If this newsletter is difficult to read as an e-mail:

Read this issue online.

Welcome!

I just want to say that I'm continually amazed and touched at what wonderful people you are.

The lovely, insightful, heartfelt stories, tips and projects you share here touch thousands of lives.

In fact, in today's issue several of our guest authors mention how other jewelry artists' stories and tips shared here have made all the difference for them.

The ripples reach far and wide, and never seem to stop.

So I just wanted to thank you - whether you're sharing, or reading, or both - for being part of this expanding creative circle of blessings and abundance!

~ Rena

If you like this newsletter, please forward it to your friends.

If you received this issue from a friend, please subscribe so you won't miss any upcoming issues.

In this Issue of
Jewelry Business Success News:

1. Quick Tip: Selling $1 Items for Kids



2. New Jewelry Business Ideas and Techniques:
   - 8 new jewelry business ideas
   - 4 new jewelry display / packaging ideas
   - 2 new jewelry making ideas
   - 10 new highlights from the handmade jewelry gallery



3. Your Profitable Jewelry Business:
   How NOT to Get Disorganized and Overwhelmed



4. Neat Jewelry-Related Website:
   ReMik's Jewelry

Quick Tip:
Selling $1 Items for Kids

When I sell my jewelry at shows, I like having a few interesting things at my booth that children can afford to buy - or that their adults wouldn't hesitate to buy for them.

To source these treasures, I often go through the "clearance" or "bulk buy" sections of jewelry supply websites, which are great places to find interesting odds and ends.

I look for bargain bulk quantities of gemstone or crystal items that I can sort out into small lots and repackage for this purpose.

My strategy is to put about 50 cents worth of these treasures into individual mini-ziplock baggies, and price them at $1 each.

Now the fun starts. You'll need to give these items a name that will appeal to your intended junior customers! :o)

My "greatest hits" have been:

• Princess Hearts (little packets of half a dozen assorted gemstone mini-hearts - I make sure to put at least one pink heart in each packet).


• Mummy Scarabs (packets of three carved gemstone scarab beetles in various sizes and colors).


• Magical Crystals (individual small quartz crystals).

For displaying these tempting little treasures, I purchased three small, mysterious-looking trunks at Hobby Lobby (using a 50% off coupon I printed from their website).

I put each type of treasure (hearts, scarabs, crystals) into a separate trunk to make shopping through them easier.

Each trunk has an enticing sign in an appropriate font, announcing what's in it: "Princess Hearts - $1"; "Mummy Scarabs - $1"; "Magical Crystals - $1".

It's amazing how well these little goodies sell, and how thrilled kids (and sometimes grownups!) are to buy a little treasure packet for $1!

Sell Your Jewelry Like Crazy
at Shows, Fairs, and Festivals
This Year

Discover hundreds of things you can do to sell more of your handmade jewelry at shows, in my book Ultimate Guide to Your Profitable Jewelry Booth.

Get this 176-page, step-by-step resource before your next show.

Thanks for Spreading the Word!

If you find my jewelry websites helpful, please help spread the word about them.

Near the bottom of every page on my sites is a box that says "Share This Page", which makes it easy for you to link to that page or share it around the Web.

Thank you - every link helps! :o)

New Jewelry Business
Ideas and Techniques
from My Websites and Blog:

Jewelry Business Ideas:

1. A Voyage Which Turned into a Passion for Jewelry
   Isabelle Unver's lovely, dreamy story of how an unexpected visit to another country led to her to set up an online jewelry boutique.



2. Tools for a Person with Difficulty Using Left Hand
   Please share your ideas for tools that Krista can use to make beading easier with her limited use of her left hand.



3. No One Knows I am Alive
   Tips and ideas for Carol Owens to attract more customers to the jewelry shop she's set up in her home.



4. On Social Networking
   How social networking online led Elizabeth from discouragement to online jewelry sales - and even having her jewelry worn by a movie star.



5. Curvy Girl Jewelry
   Mara Nesbitt's journey to designing jewelry for larger people - and how she's finding out what her customers really want.



6. "Mid-life Crisis" or "Surely Someone Will Like this Piece?!"
   Christi Schimpke shares her new jewelry obsession, the accompanying guilt, and her uncertainty about selling her work.



7. Follow Your Passion
   Jaime Dane shares the ways she's marketing her jewelry so she can stay home with her one-year-old son.



8. What Qualifies as Handcrafted Jewelry?
   If jewelry is made from purchased components - is it "handcrafted"? Share your thoughts in this discussion.

Jewelry Display and Packaging Ideas:

1. Cardboard Box Earring Display
   Check out Vera's portable earring display case - I'd never have guessed it was a repurposed cardboard box!



2. New Jewelry Business Card
   See Ijeoma Akosionu's jewelry business card - a study in elegant simplicity.



3. "Spring Has Sprung" Jewelry Store Window Display
   Alicia Arnold is back with a fabulously clever and cheap jewelry display idea.



4. Trial Inspired 4 U Jewelry Business Cards
   Share your feedback for Lee-Lee Williams' jewelry business card design.

Jewelry Making Ideas:

1. Making Patera Jewelry
   Sue Arkwright's lovely, inspiring ideas for creating mini-collage pendants, using metal Patera findings.



2. Sterling Silver Wire-Wrapped Denim Lapis Lazuli Earrings
   Leah Eastman takes us on the creation journey of her wonderfully intricate wire earring design.

