Bittersweet and the little soap company

prelude

The days are becoming crisper! 

Fall and winter spices fill the air, along with the savory wave of pumpkin bread baking in the oven.  

We've been digging through our Christmas stash and pulling out some of our favorite shop displays. 

We grab our inspiration from nature. We make pinecone garland and fill our stockings with everlasting bouquets. The scent of cedar fills the shop and blends nicely with the spicy soaps. 

Fall quickly turns into the gift-giving season at Bittersweet. 

Since we have a four to six week lead time on all of our soaps, Christmas always starts early! I love Christmas! If given the opportunity to extend the holiday season, I'm in!

We're getting ready to put our holiday wrapping order in. Then we'll be wrapping The Twelve Days of Christmas! 

We're introducing a prelude to the Twelve Days and will crown the series with a grand finali soap!

I'm often intrigued about how ideas turn into the actual hold in your hand, smell good, gifts. The process behind it all is mindblowing! It really is. 

This soap maker stands tall and feels blessed each day. It's an honor to share my ideas and creations!

Our series of the Twelve Days of Christmas Soap always shines brightly at our store.   

It's a labor of love to make this special soap! From the first moment, I choose the fragrance, and pour the liquid soap into molds, until the day it's cured and ready to be packaged, one thing is as solid as our soap, and that's the passion wrapped into each bar!

Cinnamon Sticks, Essential Oil Candles, Wool Mittens, and Tapestry Scarves. We're in love with those scarves!

We're anticipating a joyous season!

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

   

fall foraging

We are fond of gathering natural elements and incorporating them into our fall displays. Pine cones, dried orange peel, and cinnamon sticks are a few of our favorite fall, winter accessories! Our fall lines also carry the natural theme. Star Anise, Cinnamon, Clove, Sweet Orange, Nutmeg, and Vanilla begin filling the shop with their warm aroma. 

We created a post on Insta with instructions on how to bake pumpkins to forage the fresh pumpkin meat. If you've never baked with fresh pumpkin in your recipes you are for sure missing out on an amazing fall treasure. 

Baking pumpkins are typically much smaller than carving pumpkins. A few weeks ago I picked up several with plans to cut off the top and bake. Then you can scoop out the meat and either add to a recipe or place in a storage container for future baking of all sorts of pumpkin delights!

There's really no standard way to do this, and frankly, you can develop your own method after you're familiar with the process. 

I bake my baking pumpkins at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. I cut off the tops. Be careful when you're doing this because the skin is hard and thick to get your sharp knife in and out. Kind of like carving a pumpkin. Same process. 

After I've removed the pumpkin from the oven I allow it to cool and then start scooping! It's easier to get the seeds out after you bake the pumpkin. At least that's my opinion, but you could scoop out the seeds before you bake it, if you so desire. 

Now let's talk about dried flower foraging...

Once the first frost rolls around I head to the hills and forest to gather dried flowers. It's nothing short of a miracle how nature provides her natural preservation of plants. Wildflowers that once carried allergy pollens like ragweed during this time are now free of pollens and allergens. So it's a great time to gather their blossoms and build an amazing bouquet. You can even add bittersweet if you have a secret hiding spot where you find it. Bittersweet is tricky to find, but if you drive along a country road long enough you'll spot some. It's usually along the right of ways. I've written numerous posts about finding bittersweet and if you're interested in reading more about the orange plant you can simply type the words Bittersweet in the search box on the far right sidebar. 

We're getting ready to order dried winter flowers and we'll happily blend them with our forest gatherings. 

Each season we offer a variety of everlasting winter blooms. This season I'm leaning towards anything green! Eucalyptus, Cedar, Boxwood, Juniper, and Magnolia Leaves top the list. We'll be mixing the green with neutral tones along with a mix of pine cones and cinnamon sticks. 

We've discovered an amazing paper supplier and we're anxious to release our Twelve Days of Christmas Soap on November 8! The signature soaps will be packaged in this glorious paper! 

Oh yes! It's back!

Lennis is making Cedar Tables! He'll brush on several coats of varnish. We were inspired by the ones in our cabin at Big Cedar. 

This soap maker is fastidious when it comes to scent! Low and behold this flavor captured by interest and smells amazing. I describe the scent as pipe tobacco, but when I mention this to customers they sometimes disagree. Just goes to show you how each of us smells things differently. 

This seasoned soap maker nose has smelled thousands of scents over the past twenty-two years!

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

homebody

The New Year has put forth a slower stride and mellow moods. Look at little Miss Elle all wrapped up in freshly extracted warm blankets from the clothes dryer! It has been satisfying to be a homebody the past few weeks. 

I'm also pondering new projects and production is ahead of schedule. Which translates to happy face...

