Handmade Holiday Open House

I had an open house this past weekend and although it was alot of work and planning, it really was a fun little venture that I may repeat next year. My friend Meg of Magpie Skinnies, my sis in law Judy of Glazedearth and her friend got together and threw a "party" of sorts. We had libations and food and plenty to oggle and buy. I ended up buying alot myself!
Here are a few nice shots of the affair.check us out on Etsy
http://moodygurl.etsy.com
http://magpieskinnies.etsy.com
http://glazedearth.etsy.com

Christmas Cards

Sending Christmas cards the old fashioned way is something I rarely do anymore and its really kind of sad. I've noticed some really cute handmade cards on Etsy lately and I think maybe its time to resurrect the lost art of snail mail cards. Maybe I'll even include one of those long winded enclosures telling all about what my family has been up to during the past year. Nah? Oh wait, thats what my blog is for. Maybe I'll just send the card.

My friend Meg at her shop magpieskinnies has some really cute cards for sale! I love her cute little frogs.
So Happy Holidays everyone and start sending those cards!

The Proof is in the Pudding

craftpudding's shop at Etsy that is. Check out the cute handcarved stamps.

Cheeky Cards with Attitude

Tired of the sappy old Hallmark cards? Having trouble expressing your true self this season? Why not send handmade cards that say what you REALLY feel? Etsy seller Greencard may have just what you need. greencard's shop

Stocking Stuffer

Here's a cute stocking stuffer idea from littlepinkplum's shop . There are tons of cute pocket mirrors to choose from on here.

Why Are You a Moody Girl?

People often ask me why I named my company "Moody Girl Aromatherapy." Well, I should say, everyone but my family and close friends. Yes, I'm a gemini so I can be a bit of a moody girl. I sort of think of it as a compliment though. If you aint moody, you aint living. To me, moody isn't just an ill tempered mood, its ALL moods.

The real reason behind the name is really a play on the term "Moody Girl" but moreover the fact that scents can really have a mood altering affect in your brain. In fact, the term "aromatherapy" means just that.

a⋅ro⋅ma⋅ther⋅a⋅py  /əˌroʊməˈθɛrəpi/ Pronunciation [uh-roh-muh-ther-uh-pee] –noun
1. the use of fragrances to affect or alter a person's mood or behavior.

So you see, while I have been labled moody oh, once or twice in my life, it doesn't mean I'm an ill-tempered crabby girl given to violent mood swings. ;) It means simply that I make smell-good stuff to alter moods. (Mom, Dad, Sis, Bro: you are banned from commenting on this blog)

So.....here's to hoping you all have a moody day!

Wanna Talk About ME Wanna Talk About I

Ok, I can't help but post this link. The website Safe Mama contacted me with an interest in my bath products. Safe Mama is dedicated to highlighting safe products for babies and children and as an offshoot, they have decided to review products that are safe for mamas too. She purchased some and here's what she wrote:

http://safemama.com/lovely/

Also, unbeknownst to me (until I did a self indulgent google search on myself,)The Little Black Box did a review about my products too. I just love all the love.

http://blackboxreviews.blogspot.com/2008/10/moody-girl-aromatherapy.html

Ok, I'm done talking about ME. Thanks.

Glazed Earth

Glazed Earth, what a great name for a shop. And its my sister-in-law's shop to boot. She's just opened with some really cool pottery at some really enticing prices. Check her out.

http://www.glazedearth.etsy.com/

Dia de los Muertos

I am fascinated and strangely drawn to the Dia de los Muertos images. I bought several things while in Mexico and even would like to visit Mexico one day during this very mystical time. Here are some cool images from Etsy shop www.carmelajay.etsy.com

Happy Halloween and Dia de los Muertos!

Little Black Box

I used to love grab bags as a kid. There's nothing like the allure of a mysterious gift all packaged up in a plain wrapper. I even love grab bags as an adult. I bought a grab bag at Natural Wear one day for maybe $5 expecting a little trinket. What I got instead was a gorgeous sterling silver and garnet pendant! I wasn't so lucky when I tried again but there you go. Its all about the mystery and its just plain fun to open a package not knowing what's inside (unless you work for the Dublin Bomb Squad.)

