Title: Handmade to Sell: Hello Craft's Guide to Owning, Running, and Growing Your Crafty Biz

Author: Kelly Rand, Christine Ernest, Sara Dick, Kimberly Dorn

Publisher: Potter Craft 2012

Genre: Business; Crafts

Pages: 176

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure; Mount TBR; Well Rounded - Self Help

No one knows more about helping handmade businesses than Hello Craft, the nonprofit trade association for crafty entrepreneurs. Written by the directors of Hello Craft, Handmade to Sell is the most complete, up-to-date, and authoritative guide for DIYers seeking to learn every aspect of selling, marketing, and branding. 

A very thorough guide for those serious about making crafting a full time business.  I'm not there yet, but I did pick up a few pointers and concerns throughout.

Title: How to Sell Your Crafts Online: A Step-by-Step Guide to Successful Sales on Etsy and Beyond

Author: Derrick Sutton

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin 2011

Genre: Business; Crafts

Pages: 224

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure; Mount TBR

With over 400,000 sellers on Etsy, how can you make YOUR shop stand out and increase your sales? This is a key question for many crafters and artists who are selling online these days. Now here are all the answers and much more from author and Etsy seller Derrick Sutton. Based on his self-published guide, and drawn from his practical experience, you will learn how to boost your Etsy sales, attract more customers, and expand your online presence. Derrick shares his proven online sales and marketing knowledge in an easily accessible format, complete with simple actions steps at the end of each chapter. Learn how to completely optimize your Etsy shop, website, or blog, and much more.

I'll admit that I skimmed the second half of this book.  I don't need to learn how to set up a blog or even a Facebook account.  Those sections didn't really apply to me.  But I did get some great advice in the first half: all about the Etsy shop.  I've been kicking around the idea of opening my own storefront, so this gave me some good points to think about.

Title: Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash Your Inner Eccentric

Author: Violette

Publisher: North Light Books 2009

Genre: Crafts

Pages: 128

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure; Mount TBR

Whether you're looking to express yourself creatively for the first time or have found yourself in a creative rut, you'll soon be following your inspired voice with the help of Journal Bliss. With the guidance of author, Violette, you'll learn to express your thoughts and feelings like never before in your own art journal. Not only will Violette inspire you with her own journal pages, she'll teach you techniques for creating your own unique pages.

This book just wasn't for me.  I'm not that into sketching or doodling and that's what the book focused on.  I was rather hoping that it would be more about writing style journaling.  Oh well.  Not bad, just not for me.

Title: Pinterest Perfect: Creative Prompts & Pin-Worthy Projects

Author: Walter Foster Creative Team, Jamielyn Nye, Flora Chia Jung Chang

Publisher: Walter Foster 2014

Genre: Crafts

Pages: 128

Rating:  3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Nonfiction Adventure; Mount TBR; Well Rounded - Home

Filled with step-by-step projects, tutorials, art tips, and crafting techniques on everything from drawing, painting, and illustration to mixed media, typography, and papercrafts, each featured artist shares her unique art style with readers in an interactive and engaging format. Each section features a brief introduction to the artist, followed by four to six easy-to-follow, step-by-step projects and/or art techniques. Open practice pages at the end of each section invite readers to brainstorm, sketch, and collect inspiration for their own artistic projects. In addition, useful sidebars throughout the book share tips for using Pinterest efficiently and effectively, as a hobbyist and professional artist. One part inspiration, one part how-to, and filled to the brim with color, inspiration, and beautiful artwork, Pinterest Perfect! is the picture-perfect visual resource for any artist, crafter, or creative Pinterest enthusiast.

Not that excited once I actually dove in.  The creators said that they wanted to emulate the look of Pinterest and they definitely do.  Unfortunately that look doesn't really translate to a paper book.  Ultimately I was confused by the tactic.  With regards to the projects, they were decent.  But I found that almost all of the projects have a counterpart on my own Pinterest boards already.  Why do I need it in paper form?  I kept asking myself that questions, hence the 3 stars.