Author: TwinkieChan

You can now buy vanilla or chocolate Kitty Donut Hair Clips in my Etsy shop! Each one has a slightly different personality, but they are all super sweet and cute! I was afraid they would look weird as hair pieces, but I really love how they look while worn. Like I have a little napping kitty on my head! I am going to make other colors soon, too! Like a striped maple kitty and maybe a panda! (p.s. I will not be selling the Gloomy Bear donuts, sorry! Not unless someone knows the Gloomy Bear people and they tell me it’s okay 😛 )

I have a super cute new (and quick and easy!) pattern for you guys! Chocolate Easter Bunny mini plushies!! You can use them as hair clips, brooches, ornaments, cupcake toppers, or just fun little Easter Basket-stuffers. I didn’t have time to crochet these in time for my Etsy shop to ship out before Easter, but at least the crocheters out there still have some time to make some of their own! One bunny takes me about 30 minutes from start to finish (including taking photos!). You can make chocolate bunnies of all different sizes depending on the yarn you want to use. While figuring out the pattern, I used a worsted weight, Lion Brand Vanna’s in Chocolate, which gave me a bunny that’s about 5 inches tall. My goal was to make something tiny and gold, like the chocolate bunnies wrapped in gold foil, so then I made one with Lion Brand Vanna’s Glamour in Gold, which gave me a bunny that’s about 3 inches tall. Wrap them up in a little bit of cellophane and ribbon for a cute presentation! Enjoy! EDIT: I just added a video tutorial for this on YouTube as well! 🙂 Here’s the link!

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:

YOU GUYS. This is the most magicalest sweater!!!!!! It’s the new Little Twin Stars Lurex Knit Sweater from JapanLA clothing and Sanrio. It’s probably the most perfect sweater on the planet. It also has metallic sparkle running through it! I was afraid the metallic sparkle would make the sweater itchy. I’m really sensitive to itchy clothing, and I don’t find this itchy at all! Also, I washed this and let it air dry, and I was worried that it would wrinkle, but it didn’t! I see this sweater modeled often without any pants or anything underneath, so I wondered what I would wear with it, as a person who needs to wear bottoms. I decided to keep it super casual with some jean shorts that I cut off last fall to go canoe-ing, my trusty black buckle boots, and some matching tights. I was picking through some Yummy You! scarves to pair with this when I go out for ramen later tonight with Tiffany Star & co, but it was a bit busy, so I stuck with this funny purple pompom scarf that was a present from Marissa. Sorry for the outfit posts and lack of crochet posts! I am indeed crocheting! I am working on a secret scarf sample for Yummy You (cross your fingers… it would be a really cool collab, and sometimes these collabs don’t happen). I also just finished a pattern for a fun new hair clip/head piece, so stay tuned for that! Sweater: JapanLA Clothing, Headband: made by me!, Tights: We Love Colors

I actually wore this  a few days ago, but just got around to editing the photos! I am playing with some of the new photo actions from A Beautiful Mess. I purchased the Fresh Collection and used Phoenix on the photos below. The amazing ice cream dress is from F21 last year. It reminds me of AhoyMiss because she was wearing it at The Blogcademy in L.A. I didn’t wear it for a long time because I needed to tack it in the front so it wouldn’t billow open, and I finally did that a few minutes before leaving for dinner last Thursday with my family and my cousin from Hong Kong. Also, I didn’t know how to deal with the open back. I really need to just pick up a camisole somewhere, but in the meantime, I wore a pink lace bralette from Victoria’s Secret Pink over my bra. It still has an underweary look, which isn’t my favorite, but for some reason it seems better to me than just an ugly bra strap!I was excited to wear my Marshmallow Charms bracelet from Yummy You! I think it made a perfect pastel companion to the dress. I’m also wearing a dainty necklace which was a bridesmaid present from Elysse. This was one of those rare moments in my life that I thought, “I need a necklace that is not too crazy right now!” Am I mixing silver fun jewelry with gold serious jewelry? Yeah! Whatever! Go twirl! I love my polka dot leggings and cowboy boots because they are easy and comfy and lazy!! In my brain, they match everything. They do, right?! Dress: Forever21 (s0ld out) , Bracelet: Yummy You!, Necklace: Elysium Jewelry, Hair flower: Tarina Tarantino (Was there a smaller one? I think mine is smaller than the one I linked), Leggings: Uniqlo, Boots: TUK from ModCloth but they seem sold out now.  

