Happy New Year!

Wow, it's been quite a ride through 2011. And now that things are winding down a bit, there is time for quiet contemplation. What to do better this year. What not to do at all. Dreams, goals, vacations, business - there is much to plan.

What I'm most grateful for is my amazing customers, who are so loyal, kind, supportive and inspirational. I continue to do this business just for all of you.

Best wishes for a new year of health, happiness, fun and adventure.

Happy 2012!

P.S. Look for my big Winter Sale. I'm loading up the sale page this weekend and will have it ready to go by Monday.

Winter Solstice

Endings and beginnings.

Today is the first day of winter, the Winter Solstice, and the shortest day of the year. So I guess as of yesterday, fall is officially over. It feels like it's already been winter. I can't really imagine that I've already listened to a bazillion Christmas carols and it's only been fall.

What I am ready for however, is more light. With today being the shortest day, I am totally ready for the return of longer days and more minutes of sunlight each day, starting tomorrow.

The other thing that's ended, is the mail ordering in time for Christmas. I think the window is closed as of today. Thankfully, the orders have slowed down now. There was one last blitz over the weekend, and I sort of felt a sense of relief on Monday as I headed home from the post office. But it was short-lived. I came home to a couple of messages and more in the inbox. But it's slowing down.

I could really use a breather from all the rush rush bustle bustle. Unfortunately we've got the big event in a couple of days, so there is the finishing up of shopping, prepping the feasting, baking the cookies, getting the house ready, the gift wrapping. Oy. So many to do lists...

Santa, I would like a little less doing and lot more celebrating and relaxing.

Shows this Week: Dec 1 - 4

Racing along on my little hamster wheel over here, trying to keep it all together. This season is always such a rush, rush, rush.

There are a couple more shows this week - Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach and Phinney Ridge Winter Festival. Details below:

Warm Beach Camp sets up their gigantic light display (over a million lights!) every year with entertainment stages, fresh hot donuts, carolers, gift shops and the works set up all month. It opens Thursday, Dec 1st.

Dates: Thurs thru Sun Dec 1-4, 8-11, Thurs thru Christmas Eve 15-23, Mon - Wed 26-28.

Hours: are 5pm to 10pm. There is an admission charge and you can buy tickets online from the site. Check there for more info on everything, including driving directions.

Address: Warm Beach Camp, 20800 Marine Dr., Stanwood

I set that up yesterday and it is really starting to look good. I can't wait to go back myself and see it all lit up. I am definitely going out there again this year to see it. So gorgeous!

Phinney Neighborhood Center's Winter Festival

Dates: Sat and Sun, Dec 3-4
Hours: 10am - 5pm both days
Address: Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Ave N, Seattle

One of my very favorite shows to do every year! If you are looking for unique and handmade gifts for the holidays, this is the place to go. There are so many wonderful artists here. There is an admission fee - $2 for PNA members and $4 for the general public. There are treats, fresh wreaths, entertainment too. So looking forward to this. PLEASE NOTE: I'm in a different spot than usual this year. I'll be upstairs in the Blue Building, on the top floor in the big room (Room 7). It's a smaller space and I have to hand carry my goods up a flight of stairs, but it's worth it.

Next week I'll be back at Group Health in my little shop space (Dec 7 - 9). Also Allied Arts in Bellingham is ongoing throughout the whole month of December and I'm restocking there weekly - it looks great this year. And for those of you looking for me at Group Health in Bellevue - I think we have the date of Mon Dec 19th set up to do a last minute holiday show over there.

For those of you who like to shop from home - the mail order is bananas this year. I'm keeping up with orders and they are shipping out usually the next day. Nothing is officially sold out yet, but with all these shows, inventory is getting low in spots, so I don't recommend waiting til the last minute.

Pedal to the Metal

Petal to the medal. Or testing my mettle.

It feels like I've been sitting on my butt in the car for an astronomical amount of hours the last couple of weeks. And there's a whole lot more of that to come. I really hate traffic.

Every single day there is another set-up or tear-down of a show. Shlep, shlep, shlep.

This is the hard part of the year. Luckily it is short. And seems to go by fast.

Unluckily, it's also the time of year you might want to slow down a little, so you can enjoy the holidays, celebrations, events with family and friends. And to do some of the fun stuff people do. Like baking, decorating, shopping. I was going to say crafting. Because I always love to play around and make hand-crafted holiday presents. But right now, just the word "craft" makes me squeemy.

Carry on.

