Share Your Jewelry Story

How Making Jewelry Makes Our Family Closer - JoySoulJewelry  My husband inherited his grandmother's vintage collection.

We spent hours going through it and finding ourselves inspired started creating jewelry together....

Pearls: From the Office to Happy Hour  The Right to Bare Arms!
Remove your suit jacket and show off your bare arms by taking your long, chocolate pearls from around your neck and wrap them ...

The Addiction  Holy cow! I guess I've never really thought about stones or rocks in quite this way. I'm not particularly the blinded-by-science type, but I do recall ...

I Met a Woman... And She Changed...  I met a woman - and this is how she changed what I do...

I left home in my routine search for discounted sale prices on my coveted items when quite ...

Little Purple Cow Jewelry  Established by father daughter-team Nicole and Ray Leibman, the idea for Little Purple Cow was born in late 2008.

After losing her job as an attorney,...

Melindesign Jewelry Outsource  Melindesign Jewelry Assembly Studio
I run a small jewelry assembly studio in Westchester County (Hudson Valley region), NY, about an hour north of ...

Reaching Out To the Universe (and Other Artists!)  As I have said many times before, most of the time artists work in a vacuum.

We create what we think looks good and/or what will sell, but ultimately ...

A Voyage Which Turned Into a Passion for Jewelry  In August 2007, I suddenly had to go to Mexico for business.

During my stay in Mexico, I had the time to visit a friend who, without giving me any explanation,...

Follow Your Passion  I have always had a love for jewelry making but was a full-time elementary school teacher for 9 years and only had the time to do it during the summer ...

The Oldest Beads  Did we start jewelry designs before we could even talk?

I was finishing up my latest jewelry project when the thought came to my mind - When did the ...

A Journey and the Worthwhile Goal 
Note from Rena - These lovely ladies operate two jewelry businesses that help people and change lives. Their work enables a non-profit organization ...

My New Ways of Selling Jewelry  My first daughter have Down Syndrome and when she was born, I decided to quit working in order to attend her.

I have two more children and it was very ...

What, Me Worry?  I got started doing jewelry with polymer clay as a hobby about a year ago. As I needed findings for earrings and such I thought about making my own.

One ...

A Blessing In Disguise  I have always been involved in some kind of arts and crafts, and had owned my own porcelain doll business, where I taught classes and poured my own molds....

Making Jewelry Saved My Life  Last year I finally got cured from a long 3 years of very bad anxiety and depression.

It was such a struggle for me, but nobody knew what was going ...

Jewelry Marketing - Try Everything at Least Once!  I got some of the most fabulous jewelry business advice awhile ago from a good friend of mine that really doesn't have ANY experience in the business what-...

Passion Makes Success!!  "These gems have life in them, they speak, say what words fail to."
~ George Eliot

Dear Rena,

The above quote is a true reflection of how I view ...

Believe in Yourself!!  I was one of those people who would read the "What's Stopping Your Jewelry Business" articles here and sigh.

I always seemed to find excuses, and could ...

Planning to Retire Teaching Others How to Make Jewelry  Hi, I'm Wanda Epps, a full-time worker bee and part-time jewelry artist.

In 2001 I discovered beads. I was looking to start a new hobby. I had self-...

Honoring My Own Standards  I recently did a jewellery show in a seniors' residence. An elderly resident asked me if I could restring her pearl necklace.

I told her I would take ...

Start a Facebook Page of Your Jewelry Business  My Facebook page is where most of my customer interaction takes place.

I'm a Facebook junkie and whilst I have a blog, I get more feedback from customers ...

Addicted to Jewelry Design!  Honestly.....having this addiction is perfectly alright with me! :-) I have been making jewelry since I was 10 watching my Aunt and Grandmother make jewelry,...

Combining Resources to Advertise Your Jewelry Business for Less  How do you let people know about your wonderful creations? You advertise!

But wow, isn't that expensive?

Yes - but not if you join others, and ...

"Itza Girl Thing Creations" is Born  After several years of making beaded jewelry and selling to friends and co-workers, my sister and I decided it was time to take the next step.

Neither ...

