We're hosting our Holiday Soiree today and tomorrow. Even though I've been hosting this event for some twenty years, it still feels fresh and brand new and my excitement continues to grow.
I'm reaching business milestones, and fulfilling goals, that honestly, I never, ever imagined would come to life. So, each season, year, brings with her, a shiny new surprise. I'm embracing them and appreciating all for the gifts. You know, I know you do, that you can't put a price on happiness. This little light of mine, I'm going to make it shine. Always a good thought to remember, no matter what comes your way.
Pucker up, Buttercup! I have been wrapping hundreds, thousands, of Lip Balms. This Lip Balm is what I refer to as the epitome of goodness. You see, I began making them some twenty years ago, and today, a tube will cost you the same as it did twenty back! The reason for that, is because of sales volume. My heart sings a happy song when I stop and ponder those 1997 prices.
I've been burning the midnight oil to keep the lip balm selection and the jars filled. Also, wrapping soap. I go in a couple of hours early every day to wrap. It's a wrap!
The past couple of years, and we've purchased a real Christmas tree. There's just something special about a aromatic Fir! In between, and right before Thanksgiving, we picked up our live tree at the home improvement store. Who would have ever thought?
It's balmy and unseasonable warm today, short weather! This day they call Black Friday. I've never experience the craziness of black Friday, nor do I have any incline of doing so. I'm guessing there's a reason they have named the day "Black Friday." The name itself sheds light on the day. At least, that's what I believe. I'm also not a fan of crowds, so not my bag.
Speaking of bags...
Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday!
I'm busy at the Bittersweet workshop churning out Marshmallow Lip Balm, Lemon Nail Creme, Fizzy Balls, and Face Creme, in preparation of Shop Small Day in Liberty Missouri.
I am in love with faux fur, anything, lately. Love, love these crossover furry bags! New this week.
In addition, warm and wooly imported scarves.
I hope Santa brings you coal this Christmas. For the good girls and boys, not the bad.
One of the elves made a surprise visit earlier today and picked up five hundred Soap and Lip Balms for Santa's list. I'm always thrilled when Santa reads off his list over the phone, and Bittersweet is included! Thanks Santa for delivering the uncommon goods all over the world.
Bittersweet is preparing for a three day Holiday Affair. We're serving apple cider and confections. The tree trimmings have been cut and the scent of fresh cedar fills the shop air. It's so darn early, but our little downtown is hosting a holiday open house at all the shops, so we didn't want to be a stick in the mud! Our big holiday event is always held on the first Friday of December. This year, it's on the first and second of the month.
We're making a big pot of chicken gumbo, and buttermilk biscuits are on the menu. I haven't had white flour in months or refined sugar. I'll make the biscuits with King Arthur baking mix. The mix contains much less carbs than white flour. I don't believe anyone will notice. Patrick is coming to dinner, and has requested biscuits. I probably won't be able to resist a hot flaky biscuit smothered in butter. Would you?
I don't really follow a recipe. I begin by a adding a T. of butter to a large kettle. Then I add a cup of chopped onion, and green pepper. Several cloves of Spanish garlic. Simmer. Add a T. of flour and let cook all until flour turns a golden brown. This is your rue.
To that I add enough water to cook the chicken and even add chicken broth to the kettle for good measure. Some folks prefer adding sausage to the chicken gumbo. I prefer, just chicken. Sometimes we'll add shrimp, but Patrick is allergic to shellfish.
Cook the chicken until if begins to fall off the bone. The bones of the chicken give the gumbo a great flavor. Midway, and before the chicken is completely cooked I add a large can of whole tomatoes. Continue to cook the chicken on medium heat or a slow boil with the added tomatoes. I add a healthy dose of dried thyme and oregano, and a large bay leaf. Continue to cook on low heat. Add smoked salt, and fresh ground pepper. De bone chicken and return to the kettle. Simmer on low for a couple of hours. About thirty minutes before serving add a cup of okra. Fresh or frozen. Add a few drops of hot sauce and serve with rice. I like Jasmine Rice.
You can use cream to make the caramel sauce if you want.
Lazy, hazy, day... Those kind of days are truly appreciated when one carries a heavy work schedule.
I'm anxiously awaiting a shipment of hand made Italian paper to arrive before Wednesday. We wrap our Holiday Soaps in the stunning paper. Since we're hosting a Holiday Affair next week, time is of the essence, and I have a sneaky feeling the last minute will be a busy wrapping soapathon! It is what it is and life shall go on, regardless.
I'm also on the hunt for a Norlfolk Pine. I'm usually not on the hunt so early in the season, therefor nobody has them stocked. I love displaying the little pine during the Christmas season. It's a happy little tree!
I'm fixating on caramel apples too! Maybe next weekend after the busy week.
We offer preserved cedar sprigs at the shop. The everlasting evergreens will last a lifetime! I've had mine for eight or nine years. Simply store it in plastic bags until ready to use. It doesn't crumble or dry out or leave a mess. It's one of my favorite things.
I gathered a large basket of white pine cones. I love these pine cones. I hang string from the stems and make banners of pine cones. No cost decorating for the season. Incorporate the cones, and greenery to your brown paper wrappings and you have a simple, no fuss, elegant look.
