Busy August so far!

I've been super busy with work lately! At least this year I kind of expected it. Last year I had a huge influx of orders for the back-to-school season. Between the custom stickers in my CandiMakerStickers shop and the custom name label sticker sheets in my CandiMakerPlanners shop (in addition to my regular orders), July and August were my best months of 2025 for both numbers of orders and revenue.

This year, I had nine less orders in July 2026 compared to July 2025, but my revenue was almost $300 higher in July 2026. And for the first seven days of August, I've had nine more orders and $214 more in revenue this year than I did during the same time period last year. 

One thing that made a difference this year is that in July I added tear-off notepads to the products I offer...and I got two large orders for them earlier this week. As I'm writing this...I'm in my office printing 56 notepads that will go out on Monday. One order was for 41 of my notebook paper design notepads personalized with teacher names and then another order for 15 of my notepads personalized with names in "signature" fonts that they ordered with magnets on the back. I'm very thankful for the large orders! :) A lot of my sales are single-product orders, so I like to encourage larger orders with buy-more-save-more discount codes.  

I'll be finished with all the notepads tomorrow...then I'll spend Sunday printing and cutting the rest of my regular sticker, magnet, and sticker sheet orders. And then I package all the orders before I go to bed so they're picked up by USPS on Monday. 

I think adding new products periodically has helped my growth each year. The first year, I was mostly focused on creating new sticker designs. But after I decided to offer the option of magnets for each of my sticker designs during my second year, I saw a large increase in orders and revenue. Since then, I've tried to add new products each year. I have several new product ideas floating around in my head right now...but I haven't worked on new designs of existing products for several months, so I'll probably use any free time I have to focus on that through the end of the year. February and April are usually pretty slow months for me, so I'll probably hold off on any new products until then. 

One thing I've noticed while I've been spending a lot more time in my office (at one time, anyway) is that this chair is UNCOMFORTABLE. My elbow hurts, my knees and hips hurt, my back hurts...everything hurts. :P So I finally decided to go ahead and get a new office chair. Having hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, I really need something that's versatile. I looked at a lot of different kinds of chairs, but I settled on this one from Walmart. I really hope it helps. 

I also decided to try some compression products...the JellieBody and Korform shorts. So many people in the hEDS community have talked about them helping with pain, stability, and dysautonomia...so since I've had such a successful summer with work, I decided to finally order them. My back, hips, and knees have really been bothering me lately (in addition to my neck, but they probably won't help with that). Johnny and I did get some new pillows, though. He saw an article that talked about these pillows so I decided why not...couldn't be any worse than the old pillows that we've been using for, like, a decade. There were mixed reviews, but I was hopeful...and so far we've not been disappointed! I've been having a lot less neck pain. I had to remove some of the stuffing, but it's a lot more supportive for my neck and head. So I'm pretty happy about that. 

And since I've been having such a good July and start to August...I splurged and got something that's pretty much just cosmetic for my desk. :P My desk is 18 years old and the desktop is definitely showing it's age. My binding machine also caused a pretty big scratch before I realized it had a sharp spot on the bottom. So...I was looking for a desk mat that would cover the desktop...but the sizing was pretty limiting. I actually ended up finding this mouse pad that works pretty perfectly. It doesn't go across the whole desktop, but it definitely covers the part that shows the most wear. 

I did take a bit of a break from work last weekend to celebrate my husband's birthday! It's the 29th anniversary of Johnny's 29th birthday. ;) We had dinner at Village Inn with Aubry (and Danny), Ashlyn, mom, and my grandparents. Then we came home to put our leftovers in the fridge and let the dogs out to pee before going over to my grandparents' house to play Flip 7 with my mom and grandparents. It was the first time Johnny and I had played...and we had a lot of fun. :)

Well...I finally finished the first order of notepads, so I think I'm going to head to bed so I can get started again early tomorrow on the second notepad order. I hope everyone has a good weekend! :) 

**post contains Amazon affiliate links

Here we go for July!

The 4th of July has been over for awhile...but there were some a couple large booms and then some firecrackers that went off this evening. UGH. Nova really does not like fireworks...although she is doing a little better. She used to refuse to go outside from morning until way after midnight because she would anticipate the fireworks happening and wouldn't want to go outside just in case. She'd start it from the first firework and it would last until several days after the fireworks stopped. Now she'll go out off and on, but then wants to be right next to Johnny (or me, if he's not available) if she hears any loud noise. Other than that, though, she prefers to hide in the hallway or the bedroom during the fireworks. She does the same with thunderstorms. It's really all she's afraid of...which is the opposite of Boz where storms and fireworks are the only things he's not afraid of. :P 

Work is going really well. June was the highest revenue month of 2026 and tied January for highest number of orders. But...now we're in July which was my most successful month of 2025...even compared to December! I had about 100 more orders and almost $1k more revenue in July 2025 compared to December 2025. The first couple weeks of August stay busier, but then by the third week of August things slow back down to normal...but August 2025 was still my second best month of the year. Last year, July didn't pick up until the third week (second full week of the month from the 13th-19th) and I'd had 46 orders that week. This year, the first full week of July (the 5th to the 11th) I had 59 orders. So...hopefully that momentum keeps up! 

I finished my sticker collection albums and got them listed in my CandiMakerStickers shop and on my website. I have four designs right now...and I personally think they're pretty cute. ;) Now I want to focus on notepads for my CandiMakerPlanners shop. I have a lot of different design ideas...now it's just a matter of getting them all created and listed. I'm offering four different sizes right now: 3x3, 4x5, 4x6.5, and 5.5x8.5 (half letter). I'm also going to have some 3x8.5 to-do list options. I have one set of notepads listed so far...personalized dog breed notepads. I'm pretty excited about them. I took a long time creating over 300 dog breeds...pretty much every AKC breed available plus a few additional options. So hopefully people will like them. I'm also going to have matching stickers and magnets as well. I was hoping to have those listed this weekend...but I was busy with orders so I didn't have time. I'm hoping to still have the listing posted this week though. 

