Unity Stamp {new packaging}

Unity Stamp company has recently re-designed their packaging - and I must say it is a great improvement!

The stamps were previously sold in 3 or 4 piece sets and were all looped/connected together. Now they have broken apart the sets and each stamp design can be purchased separately!

This makes it a whole lot easier to find the design you want.

You can see the new packaging in aisle 13...

Tea For Two Apron

I believe this is the cutest apron ever. Sandy in fabrics made this sample using Michael Miller fabric & the Two for Tea Apron pattern. The pattern includes the half apron as well as the full apron. I love the design of the apron & that it has pockets, making it one of my favorites.

March is National Craft Month

March is National Craft Month and we plan on celebrating. Every Saturday throughout the month of March we are going to be offering demos and/or make & takes in addition to the many great classes we already offer. The times of the demos/make & takes will be from 1pm to 3pm but may change. The times, along with projects will be listed on our events calendar by next week.

On Friday, March 13th our friends from Spirit 92.9 will be doing a live remote from our customer lounge. They will be here from 2pm to 5pm and we will also be offering a kids make & take during this time. We are, also in the works of releasing something that will be offered to all our GREAT customers, so stay tuned.

Happily Ever After Series!

This is a series of classes we are offering for all brides to be. We are offering 5 different classes in this series that will be offered Sunday afternoons throughout the month of March. You are welcome to sign up for one class or all five. The 5 classes are Ribbon/Bow, Boutonniere & Corsage, Wedding Favor/Invite, Bridal Bouquet, and a Centerpiece Class. These classes will inspire Brides to add their own personal touch to make their wedding day more memorable.

If you haven't yet you should check out this weeks ad. It features wedding invites and favors, a sampling of what the class will offer.

14 Days of Love: Day 13 and Day 14

Day 13: LOVE Frames - (That I forgot to post yesterday) These were a cinch to make. I took 4 3.5"x5" brown frames, cut down printed paper to fit in the frames (I used My Minds Eye Quite Smitten Line), using the vinyl word Love, I cut apart each letter and applied one to the glass of each frame. Placing the frame for the V horizontally. I embellished the Frame for the L by tying a little ribbon around the frame. These frames could be left up all year just by changing the paper.

Day 14: Valentine's Day Card - I still have to make a card for my sweetie, but here is an idea that you can make with some scraps of paper you may have lying around. The card measures 4x5 and the strips of paper are all cut to 1 7/8" wide. The stripe and the red w/ pink hearts are 2 3/4" long and the others are 2". Adhere them to the front of the card leaving a 1/8" border on all sides. I cut the heart from Bazzill cardstock, on my Cricut machine, you could certainly free hand it if you don't own a Cricut. Add a little ribbon and adhere to the front of the card using 3-D Dots to give it some dimension. Last, just stamp or write your message on the inside. Hope you all have a Lovely Valentine's Day.

14 Days of Love: Day 12

Day 14: Kids Valentine's - I made these little matchbook style valentine's for my daughter's daycare friends and I just love the way they turned out (sorry the picture isn't the greatest). I made them using paper from the Sweet Talk line from K & Company, designed by Brenda Walton, and Bazzill Bling Cardstock. I punched out hearts from the red paper below to glue to the front of the Valentine. I stapled the ribbon on the top, and left it long to tie around the goodie bags I made. I just finished them off with a Mrs. Grossman's Sticker, Valentine's Sentiment.

Friday Night Scrap!

Since, Scrapbooks Plus closed, we have decided to offer a Friday Night Scrap on February 20th. If it goes well we will try to offer more of them. They will begin at 5pm and go until 11pm and if we don't have any classes during the day you are more than welcome to come early. Get more info here and if you can make it, you can stop in or call to register. Hope to see you there!

14 Days of Love: Day 11

Day 11: "U Complete Me" Pillowcases - A quote from one of my all time favorite movies, Jerry McGuire & what better way to show your sweetie you care. I came across this idea on the Creature Comforts blog and thought I would share it with you. It would be a quick and easy craft project that would leave you with time to spare before the BIG day.

14 Days of Love: Day 10

Day 10: "LOVE" Mini Book - Well, Valentine's Day is just 4 short days away. Have you gotten your sweetheart a gift yet? Why not make him/her a gift that comes from the heart. You can make this album in one evening just by taking the Mini Book Club class, this Thursday. This is a perfect little gift that would make your sweetheart fall in love with you all over again.

Aunt Martha Transfer Patterns

I know that this is exciting news for all of you who embroider and use the Aunt Martha's hot iron tranfers. They came out with a couple new patterns and they are very trendy. Goodnight Kisses # 4008 has several really cute primitive stitchery patterns in it. Even the ever popular saying, Always kiss me good night.Bless Our Home # 4010 also contains several patterns on the primitive side and will make great home decore projects.It's nice to have something new, that's for sure.

