ArtFire Monday, December 21, 2009

After jumping over the 900,000th item mark, we’ve decided to offer a special prize for the user who lists the 1,000,000th item ever listed on the site. The member who helps us to cross this milestone will receive a Pro account on ArtFire completely free.

All sellers on ArtFire are eligible to win, be they Basic or Pro. Members can choose to apply this free-for-life status to their current account, an alternative account, or they can even give it away as a gift!

Currently item listings are still in the early 900,000s, but be sure to join us as we count down to the 1,000,000th item! To see where your item falls in this countdown, just check your product ID, appearing at the end of your item URL. The user will the product ID of 1,000,000 will be announced as the lucky winner!

For details on this prize, click here

ArtFire Monday, August 24, 2009



How would you like to sell your items on Facebook? To have your storefront be available right on your profile or fan page? Well with ArtFire’s new Facebook Kiosk, you can!
ArtFire’s Facebook Kiosk is a unique tool for verified members never before offered by a marketplace. With the Kiosk, you can sell remotely all items listed on your ArtFire shop from your Facebook page. Shoppers can browse your inventory via a special application tab on your profile or fan page, and even complete checkout right on Facebook! Since every transaction is secured by SSL 256 bit high grade encryption, these sales are completely safe. Shoppers can even choose to check out without an account on ArtFire, to make buying that much easier!
Like ArtFire’s RapidCart, the Facebook Kiosk will update in real time. When you make a sale or update your inventory on ArtFire, your Kiosk will reflect those changes. No other site has offered a tool such as this, so be sure to check out our Facebook Kiosk!

ArtFire Wednesday, August 5, 2009


No matter what the occasion, a handmade gift is a one-of-a-kind present sure to make any holiday unforgettable. That’s because handmade goods are specially crafted by talented artists doing what they love. Handmade crafts are each completely unique, and by choosing to give a handmade gift, one is able to offer a present like no other.

ArtFire.com, the premiere online handmade marketplace, offers a wide variety of unique gift guides full of handmade gifts listed by artisans on the site. From Christmas gifts to QuinceaƱera gifts, ArtFire has a guide for just about every occasion imaginable, and intends to keep building more for shoppers to choose from. These guides sort and filter the nearly 200,000 items handmade by talented artisans available on Artfire.com.

Shoppers today are faced with an important decision, they can choose to help an artisan pay her mortgage, or they can help line the pockets of a rich CEO. When one decides to buy handmade directly from the artists on ArtFire, all profits from that purchase go straight to the artisan creating the product. The shopper gets a quality unique item made with care and love and these talented artists can continue doing what they love - creating quality handmade goods.

When you choose to buy handmade, you get the opportunity to stimulate the economy at home by helping real people not overseas factories and large corporations. So the next time you shop, think of handmade gifts first.

ArtFire Friday, April 10, 2009

Interested in writing about what you love and working with other artisan writers? Submit an application to be a columnist or editor on HandmadeNews.org! Handmade News is the next generation of Art Daily, an entirely handmade and art oriented news blog. While HandmadeNews.org isn’t quite ready to go live yet, we are currently accepting and reviewing applications for positions on the site. These are paying positions; we’re looking for artisans willing to devote their time to the news blog to make it great! See the Sponsored By section on the right hand side of the page? Once Handmade News is launched, we plan to fill up these spots with paid advertisements. All Handmade News Columnists and Editors will receive a portion of the advertising revenue gained from their category or column. How quickly these ad spots fill up depends on the amount of traffic coming into a particular section of the site, so the more popular our editors’ and columnists’ posts are, the more advertising revenue they can gain from Handmade News. In addition, all editors and columnist receive a FREE verified ArtFire account for however long they choose to hold the post!

If you’re interested in joining our Handmade News team, please click here for more information on the positions and to submit an application. We’re looking for 40 columnists and an editor for each department, so tell your friends to submit an application too!
-Sara

ArtFire Wednesday, December 3, 2008


With the country’s financial system in turmoil, everyone is looking for ways to save a few bucks this holiday season. While some Christmas shopping might be inevitable (Just make sure you shop handmade when you do shop!), there’s no need to spend more than you can afford. Listed below is a number of easy gift projects which can be completed at home with minimal costs.