In other news, I had my appointment with the urogyn last week and she said everything looked good, so I can see a regular gyn to hopefully have my total hysterectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy and adhesiolysis if possible. She did say that they would likely stay available in case my bladder is too involved in the scar tissue. I assume that I'll need a colorectal surgeon, too, because I know for a fact that my colon is very affected by the scar tissue. I'm hoping to be able to do the surgery in February 2027 because that's when I'm the least busy with work. So we'll see how all that goes. 

Oh yeah...and in more other news...we had to replace the sump pump again. :P This is the second time since I moved in...the last time was just a few years ago, I think. Johnny took the old one apart to see if he could fix it, but he's assuming that the motor just burnt out because there was something stuck in it that had fallen in the basin. We have a pedestal sump pump...and they're not as readily available as the regular submersible ones. He'd tried to just pick one up at Lowes but they didn't have any in stock. So we ordered one and it arrived Sunday night. Then we ALSO have to replace the water heater. UGH. It's lasted about 20 years, but it's starting to leak. We have to replace the sump pump before we can replace the water heater...because that way we can drain it into the sump pump. If it's not one thing, it's another! Oh the joys of home ownership. :P 

Well...I better get back to work! :) 

First update for the month of June!

I posted a recipe toward the beginning of the month, but haven't actually posted an update yet. 

I've been super busy lately coming up with new products. I finally got my magnetic bookmarks finished and listed last week. So far I just have custom name magnetic bookmarks but I have a few other designs that I just haven't gotten around to finishing up and listing. I decided to put them in my CandiMakerPlanners shop, but I think I'll also have them as a variation in the custom name sticker and magnet listings as well. I already have the listing photos set up, I just need to get them all added. I plan to have that done by the end of the weekend. 

I'm also going to be listing mini reusable sticker books soon. They'll be in my CandiMakerStickers shop. I've been saving my magnet backing pages which are double-sided release paper. I thought it would be a perfect use for them. I'm getting a new thermal laminator (large 13" inlet and can laminate up to 10mil) because I wasn't real big on how my self-adhesive laminate worked with the cardstock and the old thermal laminator I've been using just isn't going to cut it. I had to return a paper cutter, so once I get that refund, I'm going to get the new laminator. I also have a cinch binding machine that is working out perfectly to put the sticker books together. 

Then I'm also working on creating notepads to list in my CandiMakerPlanners shop. I've been wanting to make them for awhile, but I didn't want to cut the pages individually with my Romeo and the regular paper cutter I'd been using wasn't accurate enough. I tried to get a new metal guillotine paper cutter that I was hoping to replace the plastic one I've had forever (which Johnny actually had however long before I moved in) but the cutting arm was bent on it (it's the one I'm returning). I decided to go a different route, though, and found a guillotine paper cutter on eBay that cuts up to 400 pages at a time. It should be here tomorrow...so hopefully it works well and I'll be able to use that for my notepads. I'm going to finalize the sticker albums first, then work on the notepads. 

Eventually I would also like to get a laser printer to start foiling...but I will likely wait until next year to start thinking about that more. I have researched laser printers and I know which one I'm planning to get (so far, anyway). It's a monochrome laser printer (only prints black) with a small footprint...which is important, since I have limited room in my office. I don't foresee needing a color laser printer since I have my large pigment ink printer that prints beautifully on a variety of materials. I also decided on the Brother brand rather than the HP laser printer I was also looking at. And the thermal laminator I'm planning to get also works very well for foiling...so I'll already have that taken care of. 

This year is still going better than last year. It's following the same trend as far as which months are slower...but each month I have more sales and more revenue than the year before. I feel really good about that...especially in the current state of the economy. I've seen a lot of Etsy sellers talking about how their sales are lower each year. I think it helps that my products are less expensive than a lot of other products people are making. My supplies also aren't as expensive as some larger items that people have to buy in bulk...like shirts, cups, etc. Regardless, I'm very grateful for the fact that my business continues to be successful. In my CandiMakerStickers shop, my orders are up 11.7% compared to this time last year and my revenue is up 12.3% for the same time period. And today I got the largest order since opening my Etsy shop. She ordered 30 sets (2 magnets per set) of my floral mason jar kitchen conversion chart magnets. Even with the 45% off bulk discount, it was still my largest order. So I'm pretty excited about that...and I have them printing and cutting as I type this. :) I had someone else contact me in March about wanting 50+ of the same type of magnets for her daughter's bridal shower in July. She said she'd contact me to place the order on July 1st, so hopefully that is still the case. :)

My CandiMakerPlanners shop has grown even more than my regular sticker and magnet shop. My orders are up 223.5% compared to this point last year and my revenue is up 589.8%. I'm really curious how well July and August will go this year...since my name label sticker sheets really exploded during those months last year. Hopefully the same trend will continue and I'll have even more orders this year. Thank goodness for my Romeo and being able to cut 4 sheets at a time on a 11x17 sheet of paper! 

In addition to the new products I'm wanting to launch, I also need to get back to working on designs. I have a whole long list of regular sticker designs that I need to finish including a couple new groups of designs for custom name stickers. I also have a bunch of sticker sheets that I need to finalize and get listed. There's always so many ideas and never enough time in the day to get everything done. :P 

In other news, Nova went to the vet this morning. She needed an allergy shot and got caught up on all her other tests and vaccines. Her allergies have really been bothering her and she has a couple scabs on her belly. So she should be feeling much better soon. In a month or two I'll take Bozley in to get his vaccines. Nova gets extremely excited getting out of the car, so it's much easier to take them one at a time if one of us takes them by ourselves. 

