kappa baby

I didn't get my sister anything for Christmas; we kinda decided we'd buy each other stuff after Christmas. So for the interim period I gave her this little kappa (so she'd have something on Christmas morning!). Kappas are Japanese water spirits who are a bit naughty and who love cucumbers. He's different than my other kappa- he has pink cheeks, little green legs instead of chicken feet and a yellow (instead of just green) pad on his head. She really likes him!

Christmas Eve Eve

Hiya people; sorry I haven't kept up with the blogging, I have the flu (I'm pretty sure it's not piggy flu). Anyway, I'm feeling much better today so I'd thought I'd blog a bit.


I received these wonderful presents from some very dear friends of mine; Nia sent me this utterly kawaii necklace made from beaded hello kitty animals and bells. Needless to say my bird heard me unwrapping this (hem hem, before Christmas) and came running over to investigate the jingling! And Deuce, Chloe and Donna sent me a yard of this truly fabulous aranzi aronzo fabric and pin... which I absolutely adore! These gifts were so thoughtful and kind, I just wanted to send a big thank you to the gift givers, as well as you all during this holiday season!


I also wanted to share this really sweet true story, which actually happened today. My mom is a skills trainer at an elementary school near our house; for those of you who don't know a skills trainer works one-on-one with special needs children. Currently she is paired with a little boy who has Down Syndrome. Almost every day during recess, she and the boy would go see the construction that was happening next door to the school; the boy loves trains, planes, tractors and trucks. Anyway, this was the boy's absolute favorite thing to do and he would get so excited and smile and wave, and some of the construction workers would smile and wave at the boy, which would make him even more happy. My mom thought this was very nice of the construction workers, so she sent a thank you note to their company, explaining how special it was for the boy.

Very early this morning (I was still sleeping... sick and all) my sister heard knocking on our door. It was a construction worker! He had brought the boy a small jar of cookies and two huge calendars full of trucks and tractors from all of the construction workers!!! Can you imagine? Such thoughtful Christmas presents for an unknown little boy from swaggering manly-men construction workers, not to mention all the trouble they took to get it to us to give to the boy!!! Anyway, it really touched my heartstrings and reminded me what Christmas is all about.

Informal Poll

Can I ask you guys some questions? I'm currently in the process of trying to decide what type of calendar to do for next year, and I'd love to hear your thoughts (since the calendars will be for you all!) I was wondering a couple of things:

1. Do you like photographs or computer illustrated better?
2. Would you prefer a set storyline that develops throughout the year or do you like a different storyline every month?
3. Were the bright/dark colors too distracting on your computer?
4. What kind of theme(s) would you like to see?
   

Er... I guess that's all for now!

Zazzle- taking handmade to a whole new level with stamps!

Thanks for all the good wishes about my thesis guys; having etsy/blog cheerleaders helps me chug along! I'm finishing up my job in the office this week, which is good because it was actually really stressful! Just knowing that this was my last week at work helped me to write really well this weekend, and I'm almost done with my introduction (I'm aiming for at least one chapter over Christmas break). I'm also getting ready for the American Historical Association conference I'll be attending for a few days in San Diego in January, but I'm still hammering out all the details; it's going to be kinda scary, because I'm afraid of talking in front of lots of people and this is like THE conference for people who study History. Oh well, we'll see how it goes!

I've actually written about zazzle on my blog before, (I practiced making shoes with my cute animal design!)though I've only made little mock-ups with their previews... I've never ordered anything. But now these personalized berrysprite stamps on their way to me in the mail at this very moment; I'll let you know how they turn out.

In case you were wondering, zazzle currently has a promotion (though it will probably end by the time you guys read this from Dec. 14 9pm to Dec 15 1am... sorry, I would have let you guys know about it earlier but I just found out about it now!) where you can order these custom stamps for the same price as a regular book of stamps, or $8.80! Even if you miss this deal, signing up with zazzle now and electing to receive their email messages will allow you to partake in 12 days of Christmas deals!

Felt cookie tutorial!

