Felt Club XL Holiday Event

The Felt Club XL Holiday event was yesterday and it was a BLAST! It was pretty much like this the entire time:





Jam-packed with people who appreciate handmade goods. Shows like these make me realize that there is a reason why I make all the things I do. Although an item may sit in my studio for days, weeks, months, even years, someday someone is going to see it and and say, "That's the one I want. I love it!" Yesterday was one of those days and I was able to send a whole bunch of kokoleo items out into the world.

Here was my setup:


One of my sixth grade students, Lillye, showed up with her dad. Lillye is one of the most creative 12-year-olds I've ever met. She has a sewing machine and enjoys working with felt so last week I gave her a postcard for the show. I was so happy to see her there and she was in awe of all the cool handmade stuff. She purchased this purse from me and I gave her a good deal because it was one of those things that when I made it, I wondered, "Who in the world is going to want this crazy thing?" I'm glad Lillye was the one. I told her I predict that in ten years she'll be doing shows like these.

Another exciting purchase was when someone who was doing the interior design of a treehouse for an L.A. executive bought these three vintage calendar linen pillows:


I couldn't bring myself to ask who the executive was (this is Hollywood, after all) but she said she would send me pictures. Sweet! Is sounds like my kind of place.

There's nothing better than when someone walks up smiling, and says, "I'd like to buy this," or, "I really like your stuff." I like to tell people the history behind the items. Like, "That's sequined applique came from this old seamstress lady at the Melrose Ave. flea market." or, "That fabric came from Savannah, Georgia." or, "I held on to that material for 10 years before I made that purse, I loved it so." or, "I just made that monster yesterday, it's hot off the sewing machine!" These are the things that make buying a one-of-a-kind more intimate and special than purchasing a mass produced good at a chain store.

Not only did I sell a bunch of stuff, but I also won two things in the raffle - a skirt kit from my pal Susan Stars (I'm going to give it to Lillye) and a "Lucious Pies" t-shirt from Rotem Gear. Sweet! I also got a cool Craft Show Survival Kit hand-delivered by Marie from The Sampler. Plus, I had my holiday project how-to published in the event program:



Driving home on the freeway I couldn't help but thinking, damn, here I am driving home on the freeway from a big show on Melrose Ave. in Hollywood where I was a vendor selling my own designs. Kokoleo's come a long way in the past few years. And next week I'm doing it all over again at Shrine Auditorium for Bazaar Bizarre. See you there!

Of Monsters and Marvels

Saturday night was the opening for the this show at Monkeyhouse Toys:


I had eight pieces in the show. I took them all in to show Mayra, the gallery owner thinking she would pick out just one or two, but she insisted on taking them all! I love her.

Here's my Jack-in-the-Hatbox. The blue furry winged thing above him is by Jenny Harada. Jenny's stuff rocks.


Here are four of The Five Senses, from bottom to top - Mouthius, Handre', Nosetradamus, Earick. I accidentally cut off Eyevan who was at the bottom of the totem. Oops.


Here's Threeo, the one with three eyes and overalls:


I also had an orange five-eyed one fin/footed t-shirt wearing monster named Fiveye that sold before I got there so I never got to take his picture. Oh well. Bon Voyage undocumented one! I hope you enjoy your new home!

The show was jammed packed with lots of cool people mingling amongst the monsters. At Monkeyhouse, it's hard to tell where the gallery ends and the shop begins. Likewise, the line between art and toy is blurred. It's all art. Check it out:





Here's Sage with his friend Ava.


He fell in love with that top hat while we were there. It's a magician's hat and it comes complete with a bunny. He wore it all night, took it to bed, and this morning I awoke to him standing beside my bed saying, "Abra Kazabra! Look! I'm magic!"

Thanks Mayra, for making magic happen.

Me and my sexual buttons

Okay, you're going to have to keep reading to understand that title up there.

