Junky fall mantel with... barbed wire?!?

While most of you would no doubt drool over priceless antiques, a chunk of barbed wire had me salivating during a recent junkin' trip.

Surprised?!? :)

Especially with fancy schmancy camera angles and against the right backdrop.. totally drool worthy material here.

Add a little rope, moss, leaves off the lawn and a scrumptious Jeanne Oliver burlap sack, and you have yourself a funky little fall wreath!

Nothing fancy here. Just a few old trinkets that offer the illusion like they were all discovered in an old quaint barn, long forgotten amongst the cobwebs and dust.

I didn't have any fall decor on hand, so I shopped the garage, yard and kitchen counter. Glad I bought that squash and never bothered to actually EAT it. :)

Nature knows no precision of layout or symmetry, so the leaves quell and fall wherever the wind may have blown them. Nor are they neatly book pressed. These are the real deal and the price was wonderful.

A rusty tool box with an 1849 light fixture shell provided some nice height and interest. I like how the round interacted with the rectangle.

And the light cover gave me the perfect opportunity to conjure up a pretend nest, seemingly vacated long ago before the frigid sharp winds kicked up.

Know what song kept running through my mind while I did this one up? 

"The north wind doth blow

And we shall have snow

And what will the  robin do then, 

Poor thing...

He'll sit in the barn

To keep himself warm

And hide his head under his wing

Poor thing." 

My mom use to sing that to me as a youngin'. :)

This kind of decor makes me think of my dad. I just close my eyes and vision and smell the old barns on our property that would creak and groan from the high winds of fall and winter. The sharp coldness would desperately try and get in however failed due to the hay insulating the buildings right to the ceiling. 

The barn kittens were nearly as toasty warm as a real crackling fire.

I didn't expect all these memories to hit today. I must be in a sentimental mood.

So this fits right in. Here's a little video slideshow I did with family farm memories. It was part of an entry in a contest on a tablescape feature in which I used the family farm sign. It was right after my mom passed away so it paid tribute to her at the time. 

"Remember When - Alan Jackson"

While I can't visit the farm any longer,  I can most certainly recreate it... my way. Right Mom and Dad?

Related posts:

Creating an old world stone fireplace

Creating an old gate for the (Christmas) fireplace mantel

A tablescape of memories (table made from our family farm sign) and video

Why I decorate like I do (farm inspired)

31 Days Blog to Biz / day 31 - Share YOUR story

All 31 Day posts to date are HERE.

When I first took up the 31 Days Blog to Biz challenge, I admit I was nervous. I was wondering how on earth I could encourage you when it was really me that needed most of the work.

I soon found blogging about how to do it emphasized full volume where I fell short myself. And many of the guest topics nearly drove me over the brink with inspiration!

I know one thing for certain. Whenever I feel that lull hit again where I don't really know what to do with myself blog wise, I'm going to reread these posts.

What I still need to do:

get a passport

organize my stock

finish the photo studio

gut the house / fill up the restaurant with things to sell

finish up my new idea for selling things

redo my blog

submitting to another magazine

3 reviews for sponsors

But what I did accomplish:

bought new needed camera toys

figured out how to work in manual (YES!!)

accomplished a new junk project

started an ebook

have a potential book deal on the go

If nothing else, thinking of this topic for 31 days straight really did place my focus on where it needed to be. And from hereon out, I hope to stay focused and be more productive with my time and efforts.

So... what did this series do for you?

What changes have you made?
Or, how have you been earning income blog wise all along?


Link your own story up or feel free to comment!

Please help inspire those that still need help and 

31 Days Blog to Biz / day 30 - Nester tells all

SNS is still going strong until Sunday 11 pm Pacific. 

Click HERE for the party.

Once upon a time, one of the very first blogs I landed on was Nesting Place. 

And I remember my land very well. I was immediately drawn to Nester's decorating. Clean lines, beautiful things, but above all, she showed the messy side of life and claimed it didn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

Meet the Nester

I was sold. Her blog became my major go to.  I loved her humorous take on delivery, how she delt with biz, features, held giveaway events, and her link parties were ALWAYS ALWAYS a major event.  I learned a whole lot from Nesting Place besides decorating.

Here we are today, 2 years later and Nester is still showing us the way. Not only is her blog a massive success, she's able to earn a full time income while being home with her family, doing the very thing she loves to do... decorating.

But today, she's going to do more than that. She's going to talk about how she earns a living on her blog.

So I bring to you today, Nester from Nesting Place!

(insert wild applause here)

You were the first blog I ever came across. And you lured me right in, hook, line and sinker! What do you think your secret recipe is?

