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!

Paper Source moms recommend keeping bulk packs, a Xyron machine and colorful pens around for stormy days. What do you recommend pulling from the craft closet in the event of a kid crafting emergency?

Quiet and hard working, they started by testing our Ninja Kit concept. (Due in stores this Fall thanks to the overwhelming response from the boys!) This interactive kit creates puppet-like ninjas with jointed arms and legs for action-packed battles!

They then switched to building our Space Creatures Kit, and had a great time making the aliens and other-worldly pets uniquely their own.

About an hour and a half into testing and the rowdiness was full on! The sugar-boosted creativity paired Space Creature googly eyes with our Photo Props Kit (due for release in September) prototypes. The fun continued until parents arrived.

Even at the height of silliness, these boys were nothing but pure pleasure. And thanks to their expertise, two new Paper Source kits will hit the shelves in mid-September. Boy tested but, no doubt, equally fun for girls too!

Thanks to the crew, and their parents, for taking a rainy morning to show us how to Do Something Creative Every Day.

– Cindy
PS colors: persimmon & paper bag
Latest fave: Personalized Stationery

This is what you need to create one for yourself:

• Royal Crowns Kit
• Xyron 900 Machine or Glue Sticks
• Craft knife
• Super Tacky Tape

Steps:
1. Run crowns through your Xyron and attach the tacky back to a sheets of London Cavallini Wrapping Paper.

2. Trim away the backside of the paper with your craft knife.

3. Size to fit your prince or princess. (This version is modeled by Princess Julie, the newest member of our Merchandising team!)

Cheers!

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

Decorate your Easter table or start an Easter project for the kiddies with these lovable little lambs! This idea is great for baby showers too!

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

Materials Needed:

• Lamb Treat Bag How-To PDF
• Small White Treat Bags
• Superfine Soft White 4″ Round Labels
• Superfine Soft White 8 ½” x 11″ Text Paper
• Googly Eyes
• Glue Dots (Glue Stick Optional)
• Fuchsia Natural Cotton Ribbon
• Sunshine Natural Cotton Ribbon
• Ribbon Shredder
• Scissors
• Marker

Instructions:

1. To make these treat bags, cut out lamb body shapes from templates and fold where indicated.
2. Adhere ears and arms in the bag’s gusset, against the front of the bag.
3. Adhere feet to bottom of bag.
4. Adhere tummy patch in place and stick 4 inch round label for face.
5. Adhere googly eyes in place.
6. Draw in nose and belly button, as shown.
7. Tuck shredded ribbon into bag as garnish on top of treat.

Sure, I honor the holiday with a batch of étouffée. I even go as far as accepting my father-in-law’s usual Sazerac offer, despite not yet developing a taste for this potent cocktail. Still, it never feels like I do the Carnival justice.

But, earlier this year I had a chance to visit New Orleans for the first time. (Hello New Orleans, long time lover, first time visitor!) I was escorted by seasoned visitors the Sazerac-loving father-in-law, queen of bayou cuisine mother-in-law, and my fun-loving Mister. We tackled that town like it was sprouting legs and running away– hitting the St. Louis Cemetery to visit famous Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, riding the St. Charles Streetcar through the Garden District, and watching quintessential blues legend Dr. John perform at Tipitina’s.

Oh, the French Quarter? We tackled that too. And, boy, did we eat.

So, this year, the Carnival season not only seems possible, it seems necessary. And, lucky for this geeky web girl, I am surrounded by creative people, who figure out the best party crafts. Take these festive Mardi Gras masks made from our Mask Kit .

I saw these and thought to myself, “Man, I can actually do that!” Perhaps some of you can too? Dig around in that craft closet (or drawer) and pull out your glitter papers, decorative papers, stickles, adhesive gems, embellishments and ribbon. Then invite your friends over for an evening of Cajun crafting. Set the mood with Zydeco and gumbo. And, if your crowd needs a little “creative juice,” then mix up a round of Sazeracs (history and recipe from Esquire).

Our stores are even hosting a Mardi Gras Masks and Crowns workshop this Thursday, for those who want to have their Fat Tuesday favors ready ahead of time. Sign up here.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

– Liz
PS colors: peacock & fig
Latest fave: Cavallini Wrapping Paper

After another food-free crafting “lunch” playing with cool new product from the Buying team, and some talented creative work from the Crafting team, taking that inspiration and bringing it to life, we have our next round of card making “recipes”!

Have fun and do something creative for Valentine’s Day!

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

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

Instructions:

For panda body:
• Punch a ¾” circle from center of small black label, for panda tail.
• Stick tail just behind one large ecowhite label.
• Stick body with tail onto card, leaving room at top of card for head and ears.

Assemble panda head before sticking to card:
• Cut a small black label in half, stick in place onto medium ecowhite label.
• Punch two ¾” circles from centers of small black labels and stick in place just below ears.
• Adhere googly eyes on top of black punches with gluedots.
• Finish assembling head by affixing one black brad as nose.

To finish:
• Stick panda head onto card slightly overlapping body.
• Cut two more small black labels in half for paws and draw lines for claws with silver marker.
• Stick paws onto heart card as shown, using them to keep it in place on panda body.
• Write name or message onto heart card.

When it comes to crafting at Paper Source we know how important those moments are, when you’re spending time with your kids. We understand that they get messy, make a few mistakes, over embellish, and decorate to their little heart’s desire. We say, “Go for it!” Because, in the end, it is their bright smile and enthusiasm for their finished project that truly makes our day!

This weekend you and your kids can reserve a seat for our Paper Ginger House Workshop, where we do all the set up, and the clean up, and your family just enjoys the fun of creating. What could be better?!

Seats are only $25 for the pair (you and one child), stores will add additional children to your group for $10 per crafter. Seating is limited, so don’t wait! Contact your local store to reserve seats for your brood.

Can’t make it to a class? Check out some of the other great kid’s kits, perfect for holiday crafting and gift giving. Don’t worry, we have plenty of kits for you to tackle, once the kids go to bed!

The best news is that while the Paper Gingerbread House looks as yummy as an “edible” one, everyone goes home happy, touching approved!

Merry, Merry!

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

In order to learn more about what kids love to work with when crafting, we hosted a “test market” crafting session at our Evanston store several weeks ago. We hoped to find out what excited the kids and see how they would react to the craft projects we had for them. We also hoped to learn how age affected what they most enjoyed. One thing that clearly stood out in our test group was that young girls loved embellishing their art with adhesive rhinestones and pearls. They put them on everything, and lots of them!

This test group also confirmed something that we had learned at previous testing sessions – kids love having lots of fun materials, but limited instruction. They want to be let loose and to create with few boundaries (though, don’t we all?). This is a helpful learning for our Craft Team, as we wrap up the development of our 2010 Holiday Kits and “spring” into Valentine’s 2011!

Keep in mind the joy of a table full of colorful crafting goodies (for you and your kids) on your next rainy summer morning!

– Cindy
PS colors: persimmon & paper bag
Latest fave: Keep Calm and Carry On Water Bottle and Colored Dots Insulated Lunch Bag