Holiday Shows: Week Nov 14

Hi all. Quick post about the holiday shows happening this week. There's 3 - Allied Arts in Bellingham, Vasa Park and Best of the Northwest. Details below.

Allied Arts of Whatcom County - Holiday Festival of the Arts ( LINK)

We're setting up now, but it officially starts Friday. It's a gallery style show, in the same location as the last couple of years. And it runs through Christmas Eve. So much great stuff there, and lovely handmade holiday gifts.

Dates: Nov 18 - Dec 24
Hours: Wed through Sundays, 10am - 6p,.
They will also be open Monday and Tuesday, December 20th and 21st for last minute shopping before Christmas. The Festival will close at 3pm on December 24th
Location: 3548 Meridian St, south of Bellis Fair

Vasa Park Christmas Craft Show

Dates: Nov 16 - 18
Hours: Thurs - Fri 10am - 7pm, Sat 10am - 5pm
Location: Vasa Park Ballroom, 3560 W Lake Sammamish Pkwy SE, Bellevue

Best of the Northwest - NW Art Alliance

This is a fine art show, filled with 250 artist displays, entertainment, a wine tasting garden, food, a big day of fun. Really, you shouldn't miss this one, it's wonderful. Artists come from all over the Pacific Northwest to showcase here. There is simply nothing else like it.

Dates: Nov 17 - 19
Hours: Fri and Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm
Location: Smith Cove Terminal, the cruise ship terminal under the Magnolia Bridge in Seattle.

LINK: for discounted tickets, parking info, directions, lists of participating artists, entertainment guide etc., it's all there.

Eleven.Eleven.Eleven.

Today is some sort of freak binary date. The last time it happened, November 11, 1911, temperatures in the U.S. fell a jaw-dropping 60 degrees over the course of a single day, causing blizzards and tornadoes. But this time around? Everyone is getting married today.

And celebrating our Veterans too.

I don't have anything auspicious planned. Just working on soap business. And waiting for this big storm to hit us later today, with a big cold front, giant winds and rain expected. Hopefully the weather won't be as bad as last time.

Also I'm updating my web site a little bit. It truly needs so much updating - it's old, tired and un-interesting. Much like myself lately. But come January, or sooner if I get some time to sit in front of my blinking screen, I am going to make it look more like this decade. With better links, more photos, colorful whatnots. No IPhone apps or flash plug-ins, just a fresher look. Gotta keep it fresh or it's over y'all. Damn those technologies and social media - it's always racing so far ahead.

Echo Falls this week

Just a reminder - I'm participating in the Starving Housewives show out at Echo Falls this week. It runs through Saturday so there's still time to check it out.

Dates: Nov 8 - 12.
Hours: Tues - Friday, 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm
Location: Echo Falls Country Club, 20414 – 121st Ave SE
(Maltby) Snohomish

Lots of great Christmas gift stuff there, and antique/collectibles too. Plus home decor to get your place in the holiday spirit.

Next week we set up the Allied Arts show in Bellingham. I'll be at Vasa Park in Issaquah, and the great big beautiful Best of the Northwest show at the cruise ship terminal in Magnolia. More details on those 3 shows to come soon.

The week after that is Thanksgiving, and I'm not at any shows - just catching a breath and getting ready for the huge December blitz which starts immediately after the holiday weekend. So if you're shopping in November, check me out at one of the above shows . . .

Winter Holiday Newsletter 2011

As I always do here, I'm posting the Winter Holiday 2011 newsletter that just went out in both snail mail and email formats today. Plus one link that takes you directly to the Seasonal Products page on the website where everything discussed below is for sale with photos, longer descriptions and ingredient info. Whoop-de-doo - the season is upon us!

All the Seasonal goodies here!

WE HAVE ONLY THIS MOMENT, SPARKLING LIKE A STAR IN OUR HAND AND MELTING LIKE A SNOWFLAKE.
- FRANCIS BACON, SR.

Dear Friends,

Spring is spontaneous, Summer is carefree, but Winter is the season of traditions, bringing us back to family, friends, and rituals as comfortable as a favorite sweater.

We excitedly look forward to this time of year, filled with happy celebrations, holidays and comforts that we’ve waited months for. Cooking up heirloom recipes, unpacking beloved decorations, treating ourselves to special goodies – we wrap ourselves up warmly in winter traditions, usually by a crackling fire.

In keeping with our own traditions here at Soapworks Studio, we’re bringing back some of the most favorite Winter Holiday treats over the years. Inspired by this magical season comprised of single moments as fleeting as snowflakes, we’ve also created a few fresh winter wonderful gifts and goodies to share right now.

