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6.18.2020

NEW sweet sweater summer decor!

art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
yes, yes, i HAVE lost my everlovin' mind, thankyouverymuch!

last Christmas, in the midst of my flurry of decorating in our Happy HULAdays theme,
i created some last-minute decor using.... you guessed it.... sweaters.
one photo of that project was part of this post back in December,
but really, the idea was so fun that it needs a bit more exposure.

with my mind on tikis and tropical style for summer, 
it's time to put them in the spotlight -
PLUS another beachy sweater creation from a few years back!

...continue reading for a bit of summer-y sweater fun!

art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
ka.... whaaaaaaa?
in the Disney film Moana, our heroine and Maui encounter a floating tribe of kakamora -
a diminutive race of tiny savage pirates, donning armor made of coconuts.
it's hard to explain - so watch this:

video clip from the Walt Disney Company's YouTube channel
yeah... "they're kinda'.... cute...." but.... not. 
little mischief makers is what they are!

to make my own soft sculpture versions of these hilarious little creatures,
i started with my own original Sweet Sweater Pumpkins...
art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
on the left you see my lil' punkies 'in their natural state': in neutral hues. 
which includes browns and tans... the perfect color for this project! 
so i nabbed a few of them out of a bin
(it's a BIG bin. with LOTS of sweater pumpkins. LOTS. i even have my 2007 originals!)
and proceeded to take them apart. 

on the right in those photos above, you can see the top and bottom of a pumpkin.
i cut off the strings that run from the top to the bottom of the pumpkins
(the things that give the pumpkin its 'ridges')
and that makes them look a whole lot more like 'coconuts'!

my FREE Sweet Sweater Pumpkin Tutorial can be used to create your own versions - 
just complete steps one through four to create a 'string-less' form,
then continue reading below to add details to make a kakamora.
art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
so here are three former pumpkins, turned into 'coconuts', turned into kakamora!
you can see the 'stems' (previously on the top of the pumpkins) are now the bottom...
i stuck that end into the sand to hold my creations upright.

the end with the cut strings becomes the top, to which i added details:
i used some ribbed sweater cuff edging to create a loopy trim and used it as 'hair' on two of them,
while the larger one has a spiky 'flower' made from stiff seam binding.
that's all just hot glued on. 
the little guy also got a seashell on his head - i liked the ones in the film who had that!

art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decorart class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
 for the faces, i used small canvas circles cut from painter's dropcloths.
a black felt pen and an orange colored pencil were used to draw on simple faces...
my faces ended up more cute than scary. for some reason everything i make ends up cute.
(and yes, that one face IS Baymax. he's not tropical, but he is special to us.)
 the canvas faces are cut, drawn, and then glued onto the sweater 'coconut' - 
i used a glue stick for that,
as hot glue tends to soak thru canvas and i didn't want it to show from the front.

art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
when i put them in the sandbox part of our tiki bar to snap these photos,
i laughed so hard that Mom came out to see what mischief i was up to...
i was laughing at the 'footprints' i had made. it was a kakamora invasion!
i left them there, as pictured, and they make us smile every day.
art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
Sweet Sweater Kakamora aren't my first 'summer' sweater creation, tho!

back in 2014, i came up with a sweater creation for summer... 
my original 'Sweet Sweater Sandbaby':
art class, beach style, coastal style, crafting, decorating, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, original designs, re-purposing, sweaters, Sweet Sweater Kakamora, thrifted, tiki style, tropical style, Sweet Sweater Sandbabies, summer home decor, summer diy decor
made from the same 'stringless' pumpkin / 'coconut' form as the new kakamora,
this sand-y tone lil' darling sits in an enamel bucket wearing a baby sunhat and shades.
(there's hardly any work involved in this one - except sourcing cute baby accessories!)

i never even posted about those, i just put them in my 'original designs' gallery.
now i'm thinking i need to create some colorful new versions and share them ;) 
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an important note:
i never made the sweet sweater sandbabies for sale, 
just as i am not making the sweet sweater kakamora for sale.
these are just cute, fun ideas i'm sharing with you so you can enjoy making your own versions...

but if you make them for sale
please know that my names for them are proprietary and protected by copyright.
you can't call your copies of my work/ideas 'sweet sweater' ANYTHING.
that brand name is mine. and i do protect it! 
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