Here are a few favorite valentine images from FOUND. We only have a few vintage valentines left - people have been shopping early this year!  But we still have lots of great jewelry, candles and gifts.  Our latest pillow style from Kriss LeCocq states LOVE in bold graphic style. These needlefelted strawberries just arrived from the AuGres Sheep Factory.  Would be sweet valentine gifts.  Sweet plaques with hearts.       Continue reading

A few weeks ago, we went to Beckman's handcrafted show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago and found some great new things to carry at FOUND.  This week, our orders started to arrive! Chicago jewelry designer Veronica Riley Martens works with colorful beads made from South American tree nuts called tagua.  This is a newly popular, eco-friendly material that was previously used to make lovely carved buttons in the early part of 20th century.  We've had a variety of vintage tagua buttons at the shop before.  The meat of the nut is noted for it's ability to take colorful dyes.  In natural form, it resembles ivory from elephant tusks, thus is often referred to as vegetable ivory. It's smoothness makes it easy to carve. When plentiful "modern" plastics became available that could be used to make cheaper buttons, tagua nut use fell from favor during the 1930's.  Fortunately, there has been a resurgence of products being made from this plentiful natural material. Veronica includes this info with her jewelry: " Tagua Nut Beads are made from the fuit of a palm tree from the South American rainforests.  This eco-friendly product helps sustain rainforests by harvesting a renewable resource without damaging the trees.  The use of tagua nuts also provides jobs for over 35,000 people in Ecuador alone. (pronounced TOG-wa)."  All the tagua nut jewelry at FOUND is designed by Veronica Riley Martens and handcrafted in Chicago.  We love the necklaces, earrings and rings she sent us in a wonderful palette of greens, orange, grey and brown.  The material is lightweight and easy to wear.  Stop by and see our collection and the sample nut - we think you'll be seeing a revival of the buttons, beads and other products made from the versatile tauga nut in the future!   Continue reading

  You all know that I love vintage children's school books. Last week I found a couple of little Chinese readers. The images are so sweet. I found a great 1920's menswear style portfolio from a Chicago tailor shop - these oversize fashion posters would be terrific framed. There are 20 in the collection, priced from $18-$28 each.  One features knickers and a wool jacket for golfing. If you're looking for some small ephemera to make cards out of, we recently added a bunch of old Popeye & Olive Oyl playing cards.  Playing cards often feature images that lend themselves well to repurposing for paper arts.  Check out our selection next time you're in the shop. From a time when quill pens and beautiful script was the norm in business. Palmer Method of Business Writing.  Actually, even when I was in school, Palmer Method for schools was the standard for learning to print, and for the big move to cursive writing in third grade.  Lots more vintage ephemera at FOUND!   Continue reading

On February 16, Emily (and her sister Cara) will be teaching a patera workshop at FOUND.  All the details and registration are here. It's called Through the Looking Glass.  The participants will make earrings and a necklace, using findings from Nunn Design.  It'll be fun!     Continue reading

 I've been scrambling to bring more vintage stuff into the shop. Found clock and watch parts on my recent trip.  These are great to breakdown and use for steampunk jewelry and assemblage projects. If you have fairies that inhabit the nooks and crannies of your home, here is a bit of furniture for your tiny friends. I love children's china tea sets.  While I wasn't able to find complete sets this time, I did find dozens of little pieces.  They are great in shadow boxes, or to hold jewelry, or to have a tea party with!   Whenever I find them, I like to pick up linen days of the week towels.  I found a full set, plus a few extras. We've refilled the button jar - $3 for 1/4 cup scoop. Need a handkerchief? These vintage ones might do the job. And that's just a bit of what's new at FOUND this week.     Continue reading

Our A2 artist friend, Celibeth Donnelly, aka Celerybreath, turned her funky fabric animal doll concept into a line of notecards and we're thrilled to have them at FOUND! Featuring collaged dogs and cats, some of them traveling the world to exotic locales, these just make me grin! Another Ann Arborite, Laurie Longo, aka StoriesDivinations brought in a big stack of handmade Valentine cards, but I'm on the road and forgot to take photos of them - I'll do a Valentines post and include her cards next week.  In the meantime, here are some other new arrivals from another Ann Arbor company that sells throughout the country, but these cards are made just down the street.   We love robots! Isn't this card great for valentines or just to send a friend?  Check out our recycled typewriter key jewelry - made in Michigan.  Rings, bracelets, earrings and cufflinks in stock.  Think of FOUND the next time you need a card that's a bit different! Regards, Mary       Continue reading

