I’m so excited that Kari Chapin’s new book, The Handmade Marketplace is finally out! Kari and I are planning to do a podcast together soon, and thought you might like to contribute.
Got any craft-business questions for Kari? Just leave them in the comments, and we’ll include as many as we can in the podcast.
The Handmade Marketplace covers subjects like:
- Branding
- Pricing Your Work
- Hiring Help
- Marketing
- Blogging
- Advertising
- Selling at Craft Fairs
- Selling in Online Stores
- Selling in Brick and Mortar Stores
…So as you can see, Kari knows lots, and there’s a lot you could ask her! So, let’s hear your questions!
by Sister-Diane on February 22, 2010
in ebooks
Kristin and I have a giveaway going for the next couple weeks, with help from the nice people at Elmer’s.
If you order a copy of Card. Paper. Ribbon. anytime before Monday, March 8th, you’ll automatically be entered in a drawing for these Elmer’s products: Elmer’s Glue All, Craft Bond Tacky Glue, and Carpenter’s Wood Glue.
…As it turns out, these are all items you’ll need to make the projects in the ebook!
So, order your copy right over here. We’ll choose one winner from those who purchased the ebook on Monday, March 8th, by random drawing.
Good Luck!
I love Joan Gorman’s blog, NiniMakes, so I was super excited when she sent me a copy of her new ebook, Stitch Village.
And it’s utterly charming, just as I thought it would be. Joan came up with the idea while looking through her collection of vintage needlecraft booklets, and you can see the vintage influence in her designs.
Stitch Village is the first in a planned set of ebooks (yay!), each showcasing a collection of original patterns. This group is based on Joan’s own studio, and gifts she’s made for her family.
I love this project set so much! You can see all the pieces in the photo at the top of this post. There’s an iPod cozy, a Gracie Doll (complete with dress), these adorable mushroom storage containers, a charming Lykke Horse embroidery pattern, and a recipe binder.
Joan’s design eye is so wonderful, and the book’s layout and photography are top-notch. This ebook looks for all the world like a professionally-produced print book.
What’s really great is, every project comes with full-sized pattern pieces, stitchery templates, and photo instructions. This is excellent instructional quality. And the ebook is built with internal links to resources, and also to sections of the book itself. It takes true advantage of the possibilities of the digital format.
You can see a few sample pages, and learn more about this project, at Joan’s blog. And you can order a copy at her online store. They’re £7.75, which is about $12.00 US. Joan is donating a portion of every sale to the British Red Cross for their Haiti campaign.
Mom and I had a real treat today. We got to visit the new Chocolate Craft Studio in Portland and build some edible V-Day gift boxes. Isn’t Mom’s cute?
The studio is in this adorably-painted house. Peggy, the proprietress, has been a culinary artist for years, and has hit upon this extremely cool business idea.
At Christmas, Mom and I had a great time building and decorating one of Peggy’s chocolate house kits. (See Mom’s post about it here – our house turned out so freaking cute!)
…And Peggy develops all kinds of other interesting chocolate-building projects. You can order many of them online, or you can plan an afternoon at the studio with some friends.
She has so many cool decorating goodies to play with!
Peggy does all the production, including tempering, decorating, and cutting the chocolate pieces. Here are some gift box parts, ready to play.
The “glue” you use to hold the pieces together is actually a variety of chocolate, formulated to set up quickly and bond the panels.
And Peggy developed a fantastic “modeling chocolate,” which you can see in the photo at the top of this post. It’s a hybrid of candy and clay, and it can take all kinds of shapes.
Here’s my box – it’s white chocolate, with some pretty gold dust brushed over the surface. Man, I had a great time making this!
Peggy will be opening back up for Easter, and she’s developing some cool Easter-themed craft kits. You can see more on her website, and I have a bunch more images in a Flickr set, too.
Oh – and you can check out Mom’s post, too.
Hey, gang – you have just three more days to sign up for my next online class: Twitter for Your Crafty Business.
This class focuses on tactics for building more solid community around yourself on Twitter, and leveraging that community in creative (and non-annoying) ways to bring more attention to your business.
I’m really excited to offer this one, and we’re amassing an excellent group. Remember, since it’s an online class, you can participate as your busy schedule allows.
Want to join us? Click here for all the details and registration info!
Ooh! I just noticed that this project I did for The Oregonian has just posted to their website.
Follow this link to the directions for making these dead-simple hanging paper hearts for V-Day. You can use up scraps of decorative paper, or pull pages from old magazines. (The Christmas issue of Martha Stewart Living served me well here.)
Enjoy!
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