"10 for 10" Promotion

We are excited to announce a new promotion we are having at our store that is for a GREAT cause and will help you save money at the same time! As many of you may already know, our store supports the local charity Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother program, which helps hundreds of needy families each year. They provide food, clothing, books and toys for them to have for Christmas, when they might have otherwise gone completely without.

Our local customers have always been very supportive of helping us help the Christmas Mother and we recently raised over $500 at our Holiday Open House in addition to many, many donations of food, toys and books.

We would like to continue to accept donations for this very worthy cause in our area throughout the entire holiday season and would like to encourage and reward our customers for donating items. Our new "10 for 10" promotion does just that!

To participate, simply bring in, any 10 items to donate to the Christmas Mother and you will receive 10% off your entire purchase that day...on everything, nothing is off limits, sale items, invitations, etc. You will get 10% off! Your 10 items can be canned/non-perishable food items, new children's toys or books or any combination of the three, just bring 10 things.

Stop by soon with your 10 items and get your "10 for 10" discount, while making a difference for others at the same time!

Scenes From Our Holiday Open House

We had a wonderful turnout for our Holiday Open House this past Saturday! There were many, many patient customers who waited in line for an hour for their great SWAG bags (more to come about what they found inside them). We raised over $500 for the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother Program and collected a large box overflowing with donated items such as canned food, new toys and new books for children. The 2009 Christmas Mother joined our event in the afternoon and thanked many customers for their generous donations.

Our customers enjoyed many sales, specials, yummy cake and the first look at our holiday cards and merchandise. If you missed out on all the fun, stop in soon to see our holiday items and pick out your unique holiday card for sending this year. We would like to sincerely thank all of the customers who came to our event as well as those who continue to come regularly and support our business with their efforts to shop locally!

Please leave us a comment here on our blog post if you attended our event to tell us what you enjoyed most about the event, what you liked in your SWAG bag or a great gift you purchased!

We do still have some great sales going on now!

All remaining Halloween merchandise is now 40% OFF!!

All custom printed and/or photo holiday card orders

are 15% off until October 31st!

Our lovely and delicious cake from "It's A Piece of Cake"

Scenes from some of our beautiful new holiday displays, before the customers in line got to them!

The many patient customers waiting in line in the cold for their SWAG bags!

Some of our associates with Gail Feind, The Christmas Mother for 2009

Customer Gwen Byer giving her donation to the Christmas Mother

REMINDER - Holiday Open House & Sale This Saturday!

Did you miss our big birthday bash? Shame on you, however, all of the patient folks who waited in line for their SWAG bags early that morning appreciate you missing it so they could get their bag. Well, you will soon have another opportunity to get in on the SWAG bags and get yours at our annual Holiday Open House on Saturday, October 17th from 10:00 - 6:00. We will have SWAG bags for the first 60 customers to arrive, FULL of more FREE merchandise, specials & coupons. All holiday cards and merchandise will be on sale. We'll have a sidewalk sale with discounts up to 60% off. We will be serving a beautiful holiday themed cake from It's A Piece of Cake too!

You can also start the giving season off right by helping others and save some money on your shopping at the same time! Bring in a donation at our Holiday Open House for the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother program (new toys, books, non-perishable food, or monetary donations) and you will receive 20% off your entire purchase that day, (excludes invitations & may not combined with any other sale) but that means whatever you want at 20% off regular price!!! We will continue to accept donations for the Christmas Mother throughout the season and offer other discounts when you bring in a donation, but we won't offer 20% off again, just at the Holiday Open House.

So, get here early to get your bag of goodies, bring a donation for the Christmas Mother, have some cake, pick out your holiday cards at a discount and start your holiday shopping off right! See you there!

"Cricket" Holiday 2009

We just finished unpacking our latest shipment from Snow & Graham and snapped this great photo of our new display. We have a store mannequin who we dress in different paper outfits all through the year and we affectionately named her "Cricket". We thought you might like to see her new outfit for the Holidays!

"Cricket" Holiday 2009

Must Have Labels from demby+soloman

Leave your personalized seal using these clever, funny and stylish return address labels and gift stickers on your mail and gifts! Available for ordering in our store now from demby+solomon and also seen in O Magazine. Visit our store to select your custom return address labels or gift stickers. You can get 24 gift stickers for only $22! What a deal! You can purchase 150 return address labels for only $40 and they will even let you split a set of return address labels of the same shape into two different designs for no extra charge, so get 75 for you and 75 for a friend! (Other quantities are available)

Plan ahead and purchase holiday labels for your cards and gift stickers to use when wrapping your presents this year. Many more designs to choose from in our store, you may also view the designs on their website too.

P.S. I almost forgot, these cool labels are also scratch and water resistant! How functional!

