It’s no secret that fuel prices are on the rise.  High fuel prices either affect the profits your #handcrafted art or craft business makes or you adjust prices and methods to account for them either way someone pays the difference.

FuelEconomy.gov will help you to make driving to and from shows more efficient by helping you maintain your vehicle for maximum fuel efficiency.

Some other ideas to help you keep your profits in your pockets where they belong:

Time your trips to see friends and family to correspond with the best shows in the area.  Attending shows while visiting nearby friends and family makes the trip accomplish two purposes. It also makes the trip a business trip which is a tax write off, so save your receipts. By staying with friends and family you will save money on hotels and probably food.

When traveling long distances to shows find other events to attend on the way to and from the show. Increasing the number of shows you attend increases the number of people who see your product and hopefully your sales. Reducing the distance between events reduces the number of gallons of gas used per show. Also you will spend less time driving from place to place, giving you more time to see the sites and rest between shows. Keeping the distance short between stops also helps you to plan ahead better, you won’t be caught looking for a hotel between 10pm and midnight when most of them are already full. You can also make reservations further in advance when rates are better saving you money.

Do more shows close to home. This is obvious but worth mentioning the closer to home the events you do, the less money spent on gas getting to them. Tie a string to a pin and place the pin in your city on the map. Use it to draw circles on the map at distances of 30 miles, 100 miles and 150 miles then check out which shows happen in the cities inside your circles. In places where the population is dense you should be able to find quite a few shows happening in your area. For areas where there aren’t a lot of shows happening consider starting one, pick up business cards of artists and crafters off of bulletin boards, at farmers’ markets, and at shows happening in the area. Contact them and ask if they would be interested in attending a show. Some of the most successful shows I’ve seen were held in a large back yard with 4-6 crafters participating.

Get a website. I know some of you are afraid of computers and probably don’t even own one of your own.  Don’t let your fear of technology stand in the way of your profits. Many adult education classes offer all the basics of computer usage. You don’t even need to know any special computer languages to create and maintain your own website anymore. My website costs me under $100/year and came with a what you see is what you get editor with great tutorials. Your website works 24/7 to sell your product and inform your customers. You can’t get a salesman as dedicated to selling your product for a better price. Include your website on your business card. Give your card to everyone who purchases from you at events. Have them available to anyone who visits your booth. Use your website to inform your customers about your product, about where to find your product, and to sell your product between shows.

Create a mailing list. Ask each of your customers permission to add them to your mailing list. Mail a postcard to customers in the area you will be doing shows letting them know where they can find you. Offer them a discount for bringing the card and a friend to see you at the show. People who’ve already bought your product are more likely to buy your product than the average Joe by staying in contact with them you increase your sales and profits.

We bought a Singer Brilliance 6199 Sewing Machine for Christmas.

I was worried because I'm new to sewing as I had a bad experience with learning to sew in Junior High School sewing machines.

I wanted to learn to sew (again) after a fun experience sewing with my neighbor so when I saw the Singer Brilliance on sale for a price I considered really good we bought it. Okay having a coupon made it irresistible.

The machine was easy to set up and use once I understood how important it was to check the needle tension. Before that I picked out several projects but afterward very few.

I may have started with a project that was much too small as my first project was Barbie clothes. I would suggest making your first project on any sewing machine a pillow or simple bag as they have long straight lines you can use to practice.

I haven't played with all the stitches yet but there are many options available. I have used the needle position and found it made it a little easier to sew very close to the edge of the tiny clothes I was making.

I had some trouble with the machine sucking in the fabric if I sewed too close to the edge of the fabric while backstitching.

Overall I've made a few barbie doll clothes and found it to be a very easy machine to use for an (almost) beginner to sewing. The instruction manual was fairly easy to understand and follow and I was set up and sewing pretty quickly. Do read the part about checking needle tension though as it will save you picking out your first project over and over and ... well you get the picture.

If I had to rate the sewing machine on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best:, I would probably give it a:

• 4 for ease of use for a beginner.
• 5 for quick setup and time to begin sewing.
• 5 on quality of stitches

Singer Brilliance 6199 Sewing Machine - Automatic Needle Threader, Automatic Stitch Length & Width, Extension Table, 8 Presser Feet included

• Dimensions 16" long x 8" wide x 12.5" high
• Weight 14.5 lbs
• Adjustable stitch length 0-3 mm and width 0-6 mm
• Built-in needle threader
• Adjustable tension
• Adjustable Needle Positions
• Simple bobbin winding system
• Large extension table and removable accessory box
• 8 Presser feet including
  • All-purpose foot
  • Zipper foot
  • Invisible zipper foot
  • Buttonhole foot
  • Button sewing foot
  • Blind hem foot
  • Overcasting foot
  • Roller foot
• 100 Built in Stitches
• 6 Automatic 1-Step Buttonholes
• Hard-sided machine cover
• Also includes:
  • Needles
  • Bobbins
  • Thread spool cap
  • Auxiliary spool pin
  • Spool pin felt
  • Darning plate
  • Needle plate screwdriver
  • Seam ripper/lint brush
  • Instruction manual with stitch guide
  • Foot pedal and power cord

When you are selling your art online little is more important than the quality of your pictures.

You won't get many sales if the quality of the pictures make it hard for the buyer to see the quality of your art or craft. Worse yet the quality of the pictures can make the buyer picture in their mind that your items are poor quality because you didn't seem to care if the photos were low quality.

Taking pictures of our handcrafted items is something that overwhelms and irritates many artists and crafters. It seems like it is too complicated and our photos are never good enough causing us great frustration.

I was very excited to learn of an inexpensive tool that can help us all take better quality photographs of our crafts. I would like to thank Nancy for this wonderful information please visit her sites below and say thanks.