I think for most people, the secret recipe is being themselves.  So cliche, right?  But for me, that self is a dorky mom who loves beautiful things but doesn't take herself too seriously.  When I started Nesting Place, I braced myself for being laughed off the internet, I was shocked that people not only didn't laugh at my stuff {like window mistreatments} but actually made their own and emailed me the photos.  I still kind of can't believe it even now, it amazes me that I'm not the only person who really thinks that it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.  Imperfectionists, UNITE!

master bedroom

How long were you blogging for before you discovered blogging could be your career?

I started Nesting Place in October 2007. I was blogging one year before I had any idea of stats, ads, or that people could really make money doing something as fun as blogging.  I went to the very first teeny tiny Blissdom conference in Nashville. I couldn't have afforded to go if they hadn't invited me to speak.  And there, I realized that not only were these women bringing in income, but Nesting Place was already built up enough where all I needed to do was implement advertising to start making some income.  

I came home in shock.  My husband is in the car industry and at the time the bottom had just fallen out of the economy.  We had no idea how we were going to really get through the winter.  Two days after I came home, I stopped homeschooling and we encrolled our boys in school.  That was October 2008.  I asked my husband to give me to the end of the school year, if I could make it a business, I'd continue to devote precious time to blogging, if not, I wasn't going to spend as much time at Nesting Place.  The Lord provided through Nesting Place that winter and both my husband and I are still shocked that people can bring in income from something like a ding a ling, dorky blog!

What avenues bring you income? 

I think it's smart to diversify where your income comes from when you are a blogger.  To me, earning income from blogging is like the stock market~one day it's great, the next day, it could crash.  There are a variety of ways I currently bring in income.

1. My Tassel Ebook

Two years ago I wrote an ebook about how to make decorative tassels.  It brought in a good chunk of income when it was launched and I still sell a few every month.  I forget to talk about it much and I don't even have a button for it on my blog {bad blogger} but, every now and then I mention it and see a little rush in sales.  I'm a big believer in ebooks and the best thing is, you write it, and then it's finished and you don't have to think about it but, it can still make money for you.

2. My friend's ebooks.

I'm an affiliate for a few ebooks but two in particular do really well for me.  Mandie from Altar'd had two ebooks about how to paint furniture and I also promote a slipcover ebook from Pink and Polka Dot.  I encouraged both of these brilliant women to write their books~I'm sure they would have done it without me, but, I like to think I had a little to do with it.  They are a great match for the Nesting Place audience because they are both books that I actually use and love.  I have furniture that I've had Mandie virtually hold my hand and coach me through painting, and I had The Slipcover Whisperer come to my house and teach 10 of us how to slipcover {using my own sofa of course!}.

3. Private ads

These are the ads near and dear to my heart.  They are the cottage industry and etsy shop ads on the sidebar.  I have a sweet spot for those shops and we've had a waiting list for the sidebar ads for months and months.  My goal with private ads is a win win win.  A win for the shop owner because lots of eyes will see their ad, a win for me because, yippie, it's an advertiser, but mostly, I like it to be a win for the reader.  If I don't feel like I'm doing the reader a favor by introducing a shop to them, then I don't accept a shop as an advertiser.  I'm very open about how I price the ads and the information I give, feel free to use my page as a guide if you are just starting out accepting advertisers.

4. Corporate Sponsor

It's no secret that DaySpring and Nesting Place have a sweet little relationship.  I started out as an affiliate with DaySpring--meaning, I get a direct percentage of the sales that are made from the ads/mentions/antics at Nesting Place.  After that did well for a few months, I contacted them and asked if they would consider buying ad space.  It's worked well for both parties for a few years now because it's such a good match with the Nesting Place community and it's a company that really easy to get behind and believe in, plus, they make some really cute things so that doesn't hurt either!  

5. Third Party Ad Agency Things That I Don't Know What To Call Them

Oftentimes an ad agency will contact me to see if I want to do a sponsored post or giveaway for a company.  90% of the time I say no.  But every now and then it's something that's a perfect match with Nesting Place and the community so then I say yes.  For example, twice last year I had a Pier 1 sponsored post and giveaway~that was through what I call a third party agency because I didn't work directly with Pier 1 but the agency contacts bloggers.

6. Speaking at Conferences

Ok, so really you don't make much money here for the amount of time it requires.  Sometimes you speak in exchange for your hotel and conference pass~so if it's a conference you really want to attend, this can save you some money. I don't love to speak so I don't pursue it at all but, I think if you loved speaking, blogging is a natural "in" that could lead to some fun speaking engagements that could lead to bigger speaking engagements.

