Hi friends! Thought I’d share some of what I’ve been up to lately. I’ve been alternating between days of almost-normal-levels of energy and creative output and then days of struggling to do anything beyond laying on the couch and napping — late pregnancy is so completely bizarre! I have nights of wonderful sleep and then nights where I seem to wake up every 10 minutes. I’m trying to just go with the flow an enjoy these last weeks of our family as just Ryan, me, and the kitties, before this new little soul arrives to live in our home with us.

You guys, a new HUMAN is going to be living in our house. And this human is someone who’s been MADE BY US and who is currently inside my body. That is like, TRUE MAGIC. Isn’t it? Wow. As much as I’ve been complaining about aches and pains and things being hard lately (and I’ve developed carpal tunnel in my left hand — I am left-handed — which is a total pain, and who knew that was even a pregnancy thing??), the fact that this is pure magic happening right inside my body is not lost on me.

So anyway, I’ve been painting and making stuff as I have the energy for it; above is a papier maché fox head that I made last weekend, and I’ve got a bear head in the works, too! I needed some non-painting decor, and I have a papier maché deer head in our living room that I love, so I thought to myself “I can do that!”. I gathered up some newspaper, flour, and cardboard, and off I went! Papier maché is FUN — I forgot! I used to love this process when I was a kid — it was fun to revisit it. And I love how it turned out! I’ll share the bear head, too, when I get him finished.

I also finished up this whale painting yesterday, the newest in my growing animal kid art series.

I know I can’t put all these new paintings in Baby Swift’s room, so I’m probably going to have to start selling them at some point….. but it’s going to be hard!! I love each one and am having so much fun painting them.

Here’s the finished whale painting (a print of which is now in the shop):

And this thing seems to be growing by the hour right now:

Hello, baby!

I’ve also been working on a special set of limited edition themed sea elves with Laura — it’s been a while since we released a new set, and we thought it was high time to do so! Here’s a sneak peek at one of the 8 from the set:

Any guesses what the theme is?

This special set will be coming in mid-October, but in the meantime, we’ve got a new group of regular sea elves coming later today. They’ll be right here. I’ll write another blog post when they’re available.

In other news, I discovered a new-to-me artist over the weekend, with whom I’m now in love: Jahna Vashti. I was at a street fair with some friends here in Portland and stumbled across her booth — I’m in love with her charming work! I bought a couple of cards, which I’m going to frame up for Baby Swift’s room. Here’s one:

Isn’t it lovely? I seem to be really into that blue color these days…..

You can find more of her work on her website and in her Etsy shop. It’s so good!

And in other other news, we’re getting our basement floors refinished! Check it out:

We’ve been waiting for this project to happen all summer long. The concrete people were totally booked up, so we’ve had the project date on the calendar for months, and the time is finally here. They pulled up the ugly beige carpet (good riddance!), ground down the concrete floors, stained it, and are currently sealing it up. It should be finished tomorrow. I’ll show you what it looks like when it’s all finished– the mottled grey is sooooooo great and changes the entire feel down there. Finally!

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So, that’s the news around here lately. Just waiting for Baby Swift to make his entrance into the world, mostly. ;)