What the....

Hello my wonderful readers!! 

You may have noticed that I haven't been around for a while.  Well, I had a no reviews week, then the kids were on spring break and we went to Las Vegas.  Since I went away, I didn't use any new items, so instead I will tell you about my handmade travel toiletries.

When I travel, I have a bunch of handmade samples that I travel with that I know I love.  Too often, I have broken out or had issues with hotel toiletries, so I let the husband use them and I bring my own.

The first thing I travel with is shine on shampoo and daily conditioner from Heaven and Earth Essentials. (scent this trip: citrus splash)  If I am traveling for a week, I also bring the damage remedy conditioner.  I like for them all to be the same scent, and HAEE has a BUNCH of different scents. As another bonus, the shampoo is a paste, so you don't need to fit it into the little quart ziploc bag the airlines are in love with.

I have gone a number of ways with soap.  I usually just grab a small sample of a soap that I know I love.  the little samples are the best, because they last about a week (the small slivers are great for a weekend), so you don't have to worry about bringing home the soap. This trip, it was a small soap sample from Metropolis Soap Company, whose soap I really love. Even the Dh has been brought over to the "dark side" by their Black Horror Soap.

For lotion, I prefer lotion that is in a pot.  though it can get under my nails, I have had a lot less issues with bag explosion with pot lotions.  This trip, it was Main Element Love's Rise and shine body and hand lotion. The scent worked really well with my shampoo and conditioner, and the little lotion pot fit well in my travel purse.

Perfume is always in the form of a little sample or two (depending on trip plans).  I have HUNDREDS of samples, from designer to handmade.  This trip, I took along two samples, one was August Sultry Sumer by Lemon Lollipop for day wear (Actually, I think the official scent is through their other company "four seasons fragrance," but the sample was from Lemon Lollipop), and the other was Dark Rapture by the Scent Diva (now known as the Soap Box) for evening wear. On a random aside, Dark Rapture perfume was the first thing I ever bought from an etsy seller after getting a sample in a sampler box.

My cosmetics are commercial, because I like the way I can get almost everything into a small compact.  Toothpaste is Aquafresh, and my sunblock is also commercial and a special one for super sensitive skin. Toss in a few Shout Wipes and my prescription meds, and that pretty much makes up my travel toiletries.

This trip was also a little bit special in the packing, because I knew we were staying in our timeshare. There is a HUGE soaking tub in the main bathroom, so I brought a few bath bombs from Sheba's Secrets. I let my daughter take a "fizzy bath" for the first time last month, and she is HOOKED! Both she and I had a few "fizzy baths" that week.

Also, again because we knew we would be in the timeshare, I brounght a silicone trivet, a little matchbook and a travel candle by Mrs Tattooed Geek. (Black Orchid).  These candles are great for getting the "hotel" smell out, and the "home" smell into your room.  The candle is in a tin, so there are no worries about wax spillage, and they last a LONG time.  Like I said, I brought ONE candle for the entire week.

So, sorry there are no reviews to write right now, but they will be back after next week! Have a great weekend!

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.

How to Re-Fit old Jeans by Inserting a Patchwork Panel

This is an old tutorial I wrote almost a year ago as a guest on another blog (under username coquiainjelfire).  I am reposting it on my blog here in an attempt to inspire myelf to write and post more tutorials on this blog.
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We all have them. Those jeans that we USED TO be able to wear. Those jeans we WISH we could still wear. I admit I am guilty of keeping a bunch of jeans I wore in college. Ten years and two kids later, and there is very little chance that I will ever be able to wear them again, even if they were, by some odd chance, to come back in style again.

Since I have serious problems getting rid of perfectly good clothes, there is a simple solution: make the jeans fit by adding a side panel that provides a little more room. Let's start with the jeans we are going to refit.

