Fastest Growing Craft Activity

According to several recent polls conducted by industry leaders, scrapbooking is one of the fastest growing craft activities.

The latest demographics show the following trends:

- 98% of scrapbookers are females between 30 and 59 years old. Among the age groups who responded to the surveys, scrapbooking, rubber-stamping and paper crafting attract the various generations fairly equally.

- 85% of the respondents are married, and only about 14% do not have children.

- 95% have at least “some college” or attended a trade school.

- 65% of the respondents have college or post-graduate degrees.

- 53% are working full time (40+ hours per week). Another 38% work part time (between 20 –39 hours per week). About 12% of the respondents are retired.

- 85% have incomes over $50,000, and 62% said their annual incomes are over $75,000.

- An interesting fact is that the majority of the respondents (96%) reported that they had been scrapbooking for more than a year. Of those, nearly one quarter had been scrapbooking for at least three years and nearly one third for at least five years.

- On average, 75% of the respondents reported that they had spent more than $500 over the past 12 months on scrapbooking supplies, and 42% reported spending more than $1000.

Interestingly, 74% of the respondents also are involved in rubber-stamping, 46% enjoy paper crafts and 27% say they are involved in Painting/decorative painting. All three of these crafts can, and are used to enhance many scrapbooking projects. Other crafts that scrapbookers are involved with include: Seasonal Crafts (41%), General Crafts (34%), Sewing (fashion/home decorating), Needlework (26%), Quilting (20%), Knitting/Crocheting (17%) and Jewelry Making (10%).

According to the Hobby Industry Association, retail sales for the scrapbooking industry climbed from $400 million in 1997 to $2.5 billion in 2003. Although the industry is still growing, it’s becoming more difficult for independent dealers to make a profit, and oftentimes, any profits made by the smaller “mom and pop” stores must be put back into the business. As the industry has flourished, competition from large corporations has increased.

One of the biggest competitors in the industry is the craft store giant Michael's, operating about 867 stores in 48 states and Canada. Consumers feel that Michael's has a great inventory of supplies which are easy to find and fun for the whole family to use.

Successful independent scrapbooking retailers insist that it’s possible to compete with the giants by being smart and planning for success. They recommend:

- Offer specialized services.

- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – offer a variety of services and products.

- Become the best at what you do.

In addition to a retail store, craft business owners should build a strong Web presence. The business model should include workshops, craft nights and scrapbooking parties. Look for markets in your area that have not been tapped, such as specific minority groups or new scrapbookers.

Industry insiders insist that the scrapbooking market is still growing and that there is room for anyone who is interested in starting a career. The best advice before starting any business is to conduct careful research and do the necessary preplanning. That way you will know what you are getting into before you start.

Correct Craft

Correct Craft is a U.S.-based builder of powerboats primarily for ski and wakeboard use. It was founded in 1925 by Walt C. Meloon as the Florida Variety Boat Company.^[1]

History

Walt C. Meloon created the Florida Variety Boat Company in 1925. During the early days the company built a variety of craft ranging from sailboats to powerboats to race boats. By 1936, the primary focus of the company was the construction of power boats and the company name was officially changed to Correct Craft. Despite the Great Depression, the company continued to grow, developing a reputation for building boats of superior quality and excellent performance.^[1]

In the early 1940s through 1957, the recreational boat business prospered and Correct Craft operated an additional manufacturing facility in Titusville, Florida, building boats from 18-55 feet. The advent of fiberglass brought new possibilities to the marine industry in the 1960s and Correct Craft worked with an innovative designer named Leo Bentz to bring the fiberglass Ski Nautique to market in 1961.^[1][2]

In the 1970s, Correct Craft produced an array of runabouts, cuddy cabin and center console models including the Southwind, Martinique, Cuddy Nautique and Fish Nautique. During the 1980’s, towed water sports surged and the company’s Ski Nautique 2001 and Barefoot Nautique pulled many tournaments around the world.^[1]

In the 1990’s, the focus on having no wake suddenly shifted to creating mountains of water behind the boat for kneeboarding and wakeboarding. Correct Craft caught the wave and invented an innovative tower to add even more height to these extreme sports. The patented Flight Control Tower, combined with factory installed ballast tanks, led to the creation of the Air Nautique.

Correct Craft Today

In the year 2000, Correct Craft purchased 137 acres (0.55 km²) of land for the development of a new manufacturing facility. Construction began in 2005 on a 217,000- square-foot facility and two lakes: one lake for product testing, the other for tournaments and events. On Thursday, July 13, 2006, the first boat completely built from start to finish in the new facility emerged.^[3]

After more than eight decades of experience and with members of the fourth and fifth generations of the Meloon family active in the business, Correct Craft is the oldest family-owned boat company in the nation.^[4]

Nautiques is on their 49th year of being the title sponsor of the Masters Water Ski and Wakeboard Tournament.^[5]

Correct Craft Models

Correct Craft has three models of boats.

