Spooky Photo Shoot

I took my camera with me this morning while Spooky and I explored the yard. She's feeling much better (thanks to organic food, herbs & love) and she had her sight on a nearby red squirrel.




Soon after the picture was taken, she ran as fast as she could back over to the house. Not very brave that Spooky :)

Blueberry Muffin Candles

I've been having fun making NEW candles & tarts!
They seem to have a theme to them~ Cakes, Muffins & Pies!!!

Here's my Blueberry Muffin Soy Candle and Melting Tarts







~Also if you'd like to be notified by E-mail about the New items, Specials & Coupons at the Crow's Nest then just SIGN-UP for the NEWSLETTER on my Home page~

New Primitive Pottery

Aren't these ADORABLE!!


My New Salt & Pepper Shakers with Red berry & vine design are the perfect addition to your Primitive Dinnerware!

Printed Catalogs

CATALOGS are Finally Ready to Mail!! Between everything else, I've been working on a print catalog for my retail and wholesale customers and I'm finally finished~ Phew! Of course I've already come up with new products that need to be added to them~ but for me that's to be expected :)



~NEW PRODUCTS~
Cottage Garden Primitive Soap: Made with my Organic Flowers & Herbs plus Essential oils of Rose Geranium & Lavender. I've also attached a rusty Watering Can. Too cute!




Plus I've created "Primitive HOME" melting tarts and Country Cupboard Melting Tarts. My candles have been very popular in these scents so I thought I'd offer Tarts too~



These are All really Fun to Make!

I'm also participating in "Out of the Box Sampler" May Sample Box, if anyone is interested just check out their website www.outoftheboxsampler.com

The Crow's Nest also has an updated Logo! I've been busy working with Deb at Deb's Lost Treasures to create this logo and I'm very pleased!
My offerings have changed and "grown" over the past few years and I felt it was time to reflect that in my logo. Besides creating Prim, grubby, spicy items I enjoy working with beeswax, organic flowers & herbs too, and I feel it should reflect in my logo as well:)


Thanks for all the Positive Feedback!!

Lavender~Vanilla Votive Candles

She Just Can't Help Herself!! LOL!!

Such a "Camera-Hog"






I was just trying to get a picture of my new Lavender-Vanilla Votives when little Miss Spooky jumped on the scene :)

New Spicy Candles

NEW!!

~COUNTRY CUPBOARD CANDLES~

These came out Great!! All made with the Yummy Scents you'd find in Grandma's "Country Cupboard" including~

Cinnamon, Allspice, Cloves, Ginger & Vanilla
Mmmmmmmmm!

New Herb Garden Soy Candles

To Celebrate the Coming of Spring I've been busy making HERBAL goodies!!
The crocus's and snowdrops are starting to poke their little heads up out of the ground~ that's all I needed to see!!!!!

Here's the New Herb Garden Soy Candles~



And my New Herb Garden Votive Candles~


A warm Thank-You to all of Spooky's friends!
She's had a GREAT week!
We owe it to all of your prayers :)

Poor Spooky

Please send a prayer for Spooky~




Our sweet little Spooky has been having unexplained seizures for the past few weeks.

She's made many "friends" on-line and we know the power of prayer~ so we're asking :)


Spooky came into our lives almost 10 years ago. She was abandoned in a box along with 8 other cats when she was only a few weeks old.


I managed to find good homes for all of the other cats and Spooky has stayed in our family ever since.

We LOVE her very much!!

Primitive Pottery

Snowing AGAIN, here in New England~
Besides doing the ~normal chores around the house today, I thought I'd rearrange my pottery and displays~


I just LOVE how these blue rimmed plates go with my collection of blue glass~






Got the Winter BLUES?

Get Inspired~ Go thru your basements & attic. I'm sure you'll find some old wooden crates, tins or ceramic plates that you could use in a display.
Start organizing your Homespun Fabrics, fold them nice & neatly and display them in that wooden crate you just found~
Besides adding New (really old) things, remember to TAKE-AWAY items that have been on display for a bit too long :)

Hand-Dipped Beeswax Tapers

Besides my new Beeswax Tapers, I've been busy making Hand-Dipped Beeswax tapers too!!




