We had such a great turn out for our Paper Wedding and Morning Tea events. What fun it was to show off our new wedding invitation collection, as well as to have the chance for our customers to experiment with wedding rubber stamps and assorted stamp pads at the demo and make & take tables.

We know many of you are wondering if there is another opportunity to attend one of our wedding events…the answer is YES! Our Wedding Suites Workshop, which sold out last year and even had a waitlist, is running again this year on Thursday, March 4, from 6-8pm. We have designed this event to reflect the desire of both brides and their entourage to “learn by doing”. You will create your first invitation suite in order to learn technique and gain ideas, then for your second suite, add in your personal style and wedding color palette – making it uniquely your own.

WHAT: Wedding Suites Workshop
WHERE: All Paper Source stores
WHEN: Thursday, March 4 from 6-8pm
HOW: Visit our workshop page to find your store & purchase your $30 ticket. Sign up with a friend (your fiancé, bridesmaids, mom, etc.) at the same time and receive $5 off both reservations!

If you’d like an evening of learning simple DIY wedding tips, Read the rest of this entry »

Here at the Charlotte store we were so inspired by this year’s Paper Wedding and the pictures of cakes featured on our sample invitation wall, we decided to put our culinary talents to the test and create a paper wedding cake! The best part — going shopping and finding all the “ingredients” right at Paper Source.

We stacked various sized square boxes to create our three cake layers, then covered them in fondant icing (warm white book cloth). We decorated the cake with three types of flowers (mini paper rosettes made from superfine soft white text paper, black text paper, and our new Black & White Paisley Fine Paper). We added piping (black 1/4″ satin ribbon), a border (strips of our new paisley fine paper) and more flowers. The cake topper was made from the lid of an oval craft box covered in fondant and adorned with streamers (strips of curled black text paper) and flowers.

Our customers love our paper cake creation and we have fun telling them, “at Paper Source, baking it was, well, a piece of cake!”

–Tiffany and Kristine, Paper Source Charlotte Store
PS colors: blossom & black
Latest fave: Peace Sign Rubber Stamp and Cupcake Kit

With wedding season just around the corner, we thought we’d share some cute ideas for using our cellophane bags to package up wedding favors and gifts for your bridal party and guests. Clear cellophane bags work great because they’re both affordable and flexible, making them ideal for a wide range of stuffers… and you’ll have money left over to spend on the important stuff – what’s inside!

Wedding Favor Bags
Beautifully packaged treats make wonderful wedding favors. Cupcakes fit very nicely into our food-safe cellophane bags, but you could also use a small stack of cookies, a few chocolate truffles, or even a piece of cake! To incorporate your wedding colors, insert tissue paper into the bag before you place your treats inside and choose a coordinating ribbon.

Supplies & Tools: small cellophane bags • 1/4″ satin ribbon • scissors

Directions:
1. Insert your hand into the cello bag to open it up and flatten out the bottom to create a base.
2. Arrange your treats inside the bag.
3. Gather the top of the bag about an inch or so above the treat, and tie closed with ribbon (a friend’s help at this point comes in handy… get your bridesmaids or family members involved!).
4. Tie the ribbon into a bow and neatly trim the ends.
5. Trim the top of the bag if there is a lot of excess (I left about 3 inches above the bow in this sample). And done!

Gift Bags & Welcome Packages
Fill our larger cellophane bags with gifts and present to your bridal party Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome baby with a banner that’s cute as a button! You can easily customize the colors using any combination of our circle cards and labels. Further personalize by changing the message on the banner – use baby names or special greetings. Makes for great nursery décor too!

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

Materials Needed:
Circle Cards (blossom, strawberry & poppy) Read the rest of this entry »

We were so excited when our Atlanta store manager, Carol, shared this wonderful wedding invitation with us. Her customer, Laurel, a Graphic Designer from that area, put this clever, colorful invitation suite together for her wedding in Vegas! Here’s her real wedding story:

When Brayden (a Las Vegas native) asked me to marry him, a destination wedding in his hometown was our plan. I love all things related to paper, invitations, and stationery. So I knew I wanted something fun and exciting to invite our loved ones to our wedding! No one in my family (myself included) had ever been to Las Vegas, so I wanted an invitation that contained all the glitter and excitement that was in store.

