Let's Talk Handmade. Let's Talk Local.

So, this post got uploaded way later than I had planned, but enough about that.  How many gifts did you buy from a box store this year?  How about holiday decorations? Or even food? There are tons of opportunities to buy products made locally, and I am going to challenge everyone to pick a few things and only buy them locally in the coming year.

In fact, I've been thinking about this for the last few months and I've come up with a list of things that I will ONLY buy from local artisans through the end of 2017 (and hopefully create a forever-habit):

1. ALL jewelry (So, I buy a lot of jewelry. Like, a lot.)
2. ALL candles
3. ALL Soda (yep, soda)

I also have a list of things I buy regularly that I am going to make more of an effort to buy locally- made:

Journals (I go through 'em)
Yarn (yesssssss)
Socks
Condiments

We'll be exploring this journey more throughout the year. That's right, this is just the first of many "Buy Local" posts. Excited??  Me too!!

So let's take a look at three amazing local businesses where we can get some pretty amazing locally made stuff. (And, you know, last minute holiday gifts- but make sure you visit the shop websites for hours!!!)

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{Caboodle Gifts}

1507 S. Holly Street Denver, CO

Wine rack, upper right. You need it.

Marlene told me she came up with the idea of Caboodle Gifts when she was attending La Leche League meetings, where women would bring their crafts. She was impressed with the high quality and caring craftsmanship that these Home Hobbyists put into their art. Her store has been open for over seven years now and has received many awards, including the Channel 7 A-list “Top 5 Gift Shop in Denver” Award for 2016.

I want this. (You do, too. I know because we're friends.)

I have the perfect shelf at home for these...in case you're thinking of buying me a present.

The second I drove up to the storefront, I wanted to kick myself for not stopping in this shop a long time ago. As I pulled into the parking lot, I spied the chalkboard sign covered in colorful, metal flowers. I love signs like these. They are like lighthouses for hand-craft-goods obsessed people- maneuver through this parking lot and find a little paradise: amazing smells, the softest hand dyed fabrics and hand-made goods as far as the eye can see. Soooo awesome.

There are so many cute softies in the store.

If you know a knitter or crochet-er, this is a great gift.

The majority of vendors selling goods in the store are from Colorado, and the artists range in ages from nine to seventy-nine. And if you’re looking for eco-friendly, you’ll definitely find it here. There are many awesome upcycled treasures.

And Marlene offers a variety of super rad craft classes!! Visit Caboodle's website to find out more!

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{Danny Cash Hot Shop}

1045 S. Fox Street Denver, CO

So, do you know anyone who likes, say, hot sauce? Or Salsa? (Yeah, you do) Or marinating and bbqing? Or maybe you know someone who likes Bloody Marys? I think everyone falls under one of those categories. Basically, Danny Cash Hot Shop isn't just a great place to pick up a gift, it's a great place to buy ALL your condiments. It's a great place for inspiration for ALL your recipes. It's just a great place to be. Go there.

Danny Cash started his hot-sauce making business in the kitchen of a church and now his collection of sauces fill the shelves of a warehouse off Santa Fe and Mississippi. If you’ve ever sloshed hot sauce on your eggs at Sam’s No. 5, you’ve probably enjoyed Danny’s.

For the hardcore hot sauce connoisseur, Danny sells capsaicin. Be warned that this is highly concentrated, serious stuff. As in, I feel bad for the employee that has to even touch the bottle.

Danny Cash's offers some really great deals like their Sauce of the Month Club and their Ghost Pepper and Habanero Powder Keychains. Go to their website, stop by their store and get the great tasting, carefully crafted seasonings your food deserves.

This is going to be my next purchase.

We eat salsa at our house like a cross-fitter drinks water, so this is like a fantasy shelf.

I seriously can not WAIT to stop in this shop again. The staff was great and the selection is just amazing. I got some super awesome assistance from the staff to figure out which sauce I was going to leave with. After a few minutes of conversation and a little taste testing, I picked out a garlic hot sauce that I thought would taste amazing over carnitas OR eggs.

And let me tell you, Super Taco Night was freaking awesome.

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{Thread- A Handmade Boutique}

1227 21st Street Denver, CO

I stood outside Thread's storefront in anticipation. The clothing displayed on the sidewalk in front of the door was calling my name. And its insides sure didn't disappoint. Located right in downtown Denver, Thread had been showcasing handmade goodness for five years. This amazing little nook is chocked full of all kinds of beautifully crafted products, in fact, it hosts over 100 local vendors.

I can not WAIT to pick some of this yarn up on my next visit.

I may have told my husband to buy anything off this display for me for Xmas.

So I took eight thousand pictures of the jewelry in this shop (because I have a problem, obviously), but there's so much more than necklaces and earrings. There are tons of gorgeous clothes, incredible art like woven wall hangings, baby products, and all kinds of accessories, glassware, bags, paper goods, I can't even list them all off-hand.

These are books of handmade paper, bound by hand, decorated by hand.

Your next bag/purse purchase should probably be this.

You need these pins.

