Pearls

I did a little bit of jewelry making. A 3 strand pearl necklace.

I love making these simple multi strand pearl necklaces. They always come out so nice, looking so classic. The pearls are all 7mm, a nice creamy white.

The clasp is all sterling silver, a good sturdy J hook. I keep thinking how pretty this would look on a bride with her hair up to show off the sterling silver.

Lately on my necklaces I have been using sterling silver wire guards when I add the wire to the clasp, which help protect the beading wire and, I think, add a nice finished look. They are a little fussy to work with, but well worth it.

I spaced the strands 2 inches apart. Makes a very nice drape. The smallest strand is 17 inches including the clasp. The longest strand is 21 inches.

This necklace is listed in my Etsy jewelry shop.

3 Strand Pearl Necklace

Soaps and Stuff

From Start to Finish 

Two soaps right after they were poured into the molds. Spiced Cinnamon Sandalwood, and Palmarosa Lavender.

 The Spiced Cinnamon Sandalwood is the one with the gold swirl. This is scented with a blend of three different fragrance oils (White Spice, Cinnamon Sticks, and Sahara Sandalwood). I love this blend! I keep a small piece in the soap room just for me to sniff every time I go in there! The Palmarosa Lavender is a layered soap (as you will see in following pics), and is scented with a blend of essential oils (Palmarosa, Lavender, Patchouli, and Geranium). A very popular blend! Lavender by itself is good, but blended with Palmarosa is better. The little bit of added Patchouli and Geranium give a really nice depth to the scent!

Going for the cut ... the Spiced Cinnamon Sandalwood ...

And the Palmarosa Lavender

And the finish, done with the cure and ready for the shops!

On The Curing Rack

This next one was fun to make! Think beach! Sandy beach, bluish green ocean to blue sky! Scented with Sahara Sandalwood. This will actually be ready for the shops very soon.

Sandalwood and Roses, a blend of 2 fragrance oils - Sandalwood Vanilla and Fresh Cut Roses. And a restock, Salty Citrus Spa.

The Salty Citrus Spa I have to cut within 6 hours, while it is still hot from gelling. Otherwise, the salt in it makes it too hard to cut after that.

The Sandalwood and Roses I cut the next day.

Next, Creamy Honey Almond made with goat milk, desert honey, and Honey Almond fragrance oil. And a restock of my most popular soap, Creamy Peppermint with Chocolate Swirl scented with peppermint essential oil and swirled with cocoa powder.

 

And two more on the curing rack, Green Cactus, a layered soap scented with Green Cactus fragrance oil.  Lemon Peppermint scented with (yes, you guessed it!) lemon and peppermint essential oils and swirled with a light minty green.

 

Cured, and in the shops

Here's a great beer soap! Made with Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and scented with Chocolate Serendipity fragrance oil. Wow!!

Jewelry

This is a special request for a customer. A 22 inch turquoise heishi necklace with matching earrings.

Spring
Here in Tucson, spring means blossoming Palo Verde trees. The city and the desert are ablaze with these lovely yellow blossoms! This little Palo Verde tree started growing from a seed planted with no help from us a few years ago. It was in the perfect spot so we let it grow.  Pretty!!

Happy spring, everybody! :)

Honey Granola Recipe

Honey is not just for soaps! :)

Here is my Honey Granola recipe. No sugar.

In a large bowl mix the following:

4 cups rolled oatmeal
2 cups puffed brown rice
1/4 cup golden flax seed
1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seed kernel
1/4 cup unsalted pumpkin seed kernel
1 tsp cinnamon

In microwave safe bowl or measuring cup:

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup olive oil (or your favorite veggie oil)
1/3 cup Polaner All Fruit Spread

Warm the honey mix in the microwave enough to mix together.

Pour honey mix over oatmeal mix. Mix together until oatmeal mix is well coated.

Place in baking pan ... I use my 14" x 9" Pyrex baking pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Take out of oven, and stir. Put back in oven, bake for another 15 minutes. Take out of oven and stir. Let set until cool, stirring every now and then. Store in an air tight container.

It's really good while it's still hot. Great with ice cream (although that defeats the purpose of no sugar!!!).

Add nuts, berries, fruit when serving. 

