Category: News

Our new Christmas tree this year is SILVER, and I’m so excited! This post is sponsored by my favorite faux Christmas tree company, Treetopia, and they sent us a 7 foot Silver Bells Christmas Tree. You can use code TWINKIE15OFF for $15 off your purchase before November 25, 2021. I picked this tree amongst the other silver trees because it has a slim silhouette, and I wanted to try something a little less bushy and voluminous in our tree corner. Treetopia suggested a Glamazing Christmas theme, and at first I didn’t really know how I wanted to translate that, but using metallics really helped. Yes, we mixed silver and gold, and I think it turned out ok! I always like trying to DIY my ornaments if possible, and Manda helped me select and cut out a bunch of paper flowers on the Cricut. Then we spent 2-3 days assembling them. I haven’t crafted with paper very much, and I really enjoyed it as a fun break from crocheting. To make the most of our paper, Manda dropped individual petals on any blank parts of the design canvas, and then we used these petals to scatter at the base of the tree. I LOVE a pastel Christmas, and I quickly realized that the palette we chose coordinated well with the prints we already had on the wall, so our tree fits really naturally into our home. Treetopia has TONS of tree colors, even “natural” green ones and flocked ones. You can check out all the Treetopia trees here. Don’t forget to use code TWINKIE15OFF until November 25th! Here’s a short Reel on Instagram that shows how one just paper flower is made: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Twinkie Chan (@twinkiechan)

In August, I was the featured artist at Jenny Lemons, which is an amazing art supply store, gift shop, and DIY teaching space in San Francisco. I hosted a craft party via Zoom where we made beaded mushroom pins to go with the neon mushroom theme that I created in the shop window. All of the mushroom and froggy friends were for sale, and they all sold out! Before you ask, you can definitely purchase patterns for them in my Etsy shop: frog crochet pattern and mushrooms and frogs crochet pattern bundle. Taking photos of a window display is tough because of the reflections on the glass, but here are a few snaps from installation day.

I know that I’ve been a terrible blogger and haven’t written here since December, but I spent Nov 2019 – June 2020 developing and working on my first crochet installation. I also left my job in social media and now work full time helping a company create video content for artists and makers. But let me tell you all about the installation “Sucre Fleuf!” now on exhibition at Sweet Tooth Hotel in Dallas, TX as part of a group fiber art show called Intangible. This is the first year that the Craft Yarn Council has offered an artist in residency for a handful of amazing female fiber artists to unleash their dreams and creativity in yarn. I’m so honored to be part of this! As I mentioned, we have all been working on our spaces since late 2019. We then met up in Dallas in March for a week to install our pieces, get to know each other, and check out each other’s works in progress. In the show, you’ll find crocheting, knitting, tufting, weaving, latch-hooking, all manner of art in yarn form! It is truly a one-of-a-kind experience. I’ll share photos of the other artists spaces later (check out Sweet Tooth’s Instagram), but for now, I thought I’d let you know what I worked on for 8-9 months. I know you will ask if the patterns will be available, and yes, that is my next project. I want to try self-publishing a little book of crochet patterns filled with bread, cakes, and pastries. Right now my patterns are in a really rough form with not-so-great photography. It’s really re-making the projects and taking photos that makes pattern-writing a whole time-consuming production! Here’s a little video walk-through I made on my phone when Manda and I visited the show in June. Due to Covid 19, we were very careful, and were only in Dallas for less than 24 hours before coming home. I felt very lucky she was able to travel with me. It made the trip much less scary! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Twinkie Chan (@twinkiechan) on Jun 22, 2020 at 2:08pm PDT When I was first asked to participate, I kept thinking that I had to work BIG, on a large scale. However, since I live in California and the show is in Dallas, the idea of shipping something very large also seemed daunting. I sketched a few different proposals for the gallery, and ultimately I realized that my creative wheelhouse is in scarves and amigurumi, and then the idea for Sucre Fleuf! was born. “Sucre” means sugar and “Fleuf” is a a word I sort of made-up that sounds French-ish and refers to the fluff of the stuffing I use and the fluff of a delicious cake. It’s also a bit of a riff on “Sacre Bleu!” It was quite an experience to sketch something out in Photoshop and to see it come to life in reality. Everyone at Sweet Tooth was […]

