For those who believe in miracles

Finding the time to make this T-shirt is a miracle in itself, but when I said miracle I had in mind this beautiful life we live. This supergirl is painted on cotton and then sewed on a T-shirt. She likes to fly and when she's not flying she feels like flying, the wind plays through her hair and a set of tulle wings will take her higher.
Everything is done with hypoallergenic textile paint, organic cotton and of course, love.

Miracles do exist!

A friendly way to start the weekend

New Hug for Christina

Hugging is scientifically proven to make us stronger, prettier, better. I could write a whole essay about it, but instead I dare invite you to hug the first person you see around.

The same group of scientific experts pointed out that kittn T-shirts make your day absolutely special.

A few of the many who dared:

Roxana

Andreea

Simona + her brother

Handcrafted ballet tote

Rosário and I met at the handmade fair 2 weeks ago in Lisbon. She had a special order for kittns: a tote bag for her 6 year old daughter.

The best part is it wouldn't be just another cute tote bag, but the little princess will carry... her ballet outfit in it! I did nine years of dancing myself so I got thrilled creating it (gosh, I'm so happy as if the tutu inside were mine :-)

Her favorite colors are yellow + turquoise so I tried to use the last one as much as I could, even on the inside. The bag is entirely handmade, starting from sketch scratch.

I hope she will have tons of fun dancing and the bag will make a lovely memory to hold after years...

Hope you enjoy it too!

Help, my sewing machine is gone

Hello beautiful people.

As you've been waiting for the goodies I promised and they didn't show up, I owe you an explanation + apology.

The thing is kittns haven't been able to finish their latest work (yes, blame it on them) because the sewing machine they were working on... disappeared. Long story short, we were using the machine the landlady lent us until one day last week when we entered our room and it was gone. I will refrain from &*%#@%&$ making comments for now, but I'm really sorry for this awful event that delayed the work.

Kittns and I are currently saving money to buy a sweet darling of our own soon, which no one will take away anymore. Just so you know when you are ordering t-shirts or other goodies, almost everything goes to the sewing machine fund.

Until then please accept Sewing is my art free card, an original drawing pencil on paper + red thread handmade stitch.

Kisses and many thanks for your understanding.

The message.

As we spend a lot of time indoors, I believe we should make our space comfy and cozy, a shelter where we feel nurtured on love and peace. I thought pillows can be so close and tender: we rest with them while napping on a Sunday afternoon, we hug them when we listen to our best friends adventures, we even throw with them when playing pillow fight with our better halves.



I called this particular collection The message, as and it showcases lovely realities that we need to be reminded of everyday or fragments of our favorite things to say all in the purpose to brighten our days and make them better.
I painted the characters and text on cotton and linen and they are very very soft to the touch. With the risk of repeating, I'm going to say again that the textile paint that I use is water-based and contains no solvents. Their sizes vary, as some pillows are singles and some come in sets of two.
You will find the entire collection for sale in my online shop or by simply writing to me.


Caution: powerful emotions attached!

Superheroes.

I wanted to take part in a handmade fair here in Cascais and people showed me two women that were chatting by a jewelry stand. They said they are in charge and I should speak with them.
'The bosses' were two old sisters fearful that someone would bring in more competition for their jewelry - so their nice way to connect was 'if you are making jewelry you'd better go away'. When they found out about what I do they 'instructed' me to speak with an overlord a colleague that apparently had the final decision in everything (?!).
I've met with this woman at eight in the morning and after a brief presentation (in which I've been told business cards are overrated) I began to pull out t-shirts from my backpack watching the reactions on her face.
Have you ever walked into a store or an office and began to ask 'Would you...?' and you were told 'No!' before you finished the sentence? Well, people act a lot like that here where I live. You can confirm if you live or lived here for other than a touristic experience and interacted with locals more than 'Hi, what a nice day, thank you'.
Back to our 'comrade' who was supposed to approve of my creations, she started to ask a long list of conditions to fulfill (more like Hercules's labors) in order to be able to take part in the fair. At one time I thought 'hey, this fair is owned by mobsters' and I left with a bitter taste of positions in opposition, abject attitudes and negative energy overall.
I felt down in the last days and I didn't even know why. Last night I finished the project I told you I was working on, I showed it to Marco and he was very impressed. He asked me when do we go to the fair and I answered that I didn't want to be a part of the 'comrades' community. He hugged me and said that flowers bloom wherever we go and we shine even under five layers of clothing. He even lent me his magic bracelet so I wouldn't be afraid anymore.