These jeans are pretty great, with the exception, of course, that they are about 2 sizes too small. On the plus side though, they are in great condition, they have the right length inseam for me, they have a button fly (which I love), and they are boot cut, so I won't have to add any additional width at the bottom to account for tapered jeans. They're also FREE, having been in my attic since I got pregnant with my 6 year old.  If you don't have those jeans you wish you could still get into, you can also hit up any Goodwill or second hand shop and pick up a pair of jeans for very little money.  If you want your jeans to be paneled, the best would be to get a pair about 2-3 sizes too small. 

The first thing to do is to rip out the outseams with a seam ripper. I do this exactly the way your sewing instructor told you NOT to rip out seams. I put the seam ripper between the two sides of denim and cut the threads. Since the jeans have been sewn together with a chain stitch, you should be able to get enough play to just pull and rip without ripping a hole in the denim....and heck, it's quicker.

Cut all of the stitching on both sides from the beginning of the waistband to the hem. At the hem, tear out the stitches a few inches to either side of the seam and unroll the hem around the outseam.

Once your seams are ripped out, remove the stitches and left over thread pieces. Do NOT press the jeans after doing this. At the waistband, cut the waistband straight up from the seam.

At this point, measure the outseam of the pants INCLUDING the extra fabric from the unrolled hem, but NOT including the waistband. This will be measurement A.

Additionally, measure the width of the waistband.

Then, try on the pants. Yes, post rip. Now you can get them on. The way I like to do this is by running a belt through the belt loops and tightening it so it hits at my waist.

Straighten out the jeans so the seams are in the right place and measure how much space there is between the outseams. Measure in a few different places along your hips, thighs, and waist, and be sure to measure on both sides. One measurement will be the largest. Use that one to give you an idea of how wide your side panels will have to be, as you can see in my picture here.

I need about 4" at the lower hip. For the panel I need to make, I will add 1" for seams and an additional 1" for comfort, for a total of 6" of width. This will be measurement B.

Note: this is a good time, if you want to, to add any appliques, embroideries, or other embellishments to your jeans.

Now, you know how large the side panels of your pants will need to be. (A long, by B wide). The easiest way to do this is to cut a single piece of fabric to that measurement. I, however, tend to prefer to make a patchwork panel for the sides of my jeans, so that is what I will be showing.

I start off by laying out the patches for my pants to get a good idea of how they will look. I then sew the patches together. Since the patches are cotton, and cotton is lighter weight than denim, I like to also add a lining piece of fabric for the inside of the jeans. This adds weight and also increases the durability of the panels.

For the waistband, I take a piece of fabric the width of the panels and twice the length of the waistband plus 1" for seams. I fold the fabric lengthwise and place the raw edges lined up with the top of the panel going into the side of the pants. If you are using a lining piece, line this piece up also, matching the wrong side of the lining to the wrong side of the panel with the waistband piece on the outside, sandwiching the panel piece. Additionally, I like to have a small piece of heavy duty elastic to add to the inside of the waistband. This helps pull in the waist from the comfort inches I added into the pants earlier.

I cut a piece of elastic 1" smaller than the actual measurement I needed from the pants when I measured them (for me this is 3"). If you prefer not to have elastic in your waistband, make the waistband the actual width you needed added to your jeans plus 1" for seams, and taper out from the waistband measurement along the sides of the panels until you get to the full width of the panels at approximately 3-4" below the waist. I prefer the elastic because it allows for "fat days" and slight weight fluctuations.

Line up the elastic with the center of the waistband, pin right sides together, and sew your side panel onto your jeans. The easiest way to do this is to have the jeans on top going through the sewing machine, and sewing right along the old seam line. The jeans should still have a slight fold where the old seam was. Just slowly follow along in this. No worries about the different coloration from the dyeing of the denim showing,and the jeans will automatically press to the side after stitching so they lie flat.You will need to be careful when sewing around the rivet. Just go slowly and make sure you don't try to actually sew it. It should be off to the side, but in some jeans it is close.

Once you reach the hem, you may have some fabric left--cut that off straight across. Then sew on the other side of the panel, again with the jeans on top. Stop right before you hit the waistband on the way up, pull the elastic through the casing, and sew everything together. It should look like this when you are done:

Repeat with the other side.

