Celebrate the Easter season with our adorable Bunny and Chick Egg Friends. These fun characters are great as Easter cards, springtime decorations or cute paper companions for your little ones.

Materials Needed:

• Easter Bunny and Chick Egg Friends How-To PDF
• Egg Shapes Assortment Pack
• Googly Eyes
• Cover Paper in Poppy and Eco-White
• Bubblegum and Tangerine Sugar Coated 12 x 12 Paper
• Begonia, Powder and White Glitter Tape
• 1/4″ Hole Punch
• Scissors
• Zots Glue Dots
• Black Marker or Pen

Instructions:

1. Use templates provided to cut out shapes from indicated papers.
2. Adhere shapes onto corresponding egg shapes using glue dots, then glue googly eyes in place.
3. Embellish bottoms of eggs with strips of glitter tape as shown and trim off excess.
4. For bunny’s nose, punch out a circle from the pink glitter paper using 1/4″ hole punch and glue in place.
5. Draw in bunny’s mouth and whiskers using black marker or pen.
6. Great as place cards or for sending Easter wishes!

Happy Easter!

– Claudia
PS colors: curry & fuchsia
Latest fave: Mini Magnolia Paper Flower Kit

It seems like only yesterday we celebrated Lauren’s pregnancy with a Twice as Nice twins baby shower. And already her little darlings have turned one year old. While hundreds of miles and busy schedules keep us from seeing our former colleague, she remembered her Paper Source roots when creating this first birthday party for her girls. Here’s a look at the celebration…

A summer birthday party called for a playful theme that brought the outdoors in. Setting the tone with our Daisy invitation, Lauren used white paper daisies and adorable ladybugs to decorate her home.

Cheerful garlands draped across a mantel and in doorways and windows added festive flair with sweet messages like “The Ladies Are One!”

We love how Lauren mixed stripes and polka dot patterns on napkins, straws and balloons. And garden theme treats were tagged with printed labels – Dirt Pudding and Bug Juice…what fun!

-

First Birthday Party
Paper Source inspiration
Daisies Printable Invitation
Daisy Flower Kit
Oval Scallop Cards
Red Hang Tags
Decorative Ribbon
Baker’s Twine
Paper Straws

Kids, they grow up so fast. It seems like only a few days go by before the celebration shifts from baby shower to baby’s first birthday to a full on birthday party. Each moment reminds you of how big they are getting… AND tests your creative capacity. If you are lacking inspiration, then we have just what you need. We caught up with an old friend who knows how to throw a party that both kids and adults can enjoy.

Kelly, who once helped drive creativity in Paper Source stores, gave us loads of party ideas for kids when she shared two of her latest creations. Words hardly do these celebrations justice, so we asked Kelly to tell her story the best way she knows how… through photographs!

Enjoy!

Photos courtesy of Kelly Allison Photography

Garden Party
Paper Source elements:
Party Flags
Paper Crowns
Chalkboard Garden Signs
Straw Pennants
Origami Food Containers
Bottle Wraps
Butterfly Cupcake Decoration
Pin the Bee on the Flower Game

Photos courtesy of Kelly Allison Photography
Read the rest of this entry »

Bun in the oven? You’re in luck! We have wonderful things cooking too. Not only are our baby announcement designs an adorable way to welcome your new arrival, but our growing Paper Source family has provided plenty of reason to showcase real baby shower ideas.

Check out these DIY shower ideas…

Many of you celebrated our newest bundle of joy when you followed along with creating Something Sweet for Ann. Learn everything from concepting an original baby shower game to incorporating personal details from Ann’s coworkers.

Heather’s team celebrated the arrival of her first child with this Cute As a Button baby shower theme. Check out the clever ways a little button can go a long way. Read the rest of this entry »

This little fella, who I often refer to as my nephew (admittedly not blood relation though), turns one year old today. Happy Birthday Grayson!

Grayson’s mom is my oldest and dearest friend (next to my sister), so I was happy to help her create a birthday party invitation to fit his celebration – a football-themed gathering, complete with beer and wings! Come on, we all know a first birthday party is for adults.

The original concept was a football field with various photos of this dimpled monster. But, after spending time in my husband’s childhood closet, I suggested a trading card invitation. (If only my influence could steer them back to the Bears.) Dad took on the task of getting him to sit for a photo and Mom and I got busy replicating an old-fashioned trading card.

The design is printed on Paper Bag to make it look authentic. I printed four to an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet and trimmed down to fit the coordinating 4Bar envelopes. The Paper Bag labels were printed using the Word template provided on our website.

The celebration is supposed to be team neutral, though I suspect it will be a sea of Reggie Wayne and Peyton Manning jerseys, so we focused on Night and Pool and added Curry accents. My favorite part of the invitation is the stat chart, an essential element of any trading card and a great way to share details of the first year.

Along with finished invites, I mailed a dossier to Grayson’s parents (pardon, his talent agency) with extra invitations, labels, envelopes and digital files. Everything fit perfectly into a Pool presentation envelope and gave them an easy way to store invites for mailing or upcoming press events.

–Crazy Aunt Liz
PS colors: fig & gravel
Latest fave: Personalized Note Pads

Take treats for school in paper bags with adorable personalized labels. Run our large circle labels through the printer with our print template or write each name by hand. An adorable back-to-school design that is great for single lunches or an entire classroom!

Materials Needed: Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re like me and haven’t gone completely digital… or you hate dog earring pages in your favorite books…then you’ll appreciate this simple how-to! These page savers are so FUNctional! Kids will enjoy making them and adding them to notebooks or text books.

–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 »

Being the mom/stepmom of three boys, the thought of hosting twelve boys (ages 7-11), at the Evanston store terrified me! How would we keep these boys engaged in the crafts we wanted them to test? (Especially since we planned to sugar them up with donuts during the hour they were with us!) As it turns out, the boys LOVED to craft!

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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 Read the rest of this entry »