Month: January 2014

  EDIT: This crochet pattern is now available in my Etsy shop. Thank you! I’m posting the crochet pattern for my Valentine’s Day X’s, O’s, and Hearts Sugar Cookies (that you may have seen in Crochet Today magazine) for FREE all weekend! Then on Monday, I will remove the pattern from my blog and load it up to my Etsy shop. The heart cookie may look familiar since it’s one of the free patterns I put together for Michaels.com, but I felt like it would be weird to leave out of this set! You can turn these cookies into brooches and hair clips, and even patches and appliques. Big ol’ fridge magnets would be fun, too!

Are you in Chicago? Do you want to take a super fun crafty class? Steff Bomb, winner of TLC’s Craft Wars, is here to help! Chicago Makes presents: A Plush Toy Sewing Workshop by Steff Bomb. Wednesday, February 5th, 2014 7pm – 9pm. @ Sew Crafty Studios, 2320 N Damen Ave, STE 1E, Chicago, IL 60647. Learn how to sew a plush piece of cake! $35 per person, materials included. Free booze, snacks, and cake! Beer provided by Revolution Brewery. Must be 21+ to attend. For more information visit sewcraftystudio.com or email: info@sewcraftystudio.com I have taken the liberty of showing y’all some of my favorites from Steff’s plush portfolio!

Ahhhh I feel so lucky!!! The adorable Em Somerville of Lick My Cupcakes doodled me and just sent me a print as well as two cute stickers! My biz partner liked them a lot and stuck them on some of our Yummy You packages, so if you’ve ordered recently, you may have seen this, too! If you are looking for a cute commission, you should definitely hit Em up if she has time!

Sometimes I’m like, “Ugh, I have nothing interesting to blog about! I’m just making orders and shipping them and doing a bunch of boring stuff!” But sometimes I forget that stuff could be mildly interesting as a peek into my day-to-day. I’ve been having fun including pins in orders that kinda match up with the item I’m sending, like this sweet radish-on-radish action. The other reason I wanted to blog about the radishes is that I have ALWAYS had a bit of a problem with figuring out how to stick my branding on these guys. Normally with my crochet work, I can sew a clothing tag somewhere, but there is not a lot of surface for sewing labels when it comes to the radish lariat scarf.  In the past, I have tried sewing a label to one of the leaves. I never really wanted to sew one to the radish itself because it seemed ugly. One alternative solution I’ve been using is these jewelry tags (sorry it was hard to photograph them!) But I’m not sure if people really like that up in their radishes, either. The cool part about the jewelry tag is that people can easily remove the if they don’t like them. I know there is probably some difference in preference from person to person regarding branding on their items. Some people request it specifically because they like knowing they have a Twinkie Chan item. But I’ve also received complaints in the past, regarding t-shirts, they they wish I didn’t include branding in my graphics. So I get that there are two sides to the story. When it comes to branding on items that I buy, I don’t mind supporting indie businesses and wearing something with their brand on it, especially if the brand name and logo are cute. I’m less likely to care about having a giant ADIDAS or JUICY across my butt. If you have any specific thoughts regarding my little radish buddies, I’m interested!      

I’m finding it a little hard to get into 2014. Part of me wanted to take a week or two to just relax and not work for once after the holiday rush, but that didn’t really happen. I had some stressful personal stuff happening (not health-related, don’t worry, just first world problems) that stretched out for a few weeks, but I hope that I’m seeing the end of that right about now. We’re butting up against Valentine’s Day, and part of me wanted to give up and not have any kind of Valentine’s Day-related shop update, because I didn’t think it was worth the stress, but we will have a few items in the next week or so. Some of them will be assorted cupcake ring boxes. We’re also sending my book proposal for Crochet Book #2 to potential publishers, which is always kind of a weird experience. For my first book, I didn’t even know that my licensing agent was pitching the book. He just sort of rang up one day and was like, “Hey, we have a book deal.” I didn’t even write a proposal. I actually wrote a proposal this time, and I have a new literary agent, my buddy Pickle, and there’s actually a submission list and pitch calls and the whole kit and caboodle. Having done all this from the agent’s side, I know there are a lot of “no”s when it comes to pitching books, and we have already had a few. It’s hard on the writer’s side to stay positive about the whole thing, as I’d rather not self-publish, but keep your fingers crossed, and we’ll see how it all goes. I’ve already replied to a few of Pickle’s emails saying, “I’m a lemon! I’m a lemon!” although I did include the words “rue the day!!!” in one of my more recent email responses. I was also asked to contribute to a bookazine that is coming out some time in February (yes… as in, a few weeks from now… REALLY fast turnaround!), and I’m excited to show you guys that. It includes a really fun new crochet pattern by yours truly, and whenever the book comes out, I will also release the mystery item from that pattern in my shop as well. Can’t wait to show you guys!!!

