DECA Candle and Bath

We've moved

2009-06-21T23:07:00.001-05:00

Please check out our new blog at http://DECAcandle.com/blog

We've changed our business name and look as well. Thank you for all of your support, and please visit and enjoy our new sites.

Happy kids

2009-04-03T10:45:00.001-05:00

Happy kids
Originally uploaded by David and Erin Powell & family

The kids on there new chairs that they got for easter from there Grandma and Grandpa Powell! They really love them so much!

The kids loft beds!

2009-04-01T11:56:00.004-05:00

I am so proud of my husband!

As you all know we have moved to an apartment and the kids had to share a room again.

So Dave decided to make them loft beds for there room.

Well for sure this has done the job. Take a look for yourself!

Great work honey!

I bet you can guess witch one is Whos...

Alyse had to have purple.

Cameron went with dark colors to match his Star Wars stuff.

Thanks for looking!

Moved!

2009-03-29T13:56:00.002-05:00

We are moved! Now we have to unpack and set everything up!

As soon as we are done we are going to be having a big sale on Etsy.

Watch out for the scent of the month as well. I hope you all like Lily of the Valley!

Moving Soon!

2009-03-04T11:54:00.002-06:00

I am so excited to be moving to a nice place finally that I had to tell everyone!

We are going to be setting out shops up for Vacation soon so you all know.

Next week I think. We Start the move on the 16th but We have to pack everything up for a while. We should be back up and running the first week in April.

Tagged

2009-02-16T10:47:00.003-06:00

I got tagged by Meekiyu! And... the rules are tell 7 things about yourself and then tag 7 others.

This gets hard when you have been tagged like 6 times LOL....

So 7 things about us

1. We are a husband and wife team that do business together.

2. We have been married for almost 8 and 1/2 years.

3. We have 2 kids one boy and one girl.

4. We love Coffee....

5. We are the best of friends.

6. We do almost everything together.

7. We really love Coffee!

I now have to tag 7 people. So here we go!
1. Gifts, Etc. and Skincandy
2. whimsicalstars
3. Pink quartz minerals
4. originals by terri
5. The Watermelon Tree
6. Maddie and Mommy
7.Groovey crafts

Art Fire!!!

2009-02-15T18:53:00.002-06:00

We decided to take the plunge and open yet another shop. We now have a Art Fire shop as well.

So now we have 3 online shops.

We have Etsy, Our Website, and now Art Fire as well. I know you are all thinking we are crazy! Well I guess that fits for us and our business name. The world we live in is Crazy and just keeps getting crazier by the day.

We also will be having some more fun and new products coming in the next month or two so keep your eyes pealed for them.

Thank you for reading and have a creative day,
Erin

Blast from the past!

2009-02-12T12:05:00.004-06:00

I just found something a I made for my sister in law for her baby shower about 3 years ago. I wanted her to have something special that she could keep forever. I was playing around with putting pictures on candles. So I decided to make one for her with a copy of her ultra sound picture.It's not the greatest picture or anything I just wanted a picture of it so I could come back and try doing it again at a later date. So I am going to try this again sometime soon now that I found this and see if I can do a better job of it this time.

I'm so proud of my kids!

2009-01-25T13:02:00.002-06:00

This last year has been very different with both of our kids in school now.

Our son is in a 2/3 grade class. It is a split class and he is doing very well in it. I can't believe what they have 2nd graders learning these day.

Our baby girl started Kindergarten this year witch was a little hard for me at first but they have to grow up sometime right.

Our daughter also started daisy scouts this year. She started it in November and has earned 3 of her Daisy petals already. She is also selling Girl Scout Cookies this year. She has been very ambitious about it. I was very happy to see that I didn't have to do all the work.

I'm not sure how to end this one today so I am going to just say bye bye for now!

Will this cold season ever end????

2009-01-24T17:15:00.002-06:00

I know I said I would be posting more. But then we got sick again. We are almost better I think. Or should I say I hope.

So far this winter we have had 3 head colds, The flu, and all of us came down with ear infections.

I think the only thing left to get in Strep. Knock on wood that we don't.

We will be working on some new things in the next few weeks so keep a look out :)

It's been to long again!

2009-01-07T14:29:00.002-06:00

So to all of you readers that is has been so long since we last blogged. But with the holidays and the craziness of being sick we haven't had the time or energy to do much of anything.

We had a great Christmas with the kids and the rest of out family this year. The kids were thrilled with all the wonderful things they got for Christmas.

The both got Nintendo DS's happy kids right there.

Alyse got her Hannah Montana Guitar, Some CUTE Hair clips we ordered from MaryMarsh, Hi Ho Cherry Oh she just loves that game, and a bunch of other things.

Cameron got his Pokemon stuff he wanted, his Star Wars action figures he wanted, a Nerf gun thanks so much mom I have been shot like 50 times with it, and a bunch of other cool things he wanted.

As for Dave and I we got to spend a lot of time playing with the kids for 2 weeks it was so much fun. I love having them Happy. I know that means spoiling them but you only live once.

I am over the holiday colds and excitment now so we will be posting on here more often again.

2008-11-28T07:38:00.002-06:00

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We spent the day with my parents and had a great time. The kids love to visit there.

We've already added a lot of Black Friday specials to our shop and there are more to come throughout the day!

November 28th (Black Friday) through December 1st (Cyber Monday)

No more than $5 Shipping U.S.A. <<:Free Shipping on orders of $50 or more:>>

Discounted international shipping rates <<:Free Shipping on orders over $75:>>

http://CrazyTimesCandles.etsy.com

*´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·´ * Black Friday we'll be offering some great deals on select items throughout the day.

Select soaps $3.00
Select Breakaway Melts $2.00
Select Candles 50% - 60% off

Contest / givaway update!

2008-11-26T13:21:00.004-06:00

We are getting closer and I am so excited!!!! I am one of those people that just love giving things away. Good thing I have my husband or I would be giving ever thing away all the time.

He has to put me in my place a lot about that kind of thing. So when he came up with the idea of a giveaway I was so excited!

So on to the give away. We were 320 sales away on the 17th and now we are only 280 away! I am going to try to keep you all updated on this as much as possible. But I don't want to do it to often because it is going to take the fun out of all of it!

I can't wait for the kids to do the drawing. Oh on that note we will be adding one last runner up prize. So that the kids can both pick 3. The last runner up will get a free lip balm of there chose.

Thank you and have a creative day!

Weekend Sale!

2008-11-25T21:57:00.002-06:00

November 28th (Black Friday) through December 1st (Cyber Monday)

No more than $5 Shipping U.S. (Free Shipping on orders of $50 or more)

Discounted international rates (Free Shipping on orders over $75)

PLUS!!!

We'll be offering some great deals on select items throughout the day on Friday!

Be sure to stop by throughout the day for some great deals.

http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

~ Feelings ~

2008-11-20T15:21:00.003-06:00

Thanks Giving is coming soon. This is my favorite Holiday of them all. I always get so many feeling at this time of year. When I was a kid I didn't have much of a family. Now that I am a mom of 2 wonderful kids and a wife to the greatest man in the world I have all the love and happiness anyone could ask for.

This is going to be funny sounding. I really look forward to Thanks Giving because I love to spend time with my In Laws. They have really taught me what a real Family is.

I must have the greatest In Laws in the world. Before I meet my husband and his family I thought that Family was nothing but finger pointing and yelling.

Just to be able to sit and have a family get together with out any yelling and or fighting is great. But the best part about it all is they showed me what love and caring feels like. I have to say, I am a better person now that I have all of them in my life.

Ok I am done for now. I could go on and on all night long about the loved ones in my life but, my husband is telling me I am writing a book.

Look at That!

2008-11-19T14:31:00.004-06:00

We have been making very pretty treasuries one after another. Well, we finally got one that made the Front Page of Etsy. This Treasury featured items from the following shops.

savor
lilybrush
girlbyAileen
isadoraclothing
redheart13
Emilykatz

WildWomanJewelry

TotusMel
BenandHenry
portobello
lv2cr8
justicejuels

Alternates are as follows
FeatherBrain
VintageFiligree
oneilldesign
tilleyjewels

Congrats to all of you for having sure great items to make it to the front page!

Customer Appreciation Giveaway Contest

2008-11-17T13:42:00.001-06:00

Heading for 1000 contest

We’re 320 sales away from 1000 in our etsy shop! To thank all of our wonderful customers we’re going to run a contest until we reach 1000 in our etsy shop - http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com.

For every item purchased until our 1000th sale you’ll get your name put in this bucket. So, if you purchase 3 items you’ll get 3 entries.

Once we reach the magic number, or children will draw names from the bucket for the prizes listed below. I will video blog the drawing so that everyone can see the drawing.

