Ode to the Old year and Hello to the New.

If you are like me you feel the Holiday Season went by too fast. But, it's OK. I am glad to be done with 2011.

The year started off great for me! With the arrival of my second baby boy and many snow days! My family was able to spend lots of quality time with our new addition. However things quickly turned south and even as I write this I begin to cry for the loss of so many people I have loved.

So HAPPY NEW YEAR! To:

Laurie (my sister in law taken way before her time on 2/9/2011)

Patsy: My step Grandmother, who I had not seen or spoken to in too many years and now will never have the chance again

My Grandmother Kathy: The Holidays were so hard without you, Even though you moved and we have not shared Christmas in a couple years to know that we will never have the chance to spend the Holiday with you again is difficult

And to Ace: Our family pet for 5 years who disappeared one day after being sick and almost near death just a couple months before, we miss you and hope you are still out there somewhere with a loving home

Yes, I can't wait for this year to be over with! I can't wait to start fresh. I never quite understood New Years Resolutions and why everyone considered the beginning of the year to be a fresh start until now. Every one needs a fresh start sometimes, wheather you create one out of actions you take, such as a move or a dramatic change. Or by just deciding that today is the day the past starts and the future begins. We must all choose to start over some times and tomorrow is my time.

What I plan to do with my new beginning:

1) Exercise and get back to my pre-pregnancy shape by working out a little every day and making healthier choices.

2) Focus more on my art business plan and stop letting myself get distracted from working every weekday while Aidan is in school and I have some time to work, I know I can make a living at my art and plan to prove it to the world.

3) Spend more time doing things with my kids and Eric

4) Get my home better organized so I am less stressed


Things to look forward to this coming year:

1) My Vacation to Galveston in May!!!

2) My Fall wedding!!!


HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!
And I hope this is the best year ever for you :)

Camden is 11 months old today!!!

I can't believe how big my baby bot is getting. It seems like I just got back from the hospital yesterday but almost a year has gone by.

Most would think I would be happy, this means I can go back to work soon as he will begin to wean himself in the next couple of months. But it just breaks my heart to know that every day that passes he needs me a little less.

I have been so blessed to have been able to stay home with him and Aidan for the last year, even tough it has been tough financially, but I wouldn't have given it up for the world. They develope so fast in the first year that the ability to see your baby change a little every day is a priceless gift to every parent.

I am so lucky and so proud to have two beautiful boys that I am able to wake up to every day.

Yummy Pancakes with fruit and ... Squash?!?

Yes you read correctly, this morning I made pancakes with squash in it. And not just any squash... baby food squash!

It started when I decided to add some of my frozen cherries and blackberries to the batter. I was thinking about how pancakes smothered in syrup are not the healthiest way to start the day, especially if you are feeding them to a 5 year old and 11 month old boy. then I began to search the refrigerator for other yummy things to add...

Apple sauce, great!

Then I began to get a little crazy, "How would they taste if I added a pureed vegetable?" I asked my self, when I remembered the 60+ jars of baby food I had that the baby would no longer allow me to feed him (he wants to feed himself, so I give him finger foods now for every meal). Baby food was a great idea because it is already pureed for me and contains no additives, just fruit or veggies and water.

I added the squash to my batter and to take away the little bit of squash flavor I added a few drops of Vanilla and PRESTO!
Yummy Pancakes that had about 2 servings of fruit and veggies in them.

And best of all my boys LOVED THEM!!!!

If you want to use a vegetable with a stronger flavor use a little less veggie and a little more vanilla flavor or fruits.

Also if you want to reduce the amount of syrup you use crush up some berries and add just a little water and syrup! Frozen fruit works great for this and makes for a quick way to make your breakfast a little more nutritious.

Decorating on a Budget: How to make your own Canvas Prints

There are many websites and stores that offer this service, but you yourself can make beautiful canvas prints at home and here is how.

What you will need:

Ink jet/ laser jet canvas (purchase at any office supply store or online for about $10-$15 for 10 sheets, so about $1.50 a sheet)

4 Stretcher bars (2) 5 inch and (2) 7 inch (purchase at any art supply store for less then $.50 each)

a printer

a staple gun (manual or electric powered)


Most household printers can only print on up to 8.5x11 inch paper. If you have a printer with a larger printable area you can make larger canvas print. For those of you who do not you will only be able to get a 5x7 inch stretched canvas print out of your printer.

1) Choose the picture you would like to print.

2) Use any photo software to adjust the size of your picture and crop it to the right size and shape. If you want the image to wrap around the sides of your canvas you will need to measure the sides of the stretcher bars you will use. Most bars are 3/4 inch which means your picture will need to be at least 6.5x9.5 inches (I like to add about half an inch to each side in case I make a mistake when stretching the canvas onto the bars, so, that's 7x10 inch pic)

3) load your printer with the printable canvas and print at your printer's highest quality.

