Skruben

Family Camping Essentials List

2012-01-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

I was recently reading a blog post that asked for readers’ suggestions for the most essential camping supplies. It got me pondering this year’s plans, which is a regular January occurrence for me.

I'm the towhead sitting on my dad's lap, 1972.
Mom's tending the fire and my Granny's having a tasty beverage.

I grew up camping with my family and now it's a mainstay of vacations with my own husband and three kids. We have "car camped" (we don't hike in with all our gear) all along, even when each of the kids was a very small infant. We all love it. It is, bar none, my favorite family activity. It’s really more enjoyable when you’re prepared though, so here’s my list of what to remember…

Gear:

good quality, compact tent
sleeping mats
sleeping bags
pillows
screen tent to put over the eating/cooking area if bugs are a problem (we don't always end up using this, but we're sure glad we have it when we do)
comfortable chairs for sitting around the fire

Cooking Items (camping is a culinary adventure):

compact stainless nesting pots and pans
compact propane stove (high btu)
cast iron griddle
French press coffee maker
insulated thermos (to keep hot coffee in while you brew a new batch)
enameled plates and mugs
spice kit (I took 15 small plastic containers, labeled them and filled them with our favorite cooking spices, then put them all in a small zippered pouch so they're easy to grab and pack)
a couple good chef's knives from home, with protective sleeves
collapsible water jugs
Ziplock bags for leftovers

Campsite Organizing:

small wisk broom
tablecloth (there’s often too much bird poop on the picnic tables for my taste)
garbage bags
dish washing basin (just a large food storage bin that’s handy transport for our dishtowels and cleaning supplies)
hatchet
matches
newspaper for starting fires
bungee cords (to make a towel drying line and hang the garbage bag up high in a tree, away from critters…also the kids like to make forts out of blankets hung between trees)

Miscellaneous Items:

telescoping marshmallow sticks
propane lantern
glow sticks (these act as dim nightlights for the kids when hung up in the tent so that they don't get too scared and so we don't accidentally step on each other if we have to get up in the night to use the bathroom)
pocket knives (for whittling stuff)
flashlights or headlamps
picnic blanket (for the beach or napping on mossy knolls)
cards
Scrabble
bug spray
sunscreen
Benadryl
bee sting kit
first aid kit
washcloths and hand towels (for cleaning dirty kid faces and feet when they get their pajamas on for bed)

This list probably sounds a little type A psycho in its detail, but we've been tweaking it for years. There’s nothing like needing a first aid kit and not having one to enlighten your future packing. We keep most of these items on two shelves in our garage so that they can easily be grabbed and packed in the car. We're able to set up camp and break camp very quickly, leaving lots of time for hikes, crabbing, cooking and hanging out. Now is actually a great time to find deals on gear and get ready for the warmer weather to roll in. If you camp in Washington, I’d also like to recommend our favorite guide book for choosing where to go: Camping Washington: The Best Public Campgrounds for Tents and RVs--Rated and Reviewed by Ron Judd. It has never steered us wrong.

Do you use essential items that I didn’t list? I’d love to get some new tips.

Happy camping!

Janus, god of Beginnings

2012-01-09T05:56:00.000-08:00

I was sitting on my couch, reveling in the calm that comes after the busy holidays season, and I looked up at the wall where we have a grouping of carved masks that we have gathered from different countries and cultures over the years. One of my favorites is an Italian mask representing the Roman god Janus, who is a two-faced character, literally. He represents new beginnings and transition, when you look both backward and forward in time. He is also the god of doorways and bridges. The month January is named after him. Although it can be a hard adjustment at first, I love the lull of January because it does give a person time to ponder the past and plan for the future.

Are you hatching any great plans for the future? I am.

Happy New Year

2012-01-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

A theme song, for a new, hopeful year...

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My Less-Toxic Life List

2011-11-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

Reading Deanna Duke’s book The Non-Toxic Avenger: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You has made me look much more carefully at the things that I do and the products I buy for my family. It’s not realistic for me to think that we will be able to eliminate our exposure to questionable chemicals, but we can focus on reducing that exposure. Hopefully our bodies can battle the toxins we do take in more easily on their own, if they’re not being completely bombarded with them. As I mentioned in my last post on this topic, it’s a case of “pick your battles”. Well, these are the battles I decided to pick…

First, a pat on the back for things that we already do:

Keep lots of houseplants-plants do an amazing job of purifying the air, naturally. Apparently, they can help filter the air up to 100% over 24 hours in a closed environment, if you have enough of them. But you DO have to remember to give them water so that they don’t die. Damn.

Use stainless steel cookware-we invested a few years ago in a nice collection of All-Clad pots and pans. We love them and now can feel especially good about the fact that they aren’t poisoning us every time we cook a meal.

Use Apple computer products-because of its lack of restricted chemicals like lead, mercury and arsenic (which many computers contain…yuck), PVC-free components, and long battery charge, Apple’s computers are far safer than their competitors.

NO antibacterial soap or cleaners-use natural, handcrafted soap. Antibacterial soap is Evil. It’s full of Triclosan, which is not only really bad for fish and other wildlife, but gets stored in the body long term and is linked to endocrine abnormalities, immune-system weakening and cancer. It’s also usually loaded with synthetic fragrance, which contains phthalates and neurotoxins.

Eat organic-we don’t eat all organic food, but we try to choose the organic or natural options whenever possible. For produce, I put special focus on avoiding the non-organic versions of items that are known to carry the most pesticides, and buying the ones that usually have less. Having said that, if my kids are having a snack at a friend’s house and have to choose between a non-organic apple and a candy bar, I hope they choose the apple.

Starting down the road to a less toxic life:

No more nonstick cookware-we don’t have much of it, but what we do have is going away. This stuff is loaded with nasty chemicals and has a tendency to flake off after repeated use, so you basically end up eating Teflon chunks. It’s gross and definitely not good for you. For example, my husband will be getting this stainless steel bowl rice cooker for the holidays, to replace the non-stick one we currently have. Shhh, don’t tell him.

Wash my hands more-as if the normal reasons for washing your hands weren’t enough, now I’m aware of the fact that most paper printed with thermal printer ink (like cash machine and register receipts) is full of BPA, which rubs off onto your hands, seeps into your skin and follows you wherever you go. Cashiers often have extremely high levels of BPA in their blood. If my kids ever get a job at 7-11, they’re wearing gloves to work.

Shop online more-one of things that’s most difficult for me in trying to be a chemical watchdog for my family is that there are so many to keep track of. I use the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database to look up information on specific products, but if I don’t plan ahead and bring a list with me when I shop in stores, I can never remember all the chemicals that should be avoided. If you shop online, it’s much easier to look up that information because you’re sitting at your computer already.

Bring a cheat sheet-some things I just won’t buy online, so I’m going to carry a list in my wallet of the most heinous and pervasive chemicals…and the many different names they go by. Hopefully this will help me to make better choices when I shop.

No plastic in the microwave-I know this is not new information, but the book really reinforced for me the importance of heating food in containers made from glass or metal, since the chemicals in plastic leach so easily into the food, especially at higher temperatures. I’ve let it slip in the past, but won’t any more.

Be less American-by this, I mean buy the European versions of products, if possible. The EU has much stricter laws regarding questionable chemicals, where the burden is on corporations to prove that an ingredient is safe before it goes into the product. Many American companies offer European versions of the same popular brands they sell here, only without the garbage in them. Why don’t they just sell them in the US since they’ve already spent money on reformulating the recipes, you ask? Probably because they’re afraid of appearing culpable and being sued if/when people get sick or have reactions to the American versions. If they change the formulas, it implies that they contained something bad in the first place. Sheesh.

Be strong, mom-I vow to buckle less under the whining pressure of my children when they ask to buy crappy chemical-laced, un-naturally colored, heavily fragranced or highly processed consumables. Or better yet, I’ll just try not to take them to the store with me in the first place.

The harder changes to swallow:

Electronics-there’s a high likelihood that living in a world filled with electronics and high-voltage transients (dirty electricity) could affect our bodies on a cellular level. If you think about it, these high frequency technologies (like in microwave ovens, cell phones & wi-fi ) are pretty new. They’ve all become common within my own lifetime. Time has not yet tested how our bodies can process and adapt to this widespread electromagnetic exposure. It’s really scary. But I also value electronics and feel like the positive impact they have on my life in other ways is very significant. Even if I were to give up electronics and “go Amish”, my neighbors would still have wi-fi. There’s really no escaping it.

Plastics, in general-we’ve been trying to transition away from plastics over the past few years, but it’s not easy. I’m thankful for stainless steel and glass containers for storing and reheating food, but plastic is literally everywhere. I will not take my daughter’s Polly Pocket dolls away from her, but I will make sure that she does not put them in her mouth…or in the microwave.

REI am in trouble-I am from the Northwest, and I do love the outdoors and all the gear that goes with it. Apparently, water repellant sprays and fabrics that are wrinkle-resistant or weather resistant like Gore-Tex are full of nasties. And fleece…I love fleece (sigh). These fabrics contain Teflon, off-gas PVCs, or are full of PTFEs to keep things from sticking to them (like rain). Seriously? You mean I might actually have to carry an umbrella in Seattle? This one is going to be difficult. Camping in wool is just not an option for us.

The biggest overall change will come from being better informed and more aware of the hazards in many products. Choices will have to be made, but at least I have a better understanding now of the issues involved. What things might you try to change, to lead a less toxic life?

My book review: The Non-Toxic Avenger: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

The Non-Toxic Avenger

2011-11-22T17:36:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading an excellent book called The Non-Toxic Avenger: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You, by Deanna Duke, an environmental writer, blogger, wife and mother. The book will simultaneously educate, motivate and scare the wrinkle-resistant pants off of you.

It documents how, one awful week in 2007 Deanna's family received two earth-shaking bits of news: her son was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (high-functioning autism) and her husband was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (an often fatal form of leukemia). These diagnoses triggered an array of questions about what caused the two conditions and whether or not exposure to environmental toxins could be a culprit. Her questions led to reading books, research articles, and more questions, until she decided to do some investigating on her own. Are the levels of toxins that we, as Americans, are exposed to every day making us sick? Is a little bit OK? Where does the line get crossed?

“Many companies and individuals representing the chemical industry argue that small doses of potential toxins like parabens and phthalates and polyethylene glycols (PEGs) don’t hurt the human body, that we are capable of processing them and ridding them from our systems. That is true to some degree, but given the fact that there are so many products that contain a maelstrom of chemical ingredients, with some estimates that the average American uses upward of 10 products a day, it begins to add up. And your body has to work that much harder to “process” all those chemicals. With multiple parabens and phthalates in each product, sometimes applied multiple times a day, your body is working full-time to eliminate them. And then those small doses aren’t negligible anymore.”

Deanna felt that a scientific approach would be the best way to get more information, so she made herself a guinea pig, of sorts. At that time she was living the life of an environmentally-minded and generally uncontaminated person, choosing organic food for her family and trying to buy (or make) natural products that were not laced with chemicals, whenever possible. To gather the necessary data for her research, she stopped doing that. Instead, she ate the common foods that an average American eats and she used personal care products that the average American would. Her plan was to let her body simulate the amount of chemicals that most Americans would have in their systems (the toxic body burden), get a complete round of blood work and testing done to find out what those “common” levels are, then go cold turkey off of all toxins…and see how long it would take for her body to become clean again. Luckily for us, she documented this journey in a book.

The book itself is very well written, giving us background on her family’s medical challenges and her motivation for finding out more about environmental toxins, then getting into the nitty gritty of the data gathering phase of the research. She’s a very funny writer and this comes out in the book. I laughed out loud on several occasions. Deanna does a good job of trying to make the information in the book accessible for an average person. She knows that the lifestyle choices that would need to be made in order to reduce toxic exposure have to be reasonable and achievable, or else no one will bother to do it. She pokes fun at herself a lot when she talks about some of the more extreme anti-toxin choices she had to make during the second phase of the project. She refers to herself as the “crazy lady” on several occasions. She’s not crazy, but she is thorough.

I won’t go into many of the details in the book, because frankly, you should buy it and read it for yourself. It’s so full of information, that it can be overwhelming. The questionable chemicals in every aspect of our daily lives are so numerous and pervasive that it’s hard to imagine removing enough of them to actually make a difference. It was hard not to get discouraged, mostly when trying to imagine how to convince people like my sixth grade son, who keeps pestering me to buy toxic bombs like Axe Body Wash, that we should eliminate many heavily marketed or established products from our household repertoire. Ultimately, I took comfort in Deanna’s statement that “It’s about striking a balance between the risks of the problem and the risks of the solution.” To me, this is a variation on the parental axiom: pick your battles.

One major question that I had, which Deanna did address extensively in the book, was regarding the performance of eco-friendly, non-toxic products vs. chemical-laced conventional ones. She struggled with finding effective substitutes for some toxic items like mold fighting cleaners, dishwashing liquid, deodorants and drain cleaners. Happily, she mentions many specific products that she either likes or dislikes (and why) so I have much less research to do on my own now.

I recommend reading this book with a pencil in hand and a hefty pad of post-it markers so that you can refer back to the details at a later date. It's worth your time, because being uninformed can kill you too.

Follow-up post: My Less-Toxic Life

Colorful Crayon Foliage

2011-11-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Fall leaves are the inspiration for this fun and easy kid project. These would make great table decorations or place cards for your Thanksgiving dinner this week.

All you need is a colorful collection of crayons, waxed paper, paper towels, scissors, and iron and ironing board. The colors shown in these photos are perfect for Autumn, but this is a great project for any season. It's also a great way to use up broken or scrap crayons that are too small to comfortably hold in your hand and usually end up in the garbage or getting sucked into the vacuum cleaner.

