Looking for Skelekitty?? She moved!

Are you looking for Skelekitty?  She is still around and going strong, but she decided keeping up her own blog was too much work for a lazy skeleton cat.

You can find all things Skelekitty on my website, skelekitty.com or at my blog, Krissi's Art Studio (at krissisandvik.blogspot.com).

Thanks for supporting Skelekitty (and me, too!)

~Krissi

Goody Giveaway!

So, Krissi's pal, fellow sewing enthusiast, artist, makeup fiend and general cool chick, Mo "Miss Awesome" Love over at Madd Style Designs has been coming up with all kinds of lip treats over the past few months and Krissi (a self-confessed lip balm addict) has collected most of Mo's Hard Core Lip Bombs, which come in all kinds of flavors, from cotton candy to spicy chai and from grape soda to margaritas!

Pink Poison 'Tainted Lip Bomb' (L) &
Skelekitty 'Hard Core Lip Bomb' (R)
by Madd Style Designs & inpired
by Skelekitty

Now Mo is crafting up "Tainted Lip Bombs" with tints inspired by and named after the artists, crafters and characters with whom she collaborates.   (Oh, and speaking of collaboration, there will be an announcement of some group-type evil-making involving glitter very, very soon, so stay tuned).  Because not everyone wants color in their lip product, every one of these flavors also comes in an untinted version.

Mo's first tinted Lip Bomb was made as an homage to Cherry West of Sweets N Stuff (and this fabulous lipstick red beauty has already made it into a few Etsy treasuries!)

Pink Poison in action!

Then, a week or so back, two of Madd Style's coveted "Lip Bombz" were introduced with a Skelekitty theme - how exciting!  As with the cherry flavored Sweets N Stuff / Cherry Bomb duo, you have the choice between a tinted and an untinted version of this watermelon flavored tasty treat.  Pink Poison Tainted Lip Bomb (named after the Skelekitty skull/crossbones painting featured on most of my pages), has a soft pink tint and shimmer that will make you look as pretty as a picture and the untinted "Skelekitty" Hard Core Lip Bomb is packed with so much shimmer and sparkle it should be illegal.

Want more proof that you NEED a Skelekitty
Hard Core Lip Bombz?  How 'bout this?

Well thrill of thrills, I managed to get my little skelepaws on an extra one of the untinted, super shimmery, sparkly "Skelekitty" Hard Core Lip Bombz so I could give it away randomly to one of our fans!   It's super easy to enter.*

1. Become a follower of this blog and of Mo's Madd Style blog
2. Leave a comment** on this original post (on skelekitty.blogspot.com) telling Mo and Krissi why you'd like this lip balm (again, winner will be chosen by random).

Our winner will be chosen from qualifying entries on Thursday, July 15th at 2pm PST.  Good luck everyone!

Oh, and you KNOW Mo's stuff gets one of these, right?

*  pssst!  Don't have a blogger account?  Don't worry!  You can also enter on Facebook.
**thanks to bad people who spam, all comments must be approved by Krissi - don't worry, yours will show up!.

Gift Tags - Not Just for Xmas Anymore

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, but DON'T PANIC!  You don't need to give diamonds, expensive champagne or even fancy chocolates to show that you love someone. Really.  You don't.

How about making a gift yourself? Not too crafty?  Set a small dollar limit and find something that represents a private joke or has sentimental value.  You could even buy handmade or from a local shop for extra points. Once you have your soon-to-be-treasured gift in hand, you can download and use these FREE gift tags with my cute little face from "Always Time For Love" on them.

DIRECTIONS:   Click on the tag below and you will be taken to my Flickr account.  Click the "all sizes" icon (it looks like a little magnifying glass with a + inside).  Choose the original size and download it to your computer.  Then all you have to do is print it out on your favorite 8.5x11" paper and cut it out.



Well, what are you waiting for? THEY'RE FREE!

Kitty Paintings on SALE and T-Shirt Announcement

Personally, I think Krissi has lost her mind.  Maybe it's just the fumes from the spray-fixative, but she has reduced the price of every single mixed-media painting in her shop.  I'm not kidding, even the larger paintings of ME, and she never puts these on sale!

Now she's telling me that she's STILL giving a free print with each of these pieces too!  *sigh*  Whatever.  I suppose if she wants to give away the store, I'm no-one to stand in the way.