Once the side panels are all sewn in, I like to finish the seams. This will keep them from unraveling. I have a serger so I just serge the edges of the seams, just as they were before I ripped out the side seams of the jeans. If you don't have a serger, you can zig-zag along the raw edge, or you can use an over cast stitch if your machine has one.

For the hem, re-roll the jeans back to how they were originally rolled. The panel will start to roll for you. Just follow that roll all the way across, top stitch following the old hem seam, and you are done.

To troubleshoot length: If your jeans are NOT the correct inseam length, there are a few ways to work through this. If the pants are too short, measure how much additional length you need. you can either cut off the hem, and sew a length of fabric onto the bottom for this extra length as an easy fix, or you can use this more complicated method: After opening the outseam, but before measuring for the needed length of the panel, cut the measurement of the additional length you need above the hem plus one inch off the hem off the jeans. For example, if you need 3 extra inches, cut your jeans off 4" above the factory hem.

With the jeans open, sew a strip of fabric that is the extra length you need plus 1" for seams onto the bottom. Then sew on the hem of the jeans. Finish the jeans as above.

Try on your new jeans and give yourself a pat on the back.

Two additional trouble shooting tips:

1. If your jeans are tapered at the ankle, you can counter that by tapering the bottom of your side panel so the bottom of your jeans is nice and straight...and along those same lines, if you like flares, just flare the panel as much as you want. Above all, feel free to experiment!

2. If you are getting too much fabric at the hip, where your legs start, you can taper your panel slightly along the "front seam" of the panel from about 1/2 way down the thigh upwards to the hip, and even through the waist to have less fabric. (By slightly I mean MAYBE a total of 1/2 to 1 inch TOTAL by the top of the taper.)  A lot of jeans tend to be snugger in the hips and rear end than other pants, so the extra fabric may not give yout he look you prefer.  This is an easy fix that you can decide whether or not you want by trying on the jeans before finishing the edges and hemming.  I have jeans that I have both ways, depending on how the jeans were sut in the first place.

Another great thing about these jeans: If you get tired of the way they look, or if you lose or gain weight so they no longer fit again, you can just rip out the panels and start all over again! Good luck and Enjoy your new wardrobe!

Sellers of the Week (eBay Edition) - 2/27/10

I thought I would talk about a few eBay buyers I have bought from, since this was an eBay-focused week for me.  A lot of handmade items I bought and used this week came from eBay sellers.

I like checking on eBay for supplies, larger orders, resale, AND handmade. A lot of sellers are on both Etsy and eBay, and eBay is a great place to find handmade seller's closeouts.  When you are on a tight budget, eBay is a great place to check. A number of sellers I have highlighted here have eBay shops also, since eBay gets such a huge exposure.

Anyway, Three eBay sellers I have used and recommend:

1. Franks11 - this seller is my go-to for cotton quilt fabrics.  They have awesome customer service, and really listen to you.  Yes, they sell in bulk, but their quilt fabric is of the highest quality, and is shipped super fast.  Franks11 has actually CALLED ME at times when they have gotten extra special shipments in at super low prices to let me know about them.  I highly recommend them for bulk fabric.

2. Lotus in the Moonlight - This is a wonderful store for resort and casual flowy clothes.  Annie, the owner/designer is in Bali and uses the beautiful fabric she finds there to make gorgeous clothing.  Yes, she has gone pretty streamlined at this point, but everythign is still her design. The shipping is fabulously quick, adn if you buy a few items, she will combine.  The only negative is, a lot of her stuff is dry clean only, as my husband discovered when he washed everything for me one day.  I love the designs, and if you are into the flowy look, you should really check them out.

3. Parawire - parawire is a great resource for wire. I get a lot of my silvered copper wire from parawire, because their wire is such great quality. Parawire has their own site where you can get their wire in just about any color or length that you want. parawire's eBay store is their "closeout" store where wire that has not quite lived up to their exacting standards, closeouts, spool ends, etc. end up for HUGE discounts.  Their shipping is quick, and they are very reliable.  You need to keep checking this site, because when their items show up, they go fast, and there is not always much in the eBay store.

