It’s always fun to make a themed party extra special, and our pre-cut heart shapes and striped paper straws are a perfect match for your Valentine’s Day get-together. They’re a cinch to make and will make a bold, colorful statement on your table. Show your guests extra love and customize them with names!

Materials Needed:

• Valentine Party Drinking Straws How-To PDF
• Red & White Paper Straws
• Heart Shapes Pack
• Fuchsia Glitter Ribbon
• Rouge Glitter Ribbon
• Hot Pink Adhesive Crystals
• Red Adhesive Crystals
• Uniball White Gel Pen
• Small Zots Dots
• Scissors

Instructions:

1. Layer heart shapes using small zots dots.
2. Embellish by writing a loving message or adding adhesive crystals.
3. Attach to straws using more small zot dots.
4. Create ribbon flags by wrapping a small length of glitter ribbon around straw and using a zot dot to keep in place.
5. Trim ends with scissors for added flair.

Sip & Enjoy!

– Claudia
PS colors: curry & fuchsia
Latest fave: Mini Magnolia Paper Flower Kit

This little fella, who I often refer to as my nephew (admittedly not blood relation though), turns one year old today. Happy Birthday Grayson!

Grayson’s mom is my oldest and dearest friend (next to my sister), so I was happy to help her create a birthday party invitation to fit his celebration – a football-themed gathering, complete with beer and wings! Come on, we all know a first birthday party is for adults.

The original concept was a football field with various photos of this dimpled monster. But, after spending time in my husband’s childhood closet, I suggested a trading card invitation. (If only my influence could steer them back to the Bears.) Dad took on the task of getting him to sit for a photo and Mom and I got busy replicating an old-fashioned trading card.

The design is printed on Paper Bag to make it look authentic. I printed four to an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet and trimmed down to fit the coordinating 4Bar envelopes. The Paper Bag labels were printed using the Word template provided on our website.

The celebration is supposed to be team neutral, though I suspect it will be a sea of Reggie Wayne and Peyton Manning jerseys, so we focused on Night and Pool and added Curry accents. My favorite part of the invitation is the stat chart, an essential element of any trading card and a great way to share details of the first year.

Along with finished invites, I mailed a dossier to Grayson’s parents (pardon, his talent agency) with extra invitations, labels, envelopes and digital files. Everything fit perfectly into a Pool presentation envelope and gave them an easy way to store invites for mailing or upcoming press events.

–Crazy Aunt Liz
PS colors: fig & gravel
Latest fave: Personalized Note Pads

Done in our shower colors it made for great shower decor and more importantly was a lovely keepsake for Ann that will serve as a reminder of the guests who attended her shower and a wonderful memory of her mother.

–Kristen, Liz & Heather
PS colors: chocolate & fuchsia, fig & gravel, peacock & paper bag
Latest fave: Personalized Note Pads!

–Kristen, Liz & Heather
PS colors: chocolate & fuchsia, fig & gravel, peacock & paper bag
Latest fave: Personalized Note Pads!

Only problem: What do you do for the woman who has done everything?!

Three of us (from non-creative departments) volunteered for the challenge and quickly realized we were in for a treat. After sourcing inspiration online we decided on a Sugar & Spice Baby Shower theme and a perfectly pink color palette.

Since charming treats and refreshments would serve as our main party elements, we concentrated on the buffet table itself as the focal point of the room. We filled the table with sweet (and a little salty) old-fashioned candy and snacks displayed in various glass and white ceramic containers. We dressed our tables with rolls of solid gift wrap in Blossom and Strawberry, and printed place cards matching our invitation style to mark each food item.

Treats included gumballs, salt water taffy, cotton candy, pretzels, nuts, homemade baked goods, and mini cupcakes from local Chicago favorite Sweet Mandy B’s. As a surprise, we also made a call to Ann’s favorite hometown spot – Abe’s Carmel Corn Shoppe of Lincoln, Illinois – to bring their famous caramel corn to the celebration. We rounded out our offering with old-fashioned sodas and complementary striped straws – a perfectly festive way to wash it all down.

The table really was a sight to see framed by playful tissue pom poms and a Sugar & Spice sign we created using the Silhouette Machine. To make letters like this you simply type words in the font of your choice into the Silhouette program. The machine does all the work, though in our case it required a little manual construction on the wide letters given the Silhouette’s width limitation (we’re thrilled that the new Silhouette CAMEO accommodates wider paper).

And, like always, Ann and baby were perfectly coordinated for their special day.

–Kristen, Liz & Heather
PS colors: chocolate & fuchsia, fig & gravel, peacock & paper bag
Latest fave: Personalized Note Pads!

Our dear coworker Ann recently gave birth to her first child – a very sweet baby girl! Little Maggie arrived earlier this month, which gave us a chance to revisit Ann’s very special Sugar & Spice Baby Shower thrown in late summer. We enjoyed planning this event so much that we wanted to dedicate a blog series to her special day.

