I wanted to tell you about some up and coming things at Nesting Place.  For the past few months I’ve felt a bit scattered, maybe you noticed.  I’ve been hard at work bossing around the best graphic designer in the business. She’s so good that last year her que for the ENTIRE 2010 year filled up in six, yes 6 days.

Last year I was determined to write a Window Mistreatment ebook.  I gathered ideas from all of you, made a bunch of my own mistreatments and took way too many photos.  But, I hated the process of writing a tutorial based ebook. And it’s not fun to do things you hate.  So, after much thinking I came up with a solution.

I’m starting a Window Mistreatment blog.  We need it don’t we?  Nesting Place will still be the main place where I ramble on and on but, Wm will be a place where I only ramble about window news.  Not to mention feature of bunch of you with your amazing, mind boggling mistreatments.

And, while I was at it, I figured I should go ahead and start the blog for renters. I had first thought that would be an ebook as well.  No, I’m not renting out CONtent.  It’s a place for renters to come and find ideas and encouragement~a reminder to be conTENT with what we have.

You know, I’m kind of tired of gathering all the ideas that I find inspiring over at tumblr.  Wouldn’t it be easier if there were all here at a certain spot at Nesting Place?  Yeah, that’s better.

Since Darcy was busy whipping up some pretty new logos, I figured Nesting Place could use a little pick me up too.  We are a few weeks out still, but I couldn’t stand not telling you any longer.

I’ve been surprised at how much I enjoy writing blog posts.    I’m not promising these sites will be updated daily~actually, I can promise that they will not, but, they will have topic specific content {not conTENT} that will hopefully make it easier for everyone to find the inspiration they are looking for.

I’d love for you to read more about my thought process with starting these blogs over at Stephanie’s blog today. Stephanie is a dear friend with a great blog about social marketing that you should be reading.  She’s like Seth Godin only with a skirt and Anthropologie analogies.  She asked me to write about ebooks for her Content {CONtent not conTENT} Expression series.  So far, Tsh and Annie have shared their experince publishing books in very different ways.  I don’t know a lot about ebooks but I do know my own story and I had a long post about my own ebook endevor that left me wondering if it would help anyone.

me & dad

I mentioned to Stephanie that my dad knows a ton about the future of ebooks and that I’ve learned a lot from him and she asked him to write a follow up post tomorrow.  In my post at Steph’s I talked about four people who helped guide me {whether they know it or not} in my decision process.  Two people who put up with me the most went unmentioned: my husband {the ever encouraging, ever risk taker} and Dad {the thinker, question asker, encourager}.  Nesting Place and these other blogs would not exist if it weren’t for their encouragement and input.   I’ll remind you tomorrow to go read his post.  But, for today, if you want to hear a little bit more of my ebook story {and I get nervous about sharing stuff like that?} head on over to my friend Stephanie’s blog S. Bryant Social Marketing.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

I’m not going to waste your time with me going on and on about tassels.  If you are new and are all “tassel huh?” read more about them here. They are addictive.  If you are now convinced you must learn how to make tassels, you can also get the ebook here.  If you are in desperate need of tassel toppers and fringe, they are  for sale here.

Let’s get this party started. If you have made a tassel or tassels and want to show them off, here’s your chance.

If you have an etsy shop we would LOVE to meet you!  But, instead of linking directly to your shop, link to your blog where you can be more personal and introduce us to you and your tassels and then include a link to your shop.  Thanks so much!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

It’s that time of year again.  The time when some of us are scrambling trying to figure out what to get our moms for Mother’s Day.  Well, you have 2 1/2 weeks.   Just long enough to learn how to make fabulous, beautiful, fat tassels and give one to your mom for Mother’s Day.  I wrote an entire ebook all about how to make handmade tassels to help you with the process.

If you’ve been putting it off because you are afraid it’s too hard to learn, let me assure you, it’s not hard to learn.  It’s easy and addictive and super rewarding.  And once you learn the basics, you can personalize your tassels till your heart’s content and give them as gifts.   It’s the skill that keeps on giving.

Maybe you are new here and you are wondering what a tassel is.  I wrote an entire post about it, but, it’s an enchanting, magical beautiful little thing that nobody needs but everybody wants.  Kind of like a chocolate chip cookie but you can’t eat it and it’s much prettier.  I’ve seen handmade tassels priced over $100 in specialty shops in High Point.  We aren’t talking your grandma’s curtain tie backs.  These are handmade, decorative tassels packed with personality.  I can’t prove it yet, but I think they come alive when you go to sleep.  They dance around because they are all wearing fat, full ball gowns.

It would be really fun to learn how to make tassels and then get together with your mom and sisters and daughters and all make them together. The Ultimate Tassel Guide will show you everything you need to know to make tassels, including a special section for anyone who wants to sell tassels.  It’s packed with tons of photos and super simple steps as well as lots of sources for tassel parts.  This book is 100 pages long–way more information than I could ever fit in a blog post or series of posts.

