Mainecrafters craft blog

Hi, my name is Jeanette. I guess I seriously started in Crafts about 16 years ago. At least that is when I put my various craft items in a craft fair. It really was because I enjoyed making crafts so much that I ended up with a lot of crafts that I did not have room for in the house. So I gathered them all up, figured out a price that I would sell them for, and rented a table at a local craft fair. I really didn’t think that I would sell anything. I was so surprised that I ended up with about $200.00 from that craft fair. After that I decided that I would make extra money for Christmas by selling my handcrafted items at other craft fairs. I quickly found out that some craft fairs required a State Sales Tax Certificate so I acquired one and I was in business.

I have always tried to keep my prices low and quality high. I think that is because of the small type of craft fairs that I sell at. I see a lot of elderly people on fixed incomes shopping at craft fairs. They do not have a lot of money to spend on gifts for their friends and relatives. They usually live within walking distance of the craft fair and just can not get out to the mall to shop for gifts.

Now I make mostly doll banks using juice bottle for the body. But I occasionally make other handcrafted items just to keep from getting bored with the same thing.  I hope to see you at some of the fairs I do.

Hi, my name is Gary. I am Jeanette’s husband and I guess kind of the Marketing guy. I am really just helping her out. Oh yeah, I also make all of the pens on the Handcrafted Pens page.  As long as I can remember, I have always worked with wood. I grew up in a rural Maine town and I was always building things. I built small foot bridges across streams through the woods. I also built a log cabin complete with a wood burning stove when I was 12 or 13. Later on I was always working on old houses, building furniture, and wood projects. I got into cabinet refacing and even was contracted to rebuild all of the wood pieces in an old limousine.

I also was always the entrepenural type. When I was very young, probably 8 or 9, I sold antique auto parts on a small stand the side of the route 1. I would find old rusted out abandoned cars around the old farms where I lived. I would ask the land owners if they minded if I took some parts from them. Usually they didn’t care. I will always remember the cars that would line up at my stand when they were on the way to a big antique car show in Canada.

Later on, when I got my driver’s license, I had a small garbage collection business. I would use my father’s old 1 ton truck to transport garbage to the town dump. I remember that he was ok with it as long as I filled the tank after.

In order to help my wife with her craft business I made the Mainecrafters.com website. I also sell the products at the craft fairs for her. I wanted to make something out of wood to sell at craft fairs but I did not want something that took a lot of room or was heavy to transport. So I am now making handcrafted pens and pencils.