NOTE: Before I get started here, I’ll be in Dallas tomorrow night Thursday, 12/2 at the Borders Lovers Lane at Greenville Avenue at 7pm for a signing. I hope you can join us! And I’ll be on Good Morning Texas on WFAA that morning.
Ah creativity. Writing is great, but it’s kind of lonely and it always looks the same whether you are typing, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” or “fka;sl dkdks sllalkfj.” Just letters on a screen. Sometimes I need color, texture and something I can hold in my hands.
In the early 2000s I started painting furniture. I called my company KimmyKat. I adopted a retro feel with my painting ( I still love retro, as my website) shows and incorporated the artwork from old board games like Barbie Queen of the Prom. I painted a Goodnight Moon dresser that I sold in an antique store for a couple of hundred bucks. 
I made a Goodnight Moon dresser for Bella (see photo.) I painted small tables. I used “Go to the Head of the Class” to decorate an old school desk (see photo). But my favorite thing was my painted handbags. I bought old wood bucket and basket purses from the 1960s and 70s, stripped them and repainted them. I sold them for $150 a piece. But mostly I made them for family and friends, customized just for them. I made a Mary Kay pink purse for a dear friend who has since passed away. I made a Barbie purse for my sister. And I had a hundred magazine covers from The New Yorker issues from the 1960s and 70s with which I made a purse for my brother’s partner’s 80 year old mom. The magazine covers were hers, collected over the years. She was amazed and thrilled with the gift.My favorite is my Chutzpah purse. Chutzpah was an old game from the 60s loaded with great Jewish Yiddish humor.
I’m not Jewish, I’m mostly Italian. Close enough. Food and guilt. The Chutzpah purse I kept for myself!
It’s good to touch and savor your creativity in a tactile way. I don’t sew beyond the basic button. I can crochet a chain a mile long, but can’t make a sock. I can knit a stitch or two but can’t pearl a thing. But I can paint.
Oooh, I think I need one of those handbags. Do you give a Deb discount? 🙂
Tawna
I agree – as much as I love writing, there’s satisfaction in creating something more tangible than printed words on paper.
These are all so lovely – the furniture is amazing! Do you think you’ll get back into it?
I still paint purses. I made one two years ago. I have all my games. I can use any art at all. And I do offer a Deb discount! It’s a great way to showcase books too – I made one for Food TVs Alton Brown’s wife based on his books. I’m on an airplane en route to Dallas via Atlanta. Gogo internet is cool! But I’m going to switch over to Word and write in peace. Ah PEACE!!! Thanks, all!
Deb Kim from 35000 feet!
Love that you replied from 35,000 feet, and crazy about the bags! Also very excited about the Alton Brown connection — love his shows.
Good Morning Texas?! That’s fantastic Kim! let us know how it goes! xo
Kim, these are incredible! I attached little star-and-moon pulls to my kids’ dressers but that’s the extent of my creativity in this particular realm. Love your work!