cottoncupcakes

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Thanks so much for entering my first blog giveaway!!! It was nice to hear all your memories and favorite treats! I also loved hearing from folks who read my blog but don't often comment, so thanks again for saying hello! Sorry I couldn't reply to everyone!!!

And the winner is .....

Congrats, Jade!!!!! I will be emailing you shortly!!

I hope everyone has a a happy holiday season!

A few more dishes to wash, some more carpets to vacuum and a car to pack and we're off for Christmas.  In honor of that here's some Christmas-themed photos of our only holiday activity thus far. 

Yummy Christmas dinner


spicy mixed nuts for gift-giving


bundles of cookies for cookie-giving


karl marx embroidery gift for our Commie friend

One-of-a-kind Shrinkle dresses just listed! Perfect for your NYE party. Click to shop!!
http://shrinkle.etsy.com

For a limited time only, I'm also including a free Sugarpill eyeshadow sample with every order from my Etsy or eBay store!

Hey, LJ,
I know we discussed how annoying it is when ppl disable comments here and make you go to their other blog, but in order for me to properly keep track of the comments for the giveaway, I am unfortunately directing you over there. Of course, nobody is forcing you :P but you might like to enter!

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Hey folks,
I've always wanted to do a giveaway, but I've been so crazy busy that I never have anything left to giveaway!
I took the opportunity after BazaarBizarre to put together a lil sumthinsumthin for all of you who have supported me and read my blog!

This giveaway package includes red and white striped peppermint wristwarmers/fingerless gloves, a red and white striped peppermint candy-heart necklace, and a red and wdhite swirled lollipop brooch.

TO ENTER:

Just leave a comment on my blog, telling me what your most favorite holiday treat is! (and make sure to enter your email address in the email address field so I know how to contact you!)

DEADLINE:

This is super quick! I will choose a winner with a random-number-generator on Monday, December 21, at noon, PST. This way, I can hopefully have time to contact the winner, and have the winner send me his/her mailing address, and get the package out before the post office closes on the same day. For people in the U.S., the package should arrive before Xmas (according to the USPS....). Sorry to my international readers! I just didn't get my act together in time! I will obviously still send the package to an international winner, but the package will probably definitely not arrive in time for Xmas.

Okay, this is my first giveaway at my own blog, so if I left anything out or messed something up...please let me know! :P

xoxo

oh, p.s. I realize that my blog doesn't automatically number the comments, but I will number the comments by hand according to chronology :)


Click to enter!

People have already begun to make purchases! Go go go!! Click on the image to go to my shop!

Hello friends! It's that time of year...friends and peace. I give you to, my third grade assignment, circa 1984. Even back then I was a hippie, and um, could take 10 minutes to explain one simple thing...some things never change. :)

In all seriousness, life is generally a challenge. It should be. Challenges, including sadness and sorrow, allow you to grow and grow, as long as you face those challenges head on and with grace and fury. No one can escape the circle of life, so we may as well go with it. I believe strongly on always being a Good Person and focusing on the good things: tidbits, the nibbles and niblets.

Here are some of them:
*digging up the yard and creating raised beds
*lots of swims for kodha and walks to the river
*safe transportation
*squirrels and wildlife rehabitators
*generous neighbors
*being wrong, and learning from it
*books, books and more books
*a strong, fightin' nephew
*a very handy man
*some seriously amazing lady friends
*good, good neighbors
*learning opportunities at work
*countless giggles, guffaws and shared giant belly laughs
*snow days
*my own health
*godwin and victor
*rekindled friendships

What are some good things about your year? 

Sorry for the stretches of silence on here but the only thing I've been doing is finishing up custom work, wrapping packages, mailing said packages and prepping for crazy cookie bake day along with prepping for crazy week-long Christmas activities that will occur in 2 different states. My kind of Christmas. In the meantime watch some videos. Some little facts: in the first one I voiced the cat since Ico's english just wasn't quite ready for voice work Commonwealth is the same place where I get the squid cards printed up. They are all awesome.

Cute vintage goodies just added to my Etsy store. Click to shop!!
http://shrinkle.etsy.com

For a limited time only, I'm also including a free Sugarpill eyeshadow sample with every order from my Etsy or eBay store!

XOXO
Amy

Wow, what a weekend!

