It’s…… SUPERFUNPRESENTTIME aka my monthly blog sponsor giveaway! August is my birthday month, so I’m also throwing in some extra goodies from my craft room! Thanks to my amazing blog sponsors for generously offering their prizes. P.S. I’m about to change to a different company to handle my blog ads, and if anyone has suggestions (looks like Adproval might be the way to go) I’m all ears! PLUS, are you guys still into the giveaways? I don’t want to bug you guys if you aren’t into them, but just let me know! Would love your feedback as I make this transition! Let’s check out what ONE lucky winner will win this month!

Continue reading →

“I DO NOT DO BODY CON” is something I decided for myself when body con dresses seemed to be The Thing. My comfort zone is fit-n-flare, trapeze, and A-line. When Unique Vintage asked if I might want to help them promote a certain list of dresses from their site, I saw this hot pink polka dot dress and wondered, “CAN I WEAR THAT?!”

Of course anyone can wear whatever the heck they want. I guess the real question was, “Would I feel COMFORTABLE in that?” It seemed like the perfect opportunity to take that plunge and squeeze myself into this 60s inspired wiggle dress.

Why yes, yes I am wearing some Spanx underneath there. I don’t exercise, I don’t really watch what I eat, and I’m turning 40 tomorrow. SPANX PLEASE. Tbh, Spanx do help a little, but they are not a miracle. I still have a bit of a belly pooch, but I have organs in there, and also cookies, so, it’s just logical, and totally okay. Being okay with our bodies is always a weird battle, at least for me. We’re always our own worst critics. Especially with a big birthday coming up, I’m like… WHO AM I… WHAT AM I DOING… DEFINITELY NOT YOGA?… SHOULD I BE?!

I should definitely use my gym membership more. I want to be able to run from the zombies when the apocalypse comes. I don’t want to be That Girl who trips on a root and dies within the first 5 minutes. I wanna be a survivor! Hopefully I won’t be wearing these particular shoes when that moment comes, but I sure do love these shoes a lot, and they are surprisingly comfortable, although the heel is pretty thin, and feels like it might snap off at any moment. You know, on a root.

I also threw on one of my current favorite necklaces: a little donut gem with some girly girl pearls. I gotta be me.

Have a great weekend everybody!!!!!!!! I have no idea what is in store for me and my big birthday. Manda planned everything, and it has been top secret. All I know is that a) she called a zoo and b) she asked if I had any banana-themed clothing……   <3

Outfit details: Dress – Unique Vintage (on sale!), Necklace – Fatally Feminine, Shoes – Amazon.com, Hair flower – Tarina Tarantino, Belt – some random other dress.

When I worked in publishing years ago, I never really felt like I fit in that world. I’d chat with editors on the phone or go to writers conferences and just feel like the odd gal out, like the new girl, like it was always the first day of school and I wasn’t wearing a cool outfit. I was in publishing for ten years and wanted those people to be my people, but I never felt like I belonged. Too goofy, too young, too I-don’t-even-know. When I threw myself into the crafting world, I felt such a rush of relief. I loved meeting other crafters and my crafty heroes. We didn’t even have to be doing the same crafts. That didn’t even matter. I felt like I had found the people who were like me.

So, a few days ago, I had a Skype chat with Vickie Howell for her podcast, CRAFT-ish. Can I tell you how neat I think that is? Pretty neat! I’ve watched Vickie on tv. I’ve seen her yarn at JoAnn Fabrics. I met her for the first time earlier in the year at Vogue Knitting Live, and she was just so super cool, and I think we ended up talking about wrinkle cream.

Now you get to hear us chat about stuff (not wrinkle cream this time) related to taking your small business to the next level, how we all go on different paths to end up where we are now, random tidbits about my business experiences … find out more when you tune in :).

I have some yummy treats to check out with you! Japanese Candy Box – Japan Funbox is a monthly subscription service based in Osaka that will send you an assortment of fun candies, snacks, and DIY kits from Japan.

Japan Funbox sent me their “Mini Box,” which contains 5-7 items for $14.99/month, free worldwide shipping. They have two other levels – the “Original Box,” which contains 15-20 items (1 DIY kit guaranteed, 1 special item guaranteed, such as a soda, toy, or special DIY), for $32.99/month, and the “Family Box,” which contains 25-30 items (2 DIY kits guaranteed, 2 special items guaranteed) for $49.99/month.

Upon quick glance, the difference between Japan Funbox and some other boxes I’ve reviewed, like Japan Candy Box, and Japan Crate, seems to only be how many items you want sent per month. They all vary and have different sizing. I haven’t calculated each subscription box across the board, but the Japan Funbox “Mini Box” is a nice, small, introductory size to get you going, and the “Family Box” is one of the biggest you can get.

Let’s see what’s inside!

(P.S. If you happen to sign up for Japan Funbox through this link or the button on my sidebar, I get a small affiliate percentage.)

Continue reading →

Last weekend, I vended at Renegade Craft Fair with my new “Bento Bar” set-up, where people could assemble their own cute, crocheted bento boxes! This was a grand experiment, since I’d never done this before ever, either online or in person, and I think people really loved it, once they figured it out :P.

The actual “salad bar” part of the display was pretty easy to put together. The base was foam core with some plastic bins hot-glued on top. The sneeze guard was kind of a whole journey. I thought I would make it out of PVC, because PVC seemed easy, but Manda felt that wood was the way to go, even though neither of us know anything about building anything. I think it turned pretty well! An important element for us was that the sneeze guard be easy to transport, so the top/guard part separates from the legs. It is sliiiiiiightly crooked, but, hey, it never fell over, and it survived!

My super favorite part of the weekend was watching people put together their bento boxes, guys, gals, grown-ups, kids, everyone!

Here are a few of the boxes that people assembled:

As luck would have it, our booth was right by an electrical outlet, so I was able to turn people’s food plushies into pins, magnets, or hair clips, right as they waited!

Here’s me with a hot dog octopus pin! My number one favorite request from someone was a french fry pin. I really need to make one for myself.

We also had a table filled with non-bento stuff and my books, plus the giant donut…!

I definitely plan to put the leftovers on Etsy. I just need some time to take pictures of everything and get them listed. I’m hoping maybe by Friday or the weekend? Eep, we’ll see!

Here’s a lil vid I put up on Instagram:

A video posted by Twinkie Chan (@twinkiechan) on Jul 20, 2016 at 9:33pm PDT