New Project: Liquid Soap!

I just realized I have not posted since before thanksgiving! (gasp) I have been THAT busy and I want to take a moment to sincerely thank each and every person who has bought from my shops in the past year. I am eternally grateful for your business as it has helped me and my family thru some insanely rough times I wont bother to get into here. Just know each dollar you have spent has HELPED me tremendously and it was all VERY appreciated. Thank you all SO MUCH! ((HUGZ))

I wanted to let you guys know all the exciting things I been up to since the "busy season" is pretty much over. Sales have went down to usual numbers and now I have time to catch up on some things I been dying to do like make LIQUID SOAP!!

I had quite an adventure making liquid soap yesterday I had done my homework for sure but you never know how something like this will go till you jump in with both feet. So I jumped!

I had what was supposedly a fail proof idiot proof recipe in hand that had been tried by others with success. This made me feel at ease a little bit more.




I mixed my potassium hydroxide and oil and stick blended the daylights out of the mixure till I got something I was pretty sure was trace...then I blended more. I wasnt taking NO chances with this one!! Everything I read said if you cant get the potassium hydroxide and the oils to trace then it WILL separate on you later on down the process.

The only part of this process that I dont think I fully "got" was the fact you really do have to keep this stuff HOT! I put it in a double boiler set up and had the water just below simmering...that wasnt enough, I needed to keep the water boiling the whole time. Once I turned up the heat I got better results.

I figured out from the "test" globs I took out of the "paste" I was cooking that I needed to BOIL the water that I was testing the globs in. So I had a ton of boiling water around the house yesterday LOL

I finally got tired of cooking this "Paste" I was supposed to be making after about 7 hours of cooking so I boiled yet more water and poured it over the paste I had made. I boiled this for about 15 to 20 minutes.

I broke up all the chunks of the paste in the boiling water as best as I could. This was the hardest part was breaking up this stuff so it could dissolve and thus make my liquid soap. I went and watched a movie and when I came back all I had to do was hit the whole mixture with my stick blender and it blended just perfect. AND to make it even better for my ego, it was just a WEEE bit cloudy. I was shooting for 100% clear, but you never know when this stuff sits for a couple of days it may be as clear as commerical dish soap! I am OK with partly cloudy though, as long as it isnt milky I am happy.

I have tested this so far in laundry : works AWESOME!
Dishes: I was amazed! It took the tea stain off my tea pitcher and commercial dish soap wont touch it unless you SCRUB with a scratchy pad. All I had to do with my soap was rub!

You could put this in a foamer bottle and make foamy soap for handwashing too! So many applications for this stuff the possibilities are really limitless and I am so rejuvenated and excited to be able to KNOW I can definitely make this stuff now!

I have in the works a new product I wish to announce here today! This week I hope to be unveiling my newest invention: ~JIGGLE SOAP!~ This will be similar to Jell-o as it will be jiggly and squirmy but it will be soap you can take in the shower with you. This will be 100% chemical free unless there is a fragrance oil to scent it but those are always pthalate free at least. This will also be 100% vegan! I will be making an experimental batch this week. I know it wont be till at least wednesday cause I have no car to get supplies till then...UGH!! but be on the lookout! I will most likely announce it here when I get this made. I am super duper excited!!!

I will also be coming up with an original recipe for shampoo. I am still researching oils and deciding what I would like to see a shampoo do, so that will be coming up in a couple more weeks as I get time. its definitely a top priority of mine to release a completely natural shampoo that works great!

I am so excited about all this, cant you tell! (jumps up and down and claps hands)

And, I am rapidly approaching 1,000 sales in Maylee's Garden on Etsy ! As of right now I have 982 sales. A lot of sales came in the past 2 months, I remember recently having my 777th sale and being all excited about it...and here I am staring at the big 1,000! I feel SO successful right now, and to make it special, I am gonna do SOMETHING nice for the person who buys that 1,000th product. I dont know what yet, maybe free shipping, free goodies...not sure. But I promise SOMETHING nice will happen to the 1,000th customer!


Again thank you ALL for your continued support of my little business. I truly enjoy cranking out all natural goodness for you all so we can all be healthier. I am so proud of what I have accomplished, and I could not have done it without each and every one of you who have supported me along the way.


THANK YOU!!!!

