Earring Cards Corner

One of the things an artisan has to be concerned about is how they can maximize the potential of their business by cutting cost on certain areas where quality will not be compromised. And earring cards are just the perfect element of business that you can have great savings on!

Earring cards work as a marketing tool too if thought of and made with great emphasis on how customers can retain information on the card itself. Now there are a lot of pre-made earring cards out there in crafts stores, Etsy, Rio Grande, Fire Mountain Gems and just any jewelry store you come into has their own share of earring cards for grabs.

But what’s best is you can make it yourself. And by DIY, it means you having the control on the kind of personality you want to imbibe on your jewelry business by the kind of earring cards you have.

It can actually be some sort of business card that contains all the important elements of a business card. Read on jewelry business cards to be informed.

But of course earring cards will be a lot smaller than the generic business card size but it should always be full of the marketing strategies any business paraphernalia should have. It should contain of the website URL, email address, telephone number, if possible the logo of your jewelry business, and some space for your words describing your collection. See here for more ideas onjewelry tags.

How To Make Personalized Earring Cards

If it would be too much for you to put out some good amount of money for earring cards, then it’s time that you make your own earring cards! Yes, a do-it-yourself earring card. How do you make one?

First, you need to choose the best paper that you can have, acid-free paper will be your best choice for this. Make sure that quality wise, the paper can hold the weight of your earrings and not really fall off, or worse tear up in the middle of the craft show. You can avoid that by using the best paper material possible, this might be your biggest investment then.

Second, your good old PC and printer to help you come up with the design you have in mind. There are really a lot of designs online that you can check on so you can create your own branding.

If you are into pearls, Swarovski, or polymer clay, then your design for your earring card should always be in line with your jewelry niche. Keep it really simple if possible and do not overpower the design of the jewelry piece itself.

Third, your earring card punch kit for a neat, tidy, and easy way to punch a hole on your cards. The tool comes in handy when you are keeping a uniform look on holes for your earring cards. But you can actually use a needle for that for a more cost-efficient jewelry tool.

There are so many ways that you can design your own earring card. One is the conventional square or rectangular and other designs may vary depending on the jewelry itself. Or you can cut the sides off and make some really neat style around the edges.

Once these earring cards are finished, stack them neatly so they won’t wrinkle and you’ll have a nice earring card to hang your jewelry on!

Technorati Tags: cards, Earring cards, Earring tags, Jewelry hang tags

Jewelry Design

Where do you get inspiration for your jewelry designs? Often when faced with this dilemma, you tend to flip through pages of fashion magazines or browse the Internet for new ideas. But what is really a good design?

A good jewelry design is when style and comfort are fused into one, something that would make you wear it and not be uncomfortable by the weight and texture of the materials being used.

For jewelry design ideas, a good combination of nature and synthetic materials can be used, like using a leather string instead of beading threads. Then you can string in beads made of resin to complete the look. It is both economical and the leather gives a certain edge to the design, plus resin is very light materials as finished products so it is really comfortable to wear.

Plan Jewelry Design Ideas

Draw Your Design

Visualize how you want your jewelry to look like when it’s done. Jewelry making is artistry in itself so allot some time for your jewelry making activities. As artisans, you are entitled to your own space and time for those ideas to take place.

You must keep it really organized by drawing your design first, scribble some designs that you can think of and color them. I have found these really cool and useful jewelry design software that will come in handy for any of your jewelry making binges.

Patterns For You – lets you upload an image of your design and create a pattern using your selected stitches, namely, peyote, loom, bricks, and right angle weave.

This will be great for bracelet and necklace design ideas so you can automatically just follow the pattern and go on with making jewelry.

E-Perle – is actually in French but I find this to be a great software and easy to navigate. The language is not a barrier when it comes to making your own design, in fact is really user friendly. So try and check that out!

Design Tool by Swarovski Elements – is also a great tool that helps you design jewelry using Swarovski but of course you can use other materials for this design tool. Your imagination is the limit!

