As promised here is the second installment of some of the Holiday Card Contest submissions from a few of our stores. We think you will find these soooo amazing and inspiring that if you haven’t already sent cards for the holidays, a brilliant handmade New Year’s card may be just the ticket!

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At this time of year, we at Paper Source are reminded of how blessed we are to be surrounded by inspiring ideas every day. We recently had our annual office Holiday Party. To get everyone in the holiday spirit, we asked team members from around the organization to design placemats to be used at each table. It started with a simple piece of 12” x 12” cover stock in either pool or red. We asked each person to create a place setting aligned to the corner. The last step was to attach four squares together with double-sided tape to make a “cloth” for each table of four.

While this is a super fun idea for kids; I’m here to tell you, it’s a fun idea for anyone who is young at heart. Our office had a blast coming up with creative ideas. We had nearly 100 completely unique settings, which created a stunning effect. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you looking for some great ideas, including templates for printing (finally some easy to use Word files) for creating unique “Save the Date” cards for all your guests? Look no further, because we have created the perfect class for you! You’ll get to walk away with samples of each project and the inspiration to combine with your own style, theme, and color palette!

As an added bonus, we have created a wedding workshop series for our brides – purchase a total of any three workshops offered in January: Save-the-Dates, Wedding Favors, Wedding Invites, or the Fabulous Handmade Album and you’ll receive 15% off the price of ALL THREE classes. You’ll also receive, during each class, a 10% off coupon to use towards purchases. What a great way to get hands on experience and fantastic ideas along with some great savings on all your wedding needs!

Register online or at a store near you. Cheers!

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: Saddle Stitch Notebooks

If you’re having a New Years party or are looking for New Years activities for your family, you must make these glittery gold New Years party hats! CBS 2 Chicago (click to view) even featured them as a fun way to get kids involved at New Years. You could, of course, use this party hat design in different colors with different stamped messages for other celebratory occasions!

–Annie
PS colors: gravel & beet
Latest fave: Tree Trunk Tea Light and Japanese 8 1/4″ Scissors

Materials Needed:
How to New Years Party Hats PDF
8 1/2″ x 11″ Cover Weight Paper (Eco-White & Shimmer Gold)
8 1/2″ x 11″ Text Weight Paper (Black & Shimmer Silver)
1/4″ Super Tacky Tape Read the rest of this entry »

In celebration of today – winter solstice – I thought I’d share a peaceful image from the December/January 2010 issue of Country Living featuring our Paper Doves. Their use of these simple decorations is so beautiful and creative, bringing life to the paper birds. Makes me wish I had antique bird cages of my own. Even after the holidays, this display would be lovely all winter long.

Enjoy the peace of the season (even while doing last minute holiday preparations)!

– Cindy
PS colors: pool & red
Latest fave: Dutch Woodcut Floral Wrapping Paper

You have truly inspired all of us here with your creativity and craftiness in your submissions to our 2009 Holiday Card Contest! Below you will find some of our customers’ homemade holiday cards that were web submissions, separate from the store submissions (to be featured soon). We’re sure these will make you ooh and ahh, just as they made us!

This year’s website submission winner is MaryDawn from Rockford, Illinois. This stocking card with the adorable face of Demi stole our hearts! We love the Chartreuse Dots lined envelope that coordinates with the hand cut stocking….the complimenting colors…and all the details (tiny punches, rubber stamping, ribbon embellishment, and Joy envelope seal). Needless to say, this holiday card received tons of votes from the employees here.

Perhaps these cards will inspire you to GET YOUR CARDS IN THE MAIL (Christmas is right around the corner)! Wishing you all a very healthy, happy and peaceful holiday.

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: Saddle Stitch Notebooks

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There’s something about the holidays that makes our creative minds turn to baking. Maybe it’s the comfort of something warm as the weather turns so cold or the yummy smells coming from the oven. We’ve found lots of festive ways to package little treats with our favor boxes, box mailers and cellophane bags. These adorable containers, along with ribbon and a gift tag, make it easy to share any number of goodies – cookies, brownie bites, fudge, spiced nuts, hot cocoa and marshmallows, chocolate covered pretzels, a mini loaf of bread…mmm, I need to go start baking!

Every holiday season growing up, my mom made sugar cookie dough and my sisters and I spent hours with cookie cutters, icing and sprinkles, which inevitably turned into a huge competition over whose cookies were the most artistic. We displayed them proudly in the kitchen, shared the ones we were able to part with, and saved a few of the best for Santa. I still love our family tradition of holiday baking and sharing little goodies with loved ones – it’s a simple thought and easy to do. It’s no wonder I ended up at Paper Source, where every day presents an opportunity for creativity!

P.S. If you’re short on time, there are always great store-bought options like peppermint sticks and festively wrapped candies!

– Karen
PS colors: moss, papaya & khaki
Latest fave: 2010 Paper Source Wall Art Calendar and Travel Tin Candles

The Paper Source motto is “Do Something Creative Every Day”, and we have some very lucky folks here who get to live this out making handmade greeting cards for a living. If you’ve visited our stores, you’ve seen our greeting card wall full of funny, thoughtful and lovely cards. Among these you’ll find Paper Source greeting cards assembled by our team in Chicago – each one is truly a masterpiece (below are a few holiday cards available in stores now).

Here at our headquarters we have a team of holiday card elves who are responsible for these wonderful creations. These talented, patient and just plain nice ladies make each and every assembled greeting card by hand for all seasonal holidays.

Here they are in action this week making Mother’s Day cards for 2010. Can you believe that they place every embellishment on every card by hand? Now you see why I call them patient!

The whole process from card concept to finished product takes a few months. And in the end, you get to give a unique card that you know was handmade with plenty of TLC. It’s the next best thing to making cards yourself!

–Gretchen, PS Buying Team
PS colors: fuchsia & moss
Latest fave: PS Wall Art Calendar

When you have a toddler or puppy in the house, decorating a tree for the holidays is all kinds of fun for little ones, but means constant monitoring for you. Last year Noquet joined our family and now just a year old, she is still all puppy. In decorating our Christmas tree, I wanted to ensure that the ornaments that were at her height were safe for her and not precious to us…in case she got a hold of one!

My solution was to hang paper holiday decorations around the first 3 feet of the tree. I used our Paper Chain Garland Kit and Paper Doves Kit – both festive and safe for kids and pets. I can rest easy now knowing that I won’t come home to broken glass and the fear of what the dog could have eaten!

Wouldn’t you know, Noquet has shown NO interest in our Christmas tree this year. Lucky for us, the paper garland and paper doves will prevent any Christmas tree disasters and look absolutely lovely!

Happy Christmas!

– Cindy
PS colors: pool & red
Latest fave: Dutch Woodcut Floral Wrapping Paper