Author: TwinkieChan

Oh gosh. Sorry I haven’t blogged for a bit. I have been busy doing a bunch of stuff that doesn’t make for very interesting blogging or photos since it all kinda has to stay under wraps for now. Some secret stuff: – I just submitted fresh new art for Yummy You! 2013-2014 school planners. Stay tuned for that! I’m hoping we can stock them in our online shop! – I just agreed to contribute a new pattern a super top secret book project with a deadline before the end of January. I gotta get crackin’ on that after I… – Finish and submit my TWO new patterns for February for Michaels.com – There are also some super top secret exciting Yummy You! collaborations I have in the works with other fun brands. – I’m taking a quick trip to L.A. next week for a dream meeting. I hope one day I’ll be able to announce something from that. So the only visual I can share right this second is this: Manda and Hairy’s birthdays are a day apart and this week! Manda chose an afternoon of archery for her bday activity, and Hairy chose bowling. Are we so old and nerdy or what!!! Anyway, it was clearly important for me to carefully and thoughtfully create some professional-looking graphics to accompany their Facebook events. I know you didn’t want to miss out on this work of photoshop genius.  

Start off 2013 on the right foot! You can win the entire range of super-soft, super-toasty, and super-cute socks from Yummy You! All you have to do to enter is go to our Facebook page, “like” the newest post with the same image as below, comment with your favorite Yummy You product off our web site, and “share” this post on Facebook! The winner will be chosen on Wednesday Jan. 9th. Good luck and stay yummy!  

I have a fun tidbit of news for you guys! For all of 2013, I will be writing one (and sometimes two) free crochet pattern for the Yarn and Needle Crafts project section of Michaels.com. The first two are already up! A Birthday Candle scarf for all new beginnings and celebrations, and a super cute Strawberry Cake binder cozy for any of you back-to-school-ers or binder-lovers (I know you’re out there, binder-lovers, cuz Manda is one of you). Here are some photos I took of the projects here at home: I’m actually right now in the middle of working on the next two patterns for February!

From now until this Friday, January 4, use discount code LUCKY2013 in the Yummy You! shop and get 15% off your order! xo

January: I felt really lucky to have my items available for sale at Kat Von D’s Wonderland Gallery. February: Celebrating Cuppy and Moofs wedding at Disneyland and finally meeting Lindsay! March: So honored to be part of Nara and Liz’s engagement, even if from a million miles away! April: Manda and I went to NYC to vend at the Bust Craftacular and had an amazingly fun trip that I still need to edit a video for!!! May: Wow, I only blogged 3 times during the month of May! But that was also the month that I redesigned this blog and website and said goodbye to the animated refrigerator! June: My eyeball exploded and I also wrote one of my my most commented-on blogs about the price of handmade, a “rant” as some might say. July: July was kinda busy! I tried to blog regularly about Craft Wars (and still need to recap a few more episodes….!), I watched the U.S. Olympic Gymnastic Trials in person, I crocheted some Pocky paintings for  one of the shows at Hairy’s art gallery, and I had my epic sleep dep battle to make a crazy booth display with Manda for Renegade Craft Fair. August: My toast scarf pattern was the cover story for Molly Makes magazine, I turned 36 and we had a cute picnic in the park. September: I made banana nut bread. October: I made pieces for Plush You and we went to Seattle for the show, but I have since failed to upload pics/video from that trip, my dad turned 60, I had fun times at the pumpkin patch with Manda and made a fun video, and I actually dressed up for Halloween. November: We launched the Yummy You! online store and were also featured on Fab.com! December: My free pattern for Gummy Bears was published on Lion Brand’s website, I had so much fun building a holiday booth with my mom for Renegade SF Holiday Market, and Hairy got me an ALF PHONE for Christmas!! Now I need to figure out a way to add a desk to my craft room so I can properly use and display said phone. I hope you guys have a fun and safe New Year! My resolution: self care. I worked a LOT in 2012. I will also work a lot in 2013, but I need to learn to make time for more sleep, proper eating, exercise, and personal projects. We’ll see how that goes…..!!! Thanks for following me on my crafty adventures. Your messages and support really mean a lot to me and keep my businesses going through all the frustrating times I want to call it quits and work at a bank. I love you!

