Save the date for this Saturday, March 21^st! We will be having an open house to celebrate the arrival of spring and new work by our artists. There will be bubbly libations and sweet treats from 6-8pm and several of our artists will be present to tell you about their work.

Our newest addition to the shop is Janie Olsen, a local painter who creates vibrant and whimsical depictions of animals (both real and mythological). We are honored to have the walls of the shop filled with her latest pieces. I’ve attached a few of the works that are in the shop now and the rest can be seen on our Facebook page. We also have a large selection of prints by Janie.

Also Elena Wendelyn is bringing us her new pottery fresh out of the kiln! I will post pictures later this week but she sent me a preview and there will be more nest bowls, sun and moon bowls and much more.

I am also working on a collection of spring jewels! I will send a reminder later in the week with pictures of my newest treasures. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at Janie Olsen’s wonderful world in paintings.

We hope to see you Saturday!

Just wanted to remind everyone that we’ll be closed tomorrow, Sunday February 1st, for the Super Bowl festivities!

Here’s a pair of custom earrings I made for a dear friend for the occasion. Typewriter keys for the 12, topaz, pearl and peridot confetti! Enjoy your day tomorrow and we’ll see you next week for regular shop hours.

Oh my, it’s almost that time again! Christmas is less than a week away and there are only 2 DAYS left to shop at our store before we close up for the holidays! We will be open this Saturday 11am-6pm and Sunday 12-5pm and then we close until January 8^th!!!

Our online shopping will stay open and you can always email me if you need something specific, I can pop it in the mail anytime, but the physical shop will be tucked in to rest until the new year beckons.

In the meantime, we just got in some last minute restocking of our most popular items this year! Elena Wendelyn brought us some of her wonderful bliss bowls and plates hot out of the kiln. These include her lovely Paris, London, Seattle dishes (a personal favorite). I also have a fresh batch of Formulary 55 products including our best seller: Bourbon and Vanilla hand cream, soap and fizzies. I have more acorn ornaments, jewelry under $40 and a full wall of artwork. Debbie just brought in a fresh batch of her teacup candles too! We’ve got you covered for the weekend.

In the meantime, I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday this year, we are very grateful for your patronage and look forward to a new year filled with art and creations.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything since this summer! The months have been flying by and we are now only ten days before Christmas. Where has the time gone? One thing is certain, the shop has never been so full of fabulous art, antiques, jewelry, found objects and all manner of curious treasures.

We have several featured artists this fall including Elena Wendelyn’s ceramics, Nancy Nelson’s elemental assemblages, Debbie Savar’s paintings and soy teacup candles and Karyn Porter’s paper artowk. I have also added my own paintings to the shop along with a huge range of jewelry for the holidays. We are fully stocked with Formulary 55’s fantastic soaps, candles, fizzies and hand creams.

Of course we are also happy to share a large collection of antiques from France including jewelry, antique natural history prints, Catholic iconography, jewelry boxes, enamelware and so much more. There is a little something for everyone on your list. I have been posting a daily shopping guide by theme on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Curious-Nest/137183043007939?pnref=story

I will attach pictures of some of the new pieces in the shop but the best thing is to pop by and see us in person! Our holiday hours this week are Wednesday – Saturday 11-6 Sunday 12-5 and we may also open Monday and Tuesday of next week…stay tuned. In the meantime, here are some images from the nest.

We just wanted to let you know about our summer hours. We will be closed this Thursday, July 3^rd and Friday, July 4^th for the Independence Day holiday. We will be back open this Saturday, July 5th  11-6 and Sunday, July 6^th 12-5, for regular shop hours. In true French tradition, we close the month of August and re-open after Labor Day so make sure and stop by this July for all kinds of treasures!

I’m working on new summer jewels this week and we will also have a new arrival of antiques in time for Bastille Day. We have also been spending a great deal of time building our online presence with our Ebay (antiques and jewelry) , Etsy (jewelry and art) and The Curious Nest online stores. Have peek for those of you near or far.

We hope to see you soon, July is going to be a wonderfully busy month of new arrivals and celebration!

Our spring shipments have arrived! Laurent has spent the last three weeks shopping for treasures in France and his work did not disappoint! So many wonderful and unique finds, it was gloriously overwhelming to open all the boxes. We will have treasures ready and waiting for you starting tomorrow and in the meantime, a sneak peek via pictures!

Some of my favorite things include the huge collection of antique medals, the art nouveau bronze and sterling finds (from platters to compacts), French enamelware, statuary, curiosities (mustache brush!), fabulous jewelry, Holy Relics, Italian triptychs, an unusual original Russian oil icon and so much more I hardly know where to start!

We will be hard at work putting everything out in the shop tomorrow and hope to see you all soon! ment

I’m very excited to announce the arrival of my latest 36 page, illustrated novella “Evolutionarium – Air”. I will be putting out the first editions tomorrow. The books are $7 each. The original drawings will also be available for purchase. I’ve created one-of-a-kind matts and frames for each of the drawings. The originals also have watercolor details. The 5×7 illustrations are $85 each and the 9×10 illustration is $140. Purchases of original art come with a complimentary copy of the book. You can also find the novella on Amazon in both Kindle and Paperback.

