Aloha from across the Sea

Paul and Milton have returned from Japan. They each kept a journal while there, so you can follow each of their stories of their journey to Ishinomaki, Japan where they helped passed out much needed supplies and helped in the clean-up efforts.

Follow them here.

Thanks for stopping by today and follow Paul's and Milton's stories every day. Thank You again for all of your generous donations and support which we were able to use to help the people of Japan.

Second August Joy of Crafting Show

On this show, we're doing some paper crafting projects! We start off the show with a great project for Back-to-School!

Puna, from our Enchanted Lake BFC, shows us how to make a cute Monster bookmark!

It's a fun way to keep the keiki interested in reading, don't ya think? It's great use of your scraps, too!

Next, I'll show you how to make a simple tissue holder for those pocket packs. Great to have and great to give away! There's a project sheet for it, too.

Then, I come back with a Hano Hou segment on a Side Step Gift Card Holder, my twist on a cardmaking favorite. Told you I was getting ready for the Holidays early this year!

Thanks for stopping by today and Hope you had a Great Summer!

More Cards of Aloha made by YOU!

Here are more Cards of Aloha that have been passed out to the people of Ishinomaki, Japan. Paul and Milton have been able to share these encouraging cards with the people living in the temporary housing as well as the small clusters of people still living in Ishinomaki.

Thank You again for taking the time to make these cards. You have been able to touch the lives of many by letting them know we are all still thinking of them and hoping for the best.

Thanks for stopping by today and Have a GREAT Weekend!

Ishinomaki, Japan

Earlier, I told you about how Paul Mizoguchi, Company VP/Owner and Milton Fujii, CFO, were assisting on a relief aid mission to the earthquake and tsunami struck areas in and around Sendai. Well, it's been about a week since they have been working in Ishinomaki, one of the hardest hit areas.They have been staying at a karate dojo and we haven't had a lot of communication with them but this morning, I got an e-mail from Milton saying that they had passed out the Cards of Aloha that we sent with them.

They have been passing the cards out along with other supplies to the people living in the temporary housing as well as small clusters of people remaining in Ishinomaki. They are also sending along some cards with a group of volunteers who will be taking some children from the karate dojo on an overnight trip to Sendai.

Milton and Paul will be sharing their experiences when they return to Hawaii on our website and Facebook page. This past week has touched their lives forever as they have seen the devastation first hand as they try to help clean up and recover the area. They have also seen the power of the human spirit as these people who have lost everything rebuild their lives with hope for the future, especially for their children.

 For all of you who helped us gather Cards of Aloha, Mahalo Nui Loa! You have really helped to lift the spirits of these people with your kind words of encouragement. Here are some samples of the cards you all made.

Here's a card that really made us smile, the words are so cleverly thought out and you can tell they come from the heart.

Again, ThankYou so much for helping the people of Japan with your donations and encouraging words. I will post more Cards of Aloha tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by today and reading my long post. Have a Great Aloha Friday!

August's First Joy of Crafting Show

Lots of fun crafts are featured on August's first Joy of Crafting show. We start off with a contest announcement!

"Mini Masterpiece" is a contest where you embellish a 4" x 4" stretched canvas! You can paint it, make a collage or mixed media piece, whatever you feel like! You be the artist! Just turn your Mini Masterpiece entry in at any of the Ben Franklin Crafts stores by Monday, August 22. Check stores for official rules.

Need some inspiration for your Mini Masterpiece? Well, our first guest, Puna from Enchanted Lake BFC, shows us how to do some collaging on the canvas and also a wonderful finishing technique. Watch and learn some great tips, too!

Next, we have a Hana Hou visit with Brandon, also from Enchanted Lake BFC. He shows us how to use the YuDu. It's really great to be able to screen your own designs on T-shirts, tote bags and other items. Especially great for creating unique Back-to-School gear or uniforms for your soccer team!

Lastly, I'm starting to plan ahead. I'll help you get started on making some easy gift card holders. Christmas will be here before you know it!

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

Close Up and Personal...

Want to know a little more about me? Check out my OC16 CloseUp! Click Here to watch the video.

Some stuff may surprise you and others will just make you laugh!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a Great Weekend!

Be like a turtle...

