featherheart love...

Yesterday I received a nice package from a new friend I met through Etsy. Her name is Shannon and she runs the shop Featherheart Trading Co. I stumbled on her shop about a month or so ago when I found that she makes and sells hair powder (for you know, those slicker days with your hair). I've been wanting to get one for awhile since I like to wash my hair every other day but I hate the greasy, stringing look it can get sometimes. While I was perusing her shop I saw a ton of other great, natural and herbal things as well as some really cool hand crafted items and vintage clothes.

As I was reading her shop info, I really was drawn to her aethestic of having an old fashioned trading company featuring the things she loves, vintage clothing and her handmande herbal products and accessories. I decided I needed to say hello to her and tell her how much I love her shop and the whole concept. We began talking and sharing and after a bit, decided for us to do a trade. I was so thrilled!! Shannon is such a sweet soul and immediately I thought she (and her shop) would be a perfect addition to the Folk Reveries group which I am not so sure if I have mentioned it much here (I am actually quite surprised since I love sharing everything. To sum up, Folk Reveries is an etsy group I started last year and it has quickly grown with some amazing artists and crafters. I am so estactic about the group and this year created a flickr group for members as well as a blog in addition to the twitter and facebook page).

I couldn't wait to pull out the camera (on my new phone, finally, something!) and take photos of her awesome products...

I got a very nice lavender face and body oil which I used last night after I washed my face. A couple of drops will do (yes, oil can go on the face) and it's aroma was a nice herbally lavender. Very happy with it and happy to know it will last awhile while making my face feel good and pretty.
I've been hearing the wonderful benefits of Holy Basil (also known as Tulsi) for awhile and when I saw she offered a tea of it, I was in. Her blend is called Holy Basil Love and it also has rose petals and a touch of lavender and it does not disappoint. She individually bags the tea and the pouches are quite filled little pillows, she does not skimp! I had two cups of it last night (Rick and Nat both liked it and as usual, Nat took the rest of my first cup).

The product the first drew me in, gypsy woman hair powder! I have it in my hair right now as I type and I love the natural aroma it has (it has lavender and rose petals in it). It is not overwhelming in the bottle but it does leave a nice earthy fragrance in your hair. I rubbed it in a bit so it wasn't obvious in my brunette hair that i had it there and it does give a bit of life back to locks that can be a bit limp. So happy to have it!

The mugwort and white sage bath salts, the one product I haven't tried in the bath yet but can not wait too! Nat and I open this promptly yesterday and her fingers were touching it before I could. She loves bath salts (she practically has used up all of a hefty sample I once got from Sarah of Lilith's Apothecary) and I know she wants to try this one. I did use it as a scrub on my hand to try it out and I can't wait for all that goodness to go over my whole body.
Speaking of mugwort and white sage, I saw that she also offered it in a lip balm. I've been dying to get my hands on some mugwort for awhile, actually. I wanted to try it as a tea but also as part of an herbal blend for dream pillows (it's said to assist in dreaming). Among her other lip balms is a rose one as well that I had to get for both Nat and myself (how can I not give her a little something, right? Besides, we all know we 'share' practically everything). I must say, her lip balms feel like pure heaven. Very emollient, very smooth (not like some lip balms that you have to 'work' into your lip before it starts doing what it's suppose to). I love the true rose fragrance, not an overpowering synthetic one and i love the way the mugwort and sage smells as well. Instant favorites.

Last, but not least of my amazing goodies is the sandalwood rose peace lotion. This lotion is more like whipped butter melting into your skin. While I was pampering my toes and soles with this creamy lotion I was thinking 'wow, how would this feel on my face?'. I remembered then that her lotions can also be used on the face so I am going to have to try that tonight. The texture truly is amazing, like silk and butter at once and I love how she uses pure ingredients that everything smells the way it should. I am going to have to stretch this product out because I know it will make all of my skin amazingly soft.

Of course, she has more delightful concotions for the body and I really need to snag up some more tea along with a few cool accessories and thrifted goods too. Again, you put vintage pretties with herbal products and I am so in! I am so happy to have found her and her shop and can't wait to put her name along with other folk reveries members as well. You can also find her at twitter and at her blog.

Photo item credits: tea cup lavender sachet by encore petite, lace and feather garland by white owl, felted owls and egg nest by faunfare and embroidered handkerchief by tiny happy.

P.s. Here I am in my all natural glory, smelling good with hair powder in and wearing my newest thrifted sweater that I told you about last week or so ;)

new things coming...

I have a few new ideas of things I would like to create. Yesterday, I finally completed the first one I have had on my list for quite some time. I made lavender moon pillows. I sewed everything by hand, including the moon's face, and filled them in with sweet smelling lavender.



For the 'dark side of the moon' or simply, the back side, I put a pretty floral fabric. Who knows what the true back looks like, why not make it a little pretty, right? :)

I am hoping to make more and maybe some others would like them enough for me to put them in the shop. I also have another little moon idea (it's a little secret right now).

