The tech world is buzzing about the new Martha Stewart Crafts app for iPad, and I can see why.

Long ago, I used to babysit for a family who had their attic converted into a professional scrapbooking room. Filled with stacks of patterned acid-free papers and matching sticker embellishments, it just begged for someone to sit in it for hours and hours and hours getting their crafty on. I just knew when I grew up and had kids I’d do that very thing.

As it turns out, I did not. Not even close. And I know I’m not alone here.

But Martha Stewart did. So it’s no surprise that for those of us with the will, but not the time–and maybe not even the talent with craft scissors–she came up with a way to digitize the scrapbooking, memory-keeping and photo-embellishment experience in the most beautiful way we’ve seen yet.

The Martha Stewart CraftStudio app for iPad is intended for crafters and non-crafters of all ages and skill levels–though really, kids should be over six. It lets you create and customize digital cards, invitations, thank-you notes, scrapbook pages, keepsakes–the things not all of us are crafty enough to do with real paper.

Tappable colored and patterned “paper” backgrounds, stickers, stamps, glitter, textured borders, fonts, and punches are as gorgeous as you’d expect, and they let you customize for any occasion. Seriously, it’s so easy you do not have to be a craft maven or even a photoshop whiz to use this. I created a beautiful page in about five minutes.

While getting breakfast ready. With one kid hanging on my leg.

An instructional in-app video starts things off with a quick app tour and tutorial. Watch it. It’s short and shares good-to-know tips like how to lock layers and how to save to your iPhoto library. One thing it doesn’t tell you though, is that leaving “craft drawers” open means you can’t lock layers in place, which means you might accidentally mess up what you just worked on. Ahem.

When you’re finished, show off your mad digital crafting skills across Facebook and Twitter, send your creations via email, or what I really like is that you can print them out at home using AirPrint technology. You can even upload designs to Snapfish for professional printing, should you not want to do that yourself either.

The app comes with four themed bundles that are great for everyday use. Five additional themed
bundles of punches, papers, stickers, and glitter are available via in-app purchase (be careful if you let your kiddos use it) for $1.99 each which is very reasonable. Especially if you think you’ll keep using this through the calendar year. I’m sure more will be added once we’re past “Vacation Adventure” and “Summer Fun” season.

The very best part: the app and the four bundles are entirely free until July 8. If there was ever a time to start fulfilling those scrapbooking fantasies that you never quite followed through on, I’d say this is it -Pilar

Download The Martha Stewart CraftStudio app on iTunes right now for free through 7/8/12, courtesy of their partner Snapfish. Regular price is $4.99. I’d still buy it anyway. It’s that addictive.