More and more people are throwing parties and insisting that their guests not bring presents… “No presents, just your presence” seems to be the theme. In these tough economic times, that’s not a bad thing. However, I often find myself wanting to bring at least a little something – a token of my friendship with that person. I’ve found recently that a handmade card can be just the thing.

Recently, a friend threw a surprise birthday party for his wife. The Sunday before the party, several of us gathered at my house where I pulled out my boxes of cards and craft supplies. Having moved across the country, I have gathered Paper Source materials from several stores: Chicago, Evanston, Carlsbad, Georgetown, Alexandria, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, and Thousand Oaks (lucky me, I know). By now I have quite an extensive collection of labels, blank cards, envelope liners, rubbers stamps, stamp pads, embossing supplies, rub-on transfers, ribbon and other materials. The plan was to create one-of-a-kind birthday cards for our friend.

At first, the room was quiet as people rummaged through the supplies and formulated ideas. Some started immediately cutting and gluing, others sketched out a draft of their design…and many started one idea, stopped, started another and so on. You can learn a lot about your friends by observing them during such a creative process!

When the dust settled, our four handmade cards looked great and were completely different. They represented our creative styles and featured designs such as a birthday message written entirely in rubber stamps, an embossed floral print, and even a card with paper dolls. Later that week, we were delighted to present our friend with our original creations and it was clear that she appreciated our personal tokens!

–John, PS customer
PS colors: curry & moss
Latest fave: Mr. T In Your Pocket & Snuffles The Dog

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