Author: TwinkieChan

After the MAGIC tradeshow in Las Vegas last month, I knew that Yummy You! would slowly start appearing in stores again, and this morning, my crochet elf Liliah emailed me to let me know she saw Yummy You! scarves on ThinkGeek.com! YAYZ! They are carrying the Bacon n Eggs scarf as well as the Sushi scarf! Now that we have product again (and never-seen-before new stuff!), we are going to work really hard on getting the Yummy You! website all updated, including, THE ONLINE STORE! SUPER YAYZ! Here are some product shots from ThinkGeek: I know they kinda look the same as the ones from 2010/11, but we found a new factory to work with, and I had lots more time to work with them and make the product better. Plus, miraculously, we got the pricing down as well! Yay for all! I also really liked ThinkGeek’s model photos! They did a great job and had a lot of fun! This is only the beginning. Can’t wait to show you more and more!

  Hairy dug up a few more glittery heart Crafty Tote Bags in natural color, so I put them in my shop. The first round of pink totes sold out super quickly, so I ordered a bunch more blanks in both pink and natural, and now I’m just waiting for Hairy to print them again. Tell him to hurry up! 😛 I’m waiting for a few more fun supplies to come in before being able to make my Halloween shop update, so sit tight!

Hop on over to Chickiedee to check out some photos of my work space and my Q&A with RobbieLee! The weather had been a bit gloomy and overcast before I needed to send her some photos, so unfortch my craft room didn’t photograph as nicely as I’d hoped, but I still hope you enjoy a peek into my crafty world!

Many of us in internetsland/girlworld/fashionblogvoyeurville are already familiar with Tavi Gevinson. I never felt really connected to her as a teenage fashion blogger, but after she started Rookie, a website for teenage girls, I kinda had my eureka moment about her and just bought my copy of her/their book, Rookie: Yearbook One. I haven’t had time to really sit down with it yet, as it just arrived today, but just flipping through the pages already fills me with that special girl-magic. Like I mentioned on Instagram, this book just feels like a secret treasure, and even comes with a paper crown, a little floppy record with music on it, and stickers! The Rookie girls went on a summer cross-country road trip and had meet-ups with all their readers. Here are a few neat slide shows from their trip: Summer of Love, Part One And There Were Stars in Our Eyes Strange Magic There is also a funny recurring video segment called, “Ask a Grown Man,” where they ask a celeb, like Paul Rudd , a question about the Boy Mind, Guy Stuff, or bits of DudeWisdom. AgentLover writes for the site as well. If you’ve never checked out her blog before, it is a MUST! She is hilarious and is also the goddess of pop culture. I can’t decide yet if it’s sad or awesome that I connect so much with all of this teen business, considering I am 36. I have always loved the aesthetics of nostalgia, and that uncomfortable but neat feeling of things being new and weird. In her TED talk, Tavi talks about how she’s still figuring it out. I think I still am, too.  One the one hand, there’s the hope that your world settles down at some point, so you can finally feel comfortable in your own shoes. On the other hand, I like the idea that I’m always evolving, wondering, and growing.

Hey, L.A., Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday at the L.A. Convention Center. The Brands Boutique will be selling some of my items there as well, so check out their booth #1112! They’ll have my new gummy bear hair clips, which I don’t even carry in my own Etsy shop yet (soon!), and also some fun new product displays I made for the pizza brooches and rocket popsicle brooches. My buddies from Chubby Bunny and BubblePunch will also be on a panel on Saturday about how to “Organize Geek Culture” with “events, parties, and online activities to develop community within the Nerd realm!” Go check it out and tell me what it’s like! cute photo by Brands Boutique! I’ll be crocheting the weekend away, working on a reaaaally neat potential collab project for Yummy You! that would hopefully be available before the holidays. Fingers and crochet hooks crossed! Also on Sunday, my studio space will be featured on somebody’s blog. I’ll tell you more then, and you can check out my HQ!

