Beautiful Butterflies

Give your home decor a high flying boost with these beautiful butterflies. I wanted to show off some extra cute ideas on how to turn those spring butterflies into art. The best part is that right now all of our spring merchandise is on sale for 25% off. Don't forget that butterflies make great party decorations too!

Hope to see you soon,
Puna @ Enchanted Lake

Hi From Rainy Hilo!

Woo hoo! Hilo BFC finally made it into the blogging realm! :) (And yes, it is raining as I type this so Rainy Hilo is not a fib. Haha.)

There's a lot going on in Hilo and you'll hear all about it soon, but we just wanted to come by and say Hello before bombarding you with all sorts of awesome craft posts. The crafty people in our store are coming up with great ideas and projects all the time and our store manager Bert has given me permission to share them with all of you!

If you're ever in the Hilo area, come visit us to say Hi and check our our store!

Hope to see you soon!

~Jen @ Hilo Ben Franklin

Skeleton Keys Are Here!

Check out our new finding at BFC! Large skeleton keys that come in four different designs and you can unscrew the top to add on your favorite Pandora or large hole bead. Don't have any beads? No problem! You can pick some up at our bead shop, we have them as singles for $1 or in color coordinated sets. You can make it as simple or as full as you like. If you're into instant gratification projects then just attach this to a long chain for a fashionable necklace and since it's so easy to change out the beads, you can color coordinate your necklace to your outfit in a blink!

Talk to ya later!

Lynn @ Mapunapuna BFC Bead Shop

Copic Markers

COPIC MARKERS!
As Puna mentioned in an earlier blog, Copic Markers are now available at our stores!If you haven't used these before, they are perfect for stamping. Tips: Be sure that your stamped image is completely dry before coloring with the markers. Heat set the ink to speed the process. Test new paper or ink since they may react differently. Color slowly in circles. And remember, these alcohol inks are not compatable with solvent inks.
Join us at the Pearl City store! Samples and more tips to come!
Gloria @ Pearl City

Bookmark Monsters

Get ready for summer everyone! To help you prepare, I thought I would share this amazingly cute project I found for corner bookmarks that look like monsters. The instant I saw this project I thought it would be perfect for families to do together and it might even get the kiddies interested in their summer reading list (maybe you can make it into a monster hunt game). I found this idea on another blog, but changed up the pattern just a little.

Here is the URL for the original project: http://nheilke.com/blog/?p=2628.

You're gonna need a few things to complete the project, but if you're already a paper crafter you'll be one step ahead. The supplies are: cute scrapbooking paper in patterns and solid colors (I liked small polka dots and flowered paper), a 1.5 inch circle punch, a 1 inch circle punch, a 1/2 inch circle punch, double sided tape, the Martha Stewart scoreboard, a trimmer, and a scissors.

With the trimmer, cut one 3 inch square and one 3.5 inch square. Cut the larger square in half diagonally to make two triangles (you will only use one of these triangles per bookmark).

Using the scoreboard, score a 1/4 inch in on each of the short sides to form tabs and trim the edges of the tabs in at an angle. The triangle should now look like the left hand shape in the picture above.

Fold in the tabs and use the tape to attach the triangle to the larger square. This is the head of your book loving monster.

For the eyes I used the 1.5 inch punch for the outer white parts, the 1 inch punch for the colored iris, and the 1/2 inch punch for the pupils. Layer all the different parts of the eyes, one on top the other, and atttach with the double sided tape. Out of white cardstock, cut some big pointy teeth for your monster's mouth and tape to the inside of the triangle piece.

Now you have a monster who just loves to devour your books (and saves your place).

I hope you had as much fun with this project as I did. Don't forget to stay tuned for more Ben Franklin summer fun.

Puna @ Enchanted Lake

Now we see the light...

After about a month of being boarded up...

our store is finally seeing the light again 8-)

Our store front is complete & our sign is up!!!

So be sure to stop by & check it out...

Calling All Beach Babes!

We're doing a demo on another hot trend on Saturday May 21 and 28 between 2 and 3 PM, this time around we'll show you how to make faux sea glass jewelry. The sea shell jewelry trend has been going strong and fits in nicely with our island lifestyle. We took plain glass beads and used glass etching solution to give it that sea glass look then added real sea shells and ocean themed charms to pull it all together. Did you know that we have an entire line of findings with an ocean theme? There's bound to be a design that will catch your fancy.
I don't know if I've been going to the wrong beaches or at the wrong time of day but I can NEVER find any nice sea shells at the beach, if you're like me...not to worry! We have sea shells at the store so you can be the envy of any mermaid!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll catch ya at the store!

Lynn @ Mapunapuna Bead Shop

Crazy for Copics

If you are a paper crafter, an artist, or even someone who just likes pretty colors, you are going to LOVE our newest product. Ben Franklin Crafts is happy to present (insert drum roll and big time trumpet fanfare) Copic Markers!
For those of you who have already experienced the joy of coloring with Copics I'm sure I don't need to say any more. For everyone else, just wait until you try it! They are almost addicting in their awesomeness. For now I will give you the highlights: a 3 year shelf life, over 50 colors available in our stores, on paper blendability (think watercolors but in easy to use pens), permanent and non-toxic, and the alcohol ink dries acid free so it's great for scrapbooking.