Not a whole lot going on other than that. So...I'm gonna get back to work! :) 

RECIPE: Chicken Florenetine

Johnny was talking about how Olive Garden used to have a Chicken Florentine dish that he really liked. So I did some poking around and, as usual, I came up with my own recipe. It was a little difficult since I'd never had Olive Garden's Chicken Florentine so I didn't really have anything to compare it to. And Johnny said he couldn't even remember what it tastes like...just that it was good. :P So I was totally winging it...but Johnny said it was delicious. :)

Chicken Florentine

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs chicken tenderloins

3 tbs flour

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp Italian seasoning

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs butter

2 tsp fresh minced garlic

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)

1/4 cup chicken broth

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup grated parmesan & romano cheese

2 cups baby spinach 

16oz fettucine noodles, cooked according to package 

 Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, garlic salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and Italian seasoning.  

2. Cut each of the chicken tenderloins into 3-4 equal pieces. 

3. Coat each of the pieces of chicken completely with the flour mixture. 

4. Heat a large skillet on medium-high eat. Add olive oil. Once hot, add chicken. Cook the chicken until brown and internal temperature is 165 degrees. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. 

5. Melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté about 1 minute. 

6. Add wine and scrape the pan to remove any browned bits. Then add chicken broth and cream. Add the grated cheese gradually while stirring. 

7. Reduce the heat to simmer, stirring or whisking often. 

8. Once the sauce has thickened and is smooth, add spinach. Cook about 2 minutes until spinach is wilted into the sauce. 

9. Add chicken back to the pan and stir. Simmer until heated through. 

10. Serve over fettucine noodles. 

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Johnny is finally home!

This post has been open in my browser since Sunday and I just keep adjusting and adding to it without finishing it. LOL. It's now Thursday...and hopefully I'm posting this without changing that day again. :P 

I'm so happy that my husband is back home safe and sound. Mom and I took Johnny to the airport Saturday, May 16th and we picked him up on Sunday, May 24th. It was a day longer than his trip to Seattle over Labor Day last year. We had to play around with the dates to get the best price...the tickets were quite a bit higher this year. But Johnny was still able to fly first class in his favorite seat, so he really liked that. He was able to spend quite a bit of time with his mom plus do a few things with his brother like going to the Seattle Market and exploring different areas by the water. He was pretty sore when he got home from all the miles of walking they did. With the way my back and joints have been lately...there would've been no way I could've done it! There are days when my back seizes up just walking past the neighbor's house to the mailbox! 

I didn't do a whole lot while Johnny was gone other than work and get some stuff done around the house. Last time he was gone, my mom and I cut our king size adjustable bed in half, but I didn't really have a big project this time. A lot of my time was spent going outside with the dogs. :P I don't think they knew what to do with themselves having their routine disrupted. I played Sims4 a bit on the weekends since I hadn't played in awhile. Of course when I say that I "played" I mean that I just worked on building our Sims house. ;) It's AMAZING and if we decide to build a house in the future, it's definitely going to inspire our real house. ;) I also watched Scandal again on Netflix (mostly just for background noise) and made it from Season 1 to Season 6...then finished the series (it has 7 seasons total) yesterday. It's been so long since I'd watched it that I'd forgotten most of what happened in that show.

Neither one of us got much sleep while he was gone. Luckily Johnny was off work on Monday for the holiday so he could unwind and get some much needed rest before starting the workweek again. We lounged around watching some YouTube in the living room together. Johnny has lots of channels he subscribes to...plus we enjoy watching funny animal clips and funny "fails" videos where people fall down. It's our guilty pleasure. lol. Most of our messenger conversations consist of just sending funny video clips back and forth. ;) 

This past year I discovered Celina Spooky and her sleepwalking videos. The first clip of hers that I saw was when she had been sleepwalking in a hotel and woke up naked in the hallway. I think what I love most is the way she reminds me so much of Aubry! Her mannerisms, gestures, and the way she throws her head back when she laughs...Aubry does the same thing! Aubry also likes old, eclectic things and even had a skeleton (which she named Boner) riding in her car for several years. Anyway...I kind of went off on a tangent there. :P  

Work is going well. I passed 4350 sales on Sunday in my CandiMakerStickers shop. I started the year at 3695 sales (my goal last year was 3500). I feel like I've been setting some pretty "easy" goals, so my goal for this year is to hit 6000 in that shop. So...we'll see! While we were watching TV on Monday, I was going back and forth printing and cutting stickers, magnets, and sticker sheets. I had 20 orders that I packaged to put in the mail Monday night. I had two eBay orders, two sticker sheet orders, and the rest were from my regular sticker and magnet shop. My custom name label sticker sheets have already started selling this year. Last year I sold one custom name sticker sheet in January then didn't sell another one until I sold four at the end of June. This year I've sold at least one (and as many as six sheets!) every month from January through April. This month, I've sold 11 of the name label sticker sheets just since May 19th. Last July I sold 209 individual custom name label sticker sheets (then August was a bit less with 157 before it tapered back down to single digits). So I'm really interested to see how many I sell this July. My goal in my CandiMakerPlanners shop this year is to get to 1500 (I am currently at 576 sales). 

Since I was all caught up on orders, I took a break on Tuesday to play the new Paralives that was released on Monday (this is not a compensated review at all). It's a new life simulation game that is being compared to Sims. I decided to get it while they currently have a 10% discounted Early Access price. The good news is that's all you have to pay...ever. They've vowed not to put any new content behind paywalls...it'll all be delivered for free through game updates. 

So far, I really love the ways that it's different from Sims. It has an open world which was removed in the evolution from Sims 3 to Sims 4. It has color wheels so you can recolor pretty much everything. It has sliders for almost everything...height, every body part, many of the build items (like sliding furniture to make it shorter or longer), etc. One thing I really love is that not only is building not limited to a grid, everything is still completely usable. For example, I purchased an existing lot and completely remodeled it...but everything was a very odd shape. I wanted to add a staircase to a rooftop loft (because building a roof is still pretty basic and clunky...so with such odd shapes, I didn't have the patience to keep trying) so I wanted to add a staircase and make a rooftop patio area. The space for the stairs to the rooftop really wasn't big enough for a door to open...but it still let me put it there and the people use it as normal without a problem. So that's definitely an improvement. And it gives you a lot more freedom to clutter desktops, counters and everything because you're not limited to 1-4 "slots" to place things like in the Sims. The graphics are completely different from Sims, but I don't think they're bad. It's just a different aesthetic. And a lot of people are complaining about lack of options...but this is an *Early Release* of a *base* game. Sims 4 base game was pretty lacking as well when it was first released. I don't think Paralives will stop me from playing Sims, but I think it will be another game I enjoy.  

Tuesday ended up being a pretty good day for me to take a break from work...because I've been surviving on very little sleep and feeling really uncomfortable and irritated. TMI...but perimenopause is horrible. I've been dealing with it since late summer 2020. My cycles haven't gone away, but they'd gotten a lot shorter and lighter. Well...I didn't have my period at all in April so I was starting to get excited...until I'm now apparently having two periods in one. I've never had such heavy bleeding from a period. I'm talking...having to set a timer for 50 minutes because 60 minutes is too late to change my S+ tampon (hey, I warned you it was TMI!). It started late Monday night and continued until about 8am yesterday. It's still here today but not heavy anymore. The last time I bled like that was when I had a miscarriage at 12 weeks in April 2007. I only got lightheaded when I was standing too long trying to cut the vegetables for dinner on Tuesday. I was standing too long and got too hot. So I ended up postponing fajitas for dinner and ended up going to bed (only to wake up four hours later wide awake until 7am). Last night I was finally feeling better and finished making fajitas for dinner. Mmmm! 

Alright...gonna eat some leftovers for lunch and then gonna work on orders to put in the mail tonight. :)

I never know what to write for a title...

It takes a lot more effort than necessary to think of titles for my blog posts that aren't the same thing all the time. :P I know it's a trivial thing...but my brain gets hung up on things like that. I mean...my essays in school always took just a little bit longer because I couldn't use the same words in close proximity to each other. I don't know...it's a thing. lol. But...at least I have a lot to update this time instead of just droning on about the same ol' things all the time. :P 

The last week of April and into the first couple days of May, I had a really bad migraine. Several days it was so bad it even woke me up early in the morning. It had been awhile since I've had a migraine last that long and be that intense. Since I have hemiplegic migraines, I'm not supposed to take the triptans that are commonly used as rescue meds for migraines due to an increased risk of stroke. Basically all I can do is take 4 ibuprofen, a Benadryl, a promethazine, and put an ice back on my head or neck. Some days that just doesn't cut it. I've been taking nortriptyline for 13 years now as a migraine preventative for my hemiplegic migraines. While I've only had two hemiplegic migraines since then (one was NYE 2013 and the other was after I had a scratched cornea in 2019 and the ER doctor shined a light for too long in my scratched eyeball), I still get regular migraines pretty frequently. My doctor prescribed me topiramate as a preventative a few years ago, but that didn't make much difference. 

Johnny had a phlebotomy appointment on May 1st and since he needed to make a regular doctor appointment to refill his prescriptions, I went ahead and made appointments for both of us with our family doctor the same day (so he only had to take off work one day instead of two). I was going to get an allergy shot while we were there, but I totally forgot about it. I talked to our doctor (who is amazing) about the migraines and we decided to try Aimovig as a migraine preventative. It's a CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) monoclonal antibody that is a receptor blocker. Previously, my doctor had given me samples of CGRP receptor antagonists to use as rescue meds. Ubelvy isn't covered on our insurance, and Nurtec is $150/month (my doctor also gave me a few samples of Nurtec in case I need any rescue meds, though.). Meanwhile, Aimovig is only $100 a month and we have a copay card from the company which takes it down to $50 a month. And I don't mind doing injections...needles don't bother me at all. 

It took forever to actually be able to get my prescription for the Aimovig. It requires prior authorization with our insurance...and that took awhile. Then when the prior authorization finally came through, the pharmacy didn't have it in stock. In fact, none of the area locations had it available. But we were finally able to get it Monday night. Johnny picked it up at about 8:30pm and I waited half an hour (it's kept refrigerated and it's recommended to wait until it's room temperature so it doesn't sting as much). It's a SureClick Autoinjector which was really simple. Prep the area with rubbing alcohol, remove the white cap, pinch the skin on my thigh, push the pen all the way down, press the button (it'll click) and hold it down for about 15 seconds until the window is completely yellow (and it clicked again). Then dispense then pen in a sharps container (I used an empty detergent bottle that I already had) and that's it. 

Honestly, I wondered if I did it right at first because I felt absolutely nothing. But after I tossed the pen, there was a dot of blood so obviously it worked. A little while later I could feel where I'd done the injection...but it wasn't what I'd describe as painful. However, the next day I started feeling kinda crappy. I thought it was allergies (especially since I'd forgotten to get my allergy shot) but after four Benadryl and two Sudafed and it didn't really make a difference on my runny nose and sneezing. Then when my throat started hurting and I just felt kinda blah and achy...I realized it was probably the "flu-like" symptoms that can sometimes be side-effects. I felt a lot better by the next day, though. 

I also talked to my doctor about my issues with pelvic adhesive disease and the possibly of surgery for a total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, adhesiolysis, and possible colporrhaphy if necessary. I've had horrible pain that has just gotten worse over the last 16 years. I had to have a rectopexy and colon resection in 2010 that had to be done via open surgery. Then when I tried to get my tubes tied a year later, the surgeon couldn't even find one of my fallopian tubes because there was so much scar tissue from my previous surgery that has attached all of my pelvic organs together. So my doctor referred me to a urogynecologist and I'll have that appointment in a couple months to see what my options are. It shows he specializes in pelvic reconstruction surgery and I found that he was also recommended in the local Ehlers-Danlos FB group...so hopefully it'll all work out well.  

In other news, we took the dogs to the groomer a few weeks ago. They had some major grinch toes goin' on! We had the groomer use a hypoallergenic shampoo for Nova, but she's still been having allergy issues. I'm thinking it might be the doggy perfume. We made their next appointment while we were there, so I'll have to remember to talk to her about it then. We also need to make their appointment for their vaccines and Nova's allergy shot. 

I finally got around to printing my planner. I haven't had a paper planner in years...but I've been missing it. Especially now that I can print my own stickers! I also still have a lot of Happy Planner stickers to use, too. 

Work has been going well. April was a bit slow, but still better than it was in April 2025. I need to finish listing products on my website. I'm also thinking about giving TikTok shop another try, but we'll see. I was able to create the shop this time without any problems (as opposed to last time when it was a nightmare), so I suppose that's at least progress. 

We've also been getting ready for Johnny's trip out to Seattle. His mom had another stroke last month and isn't recovering like she had with the strokes she'd had before. He'll be staying with his brother again. I'm glad he'll get to spend the time with his family, but the doggies and I will definitely miss him! 

RECIPE: Chocolate Melt Vanilla Pudding Cookies

After the lemon pudding cookies turned out so well...I decided to come up with another pudding cookie recipe. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate and I don't really like chocolate chips in my cookies because they either get melty chocolate everywhere or they're harder than the cookie. So...I decided to use a semi-sweet chocolate baking bar and hiding it in the middle of the cookie...melty goodness without getting chocolate all over your hand! They turned out amaaaazing. Aubry's boyfriend said it's finally a cookie that tastes like cookie dough. ;) 

Chocolate Melt Vanilla Pudding Cookies

Ingredients:

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3.4 oz vanilla pudding mix

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups of flour

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar, broken into pieces (mine ranged in size from 1/2 inch to 1 inch)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease the cookie sheet(s). 

2. Mix together eggs, butter, shortening, vanilla extract, both sugars, and pudding mix. 

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt. 

4. Carefully add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients 1 cup at a time and mix well. 

5. I used a 1tbs measuring spoon to scoop out my cookie dough and then I wrapped it around a piece of chocolate and rolled it into a ball then flattened it just slightly when I put it on the cookie sheet. 

6. Bake the cookies for approximately 10 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. 

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Office Update!

I thought about just updating my last post with the new stuff like my desk...but I decided to keep that one the way it is for posterity and just make a new post with everything updated...and a little more detailed about the materials I use in case anyone is interested. I have updated this post since I first posted it, though. 

Here's what my office [mostly] looks like now (I've added/changed a couple things since this picture that was taken 4/26/26): 

Right next to my office door is Johnny's old desk. I used to have just the top hutch sitting on the floor as a bookcase, but when I got my new desk, I moved his desk to be under the hutch. Pretty much everything stored in/on the hutch is personal stuff...our cookbooks, my artbooks from my aunt, my non-fiction books, the decorations from our wedding, etc. Oh...and there's also the "Word's Best Mother" wooden plaque that Aubry gave me for Christmas when she was in elementary school. :)  

My paper cutters on the desk. Johnny had this paper cutter before I moved in and that's what I'd been using for years. But this year I got a 400-sheet paper cutter kind of like this one to use for making notepads and sticker books. I actually put the top to my old art desk on top of Johnny's desk (it was next to the desk in the photo above). His desk is pretty shallow and I needed more room for the paper cutters. I have one of these LED light strips attached to the bottom of the first shelf on the hutch for more light. I have random stuff stored in the drawers of the desk. I also have two plastic drawers under the desk...one to store legal-size paper and another that just holds mail and documents that I need to file or scan and shred. Next to the drawers are some plastic boxes that have cords, old cameras, and other stuff like that in them. Those are really just there for lack of a better place to put them right now. I'll eventually get the office closet organized better and they'll probably be in there. 

Next to Johnny's old desk is an armoire entertainment center that we got from Johnny's sister-in-law. I used Command Strips (I obviously really, really like Command Strips lol) to hang up a mail holder I got over a decade ago. I couldn't even find anything on Amazon like it...but I guess this would be the closest. On top are a whole lot of shipping boxes in different sizes (which I don't go through very fast). In the main cabinet, I have my cold roll laminator. I have it attached with command strips so it doesn't move around while I'm using it. You can see the LED light strip in this photo...it's definitely too dark in there without it. The shelf at the top of the cabinet holds the Oraguard 215 Matte and Glossy laminate that I use for my stickers and magnets. I have felt squeegees (which I run over the page after laminating) in a holder kind of like this one attached with command strips. I also have a command strip hook to hang scissors. And you can't see it in this photo, but I use this Slice tool to cut a strip of laminate backing to stick the laminate to the page before running it through the cold roll laminator. Then I use the cabinet below for storage...mostly shipping supplies like rigid cardboard mailers, less rigid mailers, larger envelopes, Priority Mail envelopes, shipping boxes, some acrylic display trays that I rarely use, etc. 

