Hello and welcome to the weekend!
We've always had a big dream of building collaborations with other likeminded businesses, artists, writers, publishers, and musicians, and 2023 is the year where that dream seems to be coming true. We developed some great relationships with local-to-us craftspeople, and we also reached out to some people far away—and had people reach out to us—and we couldn't be more excited about the collaborations we have coming along this year.
In no particular order...
We are over the moon to announce that Owl's Nest the Podcast is finally launching on January 30. (You can listen to the preview here!)
A podcast needs Intro/Outro music, though. We could have purchased something off the internet, but I have made connections over the years, and one of those connections is a Birmingham-based professional folk musician named Wilder Adkins. I reached out to Wilder and asked if he would be interested in writing original music for our podcast—and he agreed! So the music you hear in the preview linked above, and the music we will always have on our podcast, was written special for us by Wilder Adkins. (For the record, I asked him to make it sound "woodsy" and "owlish." We think he did a great job, don't you?)
This month we sent out our winter book box—our last before a hiatus on the book boxes—and it contained a special item: an exclusive Muses from the Moon candle. This was a collaboration with Black Earth Creek Candle Company, a Cross Plains, WI-based candle maker who makes candles in small batches and who were wonderful to work with. *Look for the Muses candle to enter our shop soon. But also check out their business (and look out for more possible collaborations with them in the future!).
Speaking of local collaborations, we partnered with artist Michelle Moran for an upcoming book cover. She painted a cover for a secret 2023 book, and we can't wait to show you what it is. If you're interested in her style or looking at ordering prints of her work, you can find her artwork here.
Artist Amy Grimes has been a wonderful supporter of our work, and we were blown away when she came to us offering to design a cover. Amy is well known for her literary and fantastical paintings and prints (I got two of them for Christmas this past year!), and her style will work perfectly for author Emma C. Fox's The Carver and the Queen (coming Oct.!)
And although this isn't an official collaboration, per se, we've been excited to start building relationships with other "kindred spirit" publishers as of late. These are small presses with whom we are developing friendships, with whom we can walk alongside, mutually encourage, share insight and advice, and with whom we can also collaborate on resources! Keep a weather eye on our podcast and social media for special guests...
What else will 2023 bring us in the way of collaborations? We're not sure! But we're looking forward to all the possibilities. Check out the links for the good work being done by the good and generous people working with and alongside us.
Until Nest Time,
~ Karin