April's First Friday will be Egg-citing

Join us this Friday from 6:00-8:00 pm for a fun FREE project and a fun guest artist.

Patty Whitehurst will be here with her handmade sugar eggs. These are a traditional Easter treat and Patty makes them in the traditional way. The sugar-spun flowers, bunnies, chicks and leaves are a pastel whirl of springy joy and Patty makes each one by hand using sugar, meringue and magic. I remember gazing at the tiny world inside these eggs as a child and wanting to shrink myself down to teeny chick- or bunny-size and wander those icing gardens.

While these eggs will last for years, I never could resist nibbling at mine when I was a child. I may have to get one this year and see what happens!
Patty will be here from 5:00-9:00 pm on First Friday, April 4th.

our FREE project is available from 6:00-8:00 pm

Can't make it on Friday? We'll have 3-pin sets available to make all month at the work table, just $4 a set.

Of course, we'll be serving beer and wine for donations to Habitat for Humanity. The beer is from Lonerider, and the wine is from Sip...a Wine Store. Come have a glass, make a clip and see those eggs!

Let it SNOW!

I just returned from taping Beads, Baubles and Jewels in Cleveland, Ohio. This morning, I stepped through 10 inches of snow to rush into the airport. This afternoon, I was back in Raleigh, NC, disoriented and looking at pansies and green grass.

I don't really miss the snow, but I did think it was absolutely beautiful last night as we headed into our hotel. The flakes were big and falling fast, and my boots were very useful in navigating from the car to the door. The Christmas lights sparkled with a softened, expanded glow through the snow.

Ahh, that's okay. This afternoon I'll walk my dog around on nice, clear sidewalks. The only snow I really like is these wire snowflakes. 

click here to see more snowflakes, plus our favorite beads for making them

Win some studio organization help-

Is your studio perfect? Does it have sweet little touches like this? Mine has some sweet touches, but it also has those yucky plastic bins with lids, way, WAAAYY too many supplies and a lack of great lighting. I've been dreaming of a big, day-long studio clean-out and tidy for a long time.

So far, it hasn't happened.

If you want a bit of help getting your studio organized, come to our Handmade Holiday party on Friday night. We'll have a drawing from Raleigh's Green Gables; Organize Your Life. You could win a 3 hour studio organization. This is a $225 value. Actually, when I think of how nice it would be to have my studio organized I think it might be priceless.


that picture was nicked from this blog, one of my favorites-go follow her now!

more Handmade Holiday party info can be found here

(yes, you must come to the party to enter the drawing, we'll draw at around 8:30, you don't need to be present to win!)

Elaine Ray bead sorting - Elaine is having a SALE!

Are you ready for Elaine's next trunk show? It's Friday, October 4th from 6-9 pm.

Skip the mall this holiday season and make your own holiday fun. We'll have a party to kick off the craftiest time of the year and you are invited. Elaine Ray will be here with a collection of her beads, including some special, one-time-only grab bags with fab prices. There will be wine tastings, delish food from D'Burritos and a free First Friday project you'll love. 

join us for:

-Elaine Ray trunks show with special sale prices on selected beads

-New product debuts, including a findings line you'll love!

-Wine tastings from Sip ... a wine store

-Food from D'Burritos

-Three fabulous drawings:

for a professional craft studio organization (courtesy of Raleigh's Green Gables Organization, a $225 value) 

for a $25 Ornamentea class gift certificate

for a Handmade Holiday starter pack, with kits and more!

-all finished jewelry samples will be 1/2 off their marked prices (so you can give handmade, without making it with your own hands!)

-we'll have a free project in our classroom (the super-sweet Acorn Earrings!)

-we'll have make-n-takes you'll love!

Oh, those beads in the pic? They are some of Elaine's sorting work for the Grab-Bags. She's planning a way for you to purchase these EVEN if you aren't local. Keep up to date with the specifics by subscribing to our Newsletter or following the store facebook page...the links are right there in the side bar >>>>>

Valentine's Day? Meh.

Really, I like the red and the pink and the chocolate and the being nice.

I like love.

I like hearts. And treats. And chocolates.

Wait, I said that chocolates part twice.

