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Recycled Craft Selling

Finding Your Market

Hi

My name is Emma. I have created many recycled projects for a couple of years now. Mostly holiday crafts.

I am a stay at home mom and our budget is limited so I make things.

My question is how do I sell my ideas or get them online so I get credit for creating them?

I use a lot of milk gallon jugs, cardboard, soda bottles, water bottles, anything recycled to make Halloween and Christmas crafts. I do have pictures of some.

I have a lot to offer; so how can I do this?

I'm new to trying to get my ideas out there.

Thanks in advance.

Emma

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There are so many different ways you can go in order to get your designs online, it’s hard for me to know where to begin.

Recycled eco-friendly crafts are extremely popular these days.

That gives you a leg up. You have the vision and artistic sense to see what something can become - and to realize that vision.

To get a clearer idea of what direction you want to go, think about the following two issues.

What is the Market Value of Your Designs?

What do you do with the things you create? Do you give them all away or use them yourself? Do you have any idea of their market worth?

Have any of your friends asked you to make something for them and offered to pay?

Do people marvel at your clever ideas?

Have you sold any items to friends or at craft fairs or school bazaars? Positive responses to your gifts and especially requests to buy your recycled crafts, are a strong indication of market value. Actual sales are even better.

You need some type of market validation before you should even think about going online with your ideas or patterns.

If you already have market validation, it may be time to get your ideas online.

If you don’t have market validation, why not try a few things locally first? Let me just throw out a couple of ideas.

• Ask friends for their honest opinions of your crafts. Do you think someone would pay for this? How much would you suggest?

• Host a recycled craft party in your home or the house of a friend. Save up the supplies or ask people to contribute. Often guests are asked to pay a small fee to cover the supplies which must be purchased. Each guest goes home with something they’ve made.

• Offer to teach recycled craft classes at a local craft store or school event. Provide handouts with your copyright noted to be sure you retain rights to the idea with the idea of publishing online in the future.

I did a Google search for "recycled crafts" and was surprised not to find more quality sites in this field.

The best example of a quality recycled craft site, in my opinion, is published by Craft Bits.

That may mean there is a niche waiting to be filled and this could be a very opportune time for you to start a recycled craft blog or website.

Do You Want Your Own Design Business or to Design for Someone Else?

There is a spectrum of ways designers can get their ideas online: from freelancing; to designing exclusively for one company; to retaining your copyrights while designing for someone else to publish; to being a one-woman show with your own blog or website showcasing and selling your ideas.

I wrote a pretty comprehensive answer to another reader who wanted to sell her plastic canvas designs online. You’ll find more information in Are You Trying to Get Your Original Designs Published?

Just substitute "recycled crafts" wherever I say "plastic canvas" ;-)

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