Happy Thanksgiving

We had our first Holiday Craft Fair this past Sunday. I was hoping to do better but I guess everythings a learning experience. I should have made more gift packs and wrapped them with bows. I didn't want to offend anyone so I left everything neutral. In general though I didn't see a lot of customers buying things. Like one vendor said, " They were lookers not buyers."

Well, now I'm looking on to our next craft fair on Dec. 12. That will be the last one for 2011. I haven't lined anything up for 2012 yet. As soon as I know I will post it so all of you know, too.

I have to update my website and my blog here as well. I don't like the way the layout is with the pictures here. Maybe tomorrow while we're waiting for the turkey to cook I'll take some time out to tie up some loose ends.

Wishing everyone has a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

Pictures

I love taking pictures. My family bought me a nice camera and I take it almost everywhere I go. I love taking nature shots. I have so accumulated so many pictures I decided to share them with you. At the left is some of my work. I will be adding them to my web site once I price them. I have some picture that I had enlarged and matted that are really  nice. I hope you like them also.

Getting ready for the holidays

We've been very busy getting ready for the holidays. We will be at the Winter Wonderland Arts and Craft Fair at the Smithtown Sheraton on Nov. 20 and we've been making holiday soaps and getting ideas for gift baskets and such. We're really excited! Along with that, I've also been researching handmade lotions. I'm trying to find the perfect lotion. I tried one with grapeseed oil, that was a little greasy. Next I tried one with avocado oil, that one was nice. No greasiness and it left my hands soft. I will be ordering babasu oil to try that one also. I don't think I will have enough time to perfect it and send it away for testing before the holidays, but I'll try.

New soap scents are, Autumn Wreath, Hot Cocoa, Pumkalicious, Apples and Spice. Those are cured and ready. I have ordered Blueberry Muffin, Berry Christmas, Grape Soda and Raspberry Blitz. I'm going to try to make them as soon as possible so they're ready for Nov. 20th.

Well back to work!

Today is Wed. I have so much to do! We have been cleaning out the trees, getting rid of dead branches, trimming them so that some sun can get in. We have such a problem with mold and moss. Grass refuses to grow here. Such a shame, I would love to have a beautiful green backyard! The trees are also nice, but they have grown out of control. Luckily the goats have taken care of all the leaves. The only thing left when they're done is bare branches. But the branches need cutting and then piling up for the wood stove this winter.
Anyway, we still have more cutting to do, I have more paperwork than I can even imagine, we have a fair coming up on Sunday and our soaps aren't even trimmed yet! I will be showing all our fall scents; Apple Spice, Pumpkin Crunch, Hot Cocoa and making lotions also. Which reminds me I must also update my website! I think I have to start working 24 hours, sleep 4, work 24, sleep 4.......

Buy the way, we will be at the Bethel Fall Harvest Festival in Bethel, NY, the actual site of Woodstock, this Sunday 10/9/11 from 11AM - 4PM. I heard the weather will be great. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Today is Friday again.....it seems like every day is either Friday or Monday. Time flies by so fast!

Tomorrow and Sunday we will be at the St. Paraskevi Food Festival. We have many soaps and crocheted items. We will also be taking some lotions if I can figure out how to shrink wrap the top. I made some lotions yesterday; unscented, honey almond, honeysuckle, strawberry cream and energizing. We have in 8oz. and 4oz. sizes.

The weather isn't holding up. It's rainy and damp. I think the festival is outside so I don't know how that's going to be. I saw large tents but if the wind picks up it's not going to be a nice picture. I'm hoping the weather won't be too bad.

Hope to see everyone there!

Fall Festivals

St. Nicholas Fall Festival is over. Thursday it rained and was so windy we had to leave early.  Friday and Saturday it was cold, Sunday was a beautiful day. Not many people were out, at least not at St. Nicholas. We found out that there we quite a few festivals going on in the area that were packed and that's why there weren't many people at St. Nicks.
We made some new friends and saw some old friends. We had 4 or 5 customers return to buy more bars and I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart. It is so wonderful to here," I loved your soap so much and I just had to buy some more!" It's a great feeling.
Coming up this Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday we will be at the St. Paraskevi Food Festival in Greenlawn, NY.  Hope to see everyone there! We will be inside so I know the weather won't be an issue. We can't wait!

