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

Valentine’s season brings along some of the busiest time of the year for peeps interested in the paper arts. We’ve previously posted about Retro Valentine’s Day Cards but here’s another book of vintage valentines put out by Golden Books.

It’s actually a “press-out” book where the pages contain perforations where you can snap out the cards. They actually have a flocking around the edges that you only saw on cards from long ago. There are also cutouts to make the envelopes for the cards. This seems like it’d be a fun activity for the younger kids who want to “make” their own cards. Although I was a bit surprised there’s only 12 pages in the book, it does make 25 cards and at about $5 retail the price is right.

Vintage Valentines - $4.99
available at Amazon.com

This is a similar stationery set to the Where The Wild Things Are set. Indeed they’re put out by the same manufacturer: Peaceable Kingdom Press. The set consists of the familiar Curious George motifs from the books that so many of us grew up reading (and now that so many have seen in the movie).

The set comes with a resuable zipper pouch for easy carrying, and includes 12 writing sheets, 9 postcards in 3 different styles and 12 envelopes that come in 3 different colors. This might be a nice gift for old and young alike!
Curious George Stationery - $9.95
available at Amazon.com

Welcome to 2007! If you’re like me, you’re just a LITTLE late on planning out the coming year’s goals and resolutions. So we’re on the hunt for a few calendars to get things organized here at The Paper Arts. I found saw these bold and vibrant patterned desk calendars from Jhill Design today. The calendar, which also comes in a wall hanging variety, is named “Places I’ve Never Been”.

Each of the 12 months has a drawing that represents Jhill’s imaginary vacation spots along with snippets of info for each. I liked the strong colors and designs that decorate each month. The 5 1/2 inch squarish calender comes with a plastic case that you can use a stand and is printed on heavy silk paper.

Maybe you can’t get out of the office for that trip for another 6 months or so, but this calendar will be sitting on your desk to remind you that anything’s possible in 2007!

Jhill Design 2007 Desk Calendar - $15.00
available at Jhill Design

Ok, one last post before I go into hibernation till the new year. I’ve been looking for some sort of way to organize gift wrap other than just chucking it into a paper bag. This rollable Gift Wrap Station seems to be on the right track, although you might be able to actually make something like this yourself. It’s basically a big flat piece of fabric that has compartments and pockets that you roll up, kind of like a knitting needle storage cozy.

Continue reading “Gift Wrapping Station” …

If you’re still in the hunt for a holiday gift for that scrapbooker on your list, you might want to consider these Perfect Paper stackable paper tray organizers from Display Dynamics. They’re meant for storing 12×12 paper products and have a “lipless” design that I really like that lets you extract paper easier than some other trays.

There are 10 stackable trays inside each box and one cool thing is that you can store the box on its side if you want vertical storage. I think the company also has matching drawers for storing embellishments and other paper supplies.

Perfect Paper Stackable Trays - $49.99
available at Scrapbook.com

Time for last minute stocking stuffers! I saw these listpads by Wooster & Prince on Paper Mojo and they seem like a great choice for your paper-loving friends. These are 3″ x 8″ long style list or shopping list style notepads with a variety of different colorful patterns on the outside. The inside of the cover is a solid matching color and the inner perforated pages are lined with coordinating colors. There are seven different color combos to choose from, including: Thompson, Sullivan, Simpson, Lafayette, Griffon, Hester and Hudson.

Wooster & Prince Listpad - $4.25
available at PaperMojo.com

Got all your gifts for Xmas? Great… now you just have to wrap them. We found a few nice wrapping paper selections over at Kate’s Paperie for wrapping those special gifts, including these Whimsy Press double sided selections. They have several playful winter holiday scene graphics to choose from. Shown at left are the Dot Garden, Asian Holiday and Snow Birds patterns. The wrapping papers are 2 by 3 feet sheets.

I rather like that the papers are reversible and that both sides seem very usable (sometimes reversible wrappers have alternate sides that aren’t really usable - more of an afterthought). The other wrapping papers available on the website are equally tasteful as opposed to garish.

Kate’s Paperie actually seems like a nice little online paper boutique. It doesn’t have a ton of selection like some of the other places, but most of the paper products selected are quite nice. I like it sometimes when paper companies are more focused instead of offering every single paper collection under the sun. It makes it easier to shop, especially if you’re into their overall design and pattern choices.

For gifts, they have various gift wrap, bags, boxes, tags, enclosures and ribbons to choose from. They sell other paper products as well, including stationery, decorative paper, journals and photo albums.

Reversible Whimsical Wrap - $6.00
available at Kate’s Paperie

Yep, that’s right. Xmas is right around the corner and closer than you think! Time to start thinking about your cards and invites and getting ready to put together those holiday themed scrapbooks with all your favorite family photos. We like the Jo-Ann’s Stacks for basic paper use, and they have this 12″ x 12″ Christmas Stack 180 sheet pack of paper that has some great wintery patterns.

I have read a few reviews which state that the paper is a bit more “retro” in appearance because the colors aren’t as bright, but that doesn’t really bother me. One thing nice is that there are a good number of pages that aren’t traditional red/green/white. This makes it more versatile - you could easily use them for winter-themed or other celebratory events.

The Christmas Stack 12×12 Paper Pack - $11.99
available at Joann.com

Spotted some more beautiful prints on Paper Mojo, this time a collection from Snow & Graham. These contemporary matte wrapping papers come in a variety of different patterns that revolve around subtle silhouetted floral and other slightly retro motifs. These designs feature clean lines with a hint of sophistication and would be great for wrapping your picky artist-buddy’s gifts this upcoming holiday season.

They use a lot of browns, pinks and blues in their color palettes. The one shown at right is called Cherry Blossom and features the simple pink blooms on branches with a vanilla cream colored background. The sheets measure 20 by 29 1/2 inches and are acid free. Other favorites include a pink on light blue “Daisy Chain” floral featuring tiny flowers and a larger pattern of pink flowers on cream called “Coco Flowers”.

Cherry Blossom Designer Print - $2.75/sheet
available at Paper Mojo.com

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about the Cutterpede Trimmer lately. They have two models, a 12″ trimmer and a 5″ trimmer but I’m going to talk about the former one because it’s probably the one most paper and scrapbook aficionados will get the most use of.

It looks sort of similar to a full sized paper cutter like the ones from Fiskars but the width is much shorter, and thus more portable and lightweight. With a standard cutting arm and rotary blade assembly, it trims accurately and neatly through even thick paper without a huge amount of pressure. There’s also an interesting fold out ruler so that you can extend your measuring beyond the physical dimensions of the cutter.

I’ve heard a lot of people say that this cutter is especially nice for left-handed folks because you can measure from both sides of the blade and you don’t need to flip it around in order to use it. The blade seems to be rather durable, but if you use it too much they do have replacements for under 3 dollars. They also sell different blades for things like scoring and perforating at the same price.

Continue reading “Cutterpede Trimmer” …