And those are my three sellers of the week!

This Week's Review(s) 2/20

Well, it's been a light week for reviews.  I have a LOT of samples from a lot of different sellers, but they all seem to be soap samples. I only use about one sample of soap per week, so I am slowing down on the reviews.  I have also been burning the same candle all week, since it was a nice big jar candle.  Since tonight's bath was using a bath bomb from a company I have already reviewed, that means I don't have a lot of reviews for you this week.

This week's soap was from Delta Moon Soapworks, in a scent called "Rainforrest" Other than the psychotic little English teacher in my head cringing at the misspelling of "Rainforest", I must admit that I can see why this soap is one of their best sellers.  The scent on this soap is very mild, just barely covering up the scent of "soap" when you wash, which is great if you don't want an overwhelming scent on your soap, or if you want to put on perfume after your shower.  So far, the soap sample has been holding up very well, and lathering nicely. I feel nice and squeaky clean after washing without feeling dried out, which I love.  I have a couple of other samples of soap from Delta Moon Soapworks, and they all seem very nice and of good quality.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been burning the same jar candle all week.  Though I have spoken about them before, I will give a shout out to Unicorn's Pride for their wonderful smelling candles.  I believe the last time I brought them up, I was talking about their awesome soaps.  Unicorn's Pride is run by a woman who I met over the internet a few years ago. She is very skilled in so many areas, and has turned her abilities into a great business.  Lana, the woman behind Unicorn's Pride, makes lovely soaps, lotions, shampoos, and body sprays along with her jar candles. She also hand crochets scrubbies and washcloths to use with her products, making it a real one stop shopping experience when you go to her shop.  If you need a hat or scarf, hers are very well made, too, and a natural extension from her other crocheted products.  I know Lana is all about happy customers, and she is one of my go-to sellers.

Since I have been sick this week, I have been all about the tea.  I had bought a bundle of teas from Blue Raven Tea over the holidays, and I have been drinking their Autumn Harvest Rooibos loose tea a lot. Autumn Harvest, Icewine, and TeaMan's Christmas Blend and Apricot black teas have been my saviors all week. Blue Raven Tea has great customer service and super high quality tea.  I have a bunch of different flavors of loose tea from Blue Raven Tea. My favorite is Seven Treasures Black blend...unfortuantely I love it so much I am out this week, adn it is out of stock, so I am checking back. Don't buy it all on me, readers!  (OK, if you beat me to it again, I'll live...I'll just pout a lot)  A lot of their flavored black teas, regular black teas, and destination blends seem so awesome, I am excited to try a bunch of them!  Blue Raven Tea is constantly coming up with awesome sounding (and tasting) blends, and they just keep me coming back for more. 

Well, that's about all for the reviews this week, but March samplers are coming out soon, so I shoud have a bunch more to talk about soon!  yay!

Some of my Etsy Purchases

Just a quick note today mentioning some Etsy sellers that I have bought from who I had a great experience with.  I am going to stick to three a week with a BRIEF review. I am sorting them by their etsy seller id.

1. SabrinaLeaf - I bought two pottery leaf soap dishes from Sabrina leaf.  They were extremely well packaged, and I get a lot of compliments on the soap dish in my guest bathroom.  They shipped quickly, and their work was of great quality.

2. haveitconfections - I LOVE Have it Sweet's caramels and homemade marshmallows.  Every time I buy from them, their packaging is professional, the items ship within a reasonable amount of time, and they have excellent communication.

3. Sandyssundries - last year, I got some awesome fingerless gloves from Sandy's Sundries.  They were the perfect size for my hand and shipped super quick.  I literally wore them to death, then my daughter stole them and lost a few.  Now that I am in Texas, I have less use for them, but they're great for chilly days.

And those are my three sellers of the week!  Thanks to all of them for a great transaction!!