Long Pause

Yes, it's been a while... again! 

Whilst I can comfortably sit at the PC/laptop now, it's a question of having the time to.  As our little girl is growing fast (she'll be 10 weeks old on Thursday) she is eating, needing changing, and interacting lots.  So a lot of my time is taken up with changing nappies, pulling faces, cuddling, kissing and generally spoiling her.

However, by way of a change, as you can see if you've visited Ravenstar before, I have changed the appearance of the blog - I came across these new templates today at Cute n Cool Blog Stuff and they're much better than the one I've been using.  Go take a look and check them out for yourself, there's bound to be one to suit you.

Apart from updating the cosmetic appearance of the blog, things have been fairly quiet.  I did an event a few weeks back - teaching a group of 12 year olds how to make bath bombs for their own use.  We made Rose & Lavender ones and Chocolate Orange ones, the latter smelled especially yummy as they contained some real chocolate.  Thankfully nobody tried to eat them!  I have a couple of other events lined up now too, so will have to get making stuff all over again. 

I've just got a big batch of stuff in from Bathbomb.biz so I'm really looking forward to trying out all the goodies I just bought.  Although all the ingredients I use are certified, and although the people I have 'done' events for are happy with that, I'm concerned about the long term legality of doing these so I'm looking into getting an approval certificate for myself.  It will initially be a bit of a financial outlay but it will permit me to sell a wide range of products legally, rather than having to give them away as a free gift with purchased items, or give solely to the family.  Plus, being legally approved to make & sell products should avoid any potential issues with concerns over ingredient safety, if you see what I mean.  Anyway, I ramble too much...

Business-wise things have been relatively quiet.  Unfortunately Jac's Path, a pagan/wiccan shop in Colchester where I was retailing my jewellery has closed.  Great shame as it was a wonderful little place.  But hopefully the owners will move on to bigger and better things.  It does mean that I have some jewellery available for sale - I have to sort it out and photograph it to post up on the web.

My most exciting new of late is that I have a commisison to make wedding stationery for my sister.  We've been discussing ideas, colour themes, styles, paper weight & texture for a few weeks now, and we finally have the 'right' proofs all approved.  So the next few days will see me frantically printing, paper cutting/tearing and assembling things. 

I'm also working on getting my website up and running.  It's been dormant far too long, waiting for me to do something, and if I don't press on, I'll be back at college, swotting away for my final year, and won't have any time to do anything.  At the moment, you can see examples of my work on facebook in the various albums.

Well, I think that's enough for now.  Enjoy the spring, now it's finally here.  :-)

She's here!

As you can see from the date of my last post, I've been absent a fair while.  Towards the end of my pregnancy I was finding every chair uncomfortable to sit on, so I wasn't able to spend any time at the PC updating anything that took more than 5 minutes.

Just blogging today to let you know that we had a baby daughter on 20th January.  She was due on 16th, decided to start emerging on 18th and then changed her mind!  50 hours later (I'll skip the details) with the help of a caesarian, she finally arrived.
Like any parent, I think she's gorgeous!  We're beginning to settle into a routine, but at the moment, I'm limited in what I can do, which is terribly frustrating.  Having said that, I have managed to get out to the shops, thanks to my wonderful husband, who has been an absolute gem. 
We hit the charity shops in Billericay on Tuesday, after registering our new arrival at the Registry office (makes her official!).  I got tons of bargains!  New boots, two dresses and three scarves.  She got loads of little sleepsuits - and a few bits for when she's older because they were quality items.
Today we nipped over to Chelmsford.  Bumped into a whole hoard of people we knew so got inundated with hugs/kisses/handshakes and baby adoration.  There were still some sales on so I managed to get myself some nice new PJs (only one pair fit at the mo) plus yet more baby clothes.  Oh yes, and I bought a CD and a book that weren't in the sale at all.  Oops!
Really need to find something suitable for a superman/superdad now - he deserves something really special.

I'm taking a bit of time out from crafting at the moment as it's still a bit difficult sitting in one position for any great length of time, but hopefully in a few more weeks, we'll be more settled at home, and I'll be more comfortable.
In the meantime, I may just randomly blog about stuff!

Still fixing it...

Not quite happy with the appearance of this template.  The column settings seem a little too far to the right of the page when viewed, and I can't see how to make the 'blogs I'm following' display properly - theyr'e all a bit squashed.

At the moment I'm not sure if it's a problem with Internet Explorer or a problem with the template.   Whichever it is, hopefully I'll get it sorted out soon.

Updates to come on latest craft fairs etc but I've been a bit busy making gifts for the family lately.  Feel free to post comments here in the meantime!

Just a quick one!

So, the bath bombs are boxed, the shower gel is bottled, and the soaps are all made, bagged and packed.  In case you'd missed all the excitement of my making them, here are some pictures.



