Ophelia's Armoire....

ophelia's armoire is getting ready for it's debut....and have we had fun preparing! for the first time ever in 'ophelia's' history, we had a photo shoot with our new spokesmodel! her name is rian and she is incredibly talented, fabulously beautiful, and absolutely hysterical to work with! we are so happy to have her on our team and know that this partnership is going to be wonderful! so without further adieu, let me introduce you to miss rian! you can find her on twitter at missopheliagirl to see what she is up to!

Alice in Wonderland...

we believe that we have captured the darkly romantic story in an artisan crafted perfume oil! It's a deeply intoxicating blend of black tea, sandalwood, vanilla, narcissus, and tea rose. you can check it out at our etsy shop

also, check out our saturday night specials by checking out this link

have a fabulous weekend...blessings, ophelia

Studio Updates for 2010!

with the new year came new changes for our studio! we spent most of the month between orders, working on getting our studio set up to be effective AND a beautiful place to work each day! so...we set out to take over the dining room.....we have several tables, a rolling 'wrap' desk, a huge picture window....and most of all~plenty of room! We have a smaller room off to the right of this where we have shelves and selves full of bottles, lids, packing boxes, envelopes, wrapping paper....and lets not forget...ribbons!

we rent...so, we had to do something to spruce up our lovely {translates to ugly} walls....so we decoupaged wooden letters in a pretty black and ivory damask. {we actually do have a photo tutorial for those of you not decoupage~inclined sometime in the near future!}


we find it very important in high volume times, to stay incredibly organized....it helps so much in keeping inventory straight and it helps with supply ordering~not to mention, getting the orders scooted out the door!


and, this fabulous closet between the dinning room and kitchen....well, this is where all the magic happens! we found a fabulous kitchen island to store all of our bulk ingredients under, and it sits just to the left of this closet....

this closet holds all of our fabulous oils! it really is probably my favorite place in the whole house....a great mix of form and function! perfect little nook to get lost blending fragrant oils!

hope you have enjoyed a look into the apothecary! we definitely enjoy sharing it with you, and feel its important for you to see where your products come from! blessings, ophelia

Vintage Finds!!!

We finally made it out of the house today in all the winter wonder we have had! We couldn't wait to get outta here! lol. We've been averaging a day out and about every two weeks....and today's venture took a bit longer than expected as it took us along with a couple of neighbors to get the car un~stuck! But, we did it....and went for a nice lunch to celebrate our 1oooth etsy sale! yippee! then, to further celebrate, we hit our favorite thrift store where we found many vintage wonders for our shop. sooooooo.....over the course of the next couple of weeks, you can expect some fabulous finds in the little apothecary.....along with supplies and destash, and maybe a tad more vintage over in our sister store.... ophleliasarmoire so so exciting to have lots of newness!

sorry, no pics for today. unless you would like some puppy love....maybe a pic of the baby! she's not at all spoiled. not one bit!

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!

New Lip Tints in shop NOW!!!

Hello my pretties! we have taken a bit of a blogging reprieve for the last *ehem*....week. but, we haven't been totally hybernating! we did some baking, some movie watching, some laundry....and we rested. we have also been working on the destash stuffs for our other shop. so, today starts a new week, and with the new week, we have new products! yay!

Our buttercreme lip balms have quite the following, and we've been getting many requests to offer lip tints. well, now we have them, and we will be adding more colors soon. *translates to....when we can make it out of our snow and ice packed driveway to get more tint....i might just have to resort to shopping online. ~ now there is a whole 'nother vice of mine we have yet to address!

Anyway, the lip tints are an all vegan blend of oils and yumminess. they have vanilla icing flavor...not quite the decadent buttercreme, but we will be switching over to the buttercreme with the next batch! our supplier of all natural, vegan lip oils is having a hard time keeping up with the buttercreme demand! lol. to check out these lovely little lip tints click here

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!

Sweeet Swap 2009! How Fun!

We belong to a super group on etsy called 'bittersweeets daily challenge'....and the whole idea of the group, is to create and list something new each day. The group is going on about two years now, and just filled with lots of talented artists!

This holiday season, we decided to do a Sweeet Swap where we each had a secret friend to gift to...our sweeet swaper was Kim from ChloeandMaddy and kimbrowndesigns

We met in the forums several months ago, and formed such a friendship! She is incredibly talented! This Cherry Blossom Tree has been in our faves for months!...so you can imagine the squeal of excitement when it arrived in my sweeet swap box of prezzies!...along with an awesome pin cushion for my pin cushion collection, some of my fave white chocolate truffles, a fabulous print of a pink sofa to go with my pink chair, and some great notecards. Just wonderful additions to my handmade office!

So so blessed for our etsy friends and family! Thank you so much Kim for making this such a memorable Holiday!