Handmade Myths We Wish More People Knew

In this heartfelt and practical episode, Kaylie and Delores bust some of the biggest myths still floating around about handmade businesses. 

From the idea that “handmade means cheap” to the assumption that it’s “just a hobby,” they share stories from their own candle and art ventures, including the real grind of craft fairs, saying no to freebies, and finding the right customers—not just any customers.

You’ll hear why both hosts eventually transitioned from handmade to digital products, and how handmade taught them branding, resilience, and so much more. 

Plus: tips for building an email list, clever uses for QR codes, and how to blend handmade with scalable income streams.

Whether you’re still selling at fairs or shifting online, this episode is packed with validation and ideas to help you honour your creativity, set better boundaries, and find sustainable success.

🎧 Topics we cover:

• The truth behind “cheap” and “cute little hobby” labels
• Craft fair fatigue (and golden moments)
• Transitioning from handmade to digital
• How to start collecting emails at in-person events
• Why storytelling matters more than price tags

🙌 Perfect for:
Makers, handmade business owners, creative mums, digital product dabblers, and anyone feeling under-acknowledged in their creative work.

Grab Kaylie’s free myth-busting guide

Don't miss an episode—subscribe to The Creative JuggleJoy Podcast! Follow us on social media and join our email lists for more tips, stories, and updates on new episodes.

Kaylie Edwards - Instagram - Website - Facebook - Threads

• 5 Day FREE Email List Kickstart Challenge
• New Handmade to Scalable Beta Course

Delores Naskrent - Website & Digital Art School - Instagram - Facebook - Pinterest - Youtube

• Procreate Foundations Course
• Affinity Foundations Course

Transcript

Kaylie Edwards (00:05)
welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy podcast. It's Kaylie here with my lovely co-host Delores and today we're diving into something that's flipping close to our hearts, the handmade business world and all the myths that still swirl around it today.

Delores Naskrent (00:23)
Yes, whether you're starting out or you've been selling for a while, you've probably had those, did they really just say that moments or felt the pressure to explain what you do, why your work costs, what it does, all the things.

Kaylie Edwards (00:38)
Yeah, we both run handmade businesses before Delores with her beautiful wall art and cards and art and me with candles all hand poured, eco-packaged, aromatherapy blends, proper faffy but beautiful stuff. I started while working full-time in a solicitor's office thinking I'll do a few fairs, pop some up on Etsy, bish-bosh-bosh, ⁓ spoiler, it was hard graft for not much reward.

compliance side alone nearly did me in and honestly in hindsight I wish I'd started with something else. Digital was calling once I'd fell pregnant and I just didn't know it yet.

Delores Naskrent (01:23)
Well, let's jump into some myths that need busting once and for all starting with Handmade means cheap. I don't think so

Kaylie Edwards (01:34)
Yes, I know. People see a candle and say, ⁓ 18 pound. I can get that for three pound at the supermarket. And I'm like, right, but that one wasn't poured by hand, tested for flipping hours, labelled through printer tears and wrapped with love, it?

Delores Naskrent (01:51)
It's exactly the same with artwork, Kaylie The customer kind of just sees that finished product and not those hours and hours that you've spent making it. Designing it, figuring out the materials, fighting with your printer, packaging, it all adds up.

Kaylie Edwards (02:14)
Yeah, yeah it does. The printer one was such an annoyance. Trying to get labels to align. ⁓ That was like 3am trying to get it done before like the craft fair the next morning was not a fun thing to do. Yeah, it's just a hobby is a myth too. The cute little hobby line at family parties still lives rent free in my brain.

Delores Naskrent (02:18)
We're sure.

⁓ I know.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, this is a business. mean inventory, all the marketing, the social content, postage, you know, I used to send out a lot of orders and spreadsheets, you know, just like actually keeping track of everything and taxes. It's all there. Handmade isn't less than just because it doesn't happen in an office. It's in my opinion, it's the opposite.

Kaylie Edwards (02:53)
You

yeah, definitely.

Delores Naskrent (03:11)
Plenty of people do pay when they see the story and the quality and the heart. I have to say I have been very lucky and I've had buyers come back later because they couldn't stop thinking about something.

Kaylie Edwards (03:26)
Yes, yeah, that's definitely a myth three. People won't pay for handmade. If you're not seeing sales, it might not be your product. It could be the venue that you're at. I once booked a local fair and realized fast it was Bargain Hunter Central. If I'd gone 20 minutes down the road, it's such a different vibe, different people, better alignment, but the pandemic hit before I could even test that theory out. And yeah, it was just...yeah.

