Interview and giveaway with Miss Twinkie chan!!

Well hello there boys and girls, gather round for this fab interview and giveaway from the genius that is TWINKIE CHAN!!!!

I have known the lovely lady for years and "met" her on lj. I was amazed at her food themed scarves but also smitten with the fact that she may just be the cutest girl that ever lived! She also has brains, makes me laugh with her dry sense of humour and has great style to boot!
Let's get to know her better, yes?


1. Tell us a bit about yourself, your background and how you got into creating Twinkie Chan.

Hey, Gang!

Well, I'm 32 years old and live in San Francisco with my dogs - Bibi and Bunny - and my BF "Hairy"! I have a B.A. in English/Creative Writing and worked in publishing for 10 years. I'd always crocheted here and there to make gifts for other people, but I never made anything for myself or crocheted regularly. In 2005, I fell in love with yummy handspun yarns. I was attracted to candy hues and other color combos that reminded me of foods. I started making myself scarves (because they were quick to make!) and getting inspired by these yarns to create new, interesting patterns (okay, now they take longer to make!), but the next thing I knew, I had like 10 scarves and never wore all of them! So I decided to open up www.TwinkieChan.com to see what would happen. Everyone has been very loving and supportive and wonderful since then, and I am ever so appreciative! I never expected any of it.

2. What/who inspires you and why?

I think I am creatively inspired simply by LIFE. Watching TV commercials, going out to dinner, grocery shopping, looking at photos on Flickr, pretty much anything. There is inspiration everywhere! Creative inspiration is kind of the easy part. I am inspired to actually "walk the walk" by all my fellow crafters. Back in the day, it was really just observing Heidi of My Paper Crane and Yana of Supayana, specifically, that made me think to myself that it was really possible for one girl to find an audience and an outlet to create and sell cute, awesome things.

3. If you had three wishes, what would they be?

1. That there would have been more seasons of My So Called Life, Wasteland, and Undeclared.
2. That we could somehow achieve the part of Star Trek society where there is no money yet everyone is somehow still peaceful and productive.
3. That my dogs could talk!

4. How would you describe your style?

OOoh that's tough. I sort of have two thoughts on my own style. 1) I want to feel cute. I think that letting yourself feel good out on the outside can help you feel good on the inside. This means I wear a lot of pink, polka dots, bows, and bunnies, inspired by little girls' clothing and Japanese streetwear. (No, I'm not Japanese, everyone asks me! I'm Chinese.) 2) I also want to be able to sit on the floor or climb walls if I have to, which means, I usually wear jeans!! So I'm 1/2 costume 1/2 practical. I wear my dolly dresses over my pants!

5. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

Recently, I decided I would want to be a hamster. Sleep all day in my furry skin, and stuff my cheeks with goodies at night. Sounds good to me!

6. What music are you listening to right now?

I don't really take the time to listen to new music these days. If I'm working, I usually just throw on the TV so I don't have to think about it. When I'm in the car, I've discovered I have become MY PARENTS. I love the old-people easy-listenin' stations, because they make me laugh and remind me of my folks and my childhood. Lionel Richie. Gloria Estefan. Chicago. Yup. Laugh all you want! I did just recently hear The Ting Tings "Happy Birthday" song which is really funny and cute. Look it up! And "Hysteric" from the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs is really beautiful.

7. How would you decorate a cupcake to represent your personality?

Lots of fluffy pink icing, rainbow sprinkles, and a cute unicorn head coming out the top!! But instead of cake inside, it's your granny's week old meatloaf. Surprise! I can be really cranky and crotchety sometimes. Just ask Hairy!

8. If you could change 1 thing about yourself, what would it be and why?

Oh wow, this is a tough question! It's kind of like a mood-question. I bet my answer would change from day to day. I think I would like to be a better people-person. I tend to be a shut-in and stay in my own bubble, but I think you can gain a lot of new opportunities by being out and about and meeting people. I've always been kind of a loner and I am okay with that, but I think that you could open up new doors by being more open to new experiences!

9. Describe your perfect day.

I'd wake up and work a little (crocheting, editing photos, etc), and then I'd go to Disneyland with all my best pals and eat corndogs for lunch. We'd go on all the rides without having to wait in line. We'd get really ugly airbrush painted t-shirts. Then we'd eat dinner at Benihana! We would have the most awesome and charismatic chef who knew all the tricks and set things on fire! Then we'd find a cheezy club playing 80s music and be stupid into the wee hours. Then I'd come home and have a bubble bath and fall asleep with 20 weinerdogs in a giant bed.

10. What new goodies do you have in the pipeline right now, anything you can tell us?

I'm currently going over the contract for a Twinkie Chan book of crochet patterns. It should be really fun! More deets as they come in. I don't even have a title yet. Ideas? :) I will definitely have more cute t-shirt designs out in the near future. I'm working on them right now! And also throw pillows! And as always, you never know what you might see next as far as cute foodie scarves, but there are macaroons and cream puffs on the horizon!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Up for grabs is a sugar cookie brooch pin made just for you in your chosen colours etc, how cool is that!!!!

How to enter.

To enter you HAVE to: Visit http://www.twinkiechan.com/ and make a comment here on what is your fav item.

Additional entries!!!

For an extra chance you can follow this blog and leave a comment here to tell me that you do.
If you already follow this blog you still need to comment here.

For another extra entry you can tweet on twitter about this giveaway with a link to this page, comment to tell me you have done so.

For an extra 2 entries, blog about this in your flickr or in livejournal or your blogspot etc, comment here with the link to your blog so I can see it. You MUST use the cookie photo in your blog entry!!

That's it, good luck!!!!!!!!

Giveaway winner will be announced july 13th!

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW OVER, THANK YOU!