podcast 5

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hello this is robin norgren and i'm with josiesartschool.com as well as brightchildmontessori.com i am going through a series called your creative piece finding and deepening your creative voice while connecting with god and i wanted to start today with an interview from marion of miss mustard seed i did an interview with her way back in the beginning of her business and now it's actually a pretty thriving business which is kind of amazing and it just reminds me of everyone that the reality is everyone starts somewhere and you really just need to begin her creative influences were french provincial style in american farm houses and her mediums that she most enjoyed working with were paint and fabric here's her bio mustard seed interiors is a small business that was born out of a love for antiques decorating on a budget and giving old pieces of furniture new life for over 10 years marion the designer and owner has loved transforming second hand fines hunting for unique uh antiques and designing functional and beautiful spaces in her home and the homes of her friends and family in 2008 this passion for diy and home decor became mustard seed interiors mustard seed interiors currently sells antiques refurbished furniture and handmade accessories for your home at the old locket store in leesburg virginia wild rose and company marketplace at uh walkersville maryland chatruce and company in frank frederick maryland and then through her website miss mustard seed creations

marion is also known as miss mustard seed the author of diy and decorating blog miss mustard seed's creative blog and is a freelance writer for hgtv.com cottages in bungalow's magazine her work has been featured in romantic homes magazine and online in house and apartment therapy and many other home decorating blogs

i asked her what are your earliest creative memories and she said my earliest creative memories all revolve around music my parents had me singing as a toddler and encouraged me in that endeavor as far as interior design i loved touring the castles of europe when we lived in germany i would drool over the furniture even as a fourth grader

did your creative habits make a smooth transition into your adult life what did the evolution look like i majored in musical theater in college but left that when i got married and entered corporate america my creativity began to spill out into my home i soon discovered i had a real love and passion for interior design and budget makeovers i also discovered a draw to antiques and european influences which certainly come from my childhood if you had a creative hiatus what event or circumstance brought you back to your creative lifestyle she said when i had my first son i gave up on decorating for a while i was discouraged that all accessories below four feet had to be put away after having my second son i was at a low point i was encouraged to put my creativity to good use and start a business the business and my creativity blossomed how has god been a part of your creative process and lifestyle my business is named after a bible verse in luke that refers to faith mustard seed interiors reminds me that this business is based on faith and is ultimately in god's hands i know my talents and successes are god-given

is there a particular moment where your creativity infused into a spiritual practice marianne says my business and creative endeavors have been bathed in prayer we pray about decisions antique fairs successful sales the blog everything it has really surprised me what an encouragement my blog has been to other sisters in christ who are at a low point and want to start their own business that was a blessing i really didn't expect

so today's topic is god as giver and we're moving into week three and the prompt for that week is declare joy so if you don't really if you haven't listened to my other um podcast make sure and go back and and listen through it so basically this is a an online course i gave back in 2000 2013

and i have a book that goes along with it that you can find on my website at robinnorgren.com and i took the time to really flesh out how i started my creative journey walking through just the ways in which i started to look for creativity in my life so make sure and go back and listen to those podcasts so this will make more sense so the verse for the week is first chronicles 16 27 splendor and majesty are before him strength and joy in his dwelling place

i had a crafty friend as so many of us have she was the artsy one i secretly wanted to copy her life yes everything about her the way she dressed the way she decorated her house the way she carried her camera around everywhere she went the way she made it a point to document her life on film or on canvas i loved having a crafty friend even if i was too terrified to tap into my own creativity it was nice to talk about those things with someone else who had every once in a while i would tentatively ask her how she came up with the ideas i do not even remember her answers i was so truly intimidated by what i was sure was a difficult breed out of my reach process the idea of living and breathing a creative life seemed way too otherworldly to me and to be honest i do not think she could have given me an explanation of the life as she lived it she seemed to be so quote organic so effortless

about four years ago this friend began to give me cards created about by a company called curly girl designs and if you have not seen her designs make sure and look her up she is amazing and i knew knew this was something i wanted to tap into but for now i just collected the cards and i would just stare at all the details the cards were thought provoking powerful works of art this was my first exposure to art that was messy and yet put together strategically these cards were just another step in my journey do you have friends who are into the arts what about their creative process intrigues you have you engaged them in conversation about your creative interests do you have any sort of residual hesitancy about sharing your creative interests with other people

have you been doing the weekly prompts and if so how has that been going for you

are you finding that this creative time that you have set aside to be um to be just set towards purposefully being creative has that been a positive experience for you what drawbacks are you experiencing

one of my first cards that i did in imitation of curly girl designs was a girl and she was standing in a pair of boots and i wrote the words she purposed in her heart from this day forward that she would hold fast to the dreams that it helped her hold on to hope

i mentioned i began to grow bored with crocheting my projects were getting stockpiled in the closet and by this time my friend had opened her etsy shop and she encouraged me to do the same we are we were officially artisans selling our wares and we were still getting together for our weekly crafting jaunts somehow during the course of one particular conversation my love for curly girl designs came up and i decided to start crafting doing a crafting boot camp where i would create a piece inspired

by her cards i would show up at my friend's house with scrapbook paper and markers and sketchbook and i would give myself two hours to create something with my first pieces i would simply try to copy what she did just trying to get behind how she was doing the textures and colors and how they work together and soon i began to try on my own doing my own thing i would suddenly think of a tagline and then try to capture it in a work of art i would begin to piece together something and it would add on to it as i saw the muse showing up again speaking to me i have another one of a some flowers and it says our hearts reach up toward our maker

well thanks for stopping by i've given you plenty of food for thought i hope that these are little vignettes that you can take and listen to and hope uh it sparks you as you continue on your creative journey thanks so much for stopping by make sure and find me over on instagram under josie's art school and say hello tell me what you think

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