Prizes:

1st Prize – $30.00 Gift Certificate

2nd Prize – $20.00 Gift Certificate

3rd Prize – $10.00 Gift Certificate

Runner-up Prize #1 – One bar of soap of your choice

Runner-up Prize #2 – One pack of breakaway melts of your choice

Runner-up Prize #3 - One lip balm of your choice

These gift certificates will be valid at either of our shops – www.crazytimescandles.com as well as http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com.

Look what we got!

2008-11-15T12:04:00.002-06:00

I had to blog about these cute earrings I got for my daughter
for Christmas... There so pretty! I got them from KimNettieDesigns

I can't wait to give them to her for Christmas. Also because I bought that pair she sent me another pair for FREE! Totally awesome. So if you have the time check her shop out!

Last Firday!

2008-11-13T12:37:00.005-06:00

Ok so I am very late on posting this but we have had a busy week.

I was going to post this on Saturday but I had to blog about the kids first!

Then on sunday my cousin went into labor and we drove down to be with her.

And well the rest of this week the kids had school and it was a bit CRAZY around here.

I finaly got around to posting a blog yesterday about our new cakes we are making that I was very extied about.

Then I came across this picture in the folder that I have marked BLOG on my computer.

WE Made the Front Page of Etsy on Friday the 7th of November!!!

We made a cake!

2008-11-12T12:46:00.013-06:00

Lately we have been asked a lot what we have been working on. Well we have been working on making some cakes and one of them is going to be listed in the next day or two.

They're not cold process soaps though we made them hot process so we could have them ready fast for all of you soap lovers. Well, and we wanted it ready for the holidays. The soap that we will be listing in a day or two is Spiced Cranberry. It smells so good I almost took a bite out of it. But then I remembered it is soap and that wouldn't taste very good. Here are the pictures!!!

We also have another cake that we have made but it wont be ready for a week or so yet. It is going to be a good one! So keep your eyes open for that one as well.

Thank you for reading and have a creative day!

The Pirate Of The Caribbean Dance!

2008-11-08T12:24:00.003-06:00

Last night was our kids first school dance. For all of you thinking a school dance for Elementary school well it was for a fundraiser for the school.

So our kids had to dress up for the dance. Luckily it was a week after Halloween so we got there costumes on Clearance at Target! $4.00 for each costume NOT BAD!

We had so much fun meeting all the kids new friends. Oh and We got to meet there parents as well.

Anyways here are the picture of the kids before we all went to the dance.

I did there makeup I was very impressed with how well I did on it!

Carpet freshener recipe!

2008-11-06T09:18:00.002-06:00

Here is a recipe we use in our home. A great way to freshen a room much cheaper than the carpet fresheners at the store.

This makes a nice batch of carpet freshener that will last quite awhile.

You can cut the amounts down if you like until you find your favorite blend.

Ingredients:

3 cups baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
10 - 15 drops of your choice of essential oil (Lavender, Eucalyptus, Etc.)
1/2 cup borax (20 mule team) optional

Directions:

Mix well and store in an airtight plastic or glass container. Set aside for a couple days before using. Sprinkle generously on carpet and let sit for about 15 minutes before vacuuming.

I love mail like this!

2008-11-01T14:46:00.005-05:00

We just love getting Etsy packages in the mail! It's so exciting.

Especially when you're waiting for great items like these magnets from HomeStudio2 and some wonderful smelling soaps from DennisAnderson!

If you're looking for some great quality magnets, these are very well made and super strong!

I could not even get them close to each other to take the photo. They will easily do their job very well while looking great!

These amazing smelling soaps also came in the mail today! I can't wait to try them out.

Halloween was so much fun!

2008-11-01T12:46:00.015-05:00

We had so much fun last night Trick or Treating with the kids...

We only took the kids around for an hour but they had a blast.

We had 4 hours to trick ot treat here last night. I think the kids had more fun handing out candy back at the house then anything. Here are the kids in there costumes.

Alyse was Hannah Montana. What a doll!!!

Cameron was Comander Cody. A Clone Trooper. What a

handsome little man!!!

The kids handed out Candy to the kids that came around after we came home.

And earlier in the day Dave got together some samples for all the mom s and dads that took there kids out trick or treating.

The moms and dads of the kids were so happy to get something as well. It was a great night.

After all that we had pizza for supper and watched a movie with our cousin. All and all I

would have to say this was one of the happiest Halloweens we have ever had. And
here are some other pictures of the kids in there costumes.

just my thoughts!

2008-10-30T15:05:00.002-05:00

Ok so I was looking on glitter graghics today for some cool sayings to put on my myspace profile. And I found this.

glitter-graphics.com

It made me think of myself. And for once I can say I found something in writing that was really me.

So Perfection that is what I want to talk about.

In my eye and I do belive in the eyes of many others. There really isn't anyone in the world that is perfect. So why does everyone strive for Perfection?

I think being perfact would be boring. I am glad I am how I am, and if it wasn't for the little mess ups I made in life I wouldn't be me...

So I say on to you don't strive to be perfect.

Have fun with ever breath you take.

You only live once.

So please do what makes you happy and don't worry about what others think.

Halloween is coming!

2008-10-29T13:17:00.002-05:00

All of you know that Halloween is coming soon. My daughter is going to be Hannah Montana this year like almost every other little girl. But I decided to make some fingurless gloves for her to go with her costume.

So I had to show you all what I have been up to. :) Here they are I think I did well for it being my first pair.

Hope you all like them.

Whip Me Till I Clean

2008-10-26T09:12:00.004-05:00

It seems like forever, but our latest product is finally done and ready! We're so excited. This soap is great for shaving, facial cleaning, as a hand soap, or for your bath or shower.

Don't let it's fluffy,creamy appearance fool you. This soap is on a mission to clean and leave you feeling soft and smelling great!

Over 6 months in development and it's finally here! Our whipped soap is made from scratch using only the highest quality all vegetable oils.

Whipped soap is amazing! Try it out and see for yourself!
Contains NO SLS/SLES, propylene glycol (a petroleum product), or parabens. Our fra

grances are Phthalate-Free. Oh, and it's vegan as well for those interested. :)

Have a creative Sunday and thanks for stopping by.

Dave and Erin Powell

http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

http://www.crazytimescandles.com

Saturday Night Special

2008-10-25T16:22:00.002-05:00

Well we haven't been getting much for sales so we thought this would help.

Great way to get gifts for others and some thing for yourself

~SNS~

Spend $20.00 or more before shipping and get a FREE pack of Breakaway Melts in your choice of scent

And any shipping overages that are $1.00 or more will be refunded.

So please take a minute and check out our shop Crazy Times Candles & Bath Co.

Have a Creative Day

The holidays are coming!!!

2008-10-23T12:52:00.003-05:00

So what are we going to do to help others this holiday season?

Well we have some soaps that didn't turn out the way we wanted them to so we are going to bring them to the Salvation Army here. They will then in return hand them out to people in need.

I also think I am going to volunteer to be a bell ringer this year. So the Salvation Army can collected money to get things for families in need.

And last but not least we are thinking about doing an adopt a family this year with the help of our friends and people that love our products.

This is what we are thinking about doing please let us know if it is a good idea or not.

We are going to offer that if someone buys a Pillar Set for $40.00 we will then in turn take $10.00 of that and use it to get stuff for our adopt a family. I was thinking we would buy the stuff for the family mostly off of etsy. There are a few things we can't get on there but most of it we can. Let us know what you all think.

I (Erin) have also started making hats and scarfs that I am donating to the Salvation Army as well. I just love this time of year. Where I get to show people how much I care.

P.S. please let us know what you think in a comment or email us at erin@crazytimescandles.com

Thank you all and have a creative day. :)

Scents???

2008-10-21T13:15:00.006-05:00

As you all know we already have a lot of different scents for our candles and soaps. My question is what other scents can you think of that you would like to see?

Here are the scents that we already have:

Amber Romance^® Type

Apple Pie

Aqua Di Gio^® Type

Banana Berry

Blueberry

Butt Naked

Butterscotch

Cherry

Cinnamon Red Hot

Cinnamon Roll

Citronella

Citrus Musk

Cucumber Melon

Ginger Plum

Grandma's Kitchen

Heavenly Honeydew

Holiday Wish

Irish Coffee

Island Fresh

Lick Me All Over

Lilac

Lily of the Valley

Maple Toddy

North woods Forest

Oatmeal, Milk, & Honey

Ocean Breeze

Pear

Peach

Peppermint

Plumeria

Pumpkin Pie

Sandalwood

Sun Ripened Raspberry

Sweet Pea^® Type

Tulip

Very Vanilla

Wine Cellar

If there are any other scents you would like to see in our shop please let us know. Hoping for a lot of responses :)

Free shipping on pillar trio sets

2008-10-17T13:26:00.005-05:00

Well it is more the that.... We have a big shipping sale right now and if you spend $40.00 you get FREE SHIPPING isn't that a Great deal.