Prepare Your Materials

Keep all materials in a safe place out of reach of children if you are dealing with hot surfaces or very little beads, for obvious reasons. Make sure that after all has been laid out and you have your design ready, all your materials like beads, findings, clasps, toggles, and all that stuff within your each.There should be designated containers for each bead and finding, and carefully labeled too.

Jewelry Design Ideas

Bracelet Design Ideas

Necklace design Ideas

Ring Design Ideas

Earring Design Ideas

These are just sample of images that you can get ideas from, remember, the designs should come from your heart. The designs you make reflects the kind of jewelry business that you have, so make it a point to set aside some inspiration weekend, away from all the stress of domestic obligations, and be ready to launch your own collection as soon as ideas start flowing. Be bold and creative!

Technorati Tags: Ideas for jewelry design, jewelry design ideas

The Etsy Connection

When it comes to jewelry and crafts, there’s nothing more exciting than being able to share your talent and skills by showcasing your work and hope that people will love it and will have an interest to buy one.

In the past, selling handcrafted jewelry is so much hard work, what with all the talking with possible resellers from craft shops and establishing your business from scratch. But today, technology has made artisans realize that there is more to just creating beautiful pieces of jewelry.

You need to have a medium in which people will have one place to go to when they think of jewelry. And that’s where the idea of Etsy’s Rob Kalin came from. The idea was just revolutionary when people were just getting in the hype of social networking!

So what’s in it for you? As what Kalin envisioned it to be, “The little guy being able to organize a better marketplace”. So that’s how you are going to set up your etsy jewelry business. Make gorgeous pieces of jewelry and tap Etsy’s still growing marketplace of handmade crafts.

How Does It Work

Since it was born way back 2005, it has attracted hundreds, even thousands of small business owners in the crafts section has been making use of this opportunity to make their businesses known all over the world. That is widespread marketing strategy if you ask me.

That is the beautiful thing about Etsy, it gives you a place to direct your customers to, coming from your own website and Facebook fan pages. It actually gives a sense of belongingness as almost all tech-savvy artisans go for this kind of marketing strategy.

Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t expect to be an overnight sensation just because you think your jewelry projects are great! – Work it to the top!
• It is not Etsy’s fault if your sales are not soaring high, what they do is just provide you with an alternative to present your finished products.
• Do make an effort to promote your Etsy site through massive campaign in Facebook, to your friends, and even email marketing where it is appropriate.
• Don’t disregard comments on your Etsy images. Interact with your audience as soon as they post a comment or a maximum of 2 hours to demonstrate reliability and credibility of your business.
• Do spend some time to take amazing pictures of your jewelry. Just because your necklaces and bracelets are beautiful, it does not guarantee a sale. You have to take great professional shots of these jewelry pieces.
• It can be frustrating and a turn off at times to see poorly lighted images of your pieces. Take a look at this article on how to photograph a jewelry properly. Invest in this area to highlight really good jewelry and be on the top list of Etsy finds.
• Do make every possible tag for your images, this is how search engine rankings work, so write every possible tag , you can put up to 14 tags per image, so that’s a lot of possibilities!
• Do add in images of your jewelry regularly. That is one of the key factors too. People need to know that you are serious on your craft and business.
• Do write about your product in your blog and show off. This is the right time to boast about something, and if that means getting those pieces sold, then so be it.
• Do understand your customers and target market. See this article on profitable jewelry niche markets for amore thorough explanation.

So you see there are only 2 Don’ts in the list, meaning achieving good sales isn’t really that far. All you need is the perseverance and passion for what you do. You should love your craft and ultimately the love will be returned as well.

Etsy jewelry is really a place for artisans starting out in the field of jewelry business, if you know in your heart that this is the place for you, then go for it and have fun!

Technorati Tags: Etsy, Etsy jewelry, handcrafted jewelry, Handmade Jewelry

eBay Jewelry

eBay is such a huge hit to all online consumers when it comes to affordable and hard to find pieces specially for a jewelry. It has curved and changed the direction of e-commerce as far as traffic is concerned.

