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Happy Easter – DIY Egg Suncatcher

March 21st, 2012

Easter has to be one of my favorite holidays. It symbolizes spring and reminds us of all the beautiful things nature has to offer. And there’s chocolate – lots and lots of chocolate! With Easter right around the corner, we thought what better way to celebrate than with a great sun catcher.

Egg Sun Catcher


Here are the supplies you will need to  complete this project:

  • Regular computer paper
  • Vellum spring pack
  • Scissors
  • Glue (preferably a glue stick)
  • Pencil
  • Hole punch
  • Thin ribbon

We used our new vellum spring pack, available for purchase for only $1.78, for this project. Because this pack is so perfect, with the light pastel colors, we were able to utilize all 5 colors (Bashful, Wisteria, Pastel Blue, Pastel Green, Pink) for our sun catcher.

Spring Vellum Pack

 

Unless you are extremely steady with free-hand drawing, I suggest going online to find an egg shape to trace onto the vellum.

Note: The size of your egg sun catcher is completely up to you. It can be as small or large as you want!

Once you have the egg shape printed, select any color vellum you want. I chose the Bashful and Wisteria for my bases. Trace the egg onto the vellum with your pencil. For your egg, make up a design that you like or leave it plain. I chose to have three sections that give the effect of a painted Easter egg.

On a regular sheet of copy paper, I drew the full shape of the egg and my design so that I would be able to duplicate the design correctly onto the vellum sheets.

I traced the main outline of the egg onto the Wisteria and Bashful vellum sheets.

I took the Pastel Green vellum and traced the top part of the egg design, the Pastel Blue for the middle part and the Pink for the bottom.

After tracing the designs, I cut them out. Next, I pasted the Pastel Green, Pastel Blue and Pink onto the Wisteria egg cut out. Then, I pasted the Bashful egg cut out onto the top.

To hang it, hole-punch the top of the egg and feed the ribbon through.

There you have it, a homemade Easter decoration to hang in the window. Or, get super crafty and make more to complete a mobile!

From all of us here at ARC Crafts, have a Happy Easter!

 

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Sample Pack Projects!

February 23rd, 2012

With so many options for paper here at ARC Crafts, we are ecstatic our new sample packs are a huge hit! Sample packs are great if you aren’t sure which color or weight of paper you are looking for. These packs are perfect for testing out to see if a paper will work for your specific project. Aside from being great for testing, you can use them to make complete projects. Check out the fun crafts we made out of them!

Using a few sheets of paper from the Stardream Cover (thick) weight sampler pack, we made this beautiful wall hanging. In honor of the upcoming holiday we made ours themed but we think it’s so cute we might keep it up all year! The colors used from the pack are Emerald, Fairway, Serpentine, Gold and Antique Gold.

To make this simple project, we cut the paper to 4×4 squares and punched holes in each top corner. Then we laced thin ribbon through the holes to connect the squares. To make the lettering, we didn’t have a Cricut handy so we had to get creative. We decided to keep it simple and printed out the letters in a font we liked, cut them out with an Exacto knife and then glued them at alternating angles.

Part of the beauty of this craft is the versatility – you can place it anywhere you like: over the fireplace, on the fridge, above the door opening, on the wall, wherever strikes you!


We were on a crafting roll and set our sights on the wood grain paper sampler next.

We decided we needed a small, decorative container to hold all the little stuff on our desk that accumulates so we came up with this designed box made from our Cherry Wood Veneer with the 12pt paperboard backing. We printed an image on our wood before constructing this. That’s one of the great aspects of the BARC paper – it’s printable, so the possibilities are literally endless.

  

And now we’d love to see your creativity! If you purchase a sample pack and make a craft out of it, post it to our Facebook page here.

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New Sample Packs!

February 2nd, 2012

With a new year, changes come in many different ways! Here at ARC Crafts we are making improvements to our product line and website to better suit your needs. Mainly, we have taken notice that there have been several requests for sample packs of our most popular items. With that being said, we have added several new packs for our Translucent Vellum paper, Stardream and wood grain paper. You can buy them from our site here: http://www.arccrafts.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=3. You’ll find that our pricing is 50% less than what some of the retailers out there charge for the same exact quality products!

Translucent Vellum

With the translucent vellum, you choose from 12×12 or 8.5×11 and receive all the colors we offer in our collection! That’s 27 sheets per pack! This paper is acid free and can be a great accent piece for invitations and cards. It can be folded and die cut without cracking and most are suitable for inkjet and laser printing!