If you haven't heard of The Little Black Box then you're missing the Grand Daddy of all grab bags...er...boxes. Indie artists and crafters, bath and body care makers, jewelers and soapmakers for example send in samples to be put in the boxes. As a buyer, you pay for the box (which is currently $19 including shipping) and you get a nice little black bag full of mystery goodies. Its a pretty cool way to sample some Inidie sellers' wares and satisfy the little kid in you who gets to open a mystery gift! I'm thinking these items may make some great stocking stuffers too....IF I decide to share that is.

You can get one too! --- http://thelittleblackboxes.com/order.html

Friends in High Places

I have always thought myself fairly computer literate but when it comes to making doo-hickeys and doo-dads for web pages, I'm clueless. That's why I'm so thankful to my friend Meg who is able to whip things up for me in the amount of time it takes me to put on my makeup. I was in need of a banner for website ads and she was able to deliver a really fun animated one (that means its got movin' pitchers.) Thanks Meg! I owe you some Moody Scrub or some more Bath Taffy. (She's also my tester bunny when I bring out a new product.)



Thanks for everything Meg!
If you need anything done for your web page, I'm sure Meg can deliver for a small fee. You can check her out at: http://magpieskinnies.blogspot.com/

Thy Knight In Shining Armor, Milady?

My daughter and two of her friends and I headed out the the Kansas City area Renaissance Festival last weekend. The weather was absolutely amazing so it really made for a perfect day. Two of the girls, including my daughter, dressed up in costume. We were determined to get into it. Its really much more fun if you just let your guard down and interact with the "townspeople." I think this is also a good way to go through life in general. How many times do we wander through life just reacting and not really experiencing the moment? Kids know how to do that. We were once kids, we should remember how its done.




And to remember to face our fears head on....

And as my friend Leonardo was saying...a smile can tell alot about a "lady." So why not carry one.As for me....
I was just having trouble deciding which Knight in shining armor suited me best.
The chivalrous one riding in on his trusty steed....
Or the mysterious, moody one I kept seeing lurking everywhere?

Probably neither. Oh well....cleaning all the dirt and polishing that armour doesn't look like much fun anyway.

Next year the girls want to come back as fairies.
What a welcome little step outside of reality it all was.

Blogs and Giveaways

I have to say, its really nice when someone out of the blue likes my products so much they want to write about them. Here's the third blog on my Moody Girl Aromatherapy products. It has a giveaway in it too so be sure to comment on their blog if you want in on the action.

http://wishingwillow.blogspot.com/2008/10/rubbing-out-blues.html

I promise to post something soon that isn't just talking about my products. Oy vay, that must get old. "I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I wanna talk about number one oh my me mine, what I think, what I like, what I know, what I see....I like talkin' bout you you you you usually....but occasionally, I wanna talk about me! Wanna talk about meeeeeeeeeeeeee." That's a song. I swear I didn't make that up.

Love,
Me
PS...here are the other blogs about...you guessed it....me!
http://magpieskinnies.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-from-moody-girl-aromatherapy.html

http://weblog.xanga.com/msdavionk/676776122/stress-with-crackers.html

Some Days You Just Need a Warm Fuzzy

• Daughter's Health Issues
• Father's Heart Surgeries
• Car accidents
• Make that TWO car accidents less than 30 days
• $185 grocery store trip
• New Spreadsheets to learn at work

These are the things that life sometimes hands you. Sometimes its all at once and sometimes its just doled out in a steady stream. Either way as my mother so eloquently stated yesterday, "sh*t happens." I know that one should always look for the positives in things, and I do but sometimes when sh*t happens its the random warm fuzzies that just make us say, phew, I can deal. The positive things are...everything is OK with my daughter's health now that we found the right doc, my dad came out of surgery just fine, the first car accident-we walked away with a totaled car but not even a scratch on us, the second car accident was a minor bump that reminded me to pay attention and stay in the "now" moment, I paid for the groceries just fine and we have healthy food to eat, the spreadsheets....ugh, I can handle them but they aren't gonna be fun.