I hope you all had a wonderful and yummy Christmas! As is tradition, I went out to dinner with my family on Christmas Eve, and then our family friends came over to my parents’ house on Christmas day for a big dinner and white elephant gift exchange. I crocheted a painting for my mom because she’d mentioned that she really liked them. One of her favorite sweets are madeleine cookies. I’ve tried to crochet madeleines in the past, but I kept frittering over the right color combo and stitch texture. I finally just decided to heck with it and committed to a project! You might recognize the doily and the cup from my Macaronimal paintings. They just seemed really fitting for cookies! I shot these with my iPhone in my car right before our Christmas day festivities. I didn’t have time to shoot them at my house, since I was furiously still putting the painting together before we left. I need to learn how to find a better balance between making my family presents and making your family presents :).  

Last night, we went to Tiffany and Daniel’s house for their holiday party and white elephant gift exchange. She made dericious cookies by crushing up Candy Cane Joe Joe’s…YUM! I wasn’t quite sure what to bring for the white elephant. I almost brought a jar of Baconaise, but Hairy made a face like it was the worst idea ever, so I made something instead: a crocheted octopus coffee cup cozy. I wanted to make something somewhat unisex, even though most of the stuff I design tends to be really girlie! So if you follow me on Twitter and wondered why I asked what color you think octopi are, now you know! I might post this as a free pattern later, but right now, I still have to crochet some Christmas presents!

I made myself my first stocking last year. I stayed up all night on Christmas Eve to make it. I actually wanted to make two, but I ran out of time, and I never ended up making that second one. A few weeks ago, Tess‘ bf Nathanael asked if I might help handmake Tess her very first Xmas stocking, now that they are settled in Brooklyn. He told me that he has had the same personalized stocking since he was a kid, and he wanted Tess to have the same, since I guess her family never really went all-out for the holiday. He wrote, “I’m excited to show her the joys of Christmas. ” So cute! How could I say no? He requested that it be pink and that it have some things on it that Tess likes, like stars and bows. Also that the lettering should say “TE$$.” My personal aesthetic leans toward the overly sweet and cute.  And I tend to go overboard with a “more is more” philosophy. Tess is really styley and has an edgier aesthetic than I do, so I made an attempt to get her sense of “cool” in there, even if it ended up toward the slightly humorous with my fake pyramid studs. Personally, I love pink and gold together. It rides that perfect line between tacky and cute. At first I really wasn’t sure about the studs, but I emailed some pics to Nathanael, and he also thought they were funny and that Tess would get a kick out of them. Instead of putting a bunch of smaller bows all over the stocking, I decided to go with one statement bow right on top. This was the first time I crocheted a stocking with someone’s specific personality in mind. It was really super fun! It was not exactly traditional, but, I guess you don’t come to me for traditional! 😛 The stocking crocheted up pretty quickly, and the longest part was really figuring out the sizing of the lettering and making sure it all fit. I kind of made a million S’s because I knew that was the most difficult to alter, and then I just made sure the T and the E matched in size. I based my stocking off of this pattern from Red Heart, and I based my lettering off this webpage for crocheting the letters of the alphabet. There aren’t any photos working on the alphabet page, but…. you know what the letter A looks like, so I think you can take it from there! I still have some things for my family that I need to crochet, and I also still need to wrap all my presents!!! It’s been a really busy holiday season for me. Just a heads-up: I’ll be closing my Etsy shop  for a couple weeks really soon. I have a TON of Yummy You deadlines coming up, and I felt SO overwhelmed for the past month or so. I knew something had to give, […]

Thank you so much to everybody who came to visit my booth at Renegade Craft Fair! I super appreciate all the support, and it was the first time in a long time that I actually sold out of certain items. Woo hoo! Here are some photos and one (crappy, as usual!) video, so you guys can check it out. I had a lot of fun building a gingerbread house-themed booth with my mom. I designed and built the PVC structure, my mom sewed the felt covers, she and I both painted and glittered the styrofoam candies, and Hairy drilled holes into the tables to mount my canopies, and he also wrapped the PVC in candy cane ribbon. You can click on most of the photos to see them bigger if you like!

