Stories

I am a crafter, although for some reason I hate that word.  I hand make a number of things, but I just can't bring myself to say that I make "crafts". I feel that people equate that word with Popsicle sticks and macrame.  So, instead I prefer to say that I hand make "novelties and gifts" since typically the items fall into those categories.  Pretty generic enough.  A customer is buying an item which isn't life changing, or an absolute need-to-have, but they are usually convenient items that are fun and functional.  I don't often think of them as much more than that.

But then I hear the stories and that makes all the difference.

When I hear WHY a customer is buying something it turns my ordinary "novelty" into something much more than that.

Recently with the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings interest in my Boston Strong items, particularly headbands, really picked up.  I know that many people were purchasing something because they planned to head into Boston on April 21st to watch in person.  But occasionally someone would include a note with their order and that made all the difference to me.  Those headbands were even more special as I packaged them up.  For example:

"A friend and I volunteered with the blanket distribution team at the Finish Line last year.  We'll be again this year and can't wait to be wearing these snazzy headbands"
She was there.  She witnessed the chaos and tragedy.  And she was heading back there again, undeterred.

"I'm running the marathon in a couple of weeks and I hope to wear this!!"
That.Is.Awesome

"We just walked away from shopping and walked around the corner of the first bomb when we heard the first bomb.  My son finished almost 2 hrs. before."
I have no words for this.



But it is not just the Boston Strong items that bring forth stories.  Just this week I started work on a custom order for a woman who recently lost her grandmother.  She wanted some accessories for her children to wear to the memorial service that represented the grandmother's favorite flower, the daffodil.
I actually felt pressure trying to find a print that would work for this project and I do think I managed to find an ideal selection.  I finished the bow ties last night and posted a picture to my Facebook page.


The customer saw it and commented that they were "perfect".  Knowing the significance behind the request made this project that much more important to me.  Her story made these bow ties more than just a novelty or a craft.  It made my work something more than that.  I suppose now I can say that I make "novelties, gifts and memories."


Thank you for letting me be a part of your story.

Previously unpublished post! Holiday Baking - I got this

After I posted a small entry this morning I noticed I had something still in my draft folder.  I was a bit shocked to find this entry that I started back in December!  Apparently the holiday rush hit be a little harder than anticipated and I never got to finish this.  So, here it is...months later, but maybe you can refer back to it in 8 months when planning your holiday baking!

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December 21, 2013

So, after my brief freak out about Christmas approaching way too fast, I decided I needed to get my bake on. Each year I like to make a small basket of goodies for our neighbors and the executives that I support at work. I think this year I had 21 people/families on my list.  I was already planning to go in late on Wednesday because of the holiday program at my son's school, so why not just take the whole day and get everything cranked out at once.  Boy I am glad that I did!  Now, I did start some of these on Tuesday night because I like to cool the truffles overnight if I can, but I was definitely busy in the kitchen all day and night when I wasn't visiting my son at school (twice that day)!

Since I posted a picture of my goodies on Facebook (natch), I got a few inquiries into the recipes.  Here is a snapshot of everything together:

So from the top left: Chocolate double peppermint bark and white chocolate bark; Cinnamon sugar almonds
Center: Chocolate peppermint cookies; Butter spritz cookies drizzled with chocolate
Bottom: Oreo balls; Raspberry chocolate truffles.

Now, I debated putting recipes out there because it's embarrassing at how easy they all are, but I will share anyway.  The most time consuming thing is rolling the truffles into balls, otherwise so easy!!

Peppermint Bark
Adapted from Betty Crocker
Prep Time: 15 minutes

Standing time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 package (12 oz) Giradelli white chocolate morsels OR Nestle Dark Chocolate and Mint Morsels (or other mint flavored chocolate pieces)
• 1 box of mini peppermint candy canes

Directions

• Cover cookie sheet with waxed paper or aluminum foil.
• Heat chocolate morsels in the microwave or over a double boiler.  If microwaving, start at 2 minutes, then stir until smooth.  Candy will retain it's shape until mixed around.  White chocolate has a very thin line between melted and overcooked.  If not entirely melted, microwave for 30 seconds at a time. .
• Using a food processor or Magic Bullet, pulverize half of the candy canes into a fine powder.  Put the other half in a plastic bag and crush with rolling pin or bottom of small heavy saucepan. Pour crushed candies into wire strainer.  
• Stir coating to mix evenly.
• Spread coating evenly on cookie sheet.  Sprinkle evenly with remaining candy pieces.  Let stand about 1 hour or until cool and hardened.  Break into pieces.