First, using a crayon sharpener or cheese grater, make crayon shavings in a variety of colors.

Kids love this part of the project, because they're usually obsessed with sharpening things and this is a great excuse to do LOTS of it...and end up with a very satisfying pile of colorful shavings.

On your ironing board, place one sheet of waxed paper and distribute your crayon shavings over the top. Place another sheet of waxed paper on top of that, followed by a piece of paper towel (so that the wax from the paper doesn't melt onto your iron). Iron the waxed paper and crayon shavings on low heat until they are all melted.

At this point, you could cut leaf shapes freehand, or you could use an actual leaf as a template to cut out your colorful waxed paper.

See! Beautiful!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

All images courtesy of Britt McCombs

Halloween Mummy Dogs

2011-10-25T06:02:00.000-07:00

Halloween is coming up next week. Do you have a party planned? Will there be kids there? Or maybe kids in the bodies of adults? My friend Britt made these great Halloween themed pigs in a blanket for a recent party that she hosted, and I had to share them. They're adorable: Halloween Mummy Dogs. Who knew decaying corpses could be so cute!

Start with the normal pigs in a blanket ingredients: 'Lil Smokies hot dogs & crescent roll dough, plus caraway seeds.

Slice the crescent roll dough into long strips to simulate mummy's wrap (disregard the perforated lines that the dough come with in the package).

Wrap each hot dog with the strips, leaving a little opening for what will be the face, adding the caraway seeds for eyes.

Bake, plate, and serve...with a little tomato blood. Bwahahahahaha!!!

Happy Halloween!

New Retro Suitcase Gift Sets

2011-10-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

I love suitcases. It's probably because I love to travel and they always make me think of great trips I've taken, or enticing places I have yet to visit. I don't get to travel as much as I'd like, so you might say I'm a bit preoccupied with images and symbols of travel and far away destinations.

Although modern rolling suitcases are more sturdy and practical, I still really like the old style cases that I've acquired over the years. I have one wood framed case that I bought at a flea market in Glasgow, Scotland and hauled all the way back to the states with me because I loved it so much. I have other cases that are precious to me because they belonged to family members who have been gone for many years and saw many great adventures of their own.

So, I was thrilled to find boxes in the shape of suitcases to introduce my new gift sets in time for the holiday season. They'll also be great for wedding party gifts at any time of year. One set would be perfect for groomsmen gifts, with its collection of shaving items. Others would be perfect for bridesmaids or mothers, or even the bride and groom themselves. Everybody loves nice soap and who can resist a cute suitcase?

Definitely NOT me!

How To: Easy Fabric Flower Petal Votives

2011-10-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

I recently had a booth at a big, beautiful, swanky wedding show. One of the perks was getting to decorate our display. I thought that candles were a must, but we weren't allowed to use any exposed flame...only candles enclosed in votives. First I tried clear glass votives, but they were too plain and the light was too stark for our display. I wanted something wedding-like and I love flowers, so this is what I came up with.

I got so many compliments on them at the show (even people snapping photos to keep the idea in mind for their own events), that I decided a tutorial might be in order. So, here are the steps to make easy (and beautiful) flower votive candle holders.

Start with fabric rose petals (these can be purchased at most arts and crafts stores or online), a high temp hot glue gun, and rounded glass votive holders.

If your petals are a mixture of colors or have any color fade to them, I advise separating them into piles first, based on the color of the petal. That way you can apply them to the glass in a systematic way that looks more like real flowers.

Start by putting a small drop of hot glue at the base of each petal. It's important to use the high temp glue, since the glass will heat up when there's a lit candle inside, and you don't want the whole thing to droop or the petals to fall off. That would be a crafty wedding buzz-kill.

Arrange the petals in an overlapping row, starting at the top of the glass. Allow the petals to reach up over the edge a tiny bit to hide the glass, but not enough to get anywhere near the flame and become a fire hazard.

Continue all the way around the glass. I started mine with the pinker petals at the top, then added the white and green tinted ones as I made my way down the glass.

I ended up doing three rows on this one, but you could do four (or more, if your glass is larger). The petals I used had a nice bend to them that made a very natural-looking flower shape when the whole thing was done.

And here they are, all lit up. Beautiful!! Have fun with this project...

Urban Unveiled at Benaroya Hall

2011-10-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely time at Urban Unveiled this week. I was very impressed and inspired by so many of the vendor displays that were there. Here are a few highlights from the Founders Room, where we were located...

There were beautiful sweet things from The People's Cake

And gorgeous creations from Fena Flowers. The theme for the show was "Diamond" and they did a really nice job incorporating it in to their display.

Look at the creative idea that City Catering came up with. They were sticking with the Diamond theme as well and made thousands of little drill holes in the back-lit serving stands, which were each filled with pegs to make the beautiful glowing effect you see here. And their food was fantastic!

Here was our area. I'm very happy with how it came together. I had fun coming up with some new packaging designs for the event and was able to incorporate some glittery, diamond accents in to tie it all together. We were very pleased with the great response we got from the many attendees on this memorable evening.

Thanks for a great event!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2011-10-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

This month is the 25th anniversary of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This cause is close to my heart (no pun intended) because of a strong maternal family history of breast cancer. It's so important to get regular mammograms and to do the self-checks that save so many lives each year. I get to go the the Ballard Swedish Women's Imaging clinic for my tests. On a recent visit, I walked in and sat down, trying to act cool in my oh-so-attractive hospital gown. This is what greeted me...

happy, smiling, crocheted boobies (ordinarily I shy away from the term booby, but it really seemed to fit here). I love them. And they came in so handy for the technician when she was going over how the imaging equipment worked! They're both practical and disarming. I think every imaging lab should have some!

Urban Unveiled

2011-09-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be participating this year in the Urban Unveiled wedding show! It's taking place the evening of Wednesday, October 12^that Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. That's the week after next, in case you haven't looked at a calendar lately.

The show will include lots of incredible wedding vendors, a Luly Yang bridal fashion show, live music, and an astounding raffle. A raffle ticket is included with the price of admission, and guests will receive a second free raffle ticket when they visit the Founders Room. So all guests receive two free raffle tickets. It's called “The Art of Giving” and includes some really great stuff. Pssst...be sure to notice the Seattle Sundries contribution near the end of the list. Purchase tickets to Urban Unveiled, and maybe you will be the recipient of one of the following items:

T. Anthony Jewelers: Custom designed chandelier earrings. (Value: tbd)
True Colors Events: 10 hours of consultation services. (Value: $1,250)
Luly Yang Couture: $1,200 towards the purchase of a gown. (Value: $1,200)
John & Joseph Photography: Engagement Session. 1-hr Session in Greater Seattle or Los Angeles Area. Includes High Resolution Disc with 75 edited photographs. (Value: $1,150)
Roche Harbor Resort: Two nights in a luxury suite, Dinner for two in our fine-dining restaurant, Couple's retreat at our Afterglow Spa. (Value $1,000)
Belathee Photography: Either and Engagement session, bridal shower coverage or any other type of portrait shoot. (Value $550)
Willows Lodge: Do Not Disturb Package. One night’s accommodations for 2 people in a luxurious NW style room; Dinner for Two at Barking frog followed by exclusive “In-Tub” dining experience for a relaxing soak in your room. (Value: $520)
The Woodmark: Gift certificate for an overnight stay in a lakefront guest room, includes dinner for two at bin on the lake. (Value $500)
W Seattle: 1 complimentary weekend night stay in a wonderful room. (Value: $400)
Seven Salon: Gift Certificate (Value: tbd)
Seattle Sundries: Two gift sets, one for a bride and one for a groom. (Value: $100 each)
Rented Elegance & Design: Gift Certificate for Prop Rentals (Value: $200)
Michael Bride: two hour makeup lesson (Value: tbd)

Pretty nice, huh?!

Great Games

2011-09-20T05:28:00.000-07:00

School has started again, so it seems like a good time to sing the praises of two "educational" games that my kids and I love. They're both great family activities, or for the kids to play on their own. Good Christmas gifts too...

The first game is Take Off. It's a simple concept where 2-4 players get four colorful little airplanes each to use as playing pieces. Multicolored dice are rolled to determine which direction your plane gets to fly. The goal is to be the first to have all four of your planes travel from Hawaii across the map, and back to Hawaii on the other side. Players follow color coded paths and learn geography and world statistics as they go. If you roll a "take off" you get to choose a card from the stack, locate the city it describes on the map, and jet to that location. We love reading all the information included on each card, right down to how to pronounce the name of the city that we're flying to. It's been a fun and colorful introduction to the countries of the world.

I'm sorry to report that it seems the company who manufactures this game recently stopped production for some reason, so it's hard to find at online stores right now. There are lots still on ebay and at smaller toy stores, so I would snap one up if you can find one. Hopefully they will be back in production soon!

The next game is Quiddler. It's like a cross between Scrabble and Gin Rummy, for kids. Players build words using cards drawn from the stack and add up the points over several rounds to see who wins. I recommend watching this video that describes how it's played because the written directions are a little confusing. The words don't have to be long and complicated, which makes it ideal for early language learners (or adults with very small vocabularies..hee hee). It's also very compact since it's just a stack of cards, so it's great for travel.

I just love the beautifully illustrated letters too. They seem to be inspired by the Book of Kells, which I have always thought was an incredible contribution to our graphic lexicon. So the game is not only educational, but inspirational!

Spirited Lava Lamp

2011-08-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Lava lamps are cool. So cool, in fact, that a town here in Washington State is thinking about putting up a 50 foot high lava lamp as a roadside attraction. My brother likes lava lamps a lot. He's also the crafty, creative, do-it-yourself type and he's been fashioning his own unique lava lamps lately out of cool liquor bottles.

I wanted to show you one of my favorite new things: the lamp he made for me out of a Dry Fly Distilling bottle. Dry Fly is a small craft distillery in Spokane, which is not far from where I grew up. I love Northwest companies, fly fishing, and lava lamps...so my brother made a great choice.

Update: John has opened an Etsy shop now where you can buy you own! Visit his online store here.
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Fabulous Photos

2011-08-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the pleasure of working with a young photographer here in Seattle who does great portrait and event photography. I've known Kristin Boyett since she was a little kid, and I'm so pleased and impressed with the talent she displays in her work. She has a great eye and artistic sense, along with being very friendly and fun to work with. She also has awesome red hair.

These are some of the images she captured for me...

Kristin Boyett Photography

Thanks Kristin!

4-H Ranch Camping 2011

2011-08-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

Our 4-H club had another fabulous camping trip in Idaho this year. The weather was perfect. The kids all got along. Nobody got hurt. We tried some new things, as well as some old. Here are a few highlights:

The swimming pond was a constant source of entertainment.

We did a little fishing and a little catching...though all the fish we caught were released to live another day.

We cleaned some saddles and practiced sitting on them.

We learned some basics about horses, horse safety, saddle parts, and how to ride.

We got to take a few spins around the ranch on Whisky and Brownie, our two faithful steeds.

We learned how to make, and then ate, some really good ice cream. We made plain vanilla, but then had huckleberry and chokecherry preserves to drizzle over the top.

We tried orienteering for the first time. The kids loved it. They had to find nine locations on the ranch by using maps and compasses and race to see who could do it the fastest. See the big finish? Murdoch even got in on the action.

More fun on the pond...

Roasting marshmallow, of course.

This year's Pack: 10 tired and happy kids.

Dead Fiddlers Society at the Five Suns Bluegrass Festival

2011-08-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is my brother John's band Dead Fiddler Society. Awesome. I LOVE it!

And here are links to the rest of the performance: Part 2 Part 3

Feelin' the Love

2011-08-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

I have to brag a little about some positive press I've received recently. Two great interviews have been done of me in the past month, and I'm very excited about it. The Soap Queen Blog, courtesy of Anne-Marie Faiola of Bramble Berry did a fun post about me and my company a few weeks ago. And then today, a great feature on the Seattle Met Magazine blog. Thanks so much for all the attention! It makes me feel like I'm doing something right.

Kristin Boyett Photography

Headband Kerchief Sewing Tutorial...Easy, Fast & Fun

2011-07-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

My children are extremely fair skinned. They burn like I do, which is to say, always. They also have fine hair which does little to protect their scalps from the sun. My son's hair sticks up enough that it isn't too much of a problem for him (though his ears are always a worry), but my daughters suffer frequent sunburns where their hair parts on the top of their heads and you can't put sunscreen on easily.

They are also kids who don't like hats. I have tried many hats: hats with straps, hats with big brims, hats with small brims, baseball caps, cowboy hats & beanies. I'd buy them sombreros if I thought they'd wear them. They ditch the hats as soon as they get outside. I can't blame them really, but it has posed a problem for me as a skin cancer fearing mother.

So this is my solution: Headband Kerchiefs

They cover the scalp, keep the hair out of their eyes, are comfortable and easy for the kids to put on themselves, add a little pretty bling to the ensemble and they're ridiculously cheap and easy to make.

All you need is the "Fat Quarter" squares from a fabric store. One fat quarter makes two kerchiefs. You also need elastic for the headband, scissors, pins, and a sewing machine...or fast sewing fingers.

Start by cutting your fat quarter in half so that you end up with a piece of fabric that is approximately 11"x18".

Fold one piece of the fabric in half again (right side in) and pin one of the edges that is perpendicular to the folded edge. Sew a 1/4 inch seam along that pinned edge.

Fold the fabric right side out again so that it makes a pointed shape, like this. Iron it.

Fold the outside edges of the fabric in toward the center about 1 1/2-2 inches and pin in place.

Fold up (and iron) 1/4 inch of the bottom, unfinished edge of fabric so that you will have a nice, clean look when you move on to the next step. Also cut a piece of elastic that measures between 19" and 21", depending on the size of the head that the kerchief will be fitting. My five year old daughter needs a 19" piece.

