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Earn extra cash at home selling crafts & homemade goods with these easy things to make and sell for money!
If you are looking for an easy way to start making money from home, then you might want to consider selling crafts with this list of easy things to make and sell for money.
Are you a creative person who loves to make crafts and handmade DIY projects? If so, then starting a craft business would be the perfect way to earn extra cash or even earn a full-time income working from home.
I love making crafts and being creative, it’s been a passion of mine since I was a kid.
I remember watching my grandmother sewing and was so intrigued by how small scraps of fabric would transform into clothing and other household items that I asked her to teach me how.
And I got pretty good at it, even at a young age. My first sewing projects were making clothes for my cabbage patch dolls. (yes, it was that long ago)
And if making money would have been on my mind at the time, this would have been the perfect way to make money as a kid.
Over the years I dabbled in selling crafts by participated in craft fairs, selling handmade goods online on Etsy, eBay, and I even made money selling stuff on Amazon.
I also started a small home-based business sewing and altering clothes to bring in extra income, and now, I’m selling digital products online to make money from home.
As you can see, I know how easy it is to get started making money with your creativity!
So if you’d like to start your own craft business, here are some easy things to make and sell for money to help you get started.
What types of crafts can I sell online?
The possibles of things to make and sell for money, either online or in person, are almost limitless depending on your skill set and what types of DIY crafts you love to make.
When you are first starting out, you’ll want to take a few things under consideration to give you the best chance to build a profitable business from home that doesn’t require a large upfront investment.
What types of crafts or homemade DIY projects do you love to make?
The first thing you’ll want to take into consideration is what do you love to do?
Do you love sewing? If so then find some products to make that feed into that passion.
Love woodworking? Then focus on products where you spend most of your time in your woodshop.
Now, this really isn’t a requirement but if you are going to be starting a small business, why not do something that you love to do?
What profit margins can you expect to earn for the time commitment?
Next, you’ll want to figure out what easy things you can make and sell for a good profit margin.
This means you have to take your time to create the product and supply cost, as well as how much you can realistically sell it for into consideration.
So let’s say knitting is your passion and you are thinking of selling hand-knitted sweaters, well if it takes you 3 days to create one sweater, you’ll have to sell each of them for quite a bit to make a profit.
Especially when you are first starting out, you want to focus on crafts that make money quickly, so you might want to consider other smaller knitting projects that are less time consuming to create to make a steady income.
Where will you sell your products?
You should also think of how you are going to sell your products before going all in.
Will you attend craft fairs? Set up an online store? Depend on word of mouth to advertise your stuff?
These days it’s super easy to sell stuff online to make money, but if you’re not tech-savvy and need to hire someone to manage this for you, then you’ll need to take this extra cost into consideration.
If you plan to attend craft fairs, are you willing to give up your weekends to make this work? These are just a few things you should be thinking about as you go through this list of things to make and sell for profit.
21 Easy Things To Make and Sell
DIY Face Masks
In light of covid, face masks have become one of the most in-demand things to sell for money. You can buy these from just about anyone whether it’s online or from your neighbor and people are making a killing off of these easy sewing crafts that sell like hotcakes!
Besides the fact that face masks are needed by just about everybody in the world right now, the time it takes to make them is very minimal which means you can make a good profit selling these.
Handmade soap
Handmade soaps are another great product to make and sell because you can mass-produce them, which is one quality you’ll want to look for when making things to sell.
And unlike buying soap at your local drugstore, people are willing to pay much more for handmade soaps that have ingredients or scents that they love.
Bath Bombs
Bath bombs have been all the rage for the past few years and are a super popular item to sell for money. They make a great gift idea so I can see sales going through the roof during the holidays and Mother’s Day.
You can even make spa-inspired DIY gift baskets and incorporate these bath bombs along with homemade soaps to make a larger and more valuable product to sell, which in turn will bring in bigger profits.
Scented Candles
Scented candles are one of my go-to ideas when I need a gift for co-workers or neighbors because I don’t know anybody who doesn’t love them!
I actually dabbled in candle making years ago to feed my own passion for candles and they are so easy to make! You can even get some candle and soap molds to make different types of candles and unique items to sell.
