Date: 2008-02-21 10:15 Subject: I am a bad blogger! Security: Public Location: Home Mood: awake Music: Squeelix

I just realized that I haven't updated in over a year. Well, I've been really busy with all kinds of stuff. I got pregnant and now have a six month old son (Felix) who is keeping me occupied. And I'm rewriting all my books and courses. Now that Jeremy is working from home, I hope to have more time to spend making stuff and meeting more diy friends...

Date: 2006-11-22 12:54 Subject: Bath and Body Works Book Is Finally Done! Security: Public

That was a ton of work, but I'm really proud of the result. It's a 60-something page ebook on how to make Bath and Body Works style product... but best of all, it's for complete beginners! Even people whose cooking abilities consist of making tea and toast (that would be me.)

It's also my first "professional" book - it just got approved to be published and sold through Clickbank. Yay!

Date: 2006-09-16 09:29 Subject: Finally, new candles! Security: Public Location: Main screen turn on Mood: calm Music: Puirt a Baroque Tags: candles, scent

I've just decided on my fall/winter lineup for candles, and I'll be mailing out the list soon. As usual, they're totally non-standard for the season, drawn from my own memories and those of my friends. My little brother's getting a college care package soon... heh heh.

Date: 2006-08-29 12:22 Subject: New Label Style! Security: Public Location: Waiting for UPS Mood: cheerful Music: The melodious ambience of my neighbor's A/C unit Tags: candles, design, scent

My next batch of candles is going to be so unusual that I thought I'd try a new label style. Before, I just made cute designs - whatever I felt like hacking up in Illustrator - but there was no central "look."

Now, I'm going all black and white. I want the labels to look striking and unusual, so people know that there's something weird going on with the scents. So far, I've gotten the thumbs-up from a customer (Kimberlee) and my design-lovin' sister, Liz.

Date: 2006-08-24 02:32 Subject: The Viking candle made the Etsy front page. Security: Public Location: I should be sleeping, but I'm writing anyway Mood: calm Music: the whir of computer fans Tags: candles, etsy, making stuff

How cool - my Viking candle made the Etsy front page. I've gotten the chance to make some new friends and received several notes from other Etsy-ers, including another candlemaker!

Etsy is a really nice website; it's like Ebay for handcrafted items, only about 100 times as nice as Ebay. Ebay gives me the same impression as going to Fry's or Costco: it's too big, too hard to find stuff, and you always wonder if you're missing something. When I look on Ebay, I often feel like I'm marching down aisle after aisle in a 100-foot warehouse.

Etsy, however, gives a much warmer and friendlier feeling. If Ebay is a warehouse full of mixed trash, treasure, and "buyer beware," Etsy is like that friend you always take on your shopping trips because of her amazing ability to find "treasure" wherever she goes.

If people think "crafts" is another word for "a bunch of weird macrame or ugly knitting," send 'em to Etsy. They'll soon think of crafts as something only cool, hip, creative people know about, and a place you can get boutique-quality handmade clothing, bath and body products, and artwork straight from the artists.


See what this Etsy stuff is all about.

Date: 2006-08-17 11:04 Subject: Scent & Emotion Security: Public Location: My writing desk Mood: optimistic Music: Brain Powerd Soundtrack Tags: candles, scent

No one in my family or friends is really "into" home fragrance stuff, except for me. They ask, "What's the point?" I tried to explain to my friend why candles, room spray, and linen spray are so cool, but I couldn't really say it well. Now, of course, I've thought about it and can give a better answer.

For lots of people, scent *is* emotion and memory. When I make scented stuff for myself, I don't just pick fragrances that smell nice. I choose ones that impact my mood and make me remember (good) things. That's why my descriptions on Etsy are so personal - that's what the fragrances mean to *me.*

Sure, it's nice to make your house smell good, but the real reason I use and make home fragrances stuff is to enrich my life experience. This is also the reason my scents are kind of out-of-touch with traditional seasonal scents. For example, nothing says December like Tide - as in, when I used to come home from college at U of I and lug tons of laundry home!

Date: 2006-08-15 12:32 Subject: On Making Candles Security: Public Tags: candles, making stuff

I recently read a post on someone's blog or forum that described a beginning candlemaker's frustration at how long it takes. I don't know what kind of candles they were making, but as I made three micro-batches of soy containers yesterday, I had to admit it: he/she was right.

Making candles does take a long time, and you know what? I like it! This is my hobby, the thing I do with my hands to free my creativity. Hobbies are labors of love - if I wanted to save time, I'd just buy candles. But I enjoy the whole process: blending the scents, placing the individual wicks, waiting for them to cool, labelling the tins.

For me, it's not an exercise in patience; it's an excuse to participate in a kind of meditation. The entire process of candlemaking is a sensory experience that fires my creativity for writing like nothing else.

Sometimes, I end up watching the creamy wax melt, letting my mind wander through both good and bad ideas for my assignments. The sound of the water in the double-boiler is meditative, and the fragrances always evoke strong memory and emotional responses that I hope are transmitted to the end user of the candle whether I sell them or give them as gifts.

I make them to please myself first - both to do something with my hands, and to burn during writing sprees. I think if it were more of a commercial exercise, my patience would be tested; for now, it's a labor of love!