Martha Stewart has partnered with EK Success to release a line of scrapbooking products.  At Scrapbook.com., we think this is a good development.  As you probably have discovered by now, Martha Stewart has a unique ability to make specialized activities appeal to broad groups of people (usually women).  Whether it’s cooking, home décor, or, now, crafting, she has been able to introduce large groups of people to new activities in a simple and non-overwhelming way.  Scrapbook.com. welcomes all attempts to introduce new audiences to the joy of scrapbooking.

 

In a recent press release, Martha Stewart said, “Scrapbooking and crafts have always been hobbies of mine – and ones that we have been teaching people how to do through our magazines and television shows for years. Whether it’s to document a special event, such as a wedding or a child’s first birthday, or to preserve a family’s prized photographs, scrapbooking appeals to everyone. It is a pleasure to partner with EK Success, a company that shares our commitment to developing innovative and creative products.”

 

Who knew that scrapbooking had always been a hobby of Martha Stewart’s all these years?  She is one busy woman!  Hopefully her company’s interest in crafting and, particularly, scrapbooking will remain strong through the coming years

 

So what does the Martha Stewart EK Success line consist of?

 

From the early prototypes we saw, it primarily focuses on Baby and Wedding themes.  The materials are geared to beginner, but that doesn’t mean they’re plain looking.  The products are  elegant and should appeal to many “upscale” beginning scrapbookers.  The designs are based on a 4-color palette and have a broad, though somewhat generic, appeal.  In our opinion, the line will probably not be as appealing to long-time scrappers, but should appeal to non-scrapbookers and bring them into the scrapbooking family.  This would be very good for the scrapbooking industry in general.

 

One interesting note is that the release will feature 18x18 album options.  This will be a first for the industry.  We feel that there will be limited appeal for this product, but we could be wrong and are interested to see how the market responds to it.

 

“Scrapbooking has taken hold across every demographic, and we are thrilled to be partnering with the industry leader, EK Success,” said Robin Marino, President of Merchandising at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

 

EK Success is an industry behemoth with the distribution wherewithal and product development know-how to make sure that new scrapbookers who get these products have a pleasant experience by, among other things, avoiding overwhelm.   We think that Marino’s claim that scrapbooking has taken hold of every demographic is a bit of a stretch, but it true that a wide variety of people are attracted to the craft, crossing generational and social boundaries.  Kudos to Martha Stewart for picking up on the trend, albeit somewhat late in its history.  Better late than never! 

 

Martha’s involvement tells us that scrapbooking has gone mainstream where it joins knitting, quilting, and other activities in the pantheon of long-standing and far-reaching craft activities, and stays free from the crafting purgatory where toll painting and macramé now reside.  It’s not a fly-by-night thing.  It’s here to stay.   And we’re grateful for this additional “validation” of its mainstream status.