A PS Fan fan recently wrote in about a 4″ x 6″ booklet idea she was working on and, like many of us, the final execution of her project was unanswered – How was she going to secure the pages of her booklet?

Would it be snaps?

Could it be eyelets?

Or should it be brads?

Decisions, decision, decisions…

Sure, they seem too small for the fuss. But, take it from me, these embellishments add charm and function in their own unique way. To help her and others understand how and when to use each I created this quick-step guide.

Feel free to comment with other questions. I’ve tackled a lot of projects and have plenty of tips and tricks to offer the inquiring crafty mind.

Cheers!

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

Once I completed felting the birds, I found a piece of driftwood from the shoreline, and crafted a swing, simply by braiding pieces of string to each end. When the swing was assembled, the birds were then glued onto the piece of wood with PVA glue. And voila!…a cute family of birds who smell great!

That’s right, they smell ‘tweet’. One thing I’ve noticed about felt is that it holds smells very well. Simply spray or drop your favorite perfume/potpourri into the larger felt birds, and you’ve got yourself an adorable air freshener, as well as bragging rights. Hang it in your bathroom, car rear view mirror, or off your neck! Wherever it dwells, it has tweet smells.

–Minhi, Paper Source Bellevue Store
PS colors: moss & curry
Latest fave: I Can’t Sleep Journal

Here is a young “George” in a rare shot, all cleaned up for a photo! Next to him is the new lightweight at home letterpress machine, and what I might refer to as Mr. Epic!

But, alas not all love affairs can last… nor could I afford to keep a 1200 lb George/Vandercook proof press machine in my home – let alone in my kitchen, which let’s face it, is where most of us do our art, any chance we get. It’s now 2010 and for those interested in getting a chance to play with a small hand-crank press that creates a lovely “impressed design” (whether inked or blind embossed) onto paper or wood veneer – without the late hours, loud music, or heavy solvents – this table top Epic letterpress machine is just the ticket!

Weighing in at about 5 lbs and no bigger than a toaster, this at home version is perfect for recreating a simplified form of letterpress. Now-a-days printers use polymer plates to print from, not unlike the hard clear plastic plates Epic provides with their machine, along with ink, and a printing bed.

Sign up for our Crafting Studio on September 29 and see a demonstration of this new crafting tool! You’ll get the chance to ink up and print a card yourself and learn tips and tricks. It may not be “George”, but chances are you might just fall in love!

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: Silhouette SD Digital Cutting Tool and Peacock Cards & Envelopes

1. Ink Your Stamp: Select a rubber stamp with some open space for fill in opportunities and room for things to flow outside the lines! This little Dandelion Rubber Stamp is one of my favorites. Ink up your stamp with Black Color Box Inkpad.

2. Create Your Stamp Impression: Stamp your design in a repeat pattern along the bottom of a card. I’m using our new paper bag note card. Remember you can stamp off the edge onto scrap paper for more layering. Heat set your image with a heat embosser to prevent the ink from bleeding too much.

3. Add Color with Pencils: Choose your pencil colors and fill in selected areas of the stamped design. Consider blending the pencil colors dry for a really lovely effect once it is wet.

4. Prepare Your Water Brush Pen: Fill the water brush pen with plain tap water and give it a slight squeeze to wet the brush tip – you’re now ready to begin blending.

5. Blend Your Colors: Using the wet bush tip, blend areas where you want to see a watercolor effect. If you used two different color pencils the water brush will blend the colors together. If you want a clean crisp color you may want to wipe the brush tip before blending. You don’t need much water (I added a bit more than needed for the purpose of the photo.) You can also blot very lightly to remove pooling water, but keep in mind it might remove some of your color.

Viola! Pretty stationery sure to be a keeper for years to come by your recipient!

Cheers,

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: Silhouette SD Digital Cutting Tool and Peacock Cards & Envelopes

Here are a few card samples using some of our new bold colors along with card making techniques we’re sure you’ll love! Most of these designs sprang from the creative minds of our amazing sample making “dynamic duo,” Annie and Claudia, who never cease to wow me with their clean and playful style.