Lay the elastic down along the bottom edge and fold up the fabric aproximately 1 1/2" so that it more than covers the elastic band. You want to have about 1/4" of extra fabric space beyond the elastic so that when you stitch it you won't hit the elastic, which needs to be able to move freely inside the fabric "sleeve" that you're creating. Pin everything in place and stitch.

The only thing left to do is connect the two ends of elastic to each other with a few zigzag stitches. If you were successful in not catching any of the elastic with your sewing machine needle, you should be able to pull the band through a bit so that the area where the two ends join is tucked nicely away, inside the fabric.

My young model started out being quite amenable to photos, but apparently my window for smiles was very small and I "took too long." Oh well....at least her head won't get burned.

Dancing Bears Soap

2011-07-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

I have a new small batch soap to introduce. It's called Dancing Bears Soap because it's sweet and brown colored...awwwww. It's made with fresh goat's milk, which is where much of the sweetness comes from. It lathers wonderfully, also thanks to the goat's milk. I added just a touch of vanilla oil to further sweeten it, though it's definitely not an over-the-top vanilla smell. I only made one batch. Let's see what people think!!

Glow in the Dark Star Lamp Shade

2011-07-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun, easy idea. My younger daughter got a glow in the dark solar system set for her birthday. We put a bunch of the stars on her ceiling, as instructed, but we had a bunch left over. The problem with glow in the dark items, in general, is that they never seem to get enough bright light to "charge" them sufficiently.

This was our solution to that problem: use a hot glue gun to attach the stars directly to the lamp shade. That way, they're very close to the bright light and get a good charge right before the lamp is switched off at bedtime.

See...

Attach

Charge

Enjoy

Have fun!

My New Favorite Thing

2011-07-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had a booth at the Ballard Seafood Fest. I had the good luck to be placed next to an artist named Augusta, who makes woven pewter thread and reindeer leather bracelets in the Indigenous Scandinavian Sami tradition. Her company is called Nomadic Artistry and she has some lovely photos of the many varieties of bracelets that she creates. I had to have one. You can see why.

Augusta is originally from Petersburg, Alaska. This town on Mitkoff Island in the Southeastern part of the state is known by most as "Little Norway". It's full of fishing folks and beautiful scenery, judging from the photos I saw. Someday I'd like to visit.

To make the bracelets, Augusta weaves or braids fine pewter threads and attaches them to strips of tanned reindeer leather. She uses reindeer antler or pewter buttons as a clasp. The leather softens and molds to your wrist over time and is extremely comfortable to wear.

Judging from the condition of the one Augusta has worn on her own wrist for many years, they are extremely durable as well as looking delicately refined. I would have taken a picture of one on my own wrist to show you the scale, but then you'd all see my blue veins, scars and freckles...and no one really needs that, right? Just take my word for it. My Sami bracelet holds its own against the David Yurman torque that I've worn for the past 20 years. Now it has a friend on my wrist to keep it company. :-)

The Skruben Anniversary Winners Are...

2011-07-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

#2 Katie who wrote: "I really enjoyed the post about how you use hemp oil + green tea as a facial moisturizer."

#9 CS who wrote: "I laughed out loud when I read your Mountain Beaver Saga. He even has the same nickname as my husband! Good luck with your raspberries and keep blogging. I enjoy reading all your topics!"

Email me (asbloom [at] seattlesundries.com) with your mailing address and choices of products (one soap, one lotion bar & one Smooch Stick), and I'll get those out in the mail to you pronto!!

Thanks to EVERYONE for the feedback and interest in Skruben!

Blog Anniversary...& Giveaway!

2011-07-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of Tack-o-Rama

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of Skruben, and my entry into the blogging world. It's hard to believe that much time has passed. It's been a pretty colorful two years with a collection of posts that are moderately random, but hopefully informative. My goal is quality content, not quantity (clearly). I hope you all enjoy what I come up with!

In celebration, let's do a giveaway!! Two winners will receive their choice of one Seattle Sundries soap (in a tin), one Smooch Stick and one lotion bar. Winners will be chosen by RNG on Monday, so you only have the weekend to get your entry in. Do it now so you don't forget!

To enter, leave a comment telling me what your favorite Skruben post has been so far and/or what kinds of topics you are most interested in reading in the future. Now...GO!!!

Seattle Bride's Best of 2011

2011-06-28T06:37:00.000-07:00

We had a great time last night attending Seattle Bride Magazine's "Best of 2011" party. When we arrived, we learned that (for the second year in a row) we were nominated in the category Most Creative Favors.

We were in great company as nominees with local businesses Marrylicious and Paper Fling. The winner ended up being Marrylicious, but the funny thing is...in the magazine photograph showing a Marrylicious gift basket, you can see a lovely tin of our Lavender Lover Soap nestled among the other local products they use. Tee hee. Love it!

Thanks to the folks at Seattle Bride Magazine, the readers, and the other wedding industry folks for nominating us and recognizing the creativity in what we do.

The Mountain Beaver Saga

2011-06-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Since it's the weekend and some gardening is going to happen, I thought I'd do an update on my ongoing Mountain Beaver battle. Here's a brief summary: a Mountain Beaver (named Butt Head) lives in the bushes on the edge of our yard. Every year he waits until our new raspberry shoots have grown long and lush, then he chops them off with his sharp little teeth and carries them off to his evil lair. We had a total harvest of about 10 berries last year. It makes me so mad I could spit (as my Grandma always said). After several years of trying an electric fence solution, I finally gave up on it. I just never felt confident that it was working, either because my kids had turned it off when they played in the yard or because the power supply would fail. I was constantly preoccupied with checking to see if it was functioning properly. I was living a life of paranoia and obsession... a shell of a woman.

So this year I just put up a chicken wire fence. I like it because I can actually see that it's working. It may not look great, but it's totally serving its purpose. I just used lengths of rebar every two or three feet, which I wove through the wire and hammered into the ground. I tacked down the bottom edge of the chicken wire with tree stakes to make sure BH couldn't push his way under. True story...on the day that I went to Home Depot to buy the tree stakes my husband was out in the yard and saw BH walk around the edge of the fence and try to nose his way under it. What a little s#@t!

Happily, he was not successful. See how nicely everything's growing in! I'm feeling very hopeful.

Real Soap, Drugs & Rock and Roll

2011-06-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

This is incredible...hilarious and very informative. I had no idea that I was producing such an illicit substance!

Thanks to the folks at Dr. Bronner's for putting this video together.

Solid Lotions

2011-05-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

I started making some new products a couple of months ago that my customers and I are really enjoying. The new items are solid lotion bars and sticks for moisturizing the skin. At a recent craft fair, the responses from people who saw them were about evenly divided between folks who knew what they were and were elated to see that I now carry them, and people who I needed to explain the whole concept to in great detail. Since so many people have never heard of solid lotion bars, or understand their advantages, I thought I'd do a little educating...

image courtesy of Tack-o-Rama

The solid lotion bars and sticks are simply a mixture of nourishing oils, beeswax, moisturizing butters, and sometimes essential oils for scent. There are no artificial or synthetic ingredients in them. Compared to liquid lotions, they are very concentrated and compact (most liquid lotions are 70%-80% water). The warmth from your skin softens the bar just enough to make it glide easily over your skin and layer everything with the moisturizing ingredients, which soak in within a few seconds. The effect is not greasy because I have chosen oils that absorb quickly and are light, but very high in nutrients. A little goes along way and a small lotion bar can last for months with regular use. I make two different types right now: scented bars, and unscented sticks.

The round Happy Hand Lotion Bars come in a small tin. To use them, you just pop the little cake of lotion out of the tin and rub it on your hands, legs, elbows, or wherever your skin needs some extra TLC. These bars all are scented with natural essential oils and smell great. They're also really great for slipping into a purse or desk at work because they don't take up much space and won't accidentally get spilled like a liquid lotion might. The lids on tins I use are screw-on, so that they won't pop off in your purse either. Handy.

The Super Smooth Lotion Stick is unscented and made with a higher percentage of moisturizing butters, as well as oils that are known to have a low comedogenic rating. The lotion sticks could be used on the face or for people with very sensitive skin. I recommend these for eczema, stretch marks, or when the skin under your nose gets really raw and chapped from wiping it during cold or allergy season. It comes in a small roll-up stick like a lip balm tube so that it's easy to apply on problem spots.

And I'm so pleased with how I was able to slyly slip in my Flying S logo on the label again! Aren't you impressed?

Easy Fabric Flowers

2011-04-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally arrived in Seattle. Thank heavens! It's been the most miserably long stretch of wet, cold, windy weather I can remember for a long time. In honor of Spring (and Mother's Day coming up next week), here's a tutorial for making some really cute and easy fabric flowers.

I have an absurd amount of leftover fabric from various unfinished and partially finished projects, and wanted to find a good use for it. My mom also gave me her stash (drawer) of surplus shish kabob skewers, which totaled over 600. We like grilling shish kabob, but it would take us years to use them up...so, voila! Beautiful and festive fabric flowers for spring that fit nicely in a vase and are easily arranged in a bouquet.

You'll need: colorful fabric (I used quilting cotton), felt squares, pom poms, craft glue, wooden skewers, needle, regular or embroidery thread, hot glue & scented oil (optional).

Start by using craft glue to attach the pom poms to the sharp end of the wooden skewers. I did this the night before the rest of the project, so that they had time to dry. The hot glue would work fine too, but has a tendency to get stuck in places you don't really want and makes for a messier look, which is why I went with the craft glue instead.

Cut strips of fabric that are 4 inches wide and between 12 and 16 inches long. The longer strips will make a fuller flower, so it really just depends on the look you're going for.

Fold over the fabric so that the "outside" is on the outside. You can press it with an iron, if you want a sharp look, but I prefer a more puffy petal, so I left my fabric un-pressed.

Using your needle and thread (with a knot on the end) make an easy straight stitch along the rough edge of the fabric, catching both edges. This stitch gets completely covered during the process of assembling the flower, so it really doesn't need to be too uniform or perfect. This makes it a great project for kids because they can practice sewing a a straight stitch and make a beautiful gather, regardless of skill. My 4 year old daughter had a blast making these with me!

Gather the fabric by pushing it down the thread and knot the other end of the thread, like this.

Cut a small Pac-Man shaped piece of felt fabric, grab your shish ka-pom-pom, and get ready to assemble the flower.

Place a small amount of hot glue at one end of the fabric, on or near the threaded gather. Lay the pom pom end of the skewer on the hot glue and press the fabric around it to secure the skewer in place. Then run a longer line of the hot glue along the threaded gather.

Begin to roll the "petals" of the flower around the skewer. I applied a couple of inches of hot glue at a time, not the entire length of fabric, because I didn't want the glue to cool and harden before I had time to roll and pinch the fabric in place.

Secure the base of the flower bud while the glue is still warm and somewhat malleable. You can do a little adjusting of the blossom shape at this point.

Now take your little Pac-Man piece of felt and apply a line of hot glue to the middle. Then apply the felt to the bottom of the blossom, covering the rough edge.

Add more hot glue to the felt and wrap it all the way around the base of the blossom, holding it in place with your finger while the glue cools.

The final touch is to add 3-4 drops of scented oil (essential oil or fragrance oil) to the pom pom. The flowers will smell wonderful, won't wilt and will brighten even the darkest corner...or deary Seattle day.

Fun Soap Facts: Weddings

2011-04-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting little tidbit that I read recently:

In the 1500s, June weddings were the most common because people typically took their annual bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June (relatively speaking). However, June is a whole month later and they were still pretty ripe, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide their odor. This is what started the modern day custom of a bride carrying a bouquet of flowers ... and also the (welcomed) custom of bathing more often than once a year!

Addendum:

After further research, it seems that this great story is only that...a story. Here is a bit of additional information that is quite interesting on the topic-The Bad Old Days: Weddings & Hygiene

Low-Cost, Natural Skincare

2011-04-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

image courtesy of Tack-O-Rama

Over the years my morning and evening skincare routines have gradually evolved. That’s partly because of age and becoming a parent, partly because of what I’ve learned about ingredients, and partly because of negative reactions I’ve had to certain products. I never considered myself to be someone who had “sensitive skin”, but I’ve found that many of the drugstore moisturizers and skin cleansers that I’ve used over the years have either been too drying or have actually made my skin break out. That’s actually one of the reasons I began making my own soap…I prefer knowing exactly what’s in the product, and the easiest way to be confident about that is to make it yourself.

I have a friend named Deanna (a fellow parent at my kids’ school) who is an environmental advocate, author and wildly successful blogger on her site Crunchy Chicken. She often writes about the skincare items that she uses, and it’s inspired me to try some new things myself. I’ve been in this trial and error stage for over a year now and am finally feeling pretty good about what I’ve come up with, on many levels. What I use now is truly all-natural, makes my skin feel clean and smooth, is very moisturizing, and is really inexpensive. So…I thought you readers might like to hear about it!

Here’s what I do:

In the morning, when I shower, I run my face under the hot water for a minute to open up my pores and flush out dirt and oil, then I use a soft washcloth and one of my soaps to gently scrub away any impurities.

I also wash my hair with the same bar soap, or sometimes Dr. Bronner’s pure castile liquid soap. I keep that on hand because my daughters prefer using a liquid for washing their hair, rather than bar soap. After my hair is washed, I use a very diluted vinegar rinse (1 part apple cider vinegar to 10 parts water). This washes away any soap residue that may remain and closes the hair cuticle, which makes the hair more shiny and smooth. I rinse that out at the end of the shower.

Before I exit the shower I use a little bit (smaller than a dime) of green tea infused hemp oil on my face and neck. When I first buy the hemp oil, I take several tablespoons of green tea leaves and let them sit in the oil for several days, then strain them back out to store the oil. Green tea is a natural antioxidant, and helps to maintain elasticity in the skin, as well as many other topical benefits.

