Working on Restocking

This past weekend was the Steampunk World's Fair, and my first time to ever vend at a "Con."  It was a great experience, and very different from selling at street fairs and craft fairs.  The patrons definitely had different tastes.  I came very close to selling out of my Magic Vial Pendants (and did sell out of all of the bulb-bottom ones), and almost all of my From Faerie bath line.  So, right now I'm in the process of restocking and ordering more raw supplies.  

There are a couple of new things at the etsy shop because of SPWF.  First, I had made Voynich Manuscript inspired pendants, made out of wood in a more rustic medieval style (as suits a 15th century mysterious manuscript, I thought).  

I really enjoyed handing out little flyers to people on the Voynich Manuscript and encouraged folks to go google it and read up on this indecipherable codex.  (Seriously, open a tab, do a search, it's so entertaining!)  And so, I have a couple of those left over.

Also, waited until I could go out and do a proper live photo shoot with a model friend of mine to get better shots of my Sterling and Velvet - Victorian Gothic Choker.  That's her, here, and of course, bigger, better resolution shots on the actual listing.  So, thanks to Ms. Abigail Neffer LeMorte.  Also, she'll be moving to Seattle, WA this June, so if any of you are out there, and need a model, I highly recommend her (hey, she's even been shot for Japan's Vogue Magazine!)

Will miss you when you go all west-coast, chicky!!

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Speaking of the west coast, my plug today is out of Portland, OR:  Little Wing Faerie Art.

Yes, there are fairy wings, and yes, they are awesome, but what caught my eye was something a lot more out of the ordinary.  

The "hair wear" section has a collection of truly alien looking sculptural orchids for hat or hair.  They are hand-painted, hand sculpted, and flexible enough to allow for you to do a bit of your own minor adjustments to make sure it lays just right, whether perched in a bun, tucked behind an ear, lolling in a hatband, or pinned on your lapel.  The colors used are vibrant and almost seem luminous.

And, the other item she makes that first caught my attention really ARE luminous.  The flower lights are similarly fashioned and shaped, but inside their petals hide battery powered LEDs.  This fuscia one here, is a favorite!  I love fuscias, but they have never loved anywhere where I have lived.  I spent some time in Seattle years ago, and was struck by the fuscias there.  This is a gorgeous nod to the flower (and would love to see this same style in various colors, the way fuscias come in so many combinations).  

That's not even all of what you'll find over at her etsy shop - there's more to explore, and I highly recommend taking a few moments to pop over.

From Cherry Blossoms to Lilacs

I love this time of year, as soon as one flowering plant passes its season, it's another's turn.  I've always loved lilacs, unfortunately, they aren't too fond of extreme heat and humidity, so even my Mom, who had 2 green arms (not just green thumbs) couldn't keep any varieties alive when she tried to plant some for me as a child. However, they apparently love the much milder spring and summers of New York.

I thought, after learning about all the Sakura flavored things, that maybe lilacs might be edible as well, and after getting Google to shakily translate a few Swedish blogs, I found a recipe for lilac sugar!!

Here is a picture of the giant Ball jar I mixed up yesterday with 2 cups of fresh lilac blossoms (HUGE! I'd never seen a varietal this large!  There is an old varietal behind my s/o's family house - think he said his grandmother may have planted it - also, could be sure it hasn't been sprayed with any kind of pesticides or other chemicals)

I'm not sure how long it'll take to cure - but we'll see how it goes over the next few days.  I've read some places that lilacs smell better than they taste, but the Swedish blogs seem to mention lots of uses for lilac sugar.  Primarily, I'm hoping to make some great sugar scrubs for my From Faerie bath line.  Though, if it's tasty, I might save some for myself for baking.


Otherwise, I've been trying to build up stock for my first ever Convention vending opportunity at the Steampunk World's Fair.  I'll be under the wing/banner of my friends over at Dark Side Customs who absolutely rock the kasbah when it comes to steampunk jewelry.  That's why as of today, I've temporarily shut down my etsy shop to help dedicate more time to crafting as much as possible.  I won't be able to attend all 3 days, due to prior obligations, but I'm looking forward to spending Friday with them.  I've been especially hammering out some original paintings, and working on making as much From Faerie bath goodies as I can.

