Wow....just wow.

So, my faithful readers, it's been a while, huh?  Sorry about that.  As Fall fell, my kiddos went back to school....and so did I.  Yes, I have embarked upon a new career as a middle school teacher.  It's an exciting time in my life, but, let me tell you, ANYONE who thinks teacher's lives are easy is smoking something.  I have been working 10-12 hour days, in addition to the graduate courses and certification classes that I have been taking in the evenings and on weekends.  I know it will all be worth it to see those lights go on in my student's eyes, but right now, my time is limited, so unfortunately, the blog is suffering.

However, I received something in the mail today that I just HAD to write about.  My box from Sampler Village.  Holy Wow.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture, so I had to steal one from the site, but there was so much in the sampler, Traci had to stuff stuff into the shipping box to make it all fit!

I really could tell the effort and thought that Traci and the villagers put into the sampler every month.  This month's theme was Halloween, and there were all kinds of great Halloween themed items, great Halloween packaging, and fun things in every package.

In my opinion, Sampler Village has really stepped up as the premier monthly sampler box.  I get the Luscious sampler every month, and I highly recommend it.  Those samepler have an item from every one of that month's villagers, and every thing I get is always great, both in quality and in presentation.

New Feature!

You may have noticed, but I have put links to the four samplers I have ordered on the bottom right side of this blog.  No more hunting for good samplers.  If I find more good sampler sellers, I will be sure to include them.

This week is going to be light on reviews, as I am finishing using some BIG samples, and between the hubby getting a job offer and me going on interviews, we didn't really get a chance to use many new things this week.  I've also been noticing that I have extra samples from sellers that I have already reviewed.  Though it is really hard for me, since I already KNOW that they are great, I have been trying to passs them over for new samples I have never used. My drawers are getting full, and I have had a few bad experiences lately, so I think I am going to allow myself to re-use some of these sellers' samples every once in a while. I also may start featuring a single seller every once in a while, especially if I have had a universally good experience with them.

I'll keep checking etsy and ebay and looking for new people to tell you about too!

I think I will also keep up with the pattern free sewing tutorials.  I am in the process of rearranging my sewing room (again), to get everythig to fit, but I will try to make time to get s few things made and a few tutorials written up.  let me know if there's anything you would really like to see.

Have a great weekend!

This Week's Reviews 3/2/10

Woo!  I had a bit of a panic this morning!  Turns out my husband, trying to be neat and tidy, threw out all of my assorted wrappers and business cards from this week's samples.  Fortunately, I found and rescued them, and, after a bit of the world's most stupid sounding argument....

("you threw away my wrappers!" "Of course I did! They're empty and cluttering up the counter!" "I need them for my blog, dangit!" "Then why were they in a pile in the bathoom?" "who cares where they were?  I needed them! Stop throwing out my important stuff!" "How am I supposed to know that empty wrappers sitting in a pile on the counter in the bathroom are important?"......etc)

...and a quick trip to Michael's for an "important blog wrappers" basket (and some candlemaking supplies...but that's a different story for another blog), I got everything together and recorded in my special "good samples" book, and ready for this week's blog.  Don't you feel special now that you have had your own glimpse into my private, everyday life? Yeah, didn't think so.

This week's reviews are a bit different.  Along with this week being my "the Samplers are coming!" week, which always leads to lots of trying out of stuff, I also bought a bunch of new wickless candles from sellers on eBay this week. Of course, I had to try out one of EVERYTHING, so I have a LOT of candle sellers to review.  Way more than usual.  I am also going to review a new tea supplier whose tea I finally tried out this week.  Add to that, my normal weekly soap review and a lotion review, and we are talking a lot of sellers to review this week!!

So, let's get to it!

This week's soap was "Think Pink" by A Slice of Delight. This soap is an awesome looking and smelling layered soap of glycerine and oil based soaps.  It really looks like a piece of candy or jewelry! The colors are very vibrant and rich. I love it.

Now, I am one of those people whose skin always gets a little tight and dry from using glycerine soap, but it seems a lot less due to the layering of this soap with the oil based soap added into the layers. I also love how HUGE the sample I got in my Sampler from Sampler Village is. It's got to be about a 2oz sample! I feel like I am using a full sized bar of soap, not just a little sample!  Very cool. 

