{Inspiration} Paper Moon

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on November 09, 2012 in for the love of books, La Petite Magazine, moon and stars books, moon photo, painted backdrops, paper moon, vintage moon | 18 Comments

First off, the new issue of La Petite Magazine came out last week & it’s a beautiful collection of inspiration. I was particularly excited about my contribution. I know I’ve said it before, but I absolutely love dreaming up my, For the Love of Books article. I came up with the idea of a collection of books that had to do with the stars & the moon last summer inspired by the magazine’s theme & Sayer’s current interests. I knew just what I wanted to do for the photo shoot & I thought I would show you a bit of the “behind the scenes process & inspiration.

{vintage snapshots}

{Paper Moon 1973}

I’ve always loved the vintage images of people posing on the moon & used them as my inspiration. I tried to wrap my brain around how to make a similar backdrop for Sayer to sit on for my La Petite photo shoot. It was nice to bounce ideas around with Chris – he was really helpful in the process. I ended up painting a star backdrop & a moon that I made out of cardboard.

It was all very balanced & strategic in how things were placed. We had a bench underneath for Sayer to sit on – it was a bit fragile. Sayer & I had a very fun morning taking a trip to the moon in a rocket ship. I never posed him- he was in a land of make-believe the whole time that was intoxicating.

He still talks about the day that we went to the moon & I’m so happy that we have that day documented! We also have the moon in our bedroom now for a nice reminder that we should never be afraid to reach for the moon.

For the Love of Books, it’s on pages 112 -115 in La Petite Magazine.

Happy Friday! Hope you have a great weekend!

vintage photo credits: here & here

{Halloween} Costume Parade …

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on November 01, 2012 in aquabat, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Circus Family, costumes, Fantastic Mr. Fox, halloween, photo documentation, photos, Plankton, Roald Dahl | 6 Comments

We are costume people & Halloween is our holiday. If you have followed this blog for awhile, you know that we make our costumes every year & really enjoy the process. It never fails, but we usually end up making them all about 48 hours before Halloween (& sometimes it’s 24). This year was no exception. October is always so busy for all of us – my goal is to finish or manage making orders so I can take a break to make our costumes- Chris always comes up with something cool on his own so I don’t have to worry about that. Honestly, it goes back to art school days- I love the adrenaline rush of doing things at the last minute I think. We’ve been reading Roald Dahl books to Sayer lately (along with watching the old school movies to match). We just finished Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Sayer came up with what we should be for Halloween this year. I love trying to wrap my brain around how to make what he suggests… like a Wonka Bar & how to make Oompa Loompa hair. This is what we came up with….

Speaking of Roald Dahl… I made this Fantastic Mr. Fox (Ash) mask for Sayer last year & he didn’t end up wearing it, so it became his costume for his pre-school Halloween party this year (that was a week earlier than Halloween so the other wasn’t made yet). As you may notice, the Ash costume was the beginning of the Oompa Loompa costume. It worked out quite nicely actually.

As I do every Halloween, I like to trip down memory lane a bit. We started documenting our costume madness with a family photo three years ago. We’ll do it as long as we can pull it together. I actually didn’t think it was going to happen this year- it was a long & rainy day into night & we were all a bit disheveled & tired. But a tradition is a tradition…

2011 (Circus Family 2) & 2010 (Circus Family 1)

2009 (Cardboard Robots) & 2008 (Plankton)

Wow, time flies! It’s so fun to see how we all grow. I hope Sayer looks back on Halloween fondly. I know I do….

What do you do for Halloween? Do you have any family traditions? Do you like to dress up?

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Past Halloween Posts:

2011 – here

2010 – here & here & here

{Creative Process} skeletons, tees, & plush….

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on October 25, 2012 in human body, KLTworks, process, Sayer's drawings, skeleton dolls, skeleton tees, skeletons | 3 Comments

Back in May, I posted about my kiddo’s love of the human body & how his fascination started (thank you, They Might Be Giants). His interest in how the body works & his ability to draw has continuously grown since then- spending more time at his easel & exploring the human body though his own expanding collection of human body books.

Sayer & I have spent more time together in the studio lately too. Over the summer, we were practically studio mates. He has his own space in my studio that he works in & it didn’t take long for his drawings to start oozing out of his space into mine. I would find stacks of skeleton & body drawings on my work table, in his room, in the living room… everywhere. One rainy day, we decided to test out some new fabric markers. He wanted to make himself a skeleton doll. So, after he was done drawing on the fabric, I made him one. That essentially gave me the idea to do a small screen printing run of one of his skeleton drawings for tees & plushies for KLTworks.

His tees turned out so fun & there was a great response. So much so, it prevented me (time wise) to even post this when they were finished – which was my original plan. I ended up doing a second run with a bigger variety of sizes – including adult tees! We are now a skeleton wearing family. I can honestly say, I wear my tee proudly…. often.

The skeleton dolls are really sweet too. I used fabrics on the back that reminded me of Sayer- things that he may have drawn himself & the palette from his scraps of paper. This was a really fun project. I loved working with him & teaching him the whole process of product development- right down to taking photos of his dolls when they were finished.

