New Bloggy Home

I’ve been keeping a little secret for about a year now.

Wow, how time passes.  I have wanted to get a dot com for years but the natural one to get which is thenestingspot.com was owned by a subsidiary of a certain internet provider and to get it from them you had to pay insanely high fees.  It really seemed like a racket.  Anyway, by chance I happened to check on it last fall and saw the spot was up for renewal and thankfully we were able to stealthily nab it.

I waited until after the craziness of the holiday season to try and figure out how to make a website for it.  Web page stuff is still pretty big and new to me so it took months before I found a format I thought I could use to do what I wanted and around May I finally got it in decent shape.  And then I got busy with other stuff and it has sat there.  I’ve been hesitant to tell everyone because it never feels quite ready.   But after doing a couple other things recently I think it’s time to make the move.  So, if you follow me in a reader like Bloglovin or Feedly etc. please take a minute to change your feed to www.thenestingspot.com.  If you are already a subscriber to my blog through WordPress then I’ll move you myself later today.  Hopefully all will go well and you won’t even see a big change. If you have any problems please let me know.

If you haven’t subscribed before a couple of ways to do it are: hit the RSS button at the top right corner of the new blog.  Or sign up in the right sidebar of the blog page to get an email sending you each new post.  Or go to your own reader like Bloglovin and search for The Nesting Spot.  Both blogs will come up so make sure to follow the correct one.

The site is still pretty simple and I’ll try to change and update the look as I figure out how, but for now it is clean and has the necessities.

I am posting a tutorial on my daughter’s Halloween costume today so please be sure to pop over!  It is also part of a Halloween craft link up so you can check out the other tutorials as well.  I will also be listing my 2014 ornaments this week and will notify you on there as well.  So please jump over and take a look and follow along!

And So It Begins

Well, it’s that time of year again.  No, not back to school or the winding down of summer, it’s time to be making Christmas ornaments.  If I don’t start making them at least by mid summer there’s no way I can make them all in time so that they are ready for the rush once October and November hit.  With more homework now that my oldest is a big first grader (WHAT?!)  and with the birthdays of my youngest turning 2 at the end of this month and my oldest turning 7 in November, and with making Halloween costumes ahead of time so they can be shared on line in time, and Thanksgiving, and tons of family coming over to stay with us over the next few months, well, I just have to pretend it isn’t 100 degrees outside right now and get into the Christmas spirit.

One thing in my favor is that I am finally not pregnant, nursing, or dealing with the sleep issues of a newborn so I have high hopes that everything will get done earlier than ever this year.  I’ve gotten in a good pace these last couple weeks so I just need to keep it up so I can enjoy myself during the holidays instead of being holed up sewing.

This year I am introducing some new animals to my collection.  They are a whale, bear, dove, and sheep.  Plus my ever popular elephant and rabbit will of course be available.  I still have some of my classic shaped ones, octopi, and moons available as well.  My hope is to get them made and photographed to be listed this month.  There are some very organized people in the world who already started contacting me about ornaments back in July.  Wish I could be that on top of things.

I hope you all had a relaxing summer.  I loved not having the structure that comes with school.  We could keep the kids up a bit later if we wanted to go do something fun and not worry about waking up the next morning to be somewhere.  There were also no lunches that had to be made ahead of time and I didn’t have to wake the little kids up from nap to pick up brother from school.   It is nice having the house a bit quieter now that there is one less child in the house during the day though.

We did a bit of traveling this summer.  My husband is a youth and college minister at a church and so summer is his busiest time.  He is usually gone a good bit of it with going to camp and multiple mission trips and retreats etc.  This year though the camp had extra space and so the kids and I tagged along and stayed in a separate motel like room.  It was a bit hard at times trying to keep them happy with us all in one room.  And I didn’t want them to change the experience for the youth but we got in a groove and had a fun time.  I also got to go on a trip to West Virginia with the high schoolers which is my first trip away from the kids since my oldest was 8 months old.  We drove through Mississippi so we could leave the kids with my parents and then kept on going to West Virginia.  It is such a beautiful place.  Everyone was so friendly.  It is always so interesting to travel to different places and see how people are so similar but also so different.  And to also see if stereotypes are close to reality.  We helped one church paint their old sanctuary (with super high ceilings) that has now become a youth room.  They had told the youth 7 years ago that they’d paint those old paneled walls but haven’t had the chance to do it, so it was nice refreshing that space for them.  We also helped a tiny church in an old coal camp do a little backyard bible club for some neighborhood kids.  It was all a lot of fun and hard work.   I’ve missed getting to go on these things.  The kids had a great time too and got to see all their grandparents at some point which was nice.

