🧵 2025 Recap: My Year as a Crafter, Maker & Market Coordinator

The handmade moments, lessons, and little victories that made it special

As 2025 came to a close, I’ve been doing what most creative hearts do this time of year—looking back. With a full bottle of Diet Coke and my planner by my side, I’ve been flipping through the moments that shaped my year as a crafter, handmade seller, and local market coordinator.

It wasn’t perfect. It was messy, beautiful, sparkly, overwhelming, and deeply rewarding—just the way handmade life tends to be. So here’s my little love letter to 2025. 💖

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✂️ Crafting Highlights

This year was full of glue sticks, diamond/gemstone spills, late-night crafting sessions, and the joyful chaos of prepping for markets. Some of my favorite creative wins this year:

🌸 New Products I Loved Making:

• Diamond Art kits and free hands, check out my diamond art showcase. I have some available for purchase and some for my inspiration:

• Best Seller- Blue Moon Face Pendant on a Silver Chain Necklace  

• Added Beadable Pens and Key Chains to my product line

I spent more time beading bracelets and beading clay disc bracelets.

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🛍️ Handmade Shop Milestones

If you run a handmade biz, you know that behind every listing and photo is a LOT of heart work. This year I:

• started using ChatGPT3 to write my titles and listings.  It makes it so much faster.

• Hit a new personal best for online sales and Crafter's Market sales during the Months of Nov and Dec including Black Friday/Small Biz Saturday weekend

• Finally started creating and implanting a content planner  for social media (life saver!)

• invested in pink and stronger packaging that’s both cute and protective—because sparkle deserves to arrive safely!

💌 One of my favorite moments? is  reading all the feedback from my Ebay Buyers, they sure do make my heart happy, Here's my last 3 of the year:

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🎄 Crafter's Market Magic

As a market coordinator, I wore my organizer hat more than ever this year—and wow, it was worth it.

In 2025, we :

• Hosted  Crafter's Mararket every Saturday, including our biggest weekend yet in November

• Welcome over 10-12 vendors averaged a Saturday, many of them first-timers with some Saturdays having 15+ vendors

• accepted over 30 new application for Vendors

• Promoted Crafter's Market with improved advertisements and better social media posts and videos  

It wasn’t without its hiccups (weather drama for the Pumpkin Fest, not having anyone to do the make and takes &  last-minute no-shows and last minute I want to participate), but the joy of bringing makers and community together? That made every list and email worth it.

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💖 What I Learned This Year

2025 was filled with lessons—and here are the ones I’m bringing into 2026:

• Consistency is queen. Even slow, steady steps build something beautiful.

• Done is better than perfect. Sometimes a slightly wonky tag still brings a smile.

• Community matters. Makers need each other. Whether it’s sharing a table or giving advice—connection is everything.

• Take the photo. Even on messy days. Even when your table isn’t “Pinterest-perfect.” This is your story—capture it.

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🧵 Looking Ahead to 2026

Next year, I’m planning to:

• Launch a Crafter's Market Website 

• Partner with other coordinators in Poky to have our venues merge for one time

• Coordinate Make and Takes Crafts Monthly

• Keep saying yes to creativity—even when it’s messy or slow or scary

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🎀 Wrapping It Up

To everyone who bought from me, shared a kind word at a market, or followed along on my handmade journey—thank you. Your support fuels the glitter, the glue, and the heart behind everything I create.

Here’s to another beautiful, creative, imperfect, joyful year. 💕

With gluey hands and a grateful heart,
— Rhonda from Pinktiful of Love