toshisushi

Instagram Friday

2011-09-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, some of the young adults from my church decided to head out to the Berkeley Marina for a BBQ. We had beautiful weather paired with good company. We had kalbi tacos and chicken. Totally not typical BBQ food, but we aren't so typical!

What's your favorite BBQ food-thing?

Tim Be Told

2011-08-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

I've recently been hanging out with the guys from the band Tim Be Told. Right now they're my favorite band. My friend Lynne introduced me to their music and then invited them to play a concert at our church. I've had the priviledge of hanging out with them along with the rest of the young adults at our church. On Sunday, Tim and Caleb came to our church and we took them to the Oakland Zoo, then Andrew and some other people joined us for Brazilian BBQ for dinner at Pikanha's in Point Richmond. This weekend I'm driving Tim and Caleb to Reno for the Annual Reno Rib Cookoff. I'm going to their concert in Cupertino next Monday. It's been quite an adventurous week already and there are more adventures to come!

Do I sound slightly obsessed? I suppose so. I'm just happy that I get to hang out with them and get to know them more. I really love their music. You should check them out!

Instagram Friday

2011-08-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

OK OK so I know this is SUPER late, but in truth, I wrote this post on Friday but accidentally saved it as a draft instead of posting it. So here it is:

Today I'll share with you a picture of my cat that I took this week.

Adopting Tora was one of the best decisions I've ever made and I don't ever regret it. He fills my life with happiness, laughter, comfort and love. Do you have a pet that makes your life better?

Scrub-a-dub-dub

2011-08-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

As I was at work today, one thing hit me; I never share enough about exfoliating. Sometimes your face needs a little extra help getting rid of dead surface cells to reveal brighter newer skin. Caution, excess exfoliationg can cause redness, rawness, and damaging good skin and revealing immature skin cells. Try once a week (or twice if you're gentle). With the right use of exfoliating tools, your skincare products can penetrate deeper and work more effectively, your skin will look brighter, you can prevent breakouts by unclogging pores, and your dull-looking dead skin can be cleared away from your face.

The right tools and products can help. Here are my recommendations (and budget-friendly options). If you click on the image, it will take you to where you can buy them online.

Clinique 7 Day Scrub Cream Rinse-Off Formula ($18.50)

St. Ives Apricot Gentle Scrub ($3)

Clarisonic Skincare Brush ($195)

Shiseido Bio-Performance Super Exfoliating Discs, 8 discs ($65)

Olay ProX Advanced Cleansing System ($30)

Shiseido The Skincare Cleansing Massage Brush ($25)

With the right tools and the right usage, your skin can look better and brighter. What do you think? Do you exfoliate regularly? What do you use? What's your favorite product or method?

Instagram [Saturday]

2011-08-20T22:35:00.001-07:00

This week I got a little caught up with both of my jobs that I forgot what day of the week it was. Therefore, Instagram Friday is a day late.

I rarely talk about makeup artistry on this blog so I will let you in on a part of my beauty routine. On the days I work in the store, I have to wear a full face of makeup, which includes foundation, eye makeup, blush, and lip makeup. Sometimes it feels like a mask. I have nothing against being au naturale but most days I'll wear tinted moisturizer, mascara, eyebrow pencil, and either lipstick or gloss. Here's what I wore on my face today:

My pop of color is blue eyes I used a Maybelline turquoise eyeshadow, I winged out my upper and lower liner with Bare Escentuals Weather Everything Sealer with Ell-If-I-Know eyeshadow, used Loreal HIP black eyeliner on my waterline, and finished off with Shiseido Perfect Mascara in black.

My tools of choice are Shiseido eyelash curler and Bare Escentuals brushes. I own quite a few brush sets but these are the ones I like the most (and the most complete set I have).

I'll post something else about makeup once I take more pictures. Hope you all had a great week!

Operation Tomodachi

2011-08-16T13:05:00.001-07:00

This past week a team of 6 young adults came from Japan (dubbed Operation Tomodachil) as a mission team. I got to hang out with them and also serve with them when they came to my church to run a VBS (Vacation Bible School) and to attend a BBQ. I also had the pleasure of hanging out with them while touring in San Francisco while occasionally translating for them, attend a mini-retreat/lock-in at my old church Sunday night, and had Thanksgiving dinner with them (since it's a very American meal that they may never get to eat again). I'll share some pictures with you:

Instagram Friday

2011-08-12T21:17:00.001-07:00

This week I wanted to show you a glimpse of one of my jobs. I work part-time for Shiseido and it's quite an interesting job! I took this photo while I was bored at work.

Also, this week I went on a few adventures. First, on Monday I went touring San Francisco with the mission team from Japan. Then on Tuesday after work I went to lunch and dessert with Doris. Today I ran some errands in the morning, baked a semi-scratch pizza, and made enchiladas for dinner at Peninsula with the Japan Mission team. Here are some photos from my adventures.