  I love fresh starts. Last week we cleaned and sorted and did inventory (an amazing amount of merchandise went out our door in 2011), then rearranged furniture and started to bring in new things.  The carpet cleaners will come Tuesday night to remove the last of the holiday sparkle glitter dust from the floor.  Besides that, the shop looks fresh and ready for the new year!  Friday night, Paul from Urban Ashes brought in a huge selection of the fabulous picture frames his company makes  from locally cut trees that would traditionally meet their fate in a wood chipper or as firewood.  Each frame is marked with the species and is beautifully finished.  You can read more about Urban Ashes on their website and in this intesting annarbor.com article.  I love the story behind this local Michigan company! Monthly Special:  As our featured local company for January, when you buy an Urban Ashes frame, you'll receive a $5.00 FOUND gift card! Other recent additions to the shop are pottery from New York City based CANVAS, more billiard balls, and a new flock of birds that flew in.       Burlap Boutique's latest recycled coffee bags feature some fun recycled flowers.  Made in Brighton, Michigan. We have a small, but unique selection of cards.  And Laurie from Stories & Divinations delivered more handmade journals crafted from recycled vintage books a couple days ago. Every day next week, we'll be adding more.  Hope to see you soon!     Continue reading

  What a wonderful holiday season we had at FOUND. A heartfelt thanks to all of you who shopped with us and our retail neighbors!  This week we're clearing out all the remaining xmas merchandise - 50-70% off.    Winter hours:  Monday-Friday 10-6:00.  Saturday 9-6:00.  Sunday 11-5:00. Open 9:00-3:00 on New Year's Eve.  Closed New Year's Day. I think I'll take one of these handmade pillows home, and settle in for a winter's nap.....       . Continue reading

 Candles can instantly add a festive touch to your home.  Here are some of the styles available at FOUND this month: Yes, that is real candy!  The Habersham Candy Company makes this colorful pillar and another that has cinnamon sticks. In the fall, we expanded the variety of candles we carry from the Creative Candle Company in Kansas City. Recently, Martha Stewart did a blog post with a series of photos showing the process of handmaking candles.  Martha has featured candles from Creative Candles for years - it's a great quality, made in the USA product.  This holiday season we have a nice selection of pillars, tapers, round ball candles and 10 hour votives in several shades of green, christmas red and ivory. Isn't this multi-armed candelabra a fantastic piece?  Spectacular when filled, but also nice with just a few candles. We also carry footed glass hurricanes.  And clear bobeche for taper candlesticks.   A few simple precautions and remembering to blow them out are important for safety.   An appleberry red bird candle is a fun accent for the holidays.  And at just $8.50 each, these made in USA candles make affordable gifts.   Many folks have stopped to buy Bullfrog candles - not knowing that they closed during the summer. While we were quite disappointed when Charleviox, Michigan-based Bullfrog Light Company announced they were retiring, we wish the former owners all the best.  We hope they spend lots of time sailing  next summer!  Our customers LOVED their unique candles with cut-out snowflakes and simple designs that glowed from top to bottom when they burned.  The last of our final order from Bullfrog is now gone.  That doesn't mean you can't find terrific Michigan-made candles at FOUND.  Our other Michigan based candle company is Green Daffodil from Ferndale.  Their soy candles use pure ingredients and are popular year round.  Packaged in fun little tins, they are quite popular as gifts year round.  We love the new Holiday Tree scent.  Green Daffodil recently started doing larger sized decorative glass jars - great for the holidays!             Continue reading

    UPDATE SUNDAY NIGHT - Marijim Thoene, you are the WINNER! Stop by the shop to pick up your gift card or email me with your mailing address.  Thanks to ALL of you for the wonderful comments! Here's a little FOUND contest with the chance to win a $50 gift card.  All you have to do is comment on the foundgallery blog - when we have 50 comments, we'll randomly select a name from those who have posted. We started the contest a couple days ago, so those of you who commented on the earlier holiday posts are entered - that's 7 entries so far.  Only forty-three to go! Many of you followed the old blog we had on typepad, but we lost you when we switched into this wordpress format. Right now I know that my sister Linda, my mother, a few customers and my shop assistants follow this... I'd like to know who else is out there and encourage others to read. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I needed to include those funny little letter/number thingies for you to copy to avoid spammers, but I hope you'll make the effort.  Then the comment goes to my inbox and I approve them the next time I check email.  Write something you like about the shop - or a  favorite find - or something you make - or anything that fits with what we do at FOUND.  Or just say "hi".  You'll be entered and when the number of comments hits 50, there will be a WINNER! I'm planning a series of contests and  ways to show us what you've done with your FOUND finds in future posts.  We'll start with this simple little contest and hope we can get 50 comments before Christmas!  Regards, Mary     Continue reading