In my search to find a readymade, awesome looking Jawbreaker nail polish, I came across Hard Candy by PrettyPolishnThings.  I know there is also a polish actually called Jawbreaker by Pretty & Polished (these company names are a bit similar eh…?), but from looking at swatches, I wanted my glitter to come out a bit brighter and less milky. If you click on the Etsy listing for Hard Candy, I would say that the first/main photo is a bit misleading and the other photos are more realistic, as far as how milky the glitter goes underneath the white polish. This was about 3 coats. I liked the result, and it reminded me of marshmallow cereal in milk, but it seemed a bit difficult for me catch the bigger glitter on my brush. Perhaps more aggressive shaking is necessary! The blue and pink polishes (also 3 coats) are GLITTER PACKED. They are both by Rainbow Honey from the Equestria collection. Blue = 20% Cooler. Pink = Pinkie Promise.  I was really impressed with the density of glitter in both bottles, plus I really like that Rainbow Honey offers mini bottles if you just want to try a color. I wish the site would show swatches on nails, though. That would be cool! The blue in 20% Cooler isn’t quite as BLUE as I’d hoped from the photo on their site, but I guess that’s what keeps the glitter so … glittery. Next time I might do a base layer of blue or white underneath first. All in all, I am feeling very glitter-tastic, and I do not look forward to having to remove the glitter crust from my nails!

I took some photos the other day for my pal Darling Stewie. Her Etsy shop is Word To Your Unicorn, and she describes it as “Your source for god damned delightful whimsy! At Word to your Unicorn, you’ll find the kawaii, the geeky, and the super adorable.” I’ve been feeling a bit dumpy lately, so it was nice to have an excuse to clean up a little bit! Plus, I found out, I look great with a moustache! Rawr!! Here are a few shots with her stickers: The melty bow is by Sparkle Galaxy, the dress is from Target girls’ section (XL!), and my trusty necklace is Cicely Margo.

I ended up laying pretty low the past week, recovering from my crochet painting. I made a lot of custom cupcake slouchy hats, one of which is 2-color, which I really like! I know it doesn’t seem like that much more work than a 1-color, but you kinda have to pay attention to maintaining the right tension on both yarns and trying to hide the alternate color as much as possible, slowing down the work. I may start to offer 2-color hats in the shop, but it will unfortunately have to be priced differently to reflect the extra time put into it. It’s cute, though, right? Last week I also made this custom birthday cake tissue box cozy for a friend of a friend to give to her friend. Her friend doesn’t like fruit, so I used frosting roses to go with the candles. I plan to add birthday cakes to the shop, and also mini bday cake hair clips, bday candle pins, and maybe a hat? I dunno. I just love bday-themed stuff! (Sorry for the crappy photo. I really didn’t have enough time to shoot nicer photos of it before having to pack it up and send it off!) My immediate goal is to get some new Halloween-themed designs in. More on that soon in the coming week!

Sometimes I feel like I’m gonna get really healthy and eat a bunch of fruit n stuff, so I’ll buy some bananas and eat like ONE. Fast forward a week, and I have two really nasty looking bananas. Instead of throwing them away, I decide to make Renee’s banana nut bread. When I lived with Renee, she would make one loaf with nuts and one with chocolate chips to satisfy the needs of the household. In 2008, I asked her for the recipe. This is the first time I ever tried to use it.  I decide to go crazy and make one with chocolate chips AND NUTS. So I wait until my bananas are REEAAALLLY RIPE. Like fully 100% brown on the outside. And then I get crazybusy with my art show deadline. Then Lisa Fulmer tells me to freeze them nanners, so I do. Then I defrost them in the fridge, and they leak out their BANANA ESSENCE all over the fridge, which looks like maple syrup and which I clean up and don’t tell Hairy about. I wonder if my bananas have begun to ferment, because they are really slimy, like so slimy  it almost makes me want to barf when I free them from their blackened skins. But I still use them. So what if they are fermenting? That will just make banana bread FOR GROWN UPS, and I am one of those! I am not a chef. I am not a baker. I want some banana nut bread, I don’t know what I’m doing, I make some stuff up, and IDGAF. Search your email from 2008 for Renee’s sour cream banana bread recipe. Discover that Renee’s delicious bread is from this recipe at AllRecipes.com. What! SIX BANANAS? WHAT ABOUT TWO!? Renee has made notes for a 2/3 recipe, so all you have to do is 1/2 that one (maths!). Your ingredients look like this: 1/4 cup Earth Balance fake butter stuff (cuz that’s what’s in the fridge) 1 cup white sugar 1 egg 2 crazy ripe banana slime aliens that require no further mashing as they are nearly liquid form a little more than 1/2 of an 8 oz container of sour cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/6 teaspoon salt which means a SMIDGEful 1 teaspoons baking soda – which you don’t have. So you put in 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, which you do have, and seem to recall that baking powder contains baking soda, so it can’t be THAT wrong……right?…. IDGAF 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup …. wait for it …. HAZELNUTS! AW YEAH! GO CRAZY, HAZELNUTS! YOU LOVE HAZELNUTS! They are your favorite nut. Nobody else is eating this banana nut bread except you, cuz everybody hates banana bread, so you get to pick whatever nuts you want! First things first. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease and sprinkle a sugar/cinnamon mixture onto your loaf pans. You’re using mini loaf pans cuz […]

