A New Direction

Salt bars. They are the new obsession. The addition of salt provides gentle exfoliation in a sea of creamy lather. Best suited for body use, they polish your skin leaving a healthy glow. The 5+ oz. bars fit nicely in the hand due to their half-round shape.

Tranquil Waters has already been listed on Artfire as a single bar purchase, with many more to follow. Check back soon for more new listings!

Let it go...words to live by

This was posted anonymously on Craig's List, but in light of recent events in my life I find it extremely relevant. I hope that in reading this, you too will find strength.

There are people who can walk away from you. And hear me when I tell
you this! When people can walk away from you: let them walk.

I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you,
loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying
attached to you. I mean hang up the phone. When people can walk away
from you let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that
left.

The Bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made
manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt
they would have continued with us.

People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are
not joined to you, you can't make them stay.

Let them go.

And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person it just means that
their part in the story is over. And you've got to know when people's
part in your story is over so that you don't keep trying to raise the
dead.

You've got to know when it's dead.

You've got to know when it's over. Let me tell you something. I've got
the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in
good-bye. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I
know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me. And if it
takes too much sweat I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay.

Let them go!!

If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was
never intended for your life, then you need to . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to past hurts and pains . . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth .
. . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If someone has angered you . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or
talents . . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you have a bad attitude . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new
level in Him . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try to help
themselves . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If you're feeling depressed and stressed . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling
yourself and God is saying "take your hands off of it," then you need
to . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO!!!

Let the past be the past Forget the former things. GOD is doing a new thing!!!

LET IT GO!!!

Get Right or Get Left. think about it, and then . . . . . . . .

LET IT GO

Amish Baked Oatmeal

2 cups Oatmeal
10 tbsp Brown Sugar (half cup + 2 tbsp)
10 tbsp Milk (half cup + 2 tbsp)
5 tbsp melted Butter or Margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder
¼ tbsp Salt
2 tsp Vanilla


Mix together all the ingredients
Spread evenly on a greased pan (9x13)
Bake at 325 till golden brown (15-20min)
Serve with hot milk and blueberries (we usually use blueberries but you can try other fruit if you don’t have any)

You can also add cinnamon or other spices if you like. Some people have used maple syrup for all or part of the sweetener.
You can use quick oats or regular.
Some like to mix it all up at night then bake it in the morning.

Connie’s notes:
I used half steel cut oats (all I had left) and half regular oats. I ground two tablespoons of flax seeds and added that too. Also a good sized shake of cinnamon…probably a teaspoon, a rough chop of half cup of pecans and a rough chop of half a cup of dried cranberries.

I mixed mine the night before and put it in the pan for the next morning.

Too many?

I coerced the Hubby into going to 'look' for shelves last night. I have moved boxes and boxes of fragrance oils out of the house, and into the shed, and they were taking up valuable floor space since I had nowhere to put them. So on the pretense of 'just looking' I found this unit. Hubby agreed to pay with the understanding that I had to put it together myself. No Problem! Have power tools, will build! By the way...do you have ANY idea how hard it is to fit a 6 1/2 ft. box in a convertible Mustang? Yes, it's January, and yes, we had to put the roof down to get it in the car. Luckily, we were able to put the roof back up once we'd stuffed everything inside.

So then I started moving, arranging, and organizing all those scents. I got soooo excited to think there just might be some space left over (of course I would have to fill that space by shopping for more), until I realized there's one more box that hasn't even been moved out there yet. Hmmm...may have to post a yard sale somewhere to get rid of some of the stuff I don't use often.

In case you're wondering, the top shelf is (mostly) Essential Oils, the next shelf down is the stuff I use most often for candles, and the bottom two shelves are seasonal/strictly soaping fragrances. I've heard, "He who has the most fragrances, wins"...wonder if I even qualify for a prize?

Sandalwood Rose

I have a friend who makes exclusively vegan soap, scented with essential oils only, colored with only herbs/clays/botanicals. She's a bit of a soap-snob, but it's ok, I love her anyway.

She participated in a swap, where she received a bar scented with Sandalwood Rose. To her utter shock and dismay, her hubby decided it was a wonderful scent and promptly claimed the bar as his own. Then the bar was gone.

Again, to her utter shock and dismay, he asked how he might procure more of the wonderful scent that lingered on his skin, and left him smelling, in his mind, "clean".

So she asked me, her heathen (animal fats and fragrance oil) soapmaking buddy to acquire the scent and make him a batch, for which she would pay by giving me oddles and oodles of gloriously white, creamy, beef tallow...free of charge. Who could resist? I'm weak, love beef tallow for the creaminess it adds to my soap, and hey...the fragrance was easy to find.

So, this is that soap (not really...he got the whole first batch, and this is a new batch). As homage to her...or as much homage as I can pay considering our different styles...I left the soap to color itself. A wonderful mauvey tan that fits the scent well.

Herein lies my problem: I love the scent, and will probably carry it regularly, but I don't really think the name "fits". Rose implies feminine and floral...which this soap is not. It makes a wonderful unisex scent, but I don't want male customers to be turned off by the thought of slathering themselves in rose petals either.

So...we'll consider THIS my very first blog contest. Offer up a name for this soap and if we choose yours, you'll win a bar for your very own (probably some samples, too). Decision will be posted Jan 17 at 10:00 a.m.

In the mean time, if you just can't wait, or don't think you can come up with a winning suggestion, you can purchase a bar on Etsy or Artfire.

Newly Listed

This fun flirty soap scent combines peaches and berries with a soft down of musk. Large 5 oz. bar of soap with the perfect balance of creamy yet bubbly lather. Available on Etsy!

Happy New Year!

Wishing all my friends, followers and customers a healthy and prosperous New Year!

I've recently started an Artfire account, so there will soon be new listings in both Artfire and Etsy.

I recently lucked into massive amounts of fragrance oils that are all for soaping. Watch my shops for exciting new "stuff"...I can't wait to play with them! I feel inspired once again, which can only be a good thing, since I was starting to lose hope of ever being inspired again. Lots of wonderful new things on the horizon!

Non-Scents...Just for fun

This is what I did instead of finishing the pair of socks I've been knitting on in my spare time. It's not quite square, but we'll just call it a "trial" run.

There's something about the basic simplicity that just excites me to no end. It's kind of like my first born...it will always be my favorite, so I think it will be employed in the shop. I shall take great satisfaction in the fact that I created this particular shop towel.

Once I refine the pattern a bit, I hope to have them for sale on Etsy.

It's a start

Finally getting moved in! This is the view from the front door, and I'm not sure I have everything placed where I want it yet. Still have another 3 ft. stainless steel table to move in...more wax, and lots of jars. None of the soaping stuff is in there yet, either. For now, the jars are stacked to the left along the wall. That whole back wall is peg board, so I should be able to save some room by hanging essentials (like soap molds) and the heat gun and glue guns. May need some more shelves, too, but at least I got the Fight Club movie poster. Any soaper worth their salt has one!

It's a start...

Remember this place?

From Stuff 'n Nonscents

It's finally moving day, which is the cause of my distress, anxiety, depression, and overall overwhelm-edness. I REALLY wanted to be in there before "the season"...you know, the one where you get orders daily with folks wanting stuff yesterday? So I'm overwhelmed with trying to get organized enough to actually move in. My new stove is being delivered tomorrow, so I really can't put this off any longer as there is absolutely no reason to have 2 of them sitting in my kitchen.

My dear wonderful husband just got home from work, and is supposed to be helping me move stuff right now, but he's opted to sit and watch TMNT instead. It will be dark in less than an hour.