I began using hemp oil after lots of trial and error with other natural oils and moisturizers. I started with regular “all-natural” skin creams that I bought at the store, and they always clogged my pores. Then I tried a variety of whole oils like coconut, sweet almond and wheat germ. They all caused problems on my face eventually, though I recommend them on the rest of the body. I finally settled on hemp oil because it has the lowest comedogenic rating of all of them and is extremely high in nutrients. It also fights inflammation and is a great anti-oxidant in its own right.

I put the oil on my skin when I’m still in the shower and my face is still wet. I gently dab it around my face and neck. I then take the warm, rinsed (now soap-free) washcloth and wring out as much of the water as possible and gently dab off any extra oil with it. I let my face air dry after that. My skin is soft, totally clean and well moisturized. Once I’m out of the shower I dab a few drops more of the hemp oil under my eyes (but not too close) and let it soak its way into the delicate skin there. Any excess gets wiped off with a tissue before I put on makeup.

At bedtime I use a similar system, minus the shower. The key is to apply the oil when your skin is clean, warm and still wet with water. It seems to trap in moisture well, while still keeping the pores open and not leaving a greasy layer because the skin absorbs the light oil so quickly. I’m careful not to let it get into my hair though, as it really weighs it down and makes it greasy. This whole system has been working great for me and costs next to nothing. It makes me look years younger too…see? ;-)

I’d love to know if you’ve tried any of these methods or have something that you think works even better!

The Flying S

2011-04-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

I’ve had folks ask me a number of different times about my company and blog logo and “What’s up with the little horns on the Ss?” Those little horns are actually wings, and this is their story:

In the late 1930s, my grandparents became ranchers in Idaho. The family had lived in several different places in the West and Midwest over two generations. They had started out in Minnesota, homesteaded in Montana, and spent time running a livery stable in Zilla, Washington.

My grandparents on their wedding day.

My grandfather John Engwald Sylte, who was the eldest of five sons, once traveled by train through northern Idaho during the tail end of the Dust Bowl years. He was enticed by the surroundings where the lush green of the Selkirk Mountains met the open grassy space of the Rathdrum Prairie.

My great grandparents and their five sons, with my grandfather in the middle.

He had been a soldier in the US Cavalry in Montana and loved horses and working with animals, in general. He and my grandmother settled the family in Idaho and started the ranch that I later grew up on.


My grandfather (& buffalo) at Fort Meade, Montana.

At that time, all ranches had a livestock brand. It was a way of identifying which animals belonged to you, as well as a way to deter theft…or just make sure that your cows didn’t get mixed in with the neighbors’ if your fence went down in a storm. They are a mark recorded by the state livestock agency.

I would love to know exactly how my grandparents settled on our particular brand, since there were so many possible variations and combinations to choose from at the time. Brands in many ways resemble hieroglyphics with (sometimes strange) combinations of letters, numbers and symbols that become more “readable” as you get used to them. My grandparents had a shotgun rack in their front sitting room where they displayed all of the brands of friends and neighbors. I remember sitting there on their smooth naugahyde davenport, staring at the marks and trying to decipher each of the symbols, with the smell of my grandmother’s chicken and dumpling soup hanging in the air.

What they came up with is called the “Flying S”. Since the family name is Sylte, the S part is pretty obvious. I think that adding the wings to the top of the S was a nice touch and seems appropriate, given my grandfather’s tendency to dream big and help foster a love of adventure and inventiveness in future generations. The risk-taking has mostly served us well, despite some noteworthy episodes worthy of Icarus. For many years, the cattle on the ranch all carried the mark on their haunches, and it can still be found all around the ranch on gates, signs and other less predictable locations.

I have now spent many years living away from the ranch. Even though my business is not located in Idaho and has nothing at all to do with cattle or ranching, I carry the spirit and history of it all with me as I go about my life. So there you go…they’re not horns, they’re wings.

Super Sweet Ammonium Glycyrrhizate

2011-03-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my posts on product ingredients, I have some information about a substance that often brings up questions from customers: ammonium glycyrrhizate.

I don't actually know where the ammonium glycyrrhizate that I use is produced...in a lab somewhere, I guess. It's a compound isolated from the root of the licorice plant. It is 50 times sweeter than sugar.

My best understanding (I need to take more chemistry classes) is that it’s a molecular cluster of acids, salts and esters that all come from licorice. In its physical form, it’s a very fine white powder that looks like powdered sugar. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) includes licorice and licorice derivatives on its list of substances considered Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS).

Sometimes called “Super Sweet”, ammonium glycyrrhizate is used to sweeten and thicken lip products. It’s also used in many other items that you probably haven’t noticed like dairy products, confections, baked goods, and beverages where sweetness or flavor enhancement is the goal. It’s often found in sauces such as gravy, BBQ, soy beverages, puddings, ice cream, candies, cough syrups or cough drops and even cigarettes, where it’s used to flavor the tobacco. Yikes kids!!

I only use ammonium glycyrrhizate in my Smooch Stick lip balms, but I do so because other natural sweeteners (like honey or sucrose) don’t blend well with the oils and waxes that I use as ingredients. They make the lip balms grainy and...well, not good. So I’m thrilled to have found a “natural” (if not actually found in nature in this form) sweetener. I use a tiny amount (about 1 teaspoon per 100 lip balms) . I personally think that lip stuff should have a little sweetness. Don’t you? So much better for smooching!

Beeswax

2011-03-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

More in-depth information about the ingredients that I use...this time, beeswax!

Beeswax is a golden yellow wax produced in the beehive of honey bees (genus Apis). It’s made up mostly of the esters of fatty acids and is chemically very closely related to the other oils used for soap, lotions and balms. The beeswax that I use in my products comes to me in small beads that have been cleaned of impurities and are easy to weigh and pour.

In the hive, beeswax is used by bees as the structural foundation for their honeycomb storage system. People have used beeswax for centuries for a variety of purposes. In candles, beeswax is preferred because it’s clean burning and does not produce smoke like petroleum based waxes do. The Roman Catholic Church requires that the Easter Pascal candle be made of beeswax.

It has been traditionally used in art for lost wax casting and to make beautiful Russian Pysanky eggs. For many generations, beeswax was used by bagpipers to wax the hemp that protected the joints on drone and chanter stocks. The smell of beeswax always reminds me of my early years in music.

I melt a bit of beeswax with sweet almond oil and gently rub it onto the wood in my house to protect it. This is especially great for the cabinets near the sink that seem to always get splashed with water.

In body products, beeswax makes a wonderful, natural thickener and adds a protective barrier which locks in moisture. It also smells wonderful on its own and adds a hint of lovely amber color to products. I use beeswax in my highland Fling Soap, and in all of the lip balms and lotion bars. It's a wonderful, natural addition!

Winner

2011-03-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

And the winner of the birthday soap is...Marcia T!

She said: "Happy Birthday to you! I love cake any day of the year, but on my birthday I need to have an ice cream cake. One layer of cookies and cream and one layer of chocolate is my favorite!"

Marcia, please send me a message (info@seattlesundries.com) with your mailing address and your choice for the second bar of soap and I'll get those out in the mail to you.

Thanks everyone for commenting and helping me to celebrate. It was a good birthday! I DID get my raspberry and marzipan Princess Cake, along with flowers, some priceless cards from my kids, a visit from my brother, and some great music to celebrate. Happy early St. Patrick's Day too!!

Birthday Give-Away

2011-03-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday, so I think it's a good excuse to do a soap give-away.

I've spent the morning trying to choose my two favorite soaps for one lucky winner to help me celebrate. The problem is, I'm having some trouble choosing. My soaps are a little bit like my children...I love them all, but in different ways. So I think I'll narrow it down this way: the winner gets one bar of Highland Fling Soap, since it's almost St. Patrick's Day (and yes, I know this is an Irish holiday, but it's Scottish bands who play MOST of the Irish venues on St. Pat's anyway, so I figure it works). In addition, they get to choose another bar on their own. Both will come in tins.

This is a one day give-away, so SPREAD the word FAST! Tomorrow's not my birthday anymore...

To enter, answer the following question in the comments section:

What flavor birthday cake do you like best for your own celebration? Or maybe it's birthday pie, or birthday prime rib...whatever. I like white cake with raspberry filling and a cream frosting & marzipan. Yummm.

Shea Butter

2011-03-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start a new series of blog posts that give a bit more information and background on many of the ingredients that I use regularly when making my soaps and personal care products. I'm going to start the whole thing off by taking a look at shea butter.

Shea butter is an ivory colored natural fat that comes from the nut of the African Shea or Karite Tree (butyrospermum parkii). It’s high in un-saponifiables and is richly moisturizing. It’s also believed to have anti-inflammatory, humectant and emollient properties. The shea butter that I use comes from western Africa and is extracted by cold-pressing.

In Africa, shea butter is used for everything from hair care to cooking. Outside of Africa it is used primarily for skincare products and, occasionally, in chocolates as a replacement for cocoa butter, since it’s entirely edible. Shea butter will start to melt on contact with warm skin, making it a great ingredient for lotion bars, lip balms and soaps. I use shea butter in several of my products. A little goes a long way, and it 's a wonderful addition that nourishes and moisturizes the skin.

Spring Wedding Show

2011-03-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to be participating in a new wedding show this year. It's called The One Wedding and Events Showcase, and it will take place in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle on the evening of Thursday, March 31st. It's at a really cool venue called Urban Light Studios, which has great indoor and outdoor space with an artsy, eclectic feel. There will be over 30 wedding and events related vendors there to show folks what they have to offer. I'll be displaying some of my custom work, handing out out samples and chatting with people all evening. I hope you can stop by!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

One of my new favorite bands: Ivan and Alyosha. They have a new album that was just released called Fathers Be Kind. Isn't this a beautiful song?

Give-away Winner!

2011-02-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

And the winner of the three Valentine's Day soaps is:

#1 Jen Mueller who said..."My "fluffy tiger". It was a blanket that my Nana bought for me!"

Jen, send your mailing address to me at info@seattlesundries.com and I'll get those out in the mail to you tomorrow. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Feelin' the Love

2011-02-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is next Monday. I am not yet totally prepared. Actually, I'm not even remotely prepared. I have some good ideas, though. I'm thinking about picking up some cards from Driscoll Design, a wonderful local paper art and stationary company. I had the pleasure of meeting owner/designer Angela earlier this winter. You can find her greeting cards and paper creations at retail locations all over the US. Clearly I need her to give me some lessons in successful wholesaling. Angela makes truly beautiful items that are whimsical, retro and totally happy. Many of the cards even have glitter. I love glitter done tastefully.

Isn't this owl valentine great!*

I'm also thinking about making these root beer float cupcakes to eat after we make my kids' favorite meal: fondue. We use hot peanut oil to cook skewers of beef, shrimp and vegetables before dipping them in a variety of yummy sauces. My dad and step mom taught us another great trick few years ago. They put out a bowl with raw, beaten egg (for adhesion) and a bowl of instant potato flakes to roll the meat or veggies in. It makes a crunchy, surprisingly light layer. It's really good.

Have you made plans for your Valentine's Day yet? Have you picked up or made any goodies for the loved ones in your life? Would you like to win some free ones? Let me spread the love.

In honor of Valentine's Day, I will be giving away (to one lucky person) THREE bars of my special lavender and vanilla Lotta Love Soap: one bar for your Love, one for your Mom (because moms should always get valentines) and one for You. That's a lotta love.

I made only one batch, and it'll soon be gone. If you'd like a chance to win, just answer the following question in the comment box:

What childhood possession (toy, book, blanket, etc.) do you remember loving the most?

For me it was my stuffed bear Growler who got his name because he didn't actually have a mouth, just stitching, so he could only growl...I theorized as a child.

A winner will be chosen on Wednesday so that the bars can be shipped out and be received by the holiday.

*Image courtesy of Driscoll Design Blog

Weddings in Woodinville 2011

2011-01-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

I spent a lovely day in Woodinville yesterday at the 2011 Weddings in Woodinville event. This year I was at the Novelty Hill | Januik Winery, which I'd not visited before. It was beautiful: very modern and tasteful and a great backdrop for just about any decorating theme. In my opinion, that's one of the nicest things about a modern aesthetic...it makes a great foil for contrasting styles. Yesterday's event was a shining example of that.

The building and location of Novelty Hill | Januik is smooth and striking, with clean lines and neutral colors. I'm sorry that I didn't get any great photos of the exterior. You should visit their website to see what an artful and architecturally beautiful place it is. It's also very nicely laid out, both visually and functionally.

All of the decorative elements at the event were coordinated by the very talented Kirstie Warren of Simply Wed. Her theme was "Whimsy & Wit" and she did a fantastic job of using vibrant, cheery colors and playful fabrics and patterns to brighten the space at the winery. You could see the delighted faces of each attendee (mostly prospective brides and their entourages) as they entered and took it all in. It looked like spring and sorbet. Here are some photos:

The main room was set as though a wedding would soon be starting...all the way down to the individual place cards at each table setting.

The flowers were all done by Stacie of Blush Custom Floral. They were lovely, and she was too.

The cake from J.W. Desserts...incredible. And the creator, John, works from Whidbey Island. Awesome.

This (above) was the Simply Wed table display, which included the small guest soaps that I made for the event. They seemed to be a hit. Whew!

This seating area was at one corner of the main wine making room. The white couches (from Pedersen's Rentals), strings of lights, and "candy bar" popped in the open airy space next to the huge industrial looking stainless steel vats. Cool.

And here was my little display. I had fun coordinating the packaging for my custom soaps with the whole "Whimsy and Wit" idea and the fun colors for the event. I hope to be invited back again next year!!

