Girls! Girls! Girls!

My blogging has slacked recently because if I'm not carting Sage to and from kindergarten, I'm busy being McKenna's personal milk machine. For the most part though, life has been easy. Sage loves his "lil sis" and she adores her "big bro."


I love having a girl. Don't get me wrong, I love my boy too. I enjoy dinosaurs and pirates as much as the next mom, but I'm looking forward to venturing into the girl world. I can't wait to put McKenna's hair in little pigtails with those plastic Goody barettes (I'm lucky if Sage lets me get a comb near his) . I'm excited about doing all those mother/daughter things like shopping and sharing nail polish and necklaces.


And then when she's older, shopping for stuff like makeup and prom dresses. Maybe she'll want to wear mine?


It was vintage then, it'll be almost an antique by the time she's ready for it. Speaking of vintage dresses, I had a bit of girlie inspiration in my sewing room this weekend and made these little girl outfits with some vintage fabric I'd been holding on to:


Those are size 2T and 4T. The fabric is from the 70s and has little girls blowing bubbles, playing piano, and taking care of kittens.

These are little schoolgirl-themed sundresses, size 12 months and 2T:


and I made two of this outfit, one is 12-18 months and the other is 18-24 months:


They'll all be up on the website soon. I made them in bigger sizes so I'm not tempted to keep them all for McKenna. There's plenty of time (and fabric) to build her a kokoleo wardrobe, but for now I need to save up money for diapers. . . and Goody barettes, and nail polish, and prom dresses!

Thrift and Ye Shall Find

I haven't been able to go on any yard sale excursions lately. Newborn babies + strangers old junk just don't mix well. The last good yard sale I went to happened to also be the day I went into labor (luckily though, not until I got home.) Maybe the excitement of the finding the yard sale score of the summer spurred my little one to come into the world early?

It all started when I got the big monster order mentioned in my last blog post. Unfortunately I was out of stuffing and my nearest stuffing supplier is in Sherman Oaks. So on August 18th (I'll never forget this date) my mom and I headed out on a stuffing run. Since it was a Saturday morning, I checked Craigslist and mapped out a couple yard sales to stop at along the way.

Guess what the first sale had? A half a bag of polyester stuffing! Score! Not much, but enough to fill a monster. Then, at the yard sale next door I found a full bag of stuffing! I held it up and said, "Hey mom, look!" and the lady who was having the sale said, "Do you need stuffing?" You can have that for free. In fact, here's two more unopened cases, take it all!" 32 bags in all - Sweet! Erik didn't even grumble when I brought these huge boxes home to take up space in our garage because he knows how quickly I go through stuffing. With all the personalized pillows, decorative pillows, and friendly monsters I make, it will all be gone by Christmas.


I'm convinced that if I want something badly enough, I will find it at a yard sale or thrift store. My friends joke that I've got some magical thrifty mojo working for me. Here are a few other recent scores:

This lamp from Ikea:


It retails for $40 . I know because I'd been stalking it for months. I got it for $5 at a yard sale in Toluca Lake.

Elsewhere in the house, we needed backless barstools for this weird bar/nook area of our kitchen. Countless web searches and trips to Ikea and Target yielded nothing and then one day I found these listed on Craigslist - 2 for $20.

For outside, we had gotten one of those above ground pools and were using a step stool to get in it because I didn't want to shell out $50+ for the ladder. Lo and behold, I found one at a yard sale for a mere $5.

And this maternity shirt - I saw it at target for $25, but didn't get it because it fit kinda weird. When I saw it again a few weeks later for 50 cents at a yard sale, I bought it. After a little nip/tucking on the sewing machine it fit fine and became one of my favorite shirts of the summer.

Also, there's this Baby Bjorn carrier, originally priced at $94.00 (craziness!). I got it for $1 at a Burbank yard sale, good as new.

I could go on, but I'll stop lest you think I'm a cheapskate. Does seeking out bargains make me cheap? Then so be it. Unless it's a one-of-a-kind like art or handmade clothes and jewelry, I hate paying full price. And I love that little adrenaline rush that comes when something I've been wanting forever falls into my lap for a fraction of the price that other people pay.

Do you like deals too? Well, since you took the time to read this entire post, I have a deal for you. You can type "I love kokoleo" in the voucher area at checkout and receive 15% off anything on the kokoleo website (excluding personalized commissions). It's good through 2008.

