Let your inner Designer roar! 

Create and wear Happy Hand Painted Clothes and Jewelry.

It's fun and simple! And gives you solid joy and inner calm.
Unconventional Methods. Stunning Results.

What you wear affects how you feel and think.

When you wear clothes and jewelry that light you up from inside, your voice is stronger, your eyes shine, you stand taller, you smile and you are happy.
 
You feel beautiful, confident and content.

 Instead of getting frustrated and rattled with daily challenges, you can stay calm and find creative solutions.

Creating with your hands also affects how you feel and think.

When you splash paint freely and create with abandon - just like you did as a child - the brain shifts into the pleasure giving center.

When you create with the hands, you can intentionally cultivate delicious joy, satisfaction and calm.

And if you never splashed paint freely - YAY! It's great you are here!

Time to let that inner creative roar.
And amaze yourself with fabulous clothes and jewelry that make you feel beautiful, happy and radiant in everyday life.

Creating with the hands and wearing happy clothes and jewelry are your personal power tools.
They are simple, playful and effective.

Use them in your everyday life to take charge of being happy and creating inner joy and calm "on demand".

 Let your inner designer roar with joy:
Create and wear awesome tops, tunics, shawls,earrings, necklaces...

It's simple and highly enjoyable with
Monika's unconventional, fun methods - and
 super simple, flattering patterns.

You get stunning results - much faster than with traditional methods and patterns.

Monika's proprietary painting methods and easy-to-do patterns are not available anywhere else.

Who is this Studio for?

Curious beginners to advanced creatives who love "to do different".
People who want to add joy and calm into their life.
Professionals who want playful ways to relax and recharge.
Those who are aching to set their inner creative free - but don't know where to start.
Retirees who are yearning to play, have fun and create to their heart's delight.
Those who tried meditation - but it makes them even more restless.
Creating with the hands might just be your fun ticket for sweet inner peace and joy.

Even if you think you are not creative (it's a myth), you can totally rock making fabulous happy clothes and jewelry that light you up!

"It is quite liberating!"

"Monika, what you are offering is something so special.  I haven't seen anything like it.
I must say I quite enjoy the freedom to splash paint freely.
It took me out of my comfort zone.
It is quite liberating."
Lindsay Cash

Taste Instant Joy!

From blahh to wow in 2 minutes

Turn your T-shirts, shawls, tote bags etc. into hand painted pieces of art - within minutes.

Courses - online and in person

4 ways to add joy and peace to your life - and happy clothes and jewelry to your wardrobe.
Which ones light your fire?

#1: online 
Get started for FREE.

This Drama vest - and other fast and fabulous pieces - are in the free online "Joy of Creating with Fabrics".
It's a compilation of individual short, fun ways to create something beautiful, comfortable and uplifting.

You can make them within minutes to less than an hour.

This vest is a rectangle with 2 holes! No seams!

Even beginners can feel like accomplished designers.

#4 in person
Private VIP Studio Days with Monika

Create with and learn from Monika in person at her Studio in Austin, Texas, USA!

If you are a beginner, the "Private Studio Days" set you up for creating fabulous pieces on your own with confidence and delight.

If you have already taken the Signature Course Program "Hand Painted Art Tops, Happiness and Joy", if you are an advanced creative, or are a designer, the Private Studio Day fast tracks you on adding exciting new techniques and styles to your repertoire.

Available for individuals and for 2-3 friends at the same time.

It's an exquisite way to celebrate yourself and to celebrate milestones.
Or create long lasting joy-filled memories with friends or family.
Whilst also creating exquisite pieces to wear that keep you happy and inspired for years to come.

P.S.: think Christmas gift. Mother's Day gift. Special birthday gift.

Contact Monika with your name and phone number to set up a chat to customize a stellar experience for you.

Who is Monika Astara?

Monika is a lifelong multi-media creative.  
Give her some fabrics, paints, beads, papers - or even discarded household trash items - and she will whip up some gorgeous clothes and jewelry.

All her life Monika has always come up with her own unconventional creative methods and processes.
They are simple, playful and faster than traditional methods.
And you get stunning high-end results with them.

Monika has worked with thousands of women in groups and 1:1 in her boutique on how to use clothes and jewelry for deep and lasting transformations.
(You can read some beautiful transformation stories further down).

Her art teacher told Monika for 6 years: 
"You have no creative bone in your body! 
God must have been asleep when He created you".

Yet, Monika has been a successful full time artist and designer since 1987.

Her Monika Astara clothing line and jewelry has sold in galleries, top names in wearable art boutiques and her own boutique.
Monika Astara clothing and jewelry is now available at trunk shows, retreats, in Monika's Studio and online.

In 2021 Monika created this online Monika Astara Studio as YOUR Studio for Creative Freedom and Joy. 
Monika's unconventional methods and her thorough step-by-step, relaxed and joyful style of teaching can make even timid beginners feel like accomplished designers.

 In-person private VIP Studio days and small in-person group programs are treasured experiences. They are a great way to celebrate yourself, your milestones and your friendships with those special people in your life. 

Wherever you are on your creative journey, I am here to inspire and guide you to boldly go for your unconventional magic.
So that - regardless of outer circumstances - you live your life with passion and joy, while looking and feeling absolutely gorgeous in your comfortable, fabulous clothes and jewelry.

