Sweet Cheeks sensitive skin natural products

I had a chance to interview Vanessa Mccauley of Sweet Cheeks who lives in Richmond, VA and makes unique all-natural skin care products for adults and children.



How did you start? Trial and error really. I found a recipe online to make body butter. It was okay but not great, so I tweaked it. Over time, I learned the balance. How to get the consistency of feel I wanted. I did it at home for years before I started selling it.



Why did you start? It started with my son. He had terrible eczema. I tried all the drug store lotions the doctor told me to try to no avail. Finally the doctor wanted to put him on steroidal cream. That scared me. So I came home and started researching. I found out mineral oil is horrible for eczema. Every single cream the doctor recommended had mineral oil. So I set out to make a lotion for my son that would help.



Where do you make your items? At home. However, our plan is to convert our detached garage into a workshop because Sweet Cheeks has taken over the house.



Where did you learn how to make your skin care products? Partially online partially by making a lot of mistakes. Sadly, often I had to find out lots of what did NOT work to get to what did. My solid lotion bar probably saw 10-15 fails before I ever got it close to what I wanted. Then it was just small tweaks. However, I suspect now, it is even easier to find recipes and instructional videos on the web.



Is it hard to find a good supplier of the ingredients? For the most part I have one supplier I use for most of my raw ingredients that I love. The quality of what I get is amazing, they are easy to work with, and have a good supply. The thing I have the biggest issue with is essential oil. The price can fluctuate greatly sometimes as can the quality. So I stick with a supplier that has a very consistent quality but that limits the oils I have access to. There are other oils I would love to work with but have not found a supplier that can give me a consistency that I need. I would love if there was a local shop that I could smell the oils that also allowed me to purchase in bulk.


Did you have to obtain any certificates? No and no. I vacillate on regulating the beauty industry. On one hand, what goes into products that go on your skin is so important. Companies have been allowed to put toxic things in products for too long. On the other hand I don't know if regulation will do more to protect consumers than what the FDA's organic labeling did. It is a cost prohibitive stamp that is impracticable for small farms and does little to really produce the cleaner farming practices consumers want. So I don't know what the answer is other then, know the company. What are the company values? Are they transparent in their practices. Look at ingredients. Contact them with questions. A good company should always be thrilled to tell you why they did what they do and how.

Where do you sell your products ? I sell on line and at local shops. My products are available at a few Local Richmond shops such as Nest Antiques, Re Funk It and Orange.

Eco friendly felted accessories by EthicStyle

I love felting for its eco friendliness and beauty. Felted items are created out of basic materials like wool, water and soap. They radiate positive energy as natural warmth. While felting an artist doesn't add any special glues or additives. The process is very straightforward and, yet, it's not easy to turn a piece of wool into an art object. The simplicity of the process is very deceptive. I've recently discovered a really cool artist Svetlana of EthicStyle who creates unique and fun looking felted accessories.



Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I was born in Latvia in a small city by the sea. I live in Germany now and create felted accessories and home decor items. I love to experiment with wool creating bags, shoes, jewelry, toys, etc. All my items are made of pure wool. I love minimalism, natural and eco friendly materials, comfort and quality. I try to create items that are different and unique.



How did you start?
I've been designing and hand making items pretty much all my working life. After I had my daughter I picked up felting. I thought it would be nice for my daughter to have unique toys that nobody else has. Wool is an amazing fiber. It's soft, comfy and durable. It turned out to be a perfect material to make baby toys. I was completely fascinated by wool as it gives an artist so much freedom to create and experiment.



What inspires you?
I'm inspired my Japanese minimalism. I like it for its simplicity, elegance and perfection. I love nature especially in the autumn and spring when air is so transparent. I love the sea. It's amazing to walk by the sea barefoot stepping on warm sand.

My daughter brings a lot of joy into my life. Her phrases that start with: "mom, did you know that..." make me wonder and think about many things that surround us. I discover and learn so much when I'm with her.



What fibers do you work with?
I only use natural fibers such as undyed merino wool, alpaca wool, silk and plant's fibers. All my children toys are stuffed with wool exclusively.
All items made of wool feel so special when held in one's arms.

Nursing teething crocheted necklaces by Julia Ermakovich

I came across teething and nursing crocheted necklaces looking for a baby shower gift for a friend. What a great idea! These necklaces are made of natural materials and I especially like the combination of plain wooden beads and crochet. Julia Ermakovich is an artist who creates bright and happy necklaces to entertain moms and their babies. I’m glad I had a chance to talk to her and ask her a few questions about herself and her art of making nursing necklaces.



Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
I live in Moscow, Russia. Up until recently I’ve been working in a bank full time and had limited time for my family and my crocheting business. A month ago I quit and am now fully engaged in developing my business and enjoying my family and friends. So it’s all about crocheting now.



