Free Shipping Sale

Hi you all.

I'm having a blowout of a sale. I've decided to do Free Shipping (domestic) for all orders regardless of the minimum. I'm knocking $5.00 off shipping for all international orders, too.

This sale will run from today (11-30-2009) through December 22, 2009. It is my Christmas present to you, my customer. Happy Holidays!

I've also listed (and am still listing) new products. I listed two new soaps today: Apple Cinnamon pink and green layered soap and Raspberry Butter with aloe butter and all natural fragrance oil.

I'm listing two essential oil blends: 4 thieves oil and Toothbrush oil, and a new gift pack called Orange Paradise.

Thanks for reading. I'll be back soon with a more serious post. :)k

Eureka Inn Etsy Holiday Craft Show Pictures

Hi everyone:

This was a fun show. I have never done a craft show of this type.

First, almost all the vendors are Etsy sellers. That is a first for me. And, it was awesome and so much fun to talk "Etsy" comparing notes and techniques. I have worked many craft shows, and this was the first time there was a camaraderie deeper than usual. A

nice connection.

Second, this show was held in a historic Inn. Every room in this Inn is different from the rest; they are all unique. They are also named along with a number, not just a number. I set up in the

Garden View Room, while across from me was The Cook's Room. They were all decorated according to their name.

Third, I was the only soap maker there. Yay! That is a lot of fun and extremely rare. So, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I met three vendors I would like to interview and show their wares on my blog. Be looking for that.

Enjoy the pictures. Thanks for reading again. :)K

PS. One of my products, my new Whipped Winter Butter, is in a treasury through Tuesday. I'd love to have you check it out at: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=95598 ♥

Historic Eureka Inn Holiday Craft Show NOVEMBER 21, 2009 (12PM-6PM)

Historic Eureka Inn Holiday Craft Show

NOVEMBER 21, 2009 (12PM-6PM)

Hi everyone. I am participating in an unusual (for me) craft show this weekend. It is predominantly a craft show filled with Etsy sellers. Though we have at least two that are not Etsy, it looks like an Etsy gathering. I did not include myself in this listing, it is a list of my fellow craft vendors. I hope if you are nearby you will come and visit our show. The above Etsy mini reflects items from the shops below. You are very welcomed to click on them and visit their shops. :) enjoy!!! and thank you!

The Hippie Hempstress is known for her hand knitted cowls and fingerless gloves. She loves to do originals for customers.

History Repeating History Repeating is two ladies that are just smitten with handwork from the past! They want to share their love of the more genteel era with you! They take special requests, as well.

SummerField Farm Whether you live on a farm or in the city, you will enjoy a piece of my "farmgirl

equipment"! Who says farmgirls have to be tomboys with mudboots? We can do the job with style and grace! Please check her place out - her pictures were unruly here.

Art by Jean Ann Poore I am an artist from East Tennessee, in between the beautiful Appalachian Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains! My work is original artwork done in oils.

Jeri's Jewels I have become so fascinated with what you can do with beads and how much you can express yourself that I have decided to set up a store on Etsy. I hope you enjoy my jewelry as much as I enjoy making it!

Grandma Bessie's Custom Shop THE HOME GRANDPARENT THEMED MERCHANDISE AND QUILTED AND EMBROIDERED ITEMS, which includes sweatshirts, pillows, towels, tote bags, and more.

Play Pretty Hairbobs I began making hair accessories to match their special outfits for

Christmas and Easter nearly seven years ago. Now I am offering my creations for your little princess to enjoy. Don't just play...pLaY pReTtY!!

Creative Touches Creation Fabric Bakery for Children's Pretend Play or Display These few words and pictures explains this shop completely.

LaPella Pottery is the pottery shop of Lisa and Alex LaPella. Alex specializes in ceramic hand drums that are durable and tunable. Lisa LaPella makes stoneware pendants and jewelry. Both potters focus on handmade, functional, wheel thrown pottery that brings art and beauty into the mundane.

Flower Hill Botanicals Flower Hill is located in the lovely foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. From my hillside I have beautiful views of the mountains in the distance, which is a creative inspiration for gardening, floral preservation and designing with natural materials.

My Baby's Time I would love to have the honor of creating a one-of-a-kind book to celebrate all the precious moments of your baby's first year! Convo me and we can get started planning your custom book! Contact me.

Shaprink Unique Gifts We began as a business in 2007 with the stated purpose of creating unique gifts and functional art. Shaprink: Unique Gifts - Functional Art

Becky's Bag & Baggage Shop I love to sew, mostly quilts and currently handbags are my passion. I enjoy making jewelry and sewing beads to my fabric creations. I am a small business person. I am a stay at home grandmother to three little boys. They keep me very busy, but I must create with fabric in my spare time to maintain sanity!

Sisters Act Two Hi there from Tennessee!! I have been sewing for at least 40 years so have used a few spools of thread!! you will find lots of great items for gifts or for you to keep in your own home. All items are those practical things you will actually use, not just stick in a drawer somewhere. I do take pride in my work and love sewing. It is a stress buster.

Just the Right Thing! Is not on Etsy, but specializes in Chinese freshwater pearls, various Asian items such as silk and brocade, plus unusual gift items. Shows are by invitation-only with guests welcome. Most shows are held in Tennessee and Texas, but occasionally shows are held in other states. Whatever your jewelry needs, we have ...Just the Right Thing !

An Allice J. Collection is not online; but a bit of her lovely jewelry can be seen at the Historic Eureka Inn Holiday Blog - which is where it will take you if you click on it.