Here is our sale this weekend.

$0.75 shipping on single soap bars and breakaway wax melts to the U.S. and Canada!

Orders of $40.00 or more will enjoy free shipping.

You could get this for $40.00 when it would be normaly $50.00 with shipping :)

2008-10-15T17:38:00.004-05:00

I know it has been a few days sence the last post on here, but we have been busy and when I say busy I mean busy!!! We made 3 batches for soap. We also have been testing soy container candles. Bring the kids to school and picking them up.

I have been checking out this new thing that I found called Stylehive.
It is a big networking site. It's really cool...

Oh and we have some more new items on etsy you should check out.

Spiced Apple Salt Spa Bar Soap

Chocolate Strawberry Salt Spa Bar Soap

We also have some great new Breakaway melts up HERE

thank you for check it all out. Have a Creative night.

What do you think???

2008-10-13T16:55:00.002-05:00

Well Dave and I were thinking about splitting our shop.

We were thinking that because we have our shop name as
CrazyTimesCandles that it might be throwing people off.

So let us know what you think.
Should we keep our etsy shop as crazytimescandles and list both our candles and soaps in that shop.
Or should we open a new shop for our Soaps???

We sell so much soap in our shop but I think some people are not seeing our soaps because of it saying crazytimescandles.

The bad part about it is that we would be starting all over with a shop for soaps and some people might be thrown off with us not having any feedback.

The other bad part is that people wouldn't see our candles as much.

The pluses about it is that people would be able to see all of our soaps for the people that are looking for soaps and not have to see the candles if they didn't want to.

We just don't know what to do with this. Please help!!!

Happy Day!!!

2008-10-11T13:02:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited today.
My cousin Tara Came to see us.
See she is 32 weeks pregnant and she is not supposed to travel tell after she has the baby the doctor gave her and OK to do it this last time before the baby comes.
Tara used to come up and visit every other weekend and we haven't seen her in over a month. She left here about 5 minutes ago to go by her sister to get her baby swing before her sister goes to work. Then she is coming back to us for the night.
I can't wait for her to get back here :)

Other then that Dave is down starts working on making some more Ocean Breeze Salt Spa Bars because that is our BEST selling soap :)
I told him you might as well just make 2 batches right way so that is what he is doing.

The kids are over excited as well with it being Saturday and getting to spend some time with me and there Aunt Tara.
We are all going to play monopoly when she gets back.

New stuff!!!!

2008-10-10T13:52:00.016-05:00

Well we all know the holidays are coming soon.
So here are some of our new and exciting
ideas we came up with.
Hope you like them all.

On the left is a Chocolate mint rustic pillar.

On the right is our fall mix melts yummy. Whe you put a black, white, and orange one in your melter it smells like Apple cider :)

On the left here is a Sun Ripened Raspberry pillar with little Raspberry melts in it as chunks.

On the right is a Reindeer Scented Stuffie. I have to say there really good room fresheners. And very cute.

On the left here is an Apple Pie pillar with apple melts put in as chunks.

On the right is one of the Blue hat Snowman Scented Stuffie.

Crocheted Bracelets

2008-10-09T16:02:00.004-05:00

So I was bored yesterday and I decided
to make some crochet bracelets.
I have never done this before so
I was a bit worried on how I would do.
Well I played around with it for a few hours
then I decided ok enough is enough just
make it already.

And this is what came of it.
The kids loved them.
Now I am working on a few more for my cousins kids as well.
The always get excited when I make fun things for them.
When I get those ones done I will take some pictures as well.

Shipping Sale!!!

2008-10-08T19:42:00.002-05:00

We're having a huge shipping sale!

Now's the perfect time to stock up or pick up gifts.

http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

Bath & Body Products (excluding sugar scrubs) ship for only $0.75 each item USA / $1.00 each item Canada!

All Candles and Sugar Scrubs ship for only $4 USA / $6 Canada!

Don’t pay more than $5 Max shipping USA and $10 Max to Canada

Shipping charged over the listed max will be refunded.

Cameron's Hat and Scarf

2008-10-07T17:52:00.010-05:00

So last night I finally finished Cameron's hat and Scarf.

Woo Hoo I am so excited to show off my handsome little man.

So take some time and look at this cute little guy for me.

This might be the cutest and sweetest little boy you will ever see in your life!

Ok maybe not the cutest to everyone but he is my son so you know how that goes.

He is the little boy that helps anyone and everyone that might need help. I am not just saying he is a great kid because he is mine, He has the biggest heart I have ever seen in anyone.

He puts everyone and everything in front of himself.

He gives and gives and never asks for anything in return.

To find that in any kids these days is hard.

So anyway that is enough about my handsome little man.

Let me know what you think of his hat and Scarf :)

Thank you for reading this.

Oh and this last picture is really for his Auntie Tara...

What a Great Day!!!

2008-10-06T12:42:00.004-05:00

Ok so we had to run to the post office to ship some orders out like we do every Monday. Then we had to get gas in the van. We were excited about that as well because gas was only $3.39 a gallon. Woo hoo happy dance time.

Then we had to get some Kitty Litter for our little Princess so we went to Target. It was my first time out of the house sense I had surgery so I wanted to look around a little bit. And as all parents do we went right for the Toys because we didn't have the kids with us. We went right were we always go to the Clearance spot on a back wall.

And What do I see!!!!

A 3/4 Size Washburn Hannah Montana Acoustic Guitar

The one thing I know my daughter wants more then anything in the world. So we had to get it. :) They normally are $90.00 and it was on clearance for 22.75 What a great deal. That is just the prefect gift for Christmas.

We also got our Son Cameron some Star Wars Ships but they were normal price. But that is ok because us getting Alyse's present on clearance made it so we can get more for both of them.

It always makes us so happy when we can get our kids stuff they want or like. Our kids are easy to please but it is always nice to get them stuff they really really wanted.
So that was our exciting day today.

The Grass :)

2008-10-05T12:54:00.010-05:00

Oh August 23 I was looking around shops and found a Saturday Night Special in TheBumbleBeeStudio's shop. All we had to do is pay shipping. What a great deal.

This is what it looked like when we got it. So cute right.

We were very excited to have the kids plant the seeds.

They had lots of fun doing it as well. I do have to say that The Windowsill Wheat Grass grows like crazy.

TheBumbleBeeStudio
has a great shop and I hope to do some
of our Christmas shopping there.
Our daughter Alyse just loves to munch on
the grass with our little kitty Princess.

Hat and Scarf

2008-10-04T13:11:00.004-05:00

Well winter is coming as we all know. Weather we like it our not. I am one of the ones that just wants it to stay fall. But I did manage to get a hat and scarf made for my daughter.

I made it for her in her favorite color, and she just loves it.
The morning after I finished it she saw it when she got up and I got the biggest hug and kiss for it.

I am working on my son's hat and scarf now so when they are done I will show you how cute that is a well.

I've been tagged

2008-10-03T21:07:00.003-05:00

I have been tagged by twiddlestix! Take a look at her great blog: twiddlestix

Here are the details:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my 7 random facts:

1. I like to sing in the shower

2. I hate thunder storms

3. My favorite color is Purple

4. I'm married to my best friend for almost 8 years now

5. I am going back to school in a year

6. I like to crouchet even though I'm not really good at it.

7. I am an animal lover

Here are the 7 people that I am tagging:

MaryMarsh

UniqueCharms

Threeloudkids

brightonearly

artisanne-scotland

fancifulflair

paperchick

WooHoo its party time :)

2008-10-02T13:50:00.003-05:00

Do you want to earn free stuff for Christmas presents or just get some free stuff to pamper yourself well this would be a great idea for you then.

We host on-line candle, bath and body parties. Here is a link to the page:

On-line party

So now for some more info on here about the party's

They run for 2 weeks
You have to have them put your name in comments to get credit for it.
you get 20% in free stuff at the end of the 2 weeks. SO this means if you have a $400 party you will get $80.00 in free items.

You will receive a free 6 pack of tarts or a 3 pack of votives just for hosting a party with at least $75 before shipping in total orders.

I think you might want to do this we have had quite a few really good party's on our website already. There was one that $1000.00 Woo hoo so they got $200.00 worth of free stuff and we threw in a few little extras :) so if you are interested please mail us at:
erin@crazytimescandles.com

just and update.

2008-10-01T22:14:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone sorry we have been slacking again on blogging. But I (Erin) had surgery today so we have been dealing with that lately.

