So You Know You're A Soaper When...

Your arrival of 50 ounces of fragrance oil arrives and you about pee your pants. And you take pictures..(not of the pee, but of aforementioned oils...)

Who needs Christmas? Want presents? Order soap supplies!!

Special Thanks to my Witchy for telling me about the coupon that enabled me to get the oils!

So without further ado....

my oils...
I love them each and every one...

Oh the suspense was killing me...









And of course, you know, when your supplies arrive you SAVE all the popcorn, boxes and wrapping it comes in to reuse later!

My pile of unwrapped bottles of oil.










Good little bottles of fragrance oils all ready to freshen up soon to be made soap. Perchance I purchased just a wee bit too many? Ehhh who cares, they smell good!




Can NOT wait to get to soaping!

Are You a Blockhead? Want to show the world?

Do you love Blockhead Radio as much as I do? Well, here is your chance to show the world! Mama Possum here is running her own little contest! In case you haven't already, be sure you check out The Biggest Stalker and start earning your stalker points.

In the meantime, I have a challenge for you! I want you to email me in 250 words or less WHY you love Blockhead Radio! In return for your loyalty, I will award the top 5 answers (chosen by an unbiased, non-BHR related person) with 100 BHR business cards for you to share with the world! Include them in your orders, hand them out in the street, just get the word out! And make sure you let us KNOW where you share the cards so you can earn your Stalker Points!! Please include your mailing address in your email so I can send them out immediately to the winners! :) Winners will also have an ad run on my blog for one week each!

Want to see the super cool cards?


And because they are blank on the back, you can easily add your own stamp, sticker, note, etc, promoting your own shop! :)




Want your own premium business cards? There is a great sale on now at Vista!

SO Get those emails into mama@blockheadradio! You have until May 15th to complete your mission!

~~amy

EVERYONE IS ELIGIBLE...EVERYONE! :)

Do you have a favorite handmade Mom?

Would you like to give her a stinkin' awesome gift for Mothers Day?

Now is your chance!

You can win a great Mom Basket made by Mama's Little Monkey's and sponsored by Rockerchic from Mom's Cafe!

This basket is a $50 Value! And includes all the following:

Lilac Scented Oval Soap, approx 3 oz
Fleur De Lis guest size soap, approx 1 oz
"Twisty Towel" Hair Spa Towel, Pink Terry Cloth
Large assortment of Chocolates in "mom" shapes
Alexander Henry Cotton/Green Minky Eye Sleep mask
Notebook
Flower Pink Flower Pen
Cucumber Melon Bath Salts

Heres how to get your basket:

Tell me WHY this mom deserves our handmade basket of goodies!

Here are da rules:
Only one entry per person
Entry must include: Your name, The name and url of the Mom your nominating, and a way to contact you.
Mom nominated MUST be an online seller of handmade goods
Can not nominate Blockhead Radio Hosts
Blockhead Radio Hosts can not nominate Moms
Basket will be mailed directly to the winning entry's nominated mom.

Send all entries to me (rockerchic) at rockerchic4b@aol.com
Please also direct all questions to rockerchic at the same email address.

The deadline for entry is May 8th 2009

Winner will be decided by the best entry by a non-biased judge. The mom who seems to be the most deserving will win the Mother's Day Basket.

The basket winner will be announced on the Mom's Cafe show Wednesday, May 13th 2009 at 9 pm Eastern Time on Blockhead Radio.

The winning entry will be read on air!


Thanks you guys for entering and don't forget to tell all your friends! This is just Mom's Cafes' way of saying thanks to all their great listeners and friends!

So a piece of chocolate and bacon walk into a bar...

If you've listened to Blockhead Radio at all in the past week or so you have heard us talk about chocolate covered bacon. Now this is apparently NOT a new phenomenon judging from the article I found online about a shop that sells it! I cannot honestly remember how we started talking about it, I know witchy and the Morning Brew Ha Ha was involved....that's all I remember, because mornings are a blur of spitting coffee on my screen and Internet surfing.

But I digress. As usual.