Siren Song NOW ONLY $114.49
11x14x.75" pyrography, acrylic and mixed-media on cradled hardwood artist panel 
price reduced by $50 (was $164.49)

The 3/4" thick edges are painted gold and have lines from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Mermaid" transferred on them: "And if I should carol aloud, from aloft / All things that are forked, and horned, and soft / Would lean out from the hollow sphere of the sea, / All looking down for the love of me"



And these pieces spent the month of December in The Claude Gallery in New York! How exciting!

The Two Sides of Skelekitty NOW ONLY $224.49 for the pair
11x14x.75" pyrography, acrylic and mixed-media on cradled hardwood artist panels 
price reduced by $75 (was $299.49) & you get 2 free prints


The "angel" painting features images of stars & winged locks, and the swirling clouds and her wings are highlighted with ultra-fine archival iridescent art glitter. The "devil" painting has images of keys rising in the hellfire, which has been detailed with three colors (yellow, orange and red) of ultra-fine archival art glitter.



Now, at long last, we have enough kibble stashed away in the piggy bank to begin the great T-shirt adventure!

Krissi just needs to pull together the art and get worked into the schedule of the local artist/musician who will be burning the screens and making the shirts.  We should have pre-orders up in our shop within a week for those who want to be sure to get the size they want.  Keep an eye out for announcements!

A Great 2009 & More Kitty in 2010!

Thanks to the wonderful and inspirational San Smith and her posts on creating visual lists, Krissi did both a 2009 year-in-review and created goals for the coming year.   As you can see, I show up at the top of both lists.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. broadened network and Skelekitty fan-base (facebook fan page, twitter, etc)
   
2. skelekitty.com (up and running)!
3. improved art techniques with practice
4. gallery shows outside of Sacramento and California
5. taught first classes (mixed-media classes at Santa Clarita Craft Lab)
6. helped build Abby's confidence (OK, so its not really a career accomplishment, but if you'd met this dog when we found her, you'd agree that this is worth noting)
7. Artfire.com shop open (Skelekitty & Friends)
8. accepted commissions (from friends)
9. accepted custom orders (from anyone)
10. took portrait class

• BONUS: STARTED MY ART JOURNAL

GOALS (the blank page is for our mid-year evaluation & reassessment)


Again, I'm right at the top of the list, but most importantly, with a recent gift and a sale today, Krissi is very close to accomplishing goal #2!

1. new Skelekitty rubber stamps 
2. (Skelekitty) tee shirts, make 'em, sell 'em
3. 3rd Saturday vendor show (with Juli Nocita - stamps, shirts, prints)
   
4. take figure drawing and/or additional portrait class
5. teach mixed-media at VOX Sacramento
6. get (art) into 3 or more new galleries
7. re-create www.krissisandvik.com
8. paint, sketch or write DAILY
9. make artfire.com shop self-sustaining
10. create on a larger scale (more paintings, larger sizes)

So.

What are YOUR accomplishments and goals?

Why, That Looks Just Like Me!

Remember my pal, Santana, who dressed up as Skelekitty for Halloween this year?

Look what she made for Krissi - it's ME, all decked out with some holiday spirit!  And let me say again, this little figurine was hand sculpted and hand painted by Santana herself.  Now THAT, my friends, is what we mean when we say "GIVE HANDMADE" for the holidays! 


She even hand delivered it in this super cool hand decorated, glittery (yay!) mini-tote. It's just the right size for a kitty toy and some catnip (just for medicinal purposes only, you know).



As always, if you have some Skelekitty fan art to share, please send pics and I'll post it.

Much Skele-love,

SK

Last Skelekitty Stamp of Approval of 2009

Anything I say about my final SKSoA recipient of the year will only dilute her awesomeness, so just check her out the super cute, Jack Russell Terror loving, pink wearing, B-Movie watching, tiki cocktail drinking, subversive embroidering, retro, craftiness of Pam Pedersen yourself.

You will SO thank me!


Blog - Faster KittyKill! Blog! Blog!
and
KittyKill's photos on Flickr


I'm giddy just thinking about hitting the "publish post" button.

Oh, and if you have any SKSoA nominees for 2010, please drop me a note and let me know, won't ya?

Give Handmade This Year

One of the silver linings of the bad-economy-storm-cloud has been a resurgence of handmade gift giving.  People have more time to spend than money, so they are actually putting thought into meaningful gifts rather than simply spending a large amount of cash on "something."

Personally, I've always preferred gifts that required more thought than cash.  Then again, I'm a cat.  I'd rather sleep in a cardboard box than a $100 pink leopard print bed, so I don't know how much weight my opinion carries there.

So, y'know, if you're giving gifts this season, drop by a local indie/handmade show (there are TONS OF THEM this weekend) or browse through Etsy and Artfire, and give something handmade. 

