Friday's Finds

Today, I was walking through the aisles of Mapunapuna Ben Franklin Crafts looking to see what new products came in and I found myself digging in the Dollar Bins! I found some really neat stuff at some great prices. Let me show you a couple of the items I picked up...

Here's a simple cutlery holder with angled sections. Before, when I did my cake decorating, I would use a holder like this to hold my icing bags.

Today, I turned it into my desktop craft "essentials" caddy. I think it's a pretty good organizer for the $2 price! I think I might add a pretty label on the front, too.

Then, I found these little trinkets. The plastic flowers will be great for the centers of some of the paper flowers that I like to make.

And these luminous sea shells would be great for embellishing a beach theme card.

Fun little finds at great prices! Most of the stores have very similar items in their dollar bins, go check out what treasures await you! Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Kitty @Mapunapuna!

On Saturday, Hello Kitty stopped Mapunapuna Ben Franklin Crafts to help them celebrate their Hello Kitty Back to School event! So many Hello Kitty fans of all ages were super surprised to meet her in person!

 And Hello Kitty was surprised by her big Welcome sign!

 Of course, we had photo ops with Caroline, store manager, who was also doing a make 'n take.

Here is Caroline's decorated mini pail, so cute with the tutu!

And here's what the top of the pail looked like!

And Colleen is showing one of the cards they made.

And here's Sherry, who takes care of the paper arts department.

Here's the Hello Kitty fan they made.

And  look at this cool Hello Kitty glass block!

There were a bunch of other Hello Kitty theme projects, too, like a duct tape bow and shrink art bracelet. Hello Kitty was so impressed with all of the crafts she inspired!

Here's Megan, another Big Hello Kitty fan!

And look, even the guys couldn' t resist taking a photo with Miss Kitty!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're having a super weekend, too! Hello Kitty will be at Market City on Sunday from 10am - 12noon and then at Enchanted Lake from 2pm - 4pm, hope to see you there!



Meet Hello Kitty!

Hello Kitty will be visiting our Oahu Ben Franklin Crafts stores this weekend. Come and take pictures with your favorite kitty! Here's her schedule:

Sat., 7/7 from 10 am - 12 noon  Mapunapuna and 2pm - 4 pm at Pearl City
Sun., 7/8 from 10 am - 12 noon Market City and 2pm - 4pm Enchanted Lake

Come and join the fun at our Hello Kitty Back to School event on Saturday from 10am - 2 pm! All stores will be doing a number of Hello Kitty crafts and on Saturday only, you can also get a free Hello Kitty reusable bag with any $30 purchase, while supplies last! Check out all of the specials and details here.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope to see you with Miss Kitty!

Aloha! It's the first July Joy of Crafting Show!

It's the first of July! So, we're half way through the year already! It's time for a new Joy of Crafting show and of course new crafts!

Our first guest is a familar face, Penny Teruya from our Mapunapuna Ben Franklin Crafts store. She's here to show us a project featuring one of our favorites...

Hello Kitty! Penny shows us how to use a cookie cutter for a template to make this cute Hello Kitty Bag.

Next, we have Lynn Hashino, also from Mapunapuan Ben Franklin Crafts.

Lynn shows us the basic paracord bracelet. Paracord is super popular with people of all ages.

Next, we introduce a new crafter to the show, DeanAnthony Ramos. Dean is from our IT department and has signed on as our Relay for Life coordinator this year!

Dean shares a cute project he created to help raise funds for the Relay for Life, piggy banks!

Lastly, I sneak in a quick demo on the new Lucky 8 punch. Find out why it's called that and how easy it is to use!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are having a super summer! Happy Crafting!

HELLO, Hello Kitty!

Yes, Miss Kitty is finely back on designer paper and stickers! Look at what's in the stores...

Hello Kitty papers are one-sided cardstock weight in very clean designs, as is her style.

I think these are my favorite paper designs, great for all kinds of projects.

Then, there's all kinds of stickers, these are just a few.

And a few more.

And some chipboard pieces.

Welcome Back to the papercrafting world, Miss Hello Kitty! We sure did miss you!

Hmm...what shall I make?

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a super great weekend!

Creative Gift Presentation

I know all of you take special care in making your own cards. It means a lot to the person receiving them that you looked for the best papers, stamps and took that extra time to add those special embellishments.So, I think the gift wrapping classes that are being offered at celebrations might be something you should check out!

Meg from Japan will be flying out next weekend to teach three different courses on the Art of Japanese Gift Wrapping.Here's the projects for each class:

Course A is offered on Fri., 6/29 from 2 - 4:30 pm or Sun., 7/1 from 2 -4:30 pm.

Course B is offered on Fri., 6/29 from 5:30 - 8 pm or Sat., 6/30 from 9:30 am - 12 noon.

Course C is offered on Sat., 6/30 from 2 - 4:30 pm or Sun., 7/1 from 9:30 am - 12 noon.

The class fee for each course is $35 or if you take two or more courses, $30 each. All of your supplies will be provided as part of the class fee.

