I’ve been using an iPhone for several years, but never really got drawn in by the whole “App” culture. Previous to this review, I only had games and a handful of free social networking Apps on my phone, so I was excited to try out a few of the craft Apps that are available.

I tried out four Apps that are all related to scrapbooking or paper crafting in some way. The first two Apps are functional digital scrapbooking tools, and the second two are content-based Apps. Keep in mind while reading my reviews that there are inherent limitations to crafting and reading content on a small iPhone screen, which even the best Apps can’t surpass.

Cost: Free, but you can upgrade the app for $5.99 and buy additional kits for $.99 each

Coolibah is a digital scrapbooking App that allows you to create scrapbook pages right on your iPhone or iPad using your camera phone photos or other imported images. The free version of the App includes some free digital papers and design elements and is fun to play around with. The upgraded version has nearly limitless options when used with some of the premium kits. This is my favorite of the crafting Apps that I reviewed because of its versatility and the wide range of available design elements. (You can learn more about Coolibah on their website.)

• Free version of the App is available so you can try it out before investing in the upgraded version.
• They offer many free kits that include digital papers and embellishments, plus over 130 premium designer kits available for purchase.
• You can save your pages and go back to work on them later.
• With the upgraded App you can export high resolution pages to use on your computer or print.

• The App crashed on my phone a couple times – but my phone is old.
• With the free version of the App all of the pages include the Coolibah watermark.

Cost: $1.99

The eScrap App from 300dpi.com is another digital scrapbooking App similar to Coolibah. It allows you to create digital scrapbook pages directly on your iPhone using your photos and their selection of digital papers and embellishments.

• Offers cool filters (like black & white and sepia tone) that you can use to alter your photos.
• Has “quick page” options that are pre-made pages that you can quickly add your photos to.
• You can export your pages via email, or send them to Facebook or Twitter.

• You cannot save your pages to work on later. You must export them when you are done or you lose them.
• Elements are difficult to resize and position.
• The selection of design elements is limited to what comes with the original App. You can’t purchase additional design kits at this time.
• The pages are not high resolution.

Cost: Free

Cost: $4.99

Clear & Simple Stamps is a website that sells variety of designer paper crafting stamps. Their corresponding iPhone App is extremely simple. It basically shows you a new stamped project each day for inspiration. The daily project also includes step-by-step project instructions and a list of the tools and stamps used. The App is nicely designed and easy to use, but you can only view one project each day and you cannot save them for later viewing. The only interactivity included in the App is the ability to buy any of the supplies used in the daily project directly from the phone. I am really unclear as to why this App costs $4.99 when there are tons of project images available for free on the Clear & Simple Stamps website and the only thing you can do with the App is buy their products. In my opinion, this App should be totally free and I would not recommend purchasing it – just visit the website instead.

———-

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing with these four craft Apps. They are a great way to pass some time while you are on the subway or waiting for an appointment. However, crafters who are used to doing digital scrapbooking on a large computer monitor may find the phone-sized crafting very frustrating. The Apps are definitely not a replacement for your computer-based digital scrapbooking, but they are a great on-the-go diversion.

Have you used any of these Apps? What did you think? What are you favorite craft-related mobile Apps?