Mother’s Day, the thoughtful time of year that celebrates the loving, creative woman behind all those favorite dishes, birthday wishes and kissed boo boos. If you’re looking for a way to recognize this influential woman, our Mother’s Day Gift Guide features a collection of our most inspired gifts for Mom.

Here are just a few of our favorite gift ideas…

Set inside an everlasting Peony Wreath we see one of the many Paper Source exclusive Mother’s Day cards. Adorn any door with a wreath of flowers, or set a pillow on her favorite chair. This charming grain sack pillow is a rustic accent for any couch, bed or boudoir!

Greet the day with a cup of her favorite coffee in her own Mama Bear Mug, or sample some Mom You Are The Best Tea before she begins her day.

Set up the kitchen with little surprises! Make her a breakfast with this thoughtful spatula, and clean up the kitchen with the matching sponge and kitchen towel.

For walls, coffee tables or bedsides, gift one of the many decorative signs available to convey that perfect message, to any Mom in your life.

Sunday, May, 12th is a day to celebrate. Visit our website for a full list of Inspired Gift Ideas for Mom.

We are bringing in the Easter holiday with our latest how-to — a handmade Easter greeting card! This project is suitable for little hands to help, and works with varying card colors too. Between this creative fun and our seasonal gifts, we’re hoping your bunny ears are perked and you’re ready to celebrate Spring!

Materials Needed:

Follow the assembly diagram outlined on the Easter Greeting How-To PDF, then use the left over punched out sheets and shapes from the kit to create simple Easter greetings.

Option 1:

Option 2:

-Claudia

Favorite PS colors: curry & fuchsia
Latest Fave: Red & White Paper Straws

Our Favorite Things series continues with a taste-maker from our store operations team. Many of you were introduced to Rick last year when we featured this Winter Wonderland Holiday Card creation.

Rick has returned to share his holiday gift and craft recommendations with our readers.

Rick
Paper Source Regional Manager
Noted for his incredible holiday card creations

Like our first taste-maker Kristen, Rick also creates fabulous gift packages. One gift he plans to give this year is the botanical journal set, paired with a chalk pen with metal chalkboard frame (or slate note cards and envelopes and a white pen), twig leaves rubber stamp, VersaMark pad and embossing powder.

It’s a beautiful gift package for the holidays and beyond!

150 Love Notes is a great stocking stuffer, but you can also add note cards and envelopes in a variety of colors, along with a tape runner and refill to make a quick DIY card package.

Rick says, “The designs of 150 Love Notes are so unique and special. It’s a nice gift to pass on or turn into cards to send to special friends and family.”

Rick’s packaging ideas include using the Novel Scallop Fine Paper as gift wrap. Then, he impressed us with the idea of doing an ombré glitter treatment to a kraft ornament.

Rick is also inspired by our pom pom ribbon used in tandem with wide satin ribbon in chartreuse, moss or red. He admits that his 2012 holiday card design might also include these elements.

“I always like to relate my gift packaging to my holiday cards. I even use my chosen gift wrap as an envelope liner for my cards.”

When it comes to last minute gifts, Rick has a great solution.

“Our cello bags are a go-to for any gift. Use for baked goods or a small gift wrapped in colorful tissue, then accent with ribbon, embellishments and a tag. It’s quick easy and always looks terrific.”

See other Favorite Things from our Holiday Series on our Pinterest page. Check back, as we wrap this series with A Few of Karen’s Favorite Things.

After reviewing more than 400 submission, our team couldn’t be more thrilled to announce the winners of the Paper Source Holiday Crafting Contest!

Drum roll, please…

Décor Category

#1 – Homemade Advent Calendar

#2 – Friends-giving Tablescape

#3 – Woodland Winter-land Garland

Wrapping Category

#1 – Shipping a Sweet Surprise

#2 – The Edible, no-so-abominable, Snowman

#3 – Christmas Cottage with Gingerbread Santa

Card Making Category

#1 – Under the Sea Christmas

#2 – Sweet Treats & Warm Wishes

#3 – Advice from a Snowman

We enjoyed seeing the creative talents of so many customers. We hope those who participated enjoyed making cards, decorating and wrapping packages for both the contest and the pleasure in exchanging and sharing them with all. We hope everyone finds a bit of inspiration from the entries. See them here: https://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/photo-contest.html

Happy Holidays from all of us at Paper Source!

Our holiday series continues with a taste-maker from the Inventory team. Who better to weigh in than someone who sees it all?! Sit back while Amy tells you about her favorite gifts and crafts of the season.

Amy
Inventory Control Manager
Noted for her incredible style

As a mother of two, Amy is excited about the new Desk Embosser Gift Set.

Amy says, “It’s an appropriate gift for so many people – teacher, babysitter, neighbor – and they can choose a design that suits their own tastes. It also encourages a bit of creativity.”

Amy loves encouraging the art of letter writing by combining the gift set with a selection of Paper Source cards and envelopes, and tucking it all inside one or our decorative gift boxes.

When it comes to decor Amy has shared one of our favorite ideas of the season.

“I like to use holiday wrap to decorate the wood doors in my apartment. I live in an old Victorian-style house with lots of wood doors, so I often cover the inset panels with gift wrap. One of my favorites this year is the Slate Pine Bows Wrapping Paper, so I’m using that and the Boxwood Wreath on the front door to add a festive feel.”

Like so many of us at Paper Source, Amy also appreciates the art of gift wrapping.

“I like to use a neutral gift wrap like Faux Bois or Kraft White Flourish to wrap the outside of a box, then I use one of our bright colored tissue papers inside for a surprise pop of color inside the box.”