Thread's shop owner, Ellis Ann, is a crafter herself, and creates mostly upcycled, retooled clothing. She comes from a family of crafters and wanted to create a space that didn't only provide a capacity to sell, but also a space where artists could get to know one another. You can read more about this incredible community on Thread's website.

I asked her what her favorite part of working with local vendors was, she replied :

"...Working with local vendors gives me a lot of pride! I feel proud to support local folks and the handmade scene. I truly believe it is important to foster community and work to keep the non corporate world alive. There is a place for mass produced products in our culture, clearly...but imagine if it was all we had..."

Ellis Ann makes a fantastic point- there's nothing wrong with buying mass produced goods sometimes, you shouldn't feel completely guilty when you shop at Target or the mall- but there is definitely room to make local and handmade purchases on a regular basis.

Thanks for checking out this blog, now go see these amazing stores for yourself and take some time to think about making a buy-local commitment next year! What wares in your life could become an entirely local and handmade purchase?

Have a great Holiday everyone!

Sarah

P.S.- Just in case you missed the links in the text, here are the web addresses for all three shops:

Caboodle Gifts: http://www.caboodlegifts.com/

Danny Cash Hot Shop: http://www.dannycash.com/

Thread- A Handmade Boutique: https://threadcommunity.com/

Scratch Craft Boutique!

Hey Friends! I have a little announcement: My friend Desiree and I are uniting in crafty goodness under the kick ass homemade handmade business: 

Scratch Craft Boutique!  

We are making a commitment to selling our handmade arts at craft fairs all over town starting OCTOBER 23RD!! Yes, Goodnight Sprite is still a thing and I will still be selling stuff on my etsy, and YES, Sunshine Satellite is still a thing and I will get my four or five posts a year uploaded on this site. But for today, please visit Scratch Craft Boutique's blog- because I created a super cute crochet spider project and that's where I posted it!

Thanks for the support and don't forget, if you want to buy a spider or any of my little animals, stop by the Great Bar Bazaar this Sunday from 11-5!  As usual, this kick ass event is at 3480 Park Ave W A, Denver, CO 80216. So come on down!  

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFTS!

I'm going to start this post by saying I am incredibly lucky to have such a creative and crafty friend. When Desiree showed me the art she was planning to sell at our booth, I thought, damn, she's going to have to make a lot more because I'm going to buy all these right now.  Seriously, look at this awesomeness:

Buy these: Sunday, July 10th

The details are ridiculously perfectly placed. The colors are fantastic. When her art blows up at craft fairs all over the Front Range, I'm gonna be like, "I knew her before she was famous. Back in the day, she used to wood-burn in MY kitchen." And then I'll pop out my cellphone and make everyone look at the proof. Whether they want to or not.  

The craft show is Sunday, July 10th

I will have the Goodnight Sprite usual: cute blankies, crocheted softies and some vintage clothing. Here's a few shots of me in the process. As usual, I will be sewing up til the last second we have to leave to load in. I am a procraftinator. 

Sunday

July 10th

Don't you want these totally cute AND adorable things in your house? Well, you can buy them this weekend:  Sunday, July 10th at The Great Bar Bazaar in Denver, Colorado. We are honored to be selling our handmade stock alongside 12 other crafty entrepreneurs at Roo Bar from 11 AM to 6 PM. This event is completely family friendly- there will be a kid craft table and other fun things. 

There will even be live music from 4pm to 6pm. *ahem* My band, Rad Habit, plays at 5 pm. I am really excited to be playing with Smokey Report, I saw them about a year ago and they rocked.  

Some of my favorite local vendors will be selling goods at the Bazaar, in fact, I am worried that I'm going to blow more money at the show than I'll make. So help save me from financial ruin- check out some of the amazing vendors that will have booths at the Bazaar:

Tolirad Upcycled

Hazel Ray instagram @shophazelray

Crampton's Curios instagram @cramptons_curios

Midnight Jo instagram @midnightjo

Vagabond Supply Co. instagram @vagabondsupplyco

ABARRANT Jewelry Co. instagram @Chellocita_bonita

Lîla Painting Et Cetera instagram @lilapaintingetc

Bone Hugs n Jewelry instagram @bonehugsnjewelry

Jewelry by Karen Cuda

Majik-Maid Bath & Beauty

Alley Cat Kitsch instagram @alleycat_kitsch

See you on Sunday! (July 10th, Roo Bar, Denver)

Sewing Sailor Tops Thursday

When I first took up sewing, I thought I was going to make all kinds of sweet, perfectly-fitting clothes for myself. I thought I'd start doing alterations for friends as a side job. I thought I'd eventually design a few dresses and open an online boutique. All seamstress-y and awesome like.

I also really wanted to meet Nicole Ritchie. Remember that Fashion Star show? 

I soon learned that garment-construction takes a level of patience that, at the time, I just did not possess.  I tried paper patterns and did not understand the directions. I tried PDF patterns and couldn't even get the damn patterns put together correctly without bursting into tears. I cut out pattern pieces and the notches never matched up. I'd sew something together and it would either be WAY too big or WAY too small. Or one arm hole was huge and the other was small. Or I couldn't get my head through the collar hole to see if the shirt fit.

I cried more times than I finished a project.  