It wasn't anything big I just got my tubes tied today. So we have been going over the hole are we sure we don't want any more kids for the last month or so. And we thought it was for the best. 2 kids is enough we have a boy and a girl so you really can't have anything else.

So everything went fine today and I am in a little bit of pain. So if I talked in circles you all know why now. :)

We hope to put up some pictures of a show we did a few weeks back tomorrow I think.

Today was a great day!

2008-09-10T20:35:00.015-05:00

Last week Saturday we attended Sputnikfest in Manitowoc, WI as a vendor.

The turnout was great, especially for a first year show. There was a good chance of rain that luckily stayed away and left us with a nice partly cloudy day to enjoy.

During the day we met some great people including Betsy from http://ladybugbeads.etsy.com and Xanthe from http://oddstuffbyXanthe.etsy.com.

Much thanks to Kim Geiser, owner of Persimmons and event coordinator, for hosting such a great event.

Pictured above you'll see just one of the great moments of the day. Darth Vader getting his picture taken while holding a bottle of our Moisturizing Body Spray! Our kids, especially our son, thought that was the coolest thing in the world when they saw the picture this morning.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of our own this time.

We do have another show this Saturday that we will make sure to bring our camera to. If you're in the Appleton area Saturday and would like to join us we'll be at:

SEPT. 13th - Grand Chute Parks Day - Grand Chute, WI - Indoor arts & crafts show. All handmade items highlighting Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas. family entertainment, continental breakfast, chili, brats, burgers & more for lunch, huge raffle. Grand Chute Town Hall, 1900 Grand Chute Boulevard. Event starts at 9:30AM and ends at 3:30PM.

Also, This morning Erin found our Coffee Sugar Scrub on the top of the front page after waking up to noticing skyrocketing item views.

Thank you so much 3dots.etsy.co m for including us in your amazing coffee themed treasury!

Etsy Venus Zine Co-op Ad - Fall 2008 Issue

Today we also took a trip over to Barnes and Noble and found some copies of the fall 2008 issue of Venus Zine. Of course we couldn't get just one, so we got three copies.

We were very excited to see our Lemon Drop Soap on the right side of the ad only a few pages into the magazine right after the table of contents.

Our Coffee Sugar Scrub is supposed to be featured in a new magazine in Denver, CO as well in their premier issue in November. We'll be looking forward to seeing how that ends up. http://onemagdenver.com

I can't believe it.

2008-09-08T13:46:00.004-05:00

My daughter has really curly hair and she wanted it straight. So my mother in law got her a hair straightener.

Last night after her shower I straightened her hair. It makes her look like 2 years older. My husband well I don't think he liked it at all. But I was very happy with it this morning when I went to brush her hair and not even one snarl. That was so great for both her and I. So anyway here is a picture of what she looks like with it straight.

Our babies are growing up!!!

2008-09-07T21:22:00.006-05:00

I was so sad at the start of school this year. My son went in to the 2nd grade this year and our daughter started kindergarten this year :( I can't believe our little ones aren't so little anymore. But I was so happy that my little girl was so excited to start school. She was such a big girl. My son well he just loves school. Well here are few pictures of them on there first day.

See how proud he was of his sister :)

Great news!!!!

2008-08-28T00:18:00.002-05:00

Well I went to a NEW doctor today. And he read over all my tests and told me that I am going to be just fine as of right now I have to get a pap done every 6 months just to make sure...

But the reason I wasn't getting my monthly friend is because I was not ovulating... My hormones were very low so he gave me some pills to help it come. I don't know if any of you know but it is not good for you to go anymore then 3 months with out having your cycle. It can cause you get get uterine cancer and that my friends is not fun. So I am so sorry if I scared any of you with my bad health post but every thing as of now is going to be ok. And as for all the pain I was in it was my body telling me to get in to the doctor and get checked out I think. That and I have a very small cyst on my ovary.

And thank you all for the nice comments and for all of your support. Oh and I also thank my lucky stars that I have such a GREAT and wonderful husband. I hope everyone of you lovely people can find a soul mate like I did.

thank you for reading this and have a creative day.

Our son loves his Skull Pouch.

2008-08-26T22:45:00.002-05:00

This will be short and sweet as I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment, but I just wanted to share a great Etsy shop with everyone.

We got him a black pouch with a white skull on it from tenthstreet over on Etsy.

The quality of the pouch was great and it is quite larger than the picture would make you think. The dimensions of the pouches are in the description for each listing so you'll know the size.

If you have a moment please check out her shop. We think you'll love it.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
tenthstreet.etsy.com

Whipped Body Cream

2008-08-22T19:57:00.007-05:00

We’ve been really excited about our new thicker lotion formulation and now it’s finally ready.

Our whipped body cream is silky smooth and leaves your skin feeling soft, not greasy.

Treat your skin to the benefits of the following moisturizers with our whipped body cream:

Unrefined Shea Butter - nourishes the skin with Vitamins A, E and F. Vitamins A and E help maintain the skin and keep it clear and healthy. They are particularly helpful for sun damaged skin. They help prevent premature wrinkles and facial lines. Vitamin F acts as a skin protector and rejuvenator.

Aloe Vera Leaf Juice - Moisturizer
Sunflower Seed Oil - Moisturizer
Meadowfoam Seed Oil - Skin Conditioner
JoJoba Oil - Moisturizer/Conditioner
Soy Oil - Smoothing Ingredient
Tocopehrol (Vitamin E) - Antioxidant
Vitamin C - Preservative/Antioxidant

Check it out at our website or our Etsy Shop

Thanks for looking and have a great day,

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.

It has been a long time!!!

2008-08-21T14:35:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone this is Erin.

It has been a long time sence our last post. It has also been a long time since you all have seen much of Dave in the forums on Etsy. Just so you all know it is not because he doesn't want to be there chatting with you all. It is because I have been sick and he has been having to do a lot more around the house for me. Like taking care of the kids, cleaning, cooking, laundry, and so on and so forth. What a Great Guy he is....

I don't want to get everyone feeling bad for me but I will tell you a little of what is going on.
I have been tested for ovarian cancer, and cervical cancer. Both have come back that I don't have them. But now I am being tested for some other cancers in that area. The reason being is I haven't had my menstrual cycle in almost 5 months now and I am only 28 years old. I will give you and update on everything when I know what it is for sure.

So now that is enough about me. Lets get down to why I am really writing this. I want everyone in the world to know how GREAT of a husband I have. I have been very very sick. I had broncular pneumonia for 3 weeks and now for the last month he has been going to all my doctor appointments with me to find out why and what is going on with my menstrual cycle not coming. he has also been doing everything for the business including trying to get new products up with very little help from me. I wish I could help him but I can't stand for more then like 20 minutes with out being in pain. So if you see him in the forums and or in the chat rooms give him a pat on the back for being such a GREAT person.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

thank you and have a creative day,
Erin

Time to get re-organized and ready

2008-07-27T17:37:00.003-05:00

Summer is coming to an end sadly, however that means it's time to prepare for the holiday season.

Actually, the preparation started a month or so ago but the time has come to redo our workshop / studio a bit to improve the "flow" a bit.

I'm excited to get everything setup a little nicer and then getting back to production. There are so many ideas right now that we are testing and a few things that are on the way out.

Enjoy your Sunday and don't work to hard.

Once everything is done I'll be sure to post up some pictures for you to check out where we work.

It's Saturday! Time for SNS Sales!

2008-07-26T09:58:00.002-05:00

I love SNS on Etsy. There are so many great shops with specials and the chat thread is always a good time.

I hope to see you there if you can make it.

Here is our special for tonight!

Sale begins at 5:00 pm Saturday EST and ends at 9:00 am Sunday EST.

♦ Buy 2 or more items and get 20% off (before shipping).

♦ Orders over $15.00 before discount will get a free cotton crochet scrubbie.

♦ Plus, orders over $25.00 before discount will get a free lip balm of choice.

♦ Orders over $50.00 before discount will get a free soap or free pack of breakaway melts.

♦ As always, free sample with every purchase!

Just mention "SNS" in the notes to the seller.

http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

► We can fit up to 8 bars of soap in a Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope!!
Save big by stocking up!! $5.00 USA, $9.00 Canada & Mexico, $12.00 Everywhere Else!

► We also use flat rate boxes if necessary to save you shipping costs.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

Thrift store shopping and an overcast day =

2008-07-22T08:33:00.005-05:00

A few new product photos.

I had a great time shopping a few thrift shops for photo props. There are some really great things to be found.

Here are a few examples of the pictures that came about as a result of our shopping experience.

Weekend Specials July 10th - July 13th

2008-07-10T12:34:00.004-05:00

Who doesn't like a nice little extra?

