Friday, June 26, 2009

Coming Soon~ Diva














Youthful Exhuberance!

Remember the fun you had as a young girl? Best Friends, Boy Friends, Laughter, High School Games and Best of all Saturday Night?

Well that's what Diva is all about~
Nothing but pure enjoyment and fun~

Wait for it~!

Wait for iiiiiiiiiit~!

Summer Glorious Summer

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Alabama Soap Meeting

The Alabama Soap Meeting was held June 12 & 13 and sitting there attending my first thoughts were: I ALWAYS enjoy visiting my soap, candle and goat friends in Alabama! They are a first class group~ It’s one of my favorite gatherings I attend during the year.

The keynote speaker this year was Kelly Bloom, she discussed Trademarking your products. I have found out one of the most important things to do with your products is trademark. She also discussed Good Manufacturing Procedures and the importance of having your products tested. Another interesting point she touched on was having your recipe made (she provided names and addresses of companies that do this type of work for us)at the manufacturers and simply bottling yourself. This is quite handy when you get your first 5000 bottle order and you can have the manufacturer make, bottle and label your products for you~ Very interesting info~!

The Liquid Soap demo by Theda was a Great demo. But Thedas demos are always spectacular~! I cannot wait to make liquid soap. I have never actually seen liquid soap work in a foamer bottle~ I did this weekend~ awesome job Thedabelle~

I am so lotion challenged it’s not funny! Allison Chappell made it simple~ and the lotion recipe she made was incredible. I rubbed it on my DRY, DRY arms, it sunk right in and left my skin soooooooooooooo smooth~ I actually think I have everything I need to make her recipe. I can hardly wait to try to try it out~ gotta wait for this eye to get better ~ but soon, very soon~ Allison has also written an ebook called Soap-Lotion Recipes about lotion making~ check it out when you get a chance~ it's wonderful~
http://www.soap-lotion-recipes.com/aboutus.html

I was in ALL the swaps~ what can I say? I cannot pick a favorite. My goodness, those ladies are all so talented. No wonder the Alabama Soap Meeting is one of my favorite gatherings.

I purchased a new mold from Cumberland Acoustic~ I can hardly wait to make a lovely swirl in this mold~ It is JUST what I needed~ all kinds of goodies will come out of this beauty.

I also managed to get a copy of Zo’s book~ Soap and others Obessions~It is a great book, so much info, so little time.

Also won the CUTEST mold from Mold Market~! OMGoodness~ an Octopus ~ I love him and Judy who did the M&P demo~ gave me instructions on how to make him adorable~! I can hardly wait~ not enough hours in the day~ Judi did an awesome presentation on M&P soaps~ WOW~!

Sandi Garrett is president this year. She and the Alabama gals did a terrific job. I came away inspired and ready to make exciting new products. In fact, shhhhhhhh, I was online today ordering supplies~! I can hardly wait to debut my new ideas~

Now, as to my new LOGO~ from Jennifer at LaDolceDiva~ Why you all are just gonna be pea green with envy when you see it on my packaging~! Shhhhh, she might just show up on my blog soon~!

Until next time………

Friday, June 5, 2009

The Mystery Garden

I warned you didn I? While most people have Victory Gardens~
ours is aptly named the Mystery Garden.

I think the fun of a garden is the chaos ~ I' love a wonderfully layed out, well planned garden but unfortunately at our house that is not the norm~ While I don’t mind sharing~I'm just not hip on letting our woodland friends have it all~! So with that said:

One lovely morning at daybreak I was standing in the bedroom looking out the window finally enjoying the sun coming up over the ridge, when I saw it~! A baby deer caught in our garden fence, hanging upside! Obviously he had tried to jump over the fence to get to the succulent new foods inside that his mother was now enjoying and had somehow gotten stuck ~ it was awful~ I cried and cried and kept pointing to the deer hanging there while my husband Bill and the 2 boys raced down to the garden and were running round and round searching and looking~

WHY couldn't they see it? It was right there~! I just knew I was to late and he was dead~! He was SO still, not even moving each time they ran past him in their haste and panic to find the baby before it was to late! Now the mama deer was LONG gone. Oh the agony and guilt of putting up the fence~! It was an awful trap we had set for that baby~!

