The front desk staff are incredibly sweet, patient, and personable, making every visit a pleasant experience. I love shopping here! This is my go-to spot for unique greeting cards and the perfect place to find wellness gifts for friends and family. read more

Fun store to look around at knick knacks and small gifts. Wide assortment of cards for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Each table is stacked to the brim with items so you can spend a long time in here looking for something. Beautiful assortment of wrapping paper as well read more

I came here today to shop for my wife's upcoming birthday. I was not greeted or asked if I need help. I began looking around. Quickly after I entered, an older white man came into the store. He was greeted and asked if he needed help. An older white woman received the same service. When I began to take a photograph of something to remind myself of it as I compile a list of gifts for my wife, an employee quickly came to me and asked if I needed help.  As a brown Latino in Cambridge, this treatment is not novel. In fact, I have experienced this at Paper Source in the past. I don't appreciate being treated with suspicion. Regardless of how much elite education I earn, how I comport myself, or my intentions, I experience racism.  I ask you to consider generally, and particularly in this racial climate, to work on implicit bias and racism among your white staff. read more

My favorite place to buy cards in Boston! Really cute assortment of thank you cards, birthday cards, etc. never purchased anything else here but the cards are better than competitors (e.g. papyrus) read more

I was psyched to order wedding invitations from this pretty shop after I moved into Porter Square last year. Spoiler alert: they turned out lovely. Getting to that lovely result was nothing short of painful. I knew nothing about the process of ordering invitations before I started. Who does? My main complaint is a complete lack of guidance and assistance around wording, materials, print style and type - minute silly decisions that took me days of research to figure out on my own. The kind young woman who tried to help me had no training or support in what is traditionally said on invitations, gave me minimal guidance on font or color, and was unable to provide a quote without physically writing out then transcribing an entire form in a process that took 24-48 hours per quote! She had no autonomy to do her work and relied on a remote process to make all decisions regarding a discount, quotes, proofs, etc. I had to visit the store at least 5 times (lights off at 5:45, which means taking vacation time to get there by 5!) and was incredibly frustrated to learn later that I could have just gone to the website and typed my text into a template to create my own proof, and could see a price immediately. I just wanted in-person assistance for a four figure purchase, and to enjoy the process a little! Buying wedding invitations at this Paper Source was as enjoyable as walking into tailor and having to measure myself, supervise the sewing, hem my own pants and still pay $1000 for a suit I pretty much made myself. Please, just order your invites online or find a fully custom stationer with experience and time to help you with all the details! read more

I'm going to risk my masculinity here by reviewing Paper Source for the sake of holiday cheer. I can't think of a more chick place in all of Cambridge. I scanned the reviews, I am the second or third male reviewer. Fine. At least I'm not Male F.T.R. Perhaps Kate's Paperie sets the standard, but they are in New York. Well, maybe they should merge and make a lezzo special edition paper in solidarity of gay marriage, proceeds to benefit the fight against Prop 8. Seriously, if you are delight in the package (and google Japanese packaging, because it is seriously the best and has a lot to do with paper), you should wrap all your Christmas gifts with your feminine touch and the material from Paper Source. My X Chromosome told me to tell you. read more

This isn't my favorite Paper Source (It's a little cramped & the one in Brookline is a bit more stocked) BUT it did it's job for my wedding-related purposes. I had purchased some invitations from Wedding Paper Divas but I wanted to get some thing to dress up the outer envelop & something to hold all my interior cards (Directions, Reception Info, Rules & Information) I turned to Paper Source because it's right by the Porter T and I thought it would certainly have all the fixings to tie my invitations together. I needed an interesting stamp, colored ink pad, and Chocolate A6 envelope for my wedding invitations and POOF -- Paper Source had them all. They also had some other items of interest like wax letter sealer kits, stamps, and wedding place cards. In my search for wedding invitation flair, I also managed to make away with some Chocolate Brown place cards that caught my eye and some corresponding gold pens. I imagine if you're really creative, this would be a great place to go to purchase all the things you need to make your wedding invitations incredibly personalized. However, it's also great when you're like me and have purchased printed invitation and just want to add some flair. The customer service here was awesome and with very little effort, my invitations turned out lovely, Paper Source really helped pull the invitations together. I was surprised that they had envelopes & stamp ink that matched the colors in my invitation! My only grip is that the stickers (to seal your invitation) are ridiculously expensive. $0.40 for a sticker? They're stickers. Not crack rock. read more

