Making and selling your crafts online is one of the best ways to run a side hustle these days.
With online marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon Handmade, it's never been easier to sell the crafts you make at home to customers all over the world.
And just like that, you're a global business!
In fact, it's so easy to sell online nowadays, that the difficult part is actually coming up with ideas for marketable crafts in the first place.
That's where we come in.
We get hundreds of emails and messages a month asking for advice on DIY crafts to sell. Not to mention that a few of our staff have already run successful online crafts businesses before joining the team.
So we've rounded up the best crafts to make and sell online.
We've included the pros and cons of each option, as well as the necessary practicalities of what you need to get started with each one. Hopefully you'll be able to easily assess what crafts will work best for you and your circumstances.
Let's get straight into it…
Vinyl Decals
As this is a vinyl cutting blog, it makes sense that our first suggestion for crafts to sell is vinyl decals.
Chances are, you already own a vinyl cutting machine and have plenty of experience of churning out decals for your own hobby or home crafting endeavours.
We love selling vinyl decals as they're generally super easy to design and make, and you don't need a huge space to set up a small business with them like you would with larger projects.
Making vinyl decals is one of our favorite options as it requires very little seed money to set up and get started and — as they're so popular on Etsy — you can generally start making a nice fat profit straight away!
What You Need To Get Started: A suitable vinyl cutter, vinyl, cutting mat, design software or SVG designs, postage and packing supplies.
Pros: Easy to design and make, low start-up costs, you don't need a large space, decals are always popular throughout the year, quick and easy to ship.
Cons: Decals don't sell individually for as much as larger products.
Custom Mugs, T-Shirts, Tote Bags, Cushion Covers…
The next step up from simply making and selling vinyl decals is to attach those decals to a plain mug or t-shirt (or anything for that matter!) and selling it as a custom product.
This way, you get around the 'con' we listed for selling vinyl decals, in that you can charge a lot more for a custom designed product than you can for a simple decal. In the customer's mind, they're buying a stand-alone product — if they buy the decal, then they still have to do half the work of affixing that decal onto something.
As such, your customer base is a little larger — vinyl decals are mostly favored by crafty people already operating within the industry, whereas a custom-designed mug, for instance, will be bought by anybody and everybody.
Of course, it's a slightly more expensive set-up as you require more materials and space to operate. You'll have to decide whether the pay-off is worth the initial investment.
If you've got the Cricut Maker and are considering selling custom clothing, make sure that you check out their brand new Infusible Ink System. This is an ink sublimation transfer system that's easier and longer lasting than the usual HTV transfer and makes for more impressive and professional results.
What You Need: Everything detailed in #1, plus mug/t-shirt blanks for you to transfer your decals onto.
Pros: You can sell each product individually for a much higher price, still easy to make and sell, appeals to a wider audience, popular throughout the year but demand especially rocks up during the holidays.
Cons: Requires a slightly higher initial investment, requires a little more space to operate and store supplies.
Candles
If you're looking for a bit more of a challenge but want to make and sell crafts that will sell for serious bucks, then candle-making could be something to get involved in.
It's a completely different kettle of fish to making vinyl products but is equally creative and fun.
You'll certainly need a lot more space to launch a candle business so make sure that you've got a dedicated craft room or work space to really get stuck into it.
One of the best things about making and selling candles is that people will spend serious money on well-made products. Think carefully about fragrance and ingredients if you really want to tap into the luxury market.
Plus, you can use your craft cutting machine to create some beautiful labels once your candles are made!
What You Need: Candle making wax, candle wicks, fragrance/essential oils, thermometer, spatula, double boiler, heat proof containers, postage and packing supplies.
Pros: Can command a high price, relatively low cost to make, easy to personalize and get creative, very popular throughout the year but especially during the gift-giving season.
Cons: You'll need a lot of space to create, not as quick to make as vinyl related products.
Party Decorations
More and more people love to buy handmade decorations when they're throwing a party — whether it's bunting, cake toppers, favors or gift boxes.
There's definitely a market for you to create party decoration packages based on certain themes and sell them to party planners.
These paper crafts are easy and relatively cheap to make when you've got a craft cutting machine. You just need the creativity to come up with the different themes!
