My retro 80s toy children...

After 3 years of doing duo costumes (Finn and Jake, Mordecai and Rigby, and Spy vs. Spy) this year my kids decided to go it alone. McKenna wanted to be Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony and Sage wanted to be an oldskool Gameboy. Both toys originated in the 80s, so that's kind of a theme. Here's our obligatory porch pic...

 And some solo shots. In exchange for one-of-a-kind costumes, my kids know that all I ask for is a few decent pics. It's a small price to pay and they are usually happy to oblige (but eager to go out and collect candy).

Here are some work-in-progress pics...

 

You can read the tutorials I wrote for the My Little Pony Costume and the Gameboy Costume on Instructables.com.

Whew! The whirlwind Halloween costume-making kokoleo sweatshop is officially closed for another year.

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.

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.

A kokoleo kind of Regular Show

This year, my kids decided they wanted to be these guys for Halloween:

It's Rigby and Mordecai, from Regular Show on Cartoon Network, and most people have never heard of them. Just like Adventure Time (their costumes last year), it's one cartoon they enjoy watching together. It was quite the challenge though, and I only had 3 days to do it.  Fast forward forty dollars of fleece and fourteen hours of cutting and sewing and here's what I came up with.

Here are a few pics of the process:

I would have written up a tutorial but I was manically making it up as I went along and not taking many pictures. I did discover what is destined to be my new favorite textile - FOAM! It makes everything all Muppety, I love it. The kids both remarked how soft and warm and comfy the costumes were and plan to wear the pants as pajamas after Halloween is over.

On Sunday, after a morning spent skipping church to sew the finishing touches on their costumes, we took them trick-or-treating at The Landing in Renton. Most people didn't know who they were but a few kids yelled out "Mordecai and Rigby!" and some of the hipper parents were impressed. A few asked "Where did you find those?" to which I replied that I made them and they looked at me in disbelief.

Still, most people had no clue who they were. One mom said, "Wile E. Coyote and an Angry Bird! How cute!" One little girl in a princess dress looked at McKenna in horror and started crying. That was funny.

The best was the several different groups of teenagers who told them they were awesome. It's not every day a teenager tells a 5 and 10 year old that they're awesome.

This may be the last year they want to do a bro/sis costume combo so I had to do it.

As Rigby and Mordecai would say, I did them a "solid." They totally owe me...

...lots of candy.

The Day We Made a Mosaic

Back in January I wrote this blog post about my vision for a mosaic in our Children's Park. Guess what? We did it! I applied for a grant through the City of Renton's Neighborhood Grant Program and it was approved. We were awarded $700 to install a one-of-a-kind mosaic in our park. My goal was to have it be a community-driven project (I certainly couldn't do it alone) and have as many people in the neighborhood as possible contribute items to be included in the mosaic. Here's the blurb I wrote for our homeowner's newsletter:

Victoria Park Receives Art Grant

Our Children's Park is a hidden gem in Victoria Park. Last year, a group of parents came up with an idea to create a mosaic in the park. A proposal was written and a grant was applied for through the City of Renton's Neighborhood Grant Program and it was approved! The Victoria Park Homeowners Association has been awarded $700 to create a one-of-a-kind community-based art project in our park.

We want you to be a part of this project too! The idea is to create a mosaic around the bench that faces the swing set. In it, we plan to embed colorful marbles, tiles, rocks, and tiny trinkets. We are asking every person who lives in Victoria Park to contribute one item to this project. Items should be no larger than 2 inches across and non-biodegradeable. Examples are: A rock from your front lawn, a marble, a plastic or metal toy, a broken tile or dish, and other small, solid trinkets. Please note your item will not be returned, but instead it will be embedded in cement and on display forever in the Children's Park.

Little by little, donations were dropped of in a basket on our porch - coins, toys, broken jewelry, seashells and rocks - and over the course of the summer I began amassing mosaic materials at thrift stores, yard sales and antique shops - marbles, tiles, and polished glass stones.

In mid-August we finally broke ground...

and the friends who encouraged me to apply for the grant came out to help us.

There was no going back at this point. We dug a 12 ft. by 12 ft. hole 10 inches deep. We couldn't leave it like that for long, so we scheduled a date when we could all meet again and install the mosaic. Over the next two weeks I shopped for supplies, arranged for cement delivery (54 bags!), bought water and ordered 10 large pizzas to be delivered that evening. A few days before we were scheduled to install the mosaic, I stopped by Upton Glassworks in downtown Renton to ask if they had any broken bits or leftovers that we could include in our design. To my surprise, the owner, Paul Sullivan, brought out a big heavy box full of beautiful glass orbs and said we could have it. Free!

I knew then that we were ready to begin our project. These were the big, beautiful, colorful, Renton-made objects we needed to make our mosaic complete.

September 16th was the day we converged on the park with shovels and wheelbarrows to make it happen.The kids helped mix cement (but soon learned how tiring it was and quickly left to play on the playground while the grownups did the dirty work.)

While the big strong men mixed and poured the concrete...

The moms started laying out the materials and coming up with a design so we could easily transfer it when the cement was ready.

And suddenly it was! 

Everyone quickly tackled certain parts...

The area in front of the bench ended up a "sealife" theme with fish, crabs, frogs, turtles, an octopus and a mermaid...

surrounded by an ocean of clear, blue, and green marbles...

and a "barrier reef" of seashells.

Then we moved on to the marbles...

 

And finally we let the kids place their toys and all the trinkets we'd collected into the cement.

Then we had a pizza party. (I factored this expense into our budget when I applied for the grant.)

Yeah, my neighbors are awesome. I'm pretty lucky to live here.

A week later we applied a few layers of cement sealant to strengthen and weatherproof it. I also threw in some glitter to add some sparkle.

 

And now it's done!

We walk past it everyday on our walk to school...

and remember that one day in 2012

 

...when we made a mosaic.