Kids Crafts: Pop Beads

As we start the days of summer vacation I'm always reminded pretty quickly that I need to stock up on both ideas and supplies to keep the kids busy during those lulls in activity, afternoons you need a little quiet, or (especially in the case of this year so far) those cold and rainy days.

Of course sometimes crafting time could include projects and more detailed pieces, but sometimes all you need is something that kids can complete themselves. Today I wanted to share with you these Pop-Bead sets that we have available in aisle 19 of the store. They are great little sets and are perfect for pre-school aged to elementary aged kids. One of the best parts is that they can be taken apart and used again and again! 

Project Ideas: Fabric Magnetic Board

Today I wanted to share this fun Fabric Covered Magnetic Board project with you! I love this project because you can really create the piece to any theme you wish since you are using fabrics. Also like many of us, you might even have some left over fabric from a previous project or even a favorite fabric that you can't get yourself to use - and this project would be perfect becuase you will get to enjoy it daily!

All you need to do is pick up (or reuse a frame you already have) a open backed frame, adhere some fabric to a metal sheet and place it into the frame. We also crafted some magnets using buttons, twine and small magents, but agin if you have magnets already you can just use them on your new board!

You can find a project sheet with a list of the products we used on this piece as well as detailed instructions to make your own HERE.

Do you know we carry...Springfield Doll Clothes?

And better yet - that they fit American Girl and New Generation Dolls too?

We carry a variety of outfits, coats, shoes, and clothes sets for the dolls and do stock the individual Springfield Dolls as well.

You can find them all in aisle 19 of the store.

Do you know we carry....Face Painting Supplies?

As I was walking around the store looking for supplies the other day I came across a few products that surprised me - things that I didn't know we carried - and thought to myself as a person that is here all the time (shopping and working) if there are things I still don't know about my guess is that some of you don't either. So today I'm starting a fun new blog feature called "Do You Know We Carry...?" which will highlight some of the different, fun, maybe quirky, but always interesting products we have at Crafts Direct that you might not know about.

The product that actually caught my eye first - and got this idea rolling - are these Snazaroo Face Painting Supplies. My kids are always first in line when they see any sort of face painting stand at a carnival or fair - so I know if I came home with these supplies they would be ecstatic! They would be a fun activity at home with the kids, but could also be incorporated into a birthday party, VBS, a block or neighbor party, or you next family get together!!

If you want to pick some up for yourself you can find them on a wing of a middle endcap in aisle 21.

Also if you have any products you've been surprised to find at Crafts Direct let me know - they might be the next product we share!

Lockable Organizers.

Hi Everyone & Happy Friday!!

Today I wanted to just quickly share a new product that we received in a few weeks ago and that all of us at the store are very excited about!

Check out this new organizing system/binder from OrgMates. It folds up and snaps together as shown below, but when you unfold and open it up you will find three separate organizers with 34 individual compartments! And the best thing is how they lock and unlock - instead of having compartments open when you don't want them to or having more than one spot open at a time you actually only unlock the compartment that you want to open and the remaining spots in that row will remain locked. Add to that the curved edges of each compartment and you have a really well designed and thought out product.

This organizer would obviously be perfect for any of you beaders and jewelry makers out there - but would also be great for scrapbookers, or sewers to keep their notions, or even to organize perler beads or legos for the kids!

New in Beads & Basics.

Yesterday I shared some of the changes that we recently made to our Beads & Basics department...today I want to share some of the fun new products from around the department!!

We will start with some fun new items for the kiddos - if your kids are like mine you've maybe already heard those dreaded two words of summer break - "I'm bored." If that is the case you may want to stop by and check out this endcap in our Beads & Basics department...we have color by number sets, dry erase marker sets, puzzles, plastic bowling sets...etc. all in fun characters and themes.

We also just got in some of the new sets and boards of the Biggie perler beads. These are perfect for the younger kids that might have a hard time with the smaller perler beads. This is a great activity to keep the little ones busy! (Of course, you can also find the small perler beads in store as well.)

If you have a Webkinz fan in your house - they will be excited to see this new line of Webkinz Rockerz!  We have four of these "Rockerz" available and they are all adorable! Plus playing Webkinz online is always a favorite activity once you get a new animal!

Our jewelry section of the department has a few new items also - including these new Crystal Strands available in a huge selection of colors for only $4.99. You can find them on a middle endcap in the department.

We also have a lot of new items now available with the Snap-n-Style line of jewelry. If you're not familiar with this line - it is jewelry making at its simplest - you purchase the jewelry piece (ring base, bracelet, bobby pins, etc) that you want and then can just interchange the pieces on the base by snapping and unsnapping them on.

 

 

Here is a peek at some of the pieces closeup - so for instance you could purchase the bobby pins on the right and snap the green fabric flower onto them - then just switch it out with the floral piece with your next outfit. Very fun - and very easy!

 In aisle 20, you can also find a few new pieces from Darice, including these fun Pocket Watch pieces.

Finally, a few aisles over (in aisles 15 & 16) you can find some new painting products too.

They include:
New "DecoColor" Paint markers in a wide variety of colors:

Chalkboard paint in a rainbow of colors as well:

 

 Additional colors of the 16oz. studio acrylic paint are now available in aisle 15:

And some new styles and sizes of painting palettes are in aisle 15 as well:

Hope you can make it in soon to check out all the new things in Beads & Basics!!

Beads & Basics Aisle Breakouts.

Hi Everyone,

Today I wanted to share this quick video showing you some of the changes we have recently made in our Beads & Basics department. If you haven't been into the store lately you will have to come in and check it out soon!!

