Dog Days of Summer: Hello Sunshine Minibook

For our final Dog Days of Summer project I wanted to share with you this fun summer themed minibook created using the Echo Park Country Drive line. I know you all have plenty of summer photos either on your camera or computer or even possibly printed out...so why not create this cute little book for them.

I created the album by just trimming down a few pieces of pattern paper to 6x6" squares, doubling them up for a little extra thickness and binding them together using the Bind-It-All. The only other supplies I used were a sheet of Elements Stickers that go along with the Echo Park County Drive line, a few pieces of ribbon and a couple of rhinestones. Really simple and fun to create and something really cute to leave out for family and friends to take a peek at your summer adventures.

A complete supply list and full instructions for the minibook can be found HERE.

Remember to comment on this post for your final entry into our drawing for the $20 Crafts Direct gift card. Thank you all so much for stopping by and checking out all of our summer projects during our Dog Days of Summer project series. I will be back on Monday to announce the winner of the gift card!! Have a great weekend!

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). You can comment on each blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Dog Days of Summer: Glass Block

Last week I shared a glass block with the Go Twins projects, but today I wanted to share this Ladybug Glass Block as well. It's such a fun project - with adorable results. I think it would be a fun addition to your summer decor or a unique piece for your patio or deck for the summer months.

Supplies for the Ladybug Glass Block can be found in aisle 18. Also a project sheet for the Glass Block can be found here.


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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). You can comment on each blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Crackle Nail Polish.

I wanted to quick pop in here on the blog today to share with you a new product we now have available from our gifts department.

We now have this really fun Crackle Nail Polish!! As you can see it comes in a wide variety of colors and is only $5.99 a bottle. You can find them in our Apparel and Accessories section in front of aisle 13.

Such a unique twist on regular nail polish!

Dog Days of Summer: Stepping Stones

Today I wanted to share with you one of my all time favorite summer projects! I have to admit before I made them I was a bit intimidated by the thought of making stepping stones, but once I realized just how easy it was I started making them all the time. They are fun to work on by yourself, but for some of them I have also incorporated help from my kids by having them imprint their hand prints and decorate the stone and then I add their name and year. We have them in our yard and have also given them as gifts to all the grandparents for various occasions.

Additional samples and all the project supplies you need can be found in aisle 18 (also right now we have supplies & samples displayed on the endcap between aisles 19&20).


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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). You can comment on each blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Dog Days of Summer: Tie Dye

If you are looking for a fun activity for older kids or a group of adults, or even something fun to do yourself - check out today's project...Tie Dye!

A really easy craft with fun (and wearable!) results. All you need is simply a t-shirt and the tie-dye kit, both of which we have available here at Crafts Direct. Additional samples and all the supplies you would need are displayed on the front endcap between aisles 21&22.

The thing I love about this project is that no matter how many times you make them the results are always different - and pulling open the shirt at the end is always a fun surprise!

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). You can comment on each blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Dog Days of Summer: Wands & Tubes

Welcome to week two of the Dog Days of Summer project series. This week I have five more fun summer projects to share with you...and you have five more chances to comment and increase your chances for that $20 gift card will we be giving away next Monday!

Today I wanted to share with you these decorated plastic tubes and wands. They start as clear, empty pieces and can be decorated and filled up in anyway that you want. These particular samples are filled with candy and bath salts and are decorated with birthday and summer themes but you could use them for any event or holiday. We have additional samples displayed in the store on the back end cap between aisles 21&22, which is where you can find the tubes and wands as well.

A project sheet for the tubes and wands can be found here.

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). You can comment on each blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Dog Days of Summer: Sweet Summer Suitcase

To round out the first week of our Dog Days of Summer series, today I wanted to share with you this really cute decorated wood suitcase. Simply an unfinished wood suitcase to begin with - a little paint, paper, and a few embellishments turn it in an adorable completed project.

It would be perfect to use as a carrying case for picnic supplies, or as storage for summer crafting supplies, or you could even decorate one up to use as a road trip survival kit for the kids. Really so many ways you could use this piece and the possibilities on decorating them are endless.

The wood suitcases, as well as project supplies and a few additional samples can be found on the front endcap between aisles 18&19. The project sheet for this Sweet Summer Days suitcase can be found HERE.


I hope you've enjoyed the first week of the Dog Days of Summer project series. We will be back on Monday for the second week of projects - and opportunities to comment for a chance to win that $20 gift card we will be giving away on August 1st. Have a great weekend!!

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). You can comment on each blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Dog Days of Summer: Foam Cozys & Visors

Today for our Dog Days of Summer series I wanted to share with you a project idea that ANYONE can make...foam visors and cozies. This project is as simple as decorating the visors and cozies with stickers, markers, or even words and shapes from our vinyl selection.

