2023 Cookie Book - Candy Coated Christmas

I've been getting the word that the people who get their book in the mail are indeed receiving them so it's time to post the cookie book this year.  I wait till everyone has seen it, so I don't spoil the surprise.  

Candy Coated Christmas - see how the clear cover 'coats' the book?  This is a standard A5 Planner - 6 ring binder.  Got them on Amazon.  Inside the pages and pockets are, I'm going to guess, 85% cut from Elizabeth Craft Design Planner series.  She has two sizes, Planner and Sidekick, this is, again, the planner series, so larger than the Sidekick.  The rest of the stuff came from various sources - like Temu - or my stash.  I'll blog separately about Temu. 

I tried putting all these photos into a movie - but Google's blogger won't let me add it to the page.  Probably too large. 

Here we open the cover and get a better look at all the pretty colors!  Things are peeking out on all the edges; it just makes you want to keep turning the pages.  The majority of the paper is from Carta Bella's Homemade collection.  The matching sticker pack was used as well, and I added Seasonal Salutations No. 2 from Echo Park to the mix as well.  

Pull out the tags on the first page to reveal the title and year of the book.  That pocket with the slots in it came from Temu, which means they probably stole it from some other collection.  But I digress.  As I said, more about Temo later.  The alphabet for 'Candy' is Sizzix's Shadowbox, the word Christmas is from Tim Holtz.  The numbers used for the year are ECD again, and the hearts I just cut with the Circut.  

Next page is the list of all the cookies the bakers chose to make.  Every one of them this year were quite good.  They outdid themselves, for sure.  As the title suggests, anything coated, dipped, sugared, rolled in, blended with candy was permissible.  The tin solder is ECD.  The ornaments came from my stash.  The page with the whisk on it is again, ECD.  I did a little bit of creative licensing with it, by removing everything from the whisk to the binder holes and then mounting that on something more related to cooking. I basically hollowed it out so the whisk would be more prominent.  

I stamped the Santa and sentiment a bunch of times and cut them out with an offset using the Brother Scan and Cut. I cannot tell you how cool that thing is.  It is so much easier to stamp and cut with that thing than any other machine out there.  I blogged about this machine earlier.  Go read it!

I blogged about the clip art candy cane in my Christmas card post earlier.  Go read that too.

The heart pocket is from my stash.  Not sure of the maker.  Same with the pocket with the gingerbread man.  I didn't save the packaging so no clue where it originated from.  The stamp came from Temu.  

Next up is the folder from ECD, the recipe is inside.  The page next to it is all ECD decorative stuff.  I added the sticker and the red dots for some interest.  

Another EDC pocket - but when you cut this one, it's got multiple pockets on the page, so I snipped them apart.  I used the other part of it with the clip art candy cane.  If you go back you can see how the two fit together.  I separated the two parts between books so it wouldn't be obvious.  That means the colors are different in each book for all pages that use parts from one die.   

Repeating pockets and folders from before.  And here is the female gingerbread person.  The tree is ECD.  Notable, on every page are individual decorative hole reinforcements, both front and back.  Jesus, Mary and Joseph, do not attempt cutting and gluing these tiny things on this scale (27 books in total) without using Sookwang!  See my post about Sookwang earlier. 

More repeats of pocket pages and folders. 

These pockets came from Scrapbook.com - as part of their branded collection.  the Spatula and rolling pin were from the stash.  The mixer is a sticker from the aforementioned Homemade collection.  

I slipped a hand made Christmas tag into the slot on this page.  This is again, just like the clip art candy cane page, but with the different tuck in, you don't even notice.  

Here at the last page and the back of the book you'll find a little envelope stuck to the back cover.  These binder covers came with two elastics, one white and one black.  When the white one breaks, or loses its stretch, you've got a spare!  Happy Christmas, Everyone!  I'm off to the cave to make "Merry January" cards for the new year.  