But still. I do like the whole idea of being nice, and sweet, and giving little gifts (sursees*, if you are in the South) for not much of a reason at all...

It's just the forced nature of V-Day. The give-me-roses-or-else nature of the whole Hallmark card shop circus that the holiday is. I've been married for 24 years and every morning my husband makes me coffee. That seems more real than a card or red roses, tied up in a bow. He feeds my chickens when the weather is nasty. Really. THAT'S love.

So I'm skipping the expected expectations for this holiday.

The parts of the holiday I like, the colors and the gifts-to-friends, I'm embracing those. I'm sending cards (handmade and kinda amateurish, if you must know!) I'm giving chocolates. I made some jewelry for friends I thought would like it. I tied all of those things up in red and pink bows and I'm giving them out on Thursday.

Happy Valentine's Day.


*check it out, sursee, or sursey, or circe

Wrap it up: Self-Gifting and Crafters

According to all the analysts and social scientists, we are awash in a huge flurry of Self-Gifting. This is the trend of purchasing a gift for yourself while you are purchasing gifts for all those other folks on your list. There are many reasons that this is so popular; my main guess is that when you spend so much time shopping for others you are bound to see something you want. There is also the idea that many people may postpone purchases (in general) until the end of the year, and then there are all the sales, and the stacks and stacks of new items released at that time of year. There's also that cheery holiday music that just makes you want new shoes, somehow.

But I'm kidding. I really don't know WHAT makes many folks toss the budget out the window during the 12th month of the year and decide that they can have a few new sweaters and a camera and oh, yeah, I'll get a tie for Dad, too.  

Do you self-gift? Is there a specialty hammer just for you next to the felting kits you are buying for your nieces? Or are you full of self-control, only purchasing what you need to make gifts for others? I think that if you are making gift after gift for others you are still treating yourself. After all, those bits of jewelry will be passed on to the girls on your list, but the experience is all yours. No sharing. Kinda nice, huh?

So, what about you? Do you craft for others because YOU like what you make or because THEY like what you make? Will you add a few items to your holiday gift list for yourself, or do you think that is selfish?

Handmade Holiday Party Wrap-Up

 

The Handmade Holiday party last Friday was a lot of fun. We had a free project in the classroom. That's Jarin, one of our newest staff members teaching 12 people at one time. We believe in throwing you in the pond so you can learn how to swim! I'm just kidding, Jarin is an experienced crafty-gal and she had those ladies crimping link pros in just minutes.

 

This is the poster from the folks at Fiction Kitchen. They did our fab catering and can I tell you how wonderful the savory scones were? Wonderful. The pepper jelly? Just right. The pumpkin butter? Well, I could have drunk the entire glass full! Seriously, Caroline and Siobhan can COOK and we were so happy to have them there for our party. We collected donations for their kickstarter. They are opening a vegetarian restaurant in Raleigh very soon. You can visit their page here and learn more.

 

We always have prizes for customers who come in holiday-themed dress. This is one person who was not afraid to let her Christmas-spirit glow! 

 

Here are some folks quizzing Caroline about the Fiction Kitchen plans. Those ladies would have made dinner reservations if they could.

 

What does our staff do when the customers go home after a successful night? We drink at the counter, of course! Here are Brenda, Janet and Sara modeling our new store tee-shirts. The shirts were designed and printed by Kelly Smith-Tilley of Tiny Peepers just for us. So far, Kelly has only printed up a staff version, but she's working on one for us to sell. Watch this space for an announcement about how you can get your own Ornamentea shirt. 

What didn't you see in these photos? The incredible sale items (50% off lots of great stuff!), the beautiful trunk show by Elaine Ray with lovely, one-of-a-kind beads, ME (I was eating delish scones and talking Elaine into making me more red beads!)  

If you missed the party, make sure to sign up here for our newsletter so you don't miss another event this season.

New Tutorial - the Happy Heart Charm

These sweet heart charms are made with kimono cording and wire and they take about 5 minutes.

Read the full instructions here.

Holiday blues...

I'm busy finalizing our activities for the holidays this week.
It pains me to write that. Not because I don't love the activities we have planned, but because, for Pete's sake, it's not even HALLOWEEN.

and as a retailer, let me just say that I am running REALLY late.