As the holidays get closer, the gift lists grow longer. Since we’re all still tightening our belts and pinching pennies in this economy, instead of exchanging piles of “stuff,” we all seem to be looking for gifts of simplicity and meaning in a cost effective way. Handmade items that are both useful and use-able make perfect sense. Soapworks Studio’s little gifts of soap and bath goodies are the perfect fit. All locally handmade and reasonably priced, there is something for everyone on your holiday gift list.

Holiday Seasonal Soaps

This Winter Holiday season we are featuring some of your most requested soap fragrances, back by popular demand. Some folks have been waiting all year (or longer!) for these to reappear on the list. How nice it is to have a little stash of treats on the shelf waiting for you, or to share something you love with a friend. ($4.25 each or 4 bars for $16.00)

Ponderosa Pine – The perfect winter day is spent outside in a lush Northwest forest – skiing, hiking, or searching for that magical Christmas tree. The fresh pine and fir needles, balsam spruce, juniper berries, woodsmoke and newly fallen snow transport you right into the woods. A lovely green bar, this will be a hit with your nature-loving friends or the discerning men on your list.

Sleigh Ride - One whiff of this scent and nostalgic scenes of horse-drawn sleighs with children bundled in blankets, jingling through snow covered fields and forests dance through your imagination. An enchanting blend of green apple, peppermint, clove and orange is crisp, tingly, fresh and yet reminiscent of holiday spices and treats.

Cinnamon Cedar - Warm, earthy cedarwood is the perfect base for a cinnamon soap. The finished scent is cinnamon stick all the way. Simple and true, it’s all cinnamon spice, the quintessential scent of the holiday season. Men will love it. Women will adore it. Kids won’t be able to put it down either – don’t let the dog get it! (100% natural soap)

Helping Hand Soaps – The Perfect Gift

Just introduced last fall, these charming packages of mini soaps have been a huge hit! The set features small 2 oz bars in the most popular year-round fragrances: Lavender Lemongrass, Clove Mint, Vanilla Bean & Honey, French Lavender and Moroccan Fig. One of each of the 5 fabulous scents are piled up in a little stack, and tied with bakery twine. Such pretty colors. Such a great idea for guest baths, travel soaps, or small gifts. Such a reasonable price too - it’s only $10 for the whole package. You’ll want loads of these for the upcoming holiday season. And with a portion of the proceeds for these Helping Hands soaps dedicated to the charitable organization Kiva, it’s a gift that multiplies around the world too.

Holiday Home Fragrance Sprays

Our own little holiday tradition around here, and I know many of you can’t wait for it either, the Holiday Spice aromatic spray. It’s just not the holidays without it. We spritz around the house just before guests arrive, and they all coo about how great the place smells. And we spritz gift boxes, cards and stockings too before sending them off -- family and friends get a whoosh of holiday goodness when they open their presents! Holiday Spice is our most requested seasonal spray, every year since the very beginning - oranges, cranberries, spices and greens all blended together for the perfect scent of magic and delight. This year we’re adding Sleigh Ride – over the river and through the woods, a companion to our newest seasonal soap. It’s also woozy with holiday fun, destined to be a new tradition.
(4 oz bottle - $ 6.00)

Snow Day Bath Crystals

Beautiful bath salt crystals in a small French square glass jar look like real ice crystals. Scented with a delightful blend of sweet vanilla sugar, a pinch of warm spice, and hit with a snowball of frosty mint. It’s icy cool and cozy warm at the same time, in a best of both worlds kind of way. Like after a day of frosty snowy sledding, you arrive home and pop open the door to the smell of freshly baked cookies -- that kind of good. Smaller than our regular salt jars, these are the perfect size for stockings, little treats, or adding to goodie baskets. (4 oz bottle $ 5.00)

Charming Tote Bag Gift Sets

We’ve got new tote bag designs to make gift sets with. The fabric is white jute in a tote bag style, which is charming in that simple yet rustic and natural way we can’t get enough of. The smaller one (5”x5”) fits a bar of soap with a cotton washcloth or scrubby mitt, or a soap dish, or both ($12 - $16). All 3 items look adorable in that little square bag.! The larger rectangular tote (7”x6”) can hold a wider variety of items, including adding bath salts or sprays ($10 and up, priced individually). The web site has photos to jumpstart your imagination. You can make it easy and let us do the choosing, or you can custom build to your heart’s content.

Internet & Mail Ordering (Free Shipping on orders $100 or more!)

