Take-Your-Daughter-To-Work day @ The Renton Spring Festival

I did the Renton Spring Festival on Saturday. Last year, after I found my handmade one-of-a-kind items  amidst the likes of Mary Kay and Cookie Lee, I swore I'd never do it again. But this year I heard it would be different - handmade and fair trade only - so I decided to give it one more chance. I'm glad I did.

In the past, I would spend weeks frantically  making things before craft shows. This time, I didn't make anything. Not because I'm lazy, but because I'm busy doing other things that are suddenly more important to me. McKenna was on a bracelet-making kick though, so I set her up with a pile of pipe cleaners and my container of beads and let her have at it. She made 24 bracelets.  I told her she could set up a table in my booth and sell them.

"For money?" she asked.

"Yep." I said.

"And what can I do with the money?"

"Whatever you want."

She thought this was a fine idea and promised to be well-behaved and helpful and no whining or interrupting me when I'm talking to customers. She's always been too young to have with me at craft shows all day before. But we thought we'd try it. She decide to name her jewelry line McKennaMade and charge $2 per bracelet.

Friday night came and rather than meticulously prepare, I opted to have dinner with my ladyfriends, then came home and packed the car with everything I could think of that was kokoleo or a way to display a kokoleo. This was all done around 2 in the morning.

7:42 a.m. I woke up and went back to sleep.

8:54 a.m. woke up again. Showered, hair, make-up, dressed myself and McKenna.

Ack!  My phone was only half charged. I needed a fully charged phone for this. So I plugged it in and make a cup of coffee and ran around the house getting last minute items, twiddled my thumbs and then...

9:59 a.m. We were out the door.

Ack! I had no money.

10:11 a.m. I'm at the BECU machine. I withdrew $40.  Ack! I needed ones!

10:24 a.m. I'm at McDonald's. I'm not hungry, so all I order is an iced tea, unsweetened. I pay with a $20 and ask for all ones back. McDonald's makes a great McBank. Except the line is looooong.

McKenna told me I got a call while I was at the ATM. I checked the message. It's Erik. Our across-the-street neighbor found a tray and a bunch of pipe cleaner bracelets scattered in our street and thought it might be ours.

Ack! I totally drove away from the house with a tray of McKennaMade bracelets on the roof. (In my defense, it was hard squeezing her in to her seat in my stuffed-full car and I was distracted.)

10:38 I turned around and went back to get them.

10:48 We headed back to the show. For real this time. Luckily,  I got all green lights and found a parking spot by the entrance.

10:58 I arrive, find my spot, and with the fancy farmer's market carts (I love those) I fill my spot with the contents of my car. A festival volunteer offered to watch my stuff and daughter while I parked in the garage and I returned within minutes.

McKenna set up her table and bracelets and sold one before I'd even begun unpacking.

I stopped caring about the time and started setting up. It's always at this time that I wish I was one of those crafters that made small things, not giant pillows and massive quantities of kids' clothes with crazy elaborate contraptions on which to display them.

The hectic rush of the morning dissolved as my display took shape. No one was beside so I spread out a bit, okay, a lot.

 I even found some time here and there to slip away and visit other vendors. The Rely on Renton Family Fair inside the Piazza station was so well organized and chock-full of information on local resources for kids and families. I stopped by the Renton Community Center booth and saw the flyers for my summer craft camps on display. I caught glimpses of the performances throughout the day and loved hearing Casper Babypants on the loudspeakers outside.

McKenna sold 9 bracelets and spent all her $18 at other people's booths. I saw glimpses of teenager in her as she took her little purse to tables and picked out things to buy. She got (in order) a pink sugar cookie, a one tiny vial of Jasmine oil from a perfume soap stand, and hand-painted Hello Kitty barrette from from the accessory lady, and a big crayon in the shape of a car from the crayon people, and a purse and bracelet from a lady two booths down.

I did a little shopping and trading too. After McKenna got her tiny vial of perfume, I went back to the booth and bought a lavender one for me.

 From the metalsmith man, I got two decorative metal stars for the planter by my front door where I have the iron dragonfly I bought from him last year. He always gives me great deals. He said Mayor Law bought a big piece from him that morning and it made his day. I got a heart-linked silver bracelet from the vintage jewelry lady. The owner of Candle with Care lady fell in love with my last Sesame Street sundress and I sold it to her for half price plus a candle.

I also bought a $3 bag of Kettle corn and when I went to pay with a $20 the kettle corn couple looked troubled. They asked if I had any ones and I said Yes! I got a bunch this morning. The woman came back to my booth and I gave her $3 and then traded 10 more ones for a ten. The McBank came in handy! She was as grateful for the ones as I was for customers like these:

Before I knew it it was 5:00 and time to pack up. I ended up making the most profit I've ever made at a Renton festival and got a few new Facebook likes for kokoleo. The best part though was that my first-ever Take-Your-Daughter-To-Work day was a great experience for both of us. We both saw our creations go out into the world and with the money we received, we went around and bought other people's handmade and fair trade creations. I have a feeling this won't be the last kokoleo/McKennaMade business collaboration you'll see.

New kokoleo personalized pieces...

I haven't done a personalized kokoleo update in a while. Here are the new names now decorating little kid rooms across the country....

 

Recapping the past 3 months

No post since January? Sheesh. Where has the time gone? There used to be a time where I documented nearly everything I made. Lately though, a lot of what I do soon disappears into the world like it never even happened. It's time I record a few creations for posterity's sake, lest I forget them forever.

