Have you been looking for a way to earn money from home? Why not create your own a business around your skills and strengths? This will allow you to create a work schedule tailored to the needs of your family.

People that are proficient in web design can find work pretty easily. Many people want to an online business presence but don’t know the first thing about building a website – just visit any work at home message board and you will see many posts asking for help! There is also a lot that you can do with this in your local community. Find out more about Becoming A Blog Consultant.

Are you creative? How about marketing your services as a graphic designer? Many people need help designing logos, website headers and buttons.

If you enjoy writing, you can find work as a copywriter – the person who writes the information you read on websites.

If you would rather work offline, there are still plenty of opportunities for you. Just market your services creatively – let businesses know how you can help them. For instance, if you were a teacher, you could coordinate lesson plans for local daycares and call yourself an “Educational Consultant”. If you have experience managing a restaurant, you can turn that into a “Catering Consultant” and help caterers and restaurants come up with new recipes or help brides plan their wedding menus.

Are you good at crocheting, knitting, sewing, or scrapbooking? Hold classes to teach other people your crafting method. Ask your local craft shop or library if you can hold classes there.

Don’t forget you can also sell your handmade crafts at online places like Etsy and Artfire. Or you can sell your products in local craft fairs and through word-of-mouth advertising.

Moms are expert organizers – offer up your skills as a “professional organizer” and get paid to clean out closets, attics and garages. Do you love planning parties? Many busy parents would hire you to take care of planning their children’s parties. You don’t have to limit yourself to kids’ parties, though. You can also hire yourself out to plan retirement parties, anniversary parties – even weddings!

What about making meals for busy professional in your area? You could charge them for the cost of groceries, etc., throw a meal in the crock pot in the morning and drop it off to their homes at dinner time. Alternatively, you could create freezer meals for them at the beginning of the week that the families need only defrost and heat up as needed.

As you can see, there are many ways to turn your skills into ways to work from home. Once you decide on something to do, get out there and let everyone know you are available for hire! If you want work, sometimes you just need to ask!

Butterfly candle holders are easy to make and a great gift idea. The materials are very inexpensive, and you can use your imagination for a variety of designs. To get started, you will need:

Materials:

Small glass candle holders Butterfly wrapping paper Yellow tissue paper Decoupage Cuticle scissors Small paintbrush Damp paper towel

You can buy whatever glass candle holders you like (or use some you already have laying around). I bought mine at Walmart for about $0.59. You could also find them at thrift stores or yard sales.

I chose butterflies for my design, but you could choose whatever design you'd like--maybe keeping in mind the tastes of the person you're making them for. You can cut out pictures from anywhere, including calendars, greeting cards, magazines. Thin paper decoupages best.

After you have some pictures in mind, use cuticle scissors (the kind you cut your fingernails with) to cut out the pictures. These scissors work best on small pictures and cut rounder corners than regular scissors. If you're not going to use the pictures right away, store them in ziploc bags.

You can buy decoupage at any craft store. It is normally found with the glue. It allows you to permanently affix a picture to another object, giving the object an overall glossy effect. Make sure the glass you're working with is clean. Tear a piece of tissue paper into small (approx. 1 inch) pieces. Using the paint brush, brush some decoupage on to the back of one of the pieces of tissue paper. Position the tissue paper on the glass and then brush some more decoupage on top of it. Continue gluing on pieces of tissue paper, overlapping at the edges, until the entire candle holder is covered (including the bottom--set the candle holder on its top to dry). Brush one last coat of decoupage over the entire candle holder. Use damp paper towel to wipe off any excess decoupage.

After the decoupage has dried for about an hour (or more), position the butterflies (or other pictures) on top of the tissue paper. First brush some decoupage on the backs of the pictures and place them on the glass. Brush another coat of decoupage over the entire glass and set the candle holder on its top to dry again. After the decoupage has dried, add 2 or 3 more coats of decoupage after each coat has dried.

That's it! These candle holders are only limited by your imagination. Use different colors of tissue paper and a variety of pictures for different themes. You could make these with holiday themes, like for Christmas or Easter. They also make great birthday presents, hostess gifts, or party favors. They are very easy to make and you can make several of them at one time.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.