What You Need: Craft cutting machine, cardstock, decorations and embellishments, cutting mat, design software or properly licensed SVG designs, post and packing materials.
Pros: Not a lot of competition, lots of opportunities for creativity, can sell decoration packages for high prices, low cost and quick to make, popular throughout the year but especially around major holidays.
Cons: You may need lots of space for storage if you're selling lots of different packages.
Jewelry
Jewelry is one of the ultimate crafts to make and sell online.
Not only can you charge a high price for quality products, there's practically no limit on what you actually can create. Necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets, rings… and there's so many styles and designs even within these categories too!
One thing we would say is that jewelry making isn't for everyone, no matter how crafty you are.
To make genuinely good jewelry that will command a high price online, you ideally need at least some experience and expertise — and often, high quality materials that might be out of reach for your average crafter.
Of course, that's not to say that simple and plain jewelry doesn't have an audience… it definitely does.
We'd recommend experimenting with creating jewelry for yourself and friends/family before you decide to sell it online, as it is more labor-intensive than most of the other crafts on this list.
If you already have a Cricut Maker, why not experiment with making and selling leather jewelry — it's definitely having a moment right now!
What You Need: Wire cutters, pliers, jewel hammer, tweezers, bead reamer, kiln, wire/fabric/string, jewels/beads/embellishments, postage and packing supplies. For leather jewelry: Cricut Maker, Cricut Knife Blade, leather.
Pros: Can sell for a lot of money in the luxury market, no end to the creative opportunities, popular all year round, cheap and quick to ship.
Cons: Labor-intensive, requires some experience and expertise.
Pottery
Similar to jewelry making in that it really requires a little expertise, pottery is another DIY craft to sell online.
Whether you're making pots, mugs, vases, bowls, plates or whatever, there'll always be a huge market for homemade pottery online.
If you don't have any experience with actually making pottery but fancy yourself a dab hand at decorating, you can always buy pre-made, blank dishware that you can then paint and glaze before selling. You will still need access to a kiln but this will be far less labor-intensive than making the pottery from scratch as well.
What You Need: Pottery wheel (if making yourself), clay (if making yourself), shaping tools (if making yourself), ceramic paint, ceramic glaze, kiln (or access to one), postage and packing supplies.
Pros: Can sell for a high price online, lots of creative opportunities, popular throughout the year, painting and glazing requires less expertise than making from scratch.
Cons: Labor intensive, difficult to pack and ship, requires plenty of space to operate.
Cards
Returning to a craft that you can make with your craft cutting machine, homemade cards are a very easy and lucrative market to start making money in.
Think about it — are there any occasions nowadays that aren't marked with a card to friends and family? Birthdays, Christmas, Mothers' Day, Graduation, New Baby, Engagement, Marriage… the list could go on and on.
Cards are one of the easiest things to make, particularly if you've got a craft cutting machine like the Cricut, Silhouette or Sizzix models. All you need is a little bit of creativity and you'll find it easy to stand out from the market.
What You Need: Craft cutting machine, cardstock, decorations and embellishments, cutting mat, glue, postage and packaging materials.
Pros: Easy and cheap to make, popular throughout the year, easy to sell in bulk, quick to make with a craft cutting machine, easy to make a name for yourself if you focus on quality.
Cons: Don't sell for a lot individually so you'll need to sell a lot to make a big profit.
Stuffed Toys
If you're a dab hand at sewing and wondering what might be the best crafts to make and sell online, it's well worth considering stuffed toys.
Well made stuffed toys are loved by kids the world over, and parents love buying unique gifts that only their child will get to treasure. It's an easy market to break into and you don't have the amount of competition to contend with as most of the other crafts on this list.
If you already have a Cricut Maker 3, you might know that making small stuffed toys is one of the things that you can easily do with this incredible machine. There are a large number of stuffed toy projects available to make for free within Cricut Access and the brilliant rotary blade will cut all fabrics beautifully, like butter, to ensure a professional finish on your end product.
Just make sure that you have a commercial license for any design you use that's not yours so you'll be able to legally sell it online.
What You Need: Fabric, sewing machine, stuffing, Cricut Maker (optional) or quality fabric scissors, design software or SVG designs, postage and packing supplies.