This week I've had two random people I don't even know contact me about featuring my products in their blogs and to them I am grateful. These are the warm fuzzies that keep us going. Thanks guys!

Here's one of the blog posts. The other has yet to be written but its coming.

http://weblog.xanga.com/msdavionk/676776122/stress-with-crackers.html

And to return the warm fuzzy, check out her Etsy shop. http://AtSeaLevel.etsy.com

Happy Hippie

I made another scent of Bath Taffy (solid bubble bath) last week. I call it "Happy Hippie" because its got just enough patchouli essential oil to take you into that hippie haze you get when around those patchouli-loving free spirits. I think I'll dedicate it to my friend Susan who wafts the scent of patchouli wherever she goes. She now lives in just outside Taos with her 3 kids after a bold move a few years ago from the lap of luxury in Riverside, Missouri to a 500 square foot "cabin" on 5 acres with 360 views of the mountains.

This cabin is made of recycled materials including wine bottles and straw bale and cement and is "off the grid." She really wanted to embrace sustainable living and reduce her footprint to a bare minimum light step. She lives using collected rainwater, a makeshift shower using a large hanging bag, a woodstove for heat and an outhouse. She does have a propane stove and a few other amenities as of late as I think she may be slowly re-entering the earth's atmosphere.

At any rate, this is a lifestyle I can admire from afar as a bold move that was right for her at the time. I really salut her fortitude in choosing to live like this. So Susan, I dedicate the Happy Hippie Bath Taffy to you. Now...take a bath! ;)

Read more about Susan's life in New Mexico here...http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/2007-06-01/Simple-Living-in-the-Southwest.aspx

Moody Girl's Newest Product! Bath Taffy(tm)!! Solid Bubble Bath!

Bath TaffyTM! I've just introduced a new product in the Moody Girl Aromatherapy line, Bath TaffyTM! I've been working on this one for quite a while now and I have finally got it perfected. This is similar to a bath fizzy but instead of just fizzies, it creates a ton of bubbles for a bubble bath experience. I'm really excited and all bubbly about this product! (ok, bad pun intended.)

Here's the official blurb:

"Luxuriate in the voluminous bubbles with this unique solid bubble Bath TaffyTM. Bath TaffyTM is made with ingredients designed to be mild and gentle to the skin and is infused with essential and fragrant oils for a smellerific experience! Get bubbly with it!"

And yes, I'm aware "smellerific" is probably not in the dictionary, but hey, neither was ginormous and it made it in!

Right now Moody Girl Aromatherapy Bath TaffyTM comes in 4 scents with new scents to come!

::::Orange Ginger:::Reminiscent of fresh peeled oranges paired with the warm spicy snap of ginger.The sunny and refreshing orange essential oil along with the warming, strengthening, and anchoring properties of ginger enhance this blend to bring you good vibes.

:::Lavender Mint:::Rich, flowery lavender combined with the zing of fresh mint. A soothing and calming and uplifting blend of lavender and mint essential oils.

:::Cherry Blossom:::This fragrant blend is both flowery and fruity. Great for those days when you’re feeling in the pink!

:::Portland Rain:::A nice refreshing fragrant blend reminiscent of misty rain in the Pacific Northwest forests.

You can find them online at Moody Girl Aromatherapy. Yes, shameless self promotion. :)

Apples at Last!

We finally got to go apple picking. It was such a nice, cool and misty day on Saturday that we just couldn't resist being among the first of the season to go. We headed out to Vaughn Orchards in Weston, Missouri on the first day they opened the orchards to public picking. The trees were heaving with ripe apples this year. This is such a nice sight to see, especially since just last year these same trees were sadly barren due to a late spring freeze.

I think the trees made up for lost time. After such a long rest, they must have produced double this year. They had Jonathan's and Golden Delicious to choose from.

