I love all things PAPER!

I know this sounds kind-of weird, but I love anything having to do with paper.....more specifically, any kind of paper that can be made into something pretty, informative, or functional.  Give me an hour in a office supply store or the "paper" section of a craft store and I am in HEAVEN!  I think I am one of the few people I know that can tell the difference in the "weight" and "brightness" of paper, too.  I can't stand "dingy-looking" paper, so I always go for the highest brightness I can afford....yeah, I know....F-R-E-A-K.

But, it's not just paper I love, it's anything that can be used to make paper "pretty", too.  Things such as pens, markers, punches, embossers, stickers, glue, adhesives...and don't even get me started on trimmers.  Do you realize how expensive a good, solid, paper trimmer costs?  It's INSANE!

We had this super heavy-duty paper trimmer, sitting right on the counter of the office when I was in high school.  What I wouldn't do to have that thing today!  It cut clean and neat and straight as a board....which is almost impossible to find today.

Anyway, I digress......

Well, over the past few weeks, I have been fortunate enough to be planning two very special events, that both involve paper products!  First, some certain little boy, who is about to turn 8 years old, is having a Lego Star Wars birthday party.  We looked high and low for super-special invitations, and we luckily found some on eBay (he chose number 3): 

They were sort-of pricey (but nothing compared to what Chelsea's invitations cost...**whew**), so I thought I would try to figure out how to make them myself.  I quickly found the "free" artwork, and started playing around with the wording, but then I started looking for the badge holders and lanyards, and figured out there was no way I could even attempt to make them for what I could buy them for, so I decided to just bite the bullet and order them.  Fortunately, since I was ordering so many, she gave me a great discount!  EVEN BETTER! The one thing that has been hard for me to learn is that sometimes it's better (and cheaper) to let the professionals do the work.  I still think I'm going to make some things for the party, including some super-cute cupcake toppers like these:

The second event I am working on is a couple's baby shower for two of our favorite people, Julie and Clay.  Clay is my "second" cousin (my cousin's son) and I've known Julie her entire life.  I can't tell you how thrilled we all were when they got married.  Now things are even better since they are having a precious baby girl in a couple months!  I was ticked to death when I was asked to help with their shower. Once I was told the theme of "Pink Cowgirl", I scoured the Internet looking for ideas.  Here are the invitations we found at Scrapless Press:

Aren't they precious?  We are totally in LOVE with them!

I also found these papers to make a super-cute banner at Scrap Your Trip:

I'm still looking for a brown, cow print pattern if anyone knows where I can find papers like that, it would be greatly appreciated!  I found a banner using these papers on a blog and instantly fell in love with it:

I think the banner came from Crafty Sweethearts Etsy site, but I actually found this picture from a blog (and I can't for the life of me find that blog again, so if it's your's please let me know so I can give proper credit)  I am actually going to make a similar banner, but of course it will be for a baby shower, not a birthday...lol!
I am also thrilled that I was able to find the exact font used for the letters, for FREE to download!  BUT, once I downloaded it, I couldn't figure out how to actually use it.  FORTUNATELY, last week,  My Computer is My Canvas did a step-by-step post on how to move the font into your word processor and be able to use it just as you can the fonts that are already pre-programmed into your computer.  I love blog-land!  You can learn something new every day!

We are also making these little goodies from Bakerella to give as gifts at the shower:

I mean, could these be any more perfect for a cowgirl-themed baby shower?  I am thrilled that Bakerella also has free downloads for the cowgirl stickers (and for a cowboy sticker, too)!  I am trying to decide if I want to try to find circle labels and just use those, or if I want to splurge and buy one of those handy-dandy large circle punches and make them all fancy like Bakerella's.

Decisions.....Decisions......

So, if anyone out there is ever at a loss for what this Slacker Mama would want as a gift, just give me some paper and I will be one happy girl (well, unless you are my husband, and then diamonds are preferred...HA)!