Kid's Kits at the Ben

Wanted you to be sure to see the kid's kits that Sue has gotten in at the Ben, that make great birthday party gifts as well as things your own children and grandchildren can use to learn latchook, needlepoint, crosstitch, bracelet making, knitting, etc. They are all so cute and there are more coming in all the time. Check out the video and then come in to pick out what you want for Your kids! See you!

Christmas sale at the Ben

There are still some Christmas items on sale at the Ben Franklin, and this video will show you just a few. Hope you can get in and take advantage of them before they are gone!

Cricut Classes

Just wanted to remind you to sign up for Cricut classes at the Ben, with Sue. First one is next Sat. the 22nd from 10 to noon. Will post the time for the other one shortly. Am on my way to work and don't have time to look it up. Think it is the 31st but don't remember the time right now. Best instruction class around for using your Cricut machine. Call the store to sign up........262-728-3515. You will not be sorry!

We have some new videos ready to go and will download ( or is it upload?) them tonight when I get home...........you will see new product. More Christmas things on sale.....hurry in. Some are marked down to 50% OFF and some are 30%. Don't miss out. Just marked down a bunch of fabric paint tubes...........check the clearance section. Good time to get your kids going on painting on fabric!

Hope you are all having a lovely day. Started mine with up Very early so Ed could get to a men's breakfast in Lake Geneva by 7 ( ugh!), went over to do something at the Ben at 8:30, took a walk in the snow with a dear neighbor at 9, chiropractor at 10, and have been working on the retreat ever since. Time to dress for work and get going. Hugs to each of you.........talk with you soon. Linda

Two Days in a Row?

Hello there! Can you believe I am back again? Am busy disrobing the Christmas tree today. Wishing to be working on scrapbooking things, but need to keep an order to my life. I work from 4 to 7 today, so need to get the ornament thing done before I go in to work, if I can get it done. Think I will do another video for you, to show you something new. Perhaps some fabric? We'll see.

Would love to hear from you and find out what craft you are working on just now. Also, is there a craft line you wish we had available in the Ben? Let us know. We can't always meet your needs, but we sure try! Give us a call or e-mail me and let me know if you are looking for something special. A former Memories customer just did that this week and it was fun to hear from her, and be able to fill her order for her! We'd love to help you too.

Going to head back to the tree project, so will say bye for today. Check back for a new video in the next day or so. We will keep working on getting the hang of this! Hugs........Linda

Quilt of the Month square ( themed)

I feel badly........we promised not to get any of the quilters on the video except Sue, the teacher, and ended up with some at a distance. Sorry about that! We will work harder at that next time. Be sure to check the website for the next class selections for the Spring Quilt patch. Isn't this one Cute? Thanks Sue, for doing this for the Ben Franklin Crafts in Delavan!

This is not working right!

How's that for a negative lead in? I am frustrated beyond belief, as I am Trying to get this blog up and going again. Angie has re-done it temporarily, till we have time to do a whole new look ( bye bye birdies!) but I cannot get the video to post that Ed and I shot on Monday in the store! So sorry..............we are Trying! I have spent Hours trying to post it and it just won't.

It was a cute video. Angie says I might have to rely upon youtube, which I do not want to do, but might be the only way to get videos to post here. Got a wonderful flip camera from Ed for Christmas........with the idea that we can do a couple videos of new product in the store each week and show them to you.......perhaps some tutorials, etc. So, have patience, we will keep trying!

In the meantime, we Do have some fun, very fun, snowman and snowy type scrapbooking papers ( for card making too) in the store and they are stunning! Be sure to check them out!

The quilt square ( themed) of the month is underway in classtime, and we have a video of that too. Might try posting that.......it is shorter. Perhaps that is the problem. Sue Knudtson teaches that class and it is darling. This month they are doing a Valentine wall hanging rag quilt and it is so cute.......each lady chooses her own fabric and they would be so nice to hang on the wall, or I would put mine ( were I making one!! :) ) in the center of my old oak kitchen table. The class for Feb., which is the next one you can take, is going to be a Spring look. Be sure to come in within the next week and check out the sample.

Remember, you can go onto the website and check class schedules. www.bfcraftsdelavan.com is the site......bookmark that and make it easy on yourself.

I am hoping beyond hope to keep this going in a timely fashion so I don't lose everyone who had signed up to follow the blog! Have faith..........