Seattle Sundries Custom Wedding Favors

Holiday Rumination

2011-01-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

I dare you to try and fit the word rumination into conversation tomorrow.

I have a favorite holiday. That spot used to be occupied by Christmas, until the commitments and complications of adult life knocked it off it's pedestal. I still love Christmas for its message and meaning, but boy, what a lot of work!

I've never been a big fan of Halloween. There's too much emphasis on candy and too many scary masks for my taste. We do have a great neighborhood trick-or-treating tradition that I thoroughly enjoy, though. And there was that one year that my 4 year old daughter dressed up as Princess Leia (with a home-made costume) and my 1st grade son as Darth Vader. You should have seen me trying to get the hair right. That was a high point.

The 4th of July is always associated with beer and boating and sunburns for me, and New Year's is just too late at night for me to get into very easily...I'm getting old, I guess.

So that leaves my favorite: Valentine's Day. For me, it's less commercial and cluttered, and focuses on flowers. I like flowers, especially in February. We celebrate it as a family holiday, not so much a romantic one. The kids get small gifts and we have a nice dinner together. There's no expectation about some large family gathering with extended relatives or some massive and complicated meal to prepare. It's just our little family enjoying some good food and each others' company. We like to make valentines for classmates and for the grandparents and uncles. We put up a few Valentine's Day ornaments and frills around the house as soon as we take down the winter holiday decorations. It's nice to have something bright and festive to fill that void after the tree and the menorah come down. Mostly I like the holiday because it's all about remembering to tell others that you love and appreciate them. Who wouldn't like that...maybe even the best?

How do you celebrate Valentine's Day?

Burns Supper

2011-01-23T08:43:00.000-08:00

One of the things that goes along with being a bagpiper is regular exposure to Robert Burns, the national poet and near patron saint of Scotland. In Scotland people just call him "The Bard". You may know him as the author of Auld Lang Syne. I have to say, I think Scotland is pretty cool just for having a national poet, and for regularly celebrating and revering someone who writes beautiful words for a living. This esteem I feel for the Scots is only slightly tempered (for me, anyway) by the wacky gatherings held in Burns' honor every year. I've attended some doozies.

Robert Burns' birthday is January 25th and each year, all over the world, Burns nights are celebrated with much tartan, scotch, and Scottish brogue...both real ones and those valiantly attempted. The best Burns suppers are gastro-literary events with audience participation and a liberal sharing of verse, anecdote and song. There are a few rules governing a Burns supper that are always adhered to:

There must be ample access to scotch.

There must be Scottish music.

There must, specifically, be bagpipes...lots of bagpipes.

A roaring fire is a bonus.

There must be speaking and reading aloud the poetry of Robbie Burns.

And there MUST be haggis: a huge sausage-like dish made of sheep innards, oatmeal & spices which is stuffed inside a sheep stomach and boiled. Mmmm, yum. It must be escorted in by a lone piper (this is called the Parade of the Haggis), then addressed (yes, I mean talked to) by the master of ceremonies A Burns poem is actually read to the haggis before it is ceremonially pierced with a sharp dagger and served. It must be eaten with mashed neeps and tatties (turnips & potatoes), which are pretty good.

A rowdy and jovial night is usually had by all, thanks to the scotch and the poetry. You need to be careful not to drink too much, though...since expelled haggis is something that a person should never have to see.

Weddings in Woodinville

2011-01-18T06:54:00.000-08:00

It may seem strange, since it's quite dark, cold and wet right now in Seattle, but it's prime wedding planning season. Any of you who have organized a wedding before know that it takes many months to get all your ducks in a row and make the multitude of small and large decisions that go into the actual event. Well, if you're planning a fair-weather celebration, that means you're busy getting ready NOW.

Last year I had the honor of participating as a vendor in the first annual Weddings in Woodinville. I am back again this year, showing what I can do in the custom favors department. The event is really fun and a great concept for a wedding show. Woodinville, Washington (for those of you who aren't familiar with it) is a lovely town about 30 minutes east of Seattle in what used to be all farm country. Now it's generally considered to be a commuting suburb, but it retains the country feel and natural beauty it's always had. It's also a prime wine making location, with no fewer than 70 wineries operating there. Some of these wineries would a be perfect location for a wedding or rehearsal dinner.

For the Weddings in Woodinville event, attendees are shuttled from one lovely location to the next inside a swanky ride, where they can sample food and wine and check out photographers, linen suppliers and other wedding vendors (like custom handcrafted favors, ahem). Each participating winery is decorated by one of the top event planners in the Seattle metro area, so that attendees can get ideas and more easily envision the details of their own celebration. It's fun, and beautiful, and I get to do it again this year.

This year (on January 30th) I will be at the Novelty Hill • Januik Winery location, along with Kirstie Warren of Simply Wed, Blush Custom Floral and J.W Desserts, to name a few. Last year the 350 tickets for the event sold out in three weeks. This year, the organizers have expanded the event to allow for up to 600 attendees. Tickets can be bought online, and reservations should definitely be made in advance. Hope to see you there!

Loving Lavender

2011-01-16T07:29:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my earlier post this week, I'm using lavender essential oil in a new application. The lavender oil that I use in my soaps (Lavender Lover, Cowpoke, Gardener's Gold, Summer Slacker) is a very high quality, nice smelling oil that I've been happy with over the years. But on a trip home to Idaho last summer, I attended a family reunion and got to spend some time at the ranch of a cousin (the wife of my Dad's first cousin, actually). She raises lavender on their place and uses it for a variety of purposes: she sells live plants, dried bundles, and makes wreaths and sachets.

A couple of years ago she also bought a still and started producing her own lavender essential oil. When I found out about this, I got very excited. It's not every day that you find out someone in your own family knows how to operate a still! I think I might have jumped up and down a little.

She gave me a small bottle of the oil that day and I carried it around in my purse for months, sniffing it every so often. It's really extraordinary oil. I thought I knew what nice lavender oil smelled like, but this is better. Apparently a large part of the difference comes from the fact that she hand picks all of the blossoms off the stems before distillation, which keeps the oil as pure and sweet smelling as can be...no extra bitter herb smell to muddle the scent. THIS is the oil that touches your lips when you use the new Lavender & Lemon Smooch Sticks. They are divine, I must say.

Scattered Black & Whites

2011-01-15T07:42:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd take this opportunity to let you all know that my dear, music-obsessed husband has started his own blog, and it's quite worth following. It's called Scattered Black & Whites (the name comes from a song by the band Elbow). Music and food are his two real loves (after the kids and me, of course). He plays a certain amount of music himself (guitar and piano and a bit of banjo, lately), but mostly he really appreciates the music that other people make. Ever since we met in college I've gotten to be extremely lazy because he knows what kinds of music I like, finds great new stuff for me, makes me tune lists (used to be mixed tapes...that shows how long we've been together) and then downloads them onto my iPod. I have to do NOTHING, except push play. It's awesome for me.

And now he can do a variation of that for you too! He goes out and finds some of the greatest new, and not-so-new music and talks about it on his blog, links to it, and does all the work for you. It covers a huge range of styles: everything from Oldtime to Alternative. He's done some great interviews with musicians already, too. He can't upload it onto your iPod though, sorry.

Check it out!

Smooch Stick Winners!

2011-01-15T06:20:00.000-08:00

And the Smooch Stick winners are:

#9 Jen L-N said...
Mile high bangs. Need I say more?

#13 saraH said...
there are many photos of me wearing my favorite one piece pants outfit from my tweenage years. church, easter, any excuse.

#18 Jamie said...
I would have to say stretchy pants - the ones with the stirrups on the bottom. Not a fan anymore!!

Contact me with your mailing addresses and I'll get those posted to you on Monday or Tuesday.

And for everyone else...this was SO much fun that I'll DEFINITELY be doing it again soon, so stay tuned!

New Smooch Stick...& Giveaway!

2011-01-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

So sorry for the blog silence this past month! Things were CRAZY around here with holiday sales, then the holidays themselves. Now I'm back in the saddle though! I've been working on some great new products that I'll be rolling out over the next few months. I have the first installment ready today...

Two new varieties of Smooch Stick! I have been thinking about these for a while and I have to say that they turned out perfectly. Lavender & Lemon was inspired by some infused sugar (for rimming drink glasses) that I sampled at a craft fair. It was super yummy and I thought would make a spectacular lip balm combination.

The second flavor is Coffee. I live in Seattle, ya know. We do lots of coffee here. It's just slightly sweet and not heavily scented, so you don't get overwhelmed by the coffee-ness of it. Yum.

And because I'm so excited about these new Smooch Sticks, I'm going to give some free ones away. Three people will be chosen by a random number generator and will receive one of each of the two new varieties. I'll choose winners on Friday. Just leave a comment at the end of this post. It's always more fun when people answer some random question, so here it is: When you were a kid/tween/teenager what fad were you into that you feel was most unfortunate? Mine was probably the 80s puffy shoulder sweater. I had one just like this, only it was white with pink hearts. My best friend had three. I was completely jealous.

Merry Christmas Everyone

2010-12-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

Great Shaving Lather

2010-11-28T06:56:00.000-08:00

I have spent quite a long time trying to perfect my recipe for great shaving soap, but even great soap can be disappointing if you're not using a good method for building shaving lather with your brush. The following is an illustrated example of one reliable method, though it's not by any means the only one. Since I didn't grow up shaving myself, I had to learn from somewhere. My thanks goes to the guys over at Badger and Blade for their suggestions and shaving "how to" resources.

Loading the Brush with Soap:

Fill sink with hot water and soak brush for 3-5 minutes. This allows the bristles to retain and control the amount of water in the lather.

Place a thin layer of water on your soap and let it soak for at least a couple of minutes.

Remove brush from the hot water and squeeze bristles vigorously, wringing out most of the water. Give it a couple of good shakes as well.

Dump the thin layer of water off of soap and begin swirling your brush in a circular motion with light to medium pressure. Add some plunger motions, using the whole brush and including the sides of the brush. Continue swirling until a paste-like consistency begins to form on the top of the soap and on the brush.

Bubbles mean too much water. A large volume of lather means too much water.

Continue to swirl until a noticeable audible and tactile difference is made when the brush moves over the soap. When the paste is forming the brush is noisier and seems to drag over the soap instead of smoothly going over the top.
Take a look at your brush, do the bristles clump together? If yes, you're done. If no, continue to swirl and load.

Now you can build lather on your face (see following), in your hand, or in a separate bowl.

Face Lathering Method:

Follow all of the preceding directions for loading up your brush with soap.

Give your face a liberal splash of warm water and leave it dripping.

Take the brush to your face and swirl/scrub/paint until the lather reaches a nice, thick consistency (peaks that stand).

If lather is too thick, add water to the brush a few drops at a time by dipping only the tip of the brush into your hot water. If lather is too thin, return to the soap for 5-10 second intervals. If you need more lather at any time during the shave just work the soap with your brush again.

Here's a great video that shows this technique, along with some others, for building lather:

Happy shaving!

Tallow

2010-11-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

When I first started making soap a number of years ago, all my bars contained a large percentage of tallow, which is rendered beef fat. It is an extremely hard, white substance that is so pure that it can be stored at room temperature for extended periods and doesn’t require refrigeration. I used tallow because the vintage book that I first learned soapmaking from recommended it, and also because I had an abundant and inexpensive supply as the daughter of a cattle rancher. I love the quality of soap that you get when tallow is mixed with other vegetable oils like coconut, palm and olive. It produces a hard bar with lots of stable lather and abundant bubbles.

Tallow is arguably the most traditional ingredient for cold process soap in the United States, particularly in the West. Homesteaders and settlers who had to make their own soap from scratch on a regular basis would use whatever fats or oils were handy. They would mix them in a tub with water and the potash left from burning wood and could achieve a very soft, but usable soap from those ingredients they had on hand.

Most handcrafted, cold-process soaps on the market today do not contain tallow. This is probably a result of a couple of factors. I think that generally folks don’t like the idea of washing with something that contains animal fat. Most people don’t understand that even though fats and oils are base ingredients in soap, the chemical process that occurs in soapmaking doesn’t leave any fats or oils behind (unless it’s on purpose). The sodium hydroxide actually changes the base ingredients into a whole new chemical substance, so there’s no beef fat being rubbed on your body. The other issue is an environmental one. By using beef tallow in soap we are consuming beef products, the production of which puts its own unique strain on the environment and natural resources.

I switched to making all vegetable soaps when I began selling to the general public, but I have struggled all along with how to choose my ingredients and balance their performance in the soap with the environmental impact that their use has on the world we live in. Most of the best soapmaking oils are produced far, far away and require a large amount of energy to harvest and transport to where I use them. To me, this makes the choice of vegetable oils over tallow less straightforward. Like leather, tallow is more of a by-product of the beef industry than a driving economic force on its own, and it’s local…in my case, very local.

I will now add one more variable to the tallow equation: shaving. There is a growing and very vociferous contingent of wet-shaving aficionados who swear by tallow as an ingredient in their shaving soaps. Visiting a site like Badger and Blade will give you some sense of the spirited debate that is going on in the burgeoning wet-shaving world about traditional tallow soap pucks and the rapid decline in their availability. The world seems to need more tallow shave soap.

So, I have decided to re-introduce tallow as an ingredient in a limited fashion to my soap offerings. My two new shaving soaps both contain a generous amount of tallow and are mixed with other vegetable oils to produce a great, foamy lather and memorable shaving experience. It’s taken me longer than I expected to hone my recipe and perfect my finished product, but it’s finally done! I am happy to announce the arrival of Filthy Rich Shave Soap and Old School Shave Soap, which are added to my all-vegetable Smooth Shave Soap to round out the selection. I sure hope everybody likes them!