48 for Larry Update

Here is an update to whats up with Larry

They have special SNEAK PEEK pages of the silent auction items posted on the blockhead radio site. Here is links to each one as they are today I am positive there will be more than three pages soon! My item is not yet listed on the sneak peek site but the pic of it is to the right


Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

I want to thank the members of teambluegrass that have shown so much love to participate in this and the gift basket that Karen (tindlebears) was getting together.

If you want to jump in on the threads on Etsy or Artfire click the respective venue and you will go straight to the thread. As you all know keeping a thread bumped up keeps it going and more people will look at it and hopefully want to get involved.

Another cool thing Larry is doing, And this WAS cleared with John Jacobs before the listing was posted. He has decided to raffle off his grandmothers quilt. Handmade in the 1970's he is letting this beauty go. For 5 bucks you can get 6 chances to win. Drawing will be held in August I believe, see listing for details!

There is also a facebook group 48 For Larry that you can join if your on facebook.

There are also some posts on Votehandmade that you can vote up if you like. If you havent been to votehandmade be prepared to be addicted. This site is so fun! Registration is super easy and you build Karma as you participate in the voting and submission of items you like. Votehandmade was built using Reddit technology so if you have been to reddit you know pretty much already how votehandmade works. Its a lot of fun for sure!

You can also tweet about Larry to get the word out for him there is a link on the 48 for Larry page that you can click "retweet" and it will automatically send you to twitter with the tweet ready to send!

No matter what you do even if its just tweeting about him, or helping spread the word on facebook or donating a gift certificate to your shop or an item its all for a great cause!





We love you Larry!!!!!!!!

Update to Smocking tutorial post

Those of you who have not been with me long may have missed this post...of course my blog is searchable if you enter a search term in the box at the VERY top left hand corner of the blog you can search for all my tutorials or anything else you wanna know about.

Anyhoo I wrote this post last March and it has got tons of hits so I decided to update it since it could use pictures or something, so I decided to add a video! Its in 2 parts cause I cant figure out how to join them yet LOL

Smocking tutorial Video

In the video I am making a dress for a plus size lady but you can apply this technique to a dress or top of any size person. Its mostly the basic technique I am trying to teach here. So enjoy! And be on the lookout for that smocked dress coming to my Artfire and Etsy shop soon!

A sweet trade with momosbows

This trade was awesome just like the last one. Presentation is everything especially when you have a fancy shop like MoMosBows has. I was feeling like a rich lady when I opened up my box....well I kinda TORE it open cause I was so excited! This is what I find inside. Nice neat ADORABLY wrapped flip flops!






Are these cute or what! Maylee was MORE than happy to put these on for me, she seen me wearing mine and sat down and stuck her foot out with no problem whatsoever. She is used to the soft shoes made by the wondrous Kaboogie, so I didnt know how she would take to flip flops. She adores them!

MoMosbows makes the CUTEST Flip flops hands down. She also has some really cute hairbows too. Maylee is now the proud owner of some and she loves them. I havent got a picture of her wearing one yet but I will. I can hardly catch her with this slow camera I got! I like big fluffy bows and thats what MoMosbows has, and they are VERY well made. Top quality as is most everything handmade.

Momosbows is also a member of my street team. I am proud to know her, and so happy we could trade soap for some pretty stuff!. Thanks so much Stephanie!

I was featured on a blog! YAY!

Go check out this awesome collection of stuff.

Kellibeans was kind enough to include my art collage skirt in the mix with all this talent, I am so proud!

More guerrilla marketing tips from Pam Hawk

Well Pam did it again. This time the post is based on Media type marketing tips, Go check it out and enjoy! Remember it never hurts to contact your local paper, especially if your in a small town they will most likely LOVE to hear your story!

Thanks again Pam for posting such valuable info for us to use!

Need your help with scents!

Ok I have a craft show to do saturday. I am making lotions like mad HOPING they will sell, and I am also planning a batch of soap for thursday. Now help me out guys, I dont know what to make everything smell like!!!!

I know what sells on etsy and artfire, but I am not sure about this show cause I never did it before. I have NO idea what people in Kentucky like...yes I lived here all my life....I know, I know....

So please vote in the poll to your right and let me know what YOU think may sell, and I will choose scents from that category plus a few others and we will see how well it sells! My heart says go with the sweet candy scents...but judging by the sales at my last show a month ago I think the fruity scents may win out...but I dunno! I may make a few of each and hope for the best but honestly I dont want to be bringing any lotion home with me LOL Its so good I want everybody to have some!

