Our Annual Holiday Card Contest drew to a close yesterday. Thanks to those of you who submitted fantastic and original holiday card concepts, voting is going to be difficult.

While we wait for votes to trickle in from our teams, we wanted to put the spotlight on a few of last year’s submissions. We hope the recap will serve as inspiration and connect you with others who share your love for the handmade greeting.

Enjoy!

Created by Elisa B.

Created by Haley S. Read the rest of this entry »

No one is more excited about the holiday season than your kids, and we have the perfect outlet for their joy and laughter. This weekend our stores are hosting a Kids Holiday Crafting Play Day where your kids and their friends can celebrate the season with festive paper crafts. Using a few of our new holiday kits and our assortment of embellishments, young crafters will create jolly keepsakes to adorn your home or your holiday packages.

Your kids will walk away with gnomes, mushrooms, elves and other colorful creations and you enjoy 10% off of purchases made that day. It’s a play day for crafters of all ages!

Kids Holiday Crafting Play Day
Saturday, November 19th
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (local time)
For more information or to register, visit our website.

Remember, sign up with a friend (or siblings) and save $5 off the price of both tickets. Kids ages 8 and under require an adult chaperone – contact your local store to inquire.

Happy Holidays!

To help make your holiday season exceptional we are hosting two days filled with free holiday demonstrations. Drop by your local Paper Source store on November 12th and November 26th from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (local time) and get inspired!

Our Holiday Demo Days are free to the general public and feature everything from Thanksgiving table decor to holiday favors to perfect gift wrapping.

Saturday, November 12th
11:00 am – 11:30 am: Wine bottle presentations
11:45 am – 12:30 pm: Thanksgiving place cards and favors
12:45 pm – 2:30 pm: Holiday card making
2:45 pm – 3:30 pm: Elegant accents

Saturday, November 26
11:00 am – 11:30 am: Holiday favors
11:45 am – 12:30 pm: Place cards and holiday kits
12:45 pm – 1:30 pm: Holiday card making
1:45 pm – 2:30 pm: Gift tags
2:45 pm – 3:30 pm: Holiday gift wrapping

Visit our website to see details for these events and other in-store demonstrations taking place throughout the season. We are sure these free tips will help you Do Something Creative this Holiday!

We have so many splendid ideas to share with you at our Annual Seasonal Table Event that I couldn’t resist providing a little sneak peek at the collection of ideas we are featuring at Thursday’s Crafter’s Night Out.

These colorful holiday favor pouches provide the perfect opportunity to create something unique. We will be adding stamped accents to make them fun and personal. Imagine these on your holiday table?!

Or, perhaps you are a cookie aficionado – baking goodie bags for your work colleagues, like so many of us at Paper Source. (I know. Aren’t we lucky?!) These cellophane bags will be the perfect inspiration for your holiday confections, complete with fun retro accents cut from 12×12 decorative paper.

We also have other unique ideas using our new rubber stamps, like this one from a wonderful French Canadian vendor. They are sure to add charm to your seasonal presentation.

Be sure to sign up early, and enjoy $5 off your seat when you sign up with a friend! Sip wine with fellow crafters, nibble on treats, create stunning decorations and shop the night away with your 10% off coupon.’

Seasonal Table Collection of Ideas – Crafter’s Night Out
Thursday, November 10th
6pm – 8pm (local time)
To sign up, stop by your local Paper Source store or register online today.

–Linda
PS colors: paper bag & persimmon
Latest fave: Academic Great Big Calendar

Paper Source crafting expert, Linda Barrett will be at the Oakbrook Paper Source this Saturday, October 1 from 11am–2pm demonstrating bookbinding techniques, card making concepts and unique favor ideas. As a passionate paper aficionada and Head of Paper Source’s Workshops, Demonstrations and Special Events, Linda will tackle all of your DIY questions and leave you in love with all things paper.

Show up early for a chance to win a special grab bag full of PS goodies, private workshop raffle and heat tool giveaway. Lemonade and old-fashioned sweets will be served.

We hope to see you there!

PS: We are located in the Nordstrom wing of the Oakbrook Mall!

Stop by your local Paper Source this month to find some great Halloween ideas haunting our demo table (located in the front of all our stores), like the spooktacular crafts created by two of our Chicagoland locations.

Our Naperville store created and easy-to-make Frankenstein Favor Box. What did they use? Only our Chartreuse take out box, 2 1/2 inch round labels and a couple googly eyes.

Over on Armitage, Lincoln Park store associates transformed our paper doll kit by adding Halloween costumes to the paper wardrobe. They also created a delightfully spooky haunted house from solid papers and Halloween stamps.

What do you think? Are these crafts your mummy would love or what?!

Customers often ask us what it’s like to work at a place that inspires people to Do Something Creative Every Day. The short answer: inspiring, challenging and rewarding.

As you can imagine, most of us were customers first, just hitting up our favorite store for DIY projects, handmade gifts or the big one – wedding invitations! Few of us gave thought to the possibility of starting a career with our favorite paperie.

Courtney Market started her career at our Evanston store and now manages our Austin store. “I was a customer before I was an employee, and when I saw there was an opportunity to work in such a unique environment I jumped at it,” said Courtney. “It’s great to be part of a family of such creative people—from the buyers, to design team, to the associates in the stores!” Read the rest of this entry »

Paper Source Fan Jennifer W. shared her DIY projects from a shower she recently co-hosted. As a regular of our Pasadena store, Jennifer worked with our team to create a bridal shower theme that perfectly celebrated the couple’s wedding plans.

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

In grad school I fell in love with the rich colors and layered textures of mono-prints, so you can imagine my thrill when I discovered the Letterpress Machine Combo Kit can recreate these luscious prints. Using the components of the kit, plus a few extra ink colors, rubber stamp resists and accents, I printed on our wonderful collection of papers. It took only a few minutes to create dramatic results!

Learn some of these wonderful techniques at our upcoming workshop.

Mono-Print & Stitched Booklet Workshop
Thursday, August 4th
4 – 6 pm (local time)
Register online or contact your local store

You’ll love the results and the versatility this machine offers for artistic endeavors, not to mention the opportunity to learn how to stitch simple booklets.

–Linda
PS colors: paper bag & persimmon
Latest fave: Academic Great Big Calendar