Vendor Spotlight: Meyer Imports

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This is the first of a series of articles highlighting Meyer Imports, a unique craft supplier, who generously supplied a handful of our reporters with some super cool products. Here's a blurb about Meyer Imports in their own words:

Meyer Imports is a direct importer of very unique craft, art and hobby supplies from small European manufactures. We are a family-run company that works hard to seek out products from small boutique European companies, who create products you will not find in any other store. From Glitter Glass, to Cotton Mushroom, to a complete line of embellishments and paper arts, we are adding great new products and kits every month.

Having been in business for over 50 years, we have exclusive vintage inventory that dates back to the 1960's, such as our small vintage embellishments and charms from German companies that are no longer even in business. Our goal is to offer the highest quality to crafters and artists who want supplies that are as unique as the items they design.

We here at Craft Critique were thrilled to try our hand at some fantastic products, so be on the look-out for several articles a day for the rest of the week, ending on Friday afternoon with a Meyer Import GIVEAWAY! You can comment on any of the articles to be entered (one comment per person, per article, please)

Without further ado, let's see what Susie had to say...

Reported By Susie Ziegler

What fun to get a package of goodies from Meyer Imports! I received the take and make craft kit, vintage aviary postcards, vintage gnome themed silks, and a bunch of children themed stickers.

There is a bit of wayward glitter in my craft kit. That glitter is premium German Glass Glitter and it has superior sparkle and with more substantial texture than regular glitter. I didn't use it in my projects, but I'm assured by the website that the lovely glitter adheres with ordinary glittering methods.

So cute! It's all sort of begging to be put in a little shadow box or diorama. There is an assortment of miniature charms and flat backed plastic treasures. There are some especially adorable tiny mushrooms that are about the size of wire flower stamens.

I used glass and bead glue to adhere some of the little flat backed charms to some flathead pins. These charms are very tiny, but have lovely detail and quality.

Slightly larger mushrooms are attached to a wire making them perfect for a little knob on this paper mache box. The moss provided in the craft kit is soft and supple, much nicer than the dry cracked stuff I found at my local craft store. The wee birdie is so precious. I'd like to order several more of those!

The children stickers are vintage images printed on modern sticker material. As is typical of vintage children images, the rosy-cheeked children look strangely grown up. The most puzzling is the little boy cheerfully serving a cooked lobster with an extremely unsafe looking knife in his belt. This image is one of my faves, so I made it into a simple little gift tag. Also pictured in this photo is a ladybug mini clothespin, and a little barrette made from some silk flowers with a teeny tiny mushroom from the kit growing out of the flower center.

Next I have these lovely Aviary Postcards. They really aren't at all like postcards. They are playing card sized. These stand out in the set of papers and embellishments as actually having a vintage feel. Most of the items (apart from the resin miniatures) are vintage styled modern materials. These Aviary Postcards are misleadingly labeled in the sticker category but have no stickiness at all and are not "cards" but sturdier glossy paper. The images are lovely, slightly embossed, and very vintage.

I used these beautiful, colorful birds to make a set of pretty notecards with some paper I had on hand:

Finally, I got a full set of their gnome silks. These gnomes are adorably active in the woods. Each packet comes with two matching silks:

Again, these are not really vintage. These are vintage images printed not on silk, but on what feels like a modern polyester satin. The edges were raveling slightly, but I took care of that right away with a little trim and some fray check.

It's okay with me that this is not really silk. I was relieved to be able to handle these just like my regular fabric. I stitched them up into some cute quilt blocks. I have enough here to make a nice doll or small baby quilt, but when I stitch up all twelve silks, I'll have a full sofa quilt! The fabric pictured here is from a moda jelly roll pack. You can't tell, but these quilt blocks measure about 11 inches by 12 inches.

Pros:

• Adorable vintage style
• High quality materials are easily use in many craft aplications. Each item that I handled was of a premium quality.
• Prices are reasonable
• Little miniatures are inspiring to have and make fun embellishments even if you aren't into model making

Cons:

• Labels and descriptions are a bit misleading. Fabric is not "silk" but silky. Some stickers and cards are neither stickers nor cards.
• Website has some category issues. Mushrooms and Moss is empty, but I found mushroom and moss available on the site.

This assortment of items from Meyer Imports was inspiring to have. I'm making a little list in my head of things I want to order soon (wee birdies, mushrooms, flower stickers, that gorgeous glitter...).

Seriously, how can I resist?!

Be on the look-out for the next article in our series, and be sure to leave a comment to be entered in our giveaway. And go check out Meyer Imports and give them some love!