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Monday, December 3, 2012

Meatless Monday - Cheese Tortelloni

What to make for dinner? The Hubs had to work late so I looked in the cupboard to try to find something quick and easy, that would keep until he got home. I saw the bag of tortelloni we bought on our last Costco trip....




So how to fix this...boiling it sounds easy enough, but now what do we put on it?? I quickly googled the few things I had on hand and combined a few recipes I found....

1 diced onion
a few cloves of garlic
1 TBL basil
olive oil

I sauteed everything in a pan while the tortelloni cooked....tossed all together...YUMMO!





Thursday, November 29, 2012

New Line of Soaps

We have a new line of soaps coming out soon. A wonderful...uncomplicated...natural line of soaps using only natural colorants and essential oils.

The first 3 soaps of the line have been made and are curing...we will have many more for you soon to come. So just what do we have ready for you....


First up is a Charcoal and Tea Tree essential oil.
Charcoal is said to draw impurities from the skin and help relieve it from problems. 
Tea Tree essential oil has a crisp cool scent and can be very healing and soothing to your skin 





Next we have Lemon...(my newest fave). This natural earthy smelling soap bar contains both lemon essentail oil and lemon peel.
Lemon is a natural astringent and antiseptic. It is thought to be great to help clear complexions by clearing greasy oily skin.
Lemon peel also acts as an astringent for the skin and has been known to be great for acne prone skin. It also works as a mild exfoliant and contains vitamin C and a host of antioxidants.




Third is peppermint essential oil. This all natural vegan soap bar is free from artificial colors/fragrances, the only addition to this wonderful soap is peppermint essential oil to give a fresh cool aroma to your daily routine.


Our soaps will be in-store when cured, and are available for pre-order on our Etsy site now.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Thankful for our son...From A to Z...

This weeks theme box to our son was to be in conjunction with the Thankgiving Holiday we celebrated last week, but the mail system went off the usual schedule and it arrived a week late...but we are very....
 

So what is in the box this time??

A-Animal Crackers
B-Brownies
C-Cashews
D-Ding Dongs (good thing I bought them before they went out of business this week)
E-Extra Gum
F-Fruit by the Foot
G-Granola Bars
H-Hormel Turkey Dinner (not a home cooked turkey meal, but better than none)
I-Iced Tea Mix
J-Jerky
K-Kit Kat
L-Lemonheads
M-Mentos

 
N-Nutella
O-Oatmeal Cookies
P-Peaches
Q-Quaker Instant Oatmeal
R-Rice Krispie Treats
S-Salsa
T-Tortilla Chips (had to cheat and buy Fritos corn chips as I couldnt find any small bags of tortilla chips)
U-Yoo-Hoo (Short of sending a unicorn I could not find one single foodie item that starts with a U...so I know he will find the humor here)
V-V8
W-Watermelon Ring Pop
X-cheX miX
Y-Yogurt Bars
Z-Zero Candy Bar
 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Peppermint Swirl Soap

New and ready for the season is our Peppermint Swirl soap!!


This soap has an invigorating smooth cool peppermint scent. It is great for the holidays and makes a perfect stocking stuffer.

This is a cold process soap bar and is made with:
Olive Oil, Water, Coconut Oil, Sustainable Palm Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Shea Butter, Castor Oil, Fragrance and Mica.


To order a bar just visit our Etsy Shop.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Under The Sea Themed Care Package

Another care package for our son in Afghanistan...but there is something fishy about this box....


I love sending boxes but felt they would start to be boring...so I decided to theme it up. So what exactly is in the box...



Tuna and Crackers Pack
Goldfish Crackers/Cookies
Clam Chowder Soup
Oyster Cracker
Gummy Octopus
Whoppers (for the wild fish tales)
Swedish Fish
Yakisoba Noodles with Shrimp
Turtles Candy
Sponge Bob Gummies
Sponge Bob Card Game
Field & Stream Magazine
Salt Water Taffy

All packed up and sea shells sprinkled on top.


I had fun with this one, even decorated the box up. I have a few more themed boxes planned...whats your best theme idea and contents?


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

This Weeks Soap Pot

Whats cookin'?? What have we been up to lately? Mostly just soap making.

Here is our Cucumber Cantaloupe and Prickly Pear...


...and here is our Dragon's Blood and Gardenia...


I have a lot to get made to finish stocking up in preparation for the Holidays...and we have a new line of soaps in the works, so be on the lookout for that. :)

Monday, October 22, 2012

Slice of Hope Fundraiser

This past weekend we participated in a local event put on by our favorite pizza place...Acme Pizza. The event was to raise money for the Pink Heals funds, which helps local women with women related cancers. You couldn't have asked for a more perfect day weather wise. I have to say in all the shows we have done this has to have been the best day for temperature and no wind. Here is our set up...



