Wappen and Shaker Charm Pouches

 While in Japan at the Japan Hobby Show and ABC Crafts store in Osaka, I finally saw the Wappen products (shown by Joy of Crafting) and shaker zippered charm pouches.  I am having fun personalizing clip on gifts with patches and plastic charms.  Rather than ironing on the patches, I am using Fabri-Tac 3 in 1 glue...it's faster.

For the cupcake fuzzy Wappen I added the French fries, strawberry and duck because I think the recipient can relate to them.  I only glued on a bee to the fuzzy bear because I thought it looked good on his tummy, and we all know that bears love honey.

Here are other fuzzy Wappen animals that I will decorate soon.

These Wappen straps will make good handles for small wallets/bags and are fun to personalize.  

Other new items I saw at the Japan Hobby Show and ABC Crafts in Osaka were charm pouches.  With these zippered pouches, small plastic charms, confetti, and colorful fillers were offered for sale.  It's actually really fun to fill the pouches with little trinkets, confetti and tiny pom poms (from Daiso). The neat part is that the items can be changed out or swapped with friends.  

I think these two new craft products (plus the embellishments) are addictive and fun to personalize. 

Both young children and teenagers will love going to HM Ben Franklin Crafts to satisfy their new cravings. You won't mind treating them to no-calorie goodies and they'll be happy to personalized their backpacks, purses and athletic bags.

Squirrel in a Jar Birthday Card

 My almost 5 year-old grandson has a fondness for squirrels and a grey cat for a best friend, so I just had to include them on his birthday card.  I enjoy the challenge of making shaker confetti cards and I thought the wood handled jar stamp (Recollections) would make a great container for the confetti and squirrel.  I stamped the cat first and made a paper mask to protect it when I stamped the jar over the cat. Next, I hand cut the jar opening, covered it from behind with clear acetate film and lined around the jar with foam tape.  The cavity was filled with one hand stamped and colored squirrel (Hero Arts) and some sparkly confetti.  Another piece of acetate film was used to seal in the confetti and squirrel.  The cat and jar were colored in with Copic pens before the card front was attached to the card blank with more foam tape.  A party hat sticker was added along with a printed 'Make A Wish' label. I think it is a card that a 5 year old squirrel loving, cat owning kid will like and I am excited to give it to him even though I'm sure he'll like the toys and other gifts we give him more than a homemade card that his odd grandma created...LOL! 

Cherry Blossoms and the Japan Hobby Show

We just returned from Japan where it was the ending of the cherry blossom season.  The flowering trees were still beautiful though and we enjoyed the showers of pink petals every time the wind blew.  Many young couples and families were still celebrating the tradition of picnicking under the cherry blossom trees in the parks. It was picturesque and romantic.

 

Seeing the cherry blossom trees was just a bonus.  We really traveled to Japan to attend the Japan Hobby Show in Big Site, Tokyo.  A group of HM Ben Franklin Crafts craft employees also attended the show.  This year our company did not man a BF craft or Ace Hardware booth and this allowed the merchandisers to see more of the show and select exciting new products to sell in our stores.  

Besides the usual abundance of fabrics and sewing notions, this year I saw lots of easy novelty crafts which I think will truly appeal to our local crafters.  There were a lot of kits for sale so I think you will be seeing many new ones in our HM BFC stores.  The Japanese are excellent at making kits with instructions that are easy to follow without translating.  Please check out the HM Ben Franklin Crafts stores to see the latest Japanese kits, products, and supplies which our merchandisers have chosen just tor you!

Daruma Wish Card

                                       

Japanese folklore says that you should make a wish and paint an eye on a daruma doll  When the wish comes true you can then paint the other eye onto the doll.  I like this tradition because it offers hope that wishes really can come true.  This card was created to celebrate this Japanese custom and was inspired by the Hero Arts stencil and a Japanese wood handled rubber stamp.  To get the background effect, I used a stencil brush and a silver ink pad.  I am very satisfied with the outcome of this technique.  The daruma design was stamped with permanent ink and colored in with Copic pens.  To get a shiny surface on the daruma doll I painted it with Glossy Accents. Once it was dry, the images were fussy cut and adhered with adhesive foam dots. For the 'wish' I used some silver foil letter stickers which I found in a long forgotten drawer.  See it is good to be a hoarder!  Because this card was super easy and turned out very close to what I imagined, I am thrilled and surely will make more cards like this. *W*I*S*H* Granted! 