Potty Mouth Soap

2010-11-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

photo courtesy of Tack-o-Rama

I never had my mouth washed out with soap as a child (I was angelic), but my husband did…several times. The most memorable instance was in junior high when he cursed out the father of a good friend. The practice of mouth washing with soap goes way back and has mostly been followed in Britain, Australia and North America. I don’t think I could ever actually do it to my own kids, but it makes a great theme for soap, doesn’t it?

My new Potty Mouth Soap has been in the planning stage for quite awhile. I’ve run the concept by many of the parents at my kids’ school and always gotten a chuckle and thumbs up response to the idea. So here it is! It’s actually a lovely soap in its own right, with clove and sweet orange essential oils. You might not want to waste it on mouth washing.

But then again…maybe you would. Because we all know that prudence and youth do not always go hand in hand.

Exotic Escapade

2010-11-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

My mother taught History of Civilization in college for many years. She has always loved learning about different countries and cultures and tried to visit them, if she could. My mom and stepfather used to travel overseas almost every summer, and often led others on study tours of far away places. The two of them were even married in Athens. My brother and I were very fortunate as youngsters to go abroad with mom to places that expanded our understanding and interest in the world. I think my fascination with other cultures and ethnicities is a large part of why I decided to become an ESL teacher as an adult. Some of my clearest memories are of the places that we traveled…with new sites, tastes, sounds and smells. I can close my eyes and imagine them now, even though I visited many years ago. Travel to new destinations is like manna to me. I even met my husband overseas!

In honor of this hankering, I have created a new soap that celebrates travel to distant lands and the exotic adventures that can be had there. I chose a sumptuous essential oil blend that includes frankincense and myrrh, and then added nourishing mango butter to the mix. And to top it all off, the handy travel tin that it comes in makes it just perfect for accompanying you on all those great escapades you have yet to experience! Just keep it clean and don’t get arrested on a midnight train to Istanbul.

Theo Chocolates

2010-11-18T06:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went on another great 4-H adventure. This time to the Theo Chocolate Factory in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Theo Chocolates makes organic, fair trade treats and is the only chocolate factory in the US that gives tours of its operational facilities. We had a great time.

The lobby/entrance was filled with little piles of samples. This one was my favorite: a dark chocolate with orange oil.

We all had to wear hairnets for the tour. Stylish!

I won't begin to try and explain what this machine does, but doesn't it look cool? And those are bags of sugar on the pallet behind it.

This was actually waste chocolate that gets separated from the chocolate slurry because it was too thick and lumpy to be used in the bars.

These were the outer casing (husks?) of the cocoa beans after they'd been roasted. They smelled great!

Individual chocolates being nested in their little paper cups before they make their way to the store.

And finally, perhaps my favorite thing: a giant chocolate Buddha head...just for fun.

Shaving Brushes…TMI?

2010-10-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

My dad has always lathered up for a shave using a puck of traditional shaving soap in a mug and a shaving brush. I remember the sound of the tap, tap, tap as the edge of the mug came in contact with the brush handle as it went ‘round and ‘round to build up more foamy lather. My husband has also become a convert to traditional shaving or “wet shaving”, as it’s often called. He likes the morning ritual of it, as well as the fact that it’s natural and much less wasteful than shaving foam from a can.

I have spent the last several years learning as much as I can about how to make a great shaving soap (more to come on that soon). I also wanted to be able to offer my customers great shaving accessories to go along with the soap, so I’ve also been learning lots about shaving brushes. Here’s some of what I’ve found out…

There are basically three types of shaving brushes: synthetic bristle, boar bristle (often just called “bristle brushes”), and those made from badger hair. Synthetic and boar bristle brushes are the less expensive options. Synthetic brushes have the advantage of not being made from an animal, but they lack the flexibility and lather-building capabilities of bristle or natural hair brushes, primarily because they are not capable of holding a sufficient amount of water to build a good lather.

Boar bristle brushes have a much firmer knot than badger hair brushes. This is not necessarily a bad thing. For some types of shaving soaps, a much firmer brush is an advantage in building robust lather, and so might be preferable. The bristles on a boar brush have the disadvantage of breaking somewhat easily, but do offer much better moisture control than synthetic brushes, for a low cost.

A badger hair brush is the softest and therefore most comfortable on the face. With the proper lather-building technique, a fine rich foam can be achieved. Badger hair brushes come in 5 different grades based on the part of the badger’s body where the hair comes from. Badger hair brushes can range in price from $30 to upwards of $600. The price difference is due in part to the availability of each grade. For example, “pure” badger grade hair covers approximately 60% of the animal and its abundance lowers the price. Performance is also a factor. “Silvertip” grade hair comes from the area around the badger’s neck and is the longest, softest and best for holding water and building a moist lather. It’s also insanely expensive.

I have chosen to carry shaving brushes that I think are best in terms of both price and performance. In addition to my lower priced boar bristle brushes, I now carry “mixed” badger hair brushes that I believe are the greatest combination of softness, moist lather-building capability, and price. My badger hair brushes come from China, where wild badgers are a good source of income (and apparently food) for many rural Chinese. The world’s supply of badger hair for art, shaving and cosmetic brushes all comes from 6 different species of Eurasian badgers. Chinese Meles meles badgers are apparently so abundant and such a threat to crops in farming areas that the Chinese government issues hunting licenses to help keep the population under control.

This is all just a bit of background for those of you trying to make a shaving brush decision for yourself or as a gift for a future wet shaving convert. I hope it all helps to inform! Happy shaving!

Costumes at Taproot Theater

2010-10-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

We had another great 4-H adventure this week, this time with a visit to the Taproot Theater in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood. Since it's the costume time of year, we decided to see how real-life sewing and carpentry skills can be put to use in a creative way. We were led on a GREAT tour by Sarah, the friendly and charismatic costume shop manager and resident designer. We were there, almost to the day, one year after the theater sustained major fire and water damage caused by an arsonist on the loose in the neighborhood. He has since been locked behind bars, but the consequences for the theater and many of the surrounding businesses were severe. Luckily, for the neighborhood (and for our club), Taproot was able to rebuild and come back from the ashes.

During our tour, we visited the set for the current show Wedding Belles, which ends this week. We peeked in on the set construction room, which was filled with all sorts of fun carpentry and power tools. We also saw the Green Room and where the actors meet to read through scripts and prepare for the plays, and the make-up room where the actors get ready to go on stage.

But the main focus of our time at Taproot was the costuming department. We were eager to see some sewing in action, and were not disappointed.

They were busy getting ready for the holiday season show Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol. Here is some of what we saw:

We are planning to go back and see a matinee of the show when it opens at the end of November. We urge everyone to take in a production if you get the chance!! We're so lucky to have a great neighborhood theater like this to take advantage of for shows and as a creative resource for our community. Thanks Taproot!

Winner Winner Winner

2010-10-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

And the WINNER (chosen by a random number generator) is #2 L who wrote:

I can't pick either, and this will peg my age:
Say Anything
Sixteen Candles
Sleepless in Seattle

Hey! All start with S, as do Skruben and Seattle Sundries! Creepy. Maybe that means I am destined to win? :)

I guess you were destined to win! Yay!

Please contact me with your address and your choice of two soaps so that I can get them out in the mail to you.

Couture Soaps

2010-10-08T14:43:00.000-07:00

As I promised, here is a sneak peek at the custom soaps that I did for the Luly Yang Couture fashion event, which takes place this evening at the Seattle Aquarium. I think that they turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself! It's hard to see from the photos, but the labels have a lovely iridescent shimmer to them, thanks to a little trick I have up my sleeve. What do you think?

Graphic image for labels created by Izzy Girl for the Luly Yang Couture Ocean event.

A Sappy, Soapy Celebration

2010-10-07T13:21:00.001-07:00

Twenty years ago this week I met my husband.

It was not love at first sight. As a matter of fact, neither one of us made a very good first impression on the other. We were both attending Glasgow University for our junior year of college and it was orientation week for new and foreign students. A student “mixer” was being held at the GU Union, a stately, 200 year old building with character and history. The large library and reading room had been converted into a beer bar for the evening. A space that was normally quiet and studious with its walls of books and large, red leather reading chairs had temporarily become abuzz with alcohol fueled conversation. I walked into the room with a bunch of Norwegian veterinary students I had befriended. There I saw my future mister sitting in one of those red leather chairs, holding two glasses of beer, wearing a fraternity baseball cap and t-shirt with a picture of drunk Bill the Cat, and in the company of a very loud American friend. If you could see me right now, you’d know that I have my fingers and thumb in the shape of an “L” on my forehead. I’m sure I shot daggers at him with my eyes. He thought I was a complete...ya know. We never spoke that first night, but I remembered him.

The next night there was a different event at the GU Union. This time it was a Céilidh, a traditional Scottish dance complete with fiddles, whistles and bodhráns. I grew up doing a bit of Scottish dancing because of that bagpiping thing I do, so this was not a new experience for me. It was, however, for most of the other foreign students in attendance. I couldn’t get anyone to try the dances with me, which I love (they’re a bit like square dances or Contra). The only person I could get to give it a try was that obnoxious guy from the night before. Turned out he was a pretty good dancer…and not nearly as obnoxious as he’d previously seemed from across the room. We danced and had a great evening. I also happened to have laryngitis and couldn’t really speak…not sure how much of a factor that was in us hitting it off. Hmmm.

Anyway, a few dances turned into dating, which turned into a trip to visit him and his family when he returned to the states a few months later, which turned into a long-distance relationship our last year of college, which turned into moving to Seattle together, which turned into marriage and three lovely children. It’s a good thing he was such a great dancer!

Because I feel that fate has been so generous to me, I am feeling generous in return. In celebration of twenty years and a friendship, partnership and love that has gotten better with time…I feel like giving away some soap! All you have to do to enter for a chance to win the give-away is comment on this post. My husband and I love watching movies together, so I thought it would be appropriate to have folks comment with their favorite romantic movie of all time. I couldn’t seem to narrow it down, so here are my top three:

#1 Across the Universe
#2 The English Patient
#3 An Officer and a Gentlemen

The winner will be chosen by a random number generator and will get TWO BARS of my soap in tins, varieties of your choosing. The winner will be announced on Monday, October 11th. Spread the word! I'm curious to see what everyone else's favorite romance flicks are!

Snail Sleds

2010-10-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

We did a really fun project yesterday in 4-H that I wanted to tell you about. This was thanks to one of our more scientific club leaders, who organized a way for the kids to study the concept of proportionate strength. First, they all gave their predictions about how much weight they thought a snail would be able to pull...it's own weight, two times its own weight, four times, etc. Then, they made little paper "sleds" out of index cards with a string attached and taped them to the snail's shell. They put out little pieces of lettuce as an enticement for the snail to start moving, then began adding pennies to the sled. In the end, the strongest snail was able to pull over 60 times its own body weight. Amazing!!

Children's Hospital & Luly Yang Couture

2010-10-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

One of the many things that I enjoy about my role as a business owner is the opportunity to be involved in fundraising for local charities. I will be a sponsor at an event next week that raises money for Children’s Hospital here in Seattle. I am thrilled to report that I’ve only actually been to Children’s twice, so far. One trip was due to a hockey injury and the other for a CT scan that was scary, but turned out to be no big deal. We are so fortunate to have three healthy children, and to have insurance and the money to pay for care if anything were to happen to them.

On our last trip to the Children’s Hospital I cried. It was not because of my son’s injury, but because of another boy the same age who was there. He was on a first name basis with the staff in the ER because of his frequent visits. He was bleeding from his nose and had very little hair. He and his mother were staying at the Ronald McDonald House. All hospitals are sobering, but to be a mother walking down halls filled with sick and dying children is more gut wrenching than I can express.

So, when I recently was given the opportunity to be a sponsor for an event here in Seattle which is raising money for Children’s Hospital, I jumped at the chance. It is the annual couture fashion show where local designer Luly Yang introduces her newest line of evening gowns and wedding dresses. Last year the event raised over $100,000 for Camp Korey, a Carnation facility to help children who have serious illnesses.

I will be a sponsor at this year’s event, which will be held at the Seattle Aquarium and will be appropriately themed “Ocean”. I am contributing custom Ocean soaps for the attendees as a thank you for their generous donations to Children’s. Putting together the packaging has been a very enjoyable creative process for me. I always like doing custom projects, but this one has been unusually fun. I got to visit the studio (incredible!) and sit down with Luly and Travis McBurney from True Colors Events to discuss the color scheme, textures and look for the show…and for Luly to choose a scent for the soap. Fun!

I’m almost done with the finished product. I’ll probably give you all a sneak peek, but not until the day of the show. As a sponsor, I also get to attend the event. I’ve never been to a fashion show before. Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to wear! Aaack! No pressure there…

image credit: Luly Yang Couture

Salmon Days

2010-09-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

Autumn is truly in the air! This weekend is the annual Issaquah Salmon Days festival which celebrates "the annual return of salmon to our lakes, streams and historic downtown hatchery."

Did you know that there are seven indigenous salmon and trout from the genus Oncorhynchus in Washington and Oregon? They are chinook, coho, chum, sockeye, and pink salmon, and steelhead and cutthroat trout. Salmon are vital in the transport of energy and nutrients between the ocean, estuaries, and freshwater environments. As a seasonal resource, salmon indirectly affect the entire food web. They are super important and so have an entire festival dedicated to their return!!

