Crafty Hands Club Magazine

In this week's episode, Jackie talks about the biggest mistake she made when attempting her first pattern. She also shares her sewing journey, how she stays focused when social media is noisy, and how she overcame her fear or creating YouTube videos. 

Jackie Rodriguez is a Latina content creator and dress maker.  She's been making dresses and costumes for over nine years.  Her favorites are upcycling older fabrics, such as bedsheets into wearable garments. 

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded during National Hispanic Heritage Month, which is why the month was mentioned in one of the questions. 

Check out Jackie's pages:

The knitting industry has come a long way, but there's still room for improvement. In this week's podcast episode, knitter and podcaster Liz Piatt candidly speaks about barriers within the knitting industry and why she started a podcast to educate minorities about unpleasant experiences with local yarn shops. 

Dr. Liz Piatt is a Follower of the Way of Jesus and has a doctorate in Sociology. Her podcast, The Black Knitter, is a space where people can learn about the impact of race on the making industry while practicing Beloved Community. Her teacup Yorkie, Neeko, often makes an appearance. 

Disclaimer: In this episode, I mispronounced a few words and there was a cell phone ring during the recording. 

In this episode, Adrienne shares her journey of business, motherhood, crafting, and how she's helping other crafters become organized by creating systems. 

About Ms. Singleton:

Adrienne is a single mother to one daughter, a full-time corporate employee and a long-time lover of all crafts.  Youneak Designs was birthed after creating handmade bracelets for gifts and over the past 10 years it has evolved into a full-blown jewelry, accessory and stationery business.  Youneak Designs is a business that creates a luxury experience for every customer through quality products combined with custom packaging.  She also founded the School of Rock Paper Scissors where she teaches other women founders how to do different jewelry techniques as well as how to level up their customer experience using custom branded packaging.  Most recently she began educating small craft business owners on Standard Operating Procedures through her Ebook and workshop offerings.

Bernadette Smith is founder and CEO of Equality Institute and award-winning author of four books. Her fourth book is Inclusive 360: Proven Solutions for an Equitable Organization.

Bernadette has presented to enthusiastic audiences of CEOs, associations, entrepreneurs, leadership teams, sales professionals, account executives, marketing executives, human resource managers and more. Her expertise in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has been sought after by the New York Times, Forbes, the Washington Post, and Fast Company, among many others, and she’s appeared on the Today Show, the BBC, National Public Radio, and CNN.

Bernadette has been named one of Chicago’s Notable LGBTQ Executives by Crain’s Chicago Business.

In this episode you'll learn:

Connect with Bernadette:

Are you a new Etsy Seller or thinking about starting a Etsy Shop? In this episode you'll learn:

BIO: Taylor is a former teacher & co-owner of Studio Sisters, along with her sister Katie, which is a lifestyle brand for creative entrepreneurs that produces vinyl stickers. Her Etsy shop is ranked in the top 0.1% of all Etsy shops globally. Knowing that the business of making and selling handmade can be an incredible challenge, Studio Sisters also teach other small business owners how to get more sales and grow their businesses online, step-by-step, through their podcast and online courses.

Judi Townsend, known as the "mannequin queen" is founder and CEO of Mannequin Madness. While seeking a mosaic mannequin for a home garden project, she had no luck. Instead, she discovered a Bay-area business, selling and renting mannequins was going out of business. As a result, she purchased 40 mannequins and started a side gig. Mannequin Madness sell new and used mannequins, dress forms and mannequin parts. Also teach zoom classes for Dress Form Christmas trees. Mannequin Madness is a multi-million dollar brand that's been featured in various publications and on television networks.

Seattle native, Nkese Lewis has been creative since a child. She made handmade gifts for family and friends. Even though she learned various crafts, she returned to crocheting. She's known for using granny square techniques along with vibrant colors in her crochet designs.

Nkese is also a guest blogger, and pattern tester. In today's episode, she provide tips for beginner's to the world of crocheting, business advice, and how she's using social media to spread messages about current social issues.

No matter how many followers on social media or email subscribers you have, if they don't trust you, you aren't going to accomplish your sales goal. Are you more interested in growing your followers/subscribers instead of reaching out to your existing audience? Listen to today's episode, to learn the importance of establishing trust with your audience and ways to start building that trust.

Crafty Hands Club help crafters connect with other crafters, make their crafts a lifestyle, and help crafters turn their hobby into a profitable side business, by helping them know and understand business numbers. 

Sales might be the lifeblood of a business, but it takes work. 

You can't force it. You can't half-way go after sales. You have to spend time in knowing your audience, what they need or want, and how your product or service can help them.

Crafty Hands Club Magazine help crafters turn their craft hobby into a profitable side business, by helping them know and understand business numbers.

Lynn has been crafting since she was child.  Her love of knitting brought her to where she is now as owner of Knit 1, a yarn store in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood.  She has started to embrace new crafts like crochet and needle punching.

