How do U make money from your crafty stuff?

[Jennifer Grant]

I'd love to get to know if you guys are already making some cash and if so, what are you doing?

[Annie]

I did this a few years ago with my business and several other different direct sales companies at a friends house. It worked so well! We did it right after Thanksgiving so that everything ordered would arrive in time for Christmas gift giving. Oh, and we had a Mary Kay rep there also. She did hand massages for the shoppers. That was relaxing and fun!

[Jessica Barnett]

I would love to do an open house thing. BK had mentioned doing one before Christmas as a shopping opportunity for boyfriends and husbands. Let their wives put things on a wish list and wrap them up for them and everything.
I am planning on talking to the preschool the twins have gone to about doing a home based business open house there as a fundraiser. Maybe that would help? I just have TONS of people tell me that they love my stuff and want to come to classes and blah blah blah. then no one actually shows up.
Do I have cooties or something? :)

[ElizabethB]

No. I run into the same blah, blah, blah. I have concluded to only sell finished products. No more trying to teach for the really detailed stuff. I am happy to share with others, but after more than a year of frustration no more for me. My blog is really filling the gap for me. I can reach out to other bloggers for techniques and discuss projects with others at my skill level. That is not meant to sound snooty, but it is tough to find anyone locally who is willing to talk shop. Plus I can get free feedback about products I am thinking of selling. You are very talented! Don't let them discourage you. You just need to get your products and talents in front of a different audience. :)

[Jessica Barnett]

I am just needing to put some kits together to sell in the Etsy shop. I think that my best bet is going to be selling that way too. I need to really sit down and tear up my inventory and use it to make kits to sell. I am lucky because the other teachers at the stores I work at are very talented and I can talk shop with them and get a lot of great ideas.

[Jennifer Grant]

Ok...so here's my plan Stan...and where it started from...

For the past 15 years I have been attending this one really cool craft bazaar/event that is held once in the spring for 2-3 weeks and once in the fall for 2-3 weeks. A couple years ago, I heard a friend of mine talking about repainting stuff she picks up off Craigs List and reselling it. Interesting thought...hhhmmm...then I didn't think much about it again until I wanted to decorate my own home office/craft studio. I can't remember the first piece I picked up from goodwill, but I remembered what she said and decided to give it a try myself.

A few weeks and lots of paint later my studio was the envy of all the chicks who visit our house! And the hubby's just groan in agony and feel sorry for my DH! lol...

I'm going to try to edit this post later today and i'll add some before and after shots and tell ya how much each piece DIDNT cost me. :)

In the end, I had a blast doing it and my friends started asking me to help with their houses---AND then other friends (who I would actually charge $ to) got wind and started asking about stuff too...now my DH and I are working on this in the evenings and starting to actually sell some stuff.

The prices you can get for repainted junk is incredible! For example--I spent an hour (maybe!) repainting an old kitchen table chair and tossed a new piece of fabric on the seat and it sold for 39.95! Only paid $5 for the chair at the 2nd hand store, $1 for the piece of fabric that was actually a table napkin and used about 1/4 of a $3 can of spray paint. Not too shabby huh?

[Jennifer Grant]

$10 door. painted, added a shelf and brackets. On the shelf are hardback books--just so you can see the scale and size. It takes up my entire wall.


Total cost:
Door $10
Paint $4
Shelf $5
Brackets $4
Total: $23

[Jennifer Grant]

Sitting area vignette:


Old Bifold doors $10 for pair
Black Paint $8
Ugly chair under quilt $15 at Goodwill
Clearance quilt over ugly chair $10
Coffee table 'trunk' $3 from flea market. used to be one of those boxes on your front porch that held firewood.
Turquoise paint for 'trunk' $8
Total cost for entire sitting area: $54

[Jennifer Grant]

Ok...this one was a bit 'spendy' but i love it so much it was worth it...here is the BEFORE pic of it when it was still in the guys garage before he 'let us' haul it off for him (mine was a different one, but this one was the same only bigger)


and after:


Supplies:
Trim & Molding $75 and a very patient hubby
Glaze $3
Bun Feet $10
Total cost: $88

[Nicole]

wow! I love this. I am still using my dining room with one cabinet that hides my stuff and my portable scrapbag for storage. I long for the day when I will have a room to do this full time and not have to clean up when company comes. Oh well, my bedrooms will soon all be full with little ones so I can have my scrappin' room be a goal for the future!

[ElizabethB]

Amazing! You do have an eye for this. My new scraproom is going to be shabby chic with some country flair. I can't wait to get your opinion and ideas on it. I hope I can find some good 'old' stuff up here. :) I plan on keeping it very light. Creams, light aquas, light lime/olives, salmon pinks and yellows. Of course I have to add in my love of browns. And, I love calico prints mixed with a few big bold prints and anything vintage or sparkly. Can you tell I am ecclectic?

[Jennifer Grant]

Oh...being so ecclectic, you are gonna have a BLAST junking! it is seriously so much fun! I will totally help you out and if you have a cell phone with a camera, you can even text me pics of stuff you see while you're out and about and i'll give ya my opinion.

One thing that helped me do the room was that I started 'collecting S%#T' as my DH would call it a month or so before I actually put the room together. then, once I had a finally compiled all the pieces, I could decide what to put where and then what colors would be best. After that, it only took a few days to get it all painted and set up! It ended up sorta like an Extreme Junk Makeover doing it like that and made it more fun.

Hey--Extreme Junk Makeover is a pretty cool name now that I type it out! We need to have a challenge and name it that!!!

[ElizabethB]

Repurposing all of this cool stuff is also very 'green'. One less thing out of the landfills. I repurpose alot of 'stuff'. This is just one more fun way to do it. I used to have to do it, because I couldn't afford new stuff. Now I want to do it because I think the price of new stuff is ridiculous 95% of the time. :) Funny how that works huh?