Why Does Giving Feel So Good?

Thinking ahead to the busy holiday season we often get caught up in running down the "list" of what we have to buy for whom. Although shopping may be easier now than it has ever been, with online shopping, we still feel the pressure when shopping for gifts. With all the frenetic preparing for the holidays I think we  sometimes forget about the act of the actual giving and how good it can make us feel as well as how happy it makes the recipient of our gift(s) feel. Giving is something that should bring both parties joy, no matter how big or how small the gift is.

That brings me to the simple gift. Sometimes less is more and sometimes a simple gift can be more appreciated because it may be something that a person can truly use and enjoy. A simple gift may be  something unique and one of a kind, something bought at a craft fair, a one of a kind painting, a handmade piece of jewelry or a special handmade gift bought online. It shows the recipient that you really put some time and thought into the gift you were buying for them. Your gift is as unique as they are. 

I bet if you think about it that kind of special, simple gift also makes you really happy to buy for someone. That is the joy of the holiday season, the act of finding and giving and spreading  happiness.

I will have simple gifts of joy at my upcoming fairs which are as follows;

• Patterson Recreation Patterson, NY Holiday Bazaar and Craft Fair 11/26/22 9:00am-3:00pm
• Brewster Elks Lodge Brewster, NY Holiday Craft Fair 11/27/22 10:00am-3:00pm  
• St. James the Apostle Carmel, NY Christmas Bazaar 12/3/22 8:00am-3:00pm  
• Camp Herrlich Patterson, NY Holiday Market 12/4/22 10:00am-3:00pm
• Arts on the Lake Craft Show 12/10/22 & 12/11/22 11:00am-3:oopm

I hope you will be able to make at least one market and support all the wonderful small businesses that have such wonderful products to offer! Please remember, soaps make WONDERFUL stocking stuffers!

Gina 💗

 

 

Autumn Gift Box which includes my soaps, lemon brown sugar scrub and washcloth.

 

 

Spa Gift Box which includes, my soaps, 100% natural beeswax tea lights, and a natural sea sponge.

      

My very popular Christmas Tree Handmade Soaps will be back!

 

A Beautiful Day at The Fall Market!

It was another wonderful day at the St. James the Apostle School Craft Fair! There was lots of food, music, friends and great conversation! Thanks to all who stopped by to say hello! My next fair will be at Patterson Recreation in Patterson NY on November 26th, 2022 from 9:00am-3:00pm. Hope to see you there!

Gina💗

Table is set up and ready for business!

 

The Complexity of Our Sense of Smell

I was recently listening to a podcast on "A Way to Garden" with Margaret Roach entitled, The Scentual Garden  by Ken Druse; take note of the spelling of scentual, it is intentional. In this podcast, Ms. Roach speaks with the author who had found a deficit in the descriptive terms used for scents of flowers/plants. He stated that even in flower catalogs you will most likely find the word "fragrant" to describe a flowers scent and sometimes there is no description.(Druse) Mr. Druse states that we have so many words for colors but with fragrances we "often have to use analogies." (Druse) He goes on to talk about primary scents and secondary scents and how he came up with twelve categories of scents for his book. It is a very interesting podcast. I am including links to his book and the podcast. A Way to Garden Podcast and The Scentual Garden by Ken Druse

So why is our sense of smell the overlooked middle child of our senses? In March of 2021, I lost my sense of smell for six months due to Covid. I never realized how important that sense was until I lost it. I had to ask my family members what the new fragrances I had bought for my soaps smelled like. Since everyone's smell is a little different, I got all different answers. Over the months I tried to "reawaken" my olfactory receptors by smelling everything! I realized the many layers of a single smell and realized when one of those layers was missing. It was very strange to smell herbs and spices like oregano and curry, and smell "something" but not the oregano or curry that I had known for my entire life. The experience made me appreciate the wonderful gift of being able to smell all the good (and not so good) scents around us. It also sharpened my ability to pick out different notes in fragrances because I was concentrating on them more.  This helps when choosing a fragrance for my soaps. When choosing a fragrance oil, I try to pick ones that smells very similar to whatever it is trying to recreate and not have any synthetic "after-scent" to it.

