Personalize It!

This weekend, I had the privilege of attending a monogramming shower for a close family friend. What a neat party idea to celebrate a friend's marriage or birthday! No Southern home is complete without a monogram. Or two. Or 16!

This was painted on a 10 x 10 stretched canvas with acrylic paint. Picking out just the right color for a friend's home can be tricky, but this multi-colored background will look beautifully coordinated anywhere. If you are looking for something more neutral, this could easily be done in monochromatic tones. It would be beautiful set in a frame, too. I love art that is versatile! 

What's your favorite type of monogram?

E is for Ellie

I adore babies! I really do. My 3 "babies" are getting older and more independent, which is very nice. So, I'm done having little babies of my own. But, I do love sharing the excitement with my friends as they have babies. Part of sharing that joy is getting to create something special to give them. That's part of why I have a lot of fun creating art for little ones. My neighbor, Mama Y, gave birth to her second child last week--a daughter. She named her Ellie. I have wanted to paint her a gift for several weeks now, but haven't decided what she might like. About a week before The Big Day, Mama Y was talking about how she really wanted to buy something cute to hang on the nursery door, but hadn't had time to find anything. For awhile, I have wanted to try making one of those cute burlap door hangers, so this was a perfect opportunity to make one! Here's what I came up with:

2 burlap "E's" were carefully cut out, painted, joined together, stuffed, and then coated with a waterproof sealer. Wire was strategically placed in between the 2 "E's" and curled at the ends. Recently, I found a roll of vintage lace at an antique store, so I used some of it to make a big, puffy bow. This finishing touch is especially fitting for a Southern baby girl!

This was such a fun project! I might even make a burlap letter for my front door. I'd definitely love to do more projects like this, so please contact me if I can make one for you. They would make great wedding/baby gifts! Don't forget, 20% of Ka Soul Studio profits will go to The Townsend Adoption Fund until August 31st.

Rise and Shine for Adoption!

You heard it here first, Folks! I've decided to start selling my artwork in the Little Rock area. This is something I've wanted to do for awhile, but haven't quite known how to do it right. I still may not get it right, just in case you are wondering. But, art is my passion and I will always be creating it on a regular basis. I might as well make a little money. And also share some of that money. Which brings me to the 2nd part of my announcement...

20% of my profits through August 31st will go to help The Townsend Family go from a family of 3 to a family of 4! As a mom of 3, I know what a gift parenthood is. I am also a daughter to two, loving parents who have been more supportive than I could ever ask for--definitely more than I deserve. Sadly, there are millions of children who do not have that blessing, for one reason or another. So, let's help bring one of these children into a home filled with love, laughter, and grace. Amy, Robert, and Layla are really excited about how God will use them through this process.

Without further ado, let me show you one of my first business venture creations! This canvas was painted for The P Family, who also happens to be very passionate about adoption. So much so, that they adopted a sweet baby daughter to join their family of 4! Here is what I painted for them:

Mrs. P sent a photo of a poster she had seen that she loved and wanted to see if I could do something similar for her daughters' room. She wanted something large, so I suggested an 18X24 canvas. I used acrylic paint and mixed most of my own colors. The poster picture was pretty, but, being the crazy rebel that I am, I had to change a few things. The original font was changed a bit. The words rise, shine, and glory were outlined with silver dots. Also, I thought it was important to highlight the word God a little more than the poster did. Swirls were painted behind the letters of the word to give a "cloudy sunrise" effect. The bold colors of all of the letters really pop off the white background. The family had it framed with a beautiful glossy black frame. Wow! What a fun way to wake up and start the day!

What can I create for you? If you would like to have personalized artwork made for you AND contribute to a great cause, please send me an email at: kasoulstudio@gmail.com.

Teacher Gifts

"Be careful to leave your sons well
instructed rather than rich,
for the hopes of the instructed are better
than the wealth of the ignorant." -Epictetus

My husband and I are very wealthy! You might believe otherwise if you look at our house, our cars, or our clothes. But we have more than most people could only dream of.

We have 3 happy and healthy children. Their little bodies and minds are the most precious things in the world to us. We do our best to help them make good choices in the food they eat, the friends they make, and in the way they spend their time. A large part of that is how they are educated.