Party Sets from demby+soloman

Party Sets...what a novel idea! As a mother of a young child, I can tell you from personal experience how much I would love to have these for my child's next birthday party. Adorable invitations for boys and girls alike, as well as some sets perfect for baby showers, bridal showers and dinner parties. Choose the invitation you like, add the optional coordinating envelope liner, return address label, note card and gift sticker and you have the perfectly coordinated party set!

Who knew custom could be so affordable! Stop by soon to take a look at all that demby+solomon offers in our store. You can visit their website here to get a sneak preview of what you can now order on your next visit to The Cordial Cricket. We are proud to welcome the demby+solomon line of products to our paper boutique. Stay tuned for more blogging about their great personalized stickers, seen in O Magazine...

Welcoming Paper & Ink Designs

We are so thrilled to be partnering with another new vendor for some great new products, now available for purchase in our store. Paper & Ink Designs offers custom invitations, stationery, announcements, calling cards, lunchboxes, coasters, stickers, paperweights and more! All custom, with many modern and stylish designs to choose from. Take a peek below for just a small sampling of some of their great things. Stop in soon to place your orders, some for you and some to give. See a few samples of the personalized gifts and holiday cards below:

Check out these adorable and unique lunch and stuff boxes! They make a great gift for any kid you know who wants to have a lunchbox like no other, or even a little one to tote some of their toys, crayon, etc. when they are on the go! They also have a neat chalkboard for messages inside the cover. Available in many different personalized designs.

These personalized coasters, available in many different designs make a wonderful hostess gifts for all of the parties you'll be attending this year! Or the perfect gift for a newly married couple.

These are just a few of the gorgeous new holiday photo cards now available for order in our store from Paper & Ink Designs. They are very stylish and so affordable! Plus, all custom holiday and photo card orders are 15% OFF now through October 31st! Hurry in soon to place your order.

Paper Meets Fashion

We are thrilled to have recently added the Bonnie Marcus collection of stylish paper products to our store. As you can see from just these few samples, the Bonnie Marcus Collection represents fashionable style for brides-to-be, moms and working girls too! 2009 has brought Bonnie Marcus a great celebrity following. Angie Harmon used her designs for her baby shower invitations, Cindy Crawford ordered her teacher’s gifts and camp stationery from Bonnie Marcus, Molly Sims came to them for her sparkling holiday cards, and the list goes on…click here to read more about Bonnie Marcus' story and her products. Her company also donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of every product to promote breast cancer reasarch! Visit our store to purchase your own Bonnie Marcus products to express your style!

hen and barley press

We are pleased to introduce yet another line of custom products and gifts to our customers. hen and barley press was borne of a love of stationery and everything it represents--giving, inviting and gathering people together. Jenny Morgan and Carolyn Streett, the two moms who founded the company, think there is nothing better than a simple gift, a good party, or a great dinner. As moms with 6 boys between them, they get it, though--keeping up with your busy modern life while keeping your style and sanity intact is no easy feat! Their philosophy is that everyone is happier when you keep it simple and go ahead and give, invite and gather more, even when the gift wrap is not quite right, or the house isn't perfect, or the to-do list seems never-ending.

And so, hen and barley press products are conceived to help you do just that. Whether it's cute gift labels to spruce up whatever gift wrap happens to be lurking in the closet, or a chic wine bag to dress up the bottle of wine you grab while heading out the door to a dinner, or a fabulous invitation for the time you decide to get organized and really throw a party, or some stylish personalized notesheets that keep your shopping lists looking good, hen and barley press means products for giving, inviting and gathering more with ease and style.

Come by to see their products on display in our store. Everything from custom return address labels, to custom wine bags, note pads, luggage tags and much more! You pick the designs, colors, fonts, etc. to create your personal style, we order it and you enjoy using it when it gets here! Here are just a couple of samples of what they have to offer.

Holiday Specials from The Paper Menu

One of our fabulous vendors, The Paper Menu, has just announced some awesome Holiday Specials on their products. These specials are available from October 1st - November 30th, so go ahead and take advantage of them to get all of your teacher gifts, neighbor gifts, holiday cards, holiday gift tags, stocking stuffers, etc. ready for giving!

BUY 2, GET ONE FREE:
• long sleeve t-shirts and long sleeve onesies
• sets of calling cards (order 2 sets of any quantity calling cards, get a 3rd set of same quantity free)
• sets of stickers (order 2 sets of any quantity stickers, get a 3rd set of same quantity free)
• sets of notecards (order 2 sets of any quantity notecards, get a 3rd set of same quantity free)

FREE PHOTO SETUP ON ALL CARDS
Most of our designs are $1.50 - $1.75 full printed price... not that much more than the big photo website prices...So Please Shop LOCAL!

*These specials are good October 1, 2009 through December 4, 2009 and are available on in-store purchases only, so stop in soon to order your gifts and get these special offers!