BABY vs. GUMMY BEAR I HAD to share this video with you guys. The end just cracked me up big time! Thanks to Jessy, one of my trusty crochet elves! We will ensure that future gummy bears are not encrusted with baby goo 😛

On Friday afternoon I left for L.A., and I was back by Saturday afternoon! I really wanted to go to the opening for Sweet Tooth, but Hairy was out of town, Manda was out of town, and my relatives were visiting my parents’ house, so they could only watch my dogs for one night anyway. It seemed kind of silly to pop in and out like that, but I thought it would be worth it to support the show and also meet the people who were throwing it. I’m glad I went! There were a couple little things that seemed like SIGNS, like BAD OMENS, so I am glad nothing actually really super bad happened! 1) I accidentally booked a smoking room, and when I called to see if they had any more non-smoking, they said  no 🙁 2) I didn’t realize that a cab from LAX to my hotel would be $70.oo. Good to know for next time! 3) When I opened up my suitcase, a can of Pringles had exploded all over the inside. Getting out all the magical Pringles dust was one thing, but…..they had also left PRINGLES OIL STAINS on the suitcase liner. I had borrowed this little suitcase from my mom, so, that wasn’t cool! 4) When I opened up my toiletry bag, my Demeter Coconut Spray had leaked all over EVERYTHING. Luckily, it was not sticky or gooey, and I like the smell of coconuts anyway, but I definitely just left the bottle there to avoid any future worse mishaps. 5) I had somehow forgotten to pack my outfit for the night AND my pj’s! So I just kept on my crinkly airplane outfit and then slept in my shirt for the next day. I know these are not big ordeals, but I just usually don’t experience all these weird little travel blips! Anyway, Nellie and Kevin were nice enough to pick me up, and we all went to Backside together. It was PACKED!! Like super-duper packed! When I got there, the koala piece had already sold, and as I was approaching, someone told me that she had just sold a second piece. YAY! I also saw someone wearing one of my cupcake slouchy hats when I got in there, and as it turned out, she had also purchased the Strawberry Bunny painting. Dramatic lighting! Adrienne! I’m going to adopt her. Hope she doesn’t mind. Benjie, who organized the show. Nicest dude EVER! Quick snap of the crowd. Fun ice creams painting by Bobby Hundreds,  inspired by those cylindrical ice cream scoops from Thrifty’s! I was really excited to see this embroidery art by C. Ann (I think that’s who it was…?) It was getting really hot inside, and my sweat moustache was in full bloom, so we headed outside to get some air. I got to meet Ducky, Benjie’s lady, who I think was the one who told him about my work in the first place! On Instagram, I jokingly called this photo […]

