So last weekend my daughter and I went to Cherokee NC to the reservation to check out the Festival of Native Peoples that they have every summer. This was the second time I’ve been there (or was it the third?)

It’s really awesome, because not only do the Cherokee dance, but they have members of many nations across North America come.

It’s a 2 day show. I had to do the market Saturday morning, so we got there by 4 pm and stayed until 8 or so. Of course, I left my camera at home so the pictures are a bit crappy from my cell phone. But at least you can get an idea of what we saw.

Cherokee Fairgrounds:

Apache Crown Dancers

2 year old dancer member of the Tezcatlipoca Aztec Dancers from Mexico City:

Love the headdress!

My daughter & some of the dancers:

Right now I am sitting in my office and peeking out the window and watching the rain come down. I am so happy to see it.
We hit July with super hot mid 90 degree days and I’ve watch my vibrant garden start turning brown and wither away.
I’ve watered, but watering with a hose just doesn’t do it the justice it deserves (especially when your son’s dog who is visiting thinks she needs to chase and attack the water spray!)
Rain is what a garden needs. A nice, slow, gentle rain.
My garden is getting it right now.
I’m glad.

puppies not helping:

blueberries!

volunteer cherry tomatoes

another volunteer … squash this time

volunteer tomato hanging out with one of my rose bushes by the side of the house

dinner time!

Been a while since i posted picures of my garden. It’s July and we’ve hit summer with a vengeance. Last year was a bit cooler.

As some of you know I have a “shop” on Etsy, (You can see it here), but I don’t put as much time and effort into it as I do in my standalone site.

Etsy is an online shopping venue for handmade items. Its a great place to set up shop because it is free with the exception of the listing fee of 20 cents per item AND then a percentage when you sell said item. There are some fantastic things on there: children’s clothes, handbags, pottery, jewelry, soap & body care, etc. There is also a lot of crap on there too. But to each their own I say.

I have been on there for a few years. As I said, I don’t invest a lot of time promoting Etsy as my standalone site, because I’d rather folks come here: Faerie Made than elsewhere. I dunno, I’m just that way.

I do sell on Etsy and I have customers who purchase soley through Etsy. So I am glad to be there.

As many know, I”ve been in business for almost 8 years (this September!) and I”ve worked really, REALLY hard to get where I can support my family. I have stuck it out through the start up and through the slow winter months and this recession and Slowly and Steadily I have gained a following with my customer base.

I have also outgrown being a one woman act. I can’t keep up with it on my own. I have had help for about 3 years now. Off and on, but regularly I have had someone assisting me in the production of Faerie Made products.

If i didn’t have assistance, the whole house of soap would fall. It just is what it is.

I used to have someone come in just to label, shrink wrap etc, soaps, body care perfumes. I did all the production, (with the exception of weighing out soap oils), shipping and then business aspect.

During holiday crazy times I have extra help too.

Currently, my assistant is coming in to do most of the production of the body care (our arnica balms, shea butters, sugar scrubs, etc) including labeling and I make all the soap & perfumes, pack the orders and run the business.

The past 2 weeks my production person has been out sick. It has left me running the show and doing all production (and believe me I am WAY behind!) Add to that the fact that my daughter is out of school and I’m on mommy duty most of the time, can you say argh?

I digress …

On this Etsy site is a community forum area. One of the threads on the forum had a discussion as to whether it is considered handmade if you have someone helping you out.
Some of the people’s arguments on this thread is that the artist has to be involved in the actual production of everything or it shouldn’t be sold there.

There is a soaper who contacted me because she thought i’d be interested in this discussion (I really don’t know why), but I took the bait! and off to the thread I went.

So, according to a few, my body care, since I have a production person doing it, should not be there. I asked them why. It’s all my formulas. I’ve spent years perfecting them. The person making them is working under my direct supervision. All the soaps I do … after all I am a soapmaker, but at some point I could even have someone do a lot of the basic ones too …following my direction and using my formula.

The one who was saying companies like mine shouldn’t be there basically said it would be okay if I were to purchase a base elsewhere, repackage it and call it handmade and sell there. But since my products that I spent years perfecting, because someone ELSE was melting, pouring, labeling according to my guidelines is not eligible under my name.

