Do you love Secret Messages?

Of course you do! Join us in January for the Secret Message slumber party at Ornamentea. You'll make a three-charm necklace featuring three new book charm projects. There will also be food and lots of fun.

See you there!

Trying to find room for the enamels!

You can learn to use the enamels at the Enameling Slumber Party.

Join us for an Enameling Slumber Party on August 13th at Ornamentea. You'll explore enameling on copper with our newest product line-vitreous glass enamels from Thompson Enamels. You'll make five starry enameled charms with a rainbow of colors and we can help you turn them into earrings or add them to a chain for a necklace or bracelet. 

This is a great way to spend a night out being creative and learning something new. 

Please pre-register for this event by calling our store at 919-834-6260.  We expect this event to fill up, so don't delay.

What's a Slumber Party entail?

• delicious food and beverages
• a fun project
• we don't actually sleep at the store, but you could stay nearby at the Clarion if you want to
• and remember, pj's are optional!

Slumber Party Video

Sorry for the bad camera-phone quality. Er, wait, actually I should say 'Don't you love the great hand-held feel of this professional video?'
That was a fun night!

Slumber Party at Panopolie

We're having another crafty slumber party at Panopolie. Come make this delicious cuff bracelet and enjoy an evening of crafty chatter and friends. Details here. Register at 919-872-4767.

Slumber Party

We had another great slumber party this last weekend. I got there late; I waited until after the girls were asleep to leave the house. It was o.k., everyone was still in major crafty mode and, honestly, they were a bit silly at that later hour. I may have also been a bit silly myself, but that had nothing to do with the hour of the day.

I decided to make a ring that has been on my mind for quite a while. We have this bowl of vintage plastic animal that I am obsessed with. I swear, I have purchased at least half of them myself already and each time I am in the store I can hardly help getting another. They are all standard animals, but with really nice paint jobs (which is how you can tell they are vintage!)

This goat was just begging to be a trophy-head ring. I started by sawing the goat head off the body with a jeweler's saw and a #4 blade. It took just seconds. The whole thing glued together in just a few minutes and then I propped it up to dry. I have worn this a few times and people either comment or just look askance at me. This ring is like some kind of test; whether you like it or not I immediately know something about you once you comment.




Here are the parts I used:
Filigree-you'll need a flat one. I used the 6-petal flat pineapple in copper
Ring base-we are out of the one I used, but this one would work very well.
Glue-I used 527 but E-6000 would work, too.
Saw blade
Saw frame
A flat button

We are out of the animals...


The fabulous Susan whipped me up a peyote stitch belt for one of the tiny piggies from the animal bowl. I love this pig so much, he's so charming in his beaded belt. I think I may have to turn him into a necklace for Jo Packham. She's in Raleigh this week and I think a pig necklace (from a big pig state!) might be just the souvenir for her. Susan won't mind, I don't think...this would be a good time to point out that Susan is one of those customer/friends who I truly love, and not just because she makes pig peyote belts in two seconds flat!

 See more of Susan's work here.

Crafty Slumber Party at Panopolie

We had a Charm Exchange Slumber party at Panopolie this last weekend and it was lots of fun. There were three make-n-take classes and, of course, charms were swapped. Some of the charms are shown above, including some packaging. I sometimes get so excited just looking at how the charms are wrapped that I hate to unwrap them! Susan created tiny bags cut from circles of calico and wrapped up with vintage buttons to hold her soldered charms and Tracy stitched seed catalog papers together into flat bags to hold her botanical-themed charms. Ndidi sewed her charm onto a paper tag - a simple but effective presentation. Sometimes the presentation does not last - several folks at the exchange unwrapped their charms and put them, instantly, onto their necklaces or bracelets!
We always keep our work areas VERY, VERY neat and clean...
Dawn used the new metal punches to create a tiny stamped charm...
Elaine and Susan were able to share the stamps without any arguements. It is nice to share.

We made stuff, swapped stuff, chatted, learned new things and generally had a good time. If you weren't there, we missed you!

Some pictures that were taken that didn't turn out (and I am so sad!) so I didn't post them include one party attendee wearing a tiny basket on her head, one party attendee who brings her own wine glass, and a giant, giant mess created when a pot of pigment just, somehow, spilled on it's own...sorry, ladies, I have to have some quality standards!

The next Charm Exchange? It's coming up in early October...we are thinking of having a themed swap. If you have a theme idea, please post it here in the comments section or email me...

can't wait for our swap? Try Amber Dawn's very well run swaps or visit Swap-Bot.

Charm Exchange Slumber Party Coming Up...

We have a Charm Exchange Slumber Party coming up at Panopolie in a little over a week. I am participating (of course!) and we have some other great folks already signed up. Are you coming? You'll need to get your 10 charms in a bit early so we can sort them, or you can just come to the party and swap with folks in person...

