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Running a Business

Artistic Endeavors

the process of designing textiles

In case you missed the happy news, Free Spirit Fabrics, the maker of my fabric line, was bought out by Jaftex and saved! That means Bunnies, Birds & Blooms will be available for sale and I’m finishing up my second collection! Since I’m in the throes of color ways, I thought it would be a good time to share my design process and how much it’s grown from where I started. When I was first approached to design a fabric line, I was thrilled about even the thought of it. I’ve loved textiles for a long time and this was a dream come true. When I actually sat down to put design ideas on paper, I realized I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. No clue. The designs were there. They were in my brain. How do I put them in a format that can be shared with

March 12, 2018 43 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

words that rocked | podcasts & books for creatives

It’s hard to follow-up a heart-on-my-sleeve kind of post like the one I wrote yesterday. I am still reading through the comments, savoring each one like the little gem that it is. Some have already made me teary in our camaraderie and others have given me more to ponder as I strive to bring my creative retreat home and hang onto the energy it injected for a little longer. I know that I will have to fight against falling into the same old patterns and mindsets. I’ll have to grip tightly to the things that inspired and motivated me. A large part of that is going to be keeping creative encouragement on tap. I have to continue to read books, listen to podcasts, read articles and blog posts, and allow the wisdom and experience of others to prod me along. I use to do that a lot, but it fizzled

March 8, 2018 49 Comments

a slice of life

fear is not the boss

Confession time… The last 2-3 years have been a bit of a struggle for me. Maybe more than a bit, if I’m completely honest. Before you roll your eyes and wonder what on earth I could be struggling with, hear me out. (And stick with me, because there is a happy ending.) The struggle has been an internal one and has been fostered by fear and nurtured mostly in silence. It crept up with such stealth that it was hard to name or put my finger on. It was an unexplainable, literal lump in my throat that would manifest itself almost daily. It was moments of panic that would overwhelm me at times, a sense that things would come crashing down. It was just a matter of time. These feelings, all circled around my business and blog and creativity, have made it harder to share with vulnerability, harder to take

March 6, 2018 184 Comments

a slice of life

Creative Retreat Planning

I’ve been saying for months that I need to press the pause button, so I have some uninterrupted, concentrated time to think and recharge. My thought is this would be a day at home and everyone in the house will pretend I’m not there. Yeah, I know that was wishful thinking! My kids can pretend to be ninjas and spacemen and super heroes, but they cannot pretend I am not there. Sebastian doesn’t know what a creative retreat is and when he has to pee, my elbow is the one he will bump with his nose. Jeff would do his best, but there’s only so much a guy who works full-time and is a full-time grad student can do to keep me fenced off. So, he brought up the idea of giving me the chance to go a local hotel for my own creative retreat. The idea was still on

March 1, 2018 44 Comments

my business story

rolling with the punches & paintings for sale

It was just a couple of weeks ago that I announced my very first fabric line presented by Free Spirit Fabrics. I’ve been working on getting this collection launched for two years and was in the final stages of polishing up my second collection, but that work was interrupted by some startling news I received last week. Free Spirit Fabrics is closing. The second collection won’t be made and, since Bunnies, Birds & Blooms was just released, I don’t know what it means for that collection, yet. It’s taken me a few days to process it. I am sad for the people who work for Free Spirit who are losing their jobs and for the designers who rely on that work for the bulk of their income. On a personal note, I felt a pit in my stomach that two years of work might result in zero income. I also

February 21, 2018 57 Comments

Art

Bunnies Birds & Blooms

I have been keeping a secret for almost two years and now, finally, I can spill it! I am so proud to introduce my very first fabric line – Bunnies Birds & Blooms presented by Free Spirit Fabrics! Whew! It’s good to get that one out into the world. So, for those who aren’t familiar with Free Spirit Fabrics, it’s a quilting fabric company owned by Coats (as in Coats & Clark thread). And, you might be wondering, how I got connected with a quilting fabric company. I’m not a quilter. Well, to make a long story short, one of my readers has a sister who started a fabric company – Free Spirit Fabrics. When they would get together for vacations, my blog reader would tell her sister all about Miss Mustard Seed. Fast forward to a couple of years ago and her sister (who retired, but she was working

January 26, 2018 114 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

designing a product

A year and a half ago, I was offered the opportunity to design home decor products. It’s something I had considered. and even hoped for, for a long time, but it just never came together. I was such a hands-on creator that I struggled with trying to communicate my vision to someone else. I also had to learn how to design something that could be manufactured (and shipped) on a larger scale. Well, the opportunity was “learn-as-you-go” and I have learned a lot. It took designing hundreds of products to learn what would sell and finally, some of the products that sold, have hit the market. (It takes a long time!) A few of my products have been floating around for a while, but none of them were branded. The other day, I received a message from a followers on Instagram. She had found some enamel signs at Hobby Lobby

January 22, 2018 103 Comments

Running a Business

the next chapter

Change is a delicate thing. If you don’t change at all, things feel stagnant and boring. Been there done that. If you change too much, well then, you’ve changed. And not everyone is going to like that. I shared last year that my business was changing and even though I voiced it in a blog post, I still struggled against it. I was afraid of changing too much, too fast. I would start to move forward and I would retreat back to what was comfortable and familiar. All the while, there was this understanding that things will change with or without me. The blog world will continue to evolve. Decorating trends will come and go. And I was going to need a change of pace at some point. Then, we made a huge change – picked up and moved halfway across the country. I traded my big, off-site studio for a

October 10, 2017 55 Comments

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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