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!

Soap!

We have soap boys and girls! I finally got it together enough to make some awesome soy milk soap, some really pretty and creamy lye soap, some skunk smelling Goat Milk Soap (More on that in a moment) and some honey oh honey soap! YUMM!

Ok, I will admit that I nearly pitched the GM soap. It was truly disgusting for about 3 days and now it is a very nice, heady lavender patchouli blend. And everything they say about GM soap seems to be true. It is so moisturizing, my hands feel great! Tree said the bathroom smells like a head shop so I'm thinking I may have gone heavy on the Patchoulli but...oh well! Anything is better than skunk. I wish it had turned out a little bit lighter but them's the breaks!

The honey soap is at the request of the neatest lady I recently met. She is the honey lady of lakeview and she sells lots of honey. We are trading honey for soap! Good trade.

The soy milk soap is pretty cool. I made it with some kikkoman pearl soymilk called tropical delight and the milk itself contains 7 fruit and veggie juices so that's the double whammy of antioxidants. i scented with green apple fragrance oil. Very nice. I will make another batch of this.

Well, the GM soap was a new one on me and next time I am going to cook it at a lower temp to try to tame the brown a little. A lighter tan would be nice, I'll let you know how it goes!

My life on the D-list

Ok, it's a different list then the one Kathy Griffin is on...It's the diabetic list and I'm truly disappointed. I don't know why I thought I would be different then all of my other family members but I am not. We are predominently native american and that goes hand in hand with diabetes, and other health problems. And even tho I'm overweight and addicted to Coke, I thought I could dodge that particular bullet and I was wrong! So, I have spent hours online the last few days and I've revamped my kitchen. Wish me luck (and willpower)...a coke sounds really good about now...really cold, with lots of ice! UGH!!!





Here is what I made for dinner





Chicken on the rotisserie. It was beautiful outside on my little deck and I enjoyed being out there. Fall is definately in the air!


Mashed potatoes....I only had a very small portion of that thank you very much






Broccoli Salad. This was awesome and since I made it up, I thought I would share the recipe with you.

2 cups fresh broccoli florets
1 med or 2 small jonothan apples, chopped
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 sliced yellow or red onion (I used a sweet yellow onion)
Toss above with

1/3 cup mayo reduced fat
1 tblspoon lemongrass and terragon vinegar(yummo)
1 tsp. sugar


p.s. that vinegar is my new favorite thing. Infuse rice vinegar(in the asian cooking section) with fresh lemongrass and terragon from your herb garden. Perfect for salads, I don't even use oil or dressings now. so fresh!

Enjoy! I will keep you all posted on my diabetic adventures and share more recipes with you as I find them...or make them up! Please excuse the picture, my good digital camera quit working on my last week and I'm still slightly pissed! Ta Ta !

Still no Soap!

Ok, I know that I'm slipping now because I have gone 2 whole weeks without making a single bar of soap. I spent all last week getting ready for the hillbilly chili cookoff and made more jewelry than anything else. It was a great day! Not extremely successful with sells but I did ok and I also got to talk to alot of people. I shared a booth with my friend Cindy and it is always fun to spend the day with her. And of course, it also rained!!! for about an hour. We got pretty wet but it was still fun. I love that down home atmosphere of small town fairs and festivals.

Speaking of fairs, tonight was the start of the Baxter county fair and I have to say that I believe that Caleb has lost his innocense. He came home and announced that the fair was a waste of money because everything was so expensive. I guess when you have to cut grass and haul trash for fair money, you have a different perspective! I have to say tho, I reluctantly have to agree. 40.00 for 4 rides, a burger and two drinks seems somewhat steep to me. We should all be getting used to the rising cost of EVERYTHING! but somehow it is still disappointing and worrisome.

I spoke to Tanner today on the phone. His vocabulary now includes, ma ma, da da, ahh choo, a social cough and now Hey Hey Hey! He is, of course, without a doubt the cutest baby ever! At least until my new grandbaby gets here in January. It's a boy and his name is Cooper. At that point, Cooper and Tanner may have to share that title! I am truly blessed!

