Aloha from our island of Hawaii

                                                                 Graduation centerpiece

Materials:

Glass gems in the colors of: Luster clear, ice blue, and cobalt blue

Diamond filler

4 Dowels .125x12 in

Ivory Bowl

Blue satin Blue

I piece of Glitter paper

I piece of any color blue

Styrofoam ball

Double stick tape

Will have to use the 4inch die cut, provide at ben franklin stores

 In the ivory bowl place the Styrofoam ball. Over the Styrofoam ball place the all colors of the glass gems; also add the diamond filler to it. Arrange to the way you desire. Set aside

Take your paper and use the Die cut machine. Take the blue paper, using the 4 inch die cut and cut the numbers 2016. When cutting the white glitter numbers. Make sure to turn the paper upside down, so the glitter part is on the die cut. This way the glitter side of the paper will show.

Tape the blue numbers to the dowels using the double sided tape. Then tape the white glitter numbers to the other side. So the will be back to back. To give it more of a depth look, let some of the blue still show behind the white glitter paper. If you like you can also paint the dowels blue.   Stick the dowel into the Styrofoam ball.

Wrap the ribbon around the rim of the Ivory bowl; make a bow to put on the front of the ribbon.

                   JOYT@HILOBEN

Mermaid Art Journal

Hey, Crafters!

As a natural progression of my last blog, the Mother's day coloring book, I was inspired to bind a real, hard back book. I knew I was going to make an art journal, but I was having a hard time deciding what theme to use for the cover. As luck would have it, we received an amazing new collection of card stock this week that was absolutely perfect called "Voyage Across the Sea." How awesome are these?

To create the collage effect of the cover, I layered a few different papers beginning with a sheet of wrapping paper from Celebrations next door that I fell in love with. Once that was glued on to my mounting board I was able to start adding the images I had chosen from the voyages collection and create my spine using another gorgeous nautical map cardstock we carry.

What's a multimedia art journal without a bit of multimedia? Using a couple of BoBunny's awesome products, I added some depth and dimension to my cover by glittering it up and adding a 3D border.

With all of this done, it was time to get cracking on my inside cover. I started by adding a layer of a neutral brown cardstock, then layering on a few pieces of LBell's awesome map print tissue paper and finally accenting with a few strips of a complimentary card stock and a couple more bits and bobs from the Voyage collection.

A layer of mod podge, and I was ready to turn my cover in to a book!

Since this journal is meant to be used for multimedia, I needed to use a heavy duty paper. I picked out a watercolor paper that was to my liking, cut and folded it in to 5 'signatures,' (that's what they call each packet of papers,) totaling 50 pages. I stitched all of these on to my cover using S-lon bead cord. Here's what it looks like while in progress:

A bit of detailing with beads and cord on the spine and I have a gorgeous, one of a kind hard-back art journal made from scratch, start to finish. What could be more inspiring than working in a book that has that much creativity literally sewn in to it!? Do you love what you see? Be sure to check out our upcoming workshop where I will be teaching you how to create a journal of your very own!

-Chelsea @Mapunapuna

Grad Party Card "Book"

Good day, Crafters!

Graduation season is right around the corner (Can you see it in our stores?), so you know what that means!  GRAD PARTY!!!  Yes, the daunting task of planning and prepping for your graduate's special event can be a stressful one, but we're here to help and make it fun.  

Today I will show you guys how to create an awesome Vintage-style Money Book.

 

Yes, I said "book"!  Who says a grad party has to be school-themed?  I'm showing you that you don't have to follow the color scheme or theme of the graduate's Alma Mater.  

The theme can be a lot more personal.  This card box is in the form of a book to represent a graduate who loved literature and all things vintage for example.  It's different, unique and makes a great conversation starter as a centerpiece too!

 

 This was built from just one piece of 20 x 30 inch foam board and then decorated to look like a really old book.  I Mod-Podged brown cardstock onto both covers as well as the spine and then distressed it by rubbing it with a Memento stamp pad in the color Cocoa. I also misted some gold Mr. Huey's spray onto the covers to give it some shimmer.  I then covered the sides of the exposed foam board with brown creme wax, painted the pages with a mix of butter yellow and white Ceramcoat acrylic, and then streaked some wax on that to create the "pages".  

 This project will be featured on an upcoming episode of  The Joy of Crafting, so be sure to check it out if you want the full walk-through of how to create this awesome card "book"!

Erika @ PC

Video Game Pencil Holder

Hey guys!


You my begin to learn I have a liking for all things geek. So today we're going to work on a video game inspired craft. We at Ben Franklin have a massive stock of wood products just dying to be painted and decorated. I used one of the wood pencil holders we carry and made it a video game style pipe. Ideal for holding your pencils or cardstock Venus Flytraps.

 

 

 

 

For this project you will need:

-The Pencil holder pictured, or any round container.

-A darker and lighter shade of green. (White to lighten a green is acceptable.)

-2mm Foamie Sheet. (any color, but preferably green, white.)

-Hot Glue Gun

-Scissors

-Black Marker

 



Our first step is adding the top outer layer of the pipe. Cut a 2 inch wide strip along the long side of the foamie sheet. Cut that strip length of the circumstance of the pencil holder. Wrapping the strip around the pencil holder and marking where the sheet meets is the easiest way to see how long you need your sheet to be. Once you've done that, wrap and hot glue the strip along the top of the pencil holder.

 

Next, You're going to paint the entire holder your darker shade of green. I used Spring Green for my pipe. I didn't paint the inside of my pipe but your are welcomed to. Once that first layer is dry, your going to use your lighter shade of green and paint stripes vertically down the sides of your pipe. make sure you keep the edges straight and visible. This will give your pipe a 2D effect of depth, just like it's in a video game.

