gift baskets

I tried to put off the need to get new scents and it worked for a while. But I couldn’t take it anymore so I ordered Pumpkin Cheesecake scent, which is
Sweet, creamy pumpkin with a warm touch of nutmeg, blended with rich delicious cheesecake!

Many other candle and soap makers rave about this scent and say they can’t keep it from flying off the shelves. So I decided I had to see what it was like for myself, I also ordered a sample of the one that is said to smell like vanilla cupcakes.

Another new thing that happened over the weekend was that I took a gift basket making class. I have wanted to add those to my site for a while now but I wanted them to look really nice so I knew I needed to learn more skills in that area. I am attaching a picture so you can see what I made. I am not one to like the traditional wood looking basket so I opted for this silver one with glitter on it. I am thinking in the future I will be carrying my “baskets” in more of an old farmers pail type thing instead.

I also finished up the first big holiday order to come in here is a picture of those candles.

air fresheners!

finally got around to getting some pictures of some of the ones I have been making



these are lots of fun to make and they smell great!

hard drive went down

Sorry for the delay in posting a new blog. My hard drive went out on my computer so I am waiting for it to be repaired.

This puts a small delay on getting the air fresheners and new soaps up on the site, but hang in there they will be coming soon!

I am also going to make a new shopping cart for my site and I will be accepting credit cards as well as pay pal. So hurry up computer and come home!

The first big x-mas candle order is in so starting to really crank out the candles. This order has freesia, fresh laundry, pink sugar, love spell, vanilla candles in all kinds of colors and styles including the new crackle style. I will post a picture when I get more done.

Tonight I think I will make a batch of soap again, I really want to try the green apple as the new green dye has come in. But I am thinking I should replenish the oatmeal, milk & honey one again. Too many things I want to make, I can never decide!

skull and crossbones

So I have a confession to make, I love picking out scents. I spend a lot of time reading descriptions for scents and let me tell you I wish I was rich because I want to smell so any of them! The list gets bigger and bigger of ones I want to try. Recently it has been cupcakes, crackling firewood, pumpkin cheesecake and I am on the search for something that smells like the ocean or going to the beach.

Tomorrow the cookie jar scent will be in and I can’t wait to pour a candle in that scent for myself! The last few days more of the new air freshener molds came in, including the skull and crossbones one. They are on the larger side so I think they will end up being the window air fresheners that you hang with the suction cup hanger. I will be offering a few on the larger side including the cherries, coffee mug, skull and crossbones as well as the pirate ship.

will write more tonight :)

red hot cinnamon

Above is a picture of a Pink Sugar Palm Tree Air Freshener. This is so you can get the general idea of what I am working on. I will have better pictures when I get more made. They are translucent which doesn't show in the picture.

Picked up some cinnamon scent yesterday for making a red heart air freshener and I forgot to get some vanilla! So I will have to wait till next Saturday to pick that one up.

Seems to be how things are going for me recently I place and order then a few days later I remember something else I needed, or I end up coming across something I need now. Then I have to order again! I can't get my timing to work out the last month :)

One of those things I discovered I needed what a new green dye. I have that order in for the green apple scented air fresheners so I started to make a test batch and I couldn't get the green to be the right shade. Between my hunter/moss green and the regular green food coloring I couldn't get it to match a green apple. The hunter one of course was too dark and the food coloring one were close but it was really more blue then green so that wasn't going to work. So I decided time to order Kelly/lime green.

I find green seems to be a difficult color to work with overall. I have made a number of green candles in the past with green shades and they always give me a challenge. So while I was ordering the new green candle dye I decided to add the soap green dye as well since I plan on making the green apple into soap soon.

I also ordered more of the cookie jar scent since everyone that got a sneak sniff of it went nuts. I am also going to test out some new labels for my candles so I tossed those in the order as well.

Since I was taking the extra time to get the new green I also decided I wasn’t 100% happy with the apple mold I had. So I ordered a new version of the apple and I also picked up a cherries mold as well.

Now that I am looking around more at the different car air fresheners people are driving around with I seem to notice many people have the cherries one. I do have a great cherry scent so I figured that would be a great one to carry.

I also ordered a really cool skull and crossbones mold for my rocker/punk clients. I was thinking it can’t get cooler then seeing a skull and crossbones hanging off your mirror! I also ordered a coffee mug mold for all the coffee lovers out there.

I run out of a few of the basic oils for soap making so there wasn’t any new soaps in the last few days. I did however get the oils picked up by a friend of mine and they are now back in stock so I figure I will make a batch tonight.

The question is going to be what scent to make?!?!?!? I have been wanting to make peppercorn, but I also need to restock the oatmeal, milk & honey as well as pink sugar, and black raspberry vanilla. Guess we will have to see which I feel like making when I get in there tonight :)

Just so can get an idea of what peppercorn is I am going to post the description, once some of you smell it I would love your thoughts on what a good description or a better name for this scent would be.

