Matisse gets her gift of life!

In the early hours of the morning my Mum called me to say that finally my beautiful niece Matisse after fours years of waiting in America with her family was to be given the gift of life. So right now she is undergoing a long surgery to remove her small and large bowel and replace them with working ones that will allow her to eat...something she has never done!!
So into surgery she went clutching Barney just as she has for every other procedure she has had to endure in her nearly 10 years of pain filled life. My heart goes out to the selfless act of the donor family who have in their greatest moment of grief given our little Matisse a chance to live a normal life. We will be forever in your debt and words cannot express the gratitude and sorrow we feel for you.
Kia Kaha (stay strong)
xx

I LOVE UKE

My poor blog has been so neglected:(
Anyway I have spent some time working on this wee project painting a Ukulele to raise money for Ukes in low decile schools. Here is my Uke on Trademe would love you to bid on it...took me ages to paint, so if you want an original Christmas pressy...go for it:))

Long Live MJ!!

I just love this photo of my niece Matisse dressed up as Michael Jackson for Halloween. Matisse lives with her family in Pittsburgh USA as she is waiting for a four organ transplant. She cannot digest food but LOVES collecting it at Halloween then she has organised to give all the excess to a food bank...what a GIRL!!!
Of course we also love this photo because our Alphabetica is in the background.
LONG LIVE MJ!!!!

Some Super COOL feedback!!

This is little Keira and she is one of the children we sent StickyTinys to in Christchurch after their big shake. This the cool email I had from her Mum:

I put the sticky minis up in Keira's room today and she was OVER THE
MOON! She loves her "bebeez" as she calls them. I am sorry that the
photos are not that great quality, but it was hard to take them as
Keira was jumping up and down in excitement so much!!!
You have made my little girl EXTREMELY happy.

I have had some lovely emails from others too and have loved having contact with you all...so thank you we are really happy your little ones had a nice treat!!



Last week we had an order for four of our murals (Pohutukawa, Nikau, Pukekos and Tui) for a school medical room and I have just received this lovely email:

Hi Kim,

The Decals look amazing and have transformed our dull little medical room into a cheerful haven for the unwell at our school. My only criticism will be that now the kids are going to be lining up for the sick bed so they can enjoy your fantastic artwork!
These are quite different from other commercial decals. They are personal, realistic and just gorgeous!
I have had a few people wander in thinking my artwork is amazing…little do they know the only credit I can take is for the super easy 45 minutes it took to put all 4 up!


We love love this kind of feedback!! Thank you!!
x

BIG NEWS!!

YAY for us, we have been named finalists in the David small business award for the most innovative business...I will let you know how we go!




Check out these super cool photos by Jess at In an instant Photography ..aren't they the best!! Well Jess is from Sydney and contacted us a while ago to make her some heart stickers to add to amazing array of props for her super funky mobile photography studio. So anyone over that way looking for something a little quirky and out of the ordinary contact Jess, you may even end up with some Stickytiki in the background! Just wish she was here:)
x

Giveaway for Canterbury Earthquake Kids

Hi all I know it has been a while! A combination of just being busy, lazy and preoccupied:) Part of the preoccupation is the terrible devastation caused by the Earthquake in Canterbury (South Island of New Zealand) Many people have been left homeless and without businesses. In NZ we have always lived with Earthquakes, but I do remember as a kid being traumatised by a particularly large one and to this day I am like many people terrified of them.
Everyone is a little lost as to what to do to help, but here is what we are doing....$5 from every sale on our website will go to the Canterbury Earthquake Red Cross until the end of the month, we have given $100 voucher and 50 mini wall decals to Kids Fashion Review as the wonderful Kate is putting together goody bags to kids affected by the Earthquake.
I begun making the wee stickytikis...lets call them StickyTiny's, for the goody bags and have enjoyed them so much that I am going to add some to our range....coming soon!
We want to give away these ones here to children affected by the Earthquake, so if you know someone or have a special story to share we would love to hear it, but more importantly would love to give your special 'tiny' someone a small treat!
Please leave comments/stories below and we will give some of these away.
x

$5 from every sale to Pakistan

It is easy to put these images to one side or into the basket 'this does not affect me'. We all do it, I feel we are so used to seeing disaster in third world countries that we actually feel quite useless compared to the magnitude of it all. We are going to try to do our bit even though small, so until the end of Aug $5NZ from every sale will go to try to help some of the victims of the flooding in Pakistan. Our donations are made through Oxfam NZ.
x

3 Great recent reviews for Stickytiki!

Babybites


BabyCenter


FabMums

Check out these great reviews about us!!