DIY Beaded Hairpins Guest Post by Satomi

2011-08-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

Beaded Hairpins

You can decorate your own hairpins in three easy steps!

1. Gather materials: hairpins, beads or buttons, and clear thread (I used a 4 lb fishing line).

2. Figure out the arrangement of each bead or button.

3. Tie on one bead at a time by looping around at least twice and double or triple knotting the string. Loop it through the bead once more before cutting off the excess string.

Instead of using single beads, I also wove seed beads and crystal beads together before attaching them onto the hairpins!

Instagram Friday

2011-08-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm going rafting with some friends and I'm really excited! Sunday I have a makeup gig in the morning. Next week should be exciting enough for me to take pictures for. In the meantime, here are some Instagram photos that I took today:

Shiseido School

2011-08-01T23:30:00.001-07:00

I'm staying over at a friend's place tonight and I'm using a new blogging app with my iPhone, so please pardon the lack of photos.

Tomorrow I'm going to seasonal seminar for Shiseido to learn about new fall products (new cream shadows, foundation brush, and a new Future Solution LX serum, to name a few) and I'm really excited! I'll try to share my experience with you afterwards!

Here's the update, these are the things I got for gratis from school today (i.e. free stuff from the company for attending school)

New Bio-Performance cream, sample of new Future Solution LX serum, new foundation brush (totally not the conventional kind of brush but it gives skin an airbrushed look, so amazing!), concealer brush, new cream shadow in purple, and a new longevity pin. I'm super happy with my stash of stuff!

Are the not the coolest colors you've ever seen Shiseido come out with? They're long wear and waterproof, and the finish is amazing! They're also blendable so you can mix or layer colors! I'm super impressed with Shiseido in the past few years and they've really stepped up their game when it comes to makeup. Dick Page is doing an amazing job at developing colors and formulas for their color makeup!

Instagram Friday

2011-07-29T19:12:00.001-07:00

I went on some adventures this past weekend, such as an outing to an oyster farm in Tomales Bay to celebrate a couple of birthdays and a trip to Santa Cruz to spend some quality time with my best friend as she was housesitting. I got a few pictures using the Instagram App on my iPhone.

Hopefully I'll be able to post at least one photo every Friday for my "InstaFriday" section. Happy weekend, everyone!

DIY Minibook Tutorial Guest Post: Satomi

2011-07-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

I was telling some teenagers that I am saddened by the disappearing art of letter writing... and I don't mean emails or texts or tweets, but real-life letters. You know, the kind you have to sit down to write with a pen, seal in an envelope, and mail with a stamp. Then I realized that I am guilty of not writing letters! So I promised the teenagers in my small group at church camp last week that I would write to them. And since Toshi and I are hoarders of scrapbook paper, I thought I would make my letters a little more fun. And here's what I came up with:

How To Make A Minibook Letter

What you need:

- 4 pieces of scrapbook paper
- Glue (I used regular glue sticks)
- Scissors and/or papercutter
- Hole punch
- 5 inches of ribbon
- Pen (I use black Gelly Roll pens)
- Photos (optional)

STEP 1: Pick out papers and gather supplies.

I'm only using 4 pieces of paper. Standard scrapbook paper comes in 12 x 12 inch sizes, but 8 x 11 will work, too.

Here's my tip for picking out coordinating paper: Start with a piece that has a bold or colorful design. Look at what colors are in the pattern and choose the other papers with similar colors. I like to choose one with a medium design and one with a small repeating design. Complete the set with a solid piece.

For my four papers, I started with the one on the very left. I liked the orange lines in the flowers, and picked a second paper with that in mind. (Other colors I could have used are blue, yellow, or brown.)Then I found the other two that are green (also because I think it's the girl's favorite color). I liked that the papers gave a summery feel! And lucky for me, the green paper with white dots has a cute apple print on the back!

For the minibook, I wanted the dimensions of the pages to be 4 x 6 inches because I could place photographs in them without a border. So I cut out two 4 x 6 inch pieces of each paper. My book only has 6 pages, but you can definitely add more. You can use the left over pieces for decorations (or when you mess up some writing, like I did!)

STEP 2: Organize pages and pick out photos.

First I put the papers in random order, then wrote my letter on the pages. I wrote on the back of some extra paper and glued it on, and I also wrote directly onto one of the pages.

Then I glued photos onto the blank pages. I also cut some horizontally and glued them onto the open patterned sides. I didn't embellish the pages any further and to keep it really simple, but you can add stickers, findings, and other memorabilia to decorate the pages.

STEP 3: Punch holes and tie together.

The last step is to punch a hole at the top left corner and thread a piece of ribbon through. I thought about adding a charm or another piece of ribbon, but I'm sticking to the simple scheme so that's it! Now you'll have a cute little minibook letter for you to send off or keep for yourself!

