By Jennifer Sergent
Scripps Howard News Service
Whether it's scrapbooking or needlework, craft projects usually involve the use of your hands.
But crafts have entered the 21st century along with the rest of us, and they increasingly involve the use of a computer mouse.
New products on exhibit at this year's Hobby Industry Convention in Dallas included computer inventory software for crafters of all kinds; scrapbook page layout programs and CD-ROMs containing vintage images to print on various media.
Laura Stradling of Kent, Wash., started producing crafters' inventory software after years of frustration in her own cross-stitching projects.
"I personally probably have five generations of charts and books" containing needlework patterns, she said. "When I wanted something, I was spending all my time looking for things."
Her first computer program was for needlework. Crafters can record their inventory from pre-set menus of threads and colors. There are spaces to record where a certain pattern is located, ideas for new projects and magazine page numbers for inspiration. Insurance companies accept the inventory reports for loss replacement values.
The "Organized Expressions" software now offers programs for quilting, sewing, knitting and crochet, rubber stamps and scrapbooking.
"It really just kept evolving because people kept saying, 'I want one for what I do,' " Stradling said. Each program sells for $29.95.
Scrapbookers with digital cameras will now have an easier time laying out their pages with software such as My Scrapbook 2, from Ulead Systems, Inc. in Torrance, Calif.
Ulead Director of Marketing Michelle Gallina -- an avid scrapbooker -- suggested the idea because Ulead already produces photo editing software called Photo Express. Why not customize that program for scrapbooking?
"I wanted to bring my hobby to work because I'm absolutely addicted to it," she said. Gallina was also armed with statistics that impressed the company:
- Scrapbooking is a $3.8 billion market, according to the Hobby Industry Association.
- And according to a reader survey of scrapbooking magazine, Creating Keepsakes, 37 percent of scrapbookers own a digital camera; 92 percent own a personal computer; 96 percent own a color printer and 64 percent own a scanner. Fifty-eight percent of readers also reported they plan to use computers more frequently in their scrapbook-related projects.
The "My Scrapbook" software is now producing its second version, which contains holiday and vacation templates for scrapbook pages, fonts for titles and myriad patterns for backgrounds and borders. The program also has 350 graphic images to apply as embellishment to the photographs.
Using this program, Gallina says, "I never run out of scrapbook supplies -- it's awesome!" The program sells for $29.95.
The Vintage Workshop, meanwhile, is leveraging computer technology to bring back vintage art that was popular a century ago.
In its third year, the Kansas City, Mo., workshop has already produced 16 "Click-n-Craft" CD-ROMs with old-time images, ranging in theme from gardens to holidays to babies.
It also sells paper, fabric and magnet sheets for printing the images onto anything from greeting cards to clothing to refrigerator magnets.
"Because of the future of technology in our lives, it's not going away. This is a way to embrace it, use it," said Amy Barickman, Vintage Workshop founder.
Look for the Vintage Workshop on upcoming programs on the DIY--Do It Yourself Network: DIY Scrapbooking with Sandi Genovese and a new card-making program called Greetings.
The vintage imagery was inspired by Barickman's mother's collection of vintage art and antique dolls, and the technology enables her to celebrate what is now a lost art form, she said.
"People don't create art like this anymore," she said. "There are not the graphic artists anymore who use the pen and ink." The look, however, "is so authentic and American." CD-ROM prices range from $19.99 to $34.99.
On the Net:
Organized Expressions -- www.lns-software.com
My Scrapbook 2 Software -- www.ulead.com
Vintage Workshop -- www.thevintageworkshop.com
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