We are also very excited to have been nominated for the David Awards which is what I am working on right now. Also thanks heaps to everyone that voted for us in Kids fashion review style awards! We didn't win but were thrilled to be nominated for two category's and would like to CONGRATULATE all the winners...well done!!!
x

Our new Cushions at ST HQ

We desperately needed some new cushions so we bought some plain covers and had a go a making our own designs. Just have to get Kahlo and Si to finish theirs.
We have been invited by the PoppyTalk Handmade to be part of their 'Back to School' market, go and check it out there are some very talented people around.
Have a great week :)
x

We have been nominated for two KFR awards..so need your help!

We are very lucky to have been nominated for two awards in the 'Kids Fashion Review Style Awards', one for best interior childrens decor product and one for best NZ made childrens product...yay so we would really appreciate you vote!!

Whats in it for you???...Well my friends there is over $10,000..yes $10,000 in prizes so it is definitely worth taking a few moments our of your day, and we would LOVE you for it!!


So cheers from us at Stickytiki HQ.

PS: if you are so inclined to vote..one for my sister would be great too...her company BabyBaby has been nominated in the best childs skincare part...and trust me it is a truly beautiful and natural skincare range made right here in NZ!!
x

Happy Birthday Lola and Ben

I would like to introduce you to our friends Trina and Sigi over at Lola and Ben,
here they are pictured with their gorgeous kids who were the reason these ladies started their award winning business. Trina and Sigi make the most divine and innovative Merino Baby Sleeping Bags for babies with interchangeable liners that are silky soft and using only the finest quality NZ merino for a '4 Seasons in 1 Bag'....Only need one sleeping bag for all seasons keeping baby perfectly snug! And best of all they are genuinely New Zealand Made...yay we love that!!



July is birthday month at Lola and Ben so they are celebrating with some awesome specials. Trina and Sigi have been awesome supporters of Stickytiki and we wish them a very happy 3rd birthday!!
x

Puti Puti: The Flower in Contemporary New Zealand Art

Yesterday Jasper and I went over to the Hastings City Art Gallery to make their foyer look pretty for the upcoming show 'Putit Puti' (flower in Maori) which opens tomorrow night.
We think it looks really pretty..a little like retro wallpaper. This was all made using our Pohutukawa and Lovely rose flowers.



Jasper was a huge help and as a treat him and I went to see Toy Story 3..which rocked!
x

StickyTiki Studio Tour on 'New Zealand Handmade'

Head over to New Zealand Handmade
to see our StickyTiki studio tour.
Have a great day:)
x

Sweet Sweet Harper

A big thank you to Sweet Harper for blogging about us! Go and check out Sweet Harper's gorgeous etsy shop..here are my favs, and quite appropriate dont you think!

Babyology loves us!!

Thanks Babyology for your awesome feature about us..it was a really lovely surprise.
We have an exciting week with a few things in the pipeline and our Alphabetica selling really well..YAY! Also had some lovely feedback from a health unit we had sold quite a few of our murals to awhile ago. They said the patients love them and our kiwiana stickers make the kids really happy..can't as much more than that:)
Have a great day!
x

DISCO !!!! Woot Woot!!

Jasper had his first school disco tonight so these are some snaps I got before the big event. Little Miss was so upset not to be going that I let her have a bit of fun before.
The Disco rocked and I am sure Mr Jasper had a great time even if he nearly did fall asleep on my shoulder and did comment on how loud the music was...bless he is such a calm soul..as for the little girl..well we will see but I am thinking right now there is nothing calm about her:)
x

Portrait of me up a ladder!

Just had to share this cute drawing Jasper just did for me. I am putting up new smoke alarms as I nearly burnt down the house last night..very scary!! Anyway while I was up the ladder I thought I would fix the broken light bulb in this very funky lamp shade I was given. Two minutes later Jasper had drawn this pic of me..so cute, and the lampshade looks just like this!