I am also quite excited for something new I've done for the wonderful and inspiring Nicole of Garden Mama...look at her blog for it and wait for a post on her blog coming soon!

p.s. my last post I included a photo of a few herbal things on a windowsill. One day I hope to have a windowsill and view like Rebecca of The Herbwife's Kitchen (just look at her header. she has her winter view up right now but I love the green view all the more).

ah, the new year...

Only a week into the new year but I am certainly feeling good and hopefully about this new decade. Many others have posted their resolutions or the year of 2009 in photos quite prettily. I think I will do neither right now but share what others have done...

• Goodbye, 2009 by home sweet chestnut street
• Reflections on the year passed by Thoughts and Biro Sketches
• You're simply the best by The Girl Who Married A Bear
• title unknown by End of March
• to receive without guilt by fieldguided
• paint you in silver and wrap you in gold by encore petite
• Making resolutions, Resolving to save money and Resolving to get Healthy by New Urban Habitat
• My crafty list of things to do by birch & sycamore
• Okay, I give in, I'll list them...resolutions for the new year by Moonshine Junkyard
• How to build community by Slow Family Living

Other endeavors and such:

• Mama Says Vintage
• The new Violet Folklore site
• The new Astral Boutique blog
• Be out There from Green Hour

I do have some resolutions of my own, it's a bit of a open list. One I have been dedicating myself to even before the first of January, 'stop waiting for others to do things I can just do myself' . Such a simple task but I was just slipping away last year in so many ways. This has really helped me alot.

I also got the book How to Sew A Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew by Erin Bried. I absolutely love it. Very informative, very terse and precise and it speaks of all the little things women use to do that we have seem to lost in the past decade. I have been energized and inspired by this book. It sounds so little and maybe even silly, but I have my favorite black slippers that I was thinking I needed to replace because of one tiny little hole. This book reminded me of things that can be done (and saved) and so I 'mended' my slippers by sewing little pieces of pretty fabric on it. Now my right slipper has a bit of character at the toes (big floral and turquoise polka dots). Very recession friendly too!

So, as the New Year has begun, a few things we have done...

Celebrated Natalie's sixth birthday at Disneyland


Started a sweet herbal oil, a herbal hair rinse and lavender chamomile honey (all which will be ready later on this month)


Made our first soaps together from a super easy soap kit Nat got from her grandma

Looking forward to all the new things (and comforting old ones too) that will come this year...

a doll and mandrake

yes, it's safe to say that i do heart mandrakes. a lot. so for my very first herbal pillow/doll i decided to make it a mandrake. i had so much fun fashioning this little guy and stitching the 'drawing' into the felt. the thread is a bit to small and light to actually see all the detail (and the photo is from my camera too) but when i make another (or more perhaps?) i will use thicker thread so the details can really stand out. also, this mandrake is filled with wonderful herbs like lavender, chamomile, lemon balm, rosemary with a few drops of essential oils. mmmmm...

i've wanted to make dolls for a long time and have made little creatures before in the past. today i finished my very first handmade doll and i am so happy! i wanted her to have a autumn feel and i choose colors that are very close to my heart at the moment. her scarf is braided yarn and i love how it contrasts with her dress and brings a bit more texture to her. i have still not named her, it has to be perfect! hopefully at some point today she will be named :)

fairy flower tea

Last week Natalie made her first tea blend. I gathered the ingredients for her and she made up her own measurements for each herb. She has named it Fairy Flower Tea and it is delightful!

in the clouds and in the herbs

We went to Sprouts Farmers Market the other day and though we were on a budget, I managed to get two tinctures (on sale!) that I have been wanting. I got licorice because it was one of the first herbs I read about that helps with some of my acid reflux issues and I recently found out that it also good for chronic fatigue syndrome. That's a great two in one punch for me because I am always tired and was diagnosed with Epstein Barr than CFS years ago.

The second tincture I got is a nettle blend which I got specifically for Rick and Nat with all their allergies and congestion issues. Nettle is also good for a host of other things too so I will also be using it as well.

In other news, I've been doing a few trades lately and have been blessed with such wonder and creativity from other women.

I got a delightful perfume and lovely earrings from a new friend and kindred spirit, Helena of Owlchemy (and of Beyond the Thicket). I've received apple leaves and bark and apple twig brandy from the ever so knowledgeable Ms. Kiva Rose and today I received a lovely little package from Maria Isabel of Nido En Las Nubes. The owl pin Nat and I both adore but I have to give in to Nat a bit, so now she has her very own Nido En Las Nubes necklace! ;)

an herbal day

Yesterday I finally made a couple of herbal things. First I combined dried chamomile flowers with vodka and in a month I will have my first chamomile tincture.



I only had enough for a little bit but I am greatly looking forward to it. Chamomile is a wonder herb, helping with so many different ailments. I am especially going to use it to assist with my GERD and digestive issues.



Kiva Rose hosted an awesome herbal blogparty where I got the chamomile tincture from Methow Valley Herbs. I want to try all those great links but had to work with what I already have on hand. The next thing I put together is a sweet herbal oil using cardamom, anise and grapeseed oil. I got the recipe from Ananda of Plant Journeys.



It looks like she is pretty excited about it too!