Oh yeah, and I decided on flip top bottles for the lotion packaging for summertime. Now when winter comes around i will go back to the baby food jars cause I dont have to worry about product melting and leaking out when its freezing outside. The votes were a tie between baby food jars and the squeezy bottles, so I went with squeezy bottles. I dont have to worry about them leaking. Thanks for your help on that one too!

Oh yeah and my team has a new giveaway for June. If I was you I would totally get in on this one too. The prize was donated by the mega talented Jama Watts...she let me TOUCH her necklaces she makes!!!!!....she has made a gorgeous pair of earrings for the lucky winner of our blog contest, so head over there and enter!

Matchbook Notebook how to tutorial

One of our newest members, kellibeans was so kind to make this AWESOME slideshow tutorial for us with pictures! Its on how to make a matchbook notebook, which would be awesome for marketing your shop.

All you would have to do is use a sticky address label to affix your shops important info to the front cover, or if your really skilled in Microsoft Word or any of the photo editor programs you could print a sheet of coverstock with your shops name, info and colors! Talk about making an appearance! You can get a package of coverstock for about 12 bucks at staples, enough to make a bazillion of these notebooks, this would be an awesome way to market your etsy or artfire shop.

I find handing out business cards is nice but if you hand out something USEFUL like a notebook people are more likely to check out your shop cause they will be USING your "Business card". I keep all the magnet business cards I get on my fridge and those are a great idea too.

Guerrilla marketing tips

This article was published by Pam Hawk who is amazing with this stuff. I subscribe to her blog thru email and got this post and I just HAVE to repost it here

151 Guerrilla Marketing Tips

I have a few tips of my own I got from our new team member Kelli of Kellibeans fame

Make small items and leave them places, like sample sizes of your product, something small that cost little time and effort to make with your business info attached

Make something useful that has your business info on it...a pen, a magnet, a calender,SOMETHING that a person could use often and be less likely to throw away or ignore.

Have fun with guerrilla marketing it sounds like something I would like to get into myself as I am ALLL about marketing! Just make sure your marketing ends up being cost effective and you dont go ovr your budget you set aside for advertising expenses. it can be so easy to go over budget, I have done it before! LOL

Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild

I love polymer clay work, it is so amazing to me that someone can take a ball of clay and make it into something amazing. I tried polymer clay once and I can appreciate the talent and skill that goes into a piece.

So when I seen a post on Artfire forums about a voting thingy on their guild blog I was excited! I had to vote! But the problem is...I have to pick ONE to vote for !!AHHHHH!

So if ya got a minute go view the talent and try your best to pick just ONE!
Polymer Clay Smooshers May Challenge,

Also if ya got another minute drop by my Street Team's blog and vote in our monthly contest! This months prize is made by Vernon Ave who makes AMAZING clutches and bags

I just made Lotion!

Yes I am THIS excited! LOL

I been reading and reading about lotion, and I had the emulsifying wax here to make it and I decided to go on and jump in while I got this ton of body butter sitting here I cant sell cause its too hot to ship it.

The e-wax I am using is totally vegetable based, and I did some pretty thorough research on it to make sure its "safe' Everything I read on it says there is no known risk to humans or animals or environment with contact with this wax. I am convinced its safe. You guys know how I am about chemicals in bath and body products, I wont use any of that stuff, its too dangerous in my opinion thats why I began making soap in the first place was to get away from the carcinogens in bath and body products. My products are more "Unrefined" and not as "pretty" as the store bought stuff but they work better and are safe!

So the verdict on the lotion is: I applied some to my arm, and it goes on feeling a bit wet...I think this is how lotion is supposed to be. Its been YEARS since I used lotion so its hard to remember. The wet feeling goes away after couple of seconds. Then it feels a wee bit oily, not greasy or gross, just oily...that goes away in about 10 minutes and baby soft skin is what I have left. I LOVE it!

This is my body butter recipe, just made into a lotion. The oil part of the recipe is my body butter mixture, the water part is....well...water and a wee bit of borax to help emulsify and to help soften the water I used...I use ONLY distilled water.

I am so happy!!! Now to find packaging. I put some in this baby food jar and I am not so sure it would be a good sell in a baby food jar. I am totally into the recycling thing, but this is lotion LOL So lets vote! Tell me what YOU think would make good packaging! Voter thingy is to the right hand side under the SUBSCRIBE form (hint hint) hehehehehe

Let me know what ya think! I am hoping you dear voters can help me make the packaging look the way YOU want for YOUR convenience. Let me know what you think is best!