Sayer told me that when he was older, he wanted to work at KLTworks. I’m not sure he really knows how much a part of it he really is. He’s my inspiration, star model, & now contributing designer. I look forward to lots more studio time with him & many more cool projects ahead.

You can find skeleton tees in sizes 2T – 12- here & XS- XL – here

Skeleton Dolls – here

Hope you are having a great week. What are you up to? Anyone making Halloween costumes?

{Cardboard} Wash Your Car!!

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on October 17, 2012 in cardboard, cardboard carwash, crafts, crafts kiddo, Pinterest | 3 Comments

You know how we love cardboard in our house, so when I see project pins on pinterest involving cardboard- I pin them. I came across this pin a few months ago & I logged it in my mind for a rainy day. When Sayer asked me this weekend if we could make a carwash for his cars – I knew just were to find some inspiration. I’m really not one to read directions for projects – or anything if I can help it. It makes Ikea & Playmobile purchases extra interesting. After looking at the picture on Pinterest, we just started making things up as we went along. This is our version of what I later found out, was a project on this blog. We now have a house full of clean matchbox cars. Word has spread & now there are lines waiting to use this carwash – it apparently cleans vintage Fisher Price people just as well.

It’s Wednesday- do you need to wash your car?
Hope you are having a nice week. What are you working on these days?

{Illustration} experiments with pencil shavings…

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on October 15, 2012 in illustration, inspiration, marta altes, pencil shavings | No Comments

What do you do with your pencil shavings? Marta Altes experiments with them! I kept seeing these fun & clever illustrations pop up on pinterest & I finally looked up her website. It appears that she has a cool picture book coming out in February called, “I am an artist”. I’m interested in seeing more of her work- I like her style. How about you?

Hope you had a creative weekend!

Marta Altes Illustration: here

{Inspiration} Apples, Pumpkins, & Corn…

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on October 09, 2012 in apple trees, corn maze, fall, Festival of Family Farms, Gordon's Skagit Farm, October, pumpkins | No Comments

Ah, October… I adore you. I’m always hit over the head by the colors & traditions that the Fall brings. This last weekend, our valley celebrated the Festival of Family Farms. Like the last four years, kiddo & I headed out to Gordon Skagit Farms to delight in some beautiful weather, apple trees, pumpkins, and a corn maze. Chris was already at the farm making whirligigs for hutch studio.

If you have followed this blog for awhile now, you know that I have visited this farm since I was a kid. Some trivia: I found a double pumpkin in one of the patches at Gordon’s in fourth grade & ended up winning the pumpkin contest in school that year as well! I also took my students from the first watercolor class that I ever taught (at Skagit Valley College), to Gordon’s to paint. So, it just wouldn’t be October without a visit to my favorite local farm. The weather was truly stunning this weekend which made it perfect.

What did you do this weekend? From the photos streaming through instagram… we weren’t the only ones visiting corn mazes & apple orchards!

Gordon Skagit Farm 2011 – here
Gordon Skagit Farm 2010 – here

Getting back in the groove…

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on October 03, 2012 in back in the groove, instagram | 3 Comments

It was a little quiet here at the klt:sketchbook over the summer as you may’ve noticed. Time is tricky as all of you know. Trying to run a business & be a good mom is even more of a trick. This summer I actually made a conscious choice to try not to multitask as much. Specifically, not working as much when Sayer was around & if I did, it was in the studio where he has a workspace too. I wanted to be more present & less stressed out (to say the least). What suffered is my consistency in blogging. What seemed to fill the void, was instagram. I love the ability to touch base quickly with people, tell stories with images, & have a tiny creative outlet all at once. I actually found that I still had the same amount of ideas for blog posts & have many of them a quarter of the way finished. But hours became days, which became weeks… you know the deal.

My kiddo started his 2nd year of pre-school a few weeks ago & I’m now getting back into the groove- finding my own time. I have lots of things that I’m excited to share & hope to get back to a regular blogging schedule. So many new developments, photos, & projects just waiting to get posted so stay tuned! Do you have kiddos that went back to school? What did you do over the summer?

If you would like to follow me on instagram, goto @KLTworks. I post regularly there. 🙂

{Music Monday} Ho Hey it’s Monday!

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on October 01, 2012 in Lumineers, music monday | No Comments

Wow, not only did Monday creep up on me, but it’s October today too! My to do list is long & I’m counting on the Lumineers to help me cruise right through it. Catchy, isn’t it? Happy Music Monday! What’s on your playlist?

photo credit : here

{Music Monday} Do it anyway…

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on September 25, 2012 in ben folds five, fragle rock, Jim Henson, music monday, video | No Comments

Happy Birthday Jim Henson (he would have been 76 today)! This Music Monday is for you…

What a way to start the week. Thanks Ben Folds Five – this was awesome!

photo credit: here

www.henson.com

{Music Monday} Hey Daydreamer…

Posted by kristinloffertheiss on September 17, 2012 in Hey Daydreamer, Hilary Walsh, music monday, neil halstead, video | 3 Comments

Neil Halstead: Hey Daydreamer on Nowness.com.

I love the way this video by Hilary Walsh was shot. Such beautiful photography. Not to mention- the song, Hey Daydreamer, off of Neil Halstead’s new album is lovely as well. Happy Music Monday!

via: Nowness