a magical place with handbag trees & giant cakes
Only at catching fireflies will you find a fall tree bearing beautiful handbags of all shades.
Not to mention a giant pink styrofoam cake touting our SEVENTH birthday! (we can’t believe it either)
We invite you to come party with us at the Berkley location on Saturday, September 15th. The WHOLE STORE will be 20% that one day only.
my biannual nyc shoe stop
It was only a matter of time before I turned my two friends, Michelle and Jenni into Infinity Shoe junkies. Now every time we’re in the NYC for the gift fair we trek down Broadway to visit the home of Miz Mooz shoes.
This time all of us left with two pairs of super cute soles.
Here are Michelle’s picks…
Here are Jenni’s picks…
And finally, my splurges…
Ahhh… farewell ’til next February when we’ll find more fantastic shoes that’ll make us smile!
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les paul – a living legend
Since my sweetie, Steve has been diligently playing and practicing the guitar for the past four years, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the famous Les Paul perform live at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York during our recent stay.
At age 92, this living legend plays two shows every Monday and signs autographs afterwards. What a gracious guy!
Here’s an entertaining segment of a wonderful PBS special about Les.
Some quick facts about this talented guy…
– Though he couldn’t read music, Paul had a magnificent ear and innate sense of structure, conceiving complete arrangements entirely in his head before he set them down track by track on disc or tape.
– Paul was unsatisfied by the electric guitars that were sold in the mid 1930s and began experimenting with a few designs of his own. Famously, he created "The Log," which was nothing more than a length of common 4" by 4" fence post with bridge, guitar neck, and pickup attached… this design was the beginning of the solid body electric guitar.
– Paul was the first musician to use multi-tracking in a recording. Amazingly, these recordings were made, not with magnetic tape, but with wax disks. Paul would record a track onto a disk, then record himself playing another part with the first. He built the multi-track recording with overlaid tracks, rather than parallel ones as he did later.
– Paul had over 40 hit singles in the 1950’s
drink in the beauty and wonder
Meet Parran Collery of Eartha Handmade Tile. We’ve been carrying her vibrant colored tiles for over five years and I still ooh and ahh over them whenever we get more in stock.
A portion of her bio reads, "Encouraged at an early age by her artist-mother, Parran’s interest in art never wavered, even as she explored the worlds of psychology, womens studies, and literature in college. After graduating from the University of Vermont in 1989, she went on to receive a Maters of Fine Art degree in sculpture from Rutgers University in 1992. Parran suffered through various bizarre jobs not at all related to her degree before finally settling down at a small art tile workshop near Doylestown, PA. There, she began to learn the tile making techniques and ceramic skills that would allow her to combine her interests in sculpture and clay. 
After four years, she left to start her own company. Moving back to her hometown in southern Maryland, Parran located her studio in a small converted garage behind a craft gallery owned by her parents. A feisty purple building with junk-shop chandeliers for lighting, the studio is an intimate and inspiring space from which these wondrous tile designs emerge. Almost always accompanied by her beloved canine companion Randall, Parran enjoys the daily routines of studio, nature and art history exploration, and creation of art objects."
Parran is inspired by nature, the cosmos and the beauty of everyday objects. Embodied in her work is the spirit of the words of environmentalist Rachel Carson, "Drink in the beauty and wonder at the meaning of everything you see."
Since I love Parran’s work, I’ve collected a number of her tiles and created little vignettes with them around my home. They look great paired together or mixed in with other works of art.
Currently Parran’s work is only available at our brick-n-mortar stores because each tile is uniquely different.
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Retailer Excellence Awards in NYC
During our recent trip to the New York International Gift Fair, Steve and I were honored to attend Gifts & Decorative ACCESSORIES Magazine Retailer Excellence Awards held at Tavern on the Green (the famous restaurant in Central Park).
Catching Fireflies was one of finalists in the category Bricks ‘n’ Clicks: Integrated Marketing. We were chosen because of how we use our website, blog and enews to promote our physical stores and vice-versa.
This is one of the mirrored hallways leading back to the event’s venue. (bring on the bling)
Our ‘super-sized’ article on showcase.