New Website

2011-07-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

As some of you might know, I work in cosmetics at a department store and occasionally like to do freelance makeup artistry. With the encouragement of one of my friends from church and from my sister, I've decided to make my makeup artistry a hobby side business. For the last three days I had been organizing my photos on flickr, reorganizing my blog, working with my sister on taking photos, and coming up with a game plan. I spent the better part of yesterday making a website from scratch. My makeup artistry website features sections about me, my portfolio, services, and contact sheet. Check out the final product here:

Also, I have a Flickr set that features some of the makeup work that I've done. Check it out:

I'm also going to try instituting a blogging schedule so that I can post more often. I will try doing a "Makeup Monday" and "Friday Five". Let's see how that goes!

Beaver and Sea Otter Amigurumi

2011-07-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

I was on vacation all of last week, most of which I spent either in San Jose at my sister's apartment hanging out with her and friends or in Santa Barbara at Westmont College for our church's annual retreat, Shuyokai. While at Shuyokai, I toted around crochet supplies in my purse and crocheted every free moment I had, even while I was walking or standing in line for food. One of the youth that goes to the church I used to attend asked me if I could make her one. She totally inspired me to think outside the box and I ended up with a beaver:

I also made a sea otter for Saki's birthday (pardon to poor photo quality, I had to take it super quickly with my iphone):

Portfolio

2011-07-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Sorry it's been so long. I did a little bit of reorganization and decided to work on my portfolio for commissioned work. I have a new "Gallery" page on my blog, which you can check out here. Or just jump right over to my flickr sites:

Crochet/Amigurumi

Makeup Artistry

I will be working on more amigurumi projects to post for sale on my etsy soon, and I'm planning on doing more makeup jobs to expand my portfolio and work experience. Thanks for your patience! More to come!

Relaxation

2011-06-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

I'm taking an extended weekend vacation solely to relax and take time for myself. I'm currently in San Jose at my sister's place. My plans include watching lots of Mythbusters episodes, dvd marathon, eating good food and lots of froyo, and catching up on my amigurumi projects.

Once my sister gets home, I'm hoping to either go shopping (need to stop at Sephora) or have a crafty time. She promised to help me revamp my blog and my etsy. Exciting things are coming up ahead! Stay tuned!

Hello Again!

2011-06-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

It's been about a year since I last posted. Life has definitely changed since the last I wrote. I've been busy. I haven't made the effort to do things like crocheting, baking, photography like I used to. Instead, my life has been taken up by two jobs, makeup artistry, new friends, a new life in general. Here's to hopefully rebooting my life!

Rainbow Cake

2010-05-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

It's dreary outside (raining at the end of May, absurd!), and I wanted to share something fun and bright with you today.

I was determined to make a rainbow cake after seeing Kaitlin of Whisk Kid doing it on the Martha Stewart Show. I'm completely a hobby baker and most of my stuff turns out ugly but delicious. I came up with my own way of making a 6-layer rainbow cake. It's not from scratch, but it took a little over 3 hours to complete this. To see larger pictures of this process, you can go to my flickr. I'll share with you my process:

I started out with two 9" round pans (it's even better if you have more!). The bottoms were lined with parchment paper, and the whole thing greased with Crisco and floured. I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F.

I mixed up two boxes of white cake mix (I used Duncan Hines White) as per box directions (except I used milk instead of all water, I always do that with box cake), one batch at a time.

I divided one box's batch into three bowls as equally as I could, therefore two boxes of cake mix yields 6 separate little bowls. I would have used a scale if I had one, but alas, I don't.

I stirred in gel food coloring (I used Wilton brand) into each of the six bowls with toothpicks. I love how saturated the color turns out without watering down the batter like liquid food color does, besides, liquid makes it look more pastel.

Here I'm making orange.

This one is red. Swirly swirly!

Red, orange, yellow

Green, blue, purple

I only had two pans, so I baked two pans at the same time times 3. I baked for 20 mins each, or until toothpick comes out clean. Once cool enough, carefully take out of the pans and peel away the parchment paper. Cool the layers on a non-stick surface (or in my case, large cutting boards lined with parchment paper). Be careful! I cracked my layers in a few places since my cakes were soft and moist. Handle with care!

I made a buttercream frosting using a recipe I found on the package of the powdered sugar, but any thick frosting should work. If using frosting out of a can, whip it up and warm it up a little before spreading. I started with the purple layer on bottom, placed on a cardboard round (I propped it up off the counter with a strategically placed bowl underneath). It was handy to have a metal spatula specifically for icing since it was angled, but any knife or spatula will work. I spread a thin layer of frosting on each layer before placing the next layer on top.

My icing was too thin at first so my cake slid and toppled a few times. I should have used a dowel through the middle, but I managed to get it to stay straight up after I took this picture. Yes, thicker icing in thinner layers is better. I learned my lesson. Side note, I put too much red color in my orange layer, so it didn't look completely distinct from my red layer, but in real life it looked better.