Delores Naskrent (03:52)
Yes, for sure.

Kaylie Edwards (03:55)
customer, you have to find your customers and sometimes they just aren't

Delores Naskrent (03:58)
You do have to be fond of them.

Kaylie Edwards (03:59)
where you are.

Delores Naskrent (04:01)
That's right. Actually, that's part of the learning process. mean, it becomes the research that you really need to do. And it's great to have a bit of a network of people that you can ask about certain venues because you can easily make that mistake.

Kaylie Edwards (04:19)
Yeah.

knew about that with the craft fairs. Because like my dad knew some people like from Chester way and it was 20 minutes down the road and like there and Shropshire as well which isn't that far from me they're a lot more eco-friendly and like the handmade stuff and yeah my dad was like you really have gone to the wrong place. And then yeah the pandemic hit and I couldn't really...

Delores Naskrent (04:23)
Yeah.

Yes, yes.

Kaylie Edwards (04:47)
anything about that because everything got cancelled. yeah. And then myth four. You should give things away especially to kids. Oof, this one. I came across a handmade seller on threads recently, like literally I think it was like last week. Her video went viral because she told a little girl the price of something after she asked and she didn't give it away for free to this little kid.

Delores Naskrent (04:51)
Yeah, that's I do.

Kaylie Edwards (05:17)
The comments were horrible. People forgot that this is business, not a charity. We don't owe freebies just because someone asks, especially even if they're just kids.

Delores Naskrent (05:28)
Yes, for sure. And we're often already underpaid. Saying no to free isn't cruel. It's setting boundaries. And honestly, children have to learn value too. No, not today is actually a very healthy lesson for a kid to learn.

Kaylie Edwards (05:33)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah and it wasn't like in the apparently this reel was more in the sense of it was she was just like videoing for you know the craft fair to put to users content and this little girl was I think she was watching her paint or something at the stall and she just asked how much it was gonna be and obviously she told her the price and she said I haven't got that and then she was very nice about it apparently and the little girl hadn't

you know, there wasn't anything against it but it was other people that basically were so negative about it because she didn't give this art piece for free and I was just thinking, yeah, no. ⁓ yeah.

Delores Naskrent (06:28)
Some

people just need to mind their own business.

Kaylie Edwards (06:31)
I know. It's so difficult because a lot of people just don't understand it, do they? They just think because it's being made by somebody in front of them that, yeah, that they can have it for free. It's not, no, it's not the case. There's so much that goes into it as well. Okay, so let's talk reality. Early starts, hauling tables, driving great distances like Delores and her daughter did.

Delores Naskrent (06:36)
they don't.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Kaylie Edwards (06:59)
fighting with your card reader like I have in the past.

Delores Naskrent (07:03)
Trying to keep smiling while your fingers are freezing. I mean, we were literally, we went to a specific farmers market where we got there in the dark and we were setting up our display in the dark. Then you have people pick up your products with like dirty fingers or they put their coffee cup down on the table and it spills or they ask you all the questions, hundreds of questions.

Kaylie Edwards (07:25)
Mm-hmm.

Delores Naskrent (07:29)
with no intention of ever buying and you're just so exhausted because you've spent weeks leading up to it, like literally weeks. Gosh, we do not miss that at all.

Kaylie Edwards (07:38)
Yeah.

No, I really do not. Really do not.

Delores Naskrent (07:44)
I mean, it's

not its season, but now that it's over, I'm glad. I'm glad I'm not doing it anymore.

Kaylie Edwards (07:51)
Yeah, and craft fairs is not always Pinterest perfect bunting either, but when someone buys something for a sister and shares the story behind it, that connection is gold. So I do like those moments that you don't get online, you know, you don't really get that personal connection with somebody. That's the kind of thing I miss is when you actually did have those good little moments and golden nuggets. And then the pivot.

Delores Naskrent (08:02)
Yes.

Absolutely.

Kaylie Edwards (08:20)
handmade to digital. Eventually, we both shifted to digital. For me, it was pregnancy and burnout and barely any support and wanting scalability without a 3am packing session.