Love to each of you.......Linda and Ed too........

I'm Still Here!!!!!!!

Long story, too long for here. But I am back, and plan to Stay back. I arranged to have help re-doing my defective blog, and when Angie looked at it, she inquired as to what was wrong with it! Evidently, it cured itself, so here we go again.

Wanted to let you know we have some very fun new papers in for the Christmas season. There are some from Best Creations that are all glittery and snowy and I Know you will like them. We still have some good embellishments and tons of darling papers. Jennifer just did a display of Christmas pages that are just plain Pretty. Remember the Flower Soft? We have some really cute samples up of gift tags that she made, and there are some for sale too, at 2 for $1.00. Have you tried Flower Soft yet? It is So easy to use and so fun.......colors are pretty and you can use it in your scrapbook pages as well as in cardmaking.

I am going to make this fairly brief tonight, as I have customers to take care of here in the store, and Ed and I are taking the two younger grandsons to a delightful Christmas concert in Rockford. It will have an English emphasis and sounds so nice. Glad the snow is supposed to hold off till way after we get home.

Hope you all have a safe and delightful weekend. Talk to you soon. Hugs from all of us here.............Linda

Great New School Papers

New Fabrics in Stock for Your Wee Ones

Debbie got in a line of Noah's Ark fabrics that will be great for the new nursery or for Grandma or Aunt Susie to create something special for that new wee one in the family. These are soft and lovely.......just right for the Noah theme and these photos don't do the line justice. Photos are good, but you have to see in person! Come see!

We Love Our New Products and You Will Too!

Little Yellow Bicycle always puts out a very fun line at Christmas time, and they did it again! There are delighful papers and embellishments, some of which are shown here, for your crafting projects. This small 6 x 6 album is going to be fun to create for someone special..........look closely and you will see the shape is like a gift box with a big bow on top! See the round paper? Love it.....covered with music. "Twould be fun to "play" the music and see what it is! :) This line is in traditional Christmas colors, with some soft blues thrown in, which is a good softener and transition to winter time also. The snowmen and reindeer are so cute and the whole line is worth looking at. Be sure to check out both sides..............you will want two of everything you purchase!

This Countdown page kit is so fun. I bought one myself to use with my grandchildren in Ky. when we go there soon. Everything is planned out well and makes it a project you can do in a couple of hours with children or for yourself. We are finding old photos of the kids at Christmas time to put behind the doors, but you could use little notes about Christmas traditions, or a note on each page about where some tiny surprise is hidden to open for that day, etc. It is a lovely kit and for the price of ten dollars, you are getting your money's worth.......the stickers and papers are well done, colorful and just plain great! Hope you enjoy your kit as much as we will enjoy using ours!

The new cardmaking kits from Little Yellow Bicycle are super! Each kit provides everything and more that you need to create eight distinctive cards for the season and this one is no exception. It is a Fifteen dollar kit and you will finish up with eight great cards for the special people in your life. We have them in the school line too, I think. I know we are getting them in several lines from this co., so check it out. Great value and all the instructions are included, of course.

These two photos show a bit from the new tree line (cannot remember the name of it and since it is six o'clock on Sunday morning, I am not about to go look it up!) from Nikki Sivils. She is a relatively new designer to the scrapbooking world and will work in nicely with card makers too. Her choice of color is fun and designs are very whimsical. Her papers work will with those who love to cut out the panels for use in embellishing, and there is a great circular paper with each line. I have seen them used Extremely creatively recently, and have come to Love the circular papers! The other line we have in is the one with the Bees on it......in oranges and blues and is very cute. Come see!

Fall is in Full Force in the Ben

Our new fall papers are going so quickly that some of these might be gone by the time you get in if you do not hurry! Angie has these arranged so you can see a bit of the back side also and you can see that they are some must haves. These are from the Paper Company and the whole line has foil or shimmer in the papers which make them Extra special! The one on the right is Gorgeous.........the apple is in foil and the rest is shimmer I believe........just wonderful. My favorite is the word paper on the left...love the plaid on the back side and the words have foil worked into them and the whole effect is so special. Stickers below are great too........such subtle accents for your cardmaking or page layouts. When they are gone, they are gone, so do not wait. People have been buying them four or five pages at a time, sometimes of one paper, so I am not kidding, they are going quickly!

