Year: 2014

Win 10 Tiny Mochi Kits

Posted on by Anna

I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that we’ve received a total of two video entries so far in the Mochimochi Photo (and video) Contest. I guess that’s what I get for putting a category in parentheses! The good news is that both entries are great and I would love for either of them to win. Also good news: your chances for winning will be pretty great if you make a video entry of your own by Monday. And what would you win? Here’s what:

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Ten best-selling tiny mochi kits will go to the winner of our video category! (The winner may choose ten different kits if she or he likes.)

If you’re unsure about what to do for this new category, there are so many possibilities: stop-motion animation, puppetry, and live-action are all acceptable—as long as your video contains at least one toy made from a Mochimochi pattern, you’re good to go. The length of your video can be really short (just a few seconds) or up to around 5 minutes long.

The deadline is December 1st, so get videoing! See full contest details.

The Half-Off Holiday

Posted on by Anna

What’s sadder than this small Thanksgiving display at Michaels, with everything 50% off way before Thanksgiving has even arrived?

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Maybe only the other side of this display.

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Browner, messier, and even more half off.

I first noticed Michaels’ sad Thanksgiving display before Halloween, when it was also discounted. (It may have been 40% off then, but I can’t remember.) Clearly Thanksgiving is less fun for retailers than the other major holidays, and that’s one more reason to like this holiday. Brown and orange and yellow just haven’t been cool in a mainstream way for a few decades, so if you want a Thanksgiving-themed sweatshirt or an elaborate fall centerpiece, you’re going to have to actually get creative.

I’ll admit that I’m not working on any Thanksgiving projects this year—I’m just looking forward to a few days with my extended family—but this has me wondering how many of you are out there making any Thanksgiving crafts this year. Can we have a show of hand turkeys?

Win Kitschy Kits and Vintage Patterns from Bonney’s Stash

Posted on by Anna

A bit more than a week is left to enter the Mochimochi Photo and Video Contest! I’ve already showed you the beautiful lotion bars from Milk+Honey and the rainbow of Palette yarn from Knit Picks that are in store for our winners, and now to reveal the prizes that come from my mother-in-law’s stash!

Bonney’s stash, if you aren’t familiar, is the undisputed titleholder of World’s Biggest Yarn Stash. I first introduced it to the world here on this blog in 2007, and in 2011 I did a follow-up interview with Bonney about her stash. (That means it’s about time to do another official check-in on the stash in 2015!) More than just yarn, Bonney’s stash includes kits, tools, weird toys she found on Ebay, and plenty of other randomnesses. So I didn’t know what was going to come when I asked Bonney if she would donate something from her stash for this year’s photo contest prizes. It turns out that Bonney was characteristically generous, and she picked some real gems for us!

Our first-place photo winner will receive these vintage patterns straight out of the mid-20th Century and Bonney’s stash!

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PLUS vintage kits, including a valuable Howdy Doody slipper kit (soles included)! You know you want that kit.

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PLUS this awesome bag that has creepy anthropomorphic rabbits playing croquet on it.

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Our second-place photo winner will also get vintage patterns and kits (including a valuable Howdy Doody mitten kit!), and creepy rabbit bag.

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And our third-place photo winner will receive a valuable Howdy Doody mitten kit and creepy rabbit bag too!

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I can tell already it’s going to be a great weekend for working on entries. And if you’re wondering about the prize for the video portion of our contest, I’m going to announce it next week! See full contest details.

By the way, if you’re intrigued by Bonney and want to get to know here a little better, check out Mom on Pop, the pop-culture podcast that she does with my husband, John. It’s my favorite thing in the world right now.

Tiny Woodland Buttons are Here

Posted on by Anna

I’m so smitten with the Tiny Woodland creatures that I debuted earlier in the fall that I just had to get pin-back buttons made!

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These guys are available as a pack of 4 for $5 in the Mochimochi Shop.

As it so happens, at the same time that I was contemplating having these buttons made by Busy Beaver Button Co., I got an email from them asking if I’d be interviewed on their blog. And that interview is now up!

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You might want to poke around a bit on their blog if you have a moment—you’ll be surprised at how many cool buttons you see there!

Thanks to Abbey and Busy Beaver Button Co. for the interview!

