Celebrating Our Teachers

In May we celebrated National Teacher Appreciation Week by putting together some really cool gift baskets filled with goodies for the classroom: markers, glue, paints, colored pencils, sketch pads, origami kits and a bunch of other fun school items. We invited people to come in and vote for their favorite teacher and the positive response blew us away - we even got put in the Shoreline Area News! People were so eager to come in and nominate their teacher, we had tons of entries in each store. I was the lucky one who got to draw the winner and contact the teachers. The amount of gratitude and excitement that the winning teachers had was so contagious and stayed with me throughout the day, it was such a cool and unique experience being able to talk to each of them. Most of them didn't even know they were nominated so it really made the surprise and the reaction that much more fun. Here are some photos of our lucky winners as they came to claim their prize:

Mrs. Pihl from Echo Lake Elementary in Shoreline:


Mrs. Regalia from St. Louise School in Bellevue:


Ms. Fox from Queen of Peace School in Salem:

Thank you to all of our teachers, we recognize everything you do and truly enjoyed celebrating our appreciation for you during National Teacher Appreciation Week! - Lauren

Get Your Grill On

I hope everyone is planning a nice three day weekend that includes rest, relaxation, sunshine (hopefully) and some grillin'.

To me Memorial Day weekend is the time of year I dust off my trusty little grill, buy some patriotic party supplies and show my friends that I actually can cook. And while I might not be as good at creating invites as I am grilling up salmon, I have trusty resources I always know I can count on: the gals at the Shoreline Paper Zone (specifically Teresa). In a blink of an eye she threw together this awesome little bbq invite. And I'm flattered she thought enough of me not to have smoke billowing out of the bbq.

Ingredients:

Base: Bazzill 12x12 - Jade
Patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl
Classic Crest Cream for matting
PZ Facets Belize
BBQ papers: Classic Crest Pewter & Speckletone Black
1.5" Circle Punch (cut in half)
3 sm. silver brads
'BBQ' was cut out using the SLICE on Bazzill Jade

Tell me you wouldn't have your side dish ready in an instant if you received this in the mail? If you are time challenged, Paper Zone is also getting in some great fillable summer invites that are a lot snazzier than just sending an email to invite people over. Who wants a boring email invitation? blah.

So, make some lemonade, heat up some briquettes, enjoy your long weekend and challenge your friends: can they make YOU a Thank You card that can top a cute little bbq made with brads? Probably not, but it'll be fun to see. Have a safe and happy holiday everyone! -Kim

Max & Whiskers

As an animal lover since the beginning of time and new dog owner, I have to say, I'm really excited about a new line of paper from Basic Grey...Max & Whiskers! I never really got into dog stuff very much before I actually had a dog of my own. It's amazing how your taste completely changes once you are around them all of the time. Despite the barking and chewing and wet dog smell (we get a lot of that in Seattle), she has truly become a special part of our family. Here's a picture in case you're interested:

Anyway, Max & Whiskers... This is one of the most fun animal lines I've seen in a while, plus there's lots of my two favorite colors, orange and blue. The papers are really cute and there are stamps, chipboard stickers, and other embellishments to match. Basic Grey always does nice job of putting all of the pieces together. I also like that it represents a large range of the pet population in case you aren't into dogs...cats, fish, bunnies, turtles...

One of our favorite members of the Paper Zone team is, sadly, leaving us at the end of this week, so I put together a little Thank You card for her. An ameteur attempt compared to what she could do, but this is how it turned out:

In addition to the Max & Whiskers papers, I thought I would try playing around with another new item in our store, Fun Flock. Basically it adds a little fuzzy texture to your project and can be applied fairly simply with a little bit of glue. I mixed it with a little glitter to make it pop a bit more (it's all of the blue you see). There are so many fun things to play with already and they just keep coming up with more! What will be next?

Happy Crafting! Amanda

Eat More Cake!

I just LOVE the new party stuff we have... my favorite is this:This past weekend was my Mother-In-Law's 60th Birthday. In honor of her special day our family got to spend the weekend at the beach. I have been waiting to use the fun party napkins and plates and this weekend was the perfect opportunity! I also wanted to make a banner to add to the Birthday cheer!
Here's what I made:
It was SUPER easy! First I gathered my supplies (paper, scissors, glue, a paper trimmer, ribbon and a Crop-a-Dile). Next I cut the pennant pieces (the white base) with my paper trimmer.


Next I cut the trim and letters. I chose to cut them free hand because I wanted a fun doodle-like feel to the banner. You could also use some fun letter stickers or print some letters from your computer.


After gluing everything together I punched holes with my Crop-a-Dile before stringing the ribbon.
This was a really quick project that anyone could make... It would be super fun to do with kids!

