I'M BACK! :) with so much to say!

Helloooooo friends :)
it seems we have much to catch up on... July 5th was my last posting.. has it been that long?! Oh summer.... so much busy time and the few non-busy times in between the last thing I feel like doing is switching my brain onto high-power write mode... lol ANYWAYS..... where to begin?! Follow ups on my last post, I suppose..... Old home day went off even better than I thought... the puppets came out great (pics to follow post) and my costume, though not as elaborate as I had planned, also turned out GREAT! A dozen or so other marchees approached me to do or redo their facepaint upon my arrival at our meet up spot before the parade... here's the secret to great face paint: Do NOT use store bought crappy "face paint"... throw it in the trash where it belongs and pull out your ACRYLIC PAINT. Not only does is spread like butter on your face, but it makes detail super easy to achieve, and dries quickly and with a fair amount of flexibility.... PLUS it washes off in about 10 seconds with some soapy water face-rubbin.... Now back to the topic at hand: The parade float in contrast to the rest of the floats blew everyone's socks off... In fact, we won one of the grand prizes for parade floats, AND the owner/director of the art center now wants me to take complete creative control of next years parade float.... I'm planning on tackling something the likes of which my small-time town has never seen so hold onto your hats ;)

I fixed my bike and have been riding as consistently as I can between the alternating buckets of rain and heat waves :) which is to say not as much as I'm wanting to ride... but it's better than nothing, right?

The Tag Sale with my sister-in-law has not yet happened, but I'm hoping to work it into this late summer/early fall... meanwhile I have been accumulating a MASSIVE amount of stuff... If you live in the area this will be a tag sale not to be missed!

CONTEST RESULTS: The winner of the contest was chosen on or around July 15th and was: DOGIMO! Dogimo please comment or email me with your contact information and let me know what you would like for your $25.00 worth of goodies from ANY one (or a combo) of my shops! I will post a special reserved etsy listing for you!

Speaking of shops... I officially launched my newest endeavor: WOOKIT! The name was inspired by my son's favorite phrase (which is usually accompanied by a single tiny pointing finger) "Wook it!" The focus of this shop is on digital printables of all kinds, and you may find it at WOOKIT.ETSY.COM Lots and lots of samples of what you can purchase in the photos below... all photos are linked to the listings as well, to view the full listing, click on the link in the caption.

The last two weeks of July I had the honor of teaching at a summer camp over at EPOCH ARTS, and what fun it was! The kids where split into two groups: Pre-5th, and 6-10... In the course of the two weeks we made an unbelievable amount of cool things! Some highlights: The small kids group made Concrete stepping stones with objects embedded (photo below) , as well as some origami models, pop art paintings, bead necklaces, and picture frames! The older crowd was given some more challenging projects and the kids were able to create fused plastic wallets and purses, origami mobiles, T-Shirt reusable bags, and the project they seemed to like the most: Recreating used "Junk"... Every year EPOCH holds a massive tag sale with the donations they recieve throughout the year... so by now the back rooms are FULL of random objects of all sorts... my students were given the task of rummaging through these boxes upon boxes of goodies to find their "diamong in the rough"... not for what it was at that moment, but for what it could be with a little love and a lot of paint! Some of my favorite creations they completed: A "Mystery" old fashioned candy machine, A wall clock, A (very large) wall miror, and a Photo Album! We had so much fun and I can't wait till next year's summer camp!

The past week has been a challenging one... After years of having fairly large apartment's my current living space is a mere 11x14 room.... this includes sleeping space, play space, and work space... needless to say it's a bit crowded... this week I set about fixing the "sky is falling" feeling that my space had presented.... After two new storage furniture additions, several large bags of tag sale donations, and several large bins of stuff to be banished temporarily to the attic... and lots and lots of shoe boxes... my living space has gone from being a nightmare, to being fully functional and inspired! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I will get some pictures soon and post them for you all to see. I should have taken some "befores".... but then again I don't want to embarrass myself that bad! The task was only finished later yesterday afternoon, I can't wait to work on my first project in it! I have three wall letters I am planning to paint this afternoon, and a pair of overall shorts that I need to finish for my son... I'm painting characters from one of his favorite movies: "The Yellow Submarine" on it! I will try to post again soon, but I cannot say 100% that it will be soon ;) I am volunteering at TWO locations (painting murals at EPOCH , and helping run an organic juice bar/green cooperative) , as well as running my businesses, helping my parents with their business (magicaljewelry.com) in their busiest of seasons, preparing an enormous amount of paperwork for a private matter, and trying to mentally prepare for OCTOBER when I start teaching again.... this time I am tackling a half a dozen different classes.... I am super excited and a bit nervous about doing so many at once!