Jenn (our special needs family member we have custody of) wanted to come and spend the day with me, she loves people and is super social, and she really enjoyed seeing the giant pizza...


Here is our oldest daughter in her booth of Enchanted Waxworks, and she also does face painting....


And to complete the day, here is my grandson who works for Acme Pizza...and he knows how to jump right in to the spirit of things...he bleached a pair of jeans and then dyed them pink...


It was a great day and I hope they received a nice amount of money for the Pink Heals foundation.


Friday, October 19, 2012

Boo Berry Cereal...

...was my absolute fave growing up (along with Lucky Charms). I don't remember if it was always available years ago, but now it is only sold at this time of year...and yes at 43 years of age...it is still a seasonal MUST HAVE! lol


So each October I treat myself to one box...brings back fond memories! :)
What was your favorite childhood cereal?

Monday, October 15, 2012

Care Package for our Son

I have a show next weekend that I have been busy gathering items to take, so my kitchen table becomes my organization spot so I can see what I want to take and also to hopefully not forget anything. Here I have my piles started....


I need to print my signs and fill in the holes of stock needed to take, but this is a good jump on it for me. 

Then I pushed everything back to begin another sorted pile. Our son has deployed again, this time to Afghanistan. So we have filled a box of needed items...and some not so needed items...


The needed items would be the electric blanket, it is quite cold where he is...the not so needed...yeah all that pile of yummy junk food!! You might be thinking wow that looks like a lot of stuff, and it is...for 2 reasons. 

One is this time there is no PX where he is stationed, no where for him to go get anything, so the soldiers rely on us for their comfort items. Sure the military keeps them fed and housed, but comfort items are so dearly loved at these times.



Second there is so much here because I am packing 2 boxes. Sadly one of his guys is unmarried and has not received one single piece of mail...well we cannot allow this to continue, so along with some great friends some needed items such as bath towels, bed sheets and toiletries...along with some yummy snacks will be heading his way soon!

We are grateful for their service and very proud of our son, sending a box of goodies a couple times a month to him and his guys is the very least we can do.


Thursday, October 11, 2012

Punkin Patch

Playing around with a scent I have had on hand, Aroma Haven's Sweet Pumpkin. I knew it would brown so I divided the batch into 4  seperate cups...
  • one with just fragrance
  • one with fragrance and vanilla stabilizer to cut down on the browning
  • one with no fragrance and orange mica
  • and lastly one with no fragrance and green mica
all to represent the Fall colors of a punkin patch.... 


Now just where is my punkin orange other than that one lil corner??!! 

and why did the green come out so strong?? 

and where is my deep brown from the full on fragrance oil other than the outside edges??


Ah the joys of soaping...just never know what you are going to get!! Colors may not be what I wanted...but it smells yummy enough to eat!! :)


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Finally Got a Keurig!!

We finally caved and bought a Keurig. I haven't been very interested in getting one...well because I am cheap. Not only is the unit itself more than I would like to pay for a coffee maker, but then the individual cups was an expense I didn't care to have. But we found one at a great price with a nice rebate...so ok...BUT...The Hubs made it very clear his percolator STAYED! But of course, it makes a fabulous pot of coffee and on the weekends with everyone around we like a full pot...but during the busy workweek, I think it is going to be nice to just make one fast cup of coffee...


...and fast it is! Wow does it fill the cup fast!


Now for what I don't like. It has five cup settings...this is the middle setting which doesn't quite fill the cup. This is fine for us who use creamer...but The Hubs is going to get gyped by not getting a full cup...is this something that can be adjusted?? The next setting up fills a larger mug we have to the very brim! No room for creamer on that size!


Now for what I like...The "My K cup". This appeals to the frugal me...I can use our own coffee!!! I have heard from others and read online it doesnt work and you get grounds in your cup...one coffee scoop was perfect and I had not one single ground in my cup...just a great cup of coffee!


So I think it is going to be used quite a bit...just need to figure out if the water flow can be adjusted for the cup sizes to actually fill the cup.
What is your favorite brand/flavor to drink?

Sunday, October 7, 2012

New Housing...

...for the furbabies!

What to do with such a fun box? 



Cut a hole and see what the cats do...sure enough it wasn't on the ground 30 seconds...



Taking Turns....so funny though such a long box and they sit by the "door".

Uh-oh...someone got the boot!