Too much rain!

A very hectic couple of weeks. Hurricane Irene hit with all her glory. We had no electricity for almost a week. Luckily we have a generator! But the bad thing with that is there are extension cords draped all over the house. Refrigerators, lights, TV, telephones all need a hookup. I think we need to look into getting a large generator for the whole house. Our neighbors have one and as soon as the electricity goes down, their generator turns on. Very practical!
Hurricane Irene brought a lot of rain. It rained Saturday evening straight into Monday and it rained heavily. Finally the sun came out and the winds picked up. The most damage was not from the wind though, it was from the rain. Rivers overflowed, fields turned into lakes, roads were washed away, houses were lost. There was water and dry ice distribution in various places. I realized that even with the annoying extension cords all over the place we were lucky to have the generator. Many people didn't. They lost a lot. Then again if your house is filled with water?
Then just as things began to dry, here came Lee and it rained and rained and rained on the already Irene soaked New York. People who were still trying to dry out from Irene had more water to deal with.
I hope the rain is over for a while. We need to dry out so people can get back to their normal routine.

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene is supposed to hit. I hear it's a very powerful and massive storm. I hope eveyone stays safe, dry and don't go out unless you have to.
We are all pretty much ready. Generators, extra food and water, chain saws and containers of gas. We just have to pick up things in the yard so they don't do any damage.
Due to the hurricane the Mastic Beach Festival was cancelled. I was sooooo looking forward to doing that festival. What a shame.
But, we were juried for the Bethel Fall Harvest on October 9. Yey! Hope to see all our friends there.
We will have new soap scents and some new items.
So again, everyone please stay safe and hope to see ya soon!

Upcoming Festivals

Saturday was a beautiful day in Ellenville. The weather held out, many people came, we made some new friends and had a great time. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth.

Next stop The Hurley Heritage Corn Festival this Saturday August 20. Then we'll be back on Long Island for the Mastic Beach Blue Claw Crab Festival August 28.

September 15, 16, 17, 18 we're at St. Nicholas Fall Festival in Babylon. September 22, 23, 24, 25 St. Paraskevi Food Festival.

October 2, 3 at Huntington's Fall Festival. And possibly the last Sunday for the Bethel Woods Fall Harvest Festival.

I can't believe we're in the middle of August already! We have to start making our fall soaps; Pumpkin Crunch, Apple Spice, Cinnamon Nutmeg, Evergreen. I have some new oils and tallow I will be working with, so I'm pretty excited!

August Festivals

We are so excited! This Saturday August 13th, we will be at The Shawangunk Mountain Blueberry and Huckleberry Festival in Ellenville, NY from 9:00 to 4:00. There's something for everyone. Vendors, live music and everything blueberry!

Next Saturday August 20th, we will be at the Hurley Heritage Corn Festival in Hurley, NY from 10:00 - 4:00. Local farm products, antiques, hand crafted items.

I hope the weather holds out. It's been rainy for the past couple of days, not that I'm complaining because we needed the rain but it would be nice if it stayed dry for the festivals.

Summer in full blast

Hi all! Summers here in all it's glory. Heat waves, humidity, sun bathing, sun burns, pools, watermelon, ice cream and bugs. I can tolerate almost anything but I hate the bugs! We have May flies that last all summer. Why do they like flying right in front of your face? Then they watch for the right moment and dive for your eye! Then they stick there as you're frantically trying to get it out of your eye without squishing it. The mosquitoes suck blood because they need it. The flies, they do their thing. But these tiny things fly right in front of your face doing nothing but annoying you. The only way to get rid of them is by coming inside or putting a hat with a net on it like the bee keepers do. Not so nice when you're wearing a bikini!

L.I. Dairy Goat meeting

We finally went to the L.I. Dairy Goat Assoc. meeting last evening. It was nice to see everyone again and meet some new goat lovers also. It's been a while since we went last and everyone was happy to see Michael as well as he is. We didn't talk much about goats but things relating to goats and a few other topics were brought up. The picnic this year will be on July 17th. I don't know if we can make it, but I'd like to try.