Highlights from the Handmade Jewelry Gallery:

See many more wonderful new jewelry designs in the Handcrafted Jewelry Designers' Gallery! There are too many to list here - so these are just a few of the most unique new submissions:

1. Samantha Baroque Earrings
   by Kristine Schroeder.



2. Nautilus Navigator Steampunk Necklace
   by Shannon Lovorn.



3. Brass, Jade, and Filigree Asymmetrical Necklace
   by Les Bijoux Créa-Lune.



4. Mambo Number ? Jewelry Set
   by Terri Wlaschin.



5. River Rocks Bracelet
   by Tracy Carothers.



6. Mermaid's Garden Bracelet
   by Patti Leftwich.



7. The Jabberwocky - Alice in Wonderland Inspired Necklace
   by Elizabeth White.



8. April Frost Earrings
   by Sheila Davis.



9. Siren's Song Pendant
   by Shannon Lovorn.



10. Flower Applique Earrings
    by VART Jewelry.

Share Your Jewelry Content
and Get Great Exposure

I invite you to share your jewelry photos, tips, stories, tutorials, etc. - right here on my network of jewelry websites.

It's a friendly, creative atmosphere of ideas and networking.

You'll also receive links to your jewelry business, and gain exposure in the handmade jewelry community - and beyond.

Jewelry artists often tell me that the exposure they've received on my websites has brought them valuable new connections, opportunities, and traffic!

So come on in and take advantage of all these great opportunities for sharing:

Share Your Jewelry Content

(And of course, you always keep the copyright to all of your own content that you share on my network of jewelry websites.)

Sell Your Jewelry at Trunk Shows,
Private Showings,
and as Business Gifts

Learn how to sell your handmade jewelry to this HUGE untapped market, in my book Secrets of a Handcrafted Jewelry Shopping Service.

Get this 115-page, easy-to-read guide now, and make this your best jewelry selling year ever.

Your Profitable Jewelry Business:

How NOT to Get
Disorganized and Overwhelmed

by Rena Klingenberg

Recently I read that one of the main reasons why we get disorganized and overwhelmed is because we postpone making decisions.

I thought about that, related to jewelry artists - and realized how true it often is for many of us.

Here are a few examples:

• We can't decide whether to order something from a catalog that just arrived in the mail - so we toss the catalog into a pile of things to go through later.


• We check our email and see a message that we have to consider carefully before deciding how to answer it - so we leave it in our email's in-box to answer later.


• We can't decide how to price a piece of jewelry - so we set it aside to price on the morning of the art festival.


• We can't decide how to wire-wrap a customer's large, heavy crystal - so we leave it on our worktable to tackle later.


• We can't decide what to say when we call a shop to set an appointment to show our jewelry - so we put off calling till tomorrow.


• We can't decide what to write in the "Describe Your Products" section of an art show application - so we leave the paperwork on our desk for later.

I don't know about you, but I've been guilty of each of those things at some point in my jewelry business!

And every time we postpone making a decision, it just makes our work pile up more - till we eventually wind up disorganized and overwhelmed.

But why do we put off making these decisions?

Why don't we just make a decision, get these things done, and clear them out of our in-box or to-do list?

Speaking for myself, I tend to postpone decision-making for any of these reasons:

• Lack of interest - I dislike whatever the task is, and I just don't want to think about it or make any decisions about it. So I procrastinate on it.


• Lack of knowledge - I don't quite know how to do the task. So rather than breaking the decision down into tiny, do-able steps - I simply avoid the whole thing as long as I can.


• Perfectionism - it's a lot of effort to do something "perfectly", and I just don't feel like investing that much mental effort into the task. So I "save it for later" (as though I'll ever feel like investing that much effort into it!).


• Lack of sleep - I often work in the middle of the night if that's when I have an inspiration. But the next day I may be so tired that everything feels like too much effort - so I put off making decisions till I'm more rested.

So what's the cure?

I'm finding that just being aware of the fact that I often postpone decisions has been a huge step in the right direction.

It's been a wake-up call that motivates me to consciously make more decisions right away so I can finish tasks now instead of piling them up for later.

I'm reminding myself that getting the task done now is a lot more important than doing it perfectly later.

I'm acting right away my first intuitive "gut response" to things rather than over-thinking them.

And I'm continually appreciating how great it feels to have things cleared away instead of piling up for later!

I hope this simple but profound tidbit of information is helpful to you too!

Neat Jewelry-Related Website

This week's neat site shares a peek into the lives of a jewelry artist couple who live full-time in an RV, traveling to sell their work in various shows around the U.S.

ReMik's Jewelry shows the artistry, the travels, and the inside of the RV where Michelle Brunner and Damien Settelen live and work.

You can also learn a bit about their one-of-a-kind Earth-friendly jewelry, made from sustainable materials.

Sell Your Jewelry Online

Grow a solid base of online jewelry customers, using the step-by-step strategies you'll learn in my book Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online the New Way.

Get this 192-page, step-by-step resource now, and start growing your customer base.

Network and Get Noticed
in the
Home Based Jeweler's Showcase

The Home Based Jeweler's Showcase blog is a free opportunity to promote your jewelry business and find other jewelry artists to network with.

It's published by Rita Juhlin of Private Stock Jewelry.

To add your jewelry business to the Showcase - please email Rita Juhlin, at HomeBasedJewelers @ gmail.com .

SURVEY:
How Can I Make This Newsletter
Better for You?

If you haven't yet responded to my quick survey, I welcome your input!

Please take the survey here to give me your suggestions and feedback so I can make this newsletter a better resource for you.

I grant as many wishes as possible! :o)

Thanks so much.

My Jewelry Business Websites
and RSS Feeds

This newsletter highlights some of the latest jewelry business tips and techniques from my websites:

Home Jewelry Business Success Tips

Jewelry Display Ideas

Making Jewelry Now

Jewelry Business Blog

Each of these sites also has its own RSS feed. Look for the orange RSS symbol on the left-hand column of each of these sites to get the feed.

Thanks so much for joining me
for this issue of
"Jewelry Business Success News"!

~ May your jewelry journey be fun and prosperous ~

Contact Rena