Summer Schedule Mailing Sent Today

Western New Yorkers, be looking for the post card mailing below. Mailed this morning, the notice provides directions to the Hamburg Garden Walk this weekend and lists our upcoming open houses.

Feather Your Nest
&
www.fyncollection.com
Summer Show Schedule
Hamburg Garden Walk and Vendor Sale
Memorial Park in the Village of Hamburg
Lake (RT-75S) and Union Streets. Take Exit 57 off NYS Thruway 90
Saturday, July 12th and Sunday, July 13th
10 am to 4 pm both days
Open Houses
51 Hancock Terrace, Snyder off Harlem
Wine and Shopping
Thursday, July 17 from 4 to 8
Mimosas and Shopping
Saturday, July 19 from 10 am to 3 pm
Friends Welcome
Email info@fyncollection.com or 609-3014

Open House/Trunk Show Scheduled

Liz and I spoke today and decided to host an open house/trunk show at Liz's house. Date pending. Like our other trunk shows, we host what is essentially an open house and roll out new lines while showing many of our favorites, including Dogeared jewelry and Silver Seasons Jewelry designed by Michael Michaud. We mail notices to members of our mailing list who reside in the Western new York area. If you would like to join our mailing list, just send us an email with your address and we will add you to the list. Our upcoming trunk show will introduce Jenny Gaynor Jewelry, J & I Jewelry,

Wisteria Earrings

These pretty wisteria earrings designed by Michael Michaud for Silver Seasons Jewelry match the necklace pictured in the blog below.

Gift Idea For A Desperate Housewives Fan

Need to buy a gift for someone who loves Desperate Housewives? We have two especially great pieces, perfect for the fan of Wisteria Lane. Michael Michaud of Silver Seasons Jewelry has created mini-wisteria bud replicas in bronze and pink fresh water pearls and offers them in both earrings and a necklace on a bronze chain. Though our pictures are lovely, these pieces must be seen to be fully appreciated! Both delicate and feminine, they appeal to the lady who likes a bit of soft color and pastels.
Sheila Miller

Re-design

After nearly a year, Liz and I have grown tired of our website's look. We have grown more confident and accomplished as online boutique owners and we think that our website should reflect that. Jon Pohlman of Big Dawg Communications has been busy re-designing our website to give it a more professional look. Hopefully, our regular and loyal customers won't find the newly designed site too commercial. So many customers loved the warm and natural feel of the current design. We think that we have maintained that look with a more professional finish. We plan to roll out the new design at the end of the week. Look for it and please let us know what you think.
Sheila Miller

Dogeared Healing Gem Necklace

Abby wearing her Dogeared Jewelry Healing Gem Necklace

Abby's Birthday Gifts

Well, today my baby turned 19. She's out with friends for the evening and so we plan on a family celebration on Sunday evening. She said that she would like to wait until then to receive her gifts from us. Two of her gifts are from www.fyncollection.com., which I plan to share with the entire blogosphere now, before she even receives them.

Our Dogeared Jewelry carries beautiful pieces that span the ages, and include items perfect for my 19 year old. Abby has several pieces, including healing gems, that hang delicately from a chain and almost float on the neck, and one of our newer pieces, a shine necklace, with "believe" engraved on a sterling silver disk hanging from a silver chain. We currently have the "peace" shine necklace online. For her birthday, I have wrapped our silver peace sign bracelet and our silver pearl drop earrings. I think that she will like them, as they suit her her clean, simple and casual style and yet the earrings will work equally well with dressier outfits. I'll update you on what she thinks of her Dogeared Jewelry gifts, after she opens them on Sunday. If your shopping for a young college age woman, check out all our Dogeared Jewelry at www.fyncollection.com.

