Berrysprite

Valentine's Day Items

2012-01-22T19:05:00.001-08:00

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and although I got a really late start, at least I'm not too late! Candy colored bunnies and lovely bear pops are my standard offerings, but I also managed to make two cupcake boxes which are completely new! They look like regular amigurumi, but are actually small boxes which would be great for keeping treasures safe (maybe for that special someone?) or for holding your sewing odds and ends... the cake part doubles as a pin cushion (pins= sprinkles!!!) Hope you like them :)

Most used words on my blog

2012-01-10T22:08:00.000-08:00

This doesn't include all my posts (only the last five or so...) that's why "amigurumi" isn't the biggest word, haha!

Lazy Sunday...o.o.O.O.O.o.o...

2012-01-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who made my sale a very big success! It felt good to have the shop open again, I must admit! It was especially nice slipping out of my office during my lunch hour to go to the post office... Just like old times!

In addition to my sale extravaganza last week, I've been quite busy. When I was still in school I always found the holidays SUPER relaxing because there was no classes and the semester was over. Now that I'm working I realize how much grown ups actually have to do! It's definitely calming down now.

I was able to go to a fabric market and pick up this SUPER cute fabric; it's a pretty new design! I love it so much, its very Tokidoki-esque. It's also very Hawai`i; see the musubi and shave ice people? Other than that, this weekend I didn't do much in the way of fun... just family stuff, no crafting. A lazy Sunday indeed... my cat is even curled up on a puddle of sunshine snoozing away... it's been 3 hours! Hope everyone has a very happy week!

Secret holiday sale!!!

2011-12-26T19:07:00.000-08:00

Surprise! I reopened my etsy shop today after a loooong vacation (but who knows how long I'll be able to stay open). To celebrate, I'm having my biggest sale ever... 25% off EVERYTHING from Dec. 26 2011 to Jan. 1 2012! Plus I'm putting tons of items on clearance so you can just imagine the savings (for example, all my cupcakes are $10-$12 (normally starting at $14!). When checking out of my etsy store, just use the coupon code HOLIDAY!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T14:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your holidays are filled with good cheer, warmth, and happiness! Sending you all love and warm wishes ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

My small cat!

2011-12-19T20:54:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have seen on my Facebook, but for those of you who didn't, I have a new small cat! My dad teaches night classes at a community college here, and he was talking to some office people/ other teachers when a tiny kitten rolled out of the bushes and ran up to him and started meowing. Everybody thought it was his cat, but it was a wild kitten! He looked for the mama cat but he couldn't find her, so he brought the kitten home. There was about a week where we were deciding whether or not we could keep him (he was too small to even go to the Humane Society to be put up for adoption), but in the end we loved him so much we decided to make him our cat... we named him Tiger Puff, but I just call him small cat.

This was when we first got him... his eyes hadn't changed color yet!

Anyway, we've had our cat for about a month and although I've never had a cat before, I know he's an extremely GOOD cat; he trained himself to use the litterbox, he lets everyone pick him up and pet him, he's not picky about food, and he's very polite (like he doesn't beg for food, if you scold him he stops doing whatever he's not supposed to be doing). He has only two bad habits; he drools when he's sleeping and he likes to jump on my bed!

November happenings

2011-12-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

I'm so sorry I didn't have time to blog much in November; one day soon the madness that is school will end! Plus, I was actually off island for quite a bit of the month! I went to Keaukaha on the Big Island for 2 days in the beginning of November; although the weather was quite stormy it was so beautiful (and I love that weather anyway). I feel lucky that I got to go, even if it was to get training for my work.

I also spent a day on the North Shore for my friend's wedding; it was so nice!

Finally, a bunch of my month was set aside preparing for the the American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, which was held in Montréal, Canada this year. I was presenting a paper as part of a panel, so I had to write that on top of work (reading reports and writing reports) and regular schooling (writing my thesis)... there was quite a bit of writing in November! Although it was stressful to prepare for the conference, I'm really glad I got to go... it was the perfect opportunity to visit Montréal, which I had never been to before. And yes it was very cold, especially for me (I had to order a warm jacket just for the occasion). Just look at my pictures: all the ones from Hawai`i are from November too... such a temperature difference! Thank goodness it wasn't snowing :) I stayed 2 days past the conference, so I got a chance to sight-see a bit. My favorite things were the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal (Notre Dame Basilica of Montréal... I'm such a history nerd) and the Marché Jean-Talon (Jean-Talon Market), where I bought so much maple syrup (Dark Amber of course... and did you know it also comes in cans? ) that my previously empty suitcase was stuffed full :) Even though I was only there for 3 days, I'd definitely go back to Montréal, it was so much fun! Anyway, I hope you guys had fun Novembers as well!

Palais des congrès de Montréal: Where the conference was

Le centre historique de la ville de Montréal: Old Montreal

Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal: the most beautiful place I visited on my trip

Le quartier chinois de Montréal: Chinatown (actually a mix of Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Japan town), my hotel was quite close to here.

Marché Jean-Talon: I wish I had a kitchen in my hotel room... so many fresh fruits and veggies!

Shop and Blog Vacation!

2011-10-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! November is a crazily busy month for me, filled with an off-island trip for my work, and a trip to Montreal for a conference (on top of my school and work!). So I'll be closing my shop for the month of November and will most likely be blogging even more sporadically... sorry for such short notice. I've sent off all my orders, but will most likely be available through email for pressing questions. I'm hoping to reopen my shop in December! See you then :)

earrings

2011-10-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Not up to much crafty wise lately... as always being busy with regular life gets in the way! I'm actually using this blog post to distract me momentarily from working on a chapter of my thesis :P Unfortunately, the most crafting I can muster right now is to look wistfully at my piles of fabric and my drawers of yarn.... le sigh. This whole past week was strange for me too... we're transitioning to Fall here and its been getting a bit cooler, which I love, but I think I might have been sick without really knowing it because I'd get home from work at like 6 pm and literally FALL ASLEEP! The whole week! So I don't know what was up with that but hopefully it was just a dumb phase :D

I also moved to a different division at work: before I was working in an area that covered subjects like chronic disease, substance abuse, suicide prevention, foster care, etc. Now I'm in a division that covers land, culture and history (my specialty areas!). Although I'm sad that I won't be able to work in my former area, I really love where I am now... it's really more congruent with my background and interests (plus I got a $$$ raise!). So I'm still adjusting.

Anyway, here are some earrings I made a while back... I wear them all the time! These are all wire wrapped (no soldering, boo!) using various semi-precious stones/ coral. I'm lucky because my ears aren't sensitive, so I can just stick whatever in them; the wire is gold fill or something cheapy like that.

I forget what kind of stone the faceted dark blue one is, but the yellow one is a nice warm topaz and the milky light blue one is Peruvian Opal.

Kawaii Retail Therapy

2011-10-17T01:37:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much for your sweetie comments on the amigurumi kappa keychain, guys! I really appreciate knowing what you think; given that you like him so much, I know I'll be making more in the future :D

Also, reading your comments brightened a kinda tense Friday for me... everything is now resolved but let me just say that when I am finally finished with my thesis I WILL PARTY SO HARD. Anyway, I needed a little retail therapy this weekend and since I'm not able to blog that frequently anymore, I thought I would share my purchases in lieu of a real post. Plus, the things I got are so kawaii!!! I purchased all of these cutie items at Marukai here in Hawai`i (for those of you who don't know, Marukai is a Japanese dollar and grocery store). It was so much fun to find these goodies (and the best thing was that everything was $0.99-$2.50)!

A Matryoshka notepad, a French themed notepad and moshimoshikawaii origami paper

A set of red riding hood themed pencils, a circus themed eraser and foam stamps featuring a cute donkey, apple, house and pine tree!

Cutest pencils ever!

kappa keychain

2011-10-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

I hadn't made any amigurumi keychains before, but whenever I see them, I think they're really cute... the best of both worlds really (since you get to carry your amigurumi around with you everywhere AND you also get a really kawaii keychain). So here's my first attempt: an amigurumi baby kappa keychain! He was fun to make, because he's so little compared to my regular amigurumi (but bigger than a regular keychain?); anyway, I really enjoy his duck feet! He's made of Cascade 220 yarns, acrylic felt and a lanyard. I hope you like him, because I think I'll make more amigurumi keychains in the future :)

Yummy Crochet and new Forest Friends Fabric!

2011-10-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! I told you about it a little bit back, but I have a cupcake pattern in the Yummy crochet book/kit which has all the material (yarn, hook, instructions, stuffing, thread, needle, plastic eyes) you need to make your very own berrysprite cupcake! The book also features instructions for other yummy amigurumi foods, including a doughnut, corn, sushi, peas and more! I got my copy the other week and everything looks super cute. You can purchase your own copy from Barnes and Noble bookstores in the US, or you can order it from their website here for $14.35+ shipping. Huzzah!

In other news I received my test swatch of the Forest Friends fabric, which was chosen by you guys as the next print you wanted me to make available through my spoonflower. Its one of the few large scale fabrics I've designed and it looks great (don't mind the washed out colors... I took this pic at night after I came home from work). Now you can purchase some of your very own :)

Blog construction

2011-09-26T00:23:00.000-07:00

Please pardon my dust!!!! I'm in the process of redesigning my blog... I hope you like it! I had hinted that I was going for a jungle theme (no matter that there are snowy mountains in the background!) but I'm not finished tweaking it yet. I'm particularly in love with my little monkeys! I wanted to go for more streamlined and professional... we'll see how it goes :)

Happy ending to a three day weekend!

2011-09-06T01:17:00.000-07:00

Short post today. Is it ironic that a day to celebrate labor/ workers is a holiday? I was lucky enough to have Labor Day off, and it was a gorgeous day in Hawai`i nei! Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend! Now back to work :)

Pins!

2011-08-28T23:54:00.001-07:00

I've made some pins! Three of them are felt and designs I've made before (acorn, tooth and raindrop) and one of them is crocheted (the flower!) which I've never done before... I'll probably make more in the future because it came out really cute. It was really fun working on them, I do love felt so. Felt pins are really easy to make, you basically just cut out 2x the shape you want, stuff it with a little polyfil, use embroidery to make it cute, and sew on a pin back! I highly recommend making felt pins as a group/ party craft;they are inexpensive, easy, and make a great personal souvenir or goody to take home. Hope everyone had a good weekend (and I hope everyone affected by Irene is safe!).

blogging on weekends only now...

2011-08-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

I've been taking it kind of slowly on my berrysprite stuff while I try to get my *ish together (not sure how long more it will take... I'll be honest with you, it's already been a long coupla years); you might have noticed that I have tended to be very quiet on the blog/ facebook/ shop update stuff lately? I'm sorry! I've got a lot of stuff going on right now. So I just thought I'd let everyone who still reads my blog, I'll only be updating my blog posts on the weekend (that way you don't have to keep checking if you're not up on the RSS stuff... I certainly am not!) Not a vacation per se, more like a cooling of my jets. Thanks so much for your continued patience and hearts, I really appreciate it!

Kabocha...mmmmm!

2011-08-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) is the perfect food for summer-turning to autumn food! I made some roasted kabocha (with a little brown sugar and maple syrup) the other day... this is the "before" picture because we ate the "after" before I remembered to take a picture of it!

Hope you all are having a nice back to school season; although I don't technically go to school anymore I still remember the feeling of summer (*read=free time) ending!

Forest friends it is!

2011-08-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

Huzzah, thanks so much for voting everyone! Be on the lookout for forest friends fabric, which will be available in my spoonflower in the coming weeks :) Don't forget to get your free swatch from spoonflower on the 18th!

spoonflower free swatch day

2011-08-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

August 18th is Free Swatch Day at Spoonflower!
You'll have 24 hours from 12:00 pm (Eastern Time, US) on August 18 to get a free swatch of fabric; you don't even have to pay for shipping! Best of all, you can get your fat quarter in the design of your choice, meaning you can design your own or choose from the thousands of designs made by other artists (may I suggest one of berrysprite's spoonflower fabrics?) You can also choose from a variety of fabrics (including a new option, cotton-silk blend)! How super sweet is that?

The Free swatch day gives me the perfect opportunity to make one of my previously "not for sale" fabrics a "for sale fabric," which is awesome because I've gotten lots of requests to offer my newest designs for sale.

So I'm taking a Poll! Let me know which of these fabrics you like best and I'll make the most popular fabric available for sale; the winning design will be announced on August 16th! (Caveat Emptor: I won't be able to make the fabric available in time for free swatch day, so sorry!)

#1: Nautical Merpeople
#2: Forest Friends

#3: Happy Ocean

Thanks so much for voting!

Yummy Crochet! Take 1

2011-08-04T23:01:00.000-07:00

I'm finally ready to share my good news! Drumroll please.............

My amigurumi cupcake pattern will be published in the forthcoming book/ kit Yummy Crochet! Gasp!

A few months ago I was contacted by the very sweet Kristen Rask (of Plush You and Schmancy Toys fame) about my cupcakes... she wanted to include them in her book, Yummy Crochet, which will include patterns for cutie food like a hamburger, fruit, sushi, cookies and more! I came up with a new cupcake pattern just for the project (complete with whipped cream and swirl variations). Actually, you guys might remember when I went on a cupcake making binge and I had billions of cupcakes everywhere... this book is the reason why (I kept making samples and testing and tweaking it!) Anyway, my cupcake was chosen as one of the featured projects for the book, which means not only will you get the instructions to make it, but you will also get all the materials you need to make it, including yarn, eyes, and a crochet needle.

The book/kit will be available from Barnes & Noble around September, so keep an eye out! It also features lots of ami artists (like Love This Stuff artist Elisha Copeland!), so I'm very excited to have been a part of it :) I'm supposed to receive an advanced copy sometime soon, and when I do I'll share a bit more with you.

In the meantime, head on over to Kristen's website Schmancy Toys and enter her giveaway before August 12 for a chance to win a copy of Yummy Crochet!

chicken puff with clover

2011-07-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

I made this chicken puff using the light blue jiffy yarn and clover felt trim I got in San Francisco! I think he's a good prototype for something that would be ideal for me to sell at a craft fair... I can make lots of chicken puffs in a short amount of time (well comparatively speaking), they are easily transportable, and they are super cute (so I think they'd sell well!). Anyway (kind of unrelated) I'm going to have some exciting news soon, so stay tuned!

My trip to San Francisco

2011-07-25T00:54:00.001-07:00

As I said before, my trip to SF was fab... I literally did not have enough time to do everything I wanted! I went with my two little sisters (when I say little I mean 25 and 21) and we had a blast.

Don't read if you don't want the blow by blow ;p Also, if by chance you felt like this post was not long enough and did not have enough pictures then go to my flickr... you'll at least get more pictures!

We ended up leaving on a Friday (after I had put in a full day at work) and catching a red-eye flight. The only bad thing about this is that I can NEVER sleep on planes, and we were go go go from the moment we landed at 6 am to 9 pm that night; I was reaaaally tired the first day/night! We ended up buying the San Francisco City Pass for $70, which provides you with free transportation on the Muni buses and cable cars and also allows you to go to a bunch of attractions for free. I'd definitely recommend getting this pass!

The first day we went to Golden Gate Park to look at the Bison (so cool!) and walked through the park to visit the Japanese Tea Garden and the California Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, you had to pay for the Garden and since we have them in Hawai`i for free, we skipped it. However, the Academy of Sciences was soooo cool; They had indoor lagoons and tidepools and rainforests that were super awesome (You walk on a pathway and the sharks and rays and stuff swim between the pools under the path!) . They also had penguins, rays and jellyfish, and an albino alligator! The Academy was by far my favorite attraction that came free with the City Pass, and if you're ever in SF, you should check it out :)

California Academy of Science mangrove lagoons

California Academy of Science Phillipines Reef

From there we ate a Russian Bakery (the Cinderella Bakery... their mascot was a kawaii matryoksha!) and tried to visit Kawaii Corner. Although Kawaii Corner was okay, they were quite small and I think we have similar things here in Hawai`i (so that was a bust; I didn't buy anything). Then we caught the bus back to Haight and Ashbury (amazingly crowded... not like I remember it at all) where I visited Mendel's, scores of vintage shops and Amoeba Music! Is it just me or is it a bit more commercial than it used to be? We ate gigantic delicious burritos for dinner here and were unfortunately too full to eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

We finally made it to our hotel in Japantown in the late evening: Let me just say that Hotel Kabuki is awesome! They have Japanese style baths and the staff/ decor/ rooms are really nice. Plus, you can't beat being sandwiched between two of the main Japanese malls!

The next day we caught the bus to the Exploratorium (very cool) and then walked to Renegade Craft Fair... it was my first Renegade, and it was entirely coincidental that we were in SF at the same time as the fair! It was very crowded even though it was the last day, but also very fun and a good learning experience. I didn't end up buying anything but it was still totally worth going to.

From there we went to the wharf (also extremely crowded) where we were supposed to catch a free cruise to the Golden Gate Bridge (see those passes are awesome!) but we took one look at the line and decided not to. Instead we ate the prerequisite bread bowl and clam chowder for an extremely late lunch, which we then topped off with a Ghiradhelli brownie sundae! Then we caught the bus to Union Square where we were able to squeeze in a really quick look around (basically we popped into Urban Outfitters and H&M) before things started closing.... it was already 9:00!

The next day was our last day and we stayed in Japantown because our flight was leaving at 3. I loved Japantown so much; I honestly could have spent my whole trip just shopping around there! The food was delicious too... every morning we ate at Anderson's Bakery and on our last day we had shabushabu... yummm!! I did 90% of my shopping on this day... Japantown rocked my socks off! Sooooo many cute stores... although my favorites were Daiso and Ichibankan; I wish we had stores like this in Hawai`i!!! The bento/ crafty sections were to die for! I literally spent $60 in Daiso, which is amazing because it's pretty much a dollar store! But I got sooo much good stuff. I loved Japantown :)

From my $20 "surprise" bag from MaiDo... totally worth it!

Stuff from miscellaneous stores: Kinokukiya, Mendell's in Haight and Ashbury, Urban Outfitters and H&M (don't laugh... we don't have them in HI!)

My stuff from Ichiban Kan! I especially love the panda seasoning dispenser, stickers and nail polish!

My loot from Daiso! Good finds: rolls of felt clovers, pretty felt (better quality than the ones in craft stores here) metal purse frames and chirimen cloth!

I wanna go back to SF right now :)

Earring holder tutorial

2011-07-21T01:44:00.000-07:00

I'm back from San Francisco! It was so much fun (too much fun, since I've been back since last Monday and I haven't even posted all my pictures yet!). I'll get around to posting about my trip this weekend, but until then, I thought I'd post a quick tutorial!

This tutorial is for a simple and economical earring holder! Although I'm sure there are better earring holders out there (I personally used an empty jelly jar!) this earring holder makes a quick project that will hopefully help you keep your earrings a bit more organized. All you need is an embroidery hoop (the larger the hoop, the more earrings it can hold), fabric, thread, and sewing pins. Embellishments like fabric yo-yos, sequins, embroidery, or anything else can help to make your earring holder special.

To start, cut a circle of fabric that is a little larger than the embroidery hoop. When selecting fabric, choose one that has a weave that forgives repeated use of needles and is a bit sturdier (but still thin enough to be pulled through the embroidery hoop). Before tightening the hoop, make sure the fabric is taut! Add any embellishments to your fabric while in the hoop.

If you want your fabric to stay put for long-term usage, stitch the fabric on the back of the hoop together. Otherwise, you can change "backgrounds" whenever you feel like it!

Finally, use sewing pins as pegs to hold your earrings in place! Hang your earring holder somewhere convenient :)

Guess where I'm going on Friday....

2011-07-05T23:46:00.000-07:00

blog vacation

2011-06-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

I hate to have to do this but I need a bit of a blog vacation! I'm super slammed at work and at school, so I'll be quiet until July 2nd or so... Here's hoping you guys have a nice June!

Nothing really to blog about...

2011-06-12T23:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't been up to much lately (no crafting and no fun!) so I don't have much to share with you guys today... it's also the reason I've been so quiet on my blog! Instead, my sister said I could share this with you. She recently got a new job as a lab assistant at the University (she's very science-y) and she is going on all of these fantastic hikes on our island to look at/ collect snails that are native to Hawai`i (she'll be going in a helicopter for a project soon!)

Endangered O`ahu Tree Snail: Achatinella/pūp

While she was on a hike recently, she spotted this little guy... a native happy face spider! (Don't look if you're afraid of spiders... although these little guys are nice!) They're a little rare/ endangered, and the only place they are found in the entire world is in Hawai`i (and then only on four of our eight main islands: O`ahu, Moloka`i, Hawai`i Island, and Maui). So its nice that this one had eggs! You can read more about happy face spiders here. In case you didn't know, Hawai`i is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, thanks to millions of years of geographic isolation. Hawai`i is also known as the "endangered species capital of the world," which means that there are more endangered species per square mile in our Islands than in any other place on the planet; unfortunately, we are also the extinction capital of the world :(

Endangered Happy Face Spider: Theridion Grallator/ nanana makaki`i

Conservation efforts have helped to stop some of the most dramatic losses of biodiversity, but there is still more to be done. In fact, the need to protect our plant and animal life is the reason that people visiting Hawai`i (whether they are tourists or residents) are required to fill out a forms declaring if they are carrying any fruits, vegetables or animals. We even have dogs at the airport that are specially trained to smell and find exotic plants and animals. These precautions extend past the airport too... our pet stores don't sell ferrets or hamsters (!) and Hawai`i has some of the strictest quarantine laws for pets. Although these measures are very strict, these efforts are helping to the protect unique biodiversity of our Islands.

takoyaki takochu

2011-06-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

You must know of my love for takochu by now... Someone once asked me how many I have, and I counted 50 (addicted much?) Anyhoo, my sister brought me these little guys from Japan! Aren't they wonderful? They're colored to look like takoyaki, complete with sauce, bonito flakes and nori! I decided that I would improve on my free takochu pattern and make some takoyaki takochu! I like how they turned out :)

My sister's trip to Japan

2011-05-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

My sister visited Japan for the first time shortly after the tsunami/ earthquake earlier this year, although she didn't visit areas directly affected by the tsunami. The disasters in Japan were especially meaningful to people in Hawai`i... so many of us have family and friends who are Japanese and maintain their ties to Japan. While there was a palpable sadness and despite all that had happened, there was still a spirit of resilience and strength! I thought some of the pictures my sister took showed this really well.

Although it was a sad time to be in Japan, and she felt bad being there as a tourist, my sister really enjoyed herself and loved being in Japan; in spite of the tragedies the Japanese people my sister met were able to smile and were extremely nice. Knowing me and my love of kawaii, she brought me a really nice selection of Japanese goods :)

My favorites were these chirimen items... the chicken and cookies in a box is from the chirimen museum in Kyoto and the bag is also from Kyoto!

More ipod cozies... new designs!

2011-05-25T00:57:00.000-07:00

I've made more ipod cozies! I have the usual bears (not pictured), but I also have a couple of new designs, including a takochu cozy, a cat cozy, chicken cozies and some rainbow cozies! These will be trickling into the shop slowly... hope you like them!

Also, if you LOVE takochu like I do, purveyors of cute Giantrobot is currently selling the clear ones for $2 a pop... hurry over before they run out! I got 10... O__o

Baby Cockatiel Amigurumi Pattern!

2011-05-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

Huzzah! Those of you who guessed that the little yarn pill I had on a previous post was actually the head/body of a cockatiel... you were totally right (you must have a good eye/love birdies)! As a reward and to thank you all for the mad love I've received throughout the years I've made this a free amigurumi pattern so that you can make your own baby cockatiel. Note: This pattern uses the "magic ring technique" so if you haven't gotten it down yet, visit this site!

Feel free to make these for your friends and family, but if you are going to sell them I'd really appreciate credit for the design (and maybe even link to my blog!) Also please don't distribute the pattern. Thanks in advance guys!

Materials: yarn (1-2 colors), polyfil, felt (2 colors)
Tools: Tapestry/ yarn needle, scissors, crochet hook (E-F recommended)
Finished Size (using E needle): 3” or 8 cm

Abbreviation Guide:
R#= Row Number
sc= single crochet stitch
slip/st= slip stitch
dec= decrease
ch=chain
st= stitch
♥---♥= set of stitches to repeat while crocheting in the round
dc= double crochet stitch

Crochet Instructions:
Head: (yellow or white)
Magic Ring with 6 stitches [Alternately you could Ch 2, sc 6 in the second st from the hook; join ends with a slip/st in the first sc] (6 st)
R1: ♥2 sc in each stitch around♥, Repeat 6 times (12 st)
R2: ♥1 sc , then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (18 st)
R3: ♥2 sc, then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (24 st)
R4- R7: sc all the way around (24 st)

Body: (grey)
Magic Ring with 6 stitches (6 st)
R1: ♥2 sc in each stitch around♥, Repeat 6 times (12 st)
R2: ♥1 sc , then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (18 st)
R3: ♥2 sc, then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (24 st)
R4- R9: sc all the way around (24 st)

Assembly:
Partially stitch the head and body pieces together with yarn, leave a small hole for stuffing with polyfil. After stuffing, close body. Cut out two felt circles (approximately 9-10 mm in diameter) for cheeks and a small felt triangle for the beak. Glue on felt pieces and plastic eyes. Using a yarn needle, tie 2 pieces of yarn to the top of the head and trim as necessary.

Can you guess what this is going to be?

2011-05-20T02:27:00.001-07:00

Weak sauce

2011-05-15T21:50:00.001-07:00

Boy, has it been a difficult week! Work kinda sucked everyday. The worst was that I got my adviser's comments on the first draft of my thesis on Friday the 13th. Let me just say that it was appropriate that I got the bad news that I will have to do more research/ revising in the coming months on Friday the 13th (which is believed to be a very unlucky day in the US and other parts of the world). Waaaaaah! I know it's pretty typical for you to have to do more work after your first draft of anything, but I very RARELY have to do major edits on my work after I've done my "first" draft... I think it speaks to the perfectionist side of me (at least in terms of writing/ researching). So I was kinda bummed this weekend with thoughts of self-dumbness and all that :(

However, I've gotten over it, and I am moving forward! I sometimes just need a few days to process, adjust, and make my plans of attack! I WILL finish this thesis... it will NOT kill me! I will slay it like it is an evil dragon, just you wait and see.

Sorry for this post be kind of a downer (and boring), but I know there are a couple of people who read my blog who wonder about my thesis. On a brighter note, isn't this newish re-ment set A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E? It has Rilakkuma and strawberries... what is better than that? I already know this is one of my B-day presents (I forced that bit of information out of my sister through sneakery).

One of these things doesn't belong here!

2011-05-09T01:39:00.000-07:00

just in case you can't find him amid all the bunnies :D

crabby pattie

2011-05-01T01:40:00.000-07:00

Happy May Day... and also, oh noes! I bet you guys were thinking "Holly doesn't even make amigurumi anymore!" Seriously, I haven't posted anything on my blog amigurumi related since January... *gasp* I almost feel like I'm in a creative rut (no, not really... I just have so many other loose threads to finish tying up right now!) I promise you though, soon berrysprite will return to its former amigurumi glory. Actually, I have been working on some cute amigurumi, I just haven't photographed and posted about them yet. Knowing that I would need some blog fodder, however, I photo'd this little guy, who is one of the first designs from me that you guys have seen in a long long while... I call him crabby pattie! Hope you like; normally when I'm making amigurumi their bodies are pretty much one piece, but crabby pattie is actually 2 oval pieces (plus all his tiny legs and his claws). I think he came out really cute, and it feels nice to finally make something new :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T02:37:00.000-07:00

strawberry and pear egg!

Flip camera+ berrysprite= kawaii!

2011-04-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

My sister had wanted to get a flip camera (neato video camera), but she was undecided as to whether or not she should drop the $$$. But then Cisco Systems announced that they were going to discontinue them! So she put in her order, and asked me to create a custom kawaii design for it. She's an English teacher, and she had liked a schoolyard design I had made for one of my old calendars so I made a mini Kimmie! I love her glasses and school clothes.

I thought I would share the love, so I made a desktop background for you guys too! To download, go to my flickr or photobucket, click on all sizes and save to your computer. From there, set to your desktop background! Happy happy Easter!

SUPER bag sale

2011-04-17T22:34:00.000-07:00

I've gotten behind on listing lots of items, and I recently realized that I have quite a stash of bags... which is bad for me because I have limited space in my small apartment. Thusly:

I'm having a super super bag sale! Every bag in my shop has been marked down SIGNIFICANTLY. How significantly? All small zippered Pouches are $4-$5, and clutches are $10. In other words, all bags are $10 and under. In most cases, that's 30%-almost 50% off what I normally sell them for! My pouch sale will last from Monday, April 18th to Monday April 25th. This is the perfect time to shop for gifts for friends, and there are so many cute fabrics available!

I plan to spread out the listings of my bags, but I don't want you to miss out on one that you really want! Therefore, all bag purchases will be listed by Friday, April 22 and shipping of bags purchased during week of the sale will not occur until Saturday, April 23; if you purchase bags in multiple transactions throughout the week, I'll refund the extra shipping charges, so you'll only pay for full shipping ($2- $3, depending on your location) on the first bag you purchased (every other bag will be charged the secondary shipping rate... $1), regardless of how many transactions you make during the week. And then I will send them all out at once and you will get a huge envelope of glorious bags!

Review: Sally Hanson Nail Art pens

2011-04-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

I've always loved painting my nails; When I was in grade school, I even used to color them with pencils and pens... white-out was also a favorite of mine! Unfortunately, I've never been able to master the level of artistry that allows a person to draw all kinds of pretty/kawaii/ cool things on their nails (hey, those nail polish brushes are huge!) and whenever I tried, I would inevitably end up ruining my paint job and just taking it all off anyway. So even though I loved painting my nails, it was quite frustrating that the best designs I could make consisted of misshapen polka dots.

Enter Sally Hansen's Nail Art pens! I generally like Sally Hansen nail polish and these pens are no different. In fact, they take the difficulty out of making designs on your nails... they are essentially nail polish in pen form, which makes it very easy and quick to draw. I was a little skeptical at first, because I've tried other nail pens which just ended up not having enough or too much nail polish to ball point ratio. However these were fantastic! I tried the white and dark pink colors and I loooove them. You use them just like a pen; just make sure your nail polish is completely dry, and seal your design with a top coat (I like glitter polish)

They cost around $5-$10 each... which seems expensive but is not bad considering the price of a mani/pedi! All of a sudden, my nail art repertoire has been expanded from mere dots to flowers, skulls and bunnies... so many possibilities!

Please vote for me :)

2011-04-07T20:34:00.001-07:00

Please vote for my "happy weather" fabric... I've entered it in the Spoonflower "Rain" fabric contest, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! It's my most popular design on Spoonflower! Thanks so much :)

printsess

2011-04-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

Have you guys heard about Printsess? It's a small-run printing company that can customize all sorts of goodness, including acrylic and metal charms for a decent price (they used to print stickers and posters, but now they're focusing on charms!). Basically, small-run means they allow for smaller than usual orders.... which is perfect for small businesses! All you have to do is submit your designs (within the specifications) The minimum order is 50 for acrylic charms and 100 for metal charms; prices depend on how large your design is. For acrylic charms, you can also submit up to four designs per order!

I haven't tried them (mostly because I'm still working on my thesis and these charms would be too fun) but I think they're quite popular. I'm pretty sure these are the girls behind heychickadee and everydaycute. I definitely plan on making some charms once I'm finished with all my work! If you've used Printsess before, let me know how you liked them!

My camera is dead :(

2011-04-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

My beloved camera, Blackie, has died! After serving me faithfully for 5 years, he went kaput last week Saturday.... booo! I loved him so; he was my very first camera, and he traveled with me to such places as China, San Diego and Washington DC. He endured a lot of jostling, bumps and scrapes, rain and sand. He accompanied me to archives and museums to document sources and material culture! He was there for the beginning of berrysprite, and we learned photography tricks together. In fact, he was the reason I was able to start my berrysprite shop and a huge part of the reason berrysprite has been so successful... his macro capabilities were positively delicious. All of that color and vibrancy that highlight berrysprite goodness were all his doing... he made my amigurumi look cute; Suffice it to say he will be sorely missed. And now it is only fitting that I post an homage to my dearly departed friend and all of his glorious work over the years! Rest in peace dear camera.

Giveaway winner!

2011-03-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

So to select the winner of the giveaway, I emptied out my mango pudding cow and entered placed everyone's name in it (2x if you entered on my blog and my FB). Then, I shook it around and picked a winner...

Congratulations Kairi! Please email me your mailing info ASAP (berrysprite@yahoo.com) so I can send out your clover heart pom pom maker! Thanks so much everyone for entering... stay tuned for a tutorial or some other goodie in the coming month!

Clover Heart Pompom-Maker Giveaway!

2011-03-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Huzzah, it's time for another giveaway (open to US and International friends)! To reward you for your patience while I had my tiny blog hiatus, I am giving away something truly grand... a clover heart pom pom maker (size small)! If you haven't seen or heard about these wonderful gadgets, you can check out my review of them here; basically it allows you to make pompoms that are in the shape of hearts. Besides making hearts, I use mine to make these kawaii pompom chickens... so cute! The giveaway will run from March 25, 2011 to March 30, 2011 and the winner will be announced March 31, 2011

EDIT: Announcement will be late tonight, HI time (but still technically on the 31st for me, haha)... thanks so much everyone!!!

Spoonflower Project Selvage Entry

2011-03-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Have you guys heard about the Project Selvage contest? One of my FB friends let me know about it! It's a contest done with Spoonflower and Michael Miller... the contest is asking people to design a baby boy fabric. The grand prize winner will get $1000 and an all expenses trip to the International Quilt Market Fall 2011 in Houston, TX. But best of all, the winner will be asked to design 6 more coordinating fabrics for Michael Miller Fabrics! I found out about it a bit late (designs must be submitted to spoonflower by March 24) but luckily, I already had a design floating around in my head and therefore I also had a lot of the elements designed. Here's my entry on top it's called "happy ocean"... the bottom one is one that I also liked (but figured it might be harder to win with since it's larger scale and baby boys are small)! If you guys are interested in entering, go and design something quick!

Tiny blog hiatus

2011-02-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

My Facebook splash page!

It's been a while! This is probably one of the longest times I've gone without posting anything on my blog... and I have to admit its kind of a bummer, because I miss you guys! Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go on a mini blogging hiatus; my target date will be a return on March 19, 2011. You guys know I'm swamped, so I'll spare you the details. I will still be active on my facebook, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep my shop open during this time (I need the $$$!) It's just that blogging requires a little something more :) Please take a mini vacation with me until then... and if you get lonely hop on over to my FB! I promise that when I come back, I will be doing a really fun giveaway as a reward, and I'll probably have a tutorial or two available as a reward for your patience! Until then, have a happy end of February/ beginning of March!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

I know Valentine's Day is over (or almost over) for most everybody, but here's my belated present to you! A new wallpaper featuring my newest animal design... little raccoons! Go to flickr or photobucket to download for free, and enjoy my loves!

Square credit card reader

2011-02-09T01:59:00.000-08:00

Speaking of ipods....Although I haven't tried to sell my berrysprite stuff at any other venue besides etsy, I would really like to sell at craft fairs someday. Accepting credit cards is a big issue for sellers; if you don't accept credit cards, often you miss out on a lot of sales. However, if you do accept credit cards, sometimes it's hard to get a reliable card reader, and you may end up in a worst case scenario where you have to phone in every credit transaction. The horror!

Luckily I found out about Square...If you guys have an ipod touch or an iphone and you do a lot of craft fairs, I would highly recommend you looking into this little credit card reader! The company and card reader were featured in Time Magazine last year as one of the 50 best inventions of 2010, and I just recently got my own. I know that many people use propay or other credit card services for their crafty businesses, but I was really attracted to Square because: 1. the card reader is free, 2. there is no monthly plan/ charges, no setup fee, no contract and no hidden fees. 3. I have an ipod touch!!!

I found it easy to sign up on their website, and I got my card reader in about 2 weeks. Although I haven't done a test run yet, from the reviews I've read it seems to work spot on all the time! If you are interested in a Square, I would recommend that you also look into wireless internet service for your ipod/ipod touch... that way you can be sure you always have the ability to take credit cards!

Teal Bearpod Cozy

2011-02-06T01:30:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have been following my progress on my thesis (I know there are like one or two of you!) This weekend I worked on my citations for Chapters 1-4 and I should be able to edit and send them to my adviser by the end of the week... Huzzazles!

In the meantime, I've been working on things in waves because I've been so busy... I've found that it's much easier to make things en masse, particularly because whenever I make anything I have to get all my supplies together and I generally make a big mess (so there's nothing like making only one type of big mess!) Anyway, I made a BUNCH of ipod cozies the other week and I've been slowly putting them into my shop... many of them are already sold out (sorry for the late notice!) I've featured them on my blog before but I wanted to do it again because I'm debuting this new color.... teal green (he's not quite finished yet though)! Usually, I make these cozies out of pastel cottons, but I saw this teal and knew it would make an awesome cozy. Pics of the teal one to my FB later this week!

Messy apartment... always!

2011-02-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

In my imaginary house, everything is nicely put away and organized, just like I see in lovely magazines and on the blogs of other crafty people. However, this is how most of my things are organized in real life(i.e., they are not organized at all!) As for my closet... is it surprising that it's full of more yarn/ fabric than actual clothes? I'm too embarrassed to show you guys under my bed and in the trunk of my car, so this is all you get to see for now! Someday, I'll have a huge room all to myself, and all my crafty goodness will be well organized but for now this is it.

I see a belt, pouches, thread, a plate, ribbon, tape and lace!

Side note: I'm going to be kinda quiet this weekend/ week; I'm finishing up Chapters 1-4 of my thesis to send to my advisor.... she WILL get it by the end of the week! (Still got Chapter 5, Intro, Conclusion and Bibliography left).

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-01T01:16:00.000-08:00

Narcissus flowers... they smell so good!

Chinese New Year falls on February 3rd this year, so this weekend there were festivities in Chinatown! Usually, the city closes down a few streets and there are demonstrations and mini parades of Chinese Lions... Unfortunately we missed the lion dances! Luckily, many malls in Hawai`i do Lion Dances throughout the month of Chinese New Year, so we'll probably have the chance to feed the lion money and get good luck for the rest of the year!

It seemed a little less busy this year but maybe that was because we went at an off hour. It was alright though, because at the Cultural Plaza there were lots of food stalls and vendors, including this little tent which was selling glass charms. All in all it was loads of fun!

vintage goodies

2011-01-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

I have recently come into a bunch of vintage goodies! My tutu (great grandma) used to be a seamstress, so my grandma gave me a lot of her old sewing supplies... including some really groovy Hawaiian print fabrics from the 50s, 60s and 70s!!! These fabrics are of a much better quality than you can get today; really thick and well made. Plus, the prints and color combinations are AWESOME! On top of that, my grandma gave me hundreds of my tutu's vintage patterns from the 60s and 70s (many specifically from Hawai`i) *gasp!*. These are priceless! The only thing is, I must learn how to properly sew clothes so I can make use of these treasures.

Yep, this is a bright blue and orange paisely Hawaiian print fabric... yay 60s!!!

I got even more great vintage things around the same time; my friend was moving to Germany and she gave me a bunch of her crafty supplies, including embroidery thread (always good when you make amigurumi) scrapbooking supplies and..... A SERGER!!! I haven't gotten the chance to use it yet, but I'm SO excited... it will definitely help when I attempt to make stuff out of my tutu's patterns!

shop reopening!

2011-01-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

Yay, berrysprite is now reopened! It was supposed to open yesterday, but of course I got sidetracked :D Needless to say, the break was a nice little vacation... I got so much done! (So much so that I may have to reprise it sooner rather than later). Although I love selling things and I really hate to admit it, packaging and mailing have always given me the biggest snags. So it was nice to not have to worry about it for a month... I hope it wasn't too long to wait. There's a few things that I'll be trickling into store; hopefully some Valentine's Day themed items like red velvet cupcakes and pink and red bears. Although I didn't get to make as much as I wanted for the restock, the things I did manage to make turned out to be exceptionally kawaii, such as these needle-felted bears!

Calendars....?

2011-01-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

I know I know, it's already almost mid January and there's no calendar... I'm sorry! Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to make one every month this year (because of work/neverending thesis, etc), so I'm going to suspend the monthly calendars for 2011. Instead, I'll probably make little graphics like this one available all year round (like for avatars/badges, iphone backgrounds and desktop backgrounds), and whenever I get the chance to make one I'll post it. You can download them from my flickr or photobucket. I hope you guys aren't too disappointed... I'll make it up to you, I promise (it might just take me like a year, haha!). This one features Olive and her rabbit friend. Since it's the year of the rabbit, you'll probably see lots of kawaii rabbits. Big hugs to you all!