Also check back here tomorrow for a peek at some of the fun new products now available in the Beads & Basics department too.

Dragonfly & Firefly Jars.

Today I want to share a few new samples we have created of our Dragonfly & Firefly Jars. These are such quick and easy projects - and can add such a fun element to your summer decorations inside or out!

You can find these samples and all the supplies to make your own on the endcap of aisle 21. A project sheet for the project can be found HERE as well.

Here is a video showing them in action too (the lights are the best part!)

Sunny Patch Summer Products.

Last week you may have seen when I shared these Melissa and Doug Sunny Patch summer products on Facebook.

Today I wanted to show you some of the specific pieces that you can find on the two endcaps at the front of the store - and also let you know that they are now all on sale for 30% off!

There are so many cute takes on the regular summer toys - like this crab shovel: 

or this Octopus Beach Bag:

a fun Fish Pail:

a adorable Starfish Beach Hat:

a Dolphin Kickboard:

or this Shark Catch Game:

You can find all of the products on two front endcaps by aisle 20 in store!

Paint Projects.

Recently one of our very talented crafters, Sarah, completed some fun projects using a few paint products from our Beads and Basics department.

To create these project she used Porcelaine 150 Paint and Paint Markers, or Vitrea 160 Paint. Each of the projects below have a link to a project sheet which will indicate which type of paint she used, as well as give you instructions on how to create the project yourself!

There are definitely a few I want to make myself too (I'm loving the Happiness Frame and the My Stache Jar cracks me up :). Which ones are your favorites?

Blossom Mug

Altered Redneck Stemware

Decorated Glass Bottles

Painted Redneck Stemware

Go Twins Stemware

Happiness Float Frame

My Stache Jar

Painted Jar

Painted Tumbler

Polka Dot Stemware

 

Metal Stamping.

Our Beads and Basics department just received in some new Metal Stamping products!!

Including: a few different sizes of the metal stamp sets and a bunch of new charms too (only a few of the styles/sizes are shown below).

If you've been wanting a metal stamped necklace or charm, why not pick up the supplies and make one for yourself. If you have the right supplies they are very easy to do!

You can find all of the metal stamping supplies, as well as much more beading and jewelry items, in aisle 20 of the store.

New in Beads & Basics.

Today I want to share a few new things from our Beads & Basic Department with you!

First we have a few new Beading Items. These new sets of Mother's Day Beads from Charming brand would definitely be a  great gift idea as you start looking ahead to Mother's Day!!

Also new in Beading are these two lines from Cousins Brand - they are called Make the Connection and Snap in Style. Both lines are interchangeable and connect together using snaps so anyone can put a necklace or bracelet together without knowing how to do any type of beading - amazing! and super cute too!! You can find these new beads in aisle 20.

We have the new g2 bottle cutter from Diamond Tech available for only $29.99 - which you can find in aisle 18.

On the endcap of aisle 16/17 you can find these adorable magnetic metal flowers:

Darice has some new SCENTED foamie sheets! Your kids will love them! (Additional colors and scents are available in store.)

We have new "Short Cuts" spray paint cans from Krylon. Now if you just need a small amount of paint you can pick up one of these 3oz bottles. (More colors are available in store.)

And finally, in addition to the white cases we've had available, we now have white totes in store as well. You can find them in aisle 18.

Of course this is just a few new items from our Beads & Basics department...there is much more to see - so stop in soon and check out all of the fun products available in aisles 14-22!

New Products.

Today I have a bunch of different NEW products from all around the store to share with you. We are all very excited about these new products here at the store and I hope you find something you love as well!

First up from our Beading Department - this new line of beads called Fire & Ice. (This is just a small sample of all that is offered in this line.) The come in a variety of sizes and colors - and are cut in a way that they really reflect light amazingly (think disco balls :). They sell for $3.99 each and you can find them in aisle 20.

We have a couple new things in our Gifts Department - including lots of new pieces from our Colorful Devotions line. From magnets, to signs, to vases, and frames there is a little of everything. You can find these items in our Willow Tree room by the Coffee Shop at the front of the store.

We also have this new line of Fashion Hats available from our Gifts Department. Perfect for the spring and summer months ahead, I have a feeling these are going to go fast. Again, lots of styles and colors to pick from and they are only $11.99. You can find these hats in the apparel room at the front of the store by aisle 13.

From our Seasonal Department we have some fun new "springy" products. I love these butterfly and firefly jars (and I know my kids would love them too)! They are so realistic looking and the butterflies and fireflies actually appear to be flying around in them. They are currently marked down to $29.99 (from $39.99) and you can find them in aisle 5.

Right next to the butterfly and firefly jars you can also find these lighted branches. They include acrylic lights and flowers and come in a variety of colors. The lights are LED lights and they are battery operated which makes them easy to use anywhere in your home or office.

From our Quilt Shop, we have these new Wonder Clips. When I saw these I knew they were something I need as well - the photo on the front of the packaging has me sold on the idea of using these instead of straight pins the next time I am binding a quilt! You can them in aisle 26.

And finally a peek at something we just got in yesterday. I'm sure we will have a sample to share using these pieces soon, but I was so excited about it I couldn't wait to share! This new vinyl is part of our new "House Rules" line. The sayings come individually so you can pick and choose the ones that you want to create your own House Rules. They would be perfect to add to a paint wood or canvas piece. You can find the full line in our Vinyl Room at the front of the store.

  

And of course there are new products almost daily in our Paper Crafts Department right now as well. I have been sharing those as they come in on our Facebook page, so be sure to be checking in there for updates on all the new items in Paper Crafts!