I dumped making clothes for quilting.  I found making blankets far more enjoyable.  

And it was a quilting project that led me into Fancy Tiger Crafts one sunny afternoon.  I hadn't been to Fancy Tiger in a very long time.  I tend to fabric shop online. I do this mostly because I don't like leaving my house but also because I don't like cutting table lines.  I have never actually waited in the cutting table line at Fancy Tiger, it's quite possibly an enjoyable experience. I just don't like queues in general.  

Anyway, I stopped in to Fancy Tiger to see if they carried a very certain fabric that I was using for my current quilting project.  I bought the fabric online but it's taking me so effing long to make the quilt that when I discovered I needed more of the fabric, I couldn't find it online anymore.

I didn't find the fabric at Fancy Tiger, but as I was perusing the shop, this pattern caught my eye: Fancy Tiger's Sailor Top Pattern. Sooooooo cute.  I am a SUCKER for gathered sleeves. I wasn't going to buy it because I HATE making clothes.....but.....damnit, I can't explain it. Crafter addiction took over and before I knew it I was at home grasping the pattern packet like Charlie Bucket holding the Golden Ticket.    

Now I will bring up another reason I'm not a fan of making clothes. You have to make a muslin. I mean, you don't HAVE to, but then messing up your project can be really expensive.  I mean, a nicely patterned chambray fabric can be $18.00 a yard, cotton lawn can be $30. That means this shirt could cost the same as a ready-made top at Anthropologie. I just want to make the shirt once and love it right away.  Well, luckily, I found this cute chambray on sale at Joann's.  Sixty percent off, can't beat that. Now this shirt will be normal shirt price so it can be a WEARABLE muslin: cheap enough that if it doesn't fit right it won't be a huge waste of money and if I actually don't mess it up, I can wear it in public. 

I decided that since I also suck at following instructions, I'd look for a sew-along on the internet.  What's a sew-along? It's where a blogger, who can sew better than me, makes the pattern project, sets up posts that highlight each step, and often times gives invaluable advice during the process. I ALWAYS search for a sew-along or a crochet-along on a pattern project, whether it's a bag, a top, a quilt. If it's a printed, purchased pattern, ANYTHING I can do to potentially make fewer mistakes is worth it. 

Searching for a Sailor Top sewalong is how I discovered Creativebug.com. It's where the Fancy Tiger ladies actually have a VIDEO TUTORIAL on this exact project.

I could not believe my luck.  

If you are my friend, you know I have a serious Craftsy addiction. Come on, at-your-own-pace crafting classes I can do without leaving the house? This is my heaven.  Creativebug is similar AND they have a two-week trial period so I was getting the class for free, which was nice because the class comes with a PDF version of the pattern, but I had already bought the paper pattern, so, potentially, if I bought the class I would have been paying for the pattern again.

If YOU wanted to try this pattern out, you could actually get the pattern AND the tutorial for free when you sign up for the two week trial at Creativebug.com. But if you aren't interested in a membership to Creativebug, you can also buy the class through Fancy Tiger for just $10.  

Anyway, I usually hate PDF patterns because it takes forever to assemble and I inevitably end up with pieces that don't fit together....

BUT...

The PDF came in handy when I LOST a paper pattern piece. Yep. I lost it. I cut out the pattern then let the pieces sit out for a week before I continued the project. (ohhhhh, that's why you trace the pattern on Swedish tracing paper and not cut out the tissue pattern....) I mean, the pieces sat on the piano bench, which no one goes near, so I don't know HOW I lost one, but hey, I'm cursed when it comes to sewing clothing. Luckily, I could just print out the piece I lost because I had the PDF. I only had to print out two pages and I'm very pleased to say the pages fit together perfectly. So, thanks Creativebug.com. If it wasn't for discovering your website, I would have cried before I even traced the pattern pieces on the fabric.  

The Garment Gods were on my side this week.

The video tutorial was so freaking awesome. It was SO AWESOME. I don't know how anyone learned anything before video tutorials. The paper pattern comes with directions, but, like I said before, I am not a detail oriented reader. However, I am a GREAT listener. I watched the shirt tutorial completely through before I began the project.

Stitch in the ditch foot. Please ignore the fiber build up.

Because I am a beginner, there were a few things about the pattern that made me nervous: gathering and stitching in the ditch. I hate stitching in the ditch so much that sometimes I will spend six hours binding a quilt by hand instead of even attempting to stitch in the ditch on my sewing machine.

Sometimes people say things like, "Oh my god, you stitched this BY HAND? You're so talented!" But I really do it because I can't attach binding with my sewing machine without missing huge pieces of binding edge and I have to go back and sew parts of it by hand anyway OR seam rip half my quilt binding. I even have a fancy stitch-in-the-ditch foot for my sewing machine. I got the foot at Rocky Mountain Sew and Vacuum during a "Buy one sewing foot, get a second foot of equal or lesser value for ONE CENT sale" Can you believe that? ONE CENT. It was amazing. (sign up for their email list, seriously) But sadly, the foot attachment doesn't really make me better at stitching in the ditch.

The pinning tips in the video DID make me better at stitching in the ditch, the foot attachment made me look like I did it perfect....Which I like.