The 12×12 vellum sample pack is only $6.66 per pack! Or, choose the 8.5×11 option for only $4.82!

Vellum Sample Pack

Stardream

Stardream is a beautiful metallic sheet that can be used for all of your scrapbooking & crafting needs. Our cover weight packs are offered in 12×12 and 8.5×11 and includes 25 sheets, one sheet each of the following colors:

Mars, Onyx, Punch, Quartz, Rose Quartz, Vista, Serpentine, Ruby, Gold, Lapis Lazuli, Silver, Kunzite, Jupiter, Flame, Fairway, Emerald, Crystal, Coral, Copper, Citrine, Bronze, Aquamarine, Antique Gold, Anthracite, and Amethyst.

12×12 Cover weight is $21.32 or 8.5×11 Cover weight for only $12.31

Stardream Sample Pack Cover (thick) Weight

Stardream Sample Pack 8.5×11 Mix Text/Cover (thin/thick)

The 8.5×11 mix sample pack has a total of 20 sheets and includes 1 sheet each of text and cover in the following colors: Amethyst, Aquamarine, Jupiter, Kunzite, Mars, Quartz, Rose Quartz, Silver, Crystal, and Bronze.

Pricing for our mix pack is $8.07

 

The 8.5×11 text weight sample pack includes 11 sheets total, 1-sheet each of: Crystal, Rose Quartz, Kunzite, Jupiter, Quartz, Bronze, Amethyst, Aquamarine, Mars, Silver, and Opal.

Price for 8.5×11 Text weight – $3.31

Stardream 8.5×11 Text Sample Pack

BARC Wood

 

Our real wood is so versatile. You treat it just like regular paper. You can stamp it, paint it, cut it and run it through your inkjet printer, just to name a few techniques.

Use your imagination for your project, and our wood grain paper sample packs to help get you there!

We offer these sample packs in 6×6, 8.5×11 & 12×12 . You can get your pack with our 2mil backing (thin backing), 12 pt paperboard backing sampler (thick backing) or kraft backing sampler (medium backing).

Wood Sample Pack

These sample packs include 1 sheet each of Cherry, White Birch, Mahogany & Black Walnut. A total of 4 wood veneer sheets per sample pack!

Pricing for 12×12 packs are $6.80 each, 8.5×11 packs are $3.40 each & 6×6 packs are $1.70.

 

 

With all the different varieties of sample packs, you don’t need to fret about which color will work best, you’ll get them all to test out! Options are endless!

All of our sample bags were created with you in mind, and don’t forget our low prices! Try one today! http://www.arccrafts.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=3.

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New Year’s Resolution Notecards!

December 28th, 2011

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Well…now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is coming to an end, it’s time to look forward as the New Year begins. Yes, I am talking about getting ready for New Year’s resolutions! Below is a crafty idea to the same old list of resolutions that we seem to do every year.

 

First thing I did, was come up with my resolutions, type and print them out, and paste them to our beautiful  Stardream and Astrosilver papers. I chose what I thought were festive colors such as Gold, Citrine, Lapis Lazuli, Silver, Punch all in Stardream and the Cannete Astrosilver. You can find an array of Stardream and Astrosilver paper on our website:

 Stardream – http://www.arccrafts.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=68

Astrosilver – http://www.arccrafts.com/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=69

I cut each sheet into 4×4 squares to make the note cards. To add some pizzazz to my resolution notecards, I found some photos on clipart that I thought were fitting with each resolution, and printed and pasted those as well. You can use newspaper clippings to get different styles of  font or even clip out photos from a magazine if you’d like! The options are endless!

 

A great way to store the collage so that you can see it year-round is to put it in a photo holder  and display it somewhere like an office, bedroom or living room. This is a good way to make sure you don’t forget the resolutions you’ve made and to help keep them!

Everyone knows times are tough right now with the way the economy is and all the money we probably spent over the holidays. A great way to get the most for your money is our pick n’ mix paper  .

 

With the pick n’ mix you get an array of cardstock and vellum with different colors and textures. We have 4 options in 2 paper sizes. We have 8.5×11 (we pick what you get) for $6.00, 8.5×11 (your way!) for $10.00, 12×12 (we pick what you get) for $9.00 and 12×12 (your way!) for $13.00. Each box contains about 200 sheets of paper! Now that’s a bargain!

