SFEtsy Pop Up Shop- Saturday, August 23, 2014

 SFETSY AND RICKSHAW BAGWORKS POP-UP SHOP

We are popping up! Come out and shop local and support SFEtsy artisans. There will be jewelry, art, accessories, t-shirts, and of course custom messenger bags handmade right here in the Dogpatch! SFEtsy has once again teamed up with Rickshaw Bagworks to bring you a special day of shopping on Saturday, August 23, 2014 from 11AM to 3PM.

Save the date and come have brunch and stop on by to shop! Take a peek at the amazing artists who will be at the pop up shop.

 Check out the recycled glass works of Flower7.

 FrancesMarin will have her original whimsical art.

 Sexy clothing from DollFaceDeadWear will excite.

See multi functional items for you and your home by MultiFlasking.

 Check out the fun creations by TheHeated.

Grab devilish body products from LaughingDevilDesigns

Grab new housewares from TheCuriousPotter.

 Whimsical jewelry inspired by nature from RedIceBreaker.

 Leather goods from BullHornDesigns will be on hand.

Cool swag from NoGuns will be on hand. 

Start your shopping by taking a sneak peek in all of the shops! Don't forget to mark your calendars for this fun shopping local event! Even let us know you are coming by RSVPing on our Facebook wall!Facebook Fan Page Wall!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Our Team Page about joining SFEtsy!

Tuestorial: Make Your Own Bath Scrub

After the success of my Fizzy Bath Bombs, I've felt really excited about looking into what other beauty products I'd be able to recreate on my own. I thought about making some soap...but, to be completely honest...I feel like making soap is a bit too advanced for this Katy girl.

I read somewhere that you can make bath scrubs with just simple items in your kitchen... OOoooo...into it. I mean...what kind of baker would it be if I didn't feel I would have totally have all the necessary ingredients and supplies to create a little personal spa in my bathroom.

Here's the breakdown of a basic Brown Sugar Scrub recipe.

1 c. brown sugar (lightly packed)
1/2 c. sweet almond oil
1 tsp. vitamin E
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Turns out...like bath bombs, some of the ingredients are a bit harder to find than "just look in your pantry".
I dunno who thinks that we all have Vitamin E laying around in our cupboards, but I sure didn't. I didn't really know where to look for this type of supply...and I felt like buying capsules and cutting them open would be a huge mess actually...

Then I remembered Hilary from A Slice of Delight (who is away for a year...we miss her)...she was telling me about BrambleBerry.com. Oh my oh MY what a great little website o' fun! It's a great resource for at-home spa making and they also have essential oils on there as well. To my surprise...they had Vitamin E and Sweet Almond Oil. (Note to reader - I am easily surprised by many things)

I decided that making scrubs for just me...well, just isn't as fun... so I headed to my best friend Lauren's house on Sunday and brought all of my supplies with me as well as some empty jars I had laying around.

HOW TO:

It's almost embarrassing how easy making this is...
all you need is a bowl...measure out your recipe...dump all of the ingredients in together and stir... then portion out your scrub into different glass containers.

TIPS:

We found that there's really no wrong way to go about this...but you would want to make sure that you use a glass container for storing your scrub so that it can have some shelf life. None of the ingredients listed below will go bad over time...so you shouldn't have to refrigerate it either. I also think you may NOT want to refrigerate it since the cold would likely effect the structure of the oils.


EXTRA CREDIT!

What's really totally awesome about making scrubs is that there is that flexibility to find a recipe and then expand onto it. You just want to make sure you keep the ratio between the oils and the salt/sugar about the same so that you're sure the consistency isn't a big muddy mess when you're in your shower.After Lauren and I had so much fun with the Brown Sugar Scrub...we experimented and made out own scrub recipe.

Here's ours for you to try at home.

