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a slice of life

Favorite Things

feels like home giveaway | for the antique lover with Liz Marie!

For Feels Like Home Friday, I am teaming up with the queen of cozy and my fellow lover of antiques, Liz Marie Galvan!  We’re going to be on Instagram Live Friday, September 17, at 12:30 pm EST/11:30 am CST to chat about decorating with antiques!  I am really looking forward to it and I hope you will join us for that.  (You can watch it HERE if you were not able to make it live.) Of course, we’ll also be talking about books, which are both coming out this fall and feature decorating with antiques… | In addition, we’ll be having a joint giveaway on Instagram!  I know not everyone is on Instagram (sorry), but this was the easiest way for us to team up together for the giveaway.  So, if you’d like to enter the giveaway, you’ll have to do it over on Instagram (details are at the bottom

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a slice of life

potato corn soup with dill

I am an unashamed soup lover.  I don’t know why anyone would be ashamed of that, but I definitely am not.  I think my love of soup started when we went to a family conference in Switzerland and they served the most wonderful pureed soups.  I had no idea what was in them, but I loved every bowl.  I wish I had the recipes for those!  Anyway, I also love that I can make one big pot of soup over the weekend and we have quick, healthy, and easy dinners ready to reheat.  Today, I’m sharing a new favorite -potato corn soup with dill. This soup recipe came from a weekly special soup we get from a local market.  Jeff stops into the Food Co-Op pretty regularly just to scope out their soups.  He loves their chicken artichoke soup and clam chowder.  My favorite is the potato corn soup with

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Favorite Things

books I’m excited about preordering…

As you may have guessed, I am always trolling for new books to add to my home library!  Just when I think I’ve bought all of the books I “need”, I’ll find another one to add to my collection.  Thankfully for me, new books are being published all the time and I am eagerly awaiting a few that are coming out later this year and early next year.  Since there are some great ones on the list, I thought I would share them here.  Some of them I’ve already preordered and some I will be preordering the month they come out (so I don’t have to spend this month’s book budget on a book I won’t get this month!) But, I want to preorder books I’m excited about.  As an author, I know that preorders are huge for the early success of a book.  I want to support authors who

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Favorite Things

feels like home giveaway | for the makers

Just a note before we get to the giveaway details…  The Feels Like Home Launch Team is still open if you’re interested in joining!  This is the last day to enter (Friday, Sept.3) and then we’ll start having some fun conversations, live events, and awesome giveaways in our private Facebook forum.  Click HERE to join or HERE for more information and answers to FAQs about the launch team. So, I have another fun giveaway to celebrate my upcoming book, .  When I started writing this book, I felt it was important that it wasn’t just a pretty decorating book.  Those are so inspirational to look at, but they can also feel unattainable.  You can see the what, but you’re left wondering about the how.  In the book, I wanted to share as many of the how-tos as I could through tutorials, exercises, and sections filled with tips on everything from

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Favorite Things

feels like home | giveaway for “the design nerd”

If you’ve ever drawn house plans on graph paper, you might be a design nerd.  And, if that’s the case, you’re in good company!  There are a lot of us out there….we geek out on fabric swatches, furniture templates, wallpaper samples, paint decks, mood boards, symmetry, focal points, accents that pop, and statement pieces.  If that’s you, this first giveaway to celebrate the launch of my new book, , is for you!  If you’re not a self-proclaimed design nerd, well, this book just might turn you into one. I think there is this idea when it comes to design that you’re either good at it or you’re not.  Those who would describe themselves as “not creative” wave the white flag and leave the design work to someone else.  But, I believe down to my very bones that design and creativity are learned skills that are practiced and developed.  Yes, there

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Favorite Things

july 2021 favorites

I don’t know about you, but this summer is flying by for me!  I always think it will go slowly as I’m trying to balance working while having the boys home, but it seems to speed things up and we’re going back-to-school shopping before you know it.  Before we get into that, though, let me share some of my favorites from July… Esmé Well, my favorite thing is something I’m thankful for.  One of our cats, Esmé was having neurological issues a couple of weeks ago that had us very concerned.  It started when we noticed the left side of her face was paralyzed.  She wasn’t moving her left ear, closing her left eye fully, or opening the left side of her mouth when she meowed or yawned.  We took her to the vet and they started her on some antibiotics to treat any possible underlying infections that might be

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book reviews

youtube & book reviews

As an entrepreneur in the ever-changing world of technology and social media platforms, I’m consistently assessing and reassessing what I do, where I share, how I share, what I spend my time on, etc.  Pinterest and Instagram weren’t even around when my blog launched!  And I shared on YouTube and Facebook in the pre-algorithm world.  Let me just take a minute to remember the good-ole-days when I just had to post in one place… Okay, done. The good news of all of this change is there are more ways to reach a wide audience.  The bad news is you have to pick and choose which platforms you’re going to focus on and how you’re best going to use them.  Unless you have a large team of people, you just can’t do them all and do them all well.  So, my focus over the past few years has been my blog,

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best buttermilk pancake recipe | miss mustard seed
a slice of life

saturday morning pancakes | best buttermilk pancake recipe

For years, I have been making buttermilk pancakes for my boys here and there – weekends, snow days, sleepovers, and birthdays.  When they were doing distance learning for school last spring, though, they were asking for this buttermilk pancake recipe almost every morning.  I had to set a “pancake day” for my own sanity and Saturday morning pancakes have become a family tradition!  I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to share this tasty and easy buttermilk pancake recipe.  I just don’t think of pulling out the camera to take pictures while I’m making pancakes in my jammies on a Saturday morning. But, this recipe is too good not to share!  These buttermilk pancakes are a little tangy, not-too-sweet (just 2T sugar for the entire recipe), and are fluffy and delicious.  Perfect for a lazy Saturday morning.  I’ll also share a few tips for pancake-making success. The printable

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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