Nostalgia Organics: Joyful Living Blog

Blissful Weekend at Blissfest

We had a delightful time at Blissfest this weekend. We met so many wonderful people and the booths were incredible. We strolled about and oogled over the treasures (and there were many). And, we loved greeting the sunny faces that visited our booth and chatting over all the goodies we brought along.

 
The festival overflowed with vintage beauties, colorful heirlooms and talented artisans.

We dressed our booth in towers of cake plates, colorful bowls and little vintage sweeties placed here and there. We even hung colorful vintage aprons from our canopy for an extra bit of fun. But, the main attraction was the display of our cheery collection. Joyful soap lined the tables, aromatherapy balms posed on plates and lip balms perched merily on stacks of vintage books (yes ... lip balms! yay. more on that soon).

 

Some of my favorite chicks were there (even my delightful friend, Heather, came along to help out!)

 
I think we may have been the "potpourri" of the party from all of the natural soap aromas and fresh flowers (loved these tiny spray roses) that dressed our booth. We heard again and again, "boy it smells good over here!"

 
I enjoyed introducing our collection to many for the first time. Seeing the joy on people's faces as they picked up and smelled each product and adored the special ribbons and trims - so neat!

 

Although I must admint, I was a little petered out by the end of this magical day. It was a long night before the event - packing and finishing up my to-do list. I was just about done crossing my T's and dotting my I's when the sun began to rise. Phew. lol!

I thought of this chicken as we were breaking down the booth. Someone told me earlier in the day that he looked like an unhappy little fellow. I thought he was cute. But, I guess he does look a bit peeved. Maybe he was just petered out, too. aww!

Perhaps the angry little chick wasn't happy about the sweet little bluebird that also came along. At least a dozen people asked to purchase the bluebird, but not one for the little chick. Sorry little chick - but, if it makes your heart feel better, I couldn't let either of you go. 

 
 
A big thanks to all the super new friends we met along the day. Thanks for chatting with us about our washroom goodies and all the sweetness in life. It was such a delight to meet you on a sunny day at Blissfest! Please keep in touch.

Hope you all had a blissful weekend, too! xoxo

Orange and black and sweet little bats

Happy Halloween, friends! I'm baking cookies and heading to a neighborhood party with my little Puff the Magic Dragon. Oh, Michael looks so cute in his dragon costume. Barry and I stand back and giggle and encourage him on as he waddles about with a big tail following. I think it's darling, but Michael's not so sure. lol! I will tweet a picture of him so you can take a peek, too.

 

So, in light of the holiday and in the spirit of treating - I want to tell you about two giveaway contests currently going on for free Nostalgia soaps and balms. Yay! The first giveaway is being hosted by the must-visit Natural Mommie blog at Naturalmommie.com until November 9th and the second giveaway is being hosted by the wonderful Prissy Green and Spirit Beauty Lounge at Prissygreen.com until November 10th. Go take a peek at the free goodies up for grabs (and super coupon codes, too) and have a spooktacular Halloween!

Terms of Endeerment: Something cheery for you deery

 

A sneak peek at our holiday gift collection. Yep! The holidays are nearing. Can you believe it? My favorite time of year. And, according to these neat little widgets there are fifty-seven days until Christmas and forty-four days until the beginning of Hanukkah. Yay! So cozy up with a caramel apple and nibble away at those pumpkin seeds before autumn slips away.

 
This limited edition collection arrives in this sweet, little prancing reindeer print available only through the holidays or while supplies last. If you look closely, you'll spot Rudolph and his shiny red nose frolicking amongst the deer. I hope this fun loving print brightens your smile and spirit this day!

The soap sack bundle includes three of our seasonal and most beloved soaps: peppermint, clove and sweet orange. Heartwarming aromas like candy cane and mulled cider overflow from the sack when you untie the pink satin ribbon. Plus, this gift of goodness arrives with an extra special something tucked away in the sack. But, I'm saving that little bit for another post. Squeal!