All of A Slice of Delight's soaps are so artistic and fun to look at, even though they are currently out of stock of the "Think Pink", I'm sure you'll find a soap to love. Also from now through Friday, 3/5/10 at midnight, if you mention "Marbled Nails" in your checkout, you will get a $.50 refund off of one regularly priced bar of soap!  A Slice of Delight's prices are already great, but, heck, anything helps, right! Thank you so much to A Slice of Delight for that generous offer!!

Last month in my samplers from Sampler Village, and again this week in my Little Black Box, I got some AWESOME looking samples from a company called Farm Hussy.  Well, their complete irreverence cracked me up, so I hd to try some of their samples.  I ended up trying their "Udderly Tickled Hand and Body Lotion" in "Love is a Heart Fertilizer" scent.  The husband has also been using their "cock-a-doodle-Don't Lip Balm" and he loves it.  Farm Hussy has all kinds of products and scents on their site, which is just adorable and makes me chuckle.



The Udderly Tickled lotion goes on smooth and is just scented enough to smell nice, but not so much that you end up being the only thing people can smell in an elevator. It leave skin feeling refreshed and moisturized, but not oily, which is VERY important to me.  I have naturally very oily skin, so I am not one of those people whose skin eventually absorbs the oils from most lotions, I just glisten and repel water until my next shower.

The reason the husband is using the Lip Balm is because it contains artificial sweeteners.  He loves it and has already asked me to buy him more after this tube runs out. I told him I will, but I am getting it made ithout the sweeteners in it. Farm Hussy was VERY quick, polite, and professional about replying to my inquiries regarding whether or not their flavor oils contained artificial sweeteners. As they add their own sweetener, Farm Hussy CAN make many of their lip balms without sweeteners, which is awesome and good to know.

This week, I have been fighting some sort of upper resp infection. In fact, I was sick for the entire month of February with something or another. Hmm...Well, at least it led to my drinking even more tea than usual.  THis is a good thing, since I went a little crazy over the holidays, and bought more tea that anyone could reasonably drink in a year....in my defense, a lot of it came free with the teapots....uh.....teaPOT! teaPOT!  Ok, teapots.  I bought myself 2 teapots for Christmas (one handmade and one BIG one from Pfalzgraff), my mother bought me a great glass teapot for blooming teas, my sister got me a special single serving brewing tea mug, and my son got me a froggie teapot.  I have a lot of teapots now.

One of the sellers whose tea I finally got around to trying the week is Bhak Tea. MAN, did I miss out by not trying them sooner!!  Their teas are fabulous.  I am especially hooked on their Vanilla Sunset Rooibos tea.  VERY yum.  I got myself one of their EXTREMELY reasonably priced tea samplers which came with a very cute bamboo tea strainer.  Working with them was very easy, and they really went out of their way to send me good quality tea on time for the holiday.

Like I mentioned earlier, this has been the week of candles. I got a bunch of new candles, both wickless and traditional to try out this week, and I went a little crazy on eBay after I found some sellers that were on eBay along with Etsy.  I am going to touch on all of them, so get ready.

The first seller is Delightful Scents. I had heard of Delightful scents before, but for some reason I had never bought from them or tried them out.  Then I got a little tart sample in my sampler from Sampler Village.  Well, let me tell you, this little tiny tart perfumed my ENTIRE house!  I was super impressed. The tarts I got from Delightful scents were of top excellent quality, and held their scent for a long time.  Delightful scents also carries traditional candles, incense, perfumes, tart burners and so much more.  They are really worth checking out, and are on my list of people to buy from as soon as my husband OKs any candles coming into my house again.....

Another wickless candle sample I got from Sampler Village was from Primitive Kountry.  Their "melties" are a good large size, and the scent lasted through three tea lights' worth of burn time.  Again, they have a lot of other products on their website.

The first seller I bought wickless candles from on eBay is RoseGirls Candles.  They have these lovely Chunk Tarts.  They are just hunks of highly scented wax that you can put on your tart burner. RoseGirls Candles has their own website where their prces are already really good and reasonable. Their tarts burn clean and put off an awesome sent.  HOWEVER, I admit, I found them on eBay. The price I paid on eBay was slightly better than their website, and I had to buy a whole flat rate box of tarts, but they are wonderful, and I am glad that I did.

