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CraftyPod Podcast by Sister Diane

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For those of you new to podcasting, Click Here to read our "Introduction to Podcasting" Article.

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personalmedia, February 17, 2006
Reviewer: personalmedia from Indiana

This podcast is hosted by Sister Diane and focuses on crafting. The host of the show has a very pleasant voice. The podcasts open with some whimsical music that will tickle your creative juices from the beginning. The podcast I reviewed included an interview with a bead artist. The host was well-prepared for this conversational interview in which the artist discusses the inspiration and process behind her art.

The podcast I reviewed also included practical ideas for crafting. Sister Diane will bring out the latent creativity inside of you with this excellent podcast. I plan on subscribing to this one.

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CraftyPod 2.0: Getting Started in Wholesale, with Jodie Rackley

craftypod@deepideas.com (Sister Diane)Author: Sister Diane
Fri, May 18, 2012

We've got a craft-businessy subject today: we're talking about getting started with wholesale. It's very wise, if you have a craft business, to think about ways you can diversify your sources of income, and doing wholesale is a great option.

I'm talking with Jodie Rackley in this show. She's an Etsy seller who quickly branched out into wholesale, and now her products can be found in shops all over the country. What I like about Jodie's story is that it's really accessible - as you'll see, she didn't need any special equipment to get started with wholesale. She used simple, readily-available tools to get herself in front of stores, and she did it without having to pound the pavement and work up her courage to approach local shop owners. And it's made a very positive difference in her business.

This podcast is filled with BIG, fascinating ideas about the intersection of creativity and spirit. How do you find your own personal meaning in making things? Can art or craft (or any other creative pursuit) actually become a spiritual practice? How can creative work be spiritual and exist alongside your existing spiritual beliefs?

We have an excellent guide through all these questions this week: Bridget Benton is a mixed-media artist and a teacher who specializes in just this subject. Her book, The Creative Conversation, is based on classes she's been teaching for years. She helps creative people uncover the ways that making things feeds their souls - and how regular making can become an important path to staying grounded and understanding yourself.

For the past three years, Mom and I have been doing an annual podcast together, in which I've interviewed her about various aspects of the holiday season.

This year, we decided to do something a little different, and just record one of our many conversations on a subject we revisit again and again - Christmas cookies! We had so much fun, and laughed a lot, and we hope you'll get a kick out of the result.

Back before I stopped podcasting, I had signed up to be part of the blog tour for Kathy Cano Murillo's new novel, Miss Scarlet's School of Patternless Sewing. So here's a fun podcast interview with the Crafty Chica herself, all about the new book and her burgeoning career as an author of crafty fiction.

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If you want a little more glimpse into the book, check out this video trailer Kathy put together! (Usual disclosures: Grand Central Publishing sent me a review copy, and the title link above is an affiliate link.)

Image by Zellaby, via Flickr

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In this show:

• My Mom, Pam Harris, returns to the show to talk about planning for your holiday season.

• How can you fit more crafting, cooking, and fun into the holiday season? What's the best way to plan activities, and make them happen?

• ...And what do you do when Life messes with your plan?

Links:

• Have you read, Gingerbread Snowflakes, my Mom's blog? There's lots and lots of wonderful holiday-season stuff there.

• If you liked this show, you'll love Mom's Winter Holiday Survival Planning Guide. (Yup, it's free.)

• Psssst: have you seen my Christmas pinboard on Pinterest?

Image by Professor Bop, via Flickr

In this show:

• Kirsty Hall and I talk about what it means to be more authentic online - whether it's in your blog posts, tweets, or Facebook updates.

• How does authenticity lead people to trust you - and when can it turn them away? What impact does it have on a small craft business?

• Is there anything you really shouldn't share online? .

Links:

• Visit Kirsty at her blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

Kirsty also mentioned these bloggers:

• Catherine Caine's take on Why "Professional Does Not Mean "Corporate"

• Havi Brooks talks about your right people, and people throwing shoes.

• Kate Davis blogs about her experiences recovering from an unexpected stroke.

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In this show:

• I talk with Marisa Lynch about her current project: revamping one (rather hideous) $1.00 thrift-store dress into something cute and fashionable every day. She blogs about it at New Dress a Day.