So, to get back to the question, why do we often overlook our sense of smell? The answer is, I don't know...? I encourage everyone to pay more attention to all the scents that surround them everyday and all the many layers in that scent. Be it the herbs and spices you use to cook, the flowers in your garden, or your favorite fragrances. Here is a COUPON CODE, Treat Your Senses! so you can give it a try on my soaps! Enjoy!

Gina💗

Fragrance oil recreating the scent of a pear.

Chamomile is the fragrance recreated here.

 

Next Craft Fair!

Hope you can come out to the St. James the Apostle School and Parish Craft Fair this Saturday, October 22, 2022. There will be lots of great vendors and food! Come say hello!

Gina💗

I will have plenty of Shampoo and Conditioner Bars!

 

  

Wonderful Day at the Fall Market!

Thanks to all who came out to the Fall Market at Camp Herrlich in Patterson NY yesterday! It was a lovely day with lovely people! My next fair will be at St. James the Apostle School on October 22, 2022 from 10:00am-3:00pm. Come say hi! 

Gina💗 

The set up!

 

The Wonder of Glycerin Soap During the Change in Seasons

Autumn is such a beautiful time of year, in some respects it almost equals the showiness of spring, only during fall it is the trees time to show off their fanciful, red, yellow and orange top coats! These colors are also reflected in Mums and the vegetables of the season. Autumn is the time when nature gets ready for its long sleep. As I've said in previous posts nature has always been a source of inspiration and awe for me. As the colors change, I also look to change the colors of my soaps to reflect the season. Fall is a cozy season, warm fragrances and tones are appropriate for spending more time indoors.

If you live in an area where spring and summer bring you moisture and humidity you know how it helps your skin stay hydrated. In areas that have seasons the air in autumn and winter can be extremely dry, especially in our homes. This dryness is not good for our skin, and the older you are the more it effects you.  As we age our skin looses its natural oils, suffers the effects of sun damage and our cells aren't regenerating as they did when we were younger. Add to that skin products that use detergents and/or chemicals and it doesn't make for happy skin!

Melt and pour soap is so amazing because it has extra glycerin added. Glycerin is a natural humectant, which means it is good at retaining or preserving moisture. Glycerin soap does not strip your skin of its natural oils, it moisturizes you skin to keep the oils in, without feeling oily.  Glycerin soaps pH is much closer to your skins natural pH which is usually below 5.o. Skin pH

Some useful tips on extending the life of your melt and pour glycerin soap are;

• Never leave it sitting in water, always have it on something like a soap drying rack or wooden soap dish when not in use. If it is left in water it will melt because it soaks in moisture.
• When not in use (ie. you are not using it every day) keep it wrapped in plastic. This will extend the fragrance (if any) and it will keep the soap from getting glycerin dew, a white "powder like" film, which is perfectly normal and not harmful in any way, it is the glycerin drawing the moisture from the air. This usually only happens in humid environments. All my soaps come wrapped in cellophane so you can store them for long periods until ready to use.

• Do some research, or ask an expert! Some Glycerin soaps are more moisturizing than others. I find that castile and oatmeal bases are very moisturizing and clear and honey bases are slightly less moisturizing but are still wonderful for the skin and non drying.

Now that cooler temperatures are coming, for some, let's take care of our beautiful skin! I'd like to share some pictures listed below from my backyard of the beautiful fall scenery. It inspires me every day and two little friends we are hosting for the winter!

Gina💗

 

Beautiful autumn color this year!

 

A zucchini flower in my garden.

Two Swallowtail caterpillars we will be overwintering. They will emerge in the spring as Swallowtail Butterflies!

 

The wonderful moisturizing properties of glycerin soap!

The Gumption to Start a Small Business

How did I get here? I do not have a business background, I have a Masters Degree in Social Work, and I am, shall we say, of middle age vintage. How could I start my own small business? The answer lies in determination, letting go, and learning on your feet.

 Determination

I have always been very individualistic; I always marched to my own drum and had the confidence to do so. After the difficulties of 2020 I realized that I needed a change and wanted to do something I was passionate about, but something totally different from what I had done all my life, career wise. To quote a line from a song of my favorite musician, Peter Murphy, "a howling wind changed my course." (Crystal Wrists) I had a vision for my soap brand and set out to create it. This was something I had never done in my professional life but always wanted to-- to have my own small business. I had worked in retail during my college years so I knew how important branding was.  I opened my Etsy shop and hadn't a clue what I was doing. I learned as I went along and in a short time I felt more confident in my understanding about how a small business runs.

