October 16th 2006
LED blouses, cute knitted robots and a battle hauberk….
It’s just a bit passed midnight on Monday…late Sunday night should I say? Four batches of soap in the molds with 3 more still to go. I must admit I goofed off this afternoon and actually saw my husband! There are times I wonder if I will ever see Colin (he currently is up at the house sleeping while I work!) as the exciting world of hand crafted body care is in full holiday swing. It’s the third night of living down at the shop…I miss my big bed at home…..Hard to image I am pondering Mother’s day already.
But no worries, I do have diversions while oils and lye are cooling. My diversion? It’s the premeire edition of Craft Magazine. Marie at HomeOfTheSampler contacted me about reviewing a new DIY Craft magazine. I’ll be the first to admit I am not “crafty”, but I really liked this first edition. It arrived Saturday and the first thing I noticed….was the quality of the paper, ok the cover is pretty cute too! It is not one of the cheesy woman’s mags with thin paper and glossy photos - it’s actually like a really nice text/manual I use to own in college with great quality pictures….not what I expected.
As far as subject matter, it covers just about everybody and every taste. It’s alternative crafts with flair and practicality built in. The title is no joke - and that ’s just a bit of what this little mag covers. I really liked the article on the LED blouse…not that I am young enough to carry something like that off with any sort of dignity, but it was very cool and I would have been all over it in 1980! For those with little ones, I had to have a laugh about the Punk Up the Plastic photo on the back page….how wonderful are mom’s creative ideas? Fashion designer Winter Rosebudd totally punked out a Lil Tyke Kiddie car for her uber adobable son. If I had a child, I would do that! All the directions for each idea is laid out well and with a logical flow, pictures of what you need, little quote boxes with extra info and usually length of time to do the project.
What’s great about this magazine to me are that all the reference spots are right in the article…I hate having to “go to the shopping section to find resources” of other magazines, Craft Magazine has all the references right with the articles - makes life easier.
I was I little surprised at the off the rack price of the magazine at $14.99 at first. But once you start to look inside, it’s worth it. Why? Besides the fun, inspriing crafts that aren’t stenciled table clothes of autum leaves (a pet peeve of mine), but the ads are all in the front or back…..it’s great. And the ads that are there are not bothersome like with other magazines - yeah they are there, and they have to be, but the way Craft handled it was quite nice in my opinion. I will certainly look at the ads as I am not bothered every page. Why can’t more publications understand that? I understand pimping your advertisers/products, but have some class when you do it.
Ok, probably not the most fun review, but the little things are what matters to me. I know in their next issue, I will probably not be bombarded with inserts everywhere, ads every other pages and when I pick it up, it will be special because of the feel of the paper. I actually have to pay for the next one, and I will. Strange I know, but things like that make this magazine stand out to me. There’s a ton of craft/DIY mags out there, and you can go to a thousand different websites or forums on the web to find craft ideas, but when you receive something that feels special it just makes it worth it. And I do like to receive things in the mail…maybe it’s old fashion and not terribly eco-friendly but it’s nice to look at pictures, flip pages and sip a cup of tea without a computer screen blaring at you.
So, good job to Craft! You can find their website at http://www.craftzine.com and there is so much just on the website and the blog that it will keep you busy! The blog is done by a variety of upcoming indie designers so there’s always something new.
OK, I know Botanical Earth isn’t a cooking site, but I just had to share these Halloween ideas for your next party! It’s not for the faint of dining I warn you. I found this through the ever humorous 
I was checking out a couple of different blogs today while my lye was cooling, and found one that is written by someone with my very same views of “hand crafted” and why it’s so great. I am terrible at writing mission statements, mainly because I was forced to write them in corporate training workshops, as they always seem so silly or pompous. But check out what handmade is all about at 
