Martha Stewart's Handmade Holiday Crafts: 225 Inspired Projects for Year-Round Celebrations

Join Martha Stewart for a celebration of handcrafted holidays all year-round!
 
New Year’s – Valentine’s Day – Easter – Mother’s Day – Father’s Day – Fourth of July – Halloween – Thanksgiving – Hanukkah – Christmas
 
Let Martha inspire your creativity with the most beautiful crafts. The 225 handmade projects include cards and greetings, decorations, gifts and gift wrapping, tabletop accents, party favors, and kids’ crafts, as well as more holiday-specific activities, such as egg-dyeing, pumpkin carving, and tree trimming. Each idea is sure to make the holidays more festive—and memorable.

Price: $24.99

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Craft Hope: Handmade Crafts for a Cause

It started with a pillowcase dress…and grew into a worldwide movement: crafters using their passion to help those in need. The Craft Hope blog-which organizes crafters to make handmade items for charities-has attracted followers around the world. This book, written by the site's founder and featuring crafting's hottest start, celebrates the cause and encourages others to join in.
Each project is matched with a specific charity, with alternative suggestions for local places to contribute the item. The projects-all with beautiful photographs, step-by-step instructions, and templates-include: cheerful quilts for hospitalized children, soft dolls for Nicaraguan orphans, tug toys for animal shelters, knit gloves for homeless shelters, a cloth backpack for schoolchildren in Africa, a stylish purse for women moving out of abusive relationships, and knit scarves for fostercare teens heading off to college. Contributors range from fabric designers Amy Butler and Heather Bailey to popular authors and bloggers such as Amanda Soule (www.soulemama.com, Handmade Home), Karri Meng (French General), Amy Ray (Doodle Stitching), Celine Dupuy (Simple Sewing with a French Twist), Vickie Howell (Craft Corps), Cathie Filian (Creative Juice), Susan Wasinger (Eco Crafts), and Betsy Greer (Knitting for Good).
In addition, there are plenty of helpful tips on how to give locally and globally, how to give thoughtfully and appropriately, and how to empower those you are helping.

Price: $17.95

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Craft Activism: People, Ideas, and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In

Join the Handmade Movement!

We make to give. We make to share. We make to connect with others. Crafters all over the world are using their hands and hearts to make a statement, change the world, and build community.

Craft Activism is an inspiring celebration of this growing movement. Inside, dozens of superstars of this grassroots phenomenon share their experiences, tips, and advice on living, teaching, and promoting a more meaningful DIY lifestyle. Learn to craft for your cause, connect with other crafters, think green, organize a fair, host an online exchange, create yarn graffiti, and more. The book also includes 17 creative projects from designers who challenge you to reimagine how your craft skills can be used to make a difference. Whether you knit, sew, crochet, or collage—and even if you’re not sure where to begin—this book is your guide to the incredible power of handmade.

Price: $22.99

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Etsy Success - How to Make a Full-Time Income Selling Jewelry, Crafts, and Other Handmade Products Online (Mogul Mom Work-at-Home Book Series)

"Turn Your Passion for Making Handmade Products and Crafts into a Thriving Online Business!"

Handmade products are hot! People everywhere love to buy unique, one-of-a-kind items and the good feeling that comes from supporting the creators who made them.

Etsy.com is the number one online destination for people wanting to purchase handmade products and crafts. Believe it or not though, simply selling great products on Etsy isn't enough to be successful. With many talented people selling their items there, it's easy to get lost in the crowd.

But here's the good news...

There are people making good money on Etsy and if you want to be one of them, this book will help you. It contains a "marketing plan" designed just for you, with step-by-step instruction that will show you exactly what to do in order to have a successful, thriving Etsy business.

Do you make any of the following items?

• Soap
• Jewelry
• Clothing
• Art
• Candles
• Beauty Products

If so, you want this book! It contains everything you need to know about making money on Etsy. You'll take your passion from a "hobby" in the corner of your living room to a real business, with customers from around the world.

Not on Etsy yet? Don't worry! This book will show you how to set up an eye-catching store in just minutes! Already on Etsy? Get ready to increase your sales!

Running an online store on Etsy is the perfect job opportunity for mothers, since you can run the entire business from your home, spend more time with your children, be your own boss, and make a great income doing something you love!

If you're ready to make money on Etsy, get this book today.

Price: $12.95

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The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line

It's an exciting new world for crafters. Handmade is hip, creativity is what the market wants, and there are many profitable sales opportunities that didn't exist a few short years ago. For crafters who have more confidence running a sewing machine than setting up a Web site, The Handmade Marketplace breaks down and makes sense of the global possibilities for marketing and selling crafts.

First, determine the right price for every item — not too expensive and definitely not too cheap. Whether the product is beaded jewelry or felted slippers, illustrations or tote bags, author Kari Chapin helps crafters determine cost of goods, market competition, and the pros and cons of wholesale and retail sales. If the price is right, customers will buy.

Then it's on to selling. The boom in indie craft fairs and sites such as Etsy ("Your place to buy & sell all things handmade") is providing artisans with an ever-expanding marketplace for handcrafted items. Chapin demystifies every venue. She explains the guidelines that craft fairs impose on exhibitors, the typical yearly calendar of shows, and how to start a new craft fair.

For the crafter interested in online sales, there are tips on styling and propping crafts for photographs and technical explanations of how the most popular Web marketplaces run. Traditional brick and mortar consignment stores are still very good options for many crafters. Chapin explains how to approach shopkeepers and build strong relationships.

Wrapping everything up with media advice and tips on how to get the word out, The Handmade Marketplace is the sales and marketing bible that today's crafters need.

Price: $14.95

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