Vendor Spotlight: EK Success - Martha Stewart Crafts Halloween

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Reported by Martha Bonneau

Every year as Halloween approaches, I start stalking my local Michaels to see if the Martha Stewart Crafts Halloween items are in yet. Martha never lets me down; she always has the best (and spookiest!) items. If you are at all familiar with the items in the Martha Stewart Crafts line for EK Success you know that, for the most part, everything is super cute with a vintage touch here and there. What makes the Halloween line stand out for me is that cute goes out the window and they go much darker...think skulls, and bats and spiders oh my! One of the stand-out products for me this year is the patterned paper pad:


In this pad you get 24 double-sided sheets of paper in an assortment of designs. These are quality, heavy-weight papers with added details such as flocking, embossing and glitter. I love that these papers have so many elements on them that you can cut out and use in a variety of ways like labels, tags and embellishments. There are even 4 templates provided on the back of the packaging to help you create paper decorations...I think that's a great (and green!) idea.


I admit it, I am a sucker for cupcake liners; I love to use them in my papercrafting projects. As someone who has a lot of cupcake liners in my stash, I have to say I buy the Martha Stewart Crafts ones every season as I love the designs she comes up with...plus they coordinate perfectly with all of the papercrafting items in the line, which makes them easy to use. I created this altered book using papers from the paper pad (the skeleton and the labels are cut from the patterned papers), some of the fabulous cupcake liners and layered stickers. I am sure those liners are fabulous with a cupcake in them too!




Another aspect of the products in the Martha Stewart line is that they are versatile enough to use on many different types of projects... you don't necessarily have to be a papercrafter to enjoy these products. I used the spiderweb die-cut felt ribbon as an embellishment on these simple fleece scarves. I just used some fabric glue to adhere it into place and there you go... perfect scarves for a night of trick-or-treating.



Of course you can't write about Martha Stewart Crafts without mentioning the glitters, and oh, what wonderful glitters they are!

I received a set of 6 glitters in complementary colors for Halloween that come with their own little tube of adhesive. Why do I love these glitters so much (and this is coming from a non-glittery girl)... first of all, the colors are the best and they complement the rest of the line perfectly. Secondly, the texture is wonderful as it is very, very fine. A little bit goes a long way so even though the containers in the Halloween assortment look small, you will get a lot of use out of them. Each of the containers has a shaker top and is very easy to use. You can use the adhesive that comes in the package or any other adhesive you would normally use to adhere glitter. I was surprised at the precision of the tube of adhesive that came with the glitter set as I could even use it to write with.


Another of my favorites are the edge punches
For this review I received the Fence edge punch. The punches are a great way to add a decorative border to your cardstock or patterned paper. I found this punch very easy to use; it didn't take massive amounts of pressure to make a punch, and the cuts were clean and precise. I own quite a few of the Martha Stewart Crafts punches and have been very happy with all of them. I made this card by accenting the edge of the paper with the Fence punch, the spider is cut from one of the sheets of patterned paper in the pad and then accented with some of the glitter.


Pros:

• Full range of products that coordinate through design and color.
• Great designs!
• High quality, everything has the look and feel of quality.
• Not just for the papercrafter, all kinds of crafters will enjoy these items.

Cons:

• Hard to find unless you have a Michaels in your area, Wal*Mart and Archivers carry some of the line but not all of it.

I had a great time tapping into my inner ghoul with Martha Stewart Crafts Halloween line from EK Success... let us know what you think!

EK Success has generously donated some of the products featured in the weeks reviews to give away to our great readers! Please leave your comments on this article to win a Martha Stewart Crafts – Mini 6 pack Halloween glitter set from EK Success Brands. You have until Sunday, October 18 at Midnight to enter.