Vacation from things you love

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

takochu

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

New October Calendar!

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

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

Feel free to download from my photobucket or flickr!

Hawaii Stamps!

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


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

New clutch

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

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

Winners!

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

Isis (lollywear)
and Nadia Cupcake

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

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