On the wall next to the armoire I have this hanging file organizer with some miscellaneous laminating sheets...mostly different styles of holographic laminate that I pretty much never use. And in front of the armoire, I have a bunch of white plastic storage drawers. The ones I bought back in 2011 have been discontinued, but they're similar to these. I have a lot of miscellaneous stuff stored in them...tape, post-it notes, all the Happy Planner stickers I'd collected over the years, and stuff like that. One of the middle-size drawers I use to store magnet backing paper after I've used it (which I later use for sticker books) and a lower one is where I store my 8x10 adhesive magnetic sheets (and a smaller one above it to hold scraps and smaller magnetic sheets). I also store my 11x17 matte and glossy sticker paper and 12x16 magnets in the first large drawer. There are two drawers that I'm actually able to turn and face toward my desk which is really convenient. In the middle-size drawer, I have a few rigid mailers, small Priority Mail envelopes, and my little label maker. A small drawer on the top holds some measuring tapes and rulers, my digital caliper, single hole punches, and some other miscellaneous things. 

Oh and on top of those drawers, I have this dehumidifier that we previously had in the basement (it wasn't big enough for downstairs). Sticker paper has a habit of curling when it's humid and our house tends to have high humidity after we got our new HVAC system. Then next to that, I have a new thermal label printer that I use for shipping labels. I'd previously been using these two-per-page shipping labels that I was printing with my regular printer, but I am busy enough that it's time-consuming to keep cutting them down to 4x6. But I still highly recommend them for anyone who doesn't have a thermal label printer...they worked great for me for 5 years. 

My printer stand is next to the plastic drawers and faces toward my desk. I needed one that is sturdy enough to hold my heavy Epson ET-16650 printer but is compact enough not to take up much space...and this one works perfectly. It has two shelves that I use to hold extra glassine bags, quarter-letter envelopes, and half-letter envelopes. I used to keep them in the armoire, but I go through them fairly quickly and it's easier not to forget to reorder more when they're right there where I can see them.  I have a small paper shredder kind of like this one on the roll-out shelf and this small trashcan for the tiny strips I cut off of the laminate. There's a little cubby on the end of the printer stand that I have extra printer ink in. On top of my printer, I have my 12" sticker storage binder. For my die-cut stickers, I use these 9x9 pages. I have 2", 3", and 4" size options for reach design, so the 3 columns of 4"x4" pockets works great. I have another one with sheets that have (6) 4x6 pockets that I'd planned to keep my sticker sheets in, but the pockets are just a bit too tight to be useful. Now I am using these 5x7 pages in a regular 3 ring binder for sticker sheets. 

 

Then there's my desk...which I've had since my mom got it for me for my birthday in 2004. The drawers on the left have small post-it notes and tabs in the top, miscellaneous stuff (like command strips, spare parts to furniture, index cards, etc) in the middle drawer, and then hanging file folders are in the bottom drawer. The cabinet on the bottom right of the desk has computer stuff in there like replacement screws and parts for repairs, DVDs and software, old hard drives, etc. I also have some of my art supplies like my colored pencils, drawing pencils, charcoal and pastels...stuff like that. On the shelf just above that I store corrugated cardboard sheets that I sometimes use to make bubble mailers more rigid or to make my small rigid mailers thicker so they can be sent as a package. I also cut a couple of the cardboard sheets down to use as cut templates for sticker sheets. 

The cabinet on the top left of my desk has my notepad and sticker book supplies. I have a box of binding coils in a lot of different colors for my sticker books. Then I have padding compound, paintbrushes, and this wooden book press for notepads. There's a shelf just below it...I usually just toss my packing slips there after I've printed on both sides. It's a convenient place to put them while I'm packaging orders...then I use them as scrap paper and/or shred them. 

On the bottom left and the shelves on the right, I have some acrylic drawers. I have this set that I store all my door sign stickers and magnets, some regular magnets, and my sticker book covers, pages, and completed books. On top of the acrylic drawers on the bottom right, I have my postage meter for calculating postage. I have both sizes of my envelopes with my packaging inside and stickers/label outside so that I can just add my stickers or magnets with the sample envelope to know how much postage it needs before actually packaging the order.  Then on the top two shelves on the right side of my desk, I have this set of acrylic drawers that hold different sizes of the notepads I make. On top of the drawers on the top shelf I usually just have either things I made for family members that are waiting to be picked up and things I've made but haven't photographed and listed yet. Then on top of the drawers on the second shelf I have my notepad 

There's also one section of the acrylic drawers on the main part of my desk that I have some stamps, binder clips, labels for my small label maker, and other random stuff in. I have this monitor stand which I use for a little more vertical organization. I actually removed the drawers and they fit perfectly underneath. I use it to store my order packaging supplies...the glassine bags, the cardstock cards I print and include with my orders, etc. I have two sets of plastic drawers on top of the monitor stand kind of like this 5-drawer one and this 3-drawer one. I keep pens and pencils in them...I have lots of different kinds. My favorite pens include Inkjoy gel pens and ballpoint pens (including the mini ones), RSVP, iBayam, Tombow, FriXion markers and pens, and several different kinds of Sakura Gelly Roll pens. And I prefer to use Bic pencils. Oh and I have an Amazon Echo Dot that I listen to music on while I'm packaging orders. We actually have the old 3rd generation model that they don't sell anymore...we got it for free several years ago as a bundle with the security cameras we bought. 