Here's a peek at a bath bomb I'm making just for the event:
Yup, a brain in a jar.  Blended with milk and honey powders to be extra luxurious on your skin.  Probably won't be selling them in jars, just one for display, and then, grab as many brains as you want for $2 a pop.  Will also have a LOT more smaller heart-shaped versions for $0.50 each (takes about 2 for a small tub or x-large foot bath).  I'm hoping the lilac sugar *might* be ready in time, but I'm not overly confident.  There will be all the other From Faerie soaks and scrubs, though, in somewhat limited quantities (had 2 weeks notice, and since I don't use essential oils, it takes time for these things to "cure").

Here's hoping! I'm really excited!

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Of course, the first thing I wanted to check on etsy was to see if anyone was making anything lilac flavored - nope.  (There's an idea, if I ever could have access to a certified kitchen, could do a seasonal line of floral treats that no one else seems to be making.  -  I wonder if you need a certified kitchen to sell things that can't really be tainted, like flavored sugars?)

So, there's no lilac edibles, that doesn't mean there aren't tons of other lilac themed products.

AlchemicMuse has been on my stalk-y list for a while now.  They're on the "when I get a real job. . .." purchase list.  And they just popped back up to the top of my list with their new Spring Collection.  Cloud Nine, one of the new fragrances, came up due to its Victorian Lilac component.  The scent description in the listing says, "billowing white blossoms of Victorian lilacs with wisps of sweet jasmine, white rose, white violet and cherry heliotrope. Floating beneath is a thick layer of fresh cream raining onto a bed of white raspberries." - Wow!  It's available as a cream soap, a foaming scrub, a body whip, a body gloss, bar soap, and a perfume oil.  They also sell minis of the soap, whip, and scrub.

I'm also going to point out that, if flowers aren't so much your thing, the Bamboo Pear with "green woods," pear, and tarragon sounds amazing, too!  And this is just the Spring Collection, there are over 200 items and all sorts of goodies to comb through!

Sakura Matsuri! - With Recipes!!

I've been working up to this blog post for a while now; and finally have enough pictures and recipes to flesh it out.

It started with my love of the beautiful flowering cherry trees, that I've been enjoying ever since moving to Brooklyn.  This year, I was looking around on pinterest back in February, just wanting to see some great pictures of previous Sakura Matsuri festivals and maybe some cute clothes or jewelry inspired by this time of year.  And I found. . .recipes.  . .   I had no idea cherry blossom was a flavor.  So after much digging and digging all over the internet and not finding a single place to get sakura flavored anything on the internet, I turned to the s/o.  He happens to have an old friend who lives in Japan.  And then this arrives at my door:

Four bottles of sakura sugar.  He couldn't find the sakura extract, apparently; but four bottles of sakura sugar would be plenty for me to learn more about the flavor and even play with some recipes!  (Recipes will be posted in a different color, so you can skip around to the recipes you want.)

My favorite are these Sakura Petit Eclairs:

My piping of the Pate a Choux isn't perfect, but these little fellas tasted divine!  

I used a standard pate a choux recipe - which is just bring to a light boil 1 cup water with 1 stick of unsalted butter, with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar.  When everything is dissolved and got a good bubbling simmer going, dump in 1 cup regular all purpose flour and stir quickly in one direction until it all comes together.  (You may - will - see a film on the bottom of your pot as you stir - don't worry, totally  normal, just ignore it, it's not even hard to wash off later).  Once the dough is smooth and well blended, dump it immediately into a stand mixer (or large bowl if you don't have a stand mixer) and beat with the paddle attachment on medium for 3-5 minutes (you want to get all the steam out).  Once the mixture has cooled down and vented all its steam, while you are still beating, add one large egg at a time, until you have added 4 eggs (you're shooting for 1 cup of eggs, so if you have jumbo eggs, you might only need 3, if you have med/small eggs, you might need 5 - when in doubt - double measure everything!)  Add each egg, one at a time, beating until thoroughly incorporated before adding the next egg.  

Once the last egg is beaten in and the dough is smooth and elastic, then you just scoop the dough into your piping bag (or a sturdy zip-lock style bag with the tip cut off)  and pipe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  (You should have your oven preheated to 400 for smaller eclairs/puffs and 450 for larger (full sized) ones)   Make sure to give them at least an inch or so on all sides, don't over crowd!  And the dough can be kept in the fridge over night if you want to mix it up and bake later.  Won't keep long, but at least a day, maybe two.  

Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on size you went with) and DO NOT EVER OPEN THE OVEN DOOR TO CHECK! You let the steaming out.   After 10-15 minutes, lower the oven to 350 and then bake for another 15-25 minutes (again, bigger eclairs take longer than smaller puffs).  Remove from oven and let cool.  At this point, take a chop stick, or something similar, and poke one hole in each end of every shell.  Can be frozen to be used later, or stored in an air tight container on your pantry shelf over night if you have a hard time completing a multi-step recipe in one evening.

I used a simple vanilla pastry cream for the filling, spiked with a touch of sour cherry cordial for a cherry-vanilla flavor.

Take 1 cup whole milk and 1 cup heavy cream and heat to a simmer over medium with a split vanilla bean.  Once simmer is reached, remove from heat and let sit for 15 minutes.  (Remove 1/2 cup of mixture and set aside)

In another bowl, wisk together 4 large egg yolks with 1/2 cup of sugar until well mixed, then add in a 1/3rd cup regular all purpose flour and a pinch of salt and wisk until well incorporated.  Add a little of the hot milk mixture into the egg mix and whisk until combined, this will temper the eggs and keep them from curdling in your custard.  Add a little more of the hot milk mixture and mix until combined.  Then scrape all the egg mixture back into the original pot with the milk mixture and mix until well blended, and turn the eye back on to medium-low, stirring constantly. When it starts to thicken, and big bubbles start to rise up in the center, it's almost pudding consistency and will only be another minute or two until it's done.  Remove from heat at that point.  After heat is removed, add 1 tbsp of cherry liqueur or cordial.  Transfer to another bowl/container, press plastic wrap down on top (to prevent a skin from forming) and refrigerate for at least a few hours, but best to do over night.  

When you're ready, you'll spoon this mixture into a piping bag, and pipe directly into the holes in the eclair/puff shells.

Lastly, I made a sakura sugar glaze.  

Very simple, if you can get sakura sugar, just put it in a food processor and blend until it has the consistency of powdered sugar.  For this small tray, I mixed 3 Tbsp of Sakura Sugar with 3 Tbsp of regular powdered sugar, and just a couple of drops of sour cherry cordial.  Then, you want to add *just* enough water (super small amounts, like 1/8th tsp or 1/4th tsp at a time) to make the sugar into a paste.  You don't want it too thin, or it won't show up it's color and it won't stick to the eclairs/puffs.  Dip the filled shells in the icing and let set.

DONE! 

I also found that a few recipes just weren't going to work without the sakura extract.  The sugar is great, and can be very flexible, but doesn't have the same strong concentration of flavor that would be needed to pull off certain recipes.  As an example, I wanted to make a Ramos Gin Fizz with sakura extract instead of orange blossom water.  Instead, I made a simple syrup with the sakura sugar.  It never imparted that subtle cherry blossom flavor to the cocktail, and the dried petals and leaves that wouldn't dissolve in the simple syrup left an unpalatable grit in the drink.  I could have filtered the simple syrup, but I didn't see the point in repeating the experiment as the flavor was just too soft to stand up to the gin base.

Instead, I worked out and came up with THIS cocktail instead!

This is my own Sakura Cocktail that I came up with:

1 oz Sour Cherry Cordial (I adore American Fruits' brand)
1 oz Elderflower Liqueur (like St. Germaine's, though I prefer Thatcher's) 
tiny dash of fresh lemon juice (just a bit for brightness)
Top with sparkling soda water (would probably be gorgeous with sparkling wine, but I haven't had any in the house)

At last night's Sakura themed revelry, there were also a couple of other traditional Japanese treats:

 the elfling has very clearly never cut sashimi before.

 sakura tea - thank you Mitsuwa Grogery, NJ!

And, of course, there was Sakura Jewelry, by Izile's Oddities.  

I hope wherever you all have been, and however you have spent this gorgeous weekend, even if you live in a place where there are no flowering cherry trees, that you've had a lovely weekend, enjoyed whatever flowers have found their way to you, and maybe try and new spring treat or drink!

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There are so many wonderful sakura items on etsy, it would take me forever to show you all my favorites.  