Pros: Huge number of creative opportunities, customers will pay high prices for unique items, not as much competition, cutting patterns is quick with the Cricut Maker, popular throughout the year especially during the gift-giving season.
Cons: Requires a small investment in start-up costs, you need a fair amount of space to operate and store inventory.
Bath Bombs
Everyone loves a bath, right? And people definitely love bath bombs.
You might think that it's complicated to make and sell bath bombs but, just like candles, they're surprisingly easy to produce once you've got all your supplies ready and lined up.
They don't generally sell for as much as other more labor-intensive crafts on this list, but people tend to buy more of them as they're cheap and make such good gifts. That works well for you too as the maker as they're so easy to make in bulk.
Bath bombs generally appeal to a wider and younger audience than simply selling bar soap so you should be able to find an audience easily.
And remember to play around with colors and fragrances if you really want to stand out from the crowd!
What You Need: Mixing bowl, molds for shaping, baking soda, citric acid, fragrance/essential oils, cosmetic colors, postage and packing materials.
Pros: Cheap and easy to make, people love to buy in bulk especially around the holiday season, very popular right now, lots of opportunities to personalize, relatively easy to ship.
Cons: Don't sell individually for as much as the more labor-intensive crafts on this list.
Birdhouses
A little off piste here, but birdhouses are an amazing craft to make and sell — particularly if you've already got some experience with woodworking.
And, of course, birdhouses can be sold not only as houses for birds in your garden, but also as a home accessory like a key holder.
They're a little time consuming to make compared to some of the easier crafts on this list, but they can be sold reasonably highly — especially during the holiday season.
What You Need: Cedar/cypress wood (untreated and unpainted), galvanized screws, wood paint, wood glue, drill, saw, sanding material, C clamp, packing and posting supplies.
Pros: High quality and unique birdhouses can sell at a high price, lots of creative opportunities, not as competitive a market, popular during Summer months.
Cons: Labor intensive, less appeal and demand than some other items, requires lots of space, expensive to ship.
Headbands
One easy craft to make and sell that's enduringly popular is headbands.
Quick and easy to make, these sell in bulk and appeal to a variety of women across a multitude of ages. Headbands are particularly popular at the moment with babies and toddlers, but have a universal appeal regardless of age.
Even better, they require relatively few supplies and materials so start-up costs are low and you don't need a large space to get started. If you use really quality materials (think: organic) you can also charge a premium so make some nice profits straight off the bat.
What You Need: Fabric, sewing machine, Cricut Maker or scissors to cut patterns, post and packing supplies.
Pros: Lots of demand for high quality products, popular throughout the year, low start-up costs, don't require a large space, large profits with quality materials, lots of creative opportunities.
Cons: Lots of competition for established brands — look for ways to stand out!
Art Prints
This ones for all you artistes — art prints are always popular and a great way to start selling your crafts online.
There's really no end to the wall art you can sell. Some people run successful businesses simply transferring stock images to canvas and cardboard, but if you really want to stand out it's a good idea to use your own designs.
Photographers in particular are probably the best equipped to sell their own art prints as you already have a portfolio of images to use.
You will need some money to really get started though as it's imperative that you use a high quality art printer and specialist paper material to really sell at a professional level. Using your home printer simply isn't going to cut it here.
What You Need: Artwork/photography that you have a commercial right to use, pigment based printer, acid free paper, backing board, pigment ink, camera/scanner, Photoshop or other editing software, post and packing materials.
Pros: Unique quality artwork can sell for very high prices, huge number of online marketplaces to sell on, great way to get your name out there, easy to sell multiple prints of the same image, easy to make once you have all the supplies.
Cons: Some start-up investment needed for a quality printer and supplies, best suited to people who are already photographers and artists.
Keychains
One of the things we love about the Cricut Maker cutting machine is the fact that it can cut a variety of different materials, including thicker, sturdier materials like wood, leather and matboard.
That makes it ideal to make items like keychains — items that sell really well on sites like Etsy.
Everyone loves unique keychains, so make sure that you're thinking creatively in order to score plenty of sales.
Materials are a little more expensive compared to simple paper crafts, but they can sell for good prices if you focus on quality and uniqueness.
