Kahurangi Cottage

08/09/2024

Church of the Good Shepherd Lake Tekapo South Island NZ. Oil on canvas. Another in the Aurora series, this time Aurora Australis or Southern Lights, it's been a mission getting this finished!🙃💜

31/08/2024

I've had a bit of a soap sabbatical over the winter as my studio is a bit on the cold side for successful soap making. Now the warmer weather is arriving, I can start again. Looking for some handmade soap with all natural products, so good for your skin, PM me🙃💜

12/07/2024

My lovely friend/sister-in-law gave me this scotch chest, my initial thought was a dark red riding hood, but since our lovely hielan' coo Haggis has gone to that great paddock in the sky, I just had to have a homage to her. I printed out this photo and decoupaged it onto the front, I stuffed it up big time, it looked awful!! The only way I could save it was by painting over the print. My daughter then suggested I put some thistles on it, the handles don't come off, so with a bit of DAS paper clay and my thistle mould I made the handles look a bit special (in my opinion!!). I then used my cricut to print out the top, it says Highland Cows are my spirit animal in gaelic. The sides were blended with the sky blue and white chalk paint (both from Kmart) and some celtic knotwork stencilled onto them in lilac chalk paint (kmart again). I love, love, love this piece, hopefully it will be a family heirloom!😂🤣💜💜💜

12/07/2024

Adding a bit of steampunk to an old metal trunk.🙃💜

21/03/2024

Pink Lady mixed media on canvas. I found a pin by Amadriadi. Celia Bailes that appealed to me for a fabric study, I put my own spin on the background.🙃💜

16/03/2024

Last week I decided to upcyle these old Rimu drawers ( some of you purist will be appalled at me actually putting paint on Rimu, but in my defence they are pretty boring and our house is all wood, so colour is needed here an there!! The mould is made from air dry clay, then I painted it with Vodoo Molly Pink Kiss vintage paint, decoupaged the steampunk cats on the front and on the top, then blended Cherry Bomb vintage paint by Vodoo Molly with Blush Pink by Rustoleum, once dry I added some waterslide decals to the top print then waxed the whole piece. Finally used some gilding wax to the mould and added crystal handles.🙃💜

12/02/2024

My first soap of 2024, been a busy summer at the cottage! Jaffa Cake smells amazing of chocolate and orange, this will be available in time for the Pretty Crafty Market on Sun 17th March which happens to be St Patricks Day.🙃💜

21/12/2023

30/11/2023

Castle Stalker Argyll oil on canvas. The name Stalker comes from the Gaelic Stalcaire meaning hunter or falconer. Happy St Andrews Day. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🙃💜

16/11/2023

Grant wanted a sign for his beer taps, his brief was a Clydesdale horse and mountains......tick. Then he decides it might be good to have something on the other side for a bit of a change, his brief for this was a mountain, water and a barn........tick.🙃💜

07/11/2023

A busy day in the studio packaging soap for the Pretty Crafty Xmas Market on Sun at Richmond Town Hall 10am til 2pm. Come along and buy your xmas gifts from the fabulous Nelson makers keeping it local.🙃💜

24/10/2023

Sea Salt Spa Bars. The flowers are unscented and coloured using white clay and turmeric. The curcumin in turmeric can help reduce dark spots, even out skin tone, brighten complexion, reduce scar tissue and calm inflamed skin. The bars are fragranced cashmere, a blend of clove, sweet orange, lavender, clary sage and patchouli essential oils and coloured using white clay and purple mica.

20/10/2023

A busy week soaping, Japanese Cherry Blossom, Strawberry Fields and some Stained Glass soaps. All these will be available in time for the Pretty Crafty Market on 12th Nov at the Richmond Town Hall. Hope to see you there. 🙃💜

15/10/2023

Had a lovely day at the Wakefield Art Groups exhibition, sold some art and soaps. Great catching up with my fellow artists.🙃💜

20/09/2023

Refreshing Mint Soap, this smells absolutely amazing, fragranced with peppermint and spearmint essential oils. This soap will slap you awake in the mornings. 😂🥺 Available 10th Oct.

24/08/2023

Had some couples bonding building this custom shelf unit, I am so happy with the wee shelves for displaying my soaps.🙃🥺

07/08/2023

Take 3 3x3 bookcases, some mdf, wheels and a man who is great at taking what's in my head and building it, et voila, a fantastic work bench for my new studio space.

19/07/2023

19/07/2023

The ceiling and walls have been whitewashed and the floor painted in my new studio. Workshops in the beautiful Arthur Ranges coming soon, watch this space.

11/06/2023

Handmade Artisan Soap. Juicy Citrus. This soap has a blend of Sweet Orange, Lemon, Lime, Litsea Cubeba & Grapefruit essential oils. A great bar to wake you up in the morning. Citrus oils have a beneficial effect on circulation. I love, love, love the smell 💜💜💜

23/03/2023

With the weather turning colder for autumn it's time for cozy clothes.. oh how warm and snug your little will one be in these, made by the very talented Val from Vals Hand Knits 🧶🧵

Available at the Pretty Crafty Easter Market , Sunday 2nd April, Richmond Town Hall 😊

21/03/2023

08/03/2023

It's International Womens Day so I'd like to give a big shout out to all the wonderful and talented women that make the Pretty Crafty Market what it is.. Thank you to all the wonderful creatives that have been a part of it over the years - you rock!
Here's just a few of their smiling faces!

19/02/2023

Thanks for all your comments on my last post, I now have my website back under my control.🙃

15/02/2023

Excuse my language but some bastard has just hacked my website, now if you search Kahurangi Cottage it takes you to a word press blog that says Hello World. What is wrong with people that think it's ok to mess around with peoples lives and business. I'm beyond mad!!! Now I have to work out how to get my website back under my control. I pay good money every month to keep the site open yet this C**T thinks its a laugh to F**K me around.

11/02/2023

Handmade Artisan Soap. Aurora Borealis. I got some neon mica and thought it would be great to make a Northern Lights soap. My moon is a wee bit low on the horizon, you can either look at it as a rising moon in the evening or a setting moon in the morning depending on your outlook! I fragranced this with peppermint, jasmine, lemon, cypress, sage and sandalwood essential oils. 🙃