Oh, and if you're looking for the perfect FREE downloadable gift tags, this kitty has got your back.

FREE Skelekitty Gift Tags!

Just click, print, etc.

Happy holidays to you all, and remember to give handmade!

Friend Prices on Rubber Stamps

Yep, I've completely lost my little kitty mind.

I think that these little red rubber babies will make SUCH great stocking stuffers** that I'm offering "Friend Prices" to everyone on the Skelekitty rubber stamps in stock.  "Friend Prices" means you get 20% off  every single stamp you purchase before midnight on Friday (Krissi usually only offers 10% off when you purchase 4 or more - shhh!  Don't tell!).

Our cyber Monday 20% off deal has also been extended through Friday or until the stamps are gone (and the stock is runnin' mighty low, too)!

Just use coupon code "CYBER09" at checkout, and enjoy your new stamps.

Oh, and don't forget about the Buy-One, Get-One deals on all of my prints through the end of the year!  They're selling like hotcakes, so get 'em while the gettin's good!

** And no, you don't have to give them away - keep them for yourself and make your own unique holiday gift tags!

Holideals on ArtFire

Because I love my fans SO much for the support they've given over the past year, everything in the Skelekitty & Friends shop is a "Holideal" through the end of 2009.

Check out the shop for BOGOs, coupons and free gifts with purchase. Artfire has even flagged our photos so you can spot the deals at a glance.  The details for each "holideal" are in the description of the item - just look for the heading, 
♥ ♥ARTFIRE ♥ LOVE!♥ ♥
in my listings.

And remember, whether your make it yourself or purchase it from another indie vendor, please give something unique, personal and handmade this holiday season.

Draft of My VERY FIRST Business Card

DRAFT of SK's Card
Originally uploaded by Skelekitty (Krissi Sandvik)

Look what Krissi mocked up for me today (after spending all day designing her own card and updating the look & feel of her blog).

Whaddya think?

WIN!

Want to know what success is?  It's when someone you know dresses up as you for Halloween!  Our neighbor 'Tana made her very own Skelekitty costume this year, with a skelanimals hat and the help of her mom in the makeup department.

Of course you KNOW this earns her a most sincere SKSoA!  Ya hear that 'Tana?  You have Skelekitty Stamp of Approval bragging rights!


I wonder if there are more SK inspired costumes to come next year.  Oh, and I'm still waiting to see that first Skelekitty tattoo (though Santana isn't allowed to get one for at least another 7 years).

Skele-Networking Made A Little Easier

Hi there Skele-Folks!

You know, there's a lot of crazy social networking those crazy kids are doing on the interwebs these days. The way I figure it, if sometimes it's enough to ruffle the fur of a skeleton cat (that's pretty bad!), then maybe you need a little help and understanding too (of course, I'm talking to my fans over the age of 25 here).

That's why I wanted to post and let you know that IF you are on "the facebook," you can read my blog posts right on your facebook news feed!   All you have to do is go to my Fan Page and click the Become A Fan button.  The button will appear to the right of "Skelekitty" at the top of the page.

Skelekitty on Facebook

Not only will blog posts show up in your news feed, but any time you visit me on facebook, you can easily access my blog, contact info and artfire store right from the tabs at the top of the fan page.  Oh yeah, and my fan pages is totally separate from Krissi's personal facebook profile, so you don't have to add her as a friend or be approved as a fan.  Any facebook user can join.

So once you're a fan, you can suggest the page to your friends.  No spamming, please!  However, if you think someone is or would be a fan and doesn't know about the page, let 'em know.  The "suggest to friends" link is under my profile pic.

If you forget and decide to become a fan later, there's a link in the sidebar of this here blog.

Now, for those of you who don't have a facebook profile, DON'T PANIC!  Nothing will change here - facebook just has a gadget that pulls these posts into their site.  Neato, huh?

Too many prints!

That's right kids. Krissi and I have some "extra" prints on hand here at La Casa de Kitty and we just hate to see 'em sitting around without anywhere to be this close to the most skellified holidays of the year!

Therefore, if you buy ANY print from my Artfire store today or tomorrow, you can choose a free print from this pile! Just use the coupon code PRINT2FER at checkout and you'll have two skellicious prints in time to add to your All Hallow's Eve decor or to place on your Dia de los Muertos shrine!

No kidding though - the coupon expires at the end of the day on Saturday!

LIVE on "Live Wire" Sacramento

Krissi and I will be appearing on Live Wire (Sacramento Comcast Channel 17 or streaming online) at 5pm tonight, Wednesday, October 21st with some of the chicas from the Scary-Art Collective!

