I am a chocoholic creating chocolate themed jewellery as I explore Canadian chocolate one bar and bonbon at a time

Bonbon with cacao bean in it next to a bronze cacao bean necklace.

Recent blogs

Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers

My desire is to create beauty and joy to share with others. Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers was born. My hope is to surprise you with fun things as the year passes and to always put a smile on your face as you receive Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers.

by canadianchocoholic April 23, 2021April 23, 2021

New Adventures – The Chocolate Notebook

This year I was fortunate to be asked to join the team of The Chocolate Notebook, a notebook/calendar/agenda/journal. I had a first edition of The Chocolate Notebook and used it throughout 2020. I was surprised and excited when Anelisa Lauri and Lauren Heineck, the minds behind the creation of The Chocolate Notebook, invited me toContinue reading “New Adventures – The Chocolate Notebook”

by canadianchocoholic January 8, 2021January 9, 2021

Wreath made using Chocolate Bar Wrappers

Make this stunning wreath out of chocolate bar wrappers to add fun, whimsy, and chocolate flair to your Christmas decor. A DIY paper Christmas craft.

by canadianchocoholic December 21, 2020December 21, 2020

Canadain Chocoholic links

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🧜🍫🌊 Someday's I wish I were a mermaid eat

🧜🍫🌊 Someday's I wish I were a mermaid eating chocolate in the ocean.

🍫🌳 Instead I'll hope the pools open again soon. Until then I will walk among the trees with a bit of chocolate in my pockets.

❔Where do you wish you were eating chocolate? Can you tell me in emojis?

📷 @mademoisellemiel chocolate from @chocolatedriven, a photo dug up from ages ago, and still one of my favourite photos!

#chocolate #ilovechocolate #mermaid #swimming #ocean #forest #trees #eatchocolate #instachocolate #honey #gold #bonbon #chocolates #mermaidstail #swim #maui #hawaii @wingshawaii

🧡 This little cacao bean! 🍫 A perfect way t

🧡 This little cacao bean!

🍫 A perfect way to have 'chocolate' with you everyday.

🧡 Easy to wear, matches everything, is detailed, intricate and precious.

🍫 Available in patinaed bronze (so it looks brown), bronze, or sterling silver, it really is the perfect piece of chocolate that will last a lifetime.

🧡 I love creating 'chocolate' jewellery with my goldsmithing skills.

🔥🎨 #blownglass bowl the jewellery pieces are displayed on is also a piece of art I made.

#chocolate #ilovechocolate #canadianchocoholicjewellery #chocolatejewellery #cacaobean #silver #tttt_s #tttt_2021 #silvercacaobean #handmade #handmadeincanada #goldsmith #silversmith #chocolatelove #creative #artist #supportsmallbusiness #womeninchocolate #chocolateart #maker #peace #silver #bronze #cacao

🍫 Spring is beginning to show in my corner of t

🍫 Spring is beginning to show in my corner of the world. So obviously I need to eat chocolate and enjoy flowers, sometimes together!

🌷Tulips are finally popping up in our gardens and roses keep finding me.

🌹I am not a huge fan of roses. I love their beauty but rarely have them in our home. I find the smell to be overpowering and too strong for my often overly sensitive nose. I love observing them in nature, as they are such beautiful flowers, but a bouquet of roses is rare in my house.

💐 Yet this bunch came home with hubby one day and has been brightening up what turned out to be a long week (PS - the orange Gerber daisies are my favourites, they are in this bunch but aren't shown in this photo).

🌹It's not the only roses to find their way to me in the span of a week! Another rose was given to me, two rose teas, 2 floral teas, and a gorgeous ruby chocolate bar covered in rose petals.

📷 A drinking chocolate, the rose covered bar from @migaloochocolatier, some fresh berries, and some gorgeous flowers.

🌱 Do you think spring brings out the florals? Do you like florals in foods?