Huzzah! I've finally finished the felt cookie tutorial I promised at the beginning of December. Hopefully, its not too late for these cookies to adorn your Christmas tree! These little cookies can be made in about 1/2 hour and are so much fun to decorate. There are two sheets to this tutorial; one is an instruction sheet and one is a template sheet; right click on each image save to your desktop. Or, you can visit my flickr page and save the pictures from there. I've found that printing them out on a heavier paper (like cardstock) and using higher quality printing will make it a primo pattern/instruction sheet/template that you can use over and over again, so have fun! PS. I'd love to see any of your finished cookies; you can post them to the berrysprite amigurumi page (they're nuigurumi...I think that counts)!

Thesis writing sucks hard.

Thanks so much for all your support and a great great Christmas sale guys... I'm sorry I couldn't do more in the way of making lots more Christmas goodies... keep your fingers crossed for me for a Spring 2010 graduation, eh?

Although, my thesis writing is not going well, as you can see by the lack of the picture in this post and my snarky vacation shop announcement:

Boo! The continuing saga of Thesis writing continues. In the meantime, feel free to convo me while I'm writing, I've allowed myself twenty minutes of etsy time a day, so I'll still be checking my etsy account and mail. Haha, just kidding about the allotment part... seriously, though- your convo will serve as a nice break from banging my head against the wall that they call Thesis. There will also be a free cookie tutorial on my blog, er, sometime. Check it out periodically to drive up my blog views and to see if I've actually posted it!

I usually don't start my papers by writing an introduction, but my advisor "suggested" that I write and introduction to turn in to him. Needless to say, the Dec. 1 deadline I had set for myself came and went 6 days ago! I have also started writing this introduction like 5 different times, and I've been working on this alleged introduction for a couple of weeks now. I have a serious case of writer's block and it's cramping my style. Rant over; hope you guys have a wonderful week!

December's Calendar

Whew! I've managed to make a calendar for every month this year (though sometimes they've been late). Thanks so much for being sooo patient as always everyone; it makes me so happy to know that you enjoy these calendars! December's Calendar is now available for download! Check out my flickr or photobucket :D

This scene was just begging for a story:
"The North Pole is quite cold, so Christmas trees are hard to come by! Luckily, these penguins have a little help decorating their tree from the northern lights and the North Star, and are sure to have a happy holiday!"

Blegh of the week

Been quite busy as usual, which is why I haven't actually had a chance to do everything I set out to do at the beginning of this week (ever notice how holidays tend to make you fall way way behind?) Right before the Thanksgiving holiday there was a crisis at work that I had to try and sort out; I was literally calling 5 billion offices to try and fix serious problems caused the laziness/ forgetfulness of two professors... I can now say that I'll have to think twice when sympathizing with professors who complain about students not paying attention or turning in work late. On top of all that, I actually shifted the times I work this week because we have FINALLY hired someone permanent, yay! This is good news in the long run, I'll have more time for my thesis, which means eventually more time for crafting!

I'm still trying my bestest to get December's calender out, make that long-ago promised cookie tutorial and list the last of the items for the sale.

Just so that I can say I did something, these are the items that are included free with every order during my shop sale (going on until Dec. 6)It includes a pipe cleaner candy cane, two handmade cookies with icing, and a tiny snowflake ornament!

Shoppe Update! Berrysprite now open Nov 29 to Dec 6

Hope you guys had a smashing Thanksgiving... counting down to Christmas! I realized that when I was little, Christmas seemed so far away from Thanksgiving, but as I get older it seems so close! Sorry this is a bit late (talk about a shop preview... it's actually going to be simultaneous because my shop is open at this very moment, until Dec. 6!) I'm going to try and list everything tonight, but as it is a bit late already, it may take me one or two days to list everything. Even though I've been crafting like mad for the past couple days, I only have multiples of a few things, such as the gingerbread cookie ornaments and the bearpop ornaments; everything else is as you see in the "preview." My favorites of the whole batch are the shave-ice/snowcone ornament and the cookie ornaments; the cookie ornaments are the result of many, many requests from from last year!

Christmas Sale!

I've been making great progress on my thesis (the first deadline I've set for myself is to have my introduction written by Dec. 1st to turn in to my Professor... and I'm so sure I'll meet it!) Hence, I've also been able to squeeze in a wee bit of crafting in preparation for my Christmas Sale! Berrysprite will be open from Nov. 29th to Dec. 6th, which should leave enough time for Holiday shipping, both domestic and international! As with my anniversary sale, there will a special goody with every order placed during the sale period (think Christmas sweets!). And, instead of a giveaway with one or two winners, I'll be posting a super kawaii tutorial for a felt cookie ornament; that way everyone can share in the fun! I'll also be posting a shop preview real soon, stay tuned!

Vintage goodies

From Top left- bowls:Seasidevintage, lamp:hindsvik, shipbottle:spacejam, fire earrings:morelooseends, flower clock:postroadvintage, train case:atticowl, scarf:fabriquefantastique, buttons:Lillianolive, pearltree earrings:silverflame

Have you guys spent any time looking through the Vintage pages on Etsy? I've mostly tried to stick with thepages for kawaii supplies like fabric etc (I have to limit what I look at because I'm basically addicted to etsy) but my mushroom kick had me looking through the vintage sections for some cute mushrooms... and now I wonder how I've lived to twenty-five years old without looking at the Vintage section! I'm amazed and simultaneously appalled at how much stuff I want! (though this may be due to the fact that here in Hawai`i we have a wayyy different flavor of vintage than in the Mainland, so its pretty much all brand new to me!). Anyway, I live in an apartment right now (with very limited space) but I can't help but pretend that I'm interior designing a brick-and-mortar eclectic berrysprite store for myself when I look at some of this stuff! My absolute favorite things from this compilation of goodies are the tangerine train case and the super cute tiny ship in a bottle (which has since sold :[... gotta scoop it up fast people!). Consequently I think I might need a ship in a bottle for Christmas :D

Gintama

Gintama...I love this anime! While it took a while for it to get good (say... 10 episodes?) I now really can't live without the jokes, the voice work and the artistry of this anime; its soooo funny! A big part of the comedy comes from the fact that Gintama is an anime that makes fun of the genre of anime. Basically it's about a washed-up samurai, hypoglycemic hero (Gintoki Sakata) who makes a living doing odd-jobs in a post Amanto alien-takeover Edo (Tokyo). Gin-san picks up a young apprentice named Shinpachi, after Gin saves Shinpachi's sister. Gin and Shinpachi are joined by Kagura, a freakishly strong alien girl who looks up to Gin as well. The series follows their jobs and interactions with former friends and enemies during a time when being a samurai is illegal... but still a source of pride for most humans. Gintama isn't exactly for kids (for example, there's a ninja with hemmorhoids, a couple of butt-afro jokes, and a recurring neo-armstrong cannon... you'll get it if you watch!) but it's just right for people with an odd sense of humor!

Walmart Fabrics

We have this saying here in the Islands... "Lucky you live Hawai`i!" Anyway that is exactly how I felt when I visited Walmart and found these great Japanese fabrics (Kokka brand!)... We're so influenced by Japanese culture here that these lovely fabrics have made a lasting impression on Walmart, and they've been carrying a very limited selection of kawaii Japanese Fabrics for a few months now. (I know, I know, Walmart is a semi-evil corporation, but I can't help myself... they're so cheap!) This was the first time I've seen these specific fabrics anywhere in Hawai`i, and I've been coveting that pink one for a long time! Just in case any of my fellow Hawai`i peeps are interested, I got these from the Ke`eaumoku Walmart; I'm not sure if the others have them.

Giveaway results!

Thanks everyone for making my etsyanniversary sale such a success; it was so much fun! And it's finally November 9th... I bet you all were waiting for me to announce the winner of the peach giveaway (haha, patience is a virtue my friends!). Well not to worry, I busted out my little robot and crunched some data. Without further ado, here is our grand prize winner, the lucky new mama of Mr. Peach:


Yay Ms. TyphoidAshley! You are now the lucky new owner of this coveted peach... may you treasure him always!