SO, since I have a production person, it is not handmade by the artist and I shouldn’t be selling on Etsy. That’s their argument. The likened it to Elizabeth Arden (where are the big bug eyes here!) LOL!

Sorry, it’s all handmade, it’s all my baby. I am not mass producing Faerie Made in a factory. We are still working from home in a Cottage Industry and I just need some help.

I left the thread and went on a walk.

Don’t worry, we aren’t doing away with the Mocha lip balms, but we have

NEW
IMPROVED

Faerie Made Mocha Hemp Lip Balms

Finally, we have found the mica that is perfect for our Mocha Lip Balms. Prior, our amazing Mocha Lip Balms were nicely colored with the coffee essential oil, but it didn’t leave anything on the lips.

I’ve tested and tried several different colors and I love this one. Like our other colored lip balms; It’s not a lip stick, it’s a balm. It has a nice glimmer to it, like with our Sienna Red Peppermint & our Tangerine Gold Rush.

Check them out!

This is me modeling the new Mocha lip balm … love love love it!

It’s not easy being a self employed work at home kinda mom. Especially during the summer time when you want to be with your child.
But it’s possible.

I’ve been doing this since my daughter was born. Actually, I’ve balanced work, children and home since my sons were little. Only I didn’t work from home.
First, I was a college student. With two boys. Making all A’s. (and i graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology).
My house? Not so tidy, but manageable. Money? Pretty tight. But I kept a roof over our heads.
Vacations? Not too many, but they got to go to the beach, camping, etc. I took summers off so that I could be with them while they were out of school and we could go to the lake and camp and even go to the beach. We also gardened. Well, I gardened. They jumped on the trampoline, annoyed each other and other kid stuff. Also, they would go to friends houses and play, then vice versa.

Then I got a “real” job. They were older, but I was able to get most of my work done while they were in school and then save my vacation and comp time for when they were home during the summer. We still played farm the kids out with our friends.
My job wasn’t a money maker (I was out saving the world doing non profit social work), but I was able to keep the roof over our heads, pay the bills and take the kids here and there.

Here I am in my 8th year with Faerie Made. My business, she is a growing. and it is summer time. Which means that my daughter is now out of school. Once again, I’m balancing work, parenting and home.
I am doing it. It’s possible.
I get up early, work a bit on the computer. We do breakfast, I pulled a few weeds, started the dishwasher and then I’ll work a bit more while my daughter has some quiet time.
Then we break together, I’ll spend a bit of time with her and back to a bit more work.
She has a good friend who is a neighbor, so we play farm the kids out.
I love it.
We have a bit of a deal. I work a while, then we will do something fun in the afternoon.

This morning her dad & stepmom & half sister are all going to the lake. So I’m clear to work a while …

Oh and we won’t talk about the dusting I neglect to finish.

This was posted on my personal FB page the other day by fellow market vendors from my home town:

Hey Tina, well as you probably know we are in New Mexico right now. We were on our way to Santa Fe and we stopped at a place called Ojo Caliente. There were wonderful hot springs and a spa there. We were getting ready to leave, and you can’t visit a nice spa/hot springs resort without going to the gift shop! I really needed some chapstick so I saw that company Chapstix, as we were checking out my mom said, “look at this!” And what did we see…. Faerie Made’s Hemp Lip Balm! So I put the Chapstix back and got the Lip Balm instead. We, my mom, dad, and I, just wanted to congratulate you for getting your products all the way to New Mexico! My lips are feeling so relieved now that I got your Lip Balm!

I am soo not the poster child for fashion. But I love life and have fun living it.
My new love is my standard poodle Temperance. At this posting she is 7 months old and is about as attached to me as I am her. She’s such a sunshine in my life. She’s remarkable.
Anyway, she had her first big girl grooming the other day and I had the groomer put her into what is called a modified Historic continental clip.

This is a short clip w/ pom poms on her ankles and her little poofy pom tail. she has a short jacket and i’ve kept her topknot and ears long. I love how fun she looks … all poodly poof, but it is going to help her as she grows her adult coat (major tangling action then)

Funny thing, I’ve never really thought I’d be into her being groomed poodle like because I thought that I’d rather her be all athletic, but it’s so cute! I really love it.

I think she needs a bling collar now. Hot pink with rhinestones or something really girly.

tee hee (oh and the ribbon did not last more than 5 minutes)