 

Have a happy New Year!

ARC Crafts

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Introducing Trivia Tuesdays!

November 22nd, 2011

Beginning Tuesday, November 29th, we will be starting yet another contest, Trivia Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, we will be posting 2 paper trivia questions at different times on our Facebook page and the first to answer the questions correctly will win some awesome holiday giveaways! All you need to do is go to our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/ARC-Crafts/106949839337650 (be sure to “like”  the page if you haven’t already) and stay posted for Tuesday Trivia. Here are some of the prizes you can win: Peace Kit, Live Laugh Love kit and our Calendar Kit to name a few.

Perfect giveaways for the Holiday season or keep them for yourself! All the while learning nifty paper facts and winning amazing prizes. Contest will run from Tuesday, November 29th until Tuesday, December 20th. Good luck!

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SPOOK-KITS

October 18th, 2011

I have always loved Halloween since I was big enough to formulate the word “boo!”  I would spend the entire night with all the neighborhood kids and sashay from door to door with a pillow case until it was completely full of candy.  I loved looking at all the costumes and every year I was always mesmerized at the imagination and effort put into some of the costume details.  As I got older, it became a sort of circle-of-friends challenge to see who could come up with the best and most outrageous costumes.  

Needless to say there are photos that exist somewhere in the world of me dressed as Jamie Foxx’s character named “Wanda” from the television show In Living Color and a few others of me dressed as a stick-figure glow princess (think Tron).  As each year passed, my photos would get filed away into an unorganized photo box, to be enjoyed and viewed only by a family of dust bunnies on the top shelf of my closet.  I wish that I had made found the time and made an effort to preserve a few of the best Halloween photos from each year in a decorative album of some sort so that my kids (ages 9 and 6) could look at them.  Yet, I don’t have supplies on-hand to make fancy scrapbook pages, or an endless flow of money to buy the supplies, and I certainly don’t have any extra time to burn with two kids and a full-time job.  So what’s a girl to do? 

The solution is to shop around and find a craft kit.  Craft kits contain all of the supplies and laymen instructions that you need to create your own spook-tacularly detailed photo albums or scrapbooks.  ARC’s Spooky Chipboard Album Kit is, like the names suggests, made out of thick chipboard with detailed embellishments on each page. The kit uses various combinations of real wood grain paper, Stardream (shimmery) paper, diecut spiders, trees, candy pieces and other spooky diecut shapes cut from colored card stock.  The kit includes everything you need to create a keepsake photo album that everyone will want to look at even before you add your personal photos.  The kits are easy to assemble in one to two hours, and can even be a fun project to do with your kids over the weekend to help get them excited for the big night of fright.  Here’s a photo of all the pieces and embellishments included with this awesome spooky kit:

 

All of the Parts and Pieces that come with the Spooky Kit

 

Below I’ve attached the finished and assembled version of each of the five album pages for your viewing pleasure.  Check out “The Spooky Chipboard” album kit now available on our website along with many other easy-to-assemble kits for all occasions.  Take a minute to check them out to see if there’s a kit that fits your needs! :)

 

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Contest Announcement

October 14th, 2011

Free Paper Time! ARC Crafts is excited to launch our first contest. We want to reward one of our paper fans out there! Please share our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/ARC-Crafts/106949839337650 with your friends, family, and fellow paper lovers. Have them “like” us and write on our wall telling us who sent them. Whoever has the most “likes” will win 1 box of 12×12 Pick ‘n Mix – over 4 POUNDS of paper and 1 12×12 sheet each of BARC wood paper-  Mahogany, Black Walnut, Birch, Cherry (4 sheets total).  Who doesn’t love free paper? 2nd place will receive 1 pack of 12×12 48 piece cardstock in your choice between Primary, Bright, and Harvest. You have 1 week to pass this along to your paper enthusiasts so get started! Remember, they have to tell us who sent them, so make sure they post your name on our wall. Happy sharing! http://www.facebook.com/pages/ARC-Crafts/106949839337650

1st Place: 1 box of 12×12 Pick ‘n mix and 1 12×12 of each BARC Wood Paper

BARC Wood Paper

 

 

 

2nd Place: Choice of 1 12×12 cardstock package (Primary, Bright, or Harvest)

 

 

The small print:
Person with the most referrals to “like” the ARC Crafts page will win. People must post on wall who referred them for their like to count. 1st place prize is 1 box of 12X12 Pick ‘n Mix and 1 sheet of each BARC Wood colors (4 total). Runner-up will receive 1 pack of 12X12 cardstock, 3 different color packs to choose from. Winner must reside in the continental U.S. Contest will run for 1 week, starting Monday October 17th at 9 am PST and ending Monday October 24th at 5 pm PST.