4) Give the ink some time to dry. Then lay the canvas print side down on a flat surface.

5) Assemble your stretcher bars and lay the completed square on the back of your print (lift the sides to make sure you are on the print so you do not have any white showing on the finished product)

6) Start with one side, fold the canvas around the bars and starting in the center of the bar begin to staple it to the back of the stretcher bar leaving about a quarter of an inch at the corners unattached to the bar.

7) Repeat with the opposite side of the picture from where you started, pulling the canvas tight around the bars as you staple.

8) You should now have two of the sides of your picture stapled to the back of the bars. Now staple one of the other sides leaving the corners.

9) Once you have finished that side you will take one of the corners and fold it to one of the sides of the picture and around to the back of the canvas and staple it down. Do this with both corners.

10) Now finish the last side following steps 8 & 9.

You now have a beautiful stretched canvas you can show off in your home for about $3.50, a fraction of the cost of paying someone else to do it.

Cheap and Free Ways to Make Money off your Art: Cafepress

Cafepress.com is a great way to make residual income off your artistic creations.


The site allows you to create many fantastic items with your images on them such as; mugs, prints, t-shirts, clocks, bags, hats... The list goes on. Having a shop is as simple as uploading pictures and setting your prices. It is also cheap to set up. In most cases you will get a free trial period. After that you have several options for payment plans. For those of you starting out you can opt for the royalties plan, where they will keep 10% of your profits for the month up to $10. Once you start to bring in the big bucks you may want to switch to a flat monthly fee of $6.95 or less per month.


Although a Cafepress store is easy to create, it is also time consuming. In most cases the image you upload will have to be resided and cropped for many different shaped items. You also have to figure out how you will categorize your shop and market it. However once you get the site up and running you can sit back and wait for the sales to happen.


For many Cafepress is not a main source of income. But in this day in age it is a great way to diversify and earn a passive income off the art work you have already created and may have already sold the originals of.


To see an example of the shop i am starting up for my work go here: RMB Art Designs

Creepy Black Cat eyes ACEO For Halloween!

I am in the process of making some new, wonderful items for Halloween!

Some of these items include Paintings, skull pens, jewelry and fun halos!

To hold you over here is one of my black cat eyes ACEO prints!

These would be great for party gifts or just for your own collection!



Only $5 + $0.44 S&H!!!

Beautiful Hand-Made Glass Tile pendants

Introducing my new glass tile pendants. Each pendant features a letter of your choice!



Beautiful glass pendant made from a 1in square glass tile with a sterling silver bail.

These make great gifts for friends and family.

Great as a pendant on a necklace, charm on a bracelet, key chain, cell phone charm, backpack zipper, or anywhere!!!

Each tile features your letter of choice. After you make your purchase please email me with the letter you want.

The pendant is water resistant but not water proof so please be sure to take it off when swimming or showering as the water could seep under the sealant I used and ruin the image.


Order yours today for only $5 + S&H

Enter the letter you would like and then press the "buy now" button for a secure Pay Pal transaction!

New Painting: Dark Matter

Here is another attempt at the Pour technique. I really enjoy this way of creating paintings and would like to do some larger ones.

This painting is 16x20in. I used deep colors including a hunter green, black, white, red and a metallic gold.

The sides are painted black so there is no need to frame it.

Silly Brother! (Cam and Aidan laughing at each other)

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Camden rolls over

Now all he has to do is learn to roll the other way.

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Aidanism #1: The Horn

A macaroni with a big hole and a small hole.

Aidan was upstairs one day and I heard the strangest sound. I asked him what he was playing with and he said "My macaroni... the one with the big hole and the small hole".

When I asked him ti bring it to me so I knew what he was talking about he brought down the horn Orion gave him.


(Aidanisms are funny things my 4 yr old son Aidan says. There are many of them so I will try to publish them frequently)

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MAY DAYS EVENT! All Items 40%-50% OFF!!!

Take advantage of my HUGE May Days Sale in my eBay story!

Now though May 31 at 11:59pm PDT
(That's June 1 @ 1:59am central)
All my art is 40%-50% OFF!!!

This includes any custom paintings if ordered before the sale is over.

Click here for RMB Art Studio on eBay!

*Prices only available if purchase is made through my eBay store*

Click here for RMB Art Studio on eBay!

The Case of the Green Poop

My poor baby, Cam, has had green snotty looking poop accompanied by a small fever for over a week now! I took him to the doc last Thursday and was told that he had a stomach virus. He was supposed to get shots yesterday after it had cleared up. But, it had not, although his poop had started to look closer to normal. So, doc had me take home a stool sample kit to collect the poo.