The visors and cozies, along with decorating supplies, can be found on the back end cap between aisles 22&23. Such a simple, easy, and FUN project for summer days.

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). To enter simply comment on the blog post below. You can comment on each separate blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Our CHA Finds!

Two days of the Craft and Hobby convention in Chicago are over! We've seen so many new Scrapbooking products, many of them Halloween, Fall, or Christmas themed (already?!?). We could go on and on about all the new, amazing things we've seen... but here's a list of a few of our favorites:

1. My Mind's Eye Lost and Found 2, and Christmas. They gave the old line a bit of a make-over... still with glittered die cuts, stamps, brads, and awesome papers. New to the line are adhesive pearls, and 6x6 pads.

2. We R Memory Keepers Sew Ribbon & Sew Stamper. The amazing Sew Easy tool has been remade... into a stamp roller. Now, you can simply stamp the stitching look, instead of having to actually thread the needle! The Sew Ribbon is the same concept as the Sew Easy tool, however you punch your paper with the tool, and weave ribbon into your layout or project. Super cool!



3. Simple Stories... all of their new lines are absolutely amazing! We are already big fans of their scrapbooking papers, and all four of their new lines are better than ever. Pictured is the new Happy Day, birthday themed collection. These papers are awesome, and perfect with the divided We R Memory Keepers page protectors. The other three lines are: Generations, Baby Steps, and 25 Days of Christmas.

4. American Crafts Amy Tangerine. Amy Tangerine is a new designer for the company, and their new line is awesome. This line is great because it is very versatile, and combines the designers love for travel, crafts, and fashion. The line can be used for many of different scrapbooking themes!

5. Doodlebug! Of course we had to mention Doodlebug. A few months ago they came out with their Create-a-Card program... now they've expanded it to make card-making even easier. The rack is now going to have small, dimensional stickers, twine, and "doodles" stickers so you can create your own, inexpensive handmade cards. They also released four new paper lines, that are complete with papers, stickers, and embellishments. (The Halloween lines is ADORABLE, complete with little glittered monsters on it!)



That is just a short list of all the amazing things we've seen in the last couple days. Check back soon to see all of the fun new additions to the Paper Crafts department!

Dog Days of Summer: Go Twins

For all of you Twins fans today I have a few Twins themed projects. For each of these projects we used the same 'Go Twins' vinyl, but just added it to different pieces we have available here at Crafts Direct.

One we added to a glass block, decorated it with some ribbon and filled it up with peanuts to follow the baseball theme. Another we added to the same party pails I shared with you yesterday. And lastly, we added vinyl to one of our magnetic boards and decorated it with baseball magnets and some ribbon. A project sheet for the Go Twins magnetic board can be found here.


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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). To enter simply comment on the blog post below. You can comment on each separate blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Dog Days of Summer: Party Pails

The project I wanted to share with you today are our decorated party pails. Again with this project it can really be as detailed or simple as you would like. For these particular samples we simply added vinyl to the party pails, added some ribbon and tulle to the handles and filled them up. These would be perfect to use for your own summer BBQ's and entertaining or also wrapped with plastic or tissue paper for a wonderful gift.

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). To enter simply comment on the blog post below. You can comment on each separate blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Dog Days of Summer: Cow Bells

Hi Everyone!
I'm so excited for today's post...because today we start our Dog Days of Summer project series and also start taking entries for your chance to win a $20 gift card to Crafts Direct!!


Today's project are these adorable decorated cow bells. Not only do they turn out really cute, but they are a perfect project for kids of any age to complete. The supplies for this project can be found in aisle 19 and really the possibilities are endless. You could create these animals as shown here but it could also be as simple as decorating them with stickers or rub-ons.
I'm thinking my kids would also just love to fill them up with tons of googly eyes :)

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GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Our Dog Days of Summer series is going to run July 18th through July 29th. At the end of the series we will be randomly drawing a winner from the comments on the posts to win a $20 Crafts Direct gift card (to pick up supplies for their own Dog Days of Summer project!). To enter simply comment on the blog post below. You can comment on each separate blog post during the two weeks for extra chances to win too! The winner of the gift card will be announced on Monday August 1st.

Yarn Wreath.

Check out this super cute yarn wreath that Jacquelyn in our floral department created!! Even though it looks really detailed and complex, it is actually really easy to make. And to help you create your own you can find a project sheet for the yarn wreath here.

Be sure to stop by the end cap in between aisles 2 & 3 to check out the wreath and some other fun projects in person the next time you are in the store.

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Also be sure to stop back by the blog on Monday for the start of a very fun summer project series and information on a special blog GIVEAWAY!!

Magnetic Boards.

