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?

We all had a Yellow Submarine birthday party

A few months ago Sage discovered our Yellow Submarine DVD and was fascinated. When we asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted, he chose a "Yedow (his pronunciation) Submarine Birthday Party." We obliged. Here's the invitation Erik made:


And I made the cake:


At Sage insistance we played "Pin the looker thingy on the Yellow Submarine":


He also wanted to lead a marching band (which he did with his friends around our yard) and a have a pinata. Erik and I tried to make him one the night before but a few hours before the party was to start it was still soggy, so we went out and bought this one:


And here he is blowing our his candles:


That night when I was getting him ready for bed, I noticed that he was practicing holding four fingers on his hand. He lifted one, then two, then three, and then slowly let the pinky go and stood there studying his four fingers. I said, "Hey Sage, How old are you now?" and he smiled and held up his hand and said, "Four!"

Cool Press

I've been m.i.a. lately, busy with my new job and still settling in to the new house. I have new things to add to the shop but my digital camera is broken, or rather, filled with Malibu sand - oops! I bought a disposable camera for Sage's birthday party this weekend, so when I get that back, I'll post pics.

Until then check out the latest edition of N.E.E.T. magazine. More specifically, check out page 81. Two of my kokoleo items, a flower tote and friendship pillow are featured. It's such a cool magazine, I'm honored that my stuff was chosen!


Also, kokoleo got a mention in the WAHM Spotlight last week when their Friday's Feature was bags. Sweet! I don't know if I still quailfy as a work-at-home-mom since I took on this other job, but technically, I'm still a mom who works at home (and somewhere else). It's been a little hectic trying to juggle both but I'm hoping to settle into a routine and give kokoleo the attention it deserves. First, I need to find a camera fix-it shop.

Aaaaaand we're back!

Jeez it's been almost a month since I last posted. In that time I painted some walls, refinished some floors, packed a TON of boxes, moved a TON of boxes, unpacked a TON of boxes, hung a bunch of paintings, watched Sage's beloved fish slip down the drain, took Erik's sister's family to California Adventure, and spent a week with my dear mom (a.k.a. the "kitchen fairy" due to her amazing cupboard organizational skills and ability to have breakfast ready before the birds were chirping). We also managed to fit in a Dodger game

(our once-a-year attempt at being red-blooded Americans) and this weekend, Felt Club.


You can more Felt Club photos here. As always, it was a blast. Jamie Chan of MaryJane's Attic taught me how to do needle felting and I think I found a new craft addiction. Check out my balls and nipple!


I've always coveted those felt ball necklaces and now I'm on a mission to make my own. And the nipple? I made it for this: The Nipple Project, a community based art installation
that will be exhibited in October 2006, to coincide with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Go on, send your nipples too. The more the nipplier!

(Apologies to my in-laws who sometimes read my blog. Your son/brother really did marry a fine upstanding normal girl. Oh wait, your son/brother makes art like this: Lord North, you're used to such nonsense.)

So now the dust (and dog hair) have settled and things should be getting back to normal. And by normal, I mean not.

Yard Sold! . . . and the house too!

Goodbye Glendale. . . Hello North Hollywood!

Here it is. It's about half the size and 5 times the price of the house we owned in West Virginia, but it's ours, all ours!


So that was the big news. Also, as if things aren't changing enough for us, I got a job. I'm going to be an assistant 6th grade teacher at a small progressive school in Van Nuys. I was starting to miss being a teacher. The great thing is that it's part time, so I'll still have time for kokoleo. Commissions may take a little longer and I might scale back on some craft fairs and boutiques for now, but I think it will all work out. For some reason when things start to get easy I get restless and look for ways to shake things up. I think I thrive on chaos.

Yard Sale!

Okay, when I originally posted the title for my last blog entry it said, "Changes is good, right?" Der. I wuz a Engilsh major!

So those big life changes that were supposed to be finalized Friday? They've been postponed to Monday. Argh. In the meantime. . .

Yard Sale! My friends and I had one in my front yard today. I made $75. Do you live in the L.A. area? Stop by 451 Riverdale Dr. in Glendale tomorrow from 8 a.m. to noon. Tell me that you read my blog I will let you browse the kokoleo studio and give you 50% off any item! (This is a test to see if any locals are lurking.) I'll also let you have anything you want in the yard sale for free!!

Change is good, right? Right?

Big major life-altering changes are afoot in the VanHorn house and kokoleo studio. I cannot speak of them until Friday when these changes become official. Suffice it to say I haven't been updating my website or blog very much because my life is a wee bit hectic right now.

But not so hectic that I can't fit in Project Runway, Season 3! Man, I love this show.

One person's crap is another person's CRAFT!

I've been on needlepoint, cross-stitch and embroidery kick lately. I'm not actually doing the work, but rescuing pieces that have been forgotten, cast aside and given to thrift stores, garage sales, etc. Someone somewhere at some point in time spent hours making these and it breaks my heart to see a sticker on top that reads, "25 cents."

Okay, actually I get really excited when I see that, but also a little sad for the one who made it. I look at the indivual stitches and see the hands behind it. I imagine the person in front of the T.V. (M.A.S.H.? Matlock? Murder She Wrote?) or on a porch in a rocking chair on a Saturday afternoon or in the carheading for a vacation. They are having conversations or enjoying the solitude while their fingers repetitively stick the needle in and out and over and under and through as they meticulously follow a pattern or don't. They stop every once in a while to rest their fingers and examine their progress. At some point they finish it, frame it, hang it on the wall and go on with their lives. And then somewhere along the way it gets discarded. This is where I come in. Here are a few things I've picked up in the last few weeks. . .

First, a pillow ($1.99):

I think it's going to become a purse someday.

A snow skier (89 cents):


Damn, that's ugly. Something weird is going on with one of the boots too. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it but I think 89 cents is a bargain for a thousand tiny stitches.

A house ($2.19):

It reminds me of the little wooden collectible "Cat's Meow" houses my mom has scattered around her house. See the black cat at the front door? I might give it to her for a surprise. Oh wait, she reads my blog. There goes that idea.

A needlepoint printed tin (89 cents):


And lastly, my new favorite, unicorns! ($10.80)



When I was buying the house and tin (above) at the thrift store the clerk pointed out the unicorns to me. I had overlooked it before because I thought it was just a cheesy painting. Somehow the embroidery makes it beautiful to me. I guess that beauty is in the eye of the beholder because when I brought it home the first thing Erik said when he saw it was, "You're seriously not going to hang that up are you?"

Yes! At least until I get the urge/nerve to turn it into a purse. Is that wrong? Nahh, it's recycling!