The store continues…
Since my teaching days, I have been able to share my love of sewing through the many books and patterns I have written and with the many television appearances and seminars I do around the country. Throughout the process of sculpting my career, I started my indie publishing company and created my own brand: “More Splash Than Cash®.”
My primary goal is to provide you with to-the-point information to help you decorate your home the way you want to. I have always enjoyed the fact that I can easily subvert the “cookie cutter décor syndrome” that every retailer insists you need. Being the ultimate DIYer, I am constantly looking at something with an “oh, I can make that” attitude. And, I love sharing what I figure out.
Donna’s Bio: The Long Version
Donna’s decorating career began out of frustration when she purchased a commercial pattern to make a window treatment for her home. Although Donna has extensive sewing and design knowledge, she couldn’t figure the pattern out. “I remember standing in my sewing room and saying, ‘There’s got to be an easier way.’ ”
“I thought if I was having these frustrations—and I knew what I was doing—what about the people who didn’t have my sewing background? I can help them!” remembers Donna.
This sewing problem became the inspiration of her first book, Versatile Valances. While writing it, Donna founded her indie publishing company, Windsor Oak Publishing. Versatile Valances sold nearly 100,000 copies. Her publishing company has expanded to produce a line of patterns, named RoomMates™ as well as developing the popular More Splash Than Cash® book series. Her fifteenth book, Decorating Sewlutions, just hit the bookshelves.
Donna enjoys all aspects of bringing a how-to product to life. As a one-woman company, Donna designs and makes all of the projects that are featured in her patterns and books. This gives the reader an important benefit: If she runs into a pitfall while creating the project, it is worked out prior to publication and the instructions are written accordingly so you will never even know a problem was lurching! Her newest publishing obsession is illustrating her books and patterns.
Donna shares her decorating advice and knowledge through seminars and workshops, national television appearances, her books and patterns, and internet videos. The underlying message throughout all of her projects is to be flexible, to have a sense of humor, and above all, be fearless.
Donna has appeared on more than 250 local, national, and cable television programs including shows on HGTV, Discovery, and Lifetime networks. She has been a “Pop-Up Expert” for numerous shows on the DIY channel. Donna has authored or been quoted in many articles in newspapers and magazines such as Woman’s Day and Better Homes and Gardens. She has represented:
- Bath and Body Works
- Krylon Paint
- Pellon Consumer Products
- Waverly Fabrics
- Viking Sewing Machines
- T-Fal Irons
But wait! There’s more!
Here’s what I consider to be the really important stuff:
- My favorite color is purple, but I don’t use it to decorate my home.
- I love the anticipation of a huge snowstorm. I wake up all hours of the night to see if it has started snowing yet.
- My guilty pleasure is that I’ve watched the soap opera, The Young and the Restless, since it started. I even organized my college classes around it. I still watch it every day.
- My house is a working laboratory. It’s an ongoing how-to project. You never know how my house will be organized. I once moved my bed into my living room and slept there for a month while preparing for a photo shoot.
- I live with four wonderful and possessive cats and one dog. All are rescues. Jake, my token male, flushes the toilet.
- I’m a Parrot Head. Fins Up!
