... something for kate

feeling most special & lucky + life right now...

its always a worry when you put all your fave workings and your heart into making things and then offer them for sale...  will any of them sell?  well the first batch were received by their new owners last week and already i have been feeling very relieved and grateful for the welcome reception as they were unwrapped... 

 

i never want to forget these very early and new beginnings and the love sent my way and how that made me feel....

the lovely kim [huge fan of her making] shared her thoughts here. thank you kim, so very sweet & i look forward to putting something together for your @home workshops in the near future!

dear angela emailed me this: "Oh Kate! they are so beautiful!  I just love them! They all arrived safe and sound today and I saved opening them till tonight when all the kids were tucked up in bed. I've been drooling over "Ma Cherie" and now I can imagine even more how lovely that one would be..."

and the always sweet chris emailed: "Hi Kate, It’s just gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m so excited that my lovely little canvas is here and it’s even more divine in real life!!!  My girls are going to love it too when they get  home from school!!!!  I can’t stop touching it and feeling the texture."

thank you ladies.  i am very grateful. xo

a wee bit on my plate...

the weeks are flying by so fast right now.  with pre-school drop offs and pickups 3 days per week for georgia, with 3 other kids in tow + all the meal prep & cleanup, sorting clothes [omg, the sorting, putting away & outfit selection that goes on here.... geez!!!!!], organising activities & trying to keep some sort of tidyness & order throughout the day is making time go very fast. and now my evenings after they are all in bed are getting seriously busy too!

i have quite a bit of work to do right now, my proper paying graphics job that is. jeff is working lots of day hours at the moment which leaves me very little time to get all done that i need to do while the kids are in bed at night.  

i'm also putting together my workshop for creative edge here in Adelaide in September [enquiries to Janine].  i'm working with the Donna Downey Prima canvas album which is divine and perfect for adding all my usual fave, a little bit arty farty, shabby things.  lots of fun!  

i have several commissions on the go too which will take me up until late july/early august AND as mentioned above, will soon be doing a little something for kim archer's @home business too.

oh yes, and i have another fundraiser [for heartkids] that i am working away on behind the scenes.  you can read snippets here.

all good though, i love being busy, i work best when i am not bored and have tight deadlines.  i always produce the stuff i love most when i don't think too much about the process and just create.  no doubt i'll get everything done + some new canvases for my etsy shop as well. creating & working like a woman posessed in the small time i have, that's what i'll be doing for the coming weeks!  fun fun fun!

so amongst all this craziness, i gotta take snippets of time out to smell [and record] the roses sometimes too so....

on the weekend i snapped these little people made by georgia & charlotte & with help from their big cousin victoria.  this is the mason family!

and tonight in our house i snapped these two messy rascals after they finished eating their spaghetti dinner.  love the [poor quality iPhone] photo but didn't enjoy the cleanup afterward! my kids would eat my homemade spaghetti bolognese every night of the week if i would let them but there's too much mess for my liking so once per week it is.  terrible mother aren't i?  nah, like to give variety anyway so its not such a bad thing.

scrapbooking has been taking a backseat of late with all my mixed media making.  at least i have this blog to record the snippets as we travel though time, and i can pull bits from here to create some layouts and albums when i actually make some time to scrap.

in other quick news, chelsea is walking more than crawling now and is so proud of herself.  she made it just before the 18mth mark!  yay for you chels!  i have more of an update on her progress from a week or so ago on our heartkid family blog here.

ok, off to work i go.

kate

xo

for sale...

available through my ETSY store:

 

SOLD

 

SOLD

Thanks for visiting!

Kate

xo

these little ladies flew all the way to the uk last week...

but i thought i would share them here anyway.

front & side view

if you look close up, you can see how textured they are, including the little glossy accents i add to the final varnish.  

i am thoroughly enjoying making these little ladies.  its like a culmination of my 20+ years of intentional art making has finally evolved into something i can really share.  i have worked very hard at making each little piece unique and made the layers and details of the work, very much my own recipe.  forever a pp scraps and mod podged napkin girl as well as a lover of babushkas, the progression to canvas, seems very natural and quite obvious to me now.  

so thank you all you lovely ladies out there that have jumped in and grabbed all the little ladies i have made so far.  next batch coming soon.  

until then

kate

xo 

she is for sale...

*SOLD, more coming soon*

"She" $65, 20x20cm, thick edged canvas with black painted sides, nice texture & a few glossy accents.  

Postage $6.50 within Australia to most postcodes.  Overseas enquiries, email me please.

Email me here if you would like her.  To be listed on ETSY in the next coupla days... unless sold beforehand.

And I have two one little lady left from the last batch.  You can see the unsold ones here...  Starting to work bigger now and I have several on the go but probably nothing ready until next week.  Other projects calling...

Kate

xo

this little blossom...

finally took her free standing first steps today with all her sisters, jeff and i cheering her on, again, and again, and another 10 times more after that!  so lovely Liz from RCH ICU in case you check in here, just after speaking to you, amazingly, she has started walking!  baby steps, but nevertheless she's on her way!  yay for you chelsea blossom!!!!!!!  you amazing little chicky.  we are SO proud of you!

kate

xo

babushka art for sale...

i have a few more little ladies needing good homes.

Left: SOLD "FLY FREE - Spread your creative wings... and fly..." $25, 15x7.5cm, thick edged canvas with black painted sides.

Centre: SOLD  "Make each day your masterpiece" $38, 15x15cm, thick edged canvas with black painted sides.  