This upcoming weekend I am tentatively planning a vacation to a beautiful beach-town in massachussets... it is dependent however upon other plans so we'll see how that goes... I'm really crossing my fingers though... this was the same yearly trip I was hoping to get out of the hospital in time to take last year and due to my doctor's concerns even though I was out of the hosptial he didn't want me to chance going that far.... soooooo, here we are a year later and I feel so desperately in need of two or three days to focus solely on Lennon and I... to recharge, relax, and unplug..... Crossing my fingers......

Still so much to say... but I feel this is becoming long winded ;) So I will just post some extra photos of some of the past month's happenings and creations and I will say so-long for now! I do hope that everyone is enjoying their summer as much as I am (or more!) :) and I will see you again.... when I see you!

Warmly,
Kalee

Lennon... after a particularly hard ride.... so you can imagine how exhausted I was ;)

Lennon and I and our bike

Teaching Lennon how to spin Poi (ancient new zealand tribal dance, sooo much fun, look it up! :))


My mama at the "Mad Hatter Tea Party" , we had a blast, Thanks Cathy! :)

My "Mad" Nana and her Mad little sisters at the Tea Party :)

DAREDEVIL Lennon at the Old Home Day Carnival on his favorite ride... that $20 wrist band was so worth the thousands of these smiles he flashed that day!


These were the bases I was given to work with for the parade puppets.......*sigh*

My finished Creations... and putting my best Lion Face forward....

Sun Puppet and Performer Hilary (Tribals painted by your's truely)

Moon Puppet and Performer Kayla (Tribals again by me)

HEY CUPCAKE - Printable Recipe cards available at WOOKIT

Ain't no Phoney - Printable Calling Cards available at WOOKIT

HEY CUPCAKE - Printable Potluck/Bakesale labels available at WOOKIT

HEY CUPCAKE - Printable Recipe cards available at WOOKIT

SWEETS printable Digital collage for crafts available at WOOKIT.etsy.com

SUNNY DAYS Printable Calling Cards available at WOOKIT

GNOME HOMES Calling Cards available at WOOKIT

MONSTEROUSLY CUTE Calling Cards available at WOOKIT

KEECHEN Birdie - Printable Calling Cards available at WOOKIT!

Lennon discovering the wonders of an "icecream" cone (ice cream is emphasized because Lennon is allergic to dairy and this is a non-dairy coconut milk substitute... and much better than the real thing I might add.... :)))

Of course the teacher had to save one stepping stone to make for herself... ;)

Lennon in his usual position! Playground at Rose's Berry Farm, where they have the most AMAZING Belgium waffles and fresh fruit Sunday brunch on earth!

I can Toucan Necklace - Created for myself, BUT I will take custom orders at Mama Trashheap's

Lennon in Tunnel.... LOVE THIS SHOT! :)

Mirror and Switchplate painted to coordinate with fisher price RAINFOREST nursery CUSTOM NURSERY DECOR AT ATIONS.ETSY.COM

Swine Flew Earrings ;) COMING SOON in stock, for now - taking custom orders at Mama Trashheap's

The nudies COMING SOON in stock, for now - taking custom orders at Mama Trashheap's

New Race Car themed wall letters CUSTOM DESIGNED for you at ATIONS.ETSY.COM

Lennon ready for another ride, I scrubbed all my chrome the same day I fixed my tire, doesn't it sparkle like nothing you've ever seen??

Lennon's new Sit and Spin! Thanks Freecycle! :))

GOODBYE FOR NOW!!! :)

Pulse Racin' Heart Thumpin' Good Times!

Hey Howdy Hey Neighbors :)
Hope everyone is having a fun and safe holiday weekend! Lennon, my mom, and I went out last night to see some fireworks light up the sky. I was sick at this time last year and so Lennon hasn't seen any since he was about 8 months old... He wasn't quite sure what to think of them and spent the 1st 5 minutes of the 15 minute show trying to drag me back to the car and saying a very urgent "okayokayokayokayokay!"... He settled down for most of it after that and was pointing to the sky saying "colors" and doing big dramatic jumps (everytime one would go off) while shouting "BOOMP!". However, during the very loud finale he freaked again and climbed up my skirt and into my arms within about 2.5 seconds! You gotta figure that the human instinct that we're all born with would probably be something along the lines of: Loud bang, Big flash, RUN for your life! So in that light his reaction was pretty understandable! A woman nearby gave us a couple sparklers which was mostly fun other than Lennon didn't really understand the "EXTREMELY HOT" thing and waved it a little close to my face a few times... Fortunately no mothers, children, or small animals were harmed during the brief light show..... The show itself was kind of lame... but then I'm probably spoilt for life in terms of pyrotechnic displays... My dad was a licensed pyro for several years during my childhood and I was able to see some PHENOMENALLY choreographed firework shows, some insanely large shells, embellished building demolitions, massive controlled explosions, and all sorts of other goodies... we even took family vacations to firework CONVENTIONS a few times where the BEST shells and shows from around the world would take place... After years of being so close to fireworks that you could smell the black powder, see the flares, and feel the little bits of brown paper raining down on your head after the reallly big ones... watching a few dinky chinese shells in a brightly lit mall parking lot... just doesn't really get your heart raceing, know what I mean ;)

