Articles on: craft & maker

Who doesn’t love receiving good old snail mail? There’s no better time to make the extra effort and send your loved ones some letters than Valentine’s Day.

Like buying new exercise clothes to get your ass in gear for the gym, buying a new set of notepads, calendars and binders just makes you WANT to write things down and be that organized person you KNOW you can be. 

Whether you are a natural born scheduler, or a free-flowing tornado of cryptic messages on crumpled napkins, there are loads of clever options available to keep you organized (or at least, organized-looking) this year.

[caption id="attachment_11370" align="alignnone" width="620"] Imperfect -- and perfectly ok. [/caption] This Christmas, I gave away more hand-made gifts than I have since I was a child.

There's hardly a day that goes by that we don't find ourselves hopping on Etsy on the hunt for the perfect gift. This maker-friendly site has quickly turned into our go-to source for cutting-edge home goods, clothes, office supplies, and even furniture, so it's no surprise that Etsy has an estimated 26 million items listed at any given time.

[caption id="attachment_11100" align="aligncenter" width="620"] via Wesley Eller on Flickr.

[caption id="attachment_10738" align="alignnone" width="620"] Image via Flickr[/caption] Running a small business is no small feat -- but before you can even get into the meat of the operation (like figuring out pricing and fulfillment and all of the other complexities of operation), you've got to jump over a few pretty huge hurdles, like coming up with a name and a motto or tagline to help define your brand. And while the stuff that comes later is definitely tricky, it's those small pieces of your overall marketing that can make it hard to move forward.

The holidays are all about eating until you're in a food coma (or at least until you've flopped on the floor in a pumpkin pie daze), which is why giving the gift of delicious noms is always a safe bet. Whether you're a master in the kitchen or can barely open a packet of Ramen noodles, we've rounded up a list of fun, quick and super-easy homemade holiday treats that make perfect gifts for your friends and family.