Dead Sea Salt Bars

The Dead Sea lies about 400 meters (1280 feet) below sea level at the bottom of the African Rift Valley. The waters of the Dead Sea are unique with a total salt concentration 10 times that of the oceans. That is not what makes the Dead Sea so extraordinary. It contains a combination of 26 minerals and trace elements. Over 2000 years ago Roman historian Flavius praised its healing qualities. Galenus said the water was good for arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, relaxation and relieving tension. King Solomon, in the Biblical book of Samuel gave the Queen of Sheba with Dead Sea salts upon her visit to the Holy Land.For every ounce of oils and butters in these bars there is an ounce of Dead Sea Salt.

This bar unclogs pores and eliminates the toxins from the skin. In addition to this, Dead Sea Salt has one an amazing quality in particular. It does not matter whether you have dry skin or oily skin. The Dead Sea Salts restore the natural balance of your skin to its correct ph whether it is dry or oily. Your skin will be hydrated and super soft.These bars will calm your soul and treat you to a fantastic bathing experience. These bars are cold-processed and made from the finest oils and butters. You can kiss your alligator winter skin goodbye.

If you are having more severe skin problems such as psoriasis or eczema we recommend that you choose our larger size Unscented Dead Sea Salt Soap Bar

T-bones Best Friends

I introduced T-bone the Terrorist the other day and now I thought I might introduce the more sedate members of the family. The leader of the pack and the boss is Paradigm. We inherited him from a friend of my husband. They were a 5 cat family but every time my husband would go to visit this one would always try to follow him out the door. Finally they told him to take the cat home with him. He is the friendliest and most gregarious cat I have ever met. He never met a dog he didn’t like.

The next member of the family is the old lady of the group. Her previous owner had terminal cancer and when her daughter moved in to care for her the dog had to go. I will not comment further on this. My husband who is more or less housebound was looking for a companion and she was perfect. She is probably the smartest and best trained dog we have owned since the 1st dog we owned. I also think she is a mindreader as well as being the disciplinarian with the puppy. I believe if I stayed out of the picture she would train him for me.

Bug Off Buddy or Today I Smell Like Lemon

Tomorrow is the Farmer’s Market and I just noticed I only had 2 bottles of Bug Off. So another day goes by without getting my etsy widget up here. I don’t mind doing this though. This is one of my favorite things I make because my house smells so good when I make it. I like it so much I even made candles from the essential oil blend. They work great outdoors to keep the skeeters and gnats away, but I burn them inside also because I like the fragrance. I don’t sell the candle though because there is to much potential liability.



What is Bug Off?

There is no DEET (diethyl-meta-toluamide) here to endanger your health or the health of your children.

Our Bug Off is made from 100% organic or natural ingredients and is a fantastic alternative to chemical laden commercial products.
This is an essential oil blend formulated to repel flies, mosquitoes, nasty chiggers and other biting insects. This repellent has an herbal infused organic aloe base and contains Lemon Eucalyptus Essential Oil which was recently approved by the CDC (Center for Diseased Control) as an effective repellent. It also contains Catnip Essential Oil, Lemongrass Essential Oil, Peppermint Essential Oil and several other Essential Oils in the blend to make it a very effective as well as a fragrant repellent. This all natural bug repellent is a quick fix against black flies, mosquitoes and other biting insects.
The base of this blend is aloe vera gel made from the unique aloe vera plant. Its gel is a natural medicine for helping to cure almost any skin ailment from burns, rashes, wounds, acne, stings, cold sores, insect bites and even as an anti-ageing cream. The aloe vera gel according to scientists is comprised of more than seventy-five compounds, including polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates), steroids, organic acids, enzymes, antibiotic agents, amino acids, and minerals.
Not only have we used a fantastic organic aloe vera gel base, this one is infused with Organic Horsetail, Organic Gotu Kola, Organic Comfrey and Organic Dandelion. While you are repelling mosquitoes and other insects you are giving your skin a spa treatment at no extra cost!
Bug Off is an all natural insect repellent, safe for families and pets. It repels black flies, deer flies, mosquitoes, ticks, fleas and chiggers also.
Our customers come back time after time for this product!

