Merry Christmas!

......and happy holidays! we had originally planned to go to visit family today....but, with the icy road conditions, and a car that is still acting wonky, we decided it best to stay home. while i am sad about not seeing the family, i'm happy to be spending it at home with the fur~babies and taking a break from the studio! We are enjoying reflecting back over the last year, and thinking about all the 'presents' we were given and are thankful for. We are pretty content with all we have been given this year..... we had over 4000 sales this year on etsy, a candle feature in an international home decor magazine/ezine, lots of wholesale accounts, many customers turned friends, a fun trip to LA to see one of the brick and mortars that carry ophelia's and getting to meet dear online friends, getting an early christmas present wii to have a bit of fun and friendly competition with each other after long days at the studio, new friends, and moving the business from our home and getting our house BACK! oh, i did forget one MAJOR thing, our health and happiness! we are so so thankful for everything this year has given us and so happy to get to continue doing what we love! Thank you to all of you who believe in us, support us, love us, and to those who make us laugh and smile.....you all rock! Hope your holidays are bright and beautiful.....love, ophelia

We Made It!

wow.....our first real christmas on etsy......whew! let me be the first to tell you, it was crazy! leading into the holiday rush, we were fortunate enough to have several big features. this started the craziness the first couple of weeks of november....and it didn't let up until just this last monday! so, with our extra time on our hands this week, we have been resting, and spending quality time with the fur~babies. We also had our first home~cooked meal since before my trip to LA in October! We are so very thankful to all our holiday shoppers and customers who have made this last year wonderful! This downtime has lead us into thinking about what our goals are for the next year.....and of course, we want it to be even more fabulous than this last year! ......so, it's time to put some goals into place!

and these are in no specific order, just things i have on my mind going into the new year!

~get organized. the seasonal frenzy around the christmas holiday was only exacerbated by the fact that we moved into our new production studio and business office the very first week of november. we NEVER would have survived this holiday if we had not moved. but, with that timing came obstacles of having no time to get things exactly how we wanted them in the new space. so, we are going to be spending some time getting everything just right to be more productive in the new year. One of our biggest organizational projects is getting the labels back under control! i know that many people don't think about the time it takes and the organizational task our labels require, but, it's a monster that could easily be a full~time job for someone! we have thousands of labels to design, cut out, and organize on a regular basis, and i plan on utilizing some of the quieter times to tackle this big mess we call 'the labels' we have cabinets like the one shown here, but, as our product line grows with the addition of mineral make~up, we will likely be adding more. you can find this wonderful cabinet at UnexpectedParTie on etsy!

~mineral make~up expansion! ok, funny story. i've been playing around in mineral make~up for awhile. and, really, just hesitating about making the leap. not out of fear of it not being successful, but more out of not wanting to commit to it yet, when we were trying to also focus on getting existing orders fulfilled, managing the move to the studio, and trying to get our turnaround times looking better....which THAT is a whole other goal we will talk about later! recently, though, we went to the ONE and only holiday function i could commit myself to, in this crazy season, and because i didn't have my 'color' of foundation on hand, i grabbed a foundation from a local drugstore. fifteen minutes into the function, my partner says 'your face is green! why is your jaw green?!?!' well, most of you know that i'm on a million medications, and one of them can cause major jaw problems resulting in serious infections. so, within 20 minutes time, as my jaw is turning more green by the minute, a gathering of about 6 people have all determined that i simply MUST get to my doctor's office straight away. all of this stress caused perspiration, to which i dabbed at with a paper towel. my green face was now coming off on the towel. yep. my chemistry, which is so delicate to body care and make~up, was now reacting with the so~called all~natural mineral makeup from physicians formula that i picked up so conveniently at CVS. moral of this story, only use OUR tried and true stuff, then my face won't turn green! We've already started listing our new hand~blended minerals in the shop, with many more colors coming soon!

and finally, but certainly not the last goal for the new year, but probably our most important and urgent goal, is focusing on turn~around time. this last season, we were behind most of the time, and we are so thankful to all of you who patiently waited! we are going to focus on fine~tuning our processes so that we can deliver the same fabulous quality, in less time! {you can find this fabulous clock at LucyandEllen on etsy}


add to these goals, two additional 'little' tasks....phbbbblt {insert raspberry here}, i am promising to TRY to keep up the blog better, and updates via our mailing~list.....i know. this is always part of my new year's resolutions, and, since we all know resolutions are made to be broken, i'm NOT putting them on the resolution list this year. nope! instead, they are flat out added to the goals for the first quarter. remember, it takes 21 days to make a habit....or so Mr. Harris, my high school science teacher said, so, you may get sick of all the blogging, networking, and overall shameless promotion, but, if i don't get started, it can't become a habit!

so, here's to a fabulous beginning in 2011....both personally and professionally, and i look forward to creating many more wonderful treats for us all to be pampered with in the new year! blessings, love, and light, ophelia

That which we call a rose,By any other name would smell as sweet

hello lovelies! So, today's blogpost is all about how we got our name. it's sortof a long story....but, i'm sure you will find some of it rather entertaining! When i was young, about 5 years old, my parents gave me the barbie perfume maker....and thank goodness for google, i found a pic for you! Now, this really was the beginning of crafty little me! how it worked, you put the perfume bottle into the yellow tulip in the middle, then placed a little fragrance stick...those are the heart and round shaped things on each side, into the notches on the tulip. then, there is a little button that you would press that would cause the tulip to rotate back and fourth, thus mixing the fragrance into the 'fragrance blending solution'....ok...i made that part up. it was blended into water! I would then take a huge funnel i snagged from my mother's kitchen, and funnel it into her previously full avon bottles. i say previously, because i dumped them down the bathroom sink. i'm sure the fumes i inhaled in that little project were just one notch this side of toxic! anyway....i then took my newest fragrances and sold them at recess at school.

