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!

A Product Review - Marshmallows

First, before I get to the meat of my post, I want to just post a small update for Izile's Oddities, during the last few days of the "Love2" coupon code sale for 20% off all items at Izile's!

I went to go see one of my "gem guys" in the city to fill a custom order I was building, and while there, I asked him about a new supply he had of pure flaked gold and silver. He didn't know much about them, so let me have a deal on one of each so I could experiment. So, I've started a very limited run of Magic Vial jewelry that is experimenting with both precious metal flakes.

At left we have "Gold Sun" which is 24K gold flake with jelly fire opal.

And at right, a pair of earrings (I know I don't make many) with pure silver flake and herkimer diamonds (one each).

Right now, both are bottled in the same fluids they were packed in, not my normal all natural oil. Next will be to take small amounts of the flakes and see how they last in my normal oil base. (The gold isn't kept in oil at all, it was some form of alcohol; and I'm assuming the oil the silver was packaged in was mineral oil.) If both react OK to my normal oil, then I can start incorporating them in my normal Magic Vials which also contain herbs and flowers as well as more gemstones.

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Now! On to the review! So, just last week I blogged about Vengeance is Sweet and their marshmallows. Well, the owner was kind enough to send me some as a thank you and they were more amazing than I could have guessed! I got a package of the Love Potion mini marshmallows with strawberry puree and X-Rated Fusion Liqueur. They didn't taste "alcoholic" with a very strong bite, but at the same time, the distinctive flavor of X-Rated was clearly present. I also liked the occasion pop of a real strawberry seed. They are *big* bags, and are made when you order, shipped flat-rate priority to get there ASAP, and it is totally worth the S&H. Last night I took the bag with me to a birthday party for a friend and passed them around, even gave one to the bartender and a few curious strangers after explaining how to find her on etsy. Everyone was really surprised! Many people had never had a real, fresh, marshmallow, only the stale dry ones you buy at the grocery store, and they were really shocked to taste and feel the difference! Eyes also got kind of large when I mentioned that these were her "mini-mallows" because they are still really nicely sized cubes. You could probably fit one in your mug of hot cocoa if you have a big mug.

I will note, if you haven't devoured them all in a few days, they do start to get a little sticky with lots of contact with humid air (we're very humid right now in NYC). But this is in no way unpleasant, or damages the flavor or texture. Just a note to not be surprised if the nice dry finish they come with doesn't last more than 4-5 days. After all, these are fresh, handmade and do not contain chemicals and preservatives like the big white round ones that would last after the nuclear holocaust.

Oh, and her 10% off coupon is also still running!!

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Now, since I already blogged about Vengeance is Sweet once, I do feel like I need to plug yet another etsy seller to keep up with my promise that I'll promote a different and new etsy seller with every blog post I make. But that's a hard act to follow, so I actually went and looked at the favorites list of Vengeance is Sweet to see who they had listed on their favorites list. Well, the favorites are private, so I went to look at their circles instead. It's a kinda similar concept.

And I found Moni Candles! I love the "rusty shabby chic" as she puts it in her description, and natural beeswax and soy options are always a bonus! But, the all natural beeswax is always a favorite of mine, I love the fact they're dye free and have a natural scent of light, warm honey. She also has these really lovely kind of wide shallow bowl shaped candles that look absolutely lovely with a wide variety of colors and scents in soy wax. Definitely worth the time for a quick browse!

Long Time Coming

Yay! I updated my etsy shop last night. Know it's been long delayed. And, with lots of Magic Vials themed around love charms, just in time for the next holiday!

I currently have both a soft pink Magic Vial - Love and Light which with rhodochrosite and rose quartz is based more on the idea of self love, healing and comfort for $12; as well as the more traditional Magic Vial - Love Charm (left), with rubies and rainbow moonstone for love, romance, and passion for $20; for the creatives, Magic Vial - Artist's Heart, with garnet and opal for creativity, passion, communication and friendship for $16; and lastly, another Magic Vial - Lil Love, with rubies and freshwater pearls in my smallest vial for all the best qualities of passion and purity in a tiny package for $12.00

Also, now is the time if you want any custom love charms made for your significant other to send me a note!

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I admit, my own V'day is not going to be very traditional. But I am lucky! My boss is letting me off two hours earlier so I can go to a Bourbon and Bacon tasting in Manhattan with my sister! Mmmm, Bourbon and Bacon!! Who needs flowers and candy?

So, this year, searching etsy, I decided what to see was out there for "Anti Valentines," because it can be a bugger of a holiday for a lot of people. (Another small self plug - charms like the "Love and Light" can be given to oneself, or could be given to a friend or family member who's been having a rough time of it. OK, last plug for me.)

Witch City Wicks grabbed my attention right off the bat with her Anti-Valentine's Day "Tainted Love" Candle. I love the skull and crossbones label against the pink candle. Not only that, but the scent sounds great! From the description: "will mend your broken heart with an incredible mixture of orange & grapefruit, cherry blossom, hydrangea, apple and peach." Yum! But, if you like the sound of the scent, but aren't so big on pink, or skulls, the exact same candle is made in a lavender color with a different label, sans skull. And, did I mention all her candles are all natural soy wax? Bonus!

Of course, her shop is full of lots of other scents of candles as well, if you're not in the "tainted love" kind of mood. Chocolate Wine might be a good scent to try for those more into the modern interpretation of a fertility festival. (Hey, there you go, anti-V-day people! How about we do like Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab does every year and bring back Lupercalia?)