How did you start?
As long as I remember myself I’ve always been knitting and crocheting. First it was making items for my dolls and later for myself and my friends. Some 7 or 8 years ago reading a fashion magazine I came across pictures of crocheted necklaces. I decided to try as necklaces looked super stylish and cool. Besides it’s much easier to crochet a necklace than a man’s sweater!

It took me some time to figure our the technique and come up with the right design though. I started with making necklaces for my girl friends as gifts. People started taking about my necklaces and I got my first custom orders. It was great as with money earned through sales I could by more supplies and afford to try new materials and techniques.

About four years ago a friend of mine asked me to make her a necklace that would color match a sling and a baby carrier for her new born baby. Thus, a nursing and teething necklace was born!



What inspires you?
I make a lot of customs orders and my clients often share their ideas and designs with me. My clients' fantasy and imagination is unbelievable. They inspire me to create new designs and come up with new color patterns.

I’m a very eco conscious person and I am always looking for new eco-friendly materials that I could use in my nursing necklaces. There are so many products that are made of organic and natural fibers that we don’t know much about! Every time I come across a new fabric or a new fiber I feel a need to incorporate them into my designs. I’ve recently discovered buttons made of coconuts. They look great and are very nice to handle!



What are you most popular items?
It all depends on what group of my clients we are talking about. Sometimes young moms are looking for something to wear every day. I make them necklaces of neutral color combinations that are less flashy and bright.

If my clients are looking for something to entertain their babies with I make necklaces bright and happy. I can add a crocheted animal or a wooden ring to make the necklace more attractive for a child.

Thank you, Julia!

DIY How to make city style felted bracelet

I have recently received beautiful wooden beads as a gift. They are of a cylinder shape and dark tan color. I don't have anything like that in my beads collection and I felt instantly inspired to create a summer themed piece of jewelry or a light and bright accessory using these beads.

The color combination of pure white and brown is my favorite. Accessories in white and dark chocolate look stylish and classy. They go well with business or casual outfits.

To create a bracelet we will need felting wool in white and brown and wooden beads. We will also need a piece of bubbled plastic wrap paper, soap and clear water.

I first start with felting a white bracelet. On a bubble wrap piece of paper I lay out pieces of wool to form a rectangle. The rectangle will later turn into the bracelet. Since the wool will shrink I make the rectangle about 30% bigger that the original size.

Once the rectangle is formed I wet it with clear water and add soap. Once the piece is all wet and soapy I cover it with the rest of bubble plastic paper and start the process of felting. I stroke and rub the plastic helping wool fibers to bind and felt.

When the wool has felted well I rinse my bracelet in clear water and let it dry completely. With a piece of brown wool I make a felted bead by rolling a wetted and soapy piece of brown wool between my palms.

Once my bracelet is ready I needle down brown wooden beads. The color of wooden beads matches the color of the brown felted bead nicely!

The bracelet turned out to be very soft, thin and light. It's made of all natural materials and is very pleasant to wear. The felting technique is very eco-friendly as to felt an item one just needs some water and a bit of soap. No chemicals are used in the process of felting. To wear the bracelet one simply has to fasten the brown button.

Artisan rye bread Russian style

My husband Andrei is an avid artisan bread baker. He bakes all sorts of breads including baguettes and focaccia breads. However, our all time favorite is Russian style dark rye artisan bread. That's the bread we grew up with and the one that's impossible to find in any grocery store around. We would like to share the recipe with all the bread baking enthusiasts and bread lovers.

Ingredients:
300g rye flour
250g unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
100g mother starter at 100% hydration (i.e., consisting of 50g flour and 50g water)
370g water

Notes:

It's great if you have scales at home as bread making requires a high level of precision.
Give your mother starter a feeding 12-24 hours before you start. It makes sense to keep the starter at 100% hydration, i.e., to add equal amounts of water and flour by weight.

The process of mixing and baking:

In a bowl, mix flours and salts with hands. Add starter and mix in, breaking up starter to small chunks and mixing thoroughly with flour. Transfer to a Kitchenaid mixing bowl, knead using the hook attachment on medium-low speed for 5 minutes (or knead on a flat surface with floured hands). Coat a plastic or glass bowl with spraying oil, transfer dough, cover, let rise for 12 hours. Coat a bread pan with spraying oil. Transfer dough to a floured surface, shape into a cylinder equal in length to the bread pan. Transfer to the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for two hours. Pre-heat oven to 375F. Remove plastic wrap, and brush dough lightly with water, being careful not to de-gas it in the process. Bake for 45-50 mins, or until internal temperature reaches 200F. Remove from pan immediately, let cool. Slice and enjoy!

Rye bread is very healthy. It tastes great and stays fresh for up to a week. Back in Russia we eat it with all sorts of spreads including sour cream, butter, mayonnaise but the all time favorite is a slice of a fresh rye bread just sprinkled with a bit of salt.

