Chrysalis Community Center 3rd Annual Ladies Spring Fling!

Craft Haven Retreats - Chrysalis Community Center 3rd Annual Ladies Spring Fling!

Craft Haven Retreats is going to attend the Chrysalis Community Center 3rd Annual Ladies Spring Fling event this year on Saturday, April 6, 2013.  This worthy fundraiser will held in Country Club Hills, IL at St. John's Lutheran Church from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.  Click HERE for more details about the event and a list of participating vendors!

Shhhhh!  Here is a tiny sneak peek of our inventory.  Don't tell Nanci that I posted it! :)

 

We saw this purse on Pinterst and had to make them.  A lovely Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Deb Lehigh shared a tutorial link from Demonstrator, Chiaki Haverstick with us.  Thank you so much Deb!  Click here to see Chiaki's tutorial. 

 

Are you still amused by the Dude, You're Welcome stamp kit that Stampin' Up! introduced earlier this spring?  I hope so!  Here is a new video that they shared recently--The Manly Stamper!  Remember, if you are viewing this post in an e-mail, click here to visit our blog and view the video!

 

 

 

Happy Stampin'!

 

Melannie

 

$99 Overnight Special and Tags Till Christmas!

Nanci and I have decided to offer a $99 Overnight Special for Saturday, February 19, 2011 with check-in at 11:00 AM through Sunday, February 20th at 12:00 PM.  Your overnight will include Saturday night lodging, make n'take, full use of our craft room and tools, Saturday lunch, dinner, snacks, and beverages, and Sunday brunch!  

We hope you will be able to join us at Lake View Lodge located on Dewey Lake in Dowagiac, Michigan for our mini-retreat!  It will be cold and snowy outside, but the lodge will be warm and toasty! Space is limited for our $99 Overnight, so make your reservation today! 

When we were preparing for our craft shows this fall, we decided to make Christmas gift tags to coordinate with the three holiday designer series paper packs;  

Jolly Holiday DSP

Candy Cane Christmas Specialty DSP

and Deck The Halls DSP

We loved the Top Note packaging that we designed for them, but it definitely did not show off the tags to their full advantage!  So we took some photos of the contents before they were packaged!

Aren't they cute!  The Tags till Christmas stamp set coordinates so well with the Stampin' Up punches--they are a snap to stamp, punch, and assemble.  We added some white and gold gel pen accents!  

Unfortunately, the gift tags for Jolly Holiday were already packaged at this point, but all three designs were very similar!   

2010 Ladies Night Out - Chrysalis Community Center FundRaiser

We had a wonderful time at 2010 Ladies Night Out!  The event was from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM and benefited the Youth Programs for the Chrysalis Community Center.  Our Penguin Treat bags sold out!  We had pre-packaged our Note Card Desk and Christmas gift sets, so we displayed samples of each set on our table. 

There were approximately ten other venders at the event which featured a raffle ticket fundraiser with vendor donations and a weekend getaway! 

A troup of dancers provided entertainment at regular intervals over the course of the evening.  Their costumes were charming and the dances were lively!

The dancers were all different ages! 

We had a great view from our table!

Yes, those are lighted candles that they are dancing with on their heads!  The Chrysalis Community Center is going to have another fundraiser this spring, we hope to see you there!

Craft Haven Retreats current special of $199 per person has been extended to our Spring 2011 season.  Retreat weekends at Lake View Lodge in Dowagiac, Michigan, include two nights lodging and five home-cooked meals, beverages, and snacks.  Your weekend can be customized to meet your groups needs.  Crafting classes, massages, manicures, and pedicures available for an additional fee.  

2010 Ladies Night Out - Chrysalis Community Center

Just a quick post to let you know that we are participating in a charity event to benefit Chrysalis' youth programs at the Chicago Heights Country Club West tonight from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM.    We sold out of our Thanksgiving Hostess gifts at Saturday's show, so we came up with a couple of cute replacements!

These cute little boxes of "Rudolph Spares" are filled with Red Hot Candies or Cherry Candies.

These  Penguin Kiss bags are the substitute for our Turkey Treat Bags!  They'll both make excellent stocking stuffers!  I want them both in my stocking!

Look close our "penguin" is an owl in disguise!   After the Chrysalis Community Center event, I'm off to the midnight showing of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1!   I will be drinking a lot of coffee at work on Friday!

Craft Show Recovery!

We survived the craft show!  Sunday, October 10, 2010, we participated in the 29th Oktoberfest at Marion Catholic High School.  What a great experience!  

The event is run as a fundraiser for the band.  The band members help the vendors with set up and tear down before and after the event.  They also bring coffee and donuts around in the morning and provide a lunch menu pick up and delivery service.  Everyone was so helpful!  We had a great time!

Nanci's son-in-law and husband built this great display for us!  It folds in half and we can change all the  shelving around to fit the display each time we exhibit.  At the craft show we were invited to three other events.  We will be participating in two other craft shows in November, Miss Nikki's Craft Fair and Ladies Night Out 2010 at the Chicago Height's Country Club! 

We sold out of one item at the craft show--our Thanksgiving hostess gift wrapped chocolates.  Luckily we took pictures of them before the show.  We love the Autumn Spice DSP.  It really has the flavor and feel of Thanksgiving! :)

Nanci's Turkey Treat Bags were popular also!

Nanci's stamp club is meeting on Tuesday, so we will have some sneak peeks for you tomorrow! :) 

Boo! We're Back!

Five days to the craft fair and we're counting!  Here are a few more "crafty" items for Halloween!

We used the Texturized Spider Web embossing folder on the brown treat bags.  It embosses the pattern onto all 4 sides of the bag at one time!   You can also emboss paper napkins with the embossing folders too!  Give it a try!  Here's a close up of the detail on our treat bag.