So I fell asleep and I dreamed that I was a superhero going to do the trick to a powerful monster that was terrorizing the city. It would appear at a fancy cocktail party so I went there. I was dressed in my stay-at-home-leggings, a t-shirt and sneakers and I was a bit afraid from time to time: I was saying to myself gosh I'm small, but then I remembered the strength of my kicks and punches would smash the monster into the nearest wall (I forgot to mention that in my dream Marco was a superhero too and we made a team, but he had something else to do so I was facing the villain by myself).
I got to the party and I asked a woman about the possible ways to the roof of the building. She looked upon me with scorn, but I was smiling knowing 'hey, if it wasn't for me you would be monster's supper tonight'. I went on to the roof constantly visualizing the might of my actions.
The dream ended here, but even without the actual fight I felt great when I woke up.
You know that confidence feeling that makes your heart burst with enthusiasm? The bad news is that we sometimes lose it cause of one monster or the other, the best news is that it's always there with us, we can use it to overcome any problem we might have and go forward with our heads up.

Purrfect.

I don't have a perfect life, oh, I am far far from that.
I weigh six kilos over the point where my figure would be curvy, I live with my in-laws (insert holding breath here) and I feel vaguely detached from my own self most of the time.
I'm thirty years old and I haven't had a sense of direction in life ten years ago, nor do I have now (actually, I think of myself as being two times fifteen, it's more fun).
I started a handmade business almost four years ago and financially I am at the same level. I seem to cut my shoulder-length hair short all the time just to convince myself that I was on the right track growing it in the first place.
My workplace and room always look way past fashionably distressed (I particularly have a special relationship with socks that appear everywhere at most unexpected times).
And there would be a few more discontents I live with daily (or traits that one doesn't brag about so much) but you know what, f... orget that, I am happy to show you a few images from the project I am working on and I hope will be out in one week.

What would YOU change about your life?

If it's March it must be love!

If I haven't told you that you can wear kitten t-shirts when pregnant and they're also available for babies, I'm proudly telling you now... and I've got the photos to prove it!
Andreea is just beautiful with her Hold Me tee and Adina rules the world (on her dad's birthday)!

CLEARANCE

Here's the big sale as I promised and although it's not a huge collection of discounted items, I think they make a super cool wardrobe for the spring to come. Wear them with jeans or skirts, maybe hot pants and lots of smiles, of course!


Giraffes!, light weight cotton t-shirt with tulle appliques, size M/38. Sold
Life is not a fairytale, cotton maxi t-shirt/dress, size M/38. Sold

Bring it on, lady fit t-shirt with cotton applique, size M/38. Sold
Giraffe and the city, cotton lady fit t-shirt, felt applique, size S/36. Sold

Giraffes and the city, lady fit t-shirt, red cotton, size S/36, felt appliques. Sold
Hug me!, maxi t-shirt/dress, gray cotton,size M/38. Sold

I'm blue, lady fit t-shirt, size L/40, with felt & tulle appliques. Sold
Kitten's got a gun, lady fit, size L/40, with a heart felt brooch on the sleeve. Sold

Drama queen, lady fit t-shirt with a heart felt brooch on the sleeve, size M/38. Sold
I love to dance, maxi t-shirt/dress, tulle bow. Sold

I'm not afraid of dragons, size M/38, lady fit t-shirt with tulle sleeves.
Business mice, pink long t-shirt, size M/38, tulle sleeves. Sold

I heart biking, maxi t-shirt/dress, blue cotton, size M/38.
If I ruled the world, gray cotton t-shirt with cotton appliques. Sold

I forgot to mention that each t-shirt is unique, hand painted and hand crafted. In the absence of a non-virtual store, I can also say the weight of the fabrics and textures vary, but they all feel very soft to the touch.
I hope you find a favorite t-shirt among them and I'm wishing you a lovely day!

Hello kittens!

I wish we all have a happy day today on international women's day! I wish we all feel good in our own skin, wearing our own shoes - however you call it - I wish we all feel we are beautiful.
So... it's good to be back!
I didn't really plan to reopen kitten blog on this special day, it just happened. Let me tell you the long story short: a few months ago I felt I should stop writing. I've had a terribly weird 2010; at some point I felt like not only the last drop had filled the glass, but the water was overflowing. For a while my faith drifted, but then I shook my shoulders, straightened my back and raise my head... I opened my eyes and accepted things as they are, not how I wanted them to be.
You were by my side and gave me support, through your messages or even simple comments. So I remembered why I started kitten - the main thing was to have fun and feel at ease - and I plan to keep it this way.
Thank you, with all my heart!