Starting now through July 13th we're adding some extras in with all purchases in addition to our normal product sample!

~~~ Free crochet cotton washcloth today with a purchase of $10.00 or more before shipping.

~~~ Free lip balm of your choice with a purchase of $25.00 or more before shipping.

Offer available at our Etsy Shop as well as our web store.

We can fit up to 8 bars of soap in a Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope!!
Save big by stocking up!! $5.00 USA, $9.00 Canada & Mexico, $12.00 Everywhere Else!

New Soaps!!!!

2008-07-09T13:29:00.007-05:00

We're proud to announce our 4 new soap additions.

The same length and width as our standard size bar, these bars are 1" thick instead of our normal 3/4".

How much of a difference does that make? These great soaps weigh in at an average of 6 oz. compared to our normal 4.5 oz. bar!

Be sure to check our etsy shop - http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com as well as our website www.crazytimescandles.com to see more about these great new soaps.

Pictured left to right: Banana Nut Bread, Bubble Gum, Chocolate Mint, and Lemon Drop.

Have a great day,

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.

Business cards - everywhere you go

2008-07-02T12:47:00.006-05:00

How would you like to be able to have your business cards available for people where ever your car was.

Imagine going into a store and having people take your business cards while you shop.

Last week we came across a way to do just that.

It's called Grab-A-Card and it does work. This neat case holds about 40 cards at a time.

We're expecting to have our vinyl lettering for our minivan windows done in a few weeks as well which should greatly help and get more people grabbing cards.

Grab-A-Card is a simple, plastic box with a spring loaded cover that attaches to pretty much anything. It uses two 3M pressure sensitive tape strips to adhere to your car without damaging a its surfaces. We put ours on our back window.

After the storm we had come through today we got a great idea of how "weatherproof" the case really is.

When you go to wash your car, you can easily just tap on the bottom of the card holder and only the plastic back base stays on the window.

For a mere $10.00 at http://www.grab-a-card.com or your local Sign-A-Rama you can have one as well.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2008-04-18T09:04:00.002-05:00

Really, I don't mind the rain much at all. It's great this time of year for the area farmers and gardens and it's much better than snow right about now.

However, I was planning on getting outside to take some pictures and dark clouds and rain aren't exactly ideal conditions for that. It is supposed to rain tomorrow as well and it looks like any outdoor photos will have to wait until Sunday afternoon for this week.

On the bright side, we will be able to get several batches of soap made that we have been planning. Plus, we will probably be able to get around to sorting our work room and living area this weekend.

Hopefully the rain will let off a bit so that we can enjoy some of the weekend outdoors.

Have a great weekend,

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

New Retail Location!

2008-04-15T07:53:00.002-05:00

Just an update for locals who are looking for great candles and other wonderful handmade items in the downtown area of Manitowoc, WI.

You can now find a selection of our pillar candles, container candles, and breakaway melts at Persimmons on N. 8th Street.

We are very excited to have this opportunity to have our candles in this great shop. If you are in the Manitowoc, WI area please be sure to stop by and check out Persimmons.

Along with our candles you will find a great selection of fused glass pendants and earrings, cards, art, crochet items, jewelry, and more from over 100 local and national artists and designers.

You can also find some of our products at:

AGOG ARTS - 225 E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing MI (soaps, incense, breakaway melts)
Silver Heels Truck Stop - Fairplay, CO (pillar candles, votive candles, breakaway melts)

Johnny Depp in Oshkosh, WI

2008-04-13T11:14:00.005-05:00

Johnny Depp arrived in Oshkosh, about 20 minutes from us, Friday night around 7:00 PM to film a part of "Public Enemies".

Depp stars in the film as bank robber John Dillinger, who was killed by FBI agents in 1935 in Chicago. Filming began in Columbus, WI, a small town north of Madison, last month.

Over the weekend, scenes were filmed at Wittman Regional Airport. A slightly "remodeled for the set" downtown Main Street will be the set starting on Monday.

The local newspaper is following closely with updates available at their website .

"Public Enemies" Johnny Depp as Dillinger- Oshkosh gets ready

Feature - Purselady / KDemARTe

2008-04-11T08:36:00.013-05:00

Today I'd like to share a few great items I recently purchased on Etsy.

The first is a very nice purse from Purselady.

I just love this purse, it is very well built and sturdy. There is plenty of room and the sturdy bottom is a nice touch. Another great thing is that the bag has been pressed and sprayed with scotch-guard for extra protection.

If you're looking for a new purse check out her shop - http://purselady.etsy.com.

Next is a great necklace from KDemARTe.

I love coffee, and this necklace is just perfect for me. I'm planning on getting the matching bracelet from her soon.

From her item listing, "I made these coffee bean pendants using the age-old process of gravity casting and forging. They have an antiqued hand polished finish."

There is a great selection of rustic handmade jewelry in her shop http://KDemARTe.etsy.com.

Thank you for your time and have a creative Friday,

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

New "of the Month" Clubs

2008-04-08T18:37:00.012-05:00

We are pleased to offer you several choices as a great way to receive new scents or soaps every month!

Introducing the Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co. Breakaway Melt of the Month Club and Soap of the Month Club!!

Both of these great clubs are available on our website http://www.crazytimescandles.com as well as our Etsy shop, http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com.

Soap of the Month Club

A wonderful way to pamper yourself. Also great as a gift. As they pamper themselves each and every month, they'll be thanking you over and over again.

Each month you will receive one or more (depending on the plan you choose) of our luxurious handcrafted soaps delivered to your door or sent directly to your gift recipient.

We'll even include a special card with the first shipment to announce your thoughtful gift.

We'll match your monthly soap selections to the season. Lighter scents during the summer months and richer scents during the cold winter months.

Want to request certain items? Or are there specific allergies/sensitivities of which we should be aware?

Let us know and we'll make sure that you'll be absolutely delighted with each and every month's shipment.

*** Shipping in the US and Canada is included in the price. ***

Available packages include:

1 bar per month plans:

3 months - $24.00
6 months - $45.00
12 months - $85.00

2 bar per month plans:
(save even more!!)

3 months - $40.00
6 months - $78.00
12 months - $145.00

Breakaway Melt of the Month Club

Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co. Breakaway Melts are highly scented wax chunks meant to be melted on a tart/melt warmer. As the wax melts it releases scent to fill your room.

Simply place a melt in the upper tray and light a tea light to place in the bottom. As the flame of the tea light heats the upper tray where the melt is, the melt releases fragrance through its wax pool.

Now you can enjoy a new scent every month with our Breakaway Melt of the Month Club.

You will receive 1 pack of our breakaway melts (6 squares per pack) each month in our featured scent of the month.

If this is being sent for a gift, we'll include a special card with the first shipment to announce your thoughtful gift.

Shipping is included in the price.

3 months - $20.00

6 months - $38.00

12 months - $74.00

Be on the look out for our next Featured Etsy Seller coming tomorrow!

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

iCraft.ca

2008-04-07T07:41:00.005-05:00

Recently, Southamptoncreations made me aware of a new site where independent artists can display their work for sale. It's called iCraft.ca, and right now you can sign up for a "showcase" free for one year before April 30th.
Yes, if you sign up before April 30th and list at least one item they will waive the $25.00 annual fee for the first year as well as all fees involved in selling!

iCraft.ca is an outlet that those who sell their hand-crafted items may want to check into. The site is designed to allow crafters to sell their work. There are also a message board, an events calendar, and a number of great content-related articles.

Though this is a relatively new site, from what I can see there are quite a few people over there already.

I have set up a showcase there and added just a few items right now, but the process can be made fairly simple by opening a window for your Etsy shop and one for your iCraft.ca showcase and using "copy / paste" to add your items.

You can check out my iCraft.ca showcase here - http://www.icraft.ca/crazytimescandles

Jewelrybytiti has a more full showcase here as an example - http://www.icraft.ca/jewelry_by_titi

If you sell, at least go check iCraft.ca out! Hey, it's free...

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

New - Eucalyptus Foot Cream

2008-04-06T22:54:00.007-05:00

Just in time to prepare for summer sandal weather.

We've developed a thick foot cream specially formulated with Eucalyptus essential oil and anti-fungal Tea Tree essential oil to treat dry and cracked feet.

Enriched with a large amount of organic unrefined shea butter, this cream moisturizes, softens, and protects.

Available at our www.crazytimescandles.com and at our Etsy shop.

Thanks for visiting our blog,

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com/
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com/

Warm & Sunny Sunday

2008-04-06T11:06:00.003-05:00

Today the weather is quite nice. I am planning on grabbing my camera and taking some new pictures outside to see the difference.

I'll be sure to post some shots taken inside and outside with various camera settings later.