And, I know I've blogged about this company before, but, she is the ONLY shop on etsy that I have found that is selling anything that actually has cherry blossom FLAVOR in it!  There are a few that are cherry blossom decorated, or cherry flavored with a cherry blossom shape or color painted on, but the closest anyone has come is the Spring Celebration Cherry Blossom Green Tea cookies from Butter Blossoms

I've seen the Cherry Blossom Green Tea at Mitsuwa Marketplace in NJ, where I bought my own straight up Sakura Tea (they had plain - just preserved blossoms only, green tea - blossoms blended with green tea, and black tea - blossoms blended with black tea).  

So, that makes this the only item I've been able to find that might actually be able to share that taste of sakura flavor to the whole country, regardless of how close you are to a Japanese market or having friends in Japan willing to hunt and ship you stuff.  

April Showers and Beltane Beauties

I am in some pain this morning.  It's beautiful pain.  Well earned pain.  And I'm procrastinating going out and compounding it further, but it will happen.

Over the weekend got out in the garden and installed a little 3 x 30 chicken wire fence inside the already existing fence to 1) discourage critters that could fit through the regular chain link, and 2) give small vine seedlings something to cling on to for the first 18 inches.  I had help with the trench digging to bury the bottom wire, but still, lots of digging, moving soil, some moderate heavy (for me) lifting; and in the end of the day, a nice 3 mile long walk, because it's finally getting warm enough I can get outside like I want.  So yes, woke up this morning with my back, shoulders, and legs all jockeying for who wants to bitch the loudest this morning.  Still, once I'm settled and have had some food, I need to go back out in the yard and do some more basic maintenance, and maybe even walk another mile or so down to the nearby plant shop and see if there's anything I can go head and plant before the next big rain tomorrow (and again on Thursday - I do hope ONLY April is this wet, unlike last year when most of my garden drowned).

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Elsewhere on the internet, the FAE team is doing their monthly exhibit, gearing up for Beltane in May:

The Fantasy Artists of Etsy has really been growing the membership and the variety and workmanship of the items featured this month is really great!  Just click the banner to go see the new goodies!

Spring Trying Hard to Sprung

... and not quite making it.  We've had some gorgeous weather this week, having our first two days to hit 70; and for the next couple of days back to wet and 50s.

I've been trying to put together a really in depth Sakura Matsuri themed blog post for the upcoming season at Brooklyn Botanical Garden.  So far, I've made a Sakura necklace, and created a Sakura cocktail.  My Sakura Sugar Scrub might get scrapped as it just doesn't have enough scent, and I don't add fragrance oils or synthetics to my bath/body products.  I still want to nail down a really cool sakura dessert.  As I'm now in week 2 of unemployed land (though have had some very hopeful interviews which have left me uncharacteristically optimistic in the employment sector of my life), I do have time to try and work on these things.  It is a little problematic as I haven't been able to get any Sakura Extract.  The number of cherry blossom inspired recipes on pinterest has been really surprising!  Also, how many people bemoan the lack of ability to get the ingredients in order to make any of these treats.  Seems like most of them are only seasonal in Japan, and no international shipping.

I have a connection who has a connection who lives in Tokyo, and was able to find and mail me some Sakura Sugar, but they have not found any of the extract.  I even tried going to a couple of really specialty Japanese markets here in and around NYC, including the uber-market Mitsuwa just across the river in New Jersey.  No such luck.  At Mitsuwa, I was able to buy sakura mochi and jellies from their dessert counter to try and see if I even liked the flavor, but no ingredients or flavorings to do it myself were for sale in the market.  I asked once, they kind of laughed at me.  Oh, and as for the flavor?  Yes, I did like it very much!  It's a little like orange blossom in that it does taste a bit like orange, but also very floral.  That's the closest thing I can think of to compare it.

But, that's enough of that for now.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share this favorite recipe.  My Mom found it years ago in one of her Eating Well magazines, and quickly made it into regular spring/summer rotation:  Strawberry Mango Margarita Fruit Salad

It's amazingly delicious, simple, and relatively quick!  There's really not even much of a "recipe," really.  Just chop up a ripe mango, chop up enough strawberries to make up the ratio of mango to strawberry you'd like (you can try and do 50/50 like me, or if you like strawberries a lot more, do like 75/25 or vice versa if you prefer mangoes).  Mix with a Tbsp of regular sugar, (2 Tbsp at most to taste, if your fruit is a little green you'll need more than if it's very ripe).  Add the zest and juice of one lime, and lastly, stir in 1 1/2 Tbsp of Tequila Blanco, and 1 1/2 Tbsp of Triple Sec (or your favorite orange liqueur - Mom always had Grand Mariner on hand).  Stir stir stir.  Eat.  Lick the bowl.

