LOVE BIG, SHOP SMALL

Spring at the Mustard Seed Market & Booth Design
Written by Bethany Curee, God’s Daughter – Freckled & Free

Love Big, Shop Small, that was the theme of this years Spring Mustard Seed Market 2023 and the second spring show for this darling developing local market for Clermont County, hosted by Rustic Grains—and, let me tell you it was another fabulous one.

*Display design & photo courtesy of Sarah Cox, Owner of Mustard Seed Market & Rustic Grains*

We love being a part of this market! Currently, it’s the only market we show at. From helping with graphic design and marketing, to thriving off of designing and hosting our own booth— we can’t help but count down to each show.

If you haven’t made it out to one just yet, you will be happy to know this year they are hosting three full shows. So while spring has already occurred, you can still hit up the fall market happening September 15-17 and the winter market happening November 17-19.

*Rustic Grains Booth*, *photo courtesy of Sarah Cox, Owner of Mustard Seed Market & Rustic Grains*

If you look into it further you can see they have dozens of vendors hosting an array of homemade goods, unique and vintage finds, clothing, jewelry and so much more. That’s not including the delicious food trucks at the Feed Stop, the FREE face paint, FREE petting zoo, live music and many other fun activities they include in these adventurous weekends. Each season there is something different to look forward too. Best part, kiddos get in free. I know for someone like me with four kiddos that’s a BIG deal and there is plenty for all to do. Whether you make it a family affair, a girls weekend, a mother/daughter date or heck, make it a date night for just two….you are sure to have a fun packed shopping experience.

This year they even introduced for the first time a Little Saplings Market, where kids host their very own booths and goods for sale. It went off with a big hit. Our kiddos learned so much about running their own business for the first time and found great joy in making all their products through their created company, Nakoda’s Nook & Crew.

Click here for a quick view of their booth set up and make sure to follow them on Instagram @nakodasnook_and_crew so you don’t miss what they are up to.

From Lego creations, to floral paintings, floral arrangements in mini vases, homemade clay earrings, handmade keychains, wooden signs and more, our kiddos put their heart and soul into their first booth and challenged theirselves to learn new skills. Nakoda even made custom earrings for their fellow Little Sapling friend with their logo for @YoEggCo. Thank you to all who supported these little entrepreneurs.

All and all we can’t say enough good things. Go ahead and pencil these babies in as a yearly event on your calendar. We know personally, they are prayed over and planned for months with YOU in mind. The host, Rustic Grains, works extremely hard to think about every detail and ensure that the guests will have the best experience possible.

With that recap laid out, let’s talk about the blast we had creating our own fun spring booth for shoppers, guest and browsers alike.

FRECKLED & FREE SPRING BOOTH DISPLAY & DESIGN

Visualize the song of spring birds. The joy of the mornings hope. The thrill of garden planning, flower picking and windows wide open. Picnic plans and play dates on the horizon. Hearty dreams about to come to life. The doing part of the year arises.

We get it and we hear it too. We worked hard pickin’ leading up to this to incorporate so many fun moments that would remind you of just that. From Tom’s custom picks of vintage coolers, weathered rustic old barn scores and sporting goods, to my vintage floral mugs and dishware, antique patio furniture and dainty vases mixed amongst adorable quirky finds— we hoped to inspire you for creating freshness in your own home with something that tells a story and stands the test of time. I couldn’t refuse adding our charming beach umbrella we scored to add to the decor and vibe with the imagination of being served up alongside a good breeze, homemade lemonade and grilled burgers. I can almost hear the echos of sprinklers going in the background.

I’m ready for all those summer cookouts with goodies from the garden with a display like this. Spring florals, vintage and antique dishware, brass and copper beauties, wicker plate holders and fringe table runners displayed on a solid-rounded-corner antique table and chair set. Makes you want a lovely spring dress to go along with it. Doesn’t it?

Old floral was back in her glory shining anew. You know, the couch that made its debut at the first market for a display we had hosted? But—this time actually for sale. Can you ever get enough of a beautiful art piece like this? She’s a Broyhill beauty in solid condition, while she didn’t sell at the market, she most recently sold on Facebook Marketplace. She certainly served her purpose and was everything we needed in our booth with her quaint self. With so many unique goods, I had to work hard to balance all the different colors in the booth to make it feel cohesive. Styling challenge accepted and accomplished.

My sweet son, Judah (10), who along with his sisters held their first booth in the Little Saplings Market as I discussed earlier, worked so hard learning the Dremel tool to make all his own array of wooden signs. It was love at first sight for me and I just had to utilize some of them in my booth as well. Above you see his “Wildflowers Here” sign, made with 100+ year old wood that Tom had from tearing down an old barn with a friend. It’s little touches like these and the stories they tell that add so much adventure in exploring a booth full of so many unique gems. A treasure hunt for adults and children alike.