#chocolate #tttt_r #tttt_2021 #roses #chocolateandrose #roseandchocolate #floralflavours #beauty #springflavours #springflowers #flavoursofchocolate #rubychocolate #rosepetals #pinkchocolate #beautyofchocolate #chocolateforbreakfast #drinkingchocolate #darkchocolate #canadianchocolate #beantobarchocolate #friendswithchocolate #flowersandchocolate #chocolateandflowers

🍫Do you have friends in or with chocolate?⁠
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🧡 I’ve met so many amazing people through chocolate. I’ve met them here, online, in person, at work, randomly standing in a line, through friends of friends.⁠
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🙂 I am always happy to make new friends, but friends with chocolate are the best kind (maybe?)⁠.
Shout out to all my chocolate friends, the ones I was eating chocolate with on the playground when we were ten and the newer friends who are open to exploring chocolate (and listening to me ramble on about it).⁠
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🍫 This bar was sent by a #friendinchocolate who is also a #friendwithchocolate.⁠
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💕 Shout out to all the wonderful chocolate loving friends in all our lives. Tag one of your chocolate friends below! ⁠
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#friends #chocolatefriends #sharingchocolate #chocolateswap #chocolatecommunity #sharechocolate #chocolateeducator #chocolatejudge #chocolatetaster #alwaystrynewthings #trees #flavours #treeflavours #cedar #lovechocolate #ilovechocolate #eatgoodchocolate #singleoriginchocolate #dominicancacao #cacao #farmtobar #ilovetrees⁠

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🍫 Mondays are for slow starts around here.⁠
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🧡 I enjoy a slow start to the day and a very productive evening. As usual I begin the day with a drinking chocolate. Today I was lucky enough to have these tulips from the garden to enjoy as I slowly and mindfully enjoyed this mug of drinking chocolate.⁠
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🎨 I also often begin the week with some playful time creating. To me that means no expected outcome, and playing in or with whatever medium of art is calling to me that day. Sometimes great things happen here, but usually I just have fun! That's what art is about - joy!⁠
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🙂 How do you start your week? Are there any tips or routines you have on Mondays?⁠
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⁠ 🍫 It's not often I order a lot of the same

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🍫 It's not often I order a lot of the same bar of chocolate.⁠
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🍫 Usually I order one, maybe two of a bar, think of it as a one now and one for later type of situation.⁠
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🌷 However, this Honey Lavender bar from @hummingbirdchocolate, well, I missed it last year, so this year I made sure to stock up on this seasonal, microbatch of chocolate.⁠
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🍯 This bar is unlike any other bar Hummingbird Chocolate makes, it has a layer of honey drizzled in between chocolate layers and is then topped with lavender.⁠
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❤ Something about lavender always reminds me of visiting the lavender farms on Vancouver Island and eating Lavender ice cream @kingfishersparesort.
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🙂 Anyways, the point is, I got a few, I may, or may not, share them.⁠
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❔ Do you have a bar that you may not share with others?⁠
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#lavenderandchocolate #honeylavender #memoies #canadianchocolate #beantobarchocolate #craftchocolate #madeincanada #sharechocolate #specialtreat #lavender #honey #chocolate #eatgoodchocolate #enjoychocolate #chocolateeducator #singleoriginchocolate #floralchocolate #cacao #directtrade #ethicallysourced