Peppercorn is:
Another hard to describe fragrance...but I think it's just wonderfully masculine in a dark, spicy sort of way, however, it doesn't smell like black pepper. Many describe it as a sexy man fragrance. You know, like Tim McGraw sexy (oooh, that chest, but leave the hat on darlin'), or George Clooney sexy (not the Facts of Life or the Roseanne George Clooney, but the Ocean's 11 George Clooney hubba-hubba) or Matthew McConaughey sexy (have you SEEN that Stetson print ad?? Dang!).

mint!?!??

So when someone asks you what scent is your favorite it is usually pretty easy right? Well I have found that over all the years of making the candles and such that mine changes so often. I do tend to lean towards bakery scented ones on average.

I did notice a trend though of one scent I would have never said I liked but have ended up liking. That scent is Mint. Started with the occasional mint candle, I also made a few chocolate/mint ones and they sure did smell good. I got some foot cream and it was mint and I couldn’t stop opening the jar and smelling it.

I was at a store smelling holiday candles and I found the jack frost one but I couldn’t tell what the scents were from smelling it but I loved it.

I got home and looked the scent up and guess what?!!?!? It was a combo of vanilla and mint!

So I am starting to think maybe I really am a mint person. Hmmm my other to die for scent is usually coconut. I wonder what a coconut mint candle or soap would smell like?

I guess I will have to play around with that combo one of these nights and find out!

crackle candles

I made the crackle candle and it came out very cool looking. I am going to post a picture tonight of it, but I am not sure how well the crackles will show up. I ended up making the candle sort of a light peach color so the contrast of the white crackles might not show up in the picture. I plan on making another one in a darker shade so you can see it better.

The punch finally came in for the air fresheners last night. I played with a few more of them but the punch really didn’t put a hole all the way in the thing so I am going to keep working on another method for being able to hang them.

Since I last wrote I made a batch of Love Spell soap.

Love Spell:
Described as a blend of Cherry Blossom, Muguet, Red Apple and Georgia Peach, with hints of Tamarind and Blonde wood. This is a scent I think is wonderful and on top of that it is very strong one.

I made this batch using neon pink, but it actually came out as a nice soft pink. I added mica powder for some shimmer as well as everyone’s favorite Jojoba beads for exfoliating. The beads are black so the soap came out pretty cool looking with the soft pink and black beads.

Between the Wild berry Zinger Tea and the Love Spell soap my place smells amazing when you walk in the door!

I have also been playing around with making tarts. I burned an autumn apple tart last night to test them out. I was sitting at the computer and I smelled something good and it took me awhile to figure out it was the tart I was burning. I kept trying to figure out if it was the soap I was beveling. That is the funny part about being in a house of scents most of the time you have a hard time telling them apart! :)

The soap picture doesn't really show how great these colors look in person but give you the basic idea for now.

more soap!

Last night I made a batch of Wildberry Zinger Tea soap. This scent is amazing and got some great reviews from my scent testers before I even made anything with it. First word out of one of the Ladies mouth was whatever you put that in I am buying!

Here is the scent description for that one so you can get an idea of what it might smell like.

A perfect blend bursting with the natural flavor of black raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, red raspberries, cranberries, and even cherries! Herbs like hibiscus, rosehips, and chicory give this tea its zing!

I decided to make the main color of the soap bright purple with a blue swirl. I looked very pretty as I poured it into the mold. I can wait to get that one cut and see how it looks inside. And that scent sure made my apartment smell great last night. See attached picture!

While I was in the Kitchen working on the soap I decided to make a Jack Frost Candle (vanilla/mint). I used the square mold for this one and the plan is to try out making crackle candles with it. The crackles looks almost like the candle is breaking you get all these wonderful lines in the candles. I should be doing the crackle tonight so I will let you know how it goes.

Still working on the air fresheners! I ran into a snag that I was not able to find the tool I needed to make the holes in them for hanging at any store around here. I ended up having to mail order one, which should be in on Tuesday. Then watch out cause I am going to start cranking them out.Got good reviews on the few sample ones I made. Already got an order for a large batch of green apple scented ones that one lady is going to use for teacher holiday presents. I set pink sugar and Jack Frost one in my car to test them out and they sure make my car smell good!

sooo many scents

Put in another order for more scents last night

Always a hard time just picking a few, as they all sound great!

I always try to get some samples of new ones that I can add to my line
this time I will be testing
Cookie Jar which is:
Wow! This one is a winner. You can smell the icing, the cinnamon, and the molasses, the sweetness of raisins with a hint of brown sugar. We're not sure what this cookie is exactly, but it's definitely wonderful!!

Spiced Cranberry, which is:
VERY strong scent with incredible throw! Our crisp tart cranberry with a spicy flair, a big seller, especially for the holidays!

In my search to find odd yet good scents I picked
Sagebrush & Pinion Leaf:
An earthy fragrance with heavy woodsy and grassy notes. When I sniff this fragrance, I just get the image of John Wayne riding across the range with tumbleweeds rolling in front of him. Think rough and tumble and a little rough around the edges--just like The Duke---you'll get the idea.

Should be interesting to see how those all smellI also reordered some the favorites like Cinnamon Buns, Honey Coco Mango, Green Apple and a few others.