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.

 

 

 

Decorating with Fabulous Fabric Pumpkins!

I don’t know many people who don’t love the fall season, the leaves on the trees changing into bright fiery reds, yellows, and oranges, the sound of the leaves crunching under foot as you take a stroll while enjoying the briskness of the air and even the smell.  If you walked outside with your eyes closed, you would still know it’s autumn just by the smell.  Then, when you get back home, pulling out a comfy throw to cuddle beneath.

For me, one of the most iconic images of fall is pumpkins.  They come in every size, shape and colour.  Not only are they good eatin they are great for decorating inside or out.  Well I’ve been having a ball making some Fabulous Fabric Pumpkins.  Sorry I haven’t posted this earlier, but they have been selling faster than I can make them, but I’m sure you’ve seen others online, so now that I’ve got a few made up and snapped some pics of them I’ll show ya my version and how I’ve displayed them.

As a rule, most displays look best in groupings of 3 so these are available as a set of 3 (S, M, L) for $14.99

Fabulous Fabric Pumpkins! Set of 3 $14.99

Of course displaying them is limited only by your imagination, so here are just a few simple ways I’ve displayed them in the store.

Dig out that soup tureen that’s been sitting at the back of the cupboard and tuck some Fabulous Fabric Pumpkins in it and you’ve just created a great display for your Thanksgiving table.  Soup tureens aren’t just for soup

Pumpkins in a soup tureen

Fabulous Fabric Pumpkins under glass? Yep, pull out the cake dome and place them inside, it’s quick, easy and fun!

Pumpkins under glass

Create a vignette of birdhouses and pumpkins keeping to the rule of 3.

Pumpkins & Bird Houses

You don’t have a soup tureen or a cake dome? Take a look around, there’s something that you’ve got that is just crying out for a little autumn oomph.  Notice that there are 3 pumpkins but only 2 other objects, it still an odd number of items that is pleasing to the eye.

Autumn oomph

If you really, really don’t have anything, then just pop outside and pick up some fall leaves… they are free and look great paired with pumpkins

Pumpkins & Leaves

You’ll notice that these are just sitting on a chair, how cute would that be placed in your entry when you are inviting in guests

Now most of you are probably pointing to the screen and saying “she should have placed some leaves around the base of the other displays”, well, you are right.  Sometimes I’m not too bright and in my rush to get some pictures I just wasn’t thinking.  And, to tell he honest truth, the store is in pretty much an upheaval at the moment because I’ve been making some huge changes with painting and moving stuff around and…. well, when it’s all done and back in shape, that’ll be another post, so stay tuned for that

Anyway… along with making the pumpkins I’ve also sewn a few Indian Corn

Indian Corn $2.99 ea

Just tuck a few here and there, say, on a book shelf, on the mantle or at the base of a lamp on the end table for a quirky shot of autumn!

And finally, my last “pumpkin” themed item is my primitive potpourri.  Made with rose hips and mini pumpkins and scented with orange clove fragrance oil.

Primitive Potpourri

Aren’t the mini pumpkins cute  They are actually a Putka Pod, but I have no idea what a putka is and since they do look like pumpkins why not just call them pumpkins!

Primitive Potpourri $3.99/bag

So there you have it, my take of decorating with pumpkins!  I’d love to see some pictures of your pumpkin decorating, whether it is the real thing, or the faux version, inside or out.  Please send me some pics and I’ll share them here for everyone to enjoy.

Happy Fall

Sherry

UPDATE:

After I posted this I’ve had some folks asking how to make them, so I’ve written up a tutorial with step by step pictures of how I make 2 different versions of these pumpkins with a bonus tutorial on how to make the indian corn.  If you’d like to get the tutorial, click here.

Thinking Out Of The Box for Father’s Day Gift Giving.

Father’s day is on June 17th and we’re starting to think about what to get for Dad.  Sure you could get him another #1 Dad t-shirt or coffee mug, but let’s think out of the box and really surprise Dad with something different or unusual.

Here’s my silly Father’s Day Window Display.  It may not be pretty and bright but I had fun doing it

THINK outside the box… get it?

Is Dad a construction worker, or does he just fix things up around the house? How about one of our Toys For Big Boys.  Each piece is handcrafted by Keith Massey from right here in Mount Forest.  They are completely constructed of wood with absolutely no nails or screws.  The wood is unpainted to show the beauty and they have moving parts, for example, the blade of the Bull Dozer raises up and it also will turn side to side.

1/24 scale Bull Dozer $99.00

1/24th scale Skid Steer $99.00

1/24th scale Back Hoe $99.00

1/24th Wood Hi-Hoe $99.00 SOLD

Is Dad a Fire Fighter?  Check this out.

1/24th scale Fire Truck $299.00

Is your Dad into the rodeo, a horse man, a farmer or maybe just a hat collector?  Our Caliber Hats make a great conversation piece and they come in handy to put on your head to keep the sun off your face  You can read the whole story about our Caliber hats by clicking here.

Caliber Hats with Genuine Mexican Shootout Bullet Hole $25.00

Maybe Dad is a homebody and his family is very important to him.  Go through some of your old photos, you know those one that are actually printed from film and not just in a file on your computer.  Pull out a couple of nice pictures of you and your Dad and put them in this Family Picture Frame.  It even has a small shelf and a couple of hooks  so he has a place to hang his hat and his keys when he gets home.

Family Photo Frame $19.99

Some Dads are gardeners, but how many sprinklers and trowels does a guy need?  Here’s a way to say I Love You and think out of the box at the same time.  Give Dad a Forever Leather Rose.  Roses are the flower of love and leather is so very manly, what better combination could there be?  To see our available collection of Forever Leather Roses, just click here.

Forever Leather Roses

Some Dads love to cook, but he already has the BBQ, the tongs and the #1 Dad apron and oven mitt.  Well lets think TexMex and get him a Molcajete.  Now Dad can whip up a fresh batch of Guacamole or Salsa for the next backyard get together!

Molcajete $19.99

Well, those are just a few of our suggestions for thinking out of the box for this Father’s Day.  If you’d like to order any of these just click on the order button at the top of the page.  If you’d like I’ll wrap it up and put a card in your gift and have it delivered right to your Dad for you.  Of course you can always just stop into the store and see what else we have to offer

Until next time,

Sherry