I carefully frosted the sides with the remaining frosting, and attempted to cover up some of the blemishes with rainbow sprinkles (but failed). I had a few crumbles and breakage during frosting and during transport. On the drive to the potluck, I hit a few road bumps and it toppled a little bit, but what was the worst thing was that the frosting slid down to the bottom and started revealing the colored layers through the white frosting, giving away the secret coloring of the inside. I had wanted the rainbow to be a surprise until it was cut into.

Completely aside, that's Tora sitting on the chair behind the cake. My cat was very curious about what I was doing while baking and frosting. He must have thought I was doing something crazy, and he was right.

It didn't fail to please! It looked more amazing than I had hoped, the colors were so bright, and I got lots of compliments on it! Most of all, not only did people think it looked pretty, but they thought it tasted good too. Everyone asked how I got the colors so bright and how I got the cake so moist. Really, there's no secret to it. In a way, I wished the cake would have baked a little more stiff and dry to help keep its shape. In the end, I'm glad that people liked the texture and flavor of the cake.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of cake. Don't get me wrong, cake is yummy when you have it on special occassions once in a while, but I'm not a super fan of it. I am, however, a fan of baking. It's therapeutic and fun. The biggest joy out of this whole process of making and sharing is watching people enjoy eating it. The colors brought a smile on people's faces. In the end, that's all I wanted!

I hope you all can try this one day and share with me your successes, and even failures! I hope these pictures and directions brought a little bit of rainbow joy into your day!

Color Inspiration

2010-05-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

My decorating frenzy is driving me crazy especially because I don't even have a place to nest. Watching HGTV makes me think about color palettes and color, so I'll share with you some decorating inspirations and colors that I'd love to incorporate into my future place.

I love the color of the feature wall, but most of all, I love the low bookshelf with the cloud floating shelves above. The orange frames are pretty awesome too. Such a whimsical design.

Neutral walls don't look so boring when it's paired with pops of colors and eclectic accessories.

Seriously, how cute is this? Perfect for making the home office a little softer-looking. Plus, I love the wall color, the artwork in the background, and the red accessories.

Since my dining place will most likely be small, I'd love to do something fab like this. Simple, two chairs, no distracting colors, and I simply adore the table shape!

Who said I can't have a "fireplace"?

Talk about making a tiny space work!

So I have all of these ideas and will probably have an eensie weensie budget, but here are the things I strive to have, paired with more budget-friendly alternatives:

Ikea Tobias chair $99.99 each/Target Modern Stacking Chairs 2 for $69.99 (also comes in espresso and green)

Ikea Docksta white table $149/Ikea Salmi glass-top table $99.99
Do you like how my "want" has clear chairs with a solid table, whereas the alternative is solid chairs and clear table? Ever since I saw David Bromstad use clear acrylic chairs in one of the dining rooms he designed, I can't stop thinking about how fabulous and retro they are. I'd love a super-modern table to pair with it.

Urban Outfitters Night and Day Convertible Sofa in Timberwolf $588/ Ikea Karlstad sofa in medium gray $499

OK OK I'll stop obsessing. I have better things to do than furniture "shopping". I'll go and do something more productive.

Jewelry Frenzy

2010-05-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I felt compelled to make stuff to sell on my etsy. I didn't quite feel in the mood for crocheting (although I finally finished a penguin to sell to Edith). I pulled out my jewelry supplies from the depths of my crafting supplies and forced myself to be inspired and create. I did all this while watching Glee on dvd.

What did I come up with? Here are the things I listed on my etsy today (click on the pics to see them on etsy):

Turquoise and Silver Earring and Bracelet Set

Pearl and Crystal Necklace

Gold Feather Earrings

Heart and Star Earrings

Thanks to all my jewelry fans that kept encouraging me to make and sell more. Jewelry is in demand! I will keep trying to make earrings to sell. Thanks everyone for the inspiration!

WoodsyWools

2010-05-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

I found the cutest owls (perfect for grads) on etsy and had to share!

Check out WoodsyWools.

A few cute ones of note:

Love Owl - sweetlove

Small Knit Owl - Wee-est Hoot Peanut

Springtime pair - Hoot n Kitty

Aren't these adorable?!?

What's on my wishlist right now? This gorgeous necklace I found on etsy (along with everything else made by lemonroom):

Golden Sewing Machine Orange Heart Stone Pendant

Lots of things coming up this weekend. Tomorrow I'm visiting my best friend in Santa Cruz, Saturday going to Spring Celebration at Great America (woo rollercoasters!), and Sunday is Mother's Day (church, work, then dinner with the fam). Is anyone else doing something special for Mother's Day?