When I knew that the Tako (Octopus) Scarf was going to be released by Yummy You, I really wanted to take some snaps inspired by “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” Manda spent the night last week, and I decided to kidnap her to the beach and take photos with me. They are just for fun, and I know the quality is not great. It was a REALLY SUPER SUNNY day, and there was no shade anywhere, but we just decided to have fun and take some photos and be weirdos together, cuz that’s basically what we always do. I’m pretty sure the family next to us thought we were really strange. Oh yeah,  I forgot to mention, it was really busy there that day!   Before shooting any of the photos, I’d told Hairy, “The outfits are not flattering at all,” and he said, “Interns don’t get flattering outfits!” TRUE! We also took a bit of video on Manda’s iPhone of us being nerds on the beach. I’m amused that the first comment was “crap video.” Because, I KNOW IT’S A CRAP VIDEO. It’s just two bff’s having fun being back-lit at the beach and goofing around. The End.  Sheesh! WHY SO SRS?! Go twirl!

I’m really honestly so excited to announce that we have a BRAND NEW scarf in the Yummy You! shop for all my sushi-lovers, beach-combers, and mermaid-dreamers! We received so many requests to produce this Tako Scarf, and now it’s finally here! WOOHOO! We had a whirlwind day of some super-fast ninja-style photoshooting with model Shannie Bee and photog/MUAH Crazy Spork I Am. Dance studio Dance Boulevard in San Jose was nice enough to let us invade one of their rooms for a little bit! These ladies are so amazing. I just showed up with a suitcase full of stuff, and they did all the rest (okay, I did the driving, I helped!). At first we were going for a nautical/sailor theme, and then we also wanted to throw in a little mermaid magic. All the photos (to me) told the story of a mermaid dreaming of things she would do if she were human, like attending a human party, having a picnic on the grass, or learning how to dance. I think we’ll be posting the full sets from these photos on the Yummy You! Facebook page throughout the week. Until then, sea you at the mermaid picnic! RSVP ASAP at YummyYou.com 🙂

I made a video of me launching my confetti popper for the first time!!!!! Excitement!!! Suspense!!! Mayhem!!! Also, congrats to Kelsea Echo for winning a copy of the book! Woohoo!!! 😀  

I received an order for a cheeseburger scarf a few weeks ago, and I was prompted to re-visit my pattern for it. I ended up taking a lot longer to complete the scarf than usual, but it was kind of cool to figure out ways to simplify areas that didn’t need to be so fussy, mainly, how my burgers and buns went together and were shaped. I kind of forgot how labor-intensive the burger scarf is to make. All the sewing and applique-ing and ends-weaving took a million years, but I also think the burgers are so so cute! A lot of my work can be really tedious, but I always think the extra time is worth it. I was happy that my customer decided to go with felt sesame seeds, because I’ve personally always preferred that look to the hand-stitched ones. Someone asked if I would be making the burger scarf pattern available soon, and the answer is: I’m not sure yet! I’m still figuring out what the deal is with Crochet Book #2, and I always like to have a grand plan about everything and make sure everything is in the right place at the right time, so I have a little more plotting to do before releasing a lot of scarf patterns! I actually wrote a big blog entry about the journey to Book #2, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to post it …!

