First of all, check out who’s interview and guest room are featured on the home page of Houzz!  You can read my interview, here.  You can win a $50 Gift Certificate from Pottery Barn by leaving a comment on the interview by May 15.  Second, I have to say,” Happy Mother’s Day” to my mom. She is my biggest cheerleader, not only in life, but in my business.  She’s my investor and Mustard Seed Creations would not exist if it weren’t for her (and my Dad and hubby, but this is not their day, it’s hers!)  She even flew up to Pennsylvania just to work like a dog for four days when our shop was moving to a larger location.  We are two peas in a pod when it comes to rolling up our sleeves to get a job done.   She’s also a wonderful “Oma” to my two boys. She reads

We have a winner for the Pleated Poppy Giveaway.  Random.org selected number 239 – Michelle from Someday!  Congratulations, Michelle and a huge thanks for Lindsey for providing this awesome giveaway! I know some people may be sick of them, but I love antique grain sacks.  This is not just a passing fancy for me, either.  I bought my first one about eight years ago for $1.00.  I am drawn to antique utilitarian pieces like fans and scales; things that have been well used and lovingly mended.  Unfortunately, the European grain sacks that I love so much are way out of my budget.  $50 for a grain sack?  I just can’t do it.  So, I’ve shared before how I took matters into my own hands and made some myself.  (You can find the tutorial here.)  This is my latest endeavor… My inspiration was this antique grain sack listed on Etsy by Christina from grainsack. 

I’m so excited to introduce you to a new blog friend of mine, Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy.  She makes the most adorable accessories for you, your life and your home.  In her shop, you’ll find fun fabrics and ruffles adorning everything from checkbook covers to headbands to aprons.  Lindsey has graciously offered a $30 credit to spend in her shop any way you choose.  She makes so many cute things it’s going to be hard to settle on only $30 worth.  You’ll also want to pay a visit to Lindsey’s blog to read all about crafts, mothering, homeschooling and a little bit of everything else.  If you’re into tweeting, you can follow her on Twitter as well! So, here’s how to enter the giveaway. For one entry – Check out the Pleated Poppy Store and leave a comment letting me know how you would like to spend your $30 credit. For a second

I got an amazing response (and lots of questions) on my Record Cabinet Gone to the Birds post, so I’m going to try to cover some of the questions that were raised in upcoming posts.  This post is more of a “how you can get this look yourself” than a tutorial.  I hope this will show some of you how easy it is to get this look on your own. I used this vinyl decal from JC Penny for my inspiration.  It’s currently on sale for $29.99.  You can see that my design is very similar, but I changed it up a bit to fit on my piece.  If you would like to replicate this look, but you are not confident in your hand painting/drawing abilities, you could use this vinyl decal as a stencil. This look is going to work best on a piece of furniture with a large, flat

Welcome to stop number nine on the Parade of Homes presented by Poppies at Play.  When I was first asked to do a house tour, I thought, “my house isn’t finished, yet!”  I then realized that my house will probably never be finished and I don’t want that to stop me from sharing it with others.  So, here we go. My house has two personalities.  When you enter the front door, you walk into a house that was built in 1948.  It sports wood floors, plaster board walls, archways, and pine doors with glass knobs.  As you move through the house, it leads to a modern addition put on in 2003.  This was done without any effort to match the moldings, architecture or feel of the 1940’s house.  So, I have the challenge of blending vintage charm with builder “stock.”  The front door opens right into the formal living room. 

I have been a busy girl, lately.  Ok, I’m always a busy girl and this time is no different.  I’ve been getting my house ready for two big posts.  I worked on a guest post about three rooms in my home to share on Remodelaholic and my home is stop number nine on the parade of homes presented by Poppies at Play.  So, both of those posts are coming up next week. And, for those of you who don’t know, I am a youth pastor’s wife.  I also play guitar and lead our youth worship band.  I had the privilege to go to a music/worship conference in Philly this weekend and got all kinds of great information and motivation.  (It was hard to stomach being that close to the Eagles, but I managed.)  I also got to meet Paul Baloche, who is an amazing song writer and a very down-to-earth everyday guy.  I

This post is a little different from most.  I am a person who likes lots of pictures and little bit of explanation.  I don’t want to have to read a book or write a book when I’m blogging.  I just want to be inspired by the eye candy.  Every once in a while, though, there is a story that just needs to be shared.  So, we’ve established that I’m somewhat crazy when it comes to DIY and my floor refinishing experience is only further proof of that.  Most people, even DIYers would probably call in a professional for something as big as refinishing the floors in four rooms and a hallway in their home, but not me.  Some smarter DIYers who were going to tackle it themselves would do a lot of research or bring in a friend who has refinished floors before, but not me.  I rented a sander, bought

I’m linking this to SNS All About Crates over at Funky Junk Interiors.  I love antique signs, but the cost is rising on the real deal.  This is an easy thing to make, even for people who don’t feel comfortable painting freehand.  One of the keys to creating a convincing antique sign is what you paint it on.  An antique styled sign painted on a brand new, nicely edged piece of wood is going to immediately scream, “I’m a reproduction!” This is an original antique sign.  Can you believe my neighbors were selling this at a yard sale?  I think I paid $2.50 for it.  The cool thing is that the Trostle family owned the famous “cannonball barn” in Gettysburg.  If you visit the battlefield, you can still see the holes from the cannonballs fired during the Civil War.  This simple sign painted on a piece of barn siding inspired