More Design fun, new Soaps, Crafty bliss!

I've been on yet another creative kick lately. Being sick has left me no choice but to sit with my laptop on the couch or in bed for hours, playing mostly with digital designs and honing my skills to work up to selling my designs at some point. I have such a blast working with PSP, I have Photoshop, but only on my desktop cpu and these days I seem to avoid that in favor of the trusty laptop that goes everywhere. I'm curious about other design programs, such as InDesign, so I'll be looking into that at some point. I'm sure to have a great time learning!

Soap has been on the back burner while ill, but I have plans to make some different cream soaps and I also need to get some richer winter skin creams ready as well. I have several new Winter themed soaps, and plan to make quite a few more batches this week. But, due to health constraints, I will only be doing one show in Nov and that will be the Litchfield Festival of the Trees. More about that even will be announced at a later date. I played last night with my Frostbitten soap pics (I plan to use these for holiday gifts) . I used a bunch of pretty elements from jtsDesigns Digital scrap collection, and I think I'm going to have to spend part of today making a Holiday soap album because this is so much fun to do. (thanks to Scrapitsassy.com and this wonderful designer http://jtsdesigns.blogspot.com/).

I have been so lax in taking pics of everything that alas, some of my prettiest soaps are gone and I'll have no visual record of them until I recreate them once again. LOL, that's like giving birth, so they will be back.

I had hoped that by this time I'd have my new soap biz launched and the whole new name and concept done, but after getting ill yet again, I decided to just sloooooow everything way down and just play. Now that I have taken all pressure off myself, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. The business can wait for me, and I'll get back into it at a later date. For now, I'll continue as always to make soaps and skincare for myself, family and friends and a couple of regular here and there.

Delving into Digital Scrapbooking

I've been trying to do something with all of my family photos, so I have plans this winter to make albums and scan as many as possible so I can also make digital albums.
I found this nifty little site with a free scrapbooking program, I thought I'd try out, although I also use Paint Shop Pro. I'll see how I like it and post my results here at some point.


I've been exploring a lot of the digital scrap booking sites, such as Groovy Scraps, Scrap It Sassy, Scrapbook-Bytes, Scrappin' Digi Kreations, to name a few. Fun stuff this is.
There is a treasure trove of freebies as well as commercial use and designer scraps out there.

The planetary Meditations Aromatherapy line

Just wanted to remind all you mountain dwellers to visit the Celebrations Metaphysical Fair in Denver September 4, 5 & 6

Fri 1 pm - 9 pm
Sat 10 am - 7 pm
Sun 10 am - 6 pm

at the
Denver Merchandise Mart

and be sure to check out Holistic Mountain's new line of exclusive aromatherapy products created by GreenGoddess

Planetary Meditations

As promised, here are some pics of my newest creation for my friend. I've done planet embedded soaps before, but I've never tried to make them quite as three dimensional and these just took my breath away when I cut them!

Crystal Cluster Soaps

Several orders included my Crystal Soaps this month, so I've been making quite a few of these. I had offered these many years back and they weren't popular but suddenly there are quite a few sites out there selling something along these lines. However, I personally strive to create the look of a real mineral cluster, with striations, inclusions and even a bit of clay in the base. It's all about the layering which in fact can take as many as 5-6 pours for EACH soap. Are they labor intensive, yes! But they're each a work of art that I'm proud to show. The larger ones are made using a silicone mold, but I also make and hand cut other gem point chunks and will soon be offering those in my Etsy shop. Currently, I make Ruby, Amethyst, Fluorite, Rose Quartz, Citrine, Emerald, Clear Quartz and Celestite in the Crystal Cluster Soaps. My photography doesn't do these justice; their facets sparkle and shine when you're up close and personal. I am fervently hoping that people will buy these not only because they're decorative but because they will use them as soap! They're really not meant to stand on display for more than a month or two, since they're rich in glycerin and aloe which can seep if they are left unwrapped. UV light can also lead to some yellowing of the soaps, but alas, they are meant to be used up after all!

The next ones I'm offering will be Geodes. Again, each is handmade in layers, colored with micas, minerals, oxides and clays. I'm still in the designing process with these, and I must confess I'm a bit torn as to whether or not I should use some sort of half globe mold to pour the layers or if I should continue to mold and dip by hand. During the slower months of January and February, I will be putting up several soapmaking tutorials on this blog. Your comments and ideas are always welcome!

Stay tuned for a sneak peek at some Planetary Soaps coming to this blog soon And for a real treat, try "The Planetary Meditations" 3 CD & Book Set By Michelle Many

This beautiful set of 14 journeys to the celestial bodies in our solar system will help to heal emotional and physical issues even old traumas and help to create new mind sets through cool stories that are set to smooth jazz. Michelle has skillfully integrated several healing modalities including planetary frequencies that will begin to resonate through our bodies and energy fields bringing us to a higher resonance thus causing us to create from a higher frequency where lower emotions and situations do not exist. Create with love and respect by simply pushing play and letting the healing begin.

(*edited and re-published due to spacing errors)

Lavender Herb Beadwork

Well this is my first attempt at making beads with herbs (no clay) and I am thrilled with the outcome! I did buff them somewhat but not to a shine, as I wanted them as natural as possible.

With my next batch I'm going to see if I can use my pro bead roller to make the beads more uniform, since I'm not so hot with the freehand rolling. Too bad you all don't have Smell-o-Monitors because these babies smell utterly divine! Much thanks to Tina Sams of The Essential Herbal for the initial kit - buy yours here Herb Bead Making Kit and while you're there don't forget to subscribe to The Essential Herbal Magazine. I eagerly await my next one!

Feeling Creative

Firstly, I have to show off my beautiful new Leaf business card holder and Leaf soap dish that I found on Etsy from Pinoak Pottery. Wonderful stuff! Look how cute my cards are in there! Be sure to check out her other wares ;)

I've been in a very creative kind of mood and have been playing around with making beads and jewelry from herbs. Yes herbs. First of all let me tell you I am on an amber kick and nothing smells better to me than a good amber blend. So with that in my head, my first thoughts were to just hot pierce some amber resin chunks and frankincense tears and make a necklace. Well, if you know me, you know there's nothing I enjoy more than reading and researching stuff, so, one thing led to another and before you know it I was experimenting with all kinds of herbal materials. Dug out an old book that I remembered seeing something about rose beads in. They had an excellent article on how to make rose petal beads (it's actually more like rose mush at first). Then I thought to myself, Self, you can do this with petals, and any other herbs that smell good if they're powdered first. I played a bit more last night and went to bed with visions of all the cool new but still imaginary creations dancing around in my head. Woke up still feeling that ol' creative buzz and today is going to be official "Herb Bead Making Day" chez moi. If anybody else makes these I'd appreciate any input. Most of the older tutorials say use flour but I'm using a blend of flour and cornstarch...once they've dried they'll be buffed with a fine nail buffer to polish and then rubbed in a little bit of EO to match.

Anything else I should try or is it really that simple? I did manage to find Katie, an Etsy artisan(of course where else) creating gorgeous herb bead jewelry for inspiration - give her a look at Black Star's Shop. When I grow up I want to make beads like hers. Please email me or comment here and don't be afraid to pipe up and leave your two cents!

Get Your Kicks....

Benld Adopt-A-Pet will be at the

"Cruisin' Route 66" festival in Litchfield on

Friday, June 26 & Saturday, June 27th.

Visit their booth while you attend the bands,

foods, contests and of course... the great cars!

They will have lots of great "Rt. 66" and cat

and dog themed items for sale, in addition to

a raffle or two! All the proceeds benefit the shelter.

Click here for more info.