Out here in retail-land we are supposed to be all done and planned out for the BIG holiday season by about, oh, March.
I can't bear to do that.

We wait. We do think about things. And we place some orders early. And we have that Handmade Holiday event in October but still, I am really not so eager to decide on party refreshments for December RIGHT NOW.

Oh well, I am going to just crank down the A/C and pretend it's all Dicken's Christmassy out there...

And if you want to know what we have planned for Thanksgiving weekend, well, check out the classes page...look for the pink horse, and the stamped pendants, and a snowman or two!

Oh, and although I'm all Shop Local I do love Nordstrom's for this window decal:

image taken without any permission whatsoever from the Consumerist blog...so go read them!

A Frayed Heart Necklace Tutorial

This is the newest project up on our site. It features a lovely LORiOLA lampwork glass heart from Lori Flanders, a North Carolina glass bead maker we really love. These new hearts are so yummy I wanted to use them in designs that were for year-round wear. I have also been wanting to make a neck wire with fraying ribbon for about 5 years.

Really.

Do you ever have those ideas that just keep percolating in your mind, bubbling to the surface now and again until you just MUST use them? This is one of those ideas.

I took a class with Susan Lenart Kazmer in 2005 at Art & Soul and we made a necklace on a hard neck wire. We covered our wire with a sleeve of leather but I remember as I was doing the class project I kept thinking about frayed silk dupioni...The idea started out as stitched frayed silk but it slowly evolved to this wrapped form and I really like this version best.

See the full tutorial here. See Lori Flander's beads here. 

Try It Tuesday - teeny tiny candy cane wristlet

Christmas is THIS WEEK folks!  Now take a deep breath and watch this tutorial for a quick, holiday project that will take you not much time to make.  Deep breaths, deep breaths.

-Tracy

Try It Tuesday with art deco tree earrings

Make these subtle holiday earrings at our Try It Tuesday this week.  They COULD be little trees but they don't have to be.  They are sweet and vintage-looking and stylish!

Try It Tuesday with Decopatch ornament

The holidays are upon us!  Join us today and learn how to refurbish those old glass ornaments that are chipped and a little worn out.  You can give them new life with some Decopatch paper!  Don't have an old ornament to bring in?  No worries, we will have plenty of plain clear ornaments to use as well.  Only $2.00 each.

make a bat bracelet

Personally, I am not spooked by bats. I find them very, very interesting. When I used to live in Austin, TX we would visit the country's largest urban bat colony under the Congress Avenue bridge. The bats emerge at sunset to soar up the river, swooping and eating bugs. The best spot to view the bats is on the river itself in a canoe or kayak. It is amazing to watch the thousands and thousands of bats flit overhead. They swoop quite close to the watchers-I often felt the breeze of a wing although bats fly far to fast to see up close. 

This bracelet uses one of our long brass bats with the wingtips curved and looped to hold chain. We featured it as a tutorial last autumn but I thought it was worth a second mention. I wear mine year-round, but in October it seems to get more comments than usual.

Handmade Holiday Party

This is the year that you make ALL your holiday gifts and we are here to help. Join us for a special party on Friday, October 1st at our store in downtown Raleigh, NC.  We'll have great gift ideas and make-n-takes for you, free project sheets to take home, a free earring project you can make and ideas, ideas, ideas! We'll have special discount on all Handmade Holiday classes if you register during the event and other special deals. You will nosh on yummy treats from local food artisans, sip a bit of wine and have a great time so bring a crafty  friend to share the fun.

Oh, if that wasn't enough we'll also unveil our new crafty tee shirt design. This swanky design will make you wish you could wear it every day. PLUS if you wear any of our vintage black beadfreak shirt designs to the event you can enter to win a free version of our new design!

So, I'll see you there, right?

Logo Sneak Peek!

 

Sorry, that wasn't very nice, was it? Well, you'll just have to wait and come to the Handmade Holiday party at Ornamentea on Friday, October 1st. You can see the new logo in person, register to win lots of fun prizes, get previews of upcoming holiday projects and find out what I've been doing that will change your crafty world. 

details of the Handmade Holiday Preview Party are here.

See you then!