Hockey Soap

Probably because of the northern latitudes where I’ve lived, I’ve always preferred the cold-climate sports like skiing and ice skating.  It’s a bit surprising that I never had much of a connection with hockey growing up.  There weren’t any rinks or teams near us in North Idaho, so the sum total of my hockey exposure involved playing pick-up games on a frozen Coeur d’Alene or Fernan lake in the wintertime, using a Stick Up air freshener as a puck.  I always loved it though.  I think if I’d been able to play hockey on a real team, I would have gotten sucked in easily.

A few years ago my son was introduced to hockey through a friend whose parents are expat Canadians.  He was hooked, fast.  It’s been so fun for me to watch him over the past six years as his skating skills and strategy have improved exponentially.  I truly enjoy watching the games.  The sport of hockey takes multitasking to a totally new level.  It’s awesome. 

Hockey does have a downside though.  It stinks.  Literally.   I’m sure that other sweaty sports are the same, but I’m astounded every time I walk near a locker room (or my son’s hockey gear drying out) at just how fragrant it is.  They work hard on the ice, and they produce the sweat to prove it.  I've been thinking for a while that a hockey soap would be a great idea.  Plus, the round shape of my soaps have often been compared to hockey pucks…so the union was clear.   All I needed was a great, beneficial ingredient that turns the soap a deep hockey-puck shade of black.  Activated charcoal was just the thing.  Add to it the refreshing scent of peppermint and tea tree essential oils and you have a winner!   

Slap Shot Soap

Butterfly Craft Projects

So, what can you do with the cool butterfly wings from your Butterfly Smooch Stick favors, once the lip balm tube has been removed for use? Don't throw them away!!  My daughters and I came up with a couple of fun craft ideas that would be great for a kids' party.  Just think...you can get the favors and the activity taken care of all at once!

The first technique is probably the easiest.  Just take jumbo craft sticks (the size of tongue depressors), some paint, and adhesive magnet strips .

Cut the craft sticks in half and round out the corners with your scissors, then paint them a dark brown color to match the brown of the butterfly wings.

Once dry, insert the painted craft stick into the slits on the butterfly.

Turn it over and apply your adhesive magnet.  This will help to hold everything in place, so that the wings don't slip around at all.

Add some decoration on the top using 3D "puff paint" and/or little self-adhesive jewels.  You can bend the wings up just a little to make the butterfly look more realistic.  Easy and fun!!  

The other idea takes a little better manual dexterity,  but is also very kid-friendly.  Just take brown chenille pipe cleaners, regular size craft sticks (Popsicle sticks), and little suction cups .

Cut the sticks down to the appropriate size and round out the corners, like you did with the other project.

You can add a little hot glue to hold things in place, if you'd like. 

Wrap your pipe cleaners around the stick to form the body of the butterfly. We used three pipe cleaners for each craft stick.  

You can even make legs.  The pipe cleaners give the body a cute, fuzzy texture.

Slip your butterfly body into the slits on the wings.  If you decided to make legs, you may have to bend them down temporarily in order to slide the whole thing in easily.

You could just leave the butterfly like this to play with, or you could add a suction cup to the bottom so that it can be affixed to things.

Attach your suction cup to the bottom using hot glue.

The butterflies look great attached to windows because the translucence of the vellum paper allows the light to shine through.

 Do you have any other good ideas?  I'd LOVE to hear about them!

Urban Unveiled 2012

This week we were fortunate to participate, once again, in the Urban Unveiled wedding show at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle.  I spent a long time getting our display ready and am so pleased with how it turned out that I have to share it with you all.  

We were debuting some new products for our custom favor line.  We have whimsical new packaging for our natural lips balms that we're calling "Seattle Sundries' Butterfly Kisses".  I think you can see why.  The fun thing about them is that they are totally customizable: flavor, color, paper style, etc. They are favors that do double duty as decorations.  We also have new little custom favor boxes that hold three small guest soaps...which also can be totally personalized for any event.

We displayed some examples of retro groomsman gift sets that would be perfect for the gentlemen in any wedding party.

See that neat old box in front?  I found that on a visit home to the ranch a few years ago.  It was stuffed with miscellaneous little items, including the ones you see below.  These are the matchbooks, foil paper cutouts, and white swans that were favors for the celebration of my great-grandparents 50th wedding anniversary.  They were married 100 years ago, last month. For real.  I kept the box closed during the show, but the few people who were curious enough to lift the lid got to hear the story of Gunda and Louis' nuptials.

We also had our bath soaps in custom tins on display for folks to sniff and feel.

These were some lovely little clutch purses that I made to show how unique bridesmaid gift sets can be made using our skincare products.  See how the inside fabric on the clutches matches the table skirt?  These were fun to make.  You should try it!

Happily, our space was right next to the charming lady who owns Fiore Blossoms.

Of course, Luly Yang was there.

And City Catering...

And the dapper gentlemen from True Colors Events...

There were so many beautiful things to see that I couldn't possibly show them all, but I think this might have been my favorite floral arrangement in the whole place.

The most admired and eye-catching part of our display were the cherry blossom branches that we hung the Butterfly Kisses from.  They were battery operated LED lights that were so easy to arrange and were just perfect for the butterflies.  I highly recommend them for any such displays you make in the future.

Once the sun went down, the lights were dimmed and the candles were lit, it made a most lovely sight.

Seattle Bride's Best of 2012

We had a wonderful time last night at Seattle Bride Magazine's annual "Best Of" event.  It was held at the the waterfront at the Seattle Aquarium.  We were thrilled to be nominated, for the third year in a row, in the category Most Creative Favors.  Thanks to Seattle Bride Magazine for their ongoing support of the Seattle wedding and events industry!

Valentine Smooch Stick Giveaway

As some of you may remember, Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday.  Not that my husband and I usually go out and do anything fancy or romantic, I just like the sentiment.  

In honor of Valentine's Day, I've put together a cute little gift set of three Smooch Sticks which come in a small muslin pouch with a pink ribbon and cupid tag. It's a great gift for spouses and soul mates, kids, mothers, brothers and the like. It lasts a LOT longer than flowers, by the way.  Not that flowers aren't wonderful.

The set is available for purchase on our website now and can be shipped in time for Valentine's Day.  

I've decided to do a little giveaway as well, because that's the way I roll.  On Thursday I will randomly choose three lucky winners to each receive one Valentine's Day set.  In order to enter, please leave a post answering the following question: What's your favorite love song?  Mine is probably Always on My Mind by Willie Nelson or I Was Born to Love Her by Ivan & Alyosha.  How about you?

Update:  I'm hearing that a few folks are having trouble getting the Blogger system to accept their comments.  If this has happened to you, please let me know.  If you would like to email me with your comment I can post it on the entry so that you have a chance to win in the giveaway.  Please send emails to info [at] seattlesundries.com.

New Retro Suitcase Gift Sets

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!

 .

Urban Unveiled at Benaroya Hall

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!