Happy Anniversary Paper Zone Blog!

A year ago we at Paper Zone decided that we wanted to interact with Paper Zone customers in a fun and creative way. Our goal was not to sell product, but to share ideas and foster inspiration. We had no idea how much fun we would have along the way!

When we started the blog, none of us had ever blogged before, and many of us are novice crafters so we thought "what can we teach anyone?". But when you have a love and enthusiasm for creating, and access to so much great stuff (from PZ of course!), ideas arise, inspiration occurs and I think some really great posts have emerged.

We purposefully sign each post so that you know who the creator is and I am sure that you have a favorite or two in the mix. So, today I am going to introduce you to our blogging team and share with you their favorite post from the 1st year. Going back, you can see, we've come a long way baby!!

Lauren. Lauren is our Marketing Manager and what I love about her posts is that she is great at bringing the unexpected: headbands, canvas gifts, etc. Lauren's posts show the real depth of what Paper Zone product has to offer. When asked which of her posts was her favorite, it was the most popular post OF ALL TIME, the tissue puffballs (aka Martha Stewart puff balls, pom poms). Lauren says she has even used these puff balls for her grandfathers birthday party. We have used them on numerous occasions (like Girlfest! above) and they never get old!

Christina. Christina is the Regional Manager of Paper Zone, overseeing the stores. She is our 'go to' person when it comes to crafting knowledge and she always has super cute ideas (and is the Fimo master). Being the mother of a 1 & 1/2 year old, I do not know how she finds the time to craft, but I am glad she does!! Her favorite post was her yellow and gray post demonstrating how easy it is to make your own wedding invitation. Christina says that she picked this post because it encompasses what she loves about Paper Zone: being able to help people on their most important days (weddings, birthdays, etc.) AND we cannot get enough of the yellow and gray color combo!!

Sandra. Sandra is our Replenishment Buyer, who makes sure all of our stores stay well stocked. She is the cardmaker of the bunch and always comes up with creative elements resulting in more than just a typical card. Her favorite post is the waterfall card. This is one of those creations that I'm thankful for You Tube for, because it was such a neat card to see. Sandra loves this card because it's versatile and the design can be used for any event, not just holidays.

Amanda. Amanda is our Merchandise Manager who is responsible for buying all the great stuff we have in our stores. Amanda's favorite post is also up with our top posts viewed by you: Glubers are Here! Having been with Amanda at CHA when she first saw the glubers, I know why she loves this post. It was like seeing a child's eyes light up on Christmas morning when she made her first rosette and proudly wore it during the show. You can't beat a product that makes crafting easy with results that are pretty darn cool.

Kim (me). I am the General Manager of Paper Zone, overseeing, well, everything and I am the most inexperienced crafter of the bunch. So, if I can make something, you know you can do it too!

I have to say that I really loved the 12 days of Christmas because we were a little nervous about trying to come up with so many ideas and, as usual, we had more than we could post. Plus I was able to trick my husband to pose with the paper hat in the "rat ring" post. Those holiday posts were about real sharing of real traditions and I loved it.

But my favorite post has to be my first attempt at quilling. I was so amazed that I was able to quill a flower and a dragonfly on the very first try I thought I stumbled upon the next great art. . .and I still feel that way!!

During the year we also had some posts by Tiffany, our Assistant Buyer who has since moved on and we will now be hearing from Malyse who brings a great scrapbooking background to the mix. We also have had great contributions from the stores and we hope to have even more in the coming year.

We remain committed to providing at least 3 great posts a week with creative project ideas, interesting techniques, sharing other blogs we love, and of course presenting all of the new and wonderful product in our stores. Please tell US what YOU love about the PZ blog!!

Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the $20 Gift Card!!!

--Kim

Yellow and Gray

I have been totally obsessing over yellow and gray. Have you seen this combo lately? I have been seeing it everywhere and love it. I was so inspired I decided to make a wedding invite using these colors.(source)

Wedding invites can seem intimidating but don't be discouraged! I want to show you how simple and easy they can be using products from PZ.

To start out you'll want to find the main pieces of your invite. I stared with a piece of Hambly patterned paper, PZ Facets Slate envelopes and card stock, a 5x5 Pocket Fold Envelopment and some clear stamps from Basic Grey's new Curio collection.

I also selected some Stardream paper in the color White Gold to use for the piece with the wording as well as the Direction and RSVP cards. I used a basic word processing program on my home computer as well as my home ink jet printer for all the printing. To add a little extra interest I wanted to stamp some the the circle designs from the Basic Grey clear stamp set that went so well with my patterned paper. To get the placement of the stamps just right I placed the unmounted and clean stamps on top of my printed piece. When I had them laid out exactly where I wanted them I took my clear mounting block and placed that right on top of my stamps. With a little pressure the stamps clung on to my block and I lifted it up so I could then apply the ink.
After stamping the piece with the wording I mounted it to a piece of PZ Facets Slate card stock cut down to 5.5 x 5.5 inches. And then added a one inch strip of the pretty yellow patterned paper. Now you are ready to glue this to the Envelopment Pocket Fold card.
Next I printed and cut my RSVP and Directions cards as well as adding a half inch strip of the patterned paper. Those are tucked away neatly in the pocket with a little RSVP envelope also in PZ Facets Slate. I wanted to add a little something extra to the exterior of the card so I decided to make a seal. To do this I stamped the big circle design on a small 2 inch piece of White Gold paper. I then mounted that to a piece of slate card stock cut to 2.25 x 2.25 inches. To bring a little yellow into the seal I chose to add a pearl to the center of the design. We carry the self-sticking pearls in so many colors but the yellow we had was not an exact match with my invite. I simply colored the pearl using a Copic marker to get it the exact shade I needed! (Did you know that you can use the Copics to color rhinestones, plastic and metal too? How cool is that!?)


The finishing touch was adding the seal to the flap of the card.
Wasn't that easy? If you are thinking about creating your own invites I would encourage you to do so. They are easier than you think and you can make them to custom fit your event. (Not to mention you are going to save a lot of money!)

Happy Crafting!
Christina