Craft Night - Shoe Makeovers!

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Once a month I host a craft night for a group of girls at my house.  Last night, our project was making over a pair of shoes (see the awesome tutorial at Grosgrain).  Everyone's shoes turned out just adorable.  Here are mine - aren't they so stinking cute?  I think my couch is destined to have pillows out of this fabric.

I really like hosting craft night.  First, it's an excuse to be around the girls and have some adult interaction.  Second, it's so much fun to see people who thought they weren't crafty make something that they love.  We did learn a few things from last night:

• Have snacks around.  These shoes took about 3 hours and everyone was getting HUNGRY.
• Have plenty of scissors and glue guns.  Some of the time was spent waiting for tools.
• Crank up the air conditioning!

On the business front, I made up a new style of tutu the other night.  I'm selling at my first craft show in September, so I'm trying to nail down a few styles to make in multiple sizes.  I know how crazy little girls are about princesses, so I was going for the princess vibe on this one.  I'll bribe Bridget to model it so I can get some pictures up.

Handmade Marketplace is still hanging out on the end table, unread, and I've made zero progress on my business plan.  I think I'll have a little extra time today so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get to readin'.  I also starting reading the biz ladies series on design*sponge. It's so helpful and I definitely recommend checking out (not just the series, but the whole site - it's AWESOME).  It's crazy how many great creative blogs are out there - I have to stop subscribing to blogs or my Google Reader is going to explode.

Taking the plunge

Tweet I've finally decided to take the plunge and start a business selling my handmade creations.  So now what?

I've got my Etsy shop name registered, I have a few (VERY few) established clients, and I've got business cards.  Inventory = 0.  Items for sale on Etsy = 0.  Small business knowledge = very little.  What I do have is years of sewing experience and the knowledge from a marketing degree gathering dust in the far reaches of my brain.

I'm a stay at home mom - I have a 10 month old and a 3 year old - and I just know I can translate my creative side into something to earn a little income.  Right now, I'm focusing on starting a business selling toys and dress-up clothes for kids (I've sold a good number of tutus to my daughter's ballet classmates) but I really feel like I need a niche. 

My research about selling kids products has turned up a couple hurdles.  I'm learning about the new testing laws.  Basically, these laws make it extremely difficult for handmade goods to be sold to kids without extremely expensive testing.  Also, Etsy is growing by leaps and bounds and I'm going to have to find a way to differentiate myself from all of the other established kids product sellers.

On the good side, I'm mostly interested in sewing, and fabric seems to be for the most part exempt from the testing regulations (although I do need to follow some labeling laws).  There are plenty of successful sellers on Etsy, so there's no reason I can't be successful, too.  I'm not looking to make a living.  I just want to make a little money doing something I love, and last time I checked there was no one paying me to eat cheesecake and watch bad reality TV.

My goal this week is to start on a business plan.  I have the book Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin waiting for me at the library, so I'd love to read that this week, too.  Wish me luck!