7. Ad Network

I've been with Haven Home Media {recently bought out by Reader's Digest} for a year now.  I'm happy with them.  The ad network accounts for over half my monthly income which is nice, and scary.  I like HHM because their purchased ads are all home related--Lowes, Home Depot stuff like that.  They fill in unsold ad space with google ads so you always find yourself dreaming about the day when every ad space actually gets sold.

You wrote a successful ebook on your infamous tassels. What advice would you give someone wanting to do the same?

Ebook writing is so different than blog writing.  You have to be like, organized and junk to write an ebook.  I'm good at blogging because I don't have to be organized for the long term.  I can write about the color pink one day, and ramble on about sofa's the next.  The tassel ebook was a breeze for me.  I wrote it in a week because it was all information I already had in my head.  Of course, the photos were half of the content so, currently the kinds of ebooks I would write can't be made available to their full potential on black and white eReaders. 

These days, when you talk about an ebook, people expect that they can download it to their nook and kindle.  When you are writing about something that has photos, you just need to be clear that it's photo rich and and iPad and computer will show color photos but, we aren't quite to the place where every eReader shows color photos.  In my opinion, that puts a little kink in the decor ebook potential.

That being said, I think every blogger should write an ebook.  It's a good experience, it's not that difficult and it's nice to have another form of writing out there, whether you sell it or give it away.

Yet you appeared really pleased when your 2nd potential ebook landed on the floor inside a broken laptop. What happened?

I just wasn't that into it.

I like blogging.  I hate writing book type things.  And the photos were killing me.  It was using up too much of my brain power to stay on task.  So, once the ebook was lost I was thrilled!  And I figured out maybe I should try turning it into a blog instead.  So now I have a Window MisTreatment website where I feature lots of other peoples mistreatments - that's more fun than me trying to create them anyway! 

... just sayin'... (ahem)... moving along....

I read that you now have help with maintaining the blog. Does it feel weird to delegate something so personal?

At first it felt weird.  For like 2 seconds.  I waited way too long to ask for help.  Caroline has been a life saver.  She's the ad manager for the private ads--and any ad request come through her.  She also does our quarterly giveaway day and is the editor for the Window MisTreatment and Nest Files blogs.  It feels great to have her on board and she's someone I know in real life and would trust with my children.   She's also is a dear friend which comes in handy because she knows me really well.

How do you parent, (homeschool still??), run a household and run 3 blogs all at the same time? 

I recently wrote about how I do the things I do. My secret~I do VERY few things. And, don't forget, I really only run 1 blog--Caroline does the other ones--we have a system that involves private tumblr/twitter accounts and at the push of a button I can tell her the next post I want featured at the Mistreatment site or The Nest Files.

What would you want to say to a newbie desiring to make blogging part of their career?

Do what you love.  If you don't love it, it's not worth it.  When you love it, spending ungodly hours doing something doesn't seem that bad. 

         Anything else?

This is the longest email in the history of the world. 

         Yeah well... I wanted to ask you a lot more so you got off lucky, ok? :) xo

Thank-you Nester, for that amazing amazing interview!

No more excuses. We all have the answers now, don't we?

And have your own stories ready for tomorrow because the link up will be live!

All 31 Day posts to date are HERE.
Please check the blog sidebar for the individual listings HERE.

SNS 105 - BOO! It's Halloween!

31 Day series is currently in session. Click HERE  to visit.

Momma Hen's Coop

Welcome to Saturday Nite Special #105, the multi themed link party! 

* Home Decor

 * Crafts, / Sewing / Recipes

* Theme of the week

Every Fri 7pm  to Sunday 11 pm Pacific.

~ Halloween ~

Wow... makes you want to go paint a piano doesn't it? The gorgeous banner is also downloadable at this link!

By Carina Gardner

 Avoid the mess and decal your pumpkins. 

By A. Steed's. Life.

Such a simple cute garland!


Cow Country Creations ETSY

Beautiful and simple treat bags from newspaper!

By Show and Tell

And no one does Halloween like Starshine Chic! 

These cute little Silhouette cut mice really do look like they're scampering about!


Thrifty Decor Chic 

Have you decorated for Halloween?
Link them up in this weekend's 3rd themed linkup!


Next up:
vintage suitcases and voting poll - Nov 4

Click HERE for the master themed linkups list. Add yours anytime!

 

~ SNS blah blah linkup rules ~

 1. DIY home projects only pretty please. Items for sale must be in tutorial form on your blog.

2. Please link back to the party (text or button) within your post. See BUTTONS under main blog header.

3. Only projects new to SNS please. The themed linkup is an exception. Repeats will be deleted.

4. By linking up here, you're cool with me featuring you with no additional permission required. Cuz I wanna make you a star. :)

Join us on Facebook this weekend for party highlights!