We hope you'll tune in!

New Website Design and Content!

I've been a busy kitty cat reworking my website at Skelekitty.com.




I hope you like the new layout and all the content Krissi and I will be adding over the next week!

Until then,

xo

SK

More Ghoulish Goodies

The Artfire Ghouls Guild TRICK OR TREAT 2009 continues today with coupon codes and sales from 13 of our members (how lucky is THAT for you?), a scavenger hunt and two more featured artists, Huckleberry Arts and one of my new favorite crazy girls, Christine St. Onge of 2 of Mind and Spirit.

HUCKLEBERRY ARTS

Annette Gambrel

I don't recall a time in my life where something was not being created. I don't ever see not having time in the day where something isn’t made.


Being an artist has been a gift I couldn't be more proud of, the people I have met each one touches me in their own little way, some more than they know. I enjoy the process of meeting new collectors that enjoy my lil creations. It’s a wonderful gift to be given and to be able to share with others, and hopefully bring a smile into another’s life along the way.

Find HUCKLEBERRYARTS:

huckleberryarts.artfire.com

huckleberryarts.com

huckleberryarts.blogspot.com

flickr.com/huckleberryarts

twitter.com/huckleberryarts

and a very creative (and all around fun) person,

2 OF MIND AND SPIRIT

Christine St.Onge

I love to create all kinds of things. I've tried so many crafts at least once just to see how they're made. I make one of a kind items because we are all one of a kind.


Just remember.. You are unique! Just like everyone else! Revel in your individuality!

Find 2 OF MIND AND SPIRIT:
2ofmindandspirit.artfire.com

facebook.com/pages/2-of-Mind-and-Spirit/49612386274

twitter.com/2ofMind_nSpirit

The lucky winner of yesterday's prize giveaway was Drucilla!  She won this awesome set of handmade mini Halloween cards by She's Batty Designs.


Stay tuned for another prize giveaway tomorrow - this time it will be a free digital Halloween party invitation custom created by Rouxbee Design Studio.


Oh, and have I mentioned that yours truly will be giving away a hand embellished 8x10" print of "Goin' Batty" soon.  When?  Well, that would be telling....

Bugs & Hisses,

SK

13 Days of Treats (it's no trick).

TRICK or TREAT 2009

Presented by the Ghouls Guild
October 1 - 13

13 lucky days of deals, prizes, and spooky fun

from Artfire's creative creatures of the night!

SALES
codes valid 10/1 - 10/13/09 

(unless otherwise stated)

Shop: Morgaine-du-Mer
Coupon Code: 10HALLOWEENIE10
Details:10% off all shop categories except original ACEOs

Shop: House Morbid
Coupon Code: ANABEL LEE
Details: 20% off your total order. One use per customer.

Shop: Rsisland Crafts
Coupon Code: Ghoul's Guild TrickorTreat2009
Details: 20% off (this coupon code is valid for the whole month of October)

Shop: Kaotic Ekkos Curiosities
Coupon Code: TRICKORTREAT2009
Details: 13% off

Shop: She's Batty Designs
Coupon Code: GHOULS
Details: Free Shipping on all Canadian and US orders.

Shop: JenniferLynn Productions
Coupon Code: halloween13
Details: Free shipping

Shop: Simply Smiss
Coupon Code: n/a
Details: Buy 2 get items and get free US shipping or 1/2 off international shipping. Will refund the difference or post a custom listing (no coupon code required). Simply Smiss is closed until Oct 5th.

Shop: Debvandet Designs
Coupon Code: debvandet15
Details: 15% off

Shop: A and M Boutique
Coupon Code: AANDMBOUTIQUE13
Details: Free shipping on Halloween and Wiccan Items

Shop: Mad Science Creations
Coupon Code: GHOULS09MSC
Details: Free Shipping on US and Canadian orders (coupon code is valid for the entire month of October)

Shop: Rouxbee Design Boutique
Coupon Code: n/a
Details: Rouxbee will be having "sneaky sales," and randomly putting everything in her shop on sale by either 5%, 10%, or 15% sporadically for a total of 30 minutes-2 hours on a DAILY basis.

and, last but not least, yours truly

Shop: Skelekitty & Friends
Coupon Code: GHOULSGUILD13
Details: 13% off original art

     AND

Coupon Code: GHOULSGUILD666
Details: 66.6% off prints (Dude, that's almost free!)

PRIZES

Here are a few of the prizes you could win during Trick or Treat 2009!

Info, updates and giveaways are on the Ghouls Guild blog!