‘Tis the season to be smiling and the Paper Source Design Team has given us plenty of reason to grin. In fact, there are more than 100 ways to show off those smiles in our 2011 Holiday Photo Card Collection.

Our holiday assortment features dozens of festive styles, and new this year you can personalize the back of your card! With the option to choose your favorite backing style, we’ve given you more ways to do something creative – add a stylish pattern, more photos, even include a holiday letter. Between the clever designs and the exclusive Paper Source color palette these holiday greetings are sure to become a wonderful keepsake.

We also invited PS Fans to submit photographs for our new holiday photo card line. From hundreds of lovely photographs, the Paper Source Design Team featured several families in the latest collection. Today we’re congratulating Grace K. and her beautiful family as the winner of our $100 Paper Source gift card drawing. You can find Grace and her family in the New Year multi-photo card featured here and other samples online and in our stores.

Browse our newly designed holiday assortment online, and save by ordering this month – through October 31st enjoy an early bird discount of 25% off your holiday photo card order.

As we anxiously await the July launch of our new line of birth announcements, we wanted to let our fans know about another opportunity to inspire our designs – our 2011 Holiday Photo Card development is underway and we’re looking for families to feature in our catalogs, online and in our stores.

Send your favorite hi-resolution *photographs to psholiday@paper-source.com by July 10, 2011 and your photographs will be considered for our product line and one family will win a $100 Paper Source gift card drawing.

*Requirements:
Your photograph should be print quality (ideally 300 dpi) and approximately 5″ x 7″ when printed. We encourage you to submit either candid or staged shots; however, we insist that you own the copyrights to any image submitted. A photo release and consent form will be required for all selected photographs, so double check if submitting images that are not your own. Purchase not necessary to win. Must be submitted by July 10, 2011 to be considered.

We will announce the gift card winner with the launch of the 2012 Holiday Photo Cards in September.

Looking for an easy way to display cards or place cards at your holiday table? In just a few short steps you can create pocketed tabs that hold the corners of the items you want to display.

1. Start with paper cut into rectangular shapes where the width is twice the height

2. Follow the simple folding steps shown here

3. Slip the finished tabs over each card corner to create this accordion display

The sample shown uses 5″W x 2 1/2″H pieces to create tabs that hold A2 holiday cards. You can even use wrapping paper scraps since lighter weight paper is easier to fold.

–Fabra
PS colors: gravel & cement
Latest fave: Xyron 510 Machine

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 »

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

You asked for it… our first ever Holiday Card Making Girls Night Out! Get your creative juices flowing while you play with our new holiday rubber stamps, punches, cards and glitter – leave the mess with us and take home all sorts of great ideas. The event is this Thursday, October 1, so call your girlfriends and reserve your seats today!

Along with useful tips and tricks, you’ll bring home a beautiful linen folio to hold your holiday card creations. Even better, you’ll receive 10% off all your purchases in the store that night – an opportunity to gather keen card making supplies and get ahead on your holiday gift list! Tickets for Thursday’s event are only $25… sign up with a friend and receive 10% off your ticket purchase.

WHAT: Holiday Card Making Girls Night Out
WHERE: All Paper Source stores
WHEN: Thursday, October 1, 7-9pm
HOW: Visit our workshop page to find your store & purchase your $25 ticket.

We hope you’re so very proud of your hand-made holiday cards this year that you will submit your design to our Fourth Annual Holiday Card Contest also kicking off October 1st!

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: Saddle Stitch Notebooks