SOW GOOD – REAP A HARVEST – Freckled & Free

A Springtime Display For Mustard Seed Market #3
Written by Bethany Curee, God’s Daughter – Freckled & Free

If you missed my first and second post in this series of market displays you will have to go back and take a read. I gave you all the details on how these opportunities to create these fun displays came to be, along with sharing in detail my creative process for display #1 and #2 that I created for the Mustard Seed Market hosted by Rustic Grains Wood Company.

Now, let’s start hashing out the third display, Sow Good, Reap a Harvest. Starting with the original concept sketch.

As you can see the actual changed up a tad from the original idea. And that’s what these concept sketches are all about. A place to hash out all your ideas and then applying what really works as you set up the real-life display. I’m a firm believer in knowing when to stop. You’ve got to be able to tell the story simply without overdoing it or looking like you’re trying too hard. At the end of the day if your story isn’t being told because it’s distracted with too many cluttering details, then the beautiful message you really wanted to share isn’t getting out there. Pro-tip: know when the story is told.

For this display in particular, I wanted to go with a very early spring concept. Early spring to me is cold, damp and chilly, with occasionally warm subtle breezes. Gentle and hopeful enough to whisper the thawing of winter and the warmth of spring. This is the time of preparation. The time to clean up winter’s wrath. Time to get your hands dirty in the earth again. Digging down deep, preparing the soil, stirring up the nutrients that lied dormant, calling forth the seasonal duty of weeding, mulching and readying the garden to be sown. The commitment of tending the ground for the ripe harvest that will be sure to come. The tedious work it takes to wait for the bloom.

For me, the message here was twofold, centered around Galatians 6:7-9. Representative of both the physical duty of actually planting, and of the spiritual planting and growth that takes place in our lives. While physically we can study and see the results of our garden flourishing, we can’t always see the spiritual process we are investing in happening right away. We don’t always get to peek and see what’s going on under the surface or know what life is being formed while the roots get grounded. It’s certainly a process. We can’t always see what we have “sown” becoming fruitful in the immediate—but, one day we will see the harvest it has produced. If we continue to be faithful in the tending of our spiritual growth and pouring into the growth of others, there will be a day when we will see the tiny sprouts of fruit bursting forth out of the dirt of lots of hard labor. One thing to know is we must stay committed to the tending.

Gardens don’t flourish by walking away. The tedious preparation as we await what will produce in the growing process will never lack its joy and wonder as we await the birth of the seeds we plant.

Wow. Let’s think on that a bit.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:7-9

*In process photo, not finalized with the seeds & plant sprouts yet*

For the design details, I intended for this display to be fluid and have movement with gentle breezes. In the actual, it got a few more breezes than I expected. The hallway that it was set up in, ended up having the doors remain open. So, it became a bit of a design flaw I didn’t anticipate. There were times some strong winds blew in and what I had intended to be a soft gentle movement became a bit of a tangled mess. Even though I had spent hours placing everything perfectly, the wind quickly came and rearranged it all. There were several times I had to go and try to untangle them and get them right, but it became a battle I had to be willing to lose.

Despite this design flaw, the display I believe turned out lovely. I layered the background with raw lattice that we backed with a sheer cream curtain, centered two mustard colored track doors for a pop of color, and planked the center of the display with the solid oak church pew. I scored the amazing burlap sheets to place underneath it all and dress up/ground the space. I chose three simple terracotta pots loaded with nutrient packed soil, sprinkled with seeds for the visual and tiny sprouts of growth. Three—specifically to represent the trinity: God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. What I love the most is the visual of the spiritual aspect here. Yes—you see the physical act that takes place in planting represented in the pots, but what I wanted the display to show more is the “growth” continued from the tiny sprouts and transitioned into the image of “spiritual growth” by having the three custom created pieces hanging directly above the pots of growing life. It’s working to be an actual visual of the continual growth you can have by nurturing your relationship with Jesus. Together, I believe it laid out a good foundation, reminiscent of an old church—and hopefully, a nostalgic reminder to draw you closer to Christ or beckon you back to Him. If He is unknown to you, hopefully it’s an inspiring display that makes you curious about who He is.

