Where to start...? (Crafts)

tryingtobetheperfectHW

Hey lovelies,

I am hoping you can help, I have made the decision that I'm going to start doing some arty crafty things, I used to be quite good at that sort of thing, but I haven't done it for years.

Gonna to start doing it for fun, and maybe some cheap presents, but once I get my confidence up, I would like to try selling

I wonder if anyone could give me advice, mainly on where you get your supplies from..

I was thinking of doing rubber ducks, embedded into soap, baby sock cupcakes, maybe the jars full of cake mixture..

But does anyone know good (Cheap places to get a shed load of rubber ducks, or a load of display boxes for the cupcakes, or even a load of jars?

Also if anyone has any tips on good crafts to make, I am very, very willing to listen to all and any advice you can throw at me.

I also feel the need to apologies, I bet newbies post things like this all the time!! Sorry!! i have scanned through, but just cant seem to find what I'm looking for!!

MessyMare

My main advice would be find what your talent is first, improve it, improve it, until you're better than similar things at craft fairs or more unique. Start small, because you don't want a shedload of supplies that wont shift. IMO the craft market is really full at the moment (I make jewellery and I'm finding it not entirely worth it until I've finished my silversmithing apprenticeship)

Oh a bright note, I love the soap with rubber ducks idea should do all different kinds of ducks, that'd be amazing!

calamity-j

I'd go for handmade bags and purses, cards but as Colleen said, you need to know that it's really for you and you can actually do a good job first.

smokiewater

Agree with the other 2 posters, you need to know what you are really good at and what works for you!

Visit afew craft fairs to see what others are doing and practice your craft like mad!

Be aware that anything to do with food is covered by heavy legislation - you need to get hygiene qualifications, get your premises passed and get your labelling sorted and don't forget about insurance. Don't mean to sound negative, but setting up a food business is costly and time consuming!

Love the rubber ducks idea - you could give them personalities, themes and names!

Ilona

I do a lot of arty crafty stuff, but I get a lot of my materials free because I use anything which is generally classed as rubbish. I started off with cards, now I make a lot of bags. Some materials I get from Hull Scrapstore, very cheap, or I look in charity shops.

It depends what you are interested in. You can get wool and fabric from charity shops. You can use your own clothing and cut it up, peg rugs out of teeshirts. You can make things with jars and tin cans, I made some bags out of cat food pouches. The only limitations is your own imagination.
Ilona
PS I have a blog

JennyJewell

Ooh love all of this Ilona I would be very interested in having a look at your blog if that's ok please? I have recently decided to quit party plan - a great way of earning some extra money, but I have been wanting the time to focus on my own personal interests - crafting being one of them
My friends and I have decided to start our own little group between us a while back but haven't gone forward with it yet. Basically we are going to meet up once a fortnight and put our talents and ideas together - ie, one of my friends did a course on flower arranging and one night she will show us how to make a simple but pretty arrangement Another is very good at textiles and is going to show us how to make pretty cushions Another makes gorgeous unique 3D greeting cards and will show us how to do that, etc Sort of like classes in our own homes over a cuppa with lovely company
Jenny

XxXfashionqueenXxX

Look around at poundshops for ducks and other things you could make into bits. For crafts check out small supermarkets like Wilkinsons and others. www.createandcraft.tv are good in their sales and with excellent quality you'll pick up bargains. Also scour blogs for crafting freebies you can print off

JennyJewell

My mum knits little clothes for the premature baby unit in her local hospital She has become so well known for it in her area that neighbours now donate their left over or unwanted wool to her Think I'll start doing this for myself
Jen x

Ilona

Hi Jen, What a super duper idea to start your own crafting group, who knows where it will lead. To bounce ideas off each other will fire your enthusiasm. You can find my blog by clicking my username.
Ilona

Gracie_1827

Another way to sell stuff is the W.I. they have little markets all over the place and you could rent a stall and see how it goes. You could even sell food there without loads of legislation. Our local leisure centre holds a table top sale every month, it cost £7 for a table, so if you have a good idea it should be easy to make a profit.

Anglea

You can pick up all sorts of useful info on the Special Occasions forum, it's all crafts there, lots of people do craft fairs, school fairs, hand made presents, selling on Etsy etc

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=101