It has become part of an online seller’s to do list to have an account over eBay and post some great pictures and start their push for selling their great pieces. Jewelry is a fetish for women, and in the start of the millennia, men too have developed an interest in this field.

That is why eBay Jewelry is such a great place for all artisans to gather and be a part of an organization of dedicated and hardworking jewelry artists. You just have to read the policies for their sellers to be aware of their general selling conditions.

How To Sell Jewelry In eBay

There is tremendous competition in eBay but that doesn’t mean that you have to just all take all your gears down. You can still make it through the long list of marketing stuff before you can say you have made it to the top. And it doesn’t happen overnight.

You have to learn to create a business plan for yourself; it doesn’t take a genius on business marketing to do this. But to top it all, you must have a good inventory to prove your business stability. You don’t want to spoil visitors to your eBay site in just 3 minutes.

Engage them with great photos of your jewelry. Put up some really to-die-for designs and list the history of why the design came into conception, the materials you used, and convince them how it would really fit them well when they wear it.

Like how we eat with our eyes, online customers buy with their eyes too. Make all your images professional looking, focus on what’s best and make it really look stunning! Read this article for a guideline on how to photograph jewelry.

eBay is also good for auction, so have a good inventory of new pieces and old pieces of your jewelry collection. Separate them in different listings and make sure that you price them thinking of your potential customers.

It can be really hard sometimes when you make decisions like giving out your favorite glass beads bracelet at a starting bid of $.10. But what’s really great is the price can double up with regards to its selling price. However, the downside is exactly the opposite. You can actually have a fairly low price for a piece with a much higher value.

But the only consolation is if you have a vast inventory, they will see it on featured listings and you can be assured of repeat customers. People will bookmark your site and come back to and buy some really good jewelry in fairly competitive prices. The key here is building a relationship of trust from your customer. Once it has been established, it is not that hard to sell the second piece and the rest of the collection.

Now for your inventory needs, Bead Manager Pro will help you keep track of inventory, price your pieces automatically, and even manage your invoicing. You just don’t realize how this software can help you in so many ways without compromising productivity and quality of your work.

So set your priorities ready and head off to eBay jewelry selling for it is a tested ground to set your feet on to. All you need is some great jewelry collection, a little gut, and a lot of patience and you can go a long way in running an eBay jewelry business.

Technorati Tags: Ebay jewelry, Jewelry online, online jewelry store

Why Join Jewelry Auctions

We can collect jewelry of every form and material, from pearls to glass beads, or your all time favorite semi-precious stones. But you will soon realize that a lot of these collections have just been sitting in your storage box for quite a time and so you think it might be wise to dispose it through jewelry auctions.

If you have been making jewelry for quite some time, there might be some slow-selling pieces that you need to dispose of and that needs to be taken care of. Jewelry pieces can clutter up space and it’s really just better to sell it than to lose its luster and shine from being stored for such a long time.

And so that is why jewelry auctions are such a great opportunity to showcase jewelry projects, though you have to compromise with prices. What’s the good thing about jewelry auctions are prices can start really cheap and you can get treasured jewelry heirlooms and pieces at a bargain price.

Traditional Vs. Online Jewelry Auctions

With the growth of Internet today, it is really easy to just post some pictures over your own website and have some sort of auction weekend. You can post images of your jewelry pieces with descriptions on it at different angles. It is important that you show different facets of your jewelry so that customers will have an idea of how it’s going to look like on them when they wear it.

And the good thing about online jewelry auctions is the wide reach of audience. There will be varied customers who will be willing to buy your merchandise and get it for a good sum of money too. With a wide range of customers, bidding will just be very exciting!

That is how traditional jewelry auctions really differ; people who will attend jewelry auctions will have a chance of trying the piece on them and get a glimpse of them from the mirror of how gorgeous the piece is.

