In episode #19 of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, my guests are two incredible women: Kari Chapin and Blair Stocker.
Kari is the author of four books, most notably The Handmade Marketplace. She is a creative business consultant and helps all sorts of creative entrepreneurs level up their businesses through strategic planning, brainstorming, and support. She also teaches and speaks at events and conferences across the United States. Her next course is with creativeLIVE. RSVP now to take her three-day online course, “Starting a Handmade Business”, for free. Kari lives in Portland, Oregon.
Last year Kari helped me write a tagline for my business. You can read that post here. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kari in person when we did a book signing together here in Boston. It was so much fun to talk to her again for the show.
Blair Stocker is a modern crafter and prolific “maker”. She is the author of the new book Wise Craft: Turning Thrift Store Finds, Fabric Scraps, and Natural Objects Into Stuff You Love. Blair also designs quilts and quilt patterns, creates online DIY content for various platforms, and passes along her love of making through teaching. Her blog is wisecrafthandmade.com. Blair lives in Seattle.
Blair and I both started blogging in 2005. We’re old-timers, but this is the first time we’d had a chance to actually talk to one another. I’m in awe of the 60 projects Blair created for her book and we discuss how she pitched it and worked with her publisher to shape it into something that’s really excellent. So interesting!
After chatting about our current projects, Kari, Blair and I recommend awesome things we love. This is my favorite part of the show because I always learn about new things to try (and often end up ordering stuff!). Here’s what we talk about:
Kari recommends:
- Using secret Pinterest boards in the most innovative way
- Vanessa Van Edwards class The Power of Body Language
Blair recommends:
- Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
And I recommend:
You can listen to the show by clicking the arrow below, or download it on iTunes and listen on the go. While you’re there, would you take a minute to leave a review? That would be awesome. Reviews help iTunes push the show to the front so that more people can find it.
Thank you and enjoy the show!
Abby,
What an enjoyable podcast to stumble upon!
So many creative resources were shared and I am going to check them all out.
I really thought this episode was so insightful from beginning to end.
Kari had many good suggestions and information for any creative in the craft business and I really enjoyed Blair’s comment about aesthetics and artwork. I agree that is is more important to get your artwork out and seen because it affirms your uniqueness and creativity and validates your design.
The very best part about the podcast today was that the entire time that I was listening, I was up to my elbows in faux fur and the hum of my sewing machine. Listening to you gals today was such a great way to motivate me and let me know that I am on the right path.
Thanks again and great job!
Warmly,
Jenny Smith
Teddy Bear Republic
Jenny,
Knowing you were out there listening while you sew softies makes me incredibly happy. I’m just thrilled that you enjoyed today’s episode. Thank you for taking the time to say so!
I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never listened to your podcasts before. Well that changed today as I found a pocket of time and I just sat and listened. (I’m not a multi tasker so trying to listen while doing, would mean that I either wouldn’t take in the info or I would put a stitch in my fingers.)There was so much information and points of interest to me. All presented in a way that was so professional. What inspirational women you all are. Very motivational listening to women who have found their way through the maze and are doing it for themselves while helping others. Strong women! Great role models and it’s lovely to be able to hear you all. I love knowing the possibilities for the self taught. It seems that the internet is a great equaliser.
I’m off to buy a stiletto! I may need The Handmade Market Place as well. I’m going to work my way through your other pod casts too, now I know how great they are. Thank you for this.
Oh wow, Sara! Your comment really made my day. Thank you so much for listening. I truly appreciate it!
I finally had a chance to sit down and listen to the newest episode today and I wanted to add one more comment about My Fitness Pal. I just started using it again and found they have added a new feature that makes it even more awesome. They’ve always had a feature where you could enter your own recipes – a big need of mine for any app like this. Now they have it so you can enter the url of a recipe I find online and it imports all the ingredients into my page. Fabulous! This is a HUGE time-saver and makes the app even more functional for people like me who love to cook!
Oh, that’s so cool!
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