Check us out at our etsy shop at http://bjrussell.etsy.com/

Handcrafted Soaps

Over the last fifty years thousands of chemicals have been discovered and are being used in our agriculture, skin care, and our environment. Since the skin is our body’s largest organ and up to 60% of what we put on our skin ends up in our bloodstream, it is no surprise in that same 50 years that the rates of eczema, psoriasis and cancers have all increased. We may not be able to avoid all these chemicals, but we believe it makes sense to avoid as many as possible when we can. We have found as the years go by that we discover many more people that have developed sensitivities to many of the chemicals present in many modern toiletries.

As mankind moved into modern times we found substitutes for many of the natural oils and elements of nature that had served us so well in the past. We replaced Nature with chemical creations. Year after year we are hearing of more and more of our friends and neighbors becoming sensitive or allergic to many of the products that end up on our grocery and drugstore shelves.

Plants have been used for healing long before recorded history. Ancient Chinese and Egyptian papyrus writings describe medicinal plant uses. Indigenous cultures (e.g., African and Native American) used herbs in their healing rituals, while others developed traditional medical systems such as the Chinese. Scientists found that people in different parts of the world systematically use the same or similar plants for the same purposes.

As you walk down the aisles of your local pharmacy seeing the variety of brightly colored bottles and jars whose contents are designed to treat an almost endless variety of beauty deficits, could you ever imagine them as flowers once growing on a forest floor or as a bark cut from one of its trees? Almost every label has a natural element listed boldly across the front. Tea Tree, Chamomile, grapeseed, oatmeal, jojoba oil: ingredients from every continent are represented on every type of skin care product represented.

A Scentsible World offers fine handcrafted soaps and toiletries created with the finest natural oils and butters available. All of our soaps are crafted in small batches with loving care. Quality is not a forgotten word in our vocabulary. Our soaps are made by Cold Process soapmaking in three to five pound batches. We use all natural vegetable oils in all of our soaps with coconut, palm, olive, rice bran oil, babassu oil, castor oil, soy oil, avocado oil, canola oil, shea butter and cocoa butter with their wonderful conditioning properties as our main basic ingredients. Each oil and butter contributes to the overall end product making it the gentlest and most moisturizing bar available.

I now have a new personal favorite bar of soap! I have been sniffing this fragrance from Scent Works almost every day since it was delivered and drooling over the bars of soap on the rack since I made them. It is finally ready and I took it off of the rack this evening and almost ran to the tub. Did I mention that I twisted my husband's arm and had him make me 2 candles from this fragrance? I have been saving the 2nd candle for this occasion. I made this fragrance into an Herbal Bath Oil also.Since the children are now grown I don't have to lock the door when I bathe, but I was tempted to lock it tonight. Between the water scented with the Satsuma Guava, the bar of soap and the wonderful fragrance of the candle it was like a mini vacation in the tropics. This is a luxury that you can afford. Take it from me, you will love this fragrance and your skin will love you.

Herbal Bath Oil

No procastinating today! I turned off CNN and am concentrating on making more Herbal Bath Oils. It seems like todays news is the same as yesterday's news. What on earth will they have on the news after the election? A new war? Another stockmarket bust? An assasination? With all the whipping up of emotions, I would not be surprized.

On to better things! Right now I am straining my infused oils for Herbal Bath Oil . This batch is infused with Calendula, Chamomile, Shavegrass, Lemon Balm and Nettle Leaf, all fantastic for the skin benefits they give. Straining is a pain in the neck. First I strain with a kitchen strainer, then I strain with muslin. There are always teeny, tiny flecks in the oil even after both of these steps. Finally, I strain the oil through a coffee filter. It always seems that I lose about 1/4 to 1/3 of the oil by this final step, but the results (clear oil) are worth the work.

Now you can enjoy a luxurious and fragrant bath that soothes and relaxes as it nourishes and moisturizes your skin. Indulge yourself in a unique blend of luxurious oils infused with skin loving herbs. No oily ring, no slippery bath tub. With the addition of Polysorbate 80 a fantastic emulsifier you have no nasty bath tub ring or slippery tub. Just step into aromatic bliss after a hard day of work or play. Pamper your skin with our exclusive dispersing bath oils.These http://www.etsy.com/listing/15120652/blooming-herbal-natural-bath-oil moisturising bath oils leave the skin feeling silky soft and well cared for. Each Herbal Bath Oil is blended by hand in small batches to ensure freshness.