"Masculine selection"



"Feminine selection"

We're just sorting out final things for the Billericay Christmas Market.  It's on from 11am - 6pm and has tons to see and do.  Including seeing Santa, visiting his grotto, visiting me, and Daniel Bridge Photography.  Here's a list of who is there: http://www.billericaychristmasmarket.co.uk/Who_will_be_there.html so come and enjoy the carol singing, watch the street entertainers, visit us, and get your shopping done!  :-)

First Festive Fayre!

So, last Saturday saw me ensconced at Hanningfield Reservoir Visitor Centre, participating in their Christmas Fayre.  My stall was in the middle of the set up which was pretty good as it meant people had to walk past quite a lot...

The stall in all it's glory

The weather was cold, but dry and sunny, which brought lots of people out for a walk, and subequently in for a hot drink and a browse. As you can see from the picture above I had quite a lot of items.  In fact, this is my new means of displaying stuff, using deep plastic boxes to store items in. 

Strength Bath bombs

Not only are they easily transportable, they can be sealed and kept fresh for ages, and the labels with info easily tape/tack to the front, making it easy all 'round.  I've only got a photo of one batch here but I did end up with a selection of 4 different bath bombs for sale: Strength, Winter Warmer, Magic Sparkles and Sweet Dreams. The first two are quite masculine in smell, the latter, more girly - both featuring lavender but magic sparkles is super-girly as not only is it a pale lilac colour but it also contains a hint of glitter - though not enough to make your bum shiny when you use it in the bath!

Bergamot, Lemongrass and Black Pepper Shower Gel

Bubblegum Bubble Bath

The bath gel and shower gel were also new; the past few times I have had bath bombs up for sale, there's always been someone who has said, "Oh, I haven't got a bath - I only have a shower" so I thought I'd create something for them to use too!  The green version is a fairly unisex scent and quite refreshing.  The purple version is again a bit more girly, and again has a hint of glitter. 

As if that wasn't enough, I also made up some bath melts - I'd had two types "in hand" so to speak.  However, at the last minute (the day before) I had a bit of a panic and decided I didn't have anything unashamedly girly in the bath melt range, so I knocked up a batch of chocolate and vanilla scented ones.  

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L to R; Indulgent Bath Melts, Spicy Bath Melts, Zingy Bath Melts

Once people got the idea of what bath melts were (despite one elderly lady trying to insist that they were "lavender bags") they proved quite popular, but the highlight of the day was the success of the Sweet Dreams bath bomb.  I'm not sure if it was the fragrance (Lavender, Chamomile & Basil) or the wrapping, but they were flying off.  Thankfully I had the foresight to make sure I had a big batch in hand, I don't need to make anything else this week.

Sweet Dreams bath bomb



This Sunday, I'll be participating in the Billericay Christmas Market, so I hope the snow clears and the sun comes out for a bit, otherwise it may be a bit of a soggy affair.  Having said that, we've got a gazebo which will keep the worst of the weather off, and we have some comfy chairs, blankets and hot drinks on standby.  Why not come along and say hello?  We're at the far end of the High Street, near Subway, so you can grab a coffee whilst you browse.  There's plenty to see and do, plus all the regular shops look as though they'll be open too.  Hope to see you there!

Busy

It may be a foggy day here in Essex, but I can't really see as I've steamed the kitchen windows up whilst busily making bath melts.

I have a good few craft fairs coming up in time for the festive season so I've just done a bit of a 'recce' on my current stock and am not making sure I have enough to tide me over for the first one or two. 

Bath melts are first on the list, to be followed by bath bombs, bath gels and soaps.

For the record, all my ingredients are certified cosmetic grade from the supplier, or, in the case of any edible additions (herbs, salt, etc.) they're food-grade.  Working on getting certification!

As I'm writing this I'm waiting for my bath melts mix to melt, so that I can add my custom fragrance blend for this batch which is a reasonably masculine scent.

If time permits I aim to get a batch of soaps made up as well; they'll be teeny weeny bars - sample size, if you like.  I'll be making several different fragrances over the next few days so when I come to package those up there will be a 'selection pack' type scenario.

After that, I've booked in a 'making day' with a friend.  That's where we get together, swap recipes and ideas and make new product batches up. 

Once those are all under my belt, so to speak, I need to review what I have in hand jewellery-wise.  I think the low-cost earrings are all ok but may need to make up some more pendants, bracelets and 'special' items; earrings or bracelets using semi-precious stones.

If you want to see more details of what I'm up to, or just have general updates then you can also find me elsewhere -
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/RavenstarHandcrafts
Twitter -      http://twitter.com/RavenstarCrafts
In due course, a web page will be up and running, but at the moment, it's still under development.