Happy from fairy tail

2011-01-10T00:32:00.000-08:00

Look what I made....It's Happy from the anime Fairy Tail! I made him for my sister, and believe you me when I say I had the hardest time getting him to look just right (Hopefully he looks okay now!) It was difficult to capture his big eyes and weird head! My poor sister, she usually gets all my prototype amigurumi, and I'm still in the process of making her Link from the Legend of Zelda (which I actually started to make for her like 3 years ago!)

strapya

2011-01-07T02:01:00.000-08:00

I just got some amazing cute kawaii things from this company called strapya. Although I've mentioned briefly on my blog in the past, I took the liberty of ordering myself some things from them for Christmas. I'm sooo glad I did! I got mostly keychains (which are so cute!) but I also scored some really cute plush (around $8)! The shipping rates to the US were very good ($5... and I had plush!) and the prices aren't bad, considering the items are coming from Japan. Best of all, their shipping is FAST... I ordered a few days before Christmas and I got my order the day after Christmas! One thing I would recommend is to check their site often... things that are super cute seem to run out quickly and I'm not sure how quickly they restock. Also, make sure to navigate through all the pages (it's a little clunky) to make sure you get everything you want. Be warned... I am not to be held responsible if you find a ton of things you like and use all your monies on the cutie things they have at Strapya!

Blog redesign!

2010-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've redesigned my blog... I hope you like it! It took me around 5 hours from start to finish (including drawing and designing), so even though I'm getting faster, it's a good thing it was a holiday weekend :D The hardest part of this design was figuring out how to do the gradient background, but I really like the way it turned out!

Happy New Year and resolutions

2010-12-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hauoli Makahiki Hou/ Happy New Year everyone! Some years can be bad, and some years are good, but 2010 was a really great year for me... everything worked out. I've been truly blessed this year, and I'm so thankful! I hope everyone had a similarly good year :D

My number one resolution is to make berrysprite a real business! I wanna build a website off of etsy, do a craft fair (or two!) and expand my product line! Plus, I want to be able to actually have things in my shop on time (like for the holidays)... it's always such a rush for me; in 2011 I'd like to be able to have timing down pat!

Great Christmas Haul!

2010-12-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hmmm... I'm noticing a definite red and white theme here that I didn't notice when I asked for these things!!!

It was such a great Christmas... I hope you all had a lovely Christmas as well! I got so many lovely things (unfortunately I only gave gift cards :( boo me!) Among them; totally fun socks (very rainbow bright/ pirate!) , a SUPER cute chupa chups purse ( I bet you didn't even know chupa chups made stuff other than lollipops!) and kawaii mushroom lamps (SOOOOO CUUTE). Plus, super cute gifts from lovely etsy friends :D... you know who you are!

Plus, I'm notoriously hard to shop for, so lots of people just give me a $$ range and I shop for myself. This year I got a lot of stuff related to work, including work clothes and shoes. If you guys are like me and need cute/ comfortable flats for work/ fun, I would suggest checking out blowfish shoes. I know, weird name (DO NOT go to blowfish.com unless you want to be scarred for life... go to blowfishshoes.com!!! See, I put the link twice so you won't go to the wrong site by accident!) They are really soft and comfortable, plus they are stylish too (I've had the hardest time finding pointy-toed flats, but these are great!) Although they run around $40 or more for a pair (expensive for me!), they are seriously my new favorite shoe brand!

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas everyone! I made these little gingerbread men as gift tags to put on the bags of brownies I'm gave to my coworkers. They're so tiny (1.5") but cute! Next year I'd like to be able to make some for my shop. Anyway, I hope everyone has a merry and bright holiday filled with food, family, friends, and warmth. Sending you all love and warm wishes!

Clothes alterations

2010-12-21T01:00:00.000-08:00

Because I'm kinda tall (5'10"), it's sometimes hard to find dresses that are long enough for me (especially in Hawai`i, where most girls are around 5'4"... lots of Asian/ Southeast Asians in our population!) One of my solutions is to buy long dresses and hem/ alter them! I especially love Ross, heh heh; although you have to be really patient and paw through the heaps of clothes, you can often find some really cute pieces for a really affordable price (uh, hello under $20)! Besides, why would you alter something that was really expensive?

I'm currently making my way through a small stack of really cute long dresses (can you tell I love the pattern in the picture? It's so retro!); because I want to use them for work, I'm cutting them around knee length and using a rolled hem (but I don't have the right foot attachment for my sewing machine, so I do it all by myself). If you're going to alter your own dresses, I would suggest you stay away from jersey or stretchy material, and you use an iron!!! Cut the dress at the right length (use a measuring tape; make sure you leave some allowance for rolling the hem). Fold over the raw edge twice (so that there is no raw edge visible). Pin and iron. Use a straight stitch to sew the hem down (close to the loose edge of the fold) When you're finished, check for any hanging threads! Add a cardigan, belt, and nice shoes, and you have a nice new dress!

shop closed for the holidays

2010-12-18T18:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry for such short notice...berrysprite will be closed Dec 20- Jan 17, during which time I shall work like a fiend on all the loose-ends kinds of stuff that I have to do! Don't worry though, I'll probably be more settled into my job, even more finished with my thesis, and nicely rested from the craziness of the holidays. Stay tuned to my blog and facebook during the downtime... I'm sure I'll be doing lots of fun stuff!

New Spoonflower fabric!

2010-12-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

Two newish fabric designs are available on my spoonflower; well actually I made them a while ago but now the are available for purchase! Both of these designs have an ocean/ sea life theme: one is my takochu/sea urchin design (which you may have seen before) and a dolphin design. They are also have a larger scale; the takochu are around 1.5" or 3.5 cm and the dolphins are around 1" or ~2.5. I really like the takochu, but let me just say that I LOOOVE the dolphin one! I've always been partial to dolphins actually :) I especially love the fact that you think the design is so cute, but upon closer inspection you can see that some of the dolphins are using sonar pulses to stun little fishes! Hey, dolphins gotta eat too! The only thing is, one of the dolphins was a slightly different color in my design, and it came out waaay different when it was printed; it's still really cute but still! I've fixed it now (all the dolphins are now the same color as the lighter one... that's the color I originally wanted)

Walnut christmas ornaments

2010-12-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

We decorated our tree, and it made me think....It's no wonder I'm so crafty! My mom used to make Christmas ornaments with us when we were little; in part because it was a fun activity and also because we couldn't afford fancy decorations.

Most of these were made by my mom, though I made the one with the little clowns and red jester a little under 20 years ago!

Our favorites to make were these ornaments made of walnut shells. All you have to do is clean the walnut shells out using a little knife (get rid of all the brown papery stuff) and use a little awl , reamer or hand drill to carefully pierce a hole in the top of the walnut (sometimes they will break, so make sure you have extra shells). String a loop through the shell for hanging, and add little toys or decorations like mini deer, wreaths or even tiny wooden Christmas ornaments using hot glue. We loved using glitter and metallic pipe cleaners! Many of the ornaments on our tree are mismatched and handmade; no uniform department store tree/decorations for us! In fact, even though we have a cramped/ tiny apartment, we always get a tree that is at least 6 feet tall so we can fit all our ornaments on it! Today, the handmade ornaments are some of the ones my mom and dad cherish the most :)

My mom made the blown egg ornament 30 years ago with tissue paper and glitter; she and my dad love/ have three of these little pinecone girls (one for me and each of my sisters). This mushroom ornament is my favorite ever!

Minimalist blog posting...

2010-12-10T01:48:00.001-08:00

For those of you who still read this blog, I'm sorry it's been nearly a week since I've posted. And I'm also sorry this post is so hasty :D I'm settling into my new job, and it's really nice but also hectic. Let's just say I have two preliminary analysis reports due (yes, it is just my first week of work!) and I spent all day transcribing 4 hours of an interview. But it is fun :D However, because it's dark when I leave home and dark when I get back, I haven't had the opportunity to take a lot of pictures/ craft/ do berrysprite things... I'm hoping it will all iron out as I get more used to a full time job. Don't worry though, I will LEARN how to schedule posts this weekend, so that I can end up posting for more than once a week. And also, (because I couldn't take any pictures) I drew this picture of me... I'm doing discoing to Stayin' Alive just like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (don't ask me how I came up with this... I don't know how to disco, and I've never seen Saturday Night Fever!) I'm wearing disco glasses because when you disco you need to rub the funk on. And now I have to go to bed, and it's only 12:00 pm. Aye, that's what I don't like about this job :D I hope you guys are having a good end of the week... I'll see you after I submit those reports!

Winner of the Christmas Cookie Ornament Giveaway!

2010-12-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

And the winner is: Savannah!!!! Savannah wrote that her favorite thing about the holidays was: "all of the people I see and how happy everyone looks :D" Savannah love, please email me your address ASAP or by Friday (Dec. 10) so I can send your cookies out! Big hugs to everyone who entered... it was fun!

December calendar!

2010-12-04T03:06:00.001-08:00

Yay, December calender is here! I'm so sorry it is late; for those of you who don't know I started my first day of work at my first real (full time, permanent non-student-y job). The first couple of days have been really nice, though I have learned that I will need more non-heel business shoes (I wore low wedges on the first day and my feet were still killing me! It's gonna be ballet flats 24/7!) and business clothes (usually I live in skirts and jersey dresses... now I need trousers because the office is soooo cold!). So work is the reason the calendar this time around is late, and a lot simpler. Hopefully it's still cute though! To download the December calendar, visit my flickr or my photobucket. Here's the story:

Scout and Oscar decided to decorate wild trees this year, and on the way home they found some lost cookies!

This calendar concludes all the calendars I've made throughout the year, and I hope you've enjoyed them :D I really loved making these this year, and we'll see what next year brings! My favorites were: the ones with the hot air balloon (June) the ghost (October) and the fireplace (November)! Which ones did you like?

Christmas Cookie Ornament Giveaway!

2010-11-30T01:07:00.001-08:00

It's been such a wonderful year for me, and to top it all off I'm looking forward to a truly fabulous holiday season (new job, finishing thesis, new opportunities, new friends)! So I thought it was only right for me to do a Christmas giveaway, to celebrate my wonderful year and my awesome berrysprite friends!

This year I'll be giving away a pair of my felt cookie ornaments... one light brown and one dark brown cookie for your holiday home :D The giveaway will run from Tuesday, Nov. 30 to Saturday, Dec. 4, and the winner will be announced on Sunday (Dec. 5) because I want to make sure the winner receives his/ her ornaments in time for Christmas! To enter the giveaway leave a comment on this post that describes one of your favorite things about any holiday(it doesn't have to be Christmas!). Although the winner will be selected by a random number generator (based on the number of your comment), it's fun to see what makes people happy, don't you think? For example, I love Christmas, and one thing that I love are all the Christmas lights (you know, bright shiny pretty things are my weakness).

Also, if you can't wait to see if you've won the ornaments, you can make some of your own! Try your hand at my felt cookie tutorial which I made last year... They are so fast and easy to make, and they look daaaarling when they are finished; perfect for a small gift or favor (or even for your own Christmas tree)!

Black Friday!