So, when I get nervous during a sewing project, I tend to develop a white-knuckled death grip on my fabric and I start forcing it through the sewing machine and well, bad things happen, like I break sewing needles or sew through my fingernail (didn't know you could do that, huh? You can.) or stretch my fabric out.

Holy crap, it actually looks like a shirt!

But, listen. The Fancy Tigress that instructs the video has the most calm, relaxing voice. You may or may not know I'm a HUGE fan of ASMR (what's asmr?), and listening to this woman say in a calm and reassuring voice, "just take it slow" while stitching in the ditch or "that was hard, but it's over!" after gathering the shirt around the collar, well, it was relaxing. I know without it I would have ended up with a totally puckered, mismatched and stretched out shirt collar.   

Thank you, wonderful woman who co-owns Fancy Tiger Crafts, for having such a tranquil disposition. During the video anyway. 

I have no clue about her off-camera disposition.

But there were a few other awesome things. I learned soooo much. Keep in mind, when it comes to clothing construction, I am a novice, so these may be common-knowledge techniques I was just never exposed to, but DANG!! The gathering technique used in the pattern was amazing. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to gather a skirt, and after sewing it to the waistband, the gathers somehow disappear. It never occurred to me to use two basting stitches OR adjust my thread tension.

gaaaaaaaathers......

I'm so excited about this top. It turned out better than I ever thought it would and I'm already picking out fabric for another version (at Fancy Tiger....in case Fancy Tiger ladies are reading this...ha!)

So here's my assessment:

Sometimes your husband spills coffee on your pattern instructions. 

Tracing/cutting the pattern is easy and straight-forward. The notches and gathering marks are easy to see/trace. Unless of course you get up to flip a record during the pattern-tracing process and forget to mark the gathering points. But that's not the pattern's fault.

I realized I forgot to mark the gathering point AFTER I sewed the yoke together. 

I used the finished measurements for the hips to make my decision about size ( I made a large), since my hips are the largest part of my body. The pattern might suggest using the bust size, but all of my top-making disasters occur in my hip measurements. And nothing crushes the self esteem like a top that says it "flows at the hips" or "loose at the hips" and then when I put the shirt on, it's tight as heck, so I wanted to avoid that. That's when crying happens.

My hips measure 44 inches and the finished measurement for a medium was 44.5 inches...that just seemed a little snug, especially if I somehow messed up the seam allowance during construction, so I went with the large. I'm glad I did because it "flows" at the hips. The collar is a little big, but I will say that when I put the finished top on and did my size-checking moves (crossing my arms in front of my chest, sitting down and leaning forward with my elbows on my knees), everything felt really comfy. In fact, it was almost perfect. I think I will test out a medium though. Or maybe I'll blend the two sizes down the bodice, who knows?? Now that I feel confident in the construction of this top, I feel great about getting a little creative with it.

This is my first experience using a chambray fabric and I will never use quilting cotton again to make a top. It is just a personal choice, but chambray just gathered better. Because quilting cotton can be stiff, whenever I've gathered it in the past, it just balloons out. I like "a-line" style tops but sometimes they can be a little tent-ish and I feel the draping of the chambray help eliminate that. I'm gonna try a cotton lawn fabric next, I think.

Second wear, washed and dried. 

And that, seriously, is the most important part. For the first time ever, I felt like I learned something useful AND could do the whole thing again without feeling overwhelmed.

And without crying.

But I have to hold off on Sailor Top extravaganza for now because I am crocheting like crazy for my upcoming CRAFT FAIR!! Yep, I will be selling adorable stuffed animals and a few other things on July 10th at the Great Bar Bazaar! It's taking place at Roo Bar from 11-6 and will be featuring all kinds of hand-made awesomeness. I'll be splitting a booth with my friend Desiree, she has been making some super cute goodies. She has an eye for color that I am sooooo jealous of.

In July, I'll upload a more in-depth blog post about the craft show.

Cheers to tear-free crafting-- And if you try this pattern, I wanna see pictures!

Things I Like to Smell Thursday

Top smells: Rosemary, grapefruit, just-rolled-in-the-grass-dog: none of which are featured in the above photo. Good job, Sarah.
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One fine day a few months ago, my friend Des and I whipped up a few DIY products in her kitchen. We tried them out for a few weeks and now I've made new batches of the products I really enjoyed and guess what? I'm gonna tell you how to make them.

But first, I learned a valuable lesson when I started this endeavor of switching to all-natural, homemade bath and body products.  For whatever reason, I thought it'd be a great idea to try out the "no poo" method AND try oil-cleansing on my face at the same time.  Even though I had done a ton of research on both methods and knew very well that it was going to take time for my body to adjust to the processes, I still had this idea in my head that after a few days my hair and skin were going to be more beautiful and healthy than I had ever imagined. But four days in, I felt like a gigantic greaseball.  My hair was a static-y mess on the ends and totally greasy at the roots, I was wiping away oil that was gathering around my nose about every thirty minutes and I felt absolutely disgusting.

I needed a do-over.

