Crafting is a fun hobby for the young and old and for both men and women. There are practically thousands of crafting ideas out there. People do this for fun, and some people actually make living selling crafts.
If crafting is one of your hobbies, here are some ideas that can turn your hobby into another income stream.
How To Showcase Your Crafts
No matter what kind of crafts you are making, you need a way to showcase them. The best way is to create a website that serves as your online storefront.
Take high-resolution photographs of your finished work and make a photo gallery. Include a little information about yourself and what inspired you to make these crafts. People like to know a little about the creator of the products.
A short description of yourself can help you make the connection with your customers. Remember to leave your contact information or a web form for your customers.
There are various ways to create a webstore, and there is a lot of information online to show you how to do that. Choose the method that works best for you.
Best Crafting Ideas To Make Money
Now, let’s talk about some good ideas for crafts that can make you money.
Custom-Made Jewelry
Mass-produced jewelry can be boring because you can never find the perfect piece that you like. Being able to design your own pieces of jewelry can get you exactly what you want. If you have the skills to make your own jewelry, you can turn that into a side business.
Make some pieces and post photographs of them on your website. If you can offer customization like different lengths of chain for a necklace or color stones of the customer’s choice, that will make the piece more attractive.
Jewelry design can be unique, or it can match another piece, thus making a matching set. For sets, you can make earrings with a matching necklace, ring, bracelet, pendant, and more.
When there is a popular holiday coming up, such as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, these are perfect times to promote your jewelry.
If you have not done so yet, create a presence on social media, promote the occasion, and mention how wonderful it would be to have a custom piece of jewelry made for a loved one.
Organic Soaps and Body Products
You can create all kinds of organic soaps that are healthy for the skin. Vary the scent by adding a few drops of essential oil. Get different types of molds and make fun shapes in different colors. You can sell the soap individually or in a package.
Another way is to offer a bundle where the customer can choose six pieces for the set. You can also sell soap accessories like pretty soap dishes or display containers. Choose attractive packaging to make it look like a premium product.
Bath bombs are also popular. You can make these with different colors and scents. These look great in the bathroom as decor when you group a few colorful bath bombs together in a bowl. Sell them as a set, but let your customer choose which ones they would like in the set.
If you make other products like bath scrubs, natural moisturizers, lip balms, etc., you can make various spa kits at different price points. Include accessories like washcloths, bath sponges, etc.
Offer the ability for the customer to choose from different categories of products for their spa kit so they can customize it to their liking. This will set your product offerings apart from the competition.
Handmade Notecards and Stationery
A popular trend in notecards is that the design is made from pieces of dried flowers and plants to give it a three-dimension effect. There are unlimited ways to make these lovely cards.
You can recycle pieces of pretty wrapping paper for part of the background on your card. Blank cards are the most versatile. Use high-quality paper stock for the body of the card, and be sure to add your signature or unique brand symbol on the back of the card.
You can make a set of stationery with paper that is printed with your unique design in the background with matching envelopes.
If you have bookbinding skills, you can design custom notebooks. You will need a spiral binding machine for that, or you can sew the pages together if you want to go all the way with the old-fashioned binding method. Some people might like a notebook that was hand-sewn.
RELATED: Origami As A Hobby?
Ceramics
If you like to make pottery, you have many options for making money from it. Just imagine the type of things that people use at home that are made from ceramics.
These include planters, vases, cups, bowls, plates, saucers, and much more. You can make individual pieces or matching sets. When you showcase your products, add a service that allows the customer to commission you to make a special piece or a matching set.
Customers are always willing to pay extra for something that is created especially for them.
Doll Furniture and Accessories
Many people like to furnish their dollhouses with realistic-looking furniture. If you have the skills, you can make mini versions of furniture out of wood.
Look at the full-size furniture to get ideas, then make a miniature version with the same kind of details. The finer the detail, the more realistic it looks, and the more collectors are willing to pay for them.
For the accessories, you can make them out of polymer clay like Sculpey. You can get into amazing details and make the pieces look very realistic if you have the technique.
The type of accessories is limitless. Just look around your home and kitchen. What you see in your home can be made into a mini version for the doll house.
Your webstore can carry a full range of doll house furnishings that you can sell by the piece or as a set. You can add that you can custom make a piece if the customer can send you a picture of the type of furniture or accessory they have in mind.