A few weeks ago I was psyched to get an order from Tel Aviv, Isreal. It was for my flower tote that had been featured on page 81 in issue #004 of N.E.E.T. magazine (another item they featured, my friendship pillow, was purchased by someone in Paris, France). Yesterday I received this email:

hello girls,

my name is Yael Regev and i am an Israeli journalist. i admire and am inspired by your work; therefore i have incorporated it in an article of mine.

it is in Hebrew, sorry, but enjoy anyway

http://fashion.nana.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=408130&sid=136

Yael Regev

Jerusalem

Sweet! Kokoleo's goin' global! Since the article was in Hebrew, I Googled around for a translation and all I could come up with was this:

"Mother in the fulltime job. Her love to sewing and cloths, brought her to try and to produce from it economic fringe benefits and in the this goal inaugurated her website. The site is designed in the amateurism of balance, visible laden and in disorder and will be prepared written in the clear fonts of word. A little depressing, lame beginning, but the designs completely is not bad.

Oanhorn offers varied eclectic stylistically and with respect to type of the products. The sewing and the decrees that is most basic, but the colorfulness that are abundant and the creativeness are thrilling.

Apparently that the woman supposed her paws on from stonecutter of fantasy Ointag ' desireable the most and authentic neighbour she creates clothes, purses, repairs and wallets are visible as if were yanked from the years 70 and therefore also the decrees that are basic and the oldfashioned add to the authenticity of the product. Oanhorn unafraid to combine between cloths with different adverse examples and mysteriously this exit her successful on the way that thought that only shade Stephanie was successful to slide.

By combination of the cloths that are random this, Oanhorn add to the most sexual buttons, embroideries and knitted oldfashioned applications of owls, girls of pin, berries and my bottle."

Ha! What? That's hilarious. Thanks Yael! Now I'm off to sew more sexual buttons on stuff. Hubba hubba.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm 32 today. It's not as good as 33 with the double numbers going on, but it's better than 31, what with that lonley little one standing there at attention. Two is a nice number, curvy, like it's sitting back, comfortable, ready to enjoy the 30s.

To celebrate - I'm offering free shipping this week at kokoleo.com. It's for any order, big or small, local or international. Go on over there and get some Christmas shopping finished early! Tell your friends, neighbors, strangers, etc. Pssst - previous kokoleo customers - this offer can be combined with your discount vouchers to save you even more!

Speaking of good deals, Check this out:


Buy a couple raffle tickets to support Felt Club and you could win a lifetime subscription to the Sampler! How cool would that be? Handmade and indie-produced stuff delivered to your door every month! Hurry, this raffle ends November 30. As much as I want my raffle tickets to be the one chosen, I'd be just as thrilled to know that someone won who I encouraged to enter.

So now that Thanksgiving is out of the way and Christmas is upon us, I have to buckle down and make a bunch of stuff for the Felt Club XL Holiday Event and Bazaar Bizarre. (Yeah, I won't shut up about these until they're over, and probably not even then.) I'll still be accepting commission orders, however, they won't be able to be fulfilled until after the holidays. Don't hesitate to add your name to the list if you have a commission in mind, though. Come January 1st I'll be back in action, I promise.

Here are a few commissions I recently completed:

For Stephanie in NYC. Who wouldn't want to be her friend? Look at the gifts she gives! (Unless you ARE one of her friends, then avert your eyes for a moment.) :





For a raffle at my school:

And for Jenny, the kickass chick who makes Felt Club happen. Shhh. Don't tell her. It's gonna be a surprise.


I'm a letter-cutting, appliqueing, pillow and banner-making machine!

Out and about in L.A.

