January Tradition
Looking back at the blog’s archives, I discovered that a January post has occurred EVERY year since Planet Nice Crafts' inception in 2018 and now 2025 with the 8th is no different. The holiday season is wrapping up with Lunar New Year in a couple weeks and of course Valentine’s Day next month. We have had a wonderfully cold winter here in the Chicago area. I am completely serious, I much more prefer 20 degrees than 45 but I do have limits, single and negative digits are pushing it. It just feels right to be a little chilly and hopefully with experience and wisdom, I know how to handle it better and better. The sunlight has been spectacular and even now, the longer days are noticeable. On the other end of the emotional spectrum, the pictures of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area give a feeling of horror – thinking a lot about the people who have been affected.
In January posts of the past, baking is a major topic
and is no different in 2025. There were six fruitcakes, three types of cookies,
and a continuing mini-study in apple pie during the season. The cookies will be
the focus here and the chosen recipes were simple linzer cookie slices by King
Arthur Flour (catalog), tim tams (chocolate sandwich cookies popular in Australia) by
Imperfect Foods, and dark chocolate and cherry biscotti also by Imperfect Foods.
All recipes were new, straightforward, and had nice yields. None of the cookies
were dropped but instead, required formation. The first, the linzer cookies,
were formed into logs and the chosen filling was dabbed in, not as uniform
compared to the catalog photos.
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| Pre-bake photo of simple linzer cookies |
The chocolate sandwich required rolling out and cut into rectangles (note edge of ruler!).
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| Cutting of the sandwich part of the cookies |
The biscotti were formed into loaves for the first bake and
then sliced for the second bake.
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| Biscotti after the first bake |
Luckily, the cookies were not all eaten before the glamour
photo shots (becoming another January tradition).
The linzer cookies were the least dramatic in terms of taste
and are a very nice way to use a favorite jam or other filling. The tim tams
were the most dramatic with three components: the cookie that made the
sandwich, the filling (butter and sugar), and then the dipping in chocolate.
Each cookie could be divided into three still nicely sized cookies. The biscotti were the easiest and gave
you excellent value for effort.
Quite a bit of ornament painting has been done as the holidays started their wind down.
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| Green color study for snowman ornament |
It was decided to do the glitter BUT to minimize the setup and mess – all of the pieces need to be ready so there is no further mention of glitter in this update. Here are status pictures for the hat and scarf pieces.
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Red mittens and striped scarf WITH wash |
The blue and green pieces are ready for their wash now. The tricky blue hat took about four coats to get that uniform look – each coat improving towards the anticipated result. Only the light blue ribbon will have a wash paint applied.
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| Update to tricky blue hat |
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| Blue mittens and scarf |
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| Green hat |
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| Green scarf and vest |
After all the pieces have their wash step, a glaze layer will be applied. I have never done a glaze so I have no idea what to expect, but I will share in next post. I am also working on a gnome miniature that is ready to go into some type of battle. This was a freebie at a recent, local exhibit. I have never done anything like this.
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| Gnome miniature |
It has been a busy crafting start to 2025. What has helped
is barely any snow so no time has been drawn to snowtime activities. No real
snowpeople to speak of or see.
Finally, an ecommerce update. Absolutely no action on the part of Etsy customers in the last three months. As part of a writing exercise, I went through PlanetNiceOdyssey’s shop page and tried to make the text tighter, more efficient. And starting January 15th, I reduced prices (not a sale because they are permanent) and added new listings. Even with becoming overwhelmed at the craft room inventory, I did succumb to temptation and did buy more yarn and kits during Modern Daily Knitting’s big sale. It makes absolutely no sense I know. I have enough supplies for several lifetimes but I think part of the fun is to obtain, keep awhile to enjoy, and send some stuff to its next destination. Stay tuned, I am hoping for some good action on this page and the shop page. Until then!
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