|
Visit
http://www.joyfuldesignsinsoy.com
today
Upcoming Craft
Show Schedule
December 1st - Saturday
9AM -3PM Clear Lake Elementary School
Attention Local
Customers!
I've got my candles in a new shop in Concrete Wa.
It's right on Hwy 20, across from the Napa store.
It's called Sauk Valley
Gallery. Drop by and check in out!
Very cute store.
Note about web orders:
If you place an order and your shopping cart comes
up with a cost of over $8.95 to ship, please email me before you place
the order. Most likely, I can fit it into a flat rate priority
mail box and save you some money on that shipping.
Skagit County residents, please email me your
orders and we'll arrange free delivery and payment upon time of
delivery.
Free 8 oz candle Winner
1 Subscriber chosen randomly every month!
November's free winner was
Regina S.
Consider hosting a candle party this winter!
Earn some free
candles
for yourself! I don't do a sales pitch or
pressure in any way to buy or book parties, candles sell themselves when
they smell the awesome scents, and I'm simply available to answer
questions if they want. It's a relaxed time
with your friends, smelling great scented candles and just having fun!
You can do a theme if you'd like (such as a nacho night, wine & cheese
theme, flip flops, or any other creative idea that would be fun) I'm
willing to drive up to an hour from Sedro Woolley. If
you'd like more details on how this works, please email me at:
valerie.garner@joyfuldesignsinsoy.com
Fundraisers
I can do fundraisers for groups. Email me for details if
interested! (I would consider doing out of area fundraisers,
please contact me for details) |
Scent of the
Month Sale
Angel Wings-
Light pink in color
this is a light airy fragrance with floral & powdery notes! Buy 1 candle at regular price, get a candle of
month scent in the equal size for 40% off! (Does not count on the sets
of candles as those are already discounted).
Please email me if you order the special so I
can tabulate the correct total for you.
This is a great time to stock up to have some
extra candles on hand for the gift giving season ahead!
New Jars!
Check out our website for the new 16 oz. Flattop
Apothecary, double wicked jars.
Seasonal scent
suggestions:
Hot
Cocoa
Hot
Toddy
Christmas Splendor
Hot
Buttered Rum
Christmas at the Cabin
Mistletoe
Frankincense & Myrrh
Winter Wonderland
Sleighbells
Winter Cocoa
Swiss
Mocha Cafe'
Jingle Bells
Lavender Bergamot
Berry Balsam
Gingerberry Wreath
Bayberry
Candy Cane
A
Northwest Christmas
Eggnog
Brown Sugar Pecan
Eggnog Latte
Caramelized Pralines
Cinnaberry
Christmas Splendor
The Gingerbread
Nightmare
Do you ever see those beautiful gingerbread houses
during the holiday seasons that are so beautiful? They look so simple,
and look like such a fun project to do with the kids making gifts for
grandma and grandpa. I could just feel it….soft Christmas music in the
background, the warm, spicy smell of gingerbread filling the air, the
cozy warmth of the fire on a snowy day, and my children and I building
these luscious goodies sure to bless our family and friends, and all
inexpensively as well. That was the fantasy. Where was my mind? How
could I forget about the little thing we call REALITY? Ever notice how
professionals make things look easy? That's the very mark of a
professional.
The first reality check was the store. Money was
very tight and these looked like a great way to give a quality to gift
to several loved ones. After we did the shopping for the candy and the
ingredients for these gingerbread houses, the bill totaled nearly $75. I
almost fainted. (We could have bought some great gifts with that, or
even bought beautiful gingerbread houses).
As for Christmas music, the children insisted upon
the Chipmunk's Christmas carols. Have you ever listened to more than 1
chipmunk song at a time? Have you ever noticed what that does to a
brain?
The fire was nice, but then we had the fights over
whose turn it was to stoke the fire. Two boys can fight over anything,
and anything involving work makes a worthy fight indeed.
We started with the dough, and that part turned
out! It was SO delicious…..in fact we had to make more because after all
of us eating dough, there wasn't enough for the houses. So….back to
making more dough.
This particular dough had to be chilled, then
rolled, then you cut pieces of the house out from a paper mold with a
knife. Ok, got that part. We put it in the oven for baking, and half of
the pieces burnt terribly. The other half were perfect, but you can't
build a house with half the parts. So…..we had to make MORE dough. By
now, we're not having fun anymore. It's getting late and mom is
beginning to want to get this mess cleaned up now.
We finished making new house pieces and it was like
midnight, I had long put the children to bed and was cranky now at this
point. The only thing to do now was to let everything cool (including
tempers), and attempt the decorating tomorrow.
Whew….new
day, it's a wonder what a little sleep will do ya. Now we make the hard
frosting that will act as glue to hold the pieces of the house together,
time to build. Time for the fun to begin, boy are we ready! We begin
assembling the house, and half the roof piece breaks in two on one of
the houses. On the second house, we find the pieces to not match
correctly. On a third house, we overcome all these first two obstacles,
and now have great difficulty getting props to hold the house together
while the "glue" dries, and it's repeatedly falling apart and causing
the oldest child to have a temper tantrum in frustration (mom too).
Somehow through this fiasco, we end up with 1 viable house. (The others
became, hard dog biscuit type things for the family pet). Oh well, she
needs her Christmas goodies too, right? We frosted the house and each
child decorated half. The end result? A $75. UGLY gingerbread house that
only a grandma (with apologizes from mom), would take and not be too
insulted by. But, we did accomplish one of our goals….it was a memory. A
memory we fondly call "The Gingerbread Nightmare".By Valerie
Garner
Candle Tips
To extinguish your wick in a truly smoke free way, take a small piece of
wire (end of a coat hanger works well) and use it to push your
burning wick into the burn pool, thus drowning it. Then use that
wire to put the wick back in it's original position.
Be sure to trim your wick to ? or ?” before every
burn and keep the lit candle out of a draft to ensure a clean burn.
Toenail clippers work great to trim the wick as it burns down deeper
into the jar.
Burn your candle 1 hour for every inch of
diameter. For the 12 oz oval hexagon candles, burn a minimum of 3
hours, and the jelly jars and minimum of 2 hours for best results. This
helps to ensure a full melt pool.
If your candle flame ever gets too big, extinguish
the wick, trim it and relight. It's simply because the wick has
gotten too long.
|
