FaveCrafts

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Turn Your Creative Hobby Into Income

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You love crafting – we all do – but have you ever thought about selling your handmade goods for a little pocket money? At the very least, you could clear out some clutter and make a little extra cash to spend on more craft supplies!

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Don’t worry if this sounds like something you’d love to do but have no idea how to get started. We here at FaveCrafts have spent a lot of time writing, researching, and collecting tips from people who love to sell their handmade crafts and put it all in one easy place.

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Creative Income Blog is where we post brand new articles weekly for creative business owners and hobbyists. You’ll find tips on selling at craft fairs, selling online, how to price your crafts to you don’t end up loosing money, and even tips on photographing your products and how to start your own blog!

We also have a weekly email newsletter that will show up straight in your inbox with craft business tips and tricks so that you can start making that pocket money to support your craft supply habit (it’s okay, we suffer from that addiction too).

Sign up for Creative Income fromFaveCrafts to start learning how to turn your hobby into income!

Have you ever tried selling the crafts you’ve made?

Craft Fair Must-Haves: 5 Coin Purses to Make

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If you are a creative person who likes to make a little pocket money from your crafts, attending craft fairs is a big part of your lifestyle. It gives you a chance to meet like-minded people, expose your work to the community, and make a little change to spend on more craft supplies (let’s be honest, that’s always the goal). Our friends at Creative Income know all about this. They also know that when it comes to planning for a craft fair, there are several things you need besides an amazing table set up and fun product. One of those things on the craft fair checklist is change. And usually lots of it. Luckily, coin purses can help you keep some of those bills in order. These adorable and easy-to-make purses are just minutes away from being yours.

Cute and Simple Coin Purses

Macaron Coin Purse

Macaron Purse: The following round coin bag is inspired by macarons, a fluffy French dessert that melts in your mouth. This tutorial shows you how to make your own Macaron Purse quicker than it takes to bake the sweets themselves. You can keep your money tucked away safely all day long.

 

 

 

 

Cute Japanese Coin Purse: To bring some Eastern style to your handmade repertoire, try making this Cute Japanese Coin Purse. This little guy is not only an easy craft to make right before the show, but it’ll help keep you organized during – which is something any crafter can appreciate at busy shows.

Flower Coin PurseFlowered Coin Purse: A cute coin purse in 6 steps sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. Just follow this easy DIY tutorial and watch a simple coin purse transform into a beautiful beaded flower creation. It’s a stylish bag to hold your day’s hard-earned bounty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dragonfly Coin Purse or Wallet: An adorable dragonfly coin purse is really easy to make. It will grabbing change a breeze with velcro and a clip to attach to the inside of your backpack or belt loop.

Mini Backpack Coin Purse
Mini Backpack Coin Purse and Key Chain: This quick and fun craft attaches to your keys or purse and helps you keep track of how much money you’ve made during your latest craft fair. Plus, it’s just adorable and another way to show off how incredibly creative you are to all the potential customers.

 

 

 That’s not all…

Creative Income has a newsletter that is specially written for crafty people just like you. Discover the latest tips, tricks, and advice on how to navigate your way through the creative world. It’s so easy to subscribe to the Creative Income newsletter that you’ll be wondering why it’s taken you this long!

CHA: Experiences of a Craft Show Newbie

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As one of the newer editors here at FaveCrafts, I had never been to a craft trade show before.  I’d heard a lot about them and there’s been a ton of buzz around the office lately in anticipation of The Craft and Hobby Association’s Summer Conference and Trade Show, but I really didn’t know what to expect.

So yesterday, nerves all aflutter, I showed up at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL to experience my very first craft show. When I first stepped into the expansive show room, my jaw nearly hit the floor. I knew there would be a lot of booths, but not THIS many! And not only that, each booth had its own elaborate display showing off each company’s awesome products and other goodies. My nerves quickly went away and suddenly I felt like a kid in a candy store. This was seriously a crafter’s paradise!

There was something for everyone at this show. From adorable scrapbook papers and stickers to really cool yarns to colorful quilts… there were so many amazing things to check out!  We even saw a machine that embosses and cuts everything from paper to leather!  How cool is that?!?

Since I was there representing our brand new site, www.AllFreeHolidayCrafts.com, I was especially excited to see a lot of holiday-related crafts and supplies.  There were a lot of fun projects to make for Halloween, and TONS of ideas for Christmas. Glittery ornaments and paper centerpieces and Christmas cards galore.