On the fifth day, I jumped in the shower and couldn't completely dry out my skin and hair fast enough.  Once out of the shower, I immediately shared my delight in once again feeling like my old, overly cleansed self to my husband, who informed me that he didnt even notice my greasiness, which, in his defense, I'm sure was supposed to be supportive. What I heard was "You look just as gross today as you did yesterday."  Oh man, poor Mr. Heller.  Sometimes I think it's hard being a husband.  Sometimes.  

Ha, so anyway! I decided to focus on skincare first and the two of the products I've loved the most are: a face balm cleanser and a hydrating rose toner.  Since I know oil-cleansing isn't for everyone, I'm going to skip that recipe for now and share with you my favorite toner ever.  It's recommended for normal to dehydrated skin and there are only a few ingredients. In fact, there's just four:

This is the cleanest this dresser will look for the rest of the year.  The following recipe is from a book I have called Natural Beauty.  I love how basic this formula is and I've been noticing that the simpler the recipes I use are, the better results I get. I know it may not always be the case, but for now it's the trend.

Rose and Aloe Vera Toner
(from Natural Beauty by DK Publishing)

Ingredients:
3 1/2 oz mineral water
1 tablespoon dried rose petals
1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
1 teaspoon aloe vera juice

Directions:
1. Boil mineral water, add rose petals and steep for ten minutes; strain (I just used a tea infuser)
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour into sterilized bottle. Once cool, seal with a cap or atomizer. Store in fridge. Keeps for 6 weeks.

Shake well before use. After cleansing, apply with cotton ball or spritz on face. You know how to use toner.



So, my notes here are that I totally didn't keep this in the fridge, in fact, until I just typed it out I never noticed it in the directions. Ha!  Mine lasted four weeks on my dresser in the dry Colorado air.  My advice is, when you shake it, if it starts to get pretty cloudy, it's time for a new batch.  And I don't know what a sterilized container is, I used a plastic spray bottle I bought at Target.  Maybe one day I'll have beautiful vintage atomizers that I'll boil before I use them, but for now, plastic's what I got. 

Side note: My toner started getting cloudy sooner than I expected (now I know why) and I felt bad so I started spraying it like crazy on my face to try and use it up before it went completely south.  Let me tell you, it was not a good idea to drench my face in products starting to go bad.  Don't feel bad, just make a new batch.  

Now I'm going to convince you that you can use all these ingredients again for other things, in case you don't want to make this recipe because you can't imagine what else you're going to use aloe juice for.

So, steeping dried rose petals will make your house smell like.......roses.  And I can't get enough of it. I made a bunch of batches of this toner for some friends because I couldn't get enough of the smell.  I drink the leftovers too, because I can't just boil 3 ounces of water here in Colorado and get 3 ounces back- mostly because I'm not used to water boiling so quickly as I tend to boil way more water AND I'm at high altitude. So basically half of it is gone before I realise it even started boiling. I usually steep two tablespoons of dried rose petals in 6 ounces of water, (or 3 T in 9 ounces) let it cool, then remeasure and drink what's leftover.  The rosewater for this recipe is pretty strong, not like the Tulsi rose tea I drink, so it tastes a little...perfumish...but whatever. Rose supposedly hydrates your insides as well as your outsides.  I get my rose petals at Apothecary Tinctura in Cherry Creek. They have herbs and teas "self service" style, so you can measure out the exact amount you need if you want. I like to have a lovely glass jar filled with rose petals on my dresser, it's a little piece of pretty amongst the disaster area that becomes ground zero for makeup, cotton balls, hair, jewelry, loose change hair, and for some reason, mail I don't know what to do with (and hair).  But you can use dried rose for many other crafts. Potpourri, drawer satchels, maybe you can decorate a cake with them. Put em in the bath. Just search "dried rose petal crafts" on Pinterest. Worth it.

Aloe Juice. Aloe juice.  What can you do with it? Well first off, you can drink it.  Mr. Heller used to take shots of it everyday, but I toss it in green smoothies occasionally. And salad dressing once in a while.  But also, I've been putting it in my hair like a conditioner. I'll talk more about that at a later date. Also, aloe juice lasts like three months in the fridge.

Vegetable glycerine, you can eat it!  No, no don't eat it.  I don't have any other ideas for vegetable glycerine, so I'll just point out that it's an ingredient in MANY face and body products, so just keep making body products, right? 



Onward to hair products!  After my deodorant posts, a few people suggested that I try the “no-poo” method, which consists of washing hair with baking soda as well as an apple cider vinegar rinse a few times a week.  I tried it for about six days, and I came to the conclusion that I just wasn’t ready to make a switch like that. I have a deep personal connection to my morning shampoos and I just really, really, really don’t want to give it up.  It stems from when I quit drinking. I got really depressed, which is a pretty normal(but shitty) thing that happens when someone quits, and some days the only “win” I had was taking a shower. Sometimes I’d even stand next the tub and stare at the water coming out of the shower head. I’d think about how much I didn’t even want to get IN the shower. I’d let the sound of the water hitting the tub fill my ears and I’d cringe like the hot liquid about to hit my skin was going to pelt me like hail and burn me like lava. But then I’d pull out my super yummy smelling shampoo and something about a squeaky clean scalp just made life worth it. Wherever one finds solace, right? I figure I'll get used to a more natural shampoo and just try to shampoo less often before I try the "no-poo" method again. 