Finally my youngest son, Dustin stopeed and said “Mom, is this it?” as he reached over and touched the stiff, still object in the fence~ Sobbing I managed to get out a squeaky YES! He held it up for my inspection. It was a large brown tree BRANCH that had fallen during the heavy storms the night before. Needless to say~ I was embarrassed and it's been a family joke ever since~ (well ok that and the giant turtle, but more on that later, you can only stand so much in one post) But I begged Bill to take the fence down~ I felt like it was a sign from God that we were being selfish~ Well, lesson learned~ NO garden that year~ the deer, bunnies and turtles ATE the whole thing down to the ground within a week~ Bill was NOT happy~ So we came to an understanding~ a compromise as we so often do in our large crazy family~ this year~ a fence~ but we toss the extra's over the fence in the evenings.

I’m afraid I'm going to laugh at our garden this year~ You see, it rained again, really, hard for days after~! I know all the seeds washed away last week after planting~ No telling where the seeds ended up or what is planted where now but we’ll see what comes up and where~ I think I'll enjoy it~ I rather like surprises anyway~ so this will be cool~! A mystery garden is always best, don't you agree? And it fits my Gypsy heritage, wild, free and curiously FUN~!

My products are designed with a flair for fun, mystery and complete indulgence. An inexpensive getaway~! Life is sometimes hard to say the least. Daily we hear of friends losing their jobs, homes and adapting to the new lifestyle changes. Change has indeed come to the United States. Isn't it nice to know you can still afford to just splurge on your self once in a while? You can afford to purchase a fabulous product, sit in your tub, relax and enjoy. Even if just for a few mnutes. MOAM's out there deserve the best, so treat yourself.

Looking for something soothing? Try our Cucumber Melon Body Wash and Lotion. It's a light, clean, fresh, relaxing scent that will remind you of walking thru a Mystery Garden. It's available on a limited Spring / Summer basis so don't let this one get by without a try~!

Relax, enjoy your summer and your life. Remember to exercise and eat your veggies. And if you just can't bring yourself to eat the vegetables, try a bath with the Cucumber Melon, you can count that as one day's requirement!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Hi There Long Time No Blog~!

Well, it's been a while, once again ~ but I'm still trudging along with this blog
I've been making soap like crazy for the store opening~ along with bath bombs and lollypaloosas~scrubs and candles.

I'm getting ready to go to the HSMG~ the Handcrafted Soapmakes Guild Meeting in Palm Springs, CA next week. This should be interesting~ I DO NOT FLY WELL~ So I must really want to go bad. I have a flight buddy~ well, at least for half way~!
I'm hoping to get ideas for my gathering for next year~ and keep up with the newest trends and info in our biz~

Spring has sprung here in the sunny lovely South. You can try but it's hard to find anything as lovely as GA in Spring time~ guess I'm biased since I've lived here my entire life but it does lift my spirits and gives me inspiration for my colors and scents for my products.

The girls are starting their Competition Cheerleading again at school~ so life is back to normal, run, run, run. Teaching the baby girl to drive~ eek~! Look out world here she comes~

Seems like there is never a dull moment in the Anderson Household. Which is a Goot Thing~! Life is meant to be lived but mostly enjoyed~!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Decisions, Decisions~!

Tough time deciding on logos, fragrance names, labels and ingredients. I want to do it all, so little time so many decisions~ But I have a very talented lady working on my labels and I have an idea whatever she designs will be spectacular. I can hardly wait to see. I'm like a kid at Christmas I'm so excited~! Everything is coming together. Soaps are coming along lovely, bath bombs and scrubs are ready. Candles~ well lets just say yuuummmm. My home smells wonderful from all the great candles I've been making~