Merry Christmas!!!

Time For Christmas

Happy December the 1st everyone!

On The Cards

Yesterday we presented our On The Cards winners with their prizes at this years Progressive Greetings Live. The On the Cards competition has had sponsors from all over the Greeting Card industry, G.F.Smith, Paperchase, Sherwood Press, Greeting Card Association, House of Illustration and Progressive Greetings Magazine.

The winners travelled down to London to be shown around PG Live, receive their prizes and also talk through the next stage of the development of their designs.

Here's Victoria from Nottingham Trent University receiving her award from Mark at G.F.Smith & Reggie at Paper Rose. She won the Design and Illustration category for her slightly rude pun cards.

 Here's Danielle from DeMontfort University receiving her award for the Technology category for her range of "Selfie" inspired cards.

And finally here is Lucy from Nottingham Trent University receiving her award for Format and Technology for her "Dot-to-Dot Stitch" inspired cards

And finally here are all of our winners with Paperchase, Paper Rose & G.F.Smith.

A massive thank you to G.F.Smith & Progressive Greetings for showcasing the designs in the Lounge.

Well done to all who took part and here's to next years competition! 

Helpcards

Our exclusive brand new range Helpcards is launching at PG Live, pop by our stand 325 to see all the excitement! 

For over 40 years, Helpcards has been giving their entire profits to UK charities. The 32 charities they donate to include many well-known nationwide organisations, as well as some smaller local projects responding to the needs of the people in their area and that really benefit from Helpcards’ support. These charities offer help to people with disabilities, the elderly, the terminally ill, rescue services, children at risk, the homeless, and people going through a crisis in their lives. By choosing Helpcards you will be improving the lives of very many people.

A contribution of 10p (plus VAT) is made to Helpcards for every card purchased. 
With Helpcards you don’t have to decide which is the most worthy good cause, 
you can help them all.

We are launching our exclusive new range Helpcards tomorrow at PG Live, in support of this Paper Rose and The Art Group will be holding a charity event on the stand, to find out more information watch our video below! #Helpcards #HelpCardsSelfie

Posted by Paper Rose on Monday, 1 June 2015

Designer Profile - JoJo Norris

We are currently rolling out our project "On the Cards" to several Universities around the country, this is in partnership with G.F.Smith, the Greeting Card Association, Sherwood Press and the House of Illustration. This is to promote the Greetings Card industry to young graduates who may not consider Greeting Cards as a viable career path. In house we are proud to have 3 fairly recent graduate working for us, over the next few weeks we will take a look into the world of our designers and have a conversation with them about entering into the industry and their thoughts on this career path.

JoJo Norris has been a designer with Paper Rose and The Art Group for nearly 4 years since graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2011, she moved to Nottingham after graduating and the rest, as they say, is history...

I wasn’t aware of the creative potential in greeting cards when I studied Illustration at University. When I graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2011, I moved to Nottingham with a plan to be a full time freelance Illustrator. I'd only been in Nottingham for a week when I just happened to spot the Designer position availability at Paper Rose and thought ‘Wow, that job sounds like fun!’ and I just couldn’t believe it when I actually got the job! I learnt more about design and print production in one week of working at Paper Rose than I did in my 4 years at University.

Each day is different, and even after 3 years I still look forward to work in the morning (that’s definitely got to be a good sign!).I think when someone hears ‘Greeting Card Designer’ they think of literally JUST greeting cards, but in reality we actually work on all kinds of exciting projects from product design to exhibition curation. We're always working on developing something  

contemporary and innovative. It’s a brilliant career path that offers huge amounts of creative opportunity. 

I think the greeting card industry has been vastly underestimated by many universities- it  wasn't something that we were encouraged to pursue; I'd never even considered a career in this field. As a student I felt like I was constantly encouraged to 'develop a style', I often felt a bit pigeon holed and unable to express the variety of concepts and techniques I wanted.  However what I enjoy most about greeting card design is how variety is encouraged and versatility is supported. 

