Craft to Career

Should creative entrepreneurs use AI? In this episode of the Craft to Career Podcast, I'm sharing my personal thoughts on AI and how I'm thinking about it as a quilt pattern designer and small business owner. There's a lot of backlash against AI right now, and much of it is for good reason. I talk through some of the real problems with AI, and how we can share our concerns with our elected officials so our voices are part of the conversation. I also share where AI has been helpful in my own business. As makers and creative business owners, our creativity is the heart of what we do. So how do we stay true to ourselves and our work while still getting the benefits of streamlining the business side? I walk through how I use AI for the tasks that don't need my personal creativity, so I can save my time and energy for the work that does. In this episode: Why so many creatives are pushing back on AI Some of the real concerns with AI, and how to share them with elected officials Where AI has helped me in my quilting business How to stay authentic as a creative entrepreneur while using AI tools Deciding which tasks need your creativity and which ones don't Whether you're all in, firmly against it, or somewhere in the middle, I hope this episode helps you think through what feels right for you and your business.

Kristy Kay of With Love by Kristy is a new fabric designer for Moda Fabrics, but she has been in the art world for a long time. For over a decade, she worked in animation and visual development on films including Hotel Transylvania 2, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, and Smurfs: The Lost Village. As a student of art and color, Kristy understands the emotions that color can bring out. Most recently, she teamed up to create fabric collections inspired by the celebrated artist Mary Blair. In this episode, Kristy shares how she moved from creating for Hollywood to quilting and fabric design. She also tells us about the space she just purchased, where she will teach classes and house the products she sells. In this episode, you'll hear: Why Kristy made the shift from animation to quilting How she learned about color and why she uses it the way she does How the Mary Blair collaboration came about How she is growing her business What you can apply in your own creative business Find Kristy at withlovebykristy.com and on Instagram at @withlove_bykristy.

What if you could see how a pantograph will look on your quilt before you ever load it on the frame? Barbie Mills, longarm quilter and pantograph designer behind The Quilting Mill, joins the podcast to share how she built her business and the tool she created to help quilters choose their quilting with confidence. Barbie has loved sewing since she was a little girl and made her first quilt as a teenager. She studied Family and Consumer Science in college and taught in public schools for seven years before turning her love of quilting into a full time business. In 2012, she began longarm quilting by hand, and when she added a computerized system to her studio, she discovered a new passion: designing digital pantographs. Her designs are known for minimal to no backtracking, so they stitch out smoothly and efficiently. Barbie's newest project is her Pantograph Preview Tool. Upload a photo of your quilt, and you can try different pantograph designs, thread colors, and sizes to see what each would look like before you stitch. She also teaches a class for quilters who want to design pantographs of their own. Barbie lives in Utah with her family and is an active member of the Salt Lake Modern Quilt Guild. In this episode, you'll hear: How Barbie went from teaching Family and Consumer Science to running her own quilting business What led her from hand guided longarm quilting to designing digital pantographs Why she designs pantographs with little to no backtracking How the Pantograph Preview Tool works, and how it helps quilters and longarm clients choose a design What it takes to design your own pantographs, and how her class teaches it Barbie's advice for growing a quilting business of your own Connect with Barbie: Website: thequiltingmill.com About Barbie: thequiltingmill.com/pages/about-me Pantograph Preview Tool: https://thequiltingmill.com/pages/preview-tool Pantograph design class: https://thequiltingmill.com/pages/join Etsy shop: The Quilting Mill Instagram: @thequiltingmill

Why Your Email Promos Aren't Selling (Live Coaching Call with Allison Austin of The Kitschy Creative) If you've ever sent a promotional email and gotten silence, or worse, a wave of unsubscribes, this episode is for you. It started with a post in a Facebook group for quilt pattern writers. Allison Austin of The Kitschy Creative shared that despite emailing consistently every week, rotating between tips, personal updates, promos, and blog roundups, her promo emails were getting zero sales and multiple unsubscribes. I asked if she'd be open to working through it together, live, on the podcast. She said yes. In this episode, we go through three of Allison's past emails together, along with her answers to a few questions about her business, and work through real changes she can make, not just to her emails, but to her brand as a whole. In this episode, you'll learn: What to include in your regular emails to keep your list excited to open them Why branding matters just as much as your email strategy, and how to stand out as a designer How to identify and communicate what makes your business uniquely you A few strategies Allison has used to grow her own email list and sales Whether you're a quilt pattern designer or run any kind of creative business, this episode will help you rethink how you talk to your audience, and what makes people actually want to buy from you. Connect with Allison Austin: The Kitschy Creative on Instagram: CLICK HERE Website: CLICK HERE

What happens when you build a business, then rebuild it, then rebuild it again? In this episode, we sit down with Missy Luukkonen of The Little Green Bean to talk about a decade of growth that looked nothing like a straight line. Missy started out leaving a retail job to create gnomes and burlap products, and has since evolved her business into selling quilt patterns and running a digital membership. Along the way, she's leaned on mentors at every stage, made bold pivots when something wasn't working, and built a business that reflects who she actually is, not just what was trending. We talk about: How Missy's business has evolved over the past decade, from gnomes and burlap to quilt patterns and membership Why she has consistently sought out mentors, and who hers have been What has driven her decisions to pivot, again and again What she loves most about running her business What's been the hardest part of the journey Missy is genuine, delightful, and refreshingly open about what has actually worked (and what hasn't) to help her grow. If you've ever wondered whether it's okay for your business to change shape over time, this episode is for you. https://thelittlegreenbean.com