DIY Home Decor
Home decor items are another craft idea that sells really well. They make great gifts and who wouldn’t want a unique handcrafted item in their home that not everybody has.
And if you are looking to make money from selling home decor, the possibilities practically are endless. Just take a peek at the farmhouse style lanterns above, you can make these for under $10 with Dollar Tree supplies and I’ve seen these lanterns sell for over $30 on Amazon and other online shops.
Plush Toys
Plush toys are another great item to make and sell if you are into sewing projects and there is such a huge variety of these toys you can make, the possibilities are endless.
You can find tons of patterns for plush toys which would give you a variety of products to sell over and over again.
Handmade Jewelry
Jewelry is another option of things you can make and sell to make money and what’s really nice about this type of product is that you can let your creativity go wild.
You can make earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and more and it could be costume jewelry or more sophisticated pieces. Just look at these pendant necklaces by Linkouture, they are not only beautiful but easy to make too!
Sugar Scrubs
Homemade sugar body scrubs, goat milk soap, and other natural beauty products are other lines of homemade goods you can sell.
What’s great about this money-making idea is that you’ll get repeat customers who’ll continually buy from you on a regular basis.
Gift Baskets
Gift baskets always make great gifts and they sell really well around the holidays. So if you are just looking to bring in a bit of cash for the holidays, this is a perfect choice.
The best part about this is you can create and sell these even if you aren’t particularly crafty, but on the flip side, it might require a bit more upfront cost to get started. Check out these gift basket ideas to get ideas if this interests you.
Personalized Novelty Mugs
These DIY sharpie mugs are super cute and so easy to make even if you don’t have a creative bone in your body!
What’s even better is that the supplies needed to make them are super cheap. You could literally buy mugs at the Dollar Tree or any other dollar store and some DecoArt glass painter markers (regular sharpie markers wash off easily) and you can start a business for less than $50.
Holiday Ornaments
Holiday ornaments are a great craft idea to make and sell if you are looking to make some spare cash for the holidays. These pretty Christmas tree ornaments (pictured above) are made out of napkins, and mod podge and are super simple for beginners.
You can make custom ornaments with people’s names with a Cricut machine to sell, which will bring in more money since they are personalized.
DIY Wreaths for All Occasions
Front door wreaths are another fun way to make money selling crafts. You can create wreaths for every season and every major holiday so the ideas are endless.
Depending on what types of wreaths you decide on making, the initial investment to make these are pretty cheap, you can even get a lot of your supplies at your local dollar store so profit margins on this type of craft project are pretty good.
Digital Printables
If you have a knack for graphic design, then creating and selling digital products like the planners in the above image might be more up your alley to start a small online business.
You can create just about anything such as monthly planners, printable forms, artwork, and so much more. What’s great about this is that it can become a passive income stream since you create these once and can sell them over and over again!
Learn more about creating printables to sell online and get instant access to our free Day Planner template to create your first listing on us!
Wood Pallet Projects
If you are more geared towards learning how to make money woodworking then there are almost an unlimited amount of items to sell to make money like home decor, furniture, wall art, and the list goes on.
Upcycled furniture and pallet projects, in particular, have become all the rage in recent years from the demand for the rustic “look” or farmhouse decor.
Gifts in a Jar
Mason jar gifts or “gifts in a jar” are all the rage on Pinterest and sell really well, especially during the holiday season. This spa in a jar is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mason jar ideas.
What’s great is that the items in the jar are not expensive at all but when they are grouped in a way that makes sense, the perceived value is so much higher.
Novelty T-shirts
If you have digital design skills, then selling t-shirts is a great way to earn money from home. In fact, it’s also a great passive income opportunity since you create a design once and can sell it on t-shirts, hoodies, and other apparel over and over again.
There are many places online to sell t-shirts but I recommend you check out Merch by Amazon (which is one of the many ways you can make money on Amazon) simply because it’s the largest marketplace online today to sell stuff.
If this way of making money interests you, just check out what kind of t-shirts that are selling on Amazon for ideas on what sells well.