Sooo Sleepy...zzzzzzzzzzzzz...zzzzzzzzzzz

Well, another week behind me and I can hardly hold my eyes open to write this. Good day at market! Sold some shampoo bars, some lye soap, lip balms and jewelry, jewelry jewelry! My alter ego Gigi better get busy! The hillbilly chili cookoff is next Saturday and there needs to be LOTS of jewelry. I think it goes by seasons and trends. 3 weeks ago the jewelry sat on the displays and I couldn't keep enough soap made up. Now, with just the slightest hint of fall in the air, I am selling jewelry and not much soap! it's something you really can't predict.

On another note, Hooch the boxer has been banished from my daughters house! :( I am sad. He was such a spoiled rotten baby and I miss him...I know he loves it in the backyard but I was so happy to think about him sleeping in the house. i don't blame them at all though and he has a nice big doggy house. I miss you Hoochster! Here he is in all his puppy glory. I gave custody to my daughter and her husband because they adore him and he has so much more space there.

What a dog! Ok kids! I'm off to bed, where I can sleep until I wake up..no alram in the A.M. Hooray!

I need a clone!

Well, it's Thursday night, I've already gone to one farmer's market this week and I still have 2 to go. I have to say tho, it is starting to slow down, and sales are not quite what they were either

:( oh well.....probably just as well because I have some shows and some classes that I am teaching, all coming up in the next few weeks. I'm getting really excited about the hot soap class. The other two are jewelry and polymer clay beads and buttons. The buttons will be fun and exciting but Im a little concerned because I'm teaching quilters and I haven't quilted for years. I'm sure they can teach me something while I'm there! And this is why I need a clone because in addition to the shows and classes, I'm trying to prepare my house for company. My mom and AuntB are going to attend the soap class in October. I need to finish up some painting that somehow never got done from when we moved in here a year ago. I'm also hopeing to refurb my garden and get some of the summer stuff out of there. Out with the old, in the with new. Hoping to get some nice fall onions and lettuce. We'll see. The weather has been extremely strange here, cool nights and lots of rain.

Not much going on in the way of soap this week. How about a soap recipe?

Pumpkin Spice Bars

12 ounces canola oil

8 ounces olive oil

6 ounces coconut oil

3 ounces castor oil

10 ounces rainwater

4.5 ounces lye

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

cinnnamon leaf essential oil

cinnamon, 3/4 tsp

cloves, 1/2 tsp

Warm oils, add to crock pot. Turn crock pot to high. Carefully add lye to rainwater, stir to dissolve. Stir rainwater/lye mixture into oils. Stick blend to trace. At trace add pumpkin. Turn crockpot to low or warm. Watch soap, stir down as needed, cook for approximately 45 minutes. When soap looks like translucent apple sauce, it's done. To test, take small amount on spoon, let cool, rub between fingers. If it's smooth, you can taste it for Zap. When you know it's done, carefully stir in cinnamon, cloves, and essential oil. Spoon into mold, let cool.

Pumpkin is full of antioxidants and is very good for your skin. Happy Soaping!

Yard Sales and other crap I hate...

I just got off the phone with my amazingly smart and beautiful daughter and mom to Tanner and I think somewhere in the conversation I agreed to go to her house and help her have a ...OMG!! A YARD SALE!! What was I thinking? I hate yard sales, I hate having them and I always end up closing them early and throwing everything away. I'm so ashamed to admit that last part, since I am an advocate of recycling but come on...you can admit it. Sometimes we all slip a little. And when you have those last boxes of junk sitting in your living room for days or even weeks!!! that stuff has got to go. Worse yet is when the boxes sitting in your living room for days or weeks are full of stuff you need to keep but don't have anywhere to put. We are a small family of three people living in a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a storage shed and I still have a storage rental unit across town. WOW! That is some serious stuff.

ON another note...I am going to get out my soap box for just a short speech about other things I hate.

1.People who drive when they shouldn't, for whatever reason. We live in a smallish (20,000+) community that is predominently retirees. Most of them should not drive, some of them shouldn't even drive a buggy in walmart and I have seriously been ran over with the cart in walmart at least twice. And they are not even nice about it!