Anyhoo, so we've talked about it and obviously people do eat it so I decided that in honor of the BRAND NEW SHOW coming on Blockhead Radio starring the lovely James aka Closet Creature, or Birdy's Technical Support, I would make some of said delicacy. James's new show will indeed be titled "Chocolate Covered Bacon". You can catch his first show on April 30th at 6pm Eastern for all things yummy, indie and awesome! Hear it ONLY on Blockhead Radio!

So, I digress again.

I am not really a risky person, and I figured, I like chocolate, I like bacon...what can it hurt? (other than my digestive tract...)

Now mind you, I eat turkey bacon, so I'm not sure if that matters, or I lose points for that... by the way, this better qualify as stalker points...Are you the biggest stalker?

So, I melted some chocolate chips, nuked my turkey bacon and ever so beautifully slathered the chocolate on the bacon (it's rather hard to DIP bacon...I might add.) Now my dilemma was this, traditionally when one dips items in chocolate they put them in the fridge to cool and let the chocolate harden. I was thinking this may not be quite so tasty with bacon. So I decided to let it 'set' on the counter for just a few minutes. I'm not sure the life expectancy of bacon post nuking so I thought I'd best go ahead with room temp chocolate!

And I did it! I ate it! No, I did not eat all three pieces, but I ate one full piece and it was...

actually...

NOT THAT BAD!! I would not perhaps choose this as a traditional breakfast dish but I can see why you would eat it!! I mean hey, at least when I'm on my deathbed I can say, "I never climbed Mount Everest, I never saw the Eiffel Tower, and I never swam in the Pacific Ocean..but I ate chocolate covered bacon."

So, I have compiled a little medley here for you, proof I did partake of the chocolately delicacy...
Enjoy, feel free to share with the world that there really is an idiot brave enough to eat chocolate covered bacon!



And now, the debut performance

It's Earth Day for Crying Out Loud!

Hey folks...ok...so I do not usually do 'rant' posts and I'm sure by rant standards this will be mild...but I just had to.

I am not what one would call a 'tree hugger' or huge Earth Day fanatic. I believe in taking care of what God gave us and respecting it just as we'd respect anything we have the blessing to be in possession of. For me, many of my 'green' life decisions also happen because they are economical and I will be green as long as my pocketbook allows. I'm not strapping myself to trees a la Lisa Simpson but I will do my very best to leave the lightest carbon footprint around.

As I've said for some time, I was Green before Green was cool...back then it was called being Poor! (Like that? Feel free to purchase it in my Cafepress shop!

So, I headed off to a local ahem, grocery store today for my weekly shopping. I was inspired by Walkinthewoods to bring my reusable grocery bags which I've had for some time but had always seemed to forget! So I threw my bags in the car and off I went, toddler in tow.

I had my usual buggy full of groceries...and put my bags on the groceries so the cashier would realize I was using them. Mind you, two of them are HUGE sturdy ones that basically stand up on their own, they don't flop over, and one was a smaller one.

Remember, it's Earth Day.

She ACTUALLY calls another cashier OVER to bag for her! To HELP her bag! She asks this, loudly, in between shooting me dirty looks. I, normally a pleasant person (ok, MOST of the time...) was not taking this nicely. I wasn't ugly or anything but I said, "Really, it's NOT a big deal, I will bag my OWN groceries. It's NOT THAT HARD." She never really responded to me and got her friend to come over. The friend basically said I'm not helping you bag..and proceeded to play with my baby (to make a point to her friend who was lazy or what I know not.)

So I ended up bagging my own groceries (no big deal but NOT my job...that's what THEY get paid to do.) and the cashier barely communicated with me other than the dirty looks. I was trying to casually explain how much more I can fit in the big reusable bags and what not. Nope, nothing. Just ticked off that I dared to bring in bags and not use their plastic bags!