Sign up fast as seats are selling out quickly! Many stores are planning to feature this workshop again – if your store is already sold out for this week, call to find out when they might be hosting this class in the future!

Share photos of what you create on our Facebook page. I promise to let Annie and Claudia know how they have inspired you with their imaginations. Hmmm…I think I feel a card making throwdown comin’ on!

Cheers,

–Linda
PS colors: chartreuse & pool
Latest fave: Silhouette SD Digital Cutting Tool and Peacock Cards & Envelopes

Hi PS Fans! My name is Andrea Boudewijn and I’m a baker of wedding cakes and confections who loves to shop at Paper Source in Pasadena and Beverly Hills. As a cake maker, I’ve often looked to Paper Source for tools I can use on my cakes. I know what you’re thinking: What could a paper store offer that could be used at a bakery? More than you can imagine. Everything in the shop is an opportunity to get a creative edge on my cakes, but today I want to talk about a tool I reach for and use every single day: The bone folder.

If you’ve used one, you likely know its primary purpose: To aid in the clean, precise creasing of hand made notecards, origami, and other projects needing paper-folds. But in the shop, we use the comfortable, slightly-rounded face of this tool to smooth and heal our fondant and gum paste. The comfortable grip, organic feel and convenient shape allow us to rub out wrinkles, tuck fondant under a cake tier for a clean line, and on occasion texture the surface!

Once we have the fondant and gum paste smooth and perfect, we dig into our collection of PS rubber stamps to decorate. It makes an image so much more precise to use a stamp (with edible food coloring, of course!) then paint over or around it for the desired effect. We also use them in a repeated pattern to create unique texture on our cakes. It takes a steady hand and lots of math to get it exactly right, but that’s our kind of everyday creativity.

photo credit: Andrea Bricco

When we’re doing a suite of confections (‘sweet’ of confections? Blerrrg…), we love to arrange them on plates and stands on a dessert table then label them with PS bracket labels. Just pick a pretty font, print your labels with the name of the confection, and you’re off to the races! It’s a beautiful way to label desserts — either hang the tags from a ribbon or slip them into a placecard stand. Instant gorgeousness!

I love rubber stamps for making cupcake wrappers — it’s easy-peasy: Just flatten your wrapper paper, stamp on the exterior of the papers only (this means you can use regular ink), let dry, and wrap around your cupcakes.

One last note on the bone folders: PS offers them at a much more reasonable price than you find from other vendors, if you can even find them. I keep handfuls of them in the shop so all the decorators can have access to one, and it warms my heart when I see one sticking out of someone’s back pocket in the bakery. It means that they keep it close and have come to depend on it as I have.

Thanks PS!

–Andrea Boudewijn, Superfine Bakery – Los Angeles, PS customer
PS colors: chartreuse & strawberry
Latest fave: Rubber stamps! All of them!

Our text weight paper works the best, and our cover weight paper and entire line of note cards can be cut with a little tweaking of the settings. It definitely takes a few practice rounds to perfect the art of placing the media in the right spot on the mat and finding the perfect the blade settings, but if you love card making, scrapbooking or just general crafting, this tool is a must have!

The tool comes pre-loaded with 50 shapes, and can cut almost any font you already have loaded on your computer. Additional images are available for download (iTunes style) on the Silhouette website. The samples shown here were created using Silhouette shapes. A patterned background and layered message (all cut out of text weight paper) make for a fun thank you card.

Floral cutouts xyroned to a brightly wrapped package with coordinating card create a fun gift presentation any girl would love! For those of you who want to take it to the next level, the Silhouette can also be used to cut your own designs, which is the feature I use the most. I have been creating hand-cut designs for years and now use my Silhouette to do the work for me.