• We discuss exactly what goes into a project like this – keeping inspired, managing time, and where one stores hundreds of new garments!

• ...And we talk about Marisa's simple-yet-effective approach to garment reconstruction. There are no advanced tailoring skills needed, and the results are gorgeous.

Links:

• Check out New Dress a Day, where you can see the over 300 (!!!) garment revamps Marisa's completed already.

• Marisa's fame with this project is growing – she's been profiled on TIME's Money blog, and ReadyMade, Green LA Girl, (and numerous other blogs), and The Nate Berkus Show.

Image by ellajphillips, via Flickr Creative Commons

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In this show:

• I talk about why it's so important to plan at least some of your blog posts ahead. This is an idea not many bloggers seem to use, but it's really powerful.

• I share some approaches to planning and some tools that work.

• ...And I talk about how the specific benefits you can get from all this planning.

Links:

• As I mentioned in the show, my Mom plans her blog a year in advance. Check out her system!

• Charlie Gilkey offers free downloadable Blog Post Planners each month.

• ...And here's ProBlogger Darren Rowse's take on Building an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog.

• If you haven't heard it already, this podcast is a good companion to another one I did: Craft Blogging: What Should You Write About?

Image by TheAlienness Gisela Giardino, via Flickr Creative Commons

In this show:

• To further our ongoing discussion of Free and how it affects the craft community, I share my own story of Free. In some ways, Free has created my business. In others, it's created big challenges.

• I talk about the most important by-product of Free: community.

• ...And once again, I welcome your comments on this very complex subject.

Links:

Here's the discussions we've been having about Free so far:

• Paul Overton shares his experiences with Free on Make & Meaning, with Free: a Case Study.

• Paul and I also did a podcast about free a while back.

• Here's a piece I did on Make & Meaning, Free is Not a Marketing Tool. Some really interesting discussion in the comments.

• Kim Werker did an excellent post on her blog about how Free can lead to getting paid, but what you have to do to make that happen. • We also did a liveblog event at Make & Meaning about Free. You can read the transcript here.

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<strong>In this show:</strong>

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&bull; An interview with Kristin Roach, who turned a fun blog idea, <a href="http://www.craftleftovers.com" target="new">Craft Leftovers</a>, into a full-time business... one step at a time.

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&bull; Some discussion on the value of just trying stuff - and being willing to accept successes and failures along the way.

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&bull; Helpful ideas on the value of finding those intermediate steps between you and your big business goals.

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&bull; ...And a really important emerging idea: finding ways to create small income opportunities for other crafters.

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<img class="center" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4350864401_910e64ec47_o.jpg">

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<strong>Links:</strong>

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&bull; Visit <a href="http://www.craftleftovers.com" target="new">Craft Leftovers</a> online, where you'll find Kristin's <a href="http://www.craftleftovers.com/blog/blog" target="new">blog</a>, <a href="http://craftleftovers.com/shop/" target="new">shop</a>, <a href="http://www.craftleftovers.com/blog/archive" target="new">patterns and projects</a>.

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&bull; Kristin's zine, <a href="http://www.craftleftovers.com/blog/clm" target="new">Craft Leftovers Monthly</a>, is always a delight - and gives her an opportunity to pay her contributors.

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&bull; Kristin also runs a side business, <a href="http://krostudio.com/" target="new">K.r.o Studio</a>, where she pursues her fine art, teaching, and community projects.

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&bull; Here's that ebook we just released: <a href="http://shop.craftypod.com/cardpaperribbon" target="new">Card. Paper. Ribbon.</a>

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In this show:

• Paul Overton returns to the show to discuss the idea of Free: how the internet's abundance of free information both enhances and challenges our creative lives.

• We talk about lots of aspects of Free: how it builds community, how it challenges corporate interests, and how it launches crafty careers.

• ...And we talk about some nuts and bolts of using Free in your own craft business.

Links:

We mentioned a whole lot of people in this show. Here they are:

• First, read Paul's excellent post on Make & Meaning - Free: A Case Study

• As you might expect from a discussion about Free on the web, we also mentioned Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, and John Jantsch.

• A really interesting book about the emerging economy of Free is (imagine this) Free, by Chris Anderson. You can get the book for free as an audiobook.

• We also talked about some folks in the craft community who use Free well: Ann Wood, Lee Meredith, and Kathy Cano Murillo.

