Are you the type of craft person who has all your ideas piled up on their desk, strewn about on the floor, and tacked to the wall (or ceiling) around them? Or are you the type of person who has everything neatly organized by category in neat little boxes in the corner of your craft room?

I’m going to raise my hand and say I have a bit of the first in me, though I would much rather see all of the second in my craft room.

Let me make an argument for organization today. Organization and categorization are two very important ideas, especially if you want to take your crafting from hobby to business.

Why are they so important? The difference between your hobby and your business are one of time and precision. Your hobby you do in your spare time. Your business you work at, daily, in order to grow and thrive.

Your hobby you do when the moment, the thought, strikes you. Your business you set about with intentionality, working daily on the various aspects or threads of it, so you can weave together a collective whole and present it to a customer.

For this hobby to become a business you surely will need organization and categorization. There is no if, when, or but about it.

Read today’s article about becoming a bit more organized in the intentionality of your crafting, and continue to press on in the development of your business.

Read the full article here: My Antique Drawer Craft Storage System

That’s right…Vanilla Ice knew what he was talking about…

Crafting and creating is a great outlet for stress and energy. It is wonderful to see people utilize this outlet for a healthy lifestyle and a positive outlook.

Such positivity is oftentimes shared, or desired to be shared, with those around you. As you spend time at craft shows or online at various art and craft websites, I’m sure you have come across other artisans who not only share you same fervor for all things “glue-gun-glueable,” but who also share a positive outlook on life.

What’s the natural step in this? Oftentimes people desire to meld their great ideas together and work on a new project that will be equally times thrilling and hopefully lucrative.

But when this happens a new level of crafting may come into play…what was once fun, vibrant, and enjoyable can suddenly turn stressful and even worrisome?

Why? Well, with that collaborative effort comes…well, collaboration. Collaboration with another person can be hard. We all have our own ideas as to how something should be done, and we oftentimes want to utilize those ideas for what we believe is the common good. But if we’re not careful, we may end up pushing those ideas upon somebody a little more forcefully than we should.

What we need for a great collaboration is a spirit of mutuality and respect. Think about this…when you come to the table to discuss your collaboration, don’t come to be heard but rather to hear.

Need some more suggestions on collaboration? We have them right here in today’s article. Take a look.

Read the full article here: How to pull off a stress-free collaboration