The Paper Arts site talks about everything related to paper including stationery, scrapbooking, and DIY paper projects.

Yes, we’re already coming up on the holidays - every year it seem to loom quicker and quicker. This year, if you’re looking for some extra special Xmas wrapping paper you might want to check out some of these designer pattern sheets depicting Tiffany Stained Glass. This might be a really nice touch for a gift meant for an antique collector, artist or someone who works with stained glass techniques.

The “patterns” include Wisteria, Dragonfly, Pointsettias, and Birds. At more than a dollar for 1 18×24 inch sheet, you probably want to make sure that your recipient will actually appreciate the paper! However, this is definitely gift wrap cut from a different cloth for those really special occasions. The sheets do come with gift cards that match each of the patterns.

I wandered into The Paper Princess website the other day which features the vintage inspired paper craft of Leslie Saito. There are quite a few cute paper products here to browse through, including nostalgic bookplates, folded and flat cards, gift tags, “petite pennants”, calenders, calling cards, and journals. Everything is beautifully designed, and a bit whimsical. If you’re looking for unique, vintage-looking stationery and paper goods, you might want to stock up on some supplies here.

Shown above are some really fun “Oh Dear!” notecards printed on glossy front 14pt. heavy stock. They have rounded corners and come with matching envelopes envelopes.

Some very nice general usage scrapbook paper is available at Scrapbook.com. I believe these “Doubletake” papers from Collage Press were on clearance for cheap the last time I looked. Double-sided papers like these are great for their multi-usage properties. Shown here are several examples of these muted yet colorful patterned papers in the cheery Citrus, Fresh and Seeds collections.

More great cards to show - this time from Foxy & Winston. Jane Buck is an illustrator who came to Brooklyn by way of England and creates various hand screen printed goods.

These blank cards are beautiful, single color animal prints made on 30% post consumer recycled paper and include corresponding envelopes. I like the designs because they are simple, yet playful and as cards they could be used for many occasions.

These are the screenshots from two of her colorful cards - the first is of a mom and little giraffe and the other is of a faun in a woodland setting.

Woodland Faun, Giraffes
4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ - $4.50 / card
available at Foxy & Winston

Sorry for the lack of posts on paper lately. I’m thinking of moving to a posting format that’s a bit shorter than the longer reviews and features on the site, but including more pics to look at.

I actually found these letterpress cards from Lizard Press featured on the Design Sponge blog which is great place to find out about different types of paper art, designer paper, cards and invitations.

Lizard Press makes individually designed, hand printed letterpress cards and posters using vintage wood and lead type on both recycled and cotton paper.

I liked the blue and white seascape letterpress designs which are shots of the Berkeley Marina and are printed on off-white Johannot mouldmade cotton paper.

These bright “Astral Notes” are also nice and are printed on recycled Confetti paper. Both cards come with matching envelopes.

Sea Notes - $4.50 / card
Astral Notes Sun - $3.75 / card
available at Lizard Press on Etsy

With June nearly on the horizon, wedding season has already started up. If you’re getting married this summer and you haven’t yet sent out your invites, you’re behind! But if you’re planning for NEXT year you’re in better shape.

I saw these nice non-traditional San Lori wedding invites over at Paperie & Co.. They have quite a few different invites that are more whimsical in design then old and stodgy. The invites are printed on plain flat paper, come with bulk envelopes and measure about 6 x 9 inches. Prices start at 10 for $14 for blank if you want to print them yourself, or about $5 each for color printed invites.

San Lori Invitations
available at Paperie & Co.

A great way to build up your supply of nice papers on hand is to watch for companies that sell “scrap packs“, which are just loose collections of different single sheets of paper. Often, the companies put color themed packs together from opened reams or stock that they are discontinuing. You will often find these at physical paper stores, but some online ones like Paper Mojo also sell them occasionally.

They currently are running a few specials on scrap packs with a potpourri of 7 different beautiful papers (with 2 of each sheet) in different color schemes. I picked out the blue-green “Caribbean Collection” paper pack to show above. As you can see, there is a good mix of textures and prints in each pack. Each paper sheet is approximately 10″ x 7″. They have a limited supply of each pack, I think they start with around 30 of each pack though many are selling out due to popularity.

Scrap Packs - $4.75 / 14 sheets
available at Paper Mojo.com

You may remember that Martha Stewart actually stopped selling items on their website awhile back. That was a bit of a bummer, because they had some rather nice things (A side note: some of the retired products she sold online currently command a pretty penny on Ebay).

Well, it turns out they’ve made somewhat of a comeback which actually dovetails nicely with our coverage of Paper Arts. The new online store is called Martha Stewart Crafts which has over 500 different crafting products to choose from. Categories you might be interested in include Paper & Stationery, which has everything from notecards to tissue paper, Scrapbooking & Albums, Tools & Adhesives, and Kits.

We’ll probably feature more products from their store in the future, but we just wanted to give you a head’s up in case you haven’t heard of the store. Here’s an example of some of the kind of cool things that they have available. I saw this fun Paper Bag Puppet Kit which includes materials and parts to create six great animal hand puppets. This might be a great rainy day activity for kids. There’s a lobster, pig, dog, lion, frog and a bird in the kit which runs about $20.

If you’re about to get married soon and the date is creeping up on you quickly, you might think twice about making your own homemade wedding invitations. The amount of time and skill needed to plan, cut, and print your own wedding invites is beyond even the most ambitious of brides. Plus, not everyone is an artist or graphic designer.

Sure, you could ask a friend or acquaintence to help out with the design or preparation of the invites (and this might be a good idea anyway for those larger weddings requiring 200+ invitations). So, most people opt for just ordering a professionally printed wedding invitation package to cut out all of the hassle. The problem is that getting stuff professionally printed can cost a couple of arms and legs. And there’s the additional risk of leaving a third party all that responsibility.

Well, if you should choose to go the DIY route for your invites, you might want to consider getting a “wedding invitation kit” instead of desigining them entirely from scratch. This compromise might be the way to go. Having blank invites keeps the cost down by allowing you to print them yourself.

Continue reading “Homemade Wedding Invitations” …

I had heard some good things about The Paper Mill Store from a few people so I went to check it out online the other day. Located in Wisconsin, the company focuses on the basic idea that “Great Paper at Great Prices Shouldn’t be Hard to Get.”

They’ve got a good selection of coated, uncoated and metallic type paper for sale in bulk, along with specialty paper for printer, copier and photo jobs. They also have a huge selection of envelopes and card stock as well.

Shown at right is some sheets of 8.5 x 11″ Botanical Printed Vellum Paper that they sell in bulk.

The Paper Mill Store is actually a part of the CTI Paper group and was started up in 1989 by Brian Cowie (in his basement no less). They’ve since grown to 40 employees and have an enormous paper distro center in Wisconsin. One of the more interesting things about the company is their commitment to so-called “green” alternatives to paper manufacturing and distribution. One of the ways that they contribute is by using 100% wind power which eliminates 100s of thousands of lbs of CO2 being released into the air.

Visit The Paper Mill Store Website.