Just another Monster Monday

It seems I've abandoned my "Made by Monday" posts. Oh well, how about I just blog about the stuff I make as I make it? There's less pressure that way. Coincidentally, today is Monday and look what I made:

Don't look for them on the website though, they are currently under the supervision of the U.S. Postal Service as they travel to their new home at the Children's Museum of Portsmouth, Virginia. A few weeks ago I got an order for six of my monsters. I was very excited that someone on the other side of the country liked my monsters enough to order six of them, but also a bit perplexed as to what they planned to do with all those monsters. So I asked. Ha! Only a small-time indie designer would wonder such a thing -- You really like my stuff? Really? Enough to order a whole bunch of them? Really? Wow. Can I ask why? Here was the reply I got from Helen, the Education Coordinator of the museum:

Hello KB,
And welcome to your new baby girl! How exciting it is ushering in our newest citizens of the planet! We actually stumbled across your website in our search for prop items. Your little folks were so colorful and so cute we couldn't pass them up. The program we have developed is called Stuffee and the Aweful Icky-Yuckies. It is a program being funded by a grant through the Virginia Department of Health about the spreading of germs. Obviously, by the title, it is geared towards pre-school aged children. Your monsters will be the star "germs" Icky and Yucky. We don't have anything online about them yet but we will. Our website is www.childrensmuseumva.com.

Thanks for all of your help. We look forward to our new "friends".
Helen

How cool is that? The kokoleo studio was all abuzz these last few weeks with the monsters (or Germs, as they now prefer to be called) bragging about how they were leaving Hollywood forevah! and following their dreams to become big-time celebrities in Portsmouth. Bon Voyage snaggle-toothed ones! Have fun!

Happy Birthday Sage!

A lot has happened in Sage's world in just the last two weeks. Today he turned 5:


Yesterday he started kindergarten:


The week before he got a baby sister:


And the week before that his cat died.


We made this stone for Leo's grave. When we we're thinking about what to do for the eyeballs on the kitty, Sage said, "You have a box of eyeballs in your sewing room for when you make your monsters. We could use those." So we did.

Hopefully we're through with all the major life changes for a while and we can start settling into the groove of things again. He's been quite the trooper through it all. Happy Birthday Sagey Babe!

My latest creation - McKenna Rae!

Long time, no blog. I've been busy! McKenna Rae VanHorn was born on Sunday, August 19th at 3:51 p.m. in the "Walt Disney Labor and Delivery" wing (Ha!) at Providence St. Joseph's Memorial Hospital in Burbank. She was 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 20.75 inches (not 30 inches like Erik told his family).


The labor was long (30 hours!) and strange and kinda scary (supposedly my womb is a medical anomaly) but the end result made it all worthwhile. I have a newfound respect for nurses who calmly tend to people in their most vulnerable situations.

Here she is with Sage and my parents:


and here she is yawning. . .


sneezing. . .


and sleeping. . .


We're home now and settling in nicely. I'm so glad she's on the outside now instead of trapped in my belly. It was nice of her to come 10 days early. Sage loves being a big brother. He especially loves having a Firebaby:


and Pirate Baby:



to play with him.

Getting personal. . .

The final countdown is near. I have a week and a half left until my due date and a million things to do before then. Luckily I've finished up all my commissions for now and have done a little updating to my web site. I had to raise the prices for banners and pillows by a few dollars - my first price increase in two years. However, I've also upgraded the way in which I produce the personalized pieces and added some new options and products like pillowcases and printed shirts. Since I launched the website in January 2005, I've done over 115 personalized pillows, banners, shirts, etc. Wow! That's a whole lotta letters.

Here are my latest pillows:


My friend Steph in New York ordered this pillow for her friend Jennifer's little girl. A month later, Jennifer ordered this pillow for her friend's little girl. . .


I'm now making the pillows with removable covers and custom-made pillow inserts. I realize most of the recipients of these pillows are little kids, and little kids are known for spills and tough love when it comes to things that are stuffed.

But, for those who would rather supply their own pillow - pillowcases! A return customer proposed this idea and I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before. It allows customers to get a big personalized piece at a discounted price and it allows me to save on packaging. Win-win! Here are a few I've made this month:




And finally, if you see a name you recognize among the personalizations I've made, you now have the option of getting it printed on a shirt (or tote, or whatever else you dream up) for only $20. Lucky for all the Tenzins and Adowyns and Vaniers and Avenelles out there. . .