Eastern Hills Mall Bridal Fair Attendees

We just received a comprehensive mailing list from the management of Eastern Hills Mall with the names and addresses of all the registered brides at the Bridal Fair in April 2008. Fortunately, the list includes email addresses...many email addresses...and so these brides to be will hear from as soon as we have all the addresses entered. We figured that we met and talked to under 100 brides and the list of event registrants exceeds 250. We want everyone in attendance to know about our Potting Shed Creations Wedding Sprinkles, our stunning nature inspired jewelry form Silver Seasons Jewelry by Michael Michaud, (his Jasmine earrings pictured at top left), and our popular wedding jewelry from Dogeared Jewelry. We also plan to send a discount code/coupon for online shopping for a limited period , of course. Expect to hear from us soon.
Sheila Miller

Barnstorm Birdhouses

Maybe because it is Memorial Day weekend, my thoughts are on the outdoors, particularly my garden, and selecting the perfect birdhouse for my yard. Naturally, I plan to pick one of our Barnstorm Birdhouses, called Birdbarns by the company that hand makes them. They are made from reclaimed barnwood and bear the rustic look of barns and outbuildings. One of our designs is a colorful reproduction of one such outbuilding, a birdhouse that looks like an out house, the birdie loo. I like it and the Mother-in-law camper design, but they don't ring true for us because we are not "camper" outdoorsy, though they are perfect for the more rugged among us. I just bought a butterfly bush and may opt for our butterfly house with the shiney blue gemstone knob. We carry a black metal stake that make installation anywhere in your yard very easy. The stake also works with these other designs: Cabbagetown, Picket Fence and Liz's favorite, Grayton Beach. A dear friend bought the Melbourn Cabana Beach Hut for her friend with whom she vacationed in the BVI's. For our yard, I think that I will place a Butterfly House next to my butterfly bush and hang my favorite, Lock and Key, from the maple tree in our backyard.

About www.fyncollection.com

A little background on our business:
In January 2006, we launched Feather Your Nest with a collection of artisan jewelry and hand made items for home and garden at home-based trunk shows and booths at Rochester's Gardenscape, Plantasia, the Syracuse Junior League Holiday Shoppes, the Buffalo Seminary Holiday Bazaar, the Buffalo Home and Garden Show and at charitable benefits for the Roswell Park Alliance, Becca's Closet, the Hospice Foundation of Western NY and Essential Friends. We continue to show at many of these events and invite you to check our Events page for our current schedule.

With products from independent designers and artists, we feature well-made and unusual goods, many handmade from woman-based cottage industries. We shop hard so that our customers do not have to, and are a resource for products that have stories, perfect for personal enjoyment and gift giving. Some of our designers include Michael Michaud for Silver Seasons and Table Art, Art By Any Means, Judy Vilmain, Rebecca McNerney, Philippa Roberts, Amy Bruml, Sterling Jules and Guy Wolff Pottery. We also carry the contemporary jewelry designs by Dogeared, popular among many celebrities and as seen on Grey's Anatomy. We are always looking for new designers and merchandise to keep things fresh and exciting. Artists and designers may forward inquiries and photographs of artwork to info@fyncollection.com.

The response to our nature inspired and beautifully presented unique collection has been overwhelmingly positive. Friends have encouraged us to open a boutique and customers at our show exhibits often ask, "Where are you??" A brick and mortar store in our suburban hometown of Amherst, NY would not reach our growing following outside the Buffalo area. We decided a web store would be our next step. The result is www.fyncollection.com by Feather Your Nest. We are often complimented at events for our creative and attractive displays and this commitment to beautiful presentation continues online, with nature inspired photographs of our jewelry by Lizzi Duggan, duggan13@newpaltz.edu. Our hope to convey an atmosphere of a small unique neighborhood boutique online reaches beyond our "look" to our greater commitment to customer service. All jewelry is shipped in complimentary gift boxes and ground shipping is free. We understand that shopping online for artisan jewelry can be especially difficult because you cannot personally inspect and touch pieces before making an investment. For this reason, jewelry return shipments are free..please read Policies

Starfish from Silver Seasons Jewelry by Michael Michaud

Picture of our Starfish Necklace, my favorite from Silver Seasons Jewelry by Michael Michaud. See a description of Michael Michaud's work in my last post.
Sheila Miller

Silver Seasons Jewelry By Michael Michaud

Our most popular line of jewelry is Silver Seasons Jewelry designed by Michael Michaud. The designer’s love of nature is expressed in each of his designs, which involve the soft wax method to create molds from natural elements. His pieces are then cast in metal to which he adds hand-formed glass, fresh water pearls, gems and sea sponge, creating life-like reproductions to wear.

Though many of his pieces are available in sterling silver and gold, we carry his work in bronze. We will of course special order pieces in the other metals, but to us, most pieces are more true to nature in his hand-patinaed bronze, not exactly gold nor green, but rich and unusual. Occasionally, Michael will further enhance the bronze in gold or pink gold finishes, as he does respectively in our starfish and sand dollar necklaces.

Of our current inventory of 47 pieces of Silver Seasons Jewelry by Michael Michaud, the pea pod necklace is the most popular sentimental favorite. Aside from its authentic look, mothers and grandmothers order this necklace with a “pea” pearl for each child or grandchild. The pea pod is a symbol of new life. My favorites are the Irish Thorn Twig necklace, the Pussy Willow necklace (that we will add to our site shortly) and the Starfish necklace, that I wear often. Liz likes her simple acorn necklace, with its golden brown pearl nut.

We marvel at Michael Michaud’s creativity and ingenuity, when creating Silver Seasons Jewelry. With each sale, we include a card from Silver Seasons describing the fruit, leaf, bark or flower each piece represents along with a sage green velveteen drawstring bag for storage. We urge you to check out our Silver Seasons Jewelry Collection and see Michael Michaud’s creative genius for yourself.

Sheila Miller

WNY PIC BANK

If you want a way to store and share your pictures, check out http://wnypicbank.com. Created by our web guy, Jon Pohlman, of Big Dawg Communications, the site makes it possible to establish an expandable photo album that you can share with the world or with a chosen few or that you can keep private. We hope to eventually post pictures on the site and will let you know when we do.

It's a fun site...check it out.

Sheila Miller

Jewelry Storage

Well it's time to spring clean and in our house that includes purging and organizing all drawers. In my last blog, I discussed the proper way to clean jewelry, particularly sterling silver jewelry. While cleaning out my drawers, I felt inspired to return to this topic because of the sorry state of my jewelry drawer.

Let me first reassure you that all fyncollection jewelry is properly and lovingly maintained and stored by Liz. Thank Heavens! My jewelry drawer is a study in how not to store jewelry...but not for long. Once done with this blog entry, I am going to return to my tidy up, setting my jewelry in properly packaged and stored order.

Earrings, bracelets, necklaces, etc. should not be tossed together in a drawer to rub and bump up against each other. Some metals, gems and stones are softer and more easily scratched than others and chains become tangled, entangled and unwearable after sliding around with other chains and jewelry. Who hasn't had to sit with straight pins loosening knots in chains, slowly unraveling the piece into a wearable state? Some like to organize their jewelry on jewelry stands on top of their dresser, to make selecting pieces and getting dressed more convenient and faster. Sterling silver does not fare well stored in this manner because of the oxidation discussed in the last blog entry.

Sealable plastic jewelry bags make great homes for jewelry, but each piece should be stored alone. These bags are sold at craft supply stores like Michaels, including long narrow bags for delicate necklace chains. Seal the bag with the clasp on the outside of the bag and the chain hanging lengthwise into the bag. Plastic jewelry bags are great for storing pairs of earrings, pins, bracelets, necklaces and rings and that is exactly how Liz stores our jewelry. Inexpensive insertable fittings for dresser drawers can provide compartmentalized storage for your bagged jewelry, sorted by designer, like we do or by style, metal, gem, stone, casual or dressy...whatever grouping suits your wardrobe management style. If drawer space does not allow this type of storage, jewelry boxes are useful or small plastic storage units with drawers also work on top of a dresser. In fact, my daughter Abby and I were just chatting about the way she stores her jewelry at school and she asked for jewelry stands. However, as Abby wears silver, we plan to buy her plenty of small sealable plastic bags and a small drawered plastic storage box for the top of her dresser in her dorm at Holy Cross.