Here's my Week 2 - He-art Journaling pages. The theme for this week was Sandy Sunshine (sun, sand, beach,etc.)

We had to do a two-page layout. As you can see, I love to paint and tear up paper!

This time, I "stuck my neck out" and drew my little guy.

Do ya think he's too bald?LOL!

My quote is written in the sand, ah...to be so content and happy!

Thanks for stopping by today and Have a Great Weekend!



There was Something Fishy going on @ Market City!

This past Saturday, Market City Shopping Center sponsored a Craft event.So Ben Franklin was in the upstairs lobby making Cards of Aloha, a flower decoration and I had a Hello Kitty Easel Card Make and Take. It was a lot of Fun! We'll let you know when we do it again!

The cool thing was on one of the tables, we had a special guest, Dr. Glenn Takaki. Most people know him as their dentist, but he also does Gyotaku fish printing!

So, on Saturday, he demonstrated his technique and people were able to make fish prints! We even did them on T-shirts.Here's some finished sample prints.

Here's the papio fish that they were using for the prints.

Here's Azariah Simpson with his Mom, Sigrid, and their fish print!

Want to Thank everybody for stopping by and making some crafts with us! Especially want to Thank Dr. Takaki for his wonderful demonstration! Funny, I was craving a poke bowl that night!

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you're off to a great week!

Spreading my Wings!

So, I decided to take the plunge and really challenge myself. I signed up for TGF's He-Art Journaling class.Here's my first project, a two page layout with the theme of "Spread Your Wings".

I kept it simple by just using some acrylic paints for the background, leftover from my Hello Kitty Canvas. Tore up some white cardstock for the clouds.

Added my Stamping Bella Ketto fairy and topped it all off with some Sparkle Glaze and more glitter.

My words...well, I am Dreaming Big because I  hope to complete this 23 week journey! I'm happy there are some other Hawaii Sistahs in this class, too, like Kris, 1LuvnMama and JennyV.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to stop by and visit! Really appreciate it and hope you all are having a Super Great Week!

Just one more Saturday for Cards of Aloha!

Last Saturday, I had a great time making some Cards of Aloha with some cool crafters at Mapunapuna Ben Franklin Crafts.

Here is Kingsley and his wife Joyce, their card was super cool!

Did you see Shirley's card that she made? She's going to drop it off at a store since she can't make our card making session. You can do the same until July 30.

Hope you can join me at Market City this Saturday, July 30. I'll be upstairs with a card make and take plus we'll have a table for Cards of Aloha.

Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy the rest of the week!

July's Second Joy of Crafting Show

We have more fun crafts to share on this second Joy of Crafting show for July. We start the show with the Sizzix Girls!

Cheryl and Cheri are back with another jewelry making project featuring those great new dies.

This time, they show us how to quickly make a ring from felt! The flower designs are die cut from the felt and sewn together, almost like sewing on buttons, it's a really cool project!

Next, we have Gloria from our Pearl City BFC with a great cardmaking project.

Gloria shows us how to do thread art to make a beautiful focal point for your cards. This is also a sneak peek as this will be one of the projects they will be doing at Pearl City's Paper Party on Saturday, August 27th, so mark your calendars to save the date!

Lastly, I help you get ready for back to school. It's not only about the pencils and paper...what about the treats!Candy Stick bags are a fun treat to make that you can tuck into a home lunch or impress a new teacher with!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you get a chance to catch this episode! Wishing you a Fun  and Crafty Summer!

How many points for KAWAII?

I'm talking Scrabble points! Well, I may not spell too well, but I can rhyme just fine. What I really want to say, is to our Bead Shoppes make your way! So, you can see, the really cute Hello Kitty!

On Scrabble tiles, made into cute little charms. There's also some other designs as well. So, check out the Bead Shoppes at Mapunapuna, Hilo and Kahului Ben Franklin Crafts!

Thanks for stopping by today and hope to see you tomorrow at our Cards of Aloha from 10 am - 1 pm! Have a great weekend!
(P.S. - if Kawaii was allowed it would be 13 points!)

Project Sheet now on website!

Hi everybody! Just wanted to let you know that the Candy Holder/shaker Box projects sheet from Monday's post is now on our website. Here's the project sheet!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Project Sheet now available!

