Happy Birthdays to My Two

Today is Sage's birthday. My little, I mean medium-sized boy is 7. That's almost 10! And 10 is close to 13! He's practically a teenager! Okay, not really, but he's certainly lost all his toddlerness.

We had his party last week. It was a "water" themed party. Activities included swimming in the pool, dancing in the sprinkler, slip and slide, squirt guns, water balloons, a shark piñata, and this cake that I made him the night before:

It's a surfer riding a wave into a graham cracker crumby shore. The 7 is actually an upside-down and slightly modified "2" candle from McKenna's cake 10 days earlier. Unfortunately she got a store-bought cake because I lamed out and we were away from home in Lake Arrowhead. She didn't mind, and I promise to go all out in the years to come. She hit the jackpot in Yo Gabba Gabba toys though - the Viking ship from her Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Theo, the walkie talkies from her Grammy and Pop Pop, and the D.J. Lance hat and glasses from us.

Being young sure is fun. Happy birthdays young'uns.

Friendship Pins!

A few weeks ago, a call went out for swag bag submissions for the L.A. premiere of Handmade Nation. Surely you've heard of Handmade Nation by now - the indie documentary by Faythe Levine all about the recent resurgence of crafting in America. If you aren't lucky enough to live in a city that's hosting a viewing, it will be available this fall through buyolympia.com. Get it! It's sure to be a craft cult classic.

Living in L.A., I've had numerous opportunities to contribute to celebrity swag bags and have always declined. 50 toddler sundresses in exchange for "great celebrity exposure for kokoleo"? No thanks. I'd rather be obscure. But 200 contributions for the craft community? Sure! Here's what I made:


Friendship pins! Remember those? It was an early 80s fad. We swapped them with our friends and wore them attached to our shoelaces. It was a sweet and simple crafty gesture and I want it to make a comeback. I spent two nights putting beads on safety pins, then attaching them to my business cards.

Two per card, labeled, "Friendship Pins!"
"One for you. One for a friend."

100 sets in all, sent out into the city.

Now I need to get them out across the country, so the first 3 people to leave a comment will get a set. I'll email you soon and send some your way. To quote (kinda) an 80s sitcom theme song... You will see a little gift will be from me and the card attached will say, Thank you for being a friend.

Celebrating the Popular Arts

Let's see, what else have we done this summer? I said I'd talk about Comic-Con, but I really don't have much to say. I wasn't in a very good mood the day we went there, as evidenced in this self portrait I took on the escalator.

I'm just not all that into comic books and sci-fi stuff. There I said it. While there were some nice indie artists on the outskirts, it was mostly very commercial - major motion pictures I don't want to see and cartoon characters you see everywhere, plus dinky useless giveaways that later littered the sidewalks. Ugh. But that's just my perspective. There were thousands of other people thinking completely differently. My one ray of sunshine was getting my picture taken with Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba:

(Sage was off with Erik and McKenna was in the convention center daycare. I don't want you to think I pushed my kids out of the way to get to Brobee.)

The signs around the Gas lamp District in San Diego said, "Comic-Con: Celebrating the Popular Arts." I think I prefer the underground arts - the undiscovered one-of-a-kinds being made all over the world not for the purpose of getting Popular, but because someone just wanted to make something new. I guess you could say all those characters and movie scripts started out that way, but then they went and got manufactured for the masses. That changes everything.

Luckily we spent most of our San Diego trip exploring the city:


And visiting the museums at Balboa Park. My favorite was the Mingei International Museum and the exhibit they had entitled “Masters of Mid-Century California Modernism”:

composed of work by or influenced by Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman of ERA Industries which operated in the 1950s-1980s. They and their handmade artisans (weavers, tile makers, silkscreeners) produced mod home decor for the masses and their style has had a major yet quiet influence on a lot of design and decor that's followed (IKEA, etc.). I found an article on them in American Craft Magazine online. They were a creative couple making the popular art of their day. If I ever become popluar, I wanna do it that way.

Juicebox Popsicles

We all know that excessive juice box use is wasteful, but sometimes they come in handy. Like in lunchboxes or purses or hiking backpacks or cars. Sometimes though, they lose their straws and then you have to drink out of the hole, which is awkward. So, what do you do when your juice boxes/pouches have lost their straws and you also coincidentally happen to be out of popsicles? Make juicebox popsicles! Just cut a hole in the top, insert some chopsticks, and stick them in the freezer.