I have seen a lot of banners others have made, here are a few of my favorites:
This one has a cool vintage vibe, this one is a mini one on a scrapbook page, and This one is really creative!
I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Happy Crafting! Christina

Mini Double Pouch Gift Bag

Hi Everyone

I wanted to share with you today how to create a double pouch gift bag. It is made by using a 12x12 and making a few scores with a scoring tool. This little bag measures 5.5 x 4.5 inches and is perfect to use for a gift card. I have used one pouch for the card and the other for a flat card that matches.

To create this gift bag,

1. Make 3 scores on a 12x12 at 6.5 inches, 6 inches, and then 5.5 inches.

2. Rotate the paper by a quarter and make 2 scores at 8.5 inches and 4 inches.

3. Crease both of these later scores and apply adhesive to the reverse side along one outside edge. Fold over and seal.

4. Fold the piece in half along the middle score with the sealed side facing out. Now fold at the two remaining score lines in the opposite direction. Put a small amount of adhesive in the middle of the inside short edge and adhere both edges together. You should now have your bag.

5. Punch two small holes on each side of the top of the bag and tread ribbon through each set of holes to make the handles.

Happy Crafting!

Sandra

Ahoy! Matey!

Hello Me Hearties, I don't know about you, but this wonderful weather makes me want to throw a party. And although Paper Zone now carries partyware in a variety of beautiful designs, I keep floating back to the little pirate ship and imagining a patch on my eye, a pirate hat made out of paper on my head and a little parrot on my shoulder that whistles the theme from 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.


And as I was getting carried away with my little fantasy I thought to myself "paper makes everything funner". . .and that's why I love my job. If you too have thought about becoming a pirate, I have found these simple instructions for making a hat and I've attached a pic of some of the pirate booty available at our stores. Sail ho! My mateys!
--Ye Cap'n, Kim.

Instructions:

Fold the paper (or the 1/2 sheet of newspaper) in half
Fold down each side to make trinagles
Fold one bottom flaps up Flip the hat over and fold the other bottom flap up add a bit of scotch tape if you like

Butterfly Party

We just got the cutest Martha Stewart punch samples and I can't wait for them to arrive in stores in June! I just love how one single item can be enough to inspire you and bring up happy memories from the past. I immediately fell in love with the butterfly punch. It reminded me of when I went to a “Butterfly Tea” a few years ago and everything was decorated with little butterflies – everything from the invitation, the place setting, the party favors, even down to the little tea bag tag that hung over your cup.

There are so many things you could do with this pretty butterfly punch. I think it would be fun to have a girls' backyard BBQ party and decorate everything with these butterflies. You could attach a bunch of these fluttering punches to string or clear fishing wire and hang them from the branches of a tree. For the table top you could get little glass votive holders and adhere some butterfly cutouts to the outside, creating a pretty lighting effect with the light showing through the cutout. Create some butterfly confetti and sprinkle it on the table, you can even decorate the drinks by getting brightly colored straws and slipping some butterflies over them, just cut a little slit on the cutout so it fits over the straw.

I thought it would be cute to decorate a tea packet for a place card and replace the tag at the end of the bag with a little matching butterfly. Simply tear off the old tag and staple on the punched cutout. This butterfly theme would be perfect for a little girl’s birthday tea party or a backyard baby shower – it’s the perfect springtime punch! Look for this adorable punch in stores in June, we also have some other really cool Martha Stewart punch designs coming next month, so be sure to come in and check them out!--Lauren

Get Cooking with Galison

Calling all cooks, bakers, and special-occasion food makers! I am so excited about the new line of food-inspired organizational products by Galison that we have in the stores right now. I love to cook and bake and enjoy clipping new recipes from magazines. I also have a ton of passed-down recipes, scrawled on scraps of paper or on faded recipe cards. As much as I both enjoy pulling pages from Bon Appetit and cherish my stepmother’s potato salad recipe, written out for me in her nice script, I find that I don’t often make the recipes that I have saved. Over the years, I have tended to just shove everything into a box, so now that whenever I try to go and find something all that usually ever gets made is a promise to myself that I will one day organize all those recipes!

Well, so long to empty promises and years of procrastinating! Galison has come to my rescue! Besides being functional, the Kitchen Collage line is bright and cheery. These are pieces you want to put on your counter and admire. The Recipe Binder, I think, is my favorite in the collection

It has sections for recipes for all the food groups (fruits and veggies, breads and pastas, meats and poultry, etc) and each tab has pocket into which you can put-you guessed it-magazine recipe clippings!

It also has 8.5x11 pages where you can transcribe, or if that’s too much of an effort, staple in worn out recipe cards. There are also very handy measurement and equivalency charts.
I am also pretty keen on the rest of the line, which includes coasters for setting your drink down upon whilst waiting for the cookies to bake; sticky notes to make grocery lists; and recipe boxes to give to your equally disorganized or superiorly organized friends.