There was also an awesome display of dresses for the Mixed Media Fashion Display.  This was part of a competition challenging CHA designer members to create a mixed-media “Crafty Couture” non-wearable gown worthy of the runway and red carpet.

This is just a taste of what we saw at the show. We’ll share more in future blog posts but we were so pumped up about our experience that we just had to tell you about some of it right away!

Thank you to CHA for showing this editor what craft trade shows are all about.  I had a fabulous time, learned a ton and met so many great people.  Now I see and understand what everyone’s been raving about!

What do you think of this sneak peek at the CHA Trade Show?  What do you want to know about the show?  Let us know and we’ll write about it in our next blog post!

How To Create Your Own Craft Selling Event!

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How to create your own craft selling event you ask? Maria Nerius has put together a nice guide on how to host an open house. She gives some tips about checking with your local government on any regulations you may have, timelines, dates and ideas on how to succussfully host an open house selling your crafts. Another tip includes calling your Department of Revenue to find out if state sales tax must be collected.

An open house is one of the ways that you can earn money to offset your craft habit or earn some extra income for your household. Many crafters would like to sell items they make, but don’t want to make a commitment of “becoming” a business.

Maria has some really great insiteful tips so be sure you read all about it.

National Irish Crafts and Design Fair

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Last weekend, I attended the National Crafts and Design Fair in south Dublin, thanks to complimentary tickets from a friend’s mother and master jeweler, Deborah Von Metzradt.  This was a huge event featuring all manor of crafters, with a huge food fair attached. I took a break from browsing and talking with crafters to forage this part of the fair and managed to bring home homemade salami from a small Italian farm and beautiful chocolate truffles. I had to have some “Apple Glow,” of course, warm spiced apple juice spiked with a bit of apple brandy. But, enough about the food. The crafters were amazing!

Dublin Craft Fair

As you can see from this image, the fair was quite huge. It even had a balcony with more booths.

Craft Fair 2

Sophia Kathalina makes packable, crushable and, most importantly for wet Dublin weather, waterproof hats. They are lovely, embellished goodies for your head.

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Beatriz Palacios makes the most lovely and fashionable headbands. Below, you’ll see a giant felt rose headband and more sparkly beaded headbands for your night on the town. I especially love the crochet bag with the yellow ribbon on the top right. Though I’ll refrain from scanning it, her business card is just adorable too: a butterfly cut out with tiny, textured butterfly re-attached.

headbands

Colorful, hand-crafted glass rings are always fun, like these from Richard Reichhold.

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For the kids, you can’t go wrong with puppets! I love the antlers on that one puppet. I didn’t catch the crafter’s name since he was super-busy with customers and didn’t seem to have any business cards. The arms and legs are made with cord so they whip around beautifully, and they are suspended from bouncy springs. I’d love to hang one in my nephew’s room.

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My favorite part of the fair was the prestigious winner’s area, which looked like a gallery space in the middle of the fair. The winner’s exhibition displayed winners by category, including felting, ceramics, calligraphy, weaving, knitting & crochet, quilting, embroidery, and more. Check out the giant, seamless hand-felted “Kraken” (sea monster rumored to be off the coast of Norway which looks suspiciously like an octopus) from artist Astrid Tomrop-Hofmann. Genius eh?

octopus

While the “Kraken” took the second place prize in felting, I also quite loved the first place prize in this category, “Sliabh an Iarainn” by Brigitta Varadi. In this piece, felt achieves a potency, a narrative impact, equal to traditional paint.

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While I do not have a good picture of this piece, I must mention the winning work in the category of Weaving-Tapestry by Terry Dube called “In the Corner of the Harvest Field.” Studied from an actual harvest field, this tapestry is a beautiful representation of the idea and literally begs to be touched (while being safely behind glass).

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I also chatted with Erika Marks about her silver jewelry and other objects. She supplied me with this great image above and let me know that she works with Brigitta Varadi (felt work featured above) on some of her jewelry. That’s very exciting. Brenda Hewitt told me about the art of Hand-weaving. I can’t forget the unique idea from buoy oh buoy for “nautical lighting” for your home made from antique buoys, dating from the 1940s!

What a great way to spend a Sunday! I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Crochet

Jewelry

Knitting

Paper

Sewing

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