One of my recent creations that I'm most proud of is this:

 

Well, not necessarily the banner (which was bright and sparkly and probably my biggest kokoleo banner yet) but the show itself. Several of my PTO mom friends and I organized a talent show at our kids' school. No one could remember the last time there had been one at the school so we were starting from scratch. It was a success! We had 32 acts and over 300 people showed up. I was in charge of the stage crew and got to see the look of pride (and relief) on the kids' faces as they walked off stage. Sage and McKenna did a comedy routine called "the BIG-un-ATOR 2000" where McKenna hid inside the "machine" and Sage put small items in one side, it shook and made machine noises, and larger versions came out the other. In the end he put a doll in and McKenna popped out.

It's funny how some of the most significant and rewarding projects I do are the ones I do for free. Still, I gotta make a buck somehow, so I've been teaching craft classes at local schools for a non-profit company called Eastside Enrichment.

Puppet-making, cartooning, egg-art, jewelry making, puffball creatures, mobiles, etc. - these are the activities we've explored over the weeks. I'm even busting out crafts I learned at summer camp 25 years ago. Anyone remember these?

I'm also teaching a "Learning with Mother Goose Class" at the community center and it's a hit! Every month it's filled to capacity and sometimes even has a waiting list. I've spent a lot of time this year creating a curriculum - researching Mother Goose rhymes, organizing them into themes, and coming up with a craft for each class. I hope to continue this class next year with a new gaggle of preschoolers. I rarely remember to take pictures in these classes, but here are a couple. I'll try to share a few of our projects on my blog in the future.

I haven't forsaken kokoleo though (however neglected my Etsy shop may seem). I'm still taking commissions and doing occasional seamstress work. I'll share my latest personalized pieces tomorrow, but here are some recent special-order outfits I made:

A baby gift for a "surfer family that likes funky stuff", and this outfit for a birthday gift for one of McKenna's friends:

The party was a "Monster High" theme so I made a skull applique of the logo and made a fringy skirt to match. The patch is the invitation that I printed onto fabric and sewed onto the skirt. A kokoleo-meets-Monster-High original.

One of my most important projects though, is top secret. I've seen a need in my neighborhood and am making an effort to enact change for the good of my community. It's a project I've been dreaming about for years but just recently joined forces with the right people to possibly make it happen. I don't want to say too much for fear of jinxing it, but hopefully I'll have good news to share someday soon. Fingers crossed!

McKenna's House of Liquor

   At the risk of looking like a big old lush, I'm going to admit that one of my favorite Christmas presents to receive is a fancy gift set containing a bottle of liquor and glassware. This year, Erik got me a bottle of Chivas Regal Scotch Whiskey, aged 12 years, that came in a box with 2 funky-shaped rocks glasses. Even the box was deluxe - it had 3 windows and a swing door with a magnetic latch. We couldn't just throw it out.

 McKenna said she wanted to keep it so it could be a house for her dolls but I didn't think it would look right for her to have an empty liquor box laying around her room, so we decided to paint it. First, I covered the windows in sticker paper and spray painted it yellow.

 

Then, she painted it.

She added trees and flowers on the sides and windows and a door on the back and her signature smiley sunshine on the front.

And the Polly Pockets quickly moved in.

It makes a nice hamster house too. (You can follow the adventures of our hamster Mr.Goomba Roo on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourDailyGoomba.)

I'm teaching a new series of craft classes for kids this semester. Liquor box dollhouses probably won't be one of them. Some crafts are best kept within the family.

Now I know how Santa's elves feel

It's been a busy month in my studio. In past years I've stopped taking commissions in December so I can focus on making things for my family and preparing for the holidays. This year though I took on every project that came along, and they kept coming. Consequently, there are kids all over the country that will be getting personalized kokoleos for Christmas and Hanukkah and my kids will be having a fabulous Christmas as well thanks to the cash I earned in the process. Here's my latest batch of personalized pillows...

 

Those last two were a last minute project I accepted this weekend. A return customer who lives in Seattle emailed me to ask if there was a possibility I could make a pillow for her by Monday evening. She was going to be in my neighborhood visiting a friend's new baby and wanted to be able to take her a kokoleo pillow, and if I could squeeze it in she wanted the Jonah pillow for another friend's kid too. We exchanged a few emails to determine the best fabrics and I sewed like a banshee and literally snipped my final thread as she arrived at my door to pick them up. It was nice to meet her in person and see her reaction when I handed them to her (she loved them). Usually I just package my work up and send it out into the world and pray they arrive safely and the recipient is happy. 

Another return customer contacted me to make Hanukkah gifts for 4 little boys. She wanted personalized capes like the one I made for a friend years ago. Here's what I came up with...

Modeled by McKenna...

 Then an old friend from Peterkin, our church camp, called me to ask if I would make banners for each of her family members with the Peterkin "Halleuiah Kids" symbol on them. After a few days of exchanging emails with fabric combination options, here are the 4 we came up with:

And now I'm done with my commissions for the year. Last night I made these chocolate pretzel trees for the staff at my kids' school...

 

After teaching two preschool Mother Goose classes plus improv acting classes at 2 different elementary schools the past few months, I remember what it's like to be a teacher. And after what happened in Connecticut, I remember why it's important to tell people you appreciate what they do for your kids. 

For my kids' teachers I made these tiger print totes - one for Sage's teacher, one for McKenna's, and one for the teacher who found this super soft luxe tiger print fabric (their mascot is a tiger) at a yard sale this summer and bought it for me.

 

She knows I collect fabric because she's seen the PTO displays I've created in the front hall of the school. Here's the one I did a few weeks ago:

 Whew! That's a lot of kokoleo for one month. I wonder what I'll make next year..