Do any of you use Dick Blick, JoAnn's or any of the other affiliate programs on your website? I was wondering if those of you that do have found them to be worth the effort.

I'm not asking how much you are making, I'm just wondering if you are making anything. I'm working on a new site and thinking about using these programs.

I've never bought one of these books, but I've seen them advertised. I can often look at a finished item and copy it - particularly stuffies - my favorite thing to make.

Does anyone who owns one of the "Collection" books know what, if anything is mentioned about using the designs for commercial puposes?

There's a particular item in one of them that I have been making and am considering getting my act together and finally selling my creations - many original along with this inspired piece. While I have deconstructed and created my own pattern from a picture of the finished item and doubt their's and mine would match stitch for stitch - it is not my original design/concept.

This item is fairly distinctive and not like the typical bunnies and bears that are quite similar between designers. I would have no problem on giving credit where it is due with a hangtag or other acknowledgement, but aren't those collections the works of several artisans? (again I've never touched one of these books only seen them on websites and Ebay) Would it be crediting the book or the individual (are they even identified?)?

Those of you who copy/deconstruct the more famous offerings on Anthropolgie and others - do you sell any of those items?

I don't know about everyone else, but there's just some days when I am at a loss for something to write about. So, I thought why not see if anyone would be interested in exchanging blog posts and at the same time help promote each other . . .

The idea would be that two bloggers could write about each other's blog, Etsy shop or website. For example, if you were to trade posts with me, you might write a blog entry about Crafty Tips or my blog and I would write a blog entry about your Etsy Shop, blog, or website.

This would work like an expanded link exchange where the blog post would include several links to the site being talked about. (Links embedded in a paragraph are supposed to be more valuable for SEO.) Perhaps both parties to the exchange could agree which pages would be linked to i.e. a link to the homepage, about me page, and a product page or some other agreed upon set of pages. This would allow each of us to advertise pages of our sites that may be needing a little boost.

Anyone interested?

Hi All,

I've been gearing up to start offering some of my crochet things on Etsy. I rarely make anything from a pattern; creating my own amigurumi type things.

What I was wondering is that those of you that sell patterns...

A. Do you only sell patterns?
B. Have you found selling patterns hurts your sales of your finished items that were made using that pattern?
C. Does B really matter all that much because the real money's in pattern sales?

Any guidance?

Hi All,

Yesterday I found at a thrift, not a huge score, but something different that I know must have a purpose.

The yarn is 4 ply, a little thicker than standard Red Heart acrylic and I'm not sure of the fiber content. I suspect the dye pattern/coloring of the yarn is the clue as to what it's designed for. The yarn has two strands of blue and two strands of white which after quite a few yards becomes all white. Again after quite a few yards the white becomes 2 strands of white with 2 strands of yellow which eventually turns to all white and then the color cycle repeats.

It's too thick for sock yarn, but it seems like some sort of repeating fabric pattern.

Since I tend to make small things, I doubt this would work with my typical projects. If I knew what is was designed for it might make for a different type of project for me.

Has anyone run across something like this?

Any ideas what it is designed to be used for?

Meet Penny the Paper Panda. Yes, in a moment of insanity I decided to make my entry using paper. I can honestly say Penny will be the only one of her kind, as I won't be making her any friends.

Penny stands a statuesque 3 1/2 inches tall and is holding her favorite paper flower bouquet.



I found this paper ribbon stuff at one of my favorite stores - a thrift, and thought the size would work. What an adventure - did I somehow forget that paper rips? Duh!

And just in case I didn't find crocheting with paper challenging enough, I cut it in half lengthwise to make the ears, nose and arms -  it was just too thick otherwise. 

Keeping with the non-traditional spirit of this challenge, her head is stuffed with pieces of a Dollar Store plastic bag.

This is my first challenge entry - I hope you like her. And this is my first time posting pictures here as my dear friend Carol gifted me with a digital camera this Christmas. If you would like to read more about my adventure (I mean descent into insanity) as I made Penny, you can read the entire story on my blog, Penny the Paper Panda's Story.