She is also a fan of printed tissue paper, like the Holiday Owls Tissue Paper (featured above), and recommends using tissue paper to wrap oddly shaped items.

A holiday hostess, Amy brings her stylish perspective to her holiday table and we love this easy recommendation.

“I use decorative 12×12 paper for place settings. It’s a great way to accent the dishes and add festive color.”

Many of us have come to appreciate Amy’s love for our seasonal kits. She’s always introducing new ways to style and use our kits – and her kids bring ideas to the table too! So, it was no surprise to hear one of her favorite things is garland.

“I love, love, love garland! And lots of it. Even as a kid, I would decorate my bedroom.” Amy continues, “I look forward to pulling out previous year’s decorations and adding to them each year. I like to layer and combine various garland sets. This year, my additions will be the Peppermint Candy Garland and the Holiday Owls Garland. My 4- and 6-year-olds will have fun putting these together, and I look forward to pulling them out in the years to come to stir up memories of making and hanging them.”

See Amy’s ideas and other Favorite Things from our Holiday Series on our Pinterest page. Check back this weekend, as our series continues with: A Few of Rick’s Favorite Things.

The holiday season is a perfect time to craft with friends, kids, or to explore creative ideas independently. Last weekend one of our own Paper Source family members hosted an annual Mother-Daughter Holiday Crafting Tea at her home. With treats upstairs and creativity downstairs, the setting was ripe to organize a knock-your-socks-off craft that would be simple and fun for kids of a range of ages, yet interesting and sophisticated enough for parents. She also really wanted the final presentation of the craft to have that “wow” factor!   

Materials:

Instructions:

There are endless ways to get playful with creating different looks- more traditional or whimsical-depending on your choice of paper selection and size, patterned assembly, color choices, paper loop size, etc.

These trees look stunning in multiples of the same or varying heights! Group them on your mantel, feature them as holiday table décor, give it as a gift…this craft is sure to impress all! But not only that, a Holiday “Crafternoon” Tea is a wonderful new tradition to start that brings kids and parents together in a cozy, creative way!

Happy Holidays! Happy Paper Crafting!

Leah, Linda and Sally

In this special Holiday Series we are bringing to you the best of what’s in stores for the holidays– as curated by some of our noted taste-makers. Today, Paper Source’s CEO weighs in with a few of her favorite things of the season.

Sally Pofcher
CEO
Noted for creating memorable activities for (and with) her daughters

Trolls! Many of you might remember these fuzzy friends. Well, they’re back and we love their new style.

“I love the hot colors of these little guys! They’re far cooler than the old trolls with flesh-colored skin.  The new generation comes in neons, brights, flocked and even glittered silver– there’s even a mystery combo in every lot of 15! I’d like to give a whole set to line someone’s desk for good cheer.”

Hang Tag Sticky Note Labels are stylish and sweet. And recycled too. What’s not to love?

“This tiny pad of sticky notes is designed to look like a paper bag hang tag. It makes even your most mundane notes look chic! It’s the perfect gift for anyone, in fact, I’m bringing them to my next book club meeting.”

Our new line of canning designs is perfect for foodies friends. Sally created a wonderful gift assortment for her friend Claire, who fell in love with the Paper Source Calendar design.

“My friend Claire is a blogger in the slow food and homesteading movement, and she fell in love with the jars artwork in the Paper Source calendar. I recently created her a gift basket of our Canning Jars Tea Towels, the Food in Jars book, a Canning Jar rubber stamp, our new Canning Jars wrapping paper, a ball of Baker’s Twine and a few other things. Now she is lining the inside of her kitchen cabinets with the paper, creating note sets with the stamp, and finding new ways to express her love for the artwork and the craft.”

Holidays are the perfect time for Gnomes. From wrapping paper to stamps these creatures add festive charm to your holiday projects.

“I love this catalog sample of the gnomes on mushrooms, throwing snowballs. It depicts the charm of this rubber stamp!” 

Sally rounds out her list with her favorite wrapping paper look of the season. Her gift wrap vision extends beyond the package, taking into consideration home décor. Sally is mindful of the harmony and balance created between coordinating patterns and contrasting scales and this holiday wrap look left her in awe.

“My first, ‘Ohhh!‘ was upon seeing the delicacy of the pine branch artwork in white relief on the slate background. The second ‘Ohhh’ was when I saw how adding ribbon made the berries in the wrapping paper pattern ’pop’. But the graphic contrast with the chevron bag is so incredible– how elegant and amazing would it be to present gifts using all three elements?”

See Sally’s Everyday Ideas and other Favorite Things from our Holiday Series on our Pinterest page. Check back next week when our series continues with: A Few of Amy’s Favorite Things.

Image via Midwest Living

Can you believe it’s almost December? In our family, we always had a first of December tradition of going out to a store and buying each kid their own Advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas. Midwest Living has done this tradition one better with their fun DIY Advent calendar created with a few simple Paper Source items!

Materials:

Instructions

This is a great, simple craft for kids but we think it’s even more fun to keep the contents of the Advent calendar a surprise! What would you put inside your envelopes?

If you haven’t already started following us on Pinterest, there’s no better time than right this very minute! We’ve started creating lots of fabulous new holiday Pinterest boards for you to follow including Gift Guides, Holiday Decor and more…

There’s no better place on the web to collect great decorating, party-hosting and gift-giving ideas– not to mention gift getting ideas. Start pinning items from Paper Source to a personal wish list board of your own creation and then share it with family and friends!

What will you pin next?