Right:  "Dream the Impossible Dream" $25, 15x7.5cm, thick edged canvas with black painted sides.

Left:  SOLD "Believe" $25, 15x7.5cm, thick edged canvas with black painted sides.

Centre:  SOLD"As long as one keeps searching, the answers come" $38, 15x15cm, thick edged canvas with black painted sides.

Right:  SOLD "Sweet as Cherry Pie" $25, 15x7.5cm, thick edged canvas with black painted sides.

Postage $6.50 within Australia to most postcodes.  Overseas enquiries, email me please.

Email me here if you would like one.  I'll list the leftovers on ETSY in the next coupla days...

Kate

xo

ok so i'm ready to start selling...

a few of these little ladies:

Edited to add:  WOWeeeeeee!!!!!! -  ALL SOLD in less than 17 hours!!   Pinching myself!  

Hopefully I'll finish some more for later in the week.  Thanks so much for the interest everyone.  So glad these are going to lovely homes.

Kate  xo

these 4 are miniature canvases, ranging in size from 10x10cm up to 12.5x18cm.  these were some of the first ones i created and i now have over 30 so i am looking for new good homes for these ;o]   the 2 smaller ones [L] are $20 and the larger ones [R] are $30 [+ postage].  i'll start listing on my etsy [for the first time!] in a few days, unless sold before hand.  email me here if interested.

i will have more in the future, i can't stop painting them!  well really they are collaged.  i use all my fave techniques including napkin layers, pp scraps, some have fabric, lace, chipboard.  they are all on thick edged canvases and have black edges.

edited to add:  i should have written the words as these pics are so tiny.  here they are...

top L - on the little girls dress are the words, 'keep holding on' and left of the big girls dress, 'I'll be by your side'.  borrowed words from Avril Lavignes 'Keep Holding On' song.  very personal to me as these were the words in my mind and heart when our little Chelsea was going through her heart surgeries last year.  i figure they will have beautiful meaning for others too, maternal or friendship. its always nice to have a little reminder that we have someone there for us right? SOLD!

bottom L - borrowed words 'you've got a friend' from the classic james taylor song.  well everytime i look at this one, i just start singing along.  as I write this, i notice it has already been SOLD.  i hope your daughters love it  dear C. xo

top R - 'Teach us Delight in Simple Things,'  Rudyard Kipling.  well i try to remind myself this every day.  there's so much around us to appreciate and have gratitude for. SOLD!

bottom R -  'live with passion', my words and mantra for fulfilled living.  SOLD!

here's many others in progress.  and its s-l-o-w progress, let me tell you!  i only get a couple of hours per night, when i am not working my day/night job, to work creatively.  and each one takes ages.  lots of layers, lots of drying time.  each finished one, a little doll with her own personality and i am having some trouble parting with them.  and maybe a little scared too, that no one will love them like i do.

i'm working on my very first commission too at the moment which is coming along.  hope to share sometime soonish.  

also recently, i made these long overdue tiny pressies [patchworked bookmarks] for a couple of ladies in tasmania who bought my book.  [hi ladies!] and i have some more similar things in the pipeline for some other wonderful women i know too.

thanks for looking!

kate

xo

cold cold winter...

here's the girls all rugged up in their winter dressing gowns.  cute.

kate

xo

another babushka boy...

for one of my nephews.  a little watercolour painting on his birthday card.  

i have not got the structure of these down pat yet but i'll get there.  it must be able to be done!!  anyway i like how the face on this one turned out, very sweet boy.  i think it resembles my nephew alot.  the face that is, not the outfit!

kate

xo

Charlotte Daisy turns 3...

our sweet sunshine is at last a big 3 year old.  she's been waiting a year to go with georgia to the ikea 'ball room' and at last she's all grown up!  this was she [messy bed hair and all] the morning of her special day opening her pressies on our bed.

 

i made her this canvas.  the words read:  'dream the impossible dream... reach for the unreachable star... this is your quest'

ok so from us she got a huge babushka doll, a book, some funky hairclips, some beaded sneakers, some clothes, a reprint on canvas [from ikea] of my beloved klimts 'mother and child'.  i always wanted that painting for charlottes bedroom as the child [even with different hair colour] has always reminded me of charlotte sleeping.  full soft ruby red lips, rosy cheeks and crazy soft bed hair.  

she got her nintendo ds from us & my parents of course....

here's george & charlie busy feeding, washing, dressing up their virtual nintendo dogs & horses:

no doubt a few other bits and pieces which i have already forgotten too.  a lovely day.  we made cupcakes on her actual birthday and of course she relishes in licking the bowl!

oh yes and she got this babushka apron too.  the girls have become quite the 'little chefs' in the kitchen.  i am letting them become more and more involved when i am cooking, that is if they are not busy busy doing something else.  they are very busy these days and tell me frequently!  

the weekend in the middle of georgia & charlottes birthdays, we had the immediate family over for lunch and i made their official joint birthday cake.  georgia wanted a fairy ballerina with wings & crown and charlotte wanted a dinosaur with dragon wings & a crown.  geez, the requests are already getting quite complex!!!!!!!  for their 4th and 5th, i may not ask them and just make simple butterflies or something!!  mind you the wedding cake icing is SO easy to work with.  you just have to work out your portions for colouring, dye it, then roll it out and scalpel the various bits.  not unlike scrapbooking!

and here's my little posers in their birthday dresses:

who knew bubble skirts would make a comeback?!  should have kept some of mine from the mid 80's ha ha!

ok i think that's it for the birthdays in our house, at least for a little while.

kate

xo