The Domestic Nest Blog

Our newest product was inspired by my dad. He’s one of those hard-to-shop-for guys who has pretty much everything he needs. He always requests handmade gifts. So I got to thinking of what he would use daily and decided to make him a mousepad. I had so much fun making it that we decided to list it in our leather shop. I think this would make a swell gift for a student, a businessman, or a blogger friend. I mean, just about everyone uses a mousepad. And we all know what happens to those cheesy fabric ones over time. Wanna know something? About a year ago, my father-in-law gave us some of his old leather working tools and some scrap leather when he heard we were interested in learning how to work with leather. We scavenged through his stuff and found a really handsome piece of sturdy, thick, unfinished leather. We set it on our desk and have been using it as a mouse pad ever since. I love the way that sunlight and time have darkened the leather. It’s a little bit rustic and a whole lot of functional. As long as we condition the leather, there’s no reason why we’d ever have to buy another one of those cheap-o plastic ones again.

Going to Etsy’s Craft Night was like a dream come true for this west-coast crafter! I’ve always wondered what Etsy Headquarters (in Brooklyn) looks like. I’ve also wondered if Etsy admin are as fun and funky as they seem in their e-mails and blog posts. Well, Etsy Headquarters is as whimsical, unique and creative a place to work as one could ever imagine. And, yeah, the admin are as fun and funky as you think they are. I was so star-struck by Etsy that I just took it all in, without looking through the camera lens very much. If you’d like to see the inside of Etsy’s main offices, take a peek here. If you’d like to attend a craft night, check out Etsy’s events here. If you’d like to see an example of a craft night project, click ‘read more’ below.

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We’re SUPER excited to open up our new etsy shop!

Here’s why we’re doing it…to keep our Domestic Nest shop geared towards the domestic, and to have a space solely dedicated to our line of leather goods. When we started Domestic Nest, we knew we wanted the name and the concept to be broad. We weren’t sure what kinds of products we would offer and needed to be open to trying new things. Well, the leather has been our favorite medium so far. And the shop name ‘Domestic Nest’ really has nothing to do with leather. We’ll still sell sewn items, jewelry and home decor in the Domestic Nest shop. But if you’re looking for leather, head on over to doneLeather!

Mention our blog and get FREE shipping all summer long (through the end of August.)

We drank. We ate. We communed. And we crafted.

It’s always an honor and a joy to be surrounded by creatives. On Friday, to celebrate Etsy’s birthday, we participated in a meetup everywhere. It was a blast!

I think we should do it again sometime.

It’s ETSY’s birthday this Friday!

You can celebrate by dropping by a local craft party.

Click here to find one near you!

Look at our new stamp! We debated buying a machine-made stamp, but just thought it’d be more fun to buy the hand-carved kind.

Allison Creative helped us by creating a simple logo that would show up well on our products.

Meagan of Brown Pigeon did an AMAZING job carving our stamp and shipped it out to us super fast. She was fun to work with and seemed just as excited about our order as we were. Check out her etsy shop. And make her your first stop if you’re looking to have a hand-carved stamp made of your own design. I’m thinking it would be fun to have a custom stamp made of your house. Or your face. Or your dog. Oh, the options are endless…

Matty stamped these tags to go on handmade denim bags for our first 20  customers at Patchwork. Thanks Matty!

We have some new leather wine bottle covers in our etsy shop!

I think they’d make a swell hostess or house warming gift. The leather can be folded down and left on the bottles while you serve, to help keep drips off your table.

Do you want one of these? Comment for a chance to win!

Tell us what your next toast will be about!

Or tell us your favorite wine, favorite wine pairing, or favorite place to enjoy a glass.

Giveaway ends Tuesday, April 27th at midnight. Winner to be chosen by random.org.

Cheers!

This week has been full of intense news. Snippets of horror, death, bravery, and hope are flooding my thoughts. The internet, the blogging community in particular, is offering such a tremendous opportunity to be aware and enabling people to unite in a way never possible before now. We can witness what happens when countless contributors each give what they can to a conglomerate of money and hope that will and must make a difference to those who need it. Hopefully, our unprecedented access to information will inspire masses of people to give what they can, no matter how little. Maybe all some have to give is hope. Well, I believe every tiny bit matters.

Here’s our tiny bit. Bookmarks. Bookmarks won’t save the world, but if we all really combine what we have to give, our efforts will make a difference. We will donate to the Craft Hope for Haiti etsy shop. Those amazing ladies are posting new items around the clock so we have no idea when our item will be added. So, we have some available in our shop too.

Wanna learn more about their shop or donate your own handmade goodies? Visit their website here.

Do you sell a service? Do you want to consult top notch professionals who are donating their proceeds to Haiti relief? Sign up for the Help Haiti Blog Challenge here.

Happy Find, thanks for the tip.

Our newest product has Matt extra excited about research and development.

He selflessly volunteered to test out the newest ‘man gift’ headed for our etsy shop…

the personalized leather beer cozy.

Testing new products is sometimes fun & sometimes  tedious, depending on how many changes you have to make to your original pattern and how many mock-ups it takes to get it right.

I have a feeling by the week’s end, we’ll be able to determine how well this product wears with moderate use.