I have to admit, this outfit is a little bit out-there to me. The main reason: I feel butt-conscious in it. But from the front, I’m totally fine with it. Just, don’t look at my butt… Anyway, this little black velvet jumpsuit is kind of amazing regardless of the butt thing. Pajama-factor is high as far as comfort, and I love how the legs are short so you can show off some weird mis-matched socks. The leg-length also gives the jumpsuit kind of a nerdy awkward dorky feel, which I know won’t be for everyone, but it’s definitely for me! There are cute velvet buttons down the front, too, but those were hard for me to photograph since the velvety blackness sucked in all the light. In highschool, my highschool-BFF gave me a hard time for being so matchy-matchy all the time, so then I purposefully started to not match anything at all, which is the rule I lived by for basically my whole adult life (aside from in the office… then I just wore all black because I didn’t know how to match anything else, in a grown-up and office-appropriate manner). These days, when I throw together an outfit, I’m discovering I’m actually getting a little more matchy-matchy again as far as colors, because I equate that with seeming put-together. On Instagram, I said this look was inspired by mimes and clowns. All I need is some balloons and the big red nose! Jumpsuit: The White Pepper, Flower Collar: Locketship, Wedge Boots: The White Pepper, Knee Highs: We Love Colors, Sanrio Cupcake Scarf: Yummy You!, Little Red Beret: made by me! About the beret: I actually made one for me and Manda for this little casual photoshoot I wanted to do last weekend, but I can’t show you those photos just yet. If you want to make your own mini beret, it’s super easy. Basically, if you can crochet a circle, you can crochet this hat! Here’s the pattern:

 ** Contest and comments are closed! Thank you for participating!!! <3 ** My buddy Andrea and her husband Cliff of Handmake My Day have a fun book out called “The Crafter’s Book of Clever Ideas: Awesome Craft Techniques for Handmade Craft Projects.” It has 50 projects which take a certain material or technique and offer a “her” project and a “his” project for each. The projects range from easy to advanced (okay, I think anything involving power tools or sewing machines is advanced…) so there is a litle something for everyone, using all kinds of materials and all kinds of methods! You might also recognize Andrea as a winner from Craft Wars that I blogged about before! I decided to try my hand at a Confetti Launcher project from the book! I bought a mini drink bottle (and most of my other supplies) at Michaels. The only thing they lacked were RUBBER BANDS which I picked up at Target. The confetti was a surprise present from The Confetti Bar. I decided to try the method of bottle painting where you squirt paint inside the bottle and swirl it all around to cover the inside. I discovered that the dry-time on this is about 10 eternities, and my paint is still drying!!! So I can’t finish up my confetti launcher yet, because the launching mechanism keeps swiping wet paint off the inside of the bottle! DOH! So here’s where I’m at, watching paint dry!!! I’ll put the whole thing together on April 1 when giveaway winners are announced. That sounds pretty good, right? RIGHT!!!! I attempted to make my confetti launcher look like a champagne bottle, so, green paint on the inside, and some gold on the outside. I stopped painting the gold on top when I realized it might hinder the gluing I have to do up there later, so I stopped at one messy coat (sorry!). The glitter label is craft foam with an adhesive backing, which REALLY REALLY STICKS TO THE GLASS so be careful while positioning. My gold letters are written in gold gel pen, but I think glitter paper cut-outs would look really nice, too, or, a gold Sharpie. I personally cannot wait to see this thing in action! **EDIT: Here is a video of me launching my confett popper for the first time! **  I think these would be fun decorations at any party that is celebrating anything at all, and I also think it would be fun to ship it to a friend if you are not able to share a celebration together in person. Here is a fun .gif that Andrea sent me to show you guys how it works! (If the image is not moving, just click on it!) Are you interested in winning a copy of The Crafter’s Book of Clever Ideas? Here are the rules! Before April 10th you simply need to comment on each blog tour blog post which we will link to as they become available. In total […]

  Did you guys get into any fun adventures this weekend? I’ve been trying to catch up on my Etsy orders (burger scarf is taking forever!!), and Manda also spent the night at my house. We had drinks on Saturday night (p.s. “Purple Hooters” are gross) and then brunch today (I LOVE HASH BROWNS). I also kidnapped her to the beach, where we had a little funny video & photo shoot. Here’s a snap shot from Manda’s iPhone! Much more goofiness and silliness on the way!! Stay tuned this week! I’ll be launching a giveaway for a fun crafty book! And I’m gonna try my best to get a free Easter-related pattern up on the blog!