The small bags they handed us were deceiving. We ended up with about 20 lbs of apples! That's alot of pie. But, they cost about 1/3 of what they would cost in the grocery store and the view is just so much more appealing.

Not to mention the friendly folk we met along the way.

Now if you're looking for the apple pie at the end. There was one. The photographer (er...me) didn't have time to take any photos of that since I was taking the pie to dinner at my folks house. And frankly, the pie didn't stick around long enough. But trust me, it was GOOOOOOD. If you've never tasted apples fresh from a tree before, you don't know what you're missing.

Etsy is Amazing

I continue to be amazed at the really cool things you can buy on Etsy. Here are a few of my favorites.....

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade moodygurl.etsy.com

My Garden

My garden is experiencing severe neglect. Despite that fact, its nice to look out and see these garden faces. They make it seem so much less dismal.

Maybe there's a certain serenity in letting nature take over (by nature I mean weeds galore.) My garden statues seem to think so.

Balls

I'm making up a bunch of samples of Moody Mud, my aromatherapy stress dough, to send to a shop in California. I thought they were so cool looking that I just had to snaps some shots of the colorful little balls.(to those of you who saw the title and expected something else...shame on you.)

Bad Hair Day

Yes, dogs have them too...at least after coming out of my daughter's self proclaimed Doggie Hair Design Studio.

And hats off to this avant gaurde design perhaps inspired by Star Wars?

(*No dogs were harmed in the making of this blog entry.)

Blackberries, Blueberries and Pie...Oh my!

I'm ready for fall. I bought an apple scented candle and as its aroma filled the air I had a sudden urge to go apple picking. Think of it, a cool fall day, rows and rows of apple trees standing like soldiers just heaving with red fruit. Alas, fall was not ready for me. I'm a few weeks too early and my yearn for fall is a little misplaced in this 85 degree heat.

So, on a whim Sage and I decided to go berry picking instead! We hopped in the car and headed out to a berry patch just south of Kansas City. I'd never been berry picking before but I'd heard it could be hard work but just think of the end reward, a lovely berry pie. Besides, we really had nothing else to do on an August Saturday morning. So, armed with our little white pails and directions to walk down the path a ways we headed out to the open berry patch about a quarter mile from the berry outfitters.

We started with the blackberry patch since it was the first one on the path. Blackberries are tricky. They like to hide. They offer their unripe bright red fruit in plain sight while the fat juicy black ones hide well in the back under the brush and leaves. This was frustrating at first but as we wandered the rows and adjusted our blackberry eyes, suddenly plump purplish black blackberries were spotted everywhere. The red ones held so much allure at first though that we couldn't help picking some.

I really got into the zen of picking blackberries and I could tell Sage did too. We went off down different paths exclaiming in triumph each time we found a big ripe black one. I was thankful no one else was around because I really actually started talking to the tricky bushes and thanking them for such beautiful berries once they decided to reveal them to me. Sage would have been mortified to hear me even if no one was around. Its a good thing she was a few rows over.

How can you not be gushingly thankful for such a lusty berry?

It took us a good hour to collect enough berries for a pie. An hour of zen disturbed only mildly by the buzzing of horseflies and huge blackberry-eating beatles. Sage found a snail lazily making its way across a blackberry leaf. A butterfly landed on her and rode with her all the way down one row. This hour gave me newfound respect for the price of berries in the store. Its hard work but ever so pleasant to be so close to nature.

We walked a ways over to the blueberry patch next. As you well know, blueberries are quite a bit smaller than blackberries. I picked a few and quickly decided it would take an awful lot of picking to make a blueberry pie....and the berry outfitters store DID say they had an abundance of already picked blueberries...so we wandered a few more steps, admired the breathtaking view of niceley spaced blueberry bushes contrasting ever so nicely with the pale blue sky and paused just long enough for me to snap this shot before we headed back to the store.

Ahh but the blackberries....just look at this bountiful harvest.

I can't wait til apple season!

