Green Smoothies

Are you a green smoothie drinker? In my house, everyone drinks them! They're a great way to ensure we get that extra serving of veggies and I also like to sneak in some supplements that don't always taste very good on their own. Plus, they are a great 3pm pick me up!

{ k i d  a p p r o v e d  s m o o t h i e }

~ 1/2 frozen banana or avocado

~ 1 cup spinach, kale, dandelion and/or chard

~ 1 cup frozen fruit such as mango, blueberries, etc (mango's a big hit right now)

~ 1.5tsp hemp hearts or chia seeds

~ 1 tsp coconut oil

~ 1tsp local honey

~ 1 cup almond mylk

Put in blender and blend until smooth, adding more mylk if needed. I also add some high quality probiotic powder and some Calm Kids magnesium supplement to the kids. 

{ m a t c h a  s m o o t h i e }

~ 1 frozen banana

~ 2 cups spinach (or other leafy green)

~ 1tbs hemp hearts

~ 1-2 cups almond mylk

~ 1.5 tsp matcha

~ desired amount of agave or honey

~ splash of vanilla

I started making the matcha smoothie after I fell in love with Starbuck's green tea frapps. I didn't love the price nor the empty calories so I wanted something that was just as yummy but also good for me. This, I dare say, is even better!

Do you enjoy green smoothies? What's your favourite? 

helloooo!

It's been a while... 6 weeks or so I think. I blame moving and post moving stress!

What have I been up to lately? Well......

We moved into our  new home the very end of April but we had an extra month to move out from our old house so we took our time. Which really just means that we ignored the old house until  just last week. Eeek! We spent many late nights there cleaning and moving the last bits of our stuff but we're officially done. The keys were handed in today after our walk through with the property management people and now we can focus on making our new house our home!

I've been preparing my soap studio with a small retail area and I'm SO excited for this to be ready to share with you all! Because it's been such a slow process of moving in, the studio seems to be the place where random boxes end up. I got a chance to organize it enough to start soaping in there and made a few batches already but I'll be thrilled when it's only a soap studio and not a dumping space for random clutter! I picked up a really sweet vintage cupboard in French Creek that I've been refinishing. It's going to be my retail cupboard. I made up some diy chalk paint in a dark bluey colour and distressed it. I just need to finish the inside and it'll be ready to share with you! Here's the before... as you can see it was wall papered. Needless to say, the wall paper's gone!

The Lantzvile Farmers' Market started up beginning of May and it's been so fun. So far my sales have nearly doubled from last year which is pretty fantastic! I love reconnecting with vendors from last year and meeting new vendors too. 

And lastly... I've been preparing for my first soaping class that I'll be teaching in the studio! I tentatively had it scheduled for the 8th but am now aiming for the 29th. I have a few details to work out with insurance, etc and to have the studio ready for everyone. This will be a very basic cold process making class that I'll offer only a few times each year. Stay tuned!

Retro/Vintage Inspired Faire

Yesterday I was a vendor at the very first Vintage & Retro Inspired Faire held in Parksville! Only I would do a market just two days before our move... and in fact, I actually cancelled on Friday as I was very overwhelmed with the move. But then that night, I realised that it would probably be a good thing for me to get away from the house and have some time away from thinking about and preparing for the move.

So on Saturday morning, I packed up the van and headed to Parksville! I wish I brought my camera as hall looked amazing and there were so many great items for sale. But you'll just have to take my word for it: it was a great day with lots of treasures to be found.

I wasn't expecting to really sell very many soaps as it wasn't that kind of market but I did really well! My soaps are wrapped in vintage papers and I think the shoppers really liked that. It didn't stick out too much from the vendors selling their vintage wares. It was hopping busy but for a few quiet moments when I was able to quickly sneak away to make purchases or catch up with my vendor neighbours: Thorne Crate Co. and Old Farm Handcrafts.

My best sellers of the day were:

Coconut scented body butter. This is made with organic shea butter and organic unrefined cocoa butter (as well as some almond and avocado oils)which smells absolutely amazing! I sold out of this scent within the first hour and sold 2 ylang ylang scented ones too. They smell predominately of chocolate from the cocoa butter with a hint of scent. I'm using the ylang ylang right now which is a blend of ylang ylang, patchouli and vanilla. 