After several people asked if I could shoot a video tutorial for the free Cupcake Dish Cloth pattern I wrote for Lily Sugar ‘N Cream, I finally made it happen! Crochet videos are kinda weird to me, cuz even after I sped up a lot of the easy crochet portions, my video still clocks in at a whopping 53 minutes!! I can’t imagine anyone sitting through the whole thing! But is that the point? To feel like you are crocheting a project along with someone? I would love feedback! I wanted to be as informative as possible, but maybe I was too informative…. heheh. Like, I know I could have done separate videos for weaving ends, blocking, working each different stitch…. that seems logical to me, but it also felt natural to just mention it while I was doing it. Let me know your thoughts! p.s. While filming, I also noticed a few small flubs in the pattern, and I edited the pattern on my blog to reflect those changes.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In the spirit of luck and magic, I’m so excited to announce our super sweet collaboration with handmade artist Fatally Feminine Designs, whom I met because she was one of my blog sponsors! She hand makes and sells cute polymer clay jewelry, so you should definitely check out more of her work! Each bracelet comes with a pink heart, orange star, yellow moon, green clover, blue diamond, purple horse shoe, and cereal bits that spell YUMMY and are all hand-sculpted! These are really limited edition, so scoop one while you can! We are also working on more yummy jewelry surprises!

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:

We went to see Wes Anderson’s new movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel, last night, and it was delightful, as always and expected! I had already been planning an outfit inspired by the Lobby Boy from the stills I’d seen on google, and I made my hat an hour before shooting these photos! I didn’t own much purple clothing aside from a ruffly hippie dress, so I scoured Etsy for some vintage. My jumper/overalls dress wasn’t quite vintage (the brand is Arizona!), but it definitely looked like something I would continue to wear all the time. It’s so comfy! The shirt and lady-tie are from ASOS from maybe a year or two ago. I keep forgetting to wear it, but I feel super dapper in it! I crocheted the hat and embroidered the lettering. A sour cream container is providing the structure underneath. I really love crocheted head pieces because I can just stab through the crochet stitches with bobby pins to secure hats like this to my head. I kind of was into wearing this hat. I need to think of a version I can wear on a more everyday basis! So if you are in the mood for a movie with a murder mystery, impeccable styling & sets, and tons of quirky characters, go see The Grand Budapest Hotel this weekend!

Sometimes people ask how they can participate in my group giveaways. My next one launches on March 15th, and indie businesses who sponsor my blog and purchase either the large ad or a medium ad are invited to participate in the giveaway for that month. At first I didn’t know if people would enjoy the giveaways, but my sponsors tell me they get a lot of new followers on their social media, and my blog readers always mention how fun the giveaways are and how they are introduced to new brands. So let’s keep it going! You can check out all the sponsor info and purchase ads here via PassionFruitAds. It would be fun for all of to see new faces! 🙂 I have even met a new collaboration partner through my blog sponsors, and I will be shooting those photos tomorrow and telling you guys about our suuuuuper cute and delicious collab very very soon!  

This coming Saturday, March 15, is San Francisco’s 8th Annual Chocolate Salon at Fort Mason, featuring 55,000 square feet of chocolate, wine, and confections! From 10am (wow, early for chocolate!) to 6pm. They asked if I might want to display a few chocolate-themed crocheted treats in their chocolate art area, and I said of course! So I’ll be there early on Saturday, setting up my little display. Come check out all the chocolatey goodness! You can buy tickets in advance here. I believe it’s $20 advance, $30 at the door, and $10 for children. I’ve never been to this before, so I’m kinda curious to see what it’s all about!

I finally added my new frosted animal cookie pins to my Etsy shop! You choose from lions, camels, elephants, and rhinos, and you can also choose if you’d like them to be pins, hair clips, or just plain! Tell me what your favorites are!  

Seriously, my 20th high school reunion would be this year! Jeez! Anyway! This weekend, Tiffany threw a New Wave party, and Manda and I went as all out as we possibly could with some last-minute planning and prep. We did a lot of internet research on what New Wave/New Romantic fashion was supposed to look like, but I ended up feeling more like a drunk attendee at an 80s wedding. The most cool part was that we bought bubble wrap at Walgreens, and Manda fashioned me the most awesome bubble wrap bolero in 20 minutes! And might I add: IT WAS VERY WARM. I started sweating profusely at the party, because I was basically a WALKING GREENHOUSE. I was like, “Throw some beans in me!” Before going home, we ducked into El Rio really quickly to use the photobooth. Note to all: do not go to bars while wearing bubble wrap, because all the drunk people will want to touch you. But if you are into that, then wear ALL THE BUBBLE WRAP!! Dress: I’m Your Present, Shoes: Irregular Choice, Studded Fingerless Mitts: AmmeB, Sunglasses: eBay, Necklace: that really blingy girlie cheap jewelry store in the Haight  