Delores Naskrent (08:34)
for me,

it was, you know, age as much as anything, just physical fatigue for me playing, ⁓ that played a big role. I had a bad back and the juggle of trying to do too many things. I was still working full-time too as a school teacher and I was involved in theatrical design. So we did all the sets for the major productions, which meant a lot of, you know, working.

physically and working in the evenings, you going to, you had to be physically at the theatre. Then I was also trying to juggle my kids, you know, activities. I had three, the three girls on my own. And for me, like it was, it was just a godsend to switch to digital and luckily art licensing.

came when it did. I mean, that was all because of craft sales. So I really, you know, it was sort of like one thing led to another, but at least now I can create something and sell it over and over with. It just works better for long term for me.

Kaylie Edwards (09:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and I've seen it time and time again with people who have started off with handmade and then have had to either make the switch because they had no other choice or they eventually started to do it slowly and smartly because they've seen the real positivity in actually doing that and the smart way of doing it is starting to...

put that in because physically there's only so much you can do

Delores Naskrent (10:15)
scale it. Something like that can only scale to a certain point. And when you reach that breaking point, that's when change has to happen. And luckily for me, it worked out that my art licensing started at the end of my craft sale days. And even though Che, my daughter, continued with the craft sales for a bit,

Kaylie Edwards (10:19)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Delores Naskrent (10:44)
It was a good transition.

Kaylie Edwards (10:47)
yeah, it's so much better when it kind of happens that way. Like, it happens so well for you with just how it evolved and yeah, and then where you are now. It's just incredible. Yeah, I love your story and how you've kind of like evolved with your experiences and like the products and things that you've come out with and yeah, I love that.

Delores Naskrent (10:54)
Yes.

It's been

fun and I can really relate to my students who have still got the handmade business going and they're actually at the point, many of them are at the point where they're starting to transition or add things that they can produce and scale. So that is very rewarding for me to see.

Kaylie Edwards (11:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, and that's why I started the way I did now, pivoted, and this is where I'm at now, helping others kind of see the real value in bringing in some way a scalable income so that they can either do with their handmade or if they want to pivot and make sure they have some kind of scalable income to fall back on, especially if they have illnesses, because I have illnesses and that was something I...

Definitely learn from doing craft sales and creating handmade products. If you're not well, you're not bringing any income in.

Delores Naskrent (12:14)
We had this discussion

at the Thrive meeting this week because one of our, well, know, Lindy, Lindy has been doing the markets and she has been working on her sculpture, the big cow project, and she's hurt her back badly. So at end of the meeting.

Kaylie Edwards (12:21)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

yeah, yeah.

⁓ no.

Delores Naskrent (12:38)
she we were all talking about it and she just had to make the decision as to whether or not she was going to cancel the show so there's that and there's just that everything that goes along with it and the loss of income is is real so it's it's a decision that she I don't know what decision she ended up making but I mean if if you are one of those people that's still into handmade wow ⁓

You're amazing.

Kaylie Edwards (13:06)
Yeah, I know

it's like you put so much joy and love into it as well but then it's difficult because I see it and I've been there and it's really really difficult to then let it go for some like yeah you don't have to let it go you can still do it as a hobby and then just transition if you needed to or blend. There's so many people that I've blended.

Delores Naskrent (13:30)
or learn what

you can. Take a lot of notes, figure out what's selling, and that's going to help when you do transition, if you do transition or you pivot or you add to what you're doing and start creating digital products.

Kaylie Edwards (13:34)
Yeah.

Mm.

yeah, yeah, but like Handmade has taught us so much. Storytelling, customer care, branding, why value matters and all the other things that come with it. So tips for handmade sellers today. If you're still in Handmade, you're amazing. And if you want support dealing with the myths and boosting your confidence, I've put together a free guide that lays it out clearly.

Delores Naskrent (14:14)
That's great, Kaylie Thank you so much. We'll pop that into the show notes for people to grab. We'll give you the link. And it's full of wisdom. And I know, Kaylie, no fluff. And you can check out the blog.

written by my daughter Che about her craft sale experiences because I think it's a fun read and I mean honestly we have stories we could tell you. We do have lots of stories over the years of doing this.

Kaylie Edwards (14:33)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (14:43)
Alright, so setup tips. Elevate your products if you can. If you have tables, then try to get some risers of some sort. These are things I've learned, by the way, over time. Like literally the first craft sale, I had things all over the place. I hadn't set it up in such a way that it made it easy for people to see the products and

This is where Che became a real asset in my business because she understood business better than I did, having worked in retail locations and just like, believe it or not, Kaylie I don't think I've even been here before. She worked at Hallmark. So she worked at the Hallmark here where I eventually got my first connection and deal for art licensing. And it wasn't even in Brandon that we met these people, it was Winnipeg, but she learned

Kaylie Edwards (15:25)
You

Delores Naskrent (15:42)
because of the job that she did to group everything in themes and to have price signs visible, which was so important and so much easier than individually tagging all of the products. One of the other things was figuring out how to do preloaded displays. That made a huge difference. So we built several different displays over time.