Unexpected Surprise  In May of 2008, I became quite ill. I was in an extremely stressful job and was forced to take a medical leave.

I decided to go to a gem and mineral ...

Choosing a Brand Name and Slogan for My Jewelry  When I decided to go serious with handmade jewelry and make it a bigger part of my life, I realized I needed a brand name and a slogan.

I started searching ...

eSMArts - Social Marketing and Promotion Group for Artists  Looking to take your online jewelry shop(s) to the next level? At eSMArts a key success factor for many of us has been learning how to properly apply Social ...

Bela Designs Sources of Jewelry Inspiration  Jewelry inspirations can come from many different influences.

The seasons of the year are a good part of my inspiration, spring which I relate beautiful ...

The Joy of Jewelry Making  I started making jewelry in 1980. I started with just a few stones, and a base to glue the stones. I really was not very good at it, but my friends wanted ...

SuLetique Jewelry  I currently reside in Northern Virginia, but I was born and raised in Krakow, Poland.

From a young age, my appreciation for arts and craftsmanship was ...

Updating Old Jewelry for Friends and Colleagues  Since I was a little girl in my native country, Italy, I always loved art and crafting. Crayons, buttons, old jewelry, a piece of glass or a shell found ...

"Pruhdoe Bay" A necklace inspired by glaciers  Nature inspires most of my designs. This necklace was inspired by a show I watched on Alaska.

I noticed the all the beautiful blue hues of the glaciers ...

Inspired by Nature  Like many other artists, I am inspired by things that I see. Mostly nature. When I go to the beach and notice something particular, or when I watch some ...

Starting Out  I am a single mother raising an active three year old son and taking care of my disabled mother, so I had to find a way to make money from home.

I love ...

"The Climb" and Your Jewelry Business  I was driving home the other day and always like to listen to the radio as I love music. Music can be very inspiring and being a jewelry designer and ...

How I Got Started and Hopefully Will Never Stop!  I'm a jewellery designer / maker and work with many different materials. I have a bespoke range created from sterling silver and also a fashion line for ...

Bergie's Just A Little Something...  It started with seeing a bracelet on the front of a beading magazine and deciding I could make that...

It was my birthday 4 years ago and I had jury ...

Combining My Passions for Unique Jewelry  I have been making and selling wire-wrap jewelry part-time for about 4 years, with moderate success. Fortunately I have a full time day job that pays ...

Diving Designs - Fine Sea Life Jewelry for your Aquatic Lifestyle  My husband and I are passionate about diving. We love to SCUBAdive and freedive as often as we can.

We are fortunate to live in California and experience ...

Jewelry By Jessica's Colorful Shrink Plastic Jewelry: An Unlikely Material Creates A Fun, Profitable Business  It all began with a polymer clay pendant I saw online; the artist had transferred one of her photos onto a piece of polymer clay and I thought it looked ...

Artistic Value of Murano Glass Jewelry  Murano is a small island just north of Venice, and it has been the undisputed capital of Venetian glass for ages.

Glass production in Murano started ...

Barefoot Sandals - Destination Beach Wedding!  Jewels by Jan is a family jewelry business operating out of two locations - Des Moines, Iowa and San Diego, California. The 2 sisters - Jan & Pat - started ...

Things I've Learned About Jewelry Business  First of all, Thanks Rena for this great site with a lot of information. I'm an unconditional fan, I read all the new articles. The first day I found ...

"Princess Collection"  This striking and very beautiful multi-strand necklace also includes a bracelet and earrings. Feel the energy of being a princess by owning this collection....

Mushroom Mardi Gras  New Orleans has its Jazz and Morgan Hill California has The Mushrooom Mardi Gras - an event each year that has fun and festival oriented entertainment....

My Journey To Find My Unicorn  From the beginning I have always loved art and being creative. I trained as a competitive figure skater for many years and during those years I used to ...

My Jewelry Business is My Therapy  Hi..My name is Divya and I am a designer from India. After working for a year at a corporate house, I decided that my heart was not it in.

From my ...

Elle Custom Jewelry  Our jewelry is inspired by the beauty of nature. Each piece begins with a touch of nature and our past.