After giving Bibi a bath, I decided to paint my nailz! I’d been wanting to try a jawbreaker-inspired mani. If I did this again, I would use fewer flecks of color and leave out the pink. Sorry these are horrible phone cam pics, and sorry I didn’t clean up the messy nail polish yet! I am going to L.A. tomorrow for 24 hours just to see the Sweet Tooth show, and I haven’t really packed or prepared yet and it’s 2am!  I also JUST realized that I accidentally booked a SMOKING room and they are already out of non-smoking! Crossing my fingers that when I arrive there, there might be a cancelation or something… Okay back to the nails! This mani is super duper easy peasy. A couple coats of white for the background. Red, yellow, and blue polish. A couple toothpicks. And you’re set! Just dip your toothpick into a color and then tap and drag it in dots all over your nails, some big, some small. The messier the better, I think!  You don’t even have to wait for the first color to dry because even if the colors mix a little, it’s ok! As easy as this is, my right hand still looks a thousand times crappier than my left hand. Oh well! Enjoy! I do know there are glitter polishes out there that are meant to resemble jawbreakers as well. After picking through some images online, I ordered two! We’ll see how it compares! Don’t forget to come say hi at Backside in Echo Park tomorrow for the Sweet Tooth show 🙂 8pm! Please forgive me if I smell like a thousand cigarettes :(.

Macaroons vs macarons. Do you pronounce them the say way? Anyhoo, I was sketching out ideas for my crochet paintings for the Sweet Tooth show this Friday in L.A. (come say hi! I’ll be there!), and I kept changing my mind. At first I was going to do a series of cakes, and thennnnn wanted to do a collage of bulk candies, and thennnnnnnnn I saw THIS blog entry and knew I had to try making macaronimals with coffee/tea. First up: my horrible sketch! I wanted the colors on all 4 canvases to look nice together, so sketching it first really helped me to make sure that everything looked relatively harmonious and that I wasn’t over-using one particular color throughout. I didn’t really know for sure how I wanted to execute the little cookie sandwiches and the sense of perspective I was going for. As it turned out, actually making little sandwiches was looking the best, which made everything really puffy and thick, so I ended up putting two cookies each on the canvases instead of three. Kuragoma (black sesame) Koala, Strawberry Bunny, Cinnamon Kitten, and Pavlova Panda! Each one is 10 in x 8 in. I think my favorite are the kittens, since they looked the most realistically biscuity. I made the choice to NOT put a little stuffing in the koalas, which I made first, and I sort of regret this choice, as I think the puffiness would have enhanced the macaron-ness. I intend to make more of these after the show and will definitely add a little puff to the top cookie. Also, of course, HAIR CLIPS. People have been asking if these could turn into laptop covers or purses. If I ever did that, I would really have to change how I constructed everything, because the 3D nature would make the piece bulky and a little too delicate. We’ll see! 🙂 I’m really happy with how these turned out, even tho each piece took WAY longer than you’d think or I ever expected/planned for. Luckily, I pulled it out! While making these, I was particularly struck by how people would perceive my work as trinkets or novelties for little girls and babies. I have had a hard time with this for a long time, since I design everything as if I would wear it/use it/love it myself, and I think that shoving my work in the “for little girls only” category is really limiting. I will just keep doing what I do, though, and hopefully all the big girls who still have a nostalgic fondness for the fun, color, and playfulness of their girl magic will also get what I’m about. And now… close-ups!

Dear Blog, We can die happy now. Love, Me. I still have a few more episodes to complete before the big finish, but I have 4 crochet paintings to finish in 24 hours. I’ll see you on the other side!

