#SmallBizSaturday

Greetings!

#SmallBusinessSaturday was started a few years ago in response to the insanity of Black Friday here in the States.  The day after Thanksgiving is a huge shopping day with great deals, but some people want to support small businesses more than the big box stores.

Well, I can think of one small business that would appreciate your patronage:  Prairie Sunshine Soaps!

Prairie Sunshine Soaps was started by my husband and me in 2012 in our kitchen.  Although Chris supports me in my endeavors, I'm the one who runs it now.  I currently have 79 items in my Etsy shop:  45 different soaps and 34 different crocheted washcloths/soap savers.

Making soap came as a response to my Aunt Sara's question about all the lavender we were harvesting in our front yard flower bed:  "What are you going to do with all that lavender?"  Chris had seen an article on The Art of Manliness about making your own cold process soap and so we decided to give it a shot.

We have five types of lavender soap and so many more, such as Pink Lemonade, Sandalwood, Orange Clove & Cinnamon, White Tea & Ginger, Crisp Anjou Pear, and Lime Mint, just to name a few.  It is always wonderful to mix colors and fragrances and see what the soap will look like when it's taken out of the mold.

And here are some of my crocheted items:

Right now, I am running a special for #SmallBizSaturday:  Spend $15 or more and get 15% off if you use coupon code SMALLBIZ2015.  This offer is good through Monday, November 30.

#shopsmall  #smallbusinesssaturday

Thank you so much!

**************************************************************

PEACE.

                                             LOVE.

                                                                                 SMALL BIZ SATURDAY.


**************************************************************

Last weekend of "summer": Lavender, roses, sunflowers, new soaps, and more

The kids and I have been back to school for a month now, but Labor Day weekend is the traditional "end of summer" here in the States.  It's been a lovely Labor Day Sunday.  It was made even better knowing I have tomorrow off, which is indescribably wonderful.  Chris had to work today (no fun), so this is how I spent my day:

I watered the Phenomenal lavender because it was looking pretty weak a couple of days ago.  We haven't had rain in a very long time and the temperatures have been in the 90's all week long.  We recently transplanted a whole bunch of lavender from our vegetable garden to the lavender field, something we should have done earlier or later, but the transplants needed watering all week.  There is a 60% chance of rain tomorrow and I am hoping beyond all hope that it will indeed rain and give my plants the water they need.

Here is what the field looks like now:

We will have to see how everything performs over the winter.  I have read somewhere that the Farmer's Almanac predicts a colder than normal winter, which is not ideal for lavender.  We will see...

More pics from the garden today:

We have six knockout rose bushes growing behind our white picket fence in the front yard.  They looked quite pretty this morning.

When I came back inside, I decided to make soap.  I made two types, Frankincense and Myrrh and Orange Clove & Cinnamon.  It smells positively delightful in our home.

Check back in a couple of days after the soaps are ready to be cut to see what they look like.  They will be available for purchase in our Etsy shop around October 6.  I may decide to sell my soaps and crocheted goods at a local craft show this fall.  We have a few scheduling conflicts this month, so I'm not sure when that will be, but I will let you know.

Thanks as always for reading.

Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day weekend.  If you're not American, cheerio and have a brilliant week.   ;)

***

PEACE

                                                  LOVE

                                                                                                HANDMADE SOAPS




***

Freshly cut Pink Lemonade Handmade Soap

It has been quite a while since I've made a batch of soap.  Recently, I received a special order in my Etsy shop for Pink Lemonade Handmade Soap.  I didn't have enough on hand to send my customer, so I had to make a brand new batch.

It has been around 36 hours since I made this gorgeous soap, and it's  so it's cutting time!  I put it in the freezer for 15 minutes first to ensure that none of the soap gets stuck to the mold.

I held a piece of cardboard down the middle of the mold as I poured first the pink side, then the yellow.  Out of the mold, this is what the bottom looks like.  It is definitely not perfect, but that is the beauty of handmade items--every item is unique.

Time to bring out the soap cutter made in Missouri by Bud Haffner.  We bought this several years ago and it has not disappointed us at all.  His Etsy shop is here.

What a typical freshly cut bar looks like.

Now it's time to cure for the next four weeks.  The fragrance of this is very light and summery!  Such a lovely scent!

