It’s never been easier to monetize crafts to make and sell than it is right now. If you want to start a gig on the side — and have a special ability like sewing, paper crafts or design — all you need is a solid focus, a few inexpensive tools, an online store, and you’re up and running.
Related: Sell crafts online with our start-to-finish guide
Where to offer crafts to make and sell
The internet makes it easy to sell your handmade goods to a global market. Consider the following platforms:
Etsy
An online marketplace where independent creatives can sell their handmade wares. These include physical products like art, sewing, embroidery, vintage items, printables, jewelry, home decor, and digital products that are downloaded after purchase, like printables and fonts.
Related: 3 Etsy branding essentials for shop owners
Amazon Handmade
Amazon describes this platform as, “a store on Amazon for Artisans to sell their unique, handcrafted goods reaching hundreds of millions of customers worldwide.” These goods include art prints, furniture, bedding, apparel, art supplies and more.
See the Amazon Handmade FAQ for a complete list of what you can sell there.
Merch by Amazon (print on demand)
Merch by Amazon is a separate way you can offer crafts to make and sell on the platform by using their print-on-demand process to customize products. Check out this podcast episode to hear an amazing story about how Elaine Heney made $53,000 selling T-shirts (in only 10 hours a week).
Related: Your guide to starting a T-shirt business that will actually make money
Creative Market
An online marketplace similar to Etsy but without the physical products. Everything on Creative Market is “mouse-made,” or created digitally. Typical products sold are fonts, patterns, graphics, templates and more.
Your own website
You’re the boss here! You can sell physical or digital products as long as your website platform can support them. And you have the added security of totally owning the space instead of “renting” it like you do from sites like Etsy, Amazon Handmade and Creative Market. GoDaddy’s Online Store, for one, makes it really easy to get your crafty physical product side hustle started.
Looking for an easy DIY website with built-in online marketing tools, social media integration and more? Check out GoDaddy’s website builder.
Tools for crafts to make and sell
There are a few tools that have grown in popularity over the past few years to help make crafty side hustles possible. They’re affordable and accessible to someone creating a business out of a spare corner of their home.
Here are some of the best tools and software for crafts to make and sell:
Silhouette Cameo or Cricut
These are electronic cutting machines that use a blade to cut things like paper, stencils, sticker sheets or vinyl. These both require proprietary software to use.
Silhouette Alta 3D Printer
This is a 3D desktop “printer” that uses special filaments to create 3-dimensional designs. It uses proprietary Silhouette software to work.
Related: 3D printing opens doors for entrepreneurs
Glowforge
This is also an electronic cutting, tool but it uses a laser instead of a blade to make the cuts. It can cut as well as engrave things such as wood, metal and plastic.
Adobe Photoshop
This software is a “raster” graphics editor. It edits images made up of pixels. If you have downloadable crafts to make and sell like graphics, designs or photographs, then Photoshop is your best friend. You can use it to make works of art, as well as edit photos.
Related: 5 must-know Photoshop tricks for beginners
Adobe Illustrator
This software is a “vector” editor, so instead of using pixels, it uses mathematical vectors to create graphics (you never lose quality no matter how many times you resize it). If you’re creating fonts or cut files (for the cutting machines above), you’ll likely start your design process inside Illustrator.
Silhouette Studio or Cricut Design Space
If you use the Silhouette Cameo or Cricut cutting machines, you’ll need their proprietary software to make them work.
Since you’re reading this, I can probably assume you’re a crafty type of person. So you might have some of these tools at home already!
10 crafts to make and sell on the side
Now you just need to pick the type of crafts to make and sell that you want to turn into a crafty side hustle.
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3D-printed Items.
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Laser-cut or engraved shapes.
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T-shirts.
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Drinkware.
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Wood signs.
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Planner stickers.
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Hand-drawn graphics.
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Fonts.
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Printables.
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Sewing.
Related: How to sell stuff online — A comprehensive guide for ecommerce success
1. 3D-printed Items
Product ideas: Pendants, earrings, ornaments, keychains, toys, statues
Tools: Silhouette Alta 3D Printer & Software, plus printer filament
Where you can sell: Etsy, your own website
2. Laser-cut or engraved shapes
Product ideas: Keychains, acrylic blanks, embellishments, engraved leather gifts
Tools: Glowforge, and blanks to engrave or cut, plus the graphic design itself
Where you can sell: Etsy, your own website
3. T-shirts
Product ideas: These can be handmade, or print on demand
Tools: Silhouette/Cricut, Screenprinting kit, graphic or cut file for the shirt design
Where you can sell: Amazon Handmade, Merch by Amazon, Etsy, your own website
4. Drinkware
Product ideas: Etched wine glasses, glitter-dipped mugs, tumblers personalized with vinyl
Tools: Silhouette/Cricut, product blanks, mockups to display your wares
Where you can sell: Amazon Handmade, Etsy, your own website
5. Wood signs
Product ideas: Wood signs personalized with paint or vinyl to use as home decor
Tools: Silhouette/Cricut, blank wood sign, vinyl and/or stencils
Where you can sell: Amazon Handmade, Etsy, your own website, or just sell the digital designs on Creative Market
6. Planner stickers
Product ideas: Stickers for planners, or gifts for children and adults
Tools: Silhouette/Cricut, sticker paper, graphics to print on the stickers
Where you can sell: Amazon Handmade, Etsy, your own website, or just sell the digital designs on Creative Market
7. Hand-drawn graphics
Product ideas: Graphics and clip art packs, illustrations, cut files for cutting machines
Tools: Illustrator, Actual pen and ink, paintbrushes, iPad Pro with Procreate software
Where you can sell: Sell digital files on Creative Market, or Etsy, Physical items on Etsy, your own site (digital download capable)
8. Fonts
Product ideas: Fonts for personal or business use
Tools: Illustrator, Font Forge or other font creation software
Where you can sell: Creative Market, Etsy, your own website (digital download capable)
9. Printables
Product ideas: Art prints for home and office, organizational printables
Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop, Canva
Where you can sell: Sell digital files on Creative Market, Etsy, or your own website and sell pre-printed ones on Etsy, Amazon Handmade, or your own website
10. Sewing
Product ideas: Custom embroidered textiles, handmade clothing, bedding and toys
Tools: Sewing/embroidery machine, commercial use designs/patterns
Where you can sell: Etsy, Amazon Handmade, your own website
Once you have your side hustle chosen, you’ll want to get your new biz online. You can create an online store to sell your products directly or sell through a marketplace — or both!
Even if you sell on a marketplace like Etsy, you should get the domain name for your business (you never know when your side hustle will become your main thing).
Create a website to let people know your latest news and deals, and give you the ability to collect email addresses.
Related: How to start a website from A to Z
If you aren’t ready to do that, you can simply forward your domain to your Etsy shop, and social media profiles. Snag your name on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Or use GoCentral Website Builder, which is built to make all this super easy for you. It can help you link your new website to your Facebook page, Twitter feed and other social media pages with just a few clicks.
Have fun with your new crafty income stream!
