friday soap giveaway and cucumber melon winner!

Our soap winner for the Cucumber Melon bar is...(drum roll, please)...

Haley Rae - a prolific young blogger and commenter if there ever was one. Congrats, Haley! Send me your address via email, and I'll get this bar in the mail to ya.

There are only two more comments needed for the Cranberry Fig bar to find its forever home, so if you haven't commented on that giveaway, be sure to do it now!

Onward...

Today's Friday Soap Giveaway bar is Floral Fiesta!

I seem to be on a bit of a spring thing. Perhaps it's denial of the cold weather. I don't know why that would be, though, since I do love fall. Ah, well. Regardless, I've noted on the labels of these bars that they are "Ginger-Lime and Wildflower-Scented" - a pretty, heavenly blend if there ever was one. Plus, I figure we'll all be inundated with holiday-themed stuff soon enough, so why not enjoy normalcy while we still can?

To have a chance at winning this bar, leave a comment telling what you plan to do and/or be for Halloween. Happy Friday, Everyone!

:-)

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the twin fire & friday soap giveaway

Last weekend, parts of the city of Williams (aka "Gateway to the Grand Canyon") were evacuated due to a prescribed forest burn that got out of control. The Twin Fire was finally contained when it reached about 1,000 acres, but it was a little dicey there for a while. Part of the price of being surrounded by National Forest is the possibility of fire danger. On the way to son's soccer game in the Old Route 66 town of Seligman, we drove through this:

...and on the way home we drove through this:

I wish I'd had my camera with me when we were in town and saw the slurry bombers flying overhead and the helicopters sucking up water from the nearby reservoir to drop on the flames. The local Williams/Grand Canyon News had some good pictures of the choppers, though. At night, the smoke was thick and heavy in the air. This was the view from my front door:

...and this was the view from the back:

Those dastardly forest fires sure do pretty up the sky.

So, on to the Friday Soap Giveaway. Fall is here in all its glory, and I don't know about you, but around here at Writer/Rider central, preparations for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and various fall birthdays are in full swing. Seems like pumpkins, cranberries, warm spices and all things orange, black and purple are constantly on my mind lately. So, here's one of my top sellers being offered for the giveaway - Cranberry Fig:

Wanna join the ranks of previous soap winners whose mail smelled reeeeeealllly good the day their bars arrived? Simply leave a comment telling me what kinds of things you'd like to see more of here on the AWAAR blog. Remember, there need to be at least six comments from different readers in order for the bar to get sent.

Happy Friday!

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friday soap giveaway: the return

As promised, I have decided to officially reinstate the Friday Soap Giveaways here at AWAAR. There's going to be a bit of a change in the ground rules, though. In order for the giveaway to work each week, there must be at least six comments by different readers in the comments section of each giveaway post. This will, hopefully, prevent bars from constantly going to the the same two people (I'm talking to you, Maiden and Ken). Do be sure to let me know if you're having trouble commenting, or if the process just seems too laborious to make it worth your time.

Oh! I've opened my Etsy shop, too, so go check it out. There you can behold a picture of yours truly in the mid-1970's in my Brownie uniform and all my buck-toothed glory. In fact, go check out Etsy in general if you haven't done so lately. It's chock-full of cool creations by all sorts of amazing artists!

This week's giveaway bar celebrates two things: 1) The opening of my Etsy shop (it's the first type of soap I listed); and 2) The coming of the autumnal equinox, which happens in just four days (squeee! I love fall!). Here's what's up for grabs:

Interested? To play, simply leave a comment on this post describing one of your favorite fall memories.

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on being crafty

There's a conversation I've had with artisans, crafters and artists over the years, and it goes something like this: How do you create, market and sell handmade items in a market that is so often flooded with repeats of the same things (I'm looking directly at you, tole painters)? Is it a matter of trying to find and make something nobody's ever done before, or is it more a matter of having your own take on things, your own "look?" I cast my vote for the latter, personally.

I was having this conversation again today, probably since craft show season is upon us and I'm getting back into soap production. Somehow, despite the popularity of soap making just about everywhere, I've managed to do pretty well with the soaps over the years. They're a fun, creative outlet for me, and I do love making something that other people find useful, enjoyable and for which they're willing to pay me money to boot.

With this in mind, I finally opened an Etsy shop, and I'll link to it as soon as I have more items listed (I'm a bit shy at the moment with my one bar of soap hanging out there in EtsyLand). Various people have been telling me to do this for a while, and I guess there's no time like the present - especially since one of my main holiday craft shows won't be held this year.

Oh, look for the return of the Friday soap giveaway, too - maybe as soon as this week. I've been revamping my labeling technique and working with some new color and fragrance combos, so I should have some interesting offerings.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

toys made in China? thanks, but no thanks.

It's not often that I put this blog down on the ground in the middle of a crowded World Wide Web, step up onto it and use it as a soap box from which I deliver my views on a specific issue in a way that will hopefully make you take action.

But.

With the Christmas shopping season fast-approaching (already HERE, if walking into Wal-Mart is any indication - they were actually playing Christmas music over the sound system the other day), I feel it's time to bring up something important.

I've been cleaning out my daughter's room for the past couple days. A better word might be "purging" her room, since it's been too long since I've been a good little Fly Lady fan and dumped all the useless junk the girl never plays with anymore. But my mom will be coming to town in a little over a week, so it was definitely time to address that particular room, which serves as a grandmother/granddaughter sleepover spot whenever Abue comes to visit.

Anyway, I couldn't help but notice that just about every toy/gadget/tchotchke that either got thrown away, put into the Goodwill bag or put back in its proper place had the inevitable "Made in China" stamp on its underside.

Now, let me just admit here that I am a major devotee of both Wal-Mart and the Dollar store, both of which sell massive amounts of Chinese-made junk. Much of it is useful junk, though, and it's always cheap, which means a lot when you have kids and live on a budget. This fact alone might make me a giant hypocrite for writing this post, but I don't think so, and here's why:

Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock has probably heard about the widespread recalls of toys made in China that came with free, extra helpings of lead. This is really scary to a parent because in the worst-case scenario lead is fatal. In the less-worse but still horrendous-case scenario it can cause irreversible developmental delays. And I'm really happy that you can find such detailed recall lists online, but I can't help but wonder about the toys they haven't tested yet, those that are still on the market.

So, have I decided to boycott Chinese-made goods entirely? Heck, no, though I heard an interesting piece on NPR about a family who decided to do just that for an entire year. She ended up having to buy kids' tennis shoes out of a European catalog, and paid something like $75 for them.

But here's what I am going to do this year and for every year in the foreseeable future when it comes time to buy toys for any kid. I'm going to check out websites like this one and this one. I'll still check out the toys at Wal-Mart, Target, etc, but if I can't find anything made in the U.S.A., then forget it. I hope you'll make an effort to do the same.

Do I think American toys are perfect and without risk? Of course not. But I know for a fact that literally millions of toys coming from China are not only imperfect, but they have put my kids' health at risk in a very serious way.

Which brings us to an easy way to both buy American and shop locally: Hit your local holiday craft fairs this year! I'll be hawking soap at one of Flagstaff's biggies this weekend, and I'll also be doing some shopping, which means I'll be putting money directly into the pockets of some of our insanely talented local artisans. I can't think of a better way to spread some early Christmas cheer.

So, what you you all think about this issue, and have these recalls changed the way you shop for kids? If you have any good ideas on non-Chinese-made toys, please share!Follow @nicole_mcinnes