Jun 23 2014

A guide to engraving your silver gift – emotional, funny, inspiring or down right insulting? It’s up to you.

Here are some creative gifts engraving suggestions for you.


As speicalists in personalising your silver and occasional gifts we would like to share our gift engraving experience with our clients and readers with a view to assisting you to be creative and thoughtful with the engraving and personalisation of your chosen silver gift, hip flask and tankard engravings.

The team here at  Gifts of Distinction, Flaskstore, Tankardstore and TheOnlineGiftsCompany are privvy to many emotional, funny, inspiring and down right insulting engravings. These engravings have, over the years, given my associates  Alice, Kate, Pippa and myself cause to laugh along out loud or wipe a tear from our eye and in some cases both. I, David-Louis, like to think of the engravings we are asked to do as a window to the world and lives of our clients, a simple snap shot giving us an insight into our customers life events and we would like to share these snap shots with you so you can be creative and thoughtful with your gift engravings.

We have been compiling this list of engraving suggestions for a long time now and it has dawned on me that I will never have it actually finished so here we are as the 1st Duke of Wellington once said- “Publish and be dammed”

We intend to build on this engraving resource so please do visit us again for further creative engraving ideas.


Here are some of the best engravings I have come across in recent years, I will add links to the items we have engraved it on as we go.

Book marks and romance, yes you can mix both and how about this beautiful engraving I recently put on our lovely silver bookmark:

With you until the very end.

or even this one:

‘A good book has no ending’

our round bookmark got this inscription this morning

Memories and friends become our story

Hip Flasks

To our eternal laughter

Handmade engraved tankards

There can’t be good living
where there is not good drinking.
Happy Birthday!


From the bride to be to the groom

Jon
Meet me at the church 1:30pm
Love me forever xxx

A guitar plectrum from the Bride to the Groom

Chris

A Great

Pick

Retirement gifts

Retired !

Goodbye tension, Hello pension !

Retirement

Retirement only means

that it is time

for a new adventure.

Enjoy

Retirement Tankard

Cheers Dave
Enjoy a quiet drink and
remember your friends

Romance

You are my mountain

You are my sea.

Wedding Anniversasy

I sill do xxx

Silver Chip Fork

Love you more than chips!

Another turning point
a fork stuck in the road…..

Plectrum

I Pick You!

Travel & Latin

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam” (or “Aut viam inveniam aut faciam”) is Latin for “I shall The first part of the sentence, “inveniam viam”, “I shall find a way,”

To your brother

A brother shares childhood memories and grown-up dreams.

A friendly rude one !!!!!
Happy 21st
Remember
It’s all s***s and giggles,
until someone giggles and s***s

The Big Birthdays:

On a silver chip fork -

Louis – On Your 18th Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional!

Forty years young

…………………………..

Forty isn’t old,

If you’re a tree……

…………………………

Weddings and the wedding party.

You can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.

The liver is evil and must be punished.

There’s nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.

Any man who eats dessert is not drinking enough.

Never cry over spilt milk. It could’ve been whiskey.

Best Man

Best man for a day
Best Friend for life
Thank you
Best man – on the plectrum
We pick you as our best man xx
Usher
Thank you
For being a great
Usher & friend
Romantic message from a woman in Jamica to her husband in Birmingham on the Jigsaw Keyring
You are my missing piece -
Found 16-08-12
New Kitchen built?
Xen bottle opener – on the table ready to use.
Enjoy your new kitchen!
x x x
Latin
Carpe Diem
Latin on our silver bottle opener

Numquam Diem Sitiens  / never dies thirsty
We hope you enjoy our engraving ideas and if you need anything just visit our sites and get in touch.
David-Louis

Jun 3 2013

Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Tankards

This week we have been finishing off the Tankards for Jamie Oliver’s new branch of his Fifteen restaurant and boy have we learned a lot about commercial beer tankards… and quickly.

Many thanks to the restaurant for commissioning the goods from us plus if other restaurants or bars are looking for tankards to sell beer over the counter Gifts of Distinction and tankardstore can offer Excise Verification Mark service to legally say you are as a commercial restaurant or bar selling a legal pint and the consumer is buying a legal pint of English beer.

Weights and measures mark for 1 pint tankard Tankardstore

Weights and measures mark for 1 pint tankard Tankardstore

If your commercial restaurant or bar needs tankards that are verified for the purpose of trading standards and excise just give us a call here to discuss you requirements.


Nov 14 2011

Top 5 Stocking Fillers for Christmas 2011

At some stage during Christmas 2011 I know I will need a stocking filler, a quick, lovely gift that will be appreciated by the recipient & I suspect you will need one too. So here is a list of our top 5 stocking filler gifts, they will be in stock, can be engraved, shipped worldwide & are not too expensive.

Stocking filler gift No. 1.

The David-Louis Bottle Opener, its magnetic and sticks to the fridge, we will engrave it for free and ship it really quickly.

Magnetic bottle opener

The Beer Cube

Stocking filler gift No. 2

Small yet perfectly formed, back pocket, front pocket, breast pocket, polished steel, robust and stylish 3oz hip flask, engravable and great value for money.

Neat highly polished hip flask

The sleek, neat steel hip flask

Stocking Filler Gift No.3

The NEW stack of post-it coasters.

Pre coffee stained coaster post-its, make your desk fun and funky with a stack of paper coasters that double up as post-its..

Post it coasters

Post-it paper coasters

Stocking Filler Gifts No. 4

The Steel Tankard

 

A stylish stainless steel tankard in a beautifully polished finish.

This tankard holds 16oz, and the high quality stainless steel will retain it’s lovely bright finish over time it is also ideal for engraving, we hold it in stock and can ship it quickly.

