Christian InTech Articles - Crafts & Hobbies

Informative Articles

Fun Around Town This Labor Day Weekend With gas prices skyrocketing this Labor Day weekend, it may be a good idea to skip the road trip and stay in town. That doesn't mean you can't have just as much fun though. Here are a few ideas you can try in lieu of that road trip. Go for a Hike... Overextended Infants Brainy Baby. Bilingual Baby. Baby Babble Speech Development. Baby Bumblebee Smart Baby Series. So Smart. And let’s not forget Baby Einstein. Not familiar with all of these? Neither was I until curiosity drove me to look into the vast array of... Retirement Planning for the Stay-At-Home Mom When you first plan on staying home with your children, probably the first thing you do is take a look and see if you can afford it. You cut back on cable TV, buy older cars, lose retirement benefits… Whoops! Most moms don't seem to be thinking... Separate Colors in a Fall Leaf using Chromatography Fall is a beautiful time of year with all the leaves are changing colors. Children wonder why it happens, so it's a great opportunity to use the power of science to show them the separate leaf colors and to explain how the leaves actually change... Spring Renewal for your Home’s Exterior Come every Spring, we become a little more conscious of the way our home looks to all those who pass by. Often times it is out of our budget to repaint, or remodel the exterior of your home. Here are some great tight budget tips for dressing up the...         Bracelet Making Birthday Parties: Beading for Fun and Profit You can have fun and make money at the same time by serving the "birthday party activity" niche. Make-and-take gemstone beaded bracelets are a very popular party activity. A birthday bracelet beading party for girls age 5 and up is guaranteed to be a big hit. Most girls are thrilled with the opportunity to make jewelry, and parents appreciate that you're providing both the party favors (the bracelets the girls make to take home) and the party activity (making the bracelets). I discovered this profitable home beading party niche by accident a few years ago when I was asked if I could do a jewelry make-and-take craft at a 9-year-old girl's birthday party. The girl's mom and I decided on gemstone bead bracelets because necklaces would be too expensive, and not everyone has pierced ears for earrings. So I came to the birthday party with my bead boxes, bead boards for everyone, a tape measure, accuflex beading wire, little sterling silver toggle clasps, velvet pouches for everyone, and a couple of example bracelets. I couldn't believe what a huge hit it was! The girls absolutely devoured the project and were thrilled to have real pearls and gemstones on their bracelets. Now I get calls regularly asking me to come do a bracelet birthday bead party for another girl, and every time I do one, more parties get scheduled from it because the girls enjoy it so much. Bracelet birthday parties are very easy to do, and they can also earn you a nice profit. I charge $15 per girl for parties of 9 or fewer girls, and $14 per girl for parties of 10 or more. I include a small velvet pouch for each girl to store her bracelet in. I bring bead boxes that are organized by bead color - and as you might guess, pink and purple are DEFINITELY the most popular beads every time! Fortunately, rose quartz is very inexpensive! :o) Blue beads are the next most popular color. My birthday party beads all cost me $5 or less per 16" strand, and my average profit is around $10 to $12 per girl. It usually takes me about an hour to get things ready to go to the birthday beading party, drive there, and set up; about another hour to do the bracelet activity with the girls; and another hour to put everything away, chat, eat a piece of birthday cake, give out bracelet birthday party flyers and business cards, and then drive home. So for 3 hours total, I usually net anywhere from $70 to $200 and have a lot of fun with the girls. Birthday party activities are a very hot market niche, I've discovered, and I recommend trying it out if it sounds at all interesting to you. For successful birthday bracelet beading parties, the keys are to: - enjoy kids, - have a sense of fun, - bring a lot of pink and purple beads (along with other colors), and - wear comfortable clothes because you'll be sitting on the floor. While I'm helping the girls make their bracelets at the party, they always want to know how I got into making jewelry. So I tell them about how doing something I love turned me into an entrepreneur, that I build my own websites, and that I invent my own job for myself every day by following opportunities that come up and thinking creatively about things. I can tell they're inspired by that, and I'm glad to plant seeds for future entrepreneurs! To reach the bracelet beading party niche, I recommend making a nice flyer with a few enticing bracelet photos, a photo of a selection of beads, a brief party description, and your contact info. Include a flyer for each birthday party guest to take home (most of the girls who are guests at one of my birthday beading parties want to have their own parties). Also inquire at your local elementary schools (public and private schools) about including one of your flyers in students' weekly take-home folders. Many schools are happy to do this if you provide the flyer copies. Other likely places to distribute birthday bracelet beading party flyers (with permission) include ballet / dance / gymnastics studios where girls take lessons; soccer / softball games; local bead stores; craft stores; and pottery painting stores. For thousands of tips on marketing your handcrafted jewelry, visit Rena Klingenberg's website, http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com . You can also subscribe to Rena's newsletter, http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/subscribe-to-newsletter.html , for updates on the business of jewelry art.