Holiday shopping online or by mail saves you time, expense, and the headache of traffic jams and crowded malls. And now we’re offering free shipping on all orders $100 or more. We usually ship within two business days, and can send your items directly to family and friends with gift enclosure cards too. Send in the enclosed order form, call during business hours, or for late night brainstorms, order from our website at SoapworksStudio.com. Spend more time celebrating and less time fretting. Let Soapworks Studio be your answer for holiday gifts!

“We have only this moment . . . “ as Francis Bacon reminds us. And in the silent, hopeful, chill of winter, we pause to give thanks for the many stars we’ve been given. Touched by their beauty, warmed by their glow, awestruck by their vastness, we appreciate our small moments here. With sparkly wishes for the new year,

Shows this Week: Nov 2 - 6

Oh yeah, I forgot I promised to post the whole show list for this week. I'm doing 4 different crafty shows this week and I'm a little frazzled trying to get it all together at the same time as I'm getting the Winter Holiday newsletter out and web site updated. It's been a real crunch. Thank God it's Halloween and the house is full of chocolate. More for me. Less for the kiddies.

Nov 2 - 5
Red Ribbons & Reindeer
Hollywood Schoolhouse
14810 NE 145th St, Woodinville
Wed 3-8pm, Thurs & Fri, 10am-8pm, Sat 9:30am-6pm

Nov 3 - 5
Pickering Barn Christmas Craft Show
Pickering Barn, 1720 – 10th Ave NW
(behind Costco) Issaquah
Thurs & Fri 10-7, Sat 10-5

Nov 3 - 5
Yuletide Treasures
Skagit County Fairgrounds
Thurs - Fri 10am - 7pm, Sat 9am - 6pm

Nov 5
Eastlake Holiday Bazaar
Eastlake High School, 400 – 22th Ave NE, Sammamish
Saturday only, 9am - 4pm

The first 3 are bazaar type shows, where my booth display is there but I am not. I will, however, be physically sitting at my table at Eastlake on Saturday. All of them are great shows. Most of them I do every year and look forward to seeing you guys. Yuletide is new for me, but it's always gotten great reviews, so I'm excited to see how that turns out. It's a bit of challenge to squeeze it in this week, but Janet asked me personally to do it, and I wanted to give it a try. Pickering is adding an antiques show in the other side of the barn this weekend, so it's really a double show - twice the space, half craft and half collectibles. More to love.

I'll have Winter Holiday stuff at all of them this time. Not so much of the fall scents left, but there may be a few random bars at different shows. The fall soaps are mostly sold out at this point. Boo.

Happy Halloween!

Haunted Houses

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses.Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.

We meet them at the door-way, on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro.

There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.

We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

The spirit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense
A vital breath of more ethereal air.

Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,
And the more noble instinct that aspires.

These perturbations, this perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Come from the influence of an unseen star
An undiscovered planet in our sky.

And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
Throws o'er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Into the realm of mystery and night,--

So from the world of spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O'er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.

Source:
Longfellow's Poetical Works
Copyright 1893
Henry Frowde, London

Snow Day

Wow, for the folks in the Northeast it really IS a snow day. But it's a snow day here in the studio today too. It's a blizzard of bath salt making for next week's shows.

I had no idea that peppermint would be so intoxicating. There's only a little bit of it in the scent blend, but with all the mixing and stirring and whirling and filling, the studio is filled with peppermint fumes. Boy are my sinuses clear. My head feels almost mint-a-holic, even with the window open.

But all in all, I really like how the scent turned out. There's vanilla sugar, a pinch of spice, a little orange zest too. It's the perfect cool, fresh, tingly mix with yummy warm good stuff in it too. Exactly what a snow day is all about.

And the packaging is adorable too. I've wanted to use these small French square jars forever. With a little tiny square label and a bit of red-striped bakery twine - so cute. I hope it's going to be a big hit for stocking stuffers, little office gifts, or added to goodie baskets. I can't wait to see how they do next week. Which reminds me, I'll have to post my show schedule here tomorrow to that you all can find them out there in the craft show world.

These little Snow Day bath crystals will be announced Nov 1st and on the web site for purchase on Tuesday - this is just a sneak peek. Cuz I'm mintified.

Open for business

I'm back from vacation. Two weeks is a long time. Not while you're gone - that's easy, time flies. But when you're finally back, catching up on two weeks worth of phone messages, emails, orders, news, laundry, blah blah - that is really super long. What a mountain.