Steel tankard polished

Our steel tankard

Stocking Filler Gift No. 5

The Plectrum Rockstar Coaster & Bottle Opener

 

The Plectrum Coaster & Bottle Opener

The Plectrum Coaster & Bottle Opener

Don’t forget to peruse The David-Louis Group of comapnies.

http://www.gifts-of-distinction.co.uk
Gifts of Distinction I Sterling Silver goodies for that very special gift – engraving is available.

http://www.david-louis.com
Lifestyle giftware for the home – designed by our lead designer David-Louis

http://www.flaskstore.com
A vast array of exceedingly well made hip flasks and all can be engraved for free.

http://www.tankardstore.com
A specialist web site focusing on an exquisite range of tankards for every occasion.


Feb 13 2011

We give a damn!

about great product design, about our customers and about new design entrepreneurs.

All in all watch this space for Brand Explosion, excellent customer service and all round we give a damn attitude.

We are working creatively, informatively plus, with the customer first and foremost in our mind we are having great results.

David-Louis

Celebration

What a great time we have been having here at Gifts of Distinction and David-Louis. We have been managing to create growth in our business by raising our game. As our testimonials on the web sites show we have focused on exemplary customer service along side improving dispatch times on all the gift items we sell online.

Mentoring new Designers on TV.

Of late David has been dispensing sound advice to new designers at the School of Jewellery for the students on the Design for Industry course as well as giving a few talks on marketing and writing the perfect press release for new creative entrepreneurs at Design Space. This work was recognised recently and David-Louis has recently featured on ITV news as a mentor, over the coming months ITV will be revisiting David and talking with some of his mentees so keep an eye on our blog for links to the interviews.

Spring Fair 2011

Under the flaskstore and tankardstore banner we recently visited the Spring Fair 2011 and picked up many new suppliers and pressed the flesh with existing customers and suppliers, I was delighted when Alice made time to visit the existing suppliers I couldn’t find, I personally did four halls in four hours, met 20 people and swapped details with 10 new people. So quick and to the point visit this year, we are really lucky the NEC is beside us here in Birmingham.

Pulse 2011

Talking about trade fairs David-Louis.com is exhibiting at Pulse in June 2011 so we will be developing our brand, raising our profile and introducing new products over the next four months in preparation for the event.

New designers and new ideas

David-Louis also hope to work with Simon Pattison the new designer on the scene here in Birmingham and will be commissioning him to produce CAD drawings and turn our concepts into reality, we can see Simon is going somewhere in the design word but before he fly’s the coop and becomes a household name we will be supporting him here in Birmingham.

Finally David-Louis will be engaging a PR Company to focus on driving sales of the David-Louis Beer Cube, we are currently negotiating with Zombie Kitty and are excited about their ideas.

All in all watch this space for Brand Explosion, excellent customer service and all round we give a damn attitude. We are working creatively, informatively and with the customer first and foremost in our mind with great results.


Apr 8 2010

Cleaning a hip flask or Tankard

The (actual) famous ladies hip flask.I am quite often asked about the technical side of maintaining and cleaning your hip flask and/or Tankard after purchase and to this end I have put together a care for and cleaning of your hip flask or tankard guide. Please do feel free to add to it or to send us any hints or tips you have come across or if you need clarification on any issues contact us through one of our websites, Flaskstore, Tankardstore, Gifts of Distinction or David-Louis Product Design.

The metal and hip flask exterior:

We supply hip flasks and tankards in both steel and pewter.

Pewter is a soft metal and normally its lustre mellows with age but should you wish to return it to its original high polish, use a reputable brand of liquid polish such as ‘Haggertys’, ‘town talk’ or ‘Johnsons’. Always clean with a soft cloth, rubbing gently in one direction to avoid leaving deep scratch marks.

Pewter hip flasks age and develop character over time.

Stainless steel is a very hard metal and essentially will retain its finish indefinitely.

Stainless steel hip flasks tend to be manufactured using machinery to press, blank and shape the item, and are normally made in high volume.

Pewter hip flasks are hand made to order by a pewter smith, each one is crafted by hand here in the UK.

To clean the inside of a hip flask or pewter tankard:

Hip flasks and tankards should all be washed before first use.

1) Thoroughly wash the inside using a solution of clean, warm water and several drops of washing up liquid, then rinse thoroughly with clean water before use.

2) With new hip flasks, before first use, fill the flask with plain water, screw the top down hard and shake vigorously to ensure the flask is watertight before filling with spirit.

3) Always keep your flask clean on the outside, and clean the inside of the flask in between uses for reasons of hygiene.

4) For pewter flasks, spirit can be retained in the flask for a week or so and no more.

5) Pewter flasks are not suitable for use with soda water or carbonated drinks.

6) They are not suitable for use in a dishwasher.

I hope the information I have provided is useful to you; if you need some specific information, please do get in touch.


Oct 14 2009

Tankardstore – pint sized no more



Over the last few months we have been investing our energy into launching our new sister brand tankardstore, the name says it all. We know metal, we know engraving, and we know beer…as Homer said ……..mmmmMMM beer.

Building on our successful ventures into niche products we now have a huge variety of pint and half pint tankards on tankardstore and have been receiving orders from across the globe.

You can see some of the feedback we are getting by viewing our testimonial page and we are pleased that our position as ‘specialists’ in the field of niche alcohol related products is growing.

I mean there is definitely something going on here, first we started by designing cutting edge bottle openers – selling the all over the world and licencing it to other producers moving on to capitalise on our knowledge of hip flasks, testing them rigoursly on my stag do and at various festivals, and now onto tankards – I will need to go on a field trip soon after my new baby is born this week.

If there are any spotters out there that know of a hip flask or tankard we should be selling let us know – we want to grow and grow.