Also, we are getting our outdoor products ready to list for next week. These will include the fire starters (already listed) as well as all natural bug repellent spray and candles using blends of some great essential oils.

First it's time for some coffee.

Revolution Money Exchange (RME)

2008-04-03T07:21:00.009-05:00

We added a few more payment options yesterday. I'd like to share them with you so you can take advantage of these great sites.

The first one many of you are probably familiar with, Google Checkout.

Google Checkout allows you to receive payment for a lower fee than PayPal ($0.20 + 2.0%) compared to PayPal at ($0.30 + 2.9%). One nice thing about the Google Checkout system is that it can be integrated into our web page's shopping cart and therefor becomes another easy payment method on our site.

With Google Checkout you can also add payment buttons which are similar to PayPal's "Buy it now" buttons. This is great for sites that do not have a shopping cart system.

This next one I am a bit excited about.

Late last night, I found out about Revolution Money Exchange, a competitor to PayPal. If after reading this you are interested in signing up please contact me either by leaving an e-mail address in a comment or by e-mail at erin@crazytimescandles.com.

If you haven't checked out Revolution Money Exchange (RME) it is worth your while. The really nice thing about RME is that there are no fees unless you want a physical check sent to you or want a paper statement mailed (which you can print from their site for free).

That's right, it's free to register, add money, send money, receive money, request money and withdraw electronically to a bank account.

Plus as a bonus you will get $25.00 FREE in your account for signing up before April 15th. That is a great bonus. Each referral you make will land you a bonus $10.00 in your account as well.

Signing up is simple, just click the picture below to get started.
It took me about 2 minutes and I got my $25.00 instantly!

To accept this payment method you will need to send a request for the funds to the buyer and then they will have to pay the "invoice" that you send. A small price to pay to not have to pay PayPal's transaction fees.
Washington Post – "Former AOL chairman Steve Case is at it again, this time using his Revolution LLC investment firm to start a new credit card company he's calling Revolution Money…AOL vice chairman emeritus Ted Leonsis will chair the new company…the board also will include former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, former Mastercard CEO Russell Hogg, and former Charles Schwab chief executive David Potruck."

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://www.crazytimescandles.etsy.com

April Scent of the Month

2008-04-02T09:37:00.005-05:00

For those who don't know, we feature a different fragrance each month as our Scent of the Month.

Products in the Scent of the Month section at http://www.crazytimescandles.com are offered at a 25% discount.

There is no limit, but you MUST order the items from the Scent of the Month page to receive your discount.

We have chosen Cucumber Melon for April.

A perfect blend of wild watermelon, cucumber, and honeydew make this an incredibly fresh and fun fragrance!

2008-03-30T20:50:00.002-05:00

I was tagged by BackwoodSophisticate (who makes awesome cards!) with Seven Random Facts so here goes!Here are the rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

OK... seven random facts.... here goes: This is from Erin this time

1. I like watching kids shows with my kids.

2. My favorite movie is The Craft.

3. I sing in the shower.

4. I play with brats dolls with my daughter.

5. I can't eat breakfast.

6. I never buy things for myself.

7. My favorite thing in the world is to watch my husband when he is working on things...

StumpJack Coffee Company

1337 Art

Butterfly Chic Boutique

RiverCityBeads

The Downtown Boutique

Oh, I Love That!

A needle in the haystack

Contest Time!!!

2008-03-30T14:57:00.018-05:00

Congratulations to toystory for answering all 5 languages correctly!!!

Thank you to everyone who played.

This contest is going to be a bit different.

Our next one will be a lot simpler, but we wanted to try something fun.

We’re going to play a game with the bottles from the last post and a few other related cans and bottles we have.This may be a bit tricky, so take your time if you need to.

Can you identify the languages on 5 these bottles and cans? Leave a comment with your answers / guesses for a chance to win.

From now until Saturday, April 5^th leave a comment on this post with a list of your answers.

On Sunday, April 6^th we will review the comments. The first person's comment to get them all right (or the person with the most correct) will win a nice selection of soap seconds.

We call them soap seconds because they are soaps that didn’t meet the look we wanted to be able to sell them. They are still GREAT soaps!!!

These soaps will be a mix of scents but you will get just over a full pound of soap.

Click on the images if you would like to see them bigger.

Picture #1

Picture #2

<--- Picture #3 (has two pictures) --->

Picture #4

Hint: Be specific.

<--- Picture #5 (has two as well) --->

As a bonus, if the winner correctly names all of the languages as well as the country of origin of all the bottles and cans we will include a $10 gift certificate to our store at http://www.crazytimescandles.com.

A few of these are tough as several countries use the same languages, but we know where they came from.

Our next contest will be much simpler, but this looked like fun!

Have fun, and good luck.

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

Saturday Morning Coffee

2008-03-29T08:46:00.005-05:00

What better way is there to sit and read blogs than with a nice hot cup of fresh coffee?

We really love coffee if you can’t tell. We drink it constantly!

Here is our coffee selection for this week. Three great organic fair trade coffees roasted here in Wisconsin!

Alterra Coffee – Organic Second Harvest Blend – http://www.alterracoffee.com/

Café Fair - Café Fair Blend (their Vanilla is excellent as well) - http://www.cafefair.com/

Steep & Brew – Costa Rican Tarrazu - http://www.steepnbrew.com

Are you curious about the bottles in the picture? Check back later today and we'll have some fun with those and a few other related items.

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day,

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

Feature - MaryMarsh

2008-03-28T19:53:00.010-05:00

Our daughter will be 5 in June and starting school next year.

With her crazy hair we decided to get some clips and headbands to make life easier in the morning.

She now has several great sets of clips thanks to MaryMarsh at http://MaryMarsh.etsy.com.

MaryMarsh was kind enough to answer a few questions for us as well.

1. How would you describe your shop/business?

I would describe my shop as a place where fun meets functional. Not only do my products serve a purpose, but they are unique and fun as well.

2. How long have you been making hair accessories/crafting for?

I have been making hair accessories for about a year and a half now. I have been crafting practically my whole life though.

3. How did get into this line of work/hobby?

I saw some fabric button ponytail holders for sale and thought to myself how cute they were. Being the "do it yourself" kind of person I am, I figured out how to make them. Before long and with an accumulation of fabric, I decided to try to sell them. And that's when I found Etsy!

4. Where does your inspiration come from? What sorts of things inspire your work?

My inspiration comes from everywhere. Most of my ideas come from lots of careful brainstorming. It seems as though the "wheels" are always turning in my head trying to think of what new product I can come up with next. I just try to come up with products that are fun as well as useful.

My latest creation... one of a kind button key chains.

5. What is your favorite piece? Why?

Hmmmm... that's a hard one. I guess I'd have to say I'm really proud of this... http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10260568 the two-sided keychain in "My Sweet Little Girls."

It took me a long time to perfect this keychain, and I love how it shows the front and the back profiles of the Matryoschka dolls.

6. What do you like to do when you are not crafting?

Besides thinking of new projects to work on, I am usually out shopping or on walks with my husband and our dog. I also enjoy spending time with my close friends.

7. Are your items available anywhere other than etsy?

Currently, the only place they are available is through Etsy.

Name: MaryMarsh Hayden

City, State, Country: Charleston, SC, USA

Business/Shop Name: Meeting Street Designs

Website URL: n/a

Etsy URL: http://marymarsh.etsy.com

Blog URL: http://marymarsh.blogspot.com

If you are looking for some adorable hair accessories please check out MaryMarsh's shop. You won't be dissapointed!

Thank you for reading,

David and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

Old vs. New

2008-03-27T11:50:00.005-05:00

I decided to try to something different for our blogger template.

I think this new layout is a bit nicer on the eyes and focuses more on the content of the page.

We have gotten positive comments on both however, so I thought I'd put up a poll out of curiosity.

Below is a screen shot of our old layout.

ETSY FRONT PAGE

2008-03-27T02:47:00.007-05:00

Our Blueberry Bath Cupcake made the front page of Etsy.com overnight!!!!

Thank you riyzedesignz for placing us in your treasury, and thank you FancifulFlair for letting us know we were there!

Here is a screenshot of the page, we're on the upper right:

David and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

Etsy Seller Feature - TSurfer

2008-03-26T22:30:00.010-05:00

No more trips to the post office with the same paper grocery bag I kept reusing to carry packages in!!!

Thanks to Tsurfer I get to make the trip in style and advertise at the same time!

This tote is also great for small store runs. Another great advertising opportunity!

http://tsurfer.etsy.com/ is well worth checking out. You'll find everything from these great totes, to jewelry and hair accesories, envelopes, and more.

Plus the super fast shipping and excellent customer service and friendly communication add to the experience nicely.