I'm introducing a New Tinted Lip Balm and A Spot-On Moisturizer when we re-open and celebrate our Winter Grand Arrival on Saturday. The weatherman is calling for snow on Saturday. One of my favorite things in the world is to be at my shop when it's snowing. Since expanding the shop I'm offering a new Paperie section and there's a loot of interesting tags and paperie, packaging, etc.

I've also been noodling around with ideas of a cocoa butter bath melt. We have a surplus of cocoa butter! It's considered an old school ingredient, but frankly, it's hard to beat moisturizer! I love the buttery chocolate aroma! When you add essential oils to the butter it takes on a most delightful fragrance. Most delightful!

We have our little essential oils and diffuser department brimming with peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender, lemon, and other Bittersweet Blends. When I was helping to lay the new shop flooring the diffuser was snorting out cinnamon, clove, lemon, eucalyptus, and rosemary. We call the yummy compound, Cleanse.

Our Once A Year Soap Sale begins on Snowy Saturday and in addition, we've slashed prices on a large array of clothing, booties, and scarves. If you're new to Bittersweet and have never experienced our Soap Sale, you're in for a winter surprise! I'm clearing out to make room for spring! It's a retail thing, preparing for a season months before it appears!

I've put an order in for some of these and we'll share our favorite Homemade Hot Cocoa recipe with you on Saturday if you brave the snowy tundra. Drive safely and I can't wait to be back at the apothecary shop!

Keep the faith.

Jill  

 

 

fall goodness

I'm longing to hold onto this velvet season. However, shop life is always ahead of its time, and the seasons come and they go, almost as quickly as they appear. 

The shop has a short tour of fall duty, and then it moves speedily into the holiday season. 

I'm already planning holiday shop designs and gift packaging. 

This year, my twenty-first year, I'm getting a huge jump in manufacturing. I'd love to have soap manufacturing completed by early December this year. It's looking good, and we're right on schedule to date. 

We're introducing new products to our Bittersweet collections.  

Aromatherapy Diffusers, and our very own line of Essential oils. Both new items will help introduce shoppers to the wonderful world of aromatherapy. I can't think of a better time to spread some lavender holiday cheer! I've been blending Rosemary and Eucalyptus at the shop trying to ward off all the illness that's floating around.  I'm still working on price points and the aesthetics but It's coming along and we should be up and running within a couple of weeks. 

We just received the first round of Fashion Show pictures. 

You can view the shots on our Facebook Page. 

This Holiday season our inspiration comes from nature. 

Pine cones and live Christmas trees are in our holiday future. 

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

Fall Fashion Show

We've been planning for months and it's finally here! 

The weatherman predicts buckets of rain on Saturday, but the show must go on!

We're going to pack our shop porch with oodles of Fall Fashion Show Attendees. 

I believe we're ready. I've typed out the model and credit lists. The PA system is sitting on my dining room table. The model's outfits are hanging on the clothing rack with their names attached. My friends are coming to help with the shop. The narrator, a slash friend, has confirmed, and the photographer too. The checkoff list has been checked!

Now, all we do is wait until Saturday arrives. I'm hoping she arrives with a few moments of dry weather. 

It's been fun putting this show together. So much, that I'm planning on hosting another Fashion Show next year. As with any event, the first one always assists one in learning what works and what doesn't work. 

We've had the shop closed for five days! The only other time that happens is after Christmas. I did drive up on Saturday after receiving information that my security cameras weren't functioning. I made it short and sweet because although our street was not busy the downtown was overstocked with festival bystanders. You could hardly get to one street to the next. The entire moment gave me peace of mind to know I'd done the right thing by having Bittersweet closed. 

 

 We launched a new product last week! I am in love with this essential oil blend. The guys should love it too!

Fresh Bars of Pumpkin Spice. We introduced the spicy soap back in August, and have two-hundred more bars available while it lasts. We won't be making any more until next season. 

Fresh bundles of dried lavender are here! We love incorporating the herb in with our fall and winter arrangements. Some things never get old!

 

The new atomizer bottles are in and we're launching our new Perfume of the Month with a yummy layered blend. 

We're also beginning to offer pre-made packaging. These organza bags are filled with Bath Salt and created for gift giving. 

Keep the faith.

Jill  

it smells like fall

Just back from a walk and the smell of fall echoes through the crisp air. My neighbor down the street was mowing his leaves as we walked by, and on the way back home the scent of woodsy leaves filled the air. I love that smell! There's no way of recreating the scent except by Mother nature. 

Even though we're moving fast speed ahead into the holiday season at the shop, I'm still relishing Autumn leaf by pumpkin, by leaf... We have a buckeye tree down the street, and this time of year their horny shells pop open to release the good luck charm. 

My aunt Vivian writes me little letters, and I always enjoy reading. Her perspective on life is a healthy one. I'm blessed to have such a great aunt!