After they're rock solid, cut off the outside and Viola! Gigantic juice pops.

Hello August

Ahhh, August... the month of my kids' birthdays, the last month of summer, the month before I start my new job, the month a play I wrote will be performed a 2,653 miles away.

What? I haven't mentioned those last few things? I'm sure I will soon enough. When I go back and read through my blog entries I notice there's a lot I don't mention. You'd think, by reading my blog that life is fine and dandy in La-La land, that I spend my days exploring L.A., crafting away, and watching my children dance in glee around me. I tend to leave all the other parts out. Like how hard it is to live out here right now. Erik hasn't been able to find full-time work, our friends are getting laid off, our state is bankrupt, our house is worth half of what we paid for it and it's in a neighborhood I don't love . Those are bummer topics. So I try to focus on the good stuff.

Like when we visited my parents in jail.

Just kidding! This was at the Autry National Center of the American West. We went there when my parents were visiting and my dad got to see all his cowboy heroes. It's a nice museum, even if country music and cowboys aren't your thing, it's still interesting. They have stuff for kids:

and stuff for people who are into wacky fabric and handicrafts:

And life-size pictures of people who died before we were born:

Pardon the crappy cell phone pictures. Our camera was broken for a month, yet another reason I haven't blogged. Let's see, what else have we done? We've swum. After 3 weeks Sage got a new waterproof cast, so the summer is not lost.

And I've been sewing up a storm, but I can't show any of it yet. Next blog post I'll show some of our San Diego/ Comic-Con trip we took a couple weekends ago. I've got some catching up to do!

Some recent commissions and an announcement...

Here are a few recent personalized commissions I've sent out:

I've made nearly 200 personalized pieces since I started offering the service on my website 4 years ago. That's a lot of letters! Thanks to some loyal customers and great referrals, I've had a steady stream of commissions that have enabled me to contribute to the family finances while staying home with my kids. I've enjoyed taking people's color/style/theme suggestions and translating them into tangible custom-made creations. Some people have even written to tell me that mothers have cried (happy tears) when they received the gift, or that it's become a child's favorite item, or a focal point in their bedroom.

So why am I getting all nostalgic now? Because I've decided that after this month, I'm going to stop taking making personalized stuff. I've sometimes taken a month or two off in order to catch up, but this time I think I'm going to hang up my letter-cutting scissors for good. It's been a great run, but it's time to move on. This doesn't mean that kokoleo is closing it's doors. In fact, I'm looking forward to spending even more time making sundresses/skirts/purses/accessories/art and all the other things I dream of making when I finally get the time.

I'll be taking orders through the end of this month though, and adding the names to my list (like Santa!) to be completed in the order they were received. And, as a special thanks to my customers, all personalized commissions will be 10% off (20% for Facebook Fans!) from now until July 31st.

My broken winged boy

I often think of my life in terms of "This time last week (or month, or year, or 5, 10, etc. years ago) I was..." and think of all that's happened since that time. This time last week I was looking forward to the Swap and meeting Jenny Hart and finishing a bunch of commissions. I certainly wasn't expecting to get a call from Sage's day camp supervisor that he had fallen out of a tree and broken his arm. That's what happened last Friday and suddenly we found ourselves on an impromptu field trip to the emergency room in Burbank.

There was no denying it was broken. Caution: If you are squeamish, click away now.














Ouch. Arm bones aren't supposed to bend like that.

or that.

So after 5 hours, several needles, and a couple unsuccessful attempts to straighten it, including this barbaric-looking device,


we left with just a splint and a popsicle and some codeine and instructions to let it rest for a day and then go to Children's Hospital to see an orthopedic surgeon.

So Sunday morning we packed a bag of distractions and went for Round Two.