There will be three make-n-takes that night; Resin Plique-a-Jour, Shrink Plastic Messages and Stamped Tags. I am doing the Resin Plique-A-Jour and you'll learn to create resin-based enamel-look charms. We'll work with the ICE resin, which I am personally addicted to. You'll make a locket and a dangle that you can use on a necklace or bracelet. The other make-n-takes are fabulous...and folks can do one or all of them.

We don't have themes for our Charm Exchanges but my personal theme was Work From My Stash. Seriously. I know this is a bad thing for me to say (I do SELL beads and do-dads!) but really, I think most of us have lots of materials that we could use to make some groovy charms without doing any shopping. Just sit down in your favorite workspace and MAKE 10 CHARMS. That's it. No excuses. I did this and I was really happy with what I made. They are all different, more or less, but they all use some beadies or goodies that I have had just hanging around. A few use bezels left over from my last charm swap*, a few use filigree left over from writing the book, a couple are projects that almost made it into the new book. It was fun to just make the tiny beauties and write a note with each and then wrap them up. I made 17 before I could stop myself! Since we are closed tomorrow it's the perfect time to do this; you can't come see us even if you want to!

So, you, go make some Stash Charms...and then call Panopolie and sign up for the Charm Exchange on Friday when they open back up after inventory.

I'll see you at the party!

*my last swap was with Amber Dawn and I do owe you a post with pics of the amazing charms I got in exchange...it was a Black And White swap...

Slumber Party Fun at Panopolie

We had another crafty slumber party at Panopolie on Friday and it was so much fun. I am still worn out from all the excitement and late-night beading.

Here are just a few of the pics from that fun night...if you missed this one we have another Slumber Party coming up in March...stay tuned for details.

Metalsmithing Bootcamp!

We are going to have another Crafty Slumber Party at Panopolie this month. On Friday, January 30th you can learn to fuse silver, cold forge silver and work with silver clay all in one night*. We'll also have food and wine and fun. I love these parties; I get to hang out at the store late at night and sometimes I even stop talking long enough to make something of my own. Mostly I just oogle other's projects, eat tasty snacks and fill people's drinks. Sometimes I wear pjs. That's optional.

Register early, these Slumber Parties fill up. Call Panopolie at 919-872-4767. You can't actually stay overnight at the store, but the new Hilton Garden Inn is just behind us and you could stay there if the craftiness overwhelms you!

*actually, you can watch all three but you can only take two of the three classes, we are amazing but we can't do miracles!

A fabulous Saturday night

Wow. That was the best Crafty Slumber Party ever. I know, I say that every time, BUT they do get better and better.



The Charm Exchange was so much fun, everyone got very excited to open their bags of goodies and ohh and ahh over their treasures.


Janet made tiny Chaine Maille wreaths,
Audra made soldered flower charms,
Susan made teeny-weeny felted pies in teeny-weeny pie boxes,
Marcy knitted washer-and-bead charms,
Elaine wrapped keys with sparkly beads...
Lillian made enameled charms. Oh, the bounty.

Orla brought in charms she got from Amber Dawn's Pink Charm Swap and we got to ooh and ahh over them. Orla also oohed and ahhed over everyone else's charms.



I got to chat with so many folks and that is the best part of the Slumber Parties. Well, that and the fact that we drink wine while we are working (this ONLY happens at Slumber Parties!) I am pretty sure the noshes were part of the lure for Nathalie, but I could be wrong! Mollie passed drinks on a tray and made us all feel oh-so-fancy. She isn't in this picture, but she should be.
We had three mini-classes; Ndidi taught everyone how to solder a jump ring on a paper charm. The rotating pumice pans are the secret to her magic trick, that and large jump rings.

The fabulous Nathalie filled in at the last minute and taught us to rivet. She's an excellent teacher and plans for all contingencies, even when you just give her a few hours notice.


Jennifer taught us to make colored, anodized aluminum jump rings with a rainbow of wire.

Kay also filled in at the last minute. She was scheduled to come to the party, but I made her work. She's a doll and managed to flit around and make the party better AND I still think the had some fun.

Charm Swap and Party

Do you make charms? I love to. Tiny little do-dads that I can add to a chain or ribbon, bits and pieces that might just join forces together and make something tremendous. They are addictive. So many folks here make them, we spend lots of time peering at each other's bracelets and necklaces for new charm ideas. We've had a staff charm swap and now we want to let you in on the fun.

We are having the Great Beadfreak Charm Exchange on October 11th. You can join. Just make 10 charms and drop them off at either store by September 30th along with your registration fee of $20. We'll have a big party at Panopolie in October-we'll have great food and several mini-classes you'll love. So what are you waiting for?

Personally, I am going to try to do something with these 7Gypsies Tag Turns. They are charm perfect, just waiting for an image and word, a bit of ribbon, something...

Staff Craft Night

Every so often our store staff likes to get together to just make stuff. We call them Craft Nights. It is part quilting bee (without the quilts), part coffee klatch (without the coffee) and part girls night out (with the girls and night and out.) We have food and various beverages and work on projects of all sorts.