The celebration includes all sorts of salmon education opportunities as well as a golf tournament, fun run, parade, orienteering event, international food booths, children's "field of fun" and a HUGE craft fair. Festival volunteers are called "Ohfishals" and the entire event is free thanks to "Spawnsors". Tee hee. I will be particiapting this year as a vendor at booth #65. So plunge into the event and soak in the sights and sounds of the season!

photo credit: Issaquah Chamber of Commerce

Gender Neutral

2010-09-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

My kids and I love root beer. We love the smell, the taste, and the refreshing sweetness of it. True root beer is made from sarsaparilla root, but in some parts of the country there is a carbonated beverage that is very similar to root beer called birch beer. It’s made from sap extracted from the bark of the Black Birch tree (Betula lenta). Apparently, in the dairy country of Pennsylvania a float made with vanilla ice cream and birch beer is called a “Red Bull” and one made with chocolate ice cream is called a “Black Cow”. Yum.

When sweet birch essential oil is combined with vanilla oil, it blends their sweetness and herbal spice into a smell very much like birch or root beer. I use these two oils, along with pure cocoa powder in my Gender Neutral Soap. Since kids often love root beer, I wanted to stick with a child-like theme for my root beer soap. One day I happened across this hilarious vintage image of two toddlers and knew I had to use it somehow. Don’t you wonder what it was intended for originally? I would love to know!

Smooch Stick

2010-09-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

Here's something you probably don't know about me. I'm an addict. I can't go to sleep, or sit at the computer, or drive, or do laundry without putting moisturizer on my lips. This habit is probably most annoying to my husband. I've killed many a romantic moment by pausing to grab my "lip stuff" and apply a layer. Before a kiss, after a kiss...never during a kiss though. That would be too much.

A few months ago we had to take my car in to be serviced because the little storage compartment in the driver's console wouldn't open properly. The whole unit had to be removed. When it was, the repairman found a total of 8 lip balm tubes that had fallen down into the space under the lid, jamming it so it wouldn't open. Boy, did I get some dirty looks for that one.

I have tried lots of brands of lip moisturizer. I can't stand the petroleum-based ones like Chapstick or Carmex. Burt's Bee's is nice and I don't mind Neutrogena, though it contains paraffin. I've tried lots of "boutique" lip balms over the years too, some good, some bad. I just never was totally happy with any of them, so I started playing around with my own recipes a year or so ago. I wanted something all-natural, smooth, fortifying and nice tasting (but not too sweet).

This is what I came up with. I call it "Smooch Stick" and offer it in two different flavors, each with different nourishing oils and butters. The Sweet Orange and Spearmint Smooch Stick contains apricot oil, beeswax, grape seed oil, mango butter, vitamin E oil and sweet orange and spearmint essential oils. I use ammonium glycyrrhizate as a sweetener, which is a natural powder that comes from licorice root.

Here's a little back story on the flavor of the second Smooch Stick variety. My kids and I love marzipan. Our favorite bakery is here in Ballard and they offer a multitude of tasty treats which include marzipan or sweet almond paste. They even sell one pound bricks of plain marzipan, which we always have on hand in our refrigerator...just because we can. There's an ongoing joke with my husband (who does not like marzipan) that whenever I really like something or consider it a guilty pleasure, I say "Mmmmm....just like maaarzipaaaan!" It amuses me. We must enjoy life's little pleasures, right?

The Marzipan Smooch Stick contains sweet almond oil, beeswax, wheat germ oil, cocoa butter, vitamin E oil, bitter almond essential oil and the same licorice root sweetener. Both varieties of Smooch Stick go on smoothly, without a waxy feel and moisturize with natural oils and butters that make your lips feel soft and supple. It's like maaarzipaaan!

My Brother

2010-08-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

My brother John and his band the Dead Fiddlers Society have a new CD out called Livin' It Up (check out the track Ruben's Train). John is a musical talent extraordinaire, and I'm not just saying that because he's family and I have big sister goggles on. He plays a multitude of instruments: fiddle (Irish and oldtime style), banjo (clawhammer), contertina, guitar, harmonica and piano. He is a self-taught expert in refurbishing vintage free reed instruments like concertinas and harmonicas. He teaches fiddle, banjo and concertina to new and experienced players and he is known and respected by other great musicians all over the world. He's currently unattached, in case you ladies are interested, and lives in an incredible log cabin home on the idyllic Idaho ranch that we grew up on. AND to top it all off, his dog Ruben sings along when he plays concertina. It's really cute. Here is Ruben when he rides in the car with John and hangs his head out the window.

My brother is awesome and so is his dog.

Like us? Let us know!!

2010-08-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

OK!! Seattle Sundries needs more friends on Facebook, so I'm doing a give-away! The goal is to reach a new total of 250 "Likers". My three lovely children have chosen three random (and secret) numbers up to 250. Three lucky folks will win two bars in tins, or three bare bars of LUSCIOUS Seattle Sundries Soaps. Spread the word so your friends can win some and maybe they'll give one to you!

4H Camping 2010

2010-08-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

We had another GREAT 4H camping trip at the Ranch in Idaho this year! For three nights and fours days we camped on the grassy banks of the pond, and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air. Here are a few of the activities that we filled our days with...

We got to ride around in "The Mule", which is basically a big, beefy, slow moving golf cart. At one point I think we had 14 people (12 kids and 2 adults) riding on it all at once. Mostly the kids ran around or rode their bikes anywhere they wanted to go, but the mule was a huge hit.

We fed the horses apples from the orchard. Everyone practiced holding the apples in the flat palm of their hands so that the horses didn't nibble fingers.

We visited the other livestock and the working buildings of the ranch...the barn, the feedlot, the quonset hut. We sat on the tractor too.

We made ice cream from scratch with an old crank ice cream churn. We theorized about why it's helpful to add rock salt to the ice when you're churning the ice cream. Do you know?

We enjoyed the pond endlessly. We swam, used the paddle boat, bounced on inner tubes and fed the fish.

We honed our fire building skills...without the use of newspaper. Only twigs and bark for starter!

We cooked yummy food for every meal, and shared in the clean-up chores.

We returned to Fish Creek to continue our stream restoration project. This year we planted fewer trees, but we enclosed them in wire cages to protect from the small furry creatures that apparently enjoyed munching on last year's trees. Hopefully when we return next year many more will be thriving.

We enjoyed my brother's wood-fire hot tub. You'd be amazed at how many kids can squeeze in!

It was a great visit. Everyone played hard, worked hard and slept hard. Can't wait for next year!!

In Memory of Éliane Wilches Peña

2010-07-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, my good friend Éliane passed away recently. Since her death, I have been struggling to find an appropriate way for myself and others to honor her memory. I thought about planting a tree or a small stand of tulips for her, or having a nice bench placed somewhere with a placard...but none of those seemed quite right.

Éliane has talked to me many times over the past few years about how she would like to adopt a little girl from Colombia some day. She wanted to be a mother and thought that a motherless child from her parents' country might be just the right person to help her start her own family. Now that she's gone, I keep thinking about the little girl out there who will never know Éliane and get the chance to be a family. I will continue to imagine that little girl for many years, I think. This brought me to the idea of supporting her somehow. To me, a child represents a hopeful future and endless possibilities. Éliane needed that. It seems like a much more fitting and worthwhile tribute than tulips, not that I don't love tulips.

So I went in search of an orphanage to donate money in memory of Éliane. First I went to Mercy Corps, then to World Vision: both great organizations with ties to children's charities all over the world, but neither of them had an easy way for me to locate a needy institution. So I started doing some of my own research. This brought me to an orphanage in Cali, Colombia that was founded over 80 years ago by a man named Dr. Oscar Scarpetta. He started The Instituto Oscar Scarpetta Orejuela in 1929. It is a "private, non-profit, organization that in correlation with the community, the state, and families is committed to develop health, education, protection and participation programs for boys, girls and youth who are orphaned, abused, abandoned, and in danger situations, with the aim to help them grow into healthy human beings who can become a live example of human values, in order to actively and effectively contribute to their self, family, community and country’s transformation."

I had the opportunity to speak with the founder's granddaughter, Alexandra, who is the U.S. representative for the organization. When I went to call her I noticed that her phone number has a Washington State area code. Small world! She is local, and a lovely person to boot! We talked for a while about my reason for calling and my friend's death. I feel like the timing of it all is in some way providential, since the orphanage is in a funding push right now to supply some of the basic needs of the children in their care.

The orphanage has been run by the same family since its inception 80 years ago, for the past 35 years by the founder's daughter Doña Nohemy Scarpetta de Espindola, known to many as Mamá Nohemy. She and the orphanage have received many awards including from Unicef and a Medal of Merit from the Colombian government.

I urge others to donate as well to this cause, whether or not you knew Éliane. Donations can be made directly to the orphanage, though smaller amounts should be pooled to avoid multiple bank transfer fees, which can end up eating up much of the money. If you would like to make a donation (of any size) to honor Éliane, I have set up a special Paypal account and dedicated bank account to receive funds. Please email me at ewpmemorial@comcast.net if you need my address and are planning to send a check. I will transfer whatever donations have been submitted on August 20th, 2010. All donations will receive confirmation and receipt from the orphanage.

Thanks!

photos used with permission from The Instituto Oscar Scarpetta Orejuela

What IS that?

2010-07-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

"What IS that thing?" you might ask, if you see it sitting on my counter. "It's brilliant!" I'll respond. My sister-in-law bought it for me this weekend when she saw me coveting the one she uses in her Oregon kitchen. So, what do YOU think it is? A wooden whisk? A strange paper towel holder? I child "disciplining" tool? A rustic candle stick? No...it's a...wait for it...

Plastic bag drying rack!! Isn't that great?!! My grandma Evie always used to wash out her plastic bags (even the flimsy produce kind) and reuse them many times. She would hang them on the clothes line to dry. The sight of plastic bags flapping around in the wind is a vivid childhood memory of mine. I don't save produce bags, but I do reuse Ziplock style bags over and over again. Usually I just hang them upside down on an empty bottle, or try to prop them open on the counter, but neither of those methods has worked great, especially if I have several to dry at once.

So check out this puppy! When it's closed, it takes up very little space in a drawer or cupboard. When it's opened (by pushing down the wooden spacer), you can dry several larger bags and up to eight smaller ones.

My husband thought I was crazy to get so excited, but now he thinks it's cool too. I love practical ingenuity!!

Corvallis

2010-07-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had the good fortune to visit my brother and his family in their adopted hometown of Corvallis, Oregon. Though I'd been there once before, very briefly, I'd never had the chance to really get to know the town and its inhabitants. I have to say, it's awesome. Here are some of the things that I loved...

People ride bikes. So many people, in fact, that public festivals find it necessary to have designated bicycle parking lots.

We were in Corvallis on the weekend of one of the town's biggest celebrations on the year, DaVinci Days. It's a three day festival of science, engineering, art and music. One of the central events revolves around these "kinetic sculptures" and a race that they participate in. The orca on wheels that is pictured above, along with the "mousetrap' wheel below (that's my son inside getting to try it out) were both entered in a four part race where they were required to be propelled (by human power only) in a turf, sand dune, mud bog and river race course. The best engineered kinetic sculptures were able to navigate all of the varied terrains and make it back home intact.

Here is what the mud bog leg of the race looked like. The term "race" was a bit of a misnomer here, since the progress was so slow for most of the entries that my one year old niece could have crawled the course faster. It was fun to watch though!

This crazy kinetic sculpture didn't qualify for the race, so the lady just hung around the place and looked kinetically cool.

In addition to enjoying the festival, we got to take in the regular sights of the city. Corvallis has a wonderful Saturday farmers market with locally grown fruits and vegetables. The market is located near a fun city fountain that my brother and the kids just couldn't resist a romp in.

Nothing like sunshine and sprays of water to lift the spirits!

And a little hula hooping.

For lunch one day we drove out of town to a nearby winery and had a stellar bottle of red while sitting in an absolutely beautiful setting.

It made me want to be wealthy enough to get away with living a life of leisure. It was perhaps the most pleasant glass of wine I've ever consumed.

And then, to top it all off, we ended with my favorite summer activity of all time: berry picking. I was all ready to rev up my mad skills to tackle some hard core blueberry gathering. The problem was, the branches were so laden with fruit that it took no time at all. There was no hunt, no challenge, no SPORT. We picked over 20 pounds of organic blueberries the size of grapes in about 20 minutes. And that's not counting the ones we ate while we picked. It was crazy.

Crazy fun, that is.

Custom Display Racks

2010-07-06T14:31:00.001-07:00

A couple years ago I built myself some display racks for craft fairs and such. I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. However, I am not trained in fine woodworking and joinery, plus I don't really have the proper tools to produce the highest quality racks. So they fell apart from overuse and transport. Well, one of them did. The other one still works OK, but I needed more than one.

Constructing the display racks fell into the same category as sewing the couch slipcover that I made a number of years ago: loved doing it, was totally proud of myself and my craftswomanship, but would sooner be eaten by a mountain beaver than do the project again. Once is enough.

Consequently, I was thrilled last December to meet a gentleman with all the skills, tools and patience that I lack. His name is Jerry and he made me some BEAUTIFUL new displays, so I wanted to share. Maybe you need some display racks too?

Jerry had a look at the displays that I had already made (he thought they were pretty good, considering) and we discussed my overall needs: they needed to be portable, durable, collapsible and sturdy enough to not blow over with a big gust of wind. This is what Jerry came up with...

This is what they look like totally collapsed, with a decorative carrying "handle" at the top. The two side wings have wooden pegs that fit into holes on the underside of the shelves and then are secured with latches, which locks the whole thing in place for easy transport.

Once the sides are unlatched and opened, the bottom shelf flips down (on hinges) and locks into place with two little tab/groove thingies. This prevents the sides from flaring out too far.

Then the other three shelves can be easily flipped down into place to rest on the wooden pegs, making a stable, awesomely brilliant display stand. Can you tell that I like them?

Jerry paid lots of attention to details. The joinery is excellent and they are nicely finished in black. They are easy to open and close and fit flat in my garage and car for storage and transport. This is his contact info, in case you live in the Seattle area and are in need of some custom displays yourself.

