Holiday Concert Fun

It's so easy to get caught under by a busy Holiday Schedule. We spent 2 consecutive nights enjoying holiday concert cheer with our kids. On Monday, Dec. 15th, Austen played in the High School Holiday Concert. He plays the Sax. All of the kids did a great job!
On Tuesday, Dec. 16th, Ella & Peter showed off their stuff in the Randolph Elementary School Holiday Concert. Ella sang with the kinders, and Peter played drum in the band. We can't wait for Cora's Valentine's Show!


I don't know what it is, but I always get teary at these things. Thank goodness for the beautiful wool scarf that my MIL brought back from Ireland! It hides my brimming eyes!

Final Feel the Love Giveaway~ Merry Christmas!!

I have had so much stress trying to figure out who, what, how to determine the last Feel the Love Giveaway! It's been bubbling in my brain for days! Well, it just hit me! I was making my very first Buche de Noel (more on that another day) when I decided what to do!

The bottom line is, I love all of you who read, visit, comment & check in. Knowing all of you is the motivation to sitting down to share these moments of my life & business. I couldn't possibly pick one person to send the last gift to. So! The first 10 people to leave a comment on this post will receive one of my holiday~scented~all~natural~extra~yummy Artisan Soap Bars. I'll happily & lovingly pick your gift. I can tell you that I love each & every one of the bars.

You might get:

Perfect Pumpkin, Cranberry Cheer, Candy Cane or Vermont Spruce. They will come with lots of love! Email your addy to me at twinbirch(at)verizon(dot)net. I won't ship them out before next week, so they'll arrive just in time for you to relax a little! :)

Most importantly, I wish you all several quiet moments to reflect on what is most important this Holiday Season! I also wish you each a wonderful Holiday!!

Spotted Cow Soaps... It's a Small World

I love being a member of the Etsy Blogger's Street Team. It's so fun to learn about other crafters!

Each month they feature one of their members' store and all of the other members get bloggy about them. This month's featured member is close to home... really. Her name is Linda, but she is known as Spotted Cow Soaps. Before I knew Linda, I knew her husband, Todd. He was one of the super crafty guys who built our house 4 years ago. He is quite an artisan. You should see the work in my home~here's a peek at the dining room. Check out the wainscoat & the trim around the window. That's by Todd & the guys.So, less than a mile from where I live, is Linda of Spotted Cow. She makes such fun soaps & sundries. That picture of her Candy Cane soap has caught my eye a hundred times on Etsy. Although it may be a little late to place your Christmas order, you should poke over and find something to treat yourself. I think you'll love it.

The Tree's Up! The Tree's Down! The Tree's Up!

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I have some issues around Christmas. They aren't bad, I just like things to be just so. Those of you who have read Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini and
Henry Cole, may be able to understand how I am. I don't know why. I mostly enjoy it, but sometimes I make myself (and my family) a little crazy.

I have a picture of the perfect Christmas tree in my mind's eye. It used to be the perfect balsam, with perfect branches and a perfectly straight trunk. Now it's the tree that my whole family picks out and falls in love with. Starting next year, it will come from our back yard and it will be a spruce or fir. A little scraggly for me, but if they all love it, I will too.

This year's tree was delivered by a friend with lots of love. It's a balsam, so it fits my profile. ;)
The thing is, it fell down yesterday and now we have trust issues. I look at it everytime I walk by and I think it waves to me, daring me to make the slightest breeze so it has an excuse to take a spill. It has been vertical for a full 24 hours, so I'm starting to believe that it's going to behave. I'll let you know.

Feel the Love Friday Giveaway for you Piggies

This is the time of year when our feet take a beating. They are stuffed into boots of all comfort levels. Some look like this:


Or this:

Or (my favorite and the least practical here in the Green Mountain State) THIS!



No matter what, we could all use a little of this:Buy it on Twin Birch Etsy or, if you're Enchanted from Enchanted Hills Creations, send me your addy at twinbirch(at)verizon(dot)net, and you'll have it in your hands so you can take care of your feet!!!

Happy Weekend, everyone!

Man! Your Hair is Crazy!

At the elementary school, there is a long standing tradition called Crazy Hair Day. It's always on a Friday and I always have a little stress about it. Mostly because our morning routine is down to the minute. No time to spare. So, the idea of coming up with some innovative, adorable hair do to install at 7:11 am while the kids put on their snowpants (yes, already!) isn't my favorite. Here are the results of this year's challenge. There are chopsticks & gobs of vaseline in the girls hair. Thanks goodness Peter's idea of crazy is putting in some ponytails. The hair trend for ten year old boys is long, longer, longest. I'm picking my battles carefully.