Pay It Forward-Part Deux

I love it when I buy something and first time out it gets noticed or gets compliments. I'm always afraid to wear "showy" jewelry. I am almost always seen wearing black perhaps so I can fade into the background and not be noticed....or perhaps I need Garanimals to help me match anything else. Alas, I checked, they only make Garanimals for kids. (For those of you who don't know what Garanimals is...http://www.garanimals.com/about.htm )

I digress, sorry.....This is my second Etsy.com purchase as part of my "Pay It Forward" plan, (AKA my excuse to buy things I clearly did not need.) Its a beautiful necklace and I couldn't be happier that my blank black canvass is decorated so beautifully.

By the way, this is a picture from the seller's site, its not me. The necklace unfortunately did not transform my cleavage for those of you who know me and wonder where that came from.

http://www.ydolem.etsy.com/

Fresh

Ah who can resist the allure of fresh laundry? Certainly not my not so fresh dog, Yeta.

Pay It Forward

I posted a challange of sorts in the Etsy forums for sellers to generate some good Etsy juju by engaging in the concept of "pay it forward." For those of you who don't know what the heck an Etsy is, you're missing out. http://www.etsy.com/ Etsy is an incredible venue for artists and crafters to sell their handmade wares. I felt that by buying from Etsy and giving someone else an Etsy buzz, it might also generate that vibe in my store as well. It worked, I made my first sale just after my first purchase. I bought this cube soap that I thought just looked so cool on the chrome stand from a shop called Red Leaf. Its a novel idea and I like novel ideas. I had initially wanted to buy from a shop who had yet to make any sales but this soap was calling to me. I dig cubes.

It was shipped super fast and it even came with a bonus sample of room spray in Lime Basil that smells fab. I love the scent of the soap, its called "Beach" but smells pretty similar to a perfume oil I wear called "China Rain." The soap lathers great, but I have yet to use it for shaving as suggested. Maybe I'll tackle my prickly legs today. I was a little surprised at the size since the soap was pretty pricey at $5 for the soap and $7 for the stand. I guess its pretty hard to judge scale by some photographs on the shop site. The stands are actually egg cups. Thanks to the free sample and the super-saturated scent, I was pretty happy with my purchase.

School Supplies

Sage starts school in a week. I can't believe this summer is already gone. We went shopping for school supplies and I don't know what it is but I'm like a kid in a candy store where school supplies are concerned. Is it the smell of fresh paper? The allure of pencils to sharpen or fresh pens that no one has used yet? Or is it more?

Every time we shop for school supplies we both get a little giddy. We love getting the list and checking off each item as we find them. Its not only the fresh, virgin spiral notebooks and the smell of crayon wax, its the excitement of a new year. It signals new beginnings and the scary yet exciting adventures that lie ahead. Its the promise of something bigger and its a welcome glimpse into fall when its 103 degrees outside. I feel the rush too. Just like I did every year when it was time to buy new school supplies.

It may sound silly, but these are the moments to savor in life. I know I have only a few more years left to shop for school supplies with my daughter. Yet still, somehow I think I will still buy them even long after she's gone off to college. Just so I can feel that rush again...and maybe flashback to the excitement and promise of a new year. Screw New Years Eve, I'll take new school supplies any day!

Best Sandwich Ever! (ok maybe just this week)

I have this recipe for homemade Pimento Cheese Spread that is NOTHING like the processed pimento spread you are used to from the grocery store. In fact, I think its so good that I crave it occasionally. Strange, I know. Who craves pimento cheese spread? ME! I use roasted red peppers so maybe I should call it Roasted Red Pepper Spread. Are pimentos and roasted red peppers the same thing? Hmm.

1 lb shredded cheddar (I like sharp)

1/2 lb shredded monterrey jack

3 TB finely chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper (or add more or less to taste)

4 TB mayo (please no Miracle Whip! I mean, eww.)

1 TB Chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried

There are no fancy directions here, just mix all the ingredients together and there you have it. You may have to add a little more mayo to your preference also. Personally I think this tastes better if allowed to mellow in the fridge for a day or so but you will probably want to dig right in. Its especially yummy with lettuce and cucumbers. Yum.