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!!! :)

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 :)

Tag Sales and Painting

Hola,
I'm about to head off to bed but wanted to post a quick update before I do since its been almost a week and a half since my last post... Time flies when you're having fun! :) I've been working so much lately and I spent all last week either painting preparing for the tag sale I had this weekend... My signs were the prettiest tag sale signs you've ever seen (all painted works of art) and I had so many comments on them from the visitors at the sale... and it was a pretty successful weekend... I saved the signs which will be reused several times this summer... I'll snap a few shots next time around...

I managed to finish a couple of orders from Ations, as well as completing most of another (just waiting on a few letters to be shipped in to finish it up)... They all came out great, and I was even able to squeeze in a set of letters today for my sister-in-law's soon to arrive nephew, the set came out great and I hope he and his mommy love them! Anyways, if you have ordered letter sets or PIFs you should be recieving your order over the next two weeks. I am on a mission to get all current orders done this week soooo.... :)
I have also updated a whole lot of my listings this past week and listed all of the kids writing paper I had designed and previously mentioned... which started selling IMMEDIATELY! Get'em while they're hot! ;)Seriously, How awesome to have sold several orders of paper within the first 48hours! I will be designing a whole lot more of it soon... Finally, I am hoping to get started on the mural project (the inside of practically and entire building) once I catch up on my orders... I can't wait, I've been planning out these murals for over a year now and had to put it off after I got sick last year... my paint brush is ITCHING to hit those big empty wall! I shall dream of murals and gigantic paint buckets with dancing brushes tonight.... Until next time
Kalee

Crud, Crud and more crud...

Hello there readers,
Its been a pretty cruddy 24 hours. Yesterday my older brother was in a motorcycle accident that should have killed him... thankfully he survived though with many a sprain, cut, scratch, and bruise... After my family had gotten word of the accident there was a heart-stopping 2 hours or so where we knew nothing other than that he had been in a motorcycle accident on the highway, took down a light pole, and was "conscious" and in an ambulance being rushed to the ER.... so, needless to say, yesterday was not the best day (though again, THANKFULLY, was not anywhere near as bad as it could have been had the outcome been slightly altered...)... So then this morning after breakfast I logged onto my email account to find that someone is filing a PAYPAL DISPUTE! Here is the details, I leave it to you to decide if this is justified....

-The item purchased was a PAY IT FORWARD listing (i.e. TWENTY CENTS PURCHASE + $4.80 for shipping and my paypal fees)... which means I MAKE NOTHING and actually LOSE MONEY on these (since my materials, fees, and shipping come to over ten dollars..) and am putting an hour or two of my time into creating the item FOR FREE.

-The item was a CUSTOM HAND PAINTED wall letter of whichI usually would charge anywhere from $15.00 to $35.00 for + shipping. ALL of my letter listings (including this one) CLEARLY STATE that the turnaround time for creating and shipping is 6-12 weeks. Often if will be sooner than this, but I like to give myself ample time for the unexpected delays that can and will happen... I also do not like to make promises of lesser timelines that I may have to go back on. Most other custom painted letters and childrens decor has SIMILAR or the SAME timeframes. SO anyways....

-The item was ordered just over THREE WEEKS ago. At the end of week one I received an email from the buyer (a fellow etsy seller who makes CUSTOM polymer stamps...you'd think such a person would be familiar with checking the turnaround on a CUSTOM item) asking the status on her "outstanding order". I responded politely that AS NOTED IN THE LISTING the timeframe is 6-12 weeks, and thanked her for her purchase and her patience in giving me ample time to create this item to her wishes. I never received a response to that message until 2 nights ago when I received a message stating: "I know you said 6-12, but I don't think I want to wait any longer, I would just prefer a refund. thanks te*****co"... Stunned by such behaviour and unsure how to respond I did not craft a reply at that moment.... it is stated in my shop policies that I cannot give refunds on custom items, and I have already purchased the letter and materials for her item... Today I logged onto my email to find A DISPUTE filed with both Paypal and Etsy.

I am so aggravated and amazed by how little appreciation some people will show for an ACT OF GOODWILL.... there is not too often that something will make my jaw drop for a lack of what to say and how to deal with it... This is one of those times. This buyer has over 3000 feedback from her several years on etsy. I have under ten on that shop... So I can't even leave her appropriate feedback for her behaviour for fear of retaliation which will hurt my reputation more than hers..... my paypal account is now overdrawn since i just paid the months fees for all of my shops and was down to pennies in the account... so now I will be out not only the $5.00 for the purchase, but the nearly $10.00 in materials and all of the time and aggravation of dealing with this BS....... and THE WORST OF IT IS: I hate to even think like this, and I LOVE creating Pay It Forward listings... but this has tainted my desire to do it, perhaps irreparably. What a sucky thing for a person to do, over $5.00 and an apparent inability to read the two paragraphs in a listing BEFORE PURCHASING IT.

Emotionally spent and Exhaustively yours,
Kalee