Lovely write up!

I am very excited about this write up in Growing up Green firstly because it is the first write up about our new Alphabetica, but also because Raquel (who is also the kids editor for Peppermint mag...which I also love), has just expressed exactly what was my intention when I made this piece. She totally got it!! And as an artist when someone who writes about your work gets it, its a good day:)
Also thanks Brittni from Papernstitch for featuring our Tia in her email newsletter this morning.
Another awesome place to visit..and I cant believe I haven't told you about already (slack) is a new blog New Zealand Handmade made up of a collective of ultra talented and amazing women who make amazing things..(I happen to be one of them:) Come over and meet everyone we would love to see you!

This is our little friend Barnaby! I was lucky enough to see this gorgeous little man being born..in fact my face was the first he saw...poor child! Anyway his Mum and Dad bought him round for a wee visit the other day..I am thinking him and Jasper will be great mates!


x

Finally ALPHABETICA is LIVE!!!!

OMG what a drama that was!!! When I gave you all a preview a few weeks ago for our Alphabet I had NOOOOO idea how long all of the other stuff would take such as..(new photos, web page, pricing, sizes etc etc) to get it all live! Wow it has all given me a new insight into the technical stuff..as normally I do the artwork and photos and wonder why Simon is taking so long:) Si is teaching me all the techy stuff too so as I know how everything works..umm not sure I want to know, but it is good for me.
Anyway Alphabetica is now available in our Etsy shop and on our website in three different sizes for all sized spaces..hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them:)
x

New Alphabet..with U for Ukulele!

Due to popular demand I have painted a Ukulele, which I think is kinda cool if I must say so myself:) The letters will also be available as individuals so as you can build you childs name..great alternative to traditional name plaques. We are working as fast as we can to finish..there a huge job after my bit to get them to production, but I am cracking the whip and Si is slaving away..so hopefully by the end of the week we will have them on the site.
x

Preview of NEW - Alphabetica

Ok folks this is the promised preview of our new Alphabetica! There are a few changes to make (sizing stuff) and maybe the umbrella will become a Ukulele?? So this is the original images. I am thinking about two sizes..one large like this and another smaller..what do you think.
The concept of this is to create a learning art piece, there are so many sweet alphabets around but I struggled to find something contemporary without being too out there, beautiful without being too girly. My kids who are 13, 5 and 3 all love this and have been my advisers on what is working and what isn't. The 13 yr old (Zav) LOVES the L , V,I and X, Jasper and Kahlo LOVE everything..they are so loyal:) They really have spend hours looking saying the letters and discovering new little hidden things beginning with that letter in the paintings.

A is for Awesome Apple
B is for Beautiful Blue Bat
C is for Circus, Cream Cat, Clouds, Crimson
D is for Dainty Deer with Daisy chain
E is for Enormous Elephant
F is for Foxy Fox with Freesias
G is for Green Giraffe, in a Grey and Gold frame with Gerbera's
H is for House, Home
I is for I love you
J is for Jug
K is for Kite and Kisses
L is for Love heart
M is for Monkey, Moon and Mushrooms,
N is for Nighttime and Neon
O is for Oblivious Owl
P is for Prickly Pineapple
Q is for Quiet Queen
R is for Raindrops and Rainbow
S is for Sun and Star
T is for Turquoise Telephone
U is for Umbrella but maybe Ukulele??
V is for Violet Volcano
W is for Whale blowing Water
X is for X and Xylophone
Y is for Yak on a Yacht with Yellow sails
Z is for Zebra

Molly and Me

My mum found this photo of my Grandmother (Molly..AKA Molly Lolly) the other day. I was taken in 1976, and as you can see I was 'holier than thou'! It was my Grans wish for me to do my holy communion and she was so proud on this day. I still have this little dress which was also used as a flower girl dress..waste not want not in those days. I also have my precious rosary beads hanging around the neck of a very old doll on top of my piano. I remember this day so well, thinking how strange that we all looked like little brides.
When my daughter Kahlo saw this photo she thought is was her, how funny is that. I also remember very clearly how jealous my best friend was that I was dressed like this and she had a boring brown dress on..funny though she went on to be a real bride and I never bothered:)
x

Lovely Rose at La Toriana's house!

