Creating is one part, but coming up with ideas for handmade jewelry designs is another. You don’t want to put out the same stuff that you see almost everywhere. That’s not what sells. What sells are the items that grab attention.

They’re so unique that people can’t just walk away from them. You already know that many jewelry makers put together beautiful bracelets, anklets, necklaces and earrings. So how are you going to make your designs be noticed above all those other ones?

You’re going to create jewelry that stands out by giving it a theme-such as jewelry relating to the seashore or jewelry relating to weddings or to sunrises or sunsets. Nature offers one of the best smorgasbords for ideas.

All you have to do is step outside your home and look around. Notice the flowers and the trees, the way the leaves curl up on the ends sometimes. See the beauty of the bird in the sky as it hovers seemingly effortlessly on the wind. You can take inspiration from all of that and turn it into jewelry.

For handmade jewelry designs that are based on flowers, design roses but add little sterling silver hearts to the center of the rose. Create a magnolia necklace but at the center gem put a tiny gold bee.

Learn to add the unexpected, the whimsical, the mystique to your jewelry. If you look through jewelry websites, you’ll find several pieces in different colors and different beads, but they’re all the exact same design.

Use the snowflake approach to creating jewelry-have the motto that ‘no two pieces are identical’ and use that as your selling point. Think about why two women hate to show up at the same event both wearing the exact same event. That’s because no one wants to be a copycat, we all want to be an original.

So make originals. Make jewelry that no one else has thought of yet. Create jewelry with a story or with a purpose behind them. Search for gemstones that have meaning, use materials that bring about healing or good luck or confidence and use those meanings to promote your work.

Make handmade jewelry designs that feed the need for more. Create designs that tie in with more of your designs. For example, build on designs and words-use symbols that stand for something else – like truth, justice, freedom, loyalty, love, friendship etc.

You can target specific groups with specific jewelry this way too and you want to try and find a niche so that you can specialize. Whatever designs you create, make sure they’re timeless because if you create jewelry based on fads, once that fad passes, your jewelry won’t be in demand any more and you want to keep people as lifelong customers.