So what did I do? Took a trip to Europe on a whirlwind tour of bits of Italy, Turkey and Greece. Rome, Capri, Crete, Mykonos, Ephesus, Athens. We were on a cruise, with a couple of extra days in Rome at the beginning and Athens at the end. We packed so much sightseeing into every minute, utterly exhausting. But worth it.

Anyway, just thought I'd put in a quick post to say I'm here and I'm working and everything is back in full swing. A couple of weeks from now the fall newsletter will go out as planned, and that first week in November is four different shows. The usual ones: Red Ribbons and Reindeer at the Hollywood Schoolhouse, Pickering Barn, Eastlake High School plus a new one for me - Yuletide Treasures at the Skagit Fairgrounds in Mount Vernon. Details are on the website calendar and I'll post the whole shebang here too next week. But for now, I'm leaving you with some photos of my journey in the sunshine and warm weather - which I am already missing here in rainy, grey Seattle.

Rome, Trevi Fountain

Capri, Sorrento

Taormina, Sicily

Sunset on the ship

Gorgeous Chania, on the island of Crete

Mykonos

Ephesus ruins, Turkish markets

Athens, the Acropolis and Parthenon at night

Sensory overload. In a good way :)

Salmon Days 2011

Salmon Days is happening this coming weekend. I think it's supposed to stay mainly dry, mostly cloudy, a few showers. Posh. We're used to a lot worse. A few raindrops and clouds is nothing, right?

It's Sat and Sun, Oct 1 and 2. Hours are 10am-6pm both days. It's the whole downtown area of Issaquah, with the main streets closed off. There are so many activities and vendors it always amazes me. There is a new gal in charge this year, so a few things have been moved around a bit. I won't be in the same spot I've had the last few years on that beautiful corner to the entrance of the fish ladder across from Shishkaberries. But I'm just over a few booths in another corner. The old booth number was #318, and I'm now in #315 this year. It's just 3 spots up in a corner that faces north instead of south, same side of the street, basically in the same place. Hopefully you'll smell me, and not miss me.

Click the link above for all the scoop on the parade, the live stage entertainment schedule, parking and shuttles, food booths, artist vendor lists, maps and all the rest. This is a super huge show, great fun, and so much to do and see - don't miss it! Free admission, did I mention that?

Studio Closing Announcement

Fall is here! And it hit with a blast the last couple of days. Big winds, dumping rains - that's the weather we have come to expect.

Are you starting to think about ordering the fall seasonal soaps right about now? If so, just a word about what's coming up.

I'm going to be at Salmon Days this weekend, with all the fall goodies. And I'll post about that in a minute. But if you're planning on placing an order, please do it this week.

I am taking a short vacation before all the winter and holiday show season gets under way. I need a break from the grind and we've got a big family celebration to boot. So I'm closing the studio from Monday, October 3rd through Monday October 17th. Yes, two whole weeks! I don't remember ever going that long. But it's necessary and much anticipated.

Since it's just little old me over here behind the green curtain, that means no orders are going to be shipped during that time period. You will still be able to place orders on the website. But there will be a message informing you that it won't be shipped until Tuesday, Oct 18th. I'll start in on them right away and take them in order that they are received, getting them all out as quickly as possible.

Any questions or comments or whatnot, please give me a shout this week too. I'm working like a crazy person trying to get everything in order. If you need something from me, just let me know as soon as you can.

The Puyallup Fair was good this year, just a smidge better than last year, so as of yesterday, that is in the rear view mirror. What a long haul those two weeks are. I think it turned out ok. We're still calculating some of the sales and numbers overall. But for myself, I did alright this time out, and have a few good ideas for new stuff to do there next year.

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, the Winter Holiday newsletter and new products announcements will still happen as usual during that first week of November. No change in any of the schedule for the rest of the year. Just a little time-out in October.

Puyallup Fair

So uh yeah, I was supposed to yap about the Puyallup Fair last week, and give you all the deets. I sort of got busy and forgot. But it's already happening. The fair, that is.

Dates: Sept. 9 - 25
Hours: Sun - Thurs 10am-10pm, Fri & Sat, 10am-11pm
Place: The Puyallup Fairgrounds, or Western Washington Fairgrounds, or whatever you call it. And if you don't know where that is, wow. It's the biggest thing in the town of Puyallup and signs for exits and where to go are plastered on every corner. Plus all the highway exits. But of course there is a map and directions too, on their website.

So as I mentioned earlier, I'm located in the "Artists in Action" area. It's a gallery/store located on the ground level of the Grandstand. The Grandstand is where the concerts are. Artists in Action is right next to the Fisher scone line, which is always loooooong. It's the west end (north end?) closest to the Red Gate. Gah. I've been there 5 years and I still know nothing.