Guess who is on the cover of Mollie Makes magazine Issue 18? A Twinkie Chan imposter! Just kidding! It’s me! Well, it’s my scarf! :). Some people have already expressed concern that this was not my scarf, but don’t worry, it’s legit! Mollie Makes asked me to create a toast with strawberry jam scarf for the cover, and the full pattern is inside. I think this is a neat addition to the buttered toast scarf because you can switch up all the flavors of the jam blob and even make it peanut butter or Nutella or whatever! I was so honored to be asked to create a project for the cover. A lot of my  most favoritest crafty ladies are not only fans of the magazine but have also have appeared in it and/or written for it. If you have never heard of it, it is out of the UK, and you should check it out! The issue comes out August 31. Get one! I also took some fun little photos of my work in my back yard for the inside of the magazine. I’ll see which ones are included in the mag and then show you guys some outtakes! Here’s a little bit about Mollie Makes: Mollie Makes is published thirteen times a year. We curate the best craft from around the world into a tactile, collectable and totally irresistible magazine. We love to make – handmade is more than just a hobby for us, it’s in everything we do. We can’t resist hunting down treasures in thrift stores, then customising, re-covering and embellishing our finds with our endless stash of ribbons, buttons, fabrics and felt. We’re forever on the lookout for new inspiration. Whatever we do, we’re living and loving handmade. ♡ Making ♡ Thrifting ♡ Collecting ♡ Crafting Readers can subscribe to Mollie Makes through this link: http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/stitch-craft/mollie-makes-magazine-subscription/ and download the iPad version here: http://goo.gl/qzprk Don’t miss out on the latest news from Mollie Makes. Sign up to our newsletter at the top of the page, here: http://molliemakes.themakingspot.com/

Even though I have been DVR’ing Craft Wars on my television, I have also been buying episodes off Amazon.com, so I can play them on my computer and get screenshots that way. It’s much easier for me than taking photos of my television! Each episode costs $1.99, so you can see how much I care about you guys. Two dolla! On with Episode 6! Meet your craftestants. NoFoofin’: She doesn’t over-foof, and she likes to keep it clean. RiskyBusiness: He likes to take chances. PrettyFurniture: She blogs about home design, and there are lots of photos of pretty furniture in her intro. Pop Craft Challenge: Make a lamp out of eye wear and magnifying lenses. I was really smellin’ what PrettyFurniture was cookin’. She started painting lenses with varied mixtures of ModPodge and Rit Dye so the lenses would dry clear but colorful. JUDGING BEGINS. RiskyBusiness was up first. He created a drum-shaped hanging lamp with a flattened-lens mosaic. The judges all seemed to feel that RiskyBusiness had great ideas but was lacking in the execution department. PrettyFurniture was going for an industrial feel, with the highlight being her amazing sea glass made of lenses. Ombre! All the judges were wow-ed by her sea glass concept, but she clearly had not put on as many as she had planned, plus, Stephen felt that the black ball base could have been ombre-fied as well. My thought was that since ombre has been so trendy, that this would have made her a shoe-in to win. NoFoofin’ wanted to represent the nature-y feel of her hometown and grass and flowers. Her lamp looked finished and it seemed like she had executed everything she had planned. I am a bit surprised nobody said anything about it’s slight Tiki vibes…. In the end, PrettyFurniture had to pack up her glue gun. Frankly, I was a bit surprised. I know she hadn’t really finished her lamp, but I thought her technique was really cool, and I would’ve loved to have seen more! Master Craft Challenge: we’re giving you a mattress and a wall. Make a bedroom in 5 hours! Oh yeah, and also use these zippers. K thanks. NoFoofin’s planned theme for her bedroom was “Smoke and Mirrors.” I can’t recall if RiskyBusiness announced a certain theme, but he wanted a 4-poster bed and a zipper rug. Hey check this out: are the judges going to give NoFoofin’ grief for making a pillow with hot glue? Cuz, like, you would probably not want a pillow made with hot glue in your bedroom? Answer: nobody said anything… although I did notice RiskyBusiness using fabric glue instead (FabriTac?) on his rug. Point: RiskyBusiness! Okay check this other thing out: you gotta love NoFoofin’ patterning clay tiles with the bottom of her freaking SHOE! Here’s RiskyBusiness tufting a head board with nuts and bolts and washers. NoFoofin’, are you gettin’ foofy with those turkey-feather flower embellishments? JUDGING BEGINS RiskyBusiness is up first. He explained that he borrowed design elements […]