Aaaaand our second place winner (of a chicken pom!) is.........
Ms. Alyssa-Marie. Yayyyyy for chickens!

If you girls could please send me your contact info (to berrysprite@yahoo.com) so I can ship your winnings out ASAP. Congrats again, and thanks everyone for entering and celebrating my etsyanniversary with me!

Domokun at 7-11

Domokun is a monster who hatched from an egg; his favorite food is meat and potato stew and he hates apples! Domokun is a Japanese character who's gained popularity throughout the world in recent years... did you miss him at Target last Halloween and Easter? For those of you who did, he's now at 7-11 (betcha didn't know 7-11 is a Japanese company!), which will be running their Domokun promotion at participating stores until November 15th. For some reason though, I don't think any of the 7-11 stores in Hawai`i have this promotion... and we're usually such a mecca for all things Japanese! So make sure you pop on by your local 7-11 and enjoy the Domo-ness for me! For those of you like me who are Domo deprived, here is a link to a free paper craft; just print, cut and fold (some taping/gluing may be involved) and you can make your own domo at cubeecraft!

Shop preview Nov. 1- Nov. 8

Berrysprite Reopening and a Giveaway; Nov. 1-8

Berrysprite is now open, from November 1st to November 8th! Thanks for being so patient everyone; even though preparing for this sale has reminded me why I need to close my shop when I'm working on my thesis, it was so much fun getting back into the groove of etsying! During the sale week new items will trickle in slowly, mostly at the beginning of the week (if you see something a bit later in the week but you already bought something, don't worry; I'll combine shipping!) If you visit my shop this week you'll notice all of the new items are photographed on a plain white background... don't worry! Its not permanent, its just for this sale... I actually had a lot of stuff to photograph and it really saved me lots of time to not change backgrounds. What's more, I'll also have a clearance section... stay tuned for some really great deals on some of my prototype amigurumi!


To further celebrate my etsyanniversary, I'm also doing a giveaway... you can win this little peach keychain! Isn't he adorable? To enter just leave a comment on this post; the winner will be announced on November 9th. Huzzahs all around!


PS.... there's a new November calendar available; I'll blog about it later!

happy halloween!

axolotyl

I made this axolotyl the other day, because I'm dying without crafting! He came out pretty cute (except he doesn't have a tail yet.... I always have trouble with tails). Although popular as pets, axolotyl/ajolote are declining in their natural habitat. According to wikipedia, axolotyls are the "best known of the Mexican neotenic mole salamanders" and they posess the amazing ability to completely heal or regenerate themselves.

New blog design!

Check it out!!! This is what I've been working on all weekend; I've redesigned by blog! I think it looks a lot more professional now, although I'm still working out all the kinks. I've been on a red and white mushroom kick lately, which is why the design is so mushroom-e; I really like it though! I've got a busy week ahead of me, but knowing how good my blog looks will make me happy when I'm frantically working :D

old design for new fabric

These little guys are from one of my old designs for fabric I did using inkscape, though I've never gotten around to printing any with spoonflower (or their rival fabricondemand...) Lately I'm really into the idea of little squares as backgrounds for designs; they're so much like little windows it makes me happy! My favorite of the bunch is the deep-sea angler fish and the sea urchin (he looks like a soot creature from a Hayao Miyazaki film)!

Shop Anniversary Opening!

Huzzahs all around! My etsy shop will be opening for one week only, to celebrate my etsyanniversary... which is a legitimate reason to get out of vacation mode I think; thesis be damned! So mark your calendars for Nov. 1st through Nov 8th (for those of you who are planning for Christmas, never fear; I will most likely open one week in the beginning of December as well). During this time, ANY purchase from my shop (big or small) will recieve a free chicken pom pom, in celebration of my 3rd year on etsy. Although custom orders will still be closed, I do have some existing stock of cute things on hand; my anniversary week would be a good time for people to get their fill of pouches, rabbits, bears, pears, strawberries, a lion, a monkey, and more! I'll be listing early in the week and shipping late in the week, so make sure to get your orders in while you can! It's been a wildly fun three years, full of chickens and happiness :D

PS. I'll be doing a giveaway on my blog for my anniversary too, so don't forget to check back around Nov. 1st!

