Family Time

I know I know !! But I do have a very good excuse for not posting in 19 days, honestly!! As many folks know I am originally from the UK, well it's been 12 years since I was home and this month my brother Christian is visiting and I've been doing my best to make his stay as fun as possible. The picture of Christian, Amy and Caity was taken during our chilly trip to Hampton Beach last Friday!

It's hard to believe that this towering 22 year old man is the same 10 year old little kid that I said goodbye to all those years ago, he's absolutely remarkable and a credit to my dad. He's fabulous with Caity Bear, has been helping her with her homework, teaching her funny songs and games to drive me crazy and taking her outside daily to play soccer.

He goes back to the UK on Saturday and I'm going to miss him, having him here has reminded me just how much I do miss my family, especially my dad so I've made the decision to do my best to get passports for myself and Bear so that we can go and visit.

And The Winner Is ...

Thank you to everyone that entered the Easter Ducky soap and candy surprise giveaway!

The winner is:

Lily Bean Designs!!!

Congratulations

New Giveaway coming in a few weeks, so keep checking back for more chances to win!

EASTER GIVEAWAY!

It’s time for a brand new giveaway, and this time it's for everyone with a love of the cuteness of Easter! Entry is easy, just visit my Ducky Soaps Etsy shop via the link below and then come back here and post telling me which item you like the best.


To Enter: You must visit Ducky Soaps store and come back here to tell me your favorite item!

*Want more entries?*
-Post this giveaway on Twitter/Facebook.
-Follow me on TWITTER
-Blog about this giveaway and leave a post that you did and where.(2 EXTRA ENTRIES!!)
-Add my button to your blog
-Subscribe to and/or follow my blog (Make sure you activate your subscription!)

Each of these can give you another entry! Please leave a separate comment for each one and what it is for!

Rules: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to me with their name and address. If this information is not received within 48 hours new winner will be chosen. As always this giveaway is opened to everyone, everywhere.

The winner will recieve a fabulous Easter themed ducky soap plus an extra treat from our other store Sweet Lollipop Shop

Giveaway ends at 12pm EST on Sunday April 5th.

Curly Caity

Caity and I love doing the whole girly thing and whilst birthday shopping for myself a few weeks ago, I came across these fabulous new hair curling spirals called Curlformers. They don't require any heat or products, just simply wash your hair as normal and pull small sections through the spirals with the special hooky thing, let you hair dry (we go with overnight to be sure), remove and voila - beautiful bouncy curls that will last all day!

They have different sizes for different sized curls and hair lengths, as you can see in the pictures my lil bear has very long hair so we need to use the extra long and wide size. I picked up these great fun curlers from Sally Beauty Store, but I believe you can get them online and the company link is above. What I really love about them is their ease of use, it takes me 20 - 30 minutes to put them in her hair, 5-7 minutes to remove in the morning and theres no chemicals or harsh heating involved that will damage the hair.

On the down side, I don't think these would be too easy to put in your own hair, I did try and it is doable but not exactly easy. Your hair also takes quite a long time to dry when in them so wearing them overnight is definately the best idea, however lil bear says they are annoying to sleep in! All in all I think these are great, they do produce some beautiful curls, are easy to use and don't do any damage to your hair.

SWEET TREAT GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

Thank you to everyone that entered into this months Sweet Lollipop Shop Sweet Treat Giveaway, I had a fabulous response from some super folks as always!!

Our winner of a fabulous mystery box of crystal barley hard candy lollipops and jewels candy valued at over $10 is ...

Jingle!!

Congratulations to Jingle and to everyone else, don't be sad, they'll be another giveaway starting very soon with a wonderful Easter theme so keep watching for updates!!

Crazy Dreams & Invisible Mice

Okay, now firstly I already know I'm a little fruit and nutty, but last night/this morning definitely confirms it.


Was up late, yes I had a little wine before bed, okay a few glasses but it WAS my birthday after all. 4am I wake up having the weirdest dream, I don't know if I was the child or the attempting to help the child in the dream, that part is now too blurred, but I do distinctly remember either explaining or being explained to how to act underwater when your drowning so that it's just like falling asleep and you don't feel the panic.

Really freaky ... yet oddly I woke feeling relatively calm

Then as I lay there attempting to fall asleep again I suddenly hear a rustling in the corner of the room that sounded like something crawling around on some paper. Thinking it's my little Sasha (kitty) I call out to her and the noise stops and then silence. Okay so this now totally freaks me out and I grab the funky flashlight from the nightstand and crank that sucker up and aim for the corner.

Nothing!

Scan the room ...

Nothing!

Now I'm totally freaking out ... get up and constantly cranking that recharge handle the search in the corner begins revealing nothing other than some wrapping paper, paper bag of husbands junk and my pink pom poms ... yes I have pom poms!

Now I'm doing a Nancy Drew, the house is thoroughly searched ...

Fat Cat is sleeping on the sofa ... definitely NOT the rustler

Sasha kitty is sleeping on a dining room chair near the woodstove ... NOT the rustler!

So now I'm awake, playing around in the forums and contemplating going back to bed ... over ... and over ... I will go back sometime ... flashlight in hand and ready to pounce the phantom rustler and whomp it on the noggin with it!

SWEET TREAT GIVEAWAY!

It’s time for a brand new giveaway, and this time it's for everyone with a sweet tooth! Entry is easy, just visit my Sweet Lollipop Shop Etsy shop via the link below and then come back here and post telling me which sweet treat you like the best.

To Enter: You must visit Sweet Lollipop Shop store and come back here to tell me your favorite item!

*For Bonus Entries*
-Post this giveaway on Twitter/Facebook. (Be sure to tell me where you posted, your profile or URL name so I can double check! Plus you can earn an extra entry for each of these posts.)
-Follow me on Twitter
-Put a post about this giveaway on your blog.
-Add my button to your blog
-Subscribe to and/or follow my blog (Make sure you activate your subscription!)

Each of these can give you another entry! Please leave a separate comment for each one and what it is for!

Rules: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to me with their name and address. If this information is not received within 48 hours new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is opened to everyone, everywhere.

The winner will recieve a fabulous mystery box of crystal barley hard candy lollipops and jewels candy valued at over $10!

Giveaway Ends: March 8th 2009 @ 12pm EST

Playing Catchup

Yes it's been days since I have updated but I do have an excuse in the form of a 3 day event I was vending for in RI,the Winter FFF.I only knew I as accepted for a few weeks so a lot of prep work took place in the last few weeks, however Thursday night, what craziness! I did attempt to grab a little sleep around 4am, but after laying there tossing and turning with everything I had to still get ready for the weekend filling my head I gave up around 6.30am and got back to work finishing up some buttons and pendants and finally packing a small suitcase!

The drive to Rhode Island was relatively easy, the usual male speedsters on the highway, making up for a lack of manhood with excessive dangerous driving freaked me out a few times but knowing I hadn't slept made me just as excessively cautious in my own driving so it balanced out.

Set up was fun, bumping into old friends, new faces, the volunteers losing half of my minivan full of product and my friend freaking out because he'd been in charge of it all ... I stayed calm, did a little search and found it one floor up within 30 minutes - panic over!

Our space was simply fabulous, CTAN is my hero this year, she not only gave me an awesome spot but because of how I was situated I ended up with about an extra 18 square feet of room for demonstations of Eds Portacross!

The company was great, the atmosphere bloody brilliant and despite coming home exhausted and with no voice, I had an amazing time, the highlight of the weekend running demo's up in the suite, something I never thought I'd be capable of doing due to my belief that I just don't do well in assertive social situations. Not to say I wasn't terrified but I'm darn proud of myself for overcoming my fear in my determination to make the most enjoyable evening for everyone that had given me the privilege of being their host for the night.

And The Winner Is!!

Thank you to everyone that entered Sweet Lollipop Shops first ever giveaway, I had a fabulous response from some absolutely fabulous folk!!

Our winner of the snowman in a snowflake ducky soap and bag of maple jewels is ...

SHELLY K!!

Congratulations to Shelly and to everyone else, stay tuned because there'll be a brand new spanking giveaway starting this week!!

Sunday Is Candy Day!

I'm going bloomin bonkers, it's the mold conspiracy, I'm even being chased by them in my dreams!

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm still working on the hard candy mold inventory, so far 35 tubs, 330 different styles and approximately 1800 individual candy molds are sorted, cleaned, numbered and in their new storage area. Looks like I'm about 3/4 of the way through regular style molds and then I have the adult molds to take care of ...

