14 Days of Valentine's - Day 1 Punch Art Card

Hello February! Last year, I did 14 Days of Valentine's projects and I decided to do it again this year! To refresh your memory, these are the projects I shared last year ...

 

I know you only count 13 projects because on Valentine's Day, I asked what was everyone's favorite project?! A lot of people picked as their favorites the Message in a Bottle, the Origami Heart and the Wire Wrapped Heart ring. Then, I randomly chose 3 comments and gave those people a Ben Franklin Crafts gift card. I plan to do the same thing this year!

 

You can read more about last year's projects beginning from Day One here.

 

So, for this year's first project I have a punch art project, hope you like it!

 

Most of the punches used are Marvy Uchida Clever Lever punches unless specified. Start with the 2.5" Oval - Pink and punch out an oval in white cardstock  and one in black cardstock. Take the white oval and slip it back into the punch and punch out a section on each side, as shown.

 

Next, take EK Success 5/16" circle punch and punch two circles on a scrap piece of white cardstock.

Now, take the Clever Lever 1/2" circle punch - Orange, and position over the 5/16" holes as shown and punch out. These are your eyes.

Take the 2" Oval - Blue punch and punch out two ovals from black cardstock. Keep one on the side for the body.

Slip the other oval back into the punch as shown and punch a skinny oval. Cut this piece in half for the ears.

Take the 5/16" punch and punch out one circle from pink cardstock for the nose. Assemble all of the punched pieces and glue as shown. The black from the head will show through to create the eyes. Use the white Galaxy Marker to make a dot in the eyes for highlights.

Take the 2" Oval - Blue punch and punch out one oval from white cardstock. Use a scissors to trim off a section along the top. Glue onto the body for the "back stripe".

Slip the same white oval back into the punch as shown and punch out a slight teardrop shape for the chest. Glue in place.

Use the Small Oval - Orange punch and punch out four ovals from black cardstock for the paws. This is not shown, but use the 1.5" Heart - Yellow punch and punch one heart from red cardstock. Use a black marker to write "Be Mine" on the heart.

Use the 2.5" Oval - Pink punch and punch out one oval from white cardstock and one from black cardstock. Place the black oval back into the punch and punch out a skinny oval. Do the same with the white oval, but make it smaller. Layer the white onto the black and glue. This is the tail.

Assemble all the pieces together to make your skunk. I have two small black ovals at the bottom for the feet and the two other small ovals are the paws holding the heart. I placed the skunk on the front of a card and used stickers to write" UR so Stinkin' Cute!"

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you're enjoying the weekend! See you tomorrow for another heart-felt project!

Happy Year of the Horse!

Today is Chinese New Year and it's the Year of the Horse! My brother, his wife, my other brother's wife and my nephew's wife are just a few of the Horsies that I know. We're also expecting another Horsie in a few weeks! So, exciting!

So, here's my Chinese New Year story:
Me: Bryan, do you celebrate Chinese New Year?
Bryan: No, do you?
Me: No, I'm not Chinese.
Bryan: Uh...Neither am I.
Me: What? ...Oh, you're Korean!?
Bryan: Yeah, my Dad is Korean (grinning at me)

So, my wonderful friend who does the camerawork and produces our show is Bryan Lee. We're a great team because we balance each other. He's more on the quiet side, always smiling. Me, well, let's just say Bryan's gotten used to my craziness! Wow, and all this time I thought he was at least part Chinese. So, funny! So, goes to show you, you may be good friends with someone but there's always something new to learn! Anyway, he's not a Horse.

But for all of you who are Horses, here's my dandelion design Horse to wish you a great and Happy Year of the Horse! I added it to a checkbook cover, hoping for a prosperous year! Kung Hee Fat Choy!

Thanks for stopping by today! Tomorrow is February and I'll be starting my 14 Days of Valentine's projects again! Have a great weekend!

First Joy of Crafting show for 2014!

We head right into 2014 with a new show and some new crafts!

I start the show off with some ideas for your extra Project Life cards. If you're like me, you have more than one core kit and since each core kit's cards usually has at least two of the same designs, you probably have some extras.

Next, we continue our Small Business series with one of the perfect places to start, the Small Business Administration! Jane Sawyer, director of Hawaii's SBA, shares what services they have to offer to small businesses. We craft together to create a custom planner to keep track of appointments, meetings and ideas for your business. Throughout the year, we'll continue to have different guests for this series as we try to help you turn your hobby into a business!

You'll recognize our last guest from Celebrations, Joel Kutaka. With a new year, it's a great time to learn some new wrapping techniques to step up your gift giving in 2014!

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you get a chance to catch the show! Happy New Year and Happy Crafting!

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!