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In this show:

• Let's look at Engagement Marketing, a very important tool for your crafty business in the internet age.

• We'll talk about how blogging, Twitter and Facebook can help you reach new customers... if you use them wisely.

• We'll also look at the most common online marketing mistakes I've seen crafty business owners make in 2009.

Links:

If you want to go deeper into these ideas, check out my ebooks:

• Making a Great Blog: A Guide for Creative People

• Creating a Blog Audience: An Unconventional Marketing Guide

• Social Media for your Crafty Business

You might also like these engagement-marketing resources from around the web:

• Trust Agents is a book well worth reading.

• Its co-author, Chris Brogan, writes a great blog.

• Another worthwhile book: The Whuffie Factor, by Tara Hunt.

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

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In this show:

- It's a CraftyPod tradition: the annual interview with my Mom, Pam Harris!

- Mom talks about her first year as a blogger, and about being a blogger from a different generation than a lot of the online craft community.

- She also answers questions sent in by listeners - some pretty great ones!

Links:

- Many thanks to these people for submitting questions for this show: - Rachel Klein - Cassi Griffin - Hanna Andersson - Margo Debbs - Chris Miser Debbi Crane - Denise Duclos

- Check out Mom's blog, Gingerbread Snowflakes.

Want to hear Mom's past podcasts? Here they are:

- Show #65: Gingerbread Houses

- Show #81: Making a Season

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

Click the “Play� button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:

- And interview with Ryan McAbery , who was a top seller on Etsy, and then decided to walk away from it.

- Learn what drove Ryan to leave her business behind, and what's bringing her fresh inspiration now.

- Gain some perspective on the benefits and drawbacks of having a very busy handmade business.

Links:

- Visit Ryan's new Etsy shop , and see her photography blocks and pendants.

- In Ryan's blog, All Things Littleput, she shares new designs, snippets of her now-balanced life, and some musings on starting over in business.

- Check out Ryan's current home - Portland Saturday Market.

- This "Quit Your Day-Job" article on The Storque about Ryan's top-seller business was published in September 2007.

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

Click the “Play� button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:

- All about needlepoint, with Janet Perry, who's on a mission to change the way we think about this craft.

- Some discussion of why needlepoint is a perfect craft for today, and why it doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves.

- Lots of great ideas and resources to get you started needlepointing!

Links:

- Check out Janet'sNapa Needlepoint website, where you can find...

- Janet's self-published books: Needlepoint Trade Secrets and Bargello Revisited

- Janet's frequently-updated series of ebooks

- ...And, Janet's blog, Nuts About Needlepoint

- Janet also offers a free email needlepoint course for beginners.

- A book Janet recommends highly: Bargello, by Elsa Williams, published 1967.

- A book I recommend highly: Better Homes and Gardens Needlepoint, published 1978.

- Definitely check out the Modern Needlepoint on Flickr - it has lots of stunning work.

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

Click the “Play� button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:

- The comments on this post tell me that the number one question folks have about craft blogging is, "What should I write about?" So this podcast attempts to answer that question.

- Learn why your blog is not really about you, and what it should be about instead.

- Understand why passion and value are two key elements of a great craft blog.

Good Bloggy Links:

- Check out the ebook I wrote about craft blogging. It covers even more techniques for finding topics to write about.

- How to Find Your Hidden Talent, on Skelliewag. A good exercise for those who need help identifying their passions.

- 7 Questions to Finding Your True Passion - a solid starting point to exploration.

- Watch this video: Gary Vaynerchuk absolutely nails how passion is crucial in the internet age.

- Julia Cameron's The Vein of Gold has been helping creative people find their passions for years.

- Don't miss this ProBlogger post on How to Write Great Blog Content.

- This ProBlogger post on developing a blog strategy is more about blogging goals than content, but great food for thought for new bloggers.

- If you're more of a photographer than a writer, you can tell your story on Flickr.

- If you're a person of few words, you might prefer Twitter or Tumblr

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

Click the “Play� button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:

- Juliann, aka TheSickChick, tells us about how crafting helps her cope with chronic illness.

- Learn something about how crafting helps in managing pain, anxiety, and depression.

- Find out how the craft community is a lifeline to Juliann, providing support and friendship under challenging circumstances.

