Cool new yarn

I recently some of this super awesome yarn by Bernat; It's a twist of off-white and periwinkle/greyish blue. Do you sometimes feel so inspired by yarn that you HAVE to make something out of it? This yarn did that to me! I love Bernat too, this one is a softee chunky style so it crocheted very quickly. In Hawai`i, it's a bit hard to find really nice yarn for very cheap; I know that Joann's is having a huge sale right now and it was all I could do to stop my self from adding all their yarn into my online cart. For this little guy I used an off-white yarn for arms, legs and ears, and I opted for a felt snout (now I wish I had used off-white instead of white) instead of a crocheted one... I have trouble getting the mouths embroidered right when I try to embroider on yarn, so I mostly use felt for snouts). I also used a size E Clover Bamboo crochet needle, which worked really nicely ( I plan on doing a small write up on needle guage/ type soon). I'll probably make more of these when I have time; don't you think he'd look cute with a yellow beret and a red backpack?

THE OFFICE!

The Office premiere is tonight! Gaaaah, I'm so excited! My sister's birthday is on Monday, and it is probably the most excited I've ever been for anyone's birthday besides my own, because I know she is getting The Office seasons 2 and 3 as a present! We've been really naughty too, like saying, "Man, I wish we could watch The Office right now" around her. Hee hee, she has no clue!

bento supplies

So you guys may remember, but since I work at school and I try to watch my spending (there's nothing like blowing your paycheck BEFORE you're paid!) I bring home lunch nearly everyday... the exception is on Wednesdays when my girlfriends and I go to the cafe on campus for yummy junk food and vegetarian options (what a combo!). But as I've blogged before, home lunch can get pretty boring, especially when you eat leftovers for dinner too! So one way to make this fun is to make bentos... I recently scored big time when went to Marukai99 (although now it should be renamed to Marukai$1.49... stupid inflation)

Check out these cute bento making supplies I got at Marukai... perfect for making lunch fun! My favorites have to be the strawberry box and the shape silicone cups... pigs, penguins and butterflies, how much better can you get!

MAUstudio givaway!

Yay, I've been given an award! Thanks so much Rima, check out her blog and award too at willynillywaterlily... so much blythe/hawai`i fun!



How do you guys like the new layout? Spiffy, huh? The only problem is all my blog links disappeared so I'll have to put them up again.



I just wanted to give you guys a head's up (especially for those of you who didn't win my giveaway); I'm participating in another giveaway, this time by fellow etsian/flickr/kawaii buddy MAUstudio... you may have seen her adorable stickers and keychains. Anyway, there are five items you can win spread throughout the month of October... as you can see there's a pumpkin, an apple, a stripey chick, a wee octopus and a turnip. I actually have an apple in stock and ready to go in berrysprite, but I haven't photographed him as of yet. As for the pumpkin, let's just say one will be in my shop very soon (along with acorns and a turkey... being fall/Halloween and all!)

spoonflower

Yay, I'm so excited! After months of dabbling, I've finally perfected my fabric designs for Spoonflower! You may have seen them on my flickr. I'll be putting in my order any minute now, and I can't wait >__<. All of the designs are pretty small so that they look cute made into pouches and small bags. I did the designs using my bamboo tablet and a free program called inkscape (its really the bees knees!). Then I exported my drawings to Photoshop so that I could save them in a .tiff format to be uploaded to the Spoonflower website. I'll show you guys when I get them!

fruity fabric

lovebird fabric; inspired by my three chickies

kawaii berrysprite animals (I tried to use a lot of animals I've already made or want to make into amigurumi)

cloud fabric

and mushroom fabric!

Passing time

It has been so hot! I saw on the news the other day that it hit 90 degrees (farenheit) and that it has hit 90 more times this year than any other year since 1995. It's the kind of hot where you can see the air sizzling in front of you at 8:30 in the morning. It's the kind of hot where lying completely still gets you as sweaty as it would if you were running around outside in the winter. It's the kind of hot where you can only wear your hair in two french braids (to keep all the fuzzies out of your face), not a ponytail, and not a bun (because your head is already sore from you wearing your hair in a bun all the time anyway) and definitely not down! Ladies with a lot of hair, you get where I'm coming from! Mine is thick thick thick and wavy; one of my braids is probably as much hair as a normal person has on their entire head, and if I were to cut it really short it would become a little Polynesian afro (haha!)