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Completely unrelated, except for lots of bright colors, is a new favorite shop I've been watching on etsy, called The Purple Balloon.  They are based out of Greece, but international S&H on most items is about $4.00, so totally reasonable!  Add to that that items start at just over $12 USD, and these pieces are beautiful and affordable!  

The modern and colorful style of these pieces is due to a combination of skillful wire wrapping and treatments with brightly colored resins that produce effects like stained glass.  The pieces are so fun and light, I'm going to have to include more than just one example.  Here, at left, is a purple butterfly necklace, hovering over spring-green blades of grass. 

And then there are these bangle bracelets, at right.  The translucence of the resin allows for so much light to pass through that the colors come off as extra vibrant and alive!  The open spaces and simple wire wrapped lines gives it a super-modern kind of feel as well.   

Hopefully, these images will be enough for you to pop over and go look at the other 6 pages of goodies that fill her shop.    There's quite a selection of earrings, in particular, for the most of you who have pierced ears.  If I get one of these new jobs I'm interviewing for, I might have to see how hard it would be to change the hooks out to screw-backs.  Highly recommend for some spring browsing! 

Changes

. . . they are a comin'.  This week has had a few surprises.  On Monday, I was told due to the consolidation of offices, my position was becoming redundant, and I would no longer be needed after Friday.  In other words, back to being on the hunt for a new day-job.  (On the plus side, already had one fairly good interview on Wednesday, so that's promising).  Some of my coworkers have been really nice this week - been handing out lots of business cards, and one receptionist even bought my vintage amethyst earrings that I had on etsy until today.  And, it will give me some time to catch up on things with Izile's Oddities that have been slacking since I got sick a while back.

One of the things I hope to keep working on is the new From Faerie line.  I've already had one sale in that section, my new Unicorn Milk Bath (shown here).  And I have two more milk bath blends that need to be finished up, bottled and labeled.  There will be scrubs in the future as well.  Right now, for the salt scrubs, I'm taking my time and testing variations on some friends to get just the right texture of salts and sugars and just the right blend of oils.  I might come out with some uber-simple sugar scrubs in the meantime; I've been dreaming of both a brown sugar, honey, coffee scrub, and a sakura (cherry blossom) scrub as well.   - Just a note, I do plan to do a BIG Sakura post in the future, where I'll be featuring some sakura sweets and recipes as well as hopefully jewelry and a bath treat!!

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Another new surprise was I was invited to join a new etsy street team called Enchanted Etsy!  Runs a little parallel to the Fantasy Artists of Etsy that I'm already a member of, but seems to have a slightly different focus and a few different shops.

You can find the Facebook Fan Page for the street team at Enchanted Etsy and you can find goods sold by the members of Enchanted Etsy by searching "enchantedetsy" (one word) in the search bar at etsy.com

The organizer for this little group runs The Evergreen Nest, based out of South Carolina, and has a beautiful and eclectic assortment of candles, fairy crowns, hair clips, fairy-inspired earrings, miniature polymer sculptures, and even fairy nests!  I think the nests are one of the most adorable and unique items that she offers; and since it's even in her shop name; that's the item I'm going to plug today. (though I think you should go and check out everything else, as well!)

The fairy nests are sorted by color, and look like tiny birds nests filled with all sorts of fairy treasures.  The nests contain pretty buttons, bits of colorful ribbon and feather, vials of color coordinated fairy dust, and bits of quartz crystals.  I can definitely imagine this set out on an alter or windowsill to help attract the fae, or as one of the little fine touches to decorate a room you want to give a more fanciful treatment to.  She also offers the ability to custom order your own nest, if the color combo you want isn't currently available.

The group is new yet, and a lot of members haven't had a chance to get many of their items up on the "enchantedetsy" tag search - so keep going back and checking regularly to see what's new as more members find time to tag their items into the search!

Happy Vernal Equinox!!

The first day of spring, even when the wind still carries an icy blast, just knowing the sun has rounded that point makes it feel more tolerable.