So, we survived all that and now are settling into our new schedule of being in school.  And it’s to the grindstone I go with all these little ornaments.  I also just sewed two stuffed animals as baby gifts that I’ll be sharing here soon.  I already gave one away and next week will give away the other.  I was on top of things and actually got photos taken of them this time before I give them away.

*The picture at the top is a look at the inside of my little elephant ornaments.  It’s a view not usually seen by most.

 

So, did you have any adventures this summer?  Are you glad to be back in the school routine or hating it?  Have you done anything creative lately?  I’d love to hear!

New Print and New Size

I finally finished the latest print I’ve been working on!

I love having tangible ways to share love with others.  It is wonderful to be able to tell those you love most how you feel with words and hugs but if you can’t see them everyday to do that, a beautiful picture can be a great reminder of how you feel.  This would make a great Mother’s Day gift.  Or it could be hung on the wall of your nursery.  It’s been hanging up at my house for the last week so I could take pictures of it and I’m really loving it.  The colors are so happy but also soothing at the same time if that is possible.  It may have to find a permanent home here or be given to someone who needs a little extra love.  You can find the print here in my shop.

I have other big news.  I am finally offering 11″x14″ sized prints!  I can make any print in the shop that size.  Just purchase this listing and let me know which one you want.  I am very excited to finally be able to offer this.  When I got my own printer last year I got a large format one so I could sell larger prints.  I had put it off because of the extra expenses that come with offering another size, but no longer!  I have two 11″x14″ prints over my kids’ twin beds and the size is nice and substantial, especially framed with a mat.  You can see the size in the picture below.  I leave a white border on my prints to make it easier to attach it to a mat.

I plan on offering an even larger size soon, so be on the look out!  And if you just can’t wait, feel free to contact me about details.

Custom Baby Outfit Ornaments

I was approached recently about making christmas ornaments from treasured baby clothes.  I thought it was a wonderful idea and just finished the first one.  This is a little bunny made from a sweet little dress.  I hated to cut it up to use, it was so cute!

What a special way to remember those sweet baby outfits and actually see them.  We’ve kept a few of our kids cute outfits for them to look back at one day and see what they wore and how small they were but they are all sitting in a tub in our attic.  This way you actually get to display them.  This ornament along with others I’ll be making soon will be left without any wording on them and are intended to be used on the children’s little Christmas tree.  I’ll also be making a baby’s first christmas ornament from special baby clothes with words embroidered on it.  I’m looking forward to this project.  It’s nice to have something a bit different to work on especially without the stress and hectic-ness of the holiday season.

I’ll share the others as I make them.  Question: would you rather keep your baby’s clothes intact or turn it into some time of special keepsake?

P.S.  Sorry for the lack of posts, I knew it had been a couple weeks but didn’t realize it had almost been a month!  Where does the time go?  We just celebrated my daughter’s fourth birthday with a rainbow/pony party so I’ll share a couple pictures from that and also my husband and oldest son just got back from a trip to Haiti so it’s been pretty non-stop around here!

It’s Good to be 35

Well, it happened.  I turned the big three five.  And of course life feels no different than when I was 34.  But I thought I’d pass on some goodness to you guys to help celebrate.  So, for a week you can purchase all the prints in my shop for 35% off using the code below!

Picture Source

I’m going to temporarily take the ornaments and the bulk sales listings out of the shop so that people don’t try and use the code for those.  But they’ll return when this sale is over.

This has been a week of sick kiddos but it looks like they are on the mend.  I took my little one to the doctor to confirm Roseola which thankfully is no longer contagious.  Hopefully he’ll be back to himself soon.  And after listening to my daughter’s cough the Dr. thinks she might have had RSV which apparently has been going around.  So as you can guess I haven’t really left the house in a while.  But I have gotten lots of great snuggle time in, so that’s been nice.

Okay, enough about that.  Please pass the word on about the sale!  Valentine’s Day is coming fast and a sweet print might be just the thing to show someone how you feel!

P.S.  For those of you who don’t follow me on Facebook, I post sales there that aren’t  mentioned anywhere else!  So, it’s a smart idea to “like” my page.

Going to Space

Well, I was just about to sit down and write a post about how I was one of three people selected to travel to outer space!  I was so excited and was looking forward to this amazing opportunity, and then I woke up and discovered it was just a dream.  I know,  what  a bummer!  I wish I could have slept a little longer to get to experience it, but maybe next time.