2. Another thing I hate is judgemental people. You know who you are!!!...Why can't we all just get along?

3.Christmas. Ok. This one is hard. I actually think I have more of a love/hate relationship with Christmas. I think Christmas would be so cool if we could recognize it for what it really is and not how much money we spend on each other. I hate that!! I would love to see my family and friends, give everyone something nice that I made or wanted to share with them and not just hand out presents only ot hear them all complain about what you got them. The video games, the dvd's, perfume,aftershave....etc.etc. Make a homemade christmas! I encourage it~!

Hmm..I told you it would be short. If you count yard sales, that's only 4 things I hate today...gonna be a good day!:)

Cinnamon Apple Soap...hmmm

Wow, does it smell good! Only trouble is, it's waaay too soft. I tried a new mix of oils and I think I'm going to have to rebatch. On the good side, the lemon verbena shaving soap came out awesome! It smells so good and lather's nice and slippery, good for shaving. I put it in these cute little pudding cups. That is also another passion of mine, recycling. I love to take things that I would normally throw out and repurpose them. Plus, they're really cute. I'm going to order some shaving brushes and tie them to the package with some nice ribbon. I also have plans for the little sunny d bottles that Tree takes in her lunch. Sample of laundry soap??? I think it will hold about 3 loads worth. I always sanitize and reseal everything with shrinkwrap so I know it's safe.

I also made lime and sage and peppermint shampoo bars. A good productive day!

I wanted to post pictures of the cars I painted on my grandson's wall. We went for a few days last week and I have to say that he is the cutest thing ever! Muscle cars in his bedroom...I think a crib set and curtains are next...maybe a few more cars on his walls.

Laundry Soap and fresh Basil Pizza!

Well, yesterday didn't go as planned so....no apple cinnamon soap yet. But here is a pic of my honey soap to look at. We had company for lunch and then I had lots of laundry. Speaking of laundry, I also make my own laundry soap. When I make hot process soap in my crock pot, I take the scrapings, add borax, essential oils(for good smell!) and melt it in 6 cups of water. This makes a nice, clear, yummy smelling gel that I then add another 6 cups of water to. I keep it in my old, commercial laundry bottles. I suppose it's kinda silly to get excited about that, but at the price of laundry detergents (and the skin sensitivity to them), I feel like I'm doing something really good for my family. I occasionally put a little bit of fragrance oil in them, I particularly like sunflower because it mixes well with the herbal fragrances that are already in the soap scrapings. Nice and clean smelling. That was the only complaint that Tree (partner)and Caleb(son) had, didn't smell like tide! lol Now it smells even better.

We also had an awesome homemade pizza for dinner, I made it using fresh herbs from the garden and I even put some fresh tomatoes on my part. MMM!good. I only had a small little container garden for herbs this year but I am the only one that really likes them so it wasn't too bad but I have BIG plans for my herb garden next spring! I made Tree some fresh pesto sauce in our magic bullet and she swears it tastes like dirt and weeds....what is wrong with these people!?!:) Caleb feels the same way and they just look at me like I'm nutty when I start heading out the door with scissors and basket in hand.....OH well, I'm off to make that soap now...really!

Home Sweet Homemade Soap

ok...it's corny, I know but....I love homemade Soap! In fact, I love all things homemade and as I was washing dishes this afternoon (by hand, of course!) it occurred to me that I am truly a do it yourselfer. That is just my mindset, if I see something new or something that I want, my first thought is "I wonder if I can make that??" So, that is how my soap making story began....Fresh out of the shower and covered in itchy welts from my commercial shampoo, I decided I was sick and tired of breaking out everyday. I sat down at the computer and started reading recipes. Then I put myself in the car and drove to the library where I checked out two books. One was all about hot process, crock pot soap, complete with recipes and the other one was about all the different techniques of soap, from soapcrafting with melt and pour to cold process to hot soap. I read them both at least twice from cover to cover and I was hooked. And then I realized the benefits of homemade soap were really what they said...no more itcy dry skin. You can see my soap at www.9thstreet.etsy.com and also at www.9thstreet.ecrater.com I am definately hooked on making it and using it, my favorites are the shampoo bars. My hair loves them and no more welts! I am as passionate about telling people about it as I am making it and using it....try it! Tomorrow I am making cinnamon apple bars and I'm going to try a new shaving soap recipe, with white clay . I'll let you know how it turns out!