Today I am creating an Herbal Bath Oil with the super fragrance of Satsuma Guava, one of my all time best selling fragrance. This is one of my best sellers at our Farmer's Market and most of my craft shows.

You can also order this Herbal Bath Oil in any fragrance we have on hand. Check out our list of fragrances on this listing in Etsy, http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16130839.

Neat Idea!

I found these great goodies when I was on a forum on Etsy the other day. What a neat idea!

This is Jen's description:

Now you can have a fresh face cloth every day of the week. This set of 7 circular face cloths is hand-crocheted from soft 100% cotton yarn in robin's egg blue. Each cloth measures 5 inches (13 cm) across. They are soft enough for delicate skin, but have a distinct texture for gentle exfoliation and massage.Durable, colorfast cotton yarn can be machine washed and dried (full laundering instructions always included).

She also says that if you want something in a different color please feel free to ask!

Check these out and her other neat goodies on Etsy.

http://jenhintz.etsy.com

They come in other great colors too!

End razor burn! Moisturize and give your legs a treat that they deserve!

These bars are loaded with luxurious shea and cocoa butters, aloe and olive oil infused with chamomile, calendula, horsetail and nettles. We have added bentonite clay to put a lovely soothing layer to help float the razor as it glides across the skin for a close, neat and comfortable shave. This creamy barrier, full of moisturizing ingredients, ends nasty razor bumps and burn yet still gives you that close shave that you demand. If you are used to using foaming products with lots of lather, this will be a new experience for you. No thick fluffy heavy foam here. Just enough of a smooth layer of creamy soap with infused herbal essences and bentonite clay to float the razor blade and help it glide.

Satsuma-A wonderful Citrus blend of bergamot, lemon, grapefruit and mandarin with luscious fruit notes of peach, mango, apple, raspberry and hints of fig notes with base notes consisting of a sweet musk and oakmoss.

Organic Tropical Blend-Not quite orange, not quite grapefruit, not quite tangerine, but hints of all. A great blend that will quickly become your favorite.

Pomegranate- An exotic blend of peach, apple & strawberry with a touch of vanilla. This one reaches out and demands to be you all time favorite!

Weekly Rant!

I sure am glad I don’t live in a 3 story house! It doesn’t matter where I live, I still manage to have my office and soap room on the second floor.

I finally brought everything upstairs that I brought home from the Farmer’s Market and carried it upstairs. As I was putting everything away I have noticed that I am almost sold out of the Organic Tropical Blend Shaving Bars. This is not good! I am out of the Organic Tropical Blend fragrance oil.

I have been buying all of my all natural fragrances from Royal Aromatics, now called Trilogy Fragrances. They have had the best fragrances for the most reasonable prices for years, plus they have a fantastic line of all natural fragrances.

Hold on a minute whilst I climb on my soap box.

I started buying from Royal Aromatics about 5-6 years ago. At that time they had a minimum order of $25.00. Not too bad, but in the last year or so they have changed that minimum order to $50.00/$75.00 and now you must have a $100.00 minimum----plus you have to buy 5 lbs of each fragrance you order. Now that really adds up especially if your company is as small as mine.

Most fragrance oils and essential oils have a limited lifespan. I would probably end up wasting half of what I bought. It seems that the bigger they have grown, the more difficult they become to deal with and to hell with the little guys like us. Oh well my rant is over now.

T-Bone the Terrorist

About 30 years ago I had a dog that had a litter of 12 puppies. It was then I swore I was never going to have another puppy. Since my oldest daughter was born (think bicentenniel) since she wouldn't want me to mention her age, I have had dobermans. I have had a couple of german shepards throughout the years, but I have always considered myself a doberman person. Jake was my last one. Jake was a humane society reject. I truly believe in the history of the local humane societies around here, he was the 1st dog they didn't charge to adopt. Could have something to do with the fact that he had a massive case of heartworms. Or the one thing they failed to tell us when we adopted him was that he evidently had been abused by a man, so whenever a man got down in his face he had a tendency to try to rip that face off.

After 6 years of lots of love, good training and very expensive veterinary care he became one of my favorite dogs. Did I mention that he weighed in at 126 lbs. I had to have him put to sleep because of an advanced case of bone cancer which devastated me for months.