Summers almost here

Summer's almost here, school's almost closed, pool's are almost open. Where does time fly to? I have so much to do before the end of the month. I'm always behind in paperwork, housework, soapmaking. I just don't know how things get so out of hand. Like today, I had to file some papers online with the state but I had to create an account. I had an account but I didn't press the right tab when I opened that account so I had to delete and recreate. Well, the web site wouldn't take my info so I had to call the state. They couldn't help me either. To make a very, very long story short I spent almost all day on the phone trying to figure this problem out and I still have to wait until tomorrow to see if everything went through! Each day there's some type of problem that takes me away from my other problems and my other problems keep building up! WHEN WILL IT STOP? How do I manage my time when I have all these stupid problems popping up?

On a lighter note, IF I find time to make soap I have some wonderful fragrances. Musk for men, baby powder, honeysuckle and so many more. I can't wait.

You know when you think you have everything under control and then suddenly you realize you don't! It's not a nice feeling, at least in my book. I don't like such stress. Each time something happens, you learn something though, whether it be how to do something better or to be more aware of whats going on next time, ask more questions and don't beleive what anyone says, get it on paper, in writing, names dates, blood type, name of first born, grandmothers maiden name! Seriously though, you just can't beleive that anyones going to take care of things for you. A simple handshake or "Your good to go!" doesn't suffice anymore. It's a shame we can't trust someone in a specific possition to do THEIR job the right way. Instead we have to double check to make sure it was done correctly.

St. Nicholas Greek Festival 2011

Wow what a great weekend! The 4 days at the festival were a little tiring but we made some sales, we made some friends, we received some invites to other fairs and festivals, we even got some ideas for doggy soap! It was wonderful. Now I have to focus on what soaps I have, what soaps were hot sellers and what customers asked for that I didn't have. I thought I had a good soap for men, Beer and Lime, I added real beer and real lime juice and shredded rind but for some reason there was no smell. Everyone thought it was a great idea but when they smelled it, nothing. Sandlewood and musk were mentioned so I'll be ordering those essential or fragrant oils soon. Oh yes and the coffee didn't smell either. I think I should have ground the coffee more and maybe added brewed coffee also to it.

The rest of the family were wonderful. Each helped out in their own way whether it be at home or at the booth. Leona actually sold soaps and talked with the customers which was nice to see.

Now off to make more soap, order more stuff, get more ideas!
Thank you to all who came to my booth!

Festival Day 1

First day of the festival started out terrible. The sun was shinning bright, low heat and humidity but the wind was blowing hard. We unloaded the truck and began to set up the tables. I had found two fabric tableclothes ( and I'm lucky I did! ) and wrestled with them for at least 1 hour. If they were plastic they would have ripped like mostly all the other vendors. We attached the plastic grippies to the table then the wind blew and off snapped some of them along with the tablecloth! I didn't take a tent with me because I figured at 5 o'clock the sun wouldn't be so bright and might be behind the trees. I was wrong! I had my daughter bring the tent to us and began to fight with it to put it up. No success! The wind was too strong. I was almopst impossible to put that up. So for a good part of the evening we fought the wind, trying not to lose anything and put the displays of soap out covered with baskets so the sun wouldn't ruin them! I felt horrible but luckily there was a nice vendor that came over to talk to us and gave us a few pointers and commented about how nice we displayed everything for being a beginner! She also offered us a place at another event in August!

The sun slowly went down behind the trees and the wind died down. People began coming, not many but that was expected for a Thursday night. We gave out some brochers, talked to some people, made some freinds and actually sold 1 bar! All in all it wasn't that bad!

I need to run out to find some things for tonight. I need stronger grippies for the tablecloth and maybe a cheaper tent. It's not supposed to be as windy as yesterday so the sun will be a bigger problem today.
Wish me luck for day 2!

Festival

I'm so nervous! Today is my very first soap event. A 'soapie' friend sent me her check list and I gathered up most things on it. Things I wouldn't even think of taking but should have with me. Thank you Aubrey!