She never told me what she thought it might be,but the kit said it was a test kit for pathogens and parasites! The thought of my baby having some kind of parasite really freaks me out! To make it all worse the poop has turned back to its slimy snotty consistency that it was last week and he still has a small fever! AND, we will not have the test results for a week!

Other then the strange poo and little bit of a fever, he seems to be doing fine. Still his smiley happy self. But, a mommy has a right to worry!

Great Shopping trip and Aidan's fantastic Snack Basket!

I wanted to share with you how i go about my grocery shopping trips. Like many of you i usually make a list before going out. This time around I kept track of my list on my refrigerator and marked things down as I started to run out of them, or as I thought of things I needed. After making my list I scanned the newspaper and Internet for coupons for some of the items I needed and then looked over my local grocery stores weekly ads to see who had the best deals for the items on my list. This week was Albertson's.

I like Albertson's when I need to buy meat because they usually have some good specials. Check out these great deals I got!

Not only was their ground beef $1.99/lb but some packs had a $3 off manager special coupon on it! the 3 packs I bought were a little over 3lbs a piece, after the coupons I ended up getting 11.1lbs for $13.20 (That's $1.19/lb!) There drumsticks were also a great deal at $0.69/lb so I bought 10.51lbs for $7.25!



Now as many of you may now, Albertson's will usually triple coupons up to $.39 and double up to $.50. Well not only did they have great buy one get one free specials on biscuits, but I also had some $.40 coupons which they doubled. I ended up getting 4 buttery flaky biscuits, 4 small rolls of croissants, 4 small grands biscuits and 3 small rolls of cinnamon rolls for only $11.72 instead of $19.49! Which i could have used more of the coupons for this purchase if I had them but i decided to go ahead and buy more then i had coupons for since they were bogo!




You really don't have to be an extreme couponer to get some great deals!

I find it amazing how, when presented with options, a child can make good decisions... er, well at least mine has been recently.

Introducing: Aidan's fantastic Snack Basket!



I started this when Aidan was three, but made the mistake of keeping it where he could reach it. After only a couple of days I woke up to open snacks all over the house!

I decided to try it again recently and now i keep it where he can not reach. In the basket I have many healthy snacks, such as: apples, granola bars, fruit cups, pop corn and baggies of dried fruits and nuts... I also have a couple not so healthy snacks, one little baggy has a lolly pop and tootsie roll in it, or chips. The great thing about the snack basket is Aidan gets to make his own decisions, within reason, but he also learns to make healthier choices. The Healthy snacks are a little bigger and more filling, so, no matter how tempting it may be to grab the candy, he knows those two small pieces are not going to fill him up and he may need to pick something better like the bag of fruits and nuts.

Cheap and Free Ways to Make Money off your Art: Etsy

Often times I am asked about where I sell my work, many people are surprised that I rarely, if ever show work locally any more. I find that local shows and art fairs, although fun and a great way to meet fellow artists and art lovers, are just too time consuming for some one like me. With all the commitments I currently have selling online is really the best way for me to get my art out there.

I am incredibly fond of Etsy.com for many reasons. Namely for the sense of community it has. Many artisans are very friendly and encouraging and they want each other to succeed. There is such a wide variety of crafts and art that it draws a wide range of buyers, many of which are looking for stylish unique hand-made items. I tend to often times be afraid of doing something new for fear of failure. The fact that so many people are wanting to see something different makes it easier to get past that fear and do things that I may not have tried before. plus when you do make something, even though it may take some time to sell, you get positive feedback from your work through people "liking" your items or making your shop a favorite, or even adding your item to a treasury. That kind of positive reinforcement really helps you keep going when sales are down.

Etsy only costs $.20 per listing making it affordable to get started on an artists budget. And you get to keep your listing up for 4 months!

One of the downsides to Etsy are the amount of sales. You have to be patient and wait it out until you see any action. You also have to keep listing items on a regular basis. If you only list a couple and wait until the listing ends your item will get buried under months of other listings causing you to get very little exposure. On the same token, if you list a lot of items all at once the same thing will happen. Many people will suggest listing at least once per week, this is good advice. I would recommend listing your work as often as possible, even once per day if you can, to keep people looking at your stuff and to keep your shop fresh with new and interesting items.

For examples of an Etsy shop check out mine HERE.

Rover Rally

Here are some pictures from Rover Rally in March. I didn't take many paintings with me since it was such a small event and only 3hrs long. But, we had a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and said hi to us.

My Fallout with Fast Food

Well, I have finally had it! I recently had to go through my finances to figure out where our money is going. You see, with the impending birth of our son, Camden, Eric and i decided to save as much money as we could just in case I had to be away from work longer then we planned. I was making 2/3 our household income so the thought of me no longer receiving my cushy pay checks was kind of terrifying. We were glad to be well prepared because, sure enough, I had to leave work a month earlier then we expected. I was placed on bed rest.

