Craft Site Directory Newsletter: May 2007
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SECTION 2):*~*: Martha Stewart Launches New Line of Craft Products
Wall Street Journal reports on it, calling the crafts industry "dowdy".
On May 1st 2007 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. rolled out a new line of craft products. The line includes more than 650 items with a focus on scrapbooking and other paper crafts. While the Michaels.com web site is announcing the Martha Stewart product line as "New and Exclusively at Michaels", the products can not be purchased at Michaels.com. Instead the new products can be viewed and purchased at MarthaStewartCrafts.com directly from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Apparently they mean that Michaels stores are currently the exclusive place to buy the products offline. The products are now available at over 900 Michaels stores across the US and Canada. In Fall 2007 Martha Stewart Crafts products will also be available at independant craft stores.
An interesting twist to this story arose when the Wall Street Journal printed an article about it. Evidently the author of the article, Brooke Barnes, knows little about current trends in arts and crafts. Here is a quote from the Wall Street Journal article: "What does the domestic-arts maven see in a dowdy industry where merchandise is sold in cluttered stores stacked floor to ceiling with pipe cleaners, Styrofoam balls, glue sticks, beads and fake flowers?"
Read the full WSJ article here:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117746758515281494-lMyQjAxMDE3NzI3NTQyNjU3Wj.html
Paper crafts, including scrapbooking, is a fast growing industry. According to a May 1st 2007 report by the Craft & Hobby Association(CHA) overall craft sales declined 3.2 percent from a year ago but certain individual craft segments experienced significant growth. Scrapbooking/Memory Crafts grew to 2.6 billion dollars and now ranks as the most popular craft segment. In March CHA published a list of the hottest new craft products for 2007 and many of them were scrapbooking related. These trendy new products available to scrapbookers can be described as anything but "dowdy".
Martha Stewart herself had this to say about her company's new product line according to EK Success, manufacturer of the products designed by a team of experts at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. "This line is an expression of my passion for crafting, a pursuit I have enjoyed throughout my life," said Martha Stewart, Founder of MSLO. "At MSLO, we are steeped in the development of crafts, and all the products reflect our understanding of what crafters want and need because it is what we ourselves want and need—practical tools, as well as a wonderful array of beautiful and inspiring materials."
The reaction from the craft community about the Martha Stewart Crafts product line has been mixed. The fine, powdery glitter for hand lettering and other intricate projects, or just for adding luster to a surface has been getting rave reviews. But, the 18 X 18 inch scrapbook albums and papers seem odd to many scrapbookers who are used to working with a 12 X 12 inch surface or smaller. Some crafters have said that they were not impressed with the products, calling them "plain" and "over priced". On the other hand, the products seem to be flying off the shelves at some Michaels stores and many crafters are excited about the new product line.
View the new Martha Stewart Crafts product line here:
http://www.MarthaStewartCrafts.com
Links to CraftSiteDirectory.com categories related to paper crafts and scrapbooking:
http://www.craftsitedirectory.com/papercrafts/
http://www.craftsitedirectory.com/scrapbooking/
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SECTION 1):*~*: What's New at CraftSiteDirectory.com?
SECTION 2):*~*: Martha Stewart Launches New Line of Craft Products
Wall Street Journal reports on it, calling the crafts industry "dowdy".
SECTION 3):*~*: Newly Added Craft Project Ideas
Find links to craft project ideas that have been added to various web sites this month.
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