How To Create Stackable State Rings with Your Besties

These sweet, stackable state rings are our newest private party here at the shop and this one is POPULAR! It's a fun way to spend an afternoon with your bridesmaids, sorority sisters or girl friends. Each person can make her own favorite state, or you can all make your home state! We have all 50 states. 

Taught by Sarah Tector, expert metalsmith, this is a fun, 2-3 hour party for a group.

To schedule, call the shop at 919-834-8634

If you are at a distance, and just interested in the states, see them here. 

Join us for a Birthday Charm Swap!

Do you love making charms?

So do we!

To celebrate our 16th birthday, we are having a charm exchange that you can be part of. You'll be able to make and share charms with artists from around the world and you'll receive a set of beautiful charms in return. As you join the swap, you may want to also join the We Love Ornamentea facebook group to watch as swappers post pics and updates about their projects. We'll also make Celebrity Swapper announcements there first.

The theme for this exchange is Birthdays and Sweet 16 and you are invited to interpret that theme in your charm and your packaging in any way you wish. We have no strong restrictions on colors or materials for this swap, BUT please make your charms smaller than 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches. Any bigger, and this would be a pendant swap!

the details!

• Charms due September 21st, 2015, by 7:00 p.m. Please submit 6 charms, no larger than 1.5x1.5 inches. Please make your charms wearable, meaning they can't be made of something that decomposes or decays (sorry, no teeny, real cupcakes! but sculpted cupcakes would be fab!)
• Please wrap or bag your charms individually with your name and (if you wish) contact information. We recommend including your contact information: it can be fun to see what people do with the charms you make! The wrapping is part of the fun with charms, so feel free to continue your theme to the packaging.
• Please fill out the submission form completely and include it when submitting your charms.The submission form will be available here on the blog, and at the shop, starting on September 1st.
• If you will not be able to attend the Pick-Up Party on Saturday, September 26th at 1:00 pm, please indicate whether you want your charms held for later pick up or mailed to you. the Pick Up Party will coincide with both Keith O'Connor's trunk show AND our Cup-Cake Pot-Luck. 
• ALL AGES are invited to participate! In the past we've had MANY young charm makers and we swap child-made charms with other child-made charms. 

Ornamentea Attn: Charm Swap
509 N. West Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603

• Please click here to purchase shipping in order to receive your charms by mail after the swap. Shipped charms will be mailed out on September 28th and 29th via USPS Priority Mail. The shipping fee covers US shipping only; if you are an international swapper, please contact Galen at the shop to discuss how we can best get your charms back to you! 

The submission form is available RIGHT HERE. You can print it out at home, or stop in and we can give you a copy to fill out. 

Still confused? Check out these blog posts about past swaps and exchanges. You will be inspired! 

DIY Earring Bar - Not your usual cocktails!

Are you having a party for friends this holiday season? After you get the fancy cocktails planned and decide on the noshes (go with extra goat cheese, it never fails!) you will need something extra. Check out this really awesome idea from Candie Cooper - a DIY earring bar! I think this would be loved by all at my parties. I think I'll even bring a travel version to a holiday-season birthday party I'm attending later this month. Who doesn't love earrings?

Candie breaks it down with a list of all the things you need. She has a link to a video showing how to make earrings, which you could watch before the party. The only thing I would add is that you should make things really easy on yourself and download our Simple Wire Looping how-to sheet with step-by-step photos of how to make the loops on the tops of the head pins. That way you can spend as much time as you want at the fancy cocktail station while your guests make their own darn earrings.

Read Candie's whole Earring Bar how-to here.

Download our Simple Wire Looping PDF here. You can print it in color or black and white for your guests.