The Oscars are on Sunday night, and I’m one of those people who still really loves to watch them and what everyone is wearing. I decided I wanted to put together an outfit that was as GOLD as possible. ALL THE GOLD. The inspiration for the messy side uni-bun came from an early episode of Pretty Little Liars, before Hanna chopped off her hair. I had been eyeing this dress by The White Pepper for a while, but it went on sale recently, so I decided I had to scoop it up. What I love about the White Pepper is that the clothing I’ve ordered from them so far has been cute, well-made, and extremely comfy, because a lot of it has an easy  fit and none of your parts get squished inside. To be honest, the sequins are a little bit scratchy around the arm hole, but I think I could stand it for a few hours to look this sparkly! I’ve had the shoes for a while. I’d been seeing other bloggers with their cute Seychelles, and when the gold shoes went on sale, I was like, here’s my chance! These shoes are super comfy, but even with the platform, they are kinda high and unstable for me, and I feel like I’m about to fall down with each step. I know I should return all the shoes that I think I can’t walk in, but I just like them so much!!! UGH! Just wheel me wherever I need to go and leave me there! You can kind of see my kitty-face tights peeking from underneath the dress, but I kinda forgot to get a good picture of them, because I was mad at them. They actually don’t fit me. I can’t really fit into “one size” tights, because my thighs are too juicy. So these were too small in the thigh, didn’t pull all the way up, and had a weird chemical smell. The whole time, I just thought of them as stinky leg shackles. They were super cheap from eBay, so I don’t consider this a huge loss, just a small bummer. I didn’t end up keeping this outfit on for the day, but I did keep wearing the crown, and it did make me feel extra specially princess-y for the night, and I will definitely cheers to that! **** Dress: On sale at The White Pepper, Shoes: Seychelles Shoes, Head band: Janine Basil, Teddy Bear Necklace: Onch Movement    

Check out what I cooked up for the Sugar High Club group art show at Ink and Pistons‘ Slushbox Art Gallery in West Palm Beach! The show opens March 8th, 7pm-11pm and features “all things sweet, sugary, sparkly, extra fluffy and of course super Kawaii!!” Here’s a link to the Facebook event. This tissue cozy definitely wins for Most Hand-Sewing Needed!!! I really love how the circus tent turned out!

Mollie Makes “DIY FASHION” bookazine is out now! It 132 pages of people’s photos of their closets and favorite outfits (including me), and q&a’s about their style influences and how they add their own DIY touches. There are also 12 projects inside to help you accent your own wardrobes, including a brand new crochet pattern by me for Frosted Animal Cookie brooches! I am really not great with technology, but you can either purchase a hardcopy from the link above, or you can get on your iPhone or iPad, download the Mollie Makes app for free, and then purchase the DIY Fashion issue inside the app. Have fun! I’ve been looking at the bookazine in my iPhone (I don’t have an iPad), and everything is kinda tiny, but I can tell there is a lot of neat stuff inside. Some of these girls’ houses are AMAZING! I had a really tight deadline for submission, which pretty  much meant, I didn’t have time to pick up the house much (doh!), so I took photos outside. My garden is not so green right now, so I ended up next to a wall. Not my 100% ideal for a colorful backdrop, but, you work with what you got!

Wanna try something fun? We’re trying out our first Yummy You! photo contest! You can enter here at the Yummy You! facebook page!  All you have to do is submit a photo of yourself wearing a Yummy You! item, or your Yummy You! styled in a fun way (like the sample I made above), or if you don’t already have any Yummy You! items, you can just draw or doodle something inspired by The Yummy You-niverse! Or if you just want to participate by voting on other people’s images, that’s awesome, too! In 9 days, we will choose one winner from the top 3 most-voted images. I hope to see some of your scrumptious submissions!