The Ski Nautique is aimed at water skiers. The Ski Nautique 196 is the official tow boat of many water ski competitions and many world records have been set behind this boat.^[6]

The Crossover Nautique is for skiing, wakeboarding, cruising and tubing and includes the Sportsshift lever that gives the boat the ability to change the wake size and shape to accommodate different rider's needs and skills.

The Super Air Nautique includes the Flight Control Tower and the ability to fill the boat with water through 3 onboard ballasts to allow the boat to create large, rampy wakes.

Model	Length	Capacity
Ski Nautique 196	19’ 5.25”/5.92m	6 people
Ski Nautique 206	20’ 6.55”/6.27m	9 people
Crossover Nautique 211	20 ft 9 in/6.32m	9 people
Crossover Nautique 216	21’ 6.5”/6.57m	10 people
Crossover Nautique 226	22’ 6.5”/6.87m	12 people
Crossover Nautique 236	23’ 1.5”/7.05m	14 people
Super Air Nautique 210	21’ 6.40”/6.40m	10 people
Super Air Nautique 220	22 ft 1 in/6.73m	12 people
Super Air Nautique 230	23’ 1.5”/7.05m	14 people

Color Me a Rainbow

Color Me a Rainbow was a religious children's show that first aired in 1987 on the American Christian Television Station (ACTS), which was a precursor to today's Hallmark Channel. The show was produced by Shepherd & Associates in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The main theme of the show was to teach about Jesus Christ in a child-friendly matter. The main characters included the puppets Froggie (a green male frog), Crow (a blue female crow), and Turtle (a green male turtle), along with their human mother/guardian named Jana Wacker as well as an elementary school-aged girl (name unknown) who hosted the mini-segments involving making crafts. In addition to the crafts, each episode included a Bible verse sing-a-long with children playing simple instruments. Lastly, the subject of each episode is discussed with several children providing their answers to questions provided by Jana and/or the puppets.

Kids were also encouraged to send in fan letters (with Froggie writing the responses) as well as their own drawings of rainbows (some of which were presented on the show). Staring with the 7th episode, Froggie shows some of the letters, rainbow drawings, and even pictures of some of the show's fans. The show also sold many types of Color Me A Rainbow merchandise, such as the videos, T-shirt, coloring book, and other things through the use of commercials hosted by the puppets. These commercials were not included in the videos.

Boat craft

For over 50 years, Clark Craft has been known for it's quality service, outstanding value, and it's courteous customer service, a great combination on which you can always rely.

It all comes down to experience. At Clark Craft we have helped thousands of amateur builders launch their life time dream by offering a huge selection of boat plans and boat kits. We have what you need to fulfill yours.
Clark Craft offers the largest selection of
boat plans and boat kits in the country.
Clark Craft maintains this huge on line store in which you can purchase any number of boat plans, boat kits and boatbuilding supplies.

We offer, in print, the Boat Kits & Boat Plans Catalog and our Boatbuilding Supplies Catalog.

We have hundreds of boat designs for everything from a rowing prams to sailboats to power boats.

Our designs are proven by the thousands of craft built by amateur boatbuilders. If you have never tried such a project before, consider purchasing one of our frame or complete boat kits to make it all go a little easier.

Craft

A craft is a skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a trade or particular art.

The terms is often used as part of a longer word (and also in the plural). For example, a craft-brother is a fellow worker in a particular trade and a craft-guild is, historically, a guild of workers in the same trade. See some further examples below.

The term is often used to describe the family of artistic practices within the decorative arts that traditionally are defined by their relationship to functional or utilitarian products (such as sculptural forms in the vessel tradition) or by their use of such natural media as wood, clay, glass, textiles, and metal. Crafts practiced by independent artists working alone or in small groups are often referred to as studio craft. Studio craft includes studio pottery, metal work, weaving, wood turning and other forms of wood working, glass blowing, and glass art.

A craft fair is an organized event to display crafts by a number of exhibitors.

Folk art follows craft traditions, in contrast to fine art or "high art".

Both Freemasonry and Wicca are known as 'The Craft' by their adherents.

CRAFT 101: Silk-Screening

Print your designs on anything you can hang, wear, or tote. A special 101 from CRAFT vol 1: CRAFT 01 (subscription information).

Silk-screening is a great way to personalize 
your gear. It's a very basic process that has unlimited outcomes. One of the easiest ways to get a design on almost any surface is to use the photo emulsion process. Once you've made the screen, it's ready to print time and time again. Follow along as I walk my colleague Sara Huston through the process of transferring our design to 
a screen, and printing it on a laptop bag.

