Sunday, May 31, 2009

Dare Devil Steeda



Here is my daring and not very smart Steeda. She is one of my Golden Comet pullets and I have no idea what she was thinking when she did this.

Getting close

Only a few more days until my first Farmers Market :). I'm pretty sure I already have one definite customer. She goes to the market on a regular basis and has tried a bar of my soap recently. She loved it and looks forward to seeing me there!
I'll be getting back to work tomorrow on another batch of soap. I haven't made any for a few days because I was helping a friend move, so now its back to work I go. I am considering making a shampoo bar tomorrow. I will be taking before and after pictures to post on here.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Gazebo



I went and purchased my 10x10 gazebo a couple days ago. I put it up by myself to see how easy it would be. It isn't hard to put up but will definitly be easier with two people. My husband and I have decided that our 13 year old son will be helping me every Saturday. We think it will help him learn a few things this summer while school is out.


Monday, May 25, 2009

Soap inventory

I just counted up how much soap I will have ready for the Farmers Market. I have 273 bars ready to go! That is a over hundred more then I had a while back. I didn't think that I would have that many ready. I also have about 49 bars curing right now as well. Hopefully I will get a good response when I go. The market has never had a soap maker there before so it will be interesting. Right now I am working on printing out 273 labels while I have the motivation lol. That is certainly not something I want to put off for long.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

New Berry Fusion




I made another batch of Berry Fusion soap tonight. This time I decided to try something new. The last batch I made was a double layer with one color on top and another on the bottom. This time I decided to do a swirl in both layers but with a different color swirl for both. The bottom is a turquoise and the top is a violet. I can't wait to unmold it tomorrow and take a look at how it turns out. I also used the same to fragrance oils, sun ripened raspberry and strawberry delight.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Eucalyptus Swirl



Here it is. I swirled it with brown oxide and forest green oxide. I'm really surprised at how fast the eucalyptus fragrance oil accelerates the process.

Tonight's Soap

I will be making Eucalyptus Swirl tonight. I'll post pics after pouring it into the mold. And there isn't much time left before the market starts either so I need to get what oils I have together and try to squeeze in a few more batches.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Today's rebatched soap







It looks so much better then it did last night. It already had dried lavender buds in it when I melted it down today. So after I poured it into the mold I went out and got some lilac flowers from my lilac bush. I pushed those into the top of the soap. It isn't ready to be cut just yet but it should be soon.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Cucumber

I rebatched some of my cucumber soap Monday and it didn't turn out to bad. I added lemongrass essential oil and sprinkled carnation petals over it. It is a nice pale green with pastel colored petals on the top. I will post pics a little later.

Saturday, May 9, 2009



This is my trial setup for the market. I wasn't able to setup outside today because of the weather so I setup in the house. It's not done but there are always going to be changes. I don't like the sign on the front of the table to much though. When I get my tent next week I'm going to try hanging it from the front and see if I like that better. There will also be more soaps added before the market starts.



Friday, May 8, 2009

Setup tomorrow

Depending on the weather I'm going to setup my table again and put my banner on it this time. I'm going to see how it looks hanging from the front of the table and I'll take lots of pics. Next week I should be getting my 10 x 10 canopy and sides. When I get that I'm going to set everything up again and this time I'll attach the sign to the front of the canopy so that it hangs down a little.

Broody Buella



She's so grumpy lol. And she stole another egg for Red my Rhode Island Red hen. :)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Banner!!!!!







Here is my banner for the Farmer's Market next month! My friend from church made it today. Isn't she great! I would never had had the patience for it. It is hanging in the basement to get the creases out of it so the picture isn't that great but I will have better pics soon. Oh, and the banner is 18" x 48". It will look great the table. As soon as I put it up with the table and everything I'll post more pics. It should look great.



Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Broody Hen

My hen Buella is broody. I had no idea that Buff Orpingtons are so prone to broodiness that they will sit in their nest even when there are no eggs to hatch. She has been sitting on my other hen's eggs. The boys and me went out this afternoon and bought eggs for her to sit on. Hopefully some of them might hatch. I'll take pictures tomorrow and post them in all her grumpy broodiness lol. If she does hatch eggs I think she'll make a great mama.

Sign for the market.

I'll be going over to a friends house tomorrow to help her design a vinyl sign for me. I can't have it any smaller then 15" x 20" and I definitely am not artistically inclined when it comes to anything on paper lol. She said she can also put grommets on it so that I can hang it! :) I'll post pics of it tomorrow when I get home with it.

Fourth of July Soaps










They didn't turn out as bad as I thought they would. I used peppermint and vanilla essential oils and it smells better then I expected.




Couch Potato Chicks



All four of our chicks now think they rule the couch. I'm waiting for them to start following me through the house :)


Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Fourth of July soap

I made my first red white and blue soap tonight. It didn't work like I wanted it to but I won't be able to tell until tomorrow when I take it out of the mold just how bad or good it is. I think I will go ahead and make another batch when I get more oils.
I got my essential oils in today. I really have to start buying bigger bottles lol. The little 1oz bottles don't last when it comes to big batches. I got peppermint, vanilla, lemongrass, and anise. I'm looking forward to using all of them and making combinations as well.

My little girls :)









Farmer's Market















The first Saturday of June I will be working my first farmers market. I will be the only soaper there. At least I will not have any competion when it comes to my wares. I am scrambling to get my inventory together and I am also working on my table for the market. I figure that I will be taking at the least 81 bars of soap with me. I still have to get my 10x10 tent for the market but I hopefully will have that before the first one starts.





Soaps by Ann

I'm new at this whole blogging then but I figured I would give it a try :)
I have a family of six and I am a stay at home mom. That in its self is a full time job :)
I also make handmade luxury soap and I have some listed on Etsy and I am getting ready for a local Farmer's Market. In between taking care of children and making soap I also take care of our many animals. Chickens, Ducks, Dogs, Cat, Rabbit.