Winter 2019 Favorites

I am back with my favorites of this past winter season. Up until March 21st, my self care has been a priority and it shows in this first quarter of favorites.

December Favorites

We have come to the end of 2018. The holiday season. So my favorite things this month brought all the warm and fuzzies I needed during the cold.

November Favorites

November is my birthday month and this year was all about comfort. In my physical self, space and enjoying what makes me smile. The ultimate form of self care in my opinion.

Evening Routine

Right, so I'm back to talk about setting up an evening routine to complement your Miracle Morning routine. Why?

"Your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before you went to bed." -Hal Elrod

I happen to agree with this.

Miracle Morning

Hola everyone. Today I want to talk about the Miracle Morning. This is essentially a morning routine. Routines are formed by a series of habits. Now we all know habits can run the spectrum from good to bad or anywhere in between. But I've found that purposefully creating habits and routines that have an end goal can be beneficial.

August Favorites

August was a slow yet mentally draining month for me. But these three things kept me going, gave me down time and helped me hope for my own future. I know that sounds dramatic and unlike my usual intros but it is what it is.

15 Types of Journaling

As promised in my blog post regarding Journaling for Self Care, here is a list of various types of journaling that you can do.

Journaling for Self Care

The past two years, I've gotten more and more into journaling.

My Self Care Practices

I want to share what I use for self care on a regular basis. Some of this is every day while other parts are for certain moments or situations as they come. I wanted to share overall how the pieces come together before delving into each in other posts. Which I will do.

March Favorites

Spring is here and so are my March Favorites. this month is all about feeling good. What put me in a bright or empowering mood. All that renewing spring energy. That inspiring Pisces and Aries self care mindset. These are the people and things that were my favorites this month.


Every month I'll share my favorite things, people and businesses from around the web and in life. Everything from blogs and candles to tarot decks and YouTubers. They all deserve some love because of the quality they offer. So sit back and joy. Links are all included so you can check them out for yourself. Watch the video below to see why I think they are all awesome.


Instagram
Haus of  Hoodoo
Instagram | Website

Behati Life
Instagram | Website

The Hood Witch
Instagram | Website

Books
She Means Business

The Good Witch's Guide

Music (click the CC button for English subtitles if you like)
Spring Day - BTS

Starry Night - Mamamoo

Boss - NCT U

Go Go -NCT Dream

Daydream - J-Hope

Essential Oil
Helichrysum

Resin
Dragon's Blood

See you next month,
~Lashette
  Scarlet Moon Creations

Monthly Bullet Journal Review Process

Hey all,

Its the end of the month and I thought instead of doing a Plan With Me post I would share something more helpful, my monthly review process. Reviewing the past is part of what helps us prepare for a better future. How did we get to where we are today and how can we change, replicate and improve yesterday for a better tomorrow? It helps to look back especially when I am feeling like a loser. Essentially, I feel like I accomplished nothing and all the negativity of my thoughts and feelings overwhelm me. I also review weekly and daily but those routines and rituals are not as lengthy as this one. If anyone is interested in seeing how I do those, comment and let me know. You can see the video down below.

New Moon Manifestation

I've been thinking about journaling, self care, and the arts as spiritual practices. Want to get in contact with your spirit guides? Write them a letter. In the broom closet but want to celebrate the spring equinox? Use herbs and oils associated with the holiday in your bath or hair oil or food today. No money for altar tools? Doodle, draw or paint and altar in your sketchbook. Go to an observatory on the night of the full moon to celebrate and be closer to the Goddess or a short hike through the woods to connect with the God. Things of this nature.

Bullet Journaling

Wow, 2016 is over. Happy New Year everyone. 

Like I vaguely mentioned in my sale post, the goals I had set around this time in 2015 did not go as planned. In fact, I would say I did not achieve any of my goals at all but others would disagree. Suffice it to say I did not do a good enough job setting SMART goals. In my head they meant one thing but do to the limited space in my planner they were written as something else. That being said, I loved the Creativity Planner. It has been the one I have liked the most all throughout my years of planning and being in love with pen and paper.

My Post-Bound Book Making Process

I said I would do this in my last post. So here it is with pictures. This set of pictures is when I made a personalized Book of Shadows or journal.

Before we begin, here is the finished product. I also want you all to know that this is only the 2nd book I ever made. The first one I made for myself and its much bigger but I did not take any pictures at the time. This book I decided to make since the first one came out decent enough and I wanted to make a gift for a friend. I had lots of supplies left over and I had been collecting specialty book papers for the net bookmaking occasion.

