Get Yer Free Soap Here!

I am fast approaching the one year anniversary of this blog and, in honor of that, I am giving away one of these Valentine's Day gift sets from my Etsy shop!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment here about something you are grateful for today. I will randomly pick a winner this Friday Feb. 10th and announce it here on the blog. The winner can then pick out which gift set they would like and give me their address deets. **Comments are now closed**

This is open to anyone, whether you live across the globe or next door.

Click on the links below to check out the goods! And, a big thank you to all the readers of this blog out there.  It's been a sweet experience this past year.

Okay, on to the soap...

Soap Gift Set for the ladies

Soap Gift Set for dudes

Thanks for entering and see y'all back here this Friday!

Crafeteria 2011

What fun! Check out some photos of the event here. And here are some shots of my display table.

My chalkboard signs are cute, no?

I was really happy with the simplicity of it. It maybe took us 20 minutes to set up and break down. We sat there eating candy while we watched other vendors set up some elaborate displays that took over an hour or so. They looked great, but that's just not my idea of fun. And Matt had the great idea to use the drawers from his old sewing machine to hold the soap. Seriously, how is this guy so smart?!

We stayed with our friends overnight and the next day had a great brunch at the Coronado Cafe and went antique hunting at the Brass Armadillo where we scored some serious treasures.

It feels good to have a craft show under my belt. And it is an amazing feeling to see customers get really excited over what you make. So, a huge thank you to all who came out and supported hand made that evening! And thanks to Matt for being such a huge help that night and for your general level of awesomeness.

What I Have Been Up To

It's been busy over here! I've been making soap like crazy for the holidays and doing various experiments creating other products. Here are some of the highlights:

Beeswax container candles. Did some burn tests to figure out the right wick size. Think I got it.

Created my first shampoo bar and it has been selling like hotcakes in my Etsy shop. I love this one-it smells so good! Great shaving soap too.

Whipped Shea Butter. Still a few kinks to work out with this one, but the feedback I have got on it has been super positive. 

Felted soap. 

In other news, I turned 30! It was awesome. Matt and I went here for the first time to celebrate and had a blast.

And the last of our garden got dug up this week.We got a small, but mighty carrot and beet haul. Seriously, they taste like heaven.

And I will be here in a few weeks. If you are in the Phoenix area-please come! It looks like it will be super fun. My first craft show...I'm really excited! 

Soap + Fall = Awesome

It's been an amazing week in these parts. I've felt really inspired by all the autumn goodness that happens this time of year.

The light is golden. The air is crisp. The leaves are bright, bold colors. Oh, and we got our first snow!

I have been picking up little pieces of  "autumnness" around the neighbor hood to take photos for my Etsy shop. I am really pleased with them.

I thought you might like to see 'em too. Happy Fall!

Lemongrass Eucalyptus Soap 

Unscented Soap 

Lavender Orange Soap 

Orange Grapefruit Clove Soap 

Mint Spruce Soap 

Fir Needle Spruce Beer Soap 

I Say Wedding. You say Soap.

Wedding. Soap! Wedding. Soap!

Okay. I'm done now.

My friends Hillary and Tyler are getting married in a couple weeks and they had asked me to make them their wedding favors (!). Hillary and I put the final labeling touches on them the other day and they turned out great.

Hillary got an original stamp made by the same Etsy seller that made my Sweet Pine stamp. He seriously rocks. Check out his shop!

Here are some photos from the soap labeling frenzy. 180 favor bars (lavender, mint spruce, lemongrass eucalyptus, fir needle and spruce beer, & orange grapefruit clove) done!

Thank you Hillary and Tyler!  xo-Jess

Hill bustin some labels out. No big deal.

Beer helps increase soap labeling productivity

Oh snap! How cool are these?

Peaches. Butterflies. And Being a Bad Ass.

Hope you all had a sweet holiday!

Speaking of sweet, look what our friend Andy brought us this week.

I turned these little guys into peach sorbet. Delicious. Thanks Andy!

Every time I make sorbet, I wonder why I don't make it more often because it is so incredibly easy. Puree fruit, add sugar and a little lemon juice (I used key lime this time) and freeze in an ice cream maker. Done. If you've never made homemade sorbet, I suggest you give it a try. Store bought sorbet just does not compare with homemade. But, I guess that's true for most things.

And here's some more sweetness for you...

Butterflies have been floating around our yard all week. This one hung out on our lawn chair long enough for me to take a few photos. Sigh. Butterflies will never lose their magic on me. And I don't care if that is a cliche in the least!

In biz news, I have been plugging along with getting my Etsy shop up and running. I think it should finished by next week. It's been fun taking all the shop photos and writing the descriptions for my soap, but hard work as well (not complaining-just sayin'). I have taken a few breaks in between working and staring at my computer, where I just zone out, lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling for a 5 minutes or so. Turns out this is actually quite effective.

Here are some of the photos...

mint spuce soap

orange pink grapefruit clove soap

triple lemon soap

 And speaking of small business, my friend Meghan (who's business is beyond inspiring-check it out!) started a 'Bad Ass Ladies in Small Business' group in Flagstaff. We had our first meeting this week and it was awesome.

The group is going to meet once a month for about an hour in the evenings to talk about our goals, swap good business books we've read and provide support and advice. We might even have guest speakers. If you live in Flagstaff and are interested in coming to the next meeting, let me know. Requirements: you must be a woman, you must have a small business/idea/project you are working on, and you must be a bad ass!

And speaking of bad ass, check out the canoe progress...

Amazing to think this was just cedar boards a few weeks ago and that we will be cruising on this come Fall!

Have a great weekend!