Puppy Update

I've been pretty lazy, or to make myself feel better, enjoy a slower life lately.  I've been easy let go, accomplish less daily errands and not feel guilty at all.  Call it age or whatever. Oh by the way, I spend pretty much of time just sit to my puppies and watch them sleep, eat & play.  Here is a little something recording a happy period of my life.

 Puppy  Rocky Jr. / Handsome Jr. / Little Beauty

 Puppy Rocky Jr.

 Puppy Handsome Jr. (see he peed >:<  )

Puppy Little Beauty

Every day I have two voices of totally opposite ends, keep them/spread the joy.  It sounds difficult but it's a sweet struggle though.

During the month, I whipped several soap batch and will have to come back to share.

For now, I'm sharing my little cuties :)

Aug - Full of Activities

August is a busy month, full of activities.  Under the busy & fast pace, it still flashes to its end.

This month, hubby went fishing like crazy.  He was swift among different places such as river, reservoir & ocean.  He's a happy sailor and fisherman.

Fish with no name yet to find

My helper shows off Big Rock Cod
my Jack Russel Terrier is below

24" Ling Cod

Almost 27" Rock Cod

All kinds of Cod

Our friends, employees all get to have their share of these fresh fish for there dinner.  Every body is happy.  Maybe my hubby was a fisherman in his previous life.

As to me, could be a dream weaver.  That's why I'm so fascinated with handmade, though I'm still dreaming about knitting, sewing, making leather item, except things I'm doing already like soap-making, wannabe herbalist & holistic life. 

I'm late with my blog since there are so much things out here.  Yes I'm trying to update it, at least a little a day.......

Herbal Remedies - Sleep Tight Tinctures

Here is an update on my Deep Sleep Tincture.  I've been taken this tincture for almost 3 weeks now.  Just 1 tsp before bed and it seems work for me.  (Maybe the vodka is working since I'm a non-alcohol person....?  LOL)

Under the rules of thumb that one should keep a relax mood, doing nothing that gets you too high, not consuming too much liquid.... I found it make me sleep deeper and woke up less in the middle of night.       8/16/2013

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In the past few years my sleep disorder had come and go.  Most of time it was triggered by work pressure but sometimes it just come out of nowhere, without the least reason.  Since my mom has similar problem for almost 20 years, I suspect it might come with the genes (yah blame on the genes)!

Normally I would use Melatonin by bed time plus 2 drops EO Blend (Lavender+Chamomile+Marjoram) on my pillow and it works most of the time.  But 1 week ago I started to have trouble to fall asleep, spending almost 2 hours flips-and-flops.  So annoying and I started to think I need other ways to deal with it.  Even though I'm a 100% no-alcohol type of person (not even beers), I want to try if herbal tincture of Rosemary Gladstar's recipe and see if it can help.

By end of June, I made two tinctures:

Lavender Flower + Hops + Valerian Root

Add 80 proof vodka plus the beautiful California sunshine :)

2 inch alcohol over the herbs 

The 2nd tincture is St John Wort + 80 proof vodka but I did not take a picture.

It takes 4~6 weeks for the tincture to be ready...... am so eager to try (not the alcohol part though !)

Colors from Nature: Sugar Lip Scrub

It's been a long while I have not made anything simply because of too much tasks from my day job which seems exhausted this body of mine ; then yesterday I got this bling in my head.  With the image in my mind, I think today is a good day for doing something with natural colorful ingredients.  So here they are, sugar lip scrub of all natural ingredients:

The simple joyfulness of life.......

生命裡簡單而微小的幸福，如是唾手可得；驀然回首，原來喜樂如是容易!

Make your own labels

The other days I was wandering around those blogs I read always then stumble on this one, telling details of how to make your own "professional looking" label.

I was so grateful.  It's these people who are so generous to share their professional & experiences.  One of the biggest thanks and appreciation from my heart, especially a person came from the other country and rooted on her second home land, and, actually the place she has been staying even longer than her origin.

Let me not to stray from the label thing, here is the link to this lovely lady and I believe it had light up many other's heart:

http://thenerdyfarmwife.com/create-your-own-lip-balm-labels-using-picmonkey/

Since I'm expressing my gratitude, here are people I've never met but received their warmth thru the internet world.  For me they are the mentors that make the world so beautiful.  They are:

Anne-Marie Faiola
Ruth Esteves
Rosemary Gladstar
Andrea

I know there are far more great people out there.  Maybe I should find a good sunny day, with a good-old herb tea and peaceful hours, I would write down all these magnificent people in my life.......

What can make you happier as a soaper?

What can make a handcraft soap maker happier than learning that someone likes her soap?  It's like a chef's big smile seeing people enjoy his/her food, but still with that licking and wanting look in their eyes....

Very early this morning, with my morning coffee, I was sitting in front of my computer as usual, reading emails and stuff.  One of my returning customer left a message regarding the "pie" soap order he just received.  His words, short but powerful, sparkles whole day of sunshine.  This is how he humorously encourages me in the soaping thing:

"◘ Jessie,Once again,simply ♥beautiful♥,works of art.Gave a slice of pie to a lady friend,and she was going to eat it.I was half tempted to watch her blow bubbles!!!...But I warned her that it was "Desert soap,and good clean fun.☺☺☺..Thank-You . Thanks for the Joy-ful Extras too !!!"

