!!! Do you sell things that could be Christmas Presents?

I'm a big fan on perishable gifts. My wife and I often give special seeds, plants etc and are planning on gifting much of the family with sorghum we grew and pressed this year.

We're always collecting small bits of metal that we can rework into art jewelry, pendants and earrings . Copper flashing, brass shim material, fittings, left over wire, whatever we come across at yard sales or flea markets that we can work with. A few times a year ( around Christmas ) we gather what we've made and set up at some local craft shows. Another thing that that's really worked out well for us are the painted pendants we make from small smooth river stones. The photo is from one of our display cards....but we paint a variety of subjects on them, tiny landscapes, runes, plants and bugs....not just animals. We were surprised just how much folks liked them.  The real difficulty is finding the time to make things ( that usually takes place over the Winter months ). This year I'm trying something new....wood burning. I've never tried doing it before but I was lucky and picked up a set of pens, some tips and a controller. I don't know how well these will sell....taking the first ones to a show this weekend...so we will see.  Quality Control is provided by our furry overseers.

Gail Jardin wrote:I have been selling apple butter, jewelry, candles and soaps for Christmas gifts. I want to start making more crafts to sell but would need to make sure I have a market to make the investment worth it.  During the spring I sell plants, jams and loaves of bread.

Have you tried to sell online? Maybe an Etsy shop? Or a local farmers market. If you don't have one, think about starting one. Once they are up and going they just take regular maintenance to keep em going. Just some idears.

Hello folks and happy May! I'm an illustrator and can make a range of presents, Christmas or otherwise... Here's a taste: https://developmentcartoons.com/portfolio/gifts/

Customised colouring-in pages, such as these made for my god-daughter. For adults or kids, according to their favourite pastimes and favourite things...

For anyone who's travelled to Mexico and has a soft spot for its picturesque towns, I've published a colouring book with street scenes from San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas (incidentally, a food autonomy and agroecology hotspot), available in either book form or print-at-home PDF. Here's the order page: https://developmentcartoons.com/pre-order-colouring-in-books-and-pages/ and here's more detail on where the images came from https://developmentcartoons.com/category/sancris-en-colores/  

My siblings and I just made a Mother's Day present for mum: a Mum paper doll featuring outfits she's worn in real life, ranging from velvet Christmas party dress to slouch-at-home hoodie and woolly socks. I can make customised paper dolls of others too! As an option some of the outfits can be in black and white, for the recipient to colour accordig to their own taste.

I've also designed an Ex Libris stamp for my husband, featuring resilient plants of his choice (he wanted a nopal/prickly pear, a maguey/agave and a biznaga/barrel cactus).

And if you'd like to hire me to illustrate training manuals, info leaflets or books, that's my main gig... My website is https://developmentcartoons.com/

I don't personally sell gift items (yet) but the rechargeable headlamp (like the past Gear giveaway) makes the BEST Christmas present for men or women!  My husband and I use ours constantly, indoors and outdoors, and always take them on trips in case we need to read a map, look under the hood, change a tire, or just read without waking our partner. We gave everyone these as gifts last year - rechargeable with common phone cord!  And tough little LED lights that last! What's not to like?

Wow! Some wonderfully talented people here. I'm in awe of the beauty you've all produced!

I write Christian romance and women's fiction writer and have paperback versions that would make a good Christmas gift to someone who reads the genre. This is a big four-in-one paperback: https://www.amazon.com/That-Sunflower-Summer-forgiveness-Christian/dp/B0863S9LFT Or gifting an ebook if you're more a last-minute gift-giver!

I also have a 2021 planner/ journal I hope will make a nice gift. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HBGJB3P/

Bocca Yi wrote:I don't sell them yet, so far just given them to dear friends.  I want to sell them I've just been dragging my feet because I'm not confident in my embroidery.
Wool hotpads made from recycled wool sweaters that I shrunk, they are water resistant and there are 3 layers

Your embroidered hotpads are much more elegant than the ones that I make from recycled hessian coffee bean sacks!

Have you tried using the palestrina stitch to join the edges - you can make the knots tighter and/or further apart than this tutorial shows
 
https://youtu.be/yG7Ysf75Dzg

It is also a good surface stitch.

Not too long ago I began producing some jigsaw puzzles of my own work and a couple other artists I know.  It's a business venture whose success is yet to be determined.  I've about broken even on the production costs.  Hopefully sales pick up again in the Christmas season turning this into a profitable venture.  The hope is that this works and I can start featuring the work of more artists I know.  For now I have these 4 puzzles perhaps some here would be interested in.  They are $25 each (plus shipping) and can be ordered from this section of my e-commerce site.


Spinning into Being is a 1000 piece puzzle featuring one of the vessels I created.


Chromatic Strata is a 1000 piece puzzle featuring a collaborative work made between artist David Barnhill and myself.  David B. make the incredible patterned metal using a technique known as mokume gane.


Foam and Moss is a 1000 piece puzzle featuring the work of sculptor Cara O'Brien.  She creates porcelain pieces that she incorporates with reclaimed pieces of wood.


The last puzzle is a 500 piece one featuring another vessel of mine.

those puzzles are great!

i’m part owner of a very small company that processes locally (southern appalachian) foraged nuts into food products. currently selling hickory cooking oil, black walnut oil (too low smokepoint for cooking, but truly delicious), and acorn flour. we don’t have much of a web presence yet, other than for the foraging side of things, so if you’re interested or have questions, purple mooseage me.

also, my wife and her sister make art that tends to focus on nature, animals, and somewhat ‘witchy’ themes. they do a yearly calendar and do postcards, greeting cards, prints, magnets, and patches as well. i’m the shipping department. hopefully i’ll remember to come back and post some images, but my brand new daughter was born two days ago, and my brainspace and time to dig things up is limited so just wish me luck on that! the etsy store is at etsy.com/shop/abacuscorvusartwork

please note that shipping times might be a little longer than usual because like i said, baby. but i will keep up with it somewhat!

Congratulations on your brand-new human, Greg!

Jane Mulberry wrote:Congratulations on your brand-new human, Greg!

From our family too! That's very exciting.

Also, those oils and the art sound fab.

Greg-The oils sound wonderful. I would order some when you have time to work out details.  I normally travel to NC for the holidays (family in Greensboro) but probably not this year. The artwork (I went to etsy shop) is outstanding. Hey it's still October so slowish shipping for holiday gifts will still work! Congrats on offspring!

thanks for the congrats and well-wishes, y'all. much appreciated. i'm exhausted, madly in love, and feeling super lucky. rita, i sent you a mooseage.

here's a couple of screenshots of some of the stuff from the etsy store (and there are so many more), again, etsy.com/shop/abacuscorvusartwork

Congratulations on your newest addition, Greg! That's awesome! Love the artwork, too!