Elizabeth from the beautiful online store La Toriana bought a 'Lovely Rose' from us last year and she has posted this great photo of it on her facebook page. This is her daughter Tiana enjoying her gorgeous girly space.
It is really great to see how people put together their murals..I love to see the photos folks so keep them coming!
Happy day!
x

R.I.P Mr Oopsie

Jasper and Oopsie watching TV.

Our dear old cat who was a grand old man of 17 died at home yesterday laying on the floor of my studio with blankets, lots of cuddles and kisses from us and silver (the dog) as he passed to the next cat life. He is now buried under the trampoline with his sister Daisy. Oopsie and Daisy were saved by my girlfriend and I 17 years ago, and as we were driving them home in a box on my lap, my friend had to stop suddenly and I said 'oh oopsie daisy' while the two small kittens went flying to the other side of the box...and so they had their names! I ended up with both cats and so my kids have always had them in their lives, amazing though how easily children deal with death if it shown to be natural. The three kids were fascinated with Oopsie after he died and wanted to know why his eyes and mouth were open..there was no fear or tears they just acceptance that it was his time. We all made a little plaque for his grave which the kids painted beautiful pictures on.
Yes our friend Oopsie had a grand old life and we will miss him dearly!!
x

OUR NEW SITE IS LIVE!!!!!!!

Finally..wooohoooo our new site (which Si built..isnt he clever) is live www.stickytiki.co.nz please check it out and tell us what you think!! I love its simplicity and think it shows off our product really well..we still have a few links and things to add, but all in good time.
To celebrate we are offering free shipping worldwide until the end of May so please spread the word for us. I am so excited as I really disliked our other site but I think this one is BEAUTIFUL!!! Woohoo!
x

We are featured on the lovely Pirouette blog!

We are so thrilled to be featured on the very cool Pirouette blog, Florence Rolando finds all sorts of wonderful, inspiring things for children plus she also interviews children from all over the world...so glad she found us all the way down here:)
x

HAPPY EASTER !!!!

Hope you all have a fab Easter and get lots of yummy eggs. I have already been eating marshmallow ones..yuuuuummmm!! Enjoy the break and we will see you next week with our exciting new website!
x

Superheros and Super New Website Countdown!!

I made these superhero capes for the kids Christmas presents (along with the tipi), and in true child style they have only just decided to play with them!!!
I know I have been really slack lately with the blog but we have been SUPER busy lately getting our brand new website ready, which should be live by Thurs...I CANT WAIT..it is soooo much nicer and shows off our product really well. Si has spent months building it and I must say has done a SUPER job!! I will let you know and we will do a giveaway to celebrate.
Our little man has been offered a role in 'Midsummer nights dream' as a changeling child..he was feeling unwell yesterday and was sleeping at the time of the offer....oh stardom, its a tough life!
Oh and yes the blog is going to get an update soon too!
Have a great week.
x

Ocean beach on Sunday!

My favourite beach, we had such a lovely day and the kids ran and ran and ran.
x

Droolicious

Lovely little post about our Dear Deer tree on 'Droolicious'!
Thank you!
x

Tiki Tours!

This stickytiki's brand new mode of transport and I LOOOOVVVEEEE it!!! Little Miss sits on the back and Mr 5 rides his bike beside me. I am getting a basket put on the front for going to the post shop with Stickytiki deliveries. My only complaint would have to be wearing those awful helmets...YES I KNOW they save your life, but really do we have to look bad in the meantime, it just does not match the gorgeous retro style of the bike. I have looked online for funky ones but they seem to only be sold in Europe..boo hoo..so if anyone knows where I can get a lovely stylish helmet (not bright colours (that will draw even more attention to the head) it would be greatly appreciated!
A big apology for being MIA lately but we are working really hard on new designs which I am really excited about :)
x

Wordless Wednesday

Lovely collaboration with Two Black Cats!

This is a photo shoot we did yesterday with 'two black cats' who make gorgeous vintage blanket cushions, rugs and all sorts of other wonderful things...keep and eye out and I will let you know when their site is live. The colours of their range worked so beautifully with our Tia and the forest keepers.
x