Asian Look Recycled Tea Tin Pincushion

 

If you've been visiting this blog for awhile, you must know that I can't bear to throw away anything recyclable.  When I finished the tea in this Lupicia tin, of course I HAD to recycle it into something pretty and useful.  In my stash of fabrics, I re-discovered a piece of Asian looking faux embroidered fabric and some fabric covered cording. They were both from Japan, but check out HM Ben Franklin Crafts because they are now stocking a large selection of Japanese crafting products. Also you could go online for Asian style textiles or do this project with fabric you already have in your stash.  

I started this project by using one of the circle dies (Spellbinders) to cut out a piece of thin cardboard that would fit the center of the tin,  Onto this cardboard circle I glued (Fabri-Tac) on some wool roving (you could use cotton batting or stuffing).  Next, I cut out a circle of fabric one inch larger all around than the cardboard circle.  I wrapped the fabric around the cardboard circle over the wool roving and used glue to secure the fabric underneath.  Once the glue was dry, the whole piece was glued to the tin top and the fabric covered cording was glued around the fabric covered circle.  A larger thickness of fabric covered cording would have worked better and required only one wrap around but the one I had didn't quite match the tin top fabric so I wrapped around (twice) the cording that did match.  For a finishing touch I stuck in three heart topped sewing pins. I'm pretty certain that I bought the pack of heart pins from HM Ben Franklin...ages ago. I can't imagine why I would shop anywhere else for craft supplies. LOL!  Please save all your recyclable containers and try to craft them into something beautiful and functional.  I know you'll be surprised and pleased with what you create!

Floral Postage Stamp Thank You Cards

 

The possibilities for the Sizzix Thinlits postage stamp die are limited only by your imagination.  Since I haven't made a floral card in awhile, I decided to use two newly purchased Hero Arts clear stamp sets (Succulent Bouquet and Togetherness Floral Bouquet).  For both cards, I stamped the bouquets (onto medium weight watercolor paper) in green permanent waterproof ink before coloring the designs with Derwent watercolor pencils. I sparingly applied water to the bouquets to blend and enhance the colors.  Once the designs were dry to the touch, I used the postage stamp die to cut out the 'fake stamps'. I used the coordinating rectangle die to die cut a background. Double stick Heiko tape was used to adhere the parts onto the card blanks.  Finally, thank you stickers were added to the cards. (These stickers were from Japan, but I'm sure you can find similar ones in Daiso or create them yourself.) I often have a need for thank you cards, but you could easily turn these cards into birthday cards or even a special card for Mother's Day.  I hope you have fun making these postage stamp cards and perhaps they'll speed up your snail mail...probably not, but they are fun to create.    

P.S.  I forgot to mention that I used a stiff brush to flick on some metallic gold ink onto the succulent card after coloring in the plants and silver metallic ink was flicked onto the painted floral panel.

Two Boy's Day Cards

With so much of my attention on Easter projects, I nearly forgot Boy's Day.  May 5th just crept up and almost passed me by.  To quickly create these cards, I looked into my stash of Japanese stamps and 'found' these old Mari and Me wood handled stamps.  I'm not sure if the company is still in business and I purchased these stamps many, many years ago.  In any case, it was simple work to stamp the designs on white card stock with permanent black ink and color them in with Copic markers.  After cutting the colored designs with a circle die (Spellbinders) and a Fiskar paper trimmer, I used a paper towel and ink pad to rub some color along the edges of the rectangle/circle. 

Because I have such an abundance of collected printed origami paper (actually a hoarded stash), I decided to use two pieces to decorate the card blanks.  Before adding the origami paper to the black card, I impressed the front using a Kaiser Craft embossing folder (Oriental half circle).  The stamped rectangle and circle were attached to the cards with foam adhesive dots.  For quickie cards, I think these turned out to be rather attractive.  Truthfully, I think the young recipients of my cards can't tell if I spent days or minutes on them.  I think most kids are just happy to receive mail addressed to them. LOL!