Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Out of yesterday's chore list, I managed to do everything except package soap.  I finished a rug I have been working on.  I love the colors in this one.

Today's chore list included: Cutting up and processing sheets. Harold and I went to a graduation party on Saturday and stopped at a couple of garage sales on the way down. I found lots of sheets. Anna also found me some on Sunday. I washed them all yesterday. I like to get them ready for cutting before I store them.  I love the colors in the stack on the left so I am keeping those together for a pink and turquoise rug.

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Evening update:
Oh, my aching back.  It has been a looooooong day.
I managed to get everything done that was on my chore list.
I made a batch of Lavender today.  For once I will wait to cut it because I won't be home tomorrow.  I'm excited to see how this one will turn out.  I did the bottom layer in pale lavender with purple jojoba beads sprinkled in.  The top layer is white with lavender and purple swirls.

I packaged up and weighed the rest of the Hunter's Green scent masking soap.



I also packaged the Lavender and Old Lace.  I did a little more straightening in the dungeon.

I am finishing the last of the 10 stockings that I need to take down to Nina's tomorrow.  When that is done, it's PJ time in the big chair with my library book.

Friday, June 7, 2013 - Lavender and Lemongrass soap.

It seems to be either feast or famine with my blog posts.  I actually like to blog, but there are so many things I like to do and so little time.  Yesterday I tried something different for one of my old soap recipes.  I love to blend fragrances and during the summer, Lavender and Lemongrass are my absolute favorite blends.  In the past, this soap has had a rather lackluster appearance.  Lemongrass fragrance oil results in a kind of dull translucent soap.  I decided to add Titanium Dioxide to the main batch before separating into colors.  I love how this turned out!  I did a video of this batch.  I have a new camera and while the video is much better, it takes hours to upload.

I also finished a praire rug today.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Still pluggin along getting inventory ready for our fall shows.  Because yesterday was Memorial Day, I did not make soap.  I spent the day down with my daughters and 3 of the grandkids.  We went to a parade in Sheridan, went to lunch, and hit up a few garage sales.  It was just fun hanging out together.

Today I made some more electric grubbies, some more tarts, more candles, and soap scented with Fairy Tales.

I am using some new soap colorants.  The company I first bought my micas from is out of business and I have been having trouble finding soap stable colorants.  I found some liquid ones that I tried out in the soap above.  Because the soap is called Fairy Tales, I kept the colors soft. 

Word of the day: 

Tuesday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time

Saint(s) of the day : St. Mother Orsola (Giulia) Ledóchowska (1865 - 1939)  

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10:28-31.

Peter began to say to Jesus, "We have given up everything and followed you.»
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and (the) last will be first."

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

First of all, Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter, Nina!   Love you, Neener Beaner!!
Spent yesterday feeling pretty darn yucky.  It's frustrating because I had great plans to catch up on some things.  But that's okay.  I'm better today.  Not 100%, but at least I can get some things done.

In the spirit of always thinking a season ahead, I made some Valentine soap scented with rose/geranium.  Some are heartshaped and some are slices.  Haven't taken a pic of them yet. 

I also made some tealights for our Etsy shop and for the website.
Here are the Valentine Tealights

 And these are the spring and summer tealights.  They are so much fun to make.  AND Melisa found a ton of tealights at a very good price!!

Well, back to work for me.  Have a great day everyone!!

 

Word of the day:
The Holy Innocents, martyrs - Feast
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 2:13-18.

When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, "Out of Egypt I called my son."
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Madison and Meghan were here today. When Madison is here, she always checks the spot where I set new soap and she discovered a new batch of Honey, Oats, and Milk. She loves to hold a cupcake and sniff it. It's very comical because she does this many times during the morning. This morning she went home with another couple of bath fizzies to share with Meghan Mae and a packet of peanut M&Ms to share with Mama and Daddy.

                                     
I cut yesterday's batch of Cider Mill and I'm planning to make some Pumpkin Spice soap later today. The house smells sooooooo good right now.  Here is the cider mill.  It looks a bit different from the last batch.

             

Word of the day:
Wednesday of the Twenty-third week in Ordinary Time
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:20-26.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

Making Honey, Oats,and Milk Cold Process Goat Milk Soap

I am still queasy about seeing myself on video, but in the interest of showing the soapmaking process, I put aside my misgivings.

