As we get closer to the winter holidays, I’ll be sharing several crafty gift guides. These are great for finding gifts for your crafty friends and family, or for sharing (not so subtly) with your loved ones who don’t craft!
This post contains affiliate links.
This gift guide includes over 45 gift ideas for creative business owners. If your friend or family member sells handmade items at local craft fairs, designs crochet or knitting patterns, or operates another creative business, help make next year a successful one by buying a gift to improve their craft or business skills!
There are so many items that creative business owners may find helpful, so I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorites.
General Business Resources
These books will enhance the library of any creative business owner. Most are available in multiple formats (ebook, print book, and/or audiobook), so choose your friend’s favorite.
- The Crafter’s Market: This book includes a combination of helpful articles and updated listings and submission guidelines for craft shows, magazines, and more.
- The Little Book of Big PR: 100+ Quick Tips To Get Your Business Noticed by Jennefer Witter: This book is written by a public relations expert and includes many low-cost tips sharing your business with the wider world through networking and connecting with the press.
- How to Blog for Profit Without Selling Your Soul by Ruth Soukup: This well-organized guide will help even a newbie approach their blog as a way of earning money for their business. Ruth is the blogger behind Living Well Spending Less and also runs the Elite Blog Academy, an online class for bloggers.
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown: As a creative business owner, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. This book helps you develop the mindset for focusing on only the most important things to help your business move ahead.
- The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk: Although much of the social media information in this book is already outdated, it provides a great framework for thinking about how to engage with your audience online.
- For any creative business owners considering writing and/or self-publishing a book, I also recommend:
CreativeLive offers a selection of business classes for creative types, including:
- Build a Successful Creative Blog with April Bowles-Olin,
- Start a Handmade Business with Kari Chapin, and
- Bookkeeping for Crafters with Lauren Venell.
Crochet and Knitting Design
Designers love playing with stitches! Stitch guides and technique classes can be wonderful gifts.
Stitch pattern resources for crocheters:
- The Darla Sims stitch guides,
- Crochet Stitch Dictionary,
- Annie’s online classes including Learn to Crochet Cables with Jennifer Pionk, Learn Tunisian Crochet Colorwork with Rohn Strong, Learn to Crochet Lace and Learn to Bead Crochet with Ellen Gormley, and Tunisian Cables and Lace with Kim Guzman, and
- Custom-Fit Tunisian Crochet with Dora Ohrenstein, an online Craftsy class I reviewed here.
Stitch pattern resources for knitters:
- The Vogue Stitchionary series,
- Up, Down, All-Around Stitch Dictionary,
- Entrelac and Entrelac 2 by Rosemary Drysdale,
- 400 Knitting Stitches, and
- Craftsy online classes including Lace Shawl Design with Miriam Felton and Mastering Cable Design with Fiona Ellis.
Pattern writing and grading resources:
Pattern writing and grading (the process of adjusting a pattern to fit different sizes) are important skills for designers to develop. These help to keep the designer organized and to keep the patterns as error free as possible.
- Knitwear Design Workshop: A Comprehensive Guide to Handknits by Shirley Paden (and the companion Craftsy class, Handknit Garment Design) is primarily for knitters, but it includes helpful information about yarn, sizing, and writing patterns that can be helpful to crocheters, too.
- Sweater 101 by Cheryl Burnette is another book that is written for knitters but can be easily understood by crochet designers. It includes measurements for 30 sizes of sweaters in 3 different styles that will help any designer with sizing. I have heard that the Craftsy class, Sizing Knitwear Patterns with Faina Goberstein is also helpful to both knitting and crochet designers.
- I have also heard good things about The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Knitting Patterns by Kate Atherley and the Craftsy class How to Say It: Pattern Writing for Knitters by Edie Eckman. Both are for knitters only.
Teaching
Many crafty business owners supplement their income with teaching. For others, teaching is their primary source of income.
- My book, Make Money Teaching Crochet, is available as a Kindle or Kobo ebook; as a print workbook including 15 worksheets and forms; and in the Ultimate Printable Edition, including 15 worksheets and 5 customizable forms. If you’d like to gift the book, I’m also selling autographed copies here on Etsy.
- Gwen Bortner teaches an online course, How to Teach It, on Craftsy.
Photography and Video
Even if you are hiring a photographer for your primary product photography, it never helps to understand the basics of photography for progress and tutorial photos. Videos can be shared online in so many ways today, that a basic knowledge of video production can’t hurt any small business owner! Here are some great gift options.
- The Crafter’s Guide to Taking Great Photos by Heidi Adnum,
- Craft Photography Fundamentals with Candice Stringham, an online course on CreativeLive,
- Basics of Digital Photography on Craftsy.
- My primary camera is the Nikon D5300. My backup/extra camera is a Canon T5i. I highly recommend the camera I started with, the Nikon D3200, for anyone new to the world of DSLRs.
- A good tripod goes a long way! I recommend Manfrotto products. I use a tripod with a horizontal column for self portraits, tutorials, and product photography. The Mini Tripod is great for traveling.
- When using my iPad for video and photo tutorials, I recommend this adjustable tripod mount, this microphone, and this keyboard/case.
Gift Cards
If you’re not sure what to get your favorite creative business owner, gift cards always work! I recommend getting gift cards from:
- Amazon.com (for books, tech and photography tools, and more),
- Adorama (for photography and tech tools), or
- Etsy (for handmade yarn, hooks, needles, and more).