There will be a few bars of this left once I fill the special order.  If you're interested in purchasing a bar, visit my shop around August 20 to get your own.



~~~

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for a tall, cold glass of pink lemonade.  Cheers!

~~~



Paix.

                                            Amour.

                                                                                          Limonade rose.

My favorite soap at the moment

Hello, everyone!

I hope you are having a lovely June.  It is getting hot where I live, and we have had extraordinary amounts of rain in the last month or so.  We are having a hard time planting because the ground has been pretty soaked.  And there are threats of afternoon thunderstorms today as well.   I write all of this knowing that there are areas in the U.S. where there are droughts.  I wish we could pack up the excess water and send it to drought stricken areas.   It would be nice if we had a weather transportation system to do just that.

I wanted to share with you my favorite soap at the moment:  Organic Peppermint Tea Tree Oil handmade soap from Prairie Sunshine Soaps.  It is so refreshing to bathe with, especially during the hot days we have been experiencing.  It makes the skin tingle and feel completely rejuvenated and refreshed.  If you are in the market for a soap like this, check out this link:

Organic Peppermint Tea Tree soap at Prairie Sunshine Soaps

And here are some photos:

Happy June, tout le monde!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paix.

                         Amour.

                                               Menthe Poivrée!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm in love with this SOAP!

I know it sounds slightly irrational, but I made this Apricot Freesia soap a couple of days ago and just cut it this evening.  I am in LOVE with it!  J'adore ce savon!

The apricot color is of course reminiscent of actual apricots.  And I used white and yellow to represent freesia.  It smells like a lovely late spring day!  Lovely!

Watch me cut the soap here:

and unveil it here:

And here are the crêpes that Sean made for school.  Elles sont délicieuses!

I hope you have a lovely week!

--J

This is Outlandish!

{The following blog post was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek.  I am a happily married woman and proud mom to two great kids.  Although I think Sam Heughan is a fine actor with a voice of whisky and velvet, I hold him and his character Jamie in the highest regard--and no, it's not so I can look up his kilt.  Oh my gosh, I have to stop this NOW!}

I hope you enjoy this post.  :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Au revoir, mon petit chou, Jamie:

It has truly (read this with Jamie's accent) been wonderful getting to know you, but against my will, I must figure out what to do with my time between now and April 2015, when the second part of season 1 returns to television.  I have the books, of course, and that is fine.  I am well into Dragonfly in Amber.  Jamie has just visited Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Sun King.  Being a French teacher and having visited Versailles myself, I could really picture the Lever ceremony as Diana Gabaldón described it.  I didn't especially want to think of his chaise percée, but let it be known that I am an enlightened person.  I digress...

It's just not the same as getting to see my sweet Jamie every week.  

Perhaps I will pen my own novel featuring someone similar to you, love.  Or perhaps I will knit or crochet several cowls that will remind me of you (and not Claire, that Sassenach wench--Ha ha, just kidding!).  

Maybe I will find my own stones at Craig Na Dun and find my way to you.  

Oh, if that were only possible...

I think the most likely scenario is I will just live my life that way I've always led it, and sit on random stone walls out in the Scottish Highlands and wait for you to return to me.

Or maybe I'll just rewatch all eight existing episodes again and again and again (as if I haven't done that already!)  Here is  Episode 1 on Starz.com for free!  

Happy Outlander watching!

~~~~~~~~~

In my other life, I made some cool things this weekend:  

1) Nutella Pumpkin Bread (for Jamie)

2) Perfect Pumpkin Handmade Soap (for Jamie)

3) And two crocheted hats (for me to wear with Jamie)

One last photo, in which we whisper sweet nothings to each other.  What I mean is we really didn't whisper anything at all, but it was really sweet.  And then I realized he has a lamp in his nose, which made me think of Rudoph, and then I thought of Christmas, and then I wondered when they started hanging stockings by the fire at Christmas, and why didn't they do it in 1743?

OK, this is truly (said once again with a Jamie accent) the last photo.

Je t'aime, mon amour!  Je serai toujours prête pour toi!  ;)

***Some photos are from http://www.starz.com/originals/outlander***  I love you, Starz!  Thank you for bringing us Outlander!  Oh, and I quite enjoyed Spartacus as well!  ;)  You rock!***