Winter has sunk its heels in the midwest with brutal cold. I kind of know what it feels like to live in Antarctica after experiencing this unusual long wave of extreme winter weather. It makes me yearn for spring even more!
We've been doing a lot of baking and cooking at our house, along with movie marathons. A pile of books sits on our living room coffee table and they seem to call my name as I walk by them each day! I've started one and have my thumb on another. The one I'm reading is from a series that I'm absolutely obsessed with! I will admit that I've only read the last two and the one that I'm currently reading is book number eight. In between, I've obsessively watched the series as well. I almost feel as though there should be an addiction group for this series! Maybe my love and admiration stem from my Scottish lineage and my equal love for history, I'm not sure, but my feelings are strong and real.
In between my book reading and baking, I'm drawing my attention towards my store and spring. I browsed through the garden catalog briefly and began plucking a flower seed list.
Bittersweet is expanding our green line of products and excited to introduce some other ground zero vendors at our apothecary store. The new line is appropriately named, "Spring Green 21".
We just launched a new line of denim as well. We're sharing some of our favorite things at our store. Cuffed jeans, Wood Bowls, Cotton Throws, French Market Bags are on our favorite list but the list is long! It's a joy to offer these items.
Along with the new green lines comes an array of fresh new soaps! I'm as busy as a bee making new soaps! The wacky winter weather however does have an effect on soap making. Soap making has always been finicky, and when you toss in below zero temperatures it gets even fussier. Soap making is not for sissies! Those thoughts stand out if you're a soap maker.
I also have a few new products I'm working on that I'm excited about. I have a ways to go, but the packaging and formulations are coming along nicely. I was on the hunt for a certain color of jars that turned out to be a half a day search, but I was finally able to locate what I was looking for. I always allow extra time when launching a new item because I have learned that more often than not unexpected things happen to slow down the progress. It's best to take your time and get it just as it is imagined in your mind or on paper. If you settle for anything else you won't be happy with the final prototype and waste even more time changing it. Welcome to my world!
It's funny how sometimes I go back to past designs simply because I've never grown tired of them. Those models seem to be timeless.
Soap wrapped in cloth comes to mind. Bracelets built from soulful memories and herbal blends that never waver in their timeless beauty.
Jill