 

When your paint is dry, take your black marker and boldly trace the bottom of the foamie strip on your pipe. This will add to the 2D look.

 

Then you have it! Your own video game style pencil holder. If you're interested in accenting your holder with a flytrap, I made mine out of green, red, and white cardstock. I cut a stem and leaves shape out of the green cardstock. For the red I cut a large circle and then cut a V shape out of it to give it a "Pac Man" mouth. Then with the white I punched out a few white circles and glued them to the red circle, then trimmed the parts of the white that stuck out. Then I cut out a white shape of the lips and teeth and glued it to the red circle to finish it's mouth. Finally I traced ever shape with my black marker to give it it's 2D look.

I hope you enjoyed this geeky craft because I'm glad to think of more!

Enjoy!
James @ Market City

Key Box Holder

                                       Aloha from our island of Hawaii

                                    KEY BOX HOLDER

 Material’s list:

Hi Temp Glue Gun

Glue Sticks

SPC Jute ribbon

SPC Craft buttons

Ceracoat White and Turquoise Paint

Foam Brushes

Bistro Chalk markers

Using a technique call white wash.

Put a small amount of paint on a pallet paper. I put a small amount of paint on the brush, then brush it onto the paper to get the excess off. Then lightly stroke the box with the white paint. Let dry, then repeat with the turquoise paint.

Set to side and let dry.

Take the jute ribbon to make a bow. When make the bow leave the tails long for gluing onto the box.  Glue the bow to the box, then the tails. Leave gaps when gluing the tail to the box. 

Then take the buttons and glue them on the bow and the tails.

Take the Bistro chalk pen and write on the chalkboard of the box.

                                             JOYT@HILOBEN

Mermaid Shell Top

Hi, Everyone!

This week we are going to be doing a really fun mermaid-themed project!

A Mermaid Shell Top!

How cool is this?  It's a really easy and cheap idea for fast mermaid costume or just for a quirky beach shirt for this summer.  Who doesn't want to feel like a mermaid once in a while?

What I used to make this mermaid top was a regular white t-shirt, GP Purple Ceramcoat Acrylic paint, Iridescent Purple Scribbles, and Textile Medium.  I also had some parchment paper to help stop the paint from bleeding onto the back of the shirt as well as an iron to cure the paint.

First, try on your shirt to see where you will want your shells to be.  Make marks with a washable fabric marker.  (I chose to just wing it.)

Next, you're going to mix the paint and the textile medium with a ratio of 2:1.  Two parts acrylic paint to one part textile medium.  What this medium does is it makes any craft grade acrylic paint permanent and flexible on fabric.  This means that it won't wash or flake off even if the fabric wrinkles.  

Make sure you put a piece of parchment paper underneath the front layer of your shirt so that the paint doesn't get onto the back.  The textile medium will make the two side stick together if you don't!   Then, start painting your shells!  I chose the basic clam shell shape like a certain red-haired mermaid.  

After letting that dry, heat set it with either an iron or a heat tool.  You're going to want to heat each area for at least thirty seconds to cure the medium.  

Lastly, draw the outlines of the shells with the puffy scribbles paint for some dimension!

As always, feel free to mix it up!  Add some embellishments like rhinestones or even use glitter paint for more texture and sparkle.  How about writing a mermaid-themed quote underneath in a funky script?  You could even paint some iridescent scales for that real siren look.

Have fun!

Erika @ PC

Quilled Ball Bot

Hello Crafters!

 

Today we're going to be crafting a cute little paper quilled robot. I was inspired by this week's Keiki Craft Camp where one of the crafts was a paper quilled bird. I decided to take the technique and make a little ball robot instead!

 

For this particular bot, you will need the following strips of cardstock:

Body: 5, 1 inch wide strips. 3,4,5,6,7 inches long.

(White, Silver/grey, White, Orange, White)

Head: 2, 1 inch wide strips. 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 inches long.
(Orange, White)

Eye: 1, 1 x 1 1/2 inch black strip.

 

Double Stick Tape for assembly.

 

Optional (not pictured):

Base: 3 shades of tan/brown in 1 inch strips. 5,6,7 inches long.

 

 

 

The assembly process is pretty easy, and if you are familiar with this weeks curly bird, it's the same process.
We'll Start with the body strips. Staring with the smallest strip, our 3 inch white strip, curl the strip into a circle, and fasten with double stick tape.

From here, tape the end of the next size strip to the bottom of your circle, where the ends meet.

 

 

Wrap the opposite end of the next strip around and fasten it to the bottom of the circle. Your body will start to form. Continue these steps until you have used all 5 strips.

 

 

Now that the Body is complete, we can move on to his head! Starting with the orange strip, fold the ends at about 3/4 inches in. Now have the folded ends meet together, not overlap, and fasten with tape. You should have a half circle shape.
Next, do the same with the larger strip, but instead of folds 3/4 inch in, fold them about an inch inward. just like the body, tape one end of this new strip to the previous shape, wrap it around, and fasten.

Now, take the small black strip and roll it to about pencil width. Fasten with tape, and secure inside the orange strip of the head.

Tape the head to the body and tada! There you have your own little paper robot buddy!

 

To keep him balanced, it is optional to give him a base. I used three shades of brown/tan strips and fastened them together in the center. Then I simply taped the robot down onto the base.

 

I hope you've enjoyed this fun little paper quilling craft! Ideal for any sci-fi fan.

 

May the craft be with you!

 

James @ Market City