Des and I made a honey-citrus shampoo that we based off this recipe (we didn't have authentic African black soap or vanilla, so we made substitutions). At first, I really liked how the honey added great texture to my hair (it never felt "sticky") but to be honest, the honey built up and after three days my hair just felt dirty.  I may attempt to reformulate it, maybe less honey, more soap.  But since my goal was to find a good DIY shampoo for everyday, I decided to try a different recipe: coconut milk shampoo. 

I. love. it. LOVE. it.  I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE using a gentler soap on my hair. It doesn't strip away all my natural oils, which accomplishes two things:  1. Makes my hair look thicker. I dont know why.  2. Puts structure back into my wave. Again, not a scientist, can't tell you why.  In fact, I subscribe to a subscription box called Goodbeing, which sends me a few all natural products to try each month and I got a sample of an all natural shampoo and conditioner  a few weeks ago. I used the samples for three days and I missed the heck out of my homemade shampoo.  The wave in my hair started to look sad again too.

Another benefit of making products at home, I get to make them smell however I want. So, this sample shampoo was "Passion fruit" scented and I thought it smelled like the bubblegum flouride treatments I used to get at the dentist when I was a kid.  I was not stoked on it.  Also, I JUST bought a new Rosemary essential oil and I can't stop smelling it.  It's my favorite smell right now.  I am currently putting it in everything.  Except deodorant. Inspired by another sample I received in a past Goodbeing box, I decided that grapefruit is also my new favorite smell, and so into the deodorant it went. (Last year I couldn't get enough Lavender.)

Anyway, just a heads up if you want to try this shampoo, there's no "squeaky clean" feeling. That was a little hard for me to get used to, but now I hate the feeling of super "clean" hair.

Oh yah, want the recipe for this shampoo? I based it off this recipe from a youtuber named Ela Gale. As you will see below, I left out some ingredients for no other reason than I didn't have them.  Still works great. 



My variation of Coconut Milk Shampoo

Ingredients:
1/2 c. Coconut milk
1/2 c. Castille Soap 
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil
20 drops rosemary
15 drops lavender

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together. Put in container.
Shake well before use.

A few notes: When I originally tried this recipe, I halved it, using 1 teaspoon of vitamin E oil because I only had capsules and it effing sucks to empty out a tablespoon of vitamin e oil from capsules.  This time I made a full batch but kept with the same amount of oil. If I think there needs to be more oil, I'll add another teaspoon of ALMOND oil.  I didn't use the fenugreek powder that is listed in the linked formula for no other reason than I didn't have any.

Also, not sure if it matters what kind of Coconut milk to use.  I mean, the kind I used is out of a box but it worked and I used the rest in my coffee and mac and cheese, so this is the cheapest shampoo I've ever bought! Ha!

I measured out the liquids in a pyrex cup and then transfered them to a tupperware container to shake up, before pouring the mix back into the pyrex to then pour in my bottle. I don't have a funnel, so...I should get one.  But I wanted to try and show you the really nice froth this shampoo makes, it's not the best picture, but check it out:



I think it's luxurious....oooooooooo fancy......I know. It just looks like milk froth in this picture, but it FEELS amazing with the oils in it. I want to squish it between my fingers forever.

I use a face balm to oil-cleanse my skin at night, but during the day I wash with Mad Hippie Cream Cleanser and so I have a whole bunch of these brown glass bottles with pumps, because they are too nice to toss, and it turns out they work perfectly for storing this shampoo! (So it WASNT hoarding, see?)  The full recipe would fill two of these bottles but I am going on a trip in about ten days so I put some in a travel bottle.  In the picture, the travel bottle has a spray lid, but that's because my other travel sized bottle currently houses honey-citrus shampoo that I gotta clean out before my trip.  

I had no problem keeping this shampoo in my shower, but like I said, I halved the recipe the first time, so we'll see how long it can sit on the window ledge in the shower this time.
  
I am still on the lookout for a good conditioner recipe. Apple cider vinegar just isn't enough moisture and a recipe I tried with shea butter and coconut oil is just too heavy, but turned out to be a fantastic ROSEMARY scented body butter.  I am in the process of trying an aloe vera juice rinse while also trying out all the carrier oils I've collected over the last six months on my hair as well.

ANYWAY, that will be a different adventure to write about.

If you use any of these recipes, let me know!  I absolutely loved hearing about the deodorant some of you made after my last post.  

I am going to start doing yard work this year. I am a notorious plant killer, but our yard has gone to pieces because my gardener..I mean...husband...is in school and has ZERO time, so I mean, it can only get better, right??  Pray for my yard.  

Because I feel like there's just not enough pictures in this post, here's a photo collage of my recent attempt at container gardening: 



And, last but not least, I added a new little dude to my etsy shop, Goodnight Sprite!  Use code APRIL2016 for 10% off ANY order for the rest of April.





See you next time!

Craft-tastic Announcement!!

