Bella Craft Designs

Gift Giving Help

If you’re a person who has trouble coming up with great gift ideas, then it might be well worth it to bookmark this website. Whether you’re looking for gifts for the workplace, or just don’t know what to get someone, this site can definitely help you out. www.basketcompany.com

E-Cards vs Real Cards

With an increase of usage of the Internet, and the popularity of electronic communication, it’s no wonder that more and more people are using the World Wide Web as a means to keep in touch. All over the world and all around us, we are bombarded by different methods of communication. But in all the ease of Internet traffic and easy and accessible communication, are we creating a society of false emotions and arms length relationships? For lack of a better word, are we not living a virtual existence?

Greeting Card Fun Facts

For all you card making crafters out there who wonder if your efforts are appreciated, here are some fun but very serious facts about the greeting card industry:

The average person receives more than 20 cards per year, about one-third of which are birthday cards.

Nine out of 10 Americans say they look forward to receiving personal letters and greeting cards because cards allow them to keep in touch with friends and family and make them feel they are important to someone else.

Women purchase more than 80 percent of all greeting cards. Although women are more likely than men to buy several cards at once, men generally spend more on a single card than women.

For more interesting facts, visit www.greetingcard.org .

Martha Stewart is Coming to Michaels

I'm sure most of you have heard by now that Martha Stewart has launched a line of products exclusive to the craft giant, Michaels, the Arts and Crafts store. All over North America, Michaels stores have been revamped to make room for her new line: Martha Stewart Crafts. This line includes scrapbooks, specialty papers, giftwrap, stationary, and ribbons. She even has an exclusive scrapbok sized 18x18. WOW - now that's something different. To view Martha Stetwart's new craft line, visit your local Michaels Store and check out www.marthastewart .com for more great ideas.

Angela's Craft Store Review

Approximately 3 years ago, my husband and I ventured to visit an annual hobby show in our neighborhood. We thought it would be a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and it would have exhibits that would interest the both of us. I didn’t know it then, but this show would become an annual “must do” for us. For my husband, it gave him a chance to reconnect with some childhood fun from kite flying to model cars. For myself, it rekindled the creative fire within me.

One of the exhibitors, Angela’s Creative Paper Crafts , was doing a live demonstration on how to make cards. Right in front of my eyes, in no more than 5 minutes, Angela herself created some of the most beautiful cards I’d ever seen. These are the kind of cards that I’d go to the store and pay upwards of $5.oo each for, and here she was making them right in front of me. I couldn’t believe the creativity and the simplicity of it. I was in awe. Of course, as soon as she was done, everyone in her audience went to purchase all the items she had just used, including myself.