But traditional auctions pay for rent, the “auctioneer” who calls for bids and bangs that little gavel to call the sale, and the food, not to mention ushers, sound system and many operating expenses to hold an auction sale.However, it can be really rewarding. The trust is already established and seeing the jewelry pieces can be really inviting provided the pieces are really gorgeous.

Jewelry Auction Sites

For starters, you can actually try doing it on your Facebook fan page like this Jewelry Auction For Ethiopia page. It really is upon you to hold this auctions a lot more exciting and within reach to your customers.

eBay also is a good venue for your jewelry auction activities. It is one great place for auctions that gets visited by millions of buyers. There is also a list of jewelry auction sites here that you can really check on and get yourself familiar with.

Jewelry auctions are just one of the marketing strategies for your jewelry projects to be sold. It can be a lot of hard work with all the labeling and taking of pictures for your chosen pieces going but it can be fun too. So just go on, think of what’s best for your jewelry auction weekend thing and let the bidding begin!

Technorati Tags: Auctions, jewelry auctions, Online jewelry auctions

You can do anything with polymer clay, form it into different shapes and sizes, big and small and design it to whatever character or style that will come up from your imagination. After all has been done, designed polymer clay can then put inside a kiln to achieve its desired texture and solid state.

However, making flexible clay is far different aside from its name.The video above gives you an idea on how you can make those flexible clay and make great jewelry pieces out from the material itself.

It’s a very quick process and takes only minutes to make and it can be used immediately, there’s no waiting at all. You can make textured sheets to use as bezels, shaped forms, folded, woven, tied or wrapped designs and more. Flexible clay can be textured and cut with scissors, shape cutters, tissue blades and scalpels.

You can actually make sheets as thin or thick as desired but flexible clay is not for Art Clay silver. A good PMC silver clay can be used for this project. So watch carefully and create more jewelry using flexible clay. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Flexible bugle beads, flexible clay

Beading chain is a durable and fashionable material to use for your jewelry pieces, specially for necklaces. Bead chains come in gold plated, sterling silver, and copper elements, that’s why it is best to just string in a few beads or gems to showcase the chain’s versatility.

The video shows you how to create simple yet stunning pieces of jewelry using bead chain and possibilities are just endless! So go grab your tools and hit it off with your bead chain project! Have fun!

Technorati Tags: Bead chain, beading chain, gold bead chain, silver bead chain

Choosing Your Online Bead Store

Jewelry making is fun, it allows you to express your creativity and at the same time a chance to earn money as well. With jewelry making, you can actually make your own materials like beads made of polymer or resin, but if you don’t want to go with all the hard work, bead stores are the best place to go to.

You can visit your favorite bead store around the block or conveniently order in online bead stores. Online bead stores are great because it gives you the chance to browse their collection without leaving your home and paying for a baby-sitter if you have kids. Plus, they have promotions, discounts, and freebies that only online customers can get.

Online Bead Store List

Here is a list of online bead stores that have a wide selection of beads, findings, clasps, and anything that your jewelry making project needs.

Fire Mountain Gems
A Bead Store
Bead Works
Art Beads
Brightling Beads
Beads Online
The Beading Room
BeadFx
Bead A Bead
BeadC
Jewelry Supply
Auntie’s Beads
Beadage
Rio Grande
Jewelry Making Daily
Beadalon
Beading Daily
Shipwreck Beads
Art Fire

All these online stores have their own specialties and wide range of beads and findings, and these are just a few of the bead stores online. You have the Internet as your source for searching bead stores that will help you on looking for the best materials for your jewelry project.

What To Do When Shopping From Online Bead Stores

You need to be ready with a checklist when you go shopping online so you won’t miss out on important things and not go over the budget. Shopping for beads can be really exciting that you will end up buying things that you don’t really need.

Make sure that you have ample time browsing for your bead needs so you don’t just get what is readily available. Promos and discounts may even be found in blog articles or even Facebook Fan Pages, so keep yourself aware of those opportunities for you to save.

