We recently compiled a list of Crafting Essentials: our favorite tools that make projects easier and more professional…the tools we think everyone who loves doing creative things should have. Now we want you to tell us why these products are a must-have for you – tell us how you use any of our crafting essentials and we might share your story on our blog!

To Participate:
Review our Crafting Essentials and draft a blog post that describes how you use any of these products to Do Something Creative Every Day. Feel free to mention other complimentary PS products and include personal photographs to help tell the story of your staple product(s). Also, be sure to tell us your favorite PS product and your two favorite PS colors – just like we include in our blog signatures.

Submit Your Entry:
Email your blog post, photos, etc. to PSFan (AT) Paper-Source (DOT) com by Friday, July 9. We’ll select a guest blogger to be featured in a blog post the following Monday!

–PS Team

My how time flies when you’re having fun – we can hardly believe this is our 4th Annual “Summertime Girl’s Night Out”! You told us you wanted more stationery, more rubber stamping, plus new kool and unusual ideas to take you outside the proverbial creative box! Our upcoming Girl’s Night Out “Sassy Personal Stationery” is everything you’ve asked for and more. We’ve pulled together some really easy, fun and sophisticated ways to create personal stationery, and you get a lovely linen folio to hold all of your goodies.

So ladies, come join us on Thursday, July 15 from 7-9pm for an evening of crafting with the girls, complete with beverages and snacks – a true night out! This event is already half sold out, so call your gal pals and sign up quickly while seats are still available! (plus, receive $5 off when you book seats together.)

Hope to see you there!

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: Silhouette SD Digital Cutting Tool and Peacock Cards & Envelopes

Now we love our double-faced satin ribbon dearly, but it’s nice to bring different ribbon styles into the mix and we’re thrilled to have new paper ribbon. These gorgeous biodegradable ribbons are made from 100% cotton that is responsibly grown and dyed in the USA. The ribbons can be recycled or composted after use. And for decorating and gift wrapping, they do it all…they shred and curl beautifully, you can write on them, or feed them through your trusty Xyron and even work with some inkjet printers.

These ribbons are made in Milwaukee in a small facility with limited workers who set up the machines and manually roll the ribbon onto spools once it comes off the line. The owner of the company bought the equipment at an auction back in the late eighties and revived a century old way of making the ribbon. Spools of thread (about 50 of them) are brought together from large machines, glued together and made into various widths of ribbon. The original company went out of business back in the fifties when ribbon started being made out of synthetic materials.

Paper Source carries 10 yard spools in 1/2″ width in solid color ribbons (including our three new PS colors peacock, persimmon and sunshine) and polka dot ribbons. Also arriving later this summer are 2 different colored bows made of paper ribbon.

–Reena
PS colors: fuchsia & red
Latest fave: Faux Bois 1.25″ Circle Stickers

If you’re throwing a bbq or pot luck for the upcoming holiday weekend, use these easy 4th of July decorating ideas to make your gathering extra special with patriotic touches made from paper.

A festive banner done in red, eco-white and blue (I mean, lake!) will add instant charm to your celebration. Adhere the leftover star punch-outs to toothpicks to dress up your 4th of July cupcakes, cheese plate or hors d’oeuvres. Or use them loose as table confetti. Couldn’t be easier! And as always, you can use these decorating ideas for any occasion by swapping out your paper colors and punch shape.

P.S. Check out our Independence Day paper rosettes from last year – so lovely, we want to use them again!

–Annie
PS colors: gravel & beet
Latest fave: Japanese 8 1/4″ Scissors

Materials needed:
How to PDF
8 1/2″ x 11″ text paper (red, eco-white and lake) Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of the time, it’s the small things in life that make me happy. But, every once in a while… it’s the big things! The Silhouette SD Digital Cutting Tool is one of those things. Roughly the size of an average inkjet printer, this machine is definitely a crafting power tool. It allows you to cut designs out of paper, vinyl, heat transfers and more! You can choose from templates, or be your own designer! Our stores have had a lot of fun creating cool samples to get you inspired…

Two lovely cards made by Olivia and Lacey from our new Houston store, opening soon!

Custom decals for a moped and helmet made by Nicolas in our Cambridge store – vrooomm!

A charming save the date with coordinating enclosure made by Martha in our Atlanta store.

We introduced the Silhouette into our stores a few months ago, and as I have been traveling around the country opening our new Paper Source locations, I have been training our employees how to use it. Most haven’t heard of this crafting machine, so I get to be the first to tell them! As I explain how it works and what kind of results you can get, I get a three stage reaction: Read the rest of this entry »

I’m a big fan of doing photographic research while I’m concepting a new illustration for Paper Source designs. For me, having a strong idea and concept make the designs more thoughtful, and more compelling; it should be meaningful. So for our new Marigolds Wrapping Paper, I had quite the stack of collected photos!

