Who doesn’t like compliments?

For most people, there’s nothing like the little lift that follows a compliment. Tracy Tenpenny, owner and designer of the increasingly successful jewelry line, Tracy Tenpenny Design, is no exception.

“Somebody at Starbucks stopped me and said, ‘Where did you get your jewelry? I have to have it,’” Tenpenny said, pointing at her dainty, yet striking, gold necklaces and understated, yet eye-catching, gold earrings with blue beads.

As Tenpenny could tell you, a jewelry compliment has special significance if the compliment is meant for a piece of your own design. For her, “it’s the ultimate reward when people compliment me on my jewelry.”

Of course, this designer can boast a lot more than compliments. Her pieces grace the ears, necks and wrists of stylish women of all ages in several states and are sold in an increasingly long list of boutiques. They’ve also enjoyed features in all sorts of magazines and other media outlets, including Rare magazine, Austin Woman and News 8 Austin.

Tenpenny’s line has even earned highly coveted recognition at Tribeza, where it won the singular honor of people’s favorite. And since Tenpenny has meetings in Dallas and Los Angeles that could result in showroom representation, her list of honors is likely to lengthen.

Take a look at Tenpenny’s pieces, and it’s easy to see why they’re popular. From the gorgeously understated Hannah to the gloriously flashy Lindsey, Tenpenny’s line has the perfect piece for any woman.

“I would define my pieces as not trendy, but classic,” Tenpenny said. “They’re girly, some are fun and funky, they’re simple, and the beauty [is] in the construction of the pieces.”

Nothing about this line suggests the cold detachment so common in many collections. A true artist and self-described “creative spirit,” Tenpenny designs each piece based on “where I am in my journey.” She draws inspiration from everything from travel and fashion to nature and most especially, people. Fittingly, Tenpenny names each of her pieces and affectionately calls them “my girls.” Jane, Lucia, Palmer and the others have personalities as varied as their names.

“Most of my pieces are named for somebody I know or somebody I’ve met,” Tenpenny said. “I’m very strongly inspired by people.”

The “most influential” source of inspiration for Tenpenny, however, is architecture and design, thus the highly geometrical – and aptly named – Composition, Structure and Shape, as well as the fabulously architectural Bow @ Arrow.

“I think that’s just ingrained in me,” Tenpenny said. “I love anything from a pattern on the fabric of a chair to the lines on a desk or any sort of architectural element. I’m completely inspired by it.”

That’s no coincidence, as Tenpenny has a degree in interior design and architecture from UT Austin, as well as seven years of experience climbing the corporate ladder at two architectural firms in the Capitol City.

Although she “absolutely loved” her work, “the further I moved up in my career, the less I was designing,” she said. “It became more about managing and directing other people. And when the .com slump happened, there wasn’t much design going on because the companies that were moving forward in the economy mainly just wanted us to divide space. So there wasn’t much of a creative outlet anymore, and I felt a little suffocated. That’s when I started making jewelry.”

First a hobby “that I could completely lose myself in” and later a means of dealing with grief after her mother passed away, Tenpenny’s “girls” were a success from the beginning. It all started with a party.

“I went to this jewelry party, and I got so into it,” Tenpenny said. “Within two hours, I learned how to [make jewelry], I designed it and I made it, and by the end, another designer wanted to buy it from me. So there was positive affirmation from people from the beginning, and that really kept me going.”

On the five-year anniversary of her mother’s death, Tenpenny made the “extremely difficult” decision to leave architecture and devote her time primarily to her jewelry business. She hardly takes her career for granted, however, since “it really prepared me to manage and run a business,” she said. “And what I do now seems close to what I did; I take raw materials and make something with blueprints, essentially, and then have a contractor build it. It’s the same concept.”

Business runs in Tenpenny’s family. Her father and brother also run their own businesses, which “made me realize early-on that [a business] is something you have to live, eat and breathe,” Tenpenny said. Family ties, particularly with her mother, twin sister and older sister, Susan Bickham, have also served as significant sources of inspiration for Tenpenny.

“This is part of the Hugs and Kisses collection, which is inspired by my mother,” Tenpenny said, holding up the artsy X at the end of her shorter necklace. “She used to write letters and sign them, ‘XOXO.’ Jewelry is in many ways an outlet for me to talk about my mother and her spirit and who she was.”

Tenpenny is also working with Bickham, who has MS, to create a line of jewelry that “is easy for anybody with MS to put on and wear,” Tenpenny said.

Such a line will fit right in, since philanthropy is “the corner stone” of Tenpenny’s business, according to the Web site. Tenpenny has volunteered or provided donations for Charitable Ladies, Dell Austin Children’s Hospital, the American Canter Society, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and many other organizations because “I really like helping people,” Tenpenny said. “Also, I do it to get out of my own head. It really makes me feel good.”

Although Tenpenny doesn’t “understand the concept of nine-to-five nearly as much as working hard and putting everything into it,” the Corpus Christi native enjoys a fulfilling personal life, as well, thanks to her “brilliant” husband.

“We were neighbors, so when we met, I was literally the girl next door,” she said. “It’s phenomenal the way we work together. I never in a million years thought I could have something as amazing as him. I feel very blessed.”

Finding a balance isn’t always easy, but Tenpenny enjoys the journey. As a true artist and optimist to the core, she’s living her dream and loving every minute of it.

“Somebody stopped me yesterday and asked, ‘So, how’s the jewelry business?’” Tenpenny said. “And I said, ‘you know what? My spirit and soul seem to be filled right now, so it’s going really well.’”