Here's a sample card that Lisa did for our store:

Isn't it beautiful? Did you notice the shading and the depth of the colors? THAT is why we love them. Unfortunately, you will have to stay tuned for more Copic samples and how-tos. Don't worry, we're already hard at work on them.

Thanks for reading!

Puna @ Enchanted Lake

The Beader is Branching Out!

So I'm the beader in the group and my mentality is like the dragons that are in the fairy tale books, you know...the ones that love to hoard all the pretty shiny things. That's how I feel when I see all the cute things in the make-a-memory department, I'll pick up stuff to add to my "collection" thinking that one day I will put it to use. Well since I often make beaded items as gifts, I've started putting my collection of papers and punches to use (finally) to make packaging for them. Here's what I do for woven dimensional charms.

It's fun to use different punches and embellishments that tie in with the design of the charm or occasion. For this one I used the Martha Stewart punches for the picket fence and the cherry blossoms and EK Success punches for the vines and the scallop lace.



I took paper and cut it wide enough to center the charm but long enough to be able to score and fold over about 1/3 of it to create a small flap that will rest above the charm. The flap is wide enough to write or stamp a sentiment or you can just decorate it like I did here. Under the flap I punch a small hole that will allow me to string through the cell phone strap and then.....



secure it on the back. I punched a circle then scored and folded it in half and used double stick tape to keep the end of the strap in place. After everything is decorated and set, I usually place it into a clear cellophane Heiko package just to keep it protected.

I hope this inspires more beaders to branch out into some of the paper arts, it's a great way to showcase your bead work and to make gifts a little extra special.

See ya at the store!

Lynn @ Mapunapuna BFC

Easy Gifts

I wanted to share this super easy and affordable gift idea with everyone. All you need to do is pick out a wooden frame, the ones shown here are priced between 3 and 7 dollars a piece, and some cute, wooden decorations. The decorations, like the palm tree and slippers, are all pre-painted and only cost $1.50. Then, bust out your glue gun or E6000 adhesive and glue the pieces together. Ta-dah! Super easy, adorable gifts. You could give a belated present to your Mom, or to a favorite graduate, or to Dad next month. The only thing you need to supply is the picture.

More great ideas coming up! Just stay tuned.

Puna @ Enchanted Lake

MOTHER'S DAY CELEBRATION

The Pearl City store will have a Mother's Day Celebration on Saturday, May 7th. Join us for make-n-take from 11am to 3pm today! A cute mini-purse scrapbook, a fantastic duct tape rose or a beautiful memory wire bracelet....Mom, Auntie or Nana would love one of each! Leis and candy kiss roses are also available! See you there!

Spring Necklace with Vintaj

Stop by our Mapunapuna Bead Shop this Sunday between 2 and 3 PM to watch our demo to show you how to make this necklace with components from our line of Vintaj Natural Brass. I love this line because it's really easy to work with, lead and nickel free, hand embellished, and made entirely in the USA. The chocolate color of the brass is a nice change of pace from gold or silver. We've been having so much fun at our Bead Shop Demos and with this one I'll show you a variety of techniques like wire wrapping, creating your own clasp, how to color metal with alcohol inks, and embellishing components. If you can't make it this Sunday then try to stop by on Sunday May 8, I'll repeat the demo at the same time!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see ya at the store!

Lynn @ Mapunapuna BFC Bead Shop

A Graduation Favor-ite

Welcome to Graduation season everyone! Because our stores want to help you with all your graduation needs, each store is doing daily demonstrations of graduation projects. To give you an idea about what's going on in the stores, I'm showing you a demonstration that we will be doing this month at Enchanted Lake.

The project is called the Scoreboard Favor and the supplies you need are: a Martha Stewart scoreboard, a paper trimmer, scissors, white card stock, double-sided colored card stock, clear acetate sheets, Beacon 3-n-1 glue, pink (2.5 inch) Marvi Uchida scalloped circle punch, blue (2 inch) Marvi Uchida circle punch, black stamp ink, and a sentiment stamp.


To begin, cut your colored card stock into a 4" x 6" piece. For this blog I'm using a piece of blue card stock but you can use any color that fits in with your theme. (School colors are always an easy choice for graduation.) Next, using the scoreboard, score the paper at the 1" mark on every side. Then make 2 cuts into each of the longer sides of the paper to make the box flaps.
Your piece should now look like this:

This is will become the bottom of the favor box. Use the double-sided tape to tape up the flaps and shape the box. Next, follow the same steps as above with a piece of clear acetate to make the box top. To put the top of the box together, I used the Beacon 3-n-1 glue to glue the flaps closed instead of taping them. Here's your box top and bottom all shaped up:

Because the acetate sheet is very flexible the top fits easily onto the bottom of the box. To finish up, punch one scalloped circle (pink punch) out of your colored card stock and one circle (blue punch) out of the white card stock. Stamp your sentiment on the white circle and tape your white circle to the scalloped circle. Tape the layered circles to the box top and fill with treats to make the favor. My favor looks like this:

It's a pretty simple design but it can be a very elegant box given the right touches. You could add ribbon (like I did for my green favor) or change the sentiment to include the graduates name and year. The possibilites are endless for such a little thing. If you make one of these favors on your own we would absolutely love to see it. Don't be afraid to drop by the store to show it off!

Puna @ Enchanted Lake