⁠ 🍫 Quality is always important to me, so I c

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🍫 Quality is always important to me, so I chose it as a Q word to use for today’s card.⁠
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❤ Quality time, quality work, quality craft, quality products, quality food, and especially quality time. ⁠
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🍫 I am always impressed by the quality of Canadian Chocolate, and these two brands starting with Q always bring quality to their chocolate.⁠
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🥈 Both these bars won silver. Quest XO Chocolate won silver for their Citrus Poppy Seed Bar at the Canadian Chocolatier Awards for the International Chocolate Awards. Qantu Chocolat won silver for their Maple and Maras fleur de sel (Erable & Maras fleur de sel) bar in the Americas Bean-to-Bar portion of the International Chocolate Awards. Both then had the opportunity to enter at the world level of the Awards, which will be announced in May. ⁠
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❤ I had the opportunity to judge @chocawards at both these levels and am always amazed by all the quality products that entered from Canada and the Americas. It was such an honour and a pleasure to taste all these amazing bites of chocolate. I wish all entrants from around the world good luck in the upcoming World Finals.⁠
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🍁 It’s amazing how many other Canadian Chocolatiers and Chocolate Makers entered and placed in these awards. Canada truly has some delicious chocolate.⁠
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🧡 On a side note, did you know I have silver cacao bean necklaces that I used a cacao bean from Qantu - the same cacao used to make this bar?⁠
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📷 Shown are the two bars from above, plus the scratch card that comes with each order from Quest XO , that are hand written and just a wonderful spark of joy in the chocolate package. ⁠
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#chocolate #internationalchocolateawards #silver #sterlingsilvercacaobean #chocolateawards #chocolatejudge #internationalchocolateawardsjudge #tttt_q #tttt_2021 #chocolatecommunity #canadianchocolate #chocolatejewellery #chocolatejewelry #quality #handwrittennotes #canadianbeantobar #maple #fleurdesel #canadianchocolatier #citrus #poppyseed #chocolatetaster #iicctgrad #iicct #certifiedchocolatetaster #ilovechocolate #hardjob #eatqualitychocolate #cacao #cacaobean⁠

🙂💌🍫 Last month I launched Happy Mail for

🍫 Thinking of gifting that mothering figure in

🍫 Thinking of gifting that mothering figure in your life chocolate?⁠
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🧡 Want something a bit different this year?⁠
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🍫 If that special someone in your life loves chocolate I have many amazing jewellery pieces that were inspired by chocolate. Lots of sterling silver pieces that celebrate chocolate and cacao love, but won't melt during shipping. ⁠
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🙂 They go with everything and can be worn every day for a lifetime. They totally complement chocolate, or are ideal for gifting with a chocolate bar or a box of bonbons.⁠
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📷 Shown here are three of my favourite solid sterling silver pieces, cacao pod earrings (made from piercing metal - using a drill and a tiny saw), a cacao bean, and another version of a cacao pod (made by carving wax into the pod shape and then casting it).⁠
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❔ Which one would you choose?⁠
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#metalsmith #canadianchocoholicjewellery #imadeyourjewellery #fashionrevolutionweek #artist #goldsmith #jewellery #metalsmith #sterlingsilver #cacaopod #cacaobean #chocolateearrings #chocolatenecklace #cacaopodjewellery #cacaobeanjewellery #cacaojewellery #artandchocolate #jewelery #jewellery #handmade #giftsforchocoholics #canadianmade #chocolate @amyzambonin

☮ P is for Peace⁠ ⁠ 🍫 I hope you enjoy a

☮ P is for Peace⁠
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🍫 I hope you enjoy a piece of chocolate and find a peaceful moment in your day.⁠
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🙂 Remember to give each piece a chance, trying and exploring chocolate can be such a fun experience.⁠
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📷 Swipe to see a friend of mine who usually lives on the shelf above my desk.⁠
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#peace #peacefulmoments #explorechocolate #givepieceachance #givepeaceachance #beantobarchocolate #singleoriginchocolate #peru #papuanewguniea #palettedebine #tttt_p #tttt_2021 #peacebear #beaniebaby #piece #littlemomentsofpeace

🍫 I enjoyed a chocolate tasting with @pnwchocol

🍫 I enjoyed a chocolate tasting with @pnwchocolatesociety and @wildbluechocolate this evening.

❤️ This quote from Jessie really spoke to me tonight.

🍫 While I didn't have the Wild Blue Chocolate we were discussing with Mike and Jessie I brought a few bites of chocolate that were from Belize and Haiti origins, one even with maple sugar, which was a big topic of the conversation tonight.🍁

❤️ I love how it's so easy to join in chocolate tastings and talks, a pen (or 3), my @chocolatenotebook, computer, headphones, earrings and I am ready to go!