Labelmaker Frenzy

2010-05-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

This post is a little more worthy of being called that than the last one, what a lame excuse of a post! This one is much better. I had a grueling weekend, but I'm feeling way more refreshed now. I was having some trouble with sleep, which didn't help at all with feeling like poop in the daytime. Each day felt progressively worse. Melatonin is working on wonders. I was finally able to have a restful sleep last night.

I ran some errands yesterday, fully enjoying the beautiful, warm spring weather. I sent out an etsy order (to the UK, gee shipping cost more than twice the merchandise cost), deposited checks at the bank, did a little shopping, sipped on a lychee slush with mini tapioca pearls, even took my cat outside in the sun for a major brushing/grooming. To my surprise, my cat was on his best behavior, didn't try to run away to go explore or complain to the brushing. It definitely was a great day.

At Target, I bought a Dymo labelmaker. I used to have one but it broke after only a few uses, so I still had some ribbon cartriges. So far, this one has been great. I'm on a labelmaking frenzy! I labeled my yarn and craft bins, my Nalgene bottle, a mini binder, and even the labelmaker itself. Making labels inspires me to organize, which I did a little of today. My shipping supplies are in order, yarn color-coordinated, tools back in their place, crochet patterns and books shelved and filed, and a place to put my printer.

Today, I'm inspired to not only clean and organize but to crochet more things to sell on my etsy. I'm selling faster than I can make, and giving more as presents than selling. So much for making a profit! I'm currently working on a fuzzy version of the brown bear with the book (seen in an earlier post). It doesn't have arms or a book yet. I wish I had pictures to show you!

I think I'll get off my computer and go create something.

Amigurumi Love

2010-04-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

What's a post without amigurumi? Here are two projects that I finished:

prototype for a collection of bears with books

Kappa (Japanese Sprite) cell phone charm for Joanne's 25th birthday

I was browsing through the Urban Outfitters website and I found cute sewing stuff:

Portable Red Sewing Machine (it has a carrying handle!)

Red Sewing Box

and I REALLY want this:

Measuring cups disguised as Matryoshka Dolls!!!

I love the novelty of this idea, no more buying staples!

Eco Staple-Free Stapler

Time to go and sip my mango juice. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

Martha Stewart Craftiness and More

2010-04-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I met up with Lauren and Karla for manicures. Lauren needed to get one done to prep for hand-modeling for an iPad app for her work (I guess...?), so I went along for the fun of it. I ended up with a very inexpensive one that turned out beautifully. Unfortunately the polish didn't last very long because of the abuse I put it through at work. I decided to get new nailpolish to replace some of the ones that are getting old and gloppy. One of my purchases was inspired by reading Real Simple Magazine, where they featured light purple nail polishes. This one particularly caught my eye:

Dynasty by American Apparel Nail Polish

I bought these at Target to satisfy my purple craving:

Lively Lilac by Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

Pronto Purple by Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

I'm really into purple right now, can you tell? I've had the Lively Lilac on for a day now, I went to work last night and put my hands through a little bit of abuse, and I'm happy to report that my nails still look as lovely as when I lacquered it on!

One thing I'm obsessed with right now is the Martha Stewart Show. It's on every weekday at 11am on NBC. I watch it while eating lunch with my grandma almost every day. Monday's show had Queen Latifah as the guest, and she and Martha made t-shirt necklaces, originally from Cucumbersome.com. You can watch the video of Monday's show on the site. I tried it right away. I used a smaller polo shirt so I didn't get much fabric out of it (barely any length to the shirt), but I like how they're supposed to turn out if I had more fabric from my shirt. I don't have a picture of the one I made, but here's the example:

t-shirt necklace

One more topic to cover before this post is over. You can't forget the amigurumi! I've been making amigurumi but haven't been posting any pictures lately, or even posting them on etsy. The reason for not posting on etsy is because they were custom orders, so I couldn't sell them to anyone else. Also, the orders were from people I know, so it's pretty ridiculous to post items and get charged for it by etsy when I could just make and sell right away. Anyways, these are ones that I've made and sold already:

Pink Bear Amigurumi, sold as a gift for a baby shower

Black Bear Amigurumi with Baby Blue Muzzle, custom order, sold to coworker

Penguin Amigurumi, custom order, sold to coworker, along with a pink penguin

These will be posted to sell soon on my etsy:

Raspberry Chocolate Bear Amigurumi

Toffee Bear Amigurumi (pictured on right) with button nose

I'm also working on a little project. It's a bear amigurumi that's going to be holding a pen and maybe a little book or something. I can't decide how to finish it. It's been sitting on my table for a little over a week now and I can't bring myself to do anything else to it. It's so cute because its hands are held together and it has no feet, or a distinct separation between its head and body. I'll post a picture when it's done.