The most popular soap was You Are My Sunhine which is a bright sunshine-y and lemon-like scented soap. It really is a beautiful bar of soap!

Being that it was a vintage faire and I LOVE all things vintage, I couldn't leave without making a few purchases. Lucky for my wallet though that I was alone at my table so I couldn't do too much shopping.

From Lexuss Vintage, I bought two of these Pyrex inspired tea towels. These are CUTE!

I also bought a cute little stool from The Painted Pear, brought home candies for the kids from The Vintage Candy Shop, and my daughter is the proud new owner of an adorable necklace from The Fox & Fawn Collection (brand new side business for one of the owners of Wilde & Sparrow in Parksville). 

It was such a fun day and it was organized so well. Mirella from Biscotti De Notte has told me they'll be hosting another vintage faire in the fall in Errington which I'll for sure be a part of!

So while yesterday was so much fun, it was back to reality today as we made a few trips to the new house, cleaned out the chicken coop and packed (and packed and packed). In fact, time to stop procrastinating and get back to it! My next blog post, I'll share photos from the new house! See you soon. :)

Etsy Finds

Still avoiding packing so here's yet another non-soapy blog post! I was clearing out my favourites on Etsy and here a few that are major wants for me:

Stirling wedding band set from artifactum. Dave and I both lost our wedding rings (he at Pipers Beach and me... who knows where!)

Unicorn mug from mudworks. I can think of a few people in my life who need this.

Vintage primary colours pyrex mixing bowls from Retroburgh. I have the large yellow but would like he other 3. 

Hot Air Balloon Skir from Zoeslollipop. Because it's cute. 

Salt pig and butter jar from DragonPottery.

Vintage marbles from nancyplage. Wouldn't these look pretty in a vintage mason jar on a sunny window sill?

Vintage feedsack from thelostrooms. 

How about you? What do you have in your favourites on Etsy?

25 Things About Me

I've seen these on other blogs I've been reading lately so I thought, why not? Here goes!

1) I'm am just shy of 35 years old.
2) I'm a mama to three (ages almost 17, almost 5 and 3).
3) We're a homeschooling family. Well, only one of our children is currently homeschooled. The other two will be when their time comes.
4) I worked as an Early Childhood Educator in Winnipeg, Port Alberni and finally Nanaimo for around 12 years before I had my third child.
5) I keep backyard hens. We have a very small flock of 3. Their names are Big Bird, Chicken Little and Becka.
6) I grew up in Winnipeg until I was 15 (and then again for 2 or so years as an adult).
7) I have crooked pinky fingers.
8) My favourite movie (and soundtrack) is Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?. So good!
9) I'm currently watching Call The Midwife on PBS online and it's fantastic!
10) I'm crazy about vintage pyrex, sheepskin, and vintage linens.
11) My favourite magazine is Mary Janes Farm, although I really like reading back issues of Mothering.
12) I went through a spell of bad haircuts as a child. The worst that I can recall is a having a very long rat tail.
13) My husband and I have been together for two weeks shy of 7 years.
14) We've been married for 5.5 years.
15) We got married in Bowen Park.
16) I am not a competitive person. I'm finding that other's competitiveness to be exhausting.
17) My favourite essential oil is ylang ylang. Or orange 10x.
18) I'm a big fan of unscented soaps that are anything but plain.
19) I love tea.
20) My favourite tea is either Cream of Earl Grey by David's Tea or Mysteaque by the teafarm.
21) I have a HUGE fear of spiders. Which has been heightened to full out panic mode since last night when I saw a gigantic (seriously, almost the size of my palm) on my leg. yuck!
22) I have the mouth of a sailor. I'm not proud of that and yes, I'm working on it. My son (almost 5) tells me his job is to "keep it clean around here" and he's doing a great job of reminding me to watch my words.
23) I never wear makeup. ever.
24) My favourite books are historical fiction books.
25) I'm a feminist and am doing my best to raise feminist children.

A glimpse back in time!