You can save even more if you buy wholesale, so make it a point to check your inventory first before you go shopping for new materials. And if you want hassle-free inventory management, Bead Manager Pro can help you on that area with a whole lot of features that will make your jewelry making an enjoyable part of the business.

Other Online Bead Stores Features

Bead stores like Fire Mountain Gems and Auntie’s Bead also include free beading instructions and what-haves pertaining to your jewelry business. So it’s really a one-stop shop for all jewelry artisans out there wanting to hone their craft and be updated of the current trends in jewelry fashion.

What’s the best thing about online bead stores? They come with free beading instructions with a list of materials needed for the project. They will have videos or images that say it all when it comes to step-by-step instruction or guide and all the materials are just a click away and it will be delivered to your doorstep in no time. If you’re lucky, you might even get free shipping and handling by ordering a certain amount qualified for this service.

Bead stores are your partners in business, although you can make your own set of beads or other materials for jewelry making, there are just materials and findings that come in handy from these stores, clasps, toggles, and bead caps for that matter.

It is important that you make a connection from these bead stores to your own advantage, at the same time helping the bead jewelry industry grow by supporting and buying from these online bead stores.

This will ultimately make jewelry making money generating industry and not just a hobby. Way to go!

Technorati Tags: Bead stores, Beading stores, Beads store, Online bead stores

Creative Jewelry Tags

How many of you have strained your necks looking for a price tag for that beautiful piece of jewelry in a store? Isn’t it just great to just immediately look at a jewelry tag when exploring the beauty of jewelry pieces? It simply makes the whole jewelry buying process easier and saving the time of answering all those price queries.

Plus, jewelry tags give your jewelry projects a professional look; it finishes off the whole jewelry packaging idea with all the information a customer needs. You can either look to buy at online jewelry tags store or make one of your own, either way you need to know the essentials of jewelry tags.

Jewelry Tag Particulars

Selling jewelry is thinking of marketing strategy from conception of jewelry ideas, jewelry making process, taking a photograph of your jewelry, to actually putting a jewelry tag on it. The whole thing is just really important, nothing is singled out. So it is important that you know what to put on a jewelry tag and what matters to your customers.

First you have to design your tags as plain as possible; you don’t want your jewelry tags to overpower your jewelry pieces. If at all necessary, keep it to a white color or just ecru or cream colored paper for your main material. But make each design of tag really unique so that it’s worth keeping.

Oftentimes unique jewelry tags go inside jewelry boxes along with the pieces itself because people love to collect unique things. And this will be a great repeat customer strategy with all the information that’s already there on the tag.

Second, make sure the sizes don’t cover the whole piece, it should just be clear and visible enough but not too big that it covers the whole jewelry. Simple designs would be fine for as long as all the necessary information are stated on the tag itself.

Jewelry tags are important part of jewelry packaging so make sure that the design, shape, and color compliments the jewelry piece so they blend together and increasing chances of selling it.

Third and the most important one, business information and the price; it should contain your business name, web address, email address, and phone number to let your customers know that you value customer service and if for some reason they need to ask you something about your product, those information will help them get connected with you.

You should own the product by having a logo that will trademark your jewelry pieces. Keep it nice and simple. But don’t just clutter the whole front side of your tag with these loads of information. You can put the logo, business name, and price on the front side of the tag while on the other side; you can print your contact information like email address, website URL address, and phone number.

Fourth, be careful on the paper material you are going to use. It should be acid free and the heaviest paper stock that you can get that will work in your own printer if you’re personally making it and ask your professional tag maker the paper material they are using.

This will help the paper from damage in handling on tradeshows and parties wherever the jewelry pieces will be susceptible to human contact. That is why it is important that you have an idea of the materials being used, just like any other products that you are working on.

Fifth, make an effort of writing words that will describe the jewelry piece. Depending on the size and size of jewelry you have, say something about the component that was used. Give a brief description of what the jewelry piece is made of and the inspiration that you got the idea from. It should make it all the more exciting to wear knowing the details about your jewelry. Care instruction can also be included in the tag.