Sookwang - The Bomb for making things into stickers

In my post about the Cave upgrades I mentioned using Sookwang to stick down a felt pad to one of my tables.  If you don't know what that stuff is, it has many names, Scoretape or Scortape, or Skortape (however its spelled) is one used here in the US.  Just about every paper crafting outlet has branded some kind of rolled two-sided sticky business.  Scrapbook.com has one, Simon Says has one.  I've tried them all, and none compare to the original product from Korea branded as Sookwang.  I get it from office supply stores, online of course.  Just google it, you'll have no trouble finding it. 

Why is Sookwang my #1, you ask?  

1. I buy it in 6" wide rolls, so two stripes of the stuff cover an entire sheet of 12x12 card stock.  Other brands are only 4" or 2" wide. If you need a 4" or 2" strip, just cut off that length from your 6" roll.  Duh.  
2. When using the Big-Shot and any kind of die - be it wafer thin or Sizzix original - the sticky stuff does not gunk up your die.  Other brands - not so much.  I have not tried cutting paper backed with Sookwang with the Cricut. But - people cut printed stickers with their Cricut all the time. This is a bit different as you are asking the blade to not only cut the intricate shape, but also cut through a layer of sticky tape + its backing.  If you try it, you may have to let the machine cut your images more than once.  That's done by not unloading the paper when it's done cutting, instead hit the CUT button again.  As I type this, its entirely possible the other brands of sticky business I referred too earlier may actually be better for using with your Cricut.  I'll never know as I gave away the stuff that frustrated me.  I own two Cricut machines - but I am surely not married to them.  They have their place, but it's not where I live.  
3. Pulling the backing paper off the cut product is easy compared to others.  I've had to use straight pins to help pry off the backing on other bands.  That's nuts. 
4. Cutting Sookwang with my guillotine is super easy, and again, does not gunk up the blade.  If you get it on crooked and need to trim some of the sticky stuff out of the way, I just whack it with the guillotine and pull off the offending piece. Easy-peasy.  
5. The rolls are huge - one lasts me for years.  I mean, I don't need a sticker every day.  But let me tell you, with this year's cookie book - (blog post coming soon) - putting all those page reinforcement holes on every single page x 26 books, you can bet I die cut them using paper backed with Sookwang!  Can you imagine gluing each one of those things one at a time by hand?  Nope.  No way.  Love Sookwang.  You will too.  

Craft Cave Upgrades

 Ok!  In my Christmas card post I alluded to some upgrades in the craft Cave.  Here we go! 

Brother Scan and Cut DX - ($199.00 on sale) this is the only thing on the market with a built-in scanner.  Every other cutting machine on the market requires you to scan your sheet of stamped images, open them on your computer and finally import them into the software your cutting machine uses.  Saying this next bit loud for the people in the back, SCREW THAT!  The creative process is a fluid thing.  Stopping to mess with scanners, computers and absolute CRAP software like Design Space - yes, Cricut, I'm talking directly to you, is a creativity KILLER.  Brother fixes all that by allowing me to stamp my sheet full of whatever I want, scan it into their machine, set an offset if I want one, and cut.  Boom.  Is it perfect?  No, there is a learning curve, but it's not too steep.  At least not for the model I bought.  Get one of these if you are doing a lot of fussy cutting around your stamped images.  Get one of these if you're spending tons of cash on dies that match or outline your stamps.  This will pay for itself inside of year if that's what you spend your dollars on. 

Pocket Full of Miracles - Christmas Cards

It's December once again.  I finished the cookie books early this year.  A Miricale unto itself.  I took a look around the craft cave and decided it's just not working for me anymore in its current state, so I spent a little money and a lot of time and overhauled the whole damn thing.  I'll go through all that in a separate post.  But once it was done, this little Christmas pocket/card thingy jumped out as needing to be created and sent out.  Try as I might, it's not in the mail in time for St. Nick's day.  It kind of reminds me of the little things you'd put in a stocking.  