Check back all week as we walk through concepting an original baby shower theme, creating accents, developing a baby shower game and folding in a bit of sentimental charm. It was an event to remember for a woman who has created many memorable events for others. Be sure to save room for a daily helping of sugar – it’s sure to be a delicious read!

–Kristen, Liz & Heather
PS colors: chocolate & fuchsia, fig & gravel, peacock & paper bag
Latest fave: Personalized Note Pads!

Because I’m a Paper Source employee and former invitation designer, my hostesses felt some stress when coming up with an invitation for the event but, after a bit of collaboration, we came up with the most darling idea using our die-cut butterfly cards. (Note: Layout was a little tricky, but we just kept testing on white printer paper until it was perfect. Then, we used removable double-stick tape to attach the butterflies to a full sheet and fed them one-by-one through the printer.) At the shower, there was a matching banner and little butterfly gift tags to tie the entire theme together.

I was also introduced to a great new baby shower game – Midnight Advice. A tiny, newborn diaper was given to each guest. They then used a permanent marker to share words of wisdom, love or humor. The diapers were collected and I read each out loud. A few of the best included…

“Make daddy change me.”
“The rule is, if the baby is crying, you can too.”
“Next time use protection.”

My favorite won a small prize…“If you are reading this, you have it on backwards. It’s okay, it will probably only last an hour or so.” And, I won a collection of caring words and funny advice to get me through the night – not to mention some much-needed diapers!

It was such a wonderful time to get together and share in the joy of all things tiny and pink!

–Ann
PS colors: gravel & plum
Latest fave: 2012 Paper Source Kraft Grid

Since the wedding colors were black and white with hits of red, I thought a theme of red with hints of black and white would be a nice twist.

Jennifer paired our graphic Iron Scroll Wrapping Paper with Red and Eco-White solid papers and envelopes, using this palette for everything from invitations to menu cards to favors.

Her DIY bridal shower creations were too pretty to pass up. Our only questions is: Did the cupcakes taste as good as the favor boxes look?

–Jennifer W., Pasadena PS customer
PS colors: bluebell & gravel
Latest fave: Double stick tape

Don’t just decorate your home for the holidays… Adorn your party guests too with this festive 4th of July lei! It’s a great way to add a patriotic touch to anyone’s outfit!

Have a happy AND safe Independence Day!

–Annie
PS colors: peacock & paper bag
Latest fave: Spritzer Rubber Stamp Cleaner and Rubber Stamp Cleaning Pad

Materials Needed:

• Patriotic Lei How-To PDF
• Infinite Loops Trim Double Edge Paper Punch
• Star Hole Punch
• Text Weight Paper (Red, Night, Pure White)
• Ladybug Sugar Coated 12 x 12 Paper
• Red Stripe Fabric Tape
• Baker’s Twine
• Guillotine Trimmer
• Large Zots Dots
• Stapler

Instructions:

1. Punch infinite loops, trim along 11″ side of red, pure white and night paper. Cut bands of infinite loops in half measuring 51/2″ x 1″ and set aside.
2. Cut simple bands from pure white paper, or a mix of colors, measuring 51/2″ x 1″. Stick red stripe fabric tape down center lengths of bands and set aside.
3. Punch star shapes from ladybug sugar coated 12 x 12, or a mix of colors.
4. Begin linking approximately 15 bands in a mix of color combos of infinite loops and simple bands dressed with red stripes. Secure to one another with a staple and cover each staple with a star.
5. Tie ends of links with approximately 18″ of baker’s twine and pull over to head to wear!
]]> http://blog.paper-source.com/how-to/how-to-patriotic-lei/feed/ 2 http://blog.paper-source.com/parties/a-baby-shower-game-honoring-dad/ http://blog.paper-source.com/parties/a-baby-shower-game-honoring-dad/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:57:57 +0000 Paper Source http://blog.paper-source.com/?p=14046 I have come to appreciate a good baby shower game. If done well, it’s a great way to get all your guests involved. Not to mention, a nice transition from the eating portion to the gift opening portion of the shower. I knew for this baby shower that I wanted to get my friend’s husband involved because he is such a character. I learned of a game called Daddy Knows Best, where you ask the father-to-be a series of questions, then have the mother-to-be try to guess his answers at the shower. The game is simple, but I wanted to create an experience that would be fun for everyone.

I made game cards for each guest with two sections – first they would predict how many of Daddy’s answers Mom would guess correctly; second they read through the list of 12 questions I had asked Daddy and tried to guess his answers for themselves.



Once guests had filled out their cards, it was time for Mom to play the game. A spiral bound book made using our new Zutter machine contained all the questions and Daddy’s answers. It was much more interesting for me to flip through book than to have read the answers off a page, and my friend loved being able to keep the book once we were finished.





To determine a winner, guests kept track of how many questions they answered correctly. The guest with the most correct answers would win, and in our case of a tie we then compared the guests’ predictions of how many questions Mom would get correct to how many she actually answered right.

A special thank you to my co-worker Ann, who provided loads of baby shower inspiration and constructed this adorable spiral bound game book.

–Kristen
PS colors: peacock & chocolate
Latest fave: Satin Ribbon

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