Well, folks, there are the list of vendors. This time, the pictures are in the Table of Pics above. If you have any questions about it or needing directions, please contact me. I sure would love to see a lot of you there. Thanks again for reading...:)k

Winter Whipped Butter

I've just got to talk about my new whipped butter.

Up until now, I've just whipped shea butter. It is a super butter to whip and when adding about 25% oils to it while whipping, it is awesome in its ability to sink into the skin and leave it ever so soft.

So, whipping mango butter is a new experience for me. But, it is awesome, too. Upon whipping a blend of mostly mango butter, some shealoe butter, and the coffee butter, this product takes on the consistency of whipped cream. It is so scrumptious looking.

What brought on the idea was finding jasmine floral wax and coffee butter on sale with one of my suppliers. They had more than that on sale, but these two new items "beckoned" me. Lol.

Coffee and jasmine - just sounded so good. I knew I could not use shea butter, because the aroma would offset the aroma of the two new ingredients. So, mango butter is so low on the aroma scale, I decided to try whipping it. I love whipping it and using it whipped. It is a very softening butter and melts right into the skin when whipped with other products. It is awesome in appearance when whipped, too.

The coffee butter melts real well and whips nicely with the mango butter. The jasmine floral wax is tough to melt. It has to be melted above the using temp. and brought back down to the using temp. before whipping it into the product.

After whipping my ingredients, I found the coffee butter stronger in aroma than the jasmine. So, I added a couple of drops of jasmine sambac absolute and hand stirred each butter jar. I felt like I was working an apothecary. It was so cool. And, I got to hand stir each jar of butter for my customers.

Did you know a hand stirred butter is a very airy butter with wonderful moisturizing properties? I am enjoying mine so much right now. I hope you find it in yourself to enjoy one, too.

Again, thank you for reading. :)k

Cocoa Vanilla - New Soap

The controversy is the fragrance oil used in soap.

So many soapers believe that the time has come to product all natural soaps. So true, it is time. And, so all my soap recipes are 100% natural soap. However, adding a fragrance oil usually makes the soap less than 100% natural.

And, of course, the difference between essential oil and fragrance oil should be brought out here. Essential oils, when you see that ingredient in your soap, means you are getting an all natural plant oil or wood resin oil in your soap. Cedar, cypress, lavender, patchouli, rose geranium...are essential oils that are often added to soap.

Vanilla, rose, hazelnut, christmas pine, and other fragrances are oils added to soap just for scent. And, it is widely believed this detracts from an all natural soap.

Well, this is my take on the whole thing:

Fragrance oils do detract from an all natural soap only in the sense it has added synthetic oil to create a lovely scent. It cannot be called "all natural" now. This soap I'm adding to my shop has added Vanilla Fragranc oil to it. It is all natural except for that. So, I cannot call it an all natural soap. When all ingredients are added and percents are calculated, it now becomes an 96% natural soap.

I do think many of our synthetic detergents with all their synthetic ingredients, including fragrances, have led us to many dermatology problems. But, if your skin is NOT sensitive, then I think using all natural soaps with synthetic fragrances is not harmful. At least, it has not harmed me, but my skin is not sensitive.

I'd love to know what you think?

Also, I'm getting ready to do a give away here on my Blog. I'm not sure what type of give away pleases most, but I'm open to suggestions on that, too.

Again, thank you for reading. :)k

Cypress Christmas - New Bath Soap

Hi again.

I've listed a new soap at my Etsy shop.

I'm going to answer a question I never do while writing my description. I'm going to write about why I made this soap.

First of all, it is a Holiday or winter, 2009 soap. And, I don't usually make "holiday" soaps. So, why make it?

I made my first holiday soap for Halloween with my Etsy street team (EGCG). It was so much fun, I wanted to do a holiday soap again. Christmas is the very next holiday I could get in on, and so, I made 2 actually (but, the second one is still curing and so not for peeking at until listed).

This one is scented with the essential oil of cypress - nothing else. Pine is a bit too sweet and pungent for my taste. Balsam fir is nice, but I made that three years ago, and it sold moderately. There are other evergreen scents, but I use cypress in many of my blends, and so it was the first one I thought of. And, it is wonderful. It smells like I am in an evergreen wood with the quietness of a new fallen snow.

I wanted to play with color a bit, too. I used parsley in part of my soap and layered it green and white. However, to do it again, I would add more soap to the parsley. But, it still has a nice appearance with an icing sort of top instead of a layered look.

And, this soap is the one that helped me see my new packaging with the "present" look about it. I really like my new labels, and this soap led to my seeing it. So, I will probably make this soap again.

Another reason for this soap is an excuse to use hemp seed oil added at trace (instead of in the

recipe, like my Eucalyptus Lime soap). I wondered at the lather of such a soap - hemp seed tends to add creamy richness to lather and conditioning properties, too. This recipe is already

quite lathering, so I am curious.

And, my curiosity is quite gratified. I took this soap to my kitchen sink and washed my hands with it. Wow! The lather is just wonderful - thick, rich, creamy, and bubbly.

You may want to take a look at this beautiful soap today. Thanks for reading. :)k

A Rare Occurrence - A Sale at Sweet Creek Herbs

Hi you all.

This is a short blog to let you know about a fantastic sale going on right now at Sweet Creek Herbs.

This sale will last November 1 through November 7.

It is the easiest sale - all you have to do is order $10 minimum and checkout with PayPal or Google.

I will refund 15% to any and all orders that total at least $10 before shipping through PayPal or Google.

I have just introduced 22 new products for the winter, 2009, mostly for the feet and face, but other products, too. This is a great time to try out my new products. It is also a good time to try out products priced a bit higher than our budget normally allows.

And, it is NOT too early to think about Christmas gifts.

Thanks!