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a slice of life

a slice of life

good mail day…

I planned to write this post last night, but I was exhausted and decided I needed to wait until the morning to string together coherent sentences.  Well, once I got going in the morning, there was no sitting down at the computer to write a post.  I had my weekly Skype meeting with my staff (which sounds very serious and impressive, but we laugh a lot and it’s a time to catch up and keep me on task) and then I filmed a Facebook Live Q&A for the Milk Paint line. There was a lot to do, so I asked my Lucketts-workhorse, Debbie, to come for a day to help me price items for my yard sale.  I knew I was stretching her a bit when I handed her a roll of Frog Tape and a Sharpie and asked if she would price things for me while I was on

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a slice of life

Whatever happened to…?

There are some things that I started and didn’t finish.  I’m sure you can relate.  So, I thought I would write a post to tie up some loose ends – things that ended up in my graveyard of good ideas and other things you just may be wondering about! Whatever happened to… …Kriste? My trusty sidekick now has a sidekick of her own! His name is Grayson and you can follow her journey as a new mom on her Instagram and blog.  She’ll still be working for me, but between her new mom status and my moving, it’ll be in a different capacity.  Life changes and time marches on.  I’ll miss having her in the studio with me, though.  She’s gotten to know me so well and she does a great job of keeping me on task and balancing me out. She knows when I get that blank, overwhelmed look,

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a slice of life

a lesson in hospitality

 When you see someone in their element, doing something they are truly gifted to do, it’s a special thing. Last week, I had the chance to witness someone displaying their abundant gift of hospitality first hand in a beautiful new-old house nestled in the hills of Hamilton, Virginia. And that someone was Chris of Zion Springs Bed & Breakfast (and wedding venue).  Here’s a picture of Chris (in the middle) with me and my mom. They inherited a beautiful lot of land and built a home perfectly suited to their large family and included a “wing” to house Chris’s dad.  Sadly Chris’s dad passed away before the home was complete, so Chris and her husband prayed about how they could use that extra space.  She shared that they tried a few different things, like opening the rooms to local college students, and finally decided to take the plunge and turn it into

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a slice of life

146 ironstone plates

So, I have a question that I’m going to ask on behalf of a dear friend of mine. She is about ready to move and…um…as I…I mean, she is packing, she realizes she has a large number of plates (and other dish ware.)  She decided to count said ironstone plates and learned she has 146. And that’s not even including the ones hanging on the walls.  And that’s only the dinner plates. Soooo, is that too many plates? Yeah, I agree.  It’s a completely reasonable amount and that’s what I told her. Okay, okay, IT’S ME! It didn’t seem like a lot of plates when they were just sitting in my cabinet, but when I faced packing them, it seemed a little crazy.  I mean, who needs that many plates in a normal household?  And who collects plates that don’t really serve a purpose except that the owner likes stacks of plates? I

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a slice of life

good & perfect time

Timing is an interesting thing. If you have read my blog for a while, you may remember that we put our house on the market almost exactly three years ago.  We had seen a local farm that was for sale and we were hot to buy it!  We got our house ready and listed it with high hopes of selling it quickly. Well, it was on the market for three months and not one person even called about it or looked at it!  Not one.  It was the strangest thing, like no one could see our listing, but us.  And as people were NOT looking at our house, the house we were interested in, that had been on the market for over six months, sold.  We found a couple other farms we liked and, basically, if someone wanted their house to sell, Jeff & I just needed to want to buy

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a slice of life

cleaning out my closet…

Even though we’re not sure where and when we might be moving, we’re making a point to purge things we no longer use, love, or need.  It’s the perfect time of year to do that sort of thing, anyway, but we’re taking it to a new level. I cleaned out my closet a few weeks ago and was able to fill three large bags with things I either never wore or wasn’t wearing any more.  And I’m not even a big shopper with a lot of clothes!  I don’t know how I accumulated so many things.  Well, I somehow managed and it was time for the purge. I had a few pieces from Anthropologie in those bags, though, that I felt were a little too special to put in the yard sale pile.  Two of them are brand new and one was only worn a few times.  Ebay is the perfect

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a slice of life

Friday art date

I’ve shared about my friend, Katie, who is an amazing artist with formal training.  Well, we had an idea to sketch/paint together once a week on Friday afternoons.  Life has gotten in the way a few times, because we’re both busy, but each time we have gotten together, it has been so amazing.  Last time, we were just sketching an egg.  This time, we were sprawled out on the floor, painting landscapes in oil.  It’s rushed and disorganized and we make it up as we go along, but it’s two friends spending time together doing something we love.  It’s good for the heart. So, I’ve been wanting to get into oils and I have never used them.  It made me laugh when we both pulled out our supplies.  Her paints are well used and her palette is seasoned… All of mine were brand spanking new in stark contrast. Well, mine will

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a slice of life

the great wall

It’s been a couple of weeks since I put up my first post about my trip to China.  A part of it is that I’ve been busy, but another part is that I’ve needed to process it for a while. When people ask how my trip was, I struggle with it a bit and let out a hesitant, drawn out, “Good.”  It’s not that it wasn’t good, but good is such a small word that doesn’t even begin to capture the highs and lows of the trip, the experiences gained, and the things I learned about yourself as I was taken outside of my comfort zone.  But, when some person at church asks me in passing, “How was your trip?”, they probably don’t want a 4 hour answer.  So, I say, “Good.” Now that I’ve been home a few weeks and have had time to digest it all, I feel like I can share

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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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May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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