Paper Source is a great place to buy supplies for making your own wedding invitations, save the date cards, place setting cards, etc. The staff is very helpful, and they were good at transforming my wacky dude ideas of how crafty things should work into reality. They have tons of paper (duh) but also things like fancy pens, cool stamps, workbooks, and other tchotkes. I'm only giving them four stars because their prices to actually make stuff for you seemed way out of line compared to what you can get online or at a less wedding-focused letterpress shop. They also don't carry handmade paper (or didn't last time I was there), which is a bummer. read more

While the store is great, ask around before you take a class. I took Alternative Printmaking for $55.00. The sinks were unusable at the time, so we had to use buckets of water. While I can understand that things break, I think they should have given a partial refund. The class itself was so-so. Three techniques were taught: The first was just pressing leaves into rubber stamp pads and then making a "print" of the leaf on paper. (Who hasn't already done this type of thing on their own?) The second was a gelatin transfer method that didn't work very well for the instructor so only one person tried it, I think. It required using water colors and with the sinks not working, not many of us were interested. The third method was using images copied on a copier and then transferring them to paper. This method was pretty cool. However, the instructor stressed that you couldn't use a laser printer. Well, I tried a couple copiers (at Staples and the public library) and neither of them worked. I e-mailed the instructor for information on how to identify a machine that would work and she never responded. So I tried my laser printer at home and it worked. Sheesh! So, the store itself is great, but I don't think I'd take another class there unless I heard someone give a really good review. read more

I love pretty paper things. I don't like looking at the price tags here. Some of the people who work at these kinds of stores are a little... snooty? Most of the people who shop here are better than at the B'line store. I think you can find better prices elsewhere. I think you can find nicer people elsewhere. I think you can find lots of pretty useless things here. I think you will want all of them if you spend too long milling around. Beware... Papersource... read more

Tatsu I may have risked his masculinity by reviewing the Paper Source, and I'll agree, but said sacrifice was worth its weight in Valentine's gold. The tiny cards were a smash, and the hearfelt gifts (and gifted felt hearts) had her swooning. Even better, the prior indifference by the staff has metamorphosed into a question-answering, change-making, "Can-we-wrap-that-for-you?" powerhouse. Well played, Paper Source; well played. read more

oh, yay: to be creative! I entered this store looking for invitation ideas for my upcoming HS reunion and was confronted with a plethora of ideas. A plethora? Yes! I almost didn't know what to do or where to start so I spent quite awhile in there. I remembered not to buy anything in bulk until I was sure I was satisfied with my final invitation/creation idea. The stamp collection is awesome. I love stamps even though I have almost no need for them. Zero need, actually, but still fun to waste money on. Plentiful inks and paints to try! I asked one of the staff members for some advice on the ink and ... success! Nice folks over there. Additionally, if you would prefer not to make your own masterpiece, there are already made Hallmark-like cards and decorations throughout. I've also received info on the classes they hold at the Paper Source... not the cheapest I've seen but I'll bet they're helpful. When I went back recently, there were a few women who were trying to get in on one of the classes, but it was totally booked-- if that's not a sign, I don't know what is. read more

This place is dangerous. I want everything in here and get so many project ideas my head almost explodes. it's expensive, but you can't find this stuff anywhere else. Top notch! read more