Who else has these fun events in their school? Am I the only hair scrooge? Happy Styling!

Feel the Love Giveaway is the Bomb

Are you all just cranking through this holiday season? Am I the only one who realized that there are only 17 days 'til Christmas?! I had the most fun, fun, fun Bubble Open House yesterday! I'll blog in the next day or two about all of my favorite girlfriends who came up to do some shopping.

As for my favorite bloggy girlfriends, I feel so lucky to have so many of you! I've been loving this giveaway promo for the past bunch of weeks. Even though I started out calling it Feel the Love Friday Giveaway, it slid quickly to Saturday, Sunday... thanks for all of the patience! :)

I made a whole bunch of bombs for a beautiful store in Burlington Vermont called Candles & Creations. I think they are really fabulous, so I'm packing up a four pack for Elizabeth of Gassner Custom Soaps. Go check her blog & her etsy shop! She's an adorable mom and very gifted soaper (and cutie tutu maker, too!)
Here you go Elizabeth... you're the bomb! xoxo

Deck the Halls...

...with Twin Birch Foaming Hand Wash. This is the easiest yummiest way to bring the Holiday Spirit home! I love these foamers everyday, but especially around the holidays! I know I've hit the mark with yummy scents because all of our guests have been walking around my house sniffing their hands! :) (I should have taken a picture!) You could be sniffing your hands, too! Just stop by Twin Birch on Etsy and click up some yummy holiday fun!

My favorite four are~
UNDER THE MISTLETOE~ Christmas Tree Bliss
FROSTY GRAPEFRUIT~citrus tang with a hint of juniper & sweet
PEPPERMINT PARTY~the best kind of fresh not~too~sweet peppermint
CRANBERRY CHEER~sweet, tart & spicy... love it!

If you love 2 of one or 3 of the other, just let me know and I'll pack your special box with lots of love! Happy Holidays!

Feeling the Love Giveaway ~ Energize!

Happy Black Friday, y'all! Hope your Thanksgivings were full of love and great food!!

Congrats to mother of 4~ Heidi from Soapaholics Anonymous and to Joanna from Product Body & the Soap Bar! You are hard working~industrious~inspiring women!! Here comes some Energy to carry you along! You girls were picked at random by my niece! The gift sets come with lots of Vermont Love!! Go visit Heidi & Joanna~ you'll love them... promise!

Visit Twin Birch for your own Energy & other goodies! I'm offering free shipping on all product orders over $75 & (as always) a free goodie will be included with your order no matter what! xoxo

Giving Thanks for All Of You & Where's the Giveaway?

Whew! These are some crazy days! I know I still haven't announced the Feeling the Love Friday Giveaway from last week~ Let's make tardiness fun and have TWO winners this Friday! Stop in early~ and leave me a comment today~ so you can take advantage of my slip up! ;)


Have you all ever seen Plymouth Rock? Well~ here's a picture. It's arguably the most important rock in the New World. Is it huge? Nope. It's kind of small. But if you stop and think about how stark it is, you might imagine what it was like for the Pilgrims when they landed~ not so easy.
I get a little crabby when my bathroom floor is too cold. Can you imagine the first winter here? Yikes. I'm thankful for heat!

And... I'm thankful for all of you fun, sweet, lovely bloggers. Although most of us have never met, each of you make my life better with your sweet messages and fun thoughts. Thank you for all of the love that you send up here! I'm wishing you all a wonderful, full & rich Thanksgiving!~ much love!

Last Batch Before Christmas

It blows me away how quickly this time of year flies by! Case in point~ It's too late to make another batch of CP for the holidays. Mmmmm~ makes me consider HP as a choice. Given that my soap needs 4~5 weeks to cure, I'm all done. Time to think about Valentine's Day and Spring. :)

Here's the last batch for the Holidays. If you're a peppermint person (and I am!) this one is for you! It's called Candy Cane, but it's the best kind of fresh, crisp peppermint scent. There's nothing sticky about it! I'll post it on TWIN BIRCH at ETSY next week, but if you'd like to pre~order, leave me a comment and I'll get it to you. Woot!

