05 Sep

Interview with ChiWei of One Dog Woof

Posted under SYTYC
By Missy

1.Tell us a little about you and your blog.

Let’s see. I’m a full time engineer and a mother and a wife who too often gets too caught up in being an engineer, a mother and a wife! I’d prefer to watch Pride and Prejudice while balancing a bowl of strawberries and a jar of Nutella on my stomach, but since that can’t be every night, I’d figure I’d better find a slightly more productive hobby. My blog is where I share what I do when I’m not zoned out in front of the tv at night.

2.How and when did you start crafting?

I’ve been making things and drawing things and designing things since I was a little girl. My parents took me to an open house festival once and I came home and designed my own subdivision of homes, floor plans and all! I don’t know when I moved into crafting,since that encompasses so much, but I would build things out of Legos and whatever else I had around. I learned how to sew way back inmiddle school, but didn’t really get into it until college when I made my first pillow.

3.How often do you craft?

Ha, that depends on my mood and the amount of work that needs to be done around the house. The more chores to do, the more I want to hide in my craft room and work on something. Other days, I just want to curl up on the couch and do nothing at all. Hmm, I guess that means I never really want to do chores!

4.Where do you get your inspiration?

I usually get motivated because there’s something I want but can’t buy, or can’t afford (same thing). Then I look around on the internet and use images I see to inspire a solution. I like going to bed with a creative problem and spending those quiet minutes before falling asleep on brainstorming ideas, although I never seem to remember to have a pad of paper nearby, so I have to recreate my thought processes in the morning!

5.What is your favorite medium to work in?

I think I like paper. I’m not very good at sewing, even though I think the possibilities are endless there. But I seem to do ok with paper – drawing or designing a graphic, folding origami or playing scrapbook – the possibilities are pretty endless with paper too.

6.What is your guilty pleasure?

Going to my local grocery store and getting the “medium” (which is huge) ice cream cone. Or watching

a West Wing marathon…again.

7.What makes you smile?

My son’s antics, his giggles and his temper tantrums when he gets sooo dramatic and falls on the floor like the sky is falling, even though it’s only because he has to wait a whole 2 minutes for dinner.

8.What is your favorite thing to do (other than crafting)?

I love to read! I want to say I love to read GOOD books, but my reading history will prove that I will read

whatever child/teenage trend (magic? vampires?) out there as well as classics, cheesy historical romance, or serious non-fiction.

Congratulations ChiWei on your 2nd place win!!

You can learn more about ChiWei and see her season 11 projects on her bio page, but here are a few of her winning crafts…

Our generous sponsors have donated a few great gifts for all your hard work. Here is all that great stuff…

A Home Business Kit from Photo Jewelry Making , a $25 gift card to XO Gigi Fabrics & a $30 gift card to the Simply Handmade Shop

Photo Jewelry Making has a wide selection of jewelry making supplies, complete photo jewelry kits and start up home business packages that you can use to make money selling your own photo jewelry at craft shows,your own website and more. They are a family run business and strive to offer personal and friendly service to all of their customers. You can also find them onFacebook.

Are you a fabric addict? Are you looking for “Fabric Heaven”? Do you want to jingle your fabric store and say “ please rush my order I am in a time crunch”. Well, you found the right place. A fabric store that listens to their customers and strives to offer that friendly customer service.

This little fabric store is drool worthy! Xo Gigi carries a wide selection of designer fabrics such as:

Chevrons from Riley Blake
Urban Zoology, Dr. Seuss, Remix from Robert Kaufman
Cotton Couture Solids, Itʼs a girl thing, Itʼs a boy thing from Michael Millers
Joel Dewberry
Anna Maria Horner
Amy Butler and more.

PUL, ﬂannels, and an awesome variety of luscious minkys too.

Every month they have fabric giveaways and a variety of contest to allow their customers to brag about their latest project. They even feature their customers on their blog.

Hereʼs a few ways to keep in touch with Xo Gigi Fabrics:

SITE – FACEBOOK – NEWSLETTER – PINTEREST

As a crafty busy mom of 5, my Etsy business is my way of feeding my frenzied fabric/craft supply addiction and getting my designs out of my head and into real life.

Simply Homemade actually started out as a cloth diaper shop but with the original name (Bitty Bumz) I realized there was no way to ever branch out so I started the painful process of re-naming, re-stocking, and re-designing. Now I can pretty much sell anything my little self feels like making including diapers. Currently it’s bags, clutches, and earrings but I have plans to eventually sell patterns and kits for the DIYer! For those of you who love originality, I’m working on the “design your own bag” listing. Choose your favorite strap, body, flap, hardware, and fabrics to create a one of a kind bag. I’m really excited for this one!

I take great pride in my work and I always take the extra time to offer well made products. I love sending my handiwork out into the world to be loved by someone new and I’m really excited to have the opportunity of sponsoring this season of SYTYC. Missy is one of the sweetest and most wonderful ladies to work with so I appreciate her willingness to let me on as a sponsor. Good luck to all the amazing ladies this season!!

During the duration of this season I’m offering free shipping for any purchase with the coupon code SYTYC