Home Craft Business Blog
The Home Craft Business Blog is a great way to all of the newest tips, resources and time sensitive information on this site.
Whenever I post new information on the main site, you'll be notified about it here on the blog. I also use this blog to post time sensitive information and tips and tidbits that are good to know about but not long enough to make a full article on the main site.
If you want to know as soon as new information is posted on this site, bookmark and check this page regularly, or, better yet, subscribe to this blog's RSS feed: 
Art Booth Regulations
Learn about 14 standard art booth regulations that are common to many shows and download a free regulations checklist so you can create a display that makes you, your customers and show organizers happy.
Does Your Craft Fair Display Match Your Products?
Does the feel of your craft fair display match your products? It should. Find out why with 16 sample craft booth pictures.
Continue reading "Does Your Craft Fair Display Match Your Products?"
Have You Checked Out the New Pinterest Design?
A new design is coming to Pinterest. Have you checked it out?
Some Pinterest accounts have been given access to the new site design. If you don't have access on your account yet, here's a little summary of what's to come.
Also if you haven't received an offer to try the new look, here's a link where you can make a request to try it early.
Here's What's New on Pinterest
The images are larger, and the design has changed to increase focus on the images. This change appears to be the main focus of the update.
My reaction - As a Pinterest user, I like the the larger images. As a website owner who gets a lot of traffic from Pinterest, I hope the larger images won't reduce the number of people who click through from Pinterest to my site.
The list of categories is closer to the search box. This change makes a lot of sense and makes the site more intuitive to use.
The "Popular" and "Gifts" buttons have moved. They still exist under the categories list, but they are far less prominent.
I haven't really used these buttons, so I don't know how effective they were (especially for people selling crafts online). I can't comment on this change, but I can see that it might be an issue if you had a lot of success promoting your online craft business with the Pinterest Gifts feature.
They have temporarily removed the ability to rearrange the order of your boards, but they are bringing that feature back. I'm really missing this feature. Right now my Christmas board is near the top, and my Easter board is near the bottom, and it's driving me nuts!
They have removed the "Activity" button that shows your recent activity on Pinterest. I didn't use that feature, so I didn't even notice it was gone until I looked closely at the changes.
They have temporarily removed the ability to tag someone in a comment using the @ symbol, but they are bringing it back. I only use that feature occasionally, but I find it useful, and I'm glad they aren't getting rid of it.
One important change if you use Pinterest to promote your craft business - You cannot convert your personal Pinterest account to a business account in the new version. If you want a Pinterest business account, you need to make that conversion before you switch to the new look.
Overall, I like the new look. It's more intuitive to use, and the larger images look great. My only concerns are that I might have to work a bit harder to get people to click from the images to my site (only time and statistics will tell).
Naming Your Business
Naming your business - It's such an important and, for many people, challenging task.
It requires an enormous amount creative thinking to brainstorm good company name ideas, and it also requires some analytical thinking to determine which name will have the most positive impact on your sales and marketing efforts.
To get you started, here are several tips for naming your business.
Choosing the Right Display Tent for Your Needs
Thinking about buying a display tent for outdoor craft shows this year?
They can be a bit of an investment, depending on which brand and style you buy, and there are a lot of options to consider.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you choose a display tent for outdoor craft shows.
Lots of Craft Display Pictures
The off season for shows, when you aren't as busy with production work, is a perfect time to spruce up your craft booth. Here are plenty of craft display pictures to give you some inspiration for designing or updating your own booth.
4 Ways to Configure Your Craft Booth
Although you'll find variations, most craft booth designs fall into one of 4 common layouts:
- U Shaped
- L Shaped
- Front Counter
- and Island
Different configurations work for different scenarios.
Click below to read about the pros and cons of each layout to help you design your own booth space.
6 Things You Need to Know About Desiging a Craft Room
Are you working on creating a great work space for yourself? Here are 6 craft room design essentials to keep in mind.
Don't Forget Your Tent Weights!
Tent weights seem to be one of those overlooked booth items.
They aren't particularly attractive or exciting, so they aren't the most thrilling part of your booth to plan.
However, they are absolutely necessary. I have learned from experience that craft tents can take flight surprisingly easily, with the smallest bit of wind, especially if you have your side walls up.
Don't let your craft tent turn into a flying object at your next craft show. Be sure to learn all about buying or making your own tent weights!
Photos of Candle Displays
For those of you working on candle displays, here are several pictures of some great candle booths!
Pictures of Soap Displays
15 pictures of soap displays to give you inspiration for creating your own soap booth.