What better way to celebrate spring then joining a bunny-themed spring blog hop! (like I did with the Snowflakes previously).  As you can see I have changed out the Follow the Snowflakes icon on the side bar to the Chase the Rabbit icon!  And a white rabbit at that, wherever might they lead you?  (Hop the link and go see!)

Small side note, I will be doing a Fairy Treasure Chest give-away on my Facebook Fan Page just as soon as I hit 300 fans (only need 3 more!)

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First, let me start by saying there is no shortage of rabbit-themed-ness on etsy.  If you're a fan of lagomorphs, you are in luck.  That stated, obviously I wasn't able to comb through even half of the results the search engine threw at me.  So, here's some of my favorites that I stumbled across.

Limey Ts caught my attention first with her fanciful and playful designs.  As shown in the picture here, this artistic feel combined with simple lines makes for a very charming item.  Also of note is that all the shirts are Eco-friendly, and hand printed with water based inks.  A bevy of other cute woodland creatures and sprays of botanical themes decorate just over 3 pages of shirts and prints.

And giving me a through-back and a chuckle from my childhood, Petimagery is home of hand painted pet rocks.  Shown here are their family of bunnies in a basket.  There's a good bit of detail to the works, and, as an added bonus, the artist does offer to paint custom pieces from photographs of actual pets.  She does do regular portraits as well, not all just on stone.

And if you like your rabbits a little darker, a little stranger, well then I think that Hi Horse - art by Andrice Arp might be more up your alley.  The picture shown here is just one of a few rather darker paintings of bunnies, or bunny-men or similar.  The art is compelling and has a definite feel of a bygone years.  There are a number of full-color pieces as well as a series of faux-woodblock prints of dead presidents as dogs. I think aside from the bunnies, the pieces featuring aliens are probably some of my favorite, they remind me of the old sci-fi alien horror movies of the 50s.

It's the Ides again!

Alright, fair warning, I'm in a bit of an odd mood this morning.  I've been working on the From Faerie bath line, mailing out samples of body scrubs to some of my "test monkeys" to better fine tune the product.  I've also just revamped an original that needs no testing.  Hopefully I'll finish the label and have the first one up on etsy this weekend.  Returning to my favorite, Fairy Milkmaid Bath Soak.  However, will have to rename it, as this batch has no thyme and no marigold petals (garden is still in torpor); instead it's got half a whole vanilla bean in there, slowly infusing away into the buttermilk, shea butter and super fine salts for a super-lux, moisturizing, and vitamin rich bath.

I also need to work on more jewelry, I did just list up the earrings that will be for April's Birthstone Sale (I couldn't afford to do real diamond jewelry, so I'm using White Topaz instead.)  Reminder, or for those of you who might have missed it, every month Izile's Oddities puts items made with the birthstone of that month on sale, 20% off.  Currently, in March, the aquamarine Snow Princess ring sold quickly, but there's still a Magic Vial Pendant made with aquamarines marked down for the next 2 weeks.  Then, in April, the pictured earrings will be marked down 20% - and, I'm pacing waiting for a small packet of *tiiiny* raw real diamonds to show up for one April diamond Magic Vial Pendant, as well.

Oh, and for those of you who don't follow my FB fan page (though you should) I've decided that when I hit 300 likes on FB, I'm going to do another little giveaway.  This time, the winner will get their choice of OOAK Miniature Fairy Treasure Chests, complete with surprise "treasure" inside!  (Pictures on my FB page HERE )

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OK, as for the weird mood.  (Just been persistent ever since I got sick a couple of weeks ago.  I'm mostly OK, just still a lingering cough and this weird energy drain.  Though, that could also be because I cut out caffeine while I was sick).

I've been on a "snackies" kick.  But, it's easy to get bored or not find what you want - but not know how to really articulate what that might be.  So, I'm on this new beta-test of this website Graze.com, where they mail you at regular intervals little snack boxes with a mix of about 4 different mixes of healthy munchies randomly selected from your list of approved snacks for $5.  It's neat, and I'm digging it, but some of the things they make, I'd just like to keep a big ol' bag of in the house all the time, and good luck with that.