Well, I'm back to my messy drawers, specifically my jumbled jewelry drawer, armed with tiny sealable plastic bags. Like all organizing projects, this is a time consuming job with a payoff that will extend the life of my jewelry, while making it easier to locate and enjoy. Hope you found this informative.

Sheila Miller

Silver Jewelry Care and Cleaning

Tarnish is a product of oxidation, caused by the interaction of silver with certain elements such as oxygen or sulfur, as well as with certain acids. Prolonged storage can also cause silver jewelry to tarnish and contact with rubber bands may also cause tarnish because the sulfur in rubber. Taking a medication that changes the acidity of your skin may also cause silver jewelry to tarnish. Generally, silver jewelry does not tarnish, when worn on a regular basis.

To keep your silver tarnish-free, frequently clean it in mild dishwashing liquid (not strong detergent) diluted in water and thoroughly dry it after exposure to water. We strongly recommend that you store your silver jewelry in a plastic bag that you can close to protect it from oxidation, with anti-tarnish paper, if you have it.

To remove tarnish or oxidation film from silver you can use fresh, uncontaminated commercial silver dip liquid or a polishing cloth. DO NOT USE TOOTHPASTE! Make sure there are no loose gemsstones or parts and be careful not to expose gemstones in silver jewelry to harsh silver cleaners. Cleaners may harm certain kinds of gemstones. Please read the cleaning product's instructions before using. Thoroughly rinse jewelry after cleaning, and dry with a soft cloth until it is completely dry.

Weddings

Liz and I participated in a bridal show two weeks ago, not knowing what to expect. We met many lovely brides to be, both young and old, some with only months until their wedding day, but most with one to two years to go. So different from when I was married twenty seven years back. Rob and I were married six months after our engagement and honestly I think that I would have been sick of the whole thing if we had taken more time to plan it, though we probably could have used a little more time.

Well, I wore pearls on my wedding day and in that regard things have not changed in that pearls are still popular with brides. We have pearls made just for us and, at the bridal show, we featured pretty ivory and pink pearls spaced on transparent line so the pearls float delicately on the neck. Our grey coin pearls strung in the same way also received a lot of positive attention. Many brides are considering our Dogeared Jewelry solitaire pearls and drop earrings and a few are thinking of our Dogeared healing gems that come in an array of gemstones and colors that coordinate beautifully with today's bridesmaid fashions. The Irish brides loved hearing about a customer from Chicago who ordered six Dogeared Jewelry silver clover necklaces for her bridesmaids. Several are considering this idea as well and loved the idea of our lucky clover seed tins for favors instead of our traditional Wedding Sprinkles from Potting Shed Creations that appear on our Wedding page.

One idea that we are so excited to share with summer brides are the spectacular pearl necklaces with either starfish or sand dollar pendants designed by Michael Michaud for Silver Seasons Jewelry. Our summery necklaces set the breezy beach theme, especially when coupled with our organza favor bags filled with pewter shell charms from Vilmain Pewter.

No bridezillas at this bridal fair and Liz and I look forward to working with many of the lovely young ladies that we met that day. We enjoyed sharing our ideas and loved the unique ideas and joyous energy shared by the excited and happy brides.

Sheila

Photography

In my last blog entry, I mentioned how our pictures and descriptions form the basis for an online customer's expectations and his/her decision to purchase jewelry from our site, www.fyncollection.com. From the start, we understood the importance of graphics and photography in creating an image that reflects the quality, service, artistry and professionalism of our company. We also understood that we did not have much time to impress a browser visiting our site. Our pictures had to accurately depict each piece of jewelry but needed to reflect how interesting and artistic each piece was...without distracting.

Well, as hard as Liz tried, she was not up for the task and she was far more able than I was. What a stroke of good fortune for us that we met Lizzi Duggan last year, just as we were launching our site. Lizzi, a recent graduate of SUNY New Paltz, is a talented young photographer and artist herself. She "got" what we were looking for and has delighted and suprised us with her beautiful photography. View her work at www.fyncollection.com. and see for yourself how Lizzi captures nature's inspiration in her shots of Silver Seasons Jewelry by Michael Michaud. Some of her best and most recent work showcases the creative reuse of mechanical findings in our jewelry from Wanna Buy A Watch?, a Philadelphia company led by an artist who originally incorporated vintage watch pieces in her jewelry. Lizzi's photography helps tell the stories of our artisans and their jewelry, which are so important to collector's of artisan jewelry.

