Guest post by my creative friend, Shannon Weidemann.
Crafting is a great creative outlet. It involves your mind, your eyes and your hands. One of the handiest tools to have around can be your smartphone. I would like to help you explore it's full potential with the best craft apps for your smartphone.
Whether you are looking for inspiration, tools, or ways to record your efforts, there is an app for that. There are options whether you own an AT & T Blackberry, an iPhone, or an Android phone. Here are some of my favorites.
- Pinterest. This website is absolutely sweeping across the web as one of the best places to share creative ideas. Now there is a free iPhone app to go along with it. You can take pictures and upload them to your boards, check out those you are following, and explore what people have pinned recently. There is not an app for Blackberry or Android yet, but hopefully they are working on it.
- Craft Stores. You would not get very far without someplace to buy your craft supplies. Jo-ann offers apps for both the iPhone and Android and Michaels offers iPhone and Android versions as well. These free apps let you find the closest store based on your location, get the newest coupons, find craft projects, create a shopping list, and share with your friends.
- Row Counters. The perfect app for the knitters and crocheters out there, it replaces the easy to get reset plastic row counters that you throw to the bottom of your project bag. There is nothing more frustrating that picking up a project and finding out that your row counter is set back to zero and not knowing what row in the pattern you are in. There are some great row counter apps for your smartphone including CuteCounter for the Android, Counter Ultimate for the Blackberry, and Knit Counter for the iPhone. Plus some of them keep track of multiple projects if you have more than one knit or crochet item going at a time. These apps start at $1.99 which is cheaper than a traditional row counter.
- Sketchbook. Find yourself doodling on restaurant napkins when you are out to eat? Or trying to find a piece of paper and a pencil when creativity strikes? With these smartphone apps you can paint and draw to your heart's content. Download Sketchbook Mobile for the iPhone, Sketchbook Mobile for the Android and Sketch Book for Blackberry.
- Etsy Addict. When you don't have time to create and would rather do some shopping for handmade items, then this is the app for you. Browse through listings, search based on tag, materials, description, price and color. You can also look at seller information and feedback, plus purchase right through the app. Plus I love that if you are interrupted by a phone call or need to close the app, it opens up right where you left off so you don't lose what you were looking at. I could only find this app for the iPhone but there may be something similar for the Android and Blackberry.
Enjoy your crafting time even more with these smartphone apps.
Shannon Weidemann is a freelance writer for Prepaid Reviews, a site that provides information about prepaid cell phones coupled with over 17,000 consumer reviews of 30+ service providers such as Tracfone.