Okay, so I realize it is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it was really bad mojo on Earth Day of all days!! I know that where I live, they are WAY behind on eco-friendly, modern, or new ideas. However, if one thinks about it, LOTS of green ideas have been around for a LOOOONG time...reusable bags, handmade soaps, laundry detergents, etc. These are not new ideas! So I hope one day that cashier realizes that A) it is not evil or an inconvenience for your customers to use reusable bags B) that how you treat your customers reflects a lot..I will never go in her line again C) do good and good will come to you....be ugly to people and you will get ugly back!

Okay, rant over, I told you it was mild, I just thought it was ludicrous to whine over using reusable bags...Oye.

HAPPY EARTH DAY everyone!! :)

Go Green with Mom's Cafe!!

Happy Earth Day Everyone!!!! Mom's Cafe wants to invite you to tune in tonite at 9 pm Eastern and help us GO GREEN! :) Learn earth friendly tips (to save money AND Mother Earth!), share your Eco-Friendly items, tips, links and more!

How do you go green? Don't be eco-friendly to keep up with the crowd...being green has to do within yourself! Many people have different reasons for going green...for myself it is saving money and leaving less of an ecological imprint...I personally believe we have been given this lovely Earth and it is up to us to respect it.

Maybe you can drive a hybrid car? Use Reusable grocery bags? Turn off the lights (I always did this one...would've had a sore behind if I didn't!) Use microfiber towels for your swiffers, towels instead of paper towels, make your own cleansers...the list goes on and on!

So what do YOU do to go green? Does it also help pinch pennies? How do you feel about Earth day?

Join us tonite to learn much more and share YOUR tips/links in chat! Always feel free to drop links just keep it kid friendly! :)

Mama and Rocker will get you green...and hopefully with a smile! :)

~Amy

http://mamaslittlemonkeys.byhand.me

http://rockerchic.byhand.me

Response from Congressman on CPSIA

FINALLY got a response from my congressman...sounds okay!

Dear Amy:



Thank you for your correspondence regarding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).
It is an honor to represent the First Congressional District of Louisiana, and your thoughts and
concerns are very important to me.


As you know, CPSIA was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on August 14,
2008. Along with establishing consumer product safety standards and requirements for children's
products, this legislation reauthorized the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).


I understand your concerns about the possible negative effects this law could have on small
businesses. While sellers of used children's products are exempt from the certification process,
manufacturers and merchants that make new products are required to have their goods independently
certified that their products meet the new safety standards, a process that many small businesses
will have trouble affording. You will be interested to know that I have signed on as a cosponsor of
H.R. 1815, the Consumer Product Safety Solutions Act. This legislation gives the CPSC the flexibility
to clarify certain definitions and grant some exceptions for small businesses. It also mandates the
CPSC to establish testing methodologies and permits component part testing. Please know that I will
continue working with my colleagues in Congress on policies that improve CPSIA.



Thank you again for contacting me. I invite you to visit my website at www.scalise.house.gov for
more information. You can also sign up for my e-newsletter, the "Scalise Capitol Report," by clicking here.
Please do not hesitate to contact my office in the future on matters of importance to you.





Sincerely,







Steve Scalise

Member of Congress

Help St Jude, get an Ad on my blog!

Ok, hope this is ok to post! :) My son goes to Head Start and we are doing the St Jude trike-a-thon!

Click HERE for more info: ST JUDE TRIKE

Any donations are accepted, and we like to see at least 1.00 per lap :)

Here's my deal...for any amount donated I will run a 125x125 ad on my blog for you! :)

1-5 dollar donation: 2 day ad

5-10 dollar donation: 5 day ad

10-20 dollar donation: 14 day ad

Over 20: TWO MONTHS!

 

SOOO help a good cause and get an ad! :)

Donating is easy, visit http://etsypayitforward.blogspot.com and there is already a donate button for my sons school on there! Simply indicate in your paypal message that the donation is for the Trike-a-thon.  :) When you donate, also indicate your shop and private email so I can contact you about your ad! You can email your jpeg to mamaslittlemonkeys@yahoo.com (if you need an ad, no problem, let me know!)

I am sponsoring my son for 5 laps :)

 

Thanks guys!!

 

Internet Diet Over....did I survive?