Well I do know something: this year the "Totally Fried" booth is serving up deep-fried butter. Just to keep up with all the other insane fairs around the country. The deep-fried oreos and snickers looked alright, but I'm still pretty scared of the Krispy Kreme Chicken sandwich there.

Ok, back to the art. There's close to 70 artists in our show, doing fiber stuff, pottery, wood work, metal work, jewelry, clothing, hand-painted all kinds of things. Some new artists and new stuff. We've mixed it up and changed around the booths a little bit. We're still doing demos all day of how we make our wares. I'm working a bunch of little small shifts in the mornings, so I'll be in and out.

The rodeo part was last weekend, and I guess that's over. But there is a pretty good concert line-up. And lots of stuff to do. Just don't eat the butter.

Autumn 2011 Newsletter

The new Autumn newsletter is on its way! Snail mail versions are en route and should arrive tomorrow. The email version has just been popped off a few minutes ago. So to cover all the bases, I'm posting the info here too. The full text is below the photo. And a LINK TO ALL THE FALL GOODIES IS RIGHT HERE. That linkie-poo gets you to the Seasonal page on the web site, where you can travel around and check out whatever else you'd like to see too. Cheers!

Dear Friends,

The lazy, hazy dog days of summer headed out of town. It’s a bit of a shock, I know. Frolicking about in the glorious warmth of summer, it feels like it will go on forever and ever. And then suddenly summer is gone and we’re dumbstruck. How could it have passed by so quickly, we wonder?

September heralds the advent of autumn, with shorter days, cooler nights and a return of the “routines.” Like a well-worn path, fall has a welcome familiarity that brings us both comfort and a quiet joy.

Autumn has its own special pleasures - cozy snuggling by the fire as the leaves dance in circles and the rains patter against the window. It feels good to head inside and rediscover the warm comforts of hearth and home.

AUTUMN SEASONAL SOAPS

Autumn’s cool, crisp air crystallizes our senses. The whisper of wind and the crunch of dead leaves shoo us back indoors to the warm delights of home – soups stewing, goodies baking and fireplaces crackling. This year’s Autumn Harvest soaps highlight our favorite fruits and spices, taking the best of the season and celebrating the bounty. ($4.25 each or 4 bars for $16.00)

Sugar Pumpkin: This year’s version of the ever-popular pumpkin soap is scented with creamy pumpkin, vanilla, a sprinkling of spice, and warm brown sugar. Sweet and cinnamon-y, it is the quintessential fall fragrance, sure to mark the start of the season.

Cranberry Harvest: Tart, juicy cranberries and zesty orange peel, loaded with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and pepperberry. This is a soft red bar - brightly fruity with a nice compliment of traditional spice.

Honey Orange: Fresh honey is the special ingredient in this soap, gently soothing and calming skin while adding extra moisture. Scented with sweet orange and a luscious honey fragrance, it’s soft and comforting.

Milk & Cookies: Who doesn’t love this treat? Especially on a rainy, blustery day. This soap is brimming with fresh, pure goat milk. The scent, however, is fresh-from-the-oven snickerdoodles – yummy, buttery, sugary vanilla and cinnamon.

HOLIDAY SPICE HOME FRAGRANCE SPRAY

It’s not too early to start spritzing a little festive spicy holiday spirit around the house! Holiday Spice is is our most requested seasonal spray, every year since the very beginning - oranges, cranberries, spices and greens all blended together for the perfect scent of magic and delight. Cinnamon spice and harvest fruit pair well with our fall soaps and set the mood in your cozy home. (4 oz bottle - $ 6.00)

HELPING HANDS SOAP SETS

Just introduced last fall, these charming packages of mini soaps have been a huge hit! The set features small 2 oz bars in the most popular year-round fragrances: Lavender Lemongrass, Clove Mint, Vanilla Bean & Honey, French Lavender and Moroccan Fig. One of each of the 5 fabulous scents are piled up in a little stack, and tied with bakery twine. Such pretty colors. Such a great idea for guest baths, travel soaps, or small gifts. Such a reasonable price too - it’s only $10 for the whole package. You’ll want loads of these for the upcoming holiday season. And with a portion of the proceeds for these Helping Hands soaps dedicated to the charitable organization Kiva, it’s a gift that multiplies around the world too.