So I've been poking through to see what snackies might be available on etsy.  Healthy Treat - dried fruit and fruit jerky has some interesting products that are well off the path of plain, boring, apple chips.  For example, these dried pineapples glazed with honey and coconut.  And, no preservatives and no sugar-coated non-sense!  One of my favorite snack combos so far from Graze is the pina colada mix which is plain dried mango, pineapple and large flaked coconut.  Finding dried pineapple without a crunchy sugar glaze (ick) and rice big flakes of coconut aren't the easiest things to find.  This is almost half-way there!

 There's also other fruits glazed with other fruits; like slices of mango with raspberry puree swirled on top, or pineapple with strawberry.  There's also a huge selection of homemade fruit leathers, even available in brightly colored mixes and patterns!

And now I've made myself hungry and lunch isn't until 2.  crap.  DAMN THE CURSED IDES OF MARCH! (because going all morning snackless is just as bad as being stabbed to death by your Senate)

Herbal Health

So, I've been down for a good week with a nasty sinus infection that is finally on its way out.  I really hate those things, I've had chronic sinusitis most of my life, so they're almost inevitable, that I'll have at least one, normally two, a year.

So, I thought it might be a good idea to just talk a bit today, as I catch up with my blogging and such, to address herbs and oils that can be helpful.  I do not advise that if you have sever sinus infections that you ever opt to forego traditional medications, particularly those prescribed by a doctor, in favor of herbal remedies; but, there are a lot of herbal treatments that can be added to your regimen to help you feel better.

And, of course, since I always promote shops and sellers of etsy with every post, that will be the theme for my plugs today.

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I always try and pick new shops to plug with each post, but sometimes shops I've already plugged deserve a shout-out.  So, quickly, I would like to say my sick days consisted drinking a lot of Dryad Tea, especially her Rubiee mix (elderberries are supposed to be great for the immune system).

Also, Black Phoenix Trading Post has a massage oil that I like to use in place of commercial Vick's Vapor rub (that has turpentine and petrolatum in it!) called UGH! (I'm linking to their official website because there is currently very little for sale in their etsy shop, which is HERE) I also enjoy using some of their more medicinally soothing bath oils in the bath and shower to steam in the botanical oils.  (I have a limited edition oil that's largely citrus and peppermint, it opened up my sinuses *quite* well.  Though, from their regular, always available line, I'd suggest Intensity, with lemongrass, pink grapefruit, cypress, basil, sandalwood, and ginger.

There's a lot of shops on etsy with some good looking herbal treatments for sinus, allergies and colds.  Personally, I have never had any success with the shower melts, and bath bombs tend to only be effective if they are exceptionally packed with lots of oils and botanicals, and even then, they don't always last as long as a good solid dose of pure bath oil in the water.

One place that did catch my attention was Dragonfly Herbs.  The shop offers both a Cough/Sore Throat Syrup and an Elderberry Syrup.  My absolute least favorite parts of these infections is when they try and make a run for the lungs.  And with my particular stomach sensitivities, I can rarely ever use conventional cough lozenges (even all natural ones), they just make me insanely nauseous.  These syrups, however, sound very promising.  And for only $5 for a 4oz bottle, it's worth experimenting!

The cough/sore throat syrup is a blend of organic herbs like peppermint, thyme, mullein and marshmallow in a base of raw honey.  The written recommendations say safe for anyone over 1 year old, for up to 2-3 times a day.

The elderberry syrup, which could be used as much as an immune boosting preventative as a treatment, (as stated above, elderberries are supposed to be very healthful!) and contains organic elderberries, rosehips (super high in vit C!) also in a base of raw honey.  Same size, same cost, and same directions as the above syrup.

The rest of the shop is loaded with all sorts of great herbal items, all 100% natural, no chemical or artificial additives, colors or oils.  There's some great selections of aromatherapy items, like candles and perfumes as well.  Currently, the shop also is running a "Get 10% off with the purchase of 10 or more items."

Ides of February

Well, little past it, actually. . . but anyway.

Hope everyone survived their Valentine's Day, or Lupercalia celebrations.

I admit, I've been in a bit of a funk this week, and had lots of frustrations in almost every aspect of my life.

So, this week, we're keeping it simple.

Giving a shout out to all my fellow fantasy artists over at FAE and hoping you'll all take a moment and go check out this month's exhibit:  Toadstools and Trinkets.  We've got a whole lot of new members this year, which means we've got new styles and ideas and . . . thingies. .. that we've never had before!  Help welcome in our new members by sharing a heart or a fav on their shops!