We Love Crafts winners!

Last weekend was so crazy in our stores with the Thanksgiving  and Black Friday sales, I forgot to post our We Love Crafts photo winner! And it is awesome!

Congratulations to Stephanie Huff for this unique elephant sculpture made from Cherry Pepsi can and wire! How creative is that! Stephanie was our Black Friday winner.

This week, we congratulate Clarissa Del Rosario for her beautiful Deco Mesh Wreath! Perfect inspiration for the season!

So, crafty peeps! I know you're making stuff and posting them on Instagram, Facebook and Pintrest, so why not send in your photo and maybe you'll be next week's winner of a $20 Ben Franklin Crafts gift card. Here's more info

Thanks for stopping by today and have a Great weekend!

We Love Crafts! - Last Friday's Winner

Just in time for Thanksgiving, this beautiful wreath was shared by Betty Steljes of Honolulu. Wouldn't a wreath like this hanging on your door be an awesome welcome for greeting your guests this Thursday?

For sharing the craft she made, Betty won a $20 gift card. Send in your craft project photo and enter our We Love Crafts weekly contest and you just might win one, too! More info here.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, did you know we'll be open from 9am - 2pm and we're having a 20% off* BringYourOwn Bag sale? That's right, pop your turkey in the oven, come on down to the store and save!

Thanks for stopping by today and Have a Great Week!


NOTE: Our Kahului store will be open from 8pm - 12 midnight for Thanksgiving.
All HouseMart Ben Franklin Craft stores - 20% off sale includes regular priced merchandise some restrictions apply, check store for details.

Get Ready for Another Slice of FUN!

The rumour is true! Amy Tan of Amy Tangerine is coming back to Hawaii for TWO classes on Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Mapunapuna Ben Franklin Crafts!

Sign-ups start tomorrow, Sat., Nov. 23 at the Mapunapuna Ben Franklin Crafts. For more information, go to our website.

We had so much fun the last time Amy was here, hope you can join us! Have a great weekend!

November's second Joy of Crafting Show

We're right in the middle of the Holiday crafting season and we've got a show with some fun ideas!

Our first guest is Kari Foteff from Strathmore, the people who make all of those great artist paper pads. Here she shares a new item, Artist Tiles. Perfectly square paper pads for your favorite media.

Then, we have Deborah Irvin back from Market City BFC. Deborah dresses up a cute wreath for Santa's Helpers!

Lastly, I'll show you how to make a simple Santa favor box. You make it with mostly punches and it's perfect for parties or little co-worker thank yous. Here's the project sheet.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week!

Blankets of Aloha - Please Help if You Can!

Aloha Monday Crafters! I know crafters are the most thoughtful and caring people so I wanted to share what our HouseMart stores are doing to help the people of the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

Our HouseMart Ben Franklin Craft stores along with our HM Ace Hardware stores are collecting blanket donations for Tacloban, Philippines. We are trying to collect as many new blankets as we can before the November 30 deadline for the first shipment.

We will continue to collect and send blankets but we want to send as many as we can with this first critical shipment.

All of our stores are drop off locations, so please help if you can.

Another way to help will be during the Kokua for Philippines telethon concert on Sunday, December 15. I'll be answering phones during the telethon and would love for you to call in your pledges.

As in the tsunami that hit Japan, this tragic event in the Philippines touches everyone in Hawaii, we all know someone effected. Let's reach out across the ocean and send waves of Aloha.

Thanks You for stopping by today and may you and yours be safe this Holiday season!

We Love YOUR Crafts!

Happy Aloha Friday! We LOVE that you want to share your projects with us! Here's this week's winner of our We "Heart" Crafts photo contest!

Eva U. of Honolulu created a gorgeous calendar for next year using Sister Stamps! Don't you just love her Copic coloring!

Congratulations, Eva!

Want to win a $20 Ben Franklin Crafts gift card, too? Take a photo of a craft that you made, email it with a list of your supplies to joyofcrafting@gmail.com and check our website on Friday to see if you won for the week! Simple as that! (Official rules can be found here)

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!