I have a new guest column in Issue 60 of Simply Crochet Magazine! I talk about how I learned to embrace a trend when my instinct has always been to avoid them because I never just want to do what everyone else is doing. I’m definitely late to the cactus train. Like, really really really late. But once I started thinking about how to do it my way… I fell in love! Read more about it :). If you want to check out my first Simply Crochet guest column, it was about finding inspiration in Japan! p.s. for those wondering, YES, I will be releasing my cactus patterns. I just need time to prep them!

You’re invited to host a Big Comic Relief Crafternoon: a crafty get-together for you and your friends, family or as many makers as you can cram into the kitchen/diner to raise funds for Comic Relief and Red Nose Day (March 13). For this very purpose, there is a special edition of Mollie Makes magazine called “The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon,” sponsored by Create & Craft, and contains 50 projects inside that can be worn to raise awareness or sold to raise money for Comic Relief. “The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon” is the brainchild of jewellery designer Emma Mitchell (@silverpebble on Twitter) who approached Jane Toft (@JaneToft on Twitter), former editor of Mollie Makes, to help her make it happen! They are joint editors, and Jane also did the design and production of the mag. They both gave their time for free to raise as much money as possible for this brilliant charity. It is on sale in Sainsbury’s (in the UK) and iTunes/Google Play RIGHT NOW as of Thursday 29th Jan. Each issue is £7.99 and 5 whole quid of this goes to Comic Relief to support their wonderful projects in the UK and Africa. There are OODLES of exclusive new tutorials inside from crafters such as Deadly Knitshade, Tif Fussell, Attic24, Jodie Carleton, Lynda Lewis from the Great British Sewing Bee, Mr X Stitch, PLUS favourite Mollie Makes designs from the likes of Gretel Parker, Marna Lunt, Messyla and Zoe Larkins. My crochet patterns for my toast scarf and bacon & egg mitts are also in there! As the theme this year is “Make Your Face Funny for Money,” they’ve included stupendous patterns and tutorials including knitted beards, crochet red noses, and a Liberty print moustache. There’s also a guide to running your own craft fair, so readers can make an entire troupe of felt guinea pigs/nursery full of Spring posy brooches/forest of moustaches and sell them to make more crafty cash for Comic Relief. To connect with The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon and get more info, check out The Big Comic Relief Crafternoon Facebook page and also their Twitter account @CRCrafts. So grab your hooks, pull out the fabrics and have a wonderful Red Nose Day #crafternoon!  

So, my big face (3 times) is lurking in your Nylon Mag this month! Go pick up a copy! It’s the February issue with Selena Gomez on the cover.   Sorry for crappy iPhone pics! I keep avoiding having to futz with my new scanner! I made this ad past the ad deadline while all these Nylon people were waiting for me. Initially, another Yummy You! ad designed by my licensee was supposed to go in that space to promote a new collaboration. The collaboration is still happening, but at the time of the ad deadline, all the paperwork still wasn’t complete, so at the end of the day when the ad was due, I was asked to create a new ad on my end just for general Yummy You! product, but RIGHT AWAY, since everyone was already waiting. My team had some quick ideas for a photo to substitute in and what layout to use so that I could produce this ad super quickly, but the photo and logos and everything weren’t really working inside the magazine specs, and the poop was hitting my mental fan, since I knew people were waiting, and I kept getting emailed to SEND SEND SEND. So I had to scratch the team’s idea completely and just kind of randomly create another one on the spot, based on photos I use on my business card. I really hadn’t had time to organize any cute photoshoots for emergencies such as these, so I felt especially flustered. I don’t know anything about laying stuff out properly, and I don’t even think things are aligned and centered properly, but for having to bust it all out at the last minute and not knowing what I was doing, I think it turned out ok! I was really worried about typos because I was so frazzled! It’s kind of funny, because as you flip through the magazine, it’s all kind of cool and grown up, and then you are hit in the face with a big punch of pink and bubble lettering. It kind of seems out of place, but in a way, I guess that has been my mission all along: to give everyone permission to wear cute colors and cute things, and that age shouldn’t determine what is ok for us to wear as long as we are having fun! Cute is cool!