Today and tomorrow the Festival runs from 5pm - 9pm so it's not that long. Saturday noon - 11pm and Sunday noon - 9pm. I have about 30 different types of soaps; most are bath size packaged with cigar band, label and organza bag, others are ovals with just labels and then I made little soap balls. I will be taking most of my crocheted items with me also. The weather will be great the entire 4 days, I was afraid it might rain or be chilly.

This is the first time in 22 years (ouch!) that I will be working outside of the house and the first time ever I'm working on my own. I've always worked for someone else. So this is a big time in my life! My youngest will be helping me today and probably tomorrow. My oldest said she would come after work, then Saturday and Sunday I don't know. I'm hoping to sell at least something. I keep thinking what if I sell everything! That would be great! But I don't want to get my hopes up too much, reaching for the stars is fine but the let down hurts much more that if you just reach for the tree tops! This will definitely be a learning experience for me, in more ways than one. I will hand out business cards and brochures with all my info. Hopefully that way I'll start getting the word out and more people will visit my website and blog.

I need to get a few display baskets before this evening. Then I'll start packing everything in the jeep except for the boxes of soap, they shouldn't be in the heat. I'll be double checking Aubrey's list to make sure I have everything I'll be needing.

Wish me luck!

I've ordered bags, a banner and business cards. I have a good supply of soap curing, we chose a bunch of pictures for the labels, we have a table and a tent. Now I have to print out the cigar band labels and the ingredient labels, I need to cut the corners of the soap, closer to the festival date we have to package the soap. So I think things are under control....right?

Festivals

So it's finalized, I will be selling at the St Nicholas Festival in June and in Sept.. There's so much to do! I have to increase my stock, print out brochures, business cards and labels and later in the month I have to start packaging everything. Luckily I have a table and tent and a calculator. Everyones so excited. We've never done anything like this before so it will be interesting to see how everything goes. I will also take my crocheted shawls and baby blankets to sell them. I hope it will be nice weather those days for a good turnout. If all goes well, there's also other Greek Festivals throughout the summer. I could be selling at all of them!  

Mother Nature

I am always amazed with nature. The trees and grass at our house have just started to wake. My hyacinths, crocus and daffadils have started to bloom. The trees in our back yard have tiny green buds on the tips of the branches. The grass has just started to wake. Yet upstate which is further north and in the mountains, things are quite different. The trees are a little more green and the red maples are a little redder. The daffadils, hyacinths, and tulips are almost in full bloom. The meadows are a beautiful shade of green. Is it because we're closer to the sun? Or is it because mother nature is in a rush to feed the wild animals after a long hard winter?  

It Was A Good Day

Ahhhh I love days like this....productive! I made 2 batches of soap, both with grapeseed oil. One batch has Tea Tree oil and Lavender and the other has Lemongrass scent. I would have continued and made another batch but I ran out of shortening.
The sun was out so I took some nice pictures of soaps. Natural light is the best. Then I posted them on my Facebook account and my Etsy shop. I hate having so many things just sitting waiting to get done. I did some things around the house. I want to make a cake and possibly get some more shortening. It's getting late though so I don't know how much more I'm going to do.
All in all it was a good day!

Ok, I tried to get some stuff done today.....it just doesn't look like it's going to happen. Don't get me wrong, I haven't stopped working all day, I just haven't done what I wanted to do this morning. Why is it, some days can be so productive and others not. Why do some days seem to go on forever and others go by so quickly? I thought the older I got the quicker time goes by. But then the days that just seem to drag on and on and on? Whats up with that?

Winter Blues

I think I got them! The Winter Blues! I had been feeling a little down for a bit and didn't know what it was exactly. I also had a head cold so I thought maybe that had something to do with it. I've heard of them but thought it was something in someones mind. I never had 'the winter blues' before, at least not that I can remember. At least not that I knew about.
I got out this weekend and am feeling much better now. Maybe the sun, maybe the extra daylight. I don't know but I felt it leaving me...just lifted off me...pretty creepy now that I think about it. My mind cleared, no more mumble jumble. I was able to sit down and write out a sample brochure. I've had trouble doing that for a long time. I just couldn't find the wording for it. I feel like I'm ready to take on the world! If I had to, of course!