Our first WE "heart" Crafts Winner!

Congratulations to Christina of Honolulu! Her enchanting project has won her a $20 Ben Franklin Crafts gift card!

You could win one, too, if you enter our We "heart" Crafts weekly contest. Just send in a photo of a craft project you made with a supply list. We pick one winner each week and post their photo on our website homepage on Friday at noon. Check our website every week to the winning project.

For more information on the contest, check out the official rules on our website.

Thanks for stopping by today and go take some photos to send in! Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween, so you know that means costume time! This year our office has some really creative ideas...can you guess what everyone is?

 

 

 

For me, I was an old fashioned lunch wagon.

Yes, I had some food, too! Here's my Mini Cheeseburgers and Fries.

 

Fish and Chips.

The Cory Special, which has Bacon, Scrambled Eggs and Toast.

We also had a pumpkin decorating contest by departments. It was a lottery to see which pumpkin we all got.

But look what they did! Here's HR.

Accounting. They had the two small pumpkins.

 

IT

 

and Advertising.

 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a Fun & Safe Halloween!

September's second Joy of Crafting Show

We're on a roll with more fun crafts in our second Joy of Crafting show for September!

Catherine is back with another project using The Crafter's Workshop stencils! This time she's making cards! Wouldn't that be cool to make a T-shirt and then wrap it up and attach a matching card?!

Our next guest represents an idea I've had for some time. I know a lot of crafters are so talented they should start a business, so from time to time we'll have guests on to share some tips on how to turn your hobby into a business. For our first Crafting Business tips segment, we have Trini Abaya-Wright from Central Pacific Bank. She shares some basic but important things you should know when you're first starting your venture.

Lastly, I'll help you get ready for the Holidays with a simple favor box you can make to use for Bosses' Day, Halloween, Christmas, basically any occasion!

Thanks for stopping by today and Happy Crafting!

September's first Joy of Crafting Show

Our current Joy of Crafting show has some fun projects to give you ideas for the Holidays!

Our first guest is our friend Catherine Thoele. She is my go-to person whenever I have questions about artist products. This time Catherine has a wearable art project to share!

 

She shows us how to create a cool t-shirt design using The Crafter's Workshop stencils and artist grade acrylic paints with fabric medium. With these simple products, the possibilities are endless!

Next, Jenny shows us how easy it is to use our new UV Crystal resin. With the the UV lamp, it makes project making super quick!

Got yarn? Most of us have some leftovers from graduation lei making, so I'll show you how to make some cute Halloween critters! It's so easy, even the kids can make their own and you can use them to decorate your house or office.

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you're having fun with your current craft projects!

Celebrations New Location Grand Opening!

Join us at Celebrations this Saturday, 8/31 for their New Location Grand Opening! They moved two doors down the hall. Now, they are right next to Ben Franklin Crafts Mapunapuna!

I'll be there from 10 am - 12 noon to help you make your own origami card case! We'll be using one of Celebrations' specialty wrapping papers to make this easy and useful little card case. I like to use these when I don't want to carry a bag, like at carnivals and concerts.

It has four pockets, two on the inside to hold your ID, credit cards and cash! And, two more pockets on the outside that can hold club cards, stamps cards and business cards.

They'll be lots of fun going on with in-store specials and prize giveaways, too. Plus, my make and take is FREE! So, I hope to see you there!

August's Second Joy of Crafting Show

Summer is ending soon, but the fun crafting continues! On this episode, we introduce a new friend and some favorite friends return with great craft ideas!

First, we welcome to the show, Alyson "Ally" Turner from Mapunapuna Ben Franklin Crafts and she has a really fun and clever project! Making bracelets from jumbo craft sticks! Ally shows us this wonderful technique! You can use a lot of different things to decorate the unfinished bracelet, too!

Then, Jenny Floro shows us how to create the popular ombre look with our new Vintage glitter line!