I have these hanging organizers attached to each side of the open middle space to hold my packaging stickers, sheets of stamps, and other little miscellaneous things that I use while packaging orders. I also have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite with this case hanging on the wall with this wall mount. There's another LED light strip because it can get dark at my desk at night...which is usually when I package orders. Oh and on the very top shelf of my desk, I have white plastic storage drawers. It's where I keep a lot of different papers. I have my three different packaging stickers (round, 2.5x1.563, and 2.625x1), regular cardstock, thick cardstock, and glossy cardstock. I have some other random sticker papers including holographic and transparent sticker papers that I rarely use. I have my glossy and matte vinyl sticker paper and the glossy sticker vinyl that I like to use for my kitchen stickers. And on the end, I have a washi tape organizer that Johnny bought me in 2014 that they apparently don't make anymore and that I couldn't really find a link for something similar. :P 

Next to my desk, I have my light grip and strong grip cutting mats hanging on the wall. I use white curtains on the window so it still lets natural light in when I'm taking photographs. And I have this awesome set of folding shelf brackets that I put a piece of plywood on and then it's covered with a piece of 12x18 cardstock that I printed, laminated with matte laminate, and attached to the shelf. Then I have my ring light to provide a little extra light when I'm taking product photos on the shelf. I love that I can store the shelf down against the wall so it doesn't take up any room (like the first picture in the post), and then just lift it up when I'm taking photos. Plus it makes use of that short wall under the window that I wouldn't be using for anything else.

Next to the window, I have a tall set of plastic storage drawers that Johnny has had for, like, 20+ years. They're kind of like this set (with 4 shallow drawers and 3 deeper drawers) but it doesn't have the organizer on top. I store scraps of cardboard and chipboard in the top drawer. I have thermal laminate in 3 mil and 5 mil plus 4x6 pouches that I use for the cover of my sticker books. Then I have 22pt chipboard, 30 pt chipboard, 20lb paper (in the first deeper drawer) that I use for office printing, 28lb paper that I use for notepads, and to store the extra reams of 80lb cardstock because I go through it pretty quickly for packaging cards in all my orders. On top of those drawers, I have these four storage bins. They hold leftovers of other brands of matte and glossy sticker vinyl I've tried and then I have my "oopsie" stickers and magnets in the other two. Oh and there's an outlet under the window where I have this surge protector. 

And now to my new desk which is making a HUGE difference in my office. I bought this one because it checked off all my boxes. I wanted one that was just the right size to fit my large Siser Romeo 24" cutter and my new Epson Workforce Pro WF-4833 printer (which is also greatly improving my workflow) printer without much extra space. The size couldn't be more perfect. And I also wanted one that had an upper shelf that went all the way across the desk but didn't have a support bar in the middle (so it wouldn't get in the way of the cutting mat on the Romeo). It also had to be high enough so that I could put my Cricut Maker 4 on the shelf without the Romeo being in the way of the cutting mat for the Cricut. And as a bonus, the height is perfect enough that the cutting mat for the Cricut actually rests on the Romeo to help prevent the mat from bending...so I don't have to use my mat extender anymore. The desk also has a very large fabric drawer with a shelf above it. I keep my bubble mailers in the drawer so they're handy when I'm packaging orders. On the shelf above the drawer, I have my thermal laminator and my cinch binding machine. I have room underneath the desk to store my old laptop desk that I can pull out to stabilize my 12x24" cutting mats for the Romeo so they don't bend (curved mats tend to cause random cuts as it moves across the sheet because the page hits the blade when it isn't flat). Next to it I have two 10 gallon trash cans (one for trash and one for recycle). This desk also has a fabric cubby on the end that I don't really know what to do with...right now it just has an extra maintenance box for my ET-16650 printer. 

Behind those plastic drawers I have a wooden shelf that I got at a garage sale, like, 15 years ago. It's about the size of this bookshelf. It fits perfectly in the small space that is behind the closet door when opened. It has all of my grandma's books that I got from her after she died. On top I have a couple little stuffed animals that I've collected (like a tiger from the community college I went to, a stuffed Eeyore that I got a long time ago. etc). Then there's a short little dvd storage shelf where I have some of my paperback books and some books from my childhood. And then the closet is stuffed full of stuff we've been storing for the last almost 10 years...which I hope to clean out sometime in the near future.  

And...I think that's about it! :) Here's the video I took:

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A month later...

It's been a whole month since I posted an actual update. I've actually had a post open in a tab of my browser with a home office update...but I haven't finished that, either. :P But I really love the layout of my office right now...it's working out so well. The new desk has made a huge difference.  

April has started out pretty slow...but about the same as last year. Last April I had 59 orders after the end of the first three weeks (through the 19th), and this year I have 65 orders through the 19th. I keep track of my sales and revenue from all my shops and compare them to the previous year...and so far I've done the same or better each month. I also watch a few of my competitors through eRank and my sales are pretty much on par with them (and they've been selling years longer than I have). When my competitors are also having a slower week as well...it tends to be more of an economy/market thing than an individual shop thing. 

As always, when sales are a bit slower I try to get some administrative stuff done or work on new designs and products. I finished my website last month (although I do have some more products that I need to add). I got my CandiMakerDesigns Etsy shop back up and added a graduation cap sticker sheet...which I've already had a sale for. I'm also adding some more custom name designs this weekend and last week I had a request for some specific political stickers, so I added those to my CandiMakerStickers shop. I also added a couple new sticker sheets in my CandiMakerPlanners shop. I keep telling myself that I'm going to take a break from work...but then I find other work stuff to do. :P

I'm also thinking about getting a TikTok shop up and going again. I haven't decided for sure yet, though. The last time I set up a TikTok shop and it was "suspended" the next day because they wanted a lot of paperwork that wasn't relevant. So far I haven't had that problem this time. I got everything set up this weekend, I just haven't added any products yet. I might wait and do that next weekend. 