Nature-inspired jewelry became so popular lately ...

Passion for Seeds and Pods   First of all, I am a nature freak.

At first I just wanted to create something out of all the beautiful natural materials that were so abundant around ...

CtyTrend - Tradition, Trend-Setting and High Style  Hello, I am Chantal. I have always been on the trend-setting side of fashion.

I've traveled all over the world, where I have seen beautiful jewelry ...

Empowering Women by Teaching Jewelry Skills  My name is Jolanta Pawlak and I live and work as a jewelry artist on the small Caribbean island of Curacao.

An art gallery that often hosts exhibitions ...

Pam Older Designs New Bridal Collection  Well like everyone we are thinking of how to beat the recession.

Brides will always need flattering jewelry and so I created a new bridal collection....

Bead for Life  Hi there! all you fellow beaders. I want to request you all to look up the website www.beadforlife.org . It's a website showcasing the turnaround that ...

Have a Jewellery Party with Your Mum's Friends  Mums, if we are lucky enough to have one around, are usually THE best advocate of our jewellery!

I had my mum organise a jewellery party for 12 of her ...

From "Am I Really Going to Do This" to "Oh My Gosh, I've Really Done It."  After going the Wall Street career route for 8 years, I found myself with 2 kids and a dog living in Connecticut.

I've always had an appreciation for ...

Dawn's Designs  My name is Dawn Ferguson and I reside in Indiana. I have twin toddlers (age 4 1/2) and a great husband (who has a fast-paced career as an engineer). I ...

Sheldon Designs  I have always enjoyed rocks. I picked them up as a kid and kept the pretty ones. I have developed a good eye for things that are striking. I have made ...

Life and Craft Shows are Unpredictable  Hi, I'm Ruby.

I shared a story with you about last Christmas season's success .

This year I share with you my quasi-success.

I planned for so ...

Janine's Journey to Jewelry  When I was little, I would pick wildflowers in my yard, press them or dissect the petals to see how they work, or make daisy chains.

I was fascinated ...

Finally Found What I Wanted to Do  I have been dabbling with crafts all my life since I was 16.

Started by making an Easter outfit, which was done on a treadle machine. My parents were ...

How Making Jewelry Saved Me  I've always loved making jewelry, when I was 10 I remember stringing tiny seed beads from the local Wal-Mart with a friend and her mother.

Of course,...

Teri B: Partner in S & T Creations  My best friend and I attended a beading party, where you picked out beads and they made a bracelet or earrings for you--it was fun, but rather expensive....

Friendship Creations  Friendship Creations

A Jewelry Story: Lose Weight, Save Money, and Travel to Spain  Let me set the stage:

I make artisan jewellery. And my sister wants to take a trip to Spain but can't afford it. And both of us want to lose weight....

From Banking to Beads  My name is Carolyn and I started CeeGee Jewellery Design a year ago. Looking back over the past year I can’t quite believe how much I’ve learnt.

I’...

Just Getting Started  My name is Darcey Lyn McCallum and I stared making jewellery in March of 2008. I was a huge crafter as a child and then 'put it all away', and the creative ...

Control Your Own Destiny with Your Creative Gift  Hello, My name is Lina and my Business is called ZaniL Design and I have been beading for about 5 years now.

I came across this site a year or 2 ago ...

Jewelry Designer, Fitness Instructor  To everyone who has had the great opportunity to enjoy Rena's site: I can only say that stories of how jewelry making has been used as a source of inspiration,...

Great Tips I Learned  Hello Everyone!

I just wanted everyone to know how I enjoyed reading all of the success stories. It is nice to know how your jewelry changed your lives....

Royal Scents  I am so glad I had gotten directed to this web site when looking for instructions.

I generally make handmade air fresheners, but had been making book ...

Finding Ourselves in Unexpected New Directions  It's funny how your jewelry business can take on a life of its own and bring you down a path you never thought about. Little did I know when I started ...

A Jewelry Story from Wisconsin to China  My name is Min Woo Yoo. I was born in a small town in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin where the population is just under 15,000.

I always had big dreams and ...