Moo

2010-03-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

I made 3 completely new amigurumi so far this week (and it's only Tuesday! all are custom orders) and ready to make more. I picked up a new amigurumi book, and I'm feeling much more inspired. I haven't baked in a while, so I'm going to make funfetti mini cupcakes on Saturday to take to church for Easter.
I'll share with you one photo from my little photo session, which I turned into a Moo card/business card and should be arriving sometime next week:

Yikes So Behind On Everything!

2010-03-11T14:43:00.000-08:00

I'm so behind on everything! I've started work again this week, got an order for 5 amigurumi bears from one customer and another for 1. I'm sadly already falling behind in Indie Biz (caught up today, but it's a shame how I had to neglect it for a while). Other than that, I've been watching way too much tv, spending too much time on videogames (I'm addicted to Animal Crossing: Wild World), and eating way more sweets than I should. The great thing is that I'm finally feeling 100% from my surgery. Sure, the incision sites still look wonky, but nothing hurts anymore. That's always a good thing.

My craft space is slowly getting too crowded, so I'm thinking of moving my creative command center to another room in the house (one that's also brighter and less crowded). It'll be a big inconvenience, but I really do need something different, extra wall space for an inspiration board, places to hang things and display my amigurumi creations, and store things all while leaving open table space for writing, organizing my business papers, packing and shipping, stuff like that. If I can muster up the motivation, I'll attempt that next week.

Sorry no pictures this time. Feeling too lazy to get up and take pictures of anything when I can just sit here in this recliner with a warm blanket over my legs and just not think of anything at all for today. Besides, I've got work to go to later tonight. I'll just save my energy until then.

Happy 25th Birthday To Me!

2010-03-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

Today's my 25th birthday! Hello to the beginning of my quarter-life crisis! What did I do today?

I slept in, woke up and played "Animal Crossing: Wild World" that I bought for myself for this momentous day, ate toast and crackers with cream cheese for lunch, worked on my Indie Business 2.0 Portfolio (yay it's all done, and I actually like what I did to it), caught up with emails and celebrity gossip online, wrote comments for people on ClubIndie, uploaded a bunch of photos, played more "Animal Crossing", attempted the crossword in the newspaper, ate chicken katsu (my favorite! I haven't had it in over a year because of my gallbladder), and now I'm digesting my food. Sounds boring, right? It wasn't a very eventful 25th birthday, especially since it's a Friday and most people would have gone out for drinks or something, but I'd rather spend a calm day at home with no drama. There's been too much drama in my life, I'd rather avoid it.

(so far I like it, it's just hard to be patient sometimes)

As I was reading the Oakland Tribune newspaper today, I came across my birthday horoscope:

Expect creative ideas to emerge from dreams and imagination over the coming year. You handle most responsibilities with greater grace because you understand the logic behind your actions. Creative writing or artistic projects reveal your inner beliefs and aspirations.

Though I don't believe in horoscopes, I truly hope this one comes true!

I can't wait to spend the day with my best friend tomorrow. I can't think of a better birthday present from her than a date!

Pre-birthday Update

2010-03-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

I was gonna save a big blog update for my birthday tomorrow but decided to do it today. I'll be 25, eek. Quarter-life crisis, here I come!

I did a pretty big etsy update earlier this afternoon, check out the newest items!

my first successful softie, made with repurposed fabric

a tan bear amigurumi with vintage button nose

a navy blue bear amigurumi with vintage button nose and repurposed fabric

a little gray bear amigurumi

a little hamster amigurumi cell charm

Also, I'd like to share some of my favorite photos that I took with my Holga 35mm camera with 800 film from when I went to Yosemite last month. I love how all the pictures look so dreamy!

what good is a holga without light leaks and oopsies!

the iconic yosemite falls

giant slabs of granite

on the way to mirror lake

silhouette of the mts and trees

As for other news, I'm still recovering from my surgery. It's funny not having a gallbladder, kind of an inconvenience to the digestive system, but nevertheless a great thing for it to be gone. No more gallstone pain! It still hurts to cough and sneeze (or laugh really hard), like I did way too many crunches, but other than that, I'm slowly regaining my strength and energy. I'm returning to work next Monday, so I've still got plenty of time to rest (and make more crafts!).

Hope you're all having a wonderful week, and I hope the days only get better as the week progresses!

Bye Bye Gallbladder

2010-02-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update. Woke up at 4:45am yesterday, got to the hospital by 6, had surgery at 7:30 to get my gallbladder removed, woke up 2 hours later, came home around noonish. Today family and friends came to visit. Got some goodies as get well presents! made more amigurumi today while watching tv and hanging out with everyone. Feeling pretty good, just my abs hurt. Now I've got my kitty sleeping on my lap as I type, ready to watch the Olympics and create another amigurumi creature.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! Mine is going great so far despite being in a tiny bit of pain and discomfort, at least I'm getting lots of rest. Once I'm feeling lots better, I'll post more pictures of my recent amigurumi creations and post some on my etsy.