New ipod touch!

Look at what I got as a belated birthday present from my family! I got it at a good time, working in the office was getting me down (and so is writing my thesis actually!) So yay! Nothing like material goodness to make you feel more cheerful :D. On that note, can anyone recommend any of their favorite/some good apps for me to download (to buy or for free, it doesn't matter!)?

Fabric help!

BIG EDIT (literally): Thanks so much for offering to help guys; It seems they have restocked that fabric, huzzahs all around! I love how fast they restocked it....

I am in LOVE with this bumblebee fabric; I can imagine so many goodies to be made along a bee theme... the stripes are lovely! Alas we do not have a hancockfabrics here in Hawaii (mang!), and they are sold out on the website! If anyone of you out there lives near a hancockfabrics and sees a yard of this fabric, I'd love to buy it from you (more than the $2.50 sale price... that might explain why they are out!) and pay for shipping, etc! It is a 100% cotton material, and the stripes seem to be a little bigger than 1", so if you see something similar (with a similar nice mellow yellow) at another store, just let me know!

Vacation from things you love

This little guy will have to wait for a bit for a new mommy or daddy; berrysprite is temporarily closed while I try and write my thesis. It's so sad to visit my etsy shop and see that its empty! Many thanks to the people who have written to me with encouragement; you guys are the best cheerleaders :D. I was trying not to have to close my shop, especially since I won't be able to participate in that many holidays (like Halloween, boo!). I really want to finish my thesis by December though, and if I do, closing my shop will be totally worth it :) I will probably open it for a week here and there, and I'll be sure to let you know before I do!

takochu

Aren't they sooooo kawaii? These are takochu, which are little 1" vinyl toys that stack on one another; I read about them just the other day at supercutekawaii and I knew that I had to have them! A quick online search found them at giantrobot for $2 each, which is why I got 7 of them! (PS... they are currently sold out there, but maybe if you petition them they'll bring in more!) I gave four of them to my sisters and kept 3 for myself, but I still feel like 3 is not enough... that's how cute they are! Takochu are made by a company called Pine and if you go there you can download free takochu desktop backgrounds (if you are already bored of frankenkitty!)

New October Calendar!

Yay, October's calendar is ready for downloading. Unfortunately I didn't have time to make a feature Halloween amigurumi; but if I did, this is what it would have looked like! I rather like the pumpkins and Frankenkitty... I think his big eye is really funny :D The calendar itself is a little dark, but it really didn't feel right without an ominously colored background, ya know? Here is the little story I made up:

Dr. Frankencat has made a monster kitty... the villagers tried to warn him that what he was doing was a crime against nature, and now ghosts have risen out of the misty pumpkin patch outside the doctor's castle... Dr. Frankencat couldn't care less though, he relishes a good scare; bwahahahaha!

Feel free to download from my photobucket or flickr!

Hawaii Stamps!

Have you seen these stamps at your local post office? They are Hawaiian style, yeah! So cool! They were designed by local artist Herb Kawainui Kane, who does amazing paintings of historical and mythical Hawaiʻi! If you've been to Kīlauea Volcano on the Big Island, you've probably seen some of his work at the museum there... his depictions of Hawaiian gods and goddesses are so iconic, and I really love how his paintings stay true to our history and moʻolelo.


I "borrowed" this picture from Kane's official website... I hope he won't mind! It features the Hawaiian Volcano goddess Pele, who travels from Kahiki to Hawaiʻi. At Pele's feet is Kamohoaliʻi, who is her shark brother; he is leading the way to Hawaiʻi (you can also see the stars that guided him... traditional means of long distance navigation relied on stars...no compasses or astrolabs here!) Cradled under her arm (as an egg, for safekeeping) is Pele's little sister Hiʻiakaikapoliopele, which means Hiʻiaka-in-the-bosom-of-Pele because she was so beloved by Pele. Anyway, fun huh? I love it!