I did take a short break last weekend to make some lemon cookies. I was craving some soft lemon cookies but the ones we got from the store were more chewy than soft...they just didn't satisfy my craving at all. So I did what I do and looked up a whole bunch of recipes online and put together my own recipe using lemon pudding mix...and they were SO yummy and soft. I'm going to make a similar recipe with vanilla pudding and chocolate bar pieces (which melt better than chocolate chips so the whole cookie will still be soft). I'll probably make them sometime this week. I need to come up with some more dinner recipes, too. But this week I'm making crackpot chicken and chicken fajitas. 

But...for now I think I'm going to package orders so I can get them mailed out for tomorrow and I might go to bed early. I have a horrible headache tonight. :-/  

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RECIPE: Lemon Pudding Cookies

These are super soft, super yummy lemon cookies. The lemon pudding mix gives it a very nice, sweet lemon flavor. 

Lemon Pudding Cookies

Ingredients:

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice concentrate

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3.4 oz lemon pudding mix

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 to 3 cups of flour (they'll spread slightly with 2 1/2 cups and hold their shape with 3 cups).

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease the cookie sheet(s). 

2. Mix together eggs, butter, shortening, vanilla extract, lemon juice, both sugars, and the pudding mix. 

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together , flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt. 

4. Carefully add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients 1 cup at a time. 

5. I use a 1tbs measuring spoon to scoop the dough and place it on the greased baking sheet then repeat with the rest of the dough.

6. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. 

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A post shared by Candace Pride (@tinycandi)

A Productive Weekend!

I got a LOT of stuff done this weekend! And...Johnny and I got some new desks! :)

Friday morning I decided to start working on my office right after I woke up. I needed to empty everything off of the hutch bookcase so I could move Johnny's old desk (the one that my Romeo was on) to that spot and then put the hutch bookcase on top of the desk where it belongs. That bookcase holds all my cookbooks, art books, some writing books, and then I have all of our wedding decorations on top (which I'm very glad still fit up there when we moved the hutch onto the desk).  

Friday afternoon my mom and grandma stopped by so I could fix Grandma's phone. She had inadvertently turned off the full-screen notification of when she's getting a call...so the phone was ringing with just a black screen and she couldn't tell who was calling. We had some Taco Tico for lunch and chatted for a bit. The dogs definitely liked having company. :) 

After mom and grandma left, Johnny's new desk arrived (an hour later than FedEx originally estimated). I got the top and the bottom of the desk put together and then I took a break so we could have some Casey's pizza for dinner. After we ate, Johnny helped me move both pieces of his desk into the bedroom and I attached them together. Then all I had to do was put the LED light strip up (which was not designed well because it lays flat so it can't go around the corner and still be flat against the board). But other than that, it really looks great. It'll definitely be better than the old, slanted art desk of his mom's that he was using before. 

I went to bed around 12:45am. Unfortunately...I woke up to Milo puking on the bed at my feet about two hours later. :P  I didn't want to wake Johnny, so I decided to just go ahead and get up. I didn't do a whole lot during the night...just kinda played around on my phone and the computer. But after Johnny woke up, I started washing the bedding and then got to work in my office. Apparently only two hours of sleep leads to productivity! :P 

Last month I started scanning some of the documents in the file cabinets that we have in the closet in my office...and I decided that I wanted to get those shredded before I put my new desk in the office. My desk ended up getting here around 9:30am (5 hours earlier than FedEx originally estimated) but I wanted to finish scanning first so I could get the box of paper out of the office. It seemed to take FOREVER...but I got the entire box done (which filled almost five 13gal trash bags). Then I vacuumed and moved some things around...and finally put my new desk together. It went pretty quick and it fits perfectly. I really like how my office is coming together. It's a pretty small room, but I'm trying to make the most of the space that I have. Later I'll update my office collection post with all my new stuff. :) 

I made creamy chicken enchiladas for dinner on Sunday night. They're SO yummy...but it makes my back hurt from standing so long. Usually I get my orders that I got over the weekend done on Sunday, but I needed a break after putting the desks together and reorganizing my office. I didn't have any orders due until the 17th, so I took a break on Sunday and then got back at it on Monday. I had a LOT of magnets to print and cut. I'm so glad that I started selling magnets as well as stickers, because it has really helped my business grow. The new layout of my office also helped a lot with my workflow. 

Ooh and I figured out how to create a playlist on Amazon Prime to play music while I'm packing orders. I had been playing shows on Netflix or Hulu on my tablet while working in the office, but I feel like I'm more productive and efficient when listing to music instead. I don't really want to pay for Amazon Music Unlimited every month, but I wanted to play music on the Echo dot that we got forever ago. So I figured out that I could add songs to "My Likes" playlist and then just have Alexa play that list to shuffle all the songs I actually like. I liked having my shows playing in the background, but playing music is more motivating and productive. ;) 

I also made some adjustments to the settings for my cardstock cards. Since my ET-16650 prints so fast, I'd completely forgotten how much slower other printers are...including my new WF-4833. But instead of printing high quality, I went ahead and bumped it down to standard, turned on bidirectional printing, and increased the contrast, saturation, and density. So now it looks pretty much the same, but it prints a lot faster. I like it when things are efficient. 

Oh and I finished the new season of Virgin River on Friday. The last few seasons feel pretty slow a lot of the time, but it wasn't too bad. And every season ends on a cliffhanger...which I never like. It's just a tool to make sure people come back and watch the next season to see what happens...which feels manipulative. But I still come back to see what happens. :P Well...most of the time. There are some shows that I completely lost interest in and don't even care to see what else happens. 

Well...I'm going to get back to work.