Me and my stockpile.

I have fallen off the blogging wagon. For a while, I was doing really well, coming up with weekly themes and sticking to them, taking and uploading pictures, writing about the things I do and see and buy and make. It's a job in itself really, giving people something to read, and it's not a lucrative one. Still, I keep coming back and saying things. I wonder why I do that?

You'd think by looking at my blog and website that I haven't been making much. I feel though, like I've been making more than ever before. I just haven't been keeping up with photographing and uploading and talking about and trying to sell aspect. I was stockpiling. Suddenly, I had a TON of stuff.

Like sundresses:


Bags:Monsters:
Eyeglass lens jewelry:

Bottlecap magnets and pins:


As well as a bunch of new embellished stuff, a few pillows, and some more necktie accessories. All of which I had no idea whether or not people would even like, but I made them anyway. I wonder why I do that? Really, my life would be much less complicated if I didn't carry all this stuff around all the time. So far though, the response has been good. I have 3 shows down and 3 to go. A lot of those things I just showed have already been sold, but there's still plenty left. If I run out, I'll just make more.

Then, come January, I'm going to get back to taking care of my website. That's another thing I've been working on ALL YEAR - my website. Finally, after hours and hours and glitches and images and fonts and backgrounds and modified templates and curse words and tears, it's at a point where I like it again. Now all I have to do is update the different shops within it and I'll be good to go. There are a lot of shops in there though - Kids and Ladies and Guys and Accessories and Bags and Home Decor and Monsters and Personalized stuff. Too much stuff really, but that's apparently how I roll.

Anyway, please check it out and tell me what you think. I don't fancy myself a graphic designer by any means. I approached it more like I was piecing together patchwork. If you come across any page or link that needs mending, please let me know.

www.kokoleo.com

In the meantime. . .

On a good day, I wake up at 7:30 and make breakfast for the kids, and also Sage's lunch. I go pick out an outfit for him (if I left it up to him he'd get distracted) and get him put together and hand him off to Erik who takes him to school. Then it's just me and McKenna.

We watch Sesame Street and the Today show (the best is when the Muppets are ON the Today show). I make coffee and get us dressed. We go in the backyard and wander around. She plays with Little People while I attempt to sew. At 11:30 I make her lunch and put her down for a nap and then. . .

I'm free! Peace at last! I answer email and upload pictures or take pictures and work on my website, randomly interrupted by Facebook breaks where I see what my friends are up to. If I'm lucky I finish at least one project in the studio and take a shower and make myself look presentable. McKenna wakes up at 2:30 in time for Yo Gabba Gabba. Then we go get Sage. We go grocery shopping or thrift shopping or to a playground or the library, then come home and I give them food. They tear apart the house as I attempt to clean it up. If she's lucky, we take Kali for a walk. Erik comes home and makes an awesome dinner and the kids bathe, get pajamas on, read books, and go to bed easily.

That would be a good day. Thankfully, most days have elements of those things, but there's always something to worry about or stress over. Like the leaky faucet, or the car window that's stuck in the down position, or the cell phone your daughter stuck in a glass of water. Little blips like this force me to spend valuable time talking to plumbers and car repair shops and phone companies. If it's not them, then it's electricians or dentists or doctors . On a good day, it's contractors making improvements to the house or hairdressers making improvements to my head, but cosmetic stuff is a luxury and we haven't done that in a while. Nowadays we do it ourself.

I can't complain though, we're still treading water, sometimes floating on our backs even, staring up at the sky thinking, I've got a pretty good life.

What Another Weekend!

This past weekend was a crafty doozy! TWO shows in a row -- Foundations School Community Harvest Festival on Saturday, and Felt Club on Sunday. I survived! And sold a lot of stuff too.

At FSC, it was nice to see some of my old students and to see customers from previous years still carrying around their kokoleos.

and even purchasing some more. . .

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this cute mom and daughter duo displaying their new kokoleo purchases in the courtyard.

It was a relatively relaxing show, especially compared to Sunday's . . .

(Photo by Jenny Ryan)

Felt Club! Holy Moley it was packed! I heard the line to get in wrapped around the Shrine and some people wanting to get a swag bag waited for hours. Here's my booth soon after I set it up:

And here's how it was the majority of the time:

I made a new batch of Obama buttons last week and they sold out in the first 2 hours. Other popular items were my necktie headbands and eyeglass jewelry. I also sold some gigantic bags and pillows, which made the load to take home much lighter, and my wallet heavier (quadruple digits!) I got some great feedback and loved hearing "This reminds me of. . ." and "I had this fabric when I was a kid!" from people who stopped in my booth. I saw customers from past Felt Clubs and other shows who told me they still love the thing they bought back then. Some were even wearing those things! Like this lady:

Who bought that headband and Raggedy Anne necklace from me at the Patchwork show last week.

And my former student Lillye. . .

who's rocking a kokoleo skirt that she bought the day before at FSC.

Even my former camper from West Virginia, Rachel, who I recently reconnected with on Facebook stopped by.

We hadn't seen each other in over 15 years!

I had a great conversation with this lady, who bought one of my eyeglass lens necklaces:

I had lots of great conversations actually, one after the other, non-stop talk without a break to eat or pee. It wasn't until the very end that the crowd thinned a little and I snuck away to say hi to some people. Here's Jenny, the founding mother of Felt Club:

Poketo was across the aisle from me. They got to watch me frantically build my booth and finish just as the doors opened to the public. They also lent me a pen, which I lost. Sorry! I owe them a pen.

These people were to the side of me. Their company is Cherished Petit. They also lent me a pen. I have a hard time holding on to pens. Note to self: Bring lots of pens next time.

Here's Stacy McQueen, who hosted last year's Craftmas Bizarre, surrounded by her Grumpstallation:

I always love seeing Christine Haynes, she's sweet. Her book "Chic and Simple Sewing" is coming out in April. Awesome!

I first met Jek, of Jek in the Box, 4 years ago at the Bazaar Bizarre (also at the Shrine) when we traded crafty Christmas ornaments. I wish I would have traded her something for one of those cool vegetable bags she makes out of vintage fabric and doilies. I didn't do a single trade with anyone this time. I was too busy to browse!

I finally met my blog/Flickr/Facebook friend Carrie Sommer from Sommer Designs. Her stuff is gorgeous and so classy, like her.

I also stopped to quickly chat with her vendor neighbors Jennifer Ramos of Textile Fetish and Shari Bonnin. Thanks Jennifer, for watching my booth for a minute before my bladder exploded all over the merchandise!

Shawn an Aldo are another duo I've done many a show with, most recently the Swap-O-Rama-Rama in the spring. Their company Social Studies is super cool.

There are lots more fellow vendor folk I waved to across the crowd or exchanged This is craziness! glances in passing. Suffice it to say, it was a blast. I thought this girl's necklace summed up the Felt Club experience quite nicely:

Colorful, creative, crowded, and completely crazy.