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I last posted but it seems like there's always something going on. We've had new baby goats that were born last week, we have a nanny that's due any day now and one that's due on March 30th! Yep, a lot of babies! Spring arrives tomorrow, yey! I can't wait for the weather to get nice and warm again. We did some yard cleaning last weekend and it felt good to get out of the house. Yesterday the temp was in the 70s which was very nice, today it's in the 50s. Crazy NY weather!
This past week was a difficult on us all, mentally and psychologically having to deal with the passing of a very close friend. May she R.I.P.
But, we now have to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and get back into the swing of things.
I found out how to stamp my soap so I will be trying that the first chance I get. Stay tuned for that! I also started a new Etsy account for my soaps, http://www.heavenlybubblessoap.etsy.com/ . Oh, and I also ordered potassium hydroxide so there's a possibility there will be some shampoo on the horizon.

March will bring spring, warmer weather and baby goats! Three nannies are getting ready to give birth and along with that......more milk! I can't wait to start drinking my goats milk again.

I've been looking for a mannequin to wear my new crocheted items so i can take pictures and post them. I've looked on Ebay and found a few reasonably priced ones so think I'll order them today. I was looking for a mannequin with just the head and shoulders but I haven't found anything like that. I guess I'm going to have to buy a head and seperate body. My only other problem is gender. If I get a styrofom head without hair and makeup I could use that for both female and male. I haven't made any items for men other than a scarf and hat so a styrofom head would work ok. My problem is what do I use for the childrens clothes, another mannequin? My daughter had a lifesize doll at one point and that would have been perfect but we had to get rid of that, she was afraid of it. I'll figure something out, I'm sure. I also thought of asking some smaller stores if they had something they were getting rid of. Maybe I'll do that today.

I don't understand it! I have a customer that asked for me to make her a specific soap, I made it 'hot processed' so she wouldn't have to wait 4 to 6 weeks for it to cure. It was one of the first 'hot processed' soaps I made and I lets say it was accidentally made, it didn't look nice at all but she was in need of it so she bought it. I wrote down the ingredients to have as a reference. I have followed the recipe twice and  cannot get it same way! I've given her other soaps to try and she only likes the first one! I don't understand?! Even the fragrance is different! I really don't understand........

I bought materials today to make a soap stamp. I glued everything together and will be trying it out tomorrow or Monday along with my new soap molds.

VALENTINES DAY SPECIAL

I'm running a Valentines Day special in my Etsy Shop 25% off everything! Use coupon code CUPID.

Ok....I don't understand! I'm having trouble uploading my soap pictures to FB, my blog and my website to be. I see the pictures on my camera, in my computer but somehow they don't show when I 'browse' to find them to upload them. Someones playing a trick on me! I think I'm going to have to try the smaller camera and retake all those pictures again, to see if it does the same thing. Next I try getting on my blog and I get a 'nowhere to be found' message.....What the????? I know I haven't been on in a while so I figured they kicked me out! LOL! Too much to do, not enough time in the day to do it. Anyway, after going into my Etsy account and renewing some items, I decided to come back to my blog.....just to see. There it was, Hooray! I guess I HAVE been away too long....I wasn't entering the right name! LOL. All morning I've been working on this stuff...maybe I should try fixing the picture problem now???

I need some ideas for Valentine day scents for my soaps. What kind of scent reminds you of that special someone?

I'm desperately trying to get back into the swing of things! I made a batch of lavender soap. That's curing now. I'm trying to do my new website but I've never done something like that before and it's a little difficult even though the web host said 'easy'. I look at what I've done so far and then I go into someone else's website and it looks so much better than what I've done. I don't understand....I don't have imagination?? I can't understand what I'm supposed to do?? My web host doesn't have nice web site things?? Even the wording I can't understand..Maybe it's because I have had a sinus headache....I don't know. Maybe I should have paid to have someone do it for me.....