Repost from pamhawk.com Marketing tips

I am not gonna go into detail SHE did go read her article! LOL

PamHawk.com

Tips from the etsy forums, GREAT read. Lots of really great useful tips from pros like me who been there and done that and got the t shirt to prove it LOL

Have fun!

Soapmaking pics with Video of a volcano too!

This is my video I just made showing the "volcano" process that occurs sometimes during hot process soap making. I apologize for the uber BAD lighting. its raining AGAIN TODAY here in Louisville Kentucky so all I have to work with is the kitchen light.

ANYHOO, In this video you see a normal calm pot of soap start to rise! WOW! And then I have to lay the smack down at one point cause its gonna crawl out of the pan if I dont LOL. But this shows the most fascinating part of soapmaking for me. The stage where so many chemical reactions occur and the batch heats up and as the heat tries to escape its taking the soap with it! LOL





The stages of my soap go like this: I mix the oil and lye water, I get it to a thick trace with the hand blender, then I let it sit. Its like thick pudding at this point, then it gets super hard like concrete you cannot stir it at this point, you can pick up chunks with a spoon but stirring is impossible...
















then comes the volcano, and the last stage is the vaseline oily looking soap that is easy to stir...kinda like vaseline


Then as it cooks more and then cools down it turns into something like play doh...for me. I use a water discount so if you go by the rules you will get a different product,hopefully pourable! LOL A pourable but thick soap is the usual desired outcome of hot process soap.

Hope this has been educational and fun for ya. I would LOOOVE to do a video on how to do soap start to finish. It would make me a youtube star I bet! LOL I will talk to Tyler and see if he will be my video guy one day. I have yet to see a video showing this process from start to finish, and I think it would inspire others to get into soapmaking. I enjoy making my own soap. Its profitable, and its fun and I save a ton of money. I would love to share the joy and wonder I have when making a batch of soap with the world! For me as a big time nerd its still as fascinating to watch as it was the first time I made soap.

Thanks Jesse!

I wanted to give a huge thank you to Jesse of KyndCoastalCreations for making me and Maylee this awesome set of matching skirt and dress!
















Maylee is so adorable in her dress! You may notice something not quite right about her hair...well lets just say I got some tips on cutting a squirmy toddlers hair and hopefully we wont look like a dork again...yes I did tell Maylee I was sorry for making her look dorky...then she karate kicked me...so we are even.


This dress fits her so good! It was a bit cool outside the day we got it so I put this on her over a shirt. Its still adorable!

I keep looking at ALLLL the tiny little patches in these garments. I have no idea how she has the patience. When I do patchwork like this its usually a train wreck cause it wants to not lay flat...so I am really admiring the craftsmanship here big time

I have another of Jesses creations, a Hoodie she made. I wore it ALLLL winter long. It was my constant companion and you know it still is in great shape after being washed a zillion times. The quality is outstanding!

So again THANK YOU JESSE! You made mine and Maylees Monday a lot brighter for sure with this generous gift. I cant thank you enough! And its in our favorite colors too! Pink and green! YAY! I will get pictures of me and her together in this set and post them. I know we are cute together LOL

TeamBluegrass May Giveaway

hey guys a quick post tonight.

My street team is still having our giveaway contest for May! All you have to do to win a kickass mini pouch from VernonAve is check out her shop, and go back to the Team Blog and post a comment to enter!

Her stuff is to die for,seriously. She is MAJORLY talented with the handbags!

Also check out my teams featured seller for the week! SewCuteByKatie!

I love my street team!

I have been updating the team blog more than my own. I will be back soon I promise! I have pretty stuff to show you! I hope to get pictures posted here tomorrow...well wait its 1:30 AM...today later I will post! LOL

Artfire shop window

I love artfire! Here is my rapid cart, no account with artfire needed to purchase anything, you can buy from right here. How cool is that! All you need is a paypal account to pay. My artfire shop is here Maylee's Garden vegan Soaps
I am not an etsy traitor, but I do love artfire a lot for the features they have like no account needed to buy. If your not on artfire I highly recommend it!
More blog posts coming with real content. I have been so busy as the new leader of my street team, and with all the other stuff...I just havent had time to blog! But I miss you all and I will be back soon, I promise!

