Luxury Handmade Solid Lotion with Beeswax

This solid lotion from Forget Me Not Soap Shop is great for on the go. Just keep it in your purse, gym bag, school bag or anywhere else you might need it. One bar lasts a surprisingly long time, and you don't have to worry about it leaking all over your bag like regular lotions might.

It's the only lotion I've found that instantly stops my feet from itching when they're dry. I used to scratch my feet raw, they were so itchy, but now I just put some of this lotion on whenever they start bothering me again. I'll definitely be buying more once I finish the bar I have now.

Handmade Easter Gifts for Toddlers

With Easter coming up next weekend, I thought I'd throw together a list of gift ideas from some of the wonderful handmade artisans I've found online. I've geared this list specifically towards Toddlers because I've found it a little difficult to find gifts for our 18 month old son. I didn't want to get him much candy, but he doesn't need a pile of stuffed animals either (though there are a couple in this list), so I went looking for other ideas.

Clothing and Accessories
I guess this is more of a gift to yourself than to your kids, since toddlers don't really care what they wear as long as it's comfortable... though my niece does tend to get attached to a pair of shoes or a jacket sometimes. Still, it's a practical gift that they'll get a lot of use out of.

Play Food
Easter themed play food makes a great gift, and one that your kids will likely get a lot of use out of.

Stuffed Animals
Chances are your kids already have a lot of these, but sometimes they're just irresistible.

Art/Craft Supplies
Crafts are a great way to get the family doing something together on a holiday. Here are some easter-themed art supplies to get you started.

Storage
These can be used as easter baskets and then used to store toys, art supplies, ect.

Other

Other cute items that didn't really fit anywhere else.

The solution for dry, cracking, peeling feet... Foot Goo!

Time for a couple of long overdue product reviews (sorry it took so long).

First up is BAKidagain's Foot Goo. This stuff is amazing! My feet have been dry, cracking, peeling, bleeding, itching, ect for about 7 years and nothing I've tried worked. I tried pretty much everything the drug store had to offer, a couple prescriptions, samples of various things that I had to order from foreign companies, different kinds of socks, shoes, insoles... you name it, I've probably tried it. Most things worked a bit, definitely better than not using them, but in the end it just wasn't worth the cost.

This Foot Goo has healed my feet faster and better than anything I ever tried before. I used it every night until I ran out (just put it on my feet and put socks on before going to bed) as well as using a pumice stone on my feet when I showered (which I've been doing for years), and by the time I ran out my feet looked almost normal!

After ordering samples, I made the mistake of not ordering more soon enough, and now my feet have reverted to their original condition, but I just got my order in the mail on Monday and my feet are already feeling SO much better! Definitely won't be making that mistake twice.

BAKidagain's Foot Goo is currently available in Electric Lime and Lavender. I have to admit, I thought lime scented foot lotion sounded weird, and I'm a lavender girl through and through, but the lime (which is the only sample scent available) is such a refreshing scent that I ordered it again instead of ordering the lavender. Everyone needs something a little different sometimes.

I might order the lavender if I succeed in going camping this summer, though. There's logic behind my lavender obsession! I don't like bugs and I don't like chemicals (like bug spray). Bugs don't like lavender. So whenever I get out into the great outdoors, I make sure to bring all natural, bio degradable lavender scented soaps, body sprays and lotions. I've even been known to soak all my clothing and (if I have time) my tent in it before I leave. It works! Just make sure you line dry, it's not nearly as effective after a trip through the drier.

Another great product from BAKidagain is her Intense Hand Cream. It's made with nurses in mind, so it's completely unscented but it moisturizes like no other hand cream I've found. It's great for anyone who constantly washes their hands (whether for your job or just out of obsessiveness like me, lol) and because it's unscented you don't have to worry about allergies (your own or anyone else's).

