kids-in-biz.com

Many people love to make crafts. There is something very satisfying about making something yourself. It is soothing as well as entertaining. Did you know that you can also make money with your crafts?

This is one of the best ways to combine something you love doing and would do anyway with a way to make a profit. There are so many people out there who love to buy things handmade, and are willing to pay a premium to do so.

The first thing you need to do is decide what kind of craft you want to sell. If you’ve been crafting for a while then the chances are good that you’ve already picked out the kind of crafts you want to make. If you have never made a craft or just aren’t sure what will sell, here are some common examples:

• Jewelry (check out this site on getting started)
• Soaps
• Candles
• Dolls and doll clothing
• Decorations
• Holiday items
• Knitted or crocheted items
• Wedding or party favors
• Cards
• Journals or scrapbooks

It is not hard to get started selling making these things. You can learn how to start a craft by researching the one that you are interested in. There are many resources available on the Internet complete with diagrams and pictures to help you. If you’d rather have a resource that you can look at and hold in your hand, your local craft store probably has some options. Our local “Joann’s” craft store even holds classes on a regular basis. Don’t forget your local library, too.

It’s very important that you do several test runs before you put any of your crafts out on the market. You need to make sure that you understand how to make the craft well and that it’s up to the quality that people appreciate when they pay good money.

After you’re sure you’ve got the knack for making your chosen craft down, you need to figure out how much to charge people. First of all, you definitely need to charge more than you are paying to get the materials. You also need to factor in the time it takes you to make the item. It’s a good idea to see how much other people are selling similar items for so you know what the market is like.

A great place to look at other people’s prices and get inspired yourself is http://www.etsy.com. Etsy is a marketplace where people post their homemade goods for sale on the Internet. You can even set up your own little Etsy shop selling your goods online.

If you’d like, you can also create your own website to sell your handmade goods. Look at your different options to see what you like better and what makes the most sense for you to do.

While you can sell a lot of crafts online, you don’t want to forget about selling them locally as well. Many towns have craft bazaars where you can take your crafts to sell in your own booth. These can be a lot of fun! Of course, don’t forget your friends and family.

Making and selling crafts is very fulfilling because you can make money doing something you really love to do. Do your research to see how much you should sell your crafts for and where, and you’ll be ready to go in no time.

Simple Face Painting Designs

Without formal training, it is still possible to create simple face painting designs that are also eye-catching and beautiful. Cheek art is the best way to accomplish simple face painting.

One of the biggest benefits of developing simple face painting designs (or cheek art) is saving time. In a fraction of the time, you can paint a small design or character on a child’s cheek or arm and generate the same kind of “wow” that you would if you spent ten minutes painting an elaborate full face design.

Versatility is a big advantage with simple face painting. These small designs can be adapted and painted on the face/cheek, neck, shoulder, legs and arms. A simple snake looks fantastic slithering up the arm. A rose or other flower looks beautiful on the shoulder.

Here are some things you can do to create simple face painting designs for your kids or kids at heart.

1. If you’re at a loss as to what designs to start painting, look no further than the television or movie theatre. What is the hottest kids’ movie playing right now? What about the funniest animated show? Classic children’s television programming is also a great place to start. Particularly for preschoolers, the characters are very simple in nature and therefore fairly easy to replicate.

2. A clown face is a very simple face painting design. And since clowns can be happy, sad, silly or goofy, this one simple design with a few adjustments around the mouth is a great face painting design to have in your arsenal. A bright red nose, a larger than life red mouth (paint around the outside of the lips), large white area surrounding the red mouth, oversized eyebrows and some eye lines that extend from the outside of the eye toward the temples altogether make a simple clown face painting design that will get rave reviews.

3. Turning a little girl into a fairy princess is as simple as a few feathery lines around the eyes, starbursts at the end of each line and a bit of glitter.

4. Painting a pretend bracelet or necklace is a simple design yet very unique. Start by painting pearl sized dots around the wrist or neck and “dangle” a painted heart, peace sign or other “charm” from the painted “jewelry.”

5. Try a simple rainbow face painting…a classic, but always popular. Paint red, yellow, green and blue ‘horseshoe’ shapes and add two little white puffs for clouds at the end of each side of the rainbow. Voila! A happy kid!
The possibilities for simple face painting designs are endless. Don’t get caught up with the elaborate work that professional face painters do. For a single birthday party, volunteer event or just having fun with your kids, simple face painting designs can be just the thing to put a smile on a kids’ face.

Easy Face Painting is the guide that over 1,000 first-time face painters have used to guide them through their very first face painting event. Whether it’s a birthday party, charity fundraiser, school festival or community picnic, Face Painting is a popular activity with kids of all ages and Easy Face Painting makes it, well, Easy!

Can a bad hair day lead to a successful business? Sure! It happened for my 13-year-old.
My daughter, a soccer player, was having problems keeping her hair up. “I’m really bad at doing my own hair and it was always falling in my eyes!” she said; until a friend gave her pre-wrap.
Pre-wrap is a velvety soft foam that comes in rolls like tape. It’s really an athletic pre-taping product used to wrap over an injury before tape is applied, but many female athletes have found it makes the perfect headband! It’s clingy and doesn’t slip off your head like regular headbands. (Check her site out at Pre-wrap.com. ) She loved it so she went hunting for it at the mall. Unable to find it, we had to buy it in bulk on the Internet. She took the extra to share with her teammates - that’s when her business started. “Everyone loved it and wanted it! I had to order more right away.”
Kids have great ideas – they know what other kids want. Listen to them. Make suggestions. I always knew I wanted to teach my kids about business and the opportunity just dropped in my lap. The key? I was ready and waiting! Are you ready?