About Rena

Welcome!

I’m Rena Klingenberg – jewelry artist, author, and publisher of creative ideas for making and selling jewelry.

I feel very, very blessed to be the caretaker of this incredible community of caring, sharing, talented jewelry artists.

Here’s how it all happened:

Many years ago my lifelong addiction to earrings led me to the fascinating hobby of collecting beads and making my own earrings.

But beads and earrings were only the beginning!

My jewelry-making obsession quickly snowballed until I found myself making all kinds of other jewelry and learning wonderful new techniques with wire and other materials.

But when I’d filled my jewelry box (and the jewelry boxes of my friends and family!) to capacity with my creations, I realized I was going to have to either stop making jewelry – or start selling it.

So my handcrafted jewelry business was born.

Since then I’ve sold my handmade jewelry in nearly every way imaginable – including shows, parties, consignment, wholesale, sales reps, distributors, my website, eBay, trunk shows, fundraiser shows, etc.

One day I realized that I’d learned a lot of valuable information along the way that could help other jewelry artists succeed in selling their work too.

So in 2003 I began publishing my Home Jewelry Business Success Tips website to share tips, ideas, and strategies for selling handmade jewelry.

My intention was to create the information resource I would have loved to find when I first began selling my jewelry.

Before long, other jewelry artists began generously sending in their tips and experiences for me to add to my website, and it turned into a gathering place for a lovely community of friendly, creative jewelry artists.

As the community grew, I soon found myself publishing three additional websites in addition to Home Jewelry Business Success Tips:

• Jewelry Display Ideas – where home-based jewelers share their creative, DIY solutions for displaying and packaging jewelry.
• Making Jewelry Now – tips, tutorials, ideas, and inspiration for designing jewelry, plus an extensive gallery of jewelry creations.
• My Jewelry Business Blog (where you are right now) – this has become my “headquarters”, pulling all of my websites together and offering discussions to help you take your jewelry business to the next level.

I also publish Jewelry Business Success News, a free magazine-style email newsletter that goes out twice a month to thousands of jewelry artists all over the world.

And finally, there’s my Jewelry Mini-Tips – a free, once a week quick tip on making / selling jewelry.  (Which also includes an occasional sneak peek at my upcoming stuff!)

And because even after four websites and two newsletters I still have a lot to say about jewelry, I’ve written three in-depth books on specific aspects of selling handmade jewelry:

• Ultimate Guide to Your Profitable Jewelry Booth – a guidebook for selling jewelry successfully at shows, fairs, and festivals.
• Secrets of a Handcrafted Jewelry Shopping Service – a guide to selling jewelry via private showings, trunk shows, and as business gifts.
• Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online  - the guide to using the enormous trend of online social networking to sell jewelry on the Web.

I welcome your sharing ideas, tips, content, and conversation on all of my websites.

Here’s the roundup of where you can share your jewelry content and gain exposure on my network of jewelry websites:

Share your jewelry content.

My websites are friendly hotspots for the handmade jewelry community to participate in, be inspired by, and inspire others!

And whenever I publish your content on my sites, you always receive a link back to your jewelry business.

Thanks so much for joining us here – and I wish you every joy and success in your own jewelry journey!