Themes, themes, themes!

Have you ever been invited to a direct sales party and been hesitant to go because the last thing you want to do is hear another sales pitch? That's what I LOVE about O2. It's not a sales pitch, you don't have to buy anything, we want you to have fun and enjoy yourself and our "shows" are called jewelry bars and we want to give you a different experience so you walk away excited and happy you came!

Jewelry Bars are a great excuse to get together with your gals and enjoy a couple of hours of YOU time. Not only do you get to see and play with fantastic, unique jewelry and share your stories with others, but you get to relax and enjoy the company of friends and family. I always tell my hostesses to keep it simple! Something salt and something sweet. I do love a good theme party though and would love to share some ideas for your next jewelry bar!


Girls night in! Let's do a wine tasting and keep it simple with nosh platters.

Here is a great example of keeping it simple but classy and giving everyone something they will enjoy:

You can visit this site to get free printables for your wine and cheese get together! I love how simple this is!

Pier 1 and cost plus have adorable mini cocktail glasses that are perfect for mini desserts, wine tastings, and more. I love, love serving food in these! Who doesn't love a mini martini glass with dessert in it? The best part is they are very reasonable and inexpensive and you know you will use them over and over.

One of my favorite things ever is a really good bloody mary. Nowadays you can't go anywhere without hearing about bloody mary bars! We have one here in ABQ that on sunday mornings you build your own and holy tobasco sauce--it's incredible! Host a brunch theme and have a bloody mary and mimosa bar set up for your guests to build their own!

You can serve croissants and fruit to keep it light and simple! Keep everyone remembering that bloody mary bar you had! Go all out-I love a spicy one myself, but I also love bacon, olives, tomatoes, pickles, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Want a more family friendly affair? Take it to the next level but still keep it simple and fun with a popcorn bar! We have a really fun place here in ABQ called walkers popcorn and the owner is hilarious and kind and a genius! Every flavor you can think of....Create a popcorn bar for your party and have your guests loving those sweet treats!

For drinks serve up colored lemonade. Anyone can have pink lemonade, make yours turquoise or purple or green! Mix it up, have fun with it.

Remember, you can still have fun with your food and drink and keep it simple and whimsical! for more ideas you can visit me on pinterest!

Violet hair, don't care.

About 4 years ago I woke up and decided I wanted violet hair. Upon hearing this my husband shook his head and shook it all the way to work. I am sure he shook it that whole day too. Did it stop me?

Nope.

For about a year I wore violet and dark blue highlights. I felt that it wasn't enough because if I am going to put purple in my hair-then it better be purple. So, I let it grow out and the violet became gray and the gray became this weird blonde color and for a good year people complimented me on my blonde highlights. If they only knew that was not the look I was going for.

Then a friend moved to town-and she does hair. I told her I wanted my violet back but that I wanted it ALL OVER. Not to be scared to put it ALL OVER. We booked the appointment and this is what happened...

This is what happens when your iphone is dying and you need to charge it. You just publicly announced to the intersection at carlisly and indian school that you are indeed getting violet hair.

The end result?

THIS is what I am talking about.

I am 36 and I have violet hair-don't care. My entire life I have tried to live spontaneously. Why should we stop as we get older? We have one life! Why am I sharing with you my journey of violet hair?


I have had people in my life close to me just come right out and tell me I am too old to have purple hair. Who says? The awesome thing is, 99% of people love it and tell me they could never pull it off. I'm here to tell you, you can. Do something spontaneous! Whether it's dying your hair violet or blue or pink! Go out and do something you have never done before-do one thing everyday that scares you!

"You are confined only by the walls you build yourself"


Live your life. Now.

And don't sleep with your hair in a bun. ever.

Go for the Gold!

Who remembers the jewelry their mother wore? Or their grandmother? Did they prefer silver or gold?
I remember my mom wearing both. When I started wearing jewelry I remember preferring silver over gold. Nowadays there are so many new colors when it comes to metals. Black, chocolate, rosegold, etc....

Last Christmas I gave my mother a rosegold locket, which I adore because the color is stunning. It's also a hardy metal and looks beautiful with other metals.



this is not one of my lockets, but I love how the mixed metals look

The very first Gold locket I sold really got me re-thinking my choices. It was heavy, and beautiful and looked so breathtaking with the charms in it. I remember using that locket as a sample for a few shows before the owner took it away to be loved.

This is that locket

I think Gold reminds people of their families. Of grandmothers and aunts. Of jewelry worn that represents their husbands, and the mothers who came before them. It's timeless. It never goes out of style. You can always freshen it up with other pieces you have. I love the large gold locket from O2. I love how I can open mine up and mix it up with a silver plate and different stones. I love that it attracts people who otherwise would never have given a second look at a gold necklace.

This fall Gold is IT. Layer your pieces! Mix up the metals. Don't be afraid to show off a vintage piece that is hiding in your jewelry box with a new, sparkling piece like this:

Chocolate is starting to become really popular. My younger sister does not like bling. She prefers the non sparkly lockets and has quite a few. Recently she saw a picture of the chocolate locket which only comes with crystals. After quite a few conversations she ordered one. Living in Tennessee and being an alumni, she of course created a locket that all Tennessians (I totally just went with it) would love!

The chocolate locket is now a favorite of mine too. I can't wait to wear it this fall with all my favorite autumn colors! It looks fantastic with any of our charms and one of my customers in May created this one which is so whimsical and lovely, you just want to wear it for yourself!