Mayleesgarden

Buy Handmade

New recipe Mexican Chip Dip

This is my recipe I made for this awesome dip. I was inspired by a dish from a local restaurant....I didnt totally rip it off but its close...anyhoo! This can be made completely vegan with a few simple changes, for now its OK for milk consuming vegetarians
This is so quick and easy its almost WRONG!
Here is what you need:
A bag of tortilla chips
1 can of Hormel vegetarian chili
1 packet of Old El Paso taco seasoning
1 jar of Newmanns own PINEAPPLE salsa
about 2 cups of brown rice, or white whichever you like
A container of sour cream..they make this in vegan
Some cilantro,onion,cumin


First thing, put 2 cups of rice in a pot with enough water to cover the second knuckle on your index finger when stuck down to the top of the rice...yes these are precise measurements here. Put in about 2 or 3 teaspoons of the taco seasoning, a pinch or three of cilantro, and stir often as it cooks. For best rice cover it with a lid and simmer on low till its soft. This will smell real good in a minute.





While its cooking take your chili and add in about 3 teaspoons of the taco seasoning and some more cilantro...a pinch or three, and a handful of chopped onion. if you like hot chili add some powdered cayenne pepper Yee Haw! Cook all this stirring occasionally in a pot on low heat and just let it simmer while the rice is cooking. You should be drawing a crowd by now in your kitchen.






When the rice is done, layer a pretty decent layer of rice on a BIG plate, smooth it out all nice like so....








Then add your chili layer to the rice layer like so: Smooth it all out nice and purty...feel free to use the back end of your spoon to shoo away well meaning but now starving family members...






add a nice layer of salsa to the chili layer. The pineapple in this really sets it off! Mango salsa is great too!

YUM! If the crowd gathered about you is getting hostile dont hesitate to run them outside and lock the door cause your ALMOST DONE!





Now you can add some of that sour cream you been keeping in the fridge for this recipe. Just put some dabs of it here and there...I like sour cream sometimes so I put a LOT of dabs everywhere I could. Holler at the kids and tell them to hang on and quit beating each other its almost ready!





Now add some of those chips you had to hide under your bed to keep the hubs from stealing them, and your done! Call in the horde that has angrily gathered outside your locked front door and assure them you still love them with this.




I would have took a picture of it after we ate it but I was too full. It costs about 10 bucks to make this having to buy all the stuff premade except the rice. You can make your own chili from scratch and your own salsa and save some money...maybe. LOL

Have fun with it!

I am in Kids Trends!

OMG! I am so excited! Life just gets better and better every day! Must be the Zithromax I been on....anyhoo, I got an email today Letting me know I was featured! YAY!

Kids Trends Weekly looks like a way cool online magazine. They have an article right now about the dangers of commercial bath and body products, namely the ones for babies and kids. Thos infuriate me the worst too. So I like these guys we think the same, so go click and read the articles and stuff browse around and have fun! I am not the only artist featured so go check out some cool Etsy shops!

Thanks Kids Trends for making my day even brighter than it was to start with!

So much to talk about today

So I cant come up with a snappy title to suck you in! LOL

First off I want to say I am a blessed woman. i mean it. I am majorly blessed, and I know that someone up there smiles on me cause last night I found this:

Yes kids its a HUGE container of Yoo-Hoo! I have dreamed about this moment since I was a small child. The day when Yoo-Hoo would find the love in its chocolatey heart to make a larger than 12.5 ounce container of its uber chocolatey goodness. Yes, This is the happiest day of my life. Overshadowed only by the births of my children....but its a close call on that one. I am attempting to email my brother a picture of me with a carton of this flipping him the bird...I cant wait to hear him cuss! ROFLMAO! This has been his dream too, we even heard rumors they sold 2 liters of this in NY and we tried for years to find one on ebay with no luck. I cant wait to tell him what I found...and I found it FIRST!

~~~~~~~~~~~~Exciting business opportunities part of the post!

In other news I have send a submission to this really pretty site called I Heart Handmade,they contacted me on etsy (MANY people do this but there are very few I actually mess with) They are doing virtual craft show for earth day and it runs from April 15th thru the 29th. Its the Eco Friendly craft show, and I am so excited to be a part of it! I will post here with a link to my page when the show starts. I think this will be a good way to get my products out to the world, and I am even gonna give away a baggie of laundry soap too! YAY! and with each purchase in my etsy shop made thru the craft show site I will include a free half bag of laundry soap enough to do 10 to 15 loads in your choice of scents. Again, I will post here and on twitter and everywhere else I hang out when the show starts so don't worry I wont let you miss it! LOL

~~~~~~~~~~Soapy part of the post....

