Toronto Craft Alert

One of the things that came up in our last reader survey was the fact that many of  you are looking for more small business resources.  When I came across this craft-centric social bookmarking site via Sister Diane, my sight zeroed in on the Crafty Biz tag and I thought I would share in case there are any good links there to help you in starting or running your biz.

Those of you crafting for pleasure will also find plenty of links of interest on [...]

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Dear crafties,
I’ve opened up a meetup group for women entrepreneurs in Toronto who make all or some of what we sell.

We are jewellers, painters, knitters, soapmakers, toymakers, potters, and more, interested in meeting other creative women in business.

It’s so easy to become isolated working in our studios and on our websites. The purpose of this group is to get out, meet up, compare notes, stay motivated, develop our businesses and be inspired.

The inaugural meetup is scheduled for Sunday Feb 28th. Interested? You can join as well as RSVP for [...]

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If you haven’t already begun to, head over to Poppytalk to cast your votes for The Poppies, Poppytalk’s virtual awards event celebrating the Handmade Community.  Toronto is seriously representin’ in most categories (I would list them here, but I don’t want to miss anyone and risk denying them your vote!) – so head on over and vote local!  Note: some categories have closed or close today so don’t dawdle if you want your say.

I am totally honoured to have been asked to sit on the jury in the company of some [...]

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My husband Mike Kennedy will be showing at the Interior Design Show this year, and I wanted to invite you all out to check out his truly fine (If I do say so myself) work in Studio North, Limited Edition Booth SN-34.  I have been living under a solid blanket of wood dust, huddling under our duvet to keep warm while the apartment airs out after another round of oiling & varnishing, and plugging my ears while the thickness planer roars as he’s been preparing over the past couple of months, [...]

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Attention readers:  this is a great opportunity to a) get your work some more exposure & b) to big-up your crafty neighbours by nominating some Toronto-area/Canadian talent for a Poppy in one of the categories below.  Read on for a some highlights from Poppytalk*& visit the post (link below) for the whole deal.

Today we are most excited as we launch a really fun (and what we hope will become a “yearly event”) called “The Poppies“. [...]

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The author, Adam King

Today my husband, who is a custom furniture maker, sent me this piece from a section on FineWoodworking.com called “Reflections from the workshops”.  In it a woodworker muses about where he went wrong trying to start a woodworking biz from a conventional business standpoint.  Despite its title, “This secret cost me $20,000, but I’ll let you have it for free.” I didn’t find that it provided a concrete answer to a dilemma that many of us face – how to make our life’s passion financially [...]

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