Years ago when my mom was still here, she suggested I make linen bags to hold bath salt. All these year later, and I felt a soulful urge to recreate them this season. Love the linen blended with the faux fur and white pine cones.
Cotton blends well with just about any natural.
Lanterns, Cinnamon Sticks and White Fur, love...
This year we have a theme of "Bringing Home the Tree."
No more Pumpkin Spice Soap! Well, I believe there may be two bars left at the shop. I might nab them! I'm not a huge pumpkin spice fan simply because the scent can smell different depending on the fragrance manufacture. I love ours! It could be possible I'm a little biased, as well.
That sugary pound cake sitting with little hand made marshmallow bags was a holiday treat a few years back. I printed an adorable Susan Branch recipe on the label. I contacted Susan for permission to use her art work, and she replied with the nicest response. You know, she's something special! That holiday season, I made the homemade marshmallows and also mixed homemade cocoa. The recipe was really good. Since I don't do a lot of processed sugar anymore, those were the days! It does make a really nice gift. Here's a great recipe. I love Alton Brown! Here's his homemade marshmallow recipe. I will share that I'm not a fan of gelatin. I used agar agar powder.
I located some French inspired grain sack fabric from a supplier, and modified the bittersweet heat pillow. Love, love the grainy fabric!
Since I've made the holiday collection of soap, now it's time to find resting places for the thousands of bars. I'm loading up my car with all those soap bars and placing them in every nook available.
I'm on the hunt for a Norfolk Pine... They usually stock them around this time of year. That will be our Christmas tree at the shop.
The wayward wind is a restless wind, a restless wind that yearns to wander... I always found that old song to be intriguing. The words, anyway.
We're in a whirlwind of wayward winds at the shop. I'm chomping at the bits to begin holiday decorating. No, I'm not a fan of Halloween, really. As a shop owner for the past twenty years, I prefer skipping it, and moving right into Christmas!
I finished the making of the final two hundred bars of Christmas Soap, and yesterday, Friday the 13th, gave out twenty free Marshmallow Lip Balms at the shop in celebration of the manufacturing feat. Things won't slow down, but it feels good to know I've completed the first round.
Into... Fur rugs, deer antlers, and natural everlasting flowers. Always been into everlasting flowers, but it looks snazzy when you incorporate the dried flowers into the fur, and antlers.
Most often when I launch something new, I test the waters first. Meaning, I make a few and then merchandise the new item's, and see how many are sold, or the comments that roll. The Alice Bracelets are flying out the door! You know the story. Makes me feel happy. A few other new ideas up my sleeve.
We put in our order for holiday wrapping paper. Can't wait to begin wrapping The Twelve Days of Christmas! Beautiful inside, and out.
Oh, and I picked up a snowberry bush at our local home improvement store. That's a picture of the berries when they're fresh, above.
It's funny how color sometimes moves and sways me with inspiration. I'm really into burgundy and rich dark indigo paired, lately. I'd love to paint and decorate a space with both rich dark colors. I'd add touches of white and black accents. Fur, lots of fur, and texture and natural elements. Hanging rattan lighting would finish the look.
This is an exciting time at Bittersweet! We continue to grow, and I'm happily cultivating hand crafted goods in an assembly line fashion. We've expanded our clothing line, and refreshing it almost every week. Feeling blessed every day.
Our annual Autumn Festival is this weekend. I love walking the event and checking out other artisan creators. The pumpkins are here, and the seasonal aromatic Pumpkin Spice is as well. Hurry, we've already sold out of our first few hundred bars! It always makes a brief appearance.
We have a shipment of Italian papers to arrive mid week. I always get excited about new wrapping ideas. We've wrapped Bittersweet in hand made Italian paper for many years. It's a great fit.
I'm pointed towards natural colored stone and wood beads. My buying trips have been focusing on those purchases. Bangles of neutral toned beads offer an appeal.
We're celebrating at the shop by hosting a fall open house. I made pumpkin sugar cookies last night to serve to guests. Wow, it was challenge to not take a big bite out of one of those sugar cookies, but I didn't! Lennis did my taste testing, and I'm guessing they were tasty, because he ate four of five! I made this pumpkin icing, and my taste tester said he really liked it. I think it would be a delicious topping on chocolate cup cakes too. This is on my fall baking list...I think pears would be yummy too.
There's a lot to do today. Soap wrapping, which never really ceases, which I'm grateful to be selling so much soap. Feeling it...
I absolutely love fall! I've chatted about my admiration for the season many times.
We're expecting more new items. In fact, I make new things, or order in a variety of nouvea goods every week. It's exciting to sniff your way around and continuously discover new favorite fragrances.
I was thinking about how there's so many bath chains, and wondering if most folks stop to think what's in this? My experience over the past twenty years, some do, some don't. I do believe people in general are more conscience about the layering of products. In the past, even before I became more aware of product ingredients, I'd always feel that if it contained chemicals, I'd really not enjoy using it. In the back of my mind, I'd be thinking how it was polluting my skin, therefore I wouldn't use it and end up tossing it. When it comes to skin care, less is more. The lesser of ingredients list is very important when creating an honest, good for your skin product. I'll step down now.
Feelings...
We'll try and capture some Fall Open House images today.
It rained, and rained, and poured! Despite the damp, dreary weather, we enjoyed a record breaking attendance! I'd like to thank everyone that attended, new and old customers. I feel blessed and thankful for your continued patronage and support, today and everyday.
It's officially May Day! In honor of those sweet memories, I'm making lavender mint soap. I wish you could smell the studio right now, because it smells amazing!
Lavender and Mint compliment one another in an opposite attract kind of way.
May marks a busy month. We're preparing for Mother's Day by making Bittersweet packages, and plans to attend my favorite outdoor Flea Market are in the works. Mercantile Sales, Farmers Market, and Porch Concerts follow.
I'm introducing new scents for summer, along with some new products, packaging.
Making organic cotton mitts, well I was, until I ran out of thread. Drives me crazy to run out of something right in the middle of production! Is what it is, but I'm going to be purchasing a ton of thread!
I have a small lavender plant in front of the shop. Every Fall I cut it back and tie off bundles to bring inside the shop. These little bundles bring me joy.
I'm off to pick up a basil plant to sit among the basil collection.
When I was a little girl, my mom warned me to never eat a white flower. What a strange thing to tell a child, you're thinking, right? My mom was an amazing spirit, and always ahead of her time in more ways then not.
She followed her instincts and allowed those thoughts to guide her. I believe if more humans followed their instincts, we'd live happier and more content. So often we're bombarded with day to day stuff that gets in the way of following our instincts.
Back to the white flower...
My mom loved flowers and she passed those seeds of flower love to her daughter at an early age.
You may recall the many posts about May Day with my mom.
I'm thankful that my mom passed her flower love onto me.
Inspiration can appear like magic.
It's the little spots in time, and the memories that trigger what I refer to as "amazing inspiration."
Introducing, White Flower...
I sure wish we had a screen that offered scratch and sniff!
It smells amazing.
I just completed a White Flower Body Spray to accompany the olive soap. Layer up Flower Girl!
Flowers usher in an amazing aura of beauty. Simple beauty.
For the past almost twenty years I've operated a soap manufacturing plant in the basement of our home. During that time and in addition to making soap, I also make over one-hundred other skin care products, and useful essentials in which all is manufactured inside what we call, "The Soap House on the Hill!"
Over the years, the space has also been set up for retail and merchandising in addition to manufacturing. That's been my biggest challenge I guess, having both, since our home isn't a huge home, but rather small. Offering a retail shop where product is showcased and then in addition, blended with manufacturing definitely urges you to be creative. In my case fifty pounds of this, that, back to this, that, and all sorts of bulk ingredients needed to make Bittersweets. Since my business has grown, those supplies double, triple in size, therefore requiring even more storage space in between manufacturing.
Let me tell you, having your business mixed in with your home can be challenging, but there's always ways to conquer those challenges. Personally, I've always been pleased as pudding to be able to operate my small business within the walls of my home. Firstly, there's no overhead. Second, I've always loved simply walking down our basement steps to enter my working studio. It has always felt good to do this.
Now that I have the shop away from home, and it's mostly manufacturing it's important to me to create a happy yen and yang space to work in. So in addition to a functional space, it must look esthetically fine to the eye. That's where the creative side of me requires this much necessary addition.
The past few days Lennis, (aka) as Super Lennis has been crafting a well planned work room. He started by building extra large counter tops, shelves, and then storage below.
The once cluttered space is now super functional and offers abundant storage.
The new space is in baby mode, but I can plainly see how it's going to be an amazing Soap House and Creative Work Space.
All those fifty pounds of this, that, will be housed under the extra wide counter. I'm making a curtain to run around the entire underside so that you won't see the ugly plastic containers. While the top shelf will house the many bottles of essential oils, and perfumes. Sweet!
The counter top will have a Super Duper New Soap Cutting Tool, and my fabric stash will be wrapped around these and neatly stored inside a small closet that's included in the room.
I've been having fun picking out lamps, and little decorative items to sit here and there. Cool punch pins for the memory board, that will now function as a soap calendar so that I can keep track of soap curing times, new soaps, etc. Things will be fine tuned and organized. Which in turn, will save valuable time and money.
I'm going to post progress reports so that you can see before and after shots.
Friday marks the end of my Winter break. Three weeks has flown by! It's been creatively productive and I've constructed new products and ideas.
When I go back I'll have a new POS system and the shop had a mini winter makeover that I'm anxious to take in. New soaps are being made in between this and that.
Looking forward to the many changes that are coming up in the New Year ahead.
We've been working really hard to make these productive changes, and I'm looking forward to finishing and setting up shop.
We're spending a quiet Saturday night at home. It's uncomfortably cold and it feels nice to be warm and cozy in The Soap House on the Hill.
I've been having a cup of hot cocoa before bed. I swear it helps me sleep. I love this cocoa! The best! We add vanilla and cinnamon. Oh so good, especially in the winter.
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