Everyone gets a unique holiday bookmark made from scraps cast off from many varied different projects over the years.  I've sent them out before, so it's not a new thing, but if you are like me, I lose them all the time.  It's fun to come across them, usually in a cookbook for me, months later.  That's the first thing. 

Next, is a clip art candy cane that I found on my computer earlier in the year when I replaced it with a new and faster model.  I love this candy cane image.  I even used it in the cookie book this year.  New in the craft cave, a Brother Scan and Cut allows me to print or stamp any image I want, and then cut it out with or without a border.  I can also cut out the shadow offset you see in blue.  However, I fussy cut those blue backgrounds this year as I had a ton of smaller scraps that worked, so rather than fuss with loading one scrap after another into the Scan and Cut, the old-fashioned hand work was much easier and faster.  Goes to show that technology has its place, but it can't do everything.  

Thirdly - I included a hand stamped holiday wish tag.  This tag was inspired by Heidi Swapp, who, if you found her on FB, you'd see her creating lovely cards and tags all starting with a blank.  She creates and sells stamp kits and class videos that you can buy and watch to create your own unique piece of stamped art.  Well, I'm sorry Heidi, but your price point is too high for your stamps, and with the embarrassingly large amount I already own, I think I can piece together something just as cool as yours.  But thank you for the 30 seconds of video you show that inspired me to give it a try.  

The last thing is the pocket itself. Now, I know we live in a digital world, but if anyone is still using the old-fashioned paper Planner, I've punched some holes in the pocket that will fit perfectly into your A5 6-ring planner binder.  Who doesn't need an extra pocket? 

One last note - I made 46 of these. That is not typical for me.  I tend to get bored with a thing and max out at 10 or 12 before moving to the next design in my head.  I think it was the variability of the bookmark and the pocket papers that kept me interested.  Every one is different.  They all tucked into an A7 envelope cut with my Big Shot Pro.  I got to use up a ton of holiday paper that's been laying around.  It's very waxy, so not really good for cards as things don't like to stick to a waxy coated paper.  But with an envelope seal, and an address label, it's great for cards.  Yeah!  Something else all used up.  

Thank You

Once again, a cold Sunday in late April finds me in my craft cave. Earlier this month I posted about making mono prints.  Here, now, is the little project I was working on that made me do that.  I found myself thinking about those little Russian stacking dolls one day not too long ago.  You know the ones, where you open a doll to find another smaller one, which you open to find another smaller one etc.  This Thank You note is just like that, only it's paper!  There will be 45 of them when I get them all done.  Each will be unique in terms of its colors.  I'm thinking of sending them out as New Year's card next year, but I'm not really sure yet.  

Here is the front - with the pretty mono print up front.  Follow the little arrow's direction and flip it over...

Here is the back of it, again, follow the little arrow's direction and pull out the next tag....

Here you see the backside of the first tag, and the front of the second, another pretty mono print.  Flip the second tag over...

...to find another pocket with another tag in it, pull the third tag out....

... Tag #3 is yet another mono print, flip the third tag over for the finale...

Below is the back of all three tags.  The backs are all mass market printed paper pulled from my scrap stash. The End, with the little bunny butt is one of my favorites.  It was produced in the mid-eighties by All Night Media Co. 

Below are the fronts of all three tags.  The fronts are all mono prints I made.  They all have some kind of shine to them, as I used a lot of the Pebeo paint when making them.  The pictures never seem to do them justice, IMHO.  You can be the judge if you get one in the mail someday.  

It all started with the Russian dolls and this challenge I have going on in my head, have had it for years, about using up all this stuff I have accumulated before I die.  Now, don't get all freaked out, because I'm not dying of anything I know of other than old age, so far, knock on wood and all that, but I do think about what the heck is going to happen to all this stuff in my craft cave after I am gone.  If I use it up, and figure out how to stop accumulating more, (a big "if " there) it will be easier for those left behind when I'm gone.  With that in mind, I looked around at all the little hidey holes I have full of scraps of paper.  There are a lot of them.  Every project creates more scraps and if they are bigger than 3 inches, I save them for something else.  I decided to make a dent in them.  This little "Thank You" project is made completely of scraps I have accumulated over the years.  If you read the post about mono printing, you'll know that even that was done with scraps.  