this didn't go over well. but, as you can see, it never deterred my pursuit of entrepreneurial endeavors. years later, in highschool we read Hamlet. oh how i was in love with Shakespeare! I was even more entranced by his lovely character 'ophelia' and it was even more cool that she had her own little apothecary!

so, fast forward another 20 years.....and here we are. i recently described our little apothecary in an exchange with a client~friend....and i would like to share this vision with all of you! ...'in my head, 'ophelia's apothecary' is in a small, coastal town....with white washed walls, and beautiful herbs hanging from the rafters drying. the cobalt blue bottles line the walls, and a little bell over the door rings to announce your entry. its a simple little store...but, its filled with love of all things nurturing and balancing.'

we hope you enjoy our little apothecary as much as we do!

Love....

We are in the process of going through a bunch of old supplies to destash eventually....sort of a New Year's Clean Up and Reorganization. Anyway, we came across this rubber stamp that said...'let what you love be what you do' and I was in the middle of trying to figure out what my next blog post was going to be about! So, viola....here we are!

This stamp really has us thinking about our goals, both personal, and professional for the New Year. 'Time' is so valuable...that we really want to spend this year doing the things we LOVE to do. Not things we feel we have to do, or things we feel reluctant, but somehow obligated to do....but things we LOVE to do and things that bring more love into our lives. I know this little apothecary has been a dream for years and years....and we are so proud of all our work and efforts building it out of, well, really...nothing but love and passion for it. We hope that in this new year...heck, new decade....that it is filled with health, happiness, and abundant love. blessings, ophelia

My Current 'ME' project!

I always feel the need to nest in the winter....and with the several layers of snow we have, no time like the present to work on a crafty project that doesn't get pushed to etsy! I just taught myself to knit a couple of years ago, and have many, many scarves to show for it....along with several unfinished projects...that we won't talk about here...lol.

My project this winter is to knit and crochet a throw for our living room, once we actually get our sofa, and get the living room situated. Which, at the current rate, may not happen until next winter...but, ya know, at least i have awhile to work on my throw!

My project is to knit several 'scarves' and then crochet them all together, making stripes from different textures of yarn. Once that is done, I plan on sending some left over yarn to my friend Jennifer at Iwunder to make some fabulous flowers for one corner of the throw....

I cannot wait to see my finished throw...but for now, you all will just have to see pics along the way. I don't have one yet of the progress, but, we will see what the next post brings....

In the meantime, please check out Jennifer's shop, and my other friend Celeste, who recently added Luxury Throws to her etsy shop CricketsCreations

Hope you find a nice cozy project to settle in with this winter....it's important when your hobby becomes a business, that you still find a hobby to balance that creativity out with!

Baking is a Cure for being Snowed In!

ok, so this is day four of being snowed in during the blizzard of 2009. granted, we did make it to the grocery store today....which is why i'm bringing you this recipe....but, still...you can't beat having 9 inches of snow for having an excuse to be lazy and BAKE! most of you know that i love to fill my house with cozy fragrances...especially during the bitter cold days of winter! i like to bake pumpkin bread, brownies, cinnamon muffins...you name it! when i ran across this recipe for one of my favorite desserts...well, i just had to put a spin on it to make it all mine!

for todays baking pleasure...Delish Vegan Carrot Cake feel free to take the recipe and make it your own!

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup brown vegan sugar
• 3/4 cup vegan sugar
• 3 eggs worth of Ener-G egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 1/2 cups carrots, shredded
• 1 cup water (if too thick)
• Walnuts, couple hand~fulls of coconut, and a handful of Craisins.
  

Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, spice, salt) in one bowl. In a second larger bowl, mix Energ-G egg mix and water (according to package) and mix in brown sugar and sugar and apple sauce until creamy. Add in the previously mixed dry ingredients. You may need to add some water if the mixture is too dry. Mix in the carrots. Pour into greased or floured dish. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting: {or sprinkle with confectioners sugar}

• 1 package vegan cream cheese softened
  
• 1/3 cup vegan soy butter (like Earth Balance), softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups vegan confectioners sugar
  

Beat cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla, then add sugar.

I like to put frosting in a bag and pipe it onto muffins, cakes, and brownies...you can, of course, do either!

you can find my carrot cake lip balm at Ophelia's Apothecary on Etsy ...its a great calorie free alternative...and it too, is vegan! Hope you have fun trying the recipe...feel free to come post comments afterward, I would love to know if you liked your carrot cake!

So Much Going on In the Apothecary!!!

Wow, the holidays are over! The Apothecary has been alive with deliveries, and shipping, and us just trying to keep up with the demand! As 2009 is ending, we are really trying to take time to sit down and prepare a game plan for 2010. We have so many ideas we want to bring to you, our loyal followers and friends.....and to the friends we will be making in the new year.

Some things to be on the lookout for in the new year....a new website off etsy...at opheliasapothecary.com, many new fragrances, more saturday night specials, lots of free samples in your packages, an email newsletter, and taking our show on the road....just to name a few.

Season's Greetings and loves and hugs!