A Busy and Hard Month...

I know it's been well over a month since my last post, but I will try to make up for it in the coming days ahead. This post is in remembrance of my lovely mother-in-law, Doreen. She was 65, and the best mother-in-law a girl could ask for. The scariest thing about her was that no matter how sick she was, I could never live up to her cleaning skills! She never threw anything like that at me though...in fact, she always reminded me that she had to keep moving just to stay alive.

Doreen was diagnosed with Lupus, an autoimmune disorder that attacks vital organs, when my husband was born in 1967. She was then given 6 months to live. However, her prayer was that she see her 3 boys grow up, and not only did she do that, but she got to see all of her 6 grandchildren growing healthy and happy. She was there through their early formative years to help give them a strong spiritual foundation which they will treasure as they look forward to seeing her very soon in the resurrection described at John 14:28 & 29 - "Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment. " So, the rest of us are determined to be there to see that blessed day!

Kids, Cats, Potpourri, and Other Stuff!

Yes, it's me...I'm still alive and kicking, and finally updating my blog after being delinquent these last few weeks!

I have busily been homeschooling my middle son, and after about 6 weeks, we are finally starting to get into a routine. Life continues to happen around us, of course, and we are slowly learning to deal with the inevitable interruptions...like grabbing work to take with us when my youngest's school calls to say they 'think he has Pink Eye and would I please come to get him'? It's a 40 minute drive round trip plus a stop at the store, so no quick trips for us! Fortunately, he didn't have Pink Eye(and I should have known that because he has had major allergy problems with his eyes the past couple of weeks!)

In other news, our mama cat, Lana, had her second litter of kittens two weeks ago, and they are sooooo cute! My daughter took this photo during their lunchtime the other day :) They are fortunately faring much better than her last litter, of which only 1 out of 6 survived. So sad!

And finally, Paradise Potpourri is beckoning...one of the many things I am learning to juggle in my new role as Learning Coach. Business is still good, so I guess people still like me! :) I have managed to squeeze in time to make new batches of Bountiful Harvest, Cranberry Orange, and Honeysuckle Rose. Accordingly, I took new photos of them all, and they are now adorning the Etsy store nicely! I am still working out a recipe for Margarita Potpourri, but I'm almost there! Also, new batches of Rainforest and Rose Garden are in the works due to popular demand! Speaking of which I want to give a very special shout-out to Carrie, aka lunastar, of Morning Star Natural Soaps, Lotions and Soy Candles....she has given me such wonderful incentive to keep plugging along, reminding me that there is a scent for everyone and buying me out of bath tea even though she has such amazingly wonderful bath products in her Etsy shoppe! When I have a chance to figure out the ins and outs, I will feature her here on my blog! Meanwhile here is a link...be sure to check it out! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5077777

Next weekend, my mother-in-law will be having heart surgery, so I don't expect to be blogging too much at that time...in the meantime I will try to post some interesting tidbits to catch up!

Cafe Rouge du Chocolat!

Here is my latest creation...Cafe Rouge du Chocolat! I had to look up the French terminology on Babel Fish, so I hope I got it right! It's a re-creation of my classic Mocha Java, and it smells just like walking into a super uppity coffee shop! I have only listed the one size so far, but more sizes will be available soon. I can easily make them up now, too, for anyone who wants to shoot me a convo!

Here Comes the Groom!

My poor little Bride sachet was lonely, so I finally did some matchmaking and found her a Groom! He is rather dashing, isn't he?

Here is the final result of my Alchemy Bridesmaid Dresses...each one has a couple of minor spots on them due to imperfections in the fabric, but two of them managed to come out very close to perfection! I have yet to hear from my customer, but she loved the photos and didn't at all mind the spots. I sure hope these add glamour to her special day!

My First Alchemy Request!

You may have seen the Bride and Bridesmaid Dress Sachets in my shop...I just love them, they are so elegant! I will now admit to you dear blog readers (prepare for a shock!) that I *gasp* purchased these sachets pre-made, and the Rosebud Wedding Throw that comes in them is the handmade by me part. Believe me, if I tried to sew anything like this, it wouldn't be pretty...maybe it could be used as a dishrag or something! Anyway, the sachets are only available in limited colors, much to my disappointment, and my customers I'm sure who have wondered if they could have them to match their wedding party. This exact quandry came up a few weeks ago when I was asked to make some in a deep plum/eggplant purple. Sadly, my supplier only offers Lavender. Somehow, my brain kicked into gear and I decided to try dyeing some white ones!

OK, this sounds simple right? Ummm, no. As it turns out, polyester satin is notoriously difficult to dye! After coming up with some very off-looking lavender ones using Rit Dye, I called up Dharma Trading Company. They gave me some numbers to enter into a computer every 108 minutes, and voila! Nothing. OK, not really....but they did give me some great pointers and I was able to purchase some special dye for polyester fabric (and I didn't have to fight off any polar bears or involve any smoke monsters!)

Sadly, even this special dye has not proven foolproof, but I am learning. The fabric has little variations that can show up as spots or even streaks. The bows are glued on and come off in the dyeing process (insert dyeing humor here!) Fortunately that part is easily remedied! The ones you see above are not the final product...when I give them their last dye bath (they need to be one shade darker), iron them (i hate ironing more than Smoke Monsters!) and glue the bows back on, I will post the photo here and it will show up in my Sold Alchemy Items...woo hoo!!

I am getting braver and I think that I will be willing to try new colors in the future...so if you have a special occasion coming up, let me know if you would like me to create some spectacular sachets for your lovely day! Of course, if your colors are pink, white, light blue, hot pink, maroon or ivory...let me know and they're already a done deal! ;) You can see some of them on my flickr page, in my shop, or in the slideshow on the right side of this page!

Back to Work...I Promise!

Whew! The kids go back to school this week...except one, I haven't received his materials yet for homeschooling, so probably next week for him. Anyway, no more running around means a bit more time at home, so I finally got to work on a couple more potpourris! I started with Mango, so voila! Mango Madness! I also made a new batch of Lemongrass, one of my all time best sellers. My supplier no longer carries some of the ingredients, so I improvised! I will be posting new items over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

Discoveries!

Well, I was wrong about selling my very last Mocha Java sachet...I went to my workshop to start the new batch, and discovered 2 more large ones and 3 small ones! One of them even had a keychain charm on it, so I will be photographing that one and listing it ASAP! I still started the new batch, because I'm really excited about adding the red color to it. I know there are alot of fans of the "just brown" batch too though, so now I can have something for everyone! Feel free to leave me a comment with your personal opinion here if you want :)