Back to normal!

Yay, I feel so much better! Thanks for all the well wishes guys ;) I ended taking off a couple days from school, sleeping a gazillion hours and taking it easy for a while... no crafting, no homework, nothing! Now that I'm not sick, I've been working on a new style of amigurumi bearlet (preview coming soon!) Otherwise it's really just getting ready for Halloween; we're having a hall party at work and , I bought a bag of candy, (which also has plastic squirt guns), and mini play-doh as treats for my fellow office people. I don't think I'm going to dress up... I have no idea what to be! So instead of a picture of me in my costume, here is a picture of a mini weird pumpkin; we went pumpkin picking last week- the little ones are my favorite! Happy Halloween everyone!

About Berrysprite and me

amigurumi+ more, huzzah! Berrysprite is for people who love smiling faces and bright colors; we specialize in unique, handmade kawaii items; from amigurumi to pouches and buttons!

Aloha! My name is Holly and I am the girl behind berrysprite; I do everything! From designing, crocheting and sewing, to photographing, packaging and shipping orders, I'm the one who makes sure every creation is treated with love. Let me tell you a bit about berrysprite (and then a bit about myself!):

• I started berrysprite on etsy in 2006 as a hobby, but I have since become addicted to making cute things of all shapes, sizes and types! I also love being able to send happiness in a package to people all around the world; making friends through berrysprite is what helps me to keep creating and smiling! I've also found that in 3+ years of berrysprite I've learned a great deal about making amigurumi and crafting/selling in general, and I love helping others.
  

• I am an island girl, born and raised in Hawai`i; I hope never ever to leave! I am currently based in Honolulu, and I'm 25 years old (I can rent cars!). Although I love crafting, I don't do it full time; I'm actually a graduate student in History at UH Manoa. I love many things, including: crocheting, sewing, rolling around on the ground, Japanese kawaii items (of course), being in nature, traveling, sleeping, rain, cartoons, and my three lovebirds. I've found a true passion in amigurumi-making; from my very first mushroom (which was more like a lumpy lollipop) to my current repertoire of mushrooms (much cuter), octopi, bears, bunnies, otters, flowers, jellyfish, pudding, cats, strawberries, eggplants, tangerines and cuppncakes... just to name a few!
  

Lovely people

I have the flu! Complete with 103˚F fevers! Blegh, I just want to sleep.

On a very bright note, I got this ADORABLY FUN package in the mail from a very lovely family! Look at the cards they made me, so beautiful! Such artistic talent; There's a turkey and a hamster with a strawberry, based off of some of my amigurumi, there are even amigurumi pumpkin drawings in there! Both cards were decorated from top to bottom; even the envelopes were decorated!

Here are some other items that were included in the package, it was blowing my mind; I literally freaked out and started screaming when I opened it (not joking). Here's what was in the package: a mamegoma notepad, some ultra kawaii buttons, a cute craft punch, bento-making goodness, and an unazukin (how did you guys know that I loved kawaii things hee, hee!) It's like in that movie The Goonies where a young Sean Astin says "Look at all the rich stuff!" And although I blogged about the unazukin before, I haven't actually gotten one for myself; it was so sweet to open up the package and to find the little strawberry unazukin, the one I wanted, smiling up at me!

Thanks so much you guys; your beautiful cards and package were so generous; it makes me feel truly lucky and blessed to know so many great people through etsy and blogging! I'm feeling better already >__<

Where have you gone my little friend

For those of you who remember my fruit bearlet series (little amigurumi bears with fruit-themed hats) I also have had a forest bearlet series for a very long time... but I haven't gotten around to photographing, listing them in my shop, etc. Part of the reason is... its so sad... I've lost one of their hats! My bird's nest bearlet is missing his bird's nest. Hence, I've been unable to photograph them all together, and I've had to list them one at a time. The mushroom bearlet has already sold, and the grass bearlet will be up shortly. But the bird's nest bearlet, that was the icing on the cake, and now its an icing-less cake!

On another, happier note, I was tagged by sunnie_fairy over at Octopi Crafts. I've been tagged before, by equally nice people, but I have a bit o' time right now, so here it goes:

1. It is currently 1:03 in the morning; I am totally a night owl. I do my best work in the middle of the night, even though I know it will contribute to premature blindness. I think I could be a vampire quite easily.

2. I live in an apartment, but I want to live in a house with a huge yard... I've never had one! I think if I had a yard I'd lie in the grass all the time and grow my own fruit and vegetables. I'm saving up now.

3. I am thinking about becoming a librarian in addition to a historian (not really, but having those two degrees really increases your chances of scoring a primo job).

