Your Guide to Fun and Profit from Crafts

Everything You Need to Make and Sell Original Crafts

Crafts are fun! They engage your mind and your imagination, as well as your hands and body.

Crafts provide you with satisfaction and gratification as you handle and admire your finished masterpiece.

Crafts create pride and confidence when your friends or clients admire your work and make comments like, "I wish I could do something like that." or "How can you make something so beautiful (or original?").

In this age of mass production, the lovingly handmade craft stands out and is appreciated for what it is, a work of love. It has more value than ever.

The Artful Crafter is here to help and give you ideas, not necessarily to be copied, but to inspire and motivate you to create your own unique works. They should be the starting point of your own journey of creation.

What The Artful Crafter is About

This site is quite large. In order to make it easier to maneuver, all craft articles, further broken down by category, are listed on the Crafts Ideas page. These include articles from Craft Plans & Patterns, Craft Tips and Craft Letters, although you will find the odd article in these sections not duplicated elsewhere.

In Craft Ideas, you will find articles on all sorts of craft topics from Beading to Wood Working, with major sections devoted to Computer Crafting, Decoupage, Jewelry Making, Homecoming Mums and Scrapbooking. While not every craft is covered, I have made an effort to include as many as possible.

In Craft Tips you will find ideas and suggestions to help you work smarter, faster and better. Throughout the pages of The Artful Crafter, you will find suggestions about good tools to use, about good books to read, about good computer programs to use to help you do everything from graphics design, scrapbook creation or even website setup.

I love to receive your letters and in Craft Letters you will find my responses, which contain more new hints and advice. In Craft Supplies, you will find excellent online craft supply vendors, who sell an amazing array of products at great prices.

On the left, you will see our Craft Topic Index which links to the gateway page for each particular craft listed.

Crafting as a Business

For some crafting is a hobby: for others a business. From circles of friends to fairs to galleries to the Internet, arts and crafts sell!

For those thinking about getting started selling your crafts for profit or expanding or improving your existing craft business, For Profit contains solid business advice.

We tell you how to keep your costs down and your quality up; how to determine the "right" price for your products and how to get it!

If you don’t find what you are looking for here, use the search box above or Contact Us to send us your questions.

Whether you want to earn money with your crafts or simply save money on your supplies, you've come to the right place!

For professional crafters, check out the Booth Ideas at eSigns.com.

Visit Us Often

Please check back with us frequently. The content of this site will be constantly updated. Subscribe now to our free on-line magazine or our RSS feeds to receive the latest news directly.

We'd love to hear from you - whether with suggestions, questions or tips to share. Send us your success stories or even your painful mistakes. The first is for inspiration; the second to save others from learning the same lesson the hard way - or to provide a good chuckle!

Whether you've crafted all your life or are new to crafting, you'll find what you need at: