Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Ingleside Farm Calendars, Cards, and Gifts

Here's another of my new products from the farm!

I have gotten so many compliments on my farm photos, I finally decided to offer some of my favorites for sale as calendars, cards, mugs, and other photo gifts at CafePress.

Since this is a timely season of the year to be thinking of buying a new calendar, I've posted photos of my calendars below, but check out the my CafePress shop to see what else is available. They have a HUGE array of products, including cards and ornaments. They'd make great Christmas gifts.

I have many designs already available--sheep photos, horse photos, glorious sunsets, and other farm scenes. Plus I'm adding new items to my shop all the time.

For starters, here are the calendars:




Peacock Shawl

I finally opened a shop on Etsy and have just posted my first item for sale: My glorious, one-of-a-kind, hand-spun, hand-woven Peacock Shawl.

I had really intended to make this shawl for myself. I can't even count how many hours of work I put in: Tweaking the design, spinning the wool, plying the yarn, washing the yarn to set the twist, hanging the yarn to dry, winding it into balls, then weaving the two halves of the shawl, stitching them together, and adding all the fringe. After that I lightly fulled the shawl, let it dry, and brushed it all over on both sides with a little slicker brush to give the surface a soft, velvety texture.

But in all honesty, spending all my time on the farm as I do, I'll never end up wearing a shawl this pretty. So, for the sake of our finances, I'm offering it up for sale.

There'll be more additions to my Etsy shop soon, so stay tuned!

Sheep's Milk Soap

I've been working very hard over the past few months developing new products for our farm. One that I'm very excited about is our new Sheep's Milk Soap.


Last spring, our beautiful ewe Tansy lost her lamb at birth. Since she had no lamb to feed, I decided I'd try milking her myself.

I had read about how nice sheep's milk soap was and planned to use Tansy's milk to try to teach myself how to make some. But then I discovered there was a wonderful small crafter, Amanda of Primitive Earth Soaps, who was already making natural soaps in my area. I contacted her, and she agreed to do the job for me.

First she did a small test batch, mainly so we could evaluate the scent I had chosen. After a few minor tweaks, she then made a big batch, which just arrived a few days ago.

If you've never tried sheep's milk soap, you should give ours a try. Each big, long-lasting bar weighs about 4 oz. and contains only the most natural of ingredients: olive oil, sheep's milk, water, lye, and essential oils.

No coloring has been added. The scent is a luscious blend of pure essential oils, including amber, myrrh, cinnamon, and oak moss. Each bar is packaged in a simple, eco-friendly wrapping of fabric and labeled with a small card listing the ingredients.

These make terrific gifts. You can order online from my website.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Want to win a free Kindle?

As a voracious reader, I've been longing for a Kindle ever since they came out. But with our finances being what they are, there's no way I can buy one in the foreseeable future.

But there's a chance I could win one for free. And so could you! Just visit this website to find out how you can enter: http://bibliofreakblog.com/great-kindle-giveaway?ref=8748f9b30e