So happy I found you here!

[Regina Sunderland]

I love my creative side and just last night I was starting to despair heavily. It has always been my dream to become an Author and Artisan who could make her living with her Talents. Of course that is a Dream many of us share, the stark realities however are quiet different.

Once upon a Time hand created Products where not only the norm, but something that was sought out, now everything has to be quick and cheap. Handcrafted Items can not be made cheaply and if you try to sell, then you are often already out of the running before you get started.

I live in Las Vegas of all places and so far I have to tell you that I have not found much of a market for what I produce. It isn't "hip" enough and I don't go by "in", I do not sew by patterns, and most of my items are hand sewn old fashioned with Needle and Threat and a lot of time. So a Table Runner created in such a fashion can easily take several hours to create and for me to have it worth my time I need to charge at minimum $40 for it, preferably more. Nobody is going to want to pay for something like that if they can just walk into the 99cents store and purchase a runner there.

I have been looking for further outlets for my products, but I have to confess that I am not the best Marketer in the world. So I hope that I can make good connections here, maybe some great friends and learn for those of you who are better at it then me.

Everything I do is self taught. So you could say you are looking at pure raw talent. I am pretty proud of what I have achieved so far in the talent department, my goal is to make my dream come true and start selling a few items. Hugs to you all.
Regina Sunderland
Proud Mom of an Airman (My Daughter "IMP")

[Mandy Lawrence]

Hi Regina

Have to say that I am finding promoting my work difficult.

When people see my cards they like them (and I have a few people that ask me to make their cards for them) but it is getting them seen on a wider scale. I am pretty naff with websites too. I have my normal one, which is about life stuffs, but would like one that promotes my cards. I need some techy support so that I can pretty it up and update it and add paypal link etc etc.

I plan to do some craft fairs, although they seem to be quite rare things in the UK but prior to that I need to buy display stands and they don't come cheap. As you so rightly put in your posting, hand made crafts are quite expensive to make. The up front costs are high and so to continue to craft people need to, at least , cover costs by regularly selling what they make.

Am not giving up though because I find card making incredibly therapeutic and once I have the display stands then I am ready for card fair action.

All the best with your crafting. Will check out your page to see the fruits of your labour. :>)

Mandy

[Jill]

Hi Regina

There are some good discussion about marketing your work and Kate who runs Omshanti Handicrafts has also written a good guide to promotion so have a look around and see if any of that helps. Have you tried selling on Etsy at all? And there are a lot of other places people market their work.

Congratulations on being such a talented creative person.

Bye for Now
Jill