And another thing I ran across today was this site here Coming Clean Campaign. I was not shocked really to find out these "organic" and "Natural" bath and beauty and also cleaning products are full of carcinogens. I figured they were, and I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole. I will stick to my vinegar and borax thanks.

******Blog post turns to preaching in 5-4-3-2-1.....

This is yet another reason to buy handmade guys! I have been saying for years that skin cancer don't come from the sun it comes from all this noxious chemicals we slather on our skin every day. Occasionally I will read the labels on some of the "organic" products at the store, and even the damn bath salts contain crap that shouldn't be there! I wont buy nothing from a retail store other than the most basic of needs. I know that everything else they sell IS hazardous to my health and I take a chance when I eat it, use it, spray it, or sniff it.

*********Helpful tips coming your way!

Its so easy to make your own household cleaners, Vinegar and water makes the best window cleaner, vinegar added to plain water makes a great solution for mopping, best I ever used as a matter of fact. Borax can clean your bathroom and make it shine, and cleans stoves and kitchen sinks up real nice too. I shine my sink up with baking soda and rinse it down the drain with some vinegar to keep the drains clear. If you cant stand the smell of vinegar (I HATE IT!!!!!!) Get a bottle of essential oil that you LIKE and put a few drops in with the vinegar mixture. It helps a LOT! My house usually smells like lavender when I mop the floors, not like vinegar.

So there it is. Make your own cleaners, save your health and butt tons of money every month. When I first started making my own, I was spending about 40 bucks a month on commercial cleaners for the house including windex,mopping floor stuff,bathroom cleaner,ect.. Since I started making my own my cost is now 3.75 for borax, and about 4 bucks for a gallon of vinegar that will usually last for 6 weeks. So I spend 7.75 for the same cleaning power I was spending 40 bucks on...AND.. I dont have all the empty spray bottles to throw out! I sanitized the last ones I used and I been reusing them for the past several years. Do it for your health, do it to save your hard earned money!

~~~~~~~~~Touching, Personal, and sometimes bitchy whiney part of blog post!

Maylee has been sick all week. Her fever got up real high one night and scared the living hell out of me. Now I am sick too. I have been running on 3 to 6 hours of sleep a night and I am beat. I am implementing a new plan for mine and Maylees health starting today. We will be megadosing vitamin C till the weather finally changes. I will do 2 grams a day and Maylee can do 250 to 500 milligrams...we will make Zinc candy a part of our every day routine too. This is the 2nd time in 6 weeks we have been sick. Before this it had been years since I was full blown sick with the flu. This is just too much!

Tyler has made Yellow belt in his Karate class! YAY! he tested a couple weeks ago and he passed! here is a video his instructor made. The one here I have linked to is his instructor at a tournament we all went to last weekend. He does some really cool moves.
Here is a video of Tylers instructor dropping some kid with one kick. he was 15 when he did this, and he says he let the kid know he was gonna roundhouse kick him, but he didnt even try to block it. Ahhh karate drama.

Maylee loves watching the fighter guys and trying to do what they do. She loves it when we take her in to Tylers Karate class. She is so cute with her kicks and punches.

OK I think thats it for all my babling and updates and whatnot. i wish I had more time to blog so I didnt have to make one huge post but I been super busy this past week with Sweet Baby sick and now I am sick...I still managed to make soap though...and I made more body butter too...

~~~~~~~~~You knew this part was coming...the blatant self promotion part!

Oh and I am having a sale in my artfire shop!!!!!!!!!

Showing off our cool new stuff

First thing is the necklace I got yesterday. i bought this from Kees Juicy gems who makes incredible tree pendants! She was twittering a special where if you buy a pendant you can have one sent to a friend for free! So I was all over it cause I had a friend I wanted to send one to, Journeyhawk who is expecting a baby any day now! I am so excited for her its her first one and she is nervous of course so I wanted to make her happy with something pretty. She also got her necklace yesterday too!
These pendants are so detailed. i had no idea you could do all that with wire! The stones are real peridot on this one too which is my birthstone (smiles) It is very well made and good size as you can see. Maylee loves it...maybe a little too much LOL. I highly recommend this seller, she has great top quality products and fast shipping! Go show her some love!