 
Then there's the single, paper wrapped soap of the same print available with the season's most adored soap: the sprightly peppermint soap. This jolly, colorful treat is wrapped with love and ready for giving. I designed the label with a little extra room for writing the deer recipient's name. See mine to Ellie Anne? Best part, no extra tags and gift wrap required. Yay! This makes gift giving easy peasy.

Cheers to the start of a magical, holiday season. May much love and laughter be upon us!

Tending to the little things

 
Hello, it's me! I wanted to poke in and say hi. I've been tending to all sorts of little things around here. Mostly little things I put off week after week and rearrange into neat little to-do piles every now and again. Well, the now came (thank you DillyDally).

We've been setting up a new accounting system. Ga! The last version of QuickBooks we had was from like 1997. Hello, new shiny 2010 version! And well ...with Barry's love of tracking every little detail (he's one of those finance birds) - we had some major upgrading to do. Not my favorite, but happy it's moving along quickly. On my side of the world - however, I'm working on several things I do love. I finished working on a holiday soap bundle. The bundle will be offered in a new cheery holiday fabric. It's really sweet, especially if you're fawn of reindeer ( oh, I'm funny today). I'm patiently waiting (toe tapping) for our strike-off to arrive. Once the fabric is ready, it shouldn't be much longer to show and tell. Yay! And, the bundle comes with a little pattern to craft some holiday cheer, too.

But, the most important little thing? Nursing Michael back to his old bright-eyed, energetic self after a week of being sick (nothing serious - thank goodness). But, poor little guy. I hovered over him like a mother bird. I'm including a recipe for a soothing bath soak I use with my little bird, too. It's made with gentle essential oils in dosages safe for children older than two. Happy to report he's feeling much better - back to his old sassy little self. And, I enjoyed nesting with him, I must say. He's my favorite little thing to tend to. xoxo

Falling in Love

I stumbled across the most addicting site polyvore.com to feed my passion for inspiration boards. What started as a quick peek at the most amazing style sets turned into hours creating eye-candy of my own. You can import all your favorite goodies on the web and make a collage of all kinds of neat thingies. Gaaa!

 

Now I'm ready to pull out my Fall decorations and (magic wand) turn the house into a big, happy pumpkin. The weather is finally changing and I even had a chance to revisit my love of the pumpkin spice latte ... I started searching for hay rides and pumpkin patches and - of course - costumes, too. I am Falling in love. I hope you are, too!

Big Nostalgia Organics Giveaway at Fig + Sage!

 

Enter to win all five of our aromatherapy balms and all three soap sack soaps in a big giveaway. Fig + Sage – the go-to spot for the latest and greatest, fresh eco finds is offering this awesome giveaway! Complete the entry form before October 2, 2009 at 8pm EST and enter to win. Good luck!

Pink, red, blue and a big thanks to you

 

Pink, red and blue are some of my favorite colors to group together. The colors are fresh and fun and reminiscent of the vintage style I love. I even found an entire flickr group dedicated to these colors. Heaven! So, I dressed up our new web homepage photos around this color scheme. And, when I was gathering little bits and pieces for the photos - playing and fluffing and rearranging, the movie Mannequin (1987) came to mind and all those amazing window displays I would ogle over walking too and fro in Manhattan when I lived there. Especially during the holidays. The window displays are spectacular. Really breathtaking. Gosh, now I'm thinking of the holidays. lol! See how quickly that happened. By-the-way, I just realized Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City) played the mannequin in the movie - wow!

The new "window trimming" for our webstore is just a little sliver of the big frosted cake I want to share with you today. We recently began offering our collection to retailers and have been met with such a warm embrace. So, I wanted to take a moment and send out a big thank you to the new stores offering Nostalgia Organics. We couldn't be more delighted! I  encourage you to stop by these fabulous places. Many of the stores have been personal favorites for years. The stores include: Spirit Beauty Lounge, Brooklyn, NY, Lilou Organics, Richmond, ON, Frances, Phoenix, AZ, Fraziers, Mountain Home, AR, Simply Chic Boutique, Fenton, MI and Beautyhabit, Westlake Village CA. Yay!

