Send your favorite fool rushing in this Valentine’s Day with our Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love card. Utilize paper from season’s past or follow along with our color recommendations. Either way you slice it, this Valentine is better than a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Materials Needed:

• Hunka Hunka How-to PDF
• A7 Black Folded Cards
• Persimmon & Poppy 4 Bar Heart Cards
• Red Glitter Wrap
• Peacock, Curry, Poppy, Papaya and Beet Text Weight Papers (or whatever scrap you’ve got!)
• Heart Hole Punch
• Foam Squares
• Glue Stick
• Silver Metallic Sharpie Marker
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Xacto & Cutting mat

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And you thought only teddy bears were lovable? This adorable little Panda makes a huggably sweet folded note- perfect for your Valentine sentiments! Created by the Paper Source Craft Design team, you can construct your Panda Love Card with colors of the season, or mix and match with your favorite PS colors. He’s just too cute to pass up!

Materials Needed:

• Paper Source Panda Love How To
• A7 Persimmon Folded Cards
• Fuchsia 4 Bar Heart Cards
• Black 1 ¼” Round Label Sheets
• Ecowhite 2 ½” Round Label Sheets
• Ecowhite 4″ Round Label Sheets
• Googly Eyes
• Black Brads
• ¾” Circle Punch
• Silver Metallic Sharpie Marker
• Gluedots
• Scissors

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I pride myself on sending the perfect card for every occasion. I’ve collected cards over the years so I have plenty at hand. But sometimes I just can’t find the right one, so I make my own. What I thought would be perfect for this little package is a coordinating birthday card using the same wrapping paper and satin ribbon.

Simple, simple – I just covered the front of a folded card with a piece of gift wrap cut to size, added a strip of satin ribbon across the front, and used a letterpress tag as my sentiment. All with my favorite adhesive – double stick tape.

It’s an easy way to let the gift recipient know you went above and beyond to make a one of a kind package. And a great way to use those leftover wrapping paper scraps!

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

Our 12×12 sheets aren’t just for scrapbooks! Make this jolly lil’ fellow using our new “Button Nose Snowman” 12×12. It’s the perfect project for the snowman lover in us all! The page is filled with these frosty friends in all different shapes and sizes. Cut out one for each card…or how about a bunch to represent the whole family!

Happy Holidays To You & Yours!

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

Materials Needed: Read the rest of this entry »

We recently noticed that many PS bloggers list their favorite PS colors as Persimmon & Paper Bag. It’s true! These new colors have quickly found their way into many of our craft projects & product designs. Persimmon, bold, happy and bright, tempered by the earthiness of Paper Bag. It’s a cheerful, down-to-earth combination.

Inspired by the suggestion, I headed to our new Southport store and soon found myself with the beginnings of a card-making idea…Persimmon folded cards, Paper Bag business cards, Paper Bag envelopes and Lokta paper to line the envelopes. Hoping to find the rest of my materials in my paper scrap box (full disclosure: closet), I headed home. Read the rest of this entry »

It is so warm here in Chicago. It hardly feels like it is almost Thanksgiving! In fact, it feels a little weird to talk about my favorite holiday products when I didn’t even wear a coat to work, but here goes…

For crafting, a couple super-easy, but super-impactful items are the Snowflake Trim Double Edge Punch and Tinsel & Twig embellishments .

The chain punch allows you to make perfectly die-cut belly bands that wrap around an invitation or card while the crepe paper embellishments are self-adhesive, so you can stick one on a card or on the top of a gift. The embellishments are layered with four different accents so it looks handmade without the time investment. Just peel and stick! I used it in the sample to adhere the snowflake chain to the card.

When it comes to boxed holiday cards I cannot resist telling you about another one of my favorite vendors, Saturn Press. For years Paper Source has carried this line of beautiful letterpress cards, both in our everyday single card assortment, as well as in boxed holiday offerings. Not only is their product simply lovely, but their commitment to green living has been alive since the start of their business in 1986. Read the rest of this entry »

We had such fun creating our holiday card idea samples this year – including a multi-department crafting lunch, complete with holiday tunes (but missing the “lunch”)!

From the creativity of that day came the cards pictured above, along with recipes for you to follow, or improvise. We hope you enjoy the inspiration they provide and that you have a ball “cooking up” your own holiday cards this season. Remember, if you submit your ideas to us, as part of our Holiday Card Contest, you could win a PS gift card (always handy around the holidays)!

– Cindy
PS colors: persimmon & paper bag
Latest fave: 2011 Paper Source Booklet Calendar

Our customers have been raving about our most recent Holiday Card Making event, so we added another to the schedule to keep the inspiration coming! Trust me when I say that this October 21st class should bring your holiday greetings to life. You will get to play with some of our new products including: birch veneer, fabric tapes, tiny jingle bells, decorative paper ribbon, and other fun adornments!

Sign up online, or call your local store, to get on the list for today’s activities! If your local store is sold out, please ask about an encore class or private party options. These cards and tags are not to be missed!

–Linda
PS colors: paper bag & persimmon
Latest fave: 2011 Paper Source Booklet Calendar

As much as I hate to admit it, it is already October and whether I have my Halloween accents done or not, the holidays are just around the corner! Each year we like to do a kick-off Holiday Card Making Event that begins the season of stamping, stickling, heat embossing, and layering (both papers and good wishes) with plenty of creative ideas! This Thursday, October 7, from 7-9pm is our annual Girls Night Out: Holiday Card Making. This event usually sells out (some locations already have), but not to worry, we also have a Holiday Card & Tags Workshop coming up on October 21. Check with your local store on seat availability, or ask them about having your own private “Crafter’s Night Out” with 6 or more friends!

Here are a few holiday card samples the folks will be making tomorrow night. Left: We used our new Tombow Markers with rubber stamps to add fun hits of color! Right: Vintage distressing combined with our die-cut snowflake cards, layered over new 12×12 paper.

Below are a few card ideas sure to be winners for those who love creative embellishments like bakers twine or decorative cloth tape! (Some of these new ingredients are hot off the press and you’ll be the first to see them in this workshop – not yet available online).

Please stop into a store to view even more holiday card samples on our inspiration boards, and get a jump on your own creations just in time for the start of our 5th Annual Holiday Card Contest! This is the season we love to inspire correspondence between families and between friends. This is the rich part of life, sharing your thoughts and words with those you love. And, well…this is the fun part too, getting to “Do Something Creative Every Day!”

Cheers & Happy kickoff to the Holidays!

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: 2011 Paper Source Booklet Calendar