The crafts are traditional ones which go back generations: quilting, knitting, candle-making, needlecraft.

However, the way in which they are being sold is very much in keeping with the digital age, thanks to Emma Hogg.

The mother-of-two from Clevedon, who is herself a keen crafter, has set up a website that provides an online marketplace on which people can sell hand-made products.

It was launched just a year ago, and has been such a success that some 3,000 craft workers are now selling their wares online through MISI – which stands for Make It, Sell It – at www.misi.co.uk, which is attracting nearly 80,000 hits a month.

"It took off incredibly quickly," says Emma, 27, as we sit in her lounge which features items she has made, such as bunting over the fireplace, cushion covers, and a magazine basket.

"My career has been spent designing websites, but I've also always been keen on making things.

"I'm always having business ideas, and usually I tell them to my husband, Andrew, and my mum, and they say it's a really bad idea and that's the end of it.

"But when I mentioned setting up a website for buying and selling crafts they both thought it could work. I do a lot of crafting myself, and there are sites for buying and selling crafts in the United States, but I hadn't come across anything in the UK."

When Emma set up MISI (pronounced 'missy') in October 2008, she was working as a website designer at that time. However, the site became so popular that she decided to give up her full-time job.

Her days are now spent running the MISI website, which has online shops, featured products, blogs from sellers, a makers' forum and interviews with sellers, who pay Emma three per cent commission on their sales, and 20p per item for a listing.

"A lot of people have thanked me for giving them the opportunity to sell their crafts to a wider market than they had previously been able to reach," says Emma, who has two daughters, aged nine and two.

"Many MISI members have made friends with other crafters through the site. There are all sorts of different people – some are very business-minded, and others just make a couple of things at home for fun.

"We have a forum and the MISI community is quite strong. We've started meeting once a month, and had our first meeting at Paintworks in Bristol last month.

"It's interesting meeting people you've been communicating with online. I'd pictured what people were like according to the products they sell, and some of then weren't how I imagined they would be!"

Now Emma is holding the first event for MISI, at which some of the crafters with virtual shops on the website will sell their wares in the real world of the Paintworks in Bristol.

The MISI Makers Craft Fair will feature nearly 40 independent designers, artists and crafts people, plus workshops, live music, mince pies and mulled wine.

"It's great that MISI is doing so well already, and I'm hoping the event at Paintworks will help even more people to find out about what we're doing," says Emma.

"It was a huge risk when I started it up because I was hardly earning anything, but I felt it was worth the risk because it was something I really believed in and enjoyed doing.

"A lot of my job is making sure everything runs smoothly, and answering queries and helping customers and sellers. So far today I've had about 30 emails from MISI members, and that's fairly typical.

"I'm averaging 75,000 visitors a month to the MISI web site, most of whom are from the UK, and it seems to be going up at about 5,000 hits per month.

"Around 30 per cent find the site through search engines, and about 20 per cent are typing in the website address directly. The rest comes from social networking sites like Twitter."

What are the most popular items on the MISI website? Emma replies: "There are all sorts of things that are popular at the moment, such as felt cupcakes, and jewellery imprinted with children's birthdates."

Emma is particularly pleased to have achieved such success with the MISI website, as her future seemed uncertain when she became a mother at the age of 18 to her daughter Ellen.

"I'm really pleased to have got away from teenage mum stereotype," she says.

"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I was at school, but after I had Ellen I was determined to do well.

"She loves MISI – she's my biggest fan, and she's desperate to open her own online shop!"

Indeed, the only problem Emma has encountered with MISI is that the popularity of the website has meant she has been unable to find time to make things for her own online shop on the site.

"It's meant to have children's clothes in it, but at the moment it's only got a couple of items for sale because I don't get much opportunity to make things as I'm so busy with MISI!"

● The MISI Makers Christmas Craft Fair Explosion will take place at The Paintworks, Bath Road, Bristol, BS4 3EH, on Saturday, November 7, from 10.30am to 5pm. Admission £2.50, children free.

For further information, go to www.misi.co.uk.