Last December, Cheryl did a project on the Joy of Crafting show. She adapted a tea bag holder for Ghiradelli chocolate squares.

I finally re-watched the show (several times) to figure out the directions. So now, we have an updated version for a project sheet.

The project sheet is available at the stores and also on our website as well. Thanks for being so patient!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week!

Sending ALOHA with a Make and GIVE

Happy Aloha Friday Everybody! I have some exciting news to share with you...

In April, you all made generous donations to help the people of Japan who had suffered through devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. Your donations have helped to buy much needed food and supplies for the survivors who are still trying to get through day to day.

In August, our company VP/Owner Paul Mizoguchi and our CFO Milton Fujii will be part of a goodwill mission  that will be in and around Sendai passing out these much needed supplies and helping with cleanups and rebuilding.

Along with the supplies, we want to send some encouraging words and basically, let the people of Japan know they are still in our thoughts and prayers.

Our Ben Franklin Crafts stores will be holding Make and Give sessions so that you all can send Cards of Aloha to the people of Sendai, Japan. Join us on Saturdays, July 23 and 30 from 10 am - 1pm. We'll provide the supplies, you provide the creative inspiration! Help us make some cards that Paul and Milton will take to Japan to share Hawaii's Aloha.

If you can't make it to these sessions, but would still like to participate, please feel free to drop off cards at the stores by July 30th. We'll be happy to include them in the Special Delivery to Japan.

Thanks for stopping by today and Have A GREAT WEEKEND!

Lots of Mahalos!

I've been very fortunate to get some very cool Thank Yous from some of my blogger friends. I wanted to share some today that should've probably been done much earlier (sorry!)

This is part of a sweet RAK I got from Kris! I, uhhh, ate the really sweet part, very yummy cookies from Maui! Kris gave this to me when I saw her at the Kahului Craft Fair in May. This is her really cute checkbook covers and card cases, you should check out her Krisp Krafts site!

And here's a really cute notepaper holder she made. Isn't it adorable?!Love all the stuff Kris makes!

I also got a cute Thank You card from Cheryl! Really love the colors she used!Thanks a bunch!

And then there's 1LuvnMama!! Look at this awesome holder she made!

And then look what she filled it with!OH MY!She snuck in and left it with my co-workers, so I didn't get to see her , but Big HUGS to you, Mama!

I also got a really pretty card from Karen. It's so pretty that I was showing it to someone and I think I didn't get it back?! I'll post it soon.

My last show and tell is from Enjoli! She's so amazing, I told her that I liked her recipe book and that I thought it would be good for blog addresses, so she made a special one for me!Look, isn't it a cute cover?!

And then she made a special template for the inside pages. Going to start filling in those websites and blog addresses. You know after my two computer crashes, I need a hard copy back-up and this is perfect! Thanks so much, Enjoli!

It's really fun getting to know all of you even if it's just through the blogs. Crafters make really Good Friends!

Tomorrow, I'll be helping with our Ace Hardware's Annual Golf Tournament. The proceeds are donated to the Children's Miracle Network, which Kapiolani Women's and Childrens's center is a part of. I have the fun hole to watch over, we grill the hot dogs and serve up the drinks and snacks. I also have a special job,  I'm in charge of a raffle with a fun game for the golfers.Well, hope I don't get hit by any wayward golf balls!Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're all enjoying your week!

Kawaii Kiyomi!

YES! We got our Sister Stamps in today! When I peeked in the warehouse and saw the mail that had just arrived, I literally screamed "They're Here! OPEN IT! OPEN IT!" Yeah, kinda freaked out our receiver but she understood once we busted the package open!

See, I've been a very patient crafter waiting for them to arrive in our stores.Very patient in terms of my craft "need it now" thinking. So, as soon as I got them, I just had to ink some up,especially since I had my copics with me. Only to realize I had to go to my car for my ink pad! OK, yes, patience...patience is a virtue!LOL!

Basically, I didn't know what to make so I just grabbed this cake slice box and now I have something with a Sister Stamp on!Hope you do, too!

Just gotta Congratulate Jenny and her sister again for creating such cute images and making them available to the world! Can't wait to see what they do next!

Thanks for stopping by today and letting me share my excitement!Have a great week!