Bittersweet and the little soap company

Thank you

Thank you to everyone that attended Saturdays open house and another huge appreciative TY to those of you that ordered holiday soaps yesterday. I am sincerely grateful for your patronage over the years.  We still have some left! Cranberry Spice seems to be the hot pick out of the three special soaps.

The open house was a delight as usual. The sunny mild autumn day led way for visitors from afar. It was nice to see and visit with each of you. My customers are the best! I mean that!

I'm fortunate in having the opportunity to serve and offer my products to you for over fourteen years. I feel very blessed to continue to do so. 

 By the way, that's Elle our newest family member. Isn't she the cutest cairn terrier you've ever seen? She was wore out at the end of the day on Saturday. I believe everyone that came to the open house had the chance to meet Elle.  

My friend Debbie came to puppy sit during the open house. Mid day I walked out on the tree house porch and she was rocking Elle to sleep. Thank you Debbie for caring and sharing on Saturday. I don't know what I would have done without your help. The only picture of the day, by the way. Elle waking up from her nap in Debbie's arms.

 Sweet Leah helped on Saturday too. Leah is a whiz on the cash register! Leah, you'll never know how much I appreciate you.

Busy week packing holiday orders so I better get going.

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Warmly,

Jill (two hugs are better than one)

OHouse Cookie Menu and recipes...

Hi there! Taking a welcome break from soap wrapping and puppy care for a few minutes to sit and relax and talk about the open house cookie menu.

This year I'm baking two treats. Dark Chocolate Brownies and French Sable Cookies.

You can find the French cookie receipt at Fussy French. I like this cookie because it seems to be universally liked.

Dark chocolate brownies, ditto and an easy way to rid yourself of a chocolate craving. This recipe is in my cookbook. It's the only brownie recipe I ever use. I prefer a quality Dutch cocoa, but no biggie if you don't have it in your cupboard.

Jill's Favorite Brownies

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 heaping teaspoon of pure vanilla

1/2 cup unbleached flour, I always use King Arthur, the best!

5 Tablespoons Dutch Cocoa

1/2 cup nuts if desired

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add flour and cocoa into the creamed mixture. Mix well. Stir in nuts and pour into a prepared 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 - 20 minutes. Check with toothpick after 15 minutes as some ovens get hotter than others.

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Jill 00 (two hugs are better than none)

Fall design colors

It's happening once again! The season is approaching ever so fast just like it does every year this time. I am in awe over how fast the days and weeks fly by! October is just around the fall corner. The first official day of autumn is Friday!

I absolutely love the new fall colors the designers are incorporating into their new lines. Have you seen them? Allow me to share some with you.

 
Especially fond of the nougat, cedar, and coffee. Always a fan of those hues. We're using those colors in our holiday wraps this season in addition to black.

Cedar color  love...

 
I do believe the quarry mixed with nougat would be lovely for the holidays. Envisioning a table set with quarry toned dinnerware a white tablecloth, coffee colored  cloth  napkins and goblets. Beautiful silver adorns the setting and natural bouquets of cedar mixed with dark brown pine cones. Gifts wrapped in quarry tied with coffee colored ribbons. Stunning!

Yesterday I made some new holiday soap sacs. Inspired by the vintage postcard design of the little girl and incorporating her image into Bittersweet designs this season.

 
The linen soap sacs are made from vintage tablecloths. They house 3 - 4 bars of holiday soaps. The sacs will be available on our web site October 16! They cost $7 each. With the natural soaps inside they make a beautiful gift.

Ugh, issues with spell check once again! Please excuse me if there are spelling errors. Most of you are aware, not my strong point!

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Warmly,

Jill 00 (two hugs are better than one)

 

September mood

 
Progress is being made on the kitchen porch. I can't wait to see it completed and expanded! It will be finished in time for fall company. Still pondering thoughts of outdoor furniture pieces for the porch. I have my mind set on comfy soft seating that accommodates 4 or 5 people. Any ideas? 

I tossed up the september mood this Saturday attending the blue mills battle reenactment.

 
  Mr. Jackson, the author and organizer of the event presented me as a the descendant of Daniel Strope, my ggg grandfather during the reenactment. I was a bit nervous to stand in front of such a large crowd, but it played out well and I'm honored to have payed tribute to Daniel. 

As it happens, and no surprise that I got it wrong, I was suppose to meet Mr. Jackson at Wm. Jewell College where the event was to begin and then proceed to the square. Since I don't listen and take direction well, I neglected to get that part right. So I stood and waited for the group to get to the square not realizing all along I was suppose to be at the college with everyone else! I was of course oblivious to that instruction until several people approached me saying, why aren't you at the college? Am I suppose to be at the college, YES!

 I apologized to Mr. Jackson and all was well. 

The reenactors taped the event and made a video if you'd like to see.    

 

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Warmly,

Jill 00 (two hugs are better than one) 

Sunday baking

 
 
Knowing this week will be filled with soap making and knowing it's been awhile since I baked, and it's cooled off and we're experiencing PERFECT early autumn weather.