Here's a picture of Penny and most of the supplies I used to make her:

A wonderful friend of mine has offered to buy me a digital camera for Christmas.

The budget is $200 and is to include the camera, some sort of battery and charger (like the cell phone battery charger systems), and memory card and reader.

I hope to use it to take pics of crocheted items - tiny 1-2 inches up to lapghan size. I work sometimes with Realtors, so indoor picture taking might come later.

For a while there was a camera being advertised that promised to help with stability and digi pictures. A camera I borrowed a few years ago (wow, it was 4 years ago) took really nice pictures, but it was really sensitive to being moved - just pushing the button to take the picture often shifted it enough to make the picture difficult to resize.

Any suggestions?  Please when making a suggestion list what you like about the camera and what you don't like. Thanks.

Hi All,

Just wanted to alert some of you to something that can frustrate you when you are just starting out and thinking about your company and website name.

I haven't really seen this happen around here - but there are some forums where this is totally rampant and out of control. There is money to be made by buying and reselling domain names. Often people will lie in wait and when someone inquires about using a domain, they quickly buy it and then essentually blackmail the person to get it back.

I see so many posts here where people say "Oh, I'd love to call my new company x and the domain is even available!"

Some of the sites like GoDaddy and others that offer search capabilities to see if a domain is available are places where these trolls hang out to snatch your domain right out from under you. (I mention GoDaddy as an example - not to launch into a debate over whether or not this happens there. I've heard enough that I believe there is something going on with domain registrations over there to be cautious.)

I admit I don't understand how anyone other than the site owner is able to do so, but people are able to 'see' what you searched for. If the domain strikes them as marketable they register it. I've seen folks loose a domain in less than 5 minutes this way.

An earlier thread in this section has someone asking about what I think is a really cool company and domain name. I'm posting here to help everyone and hopefully protect that domain name for the OP, rather than draw more attention to it.

When researching a domain name, my suggestion is to use one of the sites that allow partial name searches. If you wanted myreallycooldomain. com, just search for myreally or some part of the name that makes the search results small enough to review, but doesn't require the entire name. Searching for something like myreallycooldomain without the dot com would defeat the purpose.

I don't mean to be Miss Doom and Gloom, but I would really hate for someone to emotionally invest in a name, maybe even create a logo and site design only to find someone has registered the domain in the meantime.

Hi All,

I'm hoping you can do me a favor. I am desperately looking for adult (I mean things suitable for making and giving other adults; not of the frisky variety  ) projects, patterns, etc and the websites they can be found on.

I am getting inquiries at my site complaining that I have nothing for Christmas.

I would prefer smaller, non-commerical sites. Everyone has Jo-Ann's, Micheals, etc, I'm looking for more off-the-beaten track sites that everyone hasn't heard of. The search engines are mainly providing the bigger sites or articles that don't include actual instructions rather than straight forward how-tos and patterns. I'm also finding alot of projects only suitable for small children and really would prefer stuff for adults and teens or that could be done by the entire family.

I will be putting links to some of the great projects listed here on Craftster; but I would love to include some other sites as well.

Please list them here, PM me or visit my site.

If you don't own the site, I will come up with the description and submit it to my site myself. If the site is yours and mainly features free projects, I would be glad to submit and list it for you. If you sell finished items, please submit it to the appropriate category and I will list it.

Please no articles on home-made Christmases without any step-by-step projects (the search engines are full of those  ), websites that sell a book of projects (unless you submit it yourself), or sites only now available through Way-back machine or similar.

Thank You and Regards,

Michele

Hi All,

Please take a look and let me know what you think. I'm not sure the concept is clear. Is it clearly presented that participation is free?

I've had some feedback where other's didn't realize that.

Thanks for your suggestions in advance.

The site it: http://www.CraftyTips.com

mi