A letter from Paper Zone

Dear Valued Paper Zone Customers:

As you may have heard, we will be closing all of our Paper Zone locations. After receiving an overwhelming outpour of concern, we felt compelled to further explain our unfortunate situation. Paper Zone is a company with 20 year roots in the Northwest. We are based in Seattle, operating eight retail locations throughout Oregon and Washington. However, due to the current economic downturn, we have experienced three years of sales declines between 6-8 percent annually. As a small local retailer we were unable to sustain these losses.

We have appreciated being a part of so many significant life moments. We have had the privilege of helping brides create their wedding invitations, parents announce the birth of their children, restaurants displaying their menus, artists presenting their work and so much more. On behalf of our 67 employees, we want to thank you for your years of loyalty and support during our final days. Please continue to shop local and support other small businesses!

Sincerely,

The Paper Zone Management Team

Merry Christmas!

Thank you for following along with us as we have celebrated the season by sharing a post a day with you for the last 25 days. We have enjoyed creating this season and hope we have inspired you along the way.

photo via balzerdesigns.typepad.com

Merry Christmas!

Paper Zone

Day 24: Tissue Puff Balls

This is a great project from last years 12 Day's of Christmas blog series. These are perfect to use as present toppers or decorations for your holiday - we couldn't leave this project out!

Here is a simple video tutorial showing you how to make the puffs:



Step One:
Take 3 sheets of tissue, crease and cut it in half at the crease to create 6 smaller sheet. Stack the 6 sheets and accoridan fold them.
Step Two:
Fold the piece in half to create a crease so you know where the center is. Using scissors, cut the edges off in a rounded shape. Tie ribbon, string or fishing wire around the center where you made the crease.
Step Three:Peel away each layer of tissue one sheet at a time to finish your puff ball ornament!These have a fun, whimsical look to them and the adorable candy cane striped tissue and blue snowflake pattern make them even more festive for the holidays!

Day 23: Vest & Mitten Card

Materials:
- Mitten Template
- Vest Template
- Twine
- One sheet of solid paper
- One sheet of patterned paper.
- Scissors/Paper Trimmer
- Adhesive

Step #1:
You will want to cut the solid paper to 5"x7" and you will also want to cut a 5"x7" patterned piece.

Step#2:
Use the vest template to cut out the arm holes from your patterned paper.

Step #3:
And once the arm holes and neck are cut out from the patterned piece glue the two 5x7 pieces on top of each other sandwiching the twine between them.

Step #4
You will then want to cutout your mittens from the patterned paper. I used scraps of the solid paper to back the mittens and hold the twine against them.

Now you have your sweater vest card all set. As always use glimmer mist or liquid pearls to make your finished product extra delightful.

Many thanks,
~Bellingham

Day 22: Fork Ribbon

Hi Everyone

I came across this amazing little tutorial on Pinterest on how to make the perfect little bow using a for. This is perfect for last minute cards or to put on gift cards.

Happy Crafting

Sandra

Day 21: Ribbon Tree

Hi Everyone

Closer and closer to Christmas we come! I found this cute little tree made out of ribbon. It is easy to make and I thought would be cute as a little ornament or as a decoration on a present.

Step One:

Cut 3 strips of green ribbon to 7 inches in length, 1 strip of glitter ribbon to 7 inches in length, and 1 strip of brown at 5 inches in length.

Step Two:



Place two adhesive dots at the mid point on the ribbon.

Step Three:

Fold over the ends of the ribbon to attach them to the glue dots. Add another glue dot near the center of the ribbon.

Step Four:

Fold the ribbon over again and arrange in a "V" shape. Repeat steps 2-4 with the two remaining green ribbon strips.

Step Five:

Fold the brown ribbon in half and secure the pieces together with a glue dot. Attach the green "V"s to the brown ribbon.

Step Six:

Tie the glitter ribbon in a bow and attach to the top of the tree.

Wishing you all a Happy Holidays.

Happy Crafting

Sandra

Day 20: Christmas Tags

Step 1:
Start with the EK Success Flourish Square punch. I like my base for these tags to be the French Paper Company's Kraft but some of the members of the store prefer metallic paper for their own festive tags. The beauty of this design is you can combine whatever your little heart desires. So go crazy! That being said; we used Kraft paper and a lovely 12x12 from the Nordic Holiday line.

Step 2:
Punch out 4 squares from your base paper (the Kraft) and 2 from your top paper (the Nordic Holiday). Cut the top papers in half. The great thing about the flourish square is it has a small point in the middle of each side of the square to help you line up the cut and then line up the half square with it's base square, which is the next step.





Step 3:
Tack the two squares, one half and one whole, together with a bit of glue.



That is the fundamental of your tag. From there you have complete license to decorate them however you would like. However I think they look more finished if they're wrapped with a bit of baker's twine. I am a little crazy for all things Martha and she's come out with a lovely holiday baker's twine set. That is what I used to wrap our cards.
You start with the back of the tag putting a small dab of glue to anchor.