We've also been mixing a few herbs for tea. The other day we made apple leaf/twig, chamomile, nettle and lemon balm tea with cinnamon honey (and the cinnamon sticks all nice and sweetly sticky with the honey too)! very good...

Making things with herbs is so much fun! Last but not least, I created yet another flickr group, called The Flower Apothecaire (After the tumblr diary I have of the same name). So, come along and join in the herbal fun if you like. Happy Friday!

so much goodness...

I've been busy this week and have wanted to post and share so many things. Those who know me, know that i am almost everywhere and have other blogs/journals as well. I have deleted/ended some (like pretty little stars on vox and the secret cabinet at soup) and I am trying to streamline and condense.

I have started Magpies and Apples, my not-so-secret secret place for some things shared here and maybe a few other, deeper things or things that I feel might not completely fit here. I just posted a great entry on some herbal goodness that some of you may find of interest. I have mentions of: owlchemy, lilith's apothecary, for strange women, smallflower, and others too. So, i invite you to take a look! Feel free to comment and visit me there often too!

little weeds or my little seeds?

It's been awhile since I have updated about our little plants and such so I thought I would! Here are the very first seeds we planted, our little lavender. Though it will be awhile until we will see those pretty purples, it already has a faint smell of lavender!

My borage definitely has courage! After our trip to Monterey I got sick and was put out for a few days. Those days were vital and some of our plants suffered for it including the borage. Thankfully it's coming back but I can't say the same for some of nat's little buds in her teacup garden and for our cerinthe and sage. I planted new cerinthe seeds and am still trying to get the sage back up, so we will see.

These are the two that are doing quite well in her teacup garden (too bad I have forgotten what've I planted where!) I can always go back and look to see though..

Calendula, almost looking it was a bit lost too but is doing much better.

Remember our little silver mist plant we bought? well, it's grown and looks happy too!

And I can't forget Natalie's Hawaiian Tomatoe Plant with nice green little orbs (she is delighted!)

Now to the part of my entry where I am not too sure what what is (does that make sense?) We have begun to plant seeds directly in the soil now and since we have been watering more because of the seeds, weeds are sprouting too. SO this is where I need help if any one is knowledgable in plants, herbs, flowers and/or weeds.

One of the first little tin container seeds we planted was lupine (russell brand). After doing really in the container, the three that had sprouted started wilting. I replanted them straight into the soil (and then found out that they don't really like being transplanted) and only one sprout has survived. Now if you look closely to the right of the photo (a bit out of focus too) there are two sprouts. I am not sure what they are especially since most sprouts I have seen (which isn't too many I must confess) all seem to come out with the two little leaves opposite each other.

The next little sproutling is where I threw a few moonflower seeds that had been soaked already and was not doing well (or taking waaaay too long) in Nat's egg carton container. I am not sure if this little stalk is from that or from a weed.

In this next photo, we planted a few black hollyhock seeds (the watcherman) but I did not mark the ground as to exactly where. There seems to be three different kinds of things growing there, I just hope one of them is the hollyhock.

The next two photos are where we planted apricot sunflowers and mark the ground after we made the seed markers. I am not sure if it's the sunflowers growing or something else.

This next one are clovers growing and something else, can anyone tell me what? This is also by where I threw a few moonflower seeds.

The last photo is a little tree/bush we have and yet another unidentified sprout growth.

If anyone knows what any of these are or might have an idea, please feel free to let me know! :)

seed markers and a ginger root necklace

Today was a much better day for the bubelah and I. We went out into the sun and dirt to plant a few seeds and afterwards made a few markers for them. I managed to take some photos from my phone (yay for camera phones) so you can see what we did today.

I drew the flowers of the seeds we planted and she colored them in. I wrote the names on the back of the papers and just laminated over the paper on top of popsicle sticks. We made markers for california poppy, apricot sunflower, moonflowers, nigella and cosmos.

She wanted to keep doing crafts and I suddenly remembered about some dried ginger root I had bought at the farmer's market several weeks ago. I loved their strange shapes and just reminded me of little friendly root monsters. She loved the shapes too and we decided to make a necklace out of one. She picked the one that looked like a flower to her. I made a whole in it with a knife and she painted it violet and green. Once it was dried, we put them string in and added the beads. Instant necklace :)







I have one root that I am drawing on with pen ink. I can't wait for it to be finished because it's just so different and quirky.

We also made hair gel out of flaxseeds using Rebecca Crapabble's old fashioned flax hair gel recipe. Natalie helped me put the fir needle essential oils in it and it smells so good! The consistancy is so fun too because in the bottle it still looks like liquid but as you pour you can see that it's gelatinous. After I showered I put some on and now that my hair is dried, it feels springy and soft. Natural and recession friendly too!

Today was pretty productive with always more things to do than gets accomplished, of course but now I am just completely thrilled that Nat has her first tooth becoming loose! Exciting, now I have to come up with a tooth fairy box/bag craft to come up with and do!

they are growing!

our little seeds are coming up including some in her tea cup garden!


the tiny garden grows...

alyssum

chamomile

lupine

sage

and tiny sprouts of various seeds in her giant tea cup!