I'll be posting all the new fragrances for my Soy Jar Candles shortly~

Beeswax Tapers

New Beeswax TAPERS!

Love Em!!




I'm having Lots of Fun making these!!

Cottage Garden Candle Lights

Cottage Garden Candle Lights are Ready~
Just in time for Valentine's Day!




Here's a few shots of my big helper "Spooky"
I snuck up on her while she was taking over my Blog~~~










Little Devil :)

Happy 2009

Happy New Year!!

Guess this means I have to take down my Christmas trees & decorations!

That's ok because I'm already excited about Valentine's Day! Whoohoo!!!





I started making some new goodies for the shop. Lots of Roses & Dried flowers, beeswax & Sweet Annie. I'm going to also be making some new Flicker lights rolled in Rose petals & Lavender, Rose petal Pomanders & New Cottage Garden Candles.


Plus I'm creating Organic Lip Balms that I'm hoping will be ready for the "BIG" day!!
Check back~ there's more to come :)

Holiday Decorating

It's a Snowy Sunday today~ perfect for Holiday Decorating!
I love how the Primitive Pottery looks in this old hutch we found in Vermont a few weeks ago.




Spooky loves Holiday decorating too!!




Soon after this picture was taken she jumped over to the Christmas tree and started smacking the ornaments around~
If she only knew that Santa was watching :)

Prim-Herbal Recipes

Check out my new RECIPE link!
I've started to put together a collection of my Prim~Herbal Recipes and Formulas.



Check back~ there's more to come!

Orange Pomanders

It's "Pomander" making time!!


Every year I tell myself to start sooner~ but here it is November again and I'm just starting my Orange Pomanders. Here's my Pomander Spice Mix recipe for anyone that's interested:



Equal Parts of Powdered Clove, Cinnamon, Allspice and Orris Root Powder. If you have any Nutmeg or ground Ginger in the house you can add that as well. The Orris Root is a "fixative" and holds the scent of the spices. We sell it at our herb shop, www.theherbarium.com I've been making this mix for years and it works Great!

You'll need a few handfuls of Whole Cloves for about 6 oranges. Apples are also used as Pomanders but they don't look as nice when they're all dried & shriveled up :)

Gently push your whole Cloves into the orange and try to evenly space them around. When working with children, I'll take a nail and make the holes first and then have the kids push the whole cloves in. Sometimes the Cloves can be tough on their fingers.

Once all the cloves are in the orange it's time to roll it in your Spice mixture. A shallow pie pan works great for this. Layer the bottom of the pan with your Spice Mixture and place about 3-5 oranges on top of the mixture. You want them to have enough space the be rolled in the spices without touching each other. Roll, roll, roll your oranges in your Spice mixture! Once they are all covered in spices it's important that they have enough air to dry or else they will start to mold. So check them often & continue to roll them in the spices until they are completely hardened. This could take up to a few weeks.

See, that's why I need to start these in July :)

Here's a picture of 6 year old Pomanders!!The small ones are Apples & the larger ones are Oranges. Every year I roll them in fresh spice and then store them away when spring arrives!





To accompany your own Pomanders try some of my NEW orange Pomander Potpourri! Super Prim!!

Primitive Herbal Soap

WOW! Time is flying by! I've been very busy making items for my wholesale & retail customers! Since my Gingerbread soaps have been so popular, I thought I'd create a NEW primitive soap~ HERBAL! They are filled with Herbs,Flowers & Essential Oils. I have these great rusty Bee Skeps that I've attached to them also~ Super "Prim-Herbal"

Rosemary

We've had a few frosts here in western mass already and I didn't want to chance loosing my fragile herbs so I headed to the gardens to dig them up & bring them in the house.
It's great to see just how much these herbs have grown since they were put in the ground this Spring!

The Scented Geraniums get cut back and then potted before they come in the house. The Rosemary's get potted without cutting them back and I keep my fingers crossed that they last the winter in the house. They're tough to winter over.

Here's a picture of the Rosemary I potted up today~



Gorgeous!!