I'm going to be selling my crafts at an awesome craft bazaar!!!!  I realise this might not be exciting for you, but it sure is for me.  Let me tell you all about it, starting from four years ago.

Four years ago, I decided I was going to start a business making baby and children's blankets.  Quilts, playmats, minkies, all kinds of cute things.  I bought all kinds of fabrics and designed all kinds of quilts and even bought labels.  But then, well, life got busy.  I just couldn't put in the time I wanted to and my plans (and my fabrics) got put in some very adorable vintage suitcases and packed away in the Closet of Unfinished Business.

But then a few weeks ago, one of my friends approached me about a craft show she wanted to put together.  At first I didn't think I had time, but then I heard me say to myself "It's now or never, girlfriend. Take this chance!!!"

I'm very grateful for this opportunity and I love that it's my friend's first go at a craft show as well. We both get to realise a dream and that is awesome!

So here's a glimpse at what's been going on in Sarahmerica: CUTTING!! As you can see, I have a lot of boy-ish fabrics. This is because most of my friends have had boys in the past few years and I thought the selection of cute boy stuff was abysmal, so I wanted my blankets to be bold, exciting boy stuff, not the sparsed patterned, pastelish stuff I was seeing at Fancy Tiger.

I like bright. Bright, bright, bright.  So that's what most of the blankets will be.

I will also have a bunch of Christmas cards, christmas tags, and Thank You cards (you'll be especially needing those, right?), as well as some high quality vintage clothes and accessories.

When is this fair? It's called the Great Bar Bazaar and will be held on Saturday, December 12 from 11 am to 5 pm at Roo Bar (3480 Park Avenue West).

I know there are other craft fairs that day, so make the Great Bar Bazaar a stop on your crafty holiday goodies tour and check out my handmade loot!!!

Quick subject change: Next Thursday will be the first installment of Physical Fitness Thursday here at Sunshine Satellite.  I set a goal to be able to do TEN pull ups by next October, and I am going to use this blog to hold me accountable!!  I will be talking about some of the tools I am going to use to meet my goal, so look for it Thursday, or better yet, subscribe to my blog and let your email tell you when I update!!

Self Esteem Thursday

Welcome to another installment of "Self Esteem Thursday"!!

Yes, it's true. At the bottom of this post is the recipe for Lavender Cupcake scented deodorant that my rad friend Desiree and I invented by accident last week while experimenting with deodorant recipes. And it is awesome. It works great. It's a miracle. But if you are going to try your own baking soda-based deodorant and you currently use antiperspirant, it is very important that you read about my detoxing experience.

If you are using antiperspirant right now and then make this deodorant and come complaining to me when you develop a burning, red rash, the first thing I am going to ask is "Did you read my entire blog post?" It's why I put the recipe AT THE END and not at the beginning where everyone wishes it was.

I know I take too damn long to get to the point.  I've been speaking the same way I write my entire life, I know the look on your face. So just read it.  Get it over with, I'll try and make it entertaining.

*ahem*

I read about antiperspirant detox about a hundred times while researching natural deodorants that could stand up to my 1/2 marathon training regimen.  As I read each person's encounter with a horrible, burning rash while using baking soda-based deodorant, I seriously thought it was all a crock.  Obviously, these abounding personal accounts of searing hives comes from a skin sensitivity not a "detox" and all those people are stupid and I have a Bachelor of Science, so I am smarter than pretty much everyone.

But then I went to Houston in August, and I remembered that regardless of my ability to draw Bowen's Reaction Series from memory,  I'm quite often pretty flipping stupid.  And often humbled.  Ha! 

As previously reported in an early post, I decided on Schmidt’s as my first experience with natural deodorant even though I read about a thousand accounts of  "pit detox." I slathered it on my underarms one morning and waited for a burning sensation, but there wasn't one.  It was hot and I had a nerve-wracking Toastmasters meeting, so I sweated up a storm, then I came home and jogged.  When I got back to the house, I made Scott smell my armpits (he didn’t want to, I had to promise to never ask him to “smell my pits” again) but to both of our surprise, there wasn’t a hint of body odor.  So, no smell, no weird detox rash.  I was shocked and elated.  I thought “Wow, this was too easy, I am awesome.”

Three days later I had to travel to Houston on business. I can sum up Houston in August in one word: Wet.  Not rain wet.  That would be easy to avoid using coats and umbrellas.  It's really, really humid. It is inescapable drenching.  It’s unavoidable full body saturation that can only be minimized by arctic level air conditioning blowing on you constantly. I used to live in it and I just don’t know how. That horrible dripping I feel down my back under my business attire when I'm not even moving around, it’s not just sweat.  It is humidity building up on my dry, brittle, flaky skin. I often hear people say things like “soak up the humidity.” Screw that. I’m pretty sure that after being exposed to dry Rocky Mountain air for so long my skin has developed an anti-absorbing shield that causes humidity to simply bead off like water on my windshield after a carwash.  My skin probably thought I was drowning. So gross. 

