3. Recommended by friends or family
4. Enables spending time with others
5. Interaction with children
6. Economy/value
7. Memory keeping
8. Health
— Craft & Hobby Association

 · · · · · 

Top 10 Crafts

Ranked by total sales

1. Scrapbooking/memory crafts: $2.59 million
2. Art & drawing: $1.94 million
3. Other painting and finishing: $1.83 million
4. Home decor/painting/accessorizing: $1.59 million
5. Woodworking: $1.34 million
6. Wedding/bridal: $1.26 million
7. Card making: $1.22 million
8. Floral arranging: $1.22 million
9. Quilting: $1.15 million
10: Jewelry making: $1.14 million
— Craft & Hobby Association

 · · · · · 

Batik-dyed bookmarks

Rit Dye, long a standby for fabrics, can also be used for paper crafts. Dyes can be sprayed, drizzled, dripped or brushed onto paper. For best results use 90-pound watercolor paper. Batik-dyed papers can be used to make greeting cards, album covers, scrapbook pages and paper-covered home accessories. Dyed paper can be decoupaged onto desk accessories, picture frames, clay pots, lampshades and more.

Here's how to dye paper:

1. Cover work area with several layers of newspaper.

2. Prepare dyes. Mix 2 teaspoons powder dye or 1 teaspoon liquid dye with 1/2-1 cup very hot tap water. Leave dye in a measuring cup or pour into a spray bottle. Note: Powdered dyes can be mixed with less water to achieve more intense color. Liquid dyes can be used full strength.

3. To create a batik-dyed effect, stamp, stencil or brush a resist medium, such as Crafter's Pik Batik-EZ, onto watercolor paper. Let resist dry. Powdered embossing powders can also be used with stamped images and heat set to create a resist.

4. Spray, dip, drizzle or brush the dye solution over the entire piece of paper. Other dye colors may be added for blending or highlighting detail areas. Start with light colors and drip or spray more intense colors on top to blend wet-on-wet.