6 Crafty Things to be Thankful For

As mentioned in this post, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving this week in the United States, I present to you Crafty Things to be Thankful For.

1. Chunky Knits are a Fashion Trend.  You can wear all your hand-made items with pride AND be in vogue! And all your holiday gifts are a slam dunk.  Sweet.


2. Hand-cutting all your titles and embellishments is a thing of the past, thanks to (fairly) recent inventions of the Cricut, the Gypsy, Sizzix Big Shot, Cuttlebug, and this cool cutter for fabric, the AccuQuilt Go.


3. Photobooks combine (digital) scrapbooking with gift-giving.  OK, perhaps the wordsmith-y-ist turn of phrase, but I am just loving putting together photobooks for gifts.  I've created several, and done them different ways, from digitally scrapbooking the pages from scratch in Photoshop Elements, to digitally embellishing the photos with overlays and wordart, to just uploading photos and slapping 'em in the pages.  Any way will produce slick professional results.  I've created mine at Shutterfly, but also plan to try my friend Kim Guymon's business at Photobooks ETC.


4. The Internet provides endless resources for crafty learning and inspiration.  Any crafty thing you want to know more about, or find a pattern for, or survey a group of enthusiasts about, you can find it online.  And that's a very good thing (especially for night owls, who like to craft into the wee hours of the morning!)


5. The Internet also fosters crafty connections.  We don't have to hang our heads in crafty-geek shame - at any hour of the day or night, there is someone available who can understand and applaud our love of a good yarn (whether superwash merino, or scrapbook journaling!).  In fact, the Internet provides ways of proclaiming one's craft-geekiness - loud and proud.


6. Digital scrapbooking continues to grow as a hobby, and inspirational and educational resources abound.  I remember the days, just a few years ago, when there were only a few community websites dedicated to digital scrapbooking.  Now digital storefronts open weekly (if not daily), and user-friendly programs and tools are readily available.  Digi designers are abundantly generous with their freebies, and thanks to open source programs like GIMP, anyone with a computer can try their hand at preserving their memories digitally.  Photosharing sites like Shutterfly, Scrapblog, and ArtsCow allow people to create digital photo collages and have them professionally printed - even if you have no interest in "digital scrapbooking', per se.

And because it's getting to be said wee hours of morning, I'll stop here for now.  I'd love to hear your thoughts of what crafty things you're grateful for this year!  Please feel free (indeed, encouraged) to leave a comment below.