Last week, I noticed that Bibi was going up the stairs in an odd way and really hesitating sometimes go up them. Unfortunately, the only way she can get outside to go to the bathroom is to use a set of stairs (which is one of the reasons why I know I can’t stay in this house forever….when she gets old, I won’t be able to carry her up and down stairs to use the loo!). I took her to the vet, and she got some x-rays, and luckily she didn’t have any tendon or arthritis issues, just a little bit of swelling in a back knee. I was told to keep her activity limited and to give her Metacam for the pain and inflammation. Unfortunately, the Metacam seemed to give her CRAZY DIARRHEA. I wasn’t sure if it was just a coincidence or not, so I kept her on the Metacam and put on her on a bland diet of rice and cottage cheese. After 2 more days,  I took her off the Metacam to see if it would help things. But she only got worse. She lost interest in eating, plus, the stuff coming out of her butt started to look alarmingly like strawberry syrup (sorry if that’s TMI!). I called the vet to ask if I needed to bring Bibi back in, and she said that since Bibi had been on Metacam before without incident, that she might have caught some giardia or something, but to definitely stop giving her the Metacam and pick up some anti-diarrhea and anti-nausea meds for her. Bibi had also started to barf quite a bit. POOR BIBI. I got all her meds and tried to keep her hydrated while she had no interest in food. Meanwhile, I caught some kind of icky cold or flu myself and had to take care of the both of us! Hairy was out of town for the weekend, so Manda stayed over, and we ate lots of delicious dinners and lazed around a lot being slug-people and watching television. We did have to run to the 24-hour Walgreens for toilet paper at some point, which resulted in a random and joyous TEDDYBEARPILEUP!!!! And then it was back to feeling grody and doting on Bibi. Bibi is now feeling much better. She is navigating the stairs fine, and she is excited about food again. I’m still getting over my bug. I have The Barf Cough and body aches, so I apologize for not blogging as much! I also planned to have some fun shop updates for Valentine’s Day, but my productivity has been severely hindered the past week by all of the above! Such is real life! Stay tuned!

I was googling images of Circus Animal Cookies for research (pattern for brooches coming soon in a fun new book I contributed to!), and I ran into a photo of Circus Animal Cookie Rice Krispy Treats! Two great things that go great together!!! Manda’s bday was last weekend, and we went on a short road trip with my cousin and his bestie to L.A. and San Diego, so I made these the night before as bday road snacks! I think I pressed mine into the pan too vigorously, so I squished everything down super compactly.  I have no idea why I did this. Anyway, don’t do that. I think the trick with these is that you need to add the cookies in before the cereal mixture gets too cold and stiff, but if you add them too quickly, then all the frosting will melt off the cookies and you’ll just have a big sticky pink mess (which is not the end of the world, I suppose!). I looked around for recipes and used this one from the Domestic Rebel. I wanted to try out her secret ingredient: 1/4 cup of dry sugar cookie mix in the melted marshmallows! I’ll admit I may not have the most sophisticated palette, so I didn’t feel like the sugar cookie mix added a lot, so if I made these again, I’d probably leave that part out. This is a super quick and dirty project with a highly festive pay off!  It’s not one for the health nuts, but I was never one of those, so here’s to adding more sugar and carbs into our sugar and carbs!            

