Take a look, I'm in a book!

Check out this cool book I got in the mail the other day:


And guess what? I'm in it! Last year Kate Welsh contacted me because she had seen some of my recycled needlepoint purses. She proposed a collaboration where she would send me a needlepoint piece that she made and I would turn it into a bag. Always up for a challenge, I accepted, and look! Here it is:


Her design instantly reminded me of this vintage mod fabric I'd been holding on to for years just waiting for the right project. And now that project is immortalized! It's a laptop bag and the needlepoint piece is trimmed in fake fur. I love the sassy matching heels! Here's the how-to section:


They also featured my Owl Eyes Bag as an example of recycling vintage needlework. I first posted about that owl on this blog when I picked it up at a garage sale around this time last year. A lot can happen in a year. Look where it is now:


And, I've even got a "Designer Bio" in the back with the likes of crafty celebrities like Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching:

A close-up:


Oh why did I submit that picture? And since when do I wear hats? Like, once or twice a year. Man, what a cheeseball smile. Oh well, I'm still excited to be a part of such a cool project. Thanks Kate!

Craigslist + MapQuest = Saturday morning fun!

I love Craigslist. It got us the house we lived in when we first moved here and a year later it got us the house we live in now. I found my teaching job posted on Craigslist and even a few kokoleo commissions have come my way via the message boards.

My favorite thing to do when I wake up on Saturday mornings is to check out Craigslist for garage sales in our area. Unlike back East, where garage and yard sales are a seasonal thing, people have them year round here. When I lived in West Virginia, yard saling was hit-or-miss. I'd find ads in the newspaper or simply drive around searching for signs. But here in L.A. (and in other big cities) we have Craigslist. When you combine it with MapQuest you can build yourself a Saturday afternoon excursion. Their new RouteBuilder feature rocks!

Behold, today's haul:


From yard sale #1 in Sherman Oaks, some fake mink material (2 yards), gold leather (2 yards), and vintage oversized buttons. Total: $10.00.

Yard sale #2 in Valley Village was my favorite. It turned out that the women holding the sale were indie entrepreneurs. One runs You're Such a Baby and the other runs the stationery company Rock Scissor Paper. This is why I love L.A., you never know who you're going to meet. They were having a blowout sale of all their overstock stuff, so I hit the jackpot. For $22 I got:

Some cute retro embellished onesies for the wee one in my belly, plus one for Sage and one for me.


20 blank onesies (soon to be embellished kokoleo-style).

And below, some cute stationery, notepads and buttons from Rock Scissor Paper. It turns out, we sell our wares at the same store - All' Aboard in Los Angeles. When I saw her stuff I immediately recognized it. Kokoleo customers may too - I've used some of her stationery as thank you cards. Future kokoleo customer can look forward to getting cards like these:


And for our little GIRL (I'm still giddy about this) , this decorative tile and a cool baby book:


And, to ease the shock of me bringing home more stuff, I got these Shag books and a stationery set for Erik:


He's not a fan of yard sales. He'd rather sleep past noon on the weekends. Consequently, he often wakes up to me and Sage showing off our latest haul and me bragging about my great bargains. I tell him it's a small price to pay to be able to sleep in peace.

Announcement

I have to take this moment to announce that come August, kokoleo may be stocking less sundresses, skirts, and other girlie things. Why? Because I'm going to have little girl of my own!

Monster Market

This past Monday I skipped work to take part in the very first Monster Market held at Sunnyside Preschool in Studio City. I know half the country is blanketed in snow right now, but around here it's getting downright hot in the afternoon. Still, it was so nice to be outside hanging out with other crafters all day. Here was my space.



and me in it:

I finally got to use my giant wall that I got at a yard sale this summer for 10 bucks. It's originally intended for use at trade shows and retails for a few thousand dollars new. Score! It only took a minute to put up and served as a very handy monster, purse, and pillow display. Check it:


There was music and dancing:



And shopping and (my personal favorite) trading. I traded a kokoleo embellished t-shirt for a monkey bead bracelet for Sage from Orit Harpaz Designs, and a kokoleo wristlet and ring for a stylin' belt for Sage from Eeny Meanie. The owner of Eeny Meanie, Denise Love, was also the organizer of the event. Great job, Denise! Here's her booth:


The next one is June 4th and since school will be finishing up around then, I don't know if I'll be able to participate. If you're in the area though, check it out!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Some pictures from the Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown, L.A. this past Saturday:


The dragons were my favorite. I want to make one and run around the neighborhood in it. More:





Look! These ladies like fabric almost as much as I do!


The lucky golden bowl of rice:


Our hottt mayor Antonio Villaragosa:


Sage on a one-man ferris wheel with random high school hipsters posing behind him:


After a long day:

Look ma! I cleaned my room!

