DIY: Paper Source's Paper Wedding

Having a background in print design I have a love of all things paper and all things related in any way, shape, or form to paper. Hence my love of the store Paper Source. This past Saturday and Sunday they hosted their Wedding Weekend of DIY live tutorials for invitations, place cards and favor boxes, among other things. I attended on Sunday to see what it was all about and use it possibly as an excuse to pick up a few items at one of my favorite stores.

I think one of the niftiest things I saw in action was the embosser. It is not a true imprinted emboss but still looks classy and can really dress up certain elements on the printed pieces for your wedding. By stamping an image on paper, sprinkling on embossing powder and using a heat source (no you can't use a blow dryer, I asked. The blowdryer does not get hot enough to create the effect and it blows away the dust instead of melting it into the stamp) you can easily create embossed images. Here it is in action:

An example of Aubrey (Paper Source staff) embossing table numbers. Paper Source sells all of the items - table number tent kits, red sticker circles, stamps, ink, and all embossing tools. They are all reasonably priced too! Take your number stamp - here she is using a number 5...

...then sprinkle on the powder. You need to make sure you cover the whole stamp and then you can take the excess and put it back in the jar. Use any color stamp ink you want, but in this case you would need to be sure the color would show up on the dark red circle.

There is a clear ink stamp pad you can use and once you put on the clear powder, and use the heat source, it lifts the color red from the paper circle and it becomes a shade darker and glossier. The flowers in the background were stamped with a gold sparkle ink pad and using the clear powder, the gold was able to come through. The red sticker was then laid over the gold flower embossed stamps.
Next you use the embosser - and go over the entire stamp image. This literally takes 30 seconds.

And there it is! By using double sided tape, you tape the two table tent flaps together so it will stand on its own - you might want to wait until the day of your wedding to tape them together so they don't get bent.

If you get the chance, you should head into Paper Source and check it out in person. What was once a stamp - is now a glossy raised version of it. Paper Source has how-to videos on their web site and they let me know that their staff is more than happy to show you how to use these items even if it isn't a special Wedding Weekend.

I have to admit, my first love is letterpress, but for brides on a budget this is a great way to have a fantastic clean and professional look for your wedding print collateral. You could use this on place cards, wedding invites, programs - the possibilities are endless!

Photo source: From Trisha Dean's personal collection