I've been to this location a few times, browsing for ink, stamps, gifts, et cetera. Everything is a bit pricey, but I expected that since stationery and scrapbooking aren't cheap hobbies. It would be great if you could buy one, JUST ONE, envelope or piece of stationery paper - but you can't. In a way this store doesn't seem to be encouraging me to create personal, unique correspondences. I don't need ten envelopes of the one color that would match my handmade thank you card to one person, and I don't do this often enough to have a bunch of envelopes taking up space in my apartment. So, stars deducted for that. Customer service is a toss up. Sometimes I've had courteous, knowledgeable salespeople, and other times I've felt like I've inconvenienced them by trying to buy something. read more

You can find fantastic papers, hard-to-find art supplies (at a price), a decent selection of stamps and stickers, and amusing gift items at this posh store. A burning desire to make your own agenda book? This is your destination. Sending out Valentines to numerous boyfriends and want a personal touch? Shop here. Searching for vintage cutouts to decorate your scrapbook? This is the place. Over the years, the staff have been a mixed bag. In the past year or so, they seem to have done a staffing (or maybe just attitude) overhaul resulting in a much more pleasant shopping experience. I've never taken a class here but I've watched some interesting demos. If you make your own cards and you're in a rut, they will have some basic ideas to help spark your creativity. Note: Some of the supplies they carry CAN be found at other art supply stores for cheaper, and especially online. For example, glue of all sorts is likely to be marked up here. read more

I love the paper source because...well, they have awesome stuff, but I hate the paper source because they have all my money. We got our wedding invitation kits here and they were super easy to use and waaaaaaaay cheaper than having invites printed professionally. And really, who saves wedding invites? Are they worth $10 a shot? Not for me at least. The staff was really helpful in finding additional paper that matched the kits we bought (we didn't want to follow the kits exactly as they were, difficult ones that we are) and were just great in terms of suggesting websites for free and purchased fonts. Paper, leave skeletons, that set of pint glasses that will someday be mine, journals, a neverending stamp collection, oh did i mention the gorgeous selection of paper? If they sold beads and wire I'd have to get a job there in hopes of an employee discount read more

Paper Source is a wonderful source of inspiration. Sure, it's a good place to go for wedding or similar party invitations, but it's even better to walk in and wander around the store for a bit. The paper insect display they've had up in the Porter Sq store this spring definitely makes me want to try something ambitious. Last time I went in I was sucked into their big, square sheets of paper (for scrapbooks, I presume). For relatively low price, I bought a mix of complementing solids and prints and put them up on my wall - voila! customized art that matched the colors in my apartment. read more

I went here a few weeks ago because I had a VIP (Very Important Project): I wanted to make a card to send to my good friend to ask her to be my maid of honor in my wedding. I knew this was the place to go. Being a crafty girl, I was immediately overwhelmed upon walking into the store. I wanted everything. I didn't have a particular vision in mind for this card, but I'd just decided on colors for the wedding so I wanted to use them: chocolate brown, bright bright red-orange and a pale blue (or, in PS terms, Bluebell). I wandered around for a while before landing in the stamp section where I came upon Betsey. I asked her for help pulling my vision together and man, is she the best or what?!? She started bouncing ideas off me and then as we talked design and color, she helped me pull it all into focus and showed me a few easy things I could do to make the card look simply beautiful. Betsey was great- so nice and helpful. She would let me know how much things cost so I wouldn't "get sticker shock" and she showed me that it wasn't hard at all to create something fantastic. She got me hooked on lining envelopes, stamping and embossing, and adding 3D elements like ribbon. Betsey was awesome and I'd definitely look for her again and take one of the classes she teaches there. She also called over to the Brookline store for me to reserve the stamp I wanted. Nay, NEEDED to have. She had pulled that one out of her bin because she thought it might be what I was looking for and she was right. I ended up spending a small fortune in there (for which I was prepared), but it was all worth it. It was great to play around with the wedding colors with paper and ink and ribbon and it immediately made me feel more comfortable with the idea of making my own invites. So, they've got tons of ribbon, paper stock, stamps, scrapbooking kits, pens, and fabulous paper. You could easily blow a paycheck or two in this place if you're into paper crafts. Bonus: I bought this fabulous orange-red silk ribbon to use and they sell it by the yard. When I got up to the register, the girl realized it was less than a yard and she just let me have it because she "didn't even know how to make that work on the register." Woohoo! And just in case you were wondering, my friend said yes! read more