This actually worked out to our advantage. We were able to figure out how to make it on just Eric's income and I hardly had to touch my savings (I did spend some on Christmas tho). Then, I don't know what happened, I received my income tax return and I guess between that, getting board sitting around the house on bed rest then recovering from the c-section and Eric not being able to work for almost a whole pay period (the time he took of for the baby's birth happened to land in the same pay period as the death of his sister Laurie. It was a crazy and emotional two weeks for us). i started to see our savings dwindle. Some of it was out of my control, but other factors were well within my control! I have been spending too much. After looking over where the money had gone I was able to see that about half went to bills, the pay period Eric did not work also happened to be the one we pay rent with. And sometimes i will pay the bills with the savings before payday with the intent that we will put it back when the paycheck comes in. This did not always happen. Some went to baby stuff and clothes for me since my maternity clothes are becoming to big and much of my regular clothes are still too small. But a larger chunk then i expected went to fast food!

It has been so easy to succumb to the temptation of the drive through when I am finally able to get out and about. But it is something I need to get under control for several reasons.

1) It costs much more then eating at home.

2) I am trying to loose this baby weight and all that fatty goodness is not helping.

and 3) While nursing, it is not good for a growing baby or a 4 yr old boy!

I have decided to put a stop to it! It is my goal to stop eating fast food and here is how I am going to do it. You see, I have been spending approximately $100 a month on eating out. That is $50 every two weeks! So, for every 2 weeks I can go without going through a drive through I will reward my self with a $25 credit toward shopping for new clothes, shoes, or treating myself to a trip to the salon. As with many of us, I love shopping! And now that I am able to be a stay at home mom and I don't have to wear a uniform to work every day, it is nice to make my self look good. If I go through even one drive through, or order one pizza I do not get that credit. I can then spend those credits when ever I feel like going shopping. This will help me save half of what I was spending on junk food!

Here is how I am going to accomplish it:

1) I have bought healthy snack items for us, I places some in the diaper bag and some in the car so if we get hungry when we are out we have something to hold us over

2) I am not leaving the house so often. I found that by leaving the house every day we are tempted to spend more money where ever we go. By combining trips and keeping a list of what we need and errands and then only leaving the house once or twice a week I am limiting my exposure to that temptation to spend anywhere.

3) Make sure we eat before leaving the house. Sometimes i get in such a hurry to get out and do what I need to do that I end up relying on the drive-through as a time saver.

Well, I started this Monday and so far so good. Lets hope I can keep it up, Wish me luck!

My goals as a stay at ome mom and professional artist

OK, so i have found that being home day in and day out can cause lack of motivation. Yes, it was so much easier to feel a need to get up and ready in the morning when I know I had to be at work in a couple of hours. But now I am in charge of my own schedule which makes it easy to just say "It's OK to go back to bed for a couple hours, it's not like I HAVE to work" or "I can clean the house tomorrow, it's not like this is my only day off for the week"

Yes, working from home is much more difficult then dropping the kids off at daycare and going to an actual job. first of all you have to motivate yourself and remain disciplined. Second you have to actually get work done while jumping away from that work to care for two kids and keeping a house in order. For example, as I type this I am using one hand to type and another to feed Camden who demands to be fed every 2 hours. If I'm lucky he will go to sleep after eating and being changed and my oldest, Aidan, will stay upstairs and play giving me the time I need to take care of business and cook dinner.

Now, over the past two months I have found that the baby likes to sleep all morning... the only problem is so do I. However, if Camden sleeps all morning and Aidan is content to eat breakfast and then watch his morning cartoons this should be the perfect time to get some work done.

So, my goal is to start getting up after Cam's morning feeding, take a shower, get dressed and maybe even put some makeup on. the theory is that after all that I will be ready to start my day and get some work done as opposed to sleeping till 10 or 11 in the morning then feeling crummy that half my day is gone and I accomplished nothing. After a week or so I may even be able to incorporate a morning workout in my wake-up routine.

RMB Boston terrier puppy ORIGINAL Dog Oil painting Art

Big Eyed Puppy


The piece was done in oil paint. It is varnished with several glossy coats to keep it protected.

The painting measures 8x10in

The painting is on flat canvas on masonite for easy framing.

To see the ebay auction click here

RMB Black Lhasa Apso ORIGINAL Dog Oil painting Art

Snookie

The piece was done in oil paint. It is varnished with several glossy coats to keep it protected.

The painting measures 8x10in

The painting is on flat canvas on masonite for easy framing.

See the ebay auction here

Perspective Series Painting #1: M&M Machine

This is painting #1 of my Perspective Series. In this series I explore the idea that by looking at every day objects from a different view point changes how one thinks of the object.

To see more pics click here to check out my eBay listing.