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Paper Plate Turtle Craft

January 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

f_21322253326_family.jpgChildren love turtles. This turtle paper plate craft is a fun, easy preschool craft project. To make this craft, you will need:
Two paper plates
Brown construction paper
Green craft paint
Google eyes
Scissors
Glue
Dried beans (optional)
Felt tip pen
Your child will need two paper plates to make one turtle. Have your child use the green paint to paint the bottom side of both paper plates. Allow to dry.
Next cut out the arms, legs, etc. Using the scissors and brown construction paper, cut out four small rectangles for legs, a small triangle for the tail, and a circle for the head. You can outline them first with a pen if you wish, but it isn’t necessary. I just cut mine out freehand.
Glue the edges of the arms, legs, tail, and head to the top edge of one of the paper plates.
If you wish you can put some dried beans onto the plate so that when you glue the plates together the turtle will rattle when your child shakes it.

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Next glue the second plate to the first plate. The tops of the plates should be glued together so that the painted sides are facing out. The arms, legs, tail, and head should be sticking out between the two plates.
Help your child glue the google eyes on to the head. Let your child use the felt tip pen to draw on a nose and mouth and to decorate the “shell” of the turtle, if they wish.

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Eight Ways to Make Extra Money From Your Craft Skills

January 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

f_11322246278_tiedye.jpgIf you sell your crafts, you know there are times when craft sales can be painfully slow. This can be of particular concern if you earn your primary income through the sale of your designs. Would you like to discover some ways to supplement your craft income while still doing what you love? Here are some ways to bring in extra income when your craft sales are slow:

1.Share your craft expertise at the local level. Offer to teach your craft at your local college as a noncredit course. Ask for a certain percentage of the enrollment fees as your payment. You could do this on an ongoing basis and make quite a nice supplemental income. Alternatively, you could set up a similar arrangement with your local craft store and offer a variety of craft classes on an continuing basis. This is a much needed service in most communities and can be quite lucrative for you.

2. Share your craft design expertise online. Consider producing a DVD showing how you make your craft and sell it from your website or on Ebay. This could open up a whole new market for your craft design expertise. There’s a large demand for new crafting ideas and techniques and people often don’t have the time to take a class at their local craft store. You give them the opportunity to learn a new crafting technique at home.

3. Publish your craft expertise in the form of books and magazines. You could either self publish your own books and ebooks on your crafting technique or you could write how to articles for magazines some of the crafting magazines. Publishers such as Lark Publishing are always looking for talented craft designers to write books relating to their particular are of craft expertise.

4. Market your craft designs in kit form. With so many people pressed for time these days, there’s a large market for craft kits. Could you modify and simplify your designs a bit and offer them in kit form to crafters who don’t have time to shop for supplies? You would be reaching man entirely new and potentially lucrative market. You could market your craft design kits via a website and through local craft stores.

5. Sell bead and jewelry making supplies. If you currently sell your crafts, chances are you’re buying your supplies wholesale. Why not supplement your income selling your excess supplies? You could parlay this into a separate business by arranging with wholesalers and manufacturers to buy in larger quantities. You could then sell crafting supplies to beaders via a website. This would not only allow you to establish a supplemental business, but would increase the profit margin on your existing craft design business by allowing you to buy in larger quantities.

6 . Become a craft marketing consultant. Starting a new craft business can be overwhelming for the beginner. You could offer your services as a craft marketing consultant and help new craft businesses find a market for their handmade designs. Are you a proat the craft show circuit? You could help beginners design effective craft booths. (I know there’s lots of uncertainty and confusion on how to do this). You could also help fledgling crafters get started in the craft home party business if you have experience in this area.

7. Start a craft co-op. If you have a good location available with foot traffic, you could start a small craft co-op. You would charge crafters a small fee to rent out space in the co-op to exhibit their designs. They would also be required to work at least one day a month to provide employee coverage. You would also have the opportunity to display your own crafts in the co-op, plus earn a little extra money as a bonus!

8. Publish a newsletter. If you enjoy writing, you could publish a newsletter for beginning crafters. Fill it with specialized tips, techniques, and projects. You could also publish a newsletter on marketing crafts which is sure to have receptive audience. As you can see, there are lots of options available to supplement your craft income. These supplemental businesses give you the opportunity to expand into new markets and reach new audiences for both your services and your handmade crafts. Why not give them a try?

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How to Organize Your Craft Room

January 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

f_01322239609_weekend013.jpgIf you’re like me, you’ve had moments where your craft room was a complete disaster! When this occurs, it can really zap your creative energy making it difficult to start or complete a craft project. Plus, right brained, creative crafters aren’t exactly known for their organizational skills! If you find it’s taking you an eternity to sift through the stacks of craft materials you have piled high in every corner to find what you need, it’s may be time to organize your craft room!

But, where do you start? If you craft room has been in chaos for awhile, it may be difficult to know how to start organizing. Here are some ideas:
1. Plan ahead! A little planning goes a long way towards making organizing a craft room a pleasant task. Go through all of your boxes and sort craft items by category. Plan to buy a storage box for each category so all similar items can be conveniently stored together. I like plastic see-though boxes for craft storage since you can see exactly what you have without opening the box.
2. Separate your craft area from the rest of your home. If your craft area should become messy, at least you’re not exposing other members of your household to the chaos. Plus, psychologically it helps to be able have your craft room exist as a special place where you can retreat at day’s end. If you can’t move your crafts into a separate room, consider using a room divider to wall off your craft area.
3. Invest in a large, comfortable table to use as a workstation. A large work space will allow you to spread your projects out so you can see what you have to work with. You’ll waste less time fumbling around to find a particular item you need to complete a project. Make sure your table is sturdy and rugged and not so valuable that you’re going to mind getting a little glue or paint on it. You may even want to consider getting a table at a secondhand store. Functionality is the key here!
4. Create an easily accessible tool rack. It’s important to have your tools accessible and in easy view. Take a long piece of wood from the craft store, add hooks to it, and mount it on the wall, You can now hang your tools from the hooks and keep them in easy view.
5. Consider installing shelving to organize your crafts. Shelving that extends up the side of your walls is a great space saver. You can use the shelves to hold your clear, rubber storage containers containing your projects. It also helps to have your shelf space labeled so you can see where everything is.
6. Clear away any items that aren’t relevant to your craft projects. Make your newly designed craft area strictly for craft supplies. Don’t confuse the issue by bringing in extraneous items that aren’t suitable for your craft projects.
7. Clear off your workstation every night. Don’t allow craft materials to accumulate on your work table. This is almost always the first step towards developing a disorganized craft room. Clean up every evening, no matter how tired you are. If you need to, give yourself a reward for doing it.
8. Donate items you don’t use. We all have craft materials we no longer use. Don’t leave them lying around your workstation to cause confusion. Donate unused items to a charity such as your local Salvation Army so another crafter can get the opportunity to use them and you can free up the space!
9. When you use a tool, put it back in its proper place. There’s nothing more frustrating and time consuming than not being able to find a craft tool when you need it! Be diligent about returning items to their proper places right after you use it. Stop telling yourself you’ll do it later. Now that you know how to organize a craft room, you can get back to your creative projects and enjoy them all the more!

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