I start by hand-cutting my design, then scan the final piece and import the file into the Silhouette software. I follow the easy step-by-steps to create the outline, and I’m off to cutting pieces that would normally take hours upon hours to cut. Several steps, but I promise it’s easy to do! With our entire line of colorful papers and cards to work with, projects with the Silhouette have so many possibilities and are so much fun!

– Stephanie
PS colors: fuchsia & night
Latest fave: Silhouette SD Digital Cutting Tool, of course, and Fingertip Swivel Craft Knife for those extra special projects needing a hand-cut touch!

When lining Paper Source envelopes, the trick is to use our Envelope Liner Template Kit, which comes with traceable plastic templates in 7 envelope sizes. Check out our How-to Video where our beloved founder Sue will show you how to make envelope liners, and keep you entertained along the way.

Enjoy, and, as Sue will remind you, Do Something Creative Every Day!

– Cindy
PS colors: pool & red
Latest fave: Dutch Woodcut Floral Wrapping Paper

A simple way to clean rubber stamps is by using a spray bottle with luke warm water. You don’t need to add soap to the water as long as you are using a water-soluble ink such as Color Box, Versa Mark, Versa Magic or Brilliance stamp pads. Spritz water onto the rubber portion of the stamp and dab with a paper towel. It’s important to dab at the rubber stamp, and not to scrub it – repeated scrubbing, even if not done aggressively may loosen the rubber from the stamp block. Although you can use water, do not clean your stamps by running water over them (e.g. in the sink) – too much water in contact with your entire stamp can degrade the adhesive that binds the stamp to the block eventually causing it to fall apart.

While no special supplies are required for cleaning rubber stamps, we do recommend two stamp cleaning products that make the process easier, especially if you use your rubber stamps often.

1. The Spritzer Rubber Stamp Cleaner is a pump-action spray cleaner that works perfectly with paper towels. Spritz some cleaner onto a rubber stamp (rubber side up in the direction of the spray) – be sure to spritz generously onto the areas that have been heavily inked. Once the stamp is moistened, gently dab (don’t scrub) at the ink with a paper towel. Repeat the dabbing process as needed until all the crevices are clean and clear of any residual ink.

2. Another great rubber stamp cleaning product is the Rubber Stamp Cleaning Pad by Rub-N-Scrub. This is especially good for lightly inked stamps. The surface of the cleaning pad is covered in soft bristles – dab your inked stamp against these (do not scrub or rub your stamp). We love this pad because it’s a green way of cleaning: the pad is removable and reusable, so you don’t waste paper towels as with other cleaning methods.

So, go forth and clean. Happy Stamping to all!

– Betsy
PS colors: gravel & red (and curry)
Latest fave: Desk embossers, Yuzen Red Pool Plum Blossoms Japanese paper and Yuzen Seagreen Orange Fish Japanese paper. Love them!

–Annie
PS colors: gravel & beet
Latest fave: Tree Trunk Tea Light and Japanese 8 1/4″ Scissors

1. Measure your ribbon by going around the box, ending edge to edge on the top of box (so around once, plus one more side of the box). Leave enough extra ribbon so you can trim the edges again, if necessary, after your square knot is tied.

2. Wrap ribbon around the box from the bottom to the top. Hold ribbon taut around the top of the box, and with your right hand pull the length of ribbon on the left over and under to create a single tie, as you would when tying your shoe.

3. Hold the tie tight with a finger. Take the right ribbon tail over and behind the left ribbon tail, then through the loop you’ve created. Gently pull in a horizontal fashion to tighten the knot.

4. Using both hands straighten and flatten out the knot in the middle of your ribbon.

5. To create even edges, pull together both ribbon tails and cut at the same location. Cut at any angle you please. Sharp scissors are a must!

There – a simple, clean knot ready for a gift tag.

P.S. A simple way to remember how to tie a square knot when you don’t have instructions in front of you is, “left over right, right over left.” With a little practice and this rule of thumb, it will seem easy!