When I took these pictures it was mostly for me to be able to look back on what I've done. So they are far from perfect; I used my the camera on my cell phone and this was back before megapixels was a big deal and my flash wasn't so great (believe it or not the overhead lights were on throughout this picture taking process). I chose to use this book and these pictures to showcase my process as more of a walk down memory lane rather than a sleek, fashionable post trying to get you to buy something (that'll come later ;) ).

First, I must start off with supplies which in this case, consists of book board, vellum paper, stamps, stick-on letters, book cloth and end papers. Other supplies not shown include, hole punch, screw punch, rulers, crafters glue, a cutting mat, x-acto knives, paintbrushes, and scissors. All used in the average bookmaking process.

Now, the first step is to cut down the book board to the cover size you want. I made this book roughly 6"x9" and the book board I had gotten was 12"x12". Book board, just so you know, is hard, pressed cardboard-like material. Just think of any hardcover book or textbook cover. Its comes in multiple thicknesses but it hard to damage and protects the precious pages within its borders. Again, at the time all I had to properly cut the book board were my x-acto knives. It was slow going. but it got there.

From there you want to do some more cutting, this time of various papers. It helps to have a plan in mind for what you want to book cover to look like. I did not really at this time. I knew the colors I wanted to use and the papers but how was I going to make it all work I did not know. So I cut down the interior paper to size, then I contemplated the cover papers I wanted to use. I had three; this lovely sky blue with polka dots, a glossy lilac and this dark purple Japanese book cloth and I decided to layer them across the cover.

                

First, I cut down and glued on the baby blue paper as shown above. Since I was going to layer the other parts over it there was no need to use paper enough to cover the entire front cover. Now here comes the interesting part. I planned a completely boring, in my opinion now, straight, vertical layer of the of the glassy lilac paper over the blue and in an effort to keep as much glue off of the sections you will see I did not brush glue over the entire back of the lilac paper. When I went to glue down the rest of it, I accidentally ripped the paper. Thinking that I would have to start the whole thing oer from scratch, I just finished the rip and pull of the excess. That resulted in this.

The glossy lilac ripped to interestingly, I left it on. I loved the matte finish that showed at the edges of the tear and it seemed to me that it gave this feeling of revelation. Like, ooh look what's under here. Like I said, the ripped layer stayed. Next came the last layer, which I wanted just for that library book look; the darker toned spine. Now, one thing to remember is that the books I make are post bound. This one in particular has no spine. But in order for the book covers to be able to open properly, they have to cut out separately from the section of book board that the posts will screw into and then connected with book cloth, book paper, etc.

As I leave the partially complete cover to dry under the many, many books that I own (much cheaper than a press), I went back to the book board and cut out the ends for the covers. They will be the same length as the covers but only about 1" wide. Once I have those cut out I must now drill holes in them with my screw punch. I chose to use 3 holes on this particular book. Then I brought back the now dried cover with the two other layers already on it. I measure and cut out the amount of book cloth I will need and lay it face down to brush glue over the back. Leaving a centimeter or two of space between the front cover and its corresponding spine, I place them on the glue and fold the end of the cloth over to connect the two pieces; making sure to leave the space in between so the book cover can be opened.

As you can see above there on the left hand side, there is a small indentation where there is nothing but book cloth. Here is where the book cover will bend when you open it. Now the back cover, I decided to keep simple by using just two layers; the glossy lilac and the purple book board to connect the back cover with its spine. You can see that below this time the crease is on the right-hand side.

You might think the covers are done but they are not. When was the last time you opened any book and saw the book board on the inside cover? I think its safe to say never for most of you. More often then not when it comes to hard cover books you'll see some type of fancy paper called end paper. End papers are usually a different type of paper than used anywhere else in the book and are folded in half with one end glued to the inside of the covers and the other end serves as the first page of the book. For the purposes of this book the end papers only line the inside of the covers. 

As you can see above, I used a very thin, almost tissue like paper with a subtle floral print in matching colors for the end papers. And just so you know, I have since learned that its more visually appealing to leave a bit of the cover papers showing around the edges of the end paper inside. I pasted these inside each cover with very little glue, careful to brush it on evenly since this paper was much more delicate than any of the others. Too much glue and it would bleed through the paper or worse rip it. 

After setting these aside once again between tons of books to dry flat, I got ready the hole puncher to punch through the book cloth and make the holes I screwed into the book board visible again. I also, took the vellum which I intended for use inside and punched holes in the same areas as those on the covers and I also creased the pages so that they would bend easily when turned. For these jobs I use a simple paper cutter with various settings. 

Once the covers are dry, I take them out and line them up for personalizing. There was only a bit more added to it including, on this particular book, adding the name to the front spine with simple stick on letters. They've been blurred out a bit in a previous picture above. Then I line up the pages and the covers by their holes and screw them all together with the screw posts. 