Which took 7 hours, several x-rays, and a scary 15 minutes of holding my sedated boy (his eyes were open and darting around, which was eerie) while a doctor yanked and twisted and wrestled and popped it back into place, then quickly sculpted a cast around it. The nurse warned me he might be a little loopy for a while. When the sedative started to wear off Sage looked into my eyes and shouted, "ALIENS!" then looked at the doctor and nurse and shouted "ALIENS! ALIENS!" (Later he told me it was because we all had 10 eyeballs.) He also said, "Mommy?" (he never calls me mommy anymore) and I said "Yes?" and he said "I love you so much." and then, "Please stop kissing me."

Erik was outside the room with McKenna during this time and only got an occasional glance through a tiny window. It's hard to entertain a toddler in an emergency room, but we did it.

Long story short, he's fine, though he can't swim or climb things for 8 weeks. Ouch. This is going to make for a different kind of summer.

Of course I had to make his sling a little more stylin'. And I was honored to be the first to sign his cast:

and draw on it:

And, like mother, like son, when life gives you crap, make crafts! He took the splint they made for him at the first ER:

And made it into an alligator.

Jenny Hart @ Home Ec.

I took a class tonight. It was at Reform School, through their Home Ec. department. I can't remember the last time I took a class. (Note to self: Take some classes.) It was nice driving there and knowing I didn't have to get materials prepared or spend the night running around and showing people things, I could just sit and listen and sew and learn.

It was an embroidery class taught by Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching. She has needle-handedly resurrected the art of embroidery with her embroidery kits and their fun patterns and easy-to-follow instructions. Anyone who's anyone in the craft world has heard of her.

Class started promptly at 7:00. Jenny Ryan, I mean Mrs. Jenny Ryan, even took roll (I love the whole school theme they have going there.)

Jenny (Hart, that is. Man, there are a lot of Jennys in our generation) started out showing us some stitches:

We worked on our Sublime Stitching patterns and she walked around and helped people.

Her mom came along, which I thought was great. She was the one who taught Jenny how to sew when she was little, just like my mom taught me. Thanks be to moms for keeping the love of sewing alive.

I stitched this cupcake, then tried out some stitches:

. . . and created possibly the world's ugliest sampler, but that's okay because it was just practice. I haven't embroidered in years, not since the skirt I made in college when I was working at the Dragonfly (you can see it here). I spent a few months behind the desk stitching pictures onto scraps of fabric left over from clothes we altered. At the end of the semester I turned it in as my final sculpture project and got an A. I also nearly gave myself arthritis working on it and haven't embroidered much since. I realized tonight that I miss it. I wish I would have known back then some of the stitches I learned this evening. It's never too late too learn, though. French knots are nothing to fear, they're fun!

Jenny talked about how she started her business and how it's grown over the last 8 years. It was interesting to learn that as well-known as she is in the craft community, she hasn't become rich off it. I'm not surprised though. It's the price you pay for not selling out. She's been able to maintain complete control of her work - from the sourcing of materials to the design of the packaging to the shops that carry her kits. Best of all, she's created a catalog of images that have been stitched onto surfaces by people all over the world. That spells success in my book - knowing that people love what you create and that they appreciate you helping them create their own. Who needs mansions and fancy cars when you've got that?

Renegade Swap-o-rama rama Recap

Another Swap, another crazy busy creative inspiring experience. I made it a point this time to remember to stop every once in a while and take some pictures during the whirlwind event. Here was the view behind me:

And here was the view from my Applique Station.

I brought a bunch of stencils and fabric that I frequently use in my kokoleo creations and swappers were free to use them or create their own with a little help and HeatnBond from me. Someone, while I was ironing on her applique, asked me why I would want to give away my favorite fabric and stencils and sewing secrets for free. Until then, I'd never really thought about it like that. I told her that I get a kick out of helping to inspire creativity in other people and even though I may not be getting rich off it, I'm getting tons of kokoleo-collaborations out into the city and beyond. It's good p.r., I suppose.

I wasn't able to capture them all, but here are some things that we made:


From the quick glimpses I got of the other stations, the other designers were equally as busy:

Events like this (with nearly 300 participants!) don't happen without lots of helper-outers. I'm sure I missed recognizing some and I'm sorry for that. Big props though to Lori Petitti from HipLine Media, our fearless leader and organizer extraordinaire:

There are talks of another Swap happening in the fall so start setting aside your clothing contributions. I'll keep you posted. It'll be a great way to make some one-of-a-kind gifts for the holidays.