The Pendant Tree  In issue #75 there was a story by Wanda Anderson about the pendant "tree" display she made .

When I read the story I thought it was a novel idea with ...

I've been beading my life away  First of all... I'm a jewelry artist. Secondly... I just turned thirteen. When I was eleven I saved up all of my birthday and Christmas money and spent ...

KKPW Designs - Local Boutiques Make Us Happen  My husband, Kevin, and I started KKPW Designs a few years ago out of my desire to create one of a kind jewelry for anyone who enjoyed it and for anyone ...

A Swede in Cornwall!  Little did I know 12 years ago that I would end up in sunny Cornwall in the south west of England trying to make a living as a jewellery maker!

I had ...

Photo Idea  One morning a few weeks ago, as I stumbled into my studio contemplating my day ahead, a beautiful red and green leaf was laying there waiting for me.

I ...

Crohn's Disease...So What!   My name is Twiggy and I have Crohn's disease. When I have a flare, I can be quite ill, am bed ridden for weeks, medicated and sometimes hospitalized.

I ...

Retirement Was Never So Much Fun!  After over 20 years in the Retail Human Resources I never thought that after retirement I would be able to turn my hobby into a business.

With more ...

Welcome to Zemfira   A Brief Biography of an Artist

Zemfira's journey from creating simple cork earrings for her schoolmates in Latvia to discovering her calling in silverwork ...

Women Helping Women  I started my business less than a year ago. My mentor is my 70-year old Aunt who has been making jewelry for six years.

No, she doesn't make jewelry ...

"Mile-High Hooker" - Crocheted Jewelry  That's what I've been called a couple of times! I'm a flight attendant and I have a LOT of down time while on work trips.

I always have my bag of crocheting ...

Perfect Hobby  Hi. My name is Laudélia Rivas and I´m from Brazil. I've been working with beads for about 12 years. I'm a retired teacher and my husband Hildemar too.

We ...

How My Love for Jewelry Making Saved My Life  I began making jewelry for myself and close friends and family back in the early 1990's during my college days ... it was a great form of procrastination!...

Reno Treasures - Sandy and Paul  My name is Paul and I have been fortunate enough to be associated with my wife for almost 35 years in business, family and now designer jewelry.

Sandy ...

Botanical Bird - Nature Inspired Jewelry  Botanical Bird is lovely handcrafted Garden & Nature Inspired Jewelry. My pieces include aged brass, silver & copper, Swarovski crystals, gemstones, vintage ...

Wear your jewelry every day and always have your business cards with you!  It sounds very simple but it really works. I wear my jewelry every day, no matter where I go I always wear at least one piece of my own jewelry. It is ...

A Sea Glass Jewelry Journey  Sea glass, beach glass, mermaid's tears - these are names I have heard and used through the years for the tumbled gems found on shorelines all over the ...

Copper Reflections - The Road Less Travelled  Sometimes the road to success leads to wonderful places! Sometimes the road is bumpy and sometimes filled with potholes. We have taken the road less ...

My Bracelet's in a Magazine  Hello , My name is Danica I make elegant yet fashionable handmade jewelry. I started beading about a year ago and I have to say it's something that I love ...

My home on 'wheels' and what I do for fun.  Hi,

My name is Nancy Barnhart and I live in an RV (recreational vehicle for those non rv types out there). My husband, David, and I sold our home of ...

Jewelry Business on a Boat!  SO WHAT, You live on a boat!!!!!

Well, just like the title of this article says - I live on a boat. But what the title doesn't say is that I do business ...

The Bunny Show  This is more about using props than anything else.

We have found that when you are up close and personal with customers they are drawn to unique little ...

SMSdesigns's Profile  I got into jewelry art after a series of steps in the learning process that evolved into the current jewelry making way of life.

Yes, for me, it is ...

funnyfuser or powayglassgirl?  College took me nowhere but to the art world and glass ( I should have stayed there ).

The business world got me my first husband.

The real world ...

Gold Power  Gold Power is made from clay . . . when the pieces are dry, I paint them and finish with varnish.

It is big and massive, and looks great on something ...