Turquoise Necklaces

I love turquoise .. working with it and wearing it. Here are a couple of necklaces I've made in the past couple of weeks. These are all made with turquoise from the Kingman mine, which I got at this years Tucson Gem Show.

The first one is made with 8mm rondell beads, called Boulder Turquoise. This is turquoise that comes from the edges of the turquoise veins, and includes a lot of the "mother" rock. Most of it is pretty copperish looking. A few years ago, when I started buying boulder turquoise, the vendor told me they used to just throw this stuff in the tailings of the mine. Now they charge an arm and a leg for it! Go figure!

This necklace is 17 1/2 inches long. You can find it in my jewelry shop here:
Boulder Turquoise Necklace

Another pic of the Boulder Turquoise Necklace

Another boulder turquoise necklace, this time made with heishi beads. Heishi is such a classic Southwestern look. And with boulder turquoise, is very organic looking! These heishi beads are about 5mm.  I added some Bali sterling silver spacer beads at the back of the necklace, along with a sturdy sterling silver lobster claw. I think the Bali beads add a real nice touch.

This necklace is 16 inches long. You can find it in my jewelry shop here:
Boulder Turquoise Heishi Necklace

Here's another pic of the Boulder Turquoise Heishi Necklace, this time with one of my favorite props, my coyote helper. :)

And, another heishi bead necklace. These heishi beads are about 4mm, and are blue blue blue!

This one has nice smooth sterling silver beads for the back of the necklace, because I find that those little heishi beads like to grab onto the hair in the back. Makes it a bit more comfortable. This necklace is 17 1/2 inches long. You can find it in my jewelry shop here:
Turquoise Heishi Necklace

Here's another pic of the Turquoise Heishi Necklace

Next in the jewelry department, I'll be making some pearl necklaces. :)

Beer Soaps, Honey Soaps, Rainbows

And we have summer already in Tucson. 93 degrees yesterday, the same today. I'll probably have to turn on the AC later this afternoon. tsk

How about some soapy pictures? :) I'll start with a pretty and colorful soap. This is Citrus Mint 5 Layer.

You can find it on my website, and in my Etsy shop.

Before The Cure

A batch of Dark Desert w/ Agave Nectar,  and a batch of Amber Romance, just poured into molds.

And here they are going through the cutting process.

The Dark Desert soap has powdered Chaparral leaves added, along with some agave nectar. For scent, an essential oil blend of sage, lemon, rosemary, spruce, and patchouli. The Amber Romance is a layered soap, the bottom colored with yellow oxide and gold mica. Scented with a fragrance oil.

Another beer soap, this one made with Young's Double Chocolate Stout. Scented with a little bit of Chocolate Serendipity fragrance oil. Yowzer!!!!! Talk about chocolate overload!

The Cure is Over! 

A couple of beer soaps, ready to go!

Raspberry Wheat Beer Soap. Made with Shock Top Raspberry Wheat beer, scented with a little bit of Black Raspberry Vanilla fragrance oil. On my website, and in my Etsy Shop.

 Torpedo Cedarwood Beer Soap. Made with Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale, scented with Cedarwood essential oil and Fir Needle essential oil. Very masculine! Very nice! On my website, and in my Etsy Shop.

Preparing For Mother's Day

I have put together a Mother's Day Gift Set. Roses and Chocolate.

It consists of a full bar of Fresh Cut Rose and a full bar of Creamy Peppermint w/ Chocolate Swirl, tied together with a red ribbon. Two all natural, unsweetened, unflavored cocoa butter lip balms in a white organza bag. A small note card. All tucked neatly into a 4" x 4" x 2" Kraft box with a "Happy Mother's Day" decal.

You can find this gift set on my website, and in my Etsy shop.

Threesomes

I have put together a couple of threesome listings in my Etsy shop. First, a trio of Honey Soaps! I thought this would be a good set of soaps for a bee keeper, or a honey lover. I included a full bar of Oatmeal & Honey, Honey Orange & Clove, and Creamy Honey Lemon.

AND, a trio of Beer Soaps! What could be more fun!

And that has been my soaping adventures for the last couple of weeks. :)

I'll finish with this picture I took last week during a cold rain. I took this from my patio, it looks like I could have walked behind my neighbor's house and gathered up a pot of gold!