Crafting A Career

Have you ever thought you could sell your art or crafts? If you have a creative hobby that you love, cheap and friends and family are often telling you, "You could sell that!" - why not consider subsidizing your income or making a living as a "craft-epreneur"? Folks all over the globe are reinventing their careers by selling their art and crafts.

5 questions to ask yourself before quitting your day job to run off with the crafters:

Who will buy your crafts? How will you finance your start-up? What will your wages be? How much help will you need to produce at a profitable scale? How much will you need to charge to break even or better yet, make a profit?

CLICK HERE to find out where to sell your art without selling your soul, and what my friend, Juliet Harrison who sells her equine photographs, has to say about marketing art.

Cuff Cup Cozy: The Easiest DIY Project Ever

Last year, a new laptop inspired me to transform an old sweater into a laptop case. The sweater I used had a complicated Fair Isle design and a gaping hole on the sleeve. It was too short to repair and wear.

It's magical the way a sweater will shrink up in the washer and dryer to create a thick piece of felted fabric. The fabric can be cut (just like store bought felt) and will never unravel like a handknitted item will. You can see the process and learn how to make a felted laptop sleeve from a sweater here.

When I wrote An Inspired DIY Idea: Recycled Sweater Sleeve Cozy, I retrieved the sweater from the pile of felt scraps. The sweater cuffs are getting repurposed to make cup cozies. I’m lovin’ these cup holders because you can cradle a hot beverage in a stylish heat-resistant cup without a handle.

Once the sweater is felted, this has to be the easiest DIY project ever:

To Make: Measure the cup you want to cover and cut sleeve cuff to size. I positioned the ribbing on the bottom because the cup I used tapered.

What do you think of this sweater cuff cup cozy?

Photo Credits: Jen Kiaba

Random Halloween Sightings

Halloween comes and goes without much hoopla in an empty nest deep in the woods. Trick or Treaters that spook the living daylights out of my dogs haven't ventured up my driveway in years. My own little zombies (below) are all grown up and have flown the nest (as they should). There is a glimmer of regret about not being able to enjoy Halloween vicariously through my babes.

Do not shed a tear for me – Halloween may not be my holiday anymore, and the kids only mildly resemble grown-up versions of those little zombies, but I still enjoy the holiday. Even if you have given up participating in the kitchier side of Halloween (parents do the strangest things), one does not have to relinquish all the treats.

Here’s an adult-sized dose of Halloween eye-candy:

Pumpkin Pillow

Eerie White Pumpkins

Knitted Skull

Halloween Spoon Garden Markers

Don't forget a Black CFL.

Happy Halloween!

Main image: Devils Thorn via Garden Design

An Inspired DIY Idea: Recycled Sweater Sleeve Cozy

Here’s what often happens to me: I am inspired by ideas and new products that I think could be easily made. That was the case this morning while I was pointing and clicking around the blogosphere. I spied this stunning handmade white matte-satin pot over on Swissmiss. It was created by Paige Russell. The pot appeared to be cradled by a sweater sleeve. Tea cozies are not generally my thing, pharm but this one spoke to me. Not only was it beautiful, cheap cialis it totally made functional sense.

Recycled Sweater Sleeve Cozy

How to: Using a felted wool sweater sleeve, viagra buy cut to fit. Grab a hot drink. So easy, so sweet!

Note: Felting will give the cozy a tight finished fit. A felted wool fabric will not unravel. I explain how to felt a recycled sweater here.

Photo Credits: Paige Russell