What to do when it is so hot? Well I'm too busy to go to the beach so I've been stuck in my room with the fan on doing this:

Homework: read this book and write a critical analysis;

Procrastinating on writing by watching this: (I realize I miss Owen Wilson);

PS >__< check out my new panda at the bottom of my blog; if you expand your page and then click on the more button, you can feed him some bamboo... you have my permission to feed him all you want, hee hee!

Huzzah for winners!

Huzzah! Today is the day to announce the winners of my giveaway! I have gotton out my random number generator machine, and it spat out these numbers:

#1, #10 and #6. A big round of applause and congratulations to the winners!

• Deuce014, you and your lovelies shall be recieving the strawberry hamster and a little something extra,
  
• ismoyo, miss "all my wishes come true!" you are getting the re-ment mushroom pack and a little something extra,


• theenchantedpumpkin, my dear, you will be the recipient of the button pack and a little something extra.

If you lovely ladies could send me your mailing address, your prizes will be on their way to their new homes! Thanks so much for everyone who commented and who reads my blog; I really love each and every one of you. In fact, I'd love to let you win a little something too... a little something extra to be exact! If you'd like that something, please email me your address, and that something will be on its way to you in a bit!

Boo boo!

Aaaah! I just noticed the dates were wrong in my giveaway (i wrote the post earlier and didn't change the dates when I published it later). I was only clued in by your comments; so sorry guys! Boy do I feel like a goof!

Here are the real dates; not to worry! Everyone who commented is still entered and there is still plenty of time to enter! Come on down!

Sept. 6 to September 13!

Post on the giveaway thread please!

berrysprite hits the big 500!

I have hit 500 sales in my etsy shop! I have been truly blessed by the most awesome customers; I've made so many new friends! As a special way to extend a small token of gratitude to my customers, friends and blog readers, I'm doing a give-away! The giveaway entrance period will be open for one week; from September 6th to September 13th, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. On September 13th I'll do a drawing (either by random number generator or another way), and then notify the winners, who will need to provide me with an address. Then the prizes will be on their way to lovely new homes! There will be three items you have the chance of winning; The hamster is a new design, the rement is kawaii (fyi, I opened it but found that it was a duplicate of one I already have... it's the mushroom pasta set but it's still super cute and hopefully someone would still like it!), and the button set is from a new memo pad I got! Huzzah!

1st prize: an amigrumi hamster and strawberry handmade by me!



2nd prize: a mushroom paradise rement box,



3rd prize: a set of 5 kawaii buttons!

yakiniku

bleh, I haven't had time yet to photograph the lovely things I'm doing for my giveaway, so you can consider this a fluff post;

The other weekend my family and I went to a yakiniku restaurant; it's basically a korean restaurant where you can cook you own food! Yakiniku is a Japanese word meaning "grilled meat" but Koreans have adapted this cooking technique and have added their own cultural flair. In a yakiniku restaurant, each table has a little oven in the middle, and when you are seated the host or hostess lights the burner. Then you go up to a buffet line and pick your raw food; you can usually get pork, chicken, beef or tofu marinated in Korean sauces (like soy sauce and chili paste with ginger and sugar), as well as various types of vegetables such as watercress, lettuce, onions, mushrooms, zucchini. You can also get kimchee, which is a marinated cabbage that has been fermented with chili paste, fish sauce and other goodies! Once you select your items, you can start cooking your food yourself... it's a great way to converse with people because you are all waiting for you food to cook (plus, I think it's more fun to cook when you don't have to do all the prep and cleanup!). My favorites are the mushrooms an chicken (yummy!) but the traditional Korean yakiniku food is a little beef rolled up in lettuce leaf with lots of freshly cooked garlic cloves. The whole affair was a blast! So if anyone ever asks you if you want to to a yakiniku restaurant, give them an emphatic yes!