Edina woman named finalist for Martha Stewart's 'American Made' award

EDINA, Minn. (KMSP) - A woman from Edina, Minn. is now a finalist for the “2015 American Made” award chosen by Martha Stewart. 

For Kim Senn, play time is family time with sons Hugo and Freddie -- but being creative with her 5-year-old and 3-year-old also serves as inspiration for her business as well.

"A lot of the designs that I have for the nurseries are inspired by the toys my kids love to play with,” she said.

Senn went back to the drawing board after quitting her job in advertising and moving from San Francisco to Minnesota with her husband to start a family. She painted 3 canvas panels of a paper airplane for Hugo's nursery.

After she posted a picture of his room on Facebook, her business took off.

"People were like 'where did you get that art? I have to have it.' My friend is having a baby. I put it on the back burner until my son started sleeping. Then I had all this time on my hands to do stuff. Started painting canvases for people."

Since then, she's created a number of different prints for nurseries and playrooms she sells on her website Senn and Sons (www.SennAndSons.com).  She’s also designed a line of planners and calendars that were carried by Target this summer.

Now, she's a finalist for an award picked by the grand dame of tasteful home decor and style herself Martha Stewart.

"I put my story out there and I got picked. It was sort of cool because it’s a huge national state and to have someone like Martha Stewart say ‘I like that.’ That's pretty cool."

Senn's mission to make family life a little more colorful is growing one design at a time. But the best part is teaching her sons that sometimes it pays to let your imagination run wild.

"It’s cool seeing people using and loving something you made up in your head,” Senn said.