How to make a maternity skirt

I posted this easy tutorial on Craftster today to hopefully help other pregnant crafty ladies out there. Finding maternity clothes that fit right sucks, especially toward the end when you don't want to invest a bunch of money in something you won't even be able to wear in a few weeks. Sick of being stuck in Mumus, I made myself a fancy fitted skirt last night from a nice GUESS? skirt and generic T-shirt I found at a thrift store. Stretchy shirts would work even better. Here's how to do it:

First, find a skirt you like in your pre-pregnancy size and a T-shirt that matches.


Then, cut out a space for your big 'ole belly. Take that piece and line it up with the hem of the T-shirt and cut around it about an inch extra. (Only cut one side of the shirt in case you mess up and need more.)


Now, pin your panel to your skirt making sure to line up your hem and waistband. I suggest inserting elastic into the hem at this step (not shown). Adjust for comfort. Sew.


Then sew a straight topstitch to finish it off and make it sturdy.


You can wear it two ways - across the belly or under it. I recommend wearing a shirt with it though. I added an anchor embellishment at the bottom with some leftover T-shirt material. I like this style because it maintains the fit and look of a regular skirt, yet has a compartment for your belly.

Now, please don't leave comments about my pregnant belly is "the most disgusting picture" you have ever seen or wonder why I would "subject myself to such a tasteless display" like readers of the Martinsburg Journal did when a story about how to make a belly cast was published in the newspaper when I was pregnant with Sage. Silly prudes.

If you're pregnant and want to purchase this skirt, check out Etsy in a few weeks. I won't need it anymore!

R.I.P. Leo

Last night around 11:30, Erik was in the kitchen and Kali came in acting strange. Erik followed her into the living room where he found Leo laying in his usual spot but moaning and gasping. Erik called for me and I came running in from the sewing room. We both stood there panicking and in less than a minute we watched Leo take his last breath. Later, I held the flashlight as Erik dug a grave and we buried him in our backyard.

And that was it. No warning. No long , sad, drawn out illness like with Koko. That day, we'd seen him around the house just like normal. The night before, he sat on Erik's lap while we watched a movie and slept at my feet in bed all night.

I'm still in shock. I can't imagine our lives without Leo. He's lived with us in every house Erik and I have inhabited since we've been together - the "Dam" house by the river in West Virginia, on Drayton St. in midtown Savannah, then back in West Virginia on Shoe Lane, At the "Funny Farm", and in Bedington, then across the country to our house in Glendale and then here in North Hollywood.

He watched Sage come into our lives. . .


saw him grow. . .

and grow. . .


and has been a patient, tolerant, loyal friend to him.


He outlived Koko. . .



a few fish. . .



and accepted Kali into our family.



He's been a fixture of our lives for the past 11 years. Erik and I often remarked how lucky we were that we had a cool cat, not one of those cranky, aloof, hide-under-the-bed-when-company comes-around kinda kitties. He was spunky and adventurous and tolerant of little boys and big dogs and he would even shake your hand if you asked him. He was independent but also very loving, especially when we were eating ice cream or cereal. During both of my pregnancies he would sit on my lap, curl around my belly, and purr.

Now both namesakes of (my business) kokoleo are gone. I like to think Koko was waiting for him when he left this world and they ran off together, Koko nipping at his tail as he hopped like a bunny across a big green field. Is that cheesy? That's how I remember them. I think it's fitting I named my business after them. They were both fun, independent, silly, unique, and loyal and they taught me a lot about what's important in life.

Rest in Peace

Leopold Kornelius Van Price
1996-2007

Out and about with the VanHornz

If you're in the San Diego area, even if you don't have kids, I highly recommend LegoLand. Erik and I enjoyed seeing miniature versions of places we've been together over the years, like. . .

New York. . .


New Orleans. . .


San Francisco. . .


Las Vegas. . .


Mount Rushmore. . .


and Hollywood. . .


Sage enjoyed playing in the water. . .


and seeing his favorite characters and creatures all done up in Legos.


Plus, there were rides galore and good food too (deep fried apple slices anyone?). It was enough to tucker out an almost-5-year-old on the drive home.


We're trying to make the most of the time we have left with Sage as our only child. This is the month when everything changes. Not only will he get a sister this month, but he's also turning 5 and starting kindergarten. Sheesh. Time flies.

Fast forward three days and here we are at our annual Dodgers game:


Now, pardon my baseball ignorance, but I don't know Barry Bonds from Babe Ruth. All I know is that people in L.A. don't like Barry Bonds (it has something to do with steroids and the fact that he's going to break a home run record soon). Sage enjoyed chanting, "Bury Your Socks!" with the rest of the crowd (they were really yelling "Barry You Suck!" but we won't tell him that.)


I can't help it, I just love these end-of-the-excursion photos: