bird merch (launch day)

Exciting news: I’ve partnered up with Riley Mae and Mom to design some bird merch for Riley Mae’s YouTube channel, and yesterday we official launched it 🎉

I was excited to get to design some simple, straightforward birds that are now being printed on t-shirts, mugs, pins, hats, and more.

All of these designs were drawn directly from some of Riley Mae’s photographs, and then painted with black acrylic paint before I scanned them onto my computer and turned them into transparent PNG files that can easily be uploaded to all of our projects.

carolina wren, ruby-throated hummingbird, sanderling, blue jay, northern cardinal, northern flicker, turkey vulture

Riley Mae has gratefully accepted me and Mom as members of her team (i.e. we do all the work that she’s too busy/doesn’t want to do), and Mom and I have been putting in long days of intense work getting ready to launch for the past couple months.

We’ve had more than a few hiccups along the way, one of which was the disappointment of learning in depth about the VAT systems in place in other countries, and realizing that we cannot afford to ship internationally at this point in time (we’re hoping that this’ll change in the future as Riley’s channel continues to grow).

But aside from that, we Mom finally got everything figured out, and everything’s lookin’ good for us right now (knock on wood).

browse our organic cotton t-shirts

We were all so excited to see the quality of these printed shirts — the graphics print clear and crisp, and look amazing! I already have a Bird Gang t-shirt added to my wardrobe!

Riley Mae (known affectionately as Bird Lady by her subscribers) has now been sharing bird facts on her bird channel for just over one year now (she’s gone from 0 subscribers to 13.5k subscribers in that time!), so we thought it was the perfect time to take the next step on this journey! She’s been nervous about this whole merch/LLC, but I’ve announced so many new businesses and projects throughout my life, this didn’t feel much different for me. I’m just excited to see what happens!

And not only can you buy Nothing to Crow About bird-themed items in her new Gift Shop, there are also shop sections full of my handcrafted items!

M for Northern Mockingbird. I bought a vintage bird alphabet blanket a year or two ago and have been saving it for something special. I recently got it out and started to create some upcycled pieces with thrifted tops! I put together a video of me making one for myself that you can watch here!

Crafting my never-ending creations is fun, but finding the right audience to purchase them is hard.

Now that we’re a team, I’m hoping that the traffic from Riley Mae’s channel will bring along some people who’ll enjoy and appreciate my upcycled/natural/artistic work. Because, aside from my pet portraits, none of my work really gets seen/found on Etsy.

Here’s a little peek into some of the items we currently have available, or click here to browse all the categories and items!

browse my upcycled tops

I thrifted a whole bunch of high-quality, 100% cotton tops and combined them with some birds from aforementioned bird blanket (also 100% cotton). I love the outcome, and have kept a couple for myself 🤭 J for Dark-eyed Junco, N for White-breasted Nuthatch, Q for California Quail, etc.

browse our mugs

These mugs printed so well, and you can see a glimpse of a couple of them in the YouTube short that Riley Mae posted to announce the merch launch. I bought the Medley of Birds Mug when we were testing the quality of the items, and I love it!!

browse my upcycled cardigans

You might remember these, as I’ve posted a handful of them on my blog in the past (like in this post, and this post). I had these listed in my Etsy shop for a while, but they didn’t really get found by the right people, so I ended up only selling a couple of them. I’m still searching for the right crowd to appreciate my sewing work, but one of these days I hope to find my people!

browse my ornaments

Some of my favorite ornaments are these owls, but I also have some cottagecore-inspired mushroom ornaments, along with a few other random pieces. I definitely need to paint a couple more of these to add to our own Christmas tree!

browse my earrings

These earrings are another item that got added to my Etsy shop, but never really moved. Jewelry just gets completely lost on Etsy, so I’m hoping that people will discover them through this avenue, because I really love these pieces, and wouldn’t mind make some more in the future!

browse our embroidered baseball caps

The baseball caps are organic cotton and the fabric is super high quality (we were all surprised and impressed when our testers arrived!). We weren’t sure how the embroidery was going to turn out, since my bird graphics where quite detailed, but they came out really well, and Dad wears his cap almost every day now!

browse our pins

We knew that we’d have a lot of higher-priced items in our shop, so we wanted to make sure we had a couple of smaller items so that everyone could feel included if they couldn’t afford a big purchase. These pins were the perfect thing for that! And in case you’re wondering what this turkey vulture/hypothetical question thing is all about, it’s a reference to this YouTube short that Riley Mae posted in August (featuring me, and a roadkill beaver).

browse my original paintings

I finally put these little pieces of art to use and created these cute shadowboxes. I have a few more butterflies sitting in my drawer, so I’m waiting to see if these move at all, because these are another item that I wouldn’t mind making more of.

browse my throw pillows

Honestly if this monarch pillow doesn’t go soon, I’m gonna be tempted to keep it (especially after my monarch-raising journey earlier this year!). I love all of the throw pillows I’ve created, and I hope that they eventually find good homes!

y’all can be sure that these are ethically sourced animal bones (i.e. I found them outside from naturally-deceased animals)

There are also plenty of other items that you can scroll through, like organic cotton tote bags, photo books, photo prints, magnets, calendars, and some weird bone art…because, well, you’re welcome for having strange and interesting hobbies.

Mom and I have basically been working nonstop on this merch shop since we arrived home from vacation, and it feels amazing to have finally launched and have this off our plates!

Riley Mae has brought a fantastic group of bird nerds together (now known as the Bird Gang), and we’re excited to see what happens next 🐦