Playing With Paper

Decoupage Bird Eggs

With the dreary March weather we’ve been having I’ve been keeping my fingers busy by making some happy springtime creations.  I started out by taking an old book, one I’ll never read, and ripping it up in little pieces to make my version of vintage shabby chic style eggs that transition well from Easter right into any springtime decor.

Blingy Glitter Eggs

Large Glittery Eggs

Mini and Small Eggs in Carrot Dish

Small and Medium Eggs in Bunny Bowl

I think I had a bit of a glitter overdose while making these.  I’m still finding glitter where glitter shouldn’t be :p  They range in size from just under 2 inches to almost 5 inches.

As I was ripping up the paper, I got thinking, since I have a kobo, does this make me a bad person for tearing up books… I think not, since these books would have been destined for the dumpster and now they’re something pretty to enjoy once again.

Then of course since I have the attention span of a…. Squirrel  I spent some time on Pintrest, and of course got some inspiration… after all isn’t that what it’s there fore?  And this is what happened.

Book Page Wreath

Book Page Wings

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing to keep my fingers busy and a smile on my face.

How do you keep yourself sane… I wanna know

Sherry

10 years, no “soap”

It’s been about 10 years since I’ve bought a bar of soap and boy am I glad  I mean, really, have you ever looked at the ingredient list on a bar of soap that you buy at the grocery or drug store?  The only thing those “beauty bars” do is create beautiful wads of cash for the big commercial companies that make them.  If you can read, or pronounce, the mumbo jumbo written on the back of the label, do you actually know what they are?  Most are chemicals, surfactants, detergents and in some cases carcinogens.  Do we really need more of that stuff in our lives.

I took a look at the ingredient list for one of the beauty bars that says it “rinses cleaner”  and just ONE of the ingredients is Tetrasodium EDTA.  According to this article Tetrasodium EDTA is a preservative that’s made from the known carcinogen, formaldehyde and sodium cyanide.  It is also a penetration enhancer, meaning it breaks down the skin’s protective barrier, going right into your bloodstream.

Now I had no idea about this stuff anymore than the next person.  But, my husband Brian and I took a trip to visit my Dad.  During our stay he took us sight seeing and doing the touristy thing.  One of the places he took us was to a soap shop that did soap making demonstrations.  We sat there mesmerized watching as luxurious oils miraculously started changing into soap by the addition of lye water.  I was even given the chance to stir it  At one point Brian leaned towards me and said “We should start making soap”.  Well, we get back home and I start researching, and researching, and researching some more.  I learned the history of soap making, the properties of the different oils used etc, and so on as well as what I don’t want on my skin.   And that’s how I became a soap maker!!

Originally this post was just going to be a short one to tell you what I’ve got on the curing rack this week, but as you can see, I got side tracked.  So without further ado, here’s what’s on the curing rack

Lavender.  This is my fastest selling bar!

ingredients:  Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Shea Butter, Water, Lye Lavender Essential Oil 40/42, Lavender Buds and Iron Oxide Colour.

Available around April 1st.  No Joke

Mandarine Green Tea.

ingredients:  Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Shea Butter, Water, Lye, Fragrance and Iron Oxide Colour.

Available around April 1st.

This is another batch of Mandarine Green Tea.  You can see how the colouring is different in this batch but it still smells the same as the one above  One of these batches is already sold as soon as it has cured.

This is a custom blend of 3 different essential oils.  This batch, once cured is also sold.

I also have two other batches of custom blended soap that I haven’t photographed as they are also sold once the curing process is completed.

This is what my dining room table, come “curing rack” looks like right now.  There’s not much room left on it so I’ll have to come up with a better system.

For my birthday, my step dad, Dennis gave me a tiered green house that I think will be pressed into service.  I expect it will do the trick beautifully

My soap can be purchased as individual bars, or whole loaves.  If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a message.

TTFN,

Sherry

My Confession

Folks, I have a confession…  wait, let me do this properly…

Hello, My name is  Sherry, and I am an Addict!!  I admit that I have become a raging Soapaholic!

It happened innocently enough.  I started out making melt and pour soap, tweaking it with botanicals, fragrance or essential oils and colouring it fun funky ways, but that wasn’t enough for me…  I still wanted to make soap the “old fashioned way”, by mixing oils with lye to make real honest to goodness cold processed soap.

So, I bought olive oil, palm oil, shea butter and lye.  I’ve got the pot, I’ve got the scale, I’ve got my recipe, I’m ready!  I don my safety equipment, but I’m terrified of the lye… yes, I watched Fight Club… but I dive in anyway if I’m gonna do this.  I mixed the lye, I mixed the oils, I mixed them together and started stirring… and stirring… and stirring some more.  Finally after about 3 hours of stirring I figure, that’s gotta be enough.  So, I pour it in the mold and insulate it.  I’m impatient, and sneak peeks… is it soap yet.  Nope.  So ok, I’ll leave it alone over night and check it in the morning, by then it should have gone through the gel stage and become soap.  I look the next morning and…. AAAAAaaaaaahhhh, it didn’t work.  What could I have done wrong?  I figured it out that I hadn’t stirred it long enough.  So I re-batched it and yes, this time it is soap!!!  But THREE HOURS OF STIRRING wasn’t enough. So I became an occasional soaper.  I continued making the melt and pour, but I’d make my olive oil cold process soap now and then when I had ran out of the previous batch.

Well, in January it all changed.  You may have read my post Squeeee!  I got a stick blender!!  Well, that was the one piece of equipment that changed everything.  This thing has me all consumed with soap making to the point that I’m probably going to stop making the melt and pour soap altogether!