I've documented my newly organized, color-coded and folded fabric for posterity's sake (because it probably won't stay this way for long):


It took me hours this weekend but I managed to find the floor, put things in designated places, complete a few projects, assess all that I have and even (gasp!) get rid of a few things. I'm over the first trimester hurdle and finally feeling like I'm getting my creative mojo back (and not falling asleep before 10 p.m.). Last night I made six! pairs of monster pants. I'm even managing to keep things nice and neat. See?



At least, this is what I call nice and neat. Others might call it crowded and cluttered. I've never really been one for minimalism.




Here's my bulletin board, crowded with pins I've collected from craft shows, cards from shops that carry kokoleo, flyers from shows I've been in, and a few kokoleo labels waiting to be sewn into yet-to-be-made purses and clothes.


Too bad I'm going to have to give up this room when the baby gets here. We're thinking of converting the porch in to the new kokoleo headquarters. Or maybe the garage. Porches and garages don't really make good nurseries. I simply have too much though to NOT have a space of my own. We'll figure something out. Life would be so much simpler if I didn't sew. Think of all the time I'd have! All the space I'd have!

Nahhh, that would be boring.

My name is KB and I'm a fabriholic.

There could be worse addictions, right? Rather than a hoarder I prefer to see myself as a recycler; a rescuer of forgotten and neglected fabric. I'd choose to peruse a crowded old house over a crappy JoAnn Fabric store any day. And that's just what I did yesterday at an estate sale in Burbank. Check out my haul:


I fear if I keep up collecting that I will be like this woman in 50 years. One room was packed with fabric - huge piles and boxes of vintage linens, half-completed projects, patterns, purse handles, craft kits and more. Another room held lace and ribbon trim, velcro, embroidery floss, buttons, googly eyes, and lots more craft kit stuff that's not my style - styrofoam angel kits, latch-hook kits, crafts involving fake flowers and hot glue.

Poor Sage and his sister?brother?, one day after I'm dead they'll be trying to unload this stuff at their own yard sale. But 50 years from now I bet some yet-to-be-born crafter with happen upon that yard sale and be as excited as I was to find patchwork turtle and mushroom print fabric! gingham galore! needlepoint butterflies! googly eyes! (That is if I don't use it all first.) See? It's an investment in my family's future. Yeah, that's it.

Alien Invasion!

So, I haven't been blogging much and here's the reason why:


There's an alien in my belly! Okay, actually it's a wee little baby, no bigger than a strawberry, but it's what's been occupying a lot of my mind and time lately. I didn't want to say anything until it was for sure, because well, last time I was pregnant it didn't go so well. But yesterday we saw two little arms and two little legs dancing around and the doctor says everything looks perfect. I've been sleepy and nauseous and not able to crank out the kokoleos as quickly and as often as before, but I'm sure this will all soon pass and I'll be back in action soon enough.

I am however, keeping busy with banner and pillow commissions. When I told my new OB/GYN about kokoleo and my banners and pillows he said I should give him some of my cards, as he knows a few people with babies. Ha! Here are a few recent works:




It's pretty funny, my (newly redesinged) "Personalized Items" shop reads like a book on baby names:

Anna, Adowyn, Avenelle, Brooke, Clarissa, Lola, Malayna, Piper, Willa. . .

Dashiell, Evan, James, Jake, Jesser, Nolan, Sam, Tenzin, Will, Wyatt. . .

Hmmmm. . . choices, choices.

It's a new year!

Long time, no post. Those Christmas pics are looking rather sad and dated. The ornaments have long been packed away and I think I've finally gotten all the pine needles out of the carpet. 2007 is here and already looking like it's going to be an exciting year. More on that in blogs to come.

I've been steadily working on commissions but my website is looking kind of sad. I haven't updated it since November, except to note the sold items. I even have stuff ready and waiting in my studio, it's just all the picture-taking and HTML-ing that slows me down. Work sucks up a lot of my time, and then there's family and friends, playdates and parties, and sleep. I need to start scheduling more kokoleo time into the mix. I promise that by the end of this month the website will be updated with fun new stuff.

(The good thing about blogs is that when you make promises in writing like that, it really forces you to keep them.)

So this past MLK Jr. holiday weekend we slipped away to sunny, or rather, unusually frigid San Diego, California. We explored the museums of Balboa Park:


That's Sage in his pirate balloon hat and balloon sword running to slay the fountain monsters.

Here's a tree in the park. Erik is alwys taking pictures of bark and grass and roots and rocks for use as "texture maps" in his animations. So we always have a few pictures like this:


A view from the bridge that connects San Diego to Coronado, where our hotel was:


Our spooky old hotel, way better than any Best Western or the like:


Sea World!




Shamu!


More Shamus!


Sage fed a dolphin:


and harassed a starfish:


And rode a sea turtle (or at least it looks like he did if you cover up the two of them and just look at the turtle and their reflection):


That night we ate at a traditional Irish pub in the Historic Gaslamp District of San Diego:


And Monday we hit the San Diego Zoo which is both beautiful, and a bit sad. Poor caged creatures. Let's gawk at them while they eat and poop:




Here ends the VanHorn family vacation slide show.