Holiday Musts for the Crafter in Your Life

MISSION, KS--(Marketwire - Nov 25, 2011) - (Family Features) Crafting is an integral part of the holiday season, and a great way to spend quality time with family and friends. According to an independent study by the Craft & Hobby Association, about 56 percent of U.S. households craft at least once a year, with some 68 percent of those households creating handmade gifts for the holiday season.

Here are a few holiday gift ideas for the crafter in your life:

• A Die Cutting Machine - Professional-grade home décor, scrapbooking, quilting, sewing projects, and even cake decorating, can be a snap with die-cutting machines such as AccuQuilt Go!, the Big Shot, Creatopia, Cricut Expression, Cricut Cake, Cuttlebug, Eclips, the eCraft, Grand Calibur, Inspiration, Slice, and Vagabond.
• A Cut Above - You almost can't craft without cutting something (canvas, paper, cloth, wire, ribbon, etc.). Look for KAI Scissors, Westminster or Fiskars.
• Adhesive - E-600 Craft adhesive sticks almost anything.
• Embellishments - Swarovski Embellishments for scrapbooking, sewing, jewelry making, fashion accessories, quilting, card making and more.
• Access to Stock Photos - Looking for that perfect picture for a holiday card or invite, or seasonal images for ornaments, scrapbooks, or holiday decorations? Unleash your creativity with www.photos.com, a leading source of millions of royalty-free images. Flexible pricing plans allow the purchase of one or many images all-year-long at flexible price points.

To try your own hand at some simple crafting that has a big holiday wow, here are two easy holiday card ideas from Terri O, national spokesperson for the Craft & Hobby Association and TV host of Super Simple with Terri O.

Tis' the Season Holiday Card
Designed by Terri O

This card is so super simple to make. For a really special touch, use your own family photos.

Supplies:
	Bazzill Card stock in red and green
	Purple Cows nine blade paper trimmer with decorative blades
	Purple cows Punch-It Paper punch
	Stamp with sentiment "Tis the season to be Jolly" (from Inkadinkado)
	StazOn Black ink
	Scrapbook Adhesive's Foam squares
	Bazzill Peel and stick green rhinestones
	Scrapbook Adhesive EZ Runner
	Photo (from http://www.photos.com)

Fold red card stock into a 6.5 x 4.5-inch card.

Cut green card stock with decorative blade to fit on top of card. This one is 3.5 x 5 inches. Punch top left and right corner of green card.

Stamp sentiment at top of card and adhere card to top of red card stock.

Place three rhinestones along bottom of card under green card stock.

Cut your favorite photo from photos.com to fit on top of green card stock using a decorative blade.

Add foam dots to back of photo and place on top of card.

Hanukkah Card
Designed by Terri O

Supplies:
	Bazzill Linen Brown card stock, folded into 4.5 x 5.5 inches
	Bazzill Teal card stock cut 4 x 5 inches
	Punch-It punch, "Summer" from Purple Cows
	Solstice pin from Pin-It by Purple Cows
	Adhesive Runner by Scrapbook Adhesives
	Photo from Photos.com

Fold brown card stock in half. Cut teal card stock and punch along bottom.

Use Pin it to place decorative pin at top of teal card stock about 1/2 inch down from top in center.

Apply adhesive to teal card where photo will rest and place under the decorative pin.

For more craft projects or to find the craft store nearest you go to www.craftplace.org.

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