Hello there! I'm Sister Diane and I have two grand passions: making crafts and making media. That's what I write about here, and sometimes, I get all thoughtful about internet culture and creative small businesses. Thanks for stopping by! Would you like some tea?

 

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Passive Income: Let’s Bust a Myth

Passive Income: Let’s Bust a Myth

Many business experts (although not Pushkin) will tell you that there are two kinds of income: active and passive. To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to cultivate some of both. Active income, of course, is where you have to expend effort for every sale you make. As crafters, boy are we familiar with this …

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What’s In It For You? (A crucial 21st-century question)

What’s In It For You? (A crucial 21st-century question)

While I re-assemble my shattered calendar, here’s a post from the now-retired Make & Meaning blog. Light some votive candles for the possibility of a new podcast this week, willya? Image by jcolman, via Flickr If you want to cross over from hobbyist maker to professional maker, I’m growing to believe that one simple question will …

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Gatekeepers, Producers, and Professional Makers

Gatekeepers, Producers, and Professional Makers

This is a post from the now-retired Make & Meaning blog – though I changed the title, as the original title was rather lame on second reflection. Image by Tipiro, via Flickr Creative Commons It’s true that you can declare yourself an artist (crafter, writer, etc.) anytime you want. But if you want to become a professional …

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“The Cool Kids” (and why that’s a flawed idea)

“The Cool Kids” (and why that’s a flawed idea)

Image by Andy Woo, via Flickr Creative Commons Okay, I’m just going to come right out and say it: if there’s one phrase in the English language that makes me squirm, it’s “The Cool Kids.” I have a checkered history with those words. My career as a shy child, right up until college, was overshadowed by …

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What if we paid each other?

What if we paid each other?

This is a post from the now-retired Make & Meaning blog. Image by Olivander, via Flickr I think it’s true that many creative people would love to find a way to make their living being creative. So we might put up websites and online stores, and try to get into shows. We might even hope that …

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Video: Stories of Who We Know (Tara and I, that is)

Video: Stories of Who We Know (Tara and I, that is)

It’s Video Blog Day, and here’s something a little different. Tara and I are getting ready to teach a cool one-day class called It’s Who You Know. In the process, we’ve been telling each other stories of how we reached out to various people online, and how this ended up helping our businesses later. …And …

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Input vs. Creativity (Or, Thoughts on Surfing the Web)

Input vs. Creativity (Or, Thoughts on Surfing the Web)

This is another post from the now-retired Make & Meaning blog. Image by Bob.Fornal, via Flickr How many blogs are you currently subscribed to? How many people do you follow on Twitter? How many Facebook friends do you have? In short, how many hours a week do you spend trying to keep up on internet input? The …

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Getting Paid Partially in Time

Getting Paid Partially in Time

This post originally appeared on Make & Meaning, and, as it turns out, is related to this week’s video blog.   Image by Catherine, via Flickr Creative Commons So many of our discussions around Free have gravitated toward money – after all, many, many creative people wish they could make their living making their art. So often, though, …

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What blogging has done for me (and what it can do for you)

What blogging has done for me (and what it can do for you)

So usually, when there’s only a few days left to sign up for one of my online classes, I’ll post a little announcement here. Well, the next Craft Blog Tune-Up session is just a couple weeks away. But instead of the plain ol’ announcement, today I want to tell you the story of how I …

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Creative Tithing: What do YOU think?

Creative Tithing: What do YOU think?

I’m so excited to see conversations happening around the craft community about “creative tithing”… The first instance I saw was over on Olivebites, where Cat talks about taking 10% of her monthly craft-business earnings, and making a point of spending it in the craft community. Then, this post on Scoutiegirl took up the subject, speaking of …

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