Things that represent her life. This is one of the things I love about these new metals that we can add to the timeless gold. Old with new, vintage reprised. This fall, don't be afraid to layer, layer, layer your gold pieces! If you don't have any, go out and find something and be daring!

If you are having a jewelry bar this season, pick a Go for the Gold theme and keep your refreshments light and simple. Maybe some wine and cheese with chocolates for sweets. Invite your girlfriends over to see how lovely these Gold pieces are. Create something new for the Fall that will jazz up your wardrobe and make you feel solid gold.

It's getting Autumn up in here....

Oh it's almost October!! My favorite time of year! Cider, crisp weather, colors, fires, pumpkins...

I swear-I would be completely blissfully happy to live in New England all year round, and especially in Autumn. Put that on my bucket list.

I have always loved Halloween! As a child I remember living so far out of town that my sister would drive us into town so we could trick or treat! My mom made our costumes and we had such grand times! I don't wait until October to start celebrating and I think my own daughter loves that I don't. August 1 we start burning cinnamon candles, and every week we add more halloween decor to the house until at Halloween we are ready to go! Why only celebrate for a month?

This year I want to try some new things to our pumpkins. My almost 9 year old loves glitter-be honest, what 9 year old girl doesn't? Ha! One of the ideas we are thinking about..

I love, love black and I love glitter and I love this pumpkin! I want to cover my mantel in these! All sizes!! Last year my daughter had so much fun creating bedazzled pumpkins with friends by using straight pins and sequins and of course duck tape. They made zebra pumpkins and denim pumpkins...I love watching how creative she is!

For us here in New Mexico, we are blessed to have mountains nearby and desert and the fall foliage is truly amazing! The smell of roasting chile in the air alongside fireplaces makes you wish it lasted all year long. (Okay, maybe just I wish it lasted all year long)

Take your fall decor a step further this year. Do something totally out of the box! I have this neon pink, metallic pumpkin that lights up that I never thought I would let in my house. Guess what? It's sitting above my fireplace as I type this and I love it.

Can you guess who picked it out?


This year, thanks to my pinterest I have found this unbelievable centerpiece which I want to create for my own home!

If this doesn't say Fall, I don't know what does. Isn't it fun? Keep a look out in September for the one I attempt and cross your fingers at the same time. I love mixing it up and I love the autumn season so much that I want it to last as long as possible in my house. Nowadays we are so busy with our lives-running kids to practice and school and orthodontists and back and then homework and dinner and laundry, that we never get to enjoy the small things. Creating Autumn in my home early brings me bliss and my family bliss and a sense of calm about our household that I cannot explain.

If autumn isn't your favorite holiday, what is? What do you do to make it last as long as possible?

Cherish

The history of the locket--

We've all had one at one point in our lives. I remember getting one when I was younger, I still have it! It's a gold heart with an 'M' etched on it. I even had one that I wore as a pin! I still have that one too. It's a silver oval that hangs on a pin so you can wear it as a brooch. I haven't worn it in over 18 years, but I still have it!

Lockets have been around for hundreds of years! Originally used to keep a photograph or another small item such as a curl of hair.

I love the dainty-ness of the vintage lockets. How many of us ever tried to get a picture to fit in our own? I had the worst time cutting that picture up to get it to fit. My locket always stayed empty.

And then charm jewelry came into my life. I still have charm bracelets from my childhood, my daughter has several too! Nowadays it seems you can walk into any store and buy a charm bracelet already made. What is the fun in that? Whatever happened to picking your own charms out?

And who remembers these:

Oh, I had one! I wish I still did! What fun were these? I remember how the chain snapped together and everything!


Face it, all of us love the idea of collecting pieces that represent the things we love and what girl doesn't love jewelry?! Whether it be a tiny gold locket or a plastic bear that clips onto a pink plastic chain.

Fast forward to now. The first time I heard of origami owl, I had no idea. NONE. When I saw my first locket, I immediately wondered how the name came to be since it had nothing to do with origami! Be honest-you all totally thought the same thing. I ordered my first locket-a medium silver  and lots of charms! Then I put myself on the waitlist to become a designer-I didn't even wait for my locket to show up!

My plan was to just run the website and that was it. When my kit arrived-it felt like Christmas morning. I had sold the whole kit before it arrived, because let's face it, everyone loves O2! Shortly after signing up, I realized I wasn't going to just run a website, I had party bookings and girls on my team and it took off!

The most important thing to me was that I LOVED it. I love this jewelry, I love this company, and I love putting together lockets for my customers because someone created that piece from the heart. It's not a pre-made charm bracelet that you can buy in a store. You have to create it and it comes from the heart.

Over the years the pieces have changed but the idea has stayed the same. You put in your locket what you love. Whether it's a picture, a lock of hair, a pink plastic chain with a bunch of cute, junky charms, or a glass piece with lots of sweet charms inside.

Women love jewelry. Women love to talk about themselves (we all do!). What better way to show off the things you love than with Origami Owl? I am so blessed to be on this journey with women I adore. I am so blessed to have this in my life because it came at a time when I was down and out and completely depressed. I finally get a degree and hundreds of resumes later and there was no job for this gal. Not in this city of mine. My husband was skeptical, and after I paid for a trip to Vegas for our daughter for Cheer-he was shocked.

Whatever your story is, whatever pieces of jewelry your past holds, cherish!