Our treats bags are stuffed with candy--don't tell anyone! 

We hope you are enjoying all the "owl" art on the internet!   There are so many creative people out there.  Nanci saw a mini lunch sack on Stampin' Connection posted by Shauna O'Donnel with this image on it and couldn't resist turning it into one of the card projects for the September Stampin' Club.   Everyone at the club meeting enjoyed making this card.  Thanks for the inspiration Shauna! 

Owl Punch Playdate Desk Set

Don't cha just love that owl punch and Playdate DSP?  We do!  The Zutter binder is hiding extra large post-it note pages.  Stamps and sentiment are from the Apple Blossom stamp set.  Paper clips are hiding out in our mini-milk carton.  We will be selling this set at the 29th Annual Oktoberfest Craft Show at Marion Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, IL next Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM.  We hope to see you there!  Happy crafting! :)

Love Letter DSP Desk Set With Note Cards

The elegance of Love Letter DSP is perfectly presented in this desk set which includes seven note cards and matching bookmark.  It would make an excellent gift for your favorite teacher or avid reader!
 

Nanci discovered that the retired stamp set, Note to Self, matches the paper pattern in Love Letter DSP to a tee of T if you prefer!  Take a look at the stamped edges of the post-it notes and the black patterned paper of the note card holder--they are exactly the same pattern!

The note card holder contains seven note cards.  The stamp "just a little note" is from the Apple Blossom stamp set.

There are ten different book markers to choose from.  Each with their delightful "bookworm" sentiment which is also from the Apple Blossom stamp set. 

This set will be available for sale at the 29th Annual Oktoberfet Craft Show at Marion Catholic High School on October 10, 2010 in Chicago Heights, IL.  We hope to see you there!  Happy Crafting!

Pumpkin Instructions!

We have had several inquiries about our "Great Pumpkins" post from last Saturday.  The pumpkins were fast and fun to construct and decorate.  We hope these directions will assist you in creating your own pumpkin patch!

The pumpkins were made using 11 1" X 6" strips of card stock. Punch holes at top and bottom of card stock strips and run a piece of ribbon through the bottom and top holes. (I stacked mine and used the cropadile to go thru all 11 at once).  I used about an 8" piece of ribbon. Secure the ribbon at the bottom with a brad. Pull the ribbon from the top to form your shape and fan the strips around to form your circle. Tie off the top of the ribbon to form the stem, and decorate as you like!

If you want to purchase your pumpkins already made, plan to attend the 29th Oktoberfest Arts and Crafts Show at Marian Catholic High School on Sunday, October 10th!  You could also book a weekend retreat at Lake View Lodge in Dowagiac, MI and request a class in pumpkin paper crafting!


We've also received several inquiries about where we purchased that "skinny" bags used in Thursday's "Harvest Time Delights" post.  We purchased all our bags from Clearbags.com.


Happy Crafting!

Harvest Time Delights

 Our 1"X8" and 2"X5" clear bags arrived and we immediately put them to good use!   We punched out Cajun Craze tags stamped in basic brown with happy harvest from Loads of Love Accessories stamp set.  We layered a small More Mustard card stock oval stamped with Cajun Craze pumpkins from the same stamp set on top of the tag.  The edges of both punches were inked with Basic Brown to give added dimension.  The Sizzix Bag with Scallop die was cut using the Big Shot. 

The pumpkins were made with Cajun Craze and Autumn Spice DSP.  Punches used were the Medium Oval and 1" Circle punches.  The leaves are punched from the Two Step Bird punch.  Sentiment is stamped from Teeny Tiny Wishes and punched out with Word Window punch.

   
 Here are some close ups of the completed treat bags.  Both projects would make excellent table decorations and/or hostess gifts for your holiday dinner table.   These treats will also be for sale on our table at the 29th Annual Oktoberfest Marion Catholic High School Craft Fair.  We hope you will stop by and visit with us.  We will also have information about our weekend craft retreats at Lake View Lodge in Dowagiac, MI!

Batty For You And Treats Too!

Directions - Stamp, punch, punch, punch, glue wiggle eyes, glue, glue, white gel pen dots, cut, fold, fold, scallop border punch, punch, punch, punch, tie, insert sucker of your choice (ours is Carmel Apple), adhere back of sucker closure sleeve.

We found that these suckers are extremely top heavy.  We will be selling these Halloween treats at our upcoming craft show at Marion Catholic High School on October 10, 2010.  We could use a good display idea.   If you have a display solution that you would like to share with us,  please leave a comment on this post.

Recipe:
Paper: Wicked Fun Specialty DSP, Old Olive, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Rich Razzleberry
Inks: Old Olive, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Rich Razzleberry
Suckers of Choice

Boo!

Halloween is right around the corner!  We hope you are gearing up to "treat" your neighborhood visitors!  Stampin' Up!  has such a variety of crafting materials for the Halloween season!  Light a path to your door--take a look at these luminaries which we made with the Wicked Fun Specialty DSP!

Here is a close up of the black luminary! 

We embossed the vellum with the Spider Web Textured Impressions Embossing Folder!

Got Treats?

 
This stamp set is made to coordinate with the Mini Milk Carton Bigz L Die for the Big Shot!  Filled with your favorite candy--PUSH UP HERE . . . TO OPEN--and pour--we're sure they will be a hit at your home!

Nanci and I have been preparing for the 29th Annual Oktoberfest Arts & Crafts Show at Marion Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, IL.  The craft show will be held on Sunday, October 10, 2010.   Craft Haven Retreats will have a display at the craft show and we will also be selling paper-crafted items.  Doors open at 10 AM and close at 4 PM.  We hope to meet you there!