In the meantime I have two new prints in the shop that I haven’t shared on here yet.  The first one I just realized is coincidently spacey.  Maybe it’s a sign!  You can find my “I Love You to the Moon and Back” print right here in my shop.

The next print is new to my shop today, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Faux Bois has been a trend for awhile now and it is sweet to stumble across someone’s love declared on the trunk of a tree (although I always feel a bit sad for the scarred tree). But if you get my print then there won’t be any tree scarring happening…ok, well, the paper is from a tree. Sorry.
But let’s get back to declaring our love! You can keep the print as is or I can personalize it for you. It’d make a great gift for the love in your life or even to hang on the wall of your wee one’s nursery.

By the way, I have 6 prints in my shop now that help you share your love with others. Come take a look. It’s not too early to be thinking of Valentine’s Day. It’ll be here before we know it!  And don’t forget there are discounts for buying more than one print!

Baby Names of 2013

Okay, it’s that time of year again.  The time when I look back at all the ornaments I made for babies born last year to see what the naming trends were.  Now, just like last year though there are a few older kids sprinkled in that I included.  But it will still generally show a peak into what the latest fads in baby names might be.

baby ornament names 2013

Click on the link above to see the full list of names.  I tried a couple different ways to get my list on here and some failed and then this link popped up for my last try…so that’s what I will stick with for now.  Maybe by next year I’ll know a better method of quickly putting my list on here and keeping it readable.

The names that were seen the most were:

4 TIMES EACH:

Henry

Jack

Jackson

Oliver

3 TIMES EACH:

Alex

Avery

Ella

Ellie

Madeline

Max

There are also several that came up twice.

Also, of course most of the names are from the United States but it is always fun to see names come from around the world as well.  This year I got my first order from Denmark!  Canada came out in full force and the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and France also represented as well.

Take a look and see if any of your favorites are on the list.  Any trends you notice?  Any new names that you see?

Take a look at again at last year’s list to see if anything has changed.

My Twine

Remember back in May when I talked about a great deal on twine?  I know that feels like forever ago, but it wasn’t until November that I FINALLY decided what color to choose.  I was torn because the main color for my logo is turquoise but they don’t have twine that color.  I had gone back and forth with some other accent colors like orange for example, but then at the last minute decided to go with the ‘baby blue’ twine.  I figured it would be in the same family as the turquoise on the tags and would be a nice compliment.  Well, I got a delightful surprise when I opened my box of giant twine that  baby blue actually means turquoise!  I’m not sure why it is called baby blue since it is dark, but I’m not going to complain.

The roll is HUGE!  It’s 2 pounds and approximately 3400 yards of twine! It’ll be fun to see how many years it takes me to get through it, or if I even ever do.  I used the twine to tie the tags on all my ornaments this year (well, starting in November) and it didn’t even make a dent in it.

I tried to be scientific and give you a size comparison to show you just how big it is.  Yes, my friends, that’s right, it’s even bigger than a dinosaur!

What, you don’t believe me?  Ok, so here is my hand holding it.  Don’t see my hand? Those little bumps on the side are my thumb and pinky peeking out from behind it.

With shipping it does cost a lot (makes it about $18) but for the amount you get it is cheaper than anything I’ve seen out there by far.  It is definitely only something you want to get though if you are wanting one color for a lot of projects.  If you want to be able to switch colors often it might be worth spending the extra money to get some smaller rolls of twine.

I’ve really enjoyed having it to use and am one step closer to getting my branding all on the same page.  Plus, it’s just so pretty to look at.  It would be so fun to have a few colors all lined up in a row.  Too bad my house has no room for that!  Maybe one day when I have my dream studio to do all my work in.

Any other twine lovers out there?  What’s your favorite thing to do with it?

Happy New Year!

Before the year gets away from me I want to wish you all a happy new year! Since it’s been a while since I’ve been able to write I hope all your holidays were really wonderful. We had family at our house for Thanksgiving and then traveled to see everyone between Christmas and New Years. It was actually the best travelling the kids have done yet. We miraculously made it to Mississippi in 9 hours and only stopped once! Of course, it’s because we left at 2:10 am Christmas morning but besides the tired factor it was awesome! With 3 kids ages 6 and under only making one stop for gas, bathroom break, diaper change, and breakfast handouts was a Christmas miracle! I’d totally do it again. Now that we’re back we’re trying to get our house back in order and find a place for the bazillion presents all the grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins gifted the kids with.

