Fuel For Art: eBook Guide on How to Sell Art Online

Check out this e-book I came across online. It's called Fuel for Art and it's all about How to Sell Art Online. Recommended for Artists and Designers, Fuel for Art teaches you how to develop an effective and memorable brand identity in order to stand out as a successful artist that can be taken seriously. Learn how to:

• How to visualize and accomplish your goals as an artist
• Creating an effective brand for your artist’s persona
• Networking in the artist’s community
• The best places to sell your art online
• How to make the most money possible as an artist
• Being a business-savvy artist
• And much, much more!

If you are ready to Sell Art Online, check it out!

Cheri & Jeff: Engagement Photos

My sister recently got engaged and I thought it would be a lot of fun and a nice gift, to do her engagement photos for her. I am really happy with how they turned out, and so is she! I wanted to share a few of the best with you!

Review: Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business

I know this book is over a year old, but I just recently got a chance to read it, and wanted to share it with you all! Craft, Inc. by Meg Mateo Ilasco is a great book for anyone interested in turning their craft into a business, big or small, hobbyist or business woman.


A quick and easy read, Craft, Inc. is like a step-by-step guide for turning your craft hobby into a successful business. With chapters including "Your Creative Mind," "Your Personal Style and Your Products," "Production and Pricing Plans," and touching on a huge variety of topics including sourcing materials, marketing, tradeshows, wholesale orders, your craft room, burnout, naming your business, and everything in between, useful information is just spilling from the pages of this book!

My personal favourite parts of this book were the first chapter, "Your Creative Mind," and the 14 inspiring interviews throughout the book.

The first Chapter really struck me because it described a lot of the thoughts and feeling, including insecurities, I sometimes have about crafting or art. Starting with the top 5 myths surrounding art and crafting, and then going on to talk about building your creative confidence, this chapter made me realize I wasn't alone in my feelings, and not only do others sometimes feel this way, it's OK!

The 14 interview throughout the book were not only inspiring, but very informative. I really liked to hear from the real-life crafters who have become so successful. It's nice to hear from people who have been in your shoes at one time, and what they did to move forward and realize a dream.

Overall, it's a great book and I recommend you go out and read it now! The only slight drawback for me, was that because I am not American, which is where the book was published, some of the information regarding things like taxes, legalities, and such, were not 100% accurate for me here in Canada, but that's OK, it still put all of these types of things at the top of my mind, and now I can easy go and look up the exact information for my country.

So like I said, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to turn their love of art, craft, and/ or design, into a business. Not only will it teach you the ins and outs, it will inspire and motivate you!

Related Articles

• Buy Craft, Inc. and read customer reviews on Amazon
• Required Reading for Etsy Sellers: Craft Inc.
• Mateo Ilasco

Confessions of a Handmade Shopaholic

I love love this soap that I purchased from Dancing Mooney on Etsy! It's just like my absolute favorite scent - Pink Sugar! The soap was perfect, just strong enough of a scent to linger on your skin after you are done showering, but absolutely not overpowering. After using this soap, I would get occaisional gentle wafts of the scent all day long, it's been wonderful, and my boyfriend agrees!

The soap was made really well too, it lathered well, which I love, and it left my skin feeling soft and smooth, and of course, very clean! If girly scents aren't your thing, Dancing Mooney has many other scents and I am sure they are all wonderful. You get a nice big bar, at a very reasonable price, so I suggest checking out Dancing Mooney!

Motivation Mondays: Get inspired by tech!

If you're like me, you're a little bit of a techie geek. You like not just surfing the Internet, but the building and coding that goes on behind the scenes. Or maybe you spend your Sunday afternoons playing video games. Or maybe the latest in techie gadgets is what does it for you. But whatever your secret tech-turn-on is, if you're like me, you like to craft in the genre of tech-love.

Today for Motivation Monday, lets get inspired by all things techie and geek! I've pulled together some tutorials, and images from my favourite tech-related crafts and I hope they will inspire you to create something cool!

Knit your own Sackboy
First, you have to check out this knitting pattern for Sackboy. If you are wondering who the heck Sackboy is, you really need to check out the PlayStation 3 game, Little Big Planet. It's quite possibly the cutest, not to mention ridiculously fun video game to come out in a long time! Sackboy is the super-cute handknit hero of the game Little BIG Planet, made by Media Molecule. I really really wish I knew how to knit, just so I could make this!


Some Drupal in your Knits
While we are on the topic of knitting, I want to share with you these knitting charts for the Drupal logo. This was actually done by a teacher I had about 4 years ago in college, Emma Hogbin. If you don't know what Drupal is, it's an open source content management system, so very fitting that Emma released some open source knitting charts.


Cross stitch some Gaming into your Home
If cross stitching is your thing, check out this fun cross-stitch sampler by The Domestic Scientist. Click here for the pattern.

Domo Ipod cover
Want to disguise your ipod? This tutorial on how to make your own Domo inspired ipod cover is awesome! It's so cute, and it really hides your ipod away! Click here to view the tutorial!

Knit some Mario Mushroom Hand warmers
Knitting is a very popular medium for expressing your geek-craftery it would seem. Check out this pattern for knitting your own fingerless gloved adorned with Super Mario's Mushroom.
Click here for the pattern by Vickie Howell.

Related Links

• Geek Craft on Flickr
• Sackboy on Flickr
• Lots of Geek Crafting on CraftyCrafty.tv
• GeekCrafts.com

Confessions of a Handmade Shopaholic

Not only do I love to create handmade items, I love to BUY handmade items! Confessions of a Handmade Shopaholic is going to be a new feature here on Inspired By Hand, regularly showcasing the handmade lovelies I've purchased, and the people who made them.

Today I want to show you this super cute vinyl "sewing nerd" decal I bought from holly. I came across this decal right after I had just bought my new sewing machine so the moment I saw it, I knew it had to adorn my new machine! Holly was great to work with; She shrunk down the decal just slightly for me so it would fit on my machine perfectly. In fact, I loved the Sewing Nerd decal so much, I had to get a Blogging Geek decal too!


Related Articles:

• Meet Ruby

Inspire

I saw this today on Creature Comforts and I thought it was a really great quote, and since she encouraged sharing with friends, I wanted to share it with you!

Hey Artists and Button Makers!

Check out this fun new site by a friend of mine- Lollypins!

If you like buttons, or like art, or like putting art on buttons, or always wished you could put your art on buttons, you really need to check it out!

Sign Up as an Artist
Submit your works of art/ button designs, and once approved your work is up for sale on the site and you get a percentage of the sales! It's really that easy! Visit Lollypins for more details.
From the site:

• Retain copyright of all your designs. We simply reproduce them on your behalf.
• Earn 30 cents on each button sold bearing your design.
• Reach an international audience via your very own storefront.
• It is absolutely free and you can cancel at any time.
• It's easy! We handle all the difficult stuff like shipping, production and customer support.

Buy some Buttons
With a buttons for only $2 each, and a flat shipping rate of only $2.50, and hundreds of designs to choose from (and growing daily), how can you not buy some of these fun and fabulous little works of art!?

Lynse & Fancy :: Art, Prints, and Handmade Fancy

As I have mentioned in my last post, I am super excited about the opening of my new Etsy Shop, Lynse & Fancy. This will be the new home of all of my artwork, and other handmade fancy.

Tanybug will continue to be the place to find my funky handmade camera straps, but Lynse & Fancy will give my artwork the spotlight it deserves. I have been working hard over the past month or two building up a bit of inventory to start the new shop, and researching print techniques, scanning, papers, etc.

Here's a peek at what I have been up to and the prints you can find now in Lynse & Fancy!