1. Pins are very easy to make and can be warn all the time. I have some great ribbon thats Red, White and Blue strips. From one yard of ribbon you can make 4 lapel pins. Divided the ribbon into 4 even pieces. Comes to 9 in. each. Take each piece and glue it in half to form a flat loop. You can glue a small flower or even a dove in the center and then a pin or magnet to the back. There will be a quick video of me making one of these available on youtube this week. Watch our blog or twitter feed. I will post there when Its completed. 
   

Another pin for maybe the teen and up age to put together is a safety pin flag. Directions for these are found all over the web. You can use seed beads or e-beads, depending on how big your pins are. About.com has a family crafts section that has a pattern to get you started.

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/beadedsafetypins/l/blspamflag.htm

If you knit or crochet why not think about making a project to donate to a veteran. Knityourbit.com has a section dedicated to organizations that accept handmade items. http://knityourbit.com/category/for-our-troops/ 

Knittingpatterncentral.com has and entire page of links to free knitted patterns to show your love to the red white and blue. 

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/patriotic.php

Not to be out done by crochetpatterncentral.com who also has a list of links. http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/patriotic.php

There are patterns on each of these sites for every skill level so you have no excuse. 

For something educational, Darice has a line of Historical Foamie Kits. They come pre-cut and easy to assemble. Each of the 6 different figures comes with a brief bio of the character in history. They retail for around $2.99

New Product Section:

1. ✤Coats & Clark will be discontinuing their dual duty plus sewing thread in early 2009. In its place they are expanding their line. due out the end of summer 08 which will be Dual Duty XP as in Xtra Performance thread.  It will be available in 3 sizes, Fine, general purpose and heavy duty. All the colors will still be available but if you're working on a project, try and make sure you have enough just incase the dielot changes a bit. They also will be on a new color coded smooth edged trap spool that holds the thread securely. 
   

1. ✤Now everyone has seen the dummies line of books. Well now they have the dummies line of craft instruction kits. 8 kits with everything from Cartooning to Oil Painting. A complete list will be on our site. 
   

1. ✤And lastly, the 2009 calendars are starting. Bucilla's line of 2009 Jeweled felt calendars are available now for under $13 and new this year are designs from TOBIN HOME FASHIONS for under $12.
   

1. ✤Pre-orders are now being taken for the craft line of 2009 Lesson a day desk calendars. from beading to scrapbooking you will have 365 different patterns for what every your passion is.