Don’t forget to come visit me at Renegade San Francisco next weekend, December 15-16, from 11am-6pm at the Concourse Exhibition Center! I am working hard to bring you another fun booth set-up, so it will be another miracle if it actually gets finished! 😛 I’ll have popcorn garlands, peppermint ornaments, double-swirled cupcake hats, holiday cupcake hair clips, and a few other surprises, like a sweet new button set and holiday greeting cards! Come say hi!

Thanks AmandaJeannn for Tweeting this snap from your current issue of Nylon! I need to pick up a copy for posterity! Don’t forget, that if you live in NYC, you can check out Yummy You! in person at Nylon’s holiday pop-up shop. And also, my giveaway is running until Sunday night!

I’m excited that Yummy You! is part of Nylon‘s very first holiday pop-up shop! I wanted to go to the kick-off party tonight, but I couldn’t quite make my travel plans work out in time, so now all you guys in NYC (I’m looking at you, Nicole) have to check out the pop-up and let me know what it’s like! Mondays-Saturdays, 12-7pm, Sundays 12-5pm, December 7th – 18th, at 72 Gansevoort Street.

Yay! It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: Lion Brand has posted my free pattern for Glitter Gummy Bears, just in time for your holiday crafting! One pack of Lion Brand Bonbons can make up to 8 gummy bears in a variety of colors. There’s a bit of sewing involved with the different little pieces, but if you are familiar with making simple amigurumi, this pattern will be a snap! I tried to keep it the pattern as simple as possible so that more people would be able to have some gummy bear fun! If you make a gummy bear and enjoy the pattern, please do leave positive feedback at the Lion Brand site on my pattern page. If you guys like the pattern, maybe more things will be in store in the future…! (This photo will be available soon as a greeting card in my Etsy shop!)

Happy Monday! Let’s do a Yummy You! giveaway! Since we had a cupcake-themed giveaway on Audrey’s blog, I figured we would do a bacon-and-egg-themed one here! We’ll send a bacon and egg scarf, bacon and egg toe socks, egg flower hard case wallet, and fried egg pin to one lucky winner! Contest is open worldwide. Simply follow the Rafflecopter widget to enter! The contest will close next Monday, Dec. 10 at the stroke of midnight PST. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway p.s. Are there any other bloggers here who use Rafflecopter? Are we now forced to purchase a premium account in order to display a photo of our prizes within the widget, rather than using html?

My buddy Andrea a.k.a. Giggles, Craft Wars Winner, asked if I’d be part of a promotional blog hop and create a fun pattern in support of her latest project: The Paint Chip Pals, a posse of 7 color-inspired plush, all with their own powers and personalities. The Paint Chip Pals currently have a Kickstarter campaign which will be up for only 2 more weeks, so check it out if you’d like to be one of the first to grab your own Paint Chip Pal, while also supporting indie designers, fun plush toys, and I quote from their Kickstarter page, “grown ups that simply refuse to grow up!” You can also enter a contest to win a Paint Chip Pal by leaving a comment on my blog and telling me who your favorite Paint Chip Pal is. Your name will go into a big pool of entries from other blogs on the blog hop, and Andrea will choose a winner on December 12. So if you want more chances to win, comment on the other blogs, too! To help celebrate their campaign, I created a fun and easy pattern for you guys inspired by Plinky, who loves sparkle-hunting and eating cotton candy! We threw in one for her buddy Blooty, too! So here are the instructions to crochet your own Cotton Candy Christmas Tree Ornament!