Another seller who has plenty of products off of eBay, but who I found there, again, is Pamela's Palm Tarts and More. Pamela has some really nice tarts, and ships super fast.  She has hundreds of scents to choose from, and you can choose how many tarts you buy.  Although I put in a link to her Etsy shop, most of Pamela's selling right now seems to be on eBay (user name: "spfield01").  Her tarts are of good quality and are an excellent price. She also has glycerine soaps and tart burners in her store.

Amazingly, I also managed to buy some tarts from Pamela's SISTER, Pat.  Pat's eBay ID is "youareold", and I can't help but think that she is the younger of the sisters.  Pat also has some great, good quality wickless candles and tart burners in her eBay shop, and she ships just as fast as her sister.  I was seriously shocked at how quickly I got my huge orders in the mail from those two women..  The two sisters are in completely different parts of the country, but their commitment to quality and customer service is similar....as is their packaging. :)  Both women were really easy and fun to work with, and I recommend their products.

In all, it has been a great week for samples and purchases.  I hope you guys go check out these sellers, as I like all of their products, and I want them to be successful, if for no other reason thn the selfish one of wanting them to be there when I want to buy from them.  One of my favorite bath and body sellers and a company that I reviewed early on in my reviews, Capella's Garden has closed its doors for good, and I am bummed.  Yes, there are other great sellers I can buy from, and will, but it is always sad when a seller decides that they are done.  So, BUY from these sellers if you can, and keep them in business.  It will do us all a favor. You'll get some great products, they'll be able to make money and stay in business, and I will have sellers I know I can count on to buy from again.  WIN-WIN-WIN.

ETA: I got an email from Pamela and she informs me that she and Pat are IDENTICAL TWINS, and Pamela is 3 minutes older. Extra cool, as I have a weakness for twins, and especially identical twins, having married one, myself. :) Even cooler that they are both doing such similar things with the tarts.

Late Reviews! 2/2/10

Ok, I am late with my reviews this week. I was waiting for a few people to get back to me.  Some did, some did not.  Also, I had to cram for a practice test last weekend, so I was not as organized as I would have liked to have been coming into Monday.  I know. NO MORE EXCUSES! Give us reviews!!

Now that I am done pointing fingers around and making excuses, this week's soap is "Lavender and Cream Soap Blondie" from Vintage Soap Shoppe. I got this soap in one of the NEW SAMPLERS I tried out this month, Sampler Village. I am really liking Sampler Village, but I'll talk about samplers later.  There are some things I really like about this soap.  I love love love love love how they cut their sample.  Most soap samples are about 1oz. The seller will take a 4 oz. bar of soap, cut it in half, and then cut that half in half again making a thin cross section of the finished soap from top to bottom. (note: I am totally guessing on how sellers make their soap samples).  Often this is done (I assume) because the soap is made with some really neat layers, and the sample can show off the cool look of the soap as well as its body cleansing prowess.  The sample I got from Vintage Soap shoppe was not cut that way.  It was a square chunk cut out of a four oz bar like you would take 1/4 of a peanut and butter sandwich.  The sample has been very easy to hold onto, and I haven't had to fold it over and re-squish it together from getting too thin.

Also, this soap has some sort of granules in it which work just like a built in loofah to exfoliate while you wash.  Especially in the winter, when we are all so susceptible to dry skin, a little bit of help with the exfoliation is appreciated.  The soap is very moisturizing, too!  Vintage Soap Shoppe uses all natural ingredients, and makes candles, body polish, soap, lip balm, and other bath and beauty products. I have put a bunch of their items on my favorites list.

Speaking of Etsy's favorites list....I use mine as a wish list more than a favorites list.  I don't think this is unique.  I catch flack all the time for having a HUGE favorites list, but honestly, if the husband wants to pick me up a surprise every once in a while, he has told me how much he appreciates my (not so) little list.

