I would not tell a Lye!

I am out of LYE!! I have the "can't make soap blues!" Honestly, Lowe's has quit selling lye because it is used for bad things, along with good things. And now all of us soapmakers are out of luck. So, I'm looking for sources and I think I have found one but it will require a trip to Ft Smith. DARN!! I may have to go see Tanner and Ash while I'm there. Anyway, until then, I can make laundry soap, which I need to do today and I can make some lotion.

Lotion Bars

2 oz. beeswax

2 oz. coconut oil

1 oz. shea butter

fragrance oil or essential oil of choice

Melt the beeswax on low heat. Add coconut and shea butter.Remove from heat. Add fragrance oil. Pour into molds such as old jello tins, Melt and pour molds, etc. These solidify quickly and just pop out of the molds.

And here is my Favorite Simple Lotion Recipe.

10 oz olive oil

3 oz coconut oil

2 oz castor oil

14 oz distilled water

1 jigger of vodka

melt the oils in a large glass bowl in microwave. Add your alcohol to your water phase. Once the oils are just melted, begin stick blending as you slowly add the waterphase to the oil phase. Once it is incorporated, it will emulsify to a light lotion. Add your fragrance oils at the last. I use mandarin vodka, lemon eo and sometimes a little orange eo. Very intense, good dry skin therapy.

Chilli today, hot tamale!

Ok, I know that's really corny, just something my dad always said. It was very chilly today at the market and I had a horrible earache. Something strange in itself, I am having sharp, shooting pains in my right ear and cheekbone. I feel like complete poop!! So, I didn't stay for long but I did take some really nice pictures. The folks who set up shop on my left are awesome people. Totally organic and thier stuff looks like it came out of Martha Stewart Living. It even made my photography look good! Fall is so awesome anyway...the pumpkins, gourds and peppers. Very pretty. My pictures won't cooperate and that is not really how my artistic eye sees them but there you go! At least I got them on there! lol

On another note.....BELLA IS HERE! She is such a sweetie and already spoiled rotten. I have been a little lazy about pictures but I do have one good one. Will have lots more later. Her bark is way too cute!

Well, going to hit the sack, as soon as I get Bella off my pillow!

Successful Soap Class and Carpet Freshener

Well, it was great fun! And very nice to meet new people. We made soap, made friends, shared our experiences and had a very delicious lunch.All with a beautiful view of the lake, the trees just starting to turn. Thank you gyrls! Especially Cindy, my super creative friend. And thanks for the rosemary! I read today that you can boil 2 cups of rosemary in 1 pint of water and let it cool, then use it as an herbal dip for your dogs. It kills fleas. Also, thank you Becky for the heads up about the borax and baking soda for your carpet. I hope it kills the fleas but an added benefit is that it smells wonderful. I also added 2 capfuls of liquid potpourri per about 4 cups of ea. Eureka~ I have carpet freshener. The potpourri was 1.00 at wal-mart, the borax was 3.68 and the Baking Soda was 2.12. It made a ton.

Also, I am experimenting with the liquid potpourri as an inexpensive fragrance for the liquid laundry soap that we made. So far so good. I got it in fresh cotton. My only concern at this point is to not make oil spots on our clothes and if you only added a small amount (it doesn't take much,1/2 capful for the whole batch should be enough) and shook it up well each time you use it, I'm thinking it will be fine. If anyone knows why I shouldn't use it like this, let me know. I wonder if it would be a skin irritant? If you do this, test test test! Before you wash a whole load. In the meantime, I'm washing old tee shirts and towels with it to make sure. And of course, if you wanted to you could always add essential oils to both the carpet freshener and the laundry soap. I'm saving mine for soap! Hope everyone is having a wonderful fall day.

Bella!

Ok..I know what everyone is going to say but....We got a new puppy!! As silly as it seems, I haven't even told Caleb yet! :) I know he is going to complain but I'm hoping that once he sees her he will just be crazy about her. She's a black and white Boston terrier and her name is Bella.