Thursday of the Twenty-first week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day : St. Louis, King of France (1215-1270)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 24:42-51.

Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household to distribute to them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.
Amen, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is long delayed,'
and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with drunkards,
the servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

 

Monday, August 15, 2011

I am SO pathetic. The new purse I bought was too small so I made a new one. LOL!  That bottom center panel is a pocket.  There is a matching one on the back.  and 2 on the inside.  Like I said, I'm pathetic. Hahaha

 I packaged up the Maple Syrup festival soap set, made another lamp, some Harvest Home Grungy Candles,

and grunged another candlestick for another lamp.  Anna needs to cut me some cigar bands for the Maple Syrup festival and then I will take pics.  I'm planning to make some vanilla soap tonight, but we will see.  VBS last week put me a bit behind on housework.

Madison and Meghan were here this morning.  Madison can say "Moeggenborg" now.  Meghan is pulling herself up on the furniture.  That one will be walking early.  Madison has learned how to turn the the CD player and is quite proud of herself.  She loves to listen to the same CD over and over again.

Now I'm off to make some more stockings.  Anna has just about caught up with me.


Word of the day:
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Solemnity
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1:39-56.
During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."
And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.
He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy,
according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

First of all, I want to wish a very happy birthday to Kelli!!
It is humid and warm again. It was nice to have a couple of days' relief from the heat, though.

I made soap today. I've been wanting to do a series of family heritage type soaps. The one I did today is called. "I Remember Mama" It's scented with rose geranium. When I smell roses I always think of my mother. Her favorite flowers were actually gladioli, but she used to use gycerine and rosewater on her hands.

Here is a pic of them in the molds. I wanted the peach color to be more rose, but now I think I like this better. I found some rosebuds to put on top.

 Tonight is quilting night!!! Woo hoo!!

Update:  I finally got around to making a YouTube video.  It's been almost 2 months!  Where has the summer gone?



I also made two batches of laundry soap today.  Here is the recipe I use:
1 cup grated lard and lye soap  (guess you know what kind I use.)
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1 old laundry detergent bucket with lid (should hold at least 2 1/2 gallons.)
I measure out 2 gallons of water ahead of time in milk jugs that I've saved.  I pour about a quart of water in a stock pot (which I reserve just for making soap) and add the shredded soap.  I heat that until the soap shreds are melted.  Then I add the other ingredients and stir till dissolved. I pour that into the old detergent bucket and stir.  I then add the rest of the water - stir and set aside to gel.   You can just scoop it out of the bucket if you want, but I like to pour mine into old clean milk jugs so I can just pour it into the washer.  I use 1/2 cup for most loads and 1 cup for greasy farm clothes.  In the picture is part of the first batch I made. You can see that the jug on the right has emulsified.  Wish I knew how I did that.  The other 2 will need to be shaken each time I use the soap.  The fourth jug went home with Howard so Colleen can try it.  This soap is low sudsing so it works in those new front load washers. For fabric softener I add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the bleach dispenser in my washer.  You could also use one of those Downy dispensers.

 I don't always use the liquid soap.  Sometimes I just throw some soap shreds (about 1/4 cup loosely packed) in the washer and add a tablespoon each of baking soda, borax, and washing soda.  


Word of the day:
Thursday of the Seventeenth week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day : Sts. Nazarius and Celsus, Martyrs (1st century), St. Victor, Pope and Martyr († 198)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13:47-53.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Do you understand all these things? They answered, "Yes."
And he replied, "Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old."
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Well , I didn't get everything on my list done yesterday. The laundry is still waiting to be folded. And I didn't get any stockings made. I did get a batch of Peppermint Bath Fizzies made.  I also had enough left over to make some foot soak fizzies.  Remember the blueberry fizzies I made the other day.  Pftttt!  They fizzed on me. 

Today I made a batch of fizzies scented with Honey Blossom.  They smell wonderful.  I got a lot of packaging done and some things listed on Artfire and on the website.

Word of the day:
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus - Solemnity
Feast of the Church : The Sacred Heart of Jesus, solemnity
Saint(s) of the day : Bl. Antonio Rosmini, Priest, Founder of the Institute of Charity (1797-1855), St. Gal, Bishop (c. 489-553)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 11:25-30.

At that time Jesus said in reply, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."