Busy Little Bee, DIY Aprons

SO.....

Found these lovelies at my local thrifty shop and just had to have them!

One 23" table cloth, six 9 ½”  napkins and six 6" coasters.

All for $1.00, all in good shape. WOW!

I was thinking of pinning them all together to sell but I started thinking!

The little ones look like pockets, or doll clothes, or clothing embellishment....

So I started with a pocket.

I had this dusty rose color, toile fabric in my stash and decided to make an apron.

At one point, dusty rose color, toile fabric was used to make my bathroom curtains.

 I'm telling you, I definitely recycle fabric.

 This apron is flat across the waist with no gathers.

Finished size is 22 x 22 with the ties being long enough to wrap

around and tie in the front.

I made a pocket out of the toile fabric, then sewed the coaster onto that.

I sewed the pocket onto the front of the apron in a

diamond shape and left it open on the outer side.

This is a reversible apron so I used a doily to embellish the other sides' pocket.

Added this cute, pink, pearlescent button from my button stash,
some lace and pink ribbon.

Wish I had someone here to take a picture of me wearing it,
the hanger photos don't do it justice!

This apron is gathered at the waist, also reversible.





I hope to sell these at the market tomorrow.

 

Wish me luck!

 

Till next time,

Bonjour

                                                                         

Life & Soap Shows



Nathan's pomegranate tree

SO.....



It's soap show time!!!

You never know what is going to sell.

For the last several years, our dominant category in all products was floral

and that's where I concentrated my efforts.

The trend this past spring was fruits and spices, seems that trend is continuing.

Our demographic is widening, we're all over the page now.

Customers that were hard sells previously are now purchasing our products.

Not just the soaps either, all our products are selling better.

Personally, I've been feeling the earthy vibe for awhile.

Something I have noticed is,

when I'm formulating a new scent, and purchasing

the scents for it from my local supplier,

a few months later they are selling "that" scent pre-blended.

I've even noticed them naming the scent pretty close to, or the same as mine.

I order under my Co. name, pretty easy

to go to my site and see what I'm up to.

Whatever...

 My husband says I should be flattered.

Again, whatever!!

Yesterday's show was great with lots of sales and today was spent

making more soap, etc.

I have four more shows for the year and I foresee my immediate future

filled with soap bubbles.

Oh yea,

I was contacted yesterday by a local B&B for soap.

We shall see where that goes.



My morning view from the surreal world (work)

Till next time,

Bonjour

G Is For Good Food

Well....

 I'm not poisoning anyone just yet.

Friday was market day, my local AD  featured

boneless, skinless chicken breast for $1.99 per lb.

and whole pork loin for $2.50 per lb.

Where is the chicken breast I ask the meat guy?

OH, we don't have "that here" he says.

Well, I got the "AD here" I say...

Humm, he says.

Humm I say.

Now he's lost!

What do you have that's comparable I ask?

(I'm not afraid to ask the tough questions.)

After a little hide and seek we worked it out!!!

Came home with  2 1/2 lbs of chicken breast

 and about 7 lbs. of center cut pork loin.

They also advertised a 5 lb. bag of flour for $1.79,

the shelf was empty but....

the 25 lb. bag was $7.42,

$1.49 per lb. not a bad price, but not great either.

Also bought a whole chicken for $.89 per lb.

Cut  the pork loin into roast size pieces and wrapped for the freezer,

cut and wrapped a few less thick pieces for steaks on the grill.  

The chicken breasts were sautéed for fajitas,

the whole chicken, one of the pork roasts 

along with potatoes and carrots, were baked in my electric roaster.

Most of it was packaged (in meal size portions) for freezing.

 The rest  was to be filling for fried meat pies for Steve's lunches.

And since it's almost 9:30

on a school work night, I'll tell you about the

fake, fried meat pies later.

No poison involved!



Till next time,

Bonjour

99 Bottles of Beer On The Wall




Z CHOCOLATE MINT



SO.....

The song 99 bottles of beer on the wall

 has been floating in and out of my mind for the last few weeks.

Perhaps because the song seems to never end.

And, as I prepare for our upcoming shows, the work seems to never end.

We have five shows scheduled for the spring so I've been a busy bee.

Over the last few months I've made,

113 lip balms

26 body butters

31 bath oils

96 bath teas

300 bars of soap (I think, sometimes I get lost)

I'm probably good on most of the soap till June,

everything else I'll make as needed.

With spring soon to be here for real,

the ladies will be thinking about wearing their sandals,

 and then realize they have sandpaper feet.

Body butter to the rescue, I guarantee!!

I think I have things covered, at least for the moment!

And, as I've been busy as a bee and

thinking of endless bottles of beer, guess what?

WAIT FOR IT....

I landed another store account!!!

Yeppers, I sure did!

Shabby Sheek Boutique in Texarkana, Texas. (Google them)

This makes three total.

I'm so proud of me....

Slowly but slowly I shall make this venture work and

before I know it,

I'll change my name to Tyler Durden and

 have a whole army of people making soap for me!!!

You  know, the movie Fight Club.

(I choose to believe they were only making soap.)

And who pays $10.00 wholesale for a bar of soap anyway?

Lead me to them!!!

And what I wouldn't give to have that army

working in my herb beds. ( I really don't like pulling weeds!)

So here's to a successful spring!!!

Anyway. I've been offline so to speak, for far too long,

I'm off to see what you' all have been up to.

Till next time,

Bonjour

OH YEAH,

If you have a ruptured eardrum,

don't go to the emergency room,

find an urgent care facility!

$250.00 versus $100.00

Just thought you would want to know!!!

Twas The Weeks Before Christmas

 SO.....





BATH OILS



12/4/2010 CIVIC CENTER SHOW, SOAPS















HANDMADE GIFT BAGS

Twas the weeks before Christmas

And at Terry’s place
Packages were being shipped
With very great haste
No stockings were hung by the chimney over there
Cause Terry was in the lab making oil for hair care
No one was all nestled snug in their beds
Things were so crazy, Terry needed some meds
Soaps to Kentucky, lip balms to Kalamazoo,
Body butters to Alaska, oh my, what to do?
The phone calls and internet orders were depleting her stash
Perfect, cause on April 15th the IRS would be wanting her cash
No time for blogging, or even shopping
Blue Moon was keeping Terry hopping
Maybe some day this little venture
which has been such a great adventure
Will let her quit her day job soon
To concentrate only on Blue Moon

Just wanted to let you know what I've been up to!
Till next time,
Bonjour

The Witch is Back

YEAH, IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!

No work today, well not for someone else anyway.

Today will be spent getting everything packed for tomorrow's show, taking care of the last minute details & GETTING MY HAIR DONE!

I haven't had my hair done since last year about this time. I've been growing said hair out & now it's time for a trim & much needed style with some color thrown in for good measure.

Oh, that pesky gray! I'm too young for gray!  

I am sooo looking forward to someone else brushing, washing & generally fiddling with my hair!

I am so excited, a whole new me, well on the outside anyway.

I thought I might dress differently for this show since I'll have a NEW DO. It is very close to Halloween, so

maybe some kind of costume is in order?

I have the really cool witch hat, a black skirt with a pointy hem, some black lace gloves, a black fringed shawl, a black scrunchy blouse, the snake necklace....

OK, witch it is!



THE REALLY COOL WITCH  HAT



The full moon is making me crazy!!

What do you think, should I dress up?

This show(Texas Country Reporter) generates a lot of press, maybe I'll be featured on the nightly news or in some newspaper! One can always dream.

Got to go & get my new DO.

WOO, WOO

Till next time.....

Bonjour