In the several years I've worked here, I've enjoyed developing and updating many of my own card ranges. One of my ranges Magpie even helped to win a Henries award in 2014 (the highest 

accolade in the industry!) which was a great confidence booster and also great confirmation that I made the right choice in choosing my career. 

I’ve also been fortunate enough to be able to maintain my freelance career too, which is very important to me. Since working at Paper Rose I’ve illustrated two children’s books, packing design, CD covers, all kinds of things!  I can balance my freelance illustration comfortably 

alongside the full time work, and I also really love working in the studio alongside amazing 

creative people. (I’d go a bit stir crazy being on my own all day!) 

DIY Valentine's Day Hearts

With Valentine's Day just around the corner we are going to show you how to make some beautiful hearts. These can be a lovely handmade gift for that someone special in your life. These are really easy and can be done in under an hour!

Air Dry Clay / Fimo

Heart Cutter

Rolling Pin

Drawing Pin

Foil

Oven

For Decoration you will need;

Lace Elements

Letter Stamps

Acrylic Paint

Paint Brush

Red Twine or Ribbon

Begin by rolling out the clay so the surface area is big enough to cut out the heart

Place the heart cutter in the middle of the clay and cut out the heart 

Place your pin at the top and wiggle around to make a hole big enough to push ribbon through

Use your found elements to create texture on your heart and use the letter stamps to spell out love, Valentine etc...

  Place on some foil and bake as per the instructions on your air-clay packet

If you want to paint your hearts we like to use acrylic paint and build up the colour, it gives a lovely water colour effect

Finish your hearts off with twine and ribbon, so it's ready to hang...

We hope you liked our tutorial, we find that these are really easy to make and can be

 a stunning handmade gift!

Valentine's Day

We all know the feeling of when you come to write in a card you've just bought and your mind goes blank, you knew what you were going to say and then in a blink of an eye it's gone. With Valentine's Day just around the corner we know you will all be sending a card to a certain loved one, a secret Valentine or that someone special in your life. We are here to help you with your creative writing needs!

Henries Award-winning Artisan Valentine's Day

In this guide Paper Rose and The Art Group are going to show you a few simple and easy tips to getting that Valentine's message just right. Whether your newly loved up, married, or have a secret admirer this guide will help you write the perfect Valentine's Day message. You've been out to the shop, bought the card now lets get writing...

Jenni Murphy Valentine's Day The Art Group

First off choose the right pen, we know we all love to write in a lovely Biro, it's quick easy and we always have one around. However this is Valentine's Day, the day of love, once a year you send a card to a loved one, lets make it special! Choose a pen that screams "I've thought hard about this" a pen that showcases your handwriting at its finest. A personal favourite here at Paper Rose and The Art Group are the Pilot V5 - Hi-Tecpoint, it's smooth easy to write with, and my personal favourite allows a left handed person to have gorgeous handwriting with out smudging!

Pilot V5 Hi-Tecpoint

Now you have "the pen" time for right message, wether this is your first Valentine's Day card to each other or you are a Veteran card sender there are so many ways to say "you're special" and "I love you" lets have a look at Paper Rose and The Art Groups top 10...

• "Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart."

• "I love you with all my heart, now and forever, Happy Valentine's Day."

• "With all my love on Valentine's Day and always."

• "My heart is filled with love for you."

• "I love you more than words can say, have a wonderful Valentine's Day."

• "You're so special to me in every way, With all my love on Valentine's Day."

• "My heart belongs to you always and forever."

• "In you my heart has found true happiness, with love always and forever."

• "Loving you more each and every day, My heart belongs to you, always and forever."

• "You're the only one for me, The one I'll love always and forever, Happy Valentine's Day."

Photographic Valentine's Day The Art Group

We hope you've found some inspiration in this blog post to help you write a wonderful Valentine's Day card.  

This blogpost was written by Paper Rose designer Sarah Tanser and features extracts and recommendations from the Paper Rose and The Art Group Studio team.

Spring Fair 2015

We are exhibiting this week at Spring Fair International and are showcasing the latest designs. We will be in Hall 4 on Stand K04, pop by and say hello!