I was sent an email last week by someone who buys my soaps. She said her and her partner love to read the packaging of my soaps after they unwrap them (I use pages from vintage books to wrap my soaps) and she thought this repro catalogue would be perfect. My children and I have loved looking through the pages and we're just shocked by the prices and some of the odd things that can be bought by catalogue! I've taken a few photographs of the pages so you can have a glimpse at 1908 catalogue ordering! This week I'll be cutting up these pages and wrapping my soaps in them for the 1st Annual Vintage/ Retro Faire in Parksville on the 27th. 

Natural Hair Care

Did you know that Old City Soapworks makes an all natural solid shampoo bar? Well, we do!

Free from petro-chemicals and loaded with moisturizing oils and butters, our shampoo bar is a great alternative to commerical shampoos. Because it's a solid bar, there's no plastic packaging to recycle. 

Our shampoo bars contain coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil, unrefined hemp seed oil, organic cocoa and shea butters as well as local beeswax. 

I have two varieties: 

a Yarrow bar that's made from locally harvested and organically grown yarrow and scented with lemon and lavender essential oils. These combined are great for lighter coloured hair and those with sensitive and/or oily scalps.

a Nettle bar that's made from locally harvested wild nettles and scented with rosemary and mint essential oils. This bar is great for those with scalp conditions such as dry itchy scalp and for those with darker hair (although it's fine for those with lighter coloured hair too).

Often those who are wanting to try a natural package free shampoo they also want to try a natural conditioner too! I find that commercial conditioner weighs my hair down and the more I use it, the more it's needed (same with commerical shampoos, deodorants, etc). I also find that using our shampoo bars my hair doesn't get as tangled because it doesn't strip the hair of it's natural oils. But because I have  very thick hair, I do like to use something as it can get a little knotted still. I like to use apple cider vinegar in place of a conditioner. 

Why apple cider vinegar (ACV)? 

Well, ACV will help balance the ph of your hair. This is especially important if you use commercial or highly alkaline shampoos. Many other hair care products are also highly alkaline.

It will remove build-up from hair care products.

It will smooth out the cuticle scales on each strand of hair which will help prevent knots and tangles, makes your hair easier to comb and also makes for shinier hair.

How do I use ACV?

To use, simply pour a tablespoon of ACV in a cup of clean warm water. After shampooing, pour over hair. You can either rinse it out or leave it in. I usually rinse it out but have a spray bottle filled with filtered water, a splash of ACV and some rosemary and mint essential oils that I spray on when I get out of the shower. 

Once your hair dries, you will NOT smell like ACV. Promise! :)

Open House, Spring Edition!

This coming Saturday (March 23rd) I'll be hosting our 1st Annual Spring Open House. I've decided to host two a year, one at Christmas and one in the Spring. :)

Our Winter Open House was a huge success! It was busy from 6 until about 8 and then quietly tapered off the last hour, it was perfect. Friends of ours from Old Farm Handcrafts joined us with their hand tooled leather and woolens.

Old Farm Handcrafts will be joining us again along with GypsyLou who creates beautiful screen printed clothing and home decor. We love both of their creations (and the families behind the businesses are pretty fantastic too).

I'll be introducing a few new products on Saturday. Some will be Easter related and some will be products that I've been planning on offering for MONTHS now (when you see them, you'll know it's been a long time coming). I'm also hoping to have my baby gift baskets ready for sale too! I'm just waiting on some packaging to arrive (fingers crossed)!

I really hope that you can join us this Saturday from 6-9pm. :)

Time for a giveaway?

Very quickly we're creeping up to 400 likes on facebook, incredible! So when we do reach that magic number, I'd love to give away a $25 gift certificate towards any Old City Soapworks product! The only restriction is that you must be a fan of our facebook fan page and that the $25 does not include shipping. You pay the shipping and I give you $25 of free products, not bad!

So what will you spend the $25 on?

Partial payment towards a custom loaf of soap?

A set of wool dryer balls?

Some body scrubs or body butters? 

Or a few bars of soaps?

Price Increase

After much deliberation, I've decided to increase the price of my soaps from $5.50 per bar to $6 per bar. This increase will start March 1st. 2013.

It's been a hard decision to make but it's time. Canada Post increased their rates (as did USPS) so my suppliers were forced to increase their prices so my supply costs increased quite a bit. And I've started using different ingredients (silk, organic butters, different unrefined oils) which has added to the cost but oh, what a difference it makes in the soaps! The costs of those ingredients is higher and also, it takes a lot of my time researching those ingredients and creating recipes.

