Newsletter #184 - June 20, 2013

Hi!  Everyone,

We've reached the 1 year anniversary of the closing of the physical retail Photo Craft store in Kaimuki.  While in some ways it feels like just a short time ago, in many other ways it also feels like a long time ago.  We definitely miss the store and the great customers that we had.  Crafters are such a giving group of people, and our lives were greatly enriched by the friendships that we made through Photo Craft.

However, the flip side to this bittersweet occasion is that we are also celebrating the 1st year of being actively online.  It has certainly been a learning process to re-grow the business on the internet.  I've made some good progress, but there's a lot to still implement to generate more traffic to the site.  (If you like the site, please tell your crafting friends.)  Plus, it's a continuous process, so the work is never done.

Anyway, to mark this one year anniversary, I am making the biggest sale ever on the www.allnaturalaccents.com  website.   I am putting all of the wafer cutting dies on sale.   This is 200 crafting products of  the 500 products on the website!  This includes dies by Memory Box, Poppy Stamps, Cottage Cutz, Dee's Distinctively, Spellbinders, Sizzix, Cuttlebug, Marianne Designs, Die-Versions, Joy! Crafts, and of course our own line of WikiCAPS.  I am calling this sale the:

                        "2 Die For" 30% Off Sale!

Just purchase a minimum of any two dies (individual or sets) and get 30% Off of the regular price.  As an added bonus, just type in this discount code when you place an order online: FreeS&H and get a $2.20 credit to offset the S&H for the mailing of two items purchased.  Please be sure to type it in as shown.  It is case-sensitive. This sale is good for June 21st, Friday, through July 7th, Saturday.   Limited to the stock on hand, so please shop early for the best selection!

As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, this newsletter was the main Photo Craft vehicle for keeping in touch with our customers, to promote and educate about the latest crafting products and techniques.  However, this format is entirely lacking in the visuals of photos, images, and videos of the actual craft projects.  So to dramatically improve this area, I have been working on a Facebook account for Photo Craft with a growing photo gallery of paper craft creations, just recently re-vamped the blog at http://photocrafthi.blogspot.com/, and re-started doing more YouTube videos. The blogspot is at:  Photo Craft's Blog (http://photocrafthi.blogspot.com)  The Facebook account is at:  Photo Craft's Facebook  The YouTubes are at:  BriansPhotoCraft   I think that I finally learned how to make these highlighted text areas as functional hot buttons, so you can just click on them to go directly to the links. The webstore at:  Photo Craft's All Natural Accents Website   now has 500 crafting items.  We are featuring the newest releases of the locally designed stamps from Sister Stamps and Dandelion Designs.  We have one of the largest selections of wafer dies on numerous brands.  Plus, of course, we are expanding our own line of WikiC.A.P.S. dies and clear stamps, and the All Natural Accents paper flowers and paper leaves.  You'll see that I'm doing a lot more with new, larger flowers and leaves. I'm pretty sure that this will be the last email newsletter through this Yahoo group.  So if you haven't visited us lately (On the Internet), please check out some of these links.  I think everyone will be pleased that it is much more visual now. Happy Crafting! Brian - Photo Craft / All Natural Accents / WikiC.A.P.S.

Cindy's Cards

Hi! Everyone,

Here are 3 more creative card ideas from Cindy. This first one has a stamped image from The Greeting Farm - "Sing", and the Hibiscus is cut with the die from Memory Box.



For this cute card, Cindy used the Hello Kitty Sizzlit die and the Memory Box Frame dies - Orchard Tree and Debutante.



This window card is using the Small Madison Arched Window and Ivy Tendrils from Poppy Stamps.

More Paper Flower Projects

Hi! Everyone,

I just finished two more variations of the floral hatbands in color schemes for the Red Hat Society, but of course they could be used by anyone that likes this color scheme. The hatbands could also be made exactly the same, but 2 inches shorter and backed with a ribbon backing to make them into haku lei. Here's a red and purple design with added bling from a costume jewelry pin:





And here's an all lavender/purple version for the Pink Hatters:

You can see that I added Stardust Stickles to the large roses to give an added bit of sparkle.



My newest project is experimenting with the paper flowers to make custom headbands. These are really easy to do creations with just a bit of fast hot gluing. The headbands that I am using have a felt/velvet cushiony covering that makes it a cinch to work with the hot glue. I should have a few more variations to post in the coming days.

Floral Hatband and/or Haku Lei

Hi! Everyone,

I'm still mainly working on using the new larger roses and paper leaves or silk leaves to make floral hatbands (24") or haku lei (22"). The color schemes that I'm focusing on are for the Red Hat Society, so red and purple for the Red Hatters, or pink and lavender for the Pink Hatters. Here are some images of my latest crafting projects.

A floral hatband mounted on a red wool felt hat, and a close-up view of the hatband.



A finished haku lei with ribbon backing and velcro tabs, and a close-up view of the lei.



This is a mock-up of using some specialty lace ribbon and a fascinator.

One More Card Idea

Hi! Everyone,

Here's another card from Cindy. She's using the Tupelo Circle die by Memory Box and a stamped image from CC Designs.

More cute cards by Cindy

Hi! Everyone,

Cindy has been under the weather for a bit, so we didn't see her crafting during that time. The good news is that she's feeling better and back to making some of her great cards. Here's one using the Memory Box Debutante Frame, Under the Sea Frame, and a cute rubber stamp design by CC Designs.



Here's another card using CC Design's MayDay Birgitta and the Memory Box Fairytale Flower Border die.

Haku Lei and Floral Hatbands

Hi! Everyone,

I am working on some new designs for the haku lei. I found some new flowers in a burgundy color with matching accents, so I think the combination came out pretty good.



There's also a Red Hat Society Convention coming up on Oct. 12th at the Hilton Waikiki Beach Hotel. So I'm planning to have some hatbands that are designed for that group. The theme is "Blinging in the 70's", so I'm trying to also incorporate some bling items in the floral hatbands. Here's a couple of photos: