ARC Crafts is actively involved with a nonprofit organization known as “Best Buddies”. They create opportunities for one-to-one friendships for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Each year, we are invited to take part in their “Flash Mob for Friendship” event, here in Las Vegas. Exhibitors in this event are encouraged to bring information on the business they are affiliated with, along with an activity for participants to partake in.

This year, we did an ORIGAMI HEART FOR FRIENDSHIP! Here are the easy instructions to make an origami heart.

STEP 1:

Take an 8.5×11 size sheet and lay flat with the 8.5” side to your left and right. Fold the bottom left corner diagonally up and do the same with the bottom right. You should have a triangle shaped sheet like below:

STEP 2:

Fold the side corners to meet the center line.

STEP 3:

Turn the origami over.

STEP 4:

Fold the upper layer of the top corner downward.

STEP 5:

Fold the top parts in half downward.

STEP 6:

Fold the four corners inward.

STEP 7:

Voila! You are finished!

For this activity we used a sheet of Stardream Emerald in text weight (thin), but you can try it with any of the 33 Stardream colors offered. Text weight sheets will work best for origami projects since they are thin sheets and easy to fold and score without cracking.

Also, from now until May 31^st, we are offering a Memorial Day Sale on ALL Stardream papers. You will receive 15% off all Stardream products. Simply go to our website, select any (or all!) items under the Stardream tab and add them to your cart. When you go to check out, you will see the discount has been applied!

NEW PAPER PRODUCT!

We have added a brand new product to our inventory – Color Hue Packs!

Our color hue packs come in 10 different colors to choose from:

Dark Blue                                 Green                                        Light Blue                                  Naturals

Orange                                          Pink                                         Purple                                       Red

                                                                              White/Cream                          Yellow

Each pack comes with a total of 25 sheets comprised of a variety of shades in that color group. In addition to the different shades, you get a mix of textured, smooth, text weight and cover weight cardstock sheets.

You can choose from 8.5×11 size packs or 12×12. The great thing about these packs is not only the variety and quantity included, but the pricing is impossible to beat!

An 8.5×11 pack is at the bargain price of $3.50 each and 12×12 sells for only $4.50 each!

Each shade of color compliments the other shades in the pack perfectly. With such a wide variety of sheets in the pack, these hue packs are great for card making, embellishments and school craft projects!

You can definitely find what you need for any craft or project with our new hue packs!

We have added new wood veneer to our BARC paper family!

We have our two popular wood species, White Birch and Cherry with 3 new backing options!

The “White Snow” backing, is a fine white paper backing adhered to the back of the wood sheet, whereas the “Vanilla Sky” backing is a fine vanilla/cream paper backing adhered to the back of the wood sheet. These 2 paper backings are perfect for the craft industry since they cater to many crafting projects such as card making, die cutting, invitations and many more.

White Birch with White Snow backing

              Cherry with White Snow backing

White Birch with Vanilla Sky backing

Cherry with Vanilla Sky backing

Aside from the new paper backings, we are also offering adhesive backed sheets, known as “Sticky BARC”! These sheets are by far popular and most unique. You treat it just like a peel and stick label. The back of the sheet is already prescored making it easy to peel. Just like the other wood sheets, you can print it, die cut using Sizzix, Pazzle or Cricut, paint it or stain it – the options are endless! Both Cherry and White Birch come with the sticky BARC backing.

White Birch with Sticky BARC backing

Cherry with Sticky BARC backing

The sheets’ thickness is between the thickness of the 2mil backing and the kraft backing making it great to score, fold and run through printers!

We are selling these new wood sheets with 2 additional options, plain or printed. The “plain” sheets are standard blank sheets, the same as the original wood sheets we sell. The “printed” sheets have an extra 1 1/2 inches added to the top of the sheets that are printed with a UPC code and are peggable. These sheets are perfect for hanging or displaying in a store.

The standard sizes and quantity options are still the same. We sell in 8×8, 8.5×11 and 12×12 and by the single sheet, or a pack of 5. We offer a 15% discount if you order a pack of 5 sheets! Click on the links above to check out pricing and place your order today!

Also, we of course do custom sizing as well, just call us or email to get a quote!