Today I have a few fun projects to share with you using our new line of magnetic boards and accessories. These particular magnetic boards come in plain white which makes them perfect to decorate any way you want. For these samples all it took was a few of the accessory pieces, vinyl words, pattern paper, and some embellishments to create a board that could be used to decorate, display photos or keep notes tidy.

You can find all the new magnetic board supplies in aisle 16 of the store. The white magnetic boards come in four sizes and we also have plenty of accessories to chose from including frames, words, and shaped magnets.

Favorite Things Magnetic Board - project sheet can be found here.

Memories Magnetic Board - project sheet can be found here.

Sew Cute Magnetic Board - project sheet can be found here.

And here are a few of the accessory pieces that are available:

New in Home Decor.

The past week brought some changes and a whole lot of new products to our Home Decor department! The next time you are in be sure to check out all the new things we have added to all of the Home Decor rooms at the front of the store.

Some of the new things that caught my eye were:

The new vintage metal signs. I tweeted about them the day that I saw them- they come in a wide variety of themes and could be used with lots of different types of decor.

Some new metal wall decor items:

And some new canvas wall decor pieces:

These metal wall hangings are another favorite, and would all be perfect for holding photos, notes and messages.

We also have a new assortment of cooking supplies available, with many of them perfect to help with all of your favorite summer foods like corn on the cob and hamburgers.

Charity of the Month.

Hi Everyone...and Happy Monday!

Today I wanted to post a huge THANK YOU to all of our customers!!

A few weeks ago the end of June brought the six month mark to our Charity of the Month Program, and with it the totals for the first half of the year.

With the help of our wonderful customers we have raised $61,600 for local charities!

What a wonderful accomplishment and amazing to think that by just donating a $1 when using a coupon you have allowed us to raise so much money for charities in our community.

I'm very excited to see what we can do with the second half of the year!

A full list of the Charities of the Month can be found here (and you can click on each individual month to view the specific totals as well).

January 2011: $7,000 raised for Catholic Charities Food Shelf

February 2011: $5,000 raised for American Heart Association

March 2011: $17,000 raised for March of Dimes - Central MN Division

April 2011: $12,000 raised for Cystic Fibrosis - Great Strides Walk

May 2011: $11,700 raised for Multiple Sclerosis Society - MN Chapter

June 2011: $8,900 raised for Tri-County Humane Society

Crafts Direct's Charity of the Month Program started in January 2011. Each month during the year has a featured charity, which can be found here. When you use a coupon with a dollar donation to the "Charity of the Month" your money will go directly to support the local charities listed. Crafts Direct matches the total with a 5% donation and the charity is presented with a check for the total amount at the end of each month. We are so thankful and proud of what our customers have contributed to these local charities and feel so fortunate to be able to give back to our community in this way. Thank you for your continued support of the Charity of the Month program!

Stamp of the Month.

Hi Everyone!

Today I wanted to share a little bit about our Stamp of the Month program by Great Impressions. Many of you may already be familiar with the program, but for those of you who aren't it is a great way to take that first step into stamping and card making.

Also for those of you who regularly look forward to the stamps of the month be sure to check back, as I will be highlighting them here each month as well.

All of the stamp of the month stamps, supplies, and sample photos can be found on the middle end cap between aisles 9 & 10 in our Paper Crafts department. There you will also find the sample board with all of the actual samples displayed for you to check out.

At the top of the display we have the featured stamp of the month. This stamp is half off the regular price. For the Month of July the stamp of the month is the Quilt Block Background stamp and is available for $5.00.

The rest of the stamps coordinate with the same theme and can be purchased at their regular price, which range from $5.99 to $8.49 each. Here are the coordinating stamps for the month of July:

Photos of the completed projects as well as detailed project instructions are available in store and more information can also be found on the Great Impressions website HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Demdaco's Lazy Susan.

Check out how cute these new Lazy Susan's from Demdaco's This thing called Family collection are! They come in a few different styles as well as two sizes. The larger size measures 20" in diameter and the smaller size is 15.5" in diameter. The design of these pieces is functional while also being so whimsical and fun!

They would definitely make a lovely addition to a dining or living room table in any home. They can be found in the Natural Life room in front of aisle 15.

New in Paper Crafts.

If you've been following our updates on Facebook and Twitter the last week then you know that we've received the four new lines from Authentique paper. They are set up back by the paper crafts demo counter and are all very cute. If you haven't seen them be sure to check them out soon, as they are certainly very popular!

In addition to the Authentique paper, I wanted to share with you today a few other new lines that caught my eye recently. They are perfect for any summer projects and would also work well for scrapbooking all those summer photos!

The first line is Floral Lane by Pebbles.

The next line is A Fair Day by SEI.

And the final line is Country Drive by Echo Park.

All three of these lines can be found in Aisle 12 in our Paper Crafts department.