VIDEO: Dry Embossed Freehand Texture + New Year's Wishes

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What are your New Year's traditions, if you can even believe that it's here already? We do the very traditional (for here anyway) blackeyed peas for luck and greens for prosperity. My issue with this has always been that I LOATHE blackeyed peas, despite my love for most beans and peas. My sister solved this in the late 1900s, saving me from gagging down a single blackeyed pea every New Year's by inventing peaxté - a faux pate made from blackeyed peas and other things - recipe at the end of this post. We eat that on crackers with a chiffonade of whatever greens we are growing this time of year. I harvested some chard from her house and I also have two different kinds of sorrel out back. You make a little nest of the greens on a cracker, and put the peaxté on top. It's quite delicious - like an upscale bean dip. I made that yesterday so it could rest in the fridge and I'll bring some to my mom today. Other traditions around the world are fun - I was reading up on them yesterday. In some countries they believe eating round foods is lucky - think citrus, etc. I could make that work with cucumbers for sure. Technically the peaxté is round if you eat it on the right cracker. In Brazil, people wear white for luck. In Demnark, they smash dishes on the doorstep - that might just be drunk people and not so much for luck. In the sweetest tradition, farmers in Belgium wish a happy new year to each one of their farm animals! One Colombian tradition has people grabbing an empty suitcase and running at top speed around the block to guarantee they will travel in the new year - maybe we need to do that to get rid of the rona! In MY homeland in upstate New York, you can buy these little peppermint pigs that you smash with a hammer at New Year's. They are quite delicious, the little pig shards. They are closed for the year, but you can find them next year at www.saratogasweets.com. Japan has a beautiful tradition I might adopt this year - eating long noodles for longevity - with all manner of symbolic toppings that are really sweet. I always have soba noodles - I adore them - so I might do this on New Year's day in addition to the peaxté. They also ring a bell 108 times, which I find fascinating, as that number is a magical one in lots of ways, not the least of which is the number of stitches on a baseball.

Anyway - whatever you decide to do, I hope it's fun, peaceful and lucky! What I do NOT do is resolutions - because that's just a lot of pressure. I prefer sort of daily resolutions, honestly - today I'll do my laundry! Today I'll make art! That kind of thing. Then I don't disappoint myself with some year long checklist I probably won't pull off - it's good to know yourself!

Now because goldfish are considered to bring luck and prosperity - I'm bringing you a goldfish today and a fun video for altering your stamp images with dry embossing. 

Here are the supplies I used to create this fun mixed media tag:

• Goldfish stamp & dies 
• Rice paper
• A Gel Press print scrap
• Matte medium, applied with a silicone spatula
• A variety of stylus sizes
• Colored pencils - please note I say Luminance in the video by mistake!
• Heavy foam pad
• Pergamano grid - sorry - I can't find these anywhere, but you don't need one!
• Sentiment sticker
• Black Glue
• Magenta, turquoise and white gloss sprays

To create the tag, I sprayed the sprays onto my craft mat and smooshed the tag into them. Then I spattered them with the same colors. I collaged the rice paper and gel print onto the tag, and added the fishy and the sentiment sticker. The black dots I made with black glue, which makes PERFECT round, shiny dots.

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Here is the video for the scale texture you see - it's such an easy and fun technique!

Goldfish Stamps [ ELH | SSS | ALTN ] Goldfish dies [ ELH | SSS ] Sticky quotes [ JGG ] Stylus & paint dot set [ AMZUS ] Polychromos [ BLIC ] Matte medium [ BLIC ] Silicone spatula [ AMZUS ] Black glue [ SSS ] Fuchsia spray [ JGG ] Turquoise Spray [ JGG ] White spray [ JGG ] Tim Holtz Tags [ CST | ACH ] Warm Whites Rice Paper [ JGG ] Bristol Smooth [ BLIC ] Hot press WC paper [ BLIC ] Amazon.com: McGill Paper Blossoms... [ AMZUS ]

If you are not signed up for my newsletter, you can do that below or in the sidebar - and if you are, then you already know about my crafty de-stash boxes! I'm packing ten medium flat rate boxes FULL of new and gently used stamps, dies and more as a fundraiser for the Gabby Petito foundation.  Here are the deets! (PLEASE DO NOT SEND A PAYMENT UNLESS YOU ARE NOTIFIED YOU'VE BEEN CHOSEN.) 

It's time to make some space for 2022, so I am going to offer some mystery stash boxes for sale, with the proceeds going to the Gabby Petito Foundation. Like many of you, I followed this heartbreaking story closely, and admire her parents so much for turning her tragedy into good for women and men in abusive and violent relationships. It's not every grieving parent that has the strength to do that, and so this will be my charity of choice for a good long while.  Here's how this will work. Fill out this form.  I will pack a medium flat rate box with new or gently used stamps, dies and mediums. It's hard to calculate the value of each box, but they should each be worth more than $600. Most stamp sets will have coordinating dies if they were available when the stamps came out. There will be some stand alone dies, embellishments, stencils and more! Most are already labeled in stamp pockets. I have ten boxes filled, so if you sign up here, I will randomly draw ten names. Then, you will Venmo $115 ($15 for shipping in the US) or $150 ($50 shipping to Canada) to @understandblue within 24 hours. (I will also accept Paypal Friends and Family method, but venmo is preferred. Payments sent through Paypal NOT marked friends & family will be refunded - I would like the full amount to be donated with no fees.) If payment is not received in 24 hours, I will draw another name until all the boxes are claimed!  Names will be drawn and notified January 8th 2022 Most importantly, if you or a loved one is in a controlling, abusive or violent relationship, please call the national domestic violence hotline 800.799.SAFE (7233) - or visit the website - and remember to clear your browsing history if you do choose the website. If you are not in the US, I can help you find resources where you live.

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On to FOOD!

Now my sister does something different every year with the peaxté, and she's not big on writing things down, but I pinned her down in 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2020 for how she made it, and this year I made the 2012 version - so here it is with my edits. It's delicious. 

1 tsp-ish bacon grease, or you can cook bacon as described below

1/2 large sweet onion, finely chopped

1/4 tsp. cumin

2 chile pequins, smashed to dust - I grow these, so any chile pepper you have is fine

1 can black eyed peas

1/2 can navy beans (I did about 3/4 can)

Bay leaf

2 fresh sage leaves

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

1drop liquid smoke

1 tsp. salt (I use Redmond Real Salt, which is less salty, so adjust for your salt)

Fresh ground pepper

 

Cook bacon and remove it from pan, or just add bacon grease to a pan. Add onion and pequins and put in oven at 350 for 20 minutes - I used a la creuset with a lid - but stir every 5 minutes or so.

 

Rinse and drain the peas and soak in boiling hot water with a TBS of baking soda. Rinse and drain a can of navy beans.

 

Remove pan and put on stove top on medium.

 

Add bay leaf and sage to hot pan. Add ground black pepper, salt, 1/4 tsp cumin, add navy beans, liquid smoke and a splash of white wine and a squeeze of lemon (optional).

 

Rinse and drain peas and add to pan, cooking until very soft - about 20 - 30 minutes. If you need to add a little water, that's fine - I lowered the heat after adding it to the stove.

 

When done, blend with a stick blender or hand mixer. Put in a mason jar, and squish all the air out, and seal the top with parchment paper, waxed paper or cling wrap. The next day, serve on a cracker on top of a chiffonade of your favorite greens for good luck!

Happy New Year!!

Loveyameanitbye.