A while ago I found this amazing store on etsy that makes these fun and funky pieces of shower art out of resin, glitter, and suction cups. My roommate and I bought several of their pieces, but as any DIY-er, I wanted to try making them myself! I love working with resin and glitter and…
Looking Out For Ourselves
A few days ago I got an email from a member of the marketing team at F+W Media, a major publisher of craft books, asking if I’d consider reviewing Kim Kruzich’s new book, Retro Mama Scrap Happy Sewing. I love Kim’s work. She’s a meticulous sewist and a great designer with a focus on softies…
Can You Nurse Your Baby at Quilt Market?: Infants at Craft Industry Trade Shows
Spring Quilt Market will be in Minneapolis in just a few months. Thousands of people will attend this international fabric industry trade show to exhibit, buy, teach, and network. Most of these people will be women, many of them mothers, all taking their Tradeshow displays to exhibit their work. Although the average age of dedicated…
Abby Glassenberg Design 4th Quarter and 2014 Income Report
Throughout 2014 I’ve shared my income here each quarter(1st, 2nd, 3rd), along with some financial analysis. My goal was to talk openly about money and the work involved in growing a creative business online. This experiment was inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Pinch of Yum. Owners Bjork and Lindsay Ostrum share their income…
Do You Need a Bank Account for Your Creative Business (or Can You Just Use PayPal)?
Please note that this post is my opinion. I’m not qualified to provide you with legal or financial advice. Opening a PayPal account is one of the first steps you take when you start selling things online. PayPal is the primary way most people send and accept money and it’s a trusted site and so…
Should You Work for Free Product?: A Case Study of the Glue Dots Design Team
image credit I’ve worked for free fabric. Last year I designed a tutorial for Timeless Treasures to post on their blog. It took me about four hours to design it, sew it, photograph each step, take the beauty shots, and write the instructions. I was paid in fat quarter bundles and several yards of flannel….
An Inside Look at Designing Premier Quilting Cottons for JoAnns
While doing research for my post about how much fabric designers earn I spoke with a fabric designer who has licensed fabric collections to both a fabric company and to the largest chain of brick-and-mortar fabric stores in the United States, JoAnn Fabrics. The financial arrangement that resulted from working with JoAnns was so different…
An Inside Look at How Much Fabric Designers Earn
image credit Designing quilting cottons is a significant status symbol in the sewing world, and for good reason. Fabric is beautiful. It’s the raw material that draws many of us into sewing in the first place. The chance to design your own collection, to sew with it and see other people sewing with it, is…
Abby Glassenberg Design 3rd Quarter Income Report
Here we are at the close of the 3rd quarter of 2014. The 3rd quarter includes the months of July, August, and September. At quarter end I do some financial calculations and analysis for my company and this year I’ve been sharing the results here on my blog (see the 1st quarter report and the…
How to Do Weekly Bookkeeping and Why It’s Your Most Powerful Business Tool
When I was a senior in high school we were allowed to take one class pass/fail. I chose math and thank goodness I did. I was really good at school. Straight A’s, Dean’s List, Phi Beta Kappa and all that, but math had started to be my downfall and it was about to get worse….