Hi, I'm Jocelyn

a surface pattern designer and maker.

I started this website back in 2009 with a passion for creating beautiful, custom items to personalize your nest. This has looked different over the years with one-of-a-kind sock and glove animals, personalized ornaments, art prints, custom invitations, baby rattles, and sewing patterns. It has been a joy to make items that become part of a family's traditions.

I have recently fallen in love with surface pattern design. It has taken over my thoughts and my days and I love that it's something I can pursue from anywhere in the world.

Five years ago I left Texas and have been adventuring in Scotland with my husband and 3 children. We aren't sure what's next but love this amazing country where I find so much inspiration for my art.

I love making artwork for companies and products. If you are a company that would be interested in licensing my work please get in touch.

thenestingspot

Day 6 Prompt: Harvest

Today’s story is called “The Flax”. It is also by Hans Christian Andersen in the same book as yesterday. I did another book cover illustration for this one. I wanted to show the progression of the story all in one drawing.

The story starts with a flax flower being so happy and grateful for its life. It enjoys the warm sun and rain on its delicate blossoms. Then one day people came and pulled it up by the roots, threw it into water and then in front of a fire. It said to itself, “people cannot always have what they like. We must suffer sometimes if we wish to learn anything.” It continued to be tortured with being bruised, broken, hacked and put on a wheel that went whirr. It thought, “one ought to be thankful for the happiness one has had in the past.” Then it was put in a loom and turned into a beautiful piece of linen. It realized that life wasn’t over but just beginning. It was happy to be so strong yet so soft, to be taken care of each day by the family. Then one day it was cut and torn and pierced with needles. It was finally made up into 12 beautiful garments. It was so happy to be useful. After years had passed the linen could be worn no longer. Then it was torn into pieces, beaten to a pulp, boiled, dried, and pressed. At the end of that torture it found itself fine white paper. It was delighted with this surprise that its life wasn’t over yet. It thought how it was now finer than ever and would be written upon. It did end up with the most beautiful poems and stories written on it and they were read aloud. It said, “certainly this is more than I could ever have dreamt of when I was a little blue flower of the field.” After the words were taken from that paper and made into many books, the paper was rolled up to rest. One day that paper was thrown in a stove to be burnt. As it burned, tiny invisible beings as many as there had been blossoms on the flax, danced about and said, “the song is never ended! That is the best of it! We know that, and therefore none so happy as we are!”

If only we could have the same gratefulness as the flax through the ups and downs of life.

Day 5 Prompt: Death When the prompts were reveale

Day 5 Prompt: Death

When the prompts were revealed I was reading a book called Popular Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. It was recently given to us from a new, dear friend that we made due to the lockdown because our neighbor needed her dog walked for her. The second story in the book is called “Story of a Mother.” It’s about a mother who’s child who was terribly sick. One night a stranger knocked on the door. She let him come in because he was cold. The man was actually Death. The woman fell asleep because she’d been awake for days caring for the child and when she awoke the child and the man were gone. The story follows her journey and the lengths she went to as a mother to find them. She finally got to where Death lives and entered his hothouse. I loved the description of all the plants inside. Each plant corresponded with a human life. Some were huge trees and others were tiny herbs. “The mother bent down over all the tiniest plants. In each one she heard the pulse of human life, and out of a million others she distinguished the heart-throb of her child.” It was “a little blue crocus flower which was hanging down on one side, sickly and feeble.” Death was surprised when he got there and asked how she had found the way and gotten there faster than him. She replied “I am a mother!”. She then threatened to tear up 2 plants so Death would not uproot her child. He told her he was the Lord’s gardener and fulfilled His will. He asked if she would want to make another mother as unhappy as herself if she uprooted other plants. He went on to show her a look into the future of both children’s lives. One would be a life of great blessing to the world and the other a life of “sin and sorrow, misfortune and misery”. He then revealed that one of those lives was her child. Once she heard that she was mortified and wanted to know which was her child. She realised that God’s will was always best and prayed that God’s will be done. After that Death departed and took her child to the unknown land. It’s worth a read!

I love old book covers and wanted to make one for this story. I love how the greenhouse is an unexpected representation of Death.

Day 4 Prompt: Solstice Happy Thanksgiving! I’m

Day 4 Prompt: Solstice

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m pausing on cooking to post today’s piece. Today was the toughest for me to pick something and I ended up not going with a specific story but just imagining a warm summer solstice night when the moon is out, the fireflies and moths are happily flitting about, and magic is in the air. I actually used a repeating pattern I had created earlier this year and drew a couple fairies to add to it. What would a folktale be without some mischievous fairies?

#folktaleweek #folktaleweek2020 #solstice #surfacepatterndesign #printandpattern #patterndesign #patterndesigns #surfacedesign #patterndesigner #patternart #patternillustration #creativecommunity #licensingartist #fairies #textiledesign #textilepatterns

Day 3 Prompt: Courtship Phew, almost posted the w

Day 3 Prompt: Courtship

Phew, almost posted the wrong one thinking today was Solstice.  So, for courtship I was originally thinking I would go with The Little Mermaid…but then read the original version.  And yeah, totally not what I was expecting.  I know most fairy tales are different in their original versions from Disney but didn’t see that ending coming.
🧜‍♀️
So I kept looking and came across The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen.  (The literal translation of the name from Danish is The Princess On the Pea.) The story doesn’t have courtship in the normal sense of the word but I think it is so funny that there are a group of folktales all about finding a wife by how sensitive she is.  I don’t quite understand that as being desirable…or at least sensitive in the way it is portrayed in the stories.
🛌
A prince traveled all over the world trying to find a wife but it had to be a real princess and for one reason or another they were never right. One stormy night a knock at the gate brought a drenched girl who said she was a princess. The queen took it upon herself to test the girl by putting a pea underneath 20 mattresses and 20 featherbeds.  In the morning when asked how she slept, the girl said she was awake all night and black and blue from something hard she was lying on.  This confirmed that she must be a real princess since only a princess would be that sensitive.  So of course they married and put the pea on display in an art gallery.
💚
Not your average way of finding a spouse thankfully. I thought it would be fun to use some of my repeating patterns on the layers of mattresses and blankets.  I love how it gives it a kind of paper collage look.  I like to think that they don’t match because the queen was pulling mattresses from rooms all over the castle.