Kitchen Collage is a life saver of a collection. But don’t take my word for it, come in and see for yourselves. And to add to your collection of recipes, here is one for banana bread from my aunt Nettie. Bon Appetit!

Tiffany

Aunt Nettie’s Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas
1 tsp baking soda
1c. sugar
½ c. butter
2 eggs
1 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
½ c. nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bread loaf pan. Mix and mash the bananas and baking soda and set aside. Cream sugar and butter. Blend in eggs. Add flour, salt, alternating with banana mix. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 1 hour. Stick toothpick in for doneness (it should come out clean).

Party Paper

It's that time of year! The weather is getting nice and there is so much to celebrate... Time for a Party! Whether it's a birthday, graduation, a baby shower, or a wedding, I have some fun and easy party decorations to share with you that are perfect for any party!

First up we have tissue puffs. These puffs look intimidating but are really easy! All you need is some tissue paper, string, and scissors and you are ready to go. I was able to find this tutorial that gives step by step instructions on how to make them. (The video was made by our friends at Lasting Memories!)



Next up we have my new favorite: paper garland! These are also really quick and fun to make. All you do is find the perfect patterned paper, and then punch away! (I would recommend double sided paper, although you can use single sided and glue two sheets together to get a pattern on each side.) I cut some small 1 and a half inch circles, and some large 3 inch circles out of my paper. Then got my sewing machine out, and sewed away. You'll want to sew all the circles continuously remembering to leave a gap between each one that is about an inch apart. With that you are ready to hang! I made these to hang in my baby girl's bathroom window but they would also be fun to drape between the rows of chairs at a wedding or hang from a chandelier... the possibilities are endless.


The great thing about making your own decorations is that you can customize them to fit your party's theme. Not to mention you can usually save a ton of money while impressing all your guests with your craftiness!
Happy Crafting!
Christina

Bookbinding for a Beginner

Hi Everyone,
For Mother's Day, I was planning to give my mom a photo album with some pictures of us I have collected over the past year. I went on a hunt for an album and found some really nice ones, but I wanted to do something that was a little more personal. We have this really great handmade paper at the store that totally reminds me of her, so I decided I would try my hand bookbinding. Of course, I decide to do this 3 days before Mother's Day (completely consistent with my procrastinating nature). I thought it would be best to do a practice run with one of the mini kits we carry from Books By Hand. The kit I picked out required actually sewing the pages together, which seemed a little intimidating. This also being my first attempt at bookbinding, I had pretty low expectations, but I have to say, they actually turned out pretty good and now I'm completely addicted! The instructions in the kit were very thorough and it had everything I needed except for the PVA glue. It was really pretty easy and only took me about 30 minutes to put together each book. Not too bad for someone who isn't really an expert crafter. Anyway, now I get to try the real deal for Mom. What are you all doing for your moms this year? We would love to hear about some of your creative ideas!
Happy Mother's Day!
Amanda

Man Cards

Hi Everyone.

This past weekend I created a couple man cards. I always find it a little more challenging to create a card for a man, or at least a card that seems to be a little more masculine.

I am very happy with the results of these two cards. I used Savanna Tindalo and a piece of Papyrus for a woodsy look, and used a deckle scissor for edging. I then took a piece of raffia and wrapped it around two silver brads in the card on the left and two buttons in the card on the right.

Happy Crafting!

Sandra

Creative Giving

Hello Everyone, Kim here. I recently took a tour of the Seattle area stores and I fell in love with Paper Zone all over again. We have an endless amount of fun product and our Associates are so creative I'm continually amazed at the things they come up with.

When I was at the Shoreline store I was able to test the new Shimmer Spray which was pretty darn cool. I almost want to put some in my purse to jazz up random paper I come across ("here you can have your menu back, it shimmers now"). And while we were there, the store received loads of new goodies from Stampendous. There were all sorts of colors of Fun Flock and a line of stickers that have a felt texture and a sophisticated design that had me oohing and ahhing as they were coming out of the box.

I have to say the one thing that mystified me were the clear pails. The Associates were SO excited to get them and I just kind of scratched my head and said "huh". But over the last couple of days, I have been yet again amazed by how fun and creative our product can be. The Tacoma store created these two gift ideas using the clear pails and I have to say they are fabulous. Personally when I receive a gift, I'd rather have something from the heart than something that is expensive and I always love giving more than receiving. Putting together some gift baskets like the two shown looks equally fun for the giver as for the receiver. I had challenged the stores to show me that pails can be fun and creative and they came through. You also MUST check out Portland's creation on their blog: http://pdxpaperzone.blogspot.com/2010/04/pails-in-comparision.html

So, now I challenge you: how can you make a pail fun and creative? Maybe a special mother in your life would like a gift, from the heart, and in an interesting new "wrap". Have fun, be creative and enjoy! --Kim