DEAD SEA BATH SALTS

Our rustic, chunky bath salts come directly from the Dead Sea. Completely unrefined, these salts are sun dried from the waters of the Dead Sea in southern Israel. Pure, fresh salts with a mineral content that is 7 times greater than other types of sea salts, they work wonders on purifying and detoxifying, improving circulation, moisturizing skin, soaking away stress, and relaxing muscles, aches and pains.
The Dead Sea salts are quite concentrated in their healing and nourishing properties, so a little goes a long way. Just toss a small handful, or approximately a quarter of a cup into your bath water, and use even less for foot soaks. The fragrance may seem a little strong at first whiff in the bottle but they are scented to fill a full bath.
Just for fall, I’ve added a new seasonal scent: Red Currant – a gorgeous deep fruity berry scent. And the every day favorite fragrances are: French Lavender, Vanilla Bean & Honey, Sandalwood Jasmine, and Almond Ginger. (16 oz bottle - $ 8.00)

THE SEASON OF SHOWS, SHOWS, SHOWS

The next few months are chock full with craft shows, fairs and festivals too. I’ll be doing what I can to bring the goodies to your neck of the woods. See the enclosed calendar or log onto the website to get more details on the “Show Schedule” page.

As always, I sincerely appreciate your loyal business throughout the year, and wish you a brilliant and abundant harvest season!

Program Notes

Well, that's assuming I actually DO have a program going on over here. Mostly it's been a mix of slacking and revving up for fall.

The slacking part came after the Anacortes show at the beginning of the month. It was the best ever, and I needed some time after that to just recuperate from it all. A weekend off to go camping. A few days of just taking it easy, doing the bare minimum to keep the balls in the air.

Now is the revving up part. The fall newsletter and introduction of all the fall stuff. The Puyallup Fair in September. The beginning of all the fall shows, which immediately become winter holiday hoopla etc. It's all just about to pop.

So that's what today's blog is about - the stuff about to pop. If you're thinking it's just about time for another newsletter, you're right. I'm going to send it off next Tuesday - a week from today. Nobody is really thinking about fall too much until after Labor Day weekend is out of the way. So next week will be the newsletter in the mailbox and the email inbox and also here on the blog.

The website will be updated accordingly next week, with a little different look - new colors and photos of the seasonal stuff.

And Friday of next week is the first day of the Puyallup Fair. It runs Sept 9 - 25 and I'll be back in the Artists in Action area under the grandstand. I'll do a separate post with all the details on that show next week. But this is just a heads up. Click the link above for advance info, early tickets etc. The first day is free admission from 10am to noon if you bring a donation to their food drive to the gate. Insider tip: a lot of folks rush the gates early, get their re-entry stamp and then head off to their day, coming back later in the afternoon or evening to actually do the first day of the fair. It's a huge rush, though, so you have to like crowds.

Gosh, I just can't believe it's all happening already and that summer is over and September is here. The tomatoes are still green. But the leaves are already falling off the trees and most of the garden has keeled over dead. I guess that means it's just another crap tomato year.

Well, Tally ho. Enjoy the last few days of it. Meet me back here Tuesday.

Anacortes Arts Festival - Last Summer Fair

OMG - It's time once again for the Anacortes Arts Festival. It's happening this weekend, Friday through Sunday, and it's a humdinger. It's the 50th anniversary of this annual festival and it should be a blast.

On August 5, 6 and 7, 2011, The downtown streets will be filled with 250 outstanding juried Booth Artisans, music on multiple stages, Culinary Art and beer garden featuring ethnic and regional tastes, and a creative Youth Area.

The north end of the Festival features Arts at the Port fine art exhibition showcasing work by artists spanning 50 years of the Festival's Permanent Collection. Experience Art with demonstrating artists and a new Gorilla/Guerrilla Open Art area round out the north Commercial Festival events.

The info:

Dates: Friday through Sunday, Aug 5 - 7
Hours: Fri and Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm

Soapworks booth location - NEW THIS YEAR! I'm an invitee this year, which means I must have had a pretty good show last year, despite the rain on Saturday. So I picked a new spot. I'm one block south of my old space. I'm in the 500 block, meaning half-way inbetween 5th and 6th Street. That's the Gere-A-Deli block, so about half a block south, right near that alley, and I"m in the center of the street with all my sides open, so you can see me better. It's space #512C if you've got a map (map located HERE).

This is my last outdoor summer show this year - I don't have any more scheduled for August. So I'm hoping for a bonanza. And if you wanted to try any of the summer seasonal scents, this will probably be it. In just a few short weeks the fall newsletter goes out, the Puyallup Fair starts, and it's going to be Autumn over here at the studio, no matter that we still have warm weather outside. Come and get it while the getting's good!

