mosey's: "it made my fridge" contest!

okay. one more thing. i've got a little thing going called:
"it made my fridge"
post five things/people who 'made my fridge' and your name goes into the hat.
the name i choose at the end of the week wins one of my teensy nests! check them out here!
here's the link for a more detailed photos: {click me}
happy hunting!
xo

p.s. got the idea after shelley of waldorf mama spied a friend on there. thanks shelley.

woolies tag.

my dear woolies tagged me. days ago, weeks ago, maybe a whole month has gone by.
o~ woolies:
i forgotten to tell you this simple fact...weighing it at number one on my list:
1. i am literally about 3 weeks behind in my life (i was born 2.5 weeks early, and have never caught up!..i needed those weeks you see.)
2. i love to hear the sound my computer makes when i throw out the trash. so i always turn it up for that last little electronic crumble.
3. i also love the sound of the radio on search, and if driving alone, will often leave it on search. a few seconds of lionel ritchie, a dash of the boss, maybe some good oldies or otis reading if i'm lucky. this maddens my beloved and he almost cannot believe he is marrying me.
4. we will be married under the big oak tree next to the great atlantic this fall.
5. i teach kindergarten as my day job and delight in almost every second of it. it's the one thing i know i do well and brings me peace beyond peace.
6. mostly my family and friends live far far away and so i have always felt like i am saying goodbye. part of the reason i am me, but there is no cure for nostalgia and missing.
and
7. i so believe in magical thinking.

brambles "feather your nest" event.

a whole day dedicated to feathering your nest! making your space a spring delight.

yes, we know. there was no way we could have said no.
and so we rummaged and gently pieced and worried over which german millinery supplies would do.
and now here they go~ off to market.
we threw in some felted birdies for good measure.
bye~bye dears!

mosey gets some bridal love!

i have been so excited by the response to my nests! here are some lovely wedding blogs who featured some mosey nests!:
the finer things
once wed
relish bridal
my wedding hero

thanks so much ladies!!!!!

a labor of love & a happy meeting!

so, the shop is coming right along. what with it being the last dash of kindergarten and a slew of custom orders~ it comes along a bit more slowly.
ashley was a super hero and painted everything! all of the parts of the shop that needed painting and that meant very tall ladders and lot of labor!
most excitingly we placed our first few wholesale orders and have been in touch with many of our consigners. it's so great talking with everyone about there work and getting to pick out our very favourites for the shop.
a great bit of luck came my way on sunday as i was working in the shop. i heard the words "well..there's jes!" it was jean {of mosey nest fame}, her aunt mariam, and daughter emily!
what a delight.
emily of ravenhill lives in faraway norway and is a lovely crafter who makes amazing matryoshka dolls which she sells at her etsy shop. she has been a great friend this past year and is my first "online" friend that i have met in person.
many hugs insued and excited chatter! i showed them around the wee shop and just loved having them all there! they just happened to be in belfast checking out the wonderful yarn and fabric shops and had thought to stop by where they thought the shop was.
what a happy coincidence!
i was sad to see them go and many more hugs were had by all.
as well as a firm handshake by aunt mariam.
all the good luck and happiness was mine that afternoon!

a bird in hand..is worth two from my backyard.

well i decided to write a bit about WHY and HOW i have come to love nests so much.
when i was little i dreampt of finding a baby bird that needed my help, that i could feed and take care of and would sleep on my pillow~ and wake me with chirps. (you know the mind of a 7-10 year old is mysterious and vast!) i was always thinking about it and on the look out for any baby birds that had fallen from the nest.
then when i got a bit older i started finding abandoned nests in the woods lined with clay and lichen. i was fascinated. fascinated to learn that the birds collected all types of goodies for the nests. i started leaving out bits of string and yarn. (think friendship bracelets and those woven pot holders!) and to my ultimate happiness i would find bits of those treasures lining the next nest.
but my most favored and cherished story is of my dear friend jean (think beatrix potter meets an avid gardener in straw sun bonnet).
when jean and i were talking of our love of nests one afternoon and she relayed this story:
while walking among her gardens and peering in to nests she was often delighted to discover~
that the birds had lined there nests with strands of her silvery hair.
just think, how gentle and delicate the beak that collects the single strands of silvery locks to line it's nest. think of the care.
this years nest are dedicated to jean and to those fanciful birds who knew without a doubt that they had found the ultimate treasure ~ a sliver or two of true silver for sprucing up the nest.
wow.

from the great atlantic to the mighty midwest.

you know i was born in st. louis. land locked except for the ozarks and the mighty Missouri river.
we moved to the east coast when i was 8.
as soon as i saw the ocean i was in love.
now, when i was a kid moving to the east coast you could find seaglass all day long. and we did. brang home ball jars full of the stuff. you could find pottery, bits of broken tea cups, plates, perfume bottles, old glass soda bottles. and even the blue glass.
over the years it all got eaten up by the steady stream of coastal tourists and probably people quit throwing there trash over board and many things stopped being put into and sold out of glass jars. what a shame. i had so loved to beach comb.
but there is a small length of beach on the coast of maine that still holds amazing sea~glass finds.
a few years back, i was in luck. my friend elizabeth took me to " the secret sea~glass beach" .. really it is. you have to sneak into it a bit- but boy is it ever full of magical treasures. so much so that i had to wonder--okay what wise guy is dumping antique bottles and china into the ocean??
but it's just an undisovered little cove. a place not many people bother to get to..and so the sea~glass has been rolling around in it's rocky undertow for years.
now we go, and we try not to be too greedy but we do take..and throw back those that are not ready yet.
this is to say that:
i sent a package to renegade handmade in chicago today. among it's contents were 2 nests with a bit of seaglass tucked among their felted eggs. it was like sending back a bit of this rocky coast..postmarked, tagged and headed west towards the river bottoms. the place where the first trickle of sea heads out and around towards something more grand.

for the space.

my first "alchemy" request on etsy.

etsy just added (well re-added) a lost feature called "alchemy". one of it's perks allows a potential buyer to request a custom item from your shop and you can then bid on the order. i was overjoyed when meghan contacted mosey handmade about the possibility of making her custom boutinneres for her wedding party. she is having a nature inspired event and funny enough she and i are having the same woodland cake!
well i set to work- and even found some teensy hemlock cones and here are the results ready to ship!
thanks meghan!

mosey on etsy's handmade wedding series

yes. we are so excited. vanessa from etsy contacted me a few weeks back. she asked me a few questions about the wedding dress i made last summer for alise and bens wedding out on peak's island. yes it was so lovely out there. everyone made their way to the island by sea. and all were in good spirits by the time they arrived-and even better boarding the ferry to come home.

by the way--i love etsy. it's been so good to me.
to read the full article click

here.