Wow, so many kinds of paper and things you can spend money on that will help you be creative. I get ideas just wandering around the store. We made our own wedding invitations and bought all the supplies here at this Paper Source. It's a good place. A word of caution though - it really isn't cheaper to make your own invites. But if you're the crafty type it's fun, and you wind up with something that is much more unique and interesting than standard invites. And Paper Source is just the place for that kind of thing. read more

This is the cutest paper store! Great for traditional paper (cards, crafts, calendars, etc) but also the perfect spot for a small birthday present. I loved wandering around and looking at the great array here - the buyer obviously knows what he/she is doing! One down side: employees didn't give me even one glance until I was ready to check out. Would have at least appreciated a greeting... read more

I went to school across the street from this place for three years. I never went in. Finally during one of my last classes I snuck across the street during the break. And wow! I am pretty obsessed with these types of stores, which is why I stayed away for as long as I did, otherwise I'd probably be broke. Paper Source is amazing! I got a really cool and beautiful stamp there as well as strawberry colored paper. The variety and quality of the paper they have is really outstanding. The prices were very reasonable, but I could see myself spending a hefty sum here just for the simple reason that they have so much cool stuff! read more

First trip to the Paper Source. I think I stayed for over 2 hours looking at all fun products. I was so inspired that I left with a bag full of goodies to make my own stationary! Margaret was so helpful but also gave me space when I needed to play with the colors of my paper palette. I'm just a little sad that there is not a location near me. Luckily there is an online site. :) read more

Paper Source - Cards & Stationery Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Absolutely, love this store! I always find what I'm looking for: printable invitations, birthday cards, fun/funky gifts, wrapping papers, stamps, fancy pens. You can customize as little or as much as you want. Yes, it's a little pricey but it's high quality. I love how the service is helpful and not obnoxious; they allow you to leisurely browse. read more

Let me start my review by saying I love the Paper Source chain. They have such a cute collection of cards, wrapping paper, pens and card making materials. The Mass Ave location is not the biggest Paper Source store I've been to. I actually really think their Boylston Street location has a much better card selection. I find shopping at this location kind of crowded. I am always saying 'excuse me' to see something that interests me. The service at this Paper Source is okay. I feel like the cashiers are a little slow (I'm not sure if it's their fault or it's that the patrons are also slow and indecisive). Overall it's nice to have a Paper Source to go to on this side of the Charles, however if I happen to be in Boston proper I will hands down choose the Boylston street store over this location. read more

Our first trip for wedding invite supplies was to the Paper Source in Brookline. We needed to pick up a few more items and were in the Porter Square area, so we stopped here. While this store is great if you don't need something specific, it was not a good experience for us. First thing we needed three of, they only had two. Second thing we needed they had none in stock. And the last item was something they didn't carry at that location and would need to be special ordered. Then I remembered one other thing I wanted to try to get, nope, not there. What this basically adds up to is a completely wasted trip. So back on to Brookline we go a couple days later and get everything we need. Would be two stars, but the employees were trying to help so I gave them the extra boost. read more

If you're looking for stationery-making supplies (like card making stuff around the holidays or any other time), then Paper Source is where you need to go. First thing when you walk in the door you're overwhelmed with all of the color and beauty. If you have the time, spend a couple minutes browsing before you start on your project, because the variety of materials and prints can be inspiring. They have a beautiful selection of papers of all kinds. Everything from handmade papers to plain colored papers in packages. They also have gorgeous patterned papers and scrapbook-style papers. They have paper-craft accessories, like intricately cut stamps, inks, and shaped scissors. They also have beautiful ready-made cards. Ooh, and envelopes of nearly every color! Good for so many uses. Just beware, a craft project here can easily approach $100 if you're not careful. But the experience and the product are definitely worth it. Just make your decisions with intention. read more

