Origami Owl Giveaway

The review and giveaway below was written and is hosted by Caitlin Nicole from Southern Stay-at-Home Momma. I did not write the below review and I am not hosting the giveaway. I am not responsible for choosing the winner or shipping the prize.

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I was recently contacted by Jennifer Beagle about doing a review and giveaway of Origami Owl. I hadn’t heard of them before she contacted me but I’m glad that she did. I’m not a fashion blogger but I still love my jewelry and, I gotta say, I love the idea behind Origami Owl and will definitely be making more jewelry with Jennifer (hopefully soon!). Yes, I said “making.” 😉

That’s my favorite thing about Origami Owl — you make your own jewelry. Now, I don’t mean that in a 100% literal sense. They aren’t going to tell you to go mine and smelt your materials and all of that. But, they provide you with choices as far as your locket, charms, plates, dangles, and a chain to finish it off so that you can make a necklace that is yours, which gives your jewelry some meaning and depth. No one else will have your necklace, which is why it’s so special. Don’t get me wrong, I love jewelry even if it’s mass-produced, but I love the fact that I can make a necklace just for me and that it can tell a story — my story. I’ll show you the necklace I made here in a minute, but first I want to tell you guys about the story behind Origami Owl because I, personally, thought it was pretty cool and inspiring.

Origami Owl was started by Isabella, a teenager (14 years old!) who wanted to raise her own money so that she could buy herself a car for her 16th birthday. She used some money she got from babysitting and she got a matched contribution from her parents to run with her idea of selling unique, personalized jewelry at home parties and events. Origami Owl then grew and their jewelry is now available online and through trained, Independent Designers. Pretty neat!

They have great choices to choose from when it comes to making your necklace — you get to choose every aspect (locket, charms, plates, dangles, chain) to make it your own so that it can tell your story. I loved creating mine and I’ve worn my necklace every day since I made it. 🙂 When you receive it (or, if you go to an in-person event, while you’re making it) you’ll choose your locket. It will be the holder of your charms and/or plate(s) and it’s magnetic so you won’t lose them! You’ll then choose your charms and/or plate(s) — the size of the locket you choose will determine how many charms you can have. When you’ve chosen your charms and/or plate(s), you’ll put them into your locket. If you’d like to add a dangle or two, you’ll be able to choose how many and which one(s) you want — they’ll clip onto your necklace’s chain. After you’ve chosen the main parts of your necklace, you’ll choose the chain you want and you’ll be done with your necklace! The process is super fun, easy to use (the website), and it’s super exciting when you get to put your necklace together and wear it!

 

For my necklace, I chose to go with a medium silver locket with their standard chain (they have different sizes to choose from depending on the look you’re going for with your necklace). As for the charms…

I chose the music note because I love music and it has gotten me through some hard times in my life.

The pearl represents both beauty and a vacation that me, my parents, my younger brother, and a good friend of mine went on when I (and my friend) was 18. As far as beauty goes, I’ve always loved the appearance and essence of pearls. That, and I’m waiting for the day I finally see myself as beautiful (as I progress with my weight loss journey and after I reach my goal weight). As for the vacation, my parents took me, my younger brother and a good friend of mine to Disney in Orlando, Florida when we were 18. I had a great time with my friend and we had so much fun together. In fact, we were in Japan within Epcot during our vacation and we went into a store in which we got to pick an oyster from an oyster tank. The idea was to get the pearl inside the oyster so I chose which one I wanted and I had found the biggest pearl of that particular day — I still have the pearl in my jewelry box. And, on that same vacation, me and my hubby decided to start dating — we had been hanging out for a while before then but we were calling and texting each other a lot during the vacation and we decided to become exclusive.

To me, a sparrow symbolizes good luck, love, and freedom, so I chose the sparrow charm for three reasons: 1.) I’ll need all of the good luck (and support!) I can get to achieve my weight loss goals, 2.) I want to learn and remember to love myself along my journey to become a better me, and 3.) I successfully attained freedom from an unhealthy relationship with my parents by ending it (I still haven’t gotten the courage to make a post about this topic but I hope to soon).

I have a necklace which has two silver wings similar to the one in my Origami Owl necklace — I bought it as soon as I could after I got out on my own because I wanted it to represent the fact that I overcame the struggles I went through whilst moving out of my parents’ house (ending the unhealthy relationship I had with them) — I wanted to add the wing charm in my locket to represent that very same thing (the fact that I overcame those struggles).

The Forever Family charm represents the fact that I love my family (my hubby and Brandon), and it also represents the fact that I love my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides of my family as well as my hubby’s family because they are the ones who supported me through the situation with my parents.

My new Origami Owl necklace is very meaningful to me and I love it dearly — every time I wear it, it feels like I’m celebrating my life and the struggles I’ve gone through. This feeling is something that everyone should have!

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If you’re interested in creating your very own Origami Owl necklace so that you can share and celebrate you, yourself and your story, Jennifer will be eagerly waiting to hear from you! You can either contact her so that she can help you or, if you don’t have any questions or need any help, you can go ahead and order from her Origami Owl website, which can be found here: Jennifer Beagle, Independent Designer. I also recommend that you “Like” her Facebook page, which can be found here: Jennifer Beagle’s Origami Owl Facebook Page.

One of you lucky readers will have the chance to win a $25 Origami Owl gift card, courtesy of Jennifer! If you’re interested, please enter the Rafflecopter below! It will run until August 10, 2012 and is open to those in the USA who are 18+ years of age.

Good Luck everyone! Hopefully one of my readers will win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to each of the bloggers who are helping me promote this review and giveaway! 🙂

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for reviewing this product. Jennifer Beagle graciously allowed me to create my own necklace so that I could write this review.