She looks sorta like this picture but maybe a little younger. We are hoping to bring her home in a couple of weeks. I wish she were here now.... We're going to look for a little red and white male boston cause we know she's gonna need a boyfriend!

I always considered myself a cat person but I've realized as I've gotten older that is not the case. I miss having cats in the house a little but the absence of cat hair has been so nice since Saka and Mo Mo went to live with Heather on the turkey farm. And I'm sure they are much happier too.

Things I've learned from my pets.

Friendship and loyalty are never overrated. I learn this from Lacey every day as she follows my every step. This is when I miss Hooch the most, he is such a clown about stuff like that. If I were doing dishes he would literally wedge himself between my knees and the cabinet and lean as hard as he could. I hope he does that to you too Ash, it always made me laugh!

No body wants to be left out. I learn this from Lacey every time I leave her in the car to go pay for my gas and she does unspeakable things in the car seat, and on my purse if it's sitting around anywhere!! Some days we are not friends....

Lacey the Yorkie(aka lullabelle)

A 15 pound cat jumping on your roof can sound like a jet plane just fell on the house. Calvin the flying fatcat. I really though he was too fat to jump that high! He's a big blue kitty and he is truly top cat around here. Milo gets up there too but he's not as intense about it.

Don't think that little teeth don't hurt and watch out for those baby Boston's! Bella's 'lil sister bit Teresa yesterday when we went to meet them. It left the cutest little bruise and sorta broke the skin but a little bit of antibiotic ointment saved the day!

Well, I've probably learned more than this from my pets but I'm tired and the brain is fuzzy so it's off to bed. I'll have some real pictures of Bella before long! Got a new Puppy!!!

Am I an OU fan?

Not as much of one as my oldest kid! :) Hunter is a dyed in the wool fan and I think he got to attend the game yesterday. Sounds like fun and I'm sorry the sooners lost Hunter! It looked like a pretty good game tho. Here is a picture of the Schooner I painted on Cooper's wall at Hunter and Danielle's house while I was there last week. I love you guys and had a really good week! Can't wait for that baby to get here...

My other grandbaby, Tanner, had his first birthday! A good excuse to see everyone, we had an awesome time. Even Caleb got to be there. He had to stay home to attend school but his dad and big bro came after him and watched him march in the Mountain Home Homecoming game and then drove him back to Ft Smith so that he wouldn't be left out. AWW! it was really nice to have him there and I'm glad he didn't have to miss marching in the homecoming. Here is Tanner, enjoying his birthday cupcake. He ate cake all week long!

As for homemade soap, I'm preparing this week for my soap class! Still have spots available so if your interested, holler at me! I may do a bring a friend discount so if you have someone to bring, ask me about it. It's going to be a fun day and I'm getting a lot of info and recipes together to send home with attendee's, along with the soap that we make.

And finally, speaking of soap. I'm making a newsletter blog that will include a monthly give-away. Freebies are always nice. Join the blog and on the 15th of each month I will do a giveaway drawing of free soap, lip balms, soy melt candles, etc. It's called Jewelled and Pampered! The newsletter will also be about the handmade jewelry I make. Fall blessing to everyone, the weather here as been beautiful. Hope you have a great day!

I got My Mojo back!

Well, it's only been a week since I got totally serious about the no carb thing and I feel like a new person. I have some energy! Major improvement. I've been more active and this coming week I'm going to start my walking program. I decided that the best thing for me to do was go on a modified version of the atkins diet. I say modified but that's really not true. I'm eating nothing but meat, dairy (without the milk), and lots of green veggies. I make a huge plate of salad greens and pile the meat and cheese on and then I use that awesome vinegar I told ya'll about. Love it! it's not bad and I've already lost around 10 pounds. It will come off even faster once I start walking. Well, I'm off this week to see my kids, Tanner turns 1 on wednesday! The year has flown by and we are so excited to see him again. Here's a new pic or two of the little stinker. Can't wait to squeeze him! I added a little flickr badge of etsy related pictures on this blog. Click on it! Find out all about etsy, it's awesome!