I love this store. I miss this store. We have them in CA but who wants to drive all the way into the city to take a class? The classes were kind of spendy, but fun. I took the drop spine box and photo album making classes. They were small, and the instructor was friendly and easy-going. They have a great selection of paper and other unique craft items, but a trip here can get expensive. I used to go here for ideas, then head to a less expensive craft store and try to replicate it. They also have easy to use and downloadable templates on their website. read more

I found a friend's gift and wrapped it in a matter of minutes with extra time to putts around. You'll probably end up buying some expensive stationary and random notepads but you'll enjoy every minute of it. The staff is great and I hear they have free creative workshops. I probably won't ever attend one of these but I like that they offer it. read more

If I ever make a yelp list of places I shouldn't go-- this will be on it. Piles and piles and shelves of paper in all sorts of coordinating plain colors. And stickers! And decorative paper! And gifts! And treats! Oh good gd. Today I bought "pool" colored 9x12 envelopes, natural colored round note cards, vellum envelopes...I want to get custom stickers printed...am I sick? read more

How do I love thee Paper Source? Let me count the ways. I love thee for thy friendly and knowledgeable staff who are always willing to help with an idea or a demonstration. I love thee for thy large and varied selection of paper, envelopes, stamps, inks, cards and gifts. I love thee for always having what I need when I can find it nowhere else. But most of all I love thee for the inspiration that starts to flow as soon as I walk in the door. read more

I have a love/hate relationship with this place. I LOVE everything in the store and HATE that I always spend so much! Last month I went to buy one rubber stamp and an ink pad and left with two stamps, the ink pad, some magic dust, and this glorified hair dryer that heats the magic dust and leaves the stamp looking incredibly beautiful and perfect! I have no self-control when it comes to paper and crafts. read more

Loved the variety this store offered - The staff were super-friendly. This store just made me happy! Great gifts and paper products. I had to get a watercolor calendar, some cute notepads, and tin pencil holders. Really loved the special papers - would make a great backdrop for pics, etc. Wish I lived in town so I could take advantage of the special workshops they offer. It will be the first place I go back to when I return! read more

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I want to buy EVERYTHING in here and lock myself up my room and just create for days on end. I want to make a scrap book of my move to Boston, I want to craft hand-stamped invitations for a future dinner party (complete with coordinating reply cards), I want to print out all of my vacation photos and make albums for each of my friends that went. I could do all of this and more with Paper Source! Now if only I could buys some time there to do all of these little projects! read more

My repository for all things awesome, crafty, cute, and creative. I've been a regular here lately for all things wedding but also love their vast selection of perfect handmade cards and small gifts. I can't say enough about how much I love PaperSource! Pricey, yes but sometimes I'm willing to splurge. Plus they always have an abundance of items on sale/clearance. The staff is insanely nice at this location too. read more

Wedding Invitations Class -- It was a great class that was taught very well by Ross Acerbi. I do have a couple of complaints though. 1. We only made 3 sample invitations and for $55 I felt like we should have done at least 4 samples. 2. The class time was from 6-9pm yet we were out before 8pm. I really think that they should put the correct time or say that the class might be longer depending on size. 3. The store closed at 7pm yet our class was till 8pm so that means we did not get to buy anything. After talking to the manager, she stated that they were going to try to have classes only on the weekends because of this. 4. I really enjoyed the class but I feel that making my own invitations should be cheaper than ordering them. If you buy the paper from Paper Source then sometimes the invitations cost slightly less than $5 per invite. That just seems a little pricey to me. I really do love crafty stores like Paper Source but my wallet doesn't. Restrooms: I had to use the restroom here. It's a single restroom in the entire store and it was quite clean. It got the job done. read more

My new favorite place. The prices are a little high but it's because it's good quality art supplies, some of the items in the store I had seen online for the same price. They have a great variety of items from calligraphy to party supplies to every color envelope you can dream of. read more