Did you guys get any good stuff on Black Friday?? After eating Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house, my mom joked about checking out the Black Friday sale at Target. Normally she avoids that stuff, but I told her it was kind of a cultural phenomenon to just observe. One year, Hairy and I drove past a Target at 4am and a gigantic line was wrapped around  this humongous building. It was kind of shocking. So we took my mom, and there wasn’t a line outside anymore, since there is now GREY THURSDAY and all the sales started so early, but there was a crazy long line inside. We just sort of zipped in and out. My mom said it was fun, and that we should mentally plan to jump in the fray next year, cuz the flat screen tvs are a steal! Anyway we’re having a Cyber Monday sale at Yummy You! Get somebody a present!

I hadn’t heard of the Patchwork fair until they asked if I could vend. I don’t know if I could commit to two holiday craft shows, so I sadly declined but definitely wanted to check it out as a shopper. Patchwork had 3 shows already in Culver City, Long Beach and Oakland. If you’re in Santa Ana, the last holiday show is TOMORROW, Sunday the 25th, so go check it out! I get shy sometimes about asking people if I can take photos of their booths, so there aren’t very many photos… sorry! We picked up two succulent plants from Branch of Life.  I loved the little vintage-looking food cans! Here’s my girl Polly of PollyAnnaCowgirl. Her booth is like a retro kitsch fantasy! Colorful gumball necklaces, tiny walnut-shell Christmas tree ornaments (which I’m holding below but you can’t really see). I bought two ornaments and a ring! The farmers market was also out that day, and we picked up some veggies. Hairy saw some little peppers and said, “I CAN PICKLE THAT.” A honey stand was selling the tiniest honey bears I’ve ever seen. I had to get one! When we got back to San Francisco, we stopped at Sift Cupcake & Dessert Bar, which we ha never visited before and apparently was a winner of Cupcake Wars. I got something chocolatey and something lemon-y. These are my baseline cupcakes to compare cupcakeries. The chocolatey one was super good, but the lemony- one….less good. I also ate the lemon-y one the next day, so that probably didn’t help. My #1 favorite lemony cupcake is still from Kara’s Cupcakes. They definitely don’t skimp on squirting the lemon goo in there! That same day we also bought pumpkin pie and muffins : /. It was a shameful but delightful outing.

Have you guys already checked out the Hello Kitty Forever collection at Forever21? I’m so thrilled that my buddy Onch designed the jewelry for it. His signature piece is a colorful pretzel necklace, so this pretzel-Sanrio-mash-up necklace is super awesome! I think most of the jewelry is already sold out, but you should check it all out at F21 anyway, or you might also have better luck visiting your local store. Aside from the above bow sweater, I also got this Hello Kitty sweater. What I really liked about the collection was the color palette. It was bright and springy and cheery, which I really welcome when most of what you get in the winter are blacks and grays maybe some jewel tones. All the sweaters are soft and comfy! I’m wearing a size Medium. I get hot really easily, so I don’t know why I bought so many sweaters, but I really couldn’t help it. They were so cute! It would be neat if I knew how to convert all of them to short sleeves! Here’s another one I got! Not part of the Hello Kitty Forever collection, but I couldn’t resist the lavender and the pearls. Only problem is that it kinda rides up high on me, so I’d have to remember to wear something longer underneath. Not sure if I’ll keep it yet or not. I also snagged these super cute pink tights with pink hearts! Finally, I also got this hearts shirt with bows on the back. It really shows off my foodbaby, so part of me wants to return it, but it’s just so cute! Time to start exercising! I also got these cropped purple pants, but they fit me so weird! They squeeze my thigh fat so it looks super bad when I sit, but they are still kinda loose in the waist. I don’t think of myself as a really curvy person, but pants hardly ever fit me the right way cuz they’ll be tight in the hip/thigh and loose in the waist. Don’t get me started on skinny jeans. I can’t even fit my calves into most of them. My foot won’t come out the bottom! Anyhoo, it was fun trying on my new duds! Time to go back to work!