Home Baked Goods
Chocolate chunk cookies from Home Cooking Adventures
If you have a passion for baking, and a few awesome recipes that everybody loves, then starting a home baking business might be the perfect small business idea!
Besides selling your goods at fairs and bake sales, you can sell them through local convenience stores, online, or eventually, open up a bakery in your neighborhood.
Homemade Dog Treats
Just like starting a baking business, creating tasty treats for our furry friends has great potential to earn money from home whipping up yummy dog treats.
Like some other ideas in this article, it has the potential to earn recurring income from the same customers since once they run out of treats, they’ll be back for more!!
Wall Art
Wall art is another thing you can sell for money and if it’s a custom-made piece like this personalized wedding wall art I found on Etsy, you could get top dollar since it’s a piece of art that you just can’t find anywhere else.
Of course, these types of projects do require taking orders and meeting deadlines since people who order from you will expect a reasonable delivery time for the products purchased so you need to make sure you can handle the demand.
Photography
Love taking photographs? If so it could be a very profitable hobby for you. There are hundreds of thousands of people searching for images daily whether it be for a website, brochures, promotional items, wall art and so much more.
And there are tons of places online where you can sell your images on auto, such as Shutterstock, Big Stock Photo, iStock Photo, and many more.
Handmade Quilts
Handmade quilts are a really profitable thing to make and sell both online or at craft fairs. Although they do take quite a bit of time to make, people are willing to pay top dollar for these so you earn quite a bit for just one quilt.
In fact, my sister makes quilts and she was offered $900 for a quilt she was working on but she declined because it was actually my wedding gift and I’m so glad she didn’t sell it (but I totally would have understood).
DIY Coasters Cricut Project
If you’re into crafting then I’m sure you’ve heard all the rage about Cricut machines and how you can do just about anything with this amazing tool. These coasters on Cricut Blog are one of many Cricut projects to sell to make money.
These coasters are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creating things to make and sells for money if you have a Cricut! There are literally thousands of projects that you can easily make with a Cricut!
Throw Pillow Sewing Projects
Another type of home decor project you can do with just basic sewing skills is making throw pillows.
What’s nice about these is that they are super easy and inexpensive to make so you can pump out quite a bit of these to sell in just a few hours.
Upcycled Furniture
If you’ve ever restored or upcycled a piece of furniture, then you know that you could turn something that’s on it’s way to the trash pile into something beautiful that many people would pay top dollar for with just a bit of elbow grease.
The thing with furniture is it doesn’t ship as easily so you probably want to think of how you can sell your creations locally such as flea markets in your area or on Facebook Market Place and Craigslist.
That’s not to say that you can’t sell them online you just need to learn how to ship larger items. If you’d like to learn how Flipper University has a great resource that’ll teach you everything you need to know to ship furniture or other large items for maximum profits.
Where to sell your handmade goods and crafts
Now that you have ideas of what you might want to create to sell, you may be wondering where to set up shop. Well, just like things you can make, there are plenty of places to sell your craft too.
Selling your goods locally
When first dipping your toes in to selling your stuff, it’s a good idea to start local where you can get an idea of what’s working, talk to customers to see what they like, and just get feedback on what you’re offering.
Some of the places to start are at community events such as craft shows, farmer’s markets, fairs, and festivals going on in your area.
You can even branch out and offer your goods in local stores and shops in your area.
Selling your goods online
Now once you’ve validated that your products and have a better idea of what people want, you can take your marketing up a level and start selling your handmade goods online. Some of the most popular places to start off are Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and Shopify.
By no means is this a complete list though, you can check out this article for a complete list of places to sell crafts online to get started.
Easy Things To Make And Sell Conclusion
So there you have it 21 easy things to make and sell for profit. I hope this article helped get the ideas flowing of all the possibilities of handmade goods you can create to bring in some extra cash or even turn into a full-time income working from home.
If you have any other ideas to add to this list, please share them in the comments to help others who are looking for a way to bring money in with this side hustle.
If you’d love to start a business working from home but aren’t particularly crafty, flea market flipping for profit might be something you’d like to try. If so, you can check out this free webinar series to see if this might be something you’d like to try.
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