Make it, Don't Bake it: Felt Cakes and Cupcake Scarves

You'd love to be part of the stitch-n-bitch revolution--but somehow it's just not intuitive to you. Knit? OK. Purl...what the hell? And you can just forget about running a sewing machine after that last...incident.

Need a craft you can handle? Invest in a DIY felt cake from Patisserie Soleil, a cuter-than-cute Japanese company offering kits for Frenchie-style felt "pastries" that are so easy that you can figure them out even with the instructions in a foreign language. In fact, all you need are a needle, scissors and adhesive: everything else is pre-cut and ready to go.

Still sound too hard? Well, lucky for you, there are other people out there who are skilled and capable at craftery, and who sell their products online (god bless the internet!), like Twinkie Chan, a quirky San Francisco-based designer who makes food-inspired scarves and accessories which have gained a cult following via grassroots marketing efforts (a slo-o-o-w website, a presence on Myspace and, for now, sales primarily via Ebay auction). They're worth seeking out, and several new items are on sale on Ebay, ranging from an adorable cupcake scarf (!) to cheese puff-inspired brooches. But make haste--the current auction ends on September 25.

Who knows? Someone might even think you made them yourself.

Patisserie Soleil Cake Kits are available at reprodepot.com.

Twinkie Chan auction can be fount at ebay.com; to view other styles or request a custom scarf, visit twinkiechan.com.