Bittersweet and the little soap company

a week of wonder...

It's been a week of wonder! Pink tulips graced the shop with their beauty. I love having fresh flowers in the shop. They mingle quite well with artisan soap and such. 

Our dining room table is overflowing with everlasting goodness! Well, actually it's quite the mess as you can plainly see, but it sometimes takes a mess to create a masterpiece!

Introducing the Boho Bouquet!

I'm having so much fun making these bouquets, and because I love flowers so much especially everlasting ones I'm also going to offer a box of dried flower goodness that you can send to a friend so that they can enjoy the flower goodness too! This offering will begin hitting our store shelves next week during our business hours. 

We also received a shipment of this adorable but classic-style jumpsuit. This clothing manufacture is capturing my attention. Their items have a vintage vibe about them that I love!

I'm finally getting around to propagating my jack and the beanstalk fiddle leaves. I have two that reside in the south bay shop window and they are both touching the ceiling. I'm going to offer the cuttings to whoever wants one while they last. They grow extremely fast and require very little attention. I water mine once a week, but barely give them a drink. 

 

The straw hats are here! 

Share and share alike...

I drive by the Mormon visitor center to get to my shop. The other day I happened to notice the bountiful crop of pampas grass that they had growing behind the building. I thought to myself that I should stop and ask them if I could get some cuttings. The next day I drove my and they were cutting it all back. I jumped out of my car and asked if I could have some of it. A man walked around from the big truck or freshly cut pampas grass and handed me a huge bundle. My poor car takes a beating because I will put anything and everything in. The grass was at least six feet tall and a struggled to get the giant grass in my car. One of the attendees offered a huge trash bag to put the grass in so I was able to wrestle the tall grass into the bag. My moral of this story... If a thought comes to mind, act upon it right then and there. All joking aside, I felt the love! The grass will be used to create more Boho Bouquets. 

I shared the story on one of our social media sites.

Last week's new soap was Lavender + Chamomile and this week's soap is going to be the long-awaited Bedtime Bath! I'm going to package the soap differently than our usual white paper. 

I really like the image associated with this soap. 

Our shipments to come are stuffed with accessories that scream spring and summer. 

I mentioned in my last post how this was an exciting time at Bittersweet. I'm in awe of the new arrivals and constant rotation of our inventory. 

I'm excited not just because we're offering amazing new things, but because we're offering items that help you to slow down and enjoy the everyday beauty that this world offers. 

Letter writing and gift-giving lift our souls and spirits and I believe that bringing them back is a wonderful thing. Picking wild violets to create a small bouquet not only puts a smile on your face but fills your heart with simple goodness. 

Both of these pictures were taken at least twenty years ago! I am happy to bring them back and extend their glory!

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

 

 

 

  

 

Are you persnickety?

Well, I'm pretty sure that I am persnickety! Fussy, overfastidious, particular, whichever word you choose there's a lot of us in this big wide world!

When designing Bittersweets those thoughts are gently folded into each and every choice of ribbon, string, label, and paper. Sometimes I'll go over and over and make the smallest of packaging change before completing the final design. It is definitely a process that is achieved through vision and a variety of range of views. 

The Twelve Days of Christmas series has evolved over the years but those thoughts are always spotlighted. 

This Friday, November 13 we begin the release of our artisan holiday soaps. Our store opens at noon for those that desire our beautifully wrapped bars. 

The first of this collection, A Partridge in a Pear Tree has crisp notes of pine. The second assemblage from this series, Two Turtle Doves is infused with a favorite aromatic blend of sweet orange and peppermint. 

The limited edition of silky soaps will advance each week as we introduce two new flavors each week for six weeks. 

We're excited to share our unique collection with you!

Our store is also filled with an array of uncommon goods that help to create a cozy home. A medley of natural home essentials crafted with pure essential oils and beeswax take center stage at our apothecary store. Cleaning day turns into a delightful aromatherapy experience that offers an alluring echo of cinnamon and clove.  

Sweater Skirts created from recycled sweaters are not only green but embrace a simple idea that's modernistic and savvy. Leather boots from Spain that hit your calves at a most flattering height.

  I'm a week ahead on the wrapping of all that soap! Next week's choice of scents has been decided and wrapped and ready for the next release. 

We're on target! At least for the next twenty days!

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

 

 

October sky...

We are inviting Autumn inside our store. Alice Bracelets, Warm and wooly scarves are being unpacked from our latest shipment of goods. 

I have always been drawn to Parisian style scarves. I'm really fond of the color hues in this silky scarf. Peacock and Rust together are, well amazing! I would love to design a room with these two colors. A touch of modern blended with antique French and gilded with Old World. I can envision exactly what it would look like in my mind. Large round pillows surrounded by streaks of wood and plume grass billowing from a tall vase. Can you see it?

I've always been intrigued by interior design. I'm attracted to the varieties of styles and love creating a unique style with my own stamp on it.

Bittersweet Store was fun to design! I love incorporating real-life pictures of my family into design applications.  If you frequent The Soap Maker's Blog, then you will recognize the picture above of my Aunt Vivian and the little girl with the veil is me! I've always loved this picture. The picture captures my aunt's beauty and my love and fondness for her. I'm guessing my mom took the picture. I'll have to ask my aunt. 

So if you visit the Bittersweet Store and you see pictures here and there, they're not just pictures. They are my real family. The picture that sits above the store window is of my Great Grandmother, Lucy. She was the first generation soap maker in my family. I think about my lineage and how each family member held an important key to the way that they molded my life with influence and admiration. Both women were soap makers and I can proudly say that without either there's a good chance I would not have followed their footsteps and became a soap maker too. 

By the way, I can't recall the last time that I've been blown away by merchandise, but I truly am with these Recycled Sweater Scarves! We also have skirts, and they have captured my affection as well. Who knew? It's exciting to gather new unique goods for the store!

The studio air is filled with peppermint! The past few days have been manufacturing days spent making Peppermint Headache Sticks and Holiday Soap. The invigorating herb always stands out front this time of year and I'm honoring my customer's enthusiasm for the glorious herb by presenting several varieties of Peppermint Soap mingled in and amongst the Twelve Days of Christmas. I haven't always been a fan, but it's interesting how after all these years my appreciation has grown and shifted. 

We have collaborated with some amazing paper companies to offer our Holiday Soaps wrapped to look as though they're going to the ball! 

It's an exciting time at Bittersweet and we're eager to share new ideas and creations with you during this gift-giving time of year. 

I'm getting ready to harvest some of my outdoor gardens. I have several clusters of lavender that I want to cut back before the first frost. I love sticking tiny buds in small vases and making several lavender bouquets. It smells amazing! This is a new variety of lavender that is grown in the United States and it's hearty to withstand Missouri winters. I planted the mounds of lavender two years ago, and I can't believe how it's tripled in size in just two years! My kind of gardening!

I also have some succulents that are growing in the earth next to a couple of flower beds. Their leaves are taking on tones of reds and gold, and I'm going to cut a few sprigs for the store. All of my flowers and plants will soon be hibernating and gone until next Spring. I always miss them!

We're making stuffed green peppers tonight for dinner. I'm really tired of stuffed pepper recipes with rice so I'm omitting it, but going to add onion, ground beef, mushrooms, and tomato. Spice it all up and dish it inside a plump green pepper. Add a salad and baked potato and you have a fabulous dinner! I'm also craving something sweet! The other day I was browsing recipes and I came upon this one.  

I was also looking for a small chocolate cake recipe and found this one. We made it and it was decadent and delicious! It only has two tablespoons of flour. The recipe is a keeper!

Keep the faith.

Jill 

 

I make things

I've been working on our 2020 products in between fulfilling store inventory. The legend helps to describe me as a soap maker and it's part of the "turning over a new leaf" designs and ideas. I usually always write in a third party, especially when describing my business. I'm not a fan of lots of I's. I did this. I changed that.   

Another thing that I'm not fond of is sticking with the same old for very long. I'm constantly evolving and rotating thoughts and store ideas. The anticipation, one of my favorite words, is always nurtured like a baby, and it's my favorite part of making a change. The before.  The after of course reflects my willingness to change and the prize is seeing all the changes and how it makes me feel content. 

We celebrated our twenty-second Holiday Open House on Saturday! I was in awe over the number of guests that attended! Our best turn-out to date. This holiday it's been a challenge to get into the holiday mood. I believe it's because Thanksgiving was so late and it seemed to flow ever so fast into Christmas. I've chatted with customers and most of said they have felt the same. 

On Saturday and after a ginger-haired child sat and nibbled on sugar cookies and Christmas punch at the store, her sweet smile reminded me about the glorious reason for the season. Then, the store was flooded with patrons from all walks of life. I realized just how blessed I am, and thanked God for all. Then out of nowhere, I felt it! My Christmas spirit had arrived!

I made Christmas punch for our Holiday Open House and received several requests for the recipe. 

The Sugar Cookies... I always use this sugar cookie recipe. They are rich and buttery and melt in your mouth yummy! I usually make a cream cheese icing on top and I don't roll them out. I simply roll into a small ball and then smash them a bit. 

I never use a recipe for the icing. A brick of cream cheese, tsp. of vanilla, 1/4 cup of butter, a splash of lemon juice, and confectioners sugar. Add a tiny amount of milk to make it spreadable. I always have to adjust the amount of milk to get the right consistency in the icing. 

On Thursday my friends from the goat farm brought me a tiny visitor! This little goat was precious! She bounced around and made sweet little goat noises. 

That is unless you are tone death! That's me!

This week's fresh flowers were velveted red roses. We made fresh evergreen and red rose bouquets. I love fresh evergreen, and especially fond of incorporating it into holiday bouquets. 

The next nine days shall be filled with flurries of non-stop goings-on. 

Then we will close our store for a little winter's nap. 

I'm excited about the changes we're making at our store and I know without a doubt our customers are going to love the fresh new ideas!

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

 

 

the art of gift-giving...

Here at Bittersweet, we believe that gift-giving is soulfully received as art. After all, your faithful friend or family member deserves to be the recipient of something as special and dear as they are to you! Our products and artisan collections are wrapped with these thoughts. The early stages of creating a new Bittersweet essential is always considerate of those feelings. We believe that a gift should be treasured and that the soulful fingerprints of a handmade item echo those merry thoughts!

Before Bittersweet ponders a new design those beliefs are always present from beginning to end and I'm proud to be able to say that's my favorite reason for creating. 

That manifesto was born twenty-two years ago when Bittersweet was a baby. It's reassuring to know that while most everything changes, some things, the important ones, stay the same.

Every holiday season I discover something new that captures my attention. This season I'm in love with these porcelain houses. When filled with a tea light candle they spread an ambiance and glow that is simple and sweet. 

Another favorite wintry favorite essential is preserved cedar. The fragrance cedar is not new to Bittersweet, but it shines brightly for many Christmas's to come as a favorite for holiday decorating. We offer bundles of the unique greenery at our store. I don't want to leave out my all-time favorite holiday decorating essential. 

Pine cones! I love pine cone garland! Seriously, no-cost decorating and with a glorious result. 

For years I've offered a Body Polish or Scrub in either Olive Oil or Coconut. They're both popular with Bittersweet customers and neither sell faster than the other. It's always interesting to find that inspiration forms from such simple ideas. It's also really cool! I've created a new polish that offers the best of both oil worlds! Introducing a new Bittersweet Polish that is formulated with both olive and coconut oil. The rich blend is one of my favorites to date. 

We're getting ready for our Holiday Open House. I'm making sugar cookies and serving a Christmas Punch. 

My posts will be short and sweet this time of year because I'm up to my ears in wrapping Holiday Soap!

Lots to share with you this time of year. My next post is all about Holiday Treats!

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

 

 

Novemberish!

Welcome you, the Merry month of November!  We have both frost and snow on our pumpkins! 

Our shop is decked out for the fast-approaching holidays. It seems to come in a flash! Here at Bittersweet, we try to slow it down, but it pushes on at full speed ahead. Shop life is fast-paced and each season seems to flurry by. 

Our Twelve Days of Christmas Soap starts hitting our store shelves next week! Wow! There's always a lot of excitement surrounded by the release of this unique soap. We're honored to make it, wrap it, and deliver it to you! 

Every holiday season we introduce new wrappings and this year we're honored to be packaging the Twelve Day Series in beautiful Rifle paper!

We're anxiously awaiting our shipment of these stunning papers to arrive and then we'll have a wrap party at the shop. Stay tuned. We will definitely share the progress of that wrapping!

Coal in your stocking? 

_{Grandma Lola's Homemade Noodles} 

^{Every Thanksgiving we make these and they are gobbled up long before Turkey and Dressing!}

1 beaten egg

1/2 tsp. salt

2 T. of top milk, in the olden days that meant cream!

1 cup of flour

Combine egg, salt, milk, add enough flour to make a stiff dough. Roll very thin on a floured surface. Let stand for twenty minutes. Roll up and slice 1/8 inch thick, spread out and dry for 2 hours. Once dried, place in boiling broth or water. 