Time to get back to working,

Please check back soon for more updates and possibly some posts of random craziness :)

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com/
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com/

New Soaps

2008-03-24T17:21:00.009-05:00

This was a crazy busy weekend, but that is a good thing!

We hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. Ours involved being home as all of our parents were a bit sick this weekend. The kids still had a blast though.

We managed to get five batches of soaps made and onto the curing racks this weekend, plus get all of the weekend orders out.

In addition, we had a great time with several custom orders this weekend. One was for 72 votive candles in teal (scented Forget-Me-Not). I didn't get a picture of those before they were sent out this morning though. Slipped my mind. :(

However I did get a few pictures of a custom colored Chunk Pillar Trio set that we made this weekend.

This was so much fun to make and the colors were to match some window coverings!

The latest soaps put on the curing rack this weekend include:

A restock batch of Coconut Lime (stronger scent than the previous on this one)

A restock batch of Sweet Orange essential oil - Goat Milk Soap (this turned out better than we were expecting)!

A batch scented in a Victoria's Secret Love Spell dupe.

Our latest addition to the Salt Spa Bar line (Green Tea and Ylang Ylang) Made with iced Green Tea as the liquid and ylang ylang essential oil.

Finally, an attempt at a beer soap made with Corona. We had a few bottles sitting here that a friend left behind. ;)

Thanks again for taking the time to check us out.

Have a creative day,

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com/
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com/

2008-03-19T14:30:00.001-05:00

We have several new soaps coming soon.
Here is a preview of what will be available as of this weekend.

Sandalwood

Plumeria

There are just a few more pictures to be done yet before our website updating is completed.
Also, we will be adding quite a few new items on Etsy this weekend.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great day,
Dave & ErinCrazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

2008-03-17T12:24:00.002-05:00

Today I will probably not be around as much as usual.

Our website is in need of some updating and that will take me most of the day. Don't worry though, I will be back and our website will run considerably faster.

Also, we have added a poll on the side to help make the final decisions on our lotion bottles. Currently we are looking more at one style than the others, but we were interested in your opinion as well.

Please take a moment to vote.

Thank you,

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

We've Been Tagged!

2008-03-10T22:26:00.004-05:00

I was tagged by ara133Photography from Etsy (http://ara133photography.blogspot.com/) to state 7 random things about myself, so here goes!

1) We LOVE Coffee! Right now our current favorites include Café Fair, Alterra, and Stumpjack some great coffee roasted here in Wisconsin!

2) We end up moving an average of once every 18 months. Although hopefully that will slow down soon.

3) I am having difficulty thinking of 7 things right now. :)

4) We make soap for dogs even though we no longer have dogs. We just love them so much.

5) We always say we can't wait for summer to come in the middle of winter, but by the middle of summer it is "too hot". I think a nice spring 65 degrees year round would be great. :D

6) We love to help our children develop their creativity and they both enjoy beading. Cameron is getting quite good with painting (which is odd since neither of us do that).

7) I sometimes randomly sit or stand up in my sleep, start mumbling or even talking, and then lay back down. (At least that's what I've been told by Erin)

Well, now I will tag 3 other people...

ScrapTrendz (Bottle Cap Creations on Etsy)
Irisa's Business Journal (wpooh87)(Crocheting Creations & More on Etsy)
Two Bees In A Pod (AMSX05)(Wonderful Greeting Cards & Knitted Items on Etsy)

Featured Etsy Shops - AMSX05 - buttonempire

2008-03-10T20:49:00.005-05:00

I know I've been slacking on the blog posts. Life got a little crazy for a few days and has definitely lived up to our name.

We have gotten so many great items off of Etsy lately that I wanted to share with you a few of my favorites.

First is AMSX05 from Two Bees In A Pod.

I got my first card from them shortly before Valentine's Day for my wife, Erin.

This card was amazing. I love it so much! The quality of the paper and details put into the card made it even more special than buying a handmade card instead of a store bought card would have in the first place.

I really liked the fact that the card came with it's own envelope that also had a nice handmade touch to it. There was a cute glittery heart in the corner that gave it that extra special feel. The card also came in a nice plastic bag along with a nice clear / mesh-like decorative bag with a ribbon which made the perfect holder for the other half of her Valentine's Day gift; a really nice butterfly bracelet also from Etsy.

This past week our second card from AMSX05 arrived.

This one is a Thinking of you (Friendship) card and will be perfect for whomever we decide to send this one to. I know though that it will be hard to see this card leave. I love the paper used and the blue and green color combination makes this card POP. There is a nice little rhinestone on the front as well next to a stamp in the corner reading "Thinking of you". The inside is left blank for you to write what you would like.

I know that I would love to get a card for a special occasion that looked like this, and the best part is that each of these wonderful cards were under $3 including the shipping.

You can't even go to the store and buy a card for that price. Plus you have to get dressed and go to the store. Then try to find the "perfect" card, which after an hour still doesn't happen, so you grab a bunch and sit and stare at them deciding until you finally get sick of looking at cards and just grab one.

Tell me that's not how card shopping usually goes... every time I go I see everyone else doing the same thing.

Next time you need a great card for any occasion keep Two Bees In A Pod at http://AMSX05.etsy.com in mind. You won't be disappointed.
____________________________________________________________________

Next up are a few buttons I found in a treasury a few weeks back. The second I saw them I tried to buy them, but the treasury link went to a sold item.

After searching the store full of great funny buttons I came across another set of the same buttons from buttonempire.

These buttons fit Erin and I so perfectly that I just had to make a quick mention and share them with you.

2008-03-08T21:50:00.007-06:00

This week we are featured on wickedlychic.com. A great resource for reviews of Indie / Home businesses.

Featured on the site was our Vanilla Bath Cupcake as well as our Ocean Breeze Salt Scrub Spa Bar.
We also sent a Coffee Sugar Scrub.

I'd also love to give a big Thank You to springcartdesigns for the advertising space on her blog Tha Hotness

Keeping you clean since 2006

2008-03-04T09:05:00.008-06:00

Ever wonder what soap is really made of?

Would you like to know what goes into making that great handmade soap you love?

Are you curious about the general process of soap making?

Want to know the differences between several handmade soap methods and commercial soap?

Today I am going to provide a general overview of the soap making process and a bit of what happens during this process.

A little background first. We started making candles as a hobby in 2002 and began to learn the soap making process in 2003. Once we were confident in our product and had done proper testing we started our business in December of 2006.

The soap making process does involve the use of strong chemicals and is not something to be done without proper safety equipment and not to be done around children or animals.

What is soap?

Definition: Soap is a cleansing agent made from the interaction of fats and oils with alkali.

So, what is soap made of?

Soap is made using oils, fats, and butters (animal or vegetable), water, and sodium hydroxide (lye) for solid soap or potassium hydroxide (potash) for liquid soap. The combining of the lye and water solution causes a chemical reaction known as saponification.

Oils and fats for soap are compounds of glycerin and a fatty acid. When oils are mixed with an alkali, they form glycerin and the sodium salt of the fatty acid. At Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co. we stir the glycerin back in to add to the moisturizing qualities of the final product.

The fatty acids required for soap making are supplied by tallow, grease, fish oils, and vegetable oils. The hardness, lathering qualities, and transparency of soap vary according to the combinations of fats and alkalis used as ingredients. An experienced soap crafter uses many combinations of oils.

We use high quality oils in our soaps including first cold press extra virgin olive oil and unrefined organic fair trade shea butter.

To ensure a hard, long lasting, mild bar of soap with great lather cold process soaps must sit and "cure" for 4 - 6 weeks. The wait is well worth it and the longer a soap cures, the better it becomes. I guess you could say that natural soap is like a fine wine and gets better with age.

Above: Soaps on one of our curing racks

Is glycerin good for my skin? YOU BET!

Glycerin is in fact more valuable by weight than soap. Commercial milled soaps remove their glycerin by adding salt and alcohol to their batch to separate the glycerin. Most commercially removed glycerin in turn is sold and used as a stabilizer in Food and Cosmetics production, as well as an inhibitor in cigarette paper which allows it to burn more evenly.

With glycerin removed, the end result is a soap that dries your skin! That's because glycerin, mixed with a little oil and water left in the soap, creates a hand-lotion-in-soap effect. This allows us to create a bar that cleans and removes oils, while soothing sensitive skin.

What about glycerin clear bars?

True transparent soap is made by boiling the soap base in alcohol and sugars. Heat and pressure may also be used. Pluses are a high glycerin content and mild pH. Negatives are a bar that dissolves quickly, and often contains alcohol which can dry your skin.

Propylene glycol (antifreeze) and triethanolalamine (TEA) are used to make the "melt and pour" soap base of many so called vegetable glycerin bars. Not our idea of natural.