And here they are being put to use. They've made my set-up and take down at shows SO much easier and pleasant. Thanks Jerry!

Baby Tie-Dye

2010-07-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun and easy new baby project to do with kids. It's inexpensive, doesn't take too long, and is great because each piece is unique and special...just like the little peanut who will wear it.

Start with your basic 100% cotton baby onesies. I didn't wash mine beforehand, though I know that's usually recommended in order to eliminate any fabric sizing that might be in the clothing.

I bought an assembled dye kit at JoAnn Fabrics which included three little bottles with squirt caps, powdered dye, rubber bands and gloves.

The process is simple: take a dry onesie and fold and/or gather it before tightly wrapping it with rubber bands. There are many different folding techniques that produce cool effects, so experimenting is the fun part.

Once we got our fabric tightly folded and banded we ran the whole thing under water and squeezed out as much of the excess as possible. This was to allow the dye to be wicked into the design. If you don't wet it some, the dye water has a tendency to run off the fabric and not soak in enough to get the effect you want. You can also just dip the whole thing in a dye bath, but I've found that this allows too much dye to permeate.

We squirted the dye in the areas between each rubber band to get some fun stripe and sunburst effects. After the dye was added, we wrapped the whole wet thing in saran wrap.

Ordinarily, I would have left it overnight to set, but we didn't have that much time so I tried something new. I put the whole thing in the microwave for 3 minutes to cook. The heat helped to set the dye and sped up the whole process. After microwaving the fabric, we unwrapped it and let it cool. After and hour or so, we removed the rubber bands and set the onesies out on the counter overnight to completely dry.

The next morning I threw them all in the washer on cold, then into the dryer to be finished. Voila!

Best of 2010

2010-06-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

Seattle Sundries was nominated for Seattle Bride Magazine's "Best of 2010" in the "Most Creative Favors" category! We had a wonderful evening at the awards event meeting Seattle wedding movers and shakers like the great folks from EE Robbins, True Colors Events, Aria Style, Wave Link Music, Inc., Dani Weiss Photography and of course...the always wonderful, friends from Butler Valet. A great time was had by all!

Redmond Town Center

2010-06-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

Come on over today to Redmond Town Center and enjoy the Saturday Market as well as the Sidewalk Sale and Craft Fair. I have a booth today from 10am-7pm and again tomorrow from noon-4pm. I'm in the mall area at booth #19...between The Body Shop and Bath and Body Works. Seriously. I don't know who thought that was a good idea. I could see that the employees of both chains were quaking in fear as I approached with all of my natural, biodegradable products. Smiles.

Éliane

2010-06-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have lost a very good friend. Her name was Éliane.

We had been close for almost thirty years since our early time together in Idaho. She moved to Coeur d’Alene from New York City when we were young and made a strong impression on me from the start. The first words she ever spoke to me were actually “I hate you!” This had to do with the fact that we were polar opposites in almost every way and always valued and envied what the other person brought to the equation. She was exotic, big city, worldly, multi-lingual, outspoken and bold with black hair and lovely Latin looks. I was a fair skinned, Nordic ranch girl with a big family who kept my thoughts to myself much of the time and always made my decisions and acted in a cautious and studied way. We were like salt and sugar, Yin and Yang, Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder.

I remember once we went into Spokane to see an INXS concert together. After the concert (which was great, by the way), Éliane just HAD to get backstage to meet Michael Hutchence. She told me that she was going to figure out a way to do it, and I thought she was full of #$&%. I couldn’t imagine how a lowly high school student could talk her way backstage to rub elbows with one of the most popular bands of the time. I would never have dared. She did it…got his autograph, chatted, and I’m sure made an impression. There were many famous and interesting people that she got to meet over the years because she wasn’t afraid to ask. She was bold and forward, in a good way.

She was also a thoughtful and loyal friend. She never forgot a birthday or anniversary of mine, or anyone in my family. She liked to send little packages with things that she had set aside for us…sometimes odd things. Like the time that she sent a whole box full of magazines that she had picked up at a doctor’s office and gone through to dog ear the articles she thought I would be interested in. She’d send the kids Peeps and Lemonheads, Gore & Obama campaign pins for me, and miscellaneous other trinkets and treasures that she found for us all the time, like Post-It Notes from the Scottish Tourist Bureau or key rings with our initials. On my recent birthday she sent me 40 fresh tulips (her favorite flower) in a box, all the way from New York. She called to make sure they arrived safely and were put into water right away to keep them fresh. They did and they were. She paid attention to details.

Sometimes it could be exhausting to be her friend. I often felt like I should be reciprocating more with the little things…sending her care packages too, and just doing MORE. I mostly just tried to be there for her and listen when she needed someone to talk to, because she often did. For every vibrant life peak that Éliane had, there was also a valley. She could quickly become sullen and irritable and say things without thinking them through. When we were younger I poetically ascribed this to her fiery Latin nature, but as an adult I came to understand that it was really bouts of depression and mood swings that made her say and do some of the things she did. It made it hard for her to keep jobs for long, and to maintain healthy relationships with friends and much of her family…and to find someone to share her life with.

In the past few years she has been troubled a lot. She has moved many times, never quite feeling settled and good about where she was. I think now that it was a physical manifestation of how she felt inside. Nothing seemed to fit. She struggled to achieve the goals that she set for herself. Sometimes this was because she would self sabotage by not recognizing boundaries or having an effective social filter, but sometimes outside forces really did seem to conspire against her. She felt broken and unfixable.

I tried many times to get her to see herself as I did, full of great things to offer the world and hopeful prospects for her own future. She wanted to be a lawyer. She wanted to adopt a little girl from Columbia and be a mother someday. She wanted to have a home and family and mundane stability. She wanted to be the center of someone’s life. We talked and talked…she talked mostly. I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t have any magic words. I wish that I had been a better support in the past few months, that there had been more of my own reserves to devote to her, that I knew the right things to say and help fill the void she felt. But I didn’t. I hope she knows that she was important to me.

My prayers and these tangible memories go out into the ether for her. I loved her and will miss her dearly.

In Memory of Éliane

tulip photo courtesy of Vera Kratochvil

The Market Arms

2010-06-09T06:19:00.000-07:00

Today my new favorite drinking, dining and socializing establishment opens for business at 11:30am. The Market Arms in Ballard is owned by the same folks that have mastered the fine art of the British sports pub for the past 15 years at Fremont's George and Dragon Pub. We used to live a stone's throw from the George and Dragon in my early Seattle life. I actually remember when it changed over from the Midget Tavern to the George and Dragon...I was hugely relieved, as the Midget was a pretty dive-y place with a very rough and colorful clientele. I used to love going to Quiz Night at the George. My husband still goes regularly with a group of guy friends to get their butts kicked in the quiz challenge. Oh sorry...did I type that out loud?

And now we have our OWN place in Ballard, on the direct bus line from our house. It's like DOOR to DOOR service! I feel like the old Norse gods are smiling down on me today.

We are also lucky enough to be friends with the wonderful owners. Kids are worth having, if for no other reason than they make friends...and then you get to become friends with your kids' friends' parents. We've met some of the greatest people that way.

Even though it's brand new, I have a strong suspicion that the Market Arms is going to become a Ballard institution. There is already a strong bond formed between some of the old guard Norwegians of Ballard and this new English crew. I love it. I can't wait to see what the t-shirts are going to look like (hmmm John?).

It's also just a really nice space to hang out in: lots of windows and light, mixed with lots of wood and warmth. A great deal of care and attention to detail was taken during the build-out. The table bases were brought in from England, the bar was custom made for the space, large screen TVs are easily viewable from every seat in the house, and the signs in the bathroom were attached to the wall with magical screws so that they can't be nicked from the place too easily.

Oh yeah, and the food is great. It's pub food: bangers and mash, fish and chips, shepherd's pie, cheeseburgers, etc. But it's Seattle pub food...that is to say, our expectations here are for above average food, and the Market Arms more than delivers. I got to taste a bunch of different dishes, and they were all excellent. The hamburger was to die for. Hamburger Harry's next door is going to be hurtin'. And they have an amazing beverage selection, obviously. And a very friendly, experienced and enthusiastic staff. And they're going to have Quiz Night on Wednesdays. And the bathrooms are nice. And you can play pool and darts. And they have outdoor seating on the front patio and off the back with a view of the fishing boats and water.

AND they're open just in time to start showing all of the 2010 World Cup matches (which begin this Friday). If you are a soccer fan, you may have already peed your pants with excitement. If you're not a soccer follower and fan of all the roudy World Cup revelry, remember to come back in another month or two when the windows are all open, the sun (or moon?) is shining off of the water, the folks at the table next to you have a relaxed card game going, you can hold a pint of beer in your hand...and settle in for the long, lovely haul.

Local Honey Buzz

2010-06-02T06:33:00.001-07:00

I am very happy to announce that Seattle Sundries is now using honey (and soon beeswax) produced by neighborhood bees and gathered by the Ballard Bee Company..."Keeping the Bee in Ballard."

The very friendly and accommodating owners of Ballard Bee Co. (Corky Luster and Karen Percelle) place hives all around Ballard, which means the honey collected is a true reflection of our neighborhood and the " diverse plants that thrive in our local gardens and parks." They supply select local restaurants and grocers with the raw honey that they harvest.

The city of Seattle allows a maximum of four hives per lot in city limits, so Ballard Bee Co. has set up "hosting" relationships with neighborhood residents who are willing to have hives placed on their property, and be maintained by BBC. I'm considering getting on the waiting list for hives to be placed at our house. BBC also rents hives and does consultation work for folks interested in learning beekeeping themselves. It's awesome!

To read more about the Ballard Bee Company, visit their website and read the interview done on MyBallard.com. Good stuff!!

photo courtesy of the Ballard Bee Co. website

Scents and Sensibility

2010-04-28T06:23:00.001-07:00

A potential customer emailed me this morning asking about the scent of my soaps and needing more description before she could choose. That's the downside of selling online...the sniff test is important. The only issue with smell is that it's so subjective. I don't know how many times I've had two people (husband/wife, mother/daughter, BFFs) walk up to my booth at a fair where one picks up a soap, smells it and swoons in delight, then hands it to the other person to sniff and gets a rodent-like expression in return. People's opinions about smell differ widely. For this reason, I have hesitated to include too much of a scent description with each of my soaps. I don't want people to get them in the mail and say "Hey! That's not what it's supposed to smell like!" However, I completely understand this customer's need to know..so, here's MY opinion of what each of my soaps smells like:

Backwoods~strong pine overtones with a lighter, fresh citrus underneath.

Bitchin" Kitchen~spicy cinnamon leaf. This is different than cinnamon stick, which most people are familiar with. Often customers think that it smells more like nutmeg than cinnamon.

Buck Naked~completely, truly unscented.

Cowpoke~fresh herbal with a little woodsy thrown in. The eucalyptus lemon and the lemon essential oils are the most dominant scent, but there's a noticeable undertone of cedarwood as well.

Fish Tale~anise, spicy black licorice. I've also added tea tree to this soap because it tones down and rounds out the smell of the anise, but it's got a very dominant black licorice smell.

Gardeners Gold~fresh citrus with floral undertones. You quickly notice the grapefruit smell in this soap, but the overall smell is really more fresh floral. Lavender and geranium are not very sweet flowers (like rose or jasmine), so I would put it in a more herbal/fresh category of floral.

Gender Neutral~sweet with spicy undertones. This soap smells like root beer. The dominant scent is vanilla, but the sweet birch essential oil (which is like wintergreen) adds a distinctive spice.

Hard Working Hand~ fresh and slightly herbal spiciness. This one's a little hard to categorize. It's not a heavy scent at all...mostly fresh and light herbal.

Haute Goat~unscented, but the goat's milk has a natural sweetness to it that comes through in the soap. Someone with a good sense of smell would notice it, but others might not. If you put it right next to the Buck Naked, you could definitely smell the sweetness.

Highland Fling~sweet like brown sugar, but not in a cloying way. The honey gets a bit caramelized during the soapmaking process, and combines with the natural sweetness of the beeswax. Love it.

Lap of Luxury~minty with citrus undertones. The dominant smell is spearmint, which is a more sweet herbal scent than peppermint. Tangerine lightens the mint smell and gives it more depth.

Lavender Lover~straight-up, high quality lavender essential oil. Good stuff.

Manly Man~musky and smokey with fresh citrus undertones. This is probably the hardest one to describe. Clary sage has a very herbal smell and vetiver is quite smokey on its own. I add lime to lighten and give complexity to both of those oils. Many people who smell this soap say that it reminds them of their grandfather or some older gentleman. Clary sage and vetiver were both commonly used in men's products a couple generations ago.

Naughty Nellie~floral, with herbal undertones. This has a sweet, slightly herbal floral smell, with some extra hoppiness from the ale that the soap is made with.

Rejuvenation~heavy, sweet floral. I would call this one almost Victorian in its smell. Very girlie.

Road Trip~patchouli, but lighter...not the heavy hippie smell often associated with that essential oil. I add orange to soften the sometimes overwhelming scent of patchouli. Often customers will smell this soap and say "I usually don't like patchouli, but this is really nice!"

Sasquatch~ woodsy and herbal. Cedarwood and tea tree are both very distinctive smells...one person described them as smelling like shoe polish. The lemon essential oil lightens and freshens the scent. This soap always makes me think of mossy bark, and being in the forest.

Smooth Shave~ fresh with herbal undertones. Coriander and cilantro are the same plant. Think of cilantro salad with a citrus dressing.

Summer Slacker~ sage and lavender with a fresh kick of light citrus. This soap has a dominant herbal smell. If you like sage, you'll love this. It reminds me of summer...hence the name.

Hope that helps!!