Air is the first book in the Evolutionarium series of illustrated novellas.  Set in the not-so-distant future, the Great Change has left the world’s inhabitants struggling for elemental balance. Caged in an overpopulated apartment building, Jasper is a boy on the fringe of the flock. He spends his days obsessed with a microcosm of magpie treasures until one evening a winged shadow on the roof catches his eye. As a string of eerie events unfold, Jasper discovers his kindly neighbor Mrs. Harlow may be at the heart of an evolving mystery.

Just a quick update of some new things we got into the shop and some neighborhood happenings.

First, we have new elemental assemblages by Nancy Nelson! I love them all but my favorite is the long one because there is a bottle within a bottle. All her lovely details and thoughtful arrangement of elements make my heart sing. We hope you love them as much as we do.

Also new soap from Formulary 55! We will now be carrying Formulary 55 soap and hand cream along with Circle Creek Home soaps. It smells heavenly! My favorite is “Bonjour Monsieur” and “Sweet Pea and Clover”. We will also have new work by Karyn Porter in tomorrow including her bird and small Eiffel Tower cards and handmade journals.

As for my creations, I’m working on new woven gemstone flower jewelry, the lucky shamrock set is perfect for Spring. As well as a short, illustrated novella called “Evolutionarium” which will be out in April. The original drawings will be for sale in the shop along with the book. The third novel in the Winship series will be released in late May.

Laurent just added some fabulous French antiques to the shop! If you can’t make it in, some are also available on our online store as well as on Ebay http://www.ebay.com/sch/thecuriousnest/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from Though it is best to come peruse in person.

We are also very sad to say goodbye to our neighbors at “Planet Happy”. They will be closing their store at the end of the month and are currently having a liquidation sale with prices from 25-75% off everything. If you are looking for eco-friendly toys, books and more, do come by and take a peek at what they have before they close up. Their shop hours are the same as ours, Thursday-Sunday.

We hope to see you soon!

I finished a new collection of jewels just in time for Valentine’s Day! I’ve been working on these pieces for quite some time; collecting, sketching and weaving a bit of childhood magic into these pieces.

As many of you know, I’m a fan of all things Victorian/fairy/magical creature. Part of the collection is inspired by beloved characters (Rapunzel, Cinderella, Ozma, Beauty, Wendy and lessor known Grimm heroines), others will be what I call “faery tale relics” (a piece of a gnome’s hat persevered under glass, a shed fairy wing, a sliver of Pinocchio’s nose, a tooth from the Big Bad Wolf, pixie favors and more) as well as magical creatures themselves (unicorns, dragons, fairies and other critters).

It’s been awhile since I’ve been this inspired for one grouping of jewels! I will have them out in the shop tomorrow and hope they fill everyone with curiosity and joy. Also, though I imagine most of you already know this of me, this collection leans more to the Grimm’s side of things rather than, ahem, Disney…there may be a few impish surprises amongst the pretties!

Little Things…

Recently my friend brought me two boxes of little things from her studio. Lisa Mei Ling Fong is a renowned assemblage artist, a lover of curious trinkets, a transformer of the mundane into the beautiful. It was overflow from her stock and she knew that I too have a love of odd little bits and pieces that speak of worlds waiting to be created. Butterfly cocoons in Tupperware, hinges from furniture run amuck, a fishing reel whose catch was long abandoned. I spent hours sorting through the possibilities each tiny object possessed, a little glow of joy growing in my heart with each discovery. What final metamorphoses would a broken butterfly wing endure? You will soon find out!

About a week later we brought a new artist’s work into the store. Nancy Nelson came to us with her latest creations, glass vials filled with little things found in nature. Each glass container is carefully aligned to create a collection of elemental artifacts. Vibrant plumage ignites visions of exotic birds in flight, tiny shark teeth transports one to deep waters; each combination a reminder of the beauty in the world. As we spoke about her inspiration, I could feel an instant kinship with both her and her art. Her eyes sparkled with delight as she explained the lovely contents of her creations. She too is a lover of little things. As I priced and hung her work, I couldn’t help but smile with contagious glee as another local artist, Marge Manwaring, came to mind.

A poetess is in her art bound by little things; words condensed in elegance to convey the most expansive subjects the universe holds true. In her collection of poems “What to Make of a Diminished Thing”, Marge crafts a microcosm of emotion on the page. Each word perfectly placed to stir feelings immeasurably. I am honored to have her books in the store as well this month; each comes with a handmade bookmark lovingly adorned with a little gumball machine charm.

As all these little things made their way into the shop, it seemed that February was destined to be an ode to the diminutive! The more I thought on it, the more perfect it all seemed for the smallest month. Also how lovely to give the gift of the world in a bottle or a beautifully bound book of poems to a Valentine! A little thing can speak volumes to the heart. It also speaks to the creator of those seemingly small relics. It tells them that the love they instill in each piece is a worthy endeavor. These little treasures are more than mere adornment; they are a love letter to the world and all things creative.

So if you are in search of the perfect little thing, do consider some of our new treasures. Wish bottles for a friend, a vial of elements for a lover, or a book of poems for the vibrant souls in your life are all waiting for you inside our tiny nest. Or a pair of earrings made with antique St. Therese medals, the patron saint of little things. Sometimes it’s the smallest things that have the most impact; a word of encouragement sends a ripple of hope into the world. A butterfly wing stirs a storm of imagination! We hope to see you soon and in the meantime, I wish you all little things filled with wonder and joy.