VINTAGE BEAUTIES

Let’s talk about another really important piece in our booth display this spring. Our vintage floral printed crib. This crib was our personal crib so it had a special place in our hearts and I felt it best to debut at our spring show in its representation of new life. I centered the booth around her. I had this great vision of it be surrounded by these homemade mobiles I had drawn up in my mind. With hints of faded pink, purple, tans and creams, designed at varying heights. I ended up using embroidery rings and various knitting yarn to create them and I’m pretty fanatic on how they turned out. Dainty and dreamy. I had so much fun getting this creative outlet to create these beautiful pieces for my display and for your home. The branch and feather mobile was the original mobile I created for Naomi Ezra, my third baby, and second little girl. Charming? I think so!

And don’t forget the boys, I made some handsome airplane mobiles with rattan airplanes I scored.

Thankfully, the perfect buyer came along and snagged up the crib to carry on for her little one and I couldn’t be happier to know it’s going to a loving home. It’s a darling fabric that I’m sure going to miss.

With the handmade mobiles, wooden duckies crossing, the collection of antique typewriters, children’s rockers and would you believe it? A children’s antique toy phone booth!! Couldn’t. Get. Any. Cuter.

Happy hunting for us all.

*Above* *photos courtesy of Isabelle Bennett*

However, I can’t believe we still have this cutie available. Who doesn’t need a quirky cat pillow that would be a show stopper for any room? Frisky and fun and sure to spark some character in your home.

CUSTOM STICKERS

We even made our first two original stickers. Designed by myself and thought of by Mantiquing with My Wife, aka, my husband Tom. We have quite a few ideas here, but decided to start with two. “Suns Out, Guns Out,” for all the peeps who know what it means to wear a sleeveless flannel. We see you and get it. Tom was known in high school for his notorious sleeveless flannel Friday.

“You’re coming home with me,” for all those picker friends out there who see a good pick and know no matter what it’s coming home with them. We made them a little smaller than we wanted at 2 x 3ish, but we’re still figuring out the details to land where we want. Hit us up and grab you one of our first for only $2.99. Tom already had a lady request his autograph to one in case we become famous for them. It’s a running joke, that of course they wanted Tom’s even though I did all the hard work…it’s always Tom (haha). Go on with your bad self Tom. Hmph.

If the stickers didn’t get you, who could refuse the below particular vintage wiener dog, so perfect for styling in a home? Our instincts were correct on this pick and he sold rather quickly. Off to a happy home now.

A MESSAGE OF HOPE

If you got to experience our booth firsthand, we hope you felt flooded with light—both physically and also as encouragement to your soul. Not only did we collect many jolly lamps with vintage bulbs and custom lamp shades that we creatively made ourselves, but we worked to spread the message of HOPE all throughout the booth. If you didn’t get to experience it in person, we hope you feel it now.

From creating custom framed messages about how God said absolutely yes to the creation of YOU, to other excerpts taken from my recent blog I wrote surrounding hope; to incorporating and introducing for the first time some of my mother’s, (Kim Pendergrass’s) incredible writings through ShePlants.

We sprinkled several of ShePlants writings in custom frames that we teamed with her poetry and my artwork. As well as her house plants she masterfully put together in pots around the booth. Little worlds on their own. Perfectly and creativity balanced. With a green thumb in hand, she truly plants in love her little plant mastery as well as a word for your soul to soak up. On all spectrums we hoped to sow hope.

BEAUTY

Ok. So, let’s break it down here a minute and get inside my head and my heart a little more. You will see, we are all in discussing juicy design talk, and the next I’m getting deep. I’m a little here, and a little there, and I’m slipping in a little message. Ahem. That’s just how I roll. And if you made it this far, then it must be ok with you because you’re still here. What I want to talk about now for a second is beauty. And I promise it will all tie together.

Let’s talk about this beauty. A thing of beauty or many things of beauty. They say, beauty is actually defined as a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, and especially the sight. I think we can all admit…we enjoy beauty and we want beautiful things in all aspects truly.

I too desire to encompass this in my life and in my booth. Collections of beautiful things unique to different viewers. Perhaps a little something for everyone? I believe we can find beauty in so many things, A. Because God made the world and filled it with it, and B. Because we are made in His image. We—desire to create, and to have beautiful things— it’s ingrained into our very being (from Him). We do this in our own ways and however that might look to each individual. But what if you could find something, or I could offer something in my booth that is both exquisite, unique and able to feed you life? Sounds pretty good right?