As I stated before, I said I would never have another puppy. Well, NEVER, say NEVER. My husband who is a semi-invalid, has an Australian Shepard. Generally I have to walk the dog, but we finally moved and now we have a ramp where he can take his electric wheelchair outside. We took his dog, Cinders, out for a walk a few weeks ago. It was a gorgeous soft southern evening. One of those evenings when everyone wants to be outside. That included a neighbor lady, her 5 year old daughter and 3 puppies. Guess what?

He may be cute but he is really a Terrorist in disguise!

The only time he isn't causing trouble is when he is sleeping! It must be the Jack Russell Terrier in him. They told me the mother was a Jack Russell and they think the father was a fast talking working Peke A Poo that lived next door.

Moor Mud

I originally wrote this about a week ago when I was putting together my first blog on Word Press. I have since been told that one can't put an Etsy widget on Word Press, so now I will try to put it on Blogspot. Wish me luck!

Today I have been driving myself nuts trying to put my Etsy widget on this blog. Now by now most of you have realized that I am old as dirt and anything more advanced than a pencil is pretty tricky for me. I did succeed in placing the etsy widget on my My Space space. See! I told you. I don't even have the language mastered yet. Yes, I got the widget on My Space, but then it disappeared.

What do I do when I can't successfully master the computer. I go play with the mud to relax! Moor Mud that is. I love it. It is one of Mother Nature's finest gifts to mankind (and womenkind). It is just to bad I can't squish it through my toes.



Today I made more Dead Sea Mud Masks with Moor Mud and Rhassoul Clay. They have become one of my 3 best sellers.


What is Moor Mud?

Moor Mud is an organic substance, a product of the natural decomposition of a multitude of plants under special conditions. It is unlike any other mud in the beauty or spa industry. It contains almost no clay and contains the organic remains of flowers, plants, herbs and grasses. Over a period of thousands of years these residues turn into a paste that easily dissolves in the water and has an unusual concentration of bio-minerals, trace elements, vitamins, amino acids, plant hormones and fatty acids.

The natural acids and nutrients in peat (Moor Mud) are the force behind its healing abilities. As one aspect of peat opens the skin pores allowing nutrients in and acids out, another aspect actively draws out lactic acid and metabolic wastes from tissues.

Ø It improves the look and feel of mature skin.
Ø It helps heal & clear acne.
Ø Increases the collagen and skin cell production.
Ø Used to relieve pain of arthritis, fibromyalgia, sore muscles and joint stiffness.
Ø Helps in the treatment of eczema, psoriasis.


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Moor Mud can be used alone or in conjunction with a number of other materials to create fantastic products that love your skin. We make several, including our best selling product http://www.etsy.com/listing/43009873/dead-sea-mud-mask-with-moor-mud-and We also make a great Moor Mud Bar- http://www.etsy.com/listing/38212247/moor-mud-soap-healing-and-detoxifying Try one or all of them today! Check out our etsy site at http://www.bjrussell.etsy.com/ for our Moor Mud products!

Goat Milk Cucumber Soap

Today I took the Goat Milk Cucumber and Aloe Soap Bars off the rack. I couldn't wait to try one. This was the first time I had used fresh goat milk instead of powdered. It may be all in my head but I swear there is a huge difference. This is also the first time I have used the cucumber distillate instead of a fragrance oil also. I love it! I bought the goat milk from a fellow vendor at the Farmer's Market here in Evansville. I also bought 2 dozen free range eggs from him. They haven't lasted very long. I can see my cholesterol rising off the chart, but boy are they great. It is difficult to explain the difference to anyone who have never eaten an egg from a free range chicken.

Nature’s Best Known Skin Softener

Hydrate, nourish & rejuvenate your skin with our Goat Milk, Cucumber and Aloe All Natural Facial and Body Soap Bar.  Indulge in the natural moisturizing properties of a soap made with both whole goat milk and whole cucumber. Goat milk contains naturally occurring alpha-hydroxy acids, proteins, minerals and high vitamin levels that can help slow the effects of aging.

We use the whole ground cucumber in this fantastic soap. Cucumber is loaded with Vitamin E and natural oils. Cucumber acts as a natural emollient that softens and hydrates the skin after prolonged environmental exposure. It improves and helps rejuvenate mature skin. Cleopatra had her own recipe for a cucumber mask consisting of cucumbers, milk and honey.

This bar is made from nature’s finest oils and butters, goat milk and cucumber distillate and handcrafted in small batches by the cold process method. Your skin will thank you!