What a hectic weekend! On Saturday morning I attended the Original Trends trunk show at The Seeley in Glendale. It was packed, probably because it was early and everyone wanted a swag bag (I got one!). The event was chock full of the trediest L.A. has to offer. Many (not all, but many) of the vendors there didn't actually make the stuff they were selling. Some were wholesalers and some were designers who outsourced their labor, so it was a different vibe than the shows I'm used to like Felt Club and Bazarre Bizarre where the person behind the booth is the person who made all the wares you see before you. Still, there was some nice stuff. I got this purse:


Yeah, I know, I make purses, why should I but someone else's? I'm a sucker for tooled leather.

That afternoon I set up my own booth at a Harvest Festival that was being held at the school where I teach. Saleswise, it was a very successful night but my favorite part was that my students got to see the other side of me. A bunch of my 6th grade girls hung out at my booth asking questions like, "Who is your boss at kokoleo?" and "Who are your employees?" and "How do you have time to make all this stuff and be a teacher and a mom too?" and "How can I become a famous designer like you?" Ha! So cute. I love those kids. It was nice to see my monsters head off to new loving homes and I can't wait to see kids at the school running around in kokoleo.

(This is where I'd post pictures of my booth, my students with their monsters, a cute little girl who bought my crown, a girl from my math class and her mom who bought matching skully tees, etc. but my camera's batteries were exhausted so you'll just have to imagine all the cuteness.)

Today we just hung out at home, watched movies, and played with the dog. Then we went to Griffith Park and caught the shuttle up to the Observatory. Man, it's beautiful up there. It's also mindblowing to see how vast the city is and then also how vast the universe is. We are but specks in it all. I think that's why I love making stuff and then sending it off into the world. I'm spreading my speckage.

Here I am with my favorite little speck, Sage:


That's the Hollywood sign behind us. Here's the sunset over Santa Monica:


Hollywood, beyond, and the Pacific Ocean:


Los Feliz, Hollywood and the Santa Monica Mountains:


Downtown L.A. at night:

Sage attempting to high-five Albert Einstein inside the Observatory, or as Sage kept calling it, the "Lavatory":


Yeah, someone needs a haircut (and for once, it's not Einstein.)

Heavens to Etsy!

Okay, I'm a little late to the Etsy party, but better late than never, right? I signed up way back when it started and they held the Crafters United benefit for Hurricane Katrina Relief, but then put off opening my own Etsy shop. Last week I finally got around to it - www.kokoleo.etsy.com. I figured if anything, it would be a way to advertise kokoleo. Within one week I've sold two bags! Sweet! And I've gotten some nice feedback from a few friendly strangers. Cool! I sold the Bumblebee Bag I posted on this blog a few weeks ago, plus this one that I made last week:


I just knew there was a Fred Flintstone fan out there who would go for it. And there was! It sold within 15 minutes of being posted. Etsy Rocks!

I'm really on a needlepoint/embroidery themed purse kick lately. Here's one I completed last night:


I got it way back in July and have been waiting for the perfect material with which to turn it into a bag. I finally found the shimmery blue vinyl on ebay and then paired it with two fabrics I scored at an estate sale in Burbank a few weekends ago:



So now there are two less kokoleo bags hanging on my studio walls, but then, one more. Sometimes I wonder why I'm always sewing like a madwoman, filling up my studio with things that relatively few people will ever see. Venues like Etsy help. I think I'm always going to make stuff whwether people want it or not, but it sure is nice when they do.

a Robot, a Spider, a Postman and Pumpkins

Mad-seamstress that I am, I worked feverishly in my lab this week to transform one sweet little boy into an angry robot:


Ingredients include lots of silver vinyl, red, blue and bronze vinyl, a fake brain in tupperware, telephone cords, calculator parts. . .


. . . an empty beer box, the top to a salt shaker, polyester stuffing and cotton batting, elastic, an plastic placemat, Sharpie ink and about a pound of hot glue.

On their way to the Atwater Village trick-or-treat event on Friday, Sage and his friendly lion friend (kind of Wizard of Oz-ish but with a demented Tinman):


Last week at a Halloween party Erik went postal and I went as a spider. It's kind of hard to see my legs here but they were three pairs of black tights stuffed and hanging by strings from my wrists.