What Clients say


"I haven't had any happiness or joy in my life for a very long time. 
Your course is giving me so much happiness and joy. Thank you!" Dale Hardy, engineer


"It's so simple! It's brilliant." Priti, psychotherapist

"I swear, even Netflix is better watching it in one of my tops." Karla, lifestyle coach

 "I am a frustrated abstract painter. Your encouragement and sharing of ways to create joy through painting on fabric are opening doors in my brain and heart to painting in an unstructured way.  
I am having so much fun with your methods."
Diane Williams, photographer

"This is fantastic! ....You are a natural teacher. Enthusiastic and patient. Love it!
I also love the way you are emphasizing the joy of creating." Lyn Belisle, artist, art instructor


"Using fabric paints with Monika's methods are a lot quicker than the dyeing procedures I usually go through.
Here you get instant joy and gratification at what you’ve created!"
Linda Thompson, wearable art designer


"Been watching your videos all evening!........The videos are excellent!
I used to evaluate teachers for UT (University of Texas).
I can tell you were a teacher. Very organized and concise.
With so many courses I feel like I wasted my time and money.
I am loving your course!"
Rae Dollard, Jeweler

Join the free Creative Freedom and Joy Club.

A safe, private, free community where you can experiment, learn, be supported, be inspired and inspire others.

We are born creative.
Unkind remarks from teachers, parents or friends often stifled our creative expressions - and many of us gave up on it.
Yet, the hearts are yearning to express the natural inner urge to create.

Regardless of where you are on your creative journey, join the private Club and reclaim, or nurture and exalt, your creative expressions!

Sign up to be a VIP (Vibrant Inspired Person) - it's free.

Are you curious for more on "being creative/not being creative",  
the "science why wearing beautiful clothes and jewelry is a necessity for well-being" - and more?

Keep scrolling and reading.

Take your well-being into your own hands:

When you create art on paper or canvas, it often gets stuffed into drawers or a closet.

When you create art that you can wear, you sprinkle joy wherever you go.

It can be as simple as dangly earrings, or a painted shawl that sparkle up your eyes.
 And it can be as bold as whole outfits, where you radiate exuberance.

You'd love to create fun clothes and jewelry - but you think it looks too difficult?

It's just the opposite.

Here, at Monika Astara Studio, you get super easy flattering patterns. 
You also get playful methods that are simple and fast. 
Together they produce high-end, stunning looking clothes and jewelry - for everyday to special occasions.

Even if you are a beginner or think that you are not creative, you can feel like an accomplished designer.

Use clothes and jewelry to take charge of how you feel.

You know how, with some things that you wear, you feel blah, with others you feel neutral, with others you feel good - and with a few you totally light up from inside. You feel so happy - and you radiate it out! That is true beauty.

Imagine how liberated you feel when you express on the outside, the radiant being that you are on the inside.

The wearable art that you create and wear doesn't have to be "in your face".
You create it to suit your personality.
It can be understated, quietly artsy, casually sophisticated, bold - and anything in between.

"It's brilliant!"

"I always thought that your art must be complicated and involved.
But your concept is so simple. It's brilliant."  
Michelle B. artist and art instructor

Engaging creatively is not a luxury - it is a necessity.

When you create with your hands the brain builds neurological pathways for joy and calm.
The more you create, the stronger those pathways become.

Creating with the hands is one of the oldest, most natural and effective ways to counter-balance outer disturbances and keep passionate, peaceful and gentle on the inside.

Wearing fun clothes and jewelry is not indulgent or selfish.
It is essential self-care.

Everything - including your body, emotions and thoughts - vibrate on certain frequencies.*
So do the colors, shapes and textures of the clothes and jewelry that you wear.
You experience that in the way you feel in your clothes.

When you wear clothes and jewelry that dampen your frequencies (energy), you feel blah. When you wear clothes and jewelry that are the same as your current frequencies, you feel neutral.

But - when you wear clothes and jewelry that enhance and uplift your frequencies, you literally light up from the inside. 
Your voice is stronger, your eyes shine, you stand taller, you smile and you are happy.**

Have fun and play with it!
Use hand painted clothes and uniquely "you" jewelry to uplift and support yourself.

* this can be measured.
**this can even be photographed with Kirlian photography

You'd love to create, but you think you are not creative?

So did Diane.
Diane (in the photo) had been wanting to create tops like I do.
But she insisted that she is not creative.

It is a useless, made-up belief that many of us have.
It often shuts down the natural need for creative expression.
We are born creative. And we NEED to create. Just watch kids play.

I am passionate about inspiring and guiding you to create to your heart's delight.

With just one of my super simple, fun techniques, Diane turned her throw-away T-shirt into a fantastic art shirt - within 5 minutes.

"Not being creative"
I can totally relate to it.

Even though I had been creating hand painted wearable art clothing and jewelry for over 30 years, was selling to high-end wearable art boutiques and galleries and had thousands of people telling me how creative I am - I never believed it.

What I do is so natural for me, that I thought any kid can do this.
It feels so easy and playful, that I never thought it qualifies for being artistic or creative.      

Meanwhile I realized, that's exactly where our creative genius is: 
when it is so easy and natural, that we think it's "nothing".  

It's most likely the same for you.
You dismiss your creative expressions because they seem too simple.
But that's where you excel!

Don't compare - it's the killer of joy. 
Just create for the sake of creating and have fun!

Are you someone who'd love to relax, but can't sit still, and mediating makes you feel like a failure?

 Then creating with the hands can easily be your ultimate way to calm and balance that rascal mind.
 Creating is joyful and soothing.
It balances the mind and nervous system - often faster than meditation.

 Plus - you get some gorgeous things to wear that light you up.

See below what Marissa says:

From "funk" to "fun".

"There's nothing better than splashing paint with Monika's methods to take myself out of a funk and into having fun." 
Marissa 

Click on the buttons to pick an online or in-person program - fee or free.