We were surprised and delighted today to find we were mentioned in the Seattle Times as one of their favorite places to shop! I blushed with pride after reading the lovely words they wrote about my jewelry creations. How did they know the garden faeries and mermaids are my muses?! Many thanks to the Seattle Times for the wonderful mention! It made for an exciting Sunday at the shop and I hope an even better week to come…my faery fingers are working on new jewels for Mother’s Day.

“Local designer Andrea Savar’s jewelry, sold in this charming Bryant/Ravenna shop, looks like something crafted by fairies in a magical glade, or washed up by the tide from some mythical sea — all made from found objects, vintage treasures and a variety of metals and gemstones.”

http://www.seattletimes.com/life/the-list-four-retail-splurges-for-your-tax-refund/

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!