2010-11-26T02:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some lovelies that will be in the sale! Enjoy!

From 10 am to 10 pm (Hawai`i time) on November 26, enter the code "blackfriday" during checkout to receive 15% off all items (not including shipping) in my store.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T01:14:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their turkey/ tofurkey. I just had to share this little guy with you... It's been a long time since I made a new amigurumi design, and I had a custom request for an owl. I think he turned out really cute! He's got handpainted eyes and is made from fuzzy brown yarns, with a felt beak. I may tweak the proportions a bit in the future (to make him look more like a meatball owl!). Although there won't be any owls in the Black Friday sale update (so sorry!), I have now added owls to my repertoire, and you can expect to see more of them in the future!

PS, Modes4U.com is having a huge giveaway.... go enter to win cute stuff!

Black Friday sale!

2010-11-22T02:21:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much for being so patient guys! I don't know if you know, but I got the job! I am now a research analyst just like a real grown up. I'm still not sure when I start, but it's soon, they just have to do background checks and stuff on me. Yayyy!

Anyway, I just wanted to announce that I will be having my first ever Black Friday sale (Nov. 26) It's to celebrate a lot of things... me getting a job, my 4 year shop anniversary, you guys being awesome, etc. Also, for anybody not familiar with the term, Black Friday refers to the biggest shopping day of the year, which is always right after the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. Lot's of shops have sales on this day, and because etsy just rolled out a new coupon code system, I thought I should too!

From 10 am to 10 pm (Hawai`i time) on November 26, enter the code "blackfriday" during checkout to receive 15% off all items (not including shipping) in my store.

I have been working on a few amigurumi to add to my shop for the sale, including some cupcakes, a unicorn, two snowmen, a couple of bearpod cozies, a sushi set, and lots of Gingerbread ornaments; I'll set up these items on the day of the sale (sorry, no reserving), but I may add a few other things throughout the week. Hope to see you at the sale!

Craziness... but in a really good way :D

2010-11-12T22:12:00.001-08:00

Okay, this is going to be one of the few posts on my blog without a picture. I'm sorry! I literally have not been able to pick up my camera to take pictures of all the goodies I'm working on; you may have noticed too that although my shop was only supposed to be closed until Nov. 2, it is still closed (and will probably remain closed through my four year etsy anniversary on Nov. 14... boo!) One reason is the same; I'm trying REALLY hard to finish up my thesis. The second reason is: I've also been applying to grown up jobs. It has literally been ten shades of crazy!

Anyway, I'm really stoked because it looks like there is a chance that I will have a bonafide grown-up job soon... we'll see how it goes. I applied to 4 different places doing history/research-e things and in the past week I've gotten 3 interview offers and one second interview offer (which I totally did not expect)! The thing is, some of these interviews require writing samples etc, so I'll probably be a little quiet on the blog front for a while... nothing like writing your thesis, writing writing samples and writing blog entries/working on the shop. Oh, also, I just wanted to say thanks so much for all the warm vibes you guys always send me through etsy, Facebook and of course here on my blog... it sure does help when you have people who are so positive for you even when you've never met them and they're so far away :D

PS... I send you guys good vibes too!

Holiday blog redesign

2010-11-08T02:44:00.000-08:00

I hope you guys like the new blog design... it definitely has a holiday feel to it, although I daresay that I've skipped over a few of the big ones, including Thanksgiving (just like the shopping malls!) Isn't it weird how Christmas seems to come earlier every year? This year, though, I'm really looking forward to seeing all the Christmas decorations and hearing all the Christmas music; I'll be finishing up the rough draft of my thesis which will be one of the greatest presents to myself ever! When I was redesigning the blog, I kept the fact that I'm really early in the season in the back of my mind, and consequently I stayed away from using red and green as theme colors, and also stopped just short of including Christmas trees and presents in the design (though it was tempting!). I think the taupe/brown and maroon work well as colors, and you can never go wrong with kawaii cookies... overall I'm quite chuffed about it actually! I just hope you guys won't get tired of the redesign because it's early for Christmas :D Anyways, sending you all (early) wishes for a happy holiday season!

Embellishing your crochet with... crochet

2010-11-05T03:03:00.000-07:00

Huzzah... I just recently started using a new crocheting skill when I'm making amigurumi (millions of swirly cupcakes, ahem) and I wanted to share it with you! Using this technique, you can create swirls and lines on your amigurumi, I've even done zigzags. Basically you'll be crocheting additional yarn onto crocheted pieces you've already made in order to embellish or decorate them. I'm not sure what this technique is called in real crocheting language (Making lines? Embroidering? I tried to look it up! Anyway, if you know please tell me!) (Psst... It's called "surface crochet"... thanks June!!!)

Actually, it's a really simple technique. To start, take your crochet needle and push it through your crocheted piece from the outside to the inside. Using the hook of your needle, pick up another piece of yarn (conveniently colored red in the pictures) and pull a loop through the piece from the inside to the outside. Repeat the process with the loop on your hook; you'll basically be pulling one loop into another to form a chain onto your crocheted piece. Try to place your hook/loops between your stitches... that way your loops will come out nice and smooth! Don't forget; you can skip stitches or even go perpendicular!

The above picture shows what this technique should look like on the inside of your crocheted piece, in case you're having trouble. I hope this technique will be useful to you guys!

November calendar is here!

2010-11-01T01:48:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween, full of lots of candy and fun! Yay, November's calendar is here! It took me a little bit to make this one, mostly because the colors on my computer were fine but on other computers they turned extremely yellow. Visit my flickr or my photobucket to download for free, because I love you all :) To download, click on "all sizes" pick "original" and then save to your computer; from there, set it as your desktop background!

Here's the story: "Oscar and Scout decided to have their Thanksgiving feast of corn, carrots and peanut butter pumpkin pie inside where it's nice and cozy; it's getting a bit chilly out! " (PS. I have no idea what peanut butter pumpkin pie would taste like but it sounds like it would be good, right?)

Hoisin Ribs Recipe

2010-10-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

Ohmygoodness, it's been a whole week since I've blogged! I'm so sorry you had to wait for an new post [although if you did have to wait that makes me feel fuzzy, because it means you like reading my blog!] Anyway, not much going on around here in the way of crafting. It has been getting a little cooler weatherwise, though, which is divine because although I like the sun (you kinda have to if you live in Hawai`i!) my ultimate favorite weather is overcast, rainy and cool weather. One of my dreams is to someday visit Ireland and run around on those green hills they have... in the misty rain of course!

Since it's turning a bit cooler, I made some saimin/ ramen (if you're ever in Hawai`i and you order saimin, you'll get ramen; but the fresh kine, not the freeze dried package you can buy for like $0.10). On top I put fresh green onions, fishcake and some really delicious hoisin pork I made... it's really good, and I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys! If you like char siu pork, you'll like this! If you don't eat pork, it'd probably be just as good with chicken!

Hoisin Ribs:
boneless pork (I used "boneless country ribs"... whatever that cut of meat is; also this recipe makes a lot of sauce so you can make a lot or a little meat!)
1 jar of hoisin sauce (8 oz; I dunno a good substitute... go to your Asian grocery!)
1/2 cup of ketchup
2 teaspoons of minced garlic (or more!)
1/2 cup of honey
* I also put in 1/2 a jar of plum sauce (8/2= 4 oz), but I recently tried it with cranberry sauce and it came out lovely! *

Preheat oven to 375°F ( I actually use 400°F, but my oven runs cold). Put all ingredients into a gallon size ziploc bag, and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Place pork into a foil lined baking pan, reserve the ziploc of sauce. Bake pork. After 30 minutes turn pieces and drain any liquid. Bake for another 30 minutes or until fully cooked (they should still be moist though... not dried out). Place cooked pieces back into the ziploc (it may help to do this over a sink) and shake in order to coat pieces with sauce entirely. Place back into the pan, and broil for approximately 10 minutes, or until sauce caramelizes on pork.

takochu and forest friends spoonflower designs

2010-10-19T23:09:00.000-07:00

BORED!!! I am bored. Of thesis. Tonight for dinner I made Garlic chicken, cucumber kim-chee and sweet potato salad... it was random but delicious (and a little bit stinky), which is the reason there are no pictures of said feast.

Continuing with the randomness, here are some fabric designs which I made a while back but have just now made available for viewing in my spoonflower gallery (sorry, not for sale yet!) I thought I should add some designs there since I have lots of new spoonflower connections (yay!). I was going to enter the one with the acorns into spoonflower's "forest animals" contest, but I think I am too lazy, heh heh. The takochu one is a bit different because it's a tiny bigger than the fabric I normally design; I usually like to keep it on a smaller scale so I can make pouches, etc with it (these takochu are around 1.5" or ~3.8 cm.) In the future there will be a rainbow takochu fabric. Also, once I have a bit more time I'll make some fabrics that aren't just repeat/tiles lined up... ones that blend together (does that make sense?) Anyway, I hope you guys are having a great week!

Amigurumi acorn pattern

2010-10-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

Here's my present to you guys... a free amigurumi pattern for a kawaii acorn! Even though Fall is winding down, acorns are good all year round! I imagine you guys could make a whole mess of these, and they'd be super cute as decorations or favors, keychains, charms etc! I'd love to see finished amigurumi (from this pattern or others)... please consider posting your lovelies to the berrysprite amigurumi flickr group; you can also become a member; we'd love to have you!

Feel free to make these for your friends and family, but if you are going to sell them I'd really appreciate a shout out that credits me for the design (and maybe even link to my blog!) Also please don't distribute the pattern. Thanks in advance guys!

Abbreviation Guide:
R#= Row Number
sc= single crochet stitch
slip/st= slip stitch
dec= decrease
ch=chain
st= stitch
♥---♥= set of stitches to repeat while crocheting in the round
dc= double crochet stitch

Nut:
To begin: Use a magic ring with 6 stitches to start. (Alternately you could Ch 2, sc 6 in the second st from the hook; join ends with a slip/st in the first sc (6 st)
R1: ♥2 sc in each stitch around♥, Repeat 6 times (12 st)
R2: ♥1 sc , then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (18 st)
R3-R7: sc all the way around (18 st)
R8: ♥dec 1, 1 sc♥, repeat 6 times (12 st)
R9: ♥dec 1♥, repeat 6 times (6 st)

Cap:
To begin: Use a magic ring with 6 stitches to start. (Alternately you could Ch 2, sc 6 in the second st from the hook; join ends with a slip/st in the first sc (6 st)
R1: ♥2 sc in each stitch around♥, Repeat 6 times (12 st)
R2: ♥1 sc , then 2 sc in next st♥, Repeat 6 times (18 st)
R3-R6: sc all the way around (18 st)

Stem:
To make the stem, stick your crochet needle through the top of your cap and pull a piece of yarn from the inside out. Ch 4, then use a yarn needle to weave the tail back through the chain and back into the amigurumi cap.