Maybe it was just that it took a few days to actually get rid of the antiperspirant chemicals, or maybe living in a sauna disguised as a city sped up a “detox” process, either way, on the third day of the conference, I got out of the shower and put on the Schmidt’s, as I had done the past few days with NO problem.  But this time one of my armpits immediately broke out in a painful, swollen, bright red rash.  I was already running late and a simple washcloth wipe wasn’t making it better!! I had to jump back in the shower and wash the deodorant off my skin.  The burning stopped right away.  The rash, however, remained. Luckily, I had a backup deodorant. Sometimes I'm dumb but not that dumb. The night before I left town my friend gave me a new tube of his favorite natural deodorant, Arm and Hammer, to try and I just tossed it in my suitcase just in case.

The Arm and Hammer did not irritate my skin, but I did need to reapply it a few times a day while I was in Houston.  It could have been that I was just so wet and the deodorant kept getting rinsed off by the humidity.  It could have been that I actually started detoxing and it was going to be a smelly process.  I don’t know which, because when I got back to my sweet, arid Colorado climate, the Arm and Hammer worked pretty well. My only complaint was that it kind of dried out my skin.  

Sooooo I bought Nourish. It is full of moisturizing ingredients and uses cornstarch as its absorbing agent.  This was actually perfect for getting through the "detox" phase.  The skin under my arms never felt so spoiled. It was like I was putting fancy lotion on an area that rarely got any love.  Actually, it wasn't LIKE that, it just was putting fancy lotion on an area that rarely got any love. I mean, it's coconut oil and shea butter.  I still use it when my underarms feel dehydrated and if I had to do this whole thing again, I'd just use Nourish for a month and then switch to something baking soda-based if I felt I needed something stronger.

About a month went by before I tried Schmidt's again because the whole burning rash thing scarred me emotionally.  So, I don't have a timeframe for how long the detox process takes but I READ it only takes about a week, if you want to believe things you read.  

But since I made my own deodorant last week, I haven't used the Schmidt's.  Why? Because as much as I love smelling like Bergamot and Lime, I LOOOOOVE smelling like a lavender cupcake.

Desiree and I made two different recipes to try. We used ingredients we ALREADY HAD at home.  Look, essential oils are nice but not necessary.  You don't NEED vitamin e oil for this to work.  Use what you got, try it out.  Find a friend that hoards essential oils and team up.  (I am going to make a batch with Aveda's Beautifying Oil soon.....you Aveda girls reading this...) We got two jars out of each recipe, so we got a LOT of deodorant basically for free.  We based the recipe amounts off of instructions we read online. One recipe has more baking soda than the other. More about that at the bottom. 

Lemon Lavender Deodorant

* 1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or just cornstarch.  I happened to have a bag of arrowroot laying around that I hadn't touched in like 6 months because I like to pretend I bake things.)

* 1/4 cup baking soda (I used arm and hammer, which was next to the arrowroot on the super high up baking shelf that I don't look at)

* 4 Tablespoons coconut oil (We used unrefined extra virgin because that's what we had- and to be honest, probably adds to the "cupcake" aroma. But again, just use what you have or what's on sale) 

(side note: these top three ingredients are the most important. the rest is just fluff and you can customize it however you want)

* 10 drops lavender essential oil

* 10 drops lemon essential oil

* a splash of vitamin E oil (probably a teaspoon)

* splash of jojoba (probably 1 teaspoon)

Directions: Soften up coconut oil- not to a liquid, just so you can mix it up. Stir all ingredients together. Put in container. It will stiffen up overnight. That's it.  Desiree and I were sooo stoked to spend the afternoon making deodorant and it took about ten minutes to make both.  Ha!

To apply: take a pea-to-coco-puff sized amount in your hand and rub it around to soften.  Then slather on underarm area.  Or just take some from the jar and rub directly on the pit.  I do it either way. 

Wild Orange and Peppermint (again, these are the oils we had on hand)

* 1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup baking soda

* 1/4 cup arrowroot powder

* 4 Tablespoons coconut oil (looking back, I feel we added a little more for consistency, maybe another tablespoon)

* two teaspoons of jojoba oil (however, I recommend one, see below)

* 10 drops wild orange

* 6 drops peppermint

Same directions as above.

    serving size example and my cute new nail polish

Desiree and I both tried out the Lavender recipe the day after we made it.  I was telling Scott how great it was when I received a glowing rave via text message from Des.  The day after that I ran 6 miles wearing the Lavender mix again.  It worked great, no smell complaints.  

I was hesitant to try the Wild Orange and Peppermint mix because I was worried that the extra baking soda was going to be an overkill and actually irritate my skin.  Having said that, the smell is amazing so I just had to try it and I gotta say, it is currently my favorite of the two.

Just so you know, next time I'll mix the lavender lemon scent with the higher baking soda recipe, but I will cut back the jojoba. The Wild Orange Peppermint is a LITTLE greasy. I gotta wait a bit for everything to absorb before I put a shirt on.  

The lesson I took away from this experience is that I will probably never buy store deodorant again.  It's just too easy for me to make a good quality deodorant at home.  

If you are addicted to your pointless antiperspirant, that's fine. I will still be your friend.  I have never, ever asked someone what they daub on their underarms each morning in normal conversation and I don't plan on starting.   

But it's really, really fun to make your own!!! (do it.)

Desiree's handwriting is beautiful.