So I survived my internet diet this weekend....I was on the computer a limited amount of time...no I was not able to stay away ALL weekend, but I did cut back drastically! :)
Now its back to growing my laptop butt.

Off to try to wholesale this weekend!! :) Everyone have a fantastic day!!

~~Amy

Don't forget to listen in to Mom's Cafe at 9 pm Eastern on Wednesday!!

Because I don't have ENOUGH to do...

I applied this week to write for Handmade News (www.handmadenews.org), Artfires soon to be live newsletter. I love writing and personally think I don't outright suck at it, so I figured what the hey?

It remains to be seen if I will be one of the chosen few...(ok, 40....) but I did neglect to include this picture in my application..perhaps it would have helped....

God how I love lolcats...thank you FOREVER rockerchic.byhand.me for telling me about them!

Internet Diet Weekend..

Okay...I'm inspired. I think it's high time for an internet weekend diet! I will not go cold turkey, but I will severely cut down on my time spent online this weekend! :)
Today was a great start! Caught the Morning Brew Ha Ha on Blockhead Radio (well some, my phone always seems to ring!) checked emails, and turned it OFF! Had playdate at Chuck E Cheese with my cool friend Jenni, and our crew of boys! (Grandma kept Eli because the allure of Chuck E Cheese is lost on him...)

Got back, checked in to make sure the world did not spin off it's axis in the few short hours I was not online (it did not..but I was able to get in on an awesome wholesale michael miller fabric deal!) Turned it OFF! Headed to the evil empire to purchase last minute weekend things (they have a GLUTEN FREE SECTION NOW!) Snagged my washing soda so I can soon attempt my handmade laundry detergent. More tedius tasks.....

My long winded point (is there any other?) is that I am going to attempt to spend this weekend LESS on the computer and MORE with my family, friends, and best of all...my sewing machine! I am DETERMINED to start making mama cloth and I even have testers from Diaperswappers willing to test my creations! (I love diaperswappers for just that reason!)

I'm sure I'll get online, check email, check in with my homies tonite on Blockhead Radio but overall...its kids, sunshine (hopefully!), sewing and LOST with my hubby!

Sometimes ya just need a break!! :)

~~Amy

This is really cool

We went on down to the Audobon Zoo...

Byhand.me, how do I love thee...lemme count the ways..

1. Artisan directory...Great way to find excellent businesses and share yours!! FREE ADVERTISING PPL!

2. When you write a blog on your BHM profile, you can select to have it automatically go out on twitter AND your blog! HELLO! Talk about time saver!

3. Lovely ppl!! Great clubhouses, forums, and a CHAT! So no matter WHERE you sell you can get together and CHAT in the chat at byhand.me...HELLO! Awesome!

I could go on and on, but I want you to go check it out! Another cool thing to do while you're checking it out...
http://www.byhand.me/component/option,com_content/id,6642/task,view/

Enter to win free advertising by clicking on that link!!! :)

And of course check me out! :)
http://mamaslittlemonkeys.byhand.me

Your own URL...for ALL YOUR VENUES! How cool is that?

Check it out!
~~Amy

Fabric addiction....what fabric addiction?

So...I've been told I have a problem....

whadda ya think?

at least it's all neat!

Drooool on sewers....drool on....

oh and the entire top left pile....
DESIGNER fabric..

Ok so yup I have a problem...

We shant speak of the soap closet either....

Wordless Wednesday

Byhand.me

Soooo if you read my previous post you know I already dig byhand.me.

I thought I'd share another cool thing about byhand.me. From your profile, create a new blog entry. Be it a sale, new items, whatever...

Write your nifty blog post and make sure you click YES to everything down below the post...this will post your blog post to Twitter via the byhand.me feed, and it also puts YOUR post on the front page of Byhand.me.

AND you can select it to automatically post to your blogger! :) (Such as my previous post...)

Now how awesome is that???

~~Amy

So you need business cards do you...well read this!

Okay, so many of you are probably like me...multiple venues, heck, maybe multiple SHOPS on multiple venues.

