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Antiques

Where to buy grain sacks…

I received a ton of comments over the weekend asking where I buy my grain sacks, so I thought I would share.  Unfortunately, I don’t have one magic hookup, but I get them here and there as I find them.   I’ve bought a bunch from Pete, my fellow vendor at Lucketts.  He doesn’t always have grain sacks, but he has them pretty regularly.  The nice thing about buying from Pete is he buys grain sacks that aren’t in pristine condition.  That means they’re not expensive (about $25-$30/each.)  It does mean you might have to wash them or work around some stains or patches, but I’m fine with that. I’ve bought a few grain sacks at antique fairs, but those were quite a splurge at $65/each.  They were in amazing condition, though, with very cool embroidery.     Another source has been some of my readers living in Poland and

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Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint

Get the “Chippy” Look Video Tutorial & Junk Bonanza Giveaway!

I finally got around to editing and uploading my latest milk paint video…   I talk through how to get the “chippy” look on pieces and answer some common questions about the process. Enjoy! (If you usually read my posts through e-mail, click over to my blog to watch the video.)  If you’d like to see my other videos, head over to my You Tube channel.  More to come… Second, there’s an event you may have heard of…  Junk Bonanza.  One day I will go.  Oh yes.  One day I will go.  Until then, if your calendar is free September 13-15, 2012, you may be able to go to Junk Bonanza for FREE!  The annual Junk Bonanza brings together more than 140 juried vendors of select vintage treasures, junk and antiques and is in Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn. The winner of this giveaway will receive: ~ 2 VIP tickets, which

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Antiques

yard sale finds

I haven’t been out to yard sales for over a month.  I’m not sure why, but I just haven’t been in the mood and we’ve had other things going on.  This week, though, there was the Rt 30 yard sale in New Oxford, PA, so I set out with my mom, husband, Sean, Emily and the boys and we found some great stuff.  The best haul of the day was probably this antique wooden tool box…       I also bought a set of antique French pate knives for $10…       …two Sterling silver salt shakers for $5/each…     ..and a few other things.  I didn’t find any great furniture, which was a good thing, since we had a van full of people.  Emily had never been to yard sales before and she found a couple of cool things (some slate pieces from a roof and

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Decorating

cutting corners

About three years ago, I walked into my local paint store and noticed a display for a bright green painter’s tape – Frog Tape. I trust my guys at the paint store, so I asked, “Does this stuff really work?” I have never been a fan of painter’s tape. I always, ALWAYS had problems with bleeding and finally decided to just trust my own steady hand.  I was about to work on a custom piece for a client – a Steeler’s desk that was to be painted black with school bus yellow stripes.  I needed sharp, crisp lines.  The guys told me it worked, so I tried Frog Tape and blogged about it HERE.  That was when my blog was less than a month old and it was itty bitty.  I probably had less than 20 followers and no idea even how to get sponsors.  A few weeks later, Frog Tape contacted me

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crafts

crafternoon with emily

A few of the kids in our youth group have been firsthand witnesses to the entire journey of my blog.  Yes, they used to make fun of me and I’ll admit that the notion of writing a blog sounded a little dorky to me, too, until I got sucked in.  They tolerated me celebrating over 17 followers, they were excited for me when I had my first magazine feature, they watched my house as it’s evolved, they brought me furniture and antiques their families were getting rid of and they have helped me move furniture, strip chairs and glitter letters.  Last week, one of our former youth guys, Sean, who’s now almost done with college, brought his girlfriend to my house for a little crafting with “Miss Mustard Seed.”  Having played hours of X-Box and eaten many meals at our house, he has the hook up.  Emily is an Anthropologie

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Antiques

my painting chair

Some people have their recliner or their rocker or their rolling desk chair.  It’s a spot where they spend a lot of time and they enjoy the time they spend sitting in it.  I have my painting chair.  I “saved” it out of my Opa’s attic (that’s German for grandfather, in case you didn’t know.)  I brought it home with plans to paint it and sell it.  While it was waiting its turn to be painted who-knows-what-color, I sat in it when I worked on other pieces of furniture.  I soon realized that this vintage, kid-sized desk chair was the perfect height.  This chair would never get a makeover.  Instead, it would become my hardworking painting chair.  It’s sturdy enough to stand on, it’s small enough to tuck under my workbench when not in use, it’s pretty comfortable and it really saves my back.    I pulled it out the other day to paint a

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Antiques

antique child’s wheelbarrow

I had such a fun time rearranging my furniture yesterday that I worked on it a little bit more today when I could manage between playing Lego Batman with the boys, laundry, trying to get my e-mail under control and acting as a wrestling referee (again with the boys.)  I was shopping my house for the perfect thing  for the top of the Empire dresser and I remembered an antique child’s wheelbarrow I bought and fell in love with a few weeks ago.  It’s one of those nutty ideas that I was sure would look good in someone else’s house, but not mine.  Well, if it didn’t work, I could always change it.    I like it there.   Something about it works.  It almost looks sculptural.        At this point I’m planning to make a hand painted antique-looking sign to hang over it.  I’m sort of excited about it.  I love

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Antiques

jewelry scale

When I was shopping to get ready for the Lucketts Antique Market in May, I came across this jewelry scale. Now, if you’ve read my blog for even a little while, you may have picked up on my love of a few things…fans, typewriters, ironstone and scales.  I had never seen a jewelry scale, so I bought it. I was in a major buy-to-sell mode, so I put a tag on it (with a pretty outrageous price) and brought it with me to Lucketts.  Before the fair began, another vendor was over checking out MY scale.  Oh don’t you DARE buy MY scale.  I know it has a tag on it and I put it out there for sale, but I didn’t mean for anyone to BUY it!  Ha…well, she walked away to think about it and things started to get a little crazy with customers.  About midday, the scale was

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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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