They are often used to make your “decorative” shaped soaps.

Isn’t lye harmful?

To answer that question quite simply, yes. In its raw form lye can cause very severe burns or at least severe irritation. During the saponification process (when combined with the water and oils) the lye chemically changes as do the oils forming glycerin and the sodium salt of the fatty acid. If properly calculated, there will be no remaining lye and therefore no harsh chemicals remaining. We use 5% extra oils compared to what the lye needs to fully change ensuring a mild bar plus leaving some unchanged oils and butters to act as an extra moisturizer. This is known as “superfatting”.

If you back a ways in time you may remember your grandmother or mother made “lye soap” at home. Back then the soap was often made using lard or bacon grease and the lye was guessed. This soap could often be harsh on your skin and may have even left you red and itchy. That is because the amount of lye was not properly measured to match the SAP (saponification values) of the oils and fats used. Each oil and fat has its own value of how much lye (sodium hydroxide) is needed to ensure a mild soap. At Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co. we measure all of our oils, butters, and lye to 0.00 oz. (one hundredth of an ounce).

The saponification process is complete in about 3 days at which point the lye and oils have finished their chemical combination. You "could" use the soap at this point, but it wouldn't be very mild and the bar would be very soft and used up quickly. That is the reasoning behind allowing soaps to "cure". Curing is a 4 - 6 week process where the bars sit on a shelf and "dry out" evaporating off the excess water used to mix the lye and oils. The end result is a hard mild bar with great lather that leaves you skin clean and smooth.

How can using something made from oils and greasy butters and fats get me clean?

Most soap removes grease and dirt because some of their components are surfactants (surface-active agents). Surfactants have a molecular structure that acts as a link between water and the dirt particles. This loosens the particles from the underlying fibers or surfaces to be cleaned. One end of the molecule is hydrophilic (attracted to water), and the other is hydrophobic (attracted to substances that are not water soluble). This peculiar structure allows soap to adhere to substances that are otherwise insoluble in water. The dirt is then washed away with the soap.

Here is a more in-depth explanation of the chemistry involved from chemistry.about.com:

“Each soap molecule has a long hydrocarbon chain, sometimes called its 'tail', with a carboxylate 'head'. In water, the sodium or potassium ions float free, leaving a negatively-charged head.

Soap is an excellent cleanser because of its ability to act as an emulsifying agent. An emulsifier is capable of dispersing one liquid into another immiscible liquid. This means that while oil (which attracts dirt) doesn't naturally mix with water, soap can suspend oil/dirt in such a way that it can be removed.

The organic part of a natural soap is a negatively-charged, polar molecule. Its hydrophilic (water-loving) carboxylate group (-CO₂) interacts with water molecules via ion-dipole interactions and hydrogen bonding. The hydrophobic (water-fearing) part of a soap molecule, its long, nonpolar hydrocarbon chain, does not interact with water molecules. The hydrocarbon chains are attracted to each other by dispersion forces and cluster together, forming structures called micelles. In these micelles, the carboxylate groups form a negatively-charged spherical surface, with the hydrocarbon chains inside the sphere. Because they are negatively charged, soap micelles repel each other and remain dispersed in water.

Grease and oil are nonpolar and insoluble in water. When soap and soiling oils are mixed, the nonpolar hydrocarbon portion of the micelles break up the nonpolar oil molecules. A different type of micelle then forms, with nonpolar soiling molecules in the center. Thus, grease and oil and the 'dirt' attached to them are caught inside the micelle and can be rinsed away.”

Thank you for reading. We hope you enjoyed the article.

Please check back tomorrow for our featured Etsy artist article and stay tuned because next week we are planning to have more detailed pictures of the soap making process as well as hopefully some video for you.

David and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
website: http://www.crazytimescandles.com
Etsy: http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

2008-02-28T19:09:00.004-06:00

Cameron and Alyse's store was opened early this morning.
They are very excited, especially since they sold their first two bracelets today as well!!!

Please check out their shop if you haven't already.

http://KrazyTimesKids.etsy.com

Thank you.

Dave and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
Etsy - http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com
Website - http://www.crazytimescandles.com

Our Kids Stuff

2008-02-27T21:39:00.031-06:00

Our kids are getting to the age that they need a hobby.

We started them on making bracelets.

We are even setting up an Etsy shop for them
They have a few done right now and we will be putting one or 2 of them up a day.

The kids think this is really cool because they
will have there own money to spend.

I think it's neat because they're crafty just like Mommy and Daddy.

So here are the bracelets we will be putting in their etsy shop.
they have made alot already.

Now remember that a 4 year old and a 6 year old made these...
And here is a picture of our cute kids...

Featured Etsy Shop - HiJinx

2008-02-27T14:00:00.000-06:00

I just recently received my noggin from HiJinx on Etsy. After wearing this hat for a few days in the cold Wisconsin weather I have decided that this will be the first of many Etsy shops we will feature.

This quality of this noggin is quite amazing and the color and style of the one I received is perfect. I love the way this fits on my head nice and snug and covers the back of my neck as well. Lynne Adamson has the art of a great hat perfected.

HiJinx has also recently started to offer a matching holder for your iPod or cellphone. The iNog is a wonderful addition to the already perfect Noggin. This is also available as an iNog/Noggin combo.

If you are looking for a special color or color combination, HiJinx can do that for you as well at no extra charge. The Noggins are “sized for the average size nog”, but if you need an XL just let her know. She “can also make a smaller version if you are really petite but most have no problem with regular”.

Her springtime collection is starting to be listed as well. Here is the first in this collection. I really like the addition of the patterns on this noggin.

I can’t wait to see what she’ll come up with next.

If you haven’t checked out her shop it is well worth a visit.

http://hijinx.etsy.com

Thank you so much for reading! We plan on featuring more Etsy stores in the near future.

Please come back for regular updates.

Dave & Erin
Crazy Times Candle & Bath Co.
http://www.crazytimescandles.com
http://crazytimescandles.etsy.com

2008-02-18T21:50:00.000-06:00

It can stop snowing now!!!

It is Crazy outside!!! We must have gotten at least 18 inches of snow if not more in the last TWO days now. Good thing we have things to do in the house :D.

But it has also been a bad few days as well.
We have been up for almost 2 days now.
Our Daughter got up a little after 12 last night and didn't feel well.
She had a fever of 103.7 not much fun trying to help a 4 year old that doesn't know what she wants.

So today we went to the Doctor with both the kids since they have both been feeling icky, and they BOTH have STREP. So we have at least one more day of our son being home from school.

He really doesn't like to miss school. So keeping him home is not fun for any of us.

Now that I got my GRRRR out I can go on and tell everyone some
cool stuff....

We have 2 online candle party's that just started on our website
www.crazytimescandles.com

We also have some new scents coming to our line
of candles and B&B.
So if your reading this you get a heads up for what to look for :)

the new scents are:

Banana Nut Bread
Bubble Gum
Chocolate Mint
Honeysuckle
Lemon Drops
Love Spell (VS Type)

I can't wait for you all to SMELL them they ROCK!!!!

We also have a few other things that are cool that are going on but now isn't the time to say anything about that we will tell you all at the right time so PLEASE check back soon...

Feb. 8th 2008

2008-02-08T12:56:00.000-06:00

Well today is David's 29th Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday honey!!!

We have a new product that we released in the last few days.

They are Bath Cup Cakes!!!

Just click on the picture to check them out on our site. :)

Weighing in at around 5 oz. one of these will leave you soft and smelling great.

Place one of these in the tub and it will instantly start fizzing releasing the skin smoothing goodness within. If you'd like you can even break it into several pieces to get two uses from one cake.

The First one has to be a good one!

2008-02-04T21:35:00.000-06:00

In the last few months we have been meeting a lot of new people.
We have made new friends!
And tried to help some others out!
So to start this I am going to tell you all
about a fund raiser I am helping with...

We are pleased to do this for all the babies and mothers!!!
This basket is called:
MELT MY HEART
Also if you would like to donate or know more about the cause you can go to
http://marchforbabies.org/parents2abby

This is one of my friends that does this every year for the last 4 years so far.

Here are some other really cool things I think you should all check out.

Etsy
Buy Handmade
kaylah7

Etsy
Buy Handmade
HiJinx

Etsy
Buy Handmade
1337art

Etsy
Buy Handmade
JustBeadIt

Etsy
Buy Handmade
KreativeThoughts

Etsy
Buy Handmade
HempLady4u

And this is just a start to all the Friends we have
made on Esty.
Please feel free to leave comments and tell me what you would like to see next.
Have a Creative Day.
David and Erin Powell
Crazy Times Candles & Bath Co.