Knit 1 Chicago Online:

Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica, is former syndicated newspaper columnist and now a full-time creativepreneur which has led to multiple product lines, and collaborations with national brands. She has authored several craft books and novels, recently, Forever Frida: A Celebration of the Life, Art, Loves, Words, and Style of Frida Kahlo. Kathy has a new book releasing in December, and has new products lines debuting this year for HSN, Bisque Imports, Madison Park Greetings, and Riley Blake Fabrics. She has been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, Buzzfeed+ more.

Jamie Miles aka The Crafty DIY Guy is a guy who loves to craft and create!  From Dollar Tree overhauls to cooking to Thrift Store Flips and Dupes - he kinda loves it all.  After purchasing his first home in 2018, DIY projects became important (for budget reasons) and he discovered his love to create then.  Jamie is also a Television & Film Actor and has had co-starring and guest star roles on shows like The Resident (FOX), Watchmen (HBO), Halt & Catch Fire (AMC), The Inspectors (CBS) and more!  His commercial work includes brands like Doritos, AT&T, Verizon, Trust Automotive and more.

In this podcast episode, Jamie talks about how he grew his channel to 32.2K followers, gained attention from crafters from different parts of the world, and also his weekly video projects. 

Check out TheCraftyDIYGuy!

Doing what's right might take longer to get results. It might not be popular. However, when you do the right thing in business, it pays off. When the spotlight, money, status, and everything else is gone, all you have is your name.

Listen to episode for tips on building relationships with fellow crafters/entrepreneurs, proper etiquette in craft groups, respecting the work of others, and paying for products and services.

Perfectly Hued Expressions is an illustration-based boutique that features children’s greeting cards and stationery. Created to fill the void of stationery and greeting cards available for & inspired by children of color, we’ve created high-quality, fun and stylish  products that mirror the beautiful hues of our little ones. We celebrate the uniqueness of our Cu-HUE-ties by showcasing the Be-HUE-tiful tones and personal styles of little girls and boys of color. At Perfectly Hued, we are committed to celebrating and embracing  the beautiful hues and skin tones of children from all nationalities.

Podcast interview with Latisha Armstrong, part owner of Perfectly Hued shares her creative and business journey. Also, from this episode she shares:

Follow them on social or check out their website:

"Helping Homeowners Making Home Custom on a Budget."

Denise Joy Hart is a multi-passionate designer, veteran speaker, entrepreneur and educator. In her former role as sales coordinator for Motivating the Masses with Lisa Nichols, via remote/virtual learning Denise taught and trained hundreds of entrepreneurs to improve their sales and to speak powerfully from any platform. Denise is also a sought after designer and the host of the Thrifty Fly DIY show on Youtube. Through her creatively curated designs she helps homeowners make their home custom on a budget in one weekend or less. Trust me, it's not just a makeover, it transforms your life! 

Listen to episode to learn what to avoid in business, how to thrive during economic downtime, and trusting your gut. 

Starting an online business is fun, exciting, and gives a feeling of accomplishment. But what happens when legal issues aren't taken into consideration during the startup process?

Today's episode gives you insight into potential dangers that might occur if you chose to take shortcuts in your business. Shortcuts include: no business insurance, no product disclaimers, and more.

After listening to this episode, not only will you know how to avoid such things, but you will also think about protecting your business the legal way.

Disclaimer: this episode does not give legal advice. Episode content only talks about potential dangers if legality isn't taken into consideration.

Rebeca Mojica is an award-winning jewelry artist, instructor and best-selling author. As the founder of Blue Buddha Boutique, a prominent chainmaille supplies company since 2003, Rebeca is known for creating colorful and intricate designs that have inspired artisans all over the world. Most recently, she partnered with toy manufacturer Neat-Oh! international to create the award-winning Linkt Craft Kits, the first line of chainmaille jewelry kits for children ages 8 and up.

Chainmaille jewelry first caught her interest while she was in Germany at a fair. Seeing the expensive price tag of an item she wanted, she decided to buy pliers and jumprings from Ebay to attempt the same design. She quickly learned that size and ring types matter. Later on, Rebeca took a chainmaille class and shortly afterwards, was asked to be an instructor. After demand for supplies from her students, Rebeca started Blue Buddha Boutique and became known throughout the jewelry making industry. 

Listen to podcast episode to her more about her craft journey, along with business tips and advice for aspiring creative entrepreneurs. 

Connect with Rebeca:

The Man Behind The Wire: Interview with Lorenzo Emmett Sanders, owner of Wyrefull

Mr. Sanders served as a corporate professional for years. During the later 2000's Lorenzo was on dialysis, waiting on a kidney transplant. As he was healing from surgery, he tried jewelry making and discovered his love for creating wire jewelry. He shares his jewelry making journey, including transparent thoughts about the diy industry.