Looking back on the first month of the year, the deep cold weather, it’s challenges and putting myself mindfully out of my comfort zone I find myself frustrated and motivated at the same time. I started decluttering last summer summer but blame Marie Kondo on Netflix but I spent a big part of my January decluttering my apartment and craziness ensued… everything that's behind doors is getting so organised and clean but the floors and getting covered in pile of things to donate, trashed or recycle although I can already see the benefits on my mental health at time it seems like it will never end. After reading that most people take 6 months to complete her method I'm a bit overwhelmed by it but I'm persisting. That being said I was feeling like I created nothing all month until I went through my phone pictures it  reminded me that I did find little area to test new thing  and create a little. I even went out for a night with friends.

My other big project is something I wanted to do last summer but somehow I did not keep up with it so here I am again making it a weekly habit and include it in my bullet journal should help me persevere this time around and announcing it makes the commitment official. I want to fill a sketchbook with drawing of hands because they can be damn difficult to draw!!!! it will be interesting to see the evolution. I will pencils sketch a few hands in each session. After a while I should become more confident about them I will start to integrate them in more complex layout. If you want to joint with me in the challenge use the #drawinghandschallenge so we can share. It’s not an official thing, it’s just me trying to get better. I’ve pinned a lot of hands reference here, feel free to have a look and challenge yourself as well 😊
 
So that was my January, I want to make a habit of writing these post once a month, and share with you more of my creations or new tricks I have learned, making a bilan once a month make me realise that even when I feel like I accomplished nothing I still did quite a bit for a girl with a muggle job.

let’s see if I can keep this up and see you at the end of February

​Karine

​Happy New Year! 
So 2019, like every year it's hard to believe we are already there, it comes so fast every time! As a creative mind, I always feel like I don't enough time. 
Time is probably the biggest luxury there is and I wish I had Hermione's Time-Turner to accomplish ALL the projects I have in mind but that would probably be exhausting! 
In 2018, my word of the year was "Balance", 2017 had left me exhausted, still I pushed myself through the first 4 months creating Ladybird a class in which I've put so much of myself. I launched it and it was successful enough but after the launch, I was left uninspired, tired and with no clue where to go next. It's not that I didn't have ideas they simply did not talk to me so the next few months after that I kinda floated around trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Then came my summer vacation and for the first time in 3 years I actually took a real vacation, meaning that I did not work on Kabostudio, barely did art, read books, cooked, clean the house, got rid of stuff and did an all lot of nothing. I realized I hadn't taken time to actually relax and replenish in so long that at first, I felt uncomfortable but as time pass I was getting more at peace, felt the sadness leaving me and was genuinely inspire and it was time for me to get back to work, knowing how to achieve balance. The second part of the year was spent creating, evolving, cleaning, organizing… It's not always easy to find the balance in all of this but I'm getting there.

For 2019 my chosen word is "FOCUS". As I said before as a creative mind I feel like I don't have enough time for everything and get easily distracted. I took an online class on workflow, time management and productivity by Lisa Congdon. The thing is I am super organized in my day job work but for my business, my brain goes in all directions because hey I have Ideas! :) So for 2019, I want to learn to focus, on top of my planner which help me tremendously I also got myself my first Bullet Journal, simple steps in getting where I wanna be and scheduling time for all that makes me happy. Currently, I'm aiming to finish decluttering the apartment, I started about a month ago and I can already see the improvement this has brought to my life.

I'm also working on several personal art projects, I just started a new canvas journal to explore, next week I want to start filming my next A Canvas Journey watercolour edition 2.0 my watercolour edition and portrait skills have evolved so much and I want to share those tricks with you in creating emotional, empowering portrait. Sign-up to the mailing list if you wanna be the first to know about the next class. All dolled-up with Lee-Anne is going really well. I started working on a photoshoot backdrop for my doll (that's a long-term project). And so many other things that will make the next year special and the Bullet Journal be very handy. 
What's on your list for next year?

​Karine xx

Like a lot of dolls collector, it began when I was a kid, I have a vivid memory of being 12 and being told that I was too old to play with dolls when that's all I wanted for my birthday. I was broken heart and I remember the "serious conversation" my parent had, they thought  I was immature and not doing enough thing "my age". They agreed, it would be the last time that I would get a doll and got me Skipper and the gym set! (I was in love with that tiny pink gym locker…) A couple year later they told me I had to give all my dolls away to my little cousin… I was crushed but did it anyway.

The thing is, it's was never truly about the dolls themselves I simply loved to create clothes, furniture and accessories for them. It was all about creation I don't even remember doing the 'play pretend" thing with them at all. Maybe once … but still, the main game was to create them the perfect wardrobe with old clothing and scrap fabric I would find around the house. 
Sticking an image to a leftover piece of wood found in the street that looked like an old tv. Building beds, dressers out of matchboxes, turning pout old kleenex boxed into loveseats. My grandmother taught me that one, she would fill them with all kind of goodies for me. She would cover them with fabric and I absolutely adored them. 

For a while, I pretended to keep building for my younger cousin so they would have something to play with when they were visiting but let's face it although I was happy that they loved them it was all for me!

As I grew older I started to learn painting and to draw more activities that were less frown upon. I say less because I was said by many that it was a waste of time but that's another battle. 

It wasn't until years later after I started sewing again and making plush toys, then soft sculpture that I came across the world of art doll, took the class A doll Story by Danita art, but since I'm never truly satisfied until I truly make a project my own I developed my own pattern that it always a work in progress as I transform them each time.