Change Ain't Always Good

The biggest thorn in my side in this business is packaging. Or changes in the containers and doo-dabs that I use to package my products. Just when you think you've got it all figured out and stream-lined, something goes belly up.

This week it's those dang slidey lip balm tins. Something on the manufacturer's side changed, and the new batch of tins I got last week was different. I noticed it was a little harder to slide the top on while I was making up a bunch of new flavors for the Bellevue show (on Thursday afternoon just before I headed out the door to set up for the show). So I knew something was afoot, but I had to take them out on the road anyway.

Almost everyone who tried to slide them open to get a sniff of the flavor had trouble with them. It was awkward. And not fun. Because most of my flavors are the older style tin and are so easy - they just glide and snap like a breeze. But the new ones don't "pinch and pull" the same way. They have to lift and slide. I've opened like a hundred now and even I still can't quite get it open easily. Imagine it in the hands of the little girls who want to try the Raspberry Soda or Root Beer. Lids are on the pavement. Little fingers are in the balm. And I'm standing there trying to explain it all, feeling foolish. Bleh.

So now what? It's the same old question. Do I spend a lot of time trying to find new ones just like it that work better? Do I change the container altogether? I've had those things for years and years. Customers won't recognize a tube-like thing. And I've got all those darn labels made up already. Changing them means throwing out money on the labels. And there's no guarantee that another supplier will have something better. They probably all come from the same place.

It happens constantly. The (fill in the blank - ribbon, bottle, label size) suddenly isn't available any more. Or out of stock for months at a time, during the whole busy summer season, because a container from China is lost, stuck in customs or whatever. The manufacturer went out of business. The supplier discontinued carrying them, and nobody else has them. It's all the same. A headache.

I'm taking them out to Anacortes this weekend because I have to. People expect them. They come to stock up. They recognize them instantly - I've had those same tins for a dozen years now. And if it's like last weekend and they struggle with the lid, ultimately tossing it back instead of deciding to buy it because it's just too darn hard to open? then they are toast, people.

I added the lip balms to my line mostly so that all the young girls who come to sniff the soap, but don't have enough allowance money for soap bars, will still have an affordable little something to buy from me. Girls just lurve them some lip goop too. They can never have enough. So it's been all good. But it's a lot of work to make all those flavors and not a lot of profit in it.

I'll just have to think about it another day. My brain hurts right now, going around and around. It's MONDAY. This kind of stuff is too much for a Monday after a long 3-day show weekend.

Bellevue Art Festival - July 2011

Somehow, the way the month of July worked out on the calendar, we must have had an extra weekend in there because I had last weekend off. No shows, beautiful weather and a break from all the usual summer madness. It was so nice. Almost like a real summer.

But this week has been back to work in a big way. Tomorrow is the start of the Bellevue art show trifecta. The museum show is at Bellevue Square, in the parking garage. Then there's the other show across the street in the Cost Plus parking lot. And then there's us - the Sixth Street Fair - which sets up on 106th, a block over. I'll be in my same wonderful space in front of the California Pizza Kitchen, under the trees and next to Andrew the glass guy, who I neighbor with every year - he's a blast. This is a really huge event with hundreds and hundred of artists all over the place, drawing massive crowds.

Tee hee. I just checked back on what I wrote for this show last year and just to prove that nothing changes and it's groundhog day, year after year, I'm going to paste in the whole weather paragraph from exactly this same week last year. It's 100% true right now too:

"And so many years it's been hotter than Hades - we're all wilting in the heat and everyone is running for the indoor air conditioning. But not this time. Because this year we are having the summer that never showed up. I'm sure that if you are reading this from the East Coast or other parts of the country you probably don't want to hear us complain about our chilly summer. The heat waves everywhere else are insane. But we are not having any of it. Overnight it gets cloudy and cool, dropping into the low 50's. We wake up to early spring weather. And if we are really, really lucky (maybe a dozen days now) we can get into the 70's in the afternoon if the sun breaks through. It's stupid. Which proves to everyone that I'm not a true Northwesterner. Because a lot of people around here love that. Me? I'd be happier with more sun, warmer temperatures, and an actual summer-like day or two."

Isn't that crazy!?! Actually the past week has been a little better. And we're going to have a dry weekend in the mid-70s with a bit of sun. So it should be perfect and a great time to get out and do the summer stuff we've been waiting for.

Show deets:

Friday, July 29: 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
Saturday, July 30: 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
Sunday, July 31: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Here is the map which lists all the other vendors and their locations. There is food and music too. Hope you get a chance to come over.