Cocktail hour took place in their gorgeous courtyard.
You’d think Edward Scissorhands paid a visit!
The actual event took place in the amazing Crystal Room. I love all the mismatched chandeliers. The dinner was delicious and Steve and I got to mingle with a lot of other interesting people in the gift industry.
After dinner, they featured two minute video clips of all the finalists and announced the winners.
When catching fireflies was announced as the winner, our table of newly made acquaintances erupted in cheers and applause and the rest of the room immediately joined in. It was an incredibly surreal moment Steve and I will always remember.
After babbling a few stuttered sentences, I enjoyed the rest of the evening on cloud nine.
Since our staff couldn’t attend this event with us, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for all that they do. Without them, I wouldn’t have the time to sit behind a computer and write the enews, blog about new goodies and dream up crazy promotions. I’m truly blessed to have such wonderful people to work with.
I’d also like to thank all of our lovely customers who enjoy perusing our enews, blog and website. I hope many of the tid-bits I share with you brighten your day.
And of course, my ever faithful and patient husband Steve. He gets to do all the fun jobs like paying bills, writing paychecks… taking photos of me so I can blog about them. He is the very important half of catching fireflies that’s usually behind the spotlight.
To celebrate our accomplishment, we ended the evening with a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park back to our hotel. It was truly a magical evening!
Gifts & Decorative ACCESSORIES – August 2007
By Pamela Brill – Gifts & Decorative ACCESSORIES Magazine
With two burgeoning boutiques already in place, how can a retailer allocate enough time and resources to an Internet presence? Catching Fireflies, with locations in Berkley and Rochester, MI, found a way to make its website a key marketing tool by obtaining new customers, keeping them informed and establishing an online clientele community.
“In the age of identity theft, spam and junk mail, many people are weary (and wary) of giving out personal information,” says April McCrumb, who owns Catching Fireflies with her husband Steve. “We reward people for taking the time to share information with us.” Last August, the store added a shopping spree contest to its home page, enabling customers to complete a raffle ticket every time they visit. This automatically signs them up to receive Catching Fireflies’ biannual newsletter as well as monthly e-news.
In March 2006, special sales events were held on the store’s blog every other day. “We encouraged customers to stay informed by signing up to receive our blog entries in their inboxes, via Feedblitz,” says McCrumb. Nearly 100 people registered, and three names were randomly selected to receive store gift cards in $20, $30 and $40 denominations. As a result, Catching Fireflies’ e-news mailing list increased 45 percent in 2006. On average, 23 people register for the e-news service each day, both online and in-store.
With a wealth of information reaching consumers on a daily basis, prioritizing is essential to maintaining customer satisfaction. “Most people are overwhelmed with the amount of information they have to process. They don’t want to be bothered with useless clutter,” notes McCrumb.
To make their mailings more appealing, the store publishes a monthly e-newsletter filled with photos and information on store happenings, product announcements and pertinent customer details. Blog entries give shoppers the lowdown on upcoming events. Thanks to these services, featured products sell at a higher rate, and customers often inquire about items they’ve seen online.
To reward loyal online customers, Catching Fireflies offers savings. Each month, the store features a “first week favorite” coupon that’s available via e-newsletter and on the home page. “We’ve recently let our customers vote for their favorite on our blog; their votes determine what next month’s coupon will be,” explains McCrumb. Coupon return rates have increased 25.4 percent from the previous year, and are expected to gain an additional 42 percent for 2007.
Catching Fireflies’ customers have not been shy about feedback. They enthusiastically comment on blog entries, creating a true community between shoppers and retailer. Such contributions add value to the e-news and help bolster readership.
Overall, the implementation of the e-news program, website and blog — as a complement to the brick-and-mortar store — accounts for the 7-year-old retailer’s success in a changing marketplace. “Not only does it open our doors to a larger consumer base, it lets our local customers peruse our products and stay informed about our special events from their home,” says McCrumb.
Click HERE for the video presentation and HERE to see photos from the Retail Excellence Awards event.
lucky little ladybug
Looking for something fun to do with your kiddies? I found this lovely little project from Kids Craft Weekly that I’d like to share with you.