We still have rose buds on the roses & blooms, along with the Hearty Geraniums. The fish are as fat as ever, & have stopped eating since the water temps. are below 52 degrees. Our little, yellow finches have flown south, but other winter birds are here eating Niger seeds very happy bathing in the sun. I spend a lot of time removing leaves that continue to fall in profusion from the wisteria & the apricot tree. Each leaf is a wonder & appreciated for the beauty it offers.

Little things really do mean a lot. 

 

The past few days, and I've been feeling grateful for many things, and many things over. My heart has been broke over hearing the loss of a friends, daughter unexpectedly and sudden. 

Any more, I have learned to live one day at a time, simply because there's no guarantee another will come. 

The shop is busier than ever, and I'm anticipating a record group of new customers this holiday season. 

Oh how I really love making Alice Bracelets! It makes my heart happy when a customer picks through to pick their favorite. 

The hand made Italian paper made it's way to America! I'm wrapping Five Golden Rings, and Six Gees A Laying. I'm not going to offer the soaps on line because I can't keep up with inventory. We sell out, almost as fast as they land! 

Quiet evening...

Last night we cooked a roast and I prepared a rub for it similar to that you'd put on ribs. It was the best roast I've ever made! Here's the rub recipe.

 

 

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp Ground Black pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp cumin
• I added a couple of Tablespoons of dried onion

 

Instructions

1. Mix all of the ingredients together. Use 1-2 tablespoons of a dry rub for each pound of meat. Apply the rub directly to the surface of the meat. Place roast in crock pot and cook for desired time. Sooo good!

I served it with  brussel sprouts. I use several handfuls of fresh brussel sprouts. Wash them and cut off the ends, halve. Place sprouts in an olive oil coated pan. Add a teaspoon of fresh garlic, smoked salt, and fresh ground pepper. I like to cook mine until they get kind of crispy on the edges. They are so easy, and really good prepared this way. 

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

 

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bittersweet

One of the very first posts ever, back in 2006, was one about Bittersweet, the plant. 

I'm reminded every day the happy memories that associate with this unique twisty stem fall plant since I named my company Bittersweet. A name given to me by my sweet and soft spoken mom. 

Soulful memories wrap around each and every button berry. 

When I was a young girl, and right around this time of year, my mom would exclaim, "It's time to get the Bittersweet!" My dad would grab a handful of old newspaper, and some cutters, and our family would head over the hills and through the Missouri woods to locate the unique fall foliage. Mom had some secret spots, but usually those spots were along side the roads. Dad would park the car, and we'd get out and start cutting. Bundles of the orange berried plant was placed in the trunk on the newspapers, and when we got home, mom would gather her brown antique crocks and create a large bouquet. It was a tradition, Bittersweet hunting. 

Bittersweet is native to Missouri and usually grows along side roadways. Typically, you won't recognize it as you roam along country roads until after the first frost, because the berries don't pop until after it gets pretty chilly. You should use caution if you are prone to getting poison ivy, as most always, the plant is close vicinity to a crop of bittersweet. I had this happen time and time again, even when I wore long sleeves and gloves. I finally learned from a good doctor, that you must remove the oil after being exposed, with soap and a washcloth. Then pretend you have dirty motor oil on your skin, and start rubbing like there ain't no tomorrow. So funny, once I learned this a few years ago, I've never had poison ivy! The washcloth is the secret, and remembering how hard it is to remove dirty motor oil. That is, if you've ever done that. I had, so I knew how to rub, rub, rub!

You can grow Bittersweet in Missouri! In fact, I have a dear, dear, customer that grows it on her farm. She offers cuttings of the plant. Thank you Leigh Ann.

If you decide to plant Bittersweet, you'll need a female and male plant. You can order small tender starts online. I've heard it takes awhile to get established, but don't give up. As with anything good, sometimes it takes awhile before you see results. 

There are also a few varieties of the plant. 

Mom used to strip the leaves off the twiggy vines before she created a bouquet, but if you set the bundles outside, and among-st the elements, they will slowly fall off on their own. I'm not patient in that way, so I always stripped them off like my mom did. 

The bright orange berries will sometimes fall off the vine, and you should use caution around pets, as I believe the berries are poisonous. We always have had cats, and never experienced any issues, having said that. 

I love no cost flower arrangements!

This time of year Missouri is abundant with Buck Eye, Bittersweet, Black Walnuts, and Fall Foliage. All ready for the picking!

Happy Fall!

Keep the faith...

Jill 

tiny seeds

Alice Bracelets... Love, love making them! It's therapeutic to strand beads. I would highly recommend as a recreational activity. Like an artist chooses their paint hues, so too, bead picking. I'm fond of browns and greens, turquoise and tiger eye. At least it seems. I'm incorporating strips of leather. I had a surplus of leather, and really wasn't sure how to use it, problem solved, and I really like the way the leather hangs off the jump rings on the "Alice bracelet." Tiny seed beads, also a favorite. 