You see, it’s really not my fault, it’s the stick blenders fault, because now I can make a batch of soap, from the second I put on my gloves and safety glasses, to placing the filled mold in the freezer and walking back upstairs in under an hour!!!  Did you hear me?  I said all that in UNDER AN HOUR!!!

Before, it was a batch every now and then.  Now I’m doing multiple batches in a day!!!  And it gets worse (or better depending on how you look at it)  I’ve got wonderful new colours to play with, and I’m making cutesie soaps like cupcakes.  I’ve become obsessed!!  I lay in bed at night thinking what kind of soap to make next.  What scent and how to colour it.  What other recipes can I come up with…  Oh the humanity!!!

Here are a few pictures to show you how far I’ve sunk into this Cold Processed Soap making.

These Cupcake Soaps were made on Friday.  We had a terrible snow storm, so I came home and since there’s nothing good on TV anymore, I tried my hand at making these.

Vanilla Cupcake Soap

These are my first attempt, and you can be sure I’ll be doing more… and more… and yet even more!!  They will be ready for sale around March 23rd.

Then Sunday I made this.

Lavender in the mold

 

Lavender on the curing rack

Lavender close-up

Luckily for me this entire log of Lavender CP Soap is already sold as soon as it has cured.  I have a couple in town who love my soap so much that they buy it a whole log at a time.

I also made my favorite fragrance Rose Geranium.

Rose Geranium in the mold

I coloured it with swirls of pink and green then sprinkled a little gold dust on the top.

 

Rose Geranium cut end

It was a little too soft to cut, but I couldn’t wait any more to have a peek inside.

Rose Geranium close-up

I’ll finish cutting this log tonight and it will be ready for sale around March 24th.

So there, I’ve fessed up, I am a Soapaholic and I LOVE IT!!!  Beware, I Will Soap Again… don’t try and stop me, I don’t need an intervention, and I can promise that this obsession will get worse

Sherry.

 

 

 

Penny Free Canada

Well since the government in their infinite wisdom had deemed the penny to be more of a  nuisance than a useful coin, Canada will become a penny free zone.  So, what does that mean to stores and consumers?  Well, that means that purchases will be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel.

Here at the store, if the price comes to 12.59 it will be rounded up to 12.60, or 12.51 will be 12.50

I imagine that the big boys will be making extra money hand over fist, but for small shops like mine it’s not going to be much of an impact.

Hey, don’t blame me the Devil um I mean the Government made me do it

Sherry

More Forever Leather Roses

As promised I made a few more leather roses.  I forgot how tired and sore my hands got while making them, so I’ve only got 4 pictures of completed roses today.  There are more at home at different levels of completion.   Forever Leather Rose $25.00 each.

Yellow Leather Rose

White Leather Rose

Brown Leather Rose RB011

Brown Leather Rose RB012

And here is a picture of the Fabric Hearts I was making the other day.  I think they make a cute display shown here in a hand thrown pottery bowl made by Karin Seelen topping off a good helping of Vanilla Potpourri.

   Fabric Hearts

These sweet nothings are for sale at any 3/9.00

I’m having fun making them  I’ve stamped some strips of muslin with Be Mine and Love to adorn some others that I’m making.

 

Stay tuned

Sherry

Hand Stitched Hearts

Well, it’s the 2nd of February.  It’s cold and snowy outside.  Wiarton Willie has predicted an early spring **YAY**.

We’re right on the heels of Valentine’s Day so I’ve decided to dig into my fabric stash and button box and make some hearts ❤❤❤

This is just the start :p

I have quite a large stash of upholstery fabric swatches.  I rummaged through and found some appropriate colours and patterns, cut out some heart shapes and started stitching.  After I stuffed the first one, I figured it needed a little something more, so out came the button box.Picking out the perfect buttons to add is fun!  Dipping into the buttons and letting them pour through your fingers like a handful of sand is quite soothing  I’ll stitch a few on here and there, then I think I’ll get out my muslin fabric and write sayings like LOVE, HUGS, I❤U etc and either stitch or safety pin on.

We’ll see what turns out.  If I keep writing I’ll never get any finished!  So TTFN

Sherry

♥ February, a Month of Romance ♥

Yay, it’s  February!!!  Let’s hope that Wiarton Willie tells us that spring will come early.  It really hasn’t been a hard winter this year, but really I’m kinda sick of it anyway.

Most importantly, February is the month of LOVE ♥♥♥ and I think Cupid must be working overtime already as I only have 3 of my Forever Leather Roses left in the shop at the moment.

Rose with Bud #RB7

Rose with Bud #RB9

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barb Wire Rose #BR1

So while I get my fingers busy making more, I’ thought I’d  show you a few other gift ideas to make your sweetie swoon.  ❤❤❤

2 in 1 Card:

 

 

 

This card is a cute way to say I LOVE YOU that doesn’t just sit on top of the TV for a couple of days then gets tucked away.  The center front of this card is a magnet with a wonderful sentiment that will be seen everyday!  Blank inside.

$2.00 each

ORDER

Triple Hearts Necklace:

Show your love with not one but 3 Silvertone and pavé hearts complete with a  16 1/2 ” long nickel free chain and  3 1/2″ extender.

$19.99 each

ORDER

 

 

Cute Ring Watches:

 

Here’s a bit of style and fun for that special lady.  It’s not only a ring but a watch too!  The top lifts up to show a battery operated quarts clock.  Stretch band ring fits most sizes.

Styles Available :  Lady Bug, Bumble Bee and Purple Flower.

  

$19.99 each

ORDER

 

 

 

 

Hammered Links Necklace:

This long silvertone necklace adds elegance to any outfit.

$19.99

ORDER

 

 

 

 

Well that’s all for now!  I plan on spending the weekend making some leather roses and I’ll post pictures on Tuesday.  Who knows, I may make some other goodies too.

TTFN

Sherry