Work up an idea for your design. On your first attempt, try a one-color design, keep it simple, and have some fun with it. Once you get it figured out, make your design digital. Sara and I created ours in Illustrator, but you can also scan a drawing. If you are really hands-on, you can draw straight onto transparency paper using India ink. You need a solid black positive to burn into the screen. I print on transparencies, using a black and white laser printer. This gives me an easy way to accurately, cheaply, and quickly create a positive.

Gather

» diazo photo emulsion made by

» 8"x10" silk screen
» 8"x10" piece of glass
» squeegee
» task lights (2)
» 150-watt bulbs (2)
» transparency paper for black and white copier/laser printer
» silk-screen inks (createx and speedball have worked well for me)
» lid to ikea bin for stretching shirt over, or other hard flat surface you can slip into a shirt

Optional
» fan (i use a small vornado)
» diazo photo emulsion remover (if you want to clean your screen and start over)

Design

More: Go to craftzine.com/01/101 for more designs to print.

Start

Step 1: Prep the Screen
Mix the photo emulsion as per the directions.

Coat the screen with photo emulsion, working fairly quickly over a sink or surface you can get messy. 
It's OK to have indoor lights on during this process, but keep out of direct sunlight. The emulsion needs to be applied evenly, so keep flipping the screen over and squeegeeing until the emulsion is even on both sides. Any globs will cause uneven exposing and will mess up your end result. The thicker the emulsion is applied, the longer the screen will have 
to be exposed.

The screen needs to be completely dry in order to expose it, and should be dried in a pitch-black room. I dry my screen by resting the wood frame on a couple of shoe boxes in the closet, so that the screen is parallel to and above the floor. This allows the air to flow above and below the screen to help it dry faster. Make sure that only the frame touches the boxes, so as not to mess up the nicely applied emulsion. You can place a fan (I use Vornado because they are compact) next to the screen. Drying it this way takes 30 minutes to an hour, depending on humidity.

Step 2: Expose the Screen

Now that it is dry, place the screen on your workspace with the bottom facing down. Put your transparency on the screen in the center and as squarely as you can, then place a piece of glass on top. This holds your transparency down so that it makes direct and even contact with the screen. If it doesn't make direct contact, then your design will appear fuzzy around the edges.

The light source needs to be placed about 12 inches from the screen to get good results, and it needs to shine evenly across your design. I use two $10 task lights. These are great because they allow me to easily adjust my light source, and by having two, one on either side of the screen, we can make sure the entire design gets an even, direct supply of light. Follow the directions that came with the emulsion for exposing your screen. It varies with the bulb and screen size. I'll burn our screen for about 30 minutes. You can tell when the screen is done by looking: the exposed areas turn dark green when they are baked solid by the light.

Tip: For a super-dense positive, make two transparencies with your design on them. Line them up and attach them together with double-sided tape.

Step 3: Wash and Dry Screen

Now that the screen is exposed, wash it off in the sink with hot water. It takes some force to wash the screen effectively. I've attached a special nozzle to my faucet that creates higher pressure. (I got a nozzle at Bed Bath & Beyond for $5. Just screw it on and it'll toggle between high and low. Works great for dishes too; I leave it on all the time.)

Along with spraying, you can gently rub the screen with your fingers. Don't use your fingernails. If you force the emulsion off, you run the risk of tearing 
off the hardened emulsion, putting you back to 
step 1. You want only the unexposed area to wash off. Under hot water, the emulsion will become slightly gummy. Drying the screen isn't such a big deal this time around, now that it isn't sensitive to light. Prop it up against the fan, or place it where it can get some air. Silk dries quickly.

Step 4: Print It

Now that the screen is exposed, washed, and dried, print it and see how it works. Try it out on paper first.

Lay the screen down flat, making sure that your surface is even and flat.

With a spoon, put a glob of paint on the screen and spread it the width of your design. Don't get any on the design itself, just the area above it.

Now the fun part. Hold the screen down firmly 
with one hand (or have a buddy help hold it). Use a squeegee to pull the ink down to the bottom of the screen. Apply a small amount of pressure to the squeegee as you pull the ink. You will be able to see 
the paint evenly distributed across the screen.

Lift the screen and look at your beautiful print! Be very careful when you lift off the screen. Try to peel it slowly and directly up, so you don't smudge the fresh ink. It may want to stick to the paper.

It's as easy as that! Lay the screen down on another piece of paper and do a few more prints for fun.