Water lily felted flower brooch in purple violet

Flowers come in different shapes and colors. The diversity of nature always inspires me. This time I've decided to make a felted flower brooch that will look like a water lily.

First of all I hand felted a large number of purple colored wool pieces in shapes of flower petals. I tried to make my petals long and somewhat narrow. At first I planned on making two-colored flower brooch and hand felted pieces of white wool as well. Later I changed my mind and created a purple colored brooch adding a few white shiny beads instead.

After my wool petals dried up I started arranging them into different patterns to find the one I liked the most. It's easy to do it while they are not yet attached and turned into an actual brooch. It's always fun to lay out different designs with different pieces of felted wool.

After a while I figured out what exactly I wanted to do with my wool. I attached all my numerous purple colored felted wool pieces to a hand crocheted base. To accent the color I added tiny white beads that look like small flower stamen.
The brooch is ready to wear now!

How to dye with a bright blue Kool Aid drink mix

I finally found the bright blue drink mix I was looking for. The Kool Aid drink mix in blue raspberry has exactly the color I needed to create happy blue items for my on-line shop. It's not easy to get by in local supermarkets. For some reason stores normally don't carry this particular color. However, one can always buy it on the Internet.

To dye with blue drink mix you will need to create felted wool layers first. We will felt white wool and dye it later. To learn about felting you are always welcome to read my earlier post on how to hand dye a flower brooch. When the layers are ready just pour water in a plastic container with blue drink mix and stir it well. Place all your layers in the container and microwave until it starts boiling.

Let your bright blue felted wool layers cool as they are extremely hot in the beginning and gently squeeze the wool until somewhat dry. I usually let my wool dry overnight.
When our bright blue layers are ready we can use them to create a brooch. I personally like to mix colors so to create my brooch I added a few layers of dark blue hand felted wool. The result is a bright and vivid brooch that will go well with happy colors of the summer.

Felted Acorns wind chime

Spring is a rather windy season. Some people get irritated by strong winds but some actually try to take advantage of them. It is not only wind turbines I have in mind when I think about wind. Don't you like the sound of wind chimes or the sight of flags flapping happily on one's house? The felted acorns home decor item I created was inspired by wind chimes that make out back yards look so welcoming and peaceful! My wind chime is different though. It is not made to hang outside but rather inside adding color and style to any space in your home.

The acorns could be of bright yellow, orange and red colors reminding us about upcoming spring and summer seasons with their vivid hues and shades. Knowing that acorns are eco-friendly and natural adds to the pleasure of decorating my or anyone's house with a set of acorns wind chimes.

Bright canary brooch hand crocheted from jude

I'm currently experimenting with different materials and techniques. The new material I recently discovered is jute which is a yarn made of natural and vegetable fibers. It's pretty sturdy and rough but looks great when combined with elegant and light lace or soft and cozy wool.

The neutral color of jute works well with bright and vivid yellow, orange and blue colors. The brooch I created is an ideal accessory for spring and summer so I'll definitely keep experimenting with combining jute with other materials.

Spring Green Earrings simple and beautiful

Green is the color of spring. It's very happy, positive and beautiful. I started creating items in green to get ready for the upcoming season. Felted earrings are light, durable and stylish. They look quite different from many other standard jewelry items and are natural and eco-friendly.

Tutorial how to make felted wool acorns

Have you ever thought about hanging acorns on either a Christmas tree or next to your computer in your cubicle? I have!

A sunny Fall day is ideal for a stroll in a park. That's what we frequently do on weekends when our family goes to one of many wonderful parks in Richmond, VA. Every such stroll normally ends up with a whole collection of stones, acorns and sticks picked up by my kids. With plenty of acorns in every corner of my house I suddenly realized that I can actually turn them into something bright and vivid. Felted wool acorns are beautiful, durable and could be used in many ways. They add color and style to one's house and make it look cozy and friendly.

So where do we start?
First of all we need a few good acorns. They can be picked up in pretty much any park these days. It's acorns' season!

Next we will need a bit of wool suitable for wet felting, soap and hot water. I usually try to use wool of as many colors as I can find as it helps to create a whole array of multicolored, bright and vivid acorns. For wet felting I normally take a small piece of wool make it into a soft ball, wet it with hot water and add some soap to it. After squeezing and later rolling this ball between my palms for good 10 to 15 minutes wetting it and adding soap from time to time I get a felted firm ball that could be gently squeezed into an oval to look like an acorn.

The last step is to connect our acorn heads to felted wool ovals. I use a mercerized cotton thread to sew them together. This type of thread is very strong. Chances are slim it will ever tear apart. The thread enables us to hang acorns anywhere we like.

I personally like acorns to be of different shapes and sizes. They look genuine as they pretty much are. Bright wool colors make them look festive and jolly. They are a perfect gift for anyone you love or care about!