Leaving the poetry and getting more technical, you’ve probably noticed kittens have a new domain name and a few pages. You have all the information at hand and everything is very easy to click use. I’ve also managed to organize my work better as a portfolio and that is a performance considering the fact that I’ve been saying “I’ll do it tomorrow’ for over a year.
I will soon upload a new logo/header, write all the details on the pages and hopefully own a new online shop.
As usual, I have lots of ideas and fun on my mind... You are welcome here anytime you want, I'm available for thoughts and dreams, jokes and cups of tea (don't worry if they're virtual, our friendship is real).

PS. T-shirt clearance tomorrow, be here!

Boo!

Yesterday, while chatting with my dear sister Alice we realized we don't celebrate too many holidays, better said, the holidays listed in the calendar are not enough. So... we decided to invent our own holidays.

We didn't have to think much, the idea for a first holiday just came all of a sudden: October 27 will be Creeps Day for us. We probably felt instinctively that we need to loosen up a bit on the sweet behavior, so we made a plan that tomorrow we'll follow in the footsteps of some kind of a Wednesday Addams, telling people exactly what's on our minds without any gallantry. Seriously, straight face, no kidding. Our bits of talking to people will be spontaneous; right now I don't know what we'll say but here's an example of how our interactions at work could be:

I don't hug.
(colleague) Oh, you're just shy.
Nope, I'm contagious.

or

(colleague) How do I look?
Disturbing.

Well, I'm expecting loads of grins laughter, wish me luck anyways! :-)
What's your idea of a fun day?

Trust me...

... it will only get better.
*to Denisa & all supergirls out there.

New Kittens.

I've been wanting to get kitten designs on some other support than textile, and so I thought of experimenting with ceramics. It's not the first time, I've been working with porcelain and clay in the year of 2002 when I had my first art business together with a partner; our works were of liquid ceramics though, the kind that needs to be cooked in a special oven at high temperature. We used to make a lot of bells and decorate them, pots, vases and even lamps - oh, it was very cool.
Now I experimented with another kind of clay, the one that only needs air to dry and harden. I cut the small pieces (circles and squares), I gave them a smooth touch using my fingers, then I let them dry for 24 hours. After that I polished them, I began painting using acrylic colors and I coated them in transparent varnish in the end for a nicer look and longer duration in time.
They turned out to be brooches and I think they're sweet. I hope you like them too, as they will be your presents whenever you're ordering kitten t-shirts. You can have any design you want, you can even match them with the t-shirts if that's your wish. (If you really really want to have one just like that by itself all you have to do is e-mail at kittenwear@gmail.com and I'll send it over)

It's cold, 5 cm ø clay brooch, metal pin on the back, original design, entirely handmade and unique.

It's OK to be mad, 5 cm ø clay brooch, metal pin on the back, original design, entirely handmade and unique.

Kitten Girl I, 5 cm ø clay brooch, metal pin on the back, sand beads, original design, entirely handmade and unique.

Party Bow Tie, 7 x 3 cm clay brooch, metal pin on the back, original design, entirely handmade and unique.

Kitten Girl II, 5 cm ø clay brooch, metal pin on the back, sand beads, original design, entirely handmade and unique.

Family Portrait, 6 x 6 cm clay brooch, metal pin on the back, felt applique, original design, entirely handmade and unique.

You have a lovely fresh week!

We rock!

Olà, good morning! Today I want you to meet Adina, a beautiful girl and a pilot so passionate about flying, so trustful to spread her wings.
I am proud to have created her t-shirt and very happy to know such a courageous, strong woman.

New...

... Well, well, what can they be? :-) Stay tuned for their story: more photos and details to come!

New kittens.

Today I was also a model for the t-shirts that I created. I wasn't too professional, but I enjoyed every minute of it - Viviana was seriously talking the photos as some guys were giggling behind her (I'm sure they liked kitten t-shirts a lot).

So... here's a new kitten in town, hand painted with lace appliques on a cotton t-shirt...

A hand painted green-eyed kitten girl that's looking up to stars...

And two dreamers (shaped as giraffes this time) on an original hand painted & appliques t-shirt.

Well, that's it! I hope you liked my funny faces as well as the new designs - oh, by the way, all t-shirts are customizable - colors and sizes may vary by request.

Have a wonderful new week everyone!