Wow-I came to visit my blog today and it's all different! lol I've been totally out of it lately. We have so many people looking at our house (it's for sale) that it's getting crazy! Don't get me wrong I'm thankful we have alot of interest but I'm constantly fussing about keeping it clean and ready for anything!

I've been busy in my Etsy shop too, which I love! I can't even tell you how gratifying it has been to sell my artwork. I've been selling lots of baseball ABC's lately-tis the season I suppose! My 5-year old started t-ball this year and he doesn't really want to do it. Well, he says he wants to then gets nervous about doing new things and starts acting up a bit! Meanwhile I've been reading like crazy about self esteem and getting kids to try new things and whether or not to force them-hahaha Jeez-we are such a crazy generation of people! Kids used to WANT to go play all day and parents used to let them. Oh well, it'll all work out right?

I've been trying to find time for a collection of animal art with letters. So far I've completed a giraffe and zebra. I've really enjoyed the process involved in creating them. They are completely digital. I don't know if I should leave the backgrounds white or add color or add a background design-I really kind of like the simplicity of the white. It seems to showcase the art of the animal itself better. I'm getting some use out of my graphics tablet and have been experimenting with all kinds of stuff. What do you think? Let me know your thoughts...

cute and colorful idea for mini storage...

I just love this and had to share...

captured from Cush and Nooks

You know you can find these little animals all over- I just spied bins and bins of them at Toys R Us-but even places like Tractor Supply carry these cute critters. Glue them on, give em a coat of glossy spray paint and you're done! Super Cute!

Back to the blogosphere..

Wow-I haven't written on here since March 5th? Sorry-guess I needed a little vacation. Well I wouldn't say it was all that vacation like. Just wanted to update anyone who was wondering about our little guy who had surgery down at U of M in February-he is doing fabulous! He has two long scars on each side of his lower abdomen and a barely noticeable one above his belly button. The one good thing that came of this experience was that with all the laying around he had to do-he got totally sick of video games-lol. Now I'm like "you better do your gaming while your brother takes a nap buddy" and he says "No mom, I'm not really into that right now." He is 5 so this conversation makes me laugh.

Well-we put our house on the market officially on Thursday. I will miss this little place, but it's time to move on. It's a cute, cottage style, city home with lots of charm and character. We've outgrown it though and I can't park in the garage. It's not such a big deal until you have to scoop a foot of snow off your car and start it 30 minutes before you leave! lol that sucks right? We did so many (long overdue) projects last week. Why is it always like that? We've lived here for 2 and half years now and did every single thing I've wanted to do in here to improve the aesthetic quality of the overall space, in one week! I guess it's nothing new-that's what I did for every single paper I ever wrote in college! ahhh but alas, it feels good to have it all done. 

I painted every piece of trim and every door in this entire house a glossy coat of BM Atrium White. It's my go to white for everything- I love it! And the old door handles (original to the house) I painted those with an awesome product from Martha Stewart I picked up at Home Depot. It's part of her textured collection and it's called-Vintage Gold Metallic-you gotta try this stuff-it's amazing!Of course I'm including pics of the staircase I've finally-kind of have finished-it needs retouching now-I'll tell you why some other time-haha...here's a few pics...

remember my year long staircase project? It needs retouching now but that is another blog post all together! :)

doors and trim before- painting with BM Atrium White semi gloss with primer added...

After- most of the white trim and doors you see around the house, I painted in the last week-whew!

still a work in progress in here...

roo needs a haircut, but mama is toooo busy! lol-he's happy about it believe me...

before the beat-up door handles...

painted with Martha Stewart Metallics in Vintage Gold

Another project we completed (in a day) was replacing the old crappy, peeling, perma-dirty floor in the kitchen with those groutable vinyl tiles. Have you seen these? I was slightly skeptical at first. I was like "whatever, just get something and lets go-anything is better than the ghetto stuff we've got going on in there now!" But I have to say-I really like it. It looks really good, it's warmer than ceramic tile, was super easy to install, you can lay it over existing vinyl as long as it's clean and flat, and it was cheap ($85) for the entire project!  Have a look it if you are in the market for a quick and easy fix that you can live with.

Wow-I was long winded today. Making up for lost time I guess! Talk to you soon....