Here is an example of a project we did using some Vista Stardream and Cherry with Sticky BARC backing. We die cut the Cherry with Sticky BARC using the Pazzle machine, cut out the Vista Stardream using a punch, and finished it up with a stamp! We then peel off the backing to adhere it to a sheet of Fairway Stardream cover paper.

We also have our original line of wood veneer, the Cherry and White Birch with 2mil, 7pt kraft, and 12pt Paperboard backings, and Mahogany and Black Walnut with a kraft backing.

With the holidays just around the corner, what could be more fun than sitting inside with your family, cozy and warm by the fire, doing some easy at-home crafts with our BARC wood veneer?!

In celebration of the holidays, we have a simple, yet fun holiday wreath for all members of the family to enjoy!

Here is a list of items you will need:

1. BARC wood veneer – 1 sheet of 12×12 and 1 sheet of 8.5×11

2. 1.5″ wide ribbon (your choice of color)

3. Die cut circle

4. Dimensional glue dots

5. Mod Podge

6. Sizzix or Cricut machine

7. Any extra embellishments (glitter, stamps, etc.)

Start with the 12×12 size sheet to make the base of the wreath. You choose which color of BARC wood to use from 4 different colors (check them out here). You will definitely want to choose the thicker backing for this portion of the project. We went with the White Birch (lightest) wood with the 12pt paperboard (thick) backing.

You can use our 11 1/8″ die cut circle and use an Exacto knife to cut out the circle for the wreath.

Next, you will need to cut the center of the wreath like so…

The ribbon we used for the bow was 1 1/2 inch thick ribbon in red and white, to make a candy cane bow.

The dimensional glue dots are perfect to adhere the bow to the bottom of the wreath.

From there, choose a die cut you want to embellish with. We used the Bird w/Vine die from the Bigz Die line at Sizzix. To add even more of a rustic look, we went with the Black Walnut wood veneer. We used Mod Podge to adhere the bird die to our wreath.

Then we stamped “HO HO HO” on red cardstock. Cutting the words into little squares,  we then used Mod Podge to adhere “HO HO HO” to our wreath.

VOILA! There you have it! You can make this in about 15-20 minutes. Feel free to add your own spin on it, add glitter, use different dies, different colors, and let your imagination run free!

Hey Everyone!

Holiday crafts with our BARC wood veneer? Absolutely! The contributing editor for Family Circle Magazine, Suzonne Stirling made it happen! Suzonne utilized our White Birch veneer with the 7pt Kraft backing and 12pt Paperboard backing to complete her holiday crafts, and you can too!

We were lucky enough to not only help Suzonne with making her wonderful crafts but were also cited in the December issue of the magazine! We would especially like to thank Suzonne Stirling for her order with us and for sharing her beautiful holiday crafts – as well as Danielle Blundell for all of her hard work in allowing us to be featured in the magazine!

We have a special for the Family Circle readers, so be sure to pick up your copy today!

Check out Family Circle’s website now to see what they have to offer for the holidays!

If you have questions as to which wood veneer goes with which project, we are more than happy to assist you in getting the correct BARC for your project! Questions can be directed to customer service at (702) 851-7277 or customerservice@arccrafts.com.

Hurry and get your copy to see what great ideas and articles they have for the upcoming holidays! And of course, to get information to take advantage of our Family Circle special!

Please note that we are located in Las Vegas, NV so any order being placed out of state will have to select USPS Priority for shipping. If you are local you are more than welcome to select “Local Pick up” as the option. In which case, we will contact you via phone to advise you when your order is ready for pick up.

Happy shopping Everyone!

ARC CRAFTS

The Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Expo will be held at Texas Station Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, NV.

Saturday, October 27th from 10AM-5PM

Sunday, October 28th from 11AM-4PM

Bring this coupon to the ARC Crafts booth and receive 10% off one item of your choice, excluding Pick ‘n Mix.

You heard it right! It is time for our next FLASH SALE!

A flash sale is special discounted pricing on a popular item for a limited time only. 

This flash sale is going to be this coming up Monday, October 1st!

To take advantage of this special sale, simply subscribe to our email list and you will receive a discount code to use upon check out. Click here to sign up for our email list today!

Hurry and subscribe , as this is a ONE day only offer!

When you sign up for our email subscription, you will receive other discount codes, special offers and project ideas!