Well, then perhaps you need to be re-enlightened in the beauty of byhand.me

 

Do you really get this....think about it...you have SEVERAL URLs...blogs...twitters, etc....

Why cram all that on one business card?

Next time you make business cards, widgets, ads, etc...why not direct your traffic to your byhand.me url?

Or direct them to your 'main' shop (wherever it may be) and then say "find ALL of the great ways you can shop with me by visiting www.yoururl.byhand.me"???

I mean, really, the byhand.me creators are genius!! Seriously, why didn't I think of this? I've been on bhm for 2 months now and love it!!

It is about that time for me to get new biz cards and you can BET that's what I'll be doing!!

So think about it...

how much easier would it be to just put this on your cards?

 

http://mamaslittlemonkeys.byhand.me

 

easy peasy...that is my name of the game!

WOOOT BYHAND.ME!

 

Are you the biggest stalker?

Well show us you are the biggest stalker!
Get over to Blockhead Radio! We have SO much going on!
Our weekly challenge winner has been crowned!!

YOU can continue to enter the challenges weekly and be sure to VOTE in the contest each week!!

Why do you want to be the biggest stalker? Oh you'll see! It's HUGE!!

Blockhead Radio is all about exposing ALL artisans to the world!!

Charity Sampler Boxes, Artisan Features, Artisan Challenges, And TONS OF FUN!

You simply must be a part of Blockhead Radio!!

Check the blog!!
http://blockheadradio.blogspot.com/

Awesome new Artfire Guild..ok a couple!

Are you on artfire? Are you verified? Then let me tell you about some cool guilds!
Cafemom Street Team is brand new and awaiting approval, so if you are a Cafemom Member come on down and join that guild! You can learn more about our group at http://www.cafemom.com/group/cafemomteamand we welcome ALL Selling venues, not just Artfire! :) Side note though, please keep your drama to yourself! We are about HELPING moms, not making life harder for them! :)

And I recently created Handmade in Louisiana Guild, also awaiting approval! If you live in Louisiana, or are from La and are temporarily away from home, then join our little guild! We also welcome members who sell on all venues! Obviously the artfire guild will focus on Artfire, but you can certainly be a member of wherever you want! :) We will offer you help in ANY business matter!

So if you haven't checked out Artfire, you should. You can try the free membership to get your feet wet. Then if you like it, snag a membership! 12.00 a month is less than I spend in fees on other venues these days! :)

So come on down and check em out!:)

Do you artfire?

Well I do now!! And I'm loving it!! I admit, shamefully, to have signed up waaaaay back in November. Then something called BLockhead Radio and a craft show came along, not to mention children, house, etc...and I neglected my AF shop..horribly! :) But NOW, I am BACK baby! I finally signed up to be verified and am slowly listing more items! (not sure which items will take precedence...I'll decide that later since it doesnt cost to list PER Item I can do what I want!!)

Of course i like Etsy, it was my starting point, but the times they are a changing! It's time to try new venues and see which ones really rock! Im also checking out Crobbies.com...good potential there also! :)

SOOOOO come check out artfire and of COURSE I created a Louisiana guild!!! You must be verified to join a guild, and just like Etsy teams, guild's hold great potential for you!! :)

So come check out and you'll be impressed I'm sure! Super easy listing, great customer service and very user friendly!!

www.mamaslittlemonkeys.artfire.com

See you there! :)

Bid to Win an Awesome Gift Basket from me...and all for charity!

Many thanks to Helen from Triagefromhome! You can bid to win one of my lovely gift baskets and the proceeds go to charity!! Helen does a tremendous job on this blog and even if you can't bid on it, please share it and let people know about this!! :)

<----------------- Bid now and WIN!

Get a great gift basket, all ready to go, just in time for mother's day and help support breast cancer research! End Cancer Now!

~~Amy

Happy April!

Okay, so I don't really DO April Fool's, but I thought I'd say happy April everyone! May you see pretty flowers, nice showers and more blessings than you can handle!! :)

And of course, don't miss Mom's Cafe tonight at 9 pm Eastern. :)
www.blockheadradiolive.com :)

~~Amy