Instructions:
Stuff the nut with polyfil. Use a tapestry/ yarn needle to close the stuffed nut. Sew the cap to the nut. Add a face to your new acorn!

Work as usual...

2010-10-13T00:39:00.000-07:00

After a long radio silence, I'm back for a bit... just a short update for now! I've been busy as usual, working on my thesis, working on a job application (for a real, grown up job!), working through a custom order (even though my custom orders are closed) that is taking surprisingly long... the good thing is I'm making more of everything that people have ordered, so new items will eventually trickle into my shop. These chicken poms are a good example!

Modes4u Giveaway winner!

2010-10-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's such a late post tonight guys, although it's still technically October 6 in Hawai`i, I'm sure it's October 7th in many other parts of the world... so you must have been waiting for this announcement! I apologize for making you wait :D Anyhoo, All good things must come to an end... luckily the Modes4u Giveaway ends with a winner, who will be getting all of this loot!
And the winner is...... Su Hyun! Su Hyun's favorite item sold in the Modes4u shop was the "cute hoodie with ears kawaii bear" in brown, a lovely and most popular choice (since it seems to be sold out right now). Don't worry about the hoodie, Su Hyun, because you have a bundle of Modes4u loot coming your way! PS, please email me your address and info to collect your prize (berrysprite@yahoo.com)!

Just a quick thank-you to everyone who participated in the giveaway... it was a lot of fun n'est pas? Don't worry if you didn't win, I have a little surprise in store for ALL of you guys, so stay tuned!

October Calendar

2010-10-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

October's free calendar is now available for download... just go to my flickr or photobucket and click "all sizes" to get the original large size. From there, just save to your desktop and set it as your background :D

I'm really in love with this one guys, especially Oscar's Television costume and the little ghost... Scout is a little hula girl of course! It actually didn't take me too long to get it done; I was able to finish it in about 4 hours spread over 2 nights. I stayed pretty close to my original concept too, which was going to be a spooky house with Scout and Oscar trick-or-treating outside. Here's the story:

While trick or treating Scout and Oscar found a haunted house. Although Scout was a little scared, she told Oscar he could give the ghost some candy... which made the ghost so happy he forgot to shout "boo!" Halloween isn't really that spooky!

Last day to vote in Spoonflower's Kawaii Contest!

2010-09-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to vote for berrysprite's "yummy foods" fabric in the spoonflower kawaii contest... voting ends Sept 30th. Thanks so much to everyone who has already voted :D

Weekend Fun

2010-09-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend I didn't do much, which was nice. I ended up going to Foster Botanical Garden... it was a lot of fun being in nature! If you're ever in Hawai`i, I would definitely recommend getting out of Waikiki and going to a botanical garden; most of ours feature lots of exotic plants like orchids and other flowers. Some of my favorites from this visit: the cannon ball tree, and the Bismark Palm, where I found this cute little nut that is shaped like a whale/ snail/ nudibranch! Other than that, I really just played around all weekend :D For the week I have a few custom orders to work on, the October calendar too, and of course, my thesis! I hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Spoonflower Kawaii contest... vote for me!

2010-09-23T11:21:00.001-07:00

Yay for the Spoonflower kawaii contest!!!! There are LOTS of really cute fabrics, so it may be hard for me to win. I entered my "yummy foods" fabric design, which I've edited so that the colors pop a little more, and there's less yellow. If you like this design, please consider voting for me: you can vote here! Every vote is much appreciated :D ... I've entered a couple of these contests before, and I did really well too (thanks to you lovely voters!) But wouldn't it be awesome if I won the kawaii contest... then I'd be bonafide!

Modes4U Giveaway!!! Sept 20 -Oct 4

2010-09-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

Dearest readers, we have such a special giveaway this time, which just happens to be just right to celebrate the end of Fall/almost beginning of Winter!! The reason its so special is that it's my very first hosted giveaway, and I'm so excited.... we are so lucky that our friend Sandra is such a sweetie pie! For those of you who don't know her, Sandra is a veritable purveyor kawaii over at her online store, ModeS4U, which sells a truly awesome variety of clothes, bags, accessories, stationery, fabric and more... (I dare you to go over there... you'll fall in love!)

Anyways, Sandra has been so kind as to offer ONE (that's right, only one!) especially lucky berrysprite reader ALL of this loot; which includes 1) a sweet birdie bento box, 2) a sticker sheet from Crux that features Llamas and Pandas, squee! 3) a randomly selected Re-ment from the Hello Kitty Stationary collection 4) a cute letter set featuring kawaii Japanese bunnies, and 5) a cute deco tape set! Just an FYI, both the blue bento box and the bunny letter set are actually special items that are not being sold in the ModeS4U shop... Sandra personally picked these out on her trip to Japan!

Now for the details: the contest will run from Monday, September 20th, 2010 to Monday October 4th 2010, so there's plenty of time to enter. Also, there are soooo many chances to win... jump on it! Whererver possible, olease provide links as proof of your entry!
1) Go to the modeS4u online shop and choose your favorite item then come back here and post the link as a comment on this post (1 entry)
2) Become a fan of the modeS4u Facebook Fanpage (1 entry)
3) Follow @modes4u on Twitter + tweet about the giveaway (1 entry)
4) Write a blog post about this giveaway + modeS4u online shop (so 1 link to this blog post + 1 link to modeS4u) (2 entries)

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, October 6th (since I'll be needing a bit of time to tabulate all those entries!) Good luck friends!

New fabrics available at spoonflower!

2010-09-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, two fabrics that I designed and that have been languishing in my spoonflower gallery are now for sale: "yummy foods" and "cluttered fruits" I was able to order test swatches of them and I fixed them up a bit (for example, in the yummy foods fabric I thought there was too much yellow and in the cluttered fruits fabric you could barely see my grumpy coconut... heh heh... that sounds funny!) Anyway, for everyone who has been clamoring at the virtual door that is my email account, these fabrics can now be purchased through spoonflower :D

sorry they're super wrinkled in the picture... I had them crumpled in my bag so I could show them to everyone!

PS... I am super busy (amazingly, as always) so I haven't really gotten started on my fabric entry for the Kawaii contest at spoonflower. Any suggestions for something really kawaii? I was thinking a Japanese themed fabric, but I haven't worked on anything yet! If worse comes to worse I'll just enter "yummy foods" I think.

Fun Anime: Fairy Tail

2010-09-13T02:33:00.001-07:00

I've just started watching this anime called Fairy Tail, and it is awesome! It's about a girl named Lucy who runs away from home and meets Natsu, a young mage who can use an ancient dragon slayer magic that allows him to fight with fire. Natsu offers her membership in the magic guild Fairy Tail, where she meets a variety of really powerful mages who become her friends and teammates, including a boy named Gray who uses ice (and who also seems to lose his shirt every episode) and a seriously powerful girl named Erza whose knowledge and use of armor makes her the one of the best (and scariest) fighters in the guild! The show is really endearing, and really funny... the personalities of the characters are so much fun. Happy, Natsu's little blue cat who has wings is one of my favorites!

I had a productive weekend!

2010-09-09T02:45:00.001-07:00

Along with not sewing for a long time, I have also abstained from crocheting (amazing isn't it!!!) I would have to say that I went about 2 months without crocheting ANYTHING, which was really good for my thesis writing (it's going really well by the way!) Anyway, since this past weekend was a three day holiday which was perfect for a little bit of fun, I just had to crochet something.

What began as one amigurumi turned into a whole mess of cupcakes, apples, acorns, bears, and bunnies... I find that once I'm crocheting I get really good ideas for other amigurumi to make and since I usually already have my yarn and crochet needle out, I just end up crocheting as much as I can! So, it was pretty much nonstop crocheting this weekend, which was a nice break :D The best part of my crochet-a-palooza was that I made this little happy sad jellyfish, so named because you can move his mouth into a smile or a frown, depending on your mood (though I daresay that it is better to always keep him smiling at you.... he's so cute that way!). I love him so much, I'll be sure to make lots more in the future :D

new school bag?

2010-09-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

The handle on my go-to canvas school bag/ purse ripped clean off (in a not fixable way) the other week. So I sewed myself this canvas tote! It had to be a multi-functional, every day kinda bag of course, and I wanted to be able to fit my books and my laptop into it. Although I had based the pattern off my clutches so that it would relatively easy to conceive of the bag and cut out the fabric, I had a REALLY hard time sewing it; probably because I haven't sewn in a long while. I kept making silly little mistakes, like sewing crooked seams, really long handles, or sewing the wrong sides of the lining together etc, etc... sometimes it just takes a little while to get back into the groove of things, I guess. Anyway, I was able to overcome the sewing stupidity and ended up with a bag that was just the right size... but then I realized that the red and white polka dot combo (with fabric covered buttons) kinda made my bag a tad bit cutesy...like I'm carrying a giant strawberry or ladybug! It's growing on me though, so we'll see how it goes when I have to go to campus :D

September Calendar!!

2010-09-01T02:10:00.001-07:00

Just in time! Here is September's calendar, which I've kept simple and also cheated on by using a stamp because I'm super busy (but busy in a good way!) I must say, I was scratching my head a bit while I was making this one... Fall in Hawai`i is pretty much the same as summer (and winter, and spring for that matter!). Hee hee, I guess we're kinda lucky it's never really an extreme temperature here :D Anyway, head on over to my flickr or photobucket to download for free... I hope you enjoy it!

Scout and Oscar love playing outside during the Autumn, especially because the tree leaves turn beautiful colors!

Spoonflower swatch giveaway!

2010-08-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hurry minions! You have from now (noon Aug 26) till tomorrow (noon Aug 27) Go over to spoonflower to get a free swatch (8"x8" or ~17 x 17 cm) of any fabric that's for sale... you can also get a custom printing of a fabric you designed. For example, those of you who have been wanting some berrysprite happy weather fabric, now's your chance! Basically, Spoonflower will waive the normal price of $5 for a swatch, as well as the shipping fee of $1 so that you can get your fabric for free :D I've already gotten my free swatch and donated, here's hoping you'll be able to as well! As expected, the site is experiencing lots of traffic and is therefore a little slow... just be patient and persevere!