What You Need: Cricut Maker, Cricut Knife Blade, cutting mat, design software, wood/leather/matboard materials, keyrings, postage and packing supplies.
Pros: Easy and quick to make with the Cricut Maker, good quality pieces sell for good prices, easy to ship, lots of room for creative expression.
Cons: Materials may be expensive (remember to buy in bulk for the best discounts).
Baby Bandanas
If there's one area where people are prepared to spend a lot of money, it's in the baby market.
We love spending money on bits and pieces for baby. And while it can be difficult to compete with the major brands on clothing and muslins, there is one area that's ideal for handmade crafters: baby bandanas.
Bandanas are quick and easy to make, but more importantly super cute — just make sure that you've got a good model when you're photographing your products for Etsy!
Make sure to experiment with different colors, fabrics and textures to really make your brand stand out.
What You Need: Fabric, sewing machine, Cricut Maker or quality scissors to cut out patterns, post and packing materials.
Pros: Quick and easy to make, well made pieces sell for high prices, cheap and easy to ship, doesn't require a large work space, popular throughout the year.
Cons: Lots of competition — work hard to stand out!
Paper Flower Bouquets
One craft that we're seeing increasingly more demand for around wedding season are paper flower bouquets.
Anyone that's already organized a wedding will know just how eye-wateringly expensive flowers can be, so it's no wonder that some people are looking elsewhere for their bouquets.
This is where paper flowers come in — when they're made well, they can be astonishingly beautiful, and even mistaken for the real thing. Not to mention that they'll last a hell of a lot longer than a natural flower bouquet!
You can charge really high prices with paper flower bouquets, but they must be enduringly high quality and stand up to scrutiny in wedding photos for years to come. Now is not the time to scrimp on materials and expertise!
Also bear in mind that the very nature of them being used in weddings means that you'll probably be taking almost 100% custom orders.
What You Need: Craft cutting machine, cutting mat, paper/cardstock and other suitable materials, floral wire, craft scissors, detail scissors, floral adhesive, curling tool, wire cutters, postage and packing materials.
Pros: Individual bouquets can sell for a lot of money, the joy of collaborating with a bride and groom, lots of opportunity for creative expression, increasing demand.
Cons: Demands exceptional quality, need to deal with custom orders, difficult to ship.
Wreaths
If you're looking for a seasonal craft to make and sell, you can't really go wrong with wreaths.
Just like with the paper flower bouquets above, many people are going off the idea of a traditional wreath which are very expensive and often barely last out the Christmas season, and instead are looking for something that they can pull out and use again and again over the years.
It's easy to pick up artificial wreaths at crafts stores, and then it's up to you how you wish to decorate it.
Crafters who already own a craft cutting machine often opt to make their own paper and card decorations to decorate a plain wreath, adding their own decorations and embellishments along the way.
What You Need: Artificial wreaths, paper and cardstock, craft cutting machine, cutting mat, decorations and embellishments, glue gun, postage and packaging materials.
Pros: Quality wreaths can sell for good money, lots of opportunity for creative expression, a fun way to get into the Christmas spirit, increasingly popular.
Cons: Seasonally popular only, require lots of space to operate and store, difficult to ship.
Purses and Bags
Our final favorite DIY craft to make and sell is purses.
This is another area where people are searching high and low for unique and original handmade items — great news for crafters like us!
While there are lots of handmade purses on the market, the truth is that most of them are low quality and boring. There's definitely room for someone to move in with well made and creative products. Just wait for the profits to start rolling in!
Making purses is also a great avenue for finding fans and followers on social media. It's easy to brand purses and you should have no problem finding a bundle of ways to express your creativity with them!
What You Need: Fabric, Cricut Maker or high quality scissors to cut patterns, sewing machine, design software, zippers, chains, decorations and embellishments, interfacing, interlining, post and packing materials.
Pros: Lots of opportunity for impressive profits, lots of creative expression, easy to stand out from the market, popular throughout the year especially during the holiday season, can make regular stock and take custom orders, easy to brand and build a following.
Cons: Fairly labor-intensive, requires a dedicated workspace, upfront cost for materials may be expensive.
What do you think are the best crafts to make and sell?