If you haven’t bought the ebook yet, it’s only $10 and you can simply click that uncentered button right above this that says “add to cart”.  You pay via paypal and then it guides you to download the ebook.  It can take a few minutes but don’t worry, so far, everyone who’s tried it has been able to download it.

For those of you tassel making maniacs out there, I thought I’d host a tassel link up party on Thursday.  That way you can show off your talents and inspire us with your ideas.  If you have a shop and sell tassels, feel free to join in.  Maybe you want to link to a tassel giveaway on your blog?

I’ve even got a few supplies to sell on ebay this week.  Tons of toppers and a little fringe.  I’ll let you know when it’s up.

Go forth and tassel!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Almost two years ago I saw a photo in a magazine of a spoon ornament that had some moss and an miniature egg on it.  I immediately got my drill and tried to drill a hole through one of my disposal chewed up spoons.  I almost started a fire but I simply couldn’t get that ding a ling hole drilled.  And besides, I had tassels to make.

Then a few weeks ago my mom and I found some beautiful silver plate spoons and I remembered that photo.  I couldn’t find it anywhere but that didn’t matter, I knew just what to do.

I asked my husband to help me.  I found a heavy duty drill bit and he used his heavy duty drill and it still smelled like we were trying to melt metal but it worked.  We had holes.

Then my mom came over and we glued all sorts of moss and bark and tiny eggs and shells and berries and stuff onto the bowl of the spoon.  We also bent most of the spoons up a little on the end so the nesting part wouldn’t look like it was going to slip off.

We’ve got iced tea spoons and soup spoons and ladles, some have monograms and stampings and some are showing beautiful wear, proving they’ve been loved before they were separated from their sets.  I wanted to think of a catchy name for them and I thought Nesting Spoons would fit nicely, you know Nesting Place, Nesting Spoons?

This is the part where I show you far too many photos.

I know what you are thinking, ok, they are pretty charming, but what’s a person supposed to do with them?

Remember tassels? Yep, same kind of thing.  Beautiful, needless, purely unnecessary, and I must have them all.

I love them layered on a lamp.

Or layered on a lamp.  Have I mentioned layered on a lamp?  One looks lovely hanging from a knob in my kitchen and on my armoire.

Here’s an idea, you can hang it on a lamp.  I’m a little partial to that one if you haven’t noticed.

If you have any random spoons laying around, you can drill a hole and add some little pretties to it and have a beautiful little conversations piece.  Or, if you don’t want to make your own, we have 10 Nesting Spoons for sale in the ebay shop–all starting at 99 cents of course.  Each Nesting Spoon is a unique silver plate spoon, not aluminum or anything cheap, each one has its own personality and is branded with the Nesting Place ribbon. They are so adorable!

***

Start doing your finger stretches because, tomorrow is Giveaway Day!  We’ve got 28 giveaways and the plan is to have a new giveaway up every hour.  However, if the past few giveaways are any indication, I may need to spread the giveaways out over a longer period of time so Nesting Place doesn’t wonky up the server.  So if you come here tomorrow and get some crazy error page, promise me you’ll continue to check back, it just means that the giveaways are so impossibly wonderful that we are knocking out the internet!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

And to get you in the mood for tassels, I thought I’d introduce you to a tasseling friend of mine, Heathahlee who blogs at Butterfly Genes. She’s got a shop full of enchanting tassels that you will love. When I made the decision to not focus on making tassels anymore, she’s the girl I trusted with all my tassel supplies. Let’s get to know Heathahlee–my questions are in brown.

Why did you start making tassels and how long have you been making them?

Last year about this time I needed a unique Christmas gift for my Mother-in-Law. After winning a tassel giveaway, I thought, “Hmm…wonder if I could do that?” After some trial and error (and error, and error, and error…HA!) I finally made one that I fell in love with. Pretty much every other female in my family got one after that.

After Christmas we found out about a mission trip to Poland our church was going to do. I immediately started thinking about what I could do to earn the money to go. We have a huge craft fair in May in our county that I decided I’d make tassels for. One hundred tassels. Mmm-hmm. One. Hundred. Tassels. And I did it! I was working on them the night before the show, but I did it! What didn’t sell I used to open my Etsy shop.

Do you have a favorite tassel ?

Oh, my goodness! That is such a hard question to answer. I can honestly say that I adore most every single one that I make. I guess my all time favorite would have to be one of the earliest that I made to sell, the Pink Toile Bunny Tassel.

You have an etsy shop at butterflygenes.etsy.com but do you sell your tassels any place else?

I have sold a ton to people at church. I’m amazed at how well they do. I’ve had unsolicited requests several times. I think it still amazes me that someone would want something I had made.