We basically had to build up stock for BazBiz in 2-3 weeks and I was stressing out about not having enough to actually put on display! It turned out ok though. I think people were delighted and there was a lot of giggling in my vicinity. I always like to make people giggle. Here's a quick video montage. I never take enough video or photos at these things!

Bazaar Bizarre San Francisco 09 from Twinkie Chan on Vimeo.

I only got 1 hr of "sleep" on Friday night, and then took 3 hr nap when we got home. Since I was running out of brooches, I decided to make more and then I didn't go to sleep until 7am again! Oops! So I'm sorry if I sounded completely idiotic to anyone who visited. I was probably running on 4% brain capacity at that point. I would've been falling asleep at my booth had it not been COMPLETELY FREEZING!!! AHHH! My fingernails were turning purple!

Hairy put an ad on Craigslist last week for me because we wanted an oven-ish display unit to go with my fridge-ish display unit. At first I was afraid that the unit was going to be way too huge and look weird next to my fridge, but after all the was painted and done, IT LOOKED AWESOME!!! We picked up the oven in Petaluma in the rain on Friday night, and it was totally worth it. I am hoping to store it up in the bedroom and use the shelves for tshirts and the "stove top" for other stuff, too. It's perfectly awesome. She even put hooks on it, so that's what the zipper clutches are hanging from.

Zambi came for visits!!!! And she brought me the cutest little necklace and phone dangly of a cartoon-me wearing a pizza scarf. She is so talented. I heart her! Also I met her mom who was super duper supremely nice!

During the craft fair, I made this peppermint candy scarf:

I put it up around 3pm on Sunday and it's still for sale. It will be part of my big leftovers-Etsy-update which I am trying to have up tomorrow, but I have to shoot pics of everything!

From my experience this weekend, I have two new rules for being an awesome visitor at a craft fair.

1) Do not roll your eyes at price tags, or ask sellers how much something is and then say "WOW" out loud and put the item back (especially when there was also a SIGN that said how much the thing was!). It's really rude and disrespectful. I respect that you might not like my stuff or might not have the money to buy it, and I don't take that personally. But you need to respect the time and love that artists put into their items. I am not a sweatshop worker. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it's plain un-classy to insult someone to their face!

2) This should be so OBVIOUS but our booths ARE NOT GARBAGE BINS!!! HELLO!??!! Get a clue! Other crafters on Twitter were telling me that they always find trash at their booths, too. Come on, people. That's just plain ridiculous. You're grown-ups. And if you're a kid, well, your grown-ups should have taught you better! :P

I don't mean to sound negative. I do appreciate the kind people who said hi and who made the effort to come out and see us all. It was rainy and yucky on Saturday, and still, people came to visit. Also the BazaarBizarre peeps gave us all snack baggies, which was way cool. Plus, my neighbor, Emily and her pals at Bird Mafia, were vegan so we got some extra goodies, too!

I wish I had more time to visit all the booths. I did a quick zoom around the place in the last half hour of the fair. I just felt bad to leave Hairy alone in our booth!

I look forward to going to Renegade Craft Fair next Sunday as a shopper :).

Back from my last show of the season which was just lovely more about that later but now just a quick reminder-
all custom items are due by midnight tonight. But I still have 1 more squidtivity that is boxed and ready and 2 more mini christmas that will be up for grabs (along with any other ready-made items) in my shop until December 18th (noon eastern).

If you're in the Cleveland area tomorrow I'll be selling my wares for the last show of the season at Bazaar Bizarre.
78th Street Studios: 1300 W. 78th St to 1305 W. 80th St., north parking lot, north entrance (behind the building) -- accessible from W. 78th OR W 80th St.

Tomorrow from noon-9pm and
Sunday from noon-6pm.

Depending on where I'm set up I may be selling my squid aprons along with a clothing sale along with plenty of Christmas squids, a few Squidtivities and a small amount of mini christmas squid sets.

Hope to see you there!

And remember this for any online orders:
Custom orders must be received by the stroke of midnight eastern time on December 13th.
All other orders must be received by noon eastern time on December 18th.
All items will be shipped out between 12p-4p on December 18th or before noon on December 19th

Everything is guaranteed to be shipped out in time to reach you by December 24th (if needed I will gift you with the free upgrade to priority). If you have other dates you need items by please let me know and (time willing) I will make sure you get it by your needed date.