photo found here My Endless Inspiration

Go ahead have one! Help me celebrate my, um…28th bday…that’s right 28 the last time I checked anyway. It’s actually 39 years today, whew it’s hard to admit.

I have had a beautiful with many well wishes by friends and family, thank God for them. I have met so many nice people here on my blog, flickr, twitter, facebook which I always enjoy chatting with! Thanks for the well wishes…hope your day is just as beautiful as mine, now go have a cupcake

I have always had a difficult time letting go of clothing because almost everything can be re-purposed into a new look.  Lately I have been a bit obsessed with salvaging those things I normally would toss…especially when talking about clothes or fabric. Here is a favorite of mine:

Alabama Chanin. I’m absolutely drooling over her work!

taking a moment to daydream of summer…the last few days have thankfully been so warm and even the rain beating down on our tin roof has been a welcoming comfort. I’m so glad to see the cold go and the flowers bloom! Here are a few favorites I have picked out to show you…enjoy the day.

1. Bicycle with tulle…{12/365}, 2. Irish cottage, 3. Ollalieberry Ice Cream Quilt, 4. Chandelier, 5. First flowers of spring from the front yard, 6. Bunny Love

This little place may sit quiet, but my heart is still very much here. Flowers are blooming and birds are singing again.Lately I have found myself going full speed ahead to get the “important work” done, when it finally dawned on me, taking care of myself is pretty important too. I think I have figured out the secret to staying sane while working full time outside the home, taking care of my little business, taking care of the home and family…. I just pretend the laundry isn’t piling up and go have some fun taking pictures!

Life is too short…so yesterday I took time to capture the peonies blooming in the yard and today I’m finding new inspiration at every corner {here are some favorites from Flikr}.

1. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/98632037@N00/4613261574/”>Cosy bench</a>, 2. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/46901945@N00/4613272151/”>playing, stacking, dolls</a>, 3. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/46675821@N03/4589028975/”>94th Aero Squadron</a>, 4. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/72452352@N00/101308176/”>cupcake swap, BEFORE photo</a>, 5. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/23487377@N06/4382999439/”>Liz * Dreamy</a>, 6. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/40192408@N06/4531694208/”>Spring flower</a>, 7. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/88199349@N00/3378876383/”>Untitled</a>, 8. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/88199349@N00/3219830367/”>Untitled</a>, 9. <a href=”http://flickr.com/photos/86624720@N00/181843578/”>flower girl</a>

I have been making handmade {cold-process soap} for ten years now and most recently I have exclusively made Herbal Goat Milk Soap. I have always had a very sensitive skin type,  I can tolerate some fragrance oils, but regular name brand soap, which you can find in the supermarket leaves my skin irritated and dry. After years of making and selling my herbal soap I have realized I am not alone. Because many of us are now taking a closer look at the ingredients on our food labels, maybe it’s time to do that with our soap too, you might be surprised at what you find!

Cold-Process soap is not made with a melt and pour glycerin soap base, which you can find at your local craft store although my soap, once cured does have glycerin in it and that’s what makes it so special!

My Cold-Processes Soaps are made with vegetable oils, that’s right…all vegetable oils. Plus Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Lanolin {and the list goes on}. My soap is made with Lye {sodium hydroxide}, but by very carefully calculating and weighing my oils and the lye water I make sure there is nothing left in the bar that resembles anything more than pure heaven for your skin. The lye mixed with the vegetable oils, at a prepared temperature acts as a catalyst to turn oils in to soap.

Although I could make soap out of any kind of fat {shortening, lard, etc.} I choose my oils very carefully, specifically for their soapmaking properties. Each oil adds a very different beneficial measurement to each batch I make. I have found that adding Goatmilk to my soap makes for a creamier lather too.

A little frolic in the snow was on the agenda first thing this morning, for mom and the new babes here on the farm. They aren’t more than a week old and already bouncing all over the place. Odd weather conditions {snow, rain, sleet} never seem to phase sheep…in fact they prefer being outside compared to the goats who you will find huddled in the barn. The look so cuddly, wouldn’t you just love to pet them? Me too, but alas unless you have corn you can forget it! And if I were to try coaxing them with corn, God help me because it would create a wild stampede with the ten other sheep and ten other goats here {been there}!

Bye babies!

While designing a new site for Blossom Sundries I decided to keep a blog at here for updates on shop news and create a blog on typepad for all that other craft & farm talk. Let’s just say it didn’t take me long to realize one blog is enough… seem to recall learning that lesson before!  However, I can say much was accomplished in the way of working on the new shop today and I am planning a Re-Grand Opening the first of April! I have a give-away in store…pretty excited about this. Will be sure to keep you updated. Well, here’s calling it a day on the computer…talk with you soon my friends.

By now everyone is ready for spring in this neck of the woods and I’m no exception. Blossom Sundries is undergoing a few exciting new changes and in the next few months you will see a whole new website {i hope}, this is a one woman show, remember? To keep things simple and because I don’t blog as much as in the past, you can find all my journal writing here. I will be sure to keep you updated as I work on and get ready for my new spring collection of sundries. New things are coming!

To my dismay I must reveal what has happened on my little farm since I last posted….the little goat that I posted about last week, the one who was born on a snow filled December eve and came as such a surprise and born so tiny, has left this world just as quickly as he came in.

frosted on the vine

The snow that started to fall Thursday night was expected, but what was unexpected came in the early wee hours of the morning before the sun even started to peek around the mountain.
Around 6:00, I heard a strange cry coming from the fields. I decided to investigate, it didn’t sound like one of my animals…the shrill cries I heard actually sounded like a bird that was hurt. I searched everywhere for our flashlight, but couldn’t find it. With everyone asleep Spot and I ventured out into the cold and snow barely able to see. Up into the fields we went, in search of the cry but all we could see was Tiger {one of the mama goats} just standing there out in the snow.
All the other goats were in the barn by now…but there she was out in the snow waiting to tell us something, she had something to show us.

I’m sharing with you my newest adventure, pianting on a large scale. Infact this is the largest piece I have ever tackeled and it’s brought me so much joy! It has layer upon layer of vintage paper and paint but this is still a work in progress. My canvas this time happens to be a salvaged vintage window {I imagine a store front window, but not for sure} measuring 5′ 4″ x 4′ 6″. I enjoy giving things a new life and a second home, there’s history and a story behind it all… whether real or imagined.
Unsure whether this is what you would call an Angel or Seraphim {still researching a true Biblical defintion of each} this celestial painted being has a place in my living room, which is the first thing I see when I come home.