14 Days of Love: Day 9

Day 9: Heart Flower Suckers - This bouquet of flowers would be a lovely treat for your sweetheart. All you need is some Dum Dum Suckers, cardstock in a few colors, a large heart punch and a 1/8" hole punch. For each sucker you will need to punch out 3 to 4 hearts, then punch hole in bottom point of all the hearts and fold in half. Take unwrapped sucker, place 3 to 4 hearts on sucker stick through the 1/8" hole, overlapping hearts to look like petals of a flower, and place in vase. Sure to make anyone's day a littler sweeter.

14 Days of Love: Day 8

Day 8: Heart Crayons - Family Fun had this great idea for Valentine's day, and a great way to make use of those broken crayons. They attached the crayons to circles cut from card stock or construction paper and wrote "You Color My World" around the crayon. This will be the perfect little Valentine's gift for my daughter's friends at daycare.

14 Days of Love: Day 7

Day 7: Floating Frame - Using a floating frame, some vinyl and your favorite photo, you can create a simple masterpiece like this. It is perfect Valentine's Day gift for a newly married couple or one that is celebrating an anniversary. I have made one with a picture of my Husband and I on our wedding day and it took less than 10 minutes. It's that easy.

14 Days of Love: Day 6

Day 6: XOXO Glass Block - Glass blocks are another popular crafting item. They are usually decorated by filling them with something and putting lights in them or adding a vinyl piece of some sort to the outside. I decided to decorate this one like a scrapbook page, and I love the way it turned out. You can find the instructions on this project here.

14 Days of Love: Day 5

Day 5: Applique Heart Tea Towel - Tea towels are becoming more & more popular, and there are so many cute patterns available, like this one. The pattern used to make this towel is called, "Towels for All Seasons" and includes other designs than just the hearts. I like the simplicity of this towel, using a black & white gingham tea towel, that we sell here at Crafts Direct, along with the two colors of felt. Sure to win over the heart of any crafter.

Tea Towel Potholders and Oven Mitt!

These items are a great addition to the tea towel aprons I posted earlier today. These require a little more work, but well worth it. The tea towel oven mitt uses one tea towel as the liner and a matching fabric.

As for the tea towel potholders, you can get two potholders out of one tea towel, which makes it very affordable. Both the oven mitt & potholders have a heat resistant fabric used in them so you won't have to worry about burning your hands. You could make these along with a coordinating apron, for a fabulous gift for the baker in your life, or yourself.

Tea Towel Aprons

A couple of the ladies in the fabric dept. have been busy making some new samples and I thought I would share them with you. They are fairly easy to make and there is a project sheet for each sample. The full length apron is made of one tea towel and is adjustable which is great. The utensils were cut from our Accu-Cut machine, which is free to use if material is purchased from Crafts Direct, and appliqued onto the apron for the perfect touch.

The half length apron is just as easy. This apron requires you to sew 6 straight lines, 4 of which create three pockets, the other 2 to attach the coordinating ribbon for the tie. To finish it off just add and iron-on.

14 Days of Love: Day 4

Day 4: Crocheted Sweetheart Garland - This is such and adorable garland and when I came across it I knew I had to share it with you. It happens to be perfect for one of the 14 Days of Love, and a great way to use up some of those yarn scraps. There is a complete tutorial on how to make this Crocheted Sweetheart Garland on Cassi Griffin's blog, Bella Dia. She has so many great ideas you should check it out.

14 Days of Love: Day 3

Day 3: Valentine's Day Frames - Why not make a frame for that special someone in your life.

With some paint, paper, ribbon and a little love you can create these frames for the special people in your life.

The first frame is painted white then covered with mod podge and glitter sprinkled over the top. Then paint wooden hearts in desired colors, once dry write words onto them to resemble conversation hearts. Glue onto frame & add photo.

The second frame we left unpainted, and dry brushed the edges with a little pink paint. Add ribbon and Valentine's foamie stickers. It is that easy.

The third frame is covered with a Valentine's inspired paper by K&Co. After cutting paper down to size and the opening, you can use a double sided adhesive to attach it to the frame or a thin layer of mod podge. Once attached, add sticker letters to spell out Be Mine, ribbon to add more texture, and your favorite photo.

14 Days of Love: Day 2

Day 2: Valentine's Magnets - These lovely magnets are easy to make and would be perfect for attaching Valentine's cards to any magnetic surface. Follow the Marble Magnet instructions from here, and use these Valentine's images to print out onto the rub-on transfer sheets. Don't worry about the words being backwards. When you rub them on to your surface they will then read correctly. Remember, you can get all the supplies you need right here at Crafts Direct.

14 Days of Love: Day 1

It is hard to believe that it's already February. That means Valentine's Day is just around the corner. To honor Valentine's Day I am going to try to post a project everyday from now until February 14th. Lets see how I do. Today's project is affordable and easy enough for the youngest crafter, window cling paint cans. All you need is a sheet of window clings (they are on sale) and some clear paint cans. One sheet of window clings will cover multiple cans. Clean outside of can and place desired window clings on outside. As an additional touch, I added ribbon to the handle, printed paper to the lid, and placed shred or tissue paper on inside along with whatever goodies will going into the can. How easy is that?