snacks and stimulating conversation. With the advent of the "cocktail" people had a new reason to throw little get-togethers:

The first "cocktail party" ever thrown was allegedly by Mrs. Julius S. Walsh Jr. of St. Louis, Missouri, in May 1917. Mrs. Walsh invited 50 guests to her mansion at noon on a Sunday. The party lasted one hour, until lunch was served at 1pm. The site of the first cocktail party still stands.

And it still stands--doesn't that just make you want to don a great dress and invite some friends over for a few libations? Perhaps it might be to celebrate a special occasion such as a birthday, engagement or promotion, but sometimes it's fun to get together just because.

Our fab new glass cocktail serving sets that are perfect for celebrating the every day and still fancy enough for those special occasions!

Cocktail Shooters with Tray:
Great for dessert cocktails and aperitifs
$28.00

Flutes with Tray

$49.50

$54.00 Martini with Tray

Send Your Students off in Style

2009-08-01T11:54:00.002-04:00

Scout by Bungalow

Organization has never been this much fun!

These durable, washable Poly-woven storage bins and totes are the perfect storage solution for dorm, home or office--nearly indestructible and cute to boot! The line is available in a wide range of colors and sizes: The Mighta Bins, Coulda Bins and Shoulda Bins will keep everything in its right place--even in a tiny space.

Scout also offers a bevy of entertaining solutions. The Mini Party Trough is lined and can hold up to thirty pounds of ice and beverages--perfect for parties, tailgating, picnics, beach, patio and pool, sports and fishing gear and so much more! Unlike bulky coolers, these fold flat for easy storage when not in use. A big seller this year is the roomy Bagette bag with its handy companion, the Potluck insulated tote, ensuring easy transport of your culinary creations. Potluck keeps hot food hot and chilled dishes cold!

A wide selection of pieces is available at The Pleasure of Your Company. Prices range from $15.00 to $35.00
Look for this line to be available for purchase on our website this fall!
http://www.thepleasureofyourcompany.com/

Scout: Cool, Colorful & Collected

First Steps for Planning a Wedding

2009-04-20T15:17:00.000-04:00

To help you get started on a smooth and happy wedding planning process, here are some tips we’ve learned from working with brides:

1. Consider hiring a wedding consultant. A good wedding planner can help you avoid costly mistakes. They can help you establish priorities and make sure that you use your budget wisely and they can help you use your wedding planning time effectively by referring you only to vendors who will work within your style and budget. They will review all your contracts and point out omissions, discrepancies, and anything else that could lead to disappointment at your wedding. Many brides think that they don’t need a wedding planner since their venue or caterer supplies a coordinator, but there are two things to remember. First, a facility coordinator is not going to help you choose all your vendors – the florist, the photographer, etc. – nor will they help with the ceremony, arrangements for out-of-town guests, the rehearsal dinner, and all the other details of the wedding beyond the reception. And second, the coordinator works for the facility or the caterer, not you. A wedding planner works for you and will be making sure all your vendors perform well and give you everything you expect from them.

2. Come up with a realistic budget, set your priorities, and allocate money to those first. You might need a meeting of the families to decide what is most important to each person contributing to the wedding, and for everyone to commit to their part of the budget and be comfortable with it. Many conflicts that develop later between the families are money-related, so do everything you can to establish a comfort level and agreements at the beginning.

3. We think that brides should work on their guest list a lot earlier than most of them do. That means getting everyone – bride, groom, all parents – to jot down the names of the guests they want to invite. The number of guests at your wedding determines where you can have the ceremony and reception, and to a great extent, it determines your budget for the wedding. When people think about the cost of a guest, they immediately think of the caterer’s price for the reception meal, but here is a partial list of the other expenses per guest: invitations, programs, menu cards, calligraphy, postage, favors, bar expense, champagne toast, valet parking and other transportation, rentals of chair, napkins, china, flatware and glassware. For every 8-10 additional guests, rental of a table, table linens, centerpiece and pin lighting. Add 50 guests, and you need two more wait staff, one more bartender, and so on.

4. This goes along with #3 above – when you tell people you are engaged, don’t automatically start inviting them to the wedding. You may get a little into the planning process and see that you are going to have to get the guest list down. And if you verbally invite co-workers, neighbors, or gym friends and they later move out of your circle, you are in the awkward position of deciding whether to still invite them.

5. As you develop your plans, keep some things a surprise, even from your bridal party. A wedding has elements of great theater – you don’t want to know everything that is going to happen ahead of time. If you plan a carriage ride, fireworks, special entertainment, a touching moment, let all the guests be wowed by it, instead of expecting it.

6. And most of all, have fun with this very special time of your life. If you are finding yourself stressed, tired and wishing you had eloped, figure out why and do something about it. Cross some unimportant things off the list, hire someone to run errands for you, ask for help, or just back away from the planning for some non-wedding fun.

Photos: Gatsby gown by Matthew Christopher, cupcakes by The Baltimore Cupcake Company