Created and concepted while we were working on our India inspired papers, we waited for the right summery time to release Marigolds. I tweaked our garlands with PS colors, giving the flowers a bright, lush feel – evoking pure inspiration, and not wanting the design to be literal. When you check out our new Marigolds wrap, also look for additional layers of India inspired ornaments and decorative patterns in the design…with accents of metallic gold and fuchsia no less! (my favorite parts!)

Hope you enjoy my window of creative research, and good luck with your own!

–Elaine
PS colors: pool, persimmon & cement
Latest fave: our new colors in note cards & envelopes!

We are just so thrilled to show off our three new colors (well, four when you include beloved Paper Bag from earlier this year!). Selecting new colors for Paper Source is a lot of fun, but a big responsibility. In order to make one new color, we have to commit to 10,000 pounds of paper. This means we need to feel really good about the color and are hopeful you will too!

Peacock is our new teal blue and it truly works well with the entire PS line. Have fun mixing and matching it within our palette – you’ll be amazed what new life it gives old favorites! Some of my favorite Peacock combinations are when paired with Beet, Chartreuse, Moss, Pool or Curry – I also love it with Persimmon.

Persimmon is a color we nearly introduced with Moss several years ago. Alas, we could not forget about it. The Design team continued using the ink color in projects like the 2009 India collection, loving the warmth of this rich orange-red. Persimmon works well with Paper Bag, Papaya, Poppy, Pool, Chartreuse and of course, its former partner, Moss. But like Peacock, it works well with most all of the palette.

And Sunshine, which was a request from our customers. Each month we’d hear from our store managers (yes, they do share the requests that you make!) that customers were looking for a warm, bright, sunny yellow – a yellow that would work well for weddings…a happy yellow! Sunshine pairs beautifully with the oranges and greens in the line and takes on a sophisticated look when paired with Gravel.

Have fun and enjoy the satisfaction of creating your own favorite color combos with these newbies. Welcome to the family Peacock, Persimmon, and Sunshine!

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

Another Paper Source baby is on the way, and last week we celebrated new mom-to-be, Heather! Between the three of us we brainstormed all sorts of baby shower ideas, eventually landing on a “cute as a button” theme, which worked perfectly for a gender-neutral baby shower. Using our button inspiration, along with Heather’s nursery colors of light green and white, we created a simple, sweet space for all to enjoy.

Annie’s button baby banner, featured earlier this year, was a perfect fit for our shower theme. We hung two rows spelling out “cute as a button, cute as can be”, which was also used in our invitation.

One of the best ways to make a shower extra special is to add a personal touch. We knew early on that we wanted to incorporate gumballs into our design as a nod to Heather’s father who is in the candy business. Large glass jars filled with white gumballs made for perfectly sweet table centerpieces. Our tables were covered in solid wrapping paper in sage and pool, and button decorations made from circle cards and circle labels dotted the table tops.

We love doing spectacular gift baskets for baby shower gifts – the baskets are reusable for the nursery and you can fill them with all kinds of adorable goodies. Honoring Heather’s personality, we created two gift baskets – one for “practical baby” and one for “stylish baby”. Read the rest of this entry »

Here at Paper Source headquarters in Chicago winter seems to linger until mid-May, so we can’t tell you how much pleasure we get from having the warmth of sunshine finally hitting the Midwest. Everywhere we look we see greenery – the hopeful anticipation of those colorful summer flowers, many of which have yet to bloom.

As you may have already guessed by our latest paper flower kit, gerbera daisies are one of our favorite varieties around here. While we featured them in our store windows last month, many of you were wondering when a workshop might be offered for making these bold, beauties. Well, this months Girl’s Night Out will teach you not only how to make these fabulous blooms, but also how to create a bookboard terra-cotta looking flower pot. It’s the perfect table accent (sure to get lots of oohs & aahs!) for your upcoming summer parties!

Please join us for our Girl’s Night Out Paper Flower Garden next Thursday, June 17 from 7-9pm for our version of summer planting…without the dirt! Grab your gal pals and enjoy a night out with us (don’t forget to sign up together so you can save $5 off the price of each ticket).

Can’t wait to see you there! Here’s to many happy summer days ahead.

P.S. Green thumbs not required!

Cheers,

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: Circle Stickers and Presentation Envelopes