Letting Go

By nature I tend to be a very private person but I have always loved interacting with people, talking, sharing stories, interests, and connecting. After I had my Etsy shop running for a few months I decided to sign up for a local craft fair, again I didn't know what I was doing but I had the confidence that I could figure it out and I just let go and threw myself in! It was a wonderful experience. The positive feedback I received from customers and vendors was priceless. Letting go of insecurities can be a major step in progressing forward in whatever vision you have for your task. I love going to craft fairs now and have made many connections with customers and vendors alike. Sometimes you just have to throw yourself into the ring, so to speak.

Learning on My Feet

The saying "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one" is one I identify with. I love learning and I am curious about so many things. I would joke with my parents that if I could stay in school forever I would because I loved learning for its own sake. For as long as I can remember, if I was interested in something, I would read and research everything about it. From music to philosophy, history to gardening, herbal or holistic medicine to soap, the list goes on and on, I self-taught myself on many subjects.  This characteristic helped me to learn what I needed to know about my newly formed business. I sought the information I needed to know from those more experienced than me and did lots of research. It is now easier than ever to find knowledge right at our fingertips!

Taking that first step in trying something new is often the scariest one. Sometimes you just have to throw yourself in and learn as you go. Use your life experience to help you along, ask questions and be curious. Most of all believe in yourself!

Gina💗

My first craft fair!

 

A craft fair this past summer 2022; a big difference from my first fair!

My next fall market!

How Do You Make Melt and Pour Soap Stand Out?

When I first thought about soap making I knew I was going to use the melt and pour method. For those who don't know, when you make melt and pour soap you buy the base soaps already made as opposed to making them yourself. I have the utmost respect for soapers who make their own soap. It is truly an art. I knew however, that was not for me. I also knew that I would not be able to get the beautiful designs that soapers who make cold processed soap get using the melt and pour method... what to do?  I researched the topic and tried the techniques suggested for making designs in melt and pour. As you can guess there were quite a number of disappointments in the beginning. The soap was fine but the design was, shall we say interesting. You may be saying to yourself, design for soap? Yes! How I approached my new endeavor was that I wanted the soap to look unique, aesthetically pleasing, and be of high quality. Nature has always been a great source of inspiration for me and I believe that we should bring beauty into our lives wherever we can. Whether it is how we landscape our garden, decorate our homes, or simply looking at a pretty soap that smells good in the shower in the morning! By creating something pleasing it gives us a chance in our busy lives to, hopefully, stop and enjoy it. Nature is also a big influence for creating soaps with fragrances. After all the art of fragrance making is just trying to recreate all the wonderful scents that are all around us. If essential oil is used it is actually using the oils from certain plants.

Getting back to creating interesting melt and pour soap... After I experimented with designing, I started to develop my own way of creating interesting patterns on the soap.  I always have a color theme in mind that usually goes along with the soap scent. Again, nature is an ever present influence; with some soaps I may have a very simple landscape theme within the design, for example, a beach. I try to use techniques that are different from those I have seen. Sometimes it is a lot of thinking on my feet to come up with a different design, but I love the challenge!

If you are thinking about trying the melt and pour method of soap making, do your research, but have fun and experiment with the design of your soap! Melt and pour lends itself very nicely to layering, as shown in the time lapse video below. The key to layering is to wait anywhere from 15-40 minutes in between layering, depending on the soap base you are using, and the usage of sprayed alcohol to bind the two layers. Think of different ways to make your designs; an example might be pouring a thin colored layer of soap in a shape, waiting about 15 minutes and then pouring the rest of your soap. The designs are endless, you just have to think them up! I have included a link on layering: Layering Melt and Pour Soap

Visit my Etsy shop to see some of the designs I have created. Here is a link to receive a 10% discount if you purchase two soaps. Coupon Code

Gina💗

 

Layering of Lemon Verbena Soap

 

Finished product, Lemon Verbena Castile Handmade Soap