If you're an artist, writer, designer, or just someone who likes stationary/wrapping paper/crafts and knick-knacks, Paper Source is a great place to spend a rainy afternoon. You can literally spend hours in here browsing the shelves of lovely designer paper, boxes, and craft ideas. They've got a ton of ideas for present wrapping. I came during Christmas shopping, and they had a lot of cute Christmas things; I don't expect them to have as much of a selection for other holidays, but they seem to be fairly quick at seasonal changes for their goods, which is bad because I always want to buy more. Their prices are not cheap, and you might think "Why am I paying so much for PAPER!?" But their products are quality products, so you get what you pay for. They offer a lot of workshops, which I've never been to, but the titles and descriptions sound intriguing. read more

I avoided going in Papersource for a long time because of my self-hating yuppie-phobia, but planning my wedding changed all that. I love stationary. Although prices are high at Papersource, they really aren't high at all compared to other local vendors like Bob Slate or the Coop, even some online ones. And in my case, the proliferation of colors and options and great stamps inspired me to do a lot more of the crafting of my invitations and such myself, rather than ordering them. I don't know if I saved money, but I had a good time and everything I got there was beautiful. I bought some Christmas wrapping paper there they other day though, and that I regret. At $8 a roll.. nobody really needs wrapping paper that nice. read more

Paper Source is where those of us with the inevitable need to craft used to turn. A: Urban spots tend to frown on the little womenz (or, really, anyone) busting out with the chain saws, arc welders, glass-blowing, or pneumatics, just for home-crafting giggles. B: back before Pinterest gave us the opportunity to go thermonuclear on creating, without needing a local supplier to simultaneously turn the key, it was actually hard to find "how-to" and materials. Paper Source was an awesome place where you'd find exactly what you needed and about a dozen other "had to have" supplies. I remember spending a benji or two here to learn to fabricate a few hundred 3D cardstock flowers to make a long, weird sort of wrapped / folded painted paper flower garland & arrangement to (coincidentally, not per class marketing) give as engagement gift to a great friend. Anyway, Paper Source (at that time) was all fairly comfy, out of the ordinary, and 'Yes, many of these products are expensive, but that's because they're quality, and we've tested them and believe they're awesome. We have no doubt you'll love them too. They'll stand the test of time.' Not 'This is just one more Rom-Com fra-fra pseudo-universe in rotation around to-be-marrieds, since we carry the same standard invitation crap carried everywhere else, focusing on matching what everybody's got, just for 150% more, price-wise because our shop has molding and lovely windows.' That was definitely the tone I got when I went by recently to restock on a few hard to find items and to ask about some newly available supplies. It used to be about making awesome stuff, with awesome stuff, not about exclusively matching engagement / wedding twaddle already purchased / printed elsewhere. That's definitely a niche - fair enough - just pointing out that it wasn't what drew me here and they used to be better than that. If you're crap-booking out of this place, you are...well, you're burning cash, as there's not much that even register on the 'oooooh, must have!' meter, these days. The shop is well-styled, well-turned out. But...just...meh. Doubt I'll be back. read more

I have looked for bookbinding waxed thread high and low -- Pearl, AC Moore, Michael's, Utrecht, etc. The only place I've found it is Paper Source. At the other places I looked, they had exactly one brand, a very thin, flimsy white thread. The Paper source has an entire basket of waxed threads in different colors and weights (from what I could tell). This alone was enough to make me a fan, but I was also very impressed with their cardstock and envelope selection as well as their fine paper selection. I picked up some stationery from the half-off table and was very happy with my purchase -- not only were the cards good quality, but the envelopes were, too (if you buy a lot of these boxed sets, you may notice, like myself, that the envelopes are sometimes really crappy). I'm a paper connoisseur -- this is what I care about -- but I can see how the niche cachet wouldn't satisfy everyone. They do sell a tad too many knick-knacks for my taste, and everything is expensive, but that's par for the course for most higher-end craft stores I've been to. I wouldn't recommend shopping exclusively here for a big paper project, unless you have a lot more loose cash than I do. But for the extra details you'll need to pull something together, this is the place. read more