We crafters are an accumulating lot.  We love us our tools and gadgets and do-dads and supplies.  This should make us an easy group to shop for!   When asked to recommend the Top 10 Gifts for Crafters, I wasn't surprised that my list was filled with tools and gadgets for everyone. In alphabetical order:

1.Glass beads can be used to embellish almost everything. You can add them to jewelry (well, duh!), string them into knitwear, sew them onto altered art, add them to scrapbooks, and use them in crafts. If your crafter is a real "hands on" creator, surprise her (or him) with something shiny!  The Amaco Warm Glass Jewelry Kit being offered from Dick Blick. According to the catalog description:

This kit has everything needed to create warm glass pieces for earrings, rings, necklaces, and bracelets. It’s also ideal for making small ornaments or decorative objects.

At $80, it's a reasonable beginning of a whole new obsession.


2.The ArtBin Tote Express carry all.($148)  All crafts are becoming social occasions with retreats, workshops, classes, camps and crafty pj parties!  Make it easy to carry all the necessary supplies to these get-togethers with a fabulous supply-designed rolling tote! 

3. Do you know a scrap booker or altered artist who keeps whispering this strange word: Cricut. You don't know if you should respect it as a new mantra or start looking for a noisy visitor in your home. (cricket.  Get it? Oh.. nevermind.)  According to several of my scrap-book-crazed friends, the buzz is all about the Cricut Machine ($299 plus supplies). The manufacturer explains:

The Cricut personal electronic cutter is the future of home crafting. Simply by touching a button. Cricut can cut beautiful designs and alphabets for card making, scrapbooking, and paper crafting. No computer is required, just plug it in.

4 .Fiskars 14" rotating cutting mat.  ($26) I explained why mine is cool last year, but my  Olfa is only 12" square. For about the same price, I'd sure like the extra finger room offered by Fiskar's 14" matt. A rotating cutting mat would be helpful for a quilter, a crafter working with fabrics or felts, a paper crafter cutting out shapes, and possibly a scrapbooker. 

5. Speaking of cutting, I don't know of any woman who wouldn't cherish her own pair of Gingher scissors. The limited edition on a rosebook box ($30) screams "give me as a present!" doesn't it? Ginghers are special because they make strong, sharp shears in both right and left hand configurations that are guaranteed for life.

6. KnitPicks Interchangeable Knitting Needles. These needles were first introduced about a year ago and are a wonderful way to build and expand someone's collection of needles. Nickel plated points join smoothly to cables that allow knitters almost infinite choices in one small package.  Imagine storing your entire knitting needle collection in one nifty carry case.  Then, just several weeks ago they introduced this beautiful set in wood! I've added to my set with the smaller needles that I use for socks, but aside from that this set of needles will fill almost every one of my knitting needs. The wood needles have been selling out quickly, and are often backordered, so decide if your knitter would appreciate the nickel set or an "it's coming, I promise" note more.

7. Every kind of crafter will appreciate better lighting.  Check out the craft-club.tv reviews of different Daylight Art and Craft lights!  Ranging from the compact desk lamps (ala the OTT Light) for $50, through table lamps equipped with pattern-holding clips and magnafying lenses for $140 to the Ultimate Floor Lamp for $245.  When the holidays come, say: Let There Be Light!

8. A Moleskine journal.  Trust me on this. If your crafter is always having inspiration in strange places, what better way to record them than in a classic Moleskine journal?  It's tangible support for the "I must write this down right now" obsession of most crafters.  I'm so totally taken with these sets of 3 smaller notebooks for about $10 that I picked a set up for myself and a couple spare for friends. One's in the car, one's in my purse and the third's in my gymbag. There are Moleskines with ruled pages, plain pages, graph pages, or sketchbook pages to suit your crafter's taste.

9.You can find Walnut Hallow Creative Heat Tool almost anywhere for about $30 but I love the way Quilting Arts explained how this is a useful tool for the crafty woman:

The Creative Heat Tool by Walnut Hollow is our latest favorite gadget. It can press, fuse, emboss, etch, transfer, cut—and it fits inside a large handbag or tote. What’s not to like?

Here are 10 ways to use this versatile tool in your art:

1. Print a design. Use one of the decorative tips (such as the nine-patch tip that comes with the tool or tips with borders, words, and letters purchased separately) to emboss a pattern or message on top of the fabric.
2. Emboss with a stamp. Turn the velvet right-side-down on a deeply etched rubber stamp, then run the hot trowel point over the back of the velvet, pressing it into the stamp to emboss.
3. Fuse small bits of fabric without disturbing larger areas.
4. Use the trowel tool to press hard-to-reach areas—especially useful for quilt corners and fabric doll parts.
5. Stitch layers of synthetic scraps topped with chiffon. Use the tapered tip to burn away areas of chiffon revealing the layers below.
6. Using a pointed tip cut a stencil from Mylar® or transparency material.
7. The same tip can do the work of a soldering iron, such as burning away synthetic felt or Tyvek®.
8. Color fabric with Shiva Paintstiks®, then heat-set the color with a flat tip (especially helpful on small areas, like an ATC).
9. Heat-transfer laser images to fabric.
10. Be safe: always take precautions to keep from burning yourself, such as using a pair of pliers to attach and detach the tips points and letting the letting them cool for 10 minutes before touching them. Also, work outside or in a well-ventilated area if you are going to use this tool for cutting, burning, or etching synthetics.

Any questions?

10.  Lastly, a gift that isn't a gadget.  Since you're reading this, you are part of the Web 2.0 world.  Blog hosting, photograph sharing sites, many the activities that support the crafty blogger can cost money.  Why not upgrade a service for a year?  Pay the hosting cost for a blog or really splurge and offer to have one of the fine design teams create a whole new look for your crafter?

I'm sure I'm missed some vital gift idea for someone, but this list offers at least one thing that anyone will love.  What else do you have on your list?? (I wanted to put a yarn swift and ball winder on this list, because piles of pretty yarn pucks?  Delish.. but couldn't choose what to remove...) Let's compare.  And if you're a gardening blogger, what I should I have on that list??

Debra Roby is looking seriously at 2, 5, 7, 9 and 10 for herself, as she already owns 4, 6, and 8. She blogs her creative live at A Stitch in Time and her mundane life at Deb's Daily Distractions .