Lovely couple, aren't we?

Tonight we carved pumpkins. When I picked these two out at the pumpkin patch they just screamed Bert and Ernie to me. It's hard to ignore a screaming pumpkin.



Erik's pumpkin - evil, of course:


and Sage's pumpkin - cute just like him:

Happy Halloween!

buzz buzz

Felt Club was last week. Here's a picture of my booth, er, middle-of-the-room installation:


As always, it was a blast. I sent some monster pillows to some loving homes and the tie accessories were a hit. More than anything else it's great to get feedback on your work, hang out with other crafty folk, read BUST magazine and eat cupcakes. The next event is November 12th at the Echo. I won't be there, but I'm planning on being a part of the holiday event in early December and sewing like mad to stock up for it, as well as Bazaar Bizarre at the Shrine Auditorium on December 16th. Whew. December's going to be a crazy crafty month.

Speaking of crazy crafty, this past Saturday I attended an estate sale in Burbank and hit the motherload. Vintage embroidered linens, doilies, upholstery samples, embossed vinyl, a vintage dress and apron, vintage stickers from 1952 that say, "I made it myself!", buttons, fringe. . . you get the idea. I never found out the story of the woman whose house it was I sifted through but she obviously had good taste. I only hope I can make her proud but giving her old stuff a new life. Like this:


Vintage embossed vinyl is bee-utiful.

Speaking of beautiful, my wee viking:



I didn't make that crazy hat. I do need to get crackin' on his Halloween costume though - a robot! An "angry robot" to be exact. This should be interesting. . . stay tuned!

A woman's work is never done

Long time, no blog. I'll try to write more often, it's just, sometimes life gets so busy that it's hard to find the time to stop and write about it.

Work is a bit consuming, but in a good way. I keep being drawn back to teaching. The truth is, I love it. There's nothing better than looking in to a crowd of 15 or so kids and seeing them excited about a particular novel or suddenly getting a particular aspect of grammar or suddenly becoming aware of a new way of looking at the world. Witnessing those aha! moments is what makes it all worthwhile. Sure, there are times when they make me want to pull out all my hair, but at the end of the day it's more fulfilling than anything else I've ever done.

That's not to say I've abandoned kokoleo. I've still been making stuff out the wazoo, I just haven't been able to update my website as often as I used to. I'm trying to stockpile my wares for a few big craft shows coming up this winter. Lately I've been on a necktie kick and have a whole slew of new necktie accessories that should be on the website soon along with a bunch of new embellished tees. I've also been accumulating more needlepoint and embroidery pieces like these that I got at the Melrose Trading Post last weekend ($7 for all):


Sometimes I think I'm the only one who appreciates them. Erik looked at them and asked me why I'm so attracted to dirty laundry. Pshaw. I mean, come on! Who can pass up an embroidered rooster!?

In other kokoleo news, yesterday I had an order all the way from Paris, France. Ooo la la! Also, Felt Club is tomorrow at the new venue in Echo Park and I'll be there. Come on out! I'm sure it will be a blast as always.

Another thing that's been keeping us busy is our backyard. The past few weekends have been spent digging, planting and generally sprucing up our little lot of land. Here's a before picture:


It's kind of hard to see but there was a big dusty bare spot where the previous owners had an above ground pool. There was some decorative trim that randomly cut through the middle of the yard and against the wall was just bare dirt and rocks. Here's an after picture:


You know you've become a grownup when you enjoy watching grass grow. And look! Herbs!



There's basil, oregano, thyme, cilantro, rosemary, lavendar, sage, dill, parsley, spearmint, pineapple mint, peppermint and catnip, plus snapdragons, cala lillies, tomatoes, snap peas, and to make us official Californians - a tangelo tree, lemon tree and avocado tree. Whee! Who wants to come over to our house for a big plate of leafy greens?