Debbie created this lovely placemat from some of our new fall fabric and everyone has been talking about it. See the napkin ring attached on the side? How clever! We have a variety of these glass plates in leaf shape, amongst others, that are lovely for your fall table, and the little mini pumpkins are such fun for a variety of decorating plans. You will find these up near the front of the store and there are lots more to choose from.

Remember that gorgeous fall paper line that I showed you above? Debbie used some of it here to create one of her Very Special Wine Box designs and you can do your own! We have a nice stock of the wine bottle boxes in the store right now and this is one of the favorite classes from the former Memories store. If you need to take a class, check with Sue and Deb and see if they can arrange one for you with your favorite papers.........this is a super gift for those special people in your life and you can fill with gourmet items, baby gifts, wedding shower or bridal gift, etc., depending upon which paper line you use. A must have!

Whooligans Galore!

We have the cutest papers for the halloween season. This line is the Hooligans line from Bo Bunny Press and is full of the funniest little critters who are trying to be scary, but don't quite make it. Very, very cute.

Little Yellow Bicycle put out a cute line too, and keep in mind that almost all the papers are double sided, and some of the "other sides" are actually Pretty, and can be used for scrapping heritage pages, etc. Check 'em out!

Here's a layout that Sue did to give you some ideas..................

Are You Ready for some FOOTBALL?

Tues. at the Ben

Hello...........Had a busy day at the store and it was so fun watching Debbie put out Lots of new fabric in her dept. Come see.......you will be inspired to begin a project, I assure you!

Rowena has agreed to teach a class for us, so be watching the schedule for the end of Oct and early Nov. Hurray!!!

You listened when I said you needed to come see the new fall papers..........it is remarkable the no. of papers and embellishments that went out the door today and made it so fun. Thanks for coming in and hope to see more of you soon.

Ed and I are going canoeing in the morning, if the weather holds. 'Twill be my first time this year here at home ( got in some great canoeing "up north") and we look forward to it. I have my own yellow canoe with gorgeous wicker trim and seat and love sitting in it out on the water. Hope the otter finds us and swims along beside us.....that is such fun!

Will see you soon in the store. There is so much new product coming in, we are having a ball getting it out for you and we thank you for coming............come again and bring friends. Hugs to all.........Linda

Fall Is Here!

I am about to head to bed, as the clock turns another day, but wanted to make mention that 38 years ago today I gave birth to my darling daughter, Mindy. It is still her birthday, for a few more minutes! I am such a sentimental slob! :)

The owls are hooting outside my window and I want to just go tuck them in. They need to learn to be quiet at this time of night.........any suggestions?

We spent the most fun day at the shop on Sat. I priced Scrapbooking things all day, in between helping people find SO much stuff and it was such a happy store! The new papers for halloween are too cute and we have LOTS of them, so please come buy some! Not quite sure how we got so many, but there is a ton to choose from. I think I mean a ton........I carried a Lot of it up front to price and that paper is Heavy! But the designs are precious ( coming from someone who dislikes the day), it Is cute! The new papers and accessories from Little Yellow Bicycle and Bo Bunny for Christmas are in too, and as usual, are the best. It was fun seeing things walking out the door as I priced them! Love it when that happens! Remember that these papers are nearly all double sided and you Must check out both sides........sometimes I just cannot decide which one to display, so have done every other one in some trays, where I put one side out and then the next paper in the same stack is turned the opposite side. So check both..........you will want it all!

Nikki Sivils papers are in, in the bee pattern and the tree patterns. very cute and kitchy. She is a fairly new designer to the scrapbooking world and is truly catching on. Love her mascot, Willie Bee. Cutest little dog.............

We had a Great all day and late night crop on Sat. and had a full house! There were some Darling pages created, and some gorgeous beading done.......it was a Very creative weekend at the Ben! Angie came in, in the middle of it, and did some photography and videos for us, so those will be posting soon. Watch for them.......they will show you some of our very fun new product.

It is now the next day and I truly need to head for some sleep, so will say goodnight. Had the three grandsons for the weekend and had lots of other things going on, including that crop, etc., so it was a Full weekend and sleep sounds nice. Try telling that to the owls! Hugs to you all.....Linda

TV Ad today

Hi there! It is another gorgeous day, with a few clouds thrown in. I have a busy day today, which is always fun. Phone calls, computer work, etc this morning, a dear friend coming for a long chat and lunch, four hours working at the Ben, home to make a pot of corn chowder for Bible Study dinner tonight ( a soup and salad potluck; doesn't that sound like fun?) and then home to price things for a small garage sale I am throwing together for tomorrow and Fri.
Whew! But in the meantime.........have things to tell you............