Adventure Time Crafts Winner

Posted on by Anna

It’s time to choose a winner for our giveaway of Adventure Time Crafts: Flippin’ Adorable Stuff to Make from the Land of Ooo by Chelsea Bloxom!

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Last week I asked you all to leave a comment telling us your most adventurous crafting story, and I was delighted that 80 of you chimed in with stories of all kinds of challenging crafts and “make it work” moments! I’m just about to choose a winner, but first let’s look at one more cool spread from the book.

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How cute is that Peppermint Butler Pillow?!? So if you entered the giveaway and you don’t win, maybe you’re convinced that you need to buy the book anyway!

Now for our winner—Random.org will choose for us, and it chooses…

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Commenter number 11, Dibrotica Virgifera!

It’s not particularly adventurous but, when I learned how to crochet it was because my grandma got me Twinkie Chan’s book for Christmas, and I was already a knitter, but had never picked up a crochet hook. My first project was the cupcake scarf.
My boyfriend recently learned how to knit (from me :3 ) and his first big project was a Game of Thrones-inspired double-knit scarf. I think that makes him pretty badass.

Anybody who likes the designs of Twinkie Chan should enjoy Adventure Time Crafts, and vice versa, so I’m glad that we have a winner who will clearly appreciate this book!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway! And if crafty prizes get you excited, check out the details for the Mochimochi Photo Contest!

Win a Rainbow of Yarn from Knit Picks

Posted on by Anna

OK mochi makers, you now have two weeks and some change to enter our annual photo and video contest! Now, why would you take precious time out of your busy November schedule to create a visual masterpiece* with your toys? Because it’s really fun, and it’s a great way to be a part of the Mochimochi community, and also because this:

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This year our top photo winner will receive a Candy Rainbow Yarn Sampler from Knit Picks! With TWENTY balls of candy-colored Palette yarn, you could make 400 tiny mochis and still have enough left over to knit tiny sweaters for them all. (Please, whoever wins, do this!)

Our second and third place winners will also each receive $10 gift certificates to Knit Picks, which can go a long way there!

I’ve expressed my love for Knit Picks here many times, and I’m so happy to have them back as a sponsor. If you’re not familiar with them, Knit Picks is a website that sells a huge variety of yarn, needles, patterns (including patterns by indie designers—who receive all profits!), and basically all the tools you’d ever need for knitting. I’ve used and loved many of their yarns, but my favorite will probably always be the fingering-weight Palette yarn. Whenever anyone asks me what yarn to use with my tiny mochi patterns, I always suggest Knit Picks Palette as a great one to start with because it’s affordable, it feels nice to use, and it comes in soooo many pretty colors. Here’s one of my TWO drawers devoted to Palette.

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And as several of you noticed when I shared a photo of my new bulletin board earlier this year, it prominently features the catalog open to the Palette page for easy reference.

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Normally, Knit Picks only ships to the US and Canada, but because our photo contest is open to everyone worldwide, we’ve arranged it so that even winners who live outside of North America can receive prizes. So this is a great opportunity for those of you in far off lands to nab some Knit Picks goodies.

Thank you to Knit Picks for being our awesome returning sponsor!

* If my use of the word “masterpiece” intimidates you, please know I was using it facetiously.

Don Quixote Scenes for Teatro alla Scala

Posted on by Anna

Now and then I get an opportunity to work on a commercial project, and I’ve been looking forward to sharing this one for a while. Earlier this year, Milan advertising agency TITA asked me to create tiny knit characters and dramatic scenes from Don Quixote for a ballet produced by Teatro alla Scala. I recently received samples of the 8″x8.5″ brochure that my photographs became, which was distributed to the ballet audience in September. It’s such a thrill to see them in print!

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The photos depict the major scenes from the famous story, starting with Don Quixote’s literary inspiration, to his adventures with Sancho Panza (knitted windmill included, of course), to his courting of Dulcinea.

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This was the first time that I’d taken on a commercial project that involved my photographing characters in nature—I was really happy to get the experience, and I think the whole thing turned out nicely. And I had a blast making my versions of a tiny Don Quixote and the other characters!

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I should probably say that I don’t have plans to make patterns available in the foreseeable future, but they might turn up in in a book or somewhere else someday.

You can see all of the photographs from this project over at my art website.