More Etsy Items Sold

2010-02-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

This week I'm preparing for my surgery by avoiding stressful things. Monday night I hung out with friends at Bible Study, yesterday I went to the White Elephant Sale and bought fabrics (some vintage, some in the form of clothes to be repurposed, others just scraps) and ran some errands before going out to dinner with Lauren for pho and spending time with her afterwards teaching her how to make an amigurumi cupcake. Today all I did was crafting, cooking and eating, and watching tv.

I sold more stuff on my etsy, so these are off the market:

I'm glad these cuties have new homes! I'm glad that my etsy is doing so well, considering that I only do this as a hobby.

I'm seriously really excited about this now that my etsy business is getting onto its feet:

Woot!

Ok time for me to go eat something before I head out to work this evening. Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far. Happy Hump Day!

Softies on Etsy

2010-02-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

My sister was kind enough to make a bunch of fleece softies for me to sell on my etsy:

I'm super grateful that she's more talented at sewing than I am. Today I'm attempting another softie, but this time without the sewing machine. It's hand-sewing for me! Plus, I'm using fabric scraps found around my home. I think it's amazing how so many people are upcycling materials and making them into cute and elegant items to sell.

Tomorrow I'm heading back to the White Elephant Sale to scour through the vintage fabrics, and maybe even sift through the endless racks of clothes to find fabrics to make things with. I hope it's not going to rain tomorrow, it's nice and sunny right now, I hope it continues.

Are you trying anything new this week? Share!

Yosemite, Felties, and Food

2010-02-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

On Monday, my sister, my best friend, and I went to Yosemite for a day-trip. I was excited to see some snow, even though there wasn't that much. We took a short walk around the village, took the bus to Mirror Lake trailhead, went up the Mirror Lake, went back to the village, took pictures at Tunnel View, and got home in the evening. Here's a few photo highlights:

Also, as promised, a few felties to share, for sale on my etsy.

These were fun to make.

Lately I've been in a creativity funk, and all I've been capable of doing is cleaning and organizing. Today I tried to make a stuffed bear with felt using the sewing machine, and it turned out lopsided and ugly. Let's just say I won't be doing that again. I think I'll stick to hand-sewing felt and making amigurumi. I'm not meant to make stuffed animals.

I've been so sick and tired of eating these days, because every time I eat something yummy I end up getting gallbladder pains, and everything else I just don't enjoy. I dread eating. That's definitely not good. Eating shouldn't be painful, or something to fear, but it was. I can't wait to get my gallbladder out so that I can go back to enjoying food, the way it's meant to be. The countdown to gallbladder removal, T minus 8 days!

Hope you're all having a good week!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have a few hours of work, then getting ready to go to Yosemite tomorrow for a day-trip. Nothing romantic for me, none of that ooey gooey stuff for me. Hope you all have a fun, romantical day!

Busy Busy Weekend

2010-02-13T22:04:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week~~end~~ for me, filled with lots of spring cleaning, being a "tourist" in SF with my sister-in-law and her mother (who is visiting from Japan), work (the usual), and more cleaning. I sold my first amigurumi on etsy, the panda that I mentioned in my last post. I'm just so tired right now but I knew that I had to write something.

On Monday, in honor of President's Day, and my sister's vacation for a week, the two of us with my best friend are going to Yosemite for a day-trip. I can't wait to see snow, it's been too long.

I signed up for the Indie class taught by Leigh-Ann, Jill, and Elsie, I can't wait!

Sorry no pictures this time, but I have felt softies to share with you next time!

Crafty Photos

2010-02-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

It's been a week since I last posted. Since then, I've been making a few things to sell on etsy. My sister took some photos for me:

I posted these on my etsy. These cuties are for sale!

In other news, I've been on a baking frenzy. I made Matcha cupcakes last week (as well as some lemony cupcakes):

I went to Ichibankan and picked up a few cute things:

Mushroom-shaped biscuits

Tree-stump-shaped biscuits

Cute stationary

Fabulous patterned packaging tape

Yesterday I hung out with my sister-in-law and her mom, who is visiting from Japan. We went, with my mom as well, to Macy's and used my credit card like it's going out of fashion. I got fabulous shoes to wear to work, body cream, two shirts, and Martha Stewart cupcake paper liners. My bill for Macy's is going to be enormous this month, oh well.

Ok enough for blogging for now. I'm going to complete my felt cupcakes, post some items up on my etsy, and then do more crafting later. Happy Tuesday!

Brown Bear Amigurumi Free Pattern

2010-02-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

As promised, I'm posting a free pattern. This one's a cutie! It's perfect for someone just starting out with making Amigurumi, and it's basic enough of a shape that you can modify it to make other creatures. It's easy enough to figure out how to crochet if you're a beginner, but mostly I learned how to make amigurumi with Ana Paula Rimoli's books and searching online (Youtube is a great resource surprisingly). If you need any help making this, write a comment with your questions!