Working Smarter, not Harder

It's a goal at any rate. But see! I'm trying to blog more regularly again. I think the secret to cramming in everything is going to be in multi-tasking. (also, how much can I get done during my lunch hour and breaks at the day job?) I admit, out of all the balls I'm trying to keep in the air, my etsy shop is suffering the most this summer, and I kick myself almost daily about that, but still haven't had time to just sit down for a few straight hours and craft, and photograph and upload, etc.

My mint is finally starting to run (was able to put some orange mint in my homemade sweet tea last night) and the garden, though late, is looking good (except for the okra, didn't think okra would like Brooklyn). And I'm excited to make a piece with the pineapple mint which is bi-colored!

I also want to start curing some salts for more From Faerie products. I haven't been able to procure more Himalayan pink salts for a rate I can afford, but I do have plenty of Dead Sea Salts and Epsom Salts. And my homemade vanilla sugar is just about cured to the point where I could make more Green Woman Sugar Scrub; though I wasn't able to get chocolate mint for my garden, so this incarnation might either have straight spearmint or I might see how the orange or pineapple mint combines with it. I know pineapple isn't exactly a Celtic scent, but it does smell lovely and I bet it would blend well with the vanilla sugar! Yum!

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Think I know what to search on etsy for, then :-) "pineapple mint."

And the Frisky Bumblebee from Nashville, TN has a Pineapple Mojito line of products! Swank! They have olive oil based hand lotion, hand soap and even a soy candle in a bright blend of Pineapple, Mint and Cilantro! As an added bonus, there's free shipping in the continental U.S.!

If you fancy one of their other scents, you can find cleansers, scrubs, body sprays and even what they dub their "massage gloss" which can be applied straight to the skin, into the bath water, or right after a shower; and the sound of the lemongrass coconut milk sounds lovely (and also makes me want Thai food. mmmm. lunch time)

and with that digression, my lovelies, I leave you to browse this foodie-inspired bath, body and home shop and go to find my own lunch.

More on Japan Aid

I'm not really changing theme from my last blog post, I know, but I found another shop that had a listing to support the Japanese earthquake relief fund that I really wanted to plug.

Double Brush, based out of Hawaii, on the big island, by the way, is offering a 6 piece set of handrolled beeswax candles made to look like sushi. And, of course, 100% of the proceeds go to the Hawaiian Red Cross for the Japan relief fund.
Besides the listing for charity donation, this husband and wife team make a wide varity of beeswax and soy wax candles (in many more styles of sushi, and non-sushi styles as well), as well as soap, solid perfumes and other crafty goodness. It's a cute shop and the photography staging is well done and playful. Makes it fun to look over the 5 pages of stock.

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EDITED TO ADD:

For those who skip the comments, Double Brush was kind enough to extend a 15% off coupon to my readers: "save 15% off of your total order off of anything from our DoubleBrush.etsy.com store by using coupon code FavoriteMarch31 upon checkout. Valid till the end of this month. Thanks again!"

None of your . . .

Yesterday I ended up at the Union Square green market, as I somehow often end up at when I don't know where I'm going, and I ended up buying some small holiday gifts from the apiarist there. We've got more honey in this house than we can eat before the end of the world in 2012 (ha ha, I'm kidding, joke people). However, I was recently looking for some specific candle type of things and decided to try the 100% beeswax candles they sold as a byproduct of keeping bees. (And now, enter Eddie Izzard's voice in my head as he does his "I wanna keep bees" routine.)

Basically, I'm just doing etsy plugs today and that's my little meandering intro into why I started searching "beeswax"on etsy.

Besides the warm honey-ish smell of real beeswax candles, I also love the handmade and natural honeycomb look and texture of this style of taper.

No other etsy seller caught my attention in this field quite like Sunflower Candles. All of their candles are handmade from 100% natural beeswax.

Besides your standard, natural color beeswax tapers (pictured left) they offer a wide variety of heights, widths and shapes. ("Teensy Tapers" to "Tubby Tapers" as well as square, pyramid and even solstice tree shapes.) But their variety of colors and patterns is what really set them apart. She shop shows 14 different pattern variations (13 and 14 and pictured to the right.)

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Of course, if you prefer a more sculptural candle made of dense, solid beeswax, then PeaceBlossom's Pure Beeswax Candles would be my top recommendation. These candles might be too pretty to burn! And the variety of shapes and sizes is really amazing. Most of their designs fall into two categories, shaped candles with sculptured details (like the pillar with a phoenix on it pictured to the left) or a free formed sculpture that stands alone without any candle shape underneath (such as the cat candle to the right).

And if you're an animal lover, don't worry, they've got dogs, mice, rabbits, elephants, frogs, and I could keep on going.

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I had also wanted to feature another use of beeswax, besides candles, I even bought one from the stall yesterday, but I cannot remember the name of it, so I'm having a hard time finding any on etsy. They are solid molded beeswax, and are fairly large (4-6" in diameter), and flat. They are almost like giant beeswax Christmas tree ornaments, except the woman selling them said you hang them in windows, where the light of the sun can warm them up a bit, and they release the natural smell of the beeswax and make the room smell nice.

If someone knows the name of these things, or if someone on etsy is selling them, feel free to leave a comment and correct me on this bit.

Otherwise, go browse these shops, or search etsy for other handmade beeswax goodies (I didn't even touch the huge bath/body market that uses beeswax!)