Saying Good-bye

My oldest son joined the Service and left in October.  Close to Christmas, I got news that the soldiers would be able to come home for Christmas.  Well, my son kept saying he wasn't coming home bc he had things to finish up.  I was disappointed and I knew that he had only been gone for six weeks, but I was hoping that we could be together for Christmas.  I had accepted the fact that he wasn't coming home, when he surprised me a few days later!  It was a wonderful surprise and I could see a change in him already.  He was more talkative, smiling more and spent quality time with us.  Having that time with him and my youngest son, caused me to reflect on life and truly realize how blessed I am.  Not to be bragging; but my sons haven't gotten in trouble, they want something out if life and making it happen.  I'm proud of both of them.  Well, yesterday he had to return, so we dropped him off at the bus station.  He didn't want us to stay and I understood.  It was a sad but happy moment.  My son is a man, going out in the world and far from home.  I want nothing but the best for him and want him to follow his dreams.  Here is one of two pics that he let me take.  He hates having his picture made but let me take this one.  I love you De-On!

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Welcome 2012

Well, we are in a new year, good riddance to 2011!  I think a lot of people feel the same way.  I don't know about you, but it was a trying year for me and a lot of changes.  I lost family, friends, dealt with illness, my mother being sick and having her live with me, my son going into the service just to name a few.  Well, I have always been told that I am a strong woman and I take that to heart.  Today is the first day of a new year and a new outlook for me.  I have made resolutions in the past and I am not going to do that this year.  This year I am claiming my life and my rewards.  A side-note; not everything was bad, I do have some good memories to take with me.  I did better this year in sales, my son came home for Christmas and we have gotten closer and my mother is still here, so I am happy.  I have a positive outlook and am going to make things happen this year.  I am going to work harder with my business, make changes in my lifestyle to be healthier, happier and less stressful.  You only have one life and you have to make the best of it.

I want to wish each and everyone of you a very wonderful, prosperous, healthy, happy new year!  Go for what u want, make things happen, cherish the times you have with one another, make new friends, follow your dreams!  God bless you all and continue to follow me on my journey.

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Guess Where Else you Can Find Me??

YouTube!!!  That's right, I have a channel on Youtube where you can see me making soap, see some of my other products, doing tutorials on wrapping soap and just having fun.  So come stop by and subscribe and be some of the first to see any new videos that I post.  Just click Here to see my Channel.

New Products coming your Way

I know it has been a while since I have posted and that is because I have been busy with Christmas coming, taking care of my Mom and working.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, thankfully :).  Since I have been home with my mother, I have still been able to squeeze a few batches of soaps out, lol.  I also wanted to work on improving my recipe and instead of having several (like 20+)  I wanted to keep like three main recipes and improve on them.  I wanted to provide more lather, improve the conditioning properties and have the bar last longer.  Well, I think that I have come up with a pretty nice bar of soap or should I say soaps.  I am phasing out my other bars and putting my new bars up on my website and in my ArtFire Store.  Let me tell you, that's a lot of work, changing out everything, but I am getting close. (Thank God!)  I also wanted to add a few new products and those will be introduced after the New Year, YAY!!!  Here are a couple of my newest soaps and they have been listed on my website.

The first is a Dead Sea Mud Bar with Dead Sea Mud and Seaweed.  I fragranced it with Sea Glass, which is a nice green fragrance.  I am very happy with the way it came out.  What is so special about a Dead Sea Mud Soap, you ask, well let me tell you.  Many Spas use Dead Sea Mud to cleanse and detoxify your body.  This does the same, only you won't get "muddy" so to speak.  People have been using Dead Sea Mud for years believing that it will make them look younger, revitalize them and so on.  I don't make any medical claims with the soaps that I make, but I will say that you will feel refreshed after using it.  I have also put seaweed in here as I thought that it would go along nicely with Mud.

If you are a coffee lover, you will LOVE this one!  Not only can you enjoy your fresh cup of coffee in the morning, but you can bathe in a lovely scented Cafe Mocha Bar.  I also though that I would add a little twist to this soap and offer it in a coffee mug and spoon.  The soap in the mug is about 12 ounces of soap, you can slice off the size you want and enjoy your shower.  Scented with Coffee, Vanilla, and Chocolate.  I piped the tops of the bars as well as the soap in the mug. 

I formulated a beautiful shampoo bar with Olive Oil, Avocado Oil and Beer just to name a few of the ingredients that I used.  This didn't orginally start out as a shampoo bar, it was a beer soap.  I decided that I would try this one on my hair.  I have used cold-processed soap in my hair in the past but they usually left my hair brittle, dry and unmanageable.  When I tired this one, it was love at first lather!  My hair is manageable, soft, silky and bouncy.  I have not used commercial shampoo since and that has been about six months now.  I have had family use it and they too have fell in love with my shampoo bar.  I was using a Honey Ale fragrance but now I am using a fragrance similar to Herbal Essence.  I plan on making some more with other fragrances so you will have a few to choose from.  I also made a batch without beer and it is also a good bar, but I personally prefer to use one with beer.  the first one pictured is with beer and the second one is without.  The lather from this bar is amazing, you can't really tell the difference between it and the lather from a commercial shampoo.

