Red Currant Crush On You for June S.O.T.M.

If you don't have a Scrub of the Month subscription yet, here's an example of what you've been missing. This month, subscribers (and only subscribers, sorry) received jars of this incredibly beautiful, tart and sweet Red Currant Crush On You in the mail. We thought those of you that haven't seem them should get at least a quick gander at what we're shipping subscribers. We'll try to remember to do more of these sneak peeks.

To our S.O.T.M. members: Thanks for the support! We hope you're enjoying our latest puckerific scrub!

Laundry Day Treasury

Sweet Melly Jane created this Etsy Treasury and included my Sexy Laundry Day Green Lovelies soap. How nice. Mellow visions for laundry days, yes?

Also, I recreated the sample labels due to the time consuming mess I created for myself, and I quite like the new design way better. Hope you do, too.

samples

perfume oil sampler set

That's it for right now. The scrub-of-the-month-club information is around the bend so stay tuned scrub addicts!!

;)

hugs from me!!

A Facelift

Product Body's homepage was redesigned and I am loving the colors, the treatments and the whole vibe. It needed to be brightened up, cheered up and simplified along with our slimming menu changes.

We hope you like the changes and the eye candy. Thanks to my husband for his talent, perseverance and his patience with my perfectionism, nit-pickiness with this-n-that, and my random thoughts through the process.

Go see it for yourself: Product Body Website

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A Macro Detail

Shop's Curtain

Sometimes it's just good to stop. Look closely at where you are EXACTLY and see the beauty in the regular, ordinary things you see day in, day out.

Pictures Of The Shop

looking from the front right to the back door

looking from near the back door to the front (the front door is very dark in this picture. Just under the lit exit sign)

Brad, my husband, and I did all the work except we hired a plumber to install a hot water heater and to run hot water lines for our lab sink. We put in the floor, built cabinets painted, cut moulding, put up shelves.....etc. When I say "we", I really mean Brad. I was really there as the handy assistant who humped my butt off and worked and sweat alongside the master pro. Trust me, I worked like heck. He worked harder.

These two are only half done...

front half (shop)

back half (formulary)

So this is complete:

you could see the formulary in the back (bakery concept, sort of)

Now, these pictures were taken after the first day of retail, so our shelves are looking pretty bare. I will have to post more when the place is packed again with soaps and goodies and when I am not sick anymore.

(sniffle)

These don't feel like they show everything. I'll try to get it all in the next time, but you get the vibe...

Green Plastic Rings By Carrotbox For St. Patty's Day

I found The Carrotbox somehow and love love love their rings, especially their green rings being that green is my favorite color and St. Patrick's Day is approaching so it is quite appropriate to discuss the "GREEN". Actually, all of her rings are gorgeous!! I have a thing for bulky plastic rings and I am proud yo say I am a BIG Carrotbox fan. A little about them, just so you know where it all came from....

Quoted from her site:

"The Carrotbox is a site dedicated to all those wonderful rings made of glass, lucite, resin, plastic, jade, wood, bakelite and even stone — anything, as long as it's not metal!

Why Glass and Plastic Rings?

It all started because I'm allergic to metals. I can occasionally wear sterling for short periods of time, but never on my fingers — and never anything that only looks like silver or gold. But I'd love glass and plastic even if I weren't allergic to "regular" rings. They're fun. And colourful. And inexpensive... usually."

So go and buy lots of rings from them. They even have a blog for updates on what they are currently making plus info on other jewelers! So check 'em out.

Gorgeous Cupcake Heart Stoppers

mini chocolate mud cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting

Every photo that o'holysweet takes is stunning. It is perfection: cake and vision. What more do I need at 10:30 p.m. at night?

Here are a few more, I can not resist the art of it all.

lemon yogurt cupcake

Yellow cake with vanilla mousse filling (Dad's Birthday cake)

whiteness

Free Downloadable Gift Tags

Paperseed.wordpress.com has the greatest gift tags. You can download them for free and use them for any gift. I used them on my bath bombs which you can see in these pictures. I printed them on card stock paper, cut them, punched a hole in them and attached with a ribbon. I think they came out very nicely. This is what I am using for Christmas tags next year for sure! They look so thoughtful, don't they?

Heart Art

For Valentines... at Etsy shops.

Sea Finds Designs: Green Sea Glass Ring. $27.00.

henrihopper: henri with hearts - blue. Print is a reproduction of an original art by artist. 8x8 - $25.00.

AmeliaMakesArt: Heart felted soap : $6.00 per soap.

littleblackrabbit: tin art - honey. Made from a vintage honey tin and discarded pine (4 1/2 x 4 5/58 " One in stock, $30.00.

geelizzie: Whatever You Say comic book glass pendant - -reversible. One in stock. $12.00, 1 1/2 x 1 1/2".



All of these Etsy artists have such original works. I my have to go get myself something. :)

First Cake - Wilton Decorating

I had to make icing for the first time at home before my cake decorating class, ice my cake and bring in the cake to decorate in class.  Can you believe that the main ingredient for icing is Crisco?  Pounds of Crisco and confectioners sugar, a couple of tablespoons of meringue powder, flavor oils and water and ***voila!*** icing!

That is me in my kitchen mixing the first batch of icing

The class was super fun, although I think my cake turned out pretty ugly.  Why you ask?

a)  The cake looks very lopsided and weird

b)  I don't like the colors so much

c)  I'm not big on rainbows unless they are in the sky or from a crystal in the sun

The rainbow took me over an hour to make.  Each part of the rainbow is made of hundreds of star squirts,  with each tiny star taking about one second to squeeze out.  The process was very fun and I thought of nothing but icing while I was decorating.  Immersing myself was a way to completely detach and de-stress, although I don't think I breathed because I was concentrating so hard.

