When Laura Deems wants to give you a gift, she sure does do it right. In fact, that is where her burgeoning small business, Little Mustard Seed, all began. What started as a small print making venture one summer in Athens has turned into "a business before [she] even knew it was a business!"

Just in case you aren't convinced, take a look at her Instagram. Her recent giveaway for the Georgia Theater print garnered over 100 comments, all from people who are hoping to win this unique representation of their beloved college town. Laura says some of her Instagram followers are from all over the United States now.

With her social media presence growing by the day, Laura gets several custom print requests a week. That's not to mention her standard print sales of landmarks in the charming towns she visits. Her artful representations of homes, buildings, and churches illustrate her fascination with quaint little towns and the charming people within them.

Little Mustard Seed aims to bind this fascination with Laura's love for gift-giving. She gets particularly excited to draw buildings for people with a story, so they can hang a physical memento of their favorite memories on their walls. This is proven in the name; "Little Mustard Seed" represents her endeavors to give gifts that may be small, but which are also meaningful.

I sat down with Laura over coffee and found the artist to be just as charming as the buildings she draws.

Tell me a little bit about how all this came into fruition.

It all started when I started making cards for people. Just leaving people notes and just loving gift giving in general. I love people feeling surprised and feeling loved. So two summers ago, I was bored in Athens and wanted to make a little extra money. I decided to make a little Athens print just to see if people liked it.

Did it look any different than they do now?

[Laughing] They looked totally different. It was on brown paper, and not very cute. But people liked it and wanted to buy it! So I went off of that, making the Athens original town prints and selling them to locals. Mostly to people who knew me and wanted to support me.

Did social media help you launch it on a bigger scale?

Absolutely. Instagram came into the picture, and Little Mustard Seed kinda took off because people were asking me to draw their homes once they saw my posts. So that's where I got the idea to start doing custom prints. That went really well. Instagram has been great for me because just by posting, people start noticing you. Everything slowly started expanding after that, especially after the Broad Collective contacted me.

Have there been any other partnerships that have helped you expand?

Yes, actually. I think the biggest one that has helped me get my name out there has been my internship in Charleston this summer, working with the artist Lulie Wallace. She posted something I made her, and I got a lot of Instagram hits. After that, it kind of became a business before I even knew it was a business!

I also have a partnership in Texas and in New York with two interior design firms, and every time they have a customer they'll give them one of my prints. I also have started doing some wholesale prints in a store in Thomasville, and then pretty soon with Magnolia Lane. I'll be doing college town prints for them.

What is it like managing a small business on a college student's schedule?

It's hard. You have to say no to a lot of things, and its hard to manage your time between work and normal college kid stuff. I feel like I haven't had the normal college kid experience at all, juggling being a full-time student, small business owner and young life leader. And I don't even really know what I'm doing at all sometimes! I just make things I hope people will like, and seeing the response. But I love it all. I'm so thankful for the individuals I've gotten to meet through Little Mustard Seed.

I've learned a lot, doing this for almost a couple years now. Especially about building the confidence to price things that took up a lot my time accordingly. I've learned about marketing and business. It's harder than you'd imagine to put a price on art.

Are you able to make time for any other art forms?

I do; this whole thing with Little Mustard Seed has really made me grateful for the time I get to paint. Because this whole process is very tight; it's not loose or gestural. It's creative, but not in the creative way of being truly artistic. So, painting is such a release for me. And my school work is as well. I am a textiles major, so pattern making is my creative outlet outside of Little Mustard Seed.

Where do you see this going in the future?

You know, I don't really know. I feel like when I try to plan things, they never go the way I think they will, so I think I'm just going to ride it out. But it seems to keep expanding, which I'm super grateful for. And I feel like there's so much I could do with this in the future.

But I want to make sure I can keep thinking of this as giving a gift, and not selling a product. That's why I try to get to know a little bit about every person I draw a home for, so I can think of it in that way.

I have no idea what it will look like in two years, but I am excited to find out! Little Mustard Seed has opened up a whole new side of Athens for me, and a whole new group of people. So I'm just glad my plate is full right now.

**All photos taken from Little Mustard Seed Instagram

Check out Little Mustard Seed to buy Laura's prints!