The Infinity (And Beyond) Huckleberry Pie Salt Scrub:

1 c. salt (we used Himalayan Pink Salt - fine coarse from Bramble Berry)
1/2 c. sweet almond oil
1 tsp. vitamin E
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. Real Huckleberry Honey (you can use any flavored honey here)

And... just for fun... and a good belly laugh...I'd like to share with you our backdrop concept...with thumb in the photo no less (not recommended for use on Etsy.)

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Tuestorial - BOMB Stress AWAY!

Once a week I take 45 minutes to exit the stress of my week...
I set myself up a soothing bath...grab the latest DIY magazine and (most times) bring a cup of tea, or a beer, or a glass of wine in the bathroom with me. (or all three...ha ha)
It's my once a week ritual that has been helping to keep my stress from eating up my creative soul.

This all started when I went to Lush with my Mom a while back...but at over $5 per bath bomb or bubble bath...I just couldn't keep up with the cost of my baths. So...I decided to learn how to make my own aromatherapy baths. I also wanted to make something that was good for the environment...it's nice to know that what goes down the drain after my bath won't hurt the environment.

Making them is SUPER easy...so easy, that Sunday night I made a half dozen of these with my boyfriend's daughter who is 6 years old. She is very excited about taking baths this week. I guess if your kids hate taking baths - you could try to do this to get them a little more pumped about gettin' in the tub.

Finding the ingredients in San Francisco...surprisingly NOT easy (for me) so I did write down some tips for finding all of the bits and pieces here in San Francisco...which hopefully will help you out wherever you are.

Recipe:
1 cup Baking Soda (This is what will make it fizzy)
1/2 cup Citric acid
1/2 cup Corn Starch
2 Tablespoons Witch Hazel
3/4 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons Essential oils
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3 drops food coloring (optional)

Here's how I did it.
Put all the dry ingredients in one medium size bowl
put all the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl
combine the two once measured...

put your mixture into molds. Fill the mold all the way up and then press down firmly to make sure the mixture is solid and will not crumble once dry.

keep your molds out of reach of yourself for a few days...then release from the molds and put into an air tight container for use later!

To use: fill up your bath with water... drop in a few bombs and watch them fizz away all the stress of your day.

TIPS!

- Finding the molds shouldn't be an issue...but if you want something Fun... you can make a bunch of mini bombs in those crazy rubber ice-cube molds that come in every shape you'd ever want.

- Pay attention to the details of the recipe: Normally, I'm the lazy kind of DIYer and I usually just dump everything in all at the same time...but since this recipe really is combining chemicals together...I take the separation of dry and wet a lot more seriously. I don't want to fizzle out my fizz by putting the wet ingredients in too quickly.

- What if your bombs never set in the molds and they crumble all over the place? NO worries! Thing is...you could just put all the good stuff you made above and just put it all in an air tight container if you wanted pretty much...spooning it into your bath instead of pressing it into a mold will work just lovely as well. Don't you worry...you'll be fine. However, if you're gifting these...perfecting the molds is a plus. I bought some cloth bags for cheap which make great companions to the bombs.

- Finding Citric Acid - the hardest to find. This was the hardest thing to find for me. the recipe I had found said that you could get this at any craft store or drug store. no...no you can't. But then someone said to me that citric acid is in foods, so I should try a food supply place. The light bulb went off. I ended up purchasing it at San Francisco Brewcraft. I got 5 pounds of it and when I got home I felt so silly since you only need 1/2 a cup. ha! If anyone needs any...I have some extra to go around, clearly.

- Essential Oils and you! A while back I found this gem of a place called The San Francisco Herb company. You know all those bulk teas you see in stores? Yeah...they pretty much all come from here. So knock out the middle man and check out this place. I got my essential oils from here because if you're a business, they GIVE YOU A DISCOUNT! Hollar at my money saving techniques...what what! ha ha... but really...they have pretty much all of the oils you'd want to see there since they also have pretty much anything you'd want to put in a killer potpourri. For just under $20 I got myself some vanilla, peony, jasmine, honeysuckle and spearmint. I have been able to use my oils many MANY times since then...a little goes a long way.

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!