Little Brown Bear Amigurumi

Finished Size: Approx 5" tall

Materials: worsted-weight yarn in light brown (or in any color you desire), G/6 (4.5mm) crochet hook, 6mm plastic eyes with safety backing (optional), small piece of white felt, embroidery needle, tapestry needle, black embroidery floss, fiberfill or any kind of stuffing.

Crochet Techniques Needed: magic ring (adjustable ring), increasing and decreasing (invisible decrease looks better), single crochet.

Abbreviations Used: Sc- Single crochet, dec- Decrease, st(s)- Stitches, * *- Sets apart a group of stitches to be repeated as a whole.

Head
R1: Using magic ring, 6 sc.
R2: Sc 2 in each sc around (12 sts).
R3: *Sc 1, 2 sc in next sc* rep 6 times (18 sts).
R4: *Sc 2, 2 sc in next sc* rep 6 times (24 sts).
R5: *Sc 3, 2 sc in next sc* rep 6 times (30 sts).
R6-9: Sc 30.
R10: *Sc 3, dec 1* rep 6 times (24 sts).
R11: *Sc 2, dec 1* rep 6 times (18 sts).
Work on face: attach 2 plastic eyes, or stitch eyes with black embroidery floss. Cut white felt for muzzle, embroider nose and mouth, and sew to face (or use tacky glue to attach to face).
R12: *Sc 1, dec 1* rep 6 times (12 sts).
Stuff head.
R13: *Sk 1 st, sc 1* rep 6 times (6 sts).
Fasten off.

Ears (Make 2)
R1: Using magic ring, 6 sc.
R2: Sc 2 in each sc around (12 sts).
Fasten off, leaving tail for sewing. Sew to head using tapestry needle.

Body
R1: Using magic ring, 6 sc.
R2: Sc 2 in each sc around (12 sts).
R3: *Sc 1, 2 sc in next sc* rep 6 times (18 sts).
R4-7: Sc 18.
Fasten off, leaving tail for sewing. Stuff and sew to head using tapestry needle.

Arms and Legs (Make 4)
R1: Using magic ring, 6 sc.
R2-5: Sc 6.
Fasten off, leaving tail for sewing. Sew open end together using tapestry needle and sew to body.

Asian Snacks

2010-01-31T19:44:00.000-08:00

Last week I made Lemon cupcakes. This week, it's going to be Matcha cupcakes (recipe found here). My cousin made them for my sister-in-law's bridal shower, and it's now my turn. I would have made them instead of the lemon ones, but I didn't have any matcha powder. When I went to lunch with Grace last Monday in Mountain View, we stopped inside a random Asian store in search of the powdery goodness. I also found Kancho chocolate crackers and Every Burger chocolate biscuit cookies which I thought would be adorable as cupcake toppers.

I considered getting the ones that look like pandas or koalas, but these were different and fun. I also saw some that looked like tree stumps, which Grace thought would be cute if you thought of the green matcha frosting as grass, but I thought it'd be weird unless I had found the mushroom-shaped ones to put it with. But alas, I didn't find the mushrooms at that store, so I'll just have to search for it at another store for next time.

Even though Asian snacks use way too much cardboard, plastic, and foil for their packaging, why is it that their boxes are so cute and irresistable?

One thing I thought was funny was the name of the Kancho crackers. When I brought them home and showed my mom, she was surprised by their name. She told me that Kancho, in Japanese, is a liquid that doctors inject up the butt (usually for babies) to relieve constipation. LOL! At least the Kancho crackers are by a Korean brand (Lotte), so it's not as bad.

Anyways, I'll post pictures of my cupcakes after I bake them (maybe tomorrow, maybe Tuesday, depends on if I'm in a baking mood tomorrow). Next post, I'll share with you a free Amigurumi pattern!

What's your favorite cute Asian snack? Share!

Amigurumi

2010-01-26T12:54:00.000-08:00

What have I been doing lately? I've been freakishly obsessed with Amigurumi. The first book I bought was Amigurumi World Seriously Cute Crochet by Ana Paula Rimoli (you can find her blog here).

Ana Paula's cute designs inspired me to look for more patterns, and subsequently experiment with making my own patterns. I've gotten lots of great comments and compliments from my friends, so I'll show you some of my original creations...

... and my biggest project to date, Sailormoon! It took me nearly two weeks to complete her. I almost gave up after doing her head (which took me 3 days of nonstop crocheting to figure out), but the body went by much faster.

I've been going a little crazy with yarn, but crocheting isn't the only thing I've been doing. I've been baking too. I made lemon cupcakes with lemon/passionfruit cream cheese frosting on Sunday after church, and shared them with friends.

I'm looking forward to getting this blog restarted. I'm hoping to share more of my craftiness, show you things that inspire me, and a few DIY projects along the way!