Now I know why professional cakes can be pricey.  It's not the ingredients.  It's the skill of the decorator.  I will continue to share, but being a beginner is a challenge and can be embarrassing.  ;)

Some May Say My Work Is Too Much Fun

And some days they'd be right!

I have been having fun playing with some toppings for the small jars of Crush On You we've been making here at Product Body.  

The first one I played around with was the Crush On You in our newest Pecan Praline scent, which to me, smells so much like frosting.  I used Wilton red sugar sprinkles on top and with the sugar cookie batter feel of the Crush, it just took everything I had not to eat it (I think I have mentioned that before).  Well, it's true.

The next one was the lavender Crush On You which got sprinkled with tiny dried lavender buds.  It made them look so so pretty and peaceful.

The last one, which I made today, was Gardenia Crush On You.  They were adorned with anise star pods centered into the mass of sugary washy delight.  This one is my favorite look of the three decorated Crush On You(s).  My mother actually asked me to make small gifts for her friends so I got creative with the stars.

I became inspired by the soaps I have been reviewing so this is the beginning of my topping experiments.   Work was too much fun today!

Crush On You with Sprinkles!

Yesterday in the attempt to make a more affordable shopping experience for those who are having trouble pulling the trigger on $22.00 for a 9 ounce body scrub, I played around with our Crush On You in Pecan Praline with red sugar sprinkles in a 4.75 ounce jar. I really like the sprinkles. I have gotten into the whole decoration aspect of things lately. ( We made our son's chocolate chip costume with my husband this Halloween).

Looks good enough to eat, I think. When I formulate, sometimes the scents are so appealing and foodie-good, that it takes everything in me not to eat the stuff. I have to say, it doesn't taste very good... I have tried it.

I am continuing to crack the whip on myself. I must make holiday goodies for the (you guessed it) holidays. Fun fun goodies.

"Lotion Commotion"

Knit Simple Magazine
2007 Holiday Issue

Product Body moisturizers are recommended to knitters on page 8. This is a hip magazine. Knitting has entered a completely different realm in the fashion world. I think it is accepted into the young culture and is considered cool to be a knitter. Every photo is of a young woman, and the projects are gorgeous!

Halloween Cupcake Design

You know I am cupcake obsessed. But now it is Halloween and I am loving the creepy confections. Allow me to share the love.

These 2 were created by Wisdom Of The Moon (also and Etsy shop).

This is made by Cake Creations By Lisa in San Francisco.

Ghostly Castle. This is a kid craft....but I think I would have chosen it for a wedding cake. Who is kidding who? Kiddley.com.


Creepy Goodies by Brownie Points Blog. Note the "tissue sample" in the background... :)

Love it! Will someone please mail me some cupcakes? I am so hungry!!

Okay, back to work. The next entry I write will be work related. This is just so much fun!

xoxox -Jo

Lip Balm In Rare Form

I have been creating a lip balm for myself and looking for a unique container for it. I am pretty bored of the typical tube or hard to open metal disc-like holder. I came across this great wristband with flip-up lip balm container. Or solid perfume, or whatever else you could put in there. It's genius!

Lip balm addicts: this may be the most accessible lip balm container ever. You don't have to fumble through the enormous pile of crap in your purse, your desk, your nightstand.... just accessorize with it and it is at your fingertips in a snap.

Unfortunately it is available on Alibaba, which is an international e-commerce place of suppliers and manufacturers from all over the world. If someone is looking for a specific item they want to import, usually in huge quantities, one would visit alibaba.com. I have never taken part because usually the companies require a minimum purchase of 100,000 units. So if anyone finds this in the States, let me know. I would love to make Product Body lip balms in wristband form.

Ramen Necklace?

Pretty funny. Etsy seller, Danielle, makes her own jewelry with hand crafted polymer clay/paper. This little charmer is only one inch wide. The best part is that you can order the flavor you like for the Ramen! Chicken, beef or vegetable...

Other jewelry designs and dollhouse food in her Etsy shop are food related but get this.... a bunch of it is scented polymer!! So you can get Fluffer Nutter scented sandwich necklace charms or sugared donuts, bon bons, (below, Christina Hull might appreciate that!), and she even makes a scented lime margarita charm necklace.
Danielle started making miniature polymer desserts in January 2007. All this in such a short time! According to her shop, she will be making 1:12 scale dollhouse goodies. So either go to her Etsy shop here or to her ecommerce site here. They are truly cute.

I may have to get this little marshmallow Peeps for my 10 year old daughter. She absolutely loves these!

Barefoot Shoes

I love fashion and high heel boots, stylish trends and on the edge style in general. I found these shoes on Squidoo and I think I've fallen in love with them. I have a pair of Royal Elastics Chedal Mules just like these in Marshmallow/Iris and I love them. Get compliments all the time. It kind of feels like a combination of a mule and a flip flop, because the big toe and the other toes are separated as you can see with the elastic "piping(?) Royal Elastics have rotating visual clips if you'd like to see the whole 360 degree view of any show they make. I've had them a year and they don't even look worn and all my friends want to try them on. Go figure.

Now, I found a new funky sandal I like. I do not like to wear what everyone else is wearing and I happen to be attracted to the unique, I suppose. This shoe/sandal looks so neat. I just wonder if it's comfortable. It's all about comfort for me. They are the Vibram FiveFingers and it's supposed to feel like you are barefoot without compromising support and safety. The shoes are cute but I'd have to say the boots are a bit awkward, but according to Vibram, they are a highly effective shoe for boating, Tai Chi and Yoga. Ah Ha.

They kind of remind me of big foot with a wax job.