Meet your craftestants! Peaches: Ok, I know those are probably oranges on her apron, but “Oranges” is kind of a terrible nick name. Her outfit is so sunshiney and cute! Mr. Vivs: This guy is from San Francisco and crafty, so clearly, I made him Vivianna‘s husband. Lady80s: She mentions she has been crafting since the 80s. Me, too! Since this episode is the Christmas Craft special, we were gifted with some costumed carolers. Let it be known, internet, that those genius lyrics were mine, not theirs. Pop Craft: make a wreath out of winter-wear in 1 hr. Let it be known, internet, that those were HER exact words. She has a mouth, and I love her. I wish I understood what Mr. Vivs’ design strategy was. He mentioned he was gonna make cones and put them on an embroidery hoop, but I couldn’t quite put it together in my head. Btw, that is Tori crossing her fingers AND toes for Mr. Vivs. The judges were simply shocked by his change in plans with less than 30 minutes to go. BALLSY. And…. I don’t want to talk about how Team Vivs wasn’t sure if “HOLIDAY” had 2 L’s or not. I get it. You’re stressed out. Your brains are all over the place. I’ll say no more. Let’s turn everybody’s frowns upside down and talk about Peaches’ hot pink finger condoms to protect against hot glue. NEED THESE! STAT! JUDGING BEGINS. Peaches’ wreath was up first, with rolled fabric roses, yarn pom poms, and a lil bling. (I don’t know why my screenshots are so bad….! Some of you are saying that you don’t need to watch the episodes because you enjoy my re-caps, but they seriously don’t do the craft projects any justice, visually!) Mr. Viv’s wreath was next. He ended up wrapping his wreath in fabric and gluing some stuff all over it. Stephen: Crafting is knowing when to take a risk and change your plan. Up next: Lady80s’ wreath: rosettes made of layered sweater, tulle, and newspaper, with sweater rosettes. Erica said, “Your roses look like a ball of socks.” But in the end, it was Mr.Vivs who packed up his glue gun. See you at Zeitgeist, dude. Master Craft Challenge: Make a Christmas tree out of shipping supplies and wrapping paper. Tori intro’d the segment with, “Everybody likes to get packages.” The judges seemed to think this was hilarious. Was that guy the boom mic operator? Was he somebody’s husband? Was his line a funny improv? So mysterious! So, Peaches’ plan was to make a 4-sided tree out of shipping styrofoam, with 50s/60s colorful ornaments made of Christmas cards and more styro, with wrapping/tissue paper roses as the highlight. Lady80s ALSO planned to make 4-sided tree, but made of wood, covered in chalkboard paint, with a skirt made of Christmas cards sewn together. Here’s Peaches painting styro ornaments with a “pouncer (?)” to paint dots. LOVE THAT TOOL. Never heard of it before. Pounce pounce pounce. […]

Ok, these photos are gonna be weird. I took them while sitting on the floor in my livingroom, as I do, in real life, cuz I don’t like couches (I know…), so you will be seeing the tv from my real life perspective since I’m too lazy to stand up. Awesome, right? Let’s go! Meet your craftestants! Giggles: I met Giggles at RenegadeSF. I couldn’t help but notice how cheery and bubbly smiley she was throughout the whole episode (except during The Candlestick Debacle when I could tell she lost her shit for a second). Needles: She mentions in her intro that she always has a pair of knitting needles on her, and her dream is to open up a yarn shop. (Hire me, Needles! p.s. sorry your eyes are closed here…my bad.) DollarDiva: She calls herself Krafty Kathy, but this is my blog, and I give you your nick name! She says that she once decorated a wedding with just stuff from the dollar store. Pop Craft Challenge: Make a keepsake box for kids out of locks and keys in 1 hr. (Everybody kept saying, “WE GOT THIS!!!” on this episode. Everybody got theses, beezies.) Judging begins! Needles is up first. She made a keepsake box inspired by a sandcastle with a bunch of keys on top looking all spire-y. Judges: NEEDS MORE COLOR. TOO MUCH LIKE REAL SAND. Next: DollarDiva. Her keepsake box was inspired by the tooth fairy to put your tooth in. She kept calling it a One Stop Shop for Tooth Loss.  She made her tooth fairy a little tiara out of keys, there was a pillow inside, and there were keys and locks kinda glued on the whole thing. JUDGES: YOUR WINGS STINK. YOU JUST GLUED SOME THINGS ONTO ANOTHER THING. Next: Giggles. Her keepsake box was inspired by a little gnomey-cottage, and half of the roof hinged up to get into it. Judges: YOUR GNOME-HOME IS EMPTY INSIDE.     …   LITERALLY. In the end, the judges felt that Dollar Diva had not used the keys as well as the other ladies, and she had to pack up her glue gun. Master Craft Challenge: Blue jeans, borrowed candle sticks, new invitations, old baby blankets. Create something for a wedding in 5 hours using all the materials. Needles planned to make a photo booth, and Giggles planned to make a wishing tree that would take the place of a guestbook. Needles started to use the jeans to make decorative garlands by cutting out jean circles and sewing them together. Giggles used the invitations to also make decorative garlands and was also cutting out paper circles with a paper punch. Giggles used her jeans to decorate the trunk of her wishing tree, but it was looking too jeany and not so dreamy…hence….solution! Okay, so here is the aforementioned Candlestick Debacle. Giggles’ team was making this message-holder thing by gluing candlesticks together, and her assistant accidentally knocked it over. Giggles was all, “ARE YOU FREAKING […]