Here's the announcement and a link toSpoonflower's website:
FREE SWATCH DAY. Between noon on Thursday, August 26th and noon on Friday, August 27 (EST) you can add a single swatch to your cart free of charge. [Click here.] We hope you'll consider making a donation to Heifer International during checkout.

PS... head over to Melly Kay's blog, cute stew to enter a giveaway with lots of free stuff, including an amigurumi strawberry made by me!

Ume pin tutorial

2010-08-24T02:26:00.000-07:00

I have another tutorial for you, yay! Its for an ume flower pin (you can also put it on a magnet, hairclip, keychain or use it as an embellishment... its really versatile!) An ume flower is a plum flower, and it's a popular design motif in Japan. These little flowers are SOOOO easy to make; I made the one in the tutorial in less than 5 minutes (not kidding!) Plus, materials are relatively cheap and easy to come by :D (of course you can dress it up by using some silk or similar expensive fabric!) Here's everything you'll need, including instructions to make an ume!

Materials: embroidery floss/ thread; needle and thread; seed or pearl beads; fabric circle (2" or 5 cm); felt circle (3/4" or 15 mm); optional pinback/ magnet, etc; stuffing!

1. Sew a running stitch around the circumference of the fabric circle, about 1/4" or 5 mm away from the edge.
2. Pull thread tightly, stuff before closing.
3. Stitch through edge of ball to close securely.
4. Knot embroidery thread, pull through center of the ball (from back to front).
5. Create "petals" by passing needle through center of ball from back to front, pulling tightly.
6. Thread a needle and pass a bead to the center of the flower.
7. Continue adding beads as desired.
8. The front should be beautiful! But the back has all your knots: cover them by stitching the little felt circle onto your flower. Add a magnet or a pinback if you like!

Make them in a bunch of colors; you can even sew them together in little bunches!

tsumami kanzashi

2010-08-20T01:31:00.000-07:00

I'm making good progress on my thesis, and although it is quite dorky of me, when I have a little down time I like to think and dream about what I would like to do next crafting-wise for berrysprite. For example, I really want to design more fabrics, actually write patterns, and maybe even get some acrylic charms or stamps done. I sit and dream about a day when there will be no thesis... and on that day will play video games and crochet and sew and craft until my fingers fall off and my brain turns to jelly!

These are all made by fellow etsians! If you like what you see, etsy usernames correspond to their product pictures above!
1. randomcatgirl; 2. gochemoche; 3. mizusugi; 4. theastarr; 5. aterlierkanawa; 6. alanamalia; 7. randomcatgirl; 8. petalmix; 9. aterlierkanawa; 10. gochemoche; 11. hanamigallery

Sorry if that mental picture scared you... it just sounds so fun! Here is something to make up for it: one of the things I would LOVE to try next is making tsumami kanzashi! It's the Japanese art of folding fabric to form petals and leaves for hair ornaments... wikipedia has a longish article if you're interested, and I know there are tons of youtube video tutorials. Anyway, I love the thought of using bits of fabric (you know I have a ton) to make such beautiful and wearable art! While it'll be a while before I can start learning how to do this, I can always drool over all the lovelies on flickr and especially on etsy! Its (almost) enough to get me to put my nose to the grindstone and finish my thesis :D

Finishing Amigurumi: Tucking in the Tail

2010-08-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

Just a quick tip today; many of you probably already know this, so this short post is really geared towards very very new beginners to crocheting. Also, I'm pretty sure I've instructed people to hide the tail in some of my patterns, so maybe this will help people who have no idea what I'm talking about!

There are two basic types of crochet pieces:
Type 1. Some pieces are left open and then stuffed and sewn onto other pieces. A good example of this kind of piece would be the arms or legs of an amigurumi animal.

Type 2. Some pieces are crocheted all the way closed when they are finished; stuffing occurs while there is still an opening, but the opening is crocheted closed to finish the piece. A good example of this kind of piece would be a ball shape, like in an amigurumi fruit.

No matter which type of crochet piece you are doing, you should be left with a little yarn tail. In crochet pieces that are Type 1, you would use the tail to attach the crochet piece to other crocheted pieces... the tail is like your thread! But once you've finished sewing your pieces together, what are you going to do? For crochet pieces that are Type 2, you usually aren't going to sew your crochet piece onto anything... it's essentially done just the way it is! So what do you do with the tail? If you cut it where you ended your crocheting, your whole crochet piece could unravel.

To finish your amigurumi for both Type 1 and 2 pieces, use your crochet needle or a yarn needle to pull the tail THROUGH your crocheted piece/ amigurumi. Then, at the point where the tail exits the amigurumi again, pull the yarn taut and snip the remaining tail off... the rest of the tail should disappear into the body of your amigurumi!

Here it is in real life:

Unthirsty Plant Sale!

2010-08-10T01:10:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I went to the Halawa Xeroscape Garden Plant sale, which featured lots of plants, cacti, and other succulents that don't require a lot of water... which is great for conserving water during the hot hot summer! I actually had wanted specific plant that I had seen last year, called a "string of pearls" ( I like them because they look like peas), but alas!!! They didn't have any :(

It was still super fun looking at all the catci, and I ended up getting a little leafy succulent and a sea-urchin shell to put him in, for a grand total of $2.50. He is cheering up my bathroom for now... he'll probably move to my room if he doesn't like the bathroom.

boo... school stuff sucks!

2010-08-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

The only thing my camera has been taking pictures of lately is books.... no fun!

old old book.... I had to wear gloves and use a metal spatula to turn the pages.... that's probably the most exciting thing about being a historian (unlike being an anthropologist like Indiana Jones where you get explore temples and get all the girls... ha ha just kidding; I know anthropologists aren't really like Indie!)

I'm sure all of you have agreed with the above statement sometime in your life! Anyway, that's why I've been short on posting this week... and why this post will be kinda nills. I've actually been working on my thesis, like the good graduate student that I am (*snort*). However, due to my [incredible] work ethic, I am now a wee tiny bit closer to finishing my first chapter. And although it's been a really boring month of DAILY trips to the archives and also more recently some really slow writing, I feel quite proud actually :D Anyway, sorry there is nothing more exciting to share for now... hope everyone had a nice week/ and is planning to have a nice weekend!

August Calendar is here!

2010-08-02T01:53:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the slight delay; I was waylaid by last minute karaoke, and sweet-tea vodka/lemonade with friends, haha! Since August often marks the beginning of the school season for lots of kiddies (and kiddies at heart) I thought incorporating a school bus in this month's calendar would be appropriate, and hopefully make the prospect of having to return to school a little bit more bearable :D Please visit my flickr or my photobucket to download; enjoy!

Oscar and Scout are off to school in a big yellow school bus. Luckily they are in each others classes... it will be oodles of fun!

cloud 9 by paperchase

2010-07-28T02:12:00.000-07:00

Gaaaah! Why, Paperchase, why? Why must you tempt me with your evil cuteness at a time when I am strapped for cash?!

Haha, have you guys seen the new line of uber kawaii items from UK stationary designer Paperchase, aptly named Cloud 9 (because if you get any, you'll likely be on cloud 9!) I saw a post about it by the girls over at supercutekawaii, and now I must needs some cuteness! Luckily, Borders Books stocks Paperchase, and we still have a few Borders here in the Islands (but I don't know if they are stocking it yet????). Time to bust out the giftcards!

fun stuff!!!

2010-07-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

Look at what I found on my vacation... it's an "eco-friendly alternative to paper (or plastic) cups!" only they still look like paper/ plastic cups... hee hee, funny! They're made by a company called Copco, who also make other products with being green in mind. Having a cup of something from a coffee establishment is kinda like a status symbol to some people... which is why I'm pretty sure Copco decided to make their thermoses look like disposable cups! But other than that, you can take these cups into your favorite coffee/juice/tea/smoothie place and ask them to put your drink into it... that way you use less cups and help to save some earthly resources :D

Anyway, I bought one as a souvenir from my vacation... it was $9.99 at the Hilo Ben Franklin store. I actually never drink coffee, and even though I prefer tea, I rarely drink it (seriously, its too hot in Hawai`i!). Because of this I chose the clear plastic "cold beverage to go cup" which I really like! It's a nice, heavy plastic, and the straw is substantial too... the lid is even screw on, and there is a plastic wraparound on the cup so that your hand doesn't get condensation on it. The only thing is I wish it was a little smaller; 24 oz is like the biggest size at starbucks/coffee bean/ other coffee establishments. Since I'll most likely be using my cup to classy on up some nice unsexy water, the bright side is that now I can carry 24 oz of cold goodness from the school's water fountain to my office :D

I'm back!

2010-07-24T01:56:00.000-07:00

From where I am taking the picture to a little past my dad (the guy in black) down at the other end... that's the size of our HUUUUUGE property!

I'm back, and I had a wonderful trip! The Big Island was GORGEOUS as usual, and it was nice to have a little vacation. We checked out our property and it grew so much in just a few months... the grass is really tall now! Also, we found out that they are going to be paving the road in front of our property (it was previously a gravel road) which was a super nice surprise... we literally drove up to the property and saw some construction peoples and they told us they were paving :D

Ohia Lehua... even the little buds are so pretty!

I was able to get a lot of work done this past week after I got back from the Big Island, so I'm considering opening my shop up for a week with some new amigurumi and pouches and stuff, and then putting it on vacation until mid-August or so... I'm starting a newish job at the end of August so I want to make sure I get enough time to do research for school stuff before I do more fun berrysprite stuff. We'll see. Anyway, it's good to be back, even if it is just for a week or so :D

Just thought I'd share a couple of pictures from my trip... I ended up not taking that many and just taking in the scenery with my own eyes (like that John Mayer song, haha!)

Some endangered Nene geese that flew right next to us while we were sitting at the park

Halemaumau Crater... you used to be able to hike to the rim (I liked to stand on the edge!) but they've closed everything off South of the crater... the trails, the roads, everything!

Big Island, here I come!!!

2010-07-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

This map shows all the lava zones for the Big Island... Kilauea is a really active volcano!!! Our property in the lava zone 3 above the black line above the word Kilauea.... which is comparatively pretty good!

I had a really great birthday guys. thanks so much. I got some truly awesome presents too, if I get the chance I'll make sure to show you some of the ones I love most!

Dun-dun-da-dah!!! Also, I'm going to the Big Island this weekend!!! Fortunately I was able to get most of my business done before tomorrow (we leave at 4:30 am.... that's when it was like $100 cheaper; I always do red-eye flights, haha!). I've put my shop in vacation mode and I'll be a little on the quiet side for a couple of days; I'll show you pics of my trip and tell you all about it when I get back!