 

And, before I say goodbye, I want to be the first to tell you that we're working on a new rich and lovely hand creme formula and a few other little goodies. We hope to have them to market before the end of autumn when our skin really needs extra nurturing. In the meantime, we'll have two new soaps available in the next few weeks. There's a clue to one of the new soap blends in this post. I think you'll be pleased! And, we'll be offering free samples here to all our friends, soon. Until next time, enjoy the beauty of the turning season and take time to do something un-ordinary today!

P.S. I just returned from running in the sprinklers with my son this sunny morning. It was un-ordinarily refreshing and a little liberating, I must admit. aah! xoxo

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of [pretty] junk.

 

The title of this post is a quote from Thomas Edison. And, I think he was really on to something! Junk, leftovers, scraps, waste - all inspired me today. I created this sweet little dress from leftover packaging of sweet orange soap. The colorful, vintage books were all found at thrift shops. The pink and yellow roses are cake picks from my birthday cake last year. I'd say it's pretty good use of stuff that could've been tossed away.

 

Making a dress from our soap sack fabric reminded me of questions I'm often asked. So I wanted to be sure to update you. I receive a lot of inquiries asking if our soap sack fabric is available to purchase in larger quantities for sewing and crafts. I'm also asked if our printed soap papers are available for scrapbooking, card making and such. I want to thank those of you who inquire and encourage us to consider expanding and making our fabrics and papers available. As the designer, I am incredibly touched by the requests and compliments. So thank you. I am pleased to tell you that we are exploring (researching, recruiting, learning, planning) new ideas and hope to share more with you soon. In the meantime, I encourage you to continue crafting special little thingies from your soap sack fabrics and printed papers. I am also working on new patterns to share with more creative ways to upcycle our packaging. I look forward to updating you on these offerings soon! 

Before I close, I want to tell you that I, indeed, felt like a goofy kid making that little scrap dress. But, when I found an old doll and fancied her up - I beamed from ear to ear. I even begged my husband to come take a peek. Childish as it may be, there is a lesson I learned and attribute to Mr. Edison. A good imagination and pile of junk spark the courage to create without inhibitions. Afterall, there's not a lot to mess up! Plus, it just feels good saving little treasures from the trash.

Butter Mint Sunday

 

I wanted to properly introduce you to Butter Mints, our newest bar soap. I love the aroma of fresh garden peppermint so this pale yellow package of happiness is one of my favorite soaps. Full of cheery peppermint essential oil and a hearty toss of spearmint leaves, this bar is super aromatic with a most certain pick-me-up. Peppermint is a natural antidepressant and is cooling for skin irritations and itchiness - a wonderful, everyday soap especially for the morning drags. Plus generous amounts of olive, coconut and palm oils add a creamy, moisturizing lather that'll sooth and comfort the skin. Butter Mints will be available at our store early next week. Goodbye for now. Wishing you a sunny and rested Sunday!

Summer Camp

 

To celebrate the end of summer we drove into the mountain tops for a family campout. It was Michael’s first camping trip and – boy – did he have fun! We found a beautiful, secluded meadow with a small pond within walking distance. Michael threw rocks in the water, collected sticks and picked up pine cones in his dump truck. I found a moment to relax on a hammock and finish reading one of the three books I started this summer. We sang a few campfire songs, roasted marshmallows and giggled into the night making funny faces with the flashlight. It was hard finding the time to get away, but so glad we did.

 

The week before we left was quite busy. We began offering our soap and toiletries collection to retailers and were delighted to pack and ship more than two-hundred bars of soap that week. Our studio was in complete disarray and I walked around with a coffee-induced haze for several days. But, we are so excited about the new stores that will be offering our collection and will be posting more information about these retailers on our web shortly. In the meantime, I encourage you to steal a moment with your family and find much love, peace and laughter in these last summer days.