Wow! I can’t believe it’s already March xD I know February is a short month, but it really flew by for me. On the bright side, I’m getting ever closer to finally catching up on all the work that’s been slowing down my posting. It won’t be long now, and getting to launch the new Monthly Crafting Challenge pattern for March is just a lovely reminder ^0^

As far as giveaways are concerned, it still might be a while yet before I’m close, as I’m only at 93,000 (out of 100k) pageviews on my Deviantart, but it’s definitely going to be the goal that comes up next 😀

I’ve also created a brand new FAQ for the Monthly Crafting Challenge 😀 I’ve been getting a lot of questions about some of the specifics of the challenge, so if parts of it have you confused, hopefully the FAQ will help!

But to get to the heart of the matter – the new prize for March is this fat little nikuman plush!

Nikuman in Japanese just means meat bun, which is exactly what these are 😀 They’re steamed buns made from a soft yeast dough and filled with meat – typically pork or chicken with some vegetables. I’ve personally have yet to eat what people call the best nikuman – that is the ones that usually come from street cart vendors in an Asian part of town. So for the time being I’ve only made my own — I haven’t quite got it perfect yet, but it’s been fun trying!

This particular plush was a lot of fun to make – while it looks like the typical kind of sphere shape, this plush has the trademark little pointed top where one would pinch the top of the meat bun after filling it. It felt like the buns just had to have that to call them a nikuman 😀 Also, they’re a little bigger than my usual plushies, which felt necessary in this case ^0^ they’re nice big handfuls like the kind you see characters eat in anime.

You can get the pattern for this plush by signing up for email updates (found in the submission box on the right side of the page below the search bar). If you have trouble signing up, you can check out more info at the main Monthly Crafting Challenge page, or by emailing me. Also, bonus! for today only I’m offering both this pattern and the one from February when you sign up. After today though, the prize is just this guy 🙂 Though you can also purchase the older pattern through my Etsy if you’re too late.

If you’ve already signed up for emails, that’s where the challenge comes in. You can get this pattern if you make one of the projects from this blog, my books, or my Etsy then email me or message the finished project to my Facebook where I have a really awesome collection going of your creations! Keep it up every month and you’ll get a new free pattern, so don’t forget to check back during April to see the newest creation! And if you’re still a little confused about the whole setup, check out the new FAQ and maybe it’ll clear things up for you!