How To Promote Your Crafts

I love every phase of crafting from the initial designing to completion of my own creations and then there are all those neat new crafting supplies and tools to try. So I sew, glue, bead, felt, draw, color, transfer, print, collage, decoupage, crochet, quilt, repurpose, etc., etc., etc.

Now what to do with all those works of art? I would keep crafting if I didn't do a thing with them except put them in a closet but have set up at outdoor fairs, flea markets, consignment shops and craft fairs. Ebay is an interesting experience also. All these outlets help keep my house from being featured on one of those tv hoarder shows.

If you have joined me here you know how important the internet has become in almost every phase of some of our lives. It is especially so in the crafting world, anyway it has for me.

I found guidelines on marketing, displaying, and pricing my crafts that have been a great help even if I don't follow them exactly posted in:

Now I have subscribed to the Creative Income newsletter to try to keep up with the latest.

In a recent newsletter, I learned about Pinterest and other links all pulled together in one spot. Links that I was not even aware of.

Here are some suggestions from Creative Income that I have found most useful to make my crafts more attractive and eye catching that were in my most recent newsletter.  

        How to Take Great Pictures of Your Crafts 

        How to Take More Product Pictures in Less Time

       Quick Photo Tips: Do What You Can With What You've Got 

       Show it Off: Tips for Photography Your Projects

       How to Light Photo Displays

 Even if you have been displaying your wares for years, check out Creative Income and the newsletter to keep up on all that's new.  The goal of Creative Income is to help independent crafters succeed.

Here's to much success in your crafting

Carolyn Wainscott 

The Wedding Photo Wallhanging-Easy To Do

The special wedding gift I had wanted to do is finally done-not that it was so hard to do or took so much time or so costly. None of that. Just doing it-that's all.

The fabric sheets were prepared first [there was some fabric I had already done that I forgot about]. All I had to do was cut to size and iron to freezer paper. You can purchase fabric sheets if you wish. I prefer to use fabric I have prepared. See
 http://carolynscanvas.blogspot.com/2012/04/take-photo-put-it-on-fabric.html 

 for step by step instructions on preparing your own fabric sheets for photo printing.

Photos from the wedding were chosen, put into a file so they would be easier to find and collaged to tell the story with my antiquated software that I just can't give up because I am comfortable with it and hate to change. I haven't taken the time to learn how to use my Photoshop software and probably won't until my LivePix is completely incapacitated for some reason. I am not of this computer wise generation that hops from one new app to another. Shoot-my grandkids think I gas up my dinosaur on grass clippings.

Anyway, I've come a long way, baby.

Now that you have your fabric sheets ready it is time to print. I hope this video  on:

@ http://youtu.be/hCukdzeSzLs helps you get that photo quilt done that you have been planning but just needed a little encouragement.

Soooooo,  photos were printed,

all sewn together, border on, machine quilted, binding on

but it just didn't look as right as I wanted. The border print was off a couple of shades. It needed to be more mauve

and though it doesn't show here the difference [the top center is the original print], I over painted the fabric with a rose dye paint and embellished with a gold metalic paint

but this still wasn't quite enough

 the hot stone setter came out to add some quick bling.

It took a little nerve to be painting on a completed quilt but I did it! What if I had dripped some paint on the fabric, what if, heaven forbid, I had tipped over the jar of paint after all that work. Well, I didn't and everything turned out ok. The wallhanging is ready to give to the bride and groom-I don't think they have celebrated their 10th anniversary yet.

If you have been planning a photo quilt but didn't know where to start, here is where you start-the rest is up to you-enjoy.

Here is another post I wrote about a year ago with more instructions on preparing fabric for photo printing:

http://carolynscanvas.blogspot.com/2011/04/making-photo-quilt.html

God bless you

Carolyn Wainscott

Take A Photo-Put It On Fabric

If you have been thinking about taking those treasured old photos and making a Memory Quilt, I hope this will make the thought less daunting and help you get started. Getting started is the hardest part.  Don't let the thought of a few more steps in preparation stop you. Just think of the end result-a one of a kind, spectacular, instant heirloom that tells its own story. I think the most fun part is going through the photos, It is a trip down memory lane.

Needing to come up with a wedding/house warming gift had me dragging out the equipment for a wallhanging. I don't want to make it sound as though it is drudge work so am sharing the step by step in the following video which is featured on:



 @  http://www.favequilts.com/Special-Occasion-Quilts/How-to-Make-a-Photo-Quilt-Part-1-Preparing-Fabric which includes a printable set of instructions @ http://youtu.be/34QJzZ8ymZk.

An earlier post on April 22, 2011, http://carolynscanvas.blogspot.com/2011/04/making-photo-quilt.html , featured multi-generation family quilts that were a collaboration of whole families sharing their photos with the complete process also.

I never got around to the actual photo printing which is coming up, I promise.

I am not a computer wizard, far, far from it but I will be touching on cutting, pasting, and collaging my photos to be printed on fabric. I use an old, outdated program that is no longer available because I haven't taken the time to learn Photoshop. I am old and set in my ways.

Just a further word [well, several words] about www.FaveQuilts.com, if you haven't checked it out already. FaveQuilts is a great site for free quilt patterns, instructions, video tutorials and links you to everything you want to know in the quilt world.

Happy quilting and God bless you
Carolyn Wainscott