The Trick To Creative Treats For Halloween!

Do you have kids? Do they have classrooms? Then it's inevitable: you're gonna have to come up with some kind of Halloween treat. Cupcakes? Candy? Pencils? Stickers? They're all so, so, done before. My daughter and I came up with a great idea to make little soaps for her classmates.

I know what you're thinking, "Well yeah, that's easy for you to say; you make soaps all the time!" True, but the fact is that there are many, many little crafty things that can be done in a jiffy that your kids' pals will love. Here are a couple to get you started:

• Little soaps. Look for one of the new silicone cupcake/cake bites pan at a discount or crafts store. These make great molds for little soaps. You can pick up melt and pour soap base at any craft store as well, along with color and fragrance oil. Just follow the directions on the soap package to melt, color, and fragrance the base, then pour it into the cavities and allow an hour for the soap to solidify. Pop them out of the mold and wrap them in a little plastic wrap. Drop them into a cute goody bag with a few pieces of candy and tie with a ribbon.
• Witches Brew Fizzy Bath. This is really easy to make (I promise!). The ingredients for these are simple: baking soda, citric acid (you can find this at a health food store, a wine making shop, or in the spice section of the grocery store as "sour salt"), and a fragrance. Mix 3 parts baking soda to 1 part citric acid and mix it well. Add a drop or two of fragrance oil. Keep it simple by putting a few tablespoons in a goody bag with directions to sprinkle the mixture into the bath for some "double double toil and trouble/fire burn and cauldron bubble..."

With just a little imagination, you can come up with some really cute ideas for Halloween treats. With just a little effort, you'll be the hit of the classroom, and your little monster's hero!

It's a little known fact...

That in addition to making soap, lotion, scrubs, and anything else that can be smeared on one's body, I'm also a scrapbooking fanatic! I started six years ago when my daughter was born. It was my therapy: I relaxed while scrapping, and I also "processed" the events in my life. I was able to think about what really mattered to me and the kind of family I wanted to create. Plus, I loved all the cute little trinkets I could glue on my pages! :)

I've realized that I haven't taken the time to work on my scrapbooks since the early part of this year. I have had a lot on my mind: changing careers, a new baby, my in-laws moving to the area, my daughter starting public school, and now we'll be planning a move right around Christmas time. But, I have decided to get back into scrapping. It's something that I really enjoy, and I miss it when I'm not doing it. It's one of the things I do just for me.

What about you? What are the things you do just for yourself, and are you doing them now? I watched Oprah a couple of days ago, and the author of Eat, Pray, Love was on. She was talking about how she had lived her life ambivalent about many of the decisions she made. She had forgotten who she really was, and how to really enjoy her life. I have been there. Although I have been "sure" about all of my decisions, not all of my decisions have been in my best interests, and I have certainly not considered what I really, really, really wanted. Now, I do try to keep my desires fully center in my life: living my true passion, raising awesome kids who love others and themselves, and actually having a relationship with my husband (after all, I married him because he was my best friend!).

I have learned after many years of doing what was "right" that life is meant to be lived. Life is meant to be creative, dynamic, and amazing. Life is meant to be full of love--not the shallow "at first sight" love--but the deep kind of love that allows us to accept ourselves, our children, our families, and our--gasp--spouses, just as we (they) are. I'm learning that this is the deepest, most challenging, love. And it's also the most fulfilling.

Start by loving yourself just as you are. Don't notice your appearance, your shortcomings, your disappointments. It doesn't matter, because you are perfect just as you are. So, what are you going to do today to let yourself know that you love you? Once you learn to accept yourself, you'll know how to accept others and offer them the grace you have granted yourself. It's not selfish to love yourself because loving yourself is the most challenging task you can take on. It teaches you how to love the unlovable because no one knows better than you how "unlovable" you can be at times.

I challenge you to try it. Think about this: what would it mean to your husband if he no longer had to validate you and make you feel loved, attractive, and important? What would it mean to your children if they did not have to perform in a certain way to please you? What if no one had to do anything to convince you that you are a great wife, a wonderful mother, a good daughter...because you already knew you were these things? Let me tell you, taking this pressure off your loved ones is the most loving thing you can ever do for them. And how will you do it? You will have to meet your own need for validation, love, and security. You're back where you started: loving yourself.

Try it and just see if you don't change your life. I'd love to hear about your experiences. Email me or post your comments below.

The perfect gift...