One thing about using up scraps is it's a lot of repetition at the die cutting station.  Scraps are too small to use the Cricut cutting machine to cut 45 of this shape or that shape.  To do that easily with the Cricut, you have to use full sheets of paper, which was not my goal.  I had literally hundreds of 3" x 12" scraps of black paper.  This project used them all up!  But that meant rolling a lot of paper through my Sizzix Big Shot Express, over and over until I had enough of each shape to make 45 of these little thank you notes.  It was fun, actually.  It fed my OCD for quite a while.  And, the Express means the steel rollers operate at the push of a button, I don't have to crank a handle like I did with my original Big Shot, which I wore out a few years back.  All in all, I accomplished my goals.  The scrap piles are GREATLY reduced, for now anyway, I have a fun thank you card to send out, and my OCD is at ease, again, for now anyway.

A thing that just occurred to me as I was previewing this post before publishing...what if I never use up all this stuff?  What if all this stuff is the key to living forever?  If I never use it up, I never die.  Hmmm...spending eternity crafting things out of paper.  I'm good with that.  :o) 

Mono Printing on Monday and, What's New?

I have a lot of white scrap card stock from other projects so the strips you see are just that.  I pulled prints onto the strips of scrap to use them up.  Later they will be die cut into the shapes I need for another little project I started earlier this year.  

These are some full page prints, just to give you an idea of what you get when you print a full page. 

I spent the day in the craft cave today.  It's cold, windy and snowing on April 17, 2023 in Wisconsin.  Made worse by the previous week of weather in the 80's, if you can believe that.  

So, what's new in the craft cave....ah, yes, I bought myself a new laptop a couple weeks ago and have been getting reacquainted with all the fun things I can do again, now that my equipment is not 11 years old.  Woot!

1. First, I set up my Cricut and cut a bunch of stuff I've been wanting to cut for the longest time.  My old laptop crapped out with the latest upgrade (well, let's be honest, the upgrade from about 3 years ago) to Design Space so cutting was limited to what I owned on cartridges (which is PLENTY, and why I didn't really miss cutting from their online collection).  
2. Next I spent some time streaming videos from some of my favorite artists.  Patty Tolley Parrish in particular, since this post is supposed to be about mono printing.  She has TONS of videos and she live streams all the time.  A wonderful mixed media artist who loves to play and let us watch. 
3. Next I reset the theme for my inbox and FINALLY cleaned all the crap out if it.  I've been pretty good at keeping it clean, too.  Hopefully I did not just jinx myself here.  Anyway....I digress.

A long time ago I discovered Gelli Arts and their Gelli printing plates.  Different sized plates that are best described as 1/2 thick slabs of clear Jello.  I don't know how to describe it other than that.  I have 4 or 5 different sizes of them.  The process is simple, and quick.  Dab on and brayer out colors of acrylic paint or ink (although ink is expensive) that make you happy, then before it dries you can draw in it, use a stencil, your fingers, sponges, blocks, bottle caps, anything you want to put in the paint to make it interesting, do it.  But, do it before it dries.  Lay your paper on top of the design, press down gently but firmly and let it set for a while.  Then pull up your print.  Boom!  

It's called mono printing because you can only get one print. Every other one will be different from the last.  The only time I actually pulled prints was to cover the cookie book from 2015, Flour and Butter and Sugar, Oh my! was the theme that year.  If you have one of those, pull it out and check out the cover paper.  I printed it all myself and no two are alike.  You can see a post about it using the blog contents roll on the right as well.  