I have updated my packaging and have met with a most wonderful design artist who is creating a new logo and new product labels. Which I'm so excited to share with you in a few months! She sent me a draft of the logo and then we discussed colour and goodness, it's fantastic!

I haven't been respecting my fellow soap artisans with my pricing. Even at my local farmer's market when there were two other soapers, I had the lowest prices. At first I was proud of that but then I quickly realised I'm not doing anyone any favours by undercutting myself. Even the retail shops that sell my soaps have my soaps priced higher than what I sell them for. How's that fair?

And lastly, I have a vision for this little soap business of mine and in order for me to get there, I need to start to build a little nest egg. I can't do that right now when all my income goes right back into supplies, market fees, packaging and transportation costs.

The good news is that I've already factored in my current costs for the Organic soaps when I priced those so they won't be increasing. Nor will any other products but for the Natural Artisan Soaps and the Artisan Soaps. And if you're already on the Reservation List for soaps that come off the cure rack in March, you'll still only pay the $5.50 for those soaps.

baby & me

At long last, I've made an all organic baby soap! And it's been in the making for nearly a month now. I started this soap by infusing organic chamomile, calendula and lavender buds (all Vancouver Island grown) into organic extra virgin olive oil. After that finished doing it's thing, I used organic olive oil, organic coconut oil and organic castor oil as my base oils. I decided to very lightly scent this with organic lavender essential oil and kept it super creamy by avoiding gelling during the initial cure. It's a very mild bar filled with the benefits of all those herbs that's perfect for a baby's skin. Or a mama's skin. Or really, anyone who has super sensitive skin which is in need of some gentle cleansing. 

I decided to make these an oval shape after asking for opinions on my facebook fan page. The thought was that an oval bar would be much smoother on a baby's skin and easier to hold during bath times. I agree! I thought I had enough oval molds but nope, I was short 1 tray so with the leftover raw soap, I poured it into my heart molds which I'll be adding to gift baskets once they're cured!

Black Raspberry Vanilla

I made a smaller batch of Black Raspberry Vanilla. It's a great seller and I wish I had enough of the fragrance to buy a bigger bottle but I'll remember for next time. 

I'd describe the scent of this as a sweet and creamy. Here's the description from my supplier: "a velvety combination of blackberry and raspberry with a heart of creamy vanilla, followed by lingering nuances of earthy vetiver.  One of our most popular fragrances, it is a knock-off of the popular bath and body works scent of the same name." I'm not sure I completely agree with the description but regardless, it's a fantastic scent! 

It is a fragrance oil (phthlate free of course) so for those that like a scent that lingers longer on the skin, I think you'll love this. 

I was not expecting to soap this scent on this day, I had planned on soaping a mango scented soap but I forgot that I wanted to adjust the recipe to include some mango butter. Just as I was about to add the mango fragrance, I remembered the missing mango butter so switched to this scent instead. Even though I wasn't prepared for this soap and it wasn't exactly like I had envisioned, I like how it turned out! I wanted the entire top to be covered in soap curls but there wasn't enough and I wanted the purple to be more predominant but oh well, I'm happy with how it turned out. :)

This soap will be ready March 11th. 

our weekend!

United Eclectic was this past Saturday and it was such a success (even a bit better than last time)! The vendors, the hosts and the shoppers are all so fantastic. 

I played around with my table display this time and really like how it all came together. I think I'll be doing all my indoor shows like this from now on! Of course I'll have more soap next time as not all my soaps were cured for this market (catching up on ALL my stock is hard to do).

Dave and I spent the night in Victoria (in a hotel literally across the street from the church where the market was held) while the kids were with Nana in Nanaimo. We went out for dinner, slept in and did some shopping in the morning before heading home. I got some new tea from David's Tea downtown which is SO good. Not as good as tea from the Teafarm but still; yum! I picked up a new record as well.... not new but a much loved album that I didn't own in record form: Oh, Brother Where Art Thou. So good. :)

Anyways, here's some photos of my set up. I'd love to hear what you think!