New clutch

So you've probably already seen these as updates on my facebook and flickr, but for lack of a better thing to blog about, here ya go (stupid work/ thesis). Speaking of thesis, have you ever had anything hang above your head for years, constantly in your thoughts, yet you can never bring yourself to do it? And you know that actually doing it is much easier than say, raising children or trying to make a living (and you know that there are people all over the world who have to worry about much much more) but you still can't bring yourself to do it to get it over with? That is me and my thesis... incredibly self-centered of me. Hopefully this public self-admonishment will light a fire under my bottom :D

Anyway, here are two clutches that I made; the green one for a custom order, and I'm still deciding if I want to sell the blue one... it came out so pretty! It was the first time in a long time that I made a clutch, so it took me a few hours to finish them. It's the first time I've used my spoonflower berrysprite fabric, and I must say, trè bien!

Winners!

Thanks everyone for the good wishes; I'm so happy to announce the winners (that's right, TWO winners!) for my tiny shopify giveaway!

Isis (lollywear)
and Nadia Cupcake

Please email me your information so I can pass it along to my shopify contact; from there you'll be asked to sign up at shopify.com.

For everyone who didn't win.... Don't lose heart; many more giveaways coming up in the future, right here on berrysprite!

OMG, yayyy! PS... there's a giveaway!

Aaaaaah, Freakin' yay! I won the Shopify birthday giveaway contest over at SuperCuteKawaii!! That means I'll get a free shopify online store for a year, which means I can open my own standalone online shop! For those of you who don't know, shopify is a webhosting site that allows you to fully customize your own online selling space... so cool! I see this as a great step towards making sure Berrysprite is around for years and years to come :D Many mahalos (thanks) to Panda-san, Monsieur Le Bun and especially to Bunny-san for picking me as a winner! If you didn't already know about SuperCuteKawaii, check them out; they have an AWESOME blog and store that are both constantly updated with kawaii finds and trends... so many a late-night I have spent greedily reading about panda and bunny-san (and of course Monsieur Le Bun's) kawaii obsessions on this delectable website!


♥ ♥ ♥ PS; the people at shopify were super generous to me too and are going to give me a three-month free account to give to someone I know; I thought it be fun to do a mini giveaway in the spirit of SuperCuteKawaii's giveaway.

So here are the rules; you must have an online shop already (Etsy/Folksy/Yahoo/Artfire/ eBay, etc.) and you must leave a comment that states in 5 sentences or less why you'd love a shopify store of your very own. After contacting the winner for information (like their name, email, and current store url), I'll contact the people at shopify and let them know who gets a free three-month shop! Contest starts now, and the winner will be picked on Tuesday, Sept. 22... good luck!♥ ♥ ♥

Easy Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli

Here's what I made for dinner tonight; chicken alfredo with broccoli... it was very yummy, and relatively quick and easy to make. Just a note; the sauce not very thick, but that's how I like it! I tried to cut down on the fat, but sometimes you just can't get away from adding ingredients that have fat in them (like, what could you possibly substitute for Parmesan cheese?!)

(Makes enough for 2-4 people)
Ingredients :
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 small onion
2.5 cups of broccoli
2 tsp of minced garlic
salt and pepper
2 pats of butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Sauce:
2 cups of low fat milk
1 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 pat of butter
1 tsp of dried parsley flakes

Instructions:
Brown Chicken in butter and oil, add onions and garlic when chicken is about 3/4 of the way cooked. Remove chicken and onions from pan, and add all ingredients for sauce (make sure to keep stirring until cheese is well mixed in. Add chicken and onions and keep stirring. Add broccoli; keep on heat until broccoli is cooked (but still green and crunchy!) Serve with pasta noodles and bread. Yummy!



PS. This juice is really good! It's white grape and cherry... I think the flavors are really nice together, and probably any brand of juice with these flavors would be good too (I'm not a Welch's spokeswoman...this is just what they had at Sam's Club :D).