Gelli printing is addictive.  Once you get going, its hard to stop.  Back in 2015 I printed so many sheets that I am just today using up the last of them. (Yes, that's 8 years ago, folks) I'm in the middle of a little "Thank You" project that used up all the mono prints I had in my stash.  I'm not done with the thing yet so I needed to print some more.  

Here are some tips, if you decide to lean into this 'habit':

• First - wear old clothes.  An apron is not good enough.  I wear a cook's coat and an apron.  I wear my cook's coat all the time in the craft cave.  Its the perfect thing to keep me clean.  
• Give yourself a lot of space. Once the prints start rolling off, they get tossed aside to dry pretty quickly because the paint on the Gelli plate is always trying to dry.  
• Keep several sheets of paper next to your Gelli plate so you can roll off the excess paint from your brayer.  Sometimes what you create from cleaning your brayer is pretty interesting.  So if you like what you see, toss it in with the prints that are drying and keep going.  
• Get yourself some shiny paints!  Pebeo makes some wonderful colors with mica in it so they really shine.
• Black and white get used a LOT.  
• Never clean your Gelli plate after you pull a print.  Just lay down the next colors and keep going.  The little bits of paint from the previous prints really make the next ones even more interesting.  
• Stencils are a great way to add shapes and pops of black or sparkle to a print that may have started out too dark.  
• Print over prints you already pulled.  Layering prints and colors makes them do wonderful things.  
• Printing with those shiny inks on black paper is going to make you happy.  Get yourself some black bond paper.  Astrobrights makes the perfect one.  
• Print using cheap paper.  Deli Paper is great.  Yes, those things they wrap your sandwiches in.  Perfect stuff to print on.  Glassine paper is nice too and pulling a print with Glassine will usually clean every bit of paint off your Gelli plate.  
• Don't worry if the paint dries.  Sometimes you want it to.  If it dries on your plate, brayer on another layer of paint.  Pick something that will make a nice background.  Solid black or white is always a good choice.  Put down your piece of paper and let it dry on the plate.  When you pull it, it will take everything off the plate.  
• Lastly, but most important - Have fun!  And, my advice is to NOT do this one with the kids.  Wait till they are 11 or 12.  Acrylic paint is permanent when it dries on your clothes.  

Valetines - 2023

Here they are for this year, folks.  Valentines only this year, nothing for Lunar New Year (Rabbit) and nothing for St Patty's Day, although I may still get some of those made.  If I do, I'll save them for next year.  It just depends on what ideas are keeping me up at night.  The only way to get any sleep is to make them.  Right now, I'm already toying with 2023's cookie book.  It may not be 2023, that all depends on participation from the bakers, but I've got an idea.  It's going to break all the cookie exchange rules if I get it put together.  Enough said. 

Without further ado - I like You a Waffle Lot is my favorite this year.  I added the February calendar element to this card, even though it's not in this picture.  You can see it in the other one with 14 on the front.  I was hoping the woven heart in the background was reminiscent of a waffle, but it's not so much.  That's ok.  I still like this one the best!  I kept singing the words over and over while I made them.  "I like you a waffle lot!", I like you a waffle lot, like a little jingle.  Made me happy.  Good thing I was home alone.  The cats are cool about me talking to myself.  

If you are interested in how I made the woven heart, its 1/4" strips woven together (I pin them to a cork board and weave just like normal), then glue the ends so it won't unravel.  I pick the side I like the best and cover the other side with Sookwang.  I think it's also called Scortape?  I have it in giant rolls that are 6 inches wide.  It's basically two-sided tape but really wide.  Once the sookwang is attached, I just die cut the heart with a Sizzix original (note the word ORIGINAL as wafer dies will not cut through a weave.  You need those heavy duty steel rule dies to get through a weave cleanly.)  Then. peel off the backing of the sookwang and stick it to the card.  Its super easy and keeps all those little pieces on the ends in place.  

There's a shaker card in the mix this time around and one for the bees too - It just says 'Mine' and I'm hoping the recipients figure out that the little bee on the heart is meant to be said out loud.