Friday, October 5, 2012

Avocado Oil with Sea Clay Facial Soap

As I said in a post earlier this week, I was straightening up my fragrance oil shelf...it is easy to lose track of what you have...and I came across a bottle of geranium essential oil...hmmm what did I buy this for...and how can I use it. Then I had a "AHA" moment. I recently bought sea clay and I remembered that there was a a tutorial on the Soap Queen's Blog for a facial bar...that uses geranium essential oil....so now I get to use 2 of my "impulse buy" products into one project, SCORE!
So I wrote down the posted recipe and changed some stuff around...a lil less of this oil, a lil more of that oil....and soon I was mixing and pouring....




The soap smells wonderful with the blend of Tea Tree, Lavender and Geranium essential oils...and it has a beautiful soft green hue from the sea clay.

Sea clay originated as mud created in the sea millions of years ago. It acts as a great detox and mild exfoliant.

Tea Tree essential oil is a great antiseptic, Lavender essential oil is very soothing and Geranium essential oil is great for skin problems and also lends a beautiful soft floral scent to the mix.



Look for this soap to hit both the store in Prescott and our Etsy shop in a couple weeks after its cure.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Arctic Snow

I have a lot of fragrance oil sample bottles...some are pretty small so they are good to use in melt & pour soap because you can work in smaller batches and use very little fragrance at one time. Cold process soap takes more fragrance oil at one time, even a small batch could need an ounce, and the samples are usually much smaller. 
As I was straightening my fragrance oil shelves and seeing what I have on hand I discovered that there were two 1/2 ounce sample bottles of "Fresh Snow" from Bramble Berry, and that is the perfect amount I need to use my small mold...so it was goof off time again....


Now sadly you cannot tell I used two different kinds of blue mica. I used Blueberry POP mica and neon blue mica...but it all looks the same...nonetheless...I still love what I ended up with....Arctic Snow! 



Monday, October 1, 2012

Pumpkin Thank You Cards

I love making cards and tags and last year I made these cute pumpkin cards to put in with my pumpkin soap orders. They are fun, fast and easy to make.
Everything I use is usually Stampin Up products, so I first punched out a bunch of ovals out of Tangerine card stock, and I cut some green slivers and then some chunky brown pieces for the stems.
 
 

 Not sure if you can make it out in this picture, but I took some suede brown ink and sponged the edges to give the pumpkins some shadow and depth.
 
Next I assembled the pumpkins with adhesive and added the stems.

 
To make my cards I cut some white card stock at 3 X 6 inches, and then scored in half to have a 3 X 3 card where I stamped thank you using my teeny tiny wishes stamp set and then glued my pumpkin on...voila...how cute are these!!!

 

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Stepping out of my Comfort Zone


I call myself a "Plain Jane" soaper. I jokingly say I walk the boring side...but I actually do lol. I think color just scares me so I embraced just making sure I made a great bar of soap...plainly colored works just fine for me. But as the holidays approach and I think about gift giving...well it is time to step out of my comfort zone...and just go for it!! So this past weekend I soaped Black Raspberry Vanilla...Baby Girls fave scent (she calls it koolaid lol). I used charcoal for the black and cranberry mica for the pink...and just went for it. I LOVE the end result. I think I need to step out of that comfort zone a lil more often...what do you think?




Monday, September 17, 2012

We've Expanded!!

We are very excited to have expanded our shop. We have a great shop in a fabulously cute mini mall in a historic part of Prescott Arizona...but then the lil spot next door to us came open...should we...shouldnt we...no we shouldnt...so someone else moved in....but then they didnt stay...so again the offer...should we...shouldnt we...WE DID! Time will tell if this was a good move. For now it feels good and has opened our space to a better flow...

We started with taking the wall down that separated the two shops, and put up plastic as we readied the space next door for the merge....Then came the day we were ready to...tear...that...plastic...down!!

 
And here we are...I don't mean to brag...oh wait, yes I do...we did a fabulous job and have a beautiful store!!! Penelope looks regal in her new spot. :)

 
I love having the bath and body all on one wall...now time to get making and stocking for the Holiday season! :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Sugar Scrub Cubes

I was on a mission to get our sugar scrub cubes inventory back up....and this weekend I got a lot done! :)



I made our usual fave scents...Lilac...White Tea & Ginger...Vanilla Frosting...Arizona Sunshine...Raspberry Explosion...Then I made a few holiday favorites...Pumpkin Spice...Pumpkin Crunch...Gingered Apples.



To use you take 1 – 2 cubes into the shower or tub with you. Moisten and flatten into the palm of your hand and rub over your skin, paying extra attention to any rough spots. The cube will begin to emulsify and gently cleanse your skin while you exfoliate.

 
Our sugar scrub cubes sell for $7.oo a jar. Each jar weighs around 6 ounces and is filled with 16 cubes. We can make them up in any scent we carry, feel free to contact us for any special requests.