The Martha Stewart CraftStudio iTunes App: Designing Personal Cards on Your iPad

I’m an aspirational crafter. I want to do it. I really do. I love the heavy designer papers, stamps, stencils and punches. And I have some great ones tucked away in a basket in my home office. But I rarely find the time to physically drag them out for a project. Excitingly for me, that’s about to change thanks to a creative partnership between Happy.is (a sophisticated iOS interactive app developer) and the Martha Stewart Crafts team.

The new free Martha Stewart CraftStudio app on iTunes offers an exciting, easy to use digital crafting toolkit to make personalized cards on your iPad.

Based on Martha Stewart’s paper card designs, styles, and tools, the app transforms the art of card and brings into the digital world. With dozens of choices, you can create personalized cards, announcements, thank you notes, event invitations, scrapbook pages, and decorated photos.

For example, the app allows you to upload your own photo, give it a themed border and message, and email out the finished design as a holiday card. Alternatively, you could print the card with their high-quality Airprint and frame it or make it festive fridge art of family memories. You can display the crafts through email, Facebook, or Twitter.

In addition to be able to send to your printer, the app has also teamed up with Snapfish for uploading and printing and offers a built-in photo library to save your work.

Using the Martha Stewart CraftStudio App

I found the design process easy, even as a seldom-crafter, and it only took me a few minutes to complete a unique and professional-looking card. I love that the iPad transforms into the crafting table and the cards build from the base up just as if I crafted a card by hand. The process starts with the background and then you add on design elements step by step. You can also easily switch between layers to edit and rearrange and even smooth digital glue to mount. The paper comes in nearly every shade imaginable, along with themed patterns and designs.

The app also boasts an extensive set of craft tools so large that I’m still discovering all of the options. The toolkit includes a pen, type tool, stamps, stickers, glitter, specially shaped hole punches, unique fonts, and creative borders. The app comes with four built-in themes: Everyday, Birthday Party, Doily Lace, and Nature. Additional themes can be purchased on iTunes, including Summer Fun, Vacation Adventure, Elegant Celebrations, and the Great Outdoors.

I especially love that there’s an undo button - something that real crafting cannot offer up after that punch has been made or glue applied. And afterwards there’s no washing off all that glitter that’s stuck to your skin and clothes. I may yet turn into a crafter, and certainly a craftier iPad user!

The Martha Stewart CraftStudio app costs $4.99 to download on iTunes. Also, visit www.marthastewart.com to learn more about the app and their Martha Stewart CraftStudio App Pinterest Contest.

Disclosure: I attended a Martha Stewart CraftStudio launch event to facilitate this post.