Kaylie Edwards (16:07)
⁓ yes,

yeah I remember from your blog, you've got it in your blog haven't you, the pictures of how you've you put them together and grouped them. Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (16:12)
Yes, it's Yeah,

so take a look, take a look if you can, like check out in the that blog post, I think I put them in there, but that was amazing because Che would set up the displays in the garage, which was basically our warehouse, and she could fill all of the card displays and that made a huge difference. And then she had a little

one of those sets of plastic drawers and within that she had it completely organized. That would end up being our cash desk. So there was a wooden thing that we'd put around there and the cash box would go on top and like a cash register. And within all the drawers beneath that she had all the tissue that she needed. She had tape.

She had the, well at the time we were still using like an actual visa machine, like where you have to put the credit card in and slide over it. And she had business cards, she had like snacks and all of the bags and she had the bags organized so you could pull out a bag so quickly. I mean she was amazing to watch, very organized and she just knew exactly how to do it.

Kaylie Edwards (17:12)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (17:30)
And then the other thing that she I would get flustered at the shows so pretty soon she just said mom I'll do I'll do the cash register and she had Which is just from observation I would be just like filling the shelves and you know cleaning up and answering questions and stuff, but She would have all of her responses ready for questions like why is it so expensive? and she would take

Kaylie Edwards (17:35)
Mm.

You

Delores Naskrent (17:59)
the opportunity to explain our processes and she always had my art journals there to help people really get it like that it was actually and made art that we just figured out ways to reproduce so that we could have whatever the item was in quantity so the artwork was original art what we had

Kaylie Edwards (18:19)
Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (18:23)
six copies of the card we would have them printed or we would have six plaques that we made and would have for sale. So it really helped people to understand to really get it you know.

Kaylie Edwards (18:37)
Yeah, I think I did quite a lot of research when I first did my first craft fair before I did it, even though there wasn't much time between it because I kind of like set up the business, was doing all the products and then like a couple of weeks later I was doing the craft fair. But I went on to Etsy, I was looking at everything I needed for craft fairs, I was going on and doing all the checklists and everything. I think I probably checked my checklist three times before leaving.

Delores Naskrent (19:00)
This is it.

Kaylie Edwards (19:04)
Luckily for that first craft fair I had my friend, he was the one that came with his car and like we loaded everything in his car and he helped me set up and things for the first fair I did and yeah it made it so much easier having someone there with me because it was my first time. I was so flipping nervous. It's such a scary thing when you do it for the first time and yeah I had all my little... I had like these little chalk

Delores Naskrent (19:21)
Yes.

Kaylie Edwards (19:31)
like little wooden chalk tape tab pricing things they were like I had little ⁓ what are called back there was little backing things so they stand up and like I did all them so I got them out and stuck them all down and priced them all ready before the fair and so I had them all displayed so I was actually quite good in that in that sense but yeah I didn't have any like shelving or anything to start off with for the first fair and then I was like I do need something

Delores Naskrent (19:35)
yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (20:00)
I need something.

Delores Naskrent (20:01)
Yeah,

did have table, like they would supply tables most of the time, but we soon figured out that that was actually a waste of display space. Like we just, our displays started to evolve to the point where we wanted to be able to show product, you know, eight from the bottom floor level all the way eight feet high. So, you know, that, that just is something you just learn along the way. You know, you don't, you don't.

Kaylie Edwards (20:12)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Wow.

Delores Naskrent (20:29)
necessarily set out knowing exactly what's going to work and I mean it's crazy what you learn as you're going along and what you learn from other people just observing them setting up their booths and that sort of thing and honestly like when things changed and Che started doing the show with herself and Andy would help.

Kaylie Edwards (20:33)
Mm.

Delores Naskrent (20:54)
Andy was so organized in the way that he actually put the displays up and put all the extension cords out and taped everything down. Like it was a sight to see. It was amazing. We've got a couple of time lapses of them setting up the booth and it's fascinating because at that point I wasn't really doing the sales anymore. Every once in a while if they had one here I would just go and help but I was, they didn't need my help when it came to that. They knew exactly how to do it.

Kaylie Edwards (21:04)
Yeah.

Yeah.

you

Delores Naskrent (21:24)
and how to do it quickly.