- Be absolutely inspired by Juliann's determination to stay positive and crafty.

Links:

- Visit TheSickChick.com to learn more about Juliann's current and upcoming internet projects.

- You can also read the archived entries on Juliann's blog.

- ...And, follow her (and chat with her) on Twitter.

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

Click the “Play� button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:

- An interview with Bernadette Noll and Kathie Sever, co-owners of Future Craft Collective. They offer craft projects for families and kids that also teach creative reuse and self-reliance.

- Tips on designing good crafting and learning experiences for your children.

- Thoughts on how crafting can also become a way to learn more about sustainability.

- Bernadette and Kathie share their lessons learned through crafting with their own kids and their students.

Links:

- The Future Craft Collective website offers lots of projects to do with your kids, and lots of great links.

- Kathie's line of clothing is called Ramonsterwear. You may also know her from the Back and Forth Project.

- Bernadette has a great blog for parents, and be sure to check out her other project, Slow Family Living.

- Kathie and Bernadette recommend Crafting a Green World as a good source for sustainable craft project ideas.

- They also recommend The Story of Stuff, a short film about production, consumption, waste, and reuse.

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

Click the “Play� button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:

- Making celebrations throughout the winter season - another conversation with mu crafty Mom!

- Learn about lots of winter holidays from other cultures.

- See how my Mom incorporates craft, cooking, and decorating into all these holidays, to create a lovely, festive season.

Linkies!

- Visit Mom's awesome blog, Gingerbread Snowflakes. It's all about wintertime celebrating.

Holidays to Explore:

- The Feast of St. Nicholas is December 6th.

- The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is on December 12.

- St. Lucia Day, is December 13th.

- The Winter Solstice is December 21st.

- The Twelfth Day of Christmas is January 6th.

Other things Mom mentioned:

- Luminarias, or Farolitos, are so beautiful on a cold winter night.

- Wanna try making some Sopapillas?

- Or, you can make an Advent Wreath.

Have a wonderful season!

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

Click the “Play� button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:

- An interview with Stephen Fraser, co-founder of Spoonflower.

- All about having custom fabric printed - how to do it, and what it means.

- Lots of interesting technical detail about how fabric printing is done, and how it impacts the environment.

Some Spoonflower Links:

- First, a link to the Spoonflower website. Get yourself on the beta list!

- Keep up with developments on the Spoonflower blog.

- Feast your eyes on the Spoonflower Fabric Designs Flickr Group.

- Here are some folks who've blogged their Spoonflower expreriences: Jinjur, A Little Hut, Polka Dot Cottage, Thaneeya, and moi.

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a craft podcast all about making stuff.

Click the “Play? button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:


- All about making gingerbread houses, with Pam Harris (My mom!)


- Notes on how to bake it, how to build it, and how to decorate it.


- Cautionary tales from our family's Gingerbread Disasters.

G-Bread Links:

- Martha's gingerbread house gingerbread recipe.

- Here's a giant photo gallery of gingerbread houses, for inspiration.

- Some nice detailed instructions from About.com.

- Another great tutorial, at Simply Recipes.

- Lifehacker has a nice tutorial, too.

- Recipes, blueprints, tips, and photos at Celebrating Christmas.com.

- Okay, just go look at this little modern gingerbread house.

- Or, you can just enjoy this awesome decorate-it-yourself online gingerbread house at Allsorts.

Handmade Nation Links:

- Handmade Nation official website. - The older, Indie Craft Documentary website also has plenty of information. - Watch the trailer. It rocks! - Help support the project at Handmade Nation's Etsy Shop.

Welcome to the CraftyPod, a podcast all about making stuff.

Click the "Play" button at the bottom of this post to listen!

In this show:

A conversation with Rachel Johnson, co-founder of Swap-bot.

- All about Swap-bot, a home on the web for people who love to trade handmades.

- Some thoughts on the culture of swapping: why we love it, and how to do it up right.

- Notes on some delightful - and odd - swap themes.

. . . Now, go check out Swap-bot!

Want to know which swaps these photos came from? Read on...

All Pink Matchbox Fill

From my Hands to Yours

Winter Scarf Knit Kit Swap

Full Of Flowers Matchbox Fill

This Author: Sister Diane

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