I haven’t done another show since May, but I’m planning on doing the same show next year, as well as another huge one that is held in Memphis every October at the Pink Palace Museum. I also have an open house in which I’m participating in a couple of weeks.

Do you have any advice for someone who is thinking about making a craft of any kind for fun or to sell?

The first thing I would say is BUY NESTER’S TUTORIAL! hee hee {hmm, I wonder if she meant for me to leave this part in? I am–she’s actually read the rough outline without photos and liked it!}

I guess the one piece of advice would be to get advice from seasoned crafters that make what you want to make or are already making. There are teams on Etsy for certain crafts where people can trade ideas and get advice. I am still learning all the ins and outs of Etsy but I love it! It is the place to shop this Christmas.

Also, have your work critiqued by others, both in and out of the same craft. They will have an objective eye and can give you advice you might otherwise be blind to.

Do you have a favorite Etsy shop to buy from or window shop from?

Got Crow Creations

I have been drooling over two different shops for the past few weeks. The first is Got Crow Creations www.gotcrowcreations.etsy.com

if you love birds and/or nests, you HAVE to check her shop out. Too, too cute. The Tufted Titmouse is my fave. They are my real life favorite little birds. The second is For the Love Of…www.fortheloveof.etsy.com. The Fly Away Little Bird Pendant is on my wish list. The blue glass…the brown bird…. Love. It. Any last words? Crafting is an art. It is also an expression of who you are. If you even think you might like to do something like tassels, or jewelry, or felt, whatever, start with one or two pieces and see if you like it. I knew after my first tassel that I wanted to make many, many more. To see a thing of beauty that I actually created still thrills me even after a year of making tassels. Oh, and my last thought is this. Tassels make great Christmas gifts! =) (you can delete that if you want! HA!) Why would I delete that I couldn’t agree more!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

And, you can leave a comment while you are over there to enter to win a Grateful Nest tassel–{available to purchase here}.

Have I told you yet how these nest tassels are pretty much my favorite thing I’ve ever made? Lainie from (in)…{ let’s call it (in) for short shall we?} gave me a poem called “Be Grateful” months and months ago and asked if I could somehow work it into a tassel.

Here are the words I’ve included from the poem:

Be Grateful

for good music, for dark chocolate,
for a place to call home, for warm hugs,
for quiet time, freedom to dream, for family time,
for understanding souls, for kindred spirits,
for true forgiveness, for sweet memories,
for pink bubblegum, for silliness, for red shoes,
for blue skies, for every breath,
for sunshine on your face, for a child’s laughter,
for God’s grace

–Bonnie Jensen
(c) 2009 incourage

And, the nest is surrounded by my signature ragamuffin scraps with little trinkets buried within the folds. Each tassel is unique and of course, has its own personality. Now get on over to (in) and win yourself one!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Here are a few quick and simple ideas of how to stop the embarrassment of having an unadorned lamp.

1. Embellish an Existing Tassel:

This tassel right up there is and embellished tassel. That means it’s not made from scratch. It started out as a pathetic, anorexic tassel and I nursed it back to health with the help of my glue gun, full fringe, ribbon and a neat little metal thing I had laying around. Maybe you have a tassel that’s a little skinny. All you have to do is wrap a few layers of fringe around it…Extreme Makeover: Tassel Edition.

2. Substitute with an Ornament

You can also hang a favorite ornament from that pokey out switch on your lamp. I got this bird a few Christmases ago. It has never seen the likes of a Christmas tree.

A friend sent me this cross a few weeks ago. I hung it on the lamp in the kitchen in lieu of a tassel.

3. Use Your Imagination:

I found this bag while out junking this weekend. It’s entirely too small for an actual real woman to use but it did have one good quality…

Those big furry pom poms look great wrapped around that lamp switch thing. Won’t this be charming in the winter?

Last Wednesday’s Tassel Sale was a success thanks to all you rabid tassel fans. After only 21 minutes over half the 100 tassels had sold. Once we hit the hour mark, there were only 14 tassels left. And shortly thereafter there was one solitary and lonely Baby’s First Christmas tassel left and I had to take him out of his misery.

My plan is to open up the shop again later in the summer. I’m experimenting with the best way to keep from wanting to burn down my craft room and sealing the door shut with hot glue… taking good breaks seems like the obvious choice. My plans are subject to change based on what kind of mood I’m in.

Some of you didn’t get the tassel that you wanted –I’m so sorry. I had no idea how quickly these little gems would sell out and I promise, if I ever do this sale again I’ll open later in the day to accommodate you west coasties.

Now, back to our topic:

What do you hang on your lamps? Or is your lamp a nudist?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

After reading your comments and emails and etsy convos pertaining to these homeless tassels where you preached to me my own message that it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful, I got the stash out and started poofing up the poor tassels.

