Creativity the 'do carfts' way (Docrafts Creativity!)

Name: Thailui

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Product:	Docrafts Creativity!
Date:	09/07/07 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent craft magazine at a cost of £1

Disadvantages: Available through 'do crafts' stockists

'do crafts’ Creativity is a glossy craft magazine produced by the company ‘do crafts’ and sold by stockists of their products. For the most part it is aimed at the card-making and scrap-booking markets which are so popular at the moment, but this month they have also included some jewellery making as well.

Inside you will find information about new products and suggestions on how they can be used for the best effect. As with most craft magazines there are many card and scrapbook designs complete with step-by-step instructions – rubber-stamping, embossing, decoupage, quilling and beadwork - but plenty more besides.

For instance there are ‘give away’ pages; the current magazine has over £900’s worth including: Rubber Stamps, Papermania Embellishment Sets, Die-cut shapes and Outline Stickers, Embossing Powders and Paper Packs – to name but a few. This is the usual – send your name on a postcard type of giveaway. There are also competitions – one prize this month being a two night spa break in the Peak District worth £500.

The latest issue of this magazine (issue 4 - out this week) has a big focus on making Christmas cards. “What! In July?” I hear you say. Well, to card makers it is never too early and we are always on the look out for something new to try. This is a magazine that ‘showcases’ for the ‘do crafts’ range with the latest products from such places as: Papermania, See D’s, Craft Planet, Anita’s Art Stamps and more. In here you will see them before they reach the local shops and also find out which have ‘special offers’ – BOGOF or Introductory Price for example.

There is a lot of emphasis on card making in this magazine although scrap-booking and other crafts are also featured. This year they ran a “Create a Card for Cancer” campaign in which readers sent in their hand made efforts in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. These were then passed on to the Charity for sale in their shops. They received 75,000 cards which were expected to sell for about £1 each which would, of course, go directly to the charity. This was quite an achievement as the campaign only ran for about four months. I’m sure it will be repeated next year.

Also included in this magazine is a children’s page “Kids’ Club”. This is for the small children – and we all know how they like to make things too. Some fun ideas for the younger crafters!

There are many of the usual items to be found in magazines such as readers’ letters and questions, a gallery of readers’ cards and another of scrap-book pages. All will give you idea for your own projects. Incidentally, there is also a prize for the best letter.

Page 35 announces that the search is on for the ‘do crafts’ Crafter of the Year – I’m sure there are crafters among you that would fancy their chances – why not? I KNOW there are some superb card makers out there.

In my opinion, this is one of the best of the craft magazines and, considering its price of £1 – yes, ONE pound (or €1.50) it is fantastic value for money. They even give a free gift of stickers or stencils usually – that would normally cost this amount on its own! The only draw back is that you have to find the ‘do crafts’ stockist to buy it. This isn’t usually difficult though and can be found through their website: www.docrafts.co.uk. This is a very useful site too – and always lets you know (if you subscribe to their newsletter) when the magazine is in the shops.

Do I recommend this magazine? Oh yes! In fact, I cancelled a subscription to another magazine (costing three times the amount) in favour of this one. With the more expensive one I would look through it once and forget it – with this one I actually have two within reach at this moment and keep finding further things of interest each time I look through.

I hope that you will find this of interest and thank you for reading it – Happy Crafting!

Summary: One of the best of the craft magazines at a fraction of the usual cost