Happy Black Friday! Head on over to Audrey Kitching’s blog to enter the first Yummy You! giveaway! It’s a pretty sweet package! Don’t forget to enter the giveaway on her blog. If you leave any entries here, they won’t count! Here’s an old photo I have of Audrey wearing  a cupcake scarf she commissioned a kabillion years ago! Love her!!   Quick note: will be having a Cyber Monday sale for Yummy You! (on Monday, natch, starting at midnight PST). 20% off your entire purchase using code HOTFUDGEMUNDAE at checkout!

If you guys are already members of Fab.com, then you might have already received the newsletter mentioning Yummy You! in their “Young at Heart” shop! (p.s. my model and buddy Elysse is vegan, and here she is completely surrounded by BACON!!!! I have the omnivore’s guilt!) You can check out more of our goodies on sale at the Yummy You! Fab.com page here!  I have only been a Fab.com member for a short time. My brother told me about the Sanrio shoe sale they were having, and I bought a pair! A week or two ago, I also bought USB-powered hand-warmers and foot-warmers! Can’t wait to show you guys those! Okay, don’t forget: our Fab sale only runs for a week, so grab stuff while you can!

Hey, gang! We are looking for a PR assistant for Yummy You! If you have PR/social media experience, take a look at my spiel below. Please don’t leave me links to your website or resume here at my blog. Direct your correspondence to the email listed below. Serious inquiries only! I know I play it fairly loose and casual most times, but this is a legit position, and we need someone amazing and professional (and fun!) for our team! Thank you!

EEEEERRRRMAGERRRRRD! Our Yummy You! store is finally up! Check it out now! This is the first time I’ve ever attempted building this kind of online shop, so please let me know if there are any weird glitches or problems! I owe a kabillion thank-yous to my brother, who has been working closely with me over the past few weeks to make this shop happen! There is a wink to him in one of the items in the store… My favorite new non-crochet items are the glittery Cupcake Hard Case Wallet and the Cupcake Ankle Sock 2-Pack. I actually do use the hard case wallet everyday!    

We are gonna check out the Patchwork Art & Craft Festival today. It is at the Jack London Square Pavilion from 11-5. If you are in the area, you should come check it out, too! (p.s. We are hoping to launch the Yummy You! online store on Monday….. so far it looks like it will really really happen! Eep!)

I know a lot of people who say, “I can’t nap.” They can’t fall asleep, or they sleep too long, or they feel gross coming out the nap and never recover. If I couldn’t nap, or if I refused to nap, I would DIE. I feel like I’m still paying my dues, work-wise, and I still work a million hours a day. On deadline days, this leaves little time to sleep. Last night, I slept from about 7:30am to 8:30am because I had a 9:30am meeting outside of the house. I had a deadline to finish a project and send it via UPS (4pm) anyway, so I was ok with this. But at about 1pm, I really needed a nap. So off I napped on the couch, from 1pm-2pm. Then, more work! Then I had a long-overdue crafty/pizza/chickflick hangout with Vivs. Then, I think I had a 45 minute nap around midnight. Then I was back up for more work. I feel pretty good, but I also had two cups of strong tea! VROOM VROOM! Ok, clearly this is not a lifestyle, this is not good for you, and I wouldn’t do it everyday, (plus don’t tell your mom cuz she’ll yell at you) but I’m thankful I can function this way, because I really needed those extra hours of work. Thank you, body! On a similar theme, here is a short video of Bibi snoring. I love how you can see her nose parts go in and out. She used to snore all the time as a puppy, and ten times more loudly. It used to worry me, but I looked up online that Shar Pei puppies may snore a lot when they are young, and then as their face parts grow out a bit, the snoring lessens, which was true for Bibi’s case. I find her snoring very comforting, though!