Sorry I totally forgot to tell you guys about this! I got the PDF emailed to me while I was in L.A.! There’s a little bit about me and what I do in the current issue of Girl Talk magazine in the U.K. Their website is 100% adorable, and I can’t wait to get my hard copy in the mail! Back in the day, I was quoted in INKED Magazine saying I didn’t consider myself an artist. That sounds kinda self-deprecating, but I guess I was creating a hard line between my idea of “crafting” and my idea of “art.” I still don’t really know where I believe I stand in those areas, but the top corner of the magazine page where it says “Real Artist” kinda puts a smile on my face, and I’m happy to inspire girls – young and old – to get creative and pursue their wacky dreams. After working almost 10 years in book publishing, I was really surprised when  Angel introduced me to someone a few years ago and called me an artist. That was a first! I think the funny thing, too, is that her day job at the time was something tech or computer related, but I’ve always thought of her as an amazing photographer first. And now she takes fancy snaps of musicians and is rep’d and everything. It’s fun to see us all grow.

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!

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!

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 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!    

I have a fun feature in Issue 46 of Let’s Get Crafting, out November 9th in the UK! It looks super colorful and cute from the cover. I need to get my hands on a copy!

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!

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/

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!

Howdy! Just wanted to let you guys know that I FINALLY uploaded all the leftovers from RenegadeSF to my Etsy shop, so check it out! Lots of stuff is discounted, and you’ll even see some new stuff! The sale runs for a week and ends on Thursday, August 16th at midnight! Sorry I didn’t make a fun collage for this sale. I am battling getting a cold! I had a scratchy throat and achey muscles all day, and I think my sneezes are starting to bloom. Off to bed I go!

Don’t miss it! See you there! Booth #179 🙂

I don’t know if I ever mentioned it to you guys, but Hairy co-owns an art gallery/studio space here in SF called Big Umbrella Studios. They throw art shows monthly, and you can also become a member in order to use the shared space as your studio. The next show, opening on July 13th, is inspired by Japanese pop culture, and I will be contributing a piece! I already have it planned out. Fingers crossed it actually looks like what it’s supposed to look like ;). If you’re in SF, you should stop by and check it out. Their openings are pretty happenin’.

This was my most favorite part of my latest collab with Onch Movement. Giant crocheted pretzel pillows inspired by his signature pretzel necklaces! Here are the pillows as well as other BANG pop-up shop items at Royal/T, all for sale there until July 14! You can see in that center display box some cupcake hats, bacon wraps (new item based on Onch’s bacon necklace,) whipped cream mini-berets (also new and exclusive!), and a bunch of other sweet goodies! A word about the pretzels: I am SO happy and RELIEVED to be able to show you these pictures, because, for a couple days, these goodies were MISSING IN ACTION due to a postal snafu. We were beside ourselves. I was so bummed to not be able to show Onch all the goodies and a bit embarrassed that there would not be very much Twinkie stuff at the pop-up shop.  It seemed hopeless until this morning when apparently Onch’s neighbor said that HE had been delivered Onch’s boxes!!! So please go say hi to all the goodies. They have had a grand adventure and are happy to be home at Royal/T!

Mark your calendars, L.A.! Onch is putting together Royal/T’s last pop-up shop, and June 14th is the launch party. He and I will have some suuuuuper duper cute and exclusive collab pieces along with other fun artists as well! I super hope I can make it to the launch party, but June 12-14 is also the big licensing show in Las Vegas, which I believe I need to be at for Yummy You! meetings, so fingers crossed that maybe I can somehow swing both. We’ll see! If I can’t go, you guys will have to take lots of photos and video for me!! (click to enlarge!)