When you guys left me recipes during my November blog giveaway, one caught my eye in particular because it contained TWO INGREDIENTS. Dear Renee: Thank you!!!! All you need is one box of yellow cake mix and one can of pumpkin. I did tempt fate by adding a few things, like, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves, but you can do whatever the heck you want! Just dump all two of your ingredients into a big bowl and stir it up. Follow the directions on your cake mix for baking. “YOU’RE DONE, SON,” (as Manda would say). The texture is light, fluffy, and smooth, very cake-like. I kind of craved frosting with it, like chocolate, or cream cheese. I have no idea if anybody else liked them. Odds are: low. But whatever. I HAD FUN. p.s. I brought these to Thanksgiving, and I have to admit, I still have problems with proper bake time in my oven. The quoted bake time is NEVER enough, and then I just have to wing it from there! This first batch turned out a bit under-baked and sticky, so, yeah, just avoid that when you make them…..

Hi Gang!!! It’s the 15th of the month, so it’s time to launch a new blog sponsor giveaway! Thanks so much to my generous sponsors for offering us these wonderful goodies! One lucky winner will receive: 1. Twinkie Chan EXCLUSIVE 4 pack of RockerByeBaby‘s “Dirty Girl” Un-paper Towels in imported Japanese fabrics and a button. “Feeling Dirty? No problem – I have the perfect thing for you, girl… I use a waffle weave unbleached muslin for the backs of the Dirty Girl UnPaper Towels. I double-serge all the edges for long life & durability. They’re safe for all surfaces, nice and absorbent for drying spills  and textured for scrubbing counters when wet.”  2. A PINK scented cotton candy necklace from Fatally Feminine. A whimsical and unique necklace handmade from polymer clay. This tiny carnival treat is so realistic and cute. It even smells like the popular fragrance “Pink Sugar”! Comes on an 18″ silver plated chain. 3. Cute and unique cupcake headband by Messy Pink. It’s made of sequins and has little heart gems. This is hand-made and each of the sequins is sewn on by hand. 4. Shhhh, don’t wake her she’s sleeping. This plush kitty with her beautiful long white fur does not require feeding and has no need of a litter box…the ideal apartment pet :). From Scrumptious Delight. 5. The strawberry short cake cameo was made by Glamasaurus using some beautiful fabric. Each  is securely attached to a beautiful brass locket.  The locket is accented with a bow and hung from and 18 inch 45.5mm chain. 6. A 20€ ($27) gift certificate to PetitsPixels Etsy shop, containing cute amigurumi, patterns, pins, magnets, and more! 7. Two months free ad space on Mermaidens – a nostalgic, candy-colored personal style and DIY blog by Kailey. 8. Adorable banana plush by ClaireyLouCreations. 9. A “You’re Awesome” Card and a set of 5 buttons by Quiet Tiger. 10. Three all-satin bows from Doll.jpg! Each bow is about 6 x 4 inches and all are backed with french barrettes. Each one is handmade and can be worn in many different ways! Just follow the Rafflecopter widget below for all of your chances to win! (p.s If you are new to Rafflecopter and think it’s weird, I just ran into this hand dandy guide.) Giveaway is open worldwide and will run for a week until next Wednesday night, January 23rd, at midnight PST. Good luck! P.S. Please make sure my email address can get through your spam filters! twinkie@twinkiechan.com a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pygmy Hippo Shoppe, “the world’s smallest” shop, has unveiled “the world’s smallest commercial”! Check it out! You might see something familiar in there! 😉 If you’re in L.A., visit Emi and Pygmy Hippo at 306 N. Stanely Avenue! The rest of us can shop online!

Last weekend was the Craft Hobby Association (CHA) tradeshow. I didn’t go this year, but when I got a newsletter from Lion Brand Yarn about their “7 Wonders of the Yarn World” knit & crochet sculpture display, I had to share with you guys, in case you hadn’t seen it yet! (All photos are from Lion Brand.) All the sculptures were designed by Nathan Vincent. See all seven and more photos at the Lion Brand blog!

  Check out Issue 14 of Homemaker Magazine out of the U.K.! They contacted me a few months ago to offer a few crochet tips for beginners and chat about yarn a little bit, and it’s out now!  I ordered a  hardcopy, but I also just purchased a softcopy on my iPhone with the free Homemaker Magazine app. The rest of the magazine has a wide variety of tips and articles, from sewing to knitting to organizing your home!

  YAY! I’m in the current February/March 2014 issue of Crochet Today magazine! I’m pretty excited! I have already gotten a bunch of messages and emails about it! Pick up a copy and check out the “My Crochet Life” feature with me! The link to the free pattern for the Conversation Heart Garland is here! There are also tons of cute patterns in the magazine. It’s a good issue!