This past Saturday we had a Craft Night at Panopolie. We did it in the style of Panopolie's Slumber Parties which means I had it catered by Ferlo's. Usually the staff just brings pot luck yummies, but I wanted it to be an extra treat and the fabulous white pizza, olive salad and rice balls hit the spot.

Since we are open seven days a week and have two locations we rarely are all together in one place. It is so much fun to see each other and have the opportunity to chat and share our talents. Emily taught her signature beaded ring. She is moving at the end of July as her husband's work with the Mexican consulate takes them to work at the United Nations. We'll miss her but now a lot of staff members have rings to remember her by. Many of us besieged Jane with questions about Shrink Plastic and we made some fabulous charms and had some exciting moments. The heat gun vs. toaster oven debate got a bit heated (pardon the pun!) and I found out that 45% is actually pretty small. Ndidi shared her metal etching skills with us, too, with great results for all of us.

I decided half way through the evening that I had to weave a tiny basket of wire. I have been interested in this since I saw the newish book by Mary Hettmansperger (Fabulous Woven Jewelry.) I grew up making baskets and just knew I had to make a wire one. Now, a reasonable person would have had her copy of the book at hand, but I think we have established that I am not generally reasonable. The book was also sold out at Panopolie (but we have it at Ornamentea!) I could have waited to make the basket, but I really was eager to do it. I decided to dive in.

Let me just say that wire is very different from reed. It took me an hour to remember basketweaving. I know, I could have just gone over to the computer and googled it but I wanted to see what my fingers remembered. After an hour or so and many, many pieces of mangled wire I was able to get a passable tiny copper basket and decided to move on to the sterling one I had planned. I was practically singing with joy as I made this, it was so pleasing to me to just twist, weave, twist and have it turning out more or less as I imagined.

For me, Craft Nights are like mini art vacations. My days are so filled right now with time with my girls and time at work. I squeeze in a bit of time during the day or late in the evening to work on a project here or there but to have a long stretch of hours with good food, good company and a compelling bit of wire at hand is such a luxury. I loved it.

Slumber Party Pics!

Last Friday's Slumber Party at Panopolie was so much fun. I came late (of course!) but I did get to see everyone's charms and enjoy a bit of food and wine. It was a perfect Friday night!

Everyone made charms and we also discussed having a charm swap. A Swap is an organized way to increase your charm collection. You make, say, 10 charms (of the same type!) in a mini-mass production and then swap them with a group of folks. You get 10 different charms made by 10 different people. Cool, eh? I have seen some really fabulous charms that folks have gotten from swaps and I love looking at necklaces filled with handmade charms. Expect more details on the swap soon.

Here are some past charm swaps to check out:
Ruth Rae's work is amazing and her swaps are primo!

EtsyMetal has some amazing charms to swap...I love those tiny books!

This last photo is of the fabulous Pat. I hope she participates in our theoretical charm swap. She is talented and is quite creative...I can only imagine the great charms she would come up with.

The photo above of the glass eyes is from a stuff swap we had that night. Can you imagine? Susan (top left photo) had a whole bag of plastic animal eyes to trade and share...I can't wait to use them in something...

Fabulous Felted Pillows

Look at all these fabulous pillows that folks made last week at the Panopolie Slumber Party. They used the felt sheets that we have in a million colors and patterns and felted their own adornments onto them. This is fun and easy-peasy. I can see many, many folks on my holiday list getting felt pillows!The rabbit below was made using a big, rabbit-shaped cookie cutter as a form. Just pile the roving inside the cookie cutter and use a felting needle to felt it to the wool sheet. The pine and the hand were made the same way, I am pretty sure. They used the three needle dry felting tool for the images and the Japanese five needle tool for finishing the pillow itself. That is quick, too, just felt around three sides to make a pocket, fill it with fiberfill and then felt it closed!

I wasn't able to come to this slumber party and I think I may have missed the best one yet. Don't worry, I will be at the next one..


NOTE: as of 12/20/2008 we no longer sell these felt sheets. Sorry, they were swell but we had to import them in giant quantities from the Kingdom of Nepal and they just didn't sell very well. We no longer have any in stock. Try sheet felt from high-quality upholstery stores.

Slumber Party Fun

Wow, I think that was the best slumber party yet! We had a great time, the food was good, the classes were fun and everyone went home (late!) very happy. We had a Felt themed party and so the classes were all about felt; felted fairy dolls, felt and bead bracelet, felt flower pin and even a demo of a cool machine felter. Well, the demo was REALLY cool as I went home with a machine felter (thanks, Mom!) and even an embellished tote bag.
The food was great as usual. Tracey always picks it out and she strikes just the right balance between healthy (like a veggie tray) and all-out yum (like fudge.) Libby always tastes everything, just to check. We also get wine, which I picked out this time so it was extra good. Mollie tested that for me.

I taught a class on making felt fairy dolls and the ladies all seemed to have fun, especially as they got their aggressions out on the wool. Those aren't voodoo dolls, they are the beginnings of fairies and the dry felting needles are being used to felt the wool roving onto the pipe cleaner bodies.