4. My favorite color is... rainbow. So I guess it is all colors. There was a period of 5 years, I think where I hated baby pink, but now in my old age I see the value of pink in life.

5. I have a little red car, his name is happyapplet; my supply store on etsy was named after him. Berrysprite is a name I made up when I got my first email account in the 9th grade (yep, 9th... a boy who liked me set it up for me!)

6. I have so much fabric, yarn, etc (for such a small, crowded living space) that I keep some of it in my car, and at my grandma's house, in addition to in my clothes drawer, my closet, under my bed, and in the living room by the microwave.

7. I wish I could travel around the world for a living. Some places on my to go list: India, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, China (again), Japan, Mexico (again, but better this time), UK, etc. Believe me, there's more.

8. Oooh, I thought of a good one! I have to brush my teeth 3 times every time I brush them. It's a bit obsessive compulsive; if I don't brush them 3 times I feel like my mouth is still dirty!

Bye for now guys!

I made food that was edible! Huzzah!

Well the post title pretty much says it all for me, hee hee. I love eating, but I CANNOT cook. I made salt cookies before. I really only cook scrambled eggs and watercress soup, which is pretty bad considering most 24 year olds have enough cooking skills to feed themselves. Ha!

Last night I made delicious healthy calzones, which went pretty well (except for the time when my litte sister came into the kitchen and looked at my little calzones all ready to go on the baking sheet and said "you're supposed to get most of the filling INSIDE of the dough...hey, pizza dough is tough to work with!). The thing about me and cooking is, I don't follow the recipe, even though I don't know how to cook. I usually have a recipe, and I look at it, but I don't know what goes wrong from there. It's much better if I improvise, which I did for these calzones.

They were delicious, easy, and probably a lot healthier than they are if you buy one from a restaurant. Spinach, pepperoni, cheese, mushroom and onion... mmmm. Here is my made up recipe (don't worry, it turned out good... you can see I didn't do anything weird with them). A pro at cooking will probably only take 1/2 an hour, and I foresee kids enjoying slicing mushrooms and rolling/ filling the calzones.

Ingredients (makes 8 calzones... I have a big family):

Crust: 2 cans of pizza dough

Sauce:

• 1 large can of tomato sauce


• 1 can of stewed tomatoes


• 1 teaspoon of dried basil


• 1 teaspoon of oregano


• a pinch of sugar


• 1-2 garlic cloves pressed


• 1 bay leaf

Filling:

• 1 tub of fresh mushrooms


• 1 box of frozen spinach-drained well


• 1/2 an onion, diced


• 2 pats of butter


• 2 cloves of garlic (in a garlic press)


• 40 slices of pepperoni (optional... I wouldn't have put it if I didn't have such meat eaters in my family; you can also use reduced fat pepperoni, turkey pepporoni, ham, chicken, etc.; just make sure you use some seasoning in your filling to make up for the pepporoni slices)


• cheese of some kind (I used 2 deli slices of provolone for each... you can use shredded or sliced cheese of any kind... yummy! You can even use low fat/reduced fat cheese)

(** you can substitute all kinds of veggies for this calzone, just not really wet ones... I was going to put sliced black olives and sauteed bell pepper inside too)

In a small pot, place the 2 pats of butter with the diced onion until it starts to caramalize. Add the garlic. When the onion is getting translucent, add the sliced mushrooms. There should be enough liquid from the vegetables so that you won't need any extra butter or oil... low fat! Add the drained spinach and mix until well heated.

For the sauce, add all ingredients and reduce for 10-15 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 balls (2 tubes= 8 balls). Roll each one into a big circle, place cheese, 5 slices of pepporoni and a large amount of filling in each. Pinch each shut well (fold over dough if necessary... it doesn't have to be pretty; mine weren't)

Place calzones on a greased baking sheet (the kind with a lip on all four sides is preferable, they will probablly ooze) and put into a preheated 425 degree Farenheit oven for 13 minutes. Check, if needed cook for 4 more minutes until crust is golden brown on top. You can paint melted butter on top to make it shiny, but I didn't. When done take out and cool for 5-10 minutes before eating. Serve with dipping sauce and a large salad!

Soooo busy!

Thanks for all the sweetie comments about my fabrics guys, I'm so glad you like them!

Uh, I am so busy... I barely have time to post!

I watched this movie a while ago, but its really endearing! Basically its about these two guys who work in a video store, and who through a rotten twist of fate end up reshooting all of the movies (even ones like Driving Miss Daisy) themselves! Their indie fun attracts all kinds of characters, and involves the entire community, which is something that I loved about it. I give it a thumbs up; how can you go wrong with Mos Def and Jack Black?