Black Friday Sale

There is this really awesome dress designer who's company name is Fancy Clothing which you should check out at necessityisthemother
She used recycled/upcycled clothing and redesigns it to make the most beautiful clothing. Anyway the reason I am mentioning her is because I always loved how her myspace quote was "made with human hands." I think about that on a regular basis. It's so simple but so important.

The reason I mention this is because it is that time of year again, when we shop for our loved ones. There are so many options for shopping and next Friday there will be hundreds of amazing deals to be had.
But if you want to find something different, unique and feel good about your purchase you should visit etsy.
It is an online shopping experience that houses thousands of handmade shops. You can find a gift for every last person you know and find deals while your at it. There are a ton of Etsy "shops" that will be having some great sales, most running from black Friday until cyber Monday.

I am also member of PDX Indie, which is a handmade cooperative. Several of our members here locally will be having sales.

Visit the following web sites for great deals on hand made items:
www.SoloArtworks.com - Is going to have a buy one get one 1/2 off sale during these dates.

melissalund
melissaklund
Melissa sale details are as follows: Your choice of four 5 x 5 prints for $40 or four 8 x 8, 8 x 10 or 8 x 12 prints for $80! Select either the 5 x 5 or 8 x 8 print set option from the sale section and leave the titles of the four prints you would like in the notes to seller box upon checkout. She is still working out the details of her gift shop sale, but I will update you as I find out more.

Souly Stones will be having 25% off everything in her shop.
I myself will be having a $10 off a $50 purchase as well, which you can check out at
autumncomfort

I will be adding more lovely shops as I find more sales for these important dates so stay tuned. Also if you haven't already don't forget to enter the Portland Craft Mafia scavenger hunt. You can find the details below.

Win some cool stuff from the Portland Craft Mafia

The Portland Craft Mafia is having there second event this time in the form of a scavenger hunt. If you would like to win some cool hand made things go check out our blog and read the instructions on how to play.

Snowmen Crayons

The boys and I made snowman crayons the other day. It's pretty simple and turned out very cute. We have been saving all the pieces of broken crayon for a while now. All you have to do is peal off all the labels, brake the crayons in at least half, but more if you can and place them in a mold like a muffin pan. I have a couple snowman ones I got from the dollar spot at Target. I use them for make seasonal candles, but they pulled double duty that day. Heat your oven to between 275 to 300 and bake for about 8 minutes, but watch them close. Once they start to melt they melt quick. You can cool them on the counter or in the fridge to speed things up.

If making these crayons doesn't sound like to much fun, you can buy similar recycled crayons on www.etsy.com.

Crafty Wonderland was a great success!

So this last Sunday I set up my candles at The monthly craft show Crafty Wonderland which I keep trying to link to but I am finally giving up. (One day I will learn some HTML.) It seemed like it was starting slow at first, and I started to get discouraged. I had not yet had a show I would consider a great success. But things picked up, boy did they. I sold out of all but one of my small candles and all but 2 wine bottle candles. I had to buy change twice from the sweet Dolcetti. I ran out of shopping bags for people to carry there candles in. I was a mess and cleaned out and it was great.
It has sure prepared me for these upcoming December shows though. I know it will only be busier and more chaotic so I am preparing now. I have some great new Christmas-y fragrances I will be selling and I will have a lot more merchandise especially wine bottle candles. Hopefully I will see some familiar faces and new ones at all the up coming Christmas shows and I am so looking forward to it!!

Every body's doing it, why can't they?

So I know you can get reusable shopping bags almost everywhere and I think that's awesome. I happened to pick some up quite some time ago at Albertson's only because I happened to be stopping there on my way home from work and they were only $0.99. Anyway if you haven't jumped on the reuse band wagon or you need another bag for those trips to the store then Target has a special promo going on but only until the end of this month. If you mail them 5 used Target bags in an 8 &1/2 by 11 inch envelope they will mail you a coupon for a free tote which is redeemable at any local Target.

Target Offer

and who doesn't like free stuff while saving our environment, huh?

Wax Dipped Fall Leaves

The other day the boys (well mainly Cohen, cause Wyatt is to busy causing trouble) dipped leaves in scented soy candle wax. The great thing about soy is that it doesn't get hot enough to burn anyone, so kiddo's can help with this one. I have a thermometer to test the temp just to be sure and as always use caution when kids are involved and with hot wax, even soy. I put a couple in my car and one in the linen closet. Wow, I love them. They look pretty and my little van smelt like Pumpkin Spice all the way to work. Here are some pictures from our fun little project.

This is our deck covered in lovely leaves, so you can see we had plenty for our little project.

Here is my little boy dipping away. I used the same wax and same % of fragrance oil as I do when making candles.

And the final product, which looks just like the original leaf only a bit shinier. The wax should preserve the color of the leaf just the way it is. That is the cool part. The kids and I have saved pretty leaves before but they turn brown over time. This should keep them vivid and rich in fall color.