This week was a strawberry and watermelon bonanza with even one order of yellow strawberry ducks! Yes I did say yellow AND strawberry together ... that's definitely one way to mess with someones head, giving them a lollipop in a flavor that's totally opposite to it's color.

Bunnies, castles, horses, stars, teddy bears and musical notes were on today's agenda, I'm sensing a feeling of spring in the air, can you believe it's February already?!

Valentines Day Giveaway!!

It’s time for my first ever blog giveaway, in honor of the cold winter weather here in NH. Entry is easy, just visit my Ducky Soap and/or Sweet Lollipop Shop Etsy shops via the links below and then come back here and post telling me which item or items from either shop you like the best.

To Enter: You must visit Sweet Lollipop Shop store and/or Ducky Soaps Store and come back here to tell me your favorite item!

*For Bonus Entries*
-Post this giveaway on Twitter/Facebook. (Be sure to tell me where you posted, your profile or URL name so I can double check! Plus you can earn an extra entry for each of these post.)
-Follow me on Twitter
-Post this giveaway on your blog.
-Add my button
-Subscribe to my blog (Make sure you activate your subscription!)

Each of these can give you another entry! Please leave a separate comment for each one and what it is for!


Rules: In order to win, you must provide a valid email. I will be notifying the winner by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to me with their name and address. If this information is not received within 48 hours new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is opened to everyone, everywhere.

The winner will recieve my snowman in a snowflake ducky soap and a bag of maple flavored crystal barley candy jewels.

Giveaway Ends: February 8th 2009

Huge Giveaway Coming!!

So I've decided to do a few giveaways, combining my unique lollipops and my fun ducky soaps. The first 2 themes will be for Valentines Day on February 14th and Mardi Gras on February 24th.

It's going to be the first of many new giveaways on my blog so click to follow me so you'll be sure not to miss out! More details to come including how to get multiple chances to win!

Team EEAT Virtual Valentine's Bake Sale!!

Team EEAT presents a Virtual Valentine's Bake Sale! Held on January, 29th 2009 in Etsy's Virtual Labs at 8pm EST!

Come see our team members present their beautiful work. There will be great contests, sales, and amazing giveaways! Start shopping early by searching for "team eeat"!

Why should I come?

Trivia Questions! Answer a Valentines day trivia question, and win a $5 gift credit in a Team members shop!

And, we are having a Giveaway! We will be giving away a grand prize worth over $100! Plus, 2 prizes worth $20 each! Prizes will be delivered just in time for Valentines Day!
Visit http://etsyedibleartsteam.blogspot.com/ to find out how to win!

Get your Valentines Day shopping done early!


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Sweet Lollipop Shop
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Come check it out, win some delicious goodies and find some wonderful deals!!

Manic Monday

So yesterday I got to work on organizing the mold inventory, like "WOW" I can't believe how many molds were mixed up and out of place and when you have a few thousand in multiple tubs thats one confuddling mess of molds!
By just after midnight I decided to call it a day ... or rather night at 21 tubs organized and completely inventoried. I'm about a 3rd of the way there, but once I'm done it'll be worth the work and so much easier to locate everything - no more hour long scrambling around searches for the elusive crabby the crab mold that should be in tub 10 but went for a vacation to tubs 22 and 37!
Today was candy day, I brought it a day forward due to the holiday, and to give me a head start on inventory. Not a lot to do this week, most orders are needed for the end of the month or February at the moment, so some extra valentines and easter newbies were created plus a few naughty ones for the show in 3 weeks.

Snowy Sunday

This past month has seen some of the snowiest and coldest temperatures for quite some time. Friday night was the coldest most frigid night of the winter so far, the temperature before wind chill being around -12 degrees faranheit, apparently the coldest here in 5 years.

Around 11pm the power went out, I just about freaked out, but not so much for us, but for those others that I knew may not have the benefit of a generator or some way to keep themselves warm in such below freezing temperatures. My husband ran out and started up our small $300 generator that we purchased during the week long power outage last month, and ran in a cord to the pellet stove. In the 30 minutes it took him to set up, the house temperature had dropped by more than 10 degrees!

2 hours later power was restored, I hope for all the other towns also. It concerns me to think of all those affected that may have had no alternative heat sources trying to stay warm for those hours that the power was out, but I'm also so thankful that this time it was a short lived power failure and not the nightmare that so many went through in December.