Craft Your Presents in the Kitchen
If you your passion lays in cooking, you might try baking a festive treat for friends and family. Christmas sweets and candies tend to be a big hit in any crowd, whether they come in the form of yummy stocking stuffers or a delicious snack to munch on. Try giving peppermint bark or frosted cookies to family members, friends, or co-workers as x-mas gifts this year. Or if cooking isn’t your area of expertise, you could try packaging ingredients in fun jars as a kind of “future cooking project” and distributing them as presents!
A Picture is worth a Thousand Words
For the visually minded artisan, try making a special family photo album or recipe book. These gifts are full of shared experiences and memories and can make for a treasured possession. You can also try crafting up a fun scrapbook, showing a recent event or trip you took with family or friends.
Get Your Festive Craft Spirit on
Tree decorations make for a delightful holiday gifts, plus you can have a fun time just making them! Handmade ornaments can be crafted out of old art supplies or goodies you might have laying around the house like beads, buttons, fabric, salt dough, even old light bulbs! Get creative and experiment, the more expressive your ornaments are, the better. Make special decorations for everyone, maybe even matching them to fit that person’s character. Or if you’re feeling especially inventive, craft mini versions of your family members or friends as gifts!
Try a Traditional Homemade Gift
If you like working with your hands when you craft, you could try making fun seasonal candles as special holiday gifts. If you lack experience making candles, just buy a low-price kit from a nearby craft store. These kits usually produce a handful of candles, so you only need a few kits to craft enough gifts for everyone on your list! Add embellishments to your presents to make them festive and unique. Mix crushed flowers into your wax before letting it cool, Mold your candle into an unusual shape, or paint on festive patterns!
Thanks for reading, and remember to buy handmade this holiday season!
-Sara

ArtFire Wednesday, November 26, 2008

For most customers, shopping on Black Friday based more in tradition than practicality. The day after Thanksgiving requires one to wake up at dawn, drive to the mall, and shop and shop and shop! However, for some shoppers, Black Friday is more of an annoyance than anything else, a rushed unpleasant time for taking care of holiday shopping—but having to first face masses of angry and demanding customers.

But there is a solution for these shoppers this Black Friday. There’s no need to rush to the shopping mall and fight off fellow customers—you can stay at home. This year, make the decision to do your holiday shopping in your PJs and bathrobe by shopping online.
When you shop online, you get access to a greater variety of products than you would find at even the grandest shopping center. But you also get the opportunity buy handmade gifts for your loved ones from hardworking crafters.
With the global financial situation getting more and more bleak all the time, most shoppers are just not interested in supporting artists as much as they are in saving a few bucks. But in this bad economy, it is more important than ever before to shop handmade.
When you shop handmade, you get the chance to help real individuals who are struggling to get by in this financial crisis just like you. It’s your decision, do you want to help a skilled artist pay his/her mortgage, or do you want to fill the pockets of a rich corporate executive?
Shopping handmade is especially important for fellow craft artisans. Their businesses are supported by people shopping based on a style and quality rather than price alone. It is important that you help support fellow artists’ shops this holiday season.
So avoid the chaos of Black Friday and buy handmade online this year!
-Sara

ArtFire Friday, November 21, 2008

Tip #1
This year, why not buy a free range turkey for your table? These birds are allowed to run in fields, rather than being restricted to a cage. Do your food shopping at your local farmers market, rather than a chain store. These grown holiday fixings are generally better for you, and you support local farmers with your purchase. Also consider getting a free-range turkey this holiday, as these birds haven’t been raised in cages.
Tip #2
Most families celebrate Thanksgiving by feasting on a wide variety of side dishes and holiday fixings. But no matter how hard we try, it’s near impossible not to end up with a huge pile of holiday leftovers. While some fixings are still tasty weeks after the holiday has passed, many foods end up collecting mold. This year, try not to make so much food. Make enough for everyone to be satisfied, but there’s really no need for the 3 serving per guest standard.
Tip #3
Instead of shopping for new fall decorations, spend some time at home with friends and family crafty new decorations. With countless easy to follow art tutorials on the world wide web, why waste time and money purchasing new fall accessories?
Tip #4
Try to downsize the trash generated by your household this Thanksgiving. This can be as effortless as substituting washable plates for paper ones, tuber-ware for plastic wrap, or cloth napkins for paper napkins. Pick up food materials that contain the least amount of wrapping you can find (and remember to carry your own grocery bags with you!). When the party is over, don’t just throw your scraps and leftover bits into the trash, use them as the foundation for a compost pile in your backyard.
Tip #5
These tips aren’t just great for the holiday season—they work all year around! Going green is a snap with the right mindset and enthusiasm, so why not give it a try?
Keep on creating artisans, and always buy handmade to support fellow artists!
-Sara