 

 

 

 

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A Translucent Touch

October 11th, 2011

By definition, translucent (also referred to as vellum) paper is a type of paper that permits the passage of light.  That means that when you put a translucent piece of paper in front of something, you can still see what’s behind it.  Translucent paper has varying levels of opacity, meaning that some are easier to see through than others.  Additionally, translucent paper comes in all shades, including some metallic shades, making this the perfect paper to use as an embellishment for craft projects, special event invitations and scrapbook pages.

In order to demonstrate the added effect of using translucent paper to embellish an invitation or crafted item with a Halloween theme, I printed black text on a regular white sheet of paper, then I added a clear translucent overlay with a cloudy pattern to give the text a “spooky” feeling.

This is the result:

 

Translucent Overlay makes text look "spooooky"

Another great use of translucent (or vellum) paper is to adhere the translucent paper to the back of an image cut out from a sheet of solid card stock.  The result is colorful glowing feature using natural light.  In order to demonstrate this use, I printed an orange pumpkin on solid card stock and used an exacto blade to cut out holes for the eyes, nose and teeth.  Additionally, I cut the pumpkin out using the outer edge and I also left a rectangular tab along the bottom of the pumpkin for use in making a pop-up cutout.  Using spray adhesive, I then attached a piece of bright yellow translucent paper to the back of the pumpkin.  I folded the rectangular tab at the bottom of the pumpkin and glued it to a sheet of card stock (sturdy) paper.

Here is the result:

Yellow Translucent backing for "glowing" pumpkin

There are many other great uses for translucent/vellum papers.  With a little imagination, the uses are endless!

At ARC Crafts, our translucent papers are acid free, elemental chlorine free, recyclable, and biodegradable. Made from 100% pure cellulose fibers, it is naturally translucent, and free of the resins and other chemical agents that make some translucent paper brittle and hard to fold. This vellum offers outstanding formation and superior printability, and is even naturally grease resistant.  Click  HERE  to check out ARC Crafts assortment of translucent paper!

HAPPY CRAFT-O-WEEN!

 

 

 

 

 

 


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SHE’S CRAFTY!!

August 31st, 2011

Working in a paper warehouse with an inventory full of sparkly, glitter-kissed, rich-colored sheets of beauty, I almost feel guilty that scrapbooking and craft-making aren’t notably high on my list of talents.  I do dream about all of the wonderful things that the paper could be used for, but when I try to turn my dreams into reality, some of the awesomeness seems to get lost in the translation. 

This wouldn’t be so troubling except as a mother of two, there are times when I need to step up to the proverbial plate and make stuff.  It seems their homework is sometimes intended to be my homework with as much interaction is required.  And sometimes, on Saturday afternoons, the summer heat demands an indoor activity, and I don’t want to be one of those parents that turns on cable and checks out.  I want to interact to do something fun that we can all enjoy.

That being said, my kids will be going back to school on Monday.  Back to school means my kids will be taking a plethora of new school supply items as well as personal items to their classroom and will soon be coming home with books and/or other items belonging to the school.  One thing that’s inescapable is the yearly ritual of labeling all of your child’s belongings to avoid losing things in the midst of 30 new students trying to get organized.  I wanted to create a label that would stand out and be unique, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of time coming up with a new design for something that’s probably been done thousands of times already.  So, I went to microsoft.com’s template section and did a search for “school.”  My search returned numerous handy items for every possible back-to-school need including the adorable label I customized for our website sample.  I selected the Stardream paper because of it’s beautiful shimmer and because of the wide selection of colors, making it easy to find something appropriate for use with either gender . Try it out yourself and see how easy it is to create something memorable for your family!  Being crafty doesn’t always mean that you have to be creative or spend a lot of time coming up with unique design.  Sometimes it means that you use available resources and add a quick unique customization that is achieved with something as simple as a beautiful piece of paper.

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PAPER IS PAPER, RIGHT??

June 15th, 2011

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