And you know what, they are pretty good tassels. There were a few that had broken parts from over the years and I tossed them but for the most part they just needed a bow or a pom pom or a kiss.

I’ve got almost 100 tassels that will go on sale Wednesday at 9am eastern time in the etsy shop. Some of them aren’t quite my taste but they are all Nesting Place quality. Some of them are my taste and y’all decided that you didn’t want them at the price I was asking. Some of them you will think “these are the most adorable ones I’ve ever seen–what is wrong with this woman?”. Some of you will wish I will stop talking about tassels because you are not a tassel person. Anyway, everything will be super marked down.

Most tassels will be $8-$15 depending on the cost of materials I have in them. I will be listing them over the next few days and immediately marking them as “inactive” so that I can activate them all at the same time on Wednesday. I may list a few on Thursday or Friday if I get lazy. The tassels will only be listed for 7 days and then that’s it. They will be removed, never to be seen again. If this sale is a success, I might do it again next year.

As for the tassels that are currently listed, there are 4 left and the etsy shop will close Tuesday and my plan is to open once a quarter for regular, top of the line, Nesterized, irresistible tassel sales.

This is so exciting for me. I keep picturing that scene from Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer where all the toys from Misfit Island get delivered to the children on Christmas Eve.

These darling tassels will finally have a home! I hope.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

They call themselves: Those Creative Women and I’m thrilled to be among them. You’ve got Lauren , who lots of us in these decorating blog circles adore, she is a new on the loose designer and she’ll be doing custom gift wrapping with fellow designer, Blair. Then, there is Melody, a spunky jewelry designer and also Kate, she’s the brains behind anything graphically designed for Creative Women website. Cindy the owner of Imagery Limited designs all sorts of things stained glass. Lastly, we have our host, Kendra, founder of My First Kitchen. Kendra is busy gracing Greensboro with her cooking skills through the classes that she offers and what she calls catering with a twist.

I’ll be grabbing the cash out of your hot little hand in exchange for my tassels, garlands and a few other beautiful items that you don’t need but will really want. Come to Greensboro, North Carolina on Saturday, November 8th and hang out with me, my mom and my sister {yes, I make them come with me everywhere} and those other creative women, see some pretty stuff, buy some Christmas gifts and sample some heavenly food. Find out more about the show at our website, Those Creative Women.com.

And as your reward for reading this big, long, fat, shameless advertisement I’ll reward you with this tidbit of information: the nest post is gonna be a giveaway. And this time, it’s not gonna be a tassel.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

I dress my lamps with tassels like this.And like this.
Just hang that ribbon on that switch. If the tassel hangs too low, adjust the ribbon.
I also use tassels to hold back a drape that is looking sad.
Tie a tassel on a nekkid looking plump candlestick,
and loop a tassel over any knob.
Hang tassels on other decorations.
Have a tassel you love? Use one of those fancy ornament holders to show it off.
Put a race car tassel on the frame holding the photo of a big racing fan.
Dress up your hefty armoire with a hefty tassel.
Hang a tassel over a mirror
or set a tassel on a display shelf.

Hang a tassel up in in your boy’s room on a shelf with pegs.

This is not the tassel that is normally there. I let them pick out their own topper and ribbon and baubles for me to make them their own tassel. Can I tell you that their tassel looks like something a 1970′s clown from Vegas would want? It has florescent blue ribbon gaudy red ribbon and, the craziest fringe available to woman kind. They love it. I think my camera might break if I try to photograph it.

author’s other note:

For your viewing pleasure I thought I would show you what the rest of the dresser looks like.

author’s last note:

Use a double tassel on a rope to hold back your panels.

Why not hang a tassel on a cloche.
You can hang one on a medicine cabinet.Hang a pair of tassels on the corner of a chair and let them drape over the front onto the pillows.
If you have hardware on your kitchen cabinets, that’s a great place for a rooster tassel.
How about hanging a tassel on your door knob? A surprising place to show off a tassel is on the inside knob of your front door.

Dear Builders, we the women do not want bright yellowy fake brassy gold door knobs. There is no way you will convince us that it costs more for a factory to make these exact door knobs in black.

Place a tassel on the back of a chair that angles away from a wall.Decorate anything you love with a tassel.Well, not anything.
Do not put a tassel here. There is no classying up a john.Also, do not do this with your tassel, again, tassels do not dress up Johns.
This is also not a good use of a tassel.

Tassels come in all shapes and sizes. Tiny tassels can fit in the palm of your hand and big tassels are huge and heavy and expensive and worth every penny.

Tassels, the prettiest things you’ll never need.

If you can read the questions in my right sidebar I’m taking a vote on how many tassels you have. If you are in desperate need of more tassels visit my shop.

Tell me, what have I left out, where do you hang your tassels?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?