This past year, they have had 3 wonderful school teachers! We could not be more pleased with these women who have sacrificed so, so much to care for my "babies!" To show my appeciation, I painted them each a canvas that might brighten up their home or classroom.

Jack's teacher is having a baby boy this summer, so I painted her a canvas with an "h," the initial of his first name. Moriah's teacher loves smiley faces, so her canvas has this painted on it, "You're never fully dressed without a [wide smile painted across the bottom]." Molly's teacher loves the color hot pink and she also loves zebra stripes. I painted a large zebra-striped "S" outlined in hot pink. These were 11x14 canvases painted with acrylic paint.

These ladies deserve much more than painted canvases, but I do hope they will look fondly at those paintings for years to come and know that they are an answer to prayer. God bless teachers!

The Word Became Flesh

Two of my "loves" have been in the forefront of my mind this week: CBS and Decoupage. I had the privilege of combining them for my most recent art project. Allow me to explain:

CBS is an acronym for Community Bible Study, an interdenominational Bible study for different communities around the country. I have been apart of CBS, directly or indirectly, for 4 years. This past year, the group of ladies I met with every week studied Job, Hebrews, and 1-2 Thessalonians. I have grown so much through these studies and through the relationships I've built in my little group. A major influence on this was my group leader, Cathy.

Cathy is a wife and mom of 3, just like me. The moment I met her, I knew she was going to make a huge impact on my life. Her words are absolutely saturated with grace and humility. God has given her such a gift for hospitality and encouragement. She's really present in conversations--like there's nowhere in the world she'd rather be than with whomever she's engaging with. No matter what is going on in life, there is a feeling that everything is going to be okay when Cathy is in the room. Yesterday was our last day to meet before our summer break, so I wanted to do something special for her. This brings me to the "decoupage" part of this conversation...

I knew I wanted to paint something for her, but had a hard time deciding what to do. Then, I remembered that my daughter had put her Bible in the washing machine a few weeks ago. Don't ask. 

AND I happened to have the materials from my previous project still out on the table, so I decided to decoupage. I carefully tore out the fragile, wrinkly pages of Job, Hebrews and 1-2 Thessalonians and "aged" them. They were glued onto an 8x10 canvas and left to dry. I used oil pastels to create 3 different crosses, then covered everything with a sealant. Here is the finished product:

In creating these crosses, I asked myself this question: If the people addressed in each of these books of the Bible (Job, The Hebrews, and The Thessalonians) were able to create a picture of a cross, what would it look like? I leave it up to you, the observer, to interpret why I chose these 3 designs. 

Coming up with a name was the easy part. "The Word Became Flesh" is taken from several places in the Bible, indicating that Jesus was always with God and that His sacrifice for the sins of mankind is what the entire Bible is centered around. This truth never ceases to amaze me! 

Cathy loved it! Here's the picture I took of her holding her new artwork:

May it always remind her of our sweet little CBS group and, more importantly, of the peace God has made with humanity.

Four Last Laughs

"Earth laughs in flowers." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nobody in the world makes me laugh like my younger brothers. Nobody. One of my brothers, Sam, and his wife, Brooke--who gets the privilege of laughing at Sam every day--just bought their first house. Brooke has spent some of her spare time on Pinterest, gathering together different design and decorating ideas to incorporate into their living space. She found this painting on a Pinboard by the blog, Decorno, and fell in love with it:

I wanted to get them a housewarming gift, anyway, so I decided to create something similar for them. This is my interpretation of this painting, which I have fittingly named "Four Last Laughs." Maybe one day, I'll get a better quality picture, but for now, this will have to do:

Recycled, aged paper was decoupaged onto a very large 30X40 canvas. I created the flowers with oil pastels, which I have never used before. There was a surprising feeling of satisfaction in drawing basic lines and shapes, then using my fingers to spread the medium around to create each part of each flower. My husband, Aaron, whom I fondly call "Mitch, gave me this eye-rolling grin and shook his head every time I passionately uttered the phrase, "I absolutely LOVE doing this!" He knows I was made for this.