And if ever you have a problem on pricing a piece of jewelry? Bead Manager Pro will help you automatically price your jewelry pieces and help you on tax computations that is such a serious work to do. You name it and your bead jewelry business will never be complete without BMPro. Now you have a beautiful jewelry tag with the accurate price printed on it by the help of Bead Manager Pro.

Jewelry tags complete the whole package of your jewelry projects, it is important that you have a distinction for your tags, describing who you are and what you can offer as a jewelry artisan. After all, it’s the small things that really catch a customer’s attention, why not focus on the smaller details then? What do you think?

Technorati Tags: jewelry labels, jewelry tags, labels, tags

What Is A Niche

A niche is a small specialized market that will bring profit to any market you put yourself into, specially in selling jewelry where almost stay-at-home moms are gearing at. Well yes, that sounds so general but you must admit that there are a lot of online jewelry businesses out there.

What will set you apart from these people? It is having a jewelry niche that will bring you good return of investments and grow your business in this technology driven world. So how do you do that? Tap the World Wide Web, social media, and technology. See an article on how to sell jewelry online for a full coverage on running your business online.

But right now, I would like to focus on choosing your jewelry niche that you can own and be recognized for. The sound of their business name being mentioned in jewelry trade shows and fairs would be a great compliment an artisan can have in the jewelry business world.

It embodies recognition on your part and therefore is known for what you do, and that really means, SALES! That’s what we are all aiming for, right? To reap the fruits of our labor and make good of what we do, in fact the best!

Jewelry Personality

Perhaps brainstorming for a jewelry niche will be the most challenging thing to do, as this will entail serious thought on what would really sell to your targeted market. The scope should be focused on providing your potential customers with what they really want.

Wedding Jewelry Niche

For example, if you really are into wedding jewelry then you must focus on what is the current trend in wedding celebrations for a certain year. For as long as fashion evolves, so thus the whole corresponding components too. And weddings definitely are just one of them.

Jewelryisa big part of a wedding and it can make or break the whole appearance if you wore the wrong jewelry. So focusing on wedding jewelry will be the best choice if you are into the romantic and classic style of jewelry making.

Children’s Accessories Niche

Children are the most critical buyers, yes they are! They can be utterly honest when it comes to their own likes and dislikes at any given situation. While parents pay for what they want, they have their own decisions too. Apparently, choosing what to wear and what goes with their clothes and capturing a child’s mind in terms of fashion can be very tricky.

You must begin with understanding how kids want to wear these jewelry pieces, often, pastel and light colors is more likely to appeal to kid’s preference and something that is lightweight and comfortable to wear. So using plastic resin beads can be a good material for this jewelry niche. Letter beads, cartoon characters, and birthstones are great materials that can be used for these jewelry projects to make it all personalized.

Semi-Precious Stone Jewelry Niche

This will go to all women at all stages of womanhood. Whether you are still in college, or a young mom, and having grandchildren, semi-precious stone jewelry is always a welcome addition to jewelry boxes.

A good jewelry project would be charm bracelets; this will include some semi-precious stones and beading threads or wires to complete a piece. But what would really make it stand out in your collection is the healing effect that these stones will bring in to your life.

You have to be well-versed on semi-precious stones properties and usage so that your customer s will be much more interested to buy. As stated in a jewelry trade show article before, you can print the stone’s description and put it on your table or booth for more information about the semi-precious stone.

There are still a lot of jewelry niches that you can find out there; you just need to be creative and knowledgeable about your field of expertise. You might find that there are a lot of jewelry artists selling semi-precious stones and what you can do is think of some ways that will ignite an interest to your pieces. A big statement brooch or hair accessory might be a good start for your collection.

A jewelry niche can be truly helpful when you want to focus some certain levels of customers. But no matter what, it is always important that you love what you are doing and you’ll never have to work a single day as they say.

Technorati Tags: Jewelry niche, Niche, niche jewelry market