Wanting to include poker chips, the Paper Source box mailer was the clear winner. Our poker chips, dice and playing cards were all chocolate candy… creating another layer of experience for the recipient. I was really inspired by the bright colors of the casinos. Each part of the invitation has its own vivid color – the box mailer is red, the invitation card is curry, the response card is spruce, and the return envelope is fuchsia! To tie them all together, I printed everything in black and red ink (my interpretation of a deck of cards!) and layered it all on top of shredded gold foil paper.

I was really pleased with the way everything turned out. And based on the reaction of our family and friends, they were too! Everything about our trip to Vegas made our ceremony “the wedding of my dreams I never knew I always wanted.” Our invitations were definitely a big part of that! –Laurel

–Carol, Paper Source Atlanta Store
PS colors: gravel & curry
Latest fave: 4″ Round Label Sheets

In addition to centerpieces, place cards, dinnerware and napkins, wedding menus are staples of a wedding reception table. Not only do they wet your guests’ appetites by listing the culinary elements of the meal, menu cards offer another opportunity to present your wedding style and enhance your overall table setting. In the sample wedding menus below we’ll share a few products and techniques that are wonderful for making menu cards for wedding receptions, but can also be used as wedding shower menus, baby shower menus and dinner party menus.

Often times a wedding menu card will be featured at each place setting and is therefore worked into the design of the dinnerware and napkins. In this example, the napkin was folded so the menu card could be tucked inside along with a pair of chopsticks. This menu card is made with three layers – a black #10 flat card as the bottom layer, pool cover weight paper (you can use cover or text weight) cut to fit just inside the black #10 card, and white text weight paper with the printed menu cut to fit just inside the pool layer (text weight is the easiest paper to print at home). When layering a good rule of thumb is to leave 1/8” border around all four sides. To add more visual interest to this place setting, Flora & Fauna Tiny Print Pool Wrapping Paper was cut into wide bands and folded over the charger. A small piece was also cut to wrap around the chopsticks.

One of our favorite embellishments for wedding invitations, programs and menu cards is Read the rest of this entry »

This year celebrates the 5 year Anniversary of our signature Bridal Event—Paper Wedding! To give you some background on the events’ inception we have to reflect upon the notion that “Good things come in small packages.” Indeed, it was our wonderful little store in Kansas City that provided the testing grounds for our first ever wedding event, and ultimately the proof that brides would love a weekend full of wedding inspiration.

This year our Paper Wedding open house event has been expanded to two full days. Join us this weekend Saturday, February 20 & Sunday, February 21 from 12pm to 4pm, for demonstrations, to see our walls of wedding inspiration, and partake in a few hands-on rubber stamping opportunities. We feel certain we will inspire even the most traditional bride to “do something creative every day!”

Since 2005, our love affair with brides and grooms hasn’t lost its first blush of excitement! Year after year we continued to expand on Paper Wedding, and as of last year the event is hosted by all 32 stores!

Back in the day, our multi-talented National Manager of Invitations, Betsy Campbell Read the rest of this entry »

Here at Paper Source, the beginning of each new year means it’s wedding time! We start to see lots of brides in our stores over the holidays and come January the ruffles and cupcakes of wedding season are full on!

This year, we thought it would be fun to share with you some Paper Source real life weddings. We will show you how Paper Source newlyweds used cards and envelopes, favor boxes, ribbons and all the other trimmings to make their big days unique and reflective of their own sense of style. Lauren is our first PS bride – we hope you enjoy her story and feel inspired by her photos!

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

The first thing I did when I got engaged, was flip my sketchbook to a fresh page and begin jotting ideas for my wedding invitation! While most brides would first make appointments to shop for dresses, I was instead Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to throwing a party, big or small, we hear from customers that one of the more challenging things is creating a theme. If you’re planning bridal shower or bachelorette party, you want it to be special for your guests and the bride-to-be. Lucky for you, we’ve pulled together some of our favorite themes and ideas into one great class, the Perfect Shower Invites Workshop. I like to think we’ve covered just about everything – from pretty luncheon invites, to an edgy martini girl’s night out bachelorette party, and a few other lovely party ideas tucked in between.

If you’ll be hosting or planning a bridal shower or bachelorette party anytime this year, this invites workshop is just what you need to get your ideas percolating and your DIY skills honed. So you can throw a party everyone will talk about for months to come! Space is limited to only six seats per store for this intimate creative experience. Sign up early!

WHAT: Perfect Shower Invites Workshop
WHERE: All Paper Source stores
WHEN: Thursday, February 25 from 6-8:30pm
HOW: Visit our workshop page to find your store & purchase your $35 ticket. (Save 10% when you sign up with a friend!)

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: 2010 Paper Source Letterpress Calendar