Next is some things we got last week (I been shopping WAY to much yes) First is my goodies from kreatedbykelly who has the nicest button jewelry and bouquets you ever seen! She has a shop on Etsy and on Artfire too...and remember there is no account needed when you shop on Artfire!!!
This is my awesome pink fabric cuff, and my huge button ring, these go great together and I plan on wearing it with my huge big corset skirt I have before it gets too hot outside to wear the skirt...now I have to find a top to match that is not a white t shirt....


This is my colorful ring that I have been wearing a lot lately cause it matches everything! Especially my hippie patchwork stuff. I love this ring!!! Kelly's stuff is always so well made! I am acquiring a massive collection of her stuff here and at moms house too! Mom has her bouquets and they are seriously to die for. They are so well made, and the choices of buttons are just perfection. i could go on and on about how awesomely talented Kelly is! The bag was made by Kelly too. I cant get a decent picture, and I will never get a picture to reflect the quality! This is my new crochet projects bag...for now but I got a feeling I will be putting my other stuff in there and making it a full time bag soon. its just too pretty! And it matches the ring LOL. So that's it for this round of Kelly stuff, go see her, love her stuff! Buy her stuff! She is awesome!!! And every package is like getting a present, its all wrapped real nice and pretty...I love it when I get boxes from her!

Next is Unicorns Pride. My good friend Lana from Hippiesew, she makes some seriously awesome soap, and she is the master of soapmaking. She really is! When I have a problem with soap I can go to her and she is ON IT! She KNOWS everything...I love Lana. I don't know what I would do without her...especially when I do something stupid like add stinky toasted sesame seed oil to a batch of body butter thinking its normal sesame seed oil...but that's another blog post....Anyhoo! Lana made these adorable carrots and bananas...well those are Maylees two favorite foods so I had to buy them as soon as Lana let us know they were listed.


Maylee LOVES her new toys! She knows they are carrots and bananas too, she snatched them up right away and went to work organizing them on the chair on the front porch







Lana makes some really super nice crocheted hats and scarves, and some cute soap sacks. I know its trying to be spring right now but these scarves and hats are still nice for those days when spring isn't trying hard enough. I have some hats Lana made for Maylee when she was just a fetus that Lana sent. Maylee can still wear a couple of them and I have used them this winter as well as all last winter when she was itty bitty. Lana is a good friend to have. I heart Lana! So go check out her soaps and stuff, she is the Pro I am telling you, she has good stuff! She has been at this longer than me!

And last but most certainly NOT least is this awesome outfit Maylee is wearing from Tee Hee Studios. I am in AWE! Seriously. The drawing was made by a little lady named Tulsi. She made these drawings and her mom is so talented she silk screened them onto clothing WOW! So I bought one LOL I couldn't resist! I am a sucker for anything made by a child, so this was something I neeeeded for Maylee. She looks so sweet in her little outfit, and it looks comfortable on her too, and I am in love with the pink and green tie dye effects...of course (smiles)
The fabric this outfit was made from is very very good quality. You know how some premade onsie fabrics are just kinda crappy or thin, well this isn't. Its really good quality. I would say this would look good after 3 or 4 kids wore it and outgrew it. I plan on gifting this to some lucky baby after Maylee outgrows it. Art like this should be shared!
At Tee Hee Studios you can also get an awesome tea party tablecloth and napkin set I am in love with these! I love the drawings and I love the dye work on it too. I also hear that Tulsi and her mom made a book...rumor has it that the book will be in the shop soon so keep a look out. i am also a sucker for kids books! Maylee LOVES books! I do too! And what better than a book a little girl and her mom made, how sweet! If I see the book before you guys do I will post here...after I buy it LOL!!!

So I think that's it for now.I will be buying more from Tee Hee Studios soon as Maylee needs spring and summer clothes and i HATE everything in the retail stores. I am trying to buy her all handmade or hand altered clothing. I just don't want to support COMMUNISM! I hate buying crap from China, so that's one main reason I buy handmade and why I encourage you all to buy handmade. When you buy from China you support communism...and a little puppy dies each time you walk in wal-mart....and baby birds fall out of their nest each time you THINK about going to wal mart...and volcanoes erupt and take out whole cities and towns when you BUY something from wal-mart....you get the picture. Its just bad. BUY HANDMADE!!!