As you can see by this picture we like our noodles thick. If you're cooking for a crowd, which you probably are, you'll need to double or even triple this recipe. 

The holidays and homemade noodles go together amazingly well!

In the weeks to come, we'll be sharing some favorite holiday recipes and ideas and inspiration to help your holiday shine bright. 

Keep the faith. 

Jill McDowell Lincoln

 

 

one step ahead...

That phrase must have been borrowed from the Bittersweet Book! 

I have always felt that Bittersweet resembled a small kingdom. It's difficult to explain my business philosophies because there are so many. That might possibly be the reason it's challenging for me to particularize the manifesto behind Bittersweet and the little soap company. The Bittersweet team consists of one CEO.  Her duties include manufacturing, shipping, web site developer, marketing director,  photographer, accountant, shop manager, merchandiser, advertising director, and buyer, and decorator. So in that way, Bittersweet resembles a kingdom, minus the king's people!     

I have always loved working with my hands. Whether that be building a coffee table from scratch or crocheting a new hat. My specialty has always been making things. It's what I was put on this earth to do! Those passionate feelings are the drive behind all that work that goes into operating this business.

Opportunities have presented themselves over the past twenty-two years. Hollywood connections, wholesale inquiries, thoughts of warehouses and production plants, sale representatives, employees.  Typically all the necessary ingredients needed to operate a growing and thriving business. Right?

Not this time... I make things.

Today Bittersweet makes twenty-five thousand bars of soap a year. We stock our rich lather luster soap at our brick and mortar shop. We also offer Bittersweet brand of products which you'll find throughout our Apothecary Shop. There's a Home-keeping Department, Scent Your Own Department, Clothing Department. We specialize in Aroma Therapy and Custom Perfumes. 

 Soulful Inspiration comes from Aunt Vivian, the person responsible for teaching me to make soap,  Great Grandma Lucy, and Sweet Soft Spoken Alice, my mom. 

Alice Bracelets and Grandma Lucy's Dish Soap carry their name proudly and are surrounded with collective soulful memories.

I make things. 

The bittersweet Kingdom. 

Jill 

 

Peachy

We're hot into summer at the modern apothecary shop! Shipments of pre-fall apparel will be beginning to surface soon. 

This Friday we'll be doing something we've never done. We typically only have one soap sale and that's after we come back from winter break, but I'm finding that with an increase in manufacturing excess bars are taking over the soap studio. With that in mind, Friday we'll offer a variety of unwrapped bars of Bittersweet at a discounted price. Last winter and during a snow storm we had lines of folks waiting to stock up and take advantage of our winter soap sale.  The soap sale is brief.  The sale soap is usually gone within two days! Oversized muslin bags are ready to be filled with seven or eight pounds of soap. Unfortunately, we're not able to list the sale soap on our webshop because it sells out so fast. May the force be with you!

It's hard to put into words the amazing scent of this soap! I'll just leave it at that. A new soap that arrived last week, but won't be around for long. Just say'in. 

Artisan Wood Jewelry. Alice Bracelet by Bittersweet and lightweight wooden teardrops. ♥ , and since we don't reorder duplicate merchandise at the shop, once they're gone...

 New stretchy headbands are back! I spent an afternoon making a fresh batch, and they're another object of attraction at the shop. We currently offer four different prints, but I have a stash of fabric that I'm dying to use to make more. 

We have a new Lip Balm coming on Wednesday. I'm being hush-hush and not revealing the new flavor. A Summer Surprise!

We now have ten varieties of Bittersweet Lip Balm! There's a flavor for everyone. If the flavor isn't your thing, we even offer an unscented Lip Balm. 

We're making grilled pizzas for dinner and I started juicing celery this morning. I will admit celery juice on its own isn't very tasty. I'm thinking of adding an apple or two to the green concoction. Then I believe it will be much tastier. 

The flower of the week, last week...Larkspur

This week the flower truck delivers fresh lavender and feverfew.  Bundles of both available to take home. 

My zinnias are finally blooming! 

Bachelor Buttons and Phlox follow their lead. 

Keep the faith.

Jill 

 

 

 

 

living in the past

It's kind of fun to dig back through the archives and reminisce on past Bittersweet designs. 

Those were the days!

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

living in the past

It's kind of fun to dig back through the archives and reminisce on past Bittersweet designs. 

Those were the days!

Keep the faith. 

Jill