Since this week I also started pounding the pavement, I used some of my lovely perfume samples!  Now, I have an unhealthy obsession with perfume, and have more of it than a family of 10 women could use in a lifetime, but that doesn't stop me. This month, I got nother wonderful sample from Lemon Lollipop.  This month's sample is actually a scent called "Lemon Lollipop" which, I have to admit, confused my poor little brain, asI was sure lemon Lollipop had forgotten to list the scent on the sample.  Silly me!  I actually lucked out, and Lemon Lollipop is one of a small number of sellers who overlapped in my samplers, and I got TWO samples this month! Go me!  The little samples will last you about 10 wearings, which is just the perfect amount of time for you to decide whether or not you really love the scent or whether it smells nice int eh beginning, but gets old fast.  Lemon Lollipop has a number of affiliated shops, and if you love a bunch of their scents across shops, they will put together a single custom order for you with the simplest email request or convo on etsy.  I really like all of the unique scents that they have. It is not all the same scents that everyone else is offering (though you can get a few of the mre popular ones, too).  They also offer solid perfumes, candles, and all kinds of other bath and body products. 

A thought: I have been getting Lemon Lollipop samples for MONTHS in my LBBs, and I had never ordered from them.  I finally pulled together a little money and am taking the plunge, since I ran out of samples of the scent "Sultry Summer" that I was wearing a lot and ran out of.  When I reached for it again yesterday and realised I was out, I knew it was time to bite the bullet.

I jsut realized that I am right this very minute burning a new brand of wickless candle.  I got a "Spring Rain" scented wax melt in my Little Black Box last month from Silver City Scentsations.  I was in the mood for a non floral, non-food, non-spicy scent, and this one just jumped out at me.  it is a lovely light scent, and the wax melts cleanly and without any smoking. The tart is just the right size for my burner, too. No overflow is always a good thing. Because this is a lighter scent, it is less noticeable in the house, but it does a nice job, and it is exactly what I was looking for.  I'm sure Silver City Scentsations other scents are much stronger seeming because they are stronger scents, I just do not yet have the experience with them.

I burn some sort of candle almost every day.  Even the hubby likes my candles, and he helps me pick out the scent of the day.  I have a LOT of votives, jar candles, and wickless candles.  At one time the hubby thought I had more than anyone could ever use, but now he realises I have less than a year's supply.  Now, if I could just convince him I don't have too much tea....(OK, I do have too much tea)

Last, but certainly not least in this week's reviews is the lovely Pink Sugar Cupcake mini bath bomb from Bath Talk that I got in my sampler from Sampler Village.  This bath bomb is 2 oz, which actually worked out well for me.  When we bought this house, I inherited a HUGE tub. I usually use the big bath bombs, then spend quite some time after my bath scrubbing up the leftover slick.  These little cupcakes let off a decent amount of scent for their size, but due tot he enormity of my tub it was a lot lighter than I was used to, though there was some scent and it did help set the mood.  HOWEVER, the clean up afterwards was so much easier.

I love how cute these cupcakes look, though I was thrown off by putting a "cupcake" intot he bath tub.  I admit, I prefer the regular shapes of the bath bombs, but the cupcake shape did not stop me from thoroughly enjoying this bath and wishing I had more of these cupcake bath bombs. Bath Talk has full 6 oz cupcakes in their etsy shop along with some lovely looking scrubs, soaps, and lotions, so eventually I will stop wanting and start having....Again, as you have heard me say so many times...."SOON....SOON!!!"

Ok, I am off to make a cup of tea, work with the kiddos on some homework, and tweak some cover letters.  As a few coming attractions, I will let you know what I plan on blogging about soon.  I will be discussing a few of the samplers I have gotten over the months and why I plan on continuing to order from some and not from others, and I plan yet another discussion on samples, some of my pet peeves, and some things that make them stand out.

Have a great week!!

Just a (OK, not so) Quick Yay!

I came home from class last night tired and frustrated. As I walked in the door though, my attitude did a 180, because I saw that I had some awesome boxes waiting for me.  I had 2 Little Black Boxes, a Sampler from Sampler Village, my order from Heaven and Earth Essentials, and my order from Angel Face Botanicals.

Of course, I fell on them like a starving dog on steak.

Then I woke up my kids by squealing in delight. Oops.

The hubby laughed at my reactions, stole some goodies out of my boxes, and told me to blog about the boxes, because I was so overwhelmed.

I am only going to talk briefly about the Little Black Boxes, because anyone who reads this blog knows I LOVE them.  This month was the Bath, body, and Candles theme box.  I know Kim had some problems with people flaking on their samples, but all I can say about the people who DID step up and provide samples is WOW.  There are some full sized items in some of those boxes!!  You all know how much I LOVE my bath and body product and candles, and I was psyched.  That was why I bough extra boxes this month, because I wanted a sample from everyone.  I didn't quite succeed, which makes me a little sad, but that's OK. I can't wait to start using, reviewing, and planning my purchases. :)

Yeah, I know....that was BRIEF????