ANYWHO.... on to crafty matters at hand! This spring has been so busy and July is shaping up to be downright hectic! I am teaching a summer camp in the last two weeks of July, and have signed on for all sorts of other volunteer community projects. My town celebrates its anniversary every year with a weekend called "OLD HOME DAY". Last week I was asked to design some masks and large puppet heads for a Lion King themed parade float, as well as performing the role of "MUFASA"... so I also have to come up with a costume for that. Which means I have to felt 30 wool dreadlocks in various shades of reds, browns, and yellows to mix in amongst my dreads, and a mask, and some sort of african-esque fabric draped clothing... I am also planning to go down on Tuesday and help construct the float as well... And then on Wednesday I have a day planned with the Green Cooperative I am involved with. I will be down there all day doing some painting, planting, and baby wranglin with a few other awesome women! I also have a bulletin board that I am working on for the Co-op......

AND THEN ;) in the midst of all of this hubbabaloo I have a few more letters that I just painted up the past few days that are in need of some finishing touches and a coat or two of Varnish, AND I am launching my NEW SHOP (that makes 4....) which will contain most of my digital designs, including all of the ones I have been working an insane amount of hours on the past several weeks... My blog readers get the special sneak preview: http://wookit.etsy.com where you will find a small sampling of what's to come .... I will post an update once it is fully stocked with goods! These 2 A.M. nights are starting to get old, but I am really trying to finish up all of the projects I've started/promised... Throw in a few Drs appointments, a tagsale with my sister-in-law, a birthday or two and....... well, you get the idea! BUT, In all honesty, I THRIVE under pressure so its ALL GOOD :)

Finally, my bike tire had an unfortunate meeting with a thumb tack on the 30th and I have been going stir crazy with the lack of an energy outlet... I just bought a patch kit on Friday so I'm off to go see if I can figure that out and get in a quickie before I put the ole nose back to the grindstone... Hope everyone reading this out there in the WWW is well, and I will be back with another update the next time I come back up for air!
See Yah!
Kalee

Fantastic Fathers!

Happy Father's day all you papa's out there... and all you double-duty single mama's too :) I'm taking a little break from all the digital art and design I've been pouring most of my working time into the past few days... You can check out some of the fruits on the new banners/avitars for mamatrashheap.etsy.com ations.etsy.com and magicaljewelry.etsy.com (my mom and pop's shop)... I also will be listing a new and AWESOME (if I do say so myself ;)) Alphabet poster though I haven't decided which shop it will be listed in.... and a few new digital art prints are also in the works... I've also decided to try my hand at selling banners and avitars.. I designed a few simple and basic ones to start out... if there is demand for it I may offer custom services for more elaborate CUSTOM shop banners/avitars/logos and graphics... a few teasers in the photos below...

Most letters were sent out last week with the exception of 2 single letters and 1 name, and to the recipients of those: don't worry, they are on my agenda for the next 2 weeks.

I don't know about the rest of the country but here in Connecticut it has been RAINING. and RAINING. and RAINING. for nearly the past month straight... I have managed to sneak in a bike ride here and there but nowhere near as much as I want to... and Lennon has not gotten nearly enough playground time... Not to mention the strawberry fields that are calling my name! I am so hoping that this coming week will contain a bit more sunshine than the previous few... so much to do, so short a summer :)

I did some major overhauls of my email setup, finally got outlook going, AND installed Photoshop on my main laptop (as opposed to only having it on my mom's computer that I use infrequently) so hopefully the digital creation and communication processes in my life will be MUCH easier and much less time consuming now... which should give me much more time to devote to more hands on important tasks... and for mommying..

speaking of which... Lennon said his first musician/band name yesterday (completely unprompted) and appropriately enough it was "BEATLES"! He has also been watching the yellow submarine over and over throughout these rainy weeks and is starting to sing along with "all together now"... as in counting and the ABCs :) Leave it to the Beatles to be teaching my kid the essentials, lol!

