Craft Industry Alliance

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about running an indie craft show with my guest Tricia Brancolini-Foley, the Executive Director of Handmade Arcade . Tricia believes in the power of making things by hand. She has been a maker and crafter her entire life. She started at Handmade Arcade in 2010 as a volunteer and in 2014, she spearheaded the organization’s tra...

 On this episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a career bringing people together through yarn with my guest Shelley Brander. After a successful career as a copywriter and broadcast producer, creating campaigns for brands like AT&T and Hard Rock, Shelley Brander followed her passion and started an improbable "side hustle"—she opened a local yarn store. She and...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a business in scrapbooking and photography with my guest Azzari Jarrett . Azzari is a photographer and designer who is inspired by simple, everyday moments. You can usually find her chasing natural light with one too many (film) cameras. She enjoys a good morning run, a daily cup of coffee, and evenings on the...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business as a watercolor artist with my guest Anne Butera . Anne Butera is a self-taught artist who finds inspiration in the beauty of her garden and the magic of nature. She works primarily in watercolor but also loves challenging herself to try new things. She strives to seek out and celebrate life’s little...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about creating a textile magazine with my guest Polly Leonard. Polly Leonard is the Founder of Selvedge , an internationally renowned textile magazine that was launched in 2003 and now has almost one hundred issues to its name. From its modest beginning on Polly’s kitchen table, the magazine revolutionized the way textiles ar...

On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a yarn shop, both online and brick-and-mortar, with my guest Kathy Elkins. Along with her husband Steve, Kathy is the owner of  WEBS  – America’s Yarn Store located in Northampton, MA.  WEBS was founded in 1974 by Steve’s mother and in 2002 Kathy & Steve assumed ownership.  Kathy holds a B.A. in Communication f...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building an audience as a sewing blogger with my guest Alexis Bailey . Alexis is a DIY sewing blogger, sewist, and recently handsewist. She is passionate about sustainability, intentional making, and natural fibers. Entering the online sewing scene in 2017, Alexis has built a truly impressive audience in a short time an...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking with Anne Oliver of Lolli and Grace .   For Anne, drawing, painting, and crafts have been a part of her life since almost the very beginning. She spent several years out of college working at a small independent craft store (a dream job, for sure), then started her own business hand-painting clothing, custom murals and furnit...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a knitting business with my guest Louis Boria . After going viral for knitting during his daily subway commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan late in 2017, 45-year-old Puerto Rican Knitwear Designer and Philanthropist Louis Boria, also known as Brooklyn Boy Knits , has turned his passion for fiber arts into a platf...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcas,t we're talking about running a brick-building a business in crochet with my guest, Twinkie Chan . Twinkie is a San-Francisco based crochet designer and instructor known for her colorful, food-themed accessories like cupcake scarves, hamburger mitts, and slushee cup purses. She has two published crochet books and currently has a crochet inst...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a multi-faceted craft business with my guest Kathy Cano-Murillo. Kathy Cano-Murillo is an author, artist & founder of the award-winning brand, CraftyChica . She spreads the gospel of glitter – literally through her DIY projects and figuratively through her speeches, workshops, books, and essays. A former syndic...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a career as a textile artist and creativity coach with my guest Clara Nartey .   Clara's textile artwork has been widely exhibited in solo and group shows in museums across the United States. Her work is held in both private and corporate collections.   Clara is a self-taught artist who learned by stitching tog...

Today on the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a life and career as an artist with my guest Courtney Cerruti .   Courtney is an artist, collaborator and Editor-In-Chief at Creativebug , an online arts and crafts education site. She's authored 5 books, one of which was released earlier this year and is called Make Art Where You Are and her new one, One Color a Day releas...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business in knitting with my guest Gaye Glasspie. Gaye Glasspie a.k.a GGmadeit better known as GG is a 50-something-year-old who fell in love with knitting late in life - in just the last 9 or 10 years.  She is self-taught via YouTube and some wonderfully friendly yarn stores and she is obsessed with all thin...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a business in ceramics with my guest Emily Reinhardt.   Emily Reinhardt created The Object Enthusiast in 2011 right after graduating from Kansas State University. The greatest gift of all was the mentorship and guidance of professors and teachers in the ceramics department at Kansas State, and without these men...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business in bag making with my guest Ellie Lum. Ellie Lum is an accomplished creative entrepreneur, artist, and skill-building educator based out of Portland, Oregon. Ellie’s passion lies at the intersection of education, art, creative business, and environmental justice. Along with her passion for creating,...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business in cross stitch with my guests Lizzy and Spencer Bean. Lizzy and Spencer are the founders and owners of Stitch People , which began in 2013. They both share a great love of entrepreneurship, dog rescue (they have 3 shelter dogs!), and performing which they share as their "capital "D" Dream." They got...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business in rug hooking with my guest Amy Oxford . Amy Oxford is the owner of The Oxford Company in Cornwall Vermont. She’s been making punch needle style hooked rugs since 1982 when she worked as an at-home rug hooker for McAdoo Rugs, a cottage industry in North Bennington, Vermont. She worked as a traveling...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a business crocheting dolls with my guest Allison Hoffman. Allison Hoffman has been crocheting and designing fun amigurumi for over a decade, has written five crochet books, and lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and three sons. She spends her workdays crocheting weird stuff, writing down how she did it, a...

Today on the show we’re talking about building a quilting business with my guest Amy Smart. Amy has loved sewing as long as she can remember. She started quilting in earnest after the birth of her first baby 21 years ago, craving a creative outlet and something that 'stayed done' at the end of the day. While enjoying quilting as a hobby, she feels so lucky to have dovetailed this interest into a s...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a crochet business with my guest Toni Lipsey. Toni is the designer and instructor behind TL Yarn Crafts . Through her printable patterns and cheery video tutorials, she strives to make crochet accessible to makers of every skill level. Toni learned to crochet as a teen but honed her skills after graduating from...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about fabric design and illustration with my guest Heather Ross . Author and artist Heather Ross has won fame exploring themes of resourceful and creative living, the natural world, and handmade. Best known for her collectible fabric designs and books that appeal to the handmade and craft markets, she also hosts a wildly popu...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building an ecommerce apparel business with my guests David and Holly Lesue. Holly is a quilter. She runs Maker Valley —a brand for creative makers (quilters and sewists)—where she designs graphic quilting/sewing tees, writes quilt patterns, curates custom quilt kits and fabric bundles, and designs enamel pins and stick...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about building a sewing pattern business with my guest Norma Loehr. Norma is the founder and creative director of Orange Lingerie . After a career in financial services, she started Orange Lingerie and began making custom bras for individual clients in 2010. In 2013 she published a book on how to sew and fit bras and then bega...

On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about building a business as a paper flower artist with my guest Kate Alarcon . Kate Alarcón is known for her signature designs of uncommon paper botanicals. She teaches flower crafting workshops through her company, The Cobra Lily , and her remarkable pieces have appeared on sites including Martha Stewart Living, Design*Spon...