Volume 01: CRAFT is the first project-based magazine dedicated to the renaissance happening within the world of crafts. Our premiere issue features 23 projects with a twist! Embroider your skateboard, light up your clothing, felt an iPod cocoon, knit your own boots, stitch a robot, and more!- Subscribe to CRAFT

When you subscribe you get instant access to the CRAFT Digital Edition - it's CRAFT, made out of light! AND you can print, share it and read it from any computer!

Embroidery and Crafts Textile

Christmas Ornaments

Craft Elf is proud to provide you with a variety of free Christmas ornament craft projects ranging from easy to craft kids ornaments to intermediate craft ornaments. We use a variety of techniques to make our ornaments including sewing, painting, gluing and beading along with a variety of craft mediums used such as felt, ribbon, beads, glue and recycled items.

	Cupcake Christmas Ornament Learn to make yummy looking cupcake Christmas ornaments for your holiday tree or to give as a gift. Craft Elf Original
	Gift Ornament This fun felt ornament is quick to stitch up so why not make some today for your tree or as Christmas presents. Simply hand stitch this Gift Package Christmas Ornament from felt and plastic canvas. Craft Elf Original
	Lighted Drum Ornament Make recycling fun by crafting a lighted drum Christmas ornament from a baby food jar.
	Felt Elf Christmas Ornament Sew this elf ornament from felt with our full size pattern. Craft Elf Original
	Elf Craft Foil Christmas Ornament A new elf pattern has been added to our free Christmas ornament craft instructions including a full size elf pattern and purchase source for the foil. Easy kids craft! Craft Elf Original
	Craft Foam Tree Ornament Learn to make ornaments for your holiday tree with a full size pattern and step-by-step instructions.
	Peppermint Ornaments Learn to paint professional looking candy ornaments.
	Lollipop Ornament Turn Paper Mache disks into a delicious looking lollipop ornaments with our free craft instructions. Craft Elf Original
	Angel Ornaments & Pins With some crochet thread and ribbon, you can learn to make beautiful Christmas ornaments.
	Reindeer Light Bulb Ornament Recycle your night light and Christmas bulbs into whimsical reindeer ornaments for your Christmas tree.
	Gumdrop Christmas Ornament Learn to make delicious looking gumdrops to decorate your Christmas tree. Craft Elf Original
	Fabric Ball Christmas Ornament Our easy kids craft instructions will teach you how to make a Christmas ornament from scraps of fabric.
	Craft Paper Gingerbread Man Ornaments Learn to craft scented gingerbread man ornaments from craft paper and glitter glue.
	Rice Ornaments With our unique instructions, you can turn an ordinary fill able ornament into an extraordinary family heirloom to be cherished by generations to come. Craft Elf Original
	Melted Snowman Ornament Learn the secrets to crafting a melted snowman ornament from glue.
	Ribbon Candy Ornament So realistic, friends and family will think you have actual candy on your tree.
	Mice Ornaments No sewing required for these simple felt mice. Easy kids craft.
	Craft Foil Christmas Ornament Our free Christmas ornament craft instructions include full size pattern and purchase source for the foil. Easy kids craft!
	Snowman Ornament These Country Snowman Ornaments can be sewn in a jiffy with the full size pattern included. Craft Elf Original
	Gingerbread Man Ornaments Sew up some Christmas memories with these simple Gingerbread Man Ornaments made from felt. Craft Elf Original
	Penguin Ornament Our original design, this penguin ornament will be a hit with the kids when you sew it up and hang it on your Christmas tree. Includes full size pattern. Craft Elf Original
	Wreath & Candy Cane Beaded Ornaments Instructions for these beaded Christmas ornaments include lacey and simple versions and make a great kids holiday craft.
	Christmas Card Ornament Need a project to use those recycled Christmas cards? Here it is. Three versions of this ornament are included. Easy kids craft.
	Mitten Ornaments Instructions for the blanket stitch along with directions for painting holly leaves and a full size pattern are all included. Craft Elf Original
	Clothespin Reindeer Ornament Easy kids Christmas craft project lets kids have fun painting reindeer ornaments made from clothespins.
	Cinnamon Stick Ornaments Picture frame and bundle of firewood Christmas ornaments are made from cinnamon sticks and add a nice scent to your holiday tree. Craft Elf Original
	Set of Football Ornaments Set #1 Instructions included to craft a Scoreboard Ornament, Football Field Ornament and a Football Santa Ornament complete with full size pattern for Football Santa. Craft Elf Original
	Snowmen Football Ornaments Set #2 Our trio of Snowmen Football Ornaments includes a cheerleader, football player and referee. Sewing is required to complete these Christmas ornaments. Full size pattern included. Craft Elf Original
	Football Christmas Ornament Set #3 Free pattern and instructions to craft pompom, pennant and yardage marker football Christmas Ornaments. Craft Elf Original