We would love to hear what you think of our pictures. Do you have a favorite? Let us know.

Sheila

Free Ground Shipping On Purchases and Returns

At www.fyncollection.com, we offer free ground shipping without a minimum. I know of no other site that offers this nor of any that also offers free return ground shipping. Certainly Liz and I made this decision to distinguish ourselves and our rather new web store from all others. Added services can mean alot to shoppers, especially those accustomed to boutique shopping for better merchandise. However, the driving reason behind offering this service was our own jewelry buying experience: photos are not enough. Selecting and ordering a piece of jewelry from our descriptions and pictures are the beginning. Only after the customer actually receives the piece, feels it and tries it on is the shopping process complete. If for any reason, it does not meet the customer's expectations (because expectations are all a customer has based on our photos and descriptions), then we pay for ground shipping on the return. I guess you could say that Liz and I manage according to the Golden Rule and treat our customers they way we like to be treated.
Sheila

More on Input

After writing the other day on the value of input from our visitors, Liz and I were struck by an email we received recently from a customer who was confused by our Sale Page, specifically posted sale prices. It happened that Liz, our web manager and I were very aware of the problem and were discussing proper entry of prices for sale merchandise, when we received this email. We responded immediately advising the potential customer that we were working on clarifications, offered to help her over the phone and thought that everything would be corrected rather soon. We were very thankful to this browser...not because she pointed out that we had a problem, we knew that. Though if we hadn't, we would have been even more thankful. Of course we really appreciated the helpful nature of her message. What struck us though was that she sent the message at all. We were touched by her interest. Most shoppers would have navigated away to one of the many other online stores on the world wide web. Again, thanks to her and thanks to you for visiting our blog.

Blog Launch

Liz and I are thrilled that at long last our blog is up and running! This is such a wonderful way to communicate because, as an online store, we miss the interaction with customers. Visitors to our site are faceless nameless secret shoppers. Though we love the broad reach of an online store, we are service oriented friendly boutiquers who would like to get to know you! Please share your thoughts and send input on your http://www.fyncollection.com/ shopping experience. Your comments will help us improve our site and most importantly our service to you.

I received great feed back on Saturday night, when my husband and I were out with two other couples. I was wearing my bronze & gold Starfish pendant on a seed pearl necklace designed by Michael Michaud for Silver Seasons Jewelry. My fashionista friend (seriously stylish and classy) admired my necklace and wants two; one for herself and one for her daughter, who works for a major design house in NYC. This was encouraging endorsement because Liz and I love Michael Michaud's Silver Seasons Jewelry and carry over 40 pieces. I must say though that it was also personally flattering because the starfish is my favorite from Michael Michaud and Silver Seasons Jewelry and one of the pieces that I actually bought for myself. FYI, other favorites from Michael Michaud's Silver Seasons Jewelry include the Irish Thorn twig necklace, the pussywillow necklace (coming soon to our site) and the Morello Cherry necklace and earrings. Please let us know your favorites from Michael Michaud's Silver Seasons Jewelry.

Mother's Day:
As Mother's Day approaches, it seems like a good time to point out our sentimental gift favorite for mom: the pea pod necklace designed by Michael Michaud for Silver Seasons Jewelry. As in all his designs, Michael Michaud reproduces this natural element by making a mold of the pea pod and then casting it in bronze. It is finished with pearl "peas", one for each child or grandchild. The striking result is a symbol of motherhood, with the peas held close within the mother's pod. Keeping with the pod theme, though we raise our peas to physically leave the pod, we mothers hold our children, even our adult children, close in our hearts, always, and so the pea pod is a symbol of what is in a mother's heart. The bronze pea pod comes on a 16 inch snake chain in a green velveteen drawstring bag for storage all packed in a gift box. Quantities are limited, so order soon!

Well, thanks for visiting and please share your thoughts.

Sheila Miller
Co-owner