Kaylie Edwards (21:26)
Yeah, that certainly comes with like, yeah, Che's experience and just over time, doesn't it? Yeah.

Delores Naskrent (21:29)
Yes, does. And you know, you

make mistakes and I know you're going to talk about this, but the biggest mistake that I think I made was not collecting email addresses.

Kaylie Edwards (21:41)
Yes. I actually got, like, vintage bronze, rose frame and I'd put... I printed off a piece of paper with, like, my social media, handles and things on it and then I displayed that with, like, my business name and everything and, like, where to find me. So I printed that off and...

like stuck that on the side of the table. But what I wish I'd done is done like a QR code or something. If I'd had like a website, I should have had a QR code that people could scan quickly and then get a hold of me or a QR code that leads straight to like a freebie or sign up page. That's the best way to get people on your email list is QR codes, because they're so easy for people to someone just get their phone out and just take a picture of it. So much easier.

Delores Naskrent (22:26)
wish I had been available.

If I if it had been available maybe I would have done it but I just I wasn't thinking far ahead to that so I know you've got great ideas for this tell us tell us more like what else would you do?

Kaylie Edwards (22:31)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well, it's just from, it's not even just from the ideas that I did. was, I've kind of looked and seen other handmade sellers doing these kind of things. So like for building email lists at events, you can run a giveaway. So enter to win with your email. Anybody who buys could be entered into a giveaway. So it's making sure you take their details down when they purchase something. And it also then you can say,

Well, if you give me your details, you know, if anything new comes up or any discounts, I can send you a discount for your next purchase.

So email for emailing them later. Invite them to join your insider club for new products or tips. Maybe you can get, you don't have to do this, but some people won't do it. But if you gave them like their birthday, you can maybe send them like a birthday discount. Some people do that, but it's normally online. People don't like really giving their email addresses these days. So you do kind of have to think of creative ways to be able to do it.

When I first started, I was literally just writing people's email addresses down whenever they purchased. That's all I was doing at the time when I first started. But these tiny touches can help turn a maybe into a returning customer. And it's just finding creative and simple ways that you can do that. So giveaways are like, I seen a lady do it. I think it was last week where she was saying that she does a giveaway for anyone who purchases.

Delores Naskrent (24:00)
Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (24:15)
will be entered into a giveaway and they will get a custom art piece ⁓ if they win the giveaway. So that's another way you can do it.

Delores Naskrent (24:24)
Well, I wish I had done all those things. I did not. So that's on me. And I wish I had because we did have a lot of returning customers. When we did shows, we did them for several years and we would have people returning. So I basically dropped the ball there. So that is something I would highly recommend that you do. Thanks for thinking of that and mentioning that, Kaylie.

Kaylie Edwards (24:50)
Yeah, it's just some things, obviously, like with the QR code, that's a more recent thing, really. But obviously it wasn't really in your time when you were doing them at the start. it's just, it's kind of how it evolves and just looking at how other people are doing it. you can get so many ideas off social media from other handmade sellers if you're following them and what they're doing.

Delores Naskrent (24:56)
Mm-hmm.

Thank

Did you know that you can put a QR code onto anything that you make in Affinity Designer? It is an asset that's in the panel where you get shapes like circles and squares and things. The very bottom is a QR code and all you have to do is insert it and put your actual website address in the spot in the control bar. Yeah.

Kaylie Edwards (25:28)
I did not know that.

I know you can do it with

Canva because Canva has like a code app that you can do. I didn't know you could do it in a Affinity designer and there must be a new thing. Yeah, that's cool. There must be, has that happened since they merged?

Delores Naskrent (25:49)
Fairly new, yeah.

Nope, I don't think so. was when the last... they just had an update probably three months ago or four months ago and it was a new thing that they added. But I just keep forgetting to mention it so I'm glad that came up today.

Kaylie Edwards (25:57)
Was it before?

Good,

yeah, because I have, yeah, I've been in there but to be honest I hadn't had to look around, I was just playing with a previous project. Yes, I'll have to have a look at that. Okay, so hopefully you've got some insights from that today and please download my free guide to keep those myths and your confidence close to hand and let us know what's the most bonkers myth you've heard of our handmade.

Delores Naskrent (26:14)
You have scroll right to the bottom of the

Yeah, or send some love to that thread seller if you find that video in our show notes. A little handmade kindness goes a long way.

Kaylie Edwards (26:46)
Yes, and keep creating, keep juggling and most importantly keep finding joy in the process.