I made Mom's Applesauce Cake with Caramel Icing.

 
 

Taking care of business

Borrowing the famous phrase Elvis named his band seems to be the perfect few words to begin this morning.

Yesterday I began to feel overwhelmed with all the goings on around here. Working on old house, preparing for open house, yardley duties before it gets cold, production of many oos items, wrapping soap, taxes, ugh, client design work!

Then, while still feeling bogged down, I headed outside, cause our autumn weather is to die for, and began storing clay pots of plants even though they are still blooming, which was hard to do, and I started to feel less overwhelmed. Also, I was disappointed in myself because I go through this every year this time and I should know better by now not to get too excited about things. I know, I can blame it all on hormones, yeah. In all seriousness I believe hormones are to blame for how I was feeling. I won't bore you with that topic.

Anyway...

Fresh batches of all kinds of stuff made last week.

 
Oops, wrong picture. I did make this too though. I love this chocolate cake recipe! It's Ina's and then I make red velvet frosting. I would consider it pretty close to a butter-cream frosting, old-fashioned in making,  yummy and yes that first piece missing, I ate it!

 
Not quite yet... Remember those flowers I mentioned still blooming? Zinnias, nasturtiums and cosmos still very happy in the garden.

 
There we go. With cold winter air soon to arrive comes a much needed supply of body oil. This is a rich olive oil flavored with soft green tea and honey. It may be used directly on the body or a few drops added to the bath.

I am slowly getting these popular studio items listed on the web site, emphasize the word slowly.

Early morning work.

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Happily,

Jill 00

Two hugs are better than one 

 

 

 

October mood continued...

 
This is a late afternoon shot of my shiny new vintage looking screen door that Lennis surprised me with this past week.

On Saturday, customers were saying, I love this door! It looks as though it came with the house some 90 years ago.

 
Those giant mums were a gift from Lennis too! He has a friend that lives in the country that harvests the huge mammoth plants. Lennis went mum crazy! He brought mums for my step-mom and other family and friends and then as I looked throughout the back yard I still see 6 large containers filled with autumn colored mums. Puts a whole new meaning to the phrase, "mums the word."

We've decided to hold off on the task of painting our old home. We're both so busy with work we just don't have the time. We are however replacing our storms and Lennis tackling a window at a time, replacing window molding with cedar trim. Cedar stands up to the elements and won't deteriorate like some woods. Not to mention, most bugs don't like cedar.

I always choose cedar mulch when doing landscape work. I love it's fragrant aroma too.

I have some projects in the works for the merry month of October. Preparing for Bittersweets autumn open house on November 6.

While at the grocery store yesterday I ran into my heating and cooling guy, Tony. He asked when the open house was going to be. I like that! I met Tony last year when our dryer needed repair. He's the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet, really! He brought his wonderful family to my last open house and I enjoyed their company so much.

Errand day....

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Happily,

Jill 00

Two hugs are better than one

Bittersweet the plant...

This is a past post about how to cut and dry Bittersweet the plant. I have a considerable number of searches on how to and thought it would be of interest to some of you.

Please do not copy this image. It was created by a friend and is protected under copyright laws.

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Happily,

Jill 00

Two hugs are better than one

Bittersweet

Autumn Mood

This is a photo taken a couple of years ago of the popular autumn soap. Actually it ended up being amongst the holiday soaps because I was behind with soap production. Once again the "Apple Blossom" soap will accompany "Velvet Spice" and "Cranberry Spice."

By the way, thank you for all of your recent ordering. I truly appreciate each and every one that I receive and managed to get them all sent out yesterday, so you should be receiving them in a timely manner. I have yet to send out, your order has shipped e-mails but am doing so right after I finish this post.

I would like to also thank my design customers for allowing me to create your logo's, banners, web sites, etc. It's so much fun to design for you. I wish much success with your cottage businesses's. 
During these slow economic times it's comforting to know that there are small cottage business's just like myself that are creatively building, restructuring and expanding their horizons.

I believe the small business success is significant in rebuilding our fragile economy and without them it just wouldn't be the same. Just imagine large corporate companies only and no small businesses. YUK! What a boring world that would be!

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Happily,

Jill 00

Two hugs are better than one

 

  

Signs of Fall..

I thought you might enjoy some Autumn pictures taken from my neighborhood, while on a morning walk. They are beautiful signs of Fall, I believe.

I couldn't resist taking this shot. I laughed as I walked by. Do you know what it is?

Did you guess what this messy little area is?

This spot is where Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel have taken a moment to stop and nibble on their Winter supply of walnuts. It appears they must have had a fat tummy after munching down all those nuts!
 

 
 Then, a shot of this home I pass by each morning. It is just a few houses down from ours.  It's my favorite house in Liberty. Its last occupant,  Mark English lived in the little cottage while raising his family. Lennis built a large studio in the back of the house several years ago for Mark. It's nestled in amongst big winding trees. I can see only one drawback if I owned the home. My family would never see me, I would spend my days in that wonderful large studio. 

Enjoy caring and sharing Autumn days.

Happily,

Jill 00 (Two hugs are better than one)