So I discovered something about myself around Christmas: I LOVE BAKING GINGERBREAD MEN. I have baked a lot of ginger snaps in my time, but there was something about smushing out the dough and using the cookie-cutters that I found really satisfying! I used this recipe from Martha Stewart via Java Cupcake. Next time I would try to make the dough even more spicy, like maybe with some grated fresh ginger as well as black pepper. Making big dough balls made me feel like Dr. Sattler going elbow-deep in a pile of dino droppings. (fast forward to 2:15 if you don’t remember this scene!) This made me giggle a lot to myself because I’m five years old. You chill the dough before you roll out, and you also chill the men before you bake them. They don’t spread very much at all, and they come out perfectly shaped! If you roll them out thick at 1/4 inch, you will have chewy cookies. If you roll them out thinner, you will have crispy cookies. I did both and still can’t decide which I prefer….! I didn’t have time before my parents’ Christmas shindig to decorate the cookies with icing, but icing is usually not my favorite to eat anyway. So my little ginger dudes were not as cute or charismatic…. but they were still yummy, which is great, because, I’m also LAZY. I’m already craving them again. I just have to buy more flour!

You go on a spy mish! As I yelled at Hairy in the car, “I’m not an asset! I’m OPERATIONAL!” (And then a discussion about whether those are mutually exclusive.) We have a history of joking about and even executing silly missions. One day, I will tell the tale of how 10 of us kidnapped a friend, stuffed him in a limo blindfolded, and took him to Vegas about ten years ago, with lots of planning and meetings and spy suits and reconnaissance and dossiers and fake moustaches and underwear-stealing. But on Sunday, my mish was pretty simple: spy on Manda and her coffee date. We had joked about it the night before, and Manda said that I would have to wear a wig to hide my pink hair. I have a few dark wigs from when I had to cover my hair for a very important family event in a foreign country, so I went with the one that looked the least beat up and gross, yet, still gross in its own wonderful way. I felt really self-conscious because I knew I looked like a  crazy lunatic in a wig, pretending to be a normal person, but Hairy said that I looked no less crazy than a person with pink hair….. As you can tell from all the annoying texts I sent Manda while drinking an Arnold Palmer and eating the brie plate, she and her date had canceled their plans. I first sent a text an hour before their alleged meet-up, but SHE WAS ASLEEEEEEEEEEEP/NAPPPING. MISSION FAILURE. At least there was cheese.    

A lot of people make and post their inspiration or mood boards for the season, and while I am not in the habit of this at all (my likes don’t change seasonally for the most part … I’m pretty predictable), I was just asked to “send stuff that you like” by someone I am working with for Yummy You!, so I sent her this mish-mash of things: (You can click on it to make it bigger.) I didn’t put a lot of thought or time into it, but in that sense, I think it’s a real gut-reaction true-blue representation of stuff that I’m drawn to. Colors, sweets, and friends!    

  One of my blog sponsors, Blippo – Japan & Kawaii shop, who provided awesome prizes for my December giveaway, also sent me a super cute stationery package! They offer free shipping, and their packages ship out of their warehouse in Hong Kong (so it may take a week or two to get to you!). I’d have to say my favorite item in the package is the Yummy Eraser set! The only problem with erasers like these is that you’ll never use them since you won’t want to ruin them! I also received a Lifestyle Calendar Book. It has a sweet and simple, plastic-covered cover, and I was surprised to find that the inside had lots of different things in it like little sayings, images of knitted flowers or felted hearts, day-of-the-week grids, and tons of places to take notes. Blippo has a LOT of cute notebooks and stationery. Some favorites are the Burger/Sandwich memo pad, Blythe note paper, Chocolate memo pad. I also got these neat emoticon stickers! They are currently out of stock, though! Some other cool sticker sets: Rilakkuma sticker set, Animal sticker set, Blythe sticker set. And finally, I got this cute little mechanical pencil that looks like a real pencil and says “Life creative.” More cute writing tools: Popcorn Otoki pencil & eraser set, Bunny Pen, Ice Cream Pen. Blippo sells way more than just cute stationery. They also have purses, Japanese magazines, snacks and candy, cell phone accessories, and more! Thank you, Blippo, for the super cute package!