Thats about all for now, my "to do" list is getting longer and longer and not nearly enough check marks :)

Until later!
Kalee


REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ZOOM AND GET THE FULL EFFECT :)

GIVEAWAY WINNER

Scanning back through the past couple of posts I noticed that I never announced the winner of the Giveaway. There were only 2 entries that made it into the pool and the winner was JESSICA EVANS. Congrats Jessica, you won a $25.00 gift cert to any of my shoppes. Please send me a message to let me know what you would like to purchase and I will create a special free listing just for you! Sorry for the late announcement. I will be running the giveaway again starting retroactively June 1st (if you've already commented you have an entry!) and will run through July 15th Midnight Eastern Time. To enter all you need to do is COMMENT. Here are the details:

WINNER receives a $25.00 gift certificate good for any one of my shops.. to enter leave me a comment... you may leave as many comments as you like for as many entries with a limit of ONE COUNTABLE COMMENT PER POST (so you are limited to the number of blog posts)... comments should be constructive or applicable to the post you are commenting... in other words, please do not just go through each post typing in "HERE'S MY COMMENT" or Spamming advertisements all over (though one or two plugs of your goods is fine ;)) and to receive 15 entries you can post a little blurb and link about my blog on your blog or website and then come back and tell me you did :) Refer someone else (they must become a "follower" to count) and receive 10 entries, and you may refer and unlimited number of followers... The contest will be going until 12:00 AM JULY 15th 2009 . On July 16th I will place each entry in a big ole jar and pick a winner with the ever popular swish and grab technique :) Winner will be announced on my blog shortly thereafter (I promise I'll be good about being prompt this time!). Have fun! :)

ENJOY! :)
Kalee

Patchy Postings

Greetings and Hellos,
It's been awhile again! I have a feeling Summer-time is going to be a bit patchy with the posting if the spring is any indication so far! Between riding my bicycle, tending my wee one, creating randomness, filling orders, teaching 2 different summer camps, farmer's markets, craft shows, and my summer-long mural project for a local youth theatre group.... well.... you get the idea ;) Here is the latest... I have been painting like mad the past 2 weeks, finishing and catching up on all of my Letter orders for ATIONS. Depending upon wether or not varnish is dry enough tomorrow morning (it's SUPER SUPER humid here...) they will hopefully ALL be shipping tomorrow (otherwise I will hold them back until first thing Monday), and then I am totally caught up with the exception of 1 name, and 2 single letters which I'll easily finish next week. HURRAH! See photos below for a taste of the fruit of HOURS and HOURS of loving labor. Anyways, I will be posting new letter styles in ATIONs as I try to polish my photos and come up with my own designs after several years of mostly mimicking and matching bedding lines and decor. Please don't hesitate to contact me for an original design JUST FOR YOU... I have many good ideas to pull from, lots of experience and passion for painting, and I ALWAYS love the challenge of custom work :)

In other news, all but a few photos in Mama Trashheap's abode have been replaced by newer and better photos. Please take and look if you have a moment and I GLADLY welcome any feedback, ideas for better photos, personal favorites, etc! Most of the photos in Melloheads have also been replaced except all of the greeting cards which have to be re-shot. Those will be fixed this week so be on the look out for that. I also have a few new designs in the works for the next few weeks... I have lots of ideas for the melloheads line but I've been holding off on really going all out on it since sales haven't been terrific... opinions? ideas? Do you like the characters? Does the line just need to be expanded? polished? tweaked? Euthanized? I am really in need of some feedback on this shop, pretty please :)

On that note I should head off to bed... Lennon and I went out on our bike for a couple hours tonight after three days straight of sitting in a chair only exercising my painting hand ;) and I am DOGGONE tuckered out.. Lots to do this weekend, I will be going to see a play done by my little sister's theatre group tomorrow night, attending a family gathering tomorrow morning/afternoon, finishing a few touches on a present and celebrating my niece's 1st birthday on Sunday... packing a couple dozen letters to ship, and putting in several hours of work to help out my parents business (www.magicaljewelry.com) whew, lots of fun but I am definitely going to need to conserve energy by getting some "beauty sleep", lol! Good night all and have a wonderful weekend, I will try to check in at some point next week.
Later Gators,
Kalee

P.S. ALL PHOTOS can be clicked to zoom and see full detail.. and in some of these there is A TON of detail that will be missed if this is not done :)