Home Decor and Accessories
If you are good with the sewing machine, you can make custom textiles for the home. There are thousands of choices of fabrics. You can premake pieces that you know will sell well because they are popular. You can also offer to custom-make pieces in the fabric of the customer’s choice.
One thing you can do is offer to send a couple of swatches for free. The customer can choose the fabric and indicate what type of pieces they would like to order. It might be a set of pillow covers or a table runner with matching placemats, for example.
If your sewing machine can embroider, offer embroidery as an added service. Many people love having their linen embellished with their monogram. You can get generic sets of linen and offer embellishments on them to make them unique.
If you know how to make small rugs, you can custom-make rugs for the bathroom, bedroom, and other rooms.
You can make wall hangings with framed art. Shadow boxes allow you to create 3-D art inside the frame that can look quite fabulous. You can use practically any type of decorative material to make the art like pressed flowers, sea shells, parts of plants, feathers, or decorative paper.
If you know calligraphy, you can write an inspirational quote on a pretty background that you designed, then put that in an attractive frame.
You can also offer customization to your customers by letting them choose the quote, the background that they like to use, and the frame they prefer. Since you will be hand-printing this, you can also let the customer add a name to the writing to customize it.
Personalized Baby Clothes and Accessories
Parents like to see their baby’s name on almost everything. You can easily customize bibs, rompers, blankets, and towels by embroidering the baby’s name on them. A plain baby blanket from a big-box store is no longer plain after you embellish it with a name.
Pet Accessories and Treats
You can recycle your old clothes and use the material to make clothes for pets. Doggie sweaters and sweatshirts are always popular. You can make costumes out of fabric scraps. Offer some customization like sewing the pet’s name on the back of the sweatshirt.
You can make beds for pets. Beds can be simple cushions or fancy, like an igloo. You can personalize the bed with the pet’s name.
Organic pet treats are popular. Lots of premium pet treats use human-grade ingredients. You can make similar types of treats like dog biscuits in various shapes and package them.
You can make pet toys. Cat toys are easy to make if you sew them. You can also sew in some catnip to make the toy more attractive to the cat.
Woodcraft
Woodworking can cover a broad range of items, and skills can vary widely. Some woodworkers specialize in furniture, while others might make smaller things like boxes and decorative items.
So, how much money you can make on the side with woodcraft depends on what woodworking skills you have and what pieces you make.
If you make wood crafts on a smaller scale, you might do something like turning bowls or pen blanks on a lathe. Custom pens are actually quite nice.
There are suppliers that sell different kinds of wood for pen blanks and pen parts. Pens make perfect gifts for anyone, so they can appeal to a wide audience.
Old-fashioned wooden toys are popular, too. Sometimes parents get tired of seeing all the toys in the big-box stores that need batteries to run. They would rather see high-quality, solid wooden toys that allow children to use their own imagination to play with.
Wooden toys are tough and nearly non-breakable, so they last a long time. Wooden trains, figures with movable arms and legs, blocks, and pull-toys, are just some of the classic toys that never went out of style.
If you have the skills, make a collection of wooden toys before the holiday season approaches to take advantage of the toy-buying season.
Garden Decor
There are many things that you can make to decorate the garden. Stained glass sun catchers are popular. When you have all the materials, you can turn any design into a stained glass hanging.
You can make flower pots if you do ceramics. Or, you can custom paint clay pots. You can also make garden figurines out of polymer clay. After you bake them, you can paint them to your liking. Create themes and make pieces that fit into the theme so you can sell them as a set.
Another garden decor could be a bird feeder that you make out of wood.
Candles
Candles can come in all shapes and forms. You can make scented candles by infusing them with essential oils. These can be used for aromatherapy. You can easily make pretty candles in decorative jars and bowls in various shapes. Sell large candles individually and smaller ones in a set.
Final Tips About Crafting As A Source Of Income
If you are a serious crafter, you should attend craft trade shows whenever they are in your neighborhood. You can get a table as an exhibitor, get inspiration for your next projects and make some connections.
Sometimes buyers from boutiques visit these tradeshows to see what kinds of new products they can add to their store.
If one of the buyers is interested in your products, that can open the door to all kinds of possibilities because a store would normally give you a big order. It will be sure to make your income stream even bigger.
The great thing about making money from your craft hobbies is that regardless of how much money you bring in, you are doing something that you love to do. That is the most important part of your side business.