Just a few ideas for some unique Valentine’s Gifts! I love giving something unusual that will be cherished forever so here are some alternative ideas for a gift for your loved one.

In antiques we have some really fun items including vintage French perfum labels (framed and unframed), Victorian pins and lockets, his and hers 19th century jewelry boxes, a fabulous Limoge liquor set of six cups and a flask, vintage magazines and sheet music, old locks and keys (key to my heart) and Flemish art boxes.

In local art we have some great new pieces that Debbie Savar brought in including handmade boxes, small journals, matchboxes and original paintings. I have some specially made heart ornaments by Kim Groff-Harrington that are made with animal cracker tins and other interesting metal parts and pieces. I have love inspired shadow boxes filled with keepsakes and can also make up a unique sachet of a postcard and other trinkets just for you for $12. 

And of course all my jewelry creations and other one of a kind objects. Enjoy the pictures and come see us!

Debbie Savar’s original work as well as her journals and art items.

In anticipation of Valentine’s Day I have created a small collection of love token jewelry with hearts and other symbolic charms.

I love the Victorian sentiment behind love tokens and imagery and am always trying to collect up interesting little trinkets to use in my work and these are some of my favorites.

So enjoy the pictures and I will have the jewels in my shop (The Curious Nest) starting tomorrow in case you would like to see them up close as well as some great heart and love inspired vintage objects, local art and other treasures. Also feel free to forward this to your significant other if something catches your eye…I have found this to be an easy way to send a little hint for gift ideas.

As many of you know I am a huge fan of art nouveau design and the art of Alphonse Mucha has always been something that inspired and moved me so this is an homage to his work as well as a more modern take on the combination of natural elements and representations of the most romantic of flowers and other imagery. I spent this month creating these little treasures and am so pleased with the way they came out so enjoy and if anything catches your eye feel free to email me about availability or better yet just come see them in person at my shop The Curious Nest!  

 We also added new antiques including one of the most incredible mourning pieces we have every found. We also have new heart and star ornaments by Kim Groff-Harrington just in time for Valentine’s Day and we are also restocked on Circle Creek Soaps. We hope to see you soon and in the meantime enjoy the new jewels.

I have added in an additional beginner’s jewelry class on February 13th since so many people wanted to take this one and the first class filled up quickly. If you are interested just send me an email and in the meantime here are the specifics:

Beginner’s Wire Wrapping: February 13th, 2011 from 9am-11:30am. I will teach how to make three styles of earrings with gemstones and sterling findings and wire thus giving you all the basics for creating not only earring but also pendants, necklaces and other wire creations. 6 spaces available

Just a little sneak peak into some of the new things we have in the store and a little highlight on some old things that sometimes get overlooked!

I love anything souvenir related that pre-dates the 1940s so I decided to create theme of highlighted objects this week called ‘Souvenir de Paris’ (a few are Italian but I didn’t think you would mind).

These are all little trinkets and treasures and the most wonderful of them all are the little souvenir charm books that I have brought in from my own collection, they are filled with black and white photos and are in perfect condition. I have been hoarding the little enamel ones for sometime now and feel that I can let them go to new homes. All of these items are in the shop as of tomorrow so feel free to come by The Curious Nest and take a little trip to Paris!

 I also have a little section of jewelry I have made with little enamel pieces with Paris monuments but I haven’t had time to take pictures yet. So here are some pics in the meantime and feel free to email for prices or just come see the goodies in person!

I am starting my winter jewelry classes this January with one Beginner’s Earring class and two Intermediate Wire Wrapping classes. All classes are held at The Curious Nest on a Sunday morning from 9am-11:30am before the store is open. Each class is $100 per person and includes all the parts to create the jewelry shown in the sample pictures. All you need to bring are a set of needle nose jewelry pliers (one flat, one round and one wire cutter).