My eye had been opened this month on facebook to another sample seller that people thought very highly of, and that's Traci at the Sampler Village.  I had never heard of them, but I decided to try out their Valentines day Mega Super Sampler (pictured on top....and sold out, though as of this writing, their regular sampler is still available!).  Again, all I can say is WOW. Everything came packaged in this pretty pink gift box wrapped with a bow, which was a really nice touch. The box was a lot bigger than I expected, too. 

The first thing that happened when I opened this box, is my husband swiped the chocolate dipped pretzel from RhodaRose.  While he happily chowed down on what he reports was a very delicious treat that I should think about purchasing more of (he never gave me any. *pout*), I rummaged through the box.  Now, I purposely bought one of the HUGE boxes with all of this month's Villagers in it, because I wanted too see what kinds of samples the Village got, and I'll tell you, they get some nice samples.  The Valentines box had quite a few sweets samples in it too, which I of course LOVE, too.  That may be due tot he box being a "Valentine's Day" sample, but that's OK with me!  There were a lot of bath and body products, some candles, jewelry, paper products, pet treats, what have you!  In all, I was very plesed and excited!

I'm really glad I tried out the Sampler Village.  Now I have two high quality and great sampler boxes I can buy every month to be exposed to even MORE sellers!!  For future review purposes, I have done my best to keep the samples from the Village and the LBB samples separate, though some sellers appeared in both boxes.


After all of this happiness and squealing, I opened up my order from Angel Face Botanicals.  You may recall a review I made earlier this month about their "awareness" soap.  Well, I ordered a full sized bar of it, I loved it so much, and I ordered some bath salts, because, hey, I love me some bath salts.  Everything arrived extremely well packaged and safely, and into the box, they had tossed a BUNCH of soap samples!!  FREE GIFTIES!!  WAHOO!!  I swear, I was more excited than I was at Christmas....probably mostly because I had given most of my Angel Face Botanicals products away, and I was feeling sad that I didn't have more of my own. :)

Finally, I got to my order from Heaven and Earth Essentials. They have figured out my weakness at HAEE.  LOTS of different scents.  They have scents I have never heard of or seen anywhere else!  I MUST try them all!!  I love that they have a lot of different sampler packs available too, because in general, I prefer to buy a lot of different sample sized products.  I probably have adult ADD.  I get easily bored even with using the same lotion or soap every day. I like the smaller samples over the full sized products, because then I am not trying to store half used soaps or lotion when I tired of that scent or product for a while.  True, I will also buy full sized samples when I LOVE something, but that's because I know I will WANT to go back to it over and over again.

Back to Heaven and Earth Essentials. Barbara has figured me out!  Every sample was a different scent!  AND she sent me a whole little handmade satchel of EXTRAS!!  This is why I love this company.  They really care about their customers.  The box I got myself over the holidays from HAEE was also full of little extras, and it was so lovely.  I really recommend their products!

Speaking of sellers, I had some problems with some sellers over the holidays. Packages not arriving or coming late. Poor quality of items.  Breakage due to poor packaging.  People just NOT SENDING STUFF, etc.  Because of those problems, the sellers who really came through, and then added little extras (which I could use to cover the problems) got an extra little spot in my heart.  Angel Face Botanicals and Heaven and Earth Essentials were FABULOUS in that regard, along with other sellers who I have already reviewed or will be reviewing soon, and will be sure to let you know about that. Now, I know I tend to buy a lot at a time (because I buy samples and sampler packs a lot, I tend to want to make things worth the shipping), I may get special treatment, but I have had sellers send me special extras when all I did was buy a bar of soap or a single lip balm, so you never know.
I have to note, though. I had NO PROBLEMS from any seller I have gotten anything from in my purchased samplers, be it LBB, Sampler Village, or other sampler packs. I have also never had a problem with anyone I reviewed on my blog, though I admit I have not purchased from a few of them YET. I don't anticipate problems, though.  The problems I had were mostly random people I found on etsy or the web, and I had some warning signs show up with those sellers that I have not gotten from anyone I reviewed (poor communication being a big warning sign). 

So, I'm done sharing my extreme excitement!  I hope I can get you excited, too!!