“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

The answer is simple, God’s Word. To hear it and see it evokes a deep beauty and longing sometimes we didn’t know we had. A yearning to be whole, to be changed and filled with new life, hope, grace and a knowing of a love that suprasses all understanding. When I saw Hosanna Revival Bibles for the first time while traveling in Atlanta, I felt like they equally matched the beauty of God’s Word, with the design of their stunning Bibles. Master artist to artist.

In short, it was a desire made true for me to bring a collection of Bibles, devotions and journals to our booth and share them with all of you for the first time. As an artist and designer myself, I commend their work.

You can now always snag them here at each Mustard Seed Market at the Freckled & Free booth.

Just being honest, Jesus has always been the goal, the passion and drive in our life and while we thrive off pickin’ and finding man-made creations and antiques to bring to the booth—nothing compares to the Word of God. It has always been our heart to offer FREE Bibles in our booth and while we had one in which we were able to give away for free, we aren’t able to do that much just yet. I can tell you I have personally cried and struggled over having to charge for something that was given for free to all. But we have learned Bibles are expensive and there unfortunately is a cost to making them. So while we weren’t able to cover it all at this time, we were able to personally offer 10% off and bear the cost ourselves as a start.

God’s Word is masterful, wondrous and precious. A real thing of beauty. More precious than gold or a perfectly design room. And that is just plain the truth.

MINISTRY TEAM GIVEAWAY

In addition to the exciting Hosanna Revival items, this market, we felt led to do a Ministry Team Giveaway for a deserving husband and wife team. Having personally, Tom and I, worked hand-in-hand and sacrificed endlessly, and served many years hosting young adult and youth groups from our home, serving as youth pastors, children’s pastors and church planters and pastors, we know the passion, heart and drive that is required for this hard work. Because we know it so well ourselves, we wanted to pour into and give back to other husband and wife ministry teams serving in the trenches. The gift packaged that was given, valued at $270.00 pictured below:

Westminster ESV Study Bible (Him)
Luxembourg 5-YR Prayer Journal (Him)
Nara ESV Large Print Bible (Her)
Hyde Park Notebook (Her)
Yet 6 Week Devotional (Both)
Songs of Suffering Devotional (Both)

After 9 nominations came through we read and re-read the nominations—each one, truly a deserving couple. We were faced with a hard choice on our hands. After much prayerful consideration, we felt led to choose this Jesus-loving and servant-filled-hearted couple. Who were ever so blessed and encouraged to keep at the good fight.

A COOL STORY OR TWO

One of the niftiest things we love about doing this is all the fascinating stories we hear. A fellow vendor, Starlight Antiques, shared with us that the piece she bought from us in the Winter Mustard Seed Market, she resold to Cari Cucksey from HGTV’s show Cash and Cari at her daughter’s market in Michigan. The very piece Tom mantiqued himself from a marketplace find. Not gonna lie we felt pretty cool about it.

From this spring show we had a local florist, The Rustic Rose Flowers & Collectibles in Williamsburg, purchase our antique red Tandem vintage double bike to use for display outside their shop. Doesn’t it look rosey? Another mantiqued find from my handsome hubby doing his part for Freckled & Free and Mantiquing with My Wife (his special picks). You can catch a pretty hilarious reel of him taking it for a spin during market set up here.

*Photo courtesy of The Rustic Rose Flowers & Collectibles* *Shop*

TA DA

Whew, that was a lot…I know….but these babies are exciting to me. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I do. If not maybe my kids will one day enjoying reading all these memories I spend so much time writing.

On that note, a special shoutout to my crew for being just as excited about it with me; for being patient with all my crazy design obsessions, annoying rules in my head and thoughts. For standing with me to make my dreams happen and helping me feel like I’m contributing some creativeness and HOPE to the world for this journey of life and making a home while we are here. Tom Curee you’re my #1, seriously could not do it without your muscles, wisdom, creativity and support and Mantiquing picks. To momma, aka Kim Pendergrass & ShePlants extraordinaire, you are our sidekick, you are with us every step of the way being a blessing and we appreciate you. I hope your dreams get to be lived out as a part of this and that the words inside your heart get heard and bless many. To my kiddos, thanks for being patient with me (sometimes) when we do crazy picks and shove insane items in the vehicles surrounding you (know we love you). You bring us joy in every way. Our best artwork. Last but not least, thank you to my sister Savannah for saving the day and helping us tear down from the spring show and helping out with our kiddos several times to get where they needed to be. You the bestest.