It's really tough to think of the perfect gift, isn't it? Everyone seems to have everything already; these days if you want it, you go ahead and get it, right? Either that, or money's tight. I seem to operate under both conditions every year, even though I always vow to plan better, save more...

My mom can be the toughest to buy for. Turns out, she has an affection for a particular brand of porcelain dolls (which aren't manufactured anymore). Ebay.com is an ideal place to find odd and discontinued merchandise. I have to admit, I love, love, love eBay. If you can't find it on eBay, you can't find it!

There is a trick to buying on eBay, though, and until you get the hang of it, it can be a daunting task to "win" an auction. Here are a few tips to help you along your way:

1. Regularly do searches, sorting the results by "time, ending soonest." This will provide you with auctions that are ripe for the snipe. Sniping is the term for bidding at the last moment of the auction, thus outbidding the highest bidder before s/he can bid a higher amount. I'll explain sniping more below.
2. Search completed items to get an idea of items' selling prices. This will also give you an idea whether the item for which you are looking is rare or common. It will be easier to resist the temptation to bid too high should a bidding war break out. Or, you'll know to fight like heck to get an item if the listings are few and far between.
3. Buy It Now! If you don't want to wait for an auction to end, don't feel up to a bidding war, or (for some crazy reason) don't like to or don't want to snipe, use the Buy It Now option if the seller offers it.
4. SNIPE! When I first started with eBay (almost 10 years ago, LOL!) I was constantly frustrated by more experienced buyers coming in at the last second and stealing my auction away. I had to learn to snipe fast. The process is simple, but it's not for the faint of heart :). Depending on the speed of your internet connection, you wait until the last few minutes (or seconds) to place your bid. You must balance two things during sniping: your bid amount and the time left in the auction. Start your snipe late enough to keep others who may also be sniping from "picking" at your bid, i.e. determining your max bid by placing higher and higher bids of their own, but early enough to place another bid or two in order to outbid any current high bidders. This takes practice. I nearly always watch any items I really want end, just in case someone tries to snatch them away.
5. Call Me! No, don't call me (I'm probably busy sniping your auction!). Sign up with Unwiredbuyer.com. This site is integrated with your "watched items" on eBay. Log in to Unwired Buyer, and click "Update Auctions" under the Watched Items tab. Then, click Detail under each item. You may choose to have Unwired Buyer call you about an item you're especially wanting. Unwired Buyer will call you three minutes before an auction ends and allow you to bid on the item right from your cell phone! I have bid on items while out of town and away from my computer. I have been awakened in the middle of the night to bid on an item. I love this service! It frees buyers up to enjoy their lives, and win eBay auctions at the same time!!

This season, have some fun buying your holiday gifts! If you aren't shopping at Swanky Suds (although we are a great one-stop shop for all your buying needs!), then give eBay a whirl. Good luck!

Do you like the holidays?

I really do. I went out today and began thinking about what kind of gifts to get for my little babies. Well, one little baby and one honorary little 6 year old baby. :)

My favorite thing to do around the holidays is make gifts. I have had an insatiable drive to make things since I was an honorary little baby myself. For the past several years I have given handmade soap to my relatives. My grandmothers have come to expect it, and they rave about how they love the scent and how it makes their skin feel.

This year, I'm making gifts for my customers as well! A couple of years ago, I made microscope slide ornaments for my family with these really cute collage sheets. I'm making them again this year, and they'll be free with any purchase. What will they look like? Well, I'll get a couple of images up within the next couple of days. You're gonna love them!

Moving to South Florida....

Hooray!!! My husband just got a promotion today. He is now a market coordinator for Miami. He works for Nielsen Media Research (the TV ratings people). We'll moving to South Florida at the end of this year.

Now, I'm not necessarily a small town girl, but I am a small state girl. I've lived in South Carolina all my life, and even though I've lived in the two largest cities in the state, let's face it: South Carolina ain't South Florida! Luckily, I've visited the area we'll be moving to several times. It's nice. It also has the best scrapbook store I've ever been to. I'm still using some of the goodies I bought years ago!

Another positive note: there is a really great soap making supplier located in Miami. It'll be so nice to have a supplier close by for a change!

So, if you have any tips for great places to visit, let me know! We're only going to be there for a year, so I figure we'll treat the whole thing like an extended vacation (although my dd will be in school and my husband will have to go to work, LOL!).

Wish us luck!