🍫 Can't wait to join in the next chocolate chat!

#chocolate #chocolatetasting #internationalchocolateawards @chocawards #gold #silver #chocolatejudge #chocolateeducator #chocolatetaster #maplesugar #cacao #haiti #belize #beantobarchocolate #smallbatch #chocolatebar #cacaobeans #zoomtasting #ilovechocolate #thechocolatenotebook #chocolateaccessories #tastingnotes

⁠ 🎨 Did you know that today is World Creative

⁠ 🍫 Chocolate can be so amazing.⁠ ⁠ 🙂

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🍫 Chocolate can be so amazing.⁠
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🙂 I invite you to have an open mind next time you take a bite of chocolate. Close your eyes and let the chocolate melt on your tongue and see what pops into your mind.⁠
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❤Maybe it's a taste, maybe it’s a feeling, maybe it's a memory. Whatever it is, enjoy the moment.⁠
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🍫 Cacao and chocolate are said to be heart openers as well, so I invite you to open your heart to chocolate. To seek out and find ethically sourced quality chocolate, to explore the world of craft chocolate and bonbons with an open mind.⁠
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💌 Also if you want to open some mail with a chocolatey theme check out my other account @HappyMailforChocolateLovers.⁠
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📷 Pictured here are bars I opened awhile ago, and whose wrappers have been upcycled into other projects @orfeve_chocolat and @castronovochocolate. Also I want to give a shout out to @openingchocolate, who is the master of opening chocolate parcels, go check out her account!⁠
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❔ What have you been open to lately?⁠
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#tttt_o #tttt_2021 #open #openness #opentochange #openingchocolate #beantobarchocolate #craftchocolate #artandchocolate #heartopener #cacao #chocolate #chocolateeducator #chocolatetaster #chocolatelife #instachocolate #upcycle #chocolatebarwrappers #sharechocolate #explorechocolate #enjoychocolate

🍫 Today I did a IG Live over @chocolatenotebook

🍫 Today I did a IG Live over @chocolatenotebook on how to make tabs for your notebooks.

📓✂️✏️ I walked @laurenontheweekend (she and Anelisa @chocolatedriven co created The Chocolate Notebook, I joined the team for the second edition) through the steps and demonstrated how to make fun tabs from chocolate bar wrappers.

🍫 Someone commented on it being a zero waste craft, and it is a great way to use excess bar wrappers. You all know I love to use every bit of chocolate bar wrappers to create something else, and even the tiny scraps cut from the end of the tabs today go into my glass jar of things to use.

📜 Tiny bits like these are likely to get used to create handmade paper this summer. Any cut up wrappers get upcycled this way, and have a sprinkle of nibs added to them as well. I love making paper from them on sunny days when it can dry in the deck.

🧡 Then I use the paper as backings for holding the jewellery pieces I make.

#chocolatebarwrappers #diy #thechocolatenotebook #craft #create #notebooktabs #upcycle #reuse #reduce #beauty #art #artandchocolate #handmadepaper #illustrator #womeninchocolate #teamwork #friendswithchocolate

🍫 Mother's day is coming soon, and I know alot

🍫 Mother's day is coming soon, and I know alot of moms, mother figures, and nurturing people who would enjoy receiving a piece of jewellery.

🧡 I love creating fun creative jewellery inspired by cacao and chocolate.

🍫 You'll find cacao pods, cacao beans, green leaves, chocolate bars, hot chocolate and so much more in my shop. Sterling silver, bronze, paper goods, sewn fabric items, totes and other pieces celebrating all things chocolate!

🚚 Shipping takes time, so order soon to be sure it arrives on time! All orders made between now and Mothers Day will include a card for free, if you add a note at checkout I'll even write in it for you before I ship it.

🔗 Link in my bio to shop!

