New Shop Under Way

My dear blogosphere it has been a while. The summer is underway and that has led to a flurry of activity in my home and in my shops. I hope you are all enjoying the sunnier weather and have a calendar full of picnics, graduation parties, and summer vacations.

I promise to have some more Illustration Friday posts, daily pics, and other musings soon. For today I wanted to announce my new shop: Sweet Feet Designs on Etsy. This shop is dedicated to children's items. I have been thinking a long time how I wanted to integrate these types of items into my current shop: Blue Leaf Boutique but decided it really needed a home of its own. For those of you that follow me, know my kiddos are everything to me. There always inspiring me and creating for them is such a treat. I just wanted to share my creations with others too!

Check it out! More items will be added soon!

Benefits of Nature

Nothing like a little Mother Nature to inspire you to revamp your basement. And by revamp I mean: gut. And by inspire I mean: flood with water and require you and your husband to break out into hysteria.

All things in my household have taken a back seat due to the unrelenting rain we got here in Central Pennsylvania. The ground was saturated and after a few more storms than it could handle our basement filled up like a soup pot waiting for the dinner bell.

My husband and I scrambled at 10:00 at night with wet-vac and buckets in tow but eventually the battle was lost. The next several days were a blur of ripping up carpet and tearing down drywall. We were left with a completely blank slate and an insurance check. Not necessarily a bad thing!

We installed some faux hardwood flooring that is actually WATERPROOF. No buckling, bending,or mold. It's made from some type of magic rubber. Your basement floods and you just yank it out, let it dry, clean it off, and reinstall. Still some work but none of the cost of new flooring and it looks great!

I painted the walls a slate blue and added wainscotting along the bottom to brighten up the space. We got some new wool area rugs from a bargain store and some new throw pillows for good measure. I finally convinced my husband to rid ourselves of some old school college posters (this was his man-cave before kids) and added some Mediteranean art that I did. I added a houseplant onto one of the small window ledges to give the basement some life.

All in all I like it better than what we started with.

The Daily Pic - Spring Sensation

I love my house this time of year. What is usually a modest suburban house becomes a showstopper thanks to Mother Nature. She is like the nerdy girl at school that doesn't get a second glance...and then wow. All of a sudden she puts on that red dress and nobody recognizes her.

Look out neighborhood, my house might just steal your boyfriend.

Illustration Friday "Lesson"

It has been a long few weeks. I have a post with details coming soon, but right lets just say it involved an unexpected basement renovation. There are always lessons to be learned but sometimes you need distance from the sweat and frustration before they become clear.

This illustration is of a pillow study done for one of my drawing courses on cross-hatching. It is a technique I rarely use but I always loved the effect in that great childrens book "Where the Wild Things Are."

The Daily Pic

The idea of "home" has been on my mind a lot lately. What kind of home would meet my family needs? What kind of home do I really want? As usual I am always inspired by nature. This simple structure that my son painted a couple years ago has weathered with age. That seems to have only added to its character and charm. I think the birds that live here would definitely agree.

The Daily Pic

This little guy was found in my garden. It's funny how the smallest things can slip right past our eyes. He was having a nice lunch on a peice of seed packet.

Illustration Friday "Journey"

"I am not reggae, I am me. I am bigger than the limits that are put on me. It all has to do with the individual journey. " Ziggy Marley I love this quote. The statement" I am bigger than the limits that are put on me," is such a powerful statement. We all have limitations, poverty, illness, others perceptions, but bigger than those limitations is what makes greatness. It is what inspires others. It is what defines a lifetime. It is what makes the end reward so much sweeter. Here is to all of us, chipping away day by day at those limitations until they come crumbling down and the journey along the way until they do.