Okay, so as I mentioned in my last post, today they are airing the last two episodes of Craft Wars for the season, so I am going to have a crazy blogathon of recaps today! Meet your craftestants! Mini-Me: For obvious reasons, obviously! Actually, also, during RenegadeSF, a girl peeked her head into my booth and asked if I was that girl from CraftWars. Asian, glasses, pigtails, I GET IT. And coincidentally, also from San Francisco. We should never meet. The time-space continuum would implode. SlumberParty: He makes a lot of neat mini-castle club-houses for little kids and the ultimate SLUMBER PARTY. GlitterBeast: Okay, this is not meant in a derogatory way AT ALL. I mean “Beast” as in “FIERCE.” She says she loves her some glitter. Watch her throw them signs! Pop Craft Challenge: Make a toy box out of toys, in 1 hr. Okay, so, SlumberParty was working FURIOUSLY, talkin’ fast, sweatin’ up a storm, super high energy… part of me was like, “Wow, this guy is really into it!” and the other part was like, “What drugz is this guy on!?” He was like a crazy nail gun maniac when Tori came to check out his work. She had the best reaction ever. Onto the judging! SlumberParty was up first. His toy box was kinda weird. I can’t even really describe it. It was like a sort of cube shaped thing with stuff all over it and a flap top. Okay, shows you how much I pay attention sometimes…this whole time I thought that the blue shape in the back was a weird mutant person with funky hand syndrome, but it’s actually the word “TOY.” OKAY DUH, ME! He had covered the sides of his box with felt, and the judges are always getting on people’s cases about how they should stop avoiding paint. GlitterBeast was up next with her Robbie the Rainbow Robot toy box with storage in body and in head. I think Stephen was feelin’ those glittervibes BIG TIME. BUT, he hated her use of spray glue to adhere the glitter. He suggested white glue was best. Jo:”I’m not concerned. It’s just glitter!” Erica: “I AM CONCERNED. GLITTER WILL GET EVERYWHERE.” Stephen: I grew up with glitter all over me, and look how I turned out! Erica: EXACTLY. MiniMe made a box that looked like a monster, so that kids could have fun feeding it and clean up at the same time. Again, the judges took issue with her using felt to cover a surface as opposed to painting it. Also, they never understand why people use spray glue instead of fabric glue when gluing fabric. PACK UP YOUR GLUE GUN, SLUMBERPARTY. We don’t like sarcasm around here. Master Craft Challenge: Make a pet mansion out of pet stuff in 5 hrs. P.S. Tori’s REAL pet CHICKEN Coco is judging you. MiniMe’s plan was to make a modern multi-pet condo. GlitterBeast’s plan was to make a glitzy princess pet castle. I liked this little […]

Best mail in the history of mail!!! Thank you, Gabby! I want to hire Gabby to design t-shirts. She has that real-deal Girl Magic! p.s. Tomorrow they are airing the LAST 2 episodes of Craft Wars. The season is over already, and I only re-capped the first 2 episodes? AHHHH. BLOG FAIL. Tonight my goal is to bang out a re-cap-athon and get you all so super pumped to watch the last 2 of the season. Let’s see if i can do it! The longest part about doing the re-caps is getting the screenshots and putting captions on them. Ready set go!