Beginner’s Wire Wrapping: January 23rd, 2011 from 9am-11:30am. I will teach how to make three styles of earrings with gemstones and sterling findings and wire thus giving you all the basics for creating not only earring but also pendants, necklaces and other wire creations. 6 spaces available

Wire Wrapped Blossoms: February 6th, 2011 from 9:o0am-11:30am. I will teach how to make three pairs of fancy wire wrapped gemstones using different metals to create blossoms and branches for earrings. These techniques can also be expanded upon to create pendants, necklaces and other wire creations. 6 spaces available

Flower Vine Necklace: February 20th, 2011 from 9:00am-11:30. I will teach how to use a vintage vine base to build a necklace of flowers and vines using gemstones and pearls. This is a wonderful way to create a unique piece and also to expand upon other design uses for vintage metal findings. 6 spaces available

If you are interested in signing up for a class just email me, give me a call at The Curious Nest (thurs-sun) or come see me and take a peak at the samples in person! I only take 6 people per class so spaces are limited.

We were so excited today to receive a fabulous box of antiques from France! We had been concerned that it was possibly lost but low and behold it came today intact and chalked full of wonderful treasures. I have attached a few pictures I took quickly while at the store of some of the new pieces but there are more than what you see here. In addition to the enamelware canister set and the flower postcards we got in a fantastic collection of hundreds of vintage religious medals! They go from $1-$12 each and we even have matching vintage medals (including St. Francis of Assisi that are not pictured), Joan of Arc pendants and other more unusual medals. We also have in rosaries as well and 1920’s holy water fonts, a gorgeous folding icon and various statues. I also took a quick picture of some of my favorite trinkets and treasures that we got in which include an incredibly detailed micro-mosaic in onyx piece, a micro-mosaic locket, art nouveau matchboxes, dance cards, a Joan of Arc pin and lots of other pieces as well. Our case of antique jewelry and bits and pieces is very full as of today!

So if you are in our neighborhood do come by and see all our new treasures! I will be sending out an email tomorrow or Sunday with the class schedule for winter but the samples are already out in the store as is the sign up book so that is another reason to stop by. If you have any questions about prices feel free to send me an email but the best thing is to come see them in person!

I just finished re-arranging and re-stocking the Curious Nest to bring in the New Year and my friend Mary reminded me that black eyed peas are thought to bring good luck in January…so if you look closely in our new window display you will see bowls of black eye peas here and there. I also decided to highlight several of my favorite things: butterflies, globes and coral branches all combined to create an intriguing combination of vintage treasures and artistic delights. The real butterflies are vintage treasures that come in globes and a few in shadowboxes while the vintage globes I use to house little vignettes as well as highlight jewels and the black coral branches I use pretty much everywhere in my own art as well as in my home for decoration (we sell them for $18 per fan). So we invite you to come take a peak at our new treasures that abound and in the meantime we wish you a very Happy New Year! Also we will be closed on January 1st but back open again on the 2nd and here are some pictures to tempt and hopefully inspire your own decorations.

We have decided that we will be open Wednesday Decemeber 22nd to make up for the fact that we will be closed on Saturday December 25th for Christmas this week! So if you are still looking for a few last minute gifts we have new ornaments from Kim Groff-Harrington, more red ticking lavender sachets by Katie Galbraith, matchboxes by Debbie Savar and all kinds of other goodies under $20.

I also just made a few pearl drop earrings with both vintage caps and also sterling caps. They are all $35 each and I can make them in any color or style and will have my supplies with me while I am in the shop so I can make them while you wait! Here are some photos and if you have a moment come see me in the Curious Nest this week Wednesday-Fri and also on Sunday!

I just finished a small gold collection for the holidays and am so excited about having it in the shop tomorrow for the  busy 10 days before Christmas! I wanted to have a few pieces that were precious and perfect for holiday wear as well as being tiny works of art.

The Garden of Eden is my inspiration for these one of a kind pieces made with vintage French centerpieces and unusual gemstones. From Divinity to Temptation, I hope that you enjoy these pieces and if you want to see them close up come see me in the shop where I will be working away on more stocking stuffer earrings. Also while there are presents for oneself, I also have tons of new pieces of jewelry, local art and antiques all under $100 and quite a few under $30 as well (as you can see in last week’s post).