#mothersday #chocolatejewellery #chocolatejewelry #cacaopod #cacaobean #cacao #chocolateaccessories #ottawamothersdaygifts #shoplocal613 #supportsmallbusiness #613smallbusiness #artist #handmade #canadianchocolate #chocolategifts #mother #mom #giftsformom #womeninchocolate #friendswithchocolate

🍫 Cacao Pods ⁠ ⁠ 🌴 In April I went on va

🍫 Cacao Pods ⁠
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🌴 In April I went on vacation with my mom. She has always wanted to go to Hawaii, so we made it happen. We spent two weeks in Maui. Most of our time spent there was relaxing, exploring, sitting on beaches and doing new things. The one thing I said had to be on our list was to see Cacao.
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❤ It was love at first sight when these beautiful orange cacao pods came into my view. We did a @mauichocolatecoffee and I am so glad we did. We had an amazing time and learnt so much.
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🌺 The trip was the highlight of 2019, and this photo was taken exactly 2 years ago.
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☮ #peace⁠
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❔ Have you been amazed by the beauty of cacao growing on a tree?
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#chocolate #tttt_o #tttt_2021 #ilovechocolate #chocoholic #beantobarchocolate #beantobar
#singleorigin #singleoriginchocolate #cacaopod #loveatfirstsight #loveatfirstbite #chocolategrowsontrees #trees #maui #mauivacation #chocolatetour #orange #travel #chocolatetravel #love #peace

☕ I have been playing with my morning drinking c

☕ I have been playing with my morning drinking chocolate lately.⁠
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🍫 Never using the same recipe twice. ⁠
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👩‍🍳 This one has a lot of macadamia nut milk foam, some ice, some water, some chocolate and is sprinkled with nibs!⁠
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❔ What's your favourite way to enjoy drinking chocolate?⁠
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#chocolate #drinkingchocolate #foam #nutmylk #coolchocolate #sippingchocolate #hotchocolate #enjoychocolate #morningritual #instachocolate #cacao

🍫 Sometimes a bar just calls to me. 🤗 I was

🍫 Sometimes a bar just calls to me.

🤗 I was wishing there was a piece of this Sponge Toffee bar from @questxochocolate still in the house as I was craving sponge toffee today. (This bar dissapeared quickly once it arrived)

🎨 I wasn't sure what was the front and what was the back of this stunning bar as they were both so beautiful.

🍫 Have you had any chocolate cravings lately?

#chocolate #artandchocolate #copper #toffee #spongetoffee #chocolatecravings #madewithlove #stunning #chocolatejoy

💌 I have been busy working away on @HappyMailfo

🌱 My desk is feeling all the springtime vibes r

🌱 My desk is feeling all the springtime vibes right now, but I am not really feeling the sit at it and work energy.⁠
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☀ It’s been unseasonably warm here in Ottawa, +24C today! So I may have spent a few hours in the hammock dreaming and drawing and planning with a good old fashioned notebook and paper.⁠
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🎨 Because I am a maker. A creative. I find so much joy in creating things with my hands, and so much more joy when those things are enjoyed by others. For me the planning part of the process is often done on paper, maybe I have always started that way, back in the days before technology.⁠
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👩‍🎨 As a maker I make all kinds of things, some of them you see and some of them you don’t. Here is a little peek behind the scenes to the favourite corner of my desk, that not only includes chocolate to be eaten, but also things I have made.⁠
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🔸The malas in the bowl I made, one with moonstones, one with cacao wood beads, while this isn’t the typical jewellery I make, I did work in a bead store in my teens.⁠
I blew the bowl as well, in Seattle in 2013, it is not the first piece of glass I have blown.⁠
🔸I also made the plate the pieces of chocolate are sitting on, at @hintonburgpottery a few years ago in a hand building pottery class.⁠
🔸Plus, there’s @chocolatenotebook which I worked on with @chocolatedriven and @laurenonthewknd.⁠
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🧡As much as I specialize, studied, and love making jewellery, I also just love creating art in all forms.⁠
So there’s a look into a corner of my maker life, tell me, what do you make that I may not know?⁠

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