Because I divided the display into threes to represent the trinity, it allowed for two centers to be the focal point. I custom created the SOW GOOD and REAP A HARVEST prints in Illustrator. Once I had them printed I crumbled them and soaked them in coffee. I wanted them to feel as if they too had grown right out of the dirt. I was geeking out about how they turned out. I took several other lined and plain sheets of paper and used the same technique to continue that layered, earthly and fluid look to gather around these main prints. I also used the extra vintage looking black and white floral wallpaper we had leftover from our homeschool room makeover and framed it with some extra matte frames I had laying around. I felt they were the perfect touch to complete the custom hanging artwork hung with fishing line. And this might be weird, but, I’m totally a person that is ok with things not being symmetrical, and I like the challenge of creating something that has a quirky layout but yet still feels perfectly balanced. I loved the grungyness of the paper, the crinkles and bruises—I think it’s the perfect example of our own lives trying to navigate this road called life and the grace that God gives us. He isn’t expecting perfection, in fact He knows it’s unattainable until we meet Him face to face. Aren’t you glad His mercies are new every morning?

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

I will tell you those butterfly bushes we pruned in our yard came in quite handy. I was able to utilize them in two of the displays (#winning). For this one in particular, I used them as necessary floral fill and I truly spent a couple of hours cutting by hand tiny pieces of these branches. The kiddos and I spent a good while hot gluing a large basket of the handmade crosses from it. Good memories now. They surprisingly held up well in the display. I wanted all sorts of varying sizes and lengths and I fell in love when I saw the large wreaths at Hobby Lobby that reminded me of the crown of thorns and made the perfect anchor for these handmade crosses to hang from. We made a good hanging system by utilizing shelf brackets and layering them with raw decorative sticks to support it all. Several of us spent hours hanging all these from fishing line to place in the display. All the work was worth the visual story it made. I enjoy the fact that they are sort of a natural wind chime visually—a spiritual concept if you will.

During all this I couldn’t get this song out of my head from Chris Renzema, titled “Springtime.” Take a listen if you get a chance. It’s simply beautiful. Lyrics are worth the read:

You’re the resurrection
That we’ve waited for
You buried the night
And came with the morning
You’re the king of heaven
The praise is yours
The longer the quiet
The louder the chorus

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

We will sing a new song
‘Cause death is dead and gone with the winter
We will sing a new song
Let “hallelujahs” flow like a river
We’re coming back to life
Reaching towards the light
Your love is like springtime

You’re the living water
God, we thirst for you
The dry and the barren
Will flower and bloom
You’re the sun that’s shining
You restore my soul
The deeper you call us
Oh, the deeper we’ll go

Come tend the soil
Come tend the soil of my soul
And like a garden
And like a garden I will grow
I will grow
Come tend the soil
Come tend the soil of my soul
And like a garden
And like a garden I will grow
I will grow
I will grow
I will grow

Amen.

That’s the last of the springtime displays for 2022. I pray they have spoke to you, encouraged you and lifted you up on your journey. I pray that all you plant and tend physically in your life will flourish a ripe and fruitful garden, and what you plant and sow in your walk with Christ will strengthen you and grow you into the next season of your life that He has for you. Life is too short to not be growing and living it.

This final photo op I was able to have the pleasure of creating for the Mustard Seed Market, created and hosted by our dear friends Rustic Grains Wood Company was such joy to create. If you missed the spring market, save the date and plan to join in on the Holiday Mustard Seed Market coming December 2nd and 3rd, 2022, at the Clermont County Fairgrounds. Make sure to follow Rustic Grains Wood Company on social to keep up (@rusticgrainsco).

For the full reel of this display being created, follow me on Instagram @freckledandfree and check it out here.

Written by Bethany Curee, God’s Daughter – Freckled & Free