Savannah from Celebrations is back with another great wrapping idea. This time she uses Flower Wrapper to create a cool juice can gift!

Lastly, I sneak in with a quick (don't blink!) burlap flower idea!

Hope you get a chance to see the show! Happy Crafting and enjoy the rest of your Summer!

New Joy of Crafting Show for August!

Hope everyone is enjoying the last days of Summer! Tonight, we have a new show for August and it's full of fun ideas!

I start off the show with one of my favorite new paints! Deco Art's Multi Surface paints are the perfect paint for a variety of projects. You can use the same paint on metal, glass, wood...as the name says, Multi surfaces! Plus, the colors are just fabulous!

Then, we have Savannah from Celebrations back to share some great ideas for pillow box decorating!

I couldn't wait for this next segment to air because it's all about Project Life! Not sure what PL is all about? Don't worry, I'll give you a quick overview and share one of my favorite weeks so far!

Lastly, we have a segment we taped earlier but didn't have enough time to air. Shane Hershey from EK Success shows us how to use the Circle Scissors Pro, a really easy to use circle cutter, as he makes paper fortune cookies.

Have you been watching the show lately? Noticed anything different at the end? Leave a comment if you do and let me know what you think, yah or nay. I'll reward one random commentor with a Ben Franklin Crafts Gift card for the help!

Hope you get a chance to see this show! Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week!

July's second Joy of Crafting Show

Tonight, the second Joy of Crafting show for July debuts and we have some new crafts and a new crafter!

First, we welcome Savannah from the Celebrations store next to Ben Franklin Crafts in Mapunapuna. She shows us how to use clear crystal pack bags to create a fun palm tree favor.
(BTW, Celebrations will be moving a few doors down the hall, closer to Ben Franklin Crafts this week. They will be closed during this move from Monday, July 22 to Thursday, July 25)

Next, we have Kimberly from Hero Arts back to share another project using the cool new "Stamp Your Story" line.This time, she makes some tags that can be assembled into a little mini book.

Then, our Sizzix girls are back, Cheri and Cheryl. They use a new Scoreboard die to make a very pretty free-standing window box. I love this die, I think I want to make a Halloween window with it, complete with cobwebs and spiders!

Thank you for stopping by the blog today and I hope you get a chance to catch the show! Hope you watch until the very end, there's a new feature we've added! Happy Crafting!

July's Joy of Crafting Show

For July, we have some favorite guests returning to the show with new craft ideas! Come and check it out!

Our first guest is Kimberly McCausland from Hero Arts rubber stamps. Actually, Kimberly has been on the show before when she worked with Stampendous rubber stamps. We're so Happy to have her back on the show!

 

Kimberly introduces Hero Arts'  new line called "Stamp Your Story" (I love this collection!) The designs are so on trend right now and they're great for Project Life! She also uses another hot trend, Neon inks! The colors are just so perfect for Summer projects.

Next, we have Dean Anthony Ramos, who always amazes me with his crafting ideas. This time, he is playing with Perler Beads, remember those? Well, it's making a comeback and is another hot trend with these updated fun designs!

Last, but not least, are our Sizzix girls, Cheryl and Cheri! I just love this project they are sharing, it's another cool pop-up card!

I can just see using this chair design for so many occasions! And I just love the embossing folder that goes with it, so cute!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you can find the time to watch the show and get some crafty ideas! Hope you're having a FUN Summer!

May's Second Joy of Crafting Show

On this second show for May, we are continuing our lei making and more!

 Our first lei is the Blooming Pikake from our latest Handcrafted Lei and Flowers book. Colleen from our Mapunapuna store shows us how to make this beautiful lei.

Then,  we have Dean Anthony, our Relay for Life Captain. Dean  makes a personalized luminaria and tells us how you can get involved in Relay for Life. Our Oahu stores will also have luminaria making workshops in June, see the stores for details.

Lastly, Gloria from Pearl City shows us how to make the Dragon Lei from our latest lei book. It's a great lei for all kinds of occasions.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you've enjoyed your weekend!