Into cream colored grain sack, wood, and hand made paper. Only three one hundred year old wood cutting boards left!

Fall, fall, glorious fall. I love everything about you!

Happy October!

Keep the faith...

Jill 

Ready, Set, Fall...

We survived the weekend festival! Looking forward to a nice steady flow this week at the shop. I'm introducing new Bittersweets. Kind of being secretive about it though. There's a story I wish to convey before introducing the new line of artisan. Stay tuned...You'll like the story. 

Birthdays, celebrations, and eagerly awaiting cool, Indian summer kind of days. It's been way too hot! I felt sorry for the festival participants, as they had to endure the heat and high humidity all weekend. Shows have never been our thing, however, we've done it, and I can't say we liked it. Especially when it's steamy hot. 

The plans are in the works for holiday festivities, packaging, and extra help. 

The humble heat pillow. I had retired this item, only to receive oodles of requests. It's back! I've modified the design by making the pillow longer. 

I'm extra fastidious when it comes to scent! Apple and Oak meets those fastidious feelings. It smells amazing! Persian Pear, and Wild Pine follow. So many tantalize your nose fall tinctures, I'm in love with many. 

Read between the lines. I like to do that...

Do you live by this? It's important to do so, I believe. Don't be afraid to agree to disagree. Stand up for what you believe in, and don't waver. Hello free spirit...

We've been fall house cleaning. Today I washed all the quilts, and hung them in the sunshine to dry. I love that crisp, fresh air scent rubbed onto a hand made quilt. It adds to the soulfulness when we drape onto our bed. Take it in!  It's the little things.

We've been thinking about this.   

Also this...

Love the idea of marrying the two dishes. 

Fall baking, and cooking. 

Sugar Dumpling... That's an old Southern word. I recall ladies calling me a Sugar Dumpling every now and then. You don't hear that phrase often, nowadays. Wishing those little phrases would make a return, and mean what they say. Stick in the mud, don't rain on my parade, better safe, than sorry, go chase yourself. My Grandma Lola used to say, don't forget your wrap, when it was cold out. It took me a moment to understand what she meant. I'd never heard anyone refer to a jacket or coat as a wrap. 

My favorite era, and these little phrases are to die for! My Grandma Lola's era. 

Keep the faith. 

Jill 

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less is more

I'm slowly working my way around the "Soap House on the Hill."

Really pondering those less is more thoughts and categorizing useful everyday items over once in a great while items.

I'm already noticing more speedy production. It's great being able to locate those everyday items, and helpful to eye the once in a while, rarely seen one's too.

This small dresser sits in our laundry room. A fresh coat of paint and my favorite wood knobs help to make it one of my favorite pieces that I purchases from a friend many moons ago.

I'm loving the "less is more" look around here. It sets a tone for less complicated, lighter, and free mood.

My moms old wooden bench, that I believe was one of her favorite pieces. You may recall how I covered the bench with muslin and made a skirt to hang below the bench.

Now I'm embracing the natural wood and enjoying the simplicity, but functionality of the piece. Isn't it funny how your taste changes. The bench sits right inside our back door, or entrance to the studio.

As you walk in that same door, but to the right, is what we call the soap room. It's a small, probably 6x6 room that houses two apothecary cabinets. This is where Bittersweet Soap cures in between transporting the hundreds, thousand, of cured soaps. Between the studio and the shop, every little cubbies or holes is filled with curing bars. Once they're cured, they get wrapped.

At the shop the some of those bars reside in this favorite piece that I discovered when the shop was first open. The reason it's a favorite is because my dad and Lennis repurposed it and I found it as Habitat for Humanity for twenty bucks!

It used to be used to house a television in a hotel, and was much shorter. I found the legs at Habitat too. They were too tall, and only three of them, so we cut them to make four and added them to the long cabinet. I was impressed with the scale. They looked as though they came with the cabinet.

Then if that wasn't pleasing enough, the now counter top cabinet had two extra large heavy duty drawers. I found baskets to fit the inside of the drawers and that's where I store curing soap.

Each drawer houses four baskets for storing soap.

I love it when a plan comes together.

It's always nice to be on the look out for specific pieces. It's even nicer when you find one that's not quite perfect but with a few adjustments will be. Very satisfying.

I'm being super picky about what stays and what goes. Honestly, other than the few pieces that have sentimental value, everything else is considered to be stuff. I'm clearing the stuff.

What's that saying, "one woman's junk, is another woman's treasures." It's true, it's true.

I have a few more pieces to share later.

Kind and caring thoughts.

Jill

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