When I travel abroad, I take a few photos of famous monuments and statues. But what I really love to capture are common elements like doors and windows. And the most remarkable to me are not the ornate or gold-plated, but the understated ones on tiny storefronts and countryside homes…the ones the locals walk through and look out everyday. Simple and modest, but so rich in color, texture, and feeling.

It’s fascinating the way that color is used in architecture throughout Europe. Homes and businesses show off their personalities by washing their walls in color, or using colorful doors and shutters as accents. Sometimes it’s nature creating the final color as with the rustic green patina that develops over metallic surfaces. Even if the colors are vibrant they feel demure, never flashy.

Photographs like these inspire me to pause for a moment at the everyday things… and remind me why I love to travel!

–Kristen
PS colors: pool & chocolate
Latest fave: Gold, Pink Dots Nesting Box – great to have around for last minute gift wrapping.

I’ve already professed my love for the farmer’s markets here in Chicago, but if I had my way I would spend my time traveling through the markets across Europe. There’s something about the way they present the food and the idea that locals go there everyday to buy fresh ingredients for that night’s meal. Set up in open plazas or packed into narrow cobblestone alleys, they are always charming and always inspiring.

While looking through photographs from my friend’s recent trip to Italy, I was reminded both of my nostalgia of such magical places and of the incredible colors that can be found in the simplest and most natural of items. Produce especially offers an unimaginable array of colors – even the understated muted tones are exquisite. If I could paint my world in these purple artichokes, I would!

–Kristen
PS colors: pool & chocolate
Latest fave: Gold, Pink Dots Nesting Box – great to have around for last minute gift wrapping.

Every Saturday morning I look out my 15th floor window to the tiny farmer’s market that sets up just a block away from my apartment. I can’t wait to walk by each stand to see the fresh produce picked just days earlier. But my favorite is the fresh cut flower selection. Many times I don’t even buy anything, but I still enjoy exciting my senses – the variety, texture, and infinite color combinations nature allows is inspiring.

Something I’ve learned from flowers is that there are no wrong color combinations. In fact experimenting can lead to the most unexpected and wonderful color combinations. This past weekend I picked up some cockscomb in curry, red, dusty pink and deep purple. Accented with bright green leaves, it’s truly perfect. I can’t stop staring at them on my dining room table.

For me the lesson learned is don’t be afraid of color, of mixing colors, and taking tips from nature!

–Kristen
PS colors: pool & chocolate
Latest fave: Gold, Pink Dots Nesting Box – great to have around for last minute gift wrapping.

We’re really excited around here about our new Paper Doll Kit. Our staff can’t seem to get enough of it–many of us and our families have been spending countless hours coming up with fun ensembles and paper doll characters (and their pets)– and we’re not done yet!

We thought we’d start sharing some of the doll creations that have been circulating the halls here. (The dolls shown here were created by Haley, daughter of Rhonda in HR, with some help from brother Evan, and by our summer intern Tracy.)

More to come — we hope you enjoy this new kit as much as we do!

P.S. A great tip from Crysia, the store manager at PS in Boston: in addition to the removable adhesive dots in the kit, try using Xyron repositionable adhesive for doll clothing and accessories– great for using those outfits again and again.

–Fabra
PS colors: gravel & chocolate
Latest fave: Teflon bone folder

Clockwise from top left: ballerina and go-go gal made by Haley; pilot made by Tracy; robin hood and redhead made by Haley and Evan.

At Paper Source, we’re constantly working to come up with interesting and beautiful ways to do calendars. Last year, we launched our first wall art calendar, a large-scale poster display of gorgeous saturated color. This year, we had a “paper engineering” brainstorm to come up with a fun new take on a monthly calendar– we were aiming for something neat and small, yet super utilitarian. And thus was born the Mini Calendar. It’s so multi-talented, we like to think of it as our little workhorse. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all had them and we’ve all used them. The free calendars that businesses often give away each year (think your local bank or dry cleaners) become a necessity when trying to collect a family’s activities all in one place. Yet the part we all most appreciate about these freebees is the grid, not the art (as lovely as those pastoral scenes may be!). This year we decided to try our take on the grid calendar, hoping to make it both useful (on desk top or wall) AND artful.
In the past when we’d go to print a new pattern, Sue our founder would encourage us to tail onto the print run a variety of extra sheets of our PS colored papers – just to see how they would look once printed. It was a great way for us to learn how different color combinations printed on the solid paper backgrounds. Through this experimenting, we discovered that a tone-on-tone effect of pattern on our colored papers was simply beautiful. We couldn’t wait to find an excuse to try this technique on the right PS product!
And so was born the 2010 Paper Source Grid calendar, 17 months of tone-on-tone pattern in Chartreuse, Pool and Papaya. And yes, a nice big calendar grid for capturing all of life’s details. It’s truly a pleasure to flip through and adds a burst of color wherever you use it!

P.S. While proofing the calendar press runs Karen discovered a pile of production waste paper that she brought back to share with the team. We LOVE the ink pattern patchwork of layers resulting from the multiple runs through the press (see photo at right). Now we just need to think of a new product to use it on…

– Cindy
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: PS India Elephants Wrap – I love the proud marching elephants with their beautifully painted toes!

This spring we introduced a new paper flower kit to celebrate one of our all-time favorite blooms, the sunflower. At Paper Source, from the moment we decide on a kit concept, we begin the rounds of brainstorming, sampling and prototyping that make up the creative process. After investigating different varieties of sunflowers (there are more than 50 species), and bringing in lots of fresh ones to examine in person, we decided on a look and began creating initial models. Read the rest of this entry »

I wanted to share this cool study in color & texture contrast that I stumbled upon in my magazine archives, from Livingetc (one of my favorite home design magazines out of the UK). Color is such an integral part of Paper Source– if you haven’t yet, check out our colorscope– and the vibrant yellow in this image reminds me of how our curry is a beautiful match for almost any deep purple. This particular vase with its glossy finish, set against the deep dark richness of the flower, and the highlights of its edges and velvety texture… all create a bounty of visual fun! Whether it’s a vase and flower combination like this, or a shirt and a scarf, or a card and envelope pairing…there are countless ways to mix this gorgeous color combo into your everyday life.

P.S. view the photo full-sized to get the full effect.

–Fabra
PS colors: gravel & chocolate
Latest fave: Teflon bone folder