I sent in my entry for the Lion Brand Bonbon‘s challenge today! It took me a long time to even decide what I wanted to do. I finally narrowed it down to two projects: little sparkly gummy bears, or, a sparkly gum-ball birthday cake tissue box cozy.  A quick Twitter poll yielded 100% votes for the gummy bears, so I listened to the people!!! Hairy said that it was a different project than I normally make, which was a good thing. But I said, well, everyone makes amigurumi so while I don’t normally do it, it’s still pretty normal! I figured LB contacted me so that they would get a weird, wacky, wearable project, but I could not deny what The People wanted! Plus, you know me, you can stick a hair clip or pin on anything and wear it! You could make a head band, garlands, pencil toppers. Really, the possibilities with small amis are endless! I also really liked the idea of creating a project in which you could use all the Bonbons in a single packet and feel like you got a good bang for your buck. (But if you want a yellow/gold gummy bear, you are gonna have to spring for a second pack!) The tricky part of this project for me was making sure he looked like a gummy bear and NOT a teddy bear. I looked at zillions of pics of gummy bears online, and really, there are all different styles and kinds. But the kind that stick out in my mind are the ones that are kind of long and rectangular and really look like blobs, so there was that fine balance to achieve between blob and bear. I think he came out great! I’ll post the pattern if LB doesn’t end up choosing it, so you guys will get the pattern regardless :). Stay tuned! p.s. here’s a pic of some early incarnations while I worked out my plan of attack…  

On Saturday, a bunch of us got together at Alamo Square Park (the one from the opening credits of Full House) to have my birthday picnic! It was low-key, everyone shared food, people came and went, it was good times. We should picnic on the regular! Here’s a funny pic from the start of our day. Get out of bed? No thank you! Setting up! Yes, Hairy brought fake grass to put on top of the real grass. And there’s my nifty new picnic blanket I got off Etsy made out of vintage sheets on top and a water proof vinyl backing on the bottom. Nerds, we! Manda bought me that polka dot parasol for my bday, and I bought her those donut sunglasses just for funz. TiffanyStar! El Guapo! And Rick in the background. Bella! Oliver Eatin’ stuff. Afraid of the sun’s mighty rays! At a certain point in time, it actually got REALLY COLD and windy, and you could see the fog shooting over the sky, so we packed it all in! Champagne, napoleon cake from the Russian bakery, cheeses, berries, cupcakes, brownies, perfect perfect picnic!

I’m excited to announce the next art show I’ll have a piece in! Right up my alley, right? Fun! If you’re in L.A. on August 31st, come on out! I am not sure yet if I’m going to the opening (not sure I’ll have doggie-care hehehhe) but I’ll try to work it out!

I don’t know what it is about me and leggings. I loved them from 3rd grade all the way to 9th grade (“Ummmm, have you ever thought about buying a pair of jeans?” – girl to me in 7th grade). But now, if I wear them, I feel like I’m in sweatpants and look super bad. Like it would be barely ok to go to the grocery store in them, but not like, out with my girlfriends or whatever. Anyway, I am still trying to ditch my cold, and I had to do laundry. Since I did not want to do laundry, I put on the leggings! Here’s my Sick Girl Secret: underneath, I’m wearing the tshirt I’ve slept in for the past 3 nights because I didn’t feel like changing out of it today. You’re welcome! Happy Face Sweater: Lazy Oaf (appropriate!), Kitty Leggings: Pretty Snake, Big Giant Black Socks: Sock Dreams, Shoes: Demonia Sprites.