Et Voila!

Bookmaking

 For as long as I can remember I have always loved books. All kinds of books, not just reading books. Everything from Encyclopedias to planners is fascinating to me. And of course I absolutely love reading books; it's my favorite pastime; my addiction.

 Bookmaking however has only been a relatively recent fascination. I got interested in bookmaking in a sort of roundabout way. For those who do not know, my religion falls under the Pagan umbrella and back when I first started learning and studying, all the books and people practicing talked about having personal books to keep all my notes, thoughts and beliefs in. One online mentor gave me the intriguing idea of scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is something I always found interesting and had done a few times in the past so I thought why not. However after searching long and hard I could not find the type of book I wanted. Nothing spoke to me even in stores, plus it was hard to find a book that I knew was easy to add pages to later on.



 Then I came across a blog post online which explained with pictures how to make a post bound book. It took me awhile but I bought all the materials (fell in love with the specialty paper section at the local art supply and stationary stores) and built my first book. The scrapbooking continued from there every once in awhile but I thought I was done. Then a few years later a group of friends were graduating and I wanted to make something for them instead of buying it. It took me awhile but after I came up with the idea of making small, personalized books for them I kept going until I had all six done. They came out great if I do say so myself. Here are pictures of four of them.

 I have not made many books since then because it takes a lot of time and space and my personal life went through a lot of changes not too long after that. But I've learned other styles of bookbinding, like Japanese ribbon binding. And I've taken the last year to study how others are binding, designing, marketing, pricing and selling their hand-made books since I had planned to include books in my Etsy shop from
the beginning.

 The thing is, books take a lot longer to make than my bath and body products and its more labor intensive especially since I don't have any of the expensive equipment that makes it easier. But lately, I've been getting the urge to make new books to put up for sale. The idea machine in my head has stopped churning out new ideas for body scrubs and bath soaks. I still have quite a few to unveil in the shop but I think I'll be physically focused on bookmarking for the next few months. My post next week will probably be a picture heavy post showing you my bookmaking process. I hope you guys will look forward to that. I can't wait for you all to see another side of my creative process.

New Creation Space

Isn't it lovely. I finally have a dedicated space to work on/at. A space with space. A space without a chair, but I'm working on it. Mind you this is taking up roughly 1/3 of my room and most of that was the only remaining free space I had. So alas, no dancing about. But this does mean I can finally, finally roll out the book board and specialty papers can come out of their portfolios. That's right, books can now be made!!

It might seem like nothing but I have wanted to include handmade books for various purposes in my product selection since the beginning of this business. So much so that I considered making a separate Etsy shop just for them but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. This decision also affected my business name.

More on that in another post. My space is my old kitchen table and also a "portable" picnic table (it folds just weighs a ton). In my old kitchen there was no counter and no table so I got this to do both jobs. It of course also served as my main creation space. I plan to continue that tradition by using it to mix and match ingredients, fabric and papers for all my Scarlet Moon Creations. So look forward to future sightings of my creation space here on the blog.

hmm, I may have to make a special Pinterest board for such sightings. What do you think?

Inspiration and Ideas

I'll be honest, I thought that this business of selling items that I make was just going to be a hobby. Something to help get through some really tough times and so I could have a little extra money in my pocket. My ultimate dream has been to have my own event planning business (more details on that and the bc later). It still is, but as I know, I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. I can't go halfsies on anything. I give it my all or nothing.

So, I have researched the hell out of this business and gotten so many professional plans together. I even have a business consultant (bc). Me! Its so weird when I think about it. On the other side, the creative side, I have tons of ideas for new products, packaging, sales, discounts, promotions, etc. Just random thoughts floating through my head, then BOOM, new idea.

Need an example? I'm glad you asked because the idea for this post came after such a time. I'm laying in bed, looking at facebook and I see one of my all time favorite authors post a link to someone else's Etsy shop. This person makes perfumes and has a line dedicated to and inspired by one of the authors series.

I want to do that. I honestly wanted to some how tie in all the parts of my life into these products. I've already got a god and goddess line and a sabbat line to connect with my spirituality. And I've been trying to think of a way to connect with my love of music and books. I had even looked for Etsy teams for inspiration on how to do this.  Et voila!

I'm very happy about this. Not overwhelmed at all even though I still need to make up ingredient lists, find some guinea pigs friends to test stuff on, learn how to make butters, bath bombs, japanese stab bound books (which I only learned about last week), not to mention handle and update the products I already have. Now I shall be combing through my favorite books for ideas too.

Are you excited? I'm excited.

~Lashette
Scarlet Moon Creations