After fourteen months on line, The Artful Crafter is beginning to develop some niches – thanks to the many readers who write with questions or suggestions.

That’s terrific! However we don’t want to be typecast and are endeavoring to hold to our original vision for this site which is to provide crafters in the broadest possible range of media all the information they need to pursue their craft(s) and, if they so desire, information on how to turn their art into a profitable home-based business.

So if you don’t find the crafting info you are looking for, please write and let us know.

Also, I just want to point out to those who haven’t found it yet: on various pages of The Artful Crafter we feature a Google search bar. This makes it amazingly easy to locate what you want.

Just type in your craft key word(s) and select the button labeled “www.theartfulcrafter.com”. Then press “Search”. For example if you’re looking for instructions on how to achieve a crackle finish on a piece of decoupage art, type you might type “crackle decoupage”.

Here is a partial list of the topics we get the most inquiries on (from highest frequency on down):

1. Decoupage – what materials to use, technique and material problems, image sources, project ideas;
2. Homecoming Mums and Garters – where to find supplies at the best prices, basic and advanced instructions;
3. Craft Business Questions – marketing help, how to price your work to assure an appropriate profit, how to break into established retail stores, how to develop your own Web site;
4. Requests for Patterns – gift bag patterns, tote bag patterns, card making ideas, fabric bread baskets, product hang tag ideas;
5. Clay – techniques and safety questions about polymer clay, recipes for home made clay, making clay molds from everyday objects;
6. Jewelry Crafting – basic techniques, designs and ideas; and
7. Miscellaneous

You’d be amazed at the questions we get in the miscellaneous category: everything from exploding toaster ovens to crafty things to do with an old safe.

So don’t think any (craft-related) question is too far out. We’d love to hear from you. Remember, our slogan is,