Have you always wanted to try making origami but were intimidated by how complex the creations look? Well, you have no need to worry! We have done a very basic DIY origami for all of you beginners out there. Here are some easy to follow instructions for making a “Traditional Box”.

First, pick out the right color and kind of paper you would like to use. You can choose from our wide selection of origami paper offered on our site. Click here to view our origami paper.

For my Traditional Box, I have decided to use Stardream text weight (thin) in Rose Quartz.

To begin, start with a rectangular piece of paper (either in 8.5×11 or 12×12 depending on how big you want the box to be). With the sheet in front of you, fold it in half from top to bottom, with a crease in the very center of the paper.

From there, fold the top of the paper in half into the crease; and the bottom of the paper in half, into the crease.

Next, fold the paper in half again, but this time fold from left to right. The crease for this fold will be in the middle as well.

Open the new fold you have just made and fold in the side edges into this center line and open.

Fold each corner in to the creases made in the previous step.

Take the inside edges and fold them outwards over the corner triangles. Be sure to make a crease for this as well.

Grab the origami from the inside center points on the recent fold and pull outward. Your origami should form itself into the box shape. With mine, it formed to the box shape but it wasn’t an even rectangle box. So, I pinched the corners to guide it into the perfect shape.

Here is the final product!

By using any of our Stardream text weight papers or vellum translucent paper for origami, your project will definitely stand out! Stardream has the metallic, shimmer effect, while translucent is great to use if you are looking for something different that still pops!

This basic Traditional Box origami is perfect for storing some of your loose craft embellishments or pens. What a great way to keep your arts and craft station neat and organized!

Order some of our origami paper today and try it out! You can also send us pictures of your final origami creations by posting them on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

FLASH SALE!!

What is a flash sale? A flash sale is special pricing on selected items for a limited time only. We will be doing random flash sales on different items we offer. Our first flash sale is going to be this Friday, September 7th for one day only!

To take advantage of this great deal, subscribe to our email list and receive an exclusive email with the special discount code. You can sign up for our email blast here.

Hurry and subscribe, as this is a ONE day only offer!

When you sign up for our email list, you will receive coupon codes, special offers and ideas on crafty projects!

Well, it’s that time of year again, where summer vacation ends and it’s time to get the kids back in school mode. What better way to get your child’s teacher familiar about them and their interests, than with a scrapbook album?

ARC Crafts has all of the paper and supplies to get you started!

Start with some quality scrapbook paper. Using an assortment of colors and types of paper for this gives the kids a variety to choose from when creating their scrapbook.

Our Pick ‘N Mix option is a great choice for this paper. Pick ‘N Mix is offered in 12×12 or 8.5×11 sizes. With such a wide selection of cardstock from thick cover weight, to translucent vellum, you get 100-115 sheets of paper for as little as $6.00!

Pick ‘N Mix 8.5×11               Pick ‘N Mix 12×12

No scrapbook item would be complete without a sturdy cover. Our chipboard is ideal for this part of your project. Chipboard is very versatile in that it can be sanded down, painted and covered with cardstock and translucent papers to give it a unique touch. We offer chipboard in a variety of sizes and thicknesses. From 14pt thickness to 40pt thickness, from 8.5×11 size to an 11″ die cut circle, you are sure to find what you want for your cover.

Chipboard 8.5×11 or 11.875×11.875               Chipboard die cut circle 11″ circle

Take a look at our chipboard here and order yours today!

Next, you will need to decorate your album. You can decorate it with ribbons, buttons, stickers and pictures. You can even embellish it with a handmade decoration. For example, you can give it an added touch of elegance by using our Stardream metallic paper and make a flower like the one below.

 This flower was made with our Stardream cardstock in Aquamarine. You can punch the flower die out using either the Cricut or Pazzle and then use your finger nail to crease each petal and gently fold up. You can give it a little something extra, by adding a little gem to the center of it. It’s as easy as that!

To personalize your album even more, have your child add little blurbs and photos about their favorite activities and interests on each page. For example, what they play with their friends, their favorite foods, TV shows, and other things unique to them.

Once that is done, bind all of the pages and backing/cover together. You can punch holes in them evenly and use ribbon or metal rings to hold it together. Voila! You have completed your scrapbook album!

Send this to school with your child on their first day and they are sure to brighten their teacher’s day and start off the school year with a splash.

Good luck to everyone starting school in a few weeks!