Why Twitter isn't helping you

I've been seeing a lot of people on twitter lately who log on and spam links to their own items. Honestly, I scroll right past all of them. I don't mind someone linking to their items once in a while, but if all I see is 20 posts with links to 20 different items, I'm going to scroll past - and I know I'm not the only one.

Twitter is designed for networking, letting your customers know who you are, meeting people with similar interests. If they're interested in you, they'll click the link on your profile and the links you post once in a while - if all you ever do is spam them, they'll either unfollow or mute you eventually, something I've been doing a lot of lately.

So what should you do? Post what you're doing in your everyday life. Not every little thing - but things that people might be able to relate to or find interesting. If you found an interesting article on something - business related or not - post it. If you tried a new recipe - post it (if you found it online or blogged about it). Did you learn something today? Did you discover something new? Is there something new in the market that you want to buy? Post it! Seriously, anything that interests you likely interests someone else out there.

Also, follow people and groups that interest you - your favorite fan websites, favorite artists, or just people that have similar interests to you - and RT whatever catches your eye.

It took me a while to figure this out, but since turning over a new leaf (twig?) on Twitter, I'm seeing more people checking out my shop, and I can only assume that it's because other people, like me, just scroll past the majority of "check out my new item" links posted. I still post an item once in a while, and I still link to other peoples' items that I find interesting (putting an @ in hopes that they'll return the favor), but I also write about my favorite games, technology that I want, TV shows I'm watching, my son's antics.

And since I've started writing about all that stuff, not only are people paying more attention to what I say (and clicking links more), they're also responding more - and I love it when people actually respond to my comments and we can get a conversation going.

Twitter Party Time!

Just thought this might be a fun idea, if enough people are interested.

What I'm thinking is that next weekend we can all have a look at each others' shops and tweet the items we like - and good tweets, not just links all over the place with generic messages. Actually think about what you're writing - describe the item to attract interest instead of just posting "check this out".

Then, when you see that someone has tweeted your item, you go check out their shop and find something to tweet about. It could generate a lot of links for everyone involved. Just remember to put @ whoever made it, so they see that you've linked them!

If you're interested, comment with your shop link (AF, Etsy, Zibbet, Folksy, your own site, whatever) and your twitter name and I'll start a list below.

I'm thinking we might even make it a weekly thing if people enjoy it and benefit from it. So be sure to let me know how it goes, otherwise I'll only have my own stats to go on.

The Tweeters:
@aMagpiesDream from A Magpie's Dream
@PurpleBirdEtsy from Purple Birdie
@JulieClarkArt from Julie Clark Art
@ShealynnsFaerie from Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe 

Photoshop is awesome.

I know, I know, it's supposed to be Maggie's column today... but I've been working so hard on getting a website set up (I love AF, but it's not the same as having your own website) that I just haven't had time to get another of her columns.

So... instead I'm going to blab about the photo I just added to my homepage. It's amazing what you can do with photoshop tools.

Here's the before:

and after:

I'm obviously not an expert, I just know my way around the program better than the average person. I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out Maggie and put her on a separate layer. Then I used the dodge tool (set to highlights and 5% exposure) to turn most of the background immediately surrounding each necklace white. I then lassoed those (regular lasso, not magnetic) and put them on another layer. Then I just went in with the eraser with the hardness set to 0% and did some touchups.

After that all I had to do was hide the layer with the original image and add a white background layer. I also rearranged a bit - I made Maggie bigger and moved her closer to the jewelry, removed the quartz necklace and added a shadow behind Maggie so she didn't look like she was floating.

Hopefully in the future I'll be able to make it look less amateur-ish, but for now it serves its purpose.

Wearable Wire Scupltures

For my favorite product this week (really going to try and get these weekly columns going), I couldn't choose just one. I tried, I really did - but when looking at a shop as amazing as HonkusGrogana's, it just can't be done!

Normally I write a lot more in these posts... but I think I should just let this wire wrapping artisan's work speak for itself in this case.