Sign up today at celebrations, located next to Ben Franklin Crafts in Mapunapuna, and learn to make your gift wrapping just as special as your handmade cards.I wanted to let you know about this opportunity since space is limited and the classes are filling up fast.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're having a great week! I'll be helping Meg with the classes, so I hope to see you there! Happy Wrapping!

Fold-Out Box

So, I see these boxes in the stores and I'm thinking that maybe they would be great for organizing some of the stuff I have on my desk. So, here is what I did...

The box opens up and reveals four little covered trays, perfect for stashing some paper clips and loose change.Or band-aids and candy? Anyway, I'm thinking I should dress it up a little.

Because I do love the kraft paper look, I left a a little 1/4" border of it around for most of it. Plus, it made it easier to cover by making these panels.So, for the three sides, I cut red cardstock 3 3/4" x 6 1/8". Then, layered a printed 3 1/4" x 5 7/8" cardstock on top.

For the fourth side that opens, I made two panels: one with red 1 1/2" x 6 1/8" and printed 1 1/4" x 5 7/8" and the other panel was red 1 3/4" x  6 1/8" with printed 1 1/2" x 5 7/8".

For the tops of the four inside trays, I made 3 1/2" squares in red with 3 1/4" squares printed on top.For the bottoms of trays, I just made red 3 1/2" squares.

For the front of the trays, I made red 3 1/2" x 1/2" pieces.

 For the sides red 3 1/2" x 1" pieces.

For the rest of the inside of the box, I thought about treating it like a multi-panel card and measuringeach section, minus 1/4" around to make the panels.Then, I thought it would look to busy because of the floral print I chose, so I left it plain. Sometime, you just gotta know when to stop!

All in all it was pretty fast and easy just taping the panels in place. And these boxes are regularly $3.99, in-store for $2.99, not sure for how long at that price!I think the whole project cost me less than $6.00, I think I'll make another one!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are having a great week!

June's Second Joy of Crafting Show

Happy Father's Day! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Well, tonight we have a new Joy of Crafting episode with lots of fun crafts!

We have Cheri and Cheryl back from Sizzix with an exciting new line of dies, Pop'n Cuts by  Karen Burniston. (Sizzix anticipated having these dies in the stores already but they are not here yet, but will be soon!)

Look at this fun pop-up card that is so easy to make with these dies. I can't wait to get my hands on some!

Next, we have a fun Hana Hou with Darling Dumlao. Here, she is creating our favorite Owl lollipop covers! These are great for parties,especially grad parties and even for back to school treats!

Lastly, I show you how to make the Bear card we did as a Father's Day make and take yesterday. It's really easy to do because we use punches! This bear is great for all kinds of occasions!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you get a chance to watch the show! Hope your weekend is going great!

Notice anything new?

Happy Wednesday Crafty Peeps! Just wanted to see if you noticed the blog's sidebar has something new?! Yup! We've launched a youtube channel for TheJoyofCrafting!

This means you can now watch your favorite crafters like Cheryl Miyashiro and Frank Dumlao any time. You can even spock your friends like Linda K. in the audience at our live tapings.Right now, there's a 143 videos  from the past few years. We will be uploading even more, but there's a lot since we've done 209 shows!

Go check it out at http://www.youtube.com/TheJoyofCrafting, but remember to use TheJoyofCrafting, if you go to just JoyofCrafting, there won't be anything there.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week! Happy Crafting!

June's first Joy of Crafting Show

Summer is the time of year when it's fun to just let loose and do all kinds of crafts. And that's what we have lined up for you on the first June Joy of Crafting show...

I start off the show with the new guy in town that everyone is raving about! That's right! Mr. Huey's Color Mists. These sprays are so easy to use on all kinds of surfaces. I'll show you how to use your dies as stencils for your projects.

Speaking of dies, we have Cheri and Cheryl from Sizzix back with the cutest project, a candy cup!

It's a Scoreboard die by Eileen Hull in such a cute size, great for all kinds of occasions!

Then, to help you get ready for Father's Day or a really cool grad, we have a Hana Hou on the Duct Tape wallet. We first did this a year ago but Duct tape is riding another wave of popularity that it warranted a repeat.Plus you could make one for yourself with the new Hello Kitty tape design, talk about cute!Yes, there's a project sheet.

 Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a FUN and Crafty Summer!

A Special Saturday!

I spent last Saturday at the Special Olympics at UH. OC16 had a tent in the Olympic Town where we made fans for people to use when it got hotter in the afternoon. Meeting the athletes was really fun and inspiring. Most of them participate in a number of the sports, not just one. I can only imagine how much hard work and dedication they put into it. But the best part is the spirit of good sportsmanship and camaraderie that they all have.

We had fun in our booth with Merlinda Garma from Hawaii Skin Diver. Did you know she's a recent UH Law School Graduate?



James with his sweet little girl

And of course the Bruddahs were there! They had the crowd laughing like crazy at the main tent across from us. They really know how to appeal to all ages.

And it wouldn't be an OC16 event without Tiny Tadani!

All in all, it was a great day to be Crafting in the Community! Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you are having a great Memorial Day weekend!