Plenty of Venues for Selling Crafts
When you really stop and think about it, there are plenty of venues that are ideal for selling crafts.
So go beyond the craft show and check out these other ideas about where to sell your crafts.
Great Craft Forums
I love the camaraderie of a great forum, particularly ones that are well moderated and maintain a positive help and be helped atmosphere (I'm really not interested in contentious forums - Life is to short to waste time in cranky forums!)
So here are a few great, active and friendly craft forums I like, plus several that other crafty friends of mine love. Is your favorite on the list?
Craft Pricing Formula and Downloadable Spreadsheet
I posted this craft pricing formula and free, downloadable pricing spreadsheet about 4 months ago, and it has been extremely popular.
In case you missed it when I first posted it, here's the link again (below) to download a free, Excel based pricing spreadsheet.
Continue reading "Craft Pricing Formula and Downloadable Spreadsheet"
Explore Craft Business Ideas
Explore different types of craft business ideas to create the type of business that is the best fit for your skills, your personality, and your needs.
Comprehensive Portable Canopy Buying Guide
Portable canopies and the summer craft show season may be the last things on your mind in the middle of January, but now is a good time to start researching if you are in the market for a new craft tent.
There's a lot to know and consider, and a lot of brands to compare, so don't leave this decision to the last minute!
Continue reading "Comprehensive Portable Canopy Buying Guide"
How to Market Your Craft Business
Making a great product isn't enough to build a successful craft business. You need to know apply smart small business marketing strategies too!
It's not necessarily the best made product that sells the most, particularly when we're talking about selling online. An inferior product with fabulous photography and an excellent description will often sell better than a gorgeous product with mediocre photography and so-so sales copy.
Take time to develop a few great marketing ideas for your small business to ensure your gorgeous, innovative, well made products sell as well as they should!
How to Design Your Craft Display Booth
The off season for craft shows is a great time to work on creating or improving your craft booth.
Post-holiday sales are great opportunities for picking up table cloths, curtains, lighting and display furniture at great prices.
Also, many summer juried art show applications will be due in a couple of months, and if you're applying to shows that require you to send a photo of your booth, you'll need to plan ahead to ensure you have everything you need to put together a great booth and take some great photos.
How to Make Resin Jewelry
I love working with jewelry resin. It is inexpensive, doesn't require a lot of fancy equipment, and allows you to create jewelry and jewelry components that are truly original and completely your own.
What more could you ask for?!
Here's my detailed, step-by-step guide for making resin jewelry.
Want to Maximize Your Craft Business Income? Make These Types of Crafts...
People sometimes ask, "What are the best selling crafts?"
But if you want to maximize your business profits, a better question is, "What are the most profitable crafts?"
Think about it this way:
The number of items you sell and their selling price do not tell the whole story about how profitable your business is. What you really need to know is how much profit you make selling your items.
A while ago, CODA did a study comparing those factors and published lists of the best selling crafts (top grossing) vs. the most profitable crafts (top net income). If you're not sure what type of product you want to make, those survey results can be one factor to help you determine the best craft media to work with. Here are the results.
Continue reading "Want to Maximize Your Craft Business Income? Make These Types of Crafts..."
Tips for Brainstorming Business Names
Trying to come up with a great company name for your craft business can be a big challenge.
Your business name is an important part of your marketing strategy, and it can have a huge impact on the message you send to your customers about the nature of your business.
Here are several strategies I have used for brainstorming business names.
Learn How to Create a Great Craft Booth
The best way to discover how to create a great craft booth is simple - just look at a lot of them!
You can read all the theory you want about putting together a great booth, but (particularly if you are a more visual person) looking at as many booths as you can and assessing what works and what doesn't work is really the best way to learn how to create your own booth.
Here are two photos of a few great craft show displays and an analysis of what makes them effective.
Pinterest Power - Here's What You Need to Know to Promote Your Craft Business on Pinterest
Last night I finished reading Pinterest Power by Jason Miles.
I read a lot of business books, but I don't share them all because, frankly, they aren't all winners.
Pinterest Power is a huge winner of a book, and I really wanted to share my review of Pinterest Power.
If you're using Pinterest to promote your craft business (or thinking about it), this book is an excellent resource.
There are lots of great things to say, but what it comes down to for me is that the author, Jason, along with his wife, have used Pinterest to develop their own successful craft business. So the book is an excellent fit for anyone looking to promote a craft business using Pinterest.
How to Use Pinterest for Business
Here's a primer to get you started if you've been looking at using Pinterest to promote your craft business.
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