#folktaleweek #folktaleweek2020 #courtship #surfacepatterndesign #printandpattern #patterndesign #patterndesigns #surfacedesign #patterndesigner #patternart #patternillustration #creativecommunity #licensingartist #princessandpea #textiledesign #textilepatterns

Day 2 Prompt: Ritual I ended up choosing a less o

Day 2 Prompt: Ritual

I ended up choosing a less obvious story for this one. I found the Japanese tale called “The Boy Who Drew Cats” and loved how the little boy, Joji, couldn’t help but draw cats all day instead of helping his family on the farm or working on his writing when learning to be a priest. What started out as a problem for him ended up making him a hero when one of his cat paintings came to life one night and killed a rat the size of a cow that had been terrorizing a village. I love how his passion and art is what saved the day! And I can empathize with Joji as I would also rather be drawing than doing daily tasks.

#folktaleweek #folktaleweek2020 #catpatterndesign #surfacepatterndesign #printandpattern #patterndesign #patterndesigns #surfacedesign #patterndesigner #patternart #patternillustration #creativecommunity #licensingartist #catsofinstagram #ritual #emergingartist

Day 1 Prompt: Birth Today is the first day of Fol

Day 1 Prompt: Birth

Today is the first day of Folktale Week! It took me awhile to pick a story and finally landed on The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. I was really inspired by the look of vintage paint by number paintings when making it. The whole story is shaped by the swan’s egg being found in the duck’s nest. It puts him on a hard path in life from the beginning as he grows up with others who ridicule him for not being like them. But in the end he finds out he is beautiful just as he is.
🦆
In my illustration I wanted to show not only the birth (or the eggs) but his awkward gosling stage and then his final growth into a beautiful swan because it would be sad if the story had just stopped at the beginning.
🦆
“But what did he see in the clear stream below? His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. To be born in a duck’s nest, in a farmyard, is of no consequence to a bird, if it is hatched from a swan’s egg. He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him; for the great swans swam round the new-comer, and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome.”

(Oh, and I know a duck’s nest wouldn’t be in a tree.🙈)

#folktaleweek #folktaleweek2020 #uglyduckling #illustration #surfacepatterndesign #printandpattern #patterndesign #patterndesigns #surfacedesign #patterndesigner #patternart #patternillustration #creativecommunity #illustrationoftheday #swanillustration #birth

Hello all! I wanted to catch you up on something I

Hello all! I wanted to catch you up on something I’ve been working on behind the scenes since early this year. I’ve been learning all about the world of surface pattern design and have been practicing non-stop. What is surface pattern design? It’s basically making art to cover all the surfaces we use. If you look around you there are probably many things you can see that are covered with it…curtains, clothing, plates, wallpaper, stationary...the list is endless. I am going to start sharing some of the patterns I’ve been making on here and on my website. I’ve already updated my website to show a couple of the collections I’ve been working on. Starting Monday there is a little art challenge happening and I’m going to be following along. It’s called Folktale Week and every day there is a new prompt to make some kind of art related to the prompt from the world of folktales. It’s been quite the challenge for me to figure out how to follow the prompts and make it my own using my style and strengths etc. It’s been a good push. Some of the days it’ll be a repeating pattern and other days it’ll be a stand alone illustration. I had also previously made a collection of repeating patterns called Folktales which is what initially got me interested in doing the challenge. This first pattern is from that collection. I also want to say a huge thank you to @bonniechristine because without her priceless guidance none of this would have been possible.
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#folktaleweek #folktaleweek2020 #surfacepatterndesign #patterndesign #folktale #surfacedesigner #artlicensing #textilepattern

Today is the start of my big sale. This is the big

Today is the start of my big sale. This is the biggest sale of 2020 with everything included which rarely happens. I’m doing it earlier this year to make sure everyone can get their items in plenty of time for Christmas. If you know anyone who would enjoy my shop I’d appreciate the share.
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#thenestingspot #sale #shopsmallbusiness #shopsmall #shopsmallthischristmas #handmadeornaments #custombabyshowerinvitations #toothfairypillow #etsyfinds #customgifts #personalizedgifts #personalisedgifts

A little birdie told me that on Monday I’ll be c

A little birdie told me that on Monday I’ll be celebrating 11 years of The Nesting Spot being in existence! So there’s going to be a sale on everything starting Monday. If you’ve been thinking about purchasing something for the holidays this would be a great time to do it! Thanks for all your support already this year.

#thenestingspot #sale #customgift #christmasornaments #personalizedornaments #personalisedbaubles #smallbusiness #etsyfinds #dove #owl #flamingo

Guess what I did today?! It’s something I’ve b

Guess what I did today?! It’s something I’ve been considering for a while and finally decided why not. I’ve turned 3 of my ornaments into baby rattles! They have a safety rattle bell inside to give a pleasant little jingle with no obnoxious loud noises. I chose ones that don’t have little parts sewn on top that could be pulled off by little hands. These can be washed and played with! They are now listed in my shop.
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#thenestingspot #babyrattle #plushbabytoy #dinosaurrattle #rainbowrattle #elephantrattle #babygift #babygiftideas #shopsmall

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