Butter Spritz Cookies
From: Instructions that came with the cookie press

Yield: 6 – 7 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) Margarine or butter, softened
• 1 cup  Sugar
• 1Egg
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 3 ½ cups Flour

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 375º
• Beat butter on medium until creamy
• Add sugar, egg & vanilla; beat well
• Add flour, 1 cup at a time.
• Dough will be soft.  DO NOT REFRIGERATE.
• Press 1” apart on cookie sheet using cookie press
• Bake 10-12 minutes or until firm but not brown
• Cool 2 minutes and transfer to cooling rack.

Oreo Balls

Ingredients

• 8 ounces softened cream cheese or whipped cream cheese
• 18 ounce package of Oreo cookies, crushed
• 2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening

Directions

•  Mix cream cheese with electric mixer until fluffy. Add the crushed Oreos and beat on high until well mixed.
• Chill for at least 2 hours in the freezer. Then roll Oreo cookie mix into one inch Oreo Balls.
• Melt the chocolate chips and shortening with a double boiler or in the microwave.
• Dip the Oreo balls completely into the melted chocolate using tongs or a toothpick.
• Put on wax paper. After the Oreo balls harden, keep them in the refrigerator.
• Makes about 3 or 4 dozen Oreo Balls, depending on the size

Raspberry Chocolate Truffles

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes

Chilling time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 (14-ounce) can eagle brand sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
• ¼ cup raspberry liqueur
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
• 2 (12-ounce) packages semisweet chocolate morsels
• Coatings:  confectioners sugar, colored sugar, finely chopped walnuts, nonpareils, chopped coconut

Directions

• Microwave first 4 ingredients in a large microwave-safe bowl at high 3 minutes.
• Stir in chocolate morsels until smooth. Cover and chill 1 hour.
• Shape mixture by tablespoonfuls into balls, and roll in coatings

See previous blog posts for the Slow Cooker Cinnamon Sugar Nuts and Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

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So, that was what I made for my food gifts in 2013.  Now it has me thinking about what to do this year!

Little notes

I love getting notes from customers letting me know why they have chosen a particular item from my shop. It's fun to hear that a headband is perfect for their daughter who loves sparkly things, or a key fob really shows off their friend's personality, or that they plan on wearing a Joatmon Creation for a special occasion. Last night I received an order from a woman who volunteered at the Boston Marathon finish line last year and she is planning to be back there again in two weeks, wearing the Boston Strong headband she was purchasing from me. Even though I am not going to watch the ‪#‎Marathon‬ in person, I feel like a little part of me will be there.

If You Give a Crafter an Order to Sew

This morning was a lot like the children's story If You  Give a Mouse a Cookie. 

mine is called " If You Give a Crafter an Order to Sew."

If You Give a Crafter an Order to Sew she's going to want to clean up her sewing room a little before she begins. 

If she wants to clean up her sewing room before she begins she's going to want to move the cutting table. 

If she moves the cutting table she's going to discover a box of old clothes that just might fit her again

Is she discovers a box of old clothes that just might fit her again she's going to want to try them on.

If she tries them on and they do fit then she's going to want to do a little dance

If she wants to do a little dance then she's going to have to move the cutting table again to make room

If she moves the cutting table again she might discover some ribbon that fell behind it

If she finds some ribbon that fell behind it she's going to want to post it online to show people what she has available to make a craft

And if she posts the ribbon online to show people what she has available to make for a craft then the crafter just might get an order to sew. 

I recently saw a recipe on a friend's Facebook page for Dark Chocolate Peppermint M&M Cookies and I could not wait to try them out. I planned to make them while hunkered down during a snowstorm, but then I realized I did not have some very key ingredients at home (such as the M&Ms!), so I convinced my husband to take me out to get the stuff I needed before the snow got too bad. The trade-off was that he got to choose the store and instead of going to the large and very popular grocery store in town he chose a smaller specialty shop. Of course they didn't have the ingredients I needed either, so since I liked the concept of a chocolate mint cookie I grabbed some mint chocolate chips and called it a day. 

I made a lot of adjustments based on what I did have on hand, including omitting the M&Ms and the dark chocolate powder. Of course that means the name had to change, but for the sake of this post I am using the original recipe as guidance and just deleting/substituting what I did have. I am also keeping the original directions but changing it where necessary. Thanks to My Baking Addiction for a great base for me to start from! Be sure to check out her site for the original recipe 

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

YIELD: 3 dozen

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOK TIME: 12-14 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt

6 oz milk chocolate chips
8 oz (2 sticks, 1 cup) unsalted butter, divided

2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup Nestlé Toll House Winter Mint and Chocolate Morsels
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Crushed candy canes (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Use a whisk to stir, evenly distributing the dry ingredients and aerating the flour at the same time. Set aside.
3. In a large measuring cup, melt together 4 oz (1 stick or 1/2 cup) butter and chocolate in the microwave, heating 30 seconds at a time. After 30 seconds, stir the butter and chocolate together, then heat again. Stir after each increment until butter and chocolate combine easily. Do not overcook. Set aside to slightly cool.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, mix the remaining 4 oz of butter together with granulated sugar, scraping the bowl often. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on medium speed after each addition. Continue to scrape the sides of the bowl often.
5. Add vanilla to the mixture and mix on medium speed again until the wet ingredients are well combined. Leave the mixer on low speed and slowly add in the chocolate-butter mixture. Add it slowly so as not to accidentally 'cook' the eggs with the warm chocolate.
6. When chocolate has been completely incorporated, begin to add the dry ingredients in increments, mixing on low speed after each addition.
7. When a cohesive chocolate dough has formed, be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to get any remaining flour and mix again, then remove from the stand mixer if using one.
8. Add both the mint and white chocolate chips to the dough, mixing them through by hand.
9. Use a medium sized cookie scoop to distribute 6-8 dough balls per baking sheet.
10. Bake each tray for 12-14 minutes. Remove from the oven. Sprinkle tops with crushed candy canes (this is optional. I used a fine candy cane dust that i got by running the candy through the Magic Bullet). Press each cookie with the flat back of a spatula to flatten, then allow to cool.
11. Cool the cookies on the baking tray for a moment, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Here are the Winter morsels. Very tasty!

And the finished cookies:

I think this will be added to my "Tried and True" collection for next year!

Christmas is WHEN?

Tonight as I tucked him in, my five year old asked how many more days until Christmas. I thought about it and realized it was only nine more "sleeps".  NINE MORE SLEEPS until we wake up on Christmas morning. How did that happen?

This year went by incredibly fast, but the weeks since Thanksgiving seemed to have passed in a mere blink of an eye. Perhaps it's because I was very busy all year with my crafting business (I have been very lucky to have some wonderful return customers) and it has barely slowed down, especially during the holiday season. Or perhaps it is because I am a little less organized this year and I didn't make my usual lists to keep track of lists. But all I know is that in the next nine days I need to finish my final custom order, create and order our yearly personalized calendars for my family, wrap gifts, bake two kinds of cookies, make two kinds of truffles, and try out a cinnamon sugar almond recipe that just may make it into my coworkers and neighbor's gift baskets (all 21 of them). I also need to brave the mall to get said baskets for those treats. Oh, then there is also my son's school's cookie decorating extravaganza and holiday program.  Lets add on some snow to top it all off, which means I won't make it to the grocery store after work tomorrow for the last minute ingredients I need. But that's what a husband's day off is for, right? Who wants to tell him????

Not that any of these things are stressing me out. I am looking at it all like a big Christmas challenge. Which is why I am writing this blog instead of wrapping the Yankee swap gift for tomorrow's work luncheon, which is resting by my feet. As hard as I will it with my mind, I suppose that emergency auto kit just isn't going to jump in a bag all on its own.

But wouldn't that just be a Christmas miracle if it did???

Nine more sleeps and I will regain my sanity, I promise!

Redesigned website

I have had my website, www.JoatmonCreations.com for years now but it was a regular site that wasn't really conducive as an e-commerce solution. I learned a little basic HTML to make it look nice and I added PayPal buttons for some of my items but it got cumbersome to keep up with, especially with hundreds of products in my inventory. Then I discovered Etsy and opened my store there. It was a great solution because so many people are familiar with it already.  They would search for what they wanted and if I had something similar in stock then they would find me.  Perfect!  Unfortunately the fees started adding up after a while. And then their rules seemed to change often.  It went from a handmade site to one that also hosts mass produced and vintage items.  I don't feel like I belong there anymore (or worse yet, as if I am not wanted).

So needless to say I've been wanting to redesign my site for a while now, but time and money were the biggest obstacles. Isn't that always the case no matter what you're talking about? But since I was finally frustrated enough (and my old website hosting was about to expire) I finally made the change.  And I found a wonderful hosting partner with Merchant Moms.

The site is very easy to use once you get started and the customer service is amazing. They are with you every step of the way and anytime you hit a bump in the road they immediately make things smooth again. Needless to say I have been spending hours upon hours getting my site up and running. What better time to do this then Christmas? That was sarcasm, by the way. Only I would choose to roll out a brand-new website at my busiest time of the year.

Now driving traffic to an e-commerce site is the number one thing and unless I get my name out there nobody is going to know who I am. (IF anyone has any advice on how to use meta-tags please, please, please share)!

Overall I am thrilled with my new site and it is what I always wanted to have. So PLEASE f you are reading this I would love it if you checked out www.JoatmonCreations.com. I have so many things on there that would be great for stocking stuffers or gifts for teachers and caregivers.

Spread the word if you like what you see. Use the Pinterest buttons, or share on Facebook. You tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so forth. It's definitely still a work in process but it's better than what I had before!!

Oh, and if anyone would like to come decorate my Christmas tree in exchange for a key fob, I'm sure we could work something out!