We have gotten in some absolutely Stunning Fall papers! They are a Must See, trust me! The company is The Paper Company, and we have other great things for fall, but this line is just delightful, and I am sure it will come in handy for bulletin boards, cardmaking, scrapbooking, etc. Apples, pumpkins, shimmers, foil, and more ideas on the double sided papers that I am excited for you to see.

There is a wonderful new School line in also.....primary colors with computers, apples, school bus, school bldg, pencils, crayons, kidlike papers, etc. It is a very cute line and I like the bright colors. This is one that will go all year and you need to remember to check the back side of all our papers. Many of them have some backsides that are applicable for just about any theme, regardless of what is on the front!

Creating a recipe book for a Christmas gift, or a shower gift, etc? There is a new line of papers for that too and they are so good! Makes me want to do one of those books right away! The colors are varied and easy to use, and there are so many themes. We actually have about 35-36 cooking papers and some nice embellishments too......the most we have ever had in the memories section. Come see!

Today is TV day at the Ben. Be sure to watch your charter networks for our ad, which will be shot in the store today sometime. It will take a week or two to get it out on the air, but I know it will be well done, as we were Always happy with our Charter ads. Be sure to tell us when you see it.........we need to know it is working! :)

Got word yesterday that Maggie and Grace did a large order of Pioneer albums, which have Greatly improved in quality. It will be fun to bring in yet another line of good books for your projects and we will offer the page protectors for them also, of course. Speaking of page protectors, we are Well stocked for the time being. Some have been on back order for weeks, but they have all come in now, so if you have been waiting for some, stop in soon. I made sure we had some of those great boxes of the universal protectore from C-Line in boxes of 50. Great buy...........come get them!

Will say bye for now. Need to get a few small things done before my guest arrives. Hugs to each of you.

Oh, by the way, Congratulations to our dear Angie who does our photography for the store, and the videos. She became engaged a few days ago and we are all Very excited for her and for Al.! Congratulations Angela!!!!!! Ya Hoo!!!

Home Decor at Ben Franklin Crafts

Hello Memories Readers this is Angela . Just wanted to drop in and do a guest post for Linda.

Last week I came into the shop and took some photographs for Linda. Showing in the below pictures are some beautiful fall home decor pieces that I think you would love to have in your own home. So come check it out at the Delavan Ben Franklin Crafts

One of my personal favorites are the pretty birds.

Enjoy!

Sneezing my way thru the day!

Hi! It is a sneezy day today. Sure am tired of hayfever! I am 66 and was diagnosed with this at age 2, so have had this nearly 65 years and I can't wait for the first hard freeze! Isn't that awful? I love the fall flowers and the gorgeous countryside, but get tired of people looking at me like I have a horrid cold and am going to give them something! If you see me at the Fair, I will be the one walking around with a handkerchief over my nose! :)

We had a Marvelous time last week up at Teal Lake in NW Wisconsin. In fact, was just thinking about what we were doing about this time a week ago today........canoeing out on the lake, going from island to island, watching loons ( one followed our canoe!) and eagles and osprey, etc. It was a blessing from the Lord, to be sure, and a week filled with memories to get us through the coming winter. Maybe we'll do a scrapbook!

There are so many great events coming at the Ben. Be sure to check out the website and get signed up for Grace's newsletter at www.bfcraftsdelavan.com She does a great job keeping us posted on what is going on in the store and believe me, there is a Lot to know about. One fun thing happening soon is the one million pillowcase program, where we will be sewing pillowcases for those who could sure use one, or need the comfort their own pillowcase can bring. Read all about it on the website..it will be a wonderful program and we hope to fill our work tables with ladies cutting and sewing and ironing pillowcases. Check it out!

Am going to go in to the shop shortly, so will call this quits for now. Have just done a big Mrs. Grossman order and that will be fun. I am pleased at how the strips of stickers are selling.......they are becoming more and more popular. Hope you like what I chose! Am getting some new ones for Fall and Christmas, which is Always fun!. More soon...........blessings...........Linda