The Life of a Cairn Terrier

 

It's been raining cats and dogs here in St. Louis. We took a break from being cooped up inside to enjoy throwing the frisbee and looking at the flowers.

As you can see, Finch loves her frisbee! She loves to bite the middle and then shake her whole head. Because of this, we have gone through many frisbees! Usually  they develop a hole in the middle...imagine that!

I bought this heavy rubber frisbee hoping to solve the problem, but as you can see, she has figured out how to fold it in half, bite the middle and shake her little heart out!

Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter!
It will be a quiet Easter for me. My hubby is out of town and won't be back until Monday. Both kids live out of town, but my son came home with a few friends this weekend to see the St. Louis Cardinal's play.
I have orders to fill and new products to make that are going to be featured in a new shop next month, so tomorrow will be another busy day.

Body Wash From Scratch!

I have 4 batches of soap under my belt! It's quite a challenge and takes a long time, but I enjoy making it! So far I have made Lavender, White Citrus, Raspberry Vanilla, and Orange Clove. If you click on the pic above, you can view how it's made. I tried posting video's here, but I can't get them to work.
There are 8 short video's, which I took with my digital camera. Maybe Santa will bring me an actual video camera this year!

I decided to go back to my old labels and my yellow and blue colors. I think it helps brand my products and are easily noticeable.

It's Summer in St. Louis - HOT!

I took a stroll through the yard the other day. Every day I take my two puppies, Scout and Finch, for a walk around the yard. They are only interested in finding worms to eat and catching squirrels, but I don't mind as long as they stroll with me.
I didn't winter sow as many plants this year, but I had plenty. One of my favorites are the Sunflowers! These were planted along side the house and I had to crop the picture in order to screen out the garden hose and the meter reader....lol!
I start most of my plants by seed. These were planted a few years ago and I divided the plant and transplanted them into some beds we started in our front yard.
This beautiful flower is called a Brown Nose Rudebekia (I'm pretty sure..). They reseed everywhere, but I planted this bunch under our Black Oak tree. They hide the Iris that have already bloomed.
Last, but not least, is my Blanket Flower. I started this flower about 5 years ago and it has happily reseeded all over the yard. They bloom all summer!

Needle Felting Soap Bars

Felting handmade soap is fun, but needle felting handmade soap is even more fun! The wool used is very soft merino wool. I like the softness of the wool, but it's difficult to work with. You have to work carefully so the wool does not bunch up and create "folds". Each soap takes about 20 min to felt just the background.

I wrapped the stem of the flower around the back of the handmade soap bar to hide some folds I had. I think they turned out well! I have a few more bars finished and now I just need to decide what design to use.
Square soap is harder to felt, due to the corners, but you just have to be extra careful to wrap the corners and wait until the sides are firm before working on the corners.
I'm looking forward to creating needle felting soap for the holidays. I know, it's too early to think about Halloween and Christmas, but it's not too early in the handmade world.

Late Spring in St. Louis!

Warm weather is already here, so I thought I would show you some pics from around my house. Above is my Cairn Terrier, Finch. Notice the ball in the bowl? When she needs a drink, she drops her ball in the water and then drinks around it! Finch always has a ball either in her mouth, or next to her.
I didn't have a choice the other day. I HAD to plant these Sunflowers! I had to cut them out of the milk jug. LOL! These were winter sowed, so they are all ready to go!
I planted lots of Tulips when we moved into our house 9 years ago. They bloomed for about 2 years and from then on the only thing that came up were the leaves...until this year. This beauty decided to adorn our front yard. Tulips are my favorite flower.
And this is my favorite tree: Weeping Cherry Tree. The blooms only last a few days, but when it's blooming, it gorgeous!

Felting Soap Class

I will be teaching a class on Felting Soap at our new shop, Fusion. I made a few soaps so I could take some pictures for our class section. Most of the partners will be teaching classes such as dying silk, wire wrapping jewelry and a beginner class for quilting.

For my class students will have a choice of soaps to felt and all the wool will be provided.
I purchased my woving wool at SmokeyMountainFibers.
Felting soap is not hard to do and once you try it, you will be able to take your skill and make your own for future gifts.

Check out our website for classes that will be offered at Fusion. My class should be listed soon.

We are located at Chesterfield Mall, second floor, right outside Sears.

Spring Forward!

I don't know if it's because of all the dreary days St. Louis has had, or because of the upcoming snow storm forecast for tomorrow, but I am itching for Spring. I worked on my Spring line today and decided to play with some soap base. This soap was made with Tulip fragrance oil, but it smells more "green" to me, so I'm going to market it as a unisex (hate this term!) scent.

I colored the bars with teal mica and used clear soap for the middle. I love the contrast with the clear soap! I named the soap Spring Forward.My lip balm inventory is very low, so today I made several batches. Cola is a new scent and it smells just like Coke! I also made Cucumber Slices, Birthday Cake, Snickerdoodle, and Dark Chocolate.

I found these mugs at a local store, and immediately thought CANDLES! I made two of each: Blue = Clean Cotton, Yellow = Lemon Poppy Seed, and Pink = Peppermint Bark
All of these will be added to our new shop at Fusion, which is located in Chesterfield Mall (second floor, next to Sears), and to my Etsy shop.