I’ve been thinking about my goals for The Nesting Spot for this year. I always look forward to the quiet around here after a busy Christmas season of making ornaments. The ornaments are still for sale by the way in case you forgot to pick one up for your little one. It’s pretty easy for that to happen.

One goal for the year is to be more consistent with making art. I am going to try really hard to make one piece of art a week. I also want to get back to blogging at least once a week as well. It was pretty impossible during November and December because of my work load but now that things have settled down it should be very doable if I make it a priority.  I’ve got a few other goals as well that I’ll share as they become relevant.  If I can actually accomplish them though it’ll be pretty exciting.

So, to kick things off I just added a new illustration in the shop. It’s called Deep in the Heart of Texas.
As I wrote in the description of it, if you start the phrase “the stars at night are big and bright” and a Texan is nearby they will most definitely finish it for you with “deep in the heart of Texas”. It’s a song that is near and dear to their hearts. In the shape of Texas I drew the stars and constellations that are seen over the night sky. I then placed a heart over the Austin area. The great thing about digital art is that it can be customized. So, if you have a favorite place in Texas I can put the heart there. Need ideas? How about your birthplace, where you met your love, or got married, or had a baby, or even where you currently live… the ideas are pretty endless. It would make a great gift for a Texas lover in your life as well!  Good thing about it is it’s pretty versatile.  It could be used for an adult space or would be darling in a little kids’ room as well.

It comes in two colors for the words as well. You can go with the whole print in navy or the words in navy and red. The print shown is a 5×7 size.

You can go here to see them in my shop. And don’t forget, if you buy more than one print at a time using one of these listings you can get a discount!

Ok, now it’s your turn, what goals do you have for 2014?  Do you make goals?  I have tended not to in the past for personal things but have enjoyed making them for my business.

Personalized Christmas Ornaments are Back Again!

I know it seems strange to be thinking of Christmas ornaments in July but I have to work on them very early to be able to make enough ahead of time to not lose my sanity, fingers, and marriage in November and December.  Just kidding on the marriage part of course, although I know my husband appreciates me working ahead on these things.

Last year the ornaments did better than ever and I want to make sure they continue that track this year as well.

I am going to continue doing my classic bunny ornaments.  The elephants will reappear as well but with actual ears this time (you can see them in the pictures above.  They will also have eyes but I was just testing the ears out)!  Here are some others I’ve been working on.  These are just my first drafts that I made a few weeks ago.  As some of you may have noticed my blogging has left something to be desired this summer so I am just now getting to show them.  I was wanting to post them long ago to get your feedback.  I have started making some but still welcome your thoughts.  The octopus and moon would have a face on one side and then the personalization on the other.  Got any other must have ideas for ornaments?  I am excited about my elephant ears although not looking forward to cutting about 500 of them out!  I will probably have some of them available in multiple colors.  The green one is supposed to be just a classic ornament shape which would make it easier to be used for all kinds of personalization uses.  I still need to tweak the shape though.

I was hoping to start getting them listed by the end of July but it may be more the middle of August.  We’ll see if I can get myself moving a little faster.

This summer has been such a whirlwind.  We went on an epic journey to North Texas, Louisiana, Florida and then Mississippi to visit family and for Ken to go to a conference.  It was a great trip but a lot to put 3 little kids through.  We were so proud of them though and it was the best they have done on a long trip yet.  After that I can’t even remember the timeline anymore but we had family visit us, Ken was gone to youth camp, we hosted some guys from Scotland, had a week of Vacation Bible School, and much more.  So far most of July has been much calmer!  William decided to finally start crawling on July 4th.  He’d been SO CLOSE for two months before but chose Independence Day to finally gain his own independence.  And that boy is now everywhere.  He’s also used his face to catch his fall a few times so the poor baby has had some nice scabs on his nose, bruises on this forehead, and a fat and bloody lip from his bottom teeth biting his top lip.  Thanks for your patience with my absence.  I have also been super busy working on my shop and adding more to it.  Please feel free to have a look.  I plan to give a discount code very soon on my facebook page so if you want it, go ahead and like my page!  If you don’t want to wait for a code I also just added bulk discounts in my shop.  You get a small discount for buying 2 prints, a bit more for buying 3 prints, and even more for buying 4!  And if I haven’t mentioned before all of the prints are available in two sizes 5 x 7 and 8 x 10.

How has your summer been so far?!  I hope it has been full of adventures as well as rest.  Go anywhere exciting?