Christmas Ornaments

The holidays are quickly approaching! It's time to work on some ornaments for my other Etsy shop. Here's what they look like so far:

Each ornament has between 85-90 origami stars that I patiently folded, taking over 1 hour per ornament.  The stars were then placed into the plastic ornament and the sides were glued so it stays together.
Eventually they'll have a ribbon like this one I made last year:

If you have any color suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Book Review: Breath of Angel by Karyn Henley

I think this is my favorite of all the books I've reviewed.  I was hooked from the first chapter when the young priestess, Melaia, witnesses the murder of a stranger in the temple courtyard.  Legends that she has been told since childhood suddenly come to life with the discovery of angels and shape-shifters.

Melaia finds herself caught in the middle of a feud between two immortal brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, stranding angels in the earthly realm.  After being tricked into giving away a very important item to one of the brothers, Melaia discovers that she is the key to repairing the stairway.  She must find a way to get the items back, save her friends, and repair the stairway.

This is the first in a series of books.  As the book ends, Melaia has not yet repaired the stairway.  Eye of the Sword will be coming out in Spring 2012 and I'm very much looking forward to it.

An excerpt from this book can be found HERE.

As a reminder, I was given this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah "Blogging for Books" program. All opinions are my own.

Sugar Scrub Bars!

For those of you who love the sugar scrub cubes, I have a wonderful new product for you!  These sugar scrub *bars* are just like the cubes but the same size as a bar of soap.  You can use the whole bar as an exfoliating soap, or break a piece off and crush it up like you do with the cubes.

These bars will be available early next week.  I currently have Sugar Dust (above), Yuzu (below), and Herbal Bliss.  I'm also working on Lavender, Cherry Blossom, and Pumpkin Spice.

New Packaging - I Need Your Help!

Most of you know what my current packaging looks like.  If not, here's a peek:

I love the look of this but it's very time consuming so I'm trying to come up with some other options.  Here's the first one:

It's very similar but the bottom isn't covered.  There's also a bit less soap showing at the top since the paper doesn't fold down as far now that the bottom inch is gone.
Another option is this one:

This one is a just a band of paper with the same label and ribbon.  (Please ignore the label on this one; it printed incorrectly so I decided to use it as my trial.)  This is the easiest and it uses the least amount of paper.  I like this option for those reasons but it seems odd to me since I'm so used to seeing my soaps wrapped with the front folded down.

Please comment and let me know what you think!  Which option would you prefer?  Or maybe something else that I haven't thought of?



4 Year Anniversary Sale!

I've been so busy lately that I forgot July 26th was my 4 year anniversary of selling on Etsy!  I decided that I have to do something to celebrate so as a Thank You to all my customers who helped me reach this milestone, everything is now 25% off!  All of the prices on my website will be marked down through Saturday the 6th.

Be sure to keep an eye on my facebook page for more events!

New Soaps!

New soaps have finally been listed in my shop.  Here is the Pineapple Cilantro:

Perfect Pear:

And I restocked the Sandalwood Vanilla:

My new friend

Isn't she beautiful?  She's been coming by to visit almost every day lately.  I've been trying to lure her closer with some apples but she just takes them after I go inside.  She's comfortable enough with me that I can go about my yardwork while she continues to eat.  She loves hanging out by those grape vines and blackberry bushes.

The Corrubtible by Mark Mynheir

I really need to start blogging more about my soap. I'm starting to have more book reviews than soap entries on here. I promise that my next few posts *will* be about soap. For now, here's my latest book review.

The book I read was The Corrubtible by Mark Mynheir. Here's the summary:

Ex-homicide detective Ray Quinn never expected life as a private investigator to be glamorous-but being cornered in a bathroom stall by the enraged philandering husband of a client? That's something he could live without. Retired from the force and living with a painful disability, Ray's options are limited. Stick to the job, keep impetuous sidekick Crevis alive, and spend quiet evenings with trusted pal Jim Beam-that's about the best he can hope for.
As a new client emerges, Ray finds himself in an impossibly large boardroom holding a check with enough zeros to finally lift him from his financial pit. The job seems easy enough: find Logan Ramsey, an ex-cop turned security officer who's taken off with sensitive corporate information. But few things are easy in Ray's world, regardless of the number of zeros on the check.
Ray soon stumbles across Logan Ramsey in a seedy motel room. Only Ray wasn't the first to find him. Now Logan's dead, the client's information is nowhere to be found, and Ray's employer is less than forthcoming with the details. Suddenly the line between the good guys and bad guys isn't so clear. With a foot in both worlds and an illuminating look at an unhappy ending that could well be his own, which will Ray choose?

It took me a little while to get into this book but once I was, I was hooked. Every time I thought I had it figured out, something new was thrown in and I had to rethink my entire theory. There are so many possible suspects and motives that it will keep you guessing long after you put the book down for the day. Great for mystery lovers!

You can read an excerpt HERE.

As a reminder, I was given this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah "Blogging for Books" program. All opinions are my own.

New shirts to promote my shop

Vistaprint is having an awesome $2 t-shirt sale so I grabbed these yesterday. They have over 1000 designs to choose from and you get to customize the message.

Book Review - Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs

I was very excited when this book was in my list of review options since it's historical fiction. If you've read some of my previous book reviews you know this is one of my favorite genres.

As I started reading, I was slightly disappointed. I could NOT get into this book! The chapters are each only a few pages long and after just one chapter I'd put the book down and walk away. I never do that! Honestly, I can't quite figure out what my problem was with the book. It was a decent story, just not captivating. When I finally got interested in the book (at the very end) and kept reading and reading to find out what happened to a specific character, he went away and the author never says what happened to him! There is a sequel to this book called "Mine is the Night", however, I don't think I want to read through it with the sheer hope that she brings the character back.

Here is the summary from the back of the book:

"Lady Elisabeth Kerr is a keeper of secrets. A Highlander by birth and a Lowlander by marriage, she honors the auld ways, even as doubts and fears stir deep within her.
Her husband, Lord Donald, has secrets of his own, well hidden from the household, yet whispered among the town gossips.
His mother, the dowager Lady Marjory, hides gold beneath her floor and guilt inside her heart. Though her two abiding passions are maintaining her place in society and coddling her grown sons, Marjory's many regrets, buried in Greyfriars Churchyard, continue to plague her.
One by one the Kerr family secrets begin to surface, even as bonny Prince Charlie and his rebel army ride into Edinburgh in September 1745, intent on capturing the crown.
A timeless story of love and betrayal, loss and redemption, flickering against the vivid backdrop of eighteenth-century Scotland, Here Burns My Candle illuminates the dark side of human nature, even as hope, the brightest of tapers, lights the way home."

An excerpt from the book can be found HERE.

If you decide to read this, let me know what you thought!

As a reminder, I was given this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah "Blogging for Books" program. All opinions are my own.