Pet rock projects are among my favorite craft activities ever. If you have time to burn you can stretch this project across an entire day. For example, you can go for a long walk in search of the perfect rock, spend time cleaning it in some warm soapy water then putting it out to dry. Then there’s the painting, waiting, naming, housing – the possibilities are limitless!
You will need
• a small, smooth, oval shaped rock (or shell)
• an empty match box
• red acrylic paint
• black acrylic paint
• felt
• black marker
• brushes
• glue
You could do this activity in many different ways, depending on what resources you have available.
We did it by painting a pippi shell red and dotting it with a cotton bud. We then covered the exterior of a matchbox by gluing on a length of colored felt.
For added fanciness we lined the inside of the box and cut out a small felt ladybug to glue on the top.
more lady bug ideas…
• create little ladybug pictures using a red thumb print and black felt tip pen
• construct a beetle boat for your pet ladybug
• cook up some cupcakes and decorate them with pink icing and chocolate dots
• paint a ladybug landscape using watercolors
Did you know you can get clever crafty tid-bits like these emailed right to you? Learn how HERE!
what kind of world do you want?
John Ondrasik from Five for Fighting asked that question in a song not too long ago and soon after a website by the same name was born.
At whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com, people of all ages sent in videos answering that question and they’ve posted the top entries for you to view. Just by watching the videos, a small amount of money from the sponsor goes to select charities.
A quote from the site states, "We are all connected to one another through our actions. Each person has the ability to make a difference. This is one of the messages of the Five For Fighting video World."
Got a package full of Wishes
A Time machine, a Magic Wand
A Globe made out of Gold
No Instructions or Commandments
Laws of Gravity or
Indecisions to uphold
Printed on the box I see
A.C.M.E.’s Build-a-World-to-be
Take a chance – Grab a piece
Help me to believe it
What kind of world do you want?
Think Anything
Let’s start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now…
Should there be people or peoples
Money, Funny pedestals for Fools who never pay
Raise your Army – Choose your Steeple
Don’t be shy, the satellites can look the other way
Lose the Earthquakes – Keep the Faults
Fill the oceans without the salt
Let every Man own his own Hand
Sunlight’s on the Bridge
Sunlight’s on the Way
Tomorrow’s Calling
There’s more to this than Love
What Kind of world do you want
Think Anything
Let’s start at the start
Build a masterpiece
History Starts Now
Be careful what you wish for
Start Now
a fruity surprise!
Our neighbor dropped off a small watermelon the other day and I just got around to cutting it up and… whoa … it’s yellow!
What a delightful surprise and it even has a sweeter honey taste than the red variety. I’m going to have to seek some of these out for my next fruit kabobs.
not your grandma’s craft fair
I had the chance to attend the Detroit Urban Craft Fair this weekend and was introduced to a whole new subculture of the craft world.
This rather new event is put on by a group of crafty chicas that go by the name of Handmade Detroit. A lot of these crafters are very connected online with blogs and have individual shops on Etsy (a online store where you can sell and buy handmade goods)
I found it all quite fascinating considering 12 years ago my only options for selling handmade goods were the local farmers market and high school holiday bazaars.
There were around 50 clever crafters and here are a few of my favorite picks…
Cold Snap Bindery (oh-so-sweet journals)
Hazel and Melvin’s Room (the cutest diaper bags I’ve seen)
Kill Taupe (my favorite business name)
Sarah Minshall (quilting made cool again)
phantom limb (fun little journals to record all your Michigan adventures in)
motokitty (hip bags and such)
heart with wings (flirty necklaces)
Reware Vintage (fun album cover journals…nothing like a little Air Supply to add a some romance to your day)
Some of goodies I took home included a couple of these fabric flower bobbi pins by Hands and Notions.
As you might know, I collect quite a few adornments for my hair… the main reason being that they fancy up my 20 second hairstyle and make it look like I care a little about my locks.
These mutant-fish catnip toys made me laugh out loud.
Al Hoff from Tiny Rat clearly knows how to give kitties (and adults) a good grin.
** Piper and Tuesday approved **
If you like what you see, I recommend you check out some of the other urban craftster’s websites here.
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