Archive for the 'Gift Ideas' Category

The spirit of collaboration and thinking outside the box by the Urban Ashes Picture Frame Company is a Michigan success story!  As one of their first retail partners, we’re pleased to be a small part of that story.

Urban Ashes founder Paul M. Hickman will be presenting a FOUND Art Talk on Friday, June 21st at 6:30 p.m. during Artwalk Ann Arbor.  For this half hour Art Talk, Paul will share stories about working with municipalities, businesses and non-profit groups in an endeavor which creates jobs for transitional workers while keeping felled urban trees from being turned into mulch and firewood (or out of the landfills).  Paul will also talk about the latest collaboration with non-profit groups who are deconstructing Detroit homes scheduled for demolition.  His line of Detroit DeNailed frames are born from that effort. Providing work and sustainable products is what it’s all about!

The art talk will take place across the hall from FOUND at Fustini’s Oils & Vinegars on the second floor of the Kerrytown Market & Shops.  Fusinis will be sampling hor’dourves made from their incredible products during the evening.  If you weren’t already aware,  Artwalk Ann Arbor is a new one night event with about a dozen walkable venues from Kerrytown to Main Street.

CLEARANCE SAle. We have a great selection of made in Michigan Urban Ashes frames to choose from every day.  As a bonus on the weekend of Art Walk, we’ll have even more – at reduced prices! As the company has evolved, Paul has amassed a good sized group of experimental, one-offs and “seconds” that will be available for sale at great discounts. Still pretty wonderful for your favorite photos, but don’t go with what they are doing now, so they are being cleared out of the warehouse.  This special sale will begin at 5:00 June 21 – and end promptly at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 23.  Come Friday evening for the best selection!

Here’s the link if you’d like to follow Urban Ashes on Facebook.

I’ll be adding more info about what FOUND is doing for Art Walk in the next few days, but here are a couple tidbits – muralist Katherine Larson will be painting little scenes of Ann Arbor right in the shop from 5:00-7:00.  Our neighbors 16 Hands, Heavenly Metal and Metal, plus galleries on Main Street will have trunk shows or demos as well.  Food, wine, art, friends, good conversation all on a Friday night.  With time to head to Top of the Park afterwards.  Ann Arbor in the summertime, ahhh….

Right on cue, April showers turned to May flowers last week!   In this part of Michigan, it’s too early to plant annuals, but flowering bulbs and perennials are alive with color.  Daffodils just finished blooming. The bleeding heart by my front walk is looking sweet in pink today.  And the fresh green of spring is everywhere.

Mother’s Day is Sunday.  If you are still looking for a gift, a bud vase made right here in Ann Arbor from recycled silverware is just right for a special spring flower (or even a dandelion that the kids pick).

We also have a fresh selection of  colorful flower pins, handcrafted from old zippers!

If Mom likes to garden, she might like this vintage gardening book.

What about this vintage nursery chalkboard sign?  It would be fun to hang this near your garden or on a covered porch!

The Ann Arbor Farmers Market will have lots of Mother’s Day flowers this Saturday.  Once again this year, photographer Myra Klarman will be taking free portraits with mom in the outside market area Saturday morning from 10-noon.  Her lovely informal shots in the Farmers Market are always special.  The prints will be available for pickup in Kerrytown after May 25th.

On Mother’s Day, the Sunday Artisans Market has a wonderful lineup of artists and entertainment scheduled from 11 a.m. in the Farmer’s Market area. FOUND is so fortunate to have this Artisan’s Market on Sundays AND the Farmers Market on Saturdays and Wednesdays right outside our windows!

We’re thankful for Spring Flowers and for Moms!  Enjoy these beautiful Spring days.

You can find plenty of vintage Valentine’s gifts and goodies at FOUND in Ann Arbor this week.  I especially love the sweet images on vintage valentine cards circa 1930′s and early 1940′s:

Laurie from Stories & Divinations brought in a wonderful selection handcrafted valentine.   We have a half dozen new styles of valentine cards from her this year. Love the one signing L-O-V-E!

I love it when we have little gifties that are made right here in Ann Arbor – like these hand-stitched hearts made with vintage felted blanket wool.  Great to attach to a package with a little present for your sweetheart on February 14th!

I always look for old skeleton keys.  They are getting harder to find these days…. but I found some!  Just in time for Valentine’s Day. Tie a key to your heart with a red ribbon to a handwritten love  note….

A mother and daughter bought spoon rings at FOUND and texted this photo – what a great Valentine’s gift idea!

Spell out messages with scrabble letters – who wouldn’t love to be greeted by this at breakfast?

The last few weeks, we’ve been restocking the shop and have lots of great jewelry and gifts for your sweetie.  Our fresh batch of cashmere scarves made from recycled sweaters will keep your valentine cozy and warm.  Another thing I especially like are the stamp sets with hearts – great for making your own cards or decorating gift wrap any time of year.  Our new order of red sealing wax and heart shaped stamps arrived in time for Valentines Day, too.

When I was in Illinois last month, the owner of the Fairbury Antique Mall gave me the valentine postcard above.  She’d set it aside, knowing  that I would appreciate it.  I do!  That sweet gesture reminded me that valentine’s day is a great time to pass around the love with little unexpected surprises.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you from FOUND!

Sweet little button flowers in our bud vases from upcycled silverware make a perfect Springtime pairing!  Emily has been busy at FOUND making lots of these colorful button bouquets for Mother’s Day.  It’s an easy project – just thread thin guage foral wire through the button holes, then hold the flower “head” while you twist the wire tight. If desired wire several together and add ribbon leaves for a vintage bouquet.  It’s a great project to do with kids.  Small vintage bottles make great vases, too.

You’ll find charming Mom’s Day cards at FOUND (handmade in Ann Arbor) that incorporate vintage story book images.  What Mom wouldn’t love these?  

This week, all  jewelry and candles are 10% off at FOUND. And  Saturday morning (May 12), we’ll have a drop in button flower making session for kids between 10 a.m. and noon.  We’ll help them make a couple flowers and wrap them up for Mommy or Grandma. 

Happy Mother’s Day from FOUND!

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.

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!

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

This holiday season, FOUND has a fun selection of jewelry for gifting!  The clever cuff bracelets above are made by 3 Sisters, using recycled license plates – and are very affordable at only $14 each.   

Our friend Katina sent in more of her popular woven bracelets (shown below) which sell for $12 – $18.

The artist making our recycled wine cork jewelry incorporates her handmade pottery hearts and swirls into many of the necklaces.   Wonder how many friends it takes to supply her with all those corks…

Also made in the USA, the peace sign necklaces below features 4 interchangable disks that fit into the magnetized base – giving you 4 different colors for the price of 1.

Button jewelry by 3 local artists are always favorites – this year is no exception.

Laura at Bottled Up Designs has a new “cage” style with recycled bottle chips in it. 

On her labels, she always includes the bottle history.  In the case of this red glass, it came from ruby red beer bottles that Schlitz used at one point.  Laura is also turning bottoms of bottles into votive candle holders (shown below with earrings in them) and melting complete bottles to form flat bottle-shaped cheese or hor’douvre trays.

Who knew paper could be made into such lovely jewelry?  These from Flying Paper Designs are made with maps and sheet music – with some silver mixed in.

If you prefer to make your own jewelry – we can help you with that, too!  Check out our selection of blank rings that you can use as a base to create your something special.

Browse through this blog for more gift ideas.  Then hurry on over to FOUND!  If you see something you like, but it’s not listed for sale on the website and you live far away - give us a call and we’d be happy to ship it to you.  734-302-3060.