Another one of my favorites is Green Springs, it smells just like Irish Spring, A lovely unisex, fresh clean scent.  All I can say is that I love this one!

So I am not only making body soap, but I am also making laundry soap and a stain remover.  My laundry soap is shreds from my stain remover so you get the additional benefits from my stain remover in your laundry soap.  I have had a stain on one of my night shirts and had tried everything to get it out with no success  (It had been on there for months).  After I formulated my stain remover, I tried it on that stain.  I wet it and rub the stain remover on it and made a paste.  I didn't even let it sit very long, before I threw it in the laundry.  To my wonderful surprise, the stain was out!  Others who have used it have told me that they have gotten stains out that they tried everything else with.  Now, I'm not going to say that it will take out every stain you have but it does get out many staiins.  You just have to try to it beleive it.  With the laundry soap you use 1-2 tablespoons per load.  I tend to use a little more but you will be surprised that it does get your clothes clean.  It doesn't make a lot of suds; if any at all but it is doing it's job.  I not only make the powder laundry detergent, I also make the liquid, but I usually use that for myself :)  Who knows, maybe I will offer the liquid is a quart size.

I will be sharing more in the upcoming weeks and hope that you have found this to be informative and insightful to some of the products that I offer to you.

Support Small Business Saturday

Today is the day to show your support of local and small businesss.  I am offering sales all weekend long in my Artfire Store for 25% off your order.  See Coupon Code below.  And I am offering a BOGO on my Website.  Just comment in special instructions which item you want free (must be equal to lesser value).  Sales are going on until Monday, November 29, 2011.  Hope to see you there.

Visit EarthernMagicEssence's Studio

SAVE 25% Off All Items

Use Coupon Code:

CYBER2011

during checkout.

Travel Journals

Black Friday Sale

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and then Christmas is not too far behind. What a way to kick start the season than with a sale? I have had some wonderful customers and want to show my appreciation. Featured on my website starting Friday morning at 12 a.m. will be a BOGO Sale. Buy two products and get one free! This does not include gift baskets or gift boxes. I am also having a sale on my Artfire Store as well, so you will have two ways to save, depending on where you shop! I've listed new products and still have more to list and will have them listed before Friday morning. I look forward to serving you and providing you with products that are made from the heart and with love! Have a Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

EarthernMagicEssence Find Unique Gifts on ArtFire

Mommy and Me Shopping Spree

It's been a while since I have posted.   A lot has been going on in my life but I know that things are going to be looking up.  I had the opportunity to participate in a Christmas Event locally called the Mommy and Me Shopping Spree.  This was the first one but they plan on having this at least a couple of times a year.  I had so much fun and it was nice to get out for a while.  Here are some pics of my table and most of the items shown will be listed on my website, www.earthernmagicessence.com and www.artfire.com/users/earthernmagicessence. 

Celebration of Life - Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mother's 75th birthday.  Let me tell you a little about my mom,  She was born in 1936 and the youngest of seven children. She was born in my grandfather's car and weighed a little over 4 lbs.  She was so small, that she couldn't fit in a baby bed and my grandmother made her a bed out of a dresser drawer.  She was married at the age of 19 and had four children on of which passed away at the age of 5.  She divorced a little more than a year after my sister was born.  She has never re-married and she dedicated her life to us.  She raised us in church, Lord I remember going to all kinds of churches when we were younger including tent revials, lol.  She has never waivered in her faith and brought us up the same beliefs.  Now, we may not live the life that she has wanted for us; but we have never strayed too far from the Lord.  I guess I would say that I am the closest to my mother and that is because I live next door to her and see her almost daily.  My sister might disagree, but she is the boss in the family.  She stays on my mom about her health and staying healthy.

 A little more than a year ago, she gave us a scare, she had a stroke.  She initially refused to go to the doctor but I told her that now she was going to listen to me and she was going. That was the first time that she had been to a doctor in 40+ years.  She had lost some of her motor skills on her right side but she agreed to go to physical therapy.  Now almost two years later, you would never know that she has had a stroke.  She still drives, she never stays at home, she is always doing something to her house and she has never lost her faith in God.  My mother has a wonderful sense of humor and a big heart.  She is always thinking about her children and grandchildren.  There is hardly anywhere that she goes that she doesn't bring back something for one of us.  Raising three children on her own was not easy, we struggled, but she never let us know it.  She was creative by making us underwear, slips, belts from bleach bottles, pocketbooks from bleach bottles and a whole lot more.  She would go without to make sure that we had.  She made up recipes to make them last for several days.  One recipe we called comglaum was made with noodles, spaghetti sause, cheese and meat.  I still make that one to this day.  Another one she made, which I am glad that she never made it again was something with bean sprouts and it was nasty.  She wasn't eating it becasue she wanted to make sure that we ate.  Let me tell you, we ate that dish for days and me, my sister and my grandmother told her that she needed to try it and see how nasty it was.  She would tell us that she was on a fast and couldn't eat.  Well after we had eaten on it for a week, she tasted it and agreed that it was awful.  Fine time for her to finally agree, it was all gone by then, lol. 

She taught me so many things through the years and the main thing that she taught me was that I can do anything that I put my mind to and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. I really took that to heart and let me tell you, if someone says that I can't do something, I will do my best to prove that I can.  My mother is my rock and my salvation and I thank her for everything that she has done and is to me.  I love you Mom and I wish you many more years.  Happy birthday!

To celebrate her birthday today, I cooked dinner for her and then I made her cupcakes for dessert.  I thought that I would share the recipe for the cupcakes that I made her as well as pics.  The cupcakes I made came from a recioe by Prudence Hillburn of Piedmont, Alabama.  She has won more than 30 national cooking awards and from this recipe I can see why. 

Lemon Danish Cupcakes

1 box of Lemon Cake Mix

1/2 cup sour cream

1(4 oz.) jar of apricot baby food

1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

2/3 cup of water

2 eggs

1 teaspoon poppy seed

8 oz tub of cheesecake flavored cream cheese spread (I made my own and flavored it with lemon)

2-3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine cake mix, sour cream, apricot baby food, lemon juice, water, eggs and poppy seed and beat at low speed for one minute.  combine cream cheese and confectioner's sugar in a small bowl.  Beat until smooth.  Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.  Spoon the batter half way in the cupcake liners and then drop a small dallop of cream cheese (about a teaspoon) in the center of each cupcake.  and then spoon batter over top to cover cream cheese.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  She gave the instructions to spoon confectioner's sugar glaze over top when they are cool. I made a cream cheese icing with confectioner's sugar, cool whip and lemon juice and piped it on top.   Totally delicious!



The Aftermath

A couple of weeks ago was the Longest Yard Sale and I was rearing and ready to go.  I had four truck-loads of items to sell.  I get there and get ready to set up and the first problem is that I notice that my canopy is looking kinda funny and then I see that there are several bent bars and a few broken ones too.  Well, I immediately blame my boys and I was fuming.  I later learn that my mother had allowed the church to use my canopy and when they were using it a storm came up and blew it down.  I was upset, needless to say because no one had the courtesy to let me know.  Anyway, I fixed it the best way I could and started unloading my stuff and putting it under the canopy to get ready for the next day.  That took me six hours, after working 8 hours already, I was exhausted.  I come home and hit the sack so I can be rested and ready for the next day.  Did that happen?  Nooo, about 1 a.m I wake up to the wind blowing like crazy and lightening.  I already freak out when the winds gets bad after being in a tornado and just recently dealing withe tornadoes that hit the state back in April.  I jump up and call the boys to get up and drive to my spot.  The canopy is halfway down and it sure doesn't look like it isn't going to make it with the wind whippiing like it was.  We get out and fix it the best we can and I sit out there for about 45 minutes to see if it is going to survive.  It does, so I go back home to try and get some sleep. 

I get up the next morning and realize that I am going to have to buy a new canopy.  That definitely doesn't make me happy.  I haven't even started selling and I'm already in the hole.  I get to Wal-Mart and get the last canopy that they have.  What happens?  It starts pouring, I can barely see to drive and all I can hope is that it is not this bad back up on the mountain.  I get back and it has not rained up here so I think, we can make it.  I get the new canopy up and start setting up.  I'll be darned if it doesn't start raining and I have to rush to get everything under each canopy and close them up.  Everyone runs to their car and sits and waits and hopes that the rain is going to stop soon. Well....... it keeps raining and raining and raining, not just a light summer shower but a full blown storm.  The lightening was amazing but this storm was no joke.  I decide that it is not going to end anytiime soon, so I head home.  I poured the whole day and the whole night and didn't let up.  I go back later that evening and this is what I come upon.



Yes, canopy down, clothes soaking wet, furniture wet, soap floating in the water.  It was a total mess.  The water was just below my knees and my spot was the Only spot that flooded.  By this time, I mad, upset, frustrated, devastated and just plain through with the whole thing.  (if you ask my youngest son, he will say that I am a total drama queen, LOL).  Ok, so maybe I am being a bit overly dramatic, but it was bad.  Needless to say, I packed everything up and while we were packing up, it started to rain AGAIN!  I was soaked to the bone not once but twice! Oh well, it was an adventure, but trust me, I do not ever want to go through this ever, ever, ever again.  

The Annual Longest Yard Sale

Well it's that time of year again.  The week/weekend before school starts back around here.   It's time for the Longest Yard Sale that is about 600 miles long and spans from Gadsden, Alabama to Hudson, Michigan.  You can find anything from antiques to som crazy creation that someone calls art.  It's a time of fun, meeting people from all over the country.  You cannot imagine how many people come out to sell as well as to buy.  It usually lasts four days but the hard-core vendors come out about five days earlier ready to go.  I didn't sell last year, it was way toooo hot for me.  And it's gonna be a scorcher again this year but I am going to brave it and will be out there selling my wares and such.  I invite you to come out and see what all the fuss is about and come stop by my booth and say hello or make a sale.  Here is a link with some information about the Sale.  Hope to see you there!!!!

Longest Yard Sale Facts and Info.