Between my peer soap-makers, there are so many excellent artists out there.  I admire & respect so much to their talent and perseverance.  And I'm grateful especially for people such as this customer, without their applause, handmade artists will be really lonely sometimes, though creation itself is tremendous reward, but still, applause motivates strength and energy along the way.

Blessings to all !!

A residential project done!!

Almost 3 months, I was so occupied by a house project for a friend.  Am happy it's almost done by now and I can come back to my aroma-living dream.  This is a pretty custom project that a lot of trendy design & varied material were applied.

Hi Table, 45" Square by 36" Counter Height-bold looking with 3" build-up edge & 3" square leg.  It's finished with WilsonArt laminate black with wood texture. 

 

Close-up picture of table top.  With a 8"W boarder, diagonal jointed laminate.

 

A custom Mobile Tea Cart to match the bold fashion Hi Table, next to TV area. 

TV Backdrop & wall-mount cabinet below.  TV backdrop is 3-Form resin panel (Green Recycle material, 2 layer double decker) with real flower sandwiched to show the beauty of nature.  Framed with Black metal channel & square silver stand-offs.

 

 An oversized China Cabinet (10'x9'H)-Granite cabinet top. Upper cabinet with 1/4"thick tempered glass door(polished edges all around), heavy-duty hinges,  stainless steel door & drawer pulls.  Heavy-duty drawer slides to accommodate heavy table serving ware.

Custom Dining Table, oversized 69"D.  Again, a bold looking table with 3" build-up edge & 3"Thick custom shape base.

Close-up of the granite Lazy Susan-flushed to table top, with supper heavy duty swivel (850 Lbs capacity) to support the granite Lazy-Susan.

6' W Custom Shoe Organizer, high pressure laminate finish.  Genuine leather padded seat.

Upper drawer of shoe organizer-with adjustable dividers.

Garage cabinet.

Due to a limited space, the garage base cabinet is designed with bi-fold sliding door LeCassa mechanism which only takes 8" with doors opening. 

An oversized 8'Wx7'H Sliding Door(to divide two rooms) with glass insert(custom sand-blasted deco of Buddhist prayer) by a local artist.

Glass window insert with world map(custom sand-blasted glass).

Sliding door from master bedroom to master bathroom.  Again sand-blasted pattern assigned by owner, CRL Metal hanging mechanism.

Shower enclosure with sand-blasted pattern.

A 4-wall wrap-around walk-In cabinet.  A mono-color design yet fancy with its material combination.  Upper cabinet will have doors with genuine leather insert(white).

A display stand for owner's special collection.

There are few more items in this project for this month...... then I'm free!!

Moth Repellent Cake

A friend of mine, who just moved into their new house, asks me to make something for her closet, same function as a mothball would repel moth & insect.

The idea is to avoid the moth balls sold in the store that contains chemical, toxic & are potential carcinogens. 

To have something made of all natural ingredients but lasts, I use stearic acid, bee wax and essential oil blend of cedar wood, lavender, rosemary & peppermint.  To avoid a bored & maybe too strong to the nose, I mixed essential oils instead of only cedar wood and it came out good.  Packed in organza for hanging..... satisfied :)

Sand Blasted Glass - Local Artisan Shop

It's been almost a month that we are helping this friend to furnish their new home.  Few items are designed to frame glass with custom sand blasted pattern to my friend's muse.

I found this local shop filled with amazing & surprising stuff.  The owner, Larry White, I'd rather call him an artist, run a very interesting place...... These pictures were taken from his working studio, not his work:

Larry has a pretty cool website, Milestone Manufacturing.  It's always exciting having the chance to meet talented artists.......

What I have been doing lately

It's been 2 weeks back in the States now.  I have not had the mood to do my soap nor bath & body things.  Could be that horrible jet lag, the Chinese New Year holiday or a combination of both? :(

To keep it as a track of my life......things made me busy during the past 2 weeks:

Making Regime Wine, from left to right, Bitter Melon, Black Bean & Sesame, mixture of Wolfberry/

Chrysanthemum/Chinese Dates.  They will be ready in 1 month (hmm, sounds a bit familiar, same period for CP soap to cure)

Sprouting - heading for a healthier diet for year 2012

 

Close-Up of above: mixed leafy greens new sprouts

Broccoli sprouts

This year we were invited to attend a "Pot Luck" Chinese New Year(1/24/2012) dinner.  A lot of handcraft was taken to make only one dish:

,

Veg Salad, from this........cilantro, garlic sprout, red chilli(a real powerful one), scallion, ginger root(not shown), celery, crispy turnip, carrot(now shown), olive oil

To this.  Finish cold dish to be stored in the ref for overnight.

I also tried a special "XO Scallop Sauce" which requires a lot work also.

Ingredients: dried scallop, dried tiny shrimp, chopped Chinese style bacon, dried squid, red onion, red chilli, pepper & garlic

Finish & ready to eat after 3 hours of working.

For Chinese, the holidays are not really done yet.... we have at least 3 more dinners to go in the following week, ooooh, boy!!  I'd better take good control of myself otherwise the scale is gonna go up, up & up....