Let's Just Get Along

I cracked up when I looked outside and saw Max hanging out with the chickens. He was having a nice moment in the sun and didn't mind a bit when they came by to do a little pecking. The only time he causes trouble with our ten hens is when we collect the eggs. Apparently he loves the raw egg more than Rocky Balboa. He tries to get them from our hands so he can make off with a snack.
That's life with Max.

Feel the Love Friday Giveaway in a Perfect Way

Happy Weekend, everyone! I hope you all are enjoying a fun, easy Saturday. We are going to watch a Dartmouth Football game this afternoon. They are playing Brown. Is a little rainy but I'm hoping for a miracle clearing of the skies. That would be perfect.

Speaking of perfect, I am head over heels for Perfect Pumpkin. It's a great seasonal fragrance! I'm not huge on the sweet scents, so this is just right for me. It has a little spice and there's something about it that keeps is from being icky sweet. It also has that fresh pumpkin~in~a~good~way thing about it. I made up little gift sets with a lotion, body wash and little butterfly pouf. They've done super well at the craft fairs and I thought it would be a great give away item.Congrats to Michele at Soapy Elephant. She wins a little set to enjoy~hope she does! Michele~ send me your addy at twinbirch(at)verizon(dot)net and I'll get it out within the week! Y'all ;) should check our Michele's blog and her etsy shop. She makes some really pretty soap at Soapy Elephant and.. does she make the pretty jewelry at Girl Lavender, too?! So talented!

Get your own sets at Twin Birch on Etsy. They are a great value~ and come in fun fragrances!

Table for 20

Thanksgiving is at our house this year. We'll have about 20 people. Grandparents, cousins, aunties & uncles. It's one of my favorite days and I LOVE having everyone come here! I'm just now starting to plan the menu. I'm feeling slightly adventurous this year and would love to hear about which side dishes you all love. It's so fun to check out how our menus are impacted by where we live, how we grew up... Please share!!!

Meanwhile, look at the adorable apron I found on etsy! Don't you all want one? I found this cutie store this morning. The shop features really cute aprons. She has adorable Mommy & me setts and this cute autumn frock ;) You can buy it at jnsweeny

Feel the Love Friday Giving Away in a Peaceful Way

I'm heading out to other craft show this weekend. Boy, the holidays sure are crazy, aren't they??
In that vein, I thought that this weeks giveaway should offer a little Peace to life. This bar is just the ticket. It smells sooo yummy. Clean, fresh~ kind of like a crisp winter day. You can get your very own at Twin Birch at Etsy.

Unless you are Pajama Mama, then I'm sending it to you for free!! Send me your addy, girlie!!
I can't wait to ship it! And go see her blog. She's adorable!

Happy Weekend! :)

ding dong!

Well, I've fallen in love! I can't spend enough time watching our 10 little hens as they wander about our yard and have their little chicken day. There is even a little Comet hen who thinks she's my pet. She runs to me a-clucking & a-chatting every time I go out to feed them, etc. Love it!


Last week we had our first snowy day. Here are a couple of peeks at some of the snow we had last year. Here & here (I didn't handle it well) So, all of my 10 hens decided that they'd rather be in than out. This is the sight I saw when I went out to do a little errand running. I'd be ok with it, except for the poo. Chickens are good for lots of poo. Not so charming.

November 4th

In my past life, I was a girl who wanted to be a political journalist. I'm not that happy to discuss politics with friends & family. That can get too icky. But I LOVE the whole process of electing our leaders and representatives. I think it's the greatest, most interesting thing to listen to candidates' ideas & philosophies as well as the public's reaction to them. We are so fortunate to debate & discuss the matters that are important to us and then shut out the world while we cast our VERY OWN vote for the person we believe in most. It's extraordinary, really.

So, I'll keep my vote a secret. I'm sure all of you will be marching off to cast your vote tomorrow, too. I hope you feel as lucky as I do. And then it will be November 5th. I'll be happily making soap and being a mom, in a brand new chapter of American History. Cool.

Halloween Fun in the 'Hood

Here are a couple of pix from our Halloween Escapades this year. The trick or treating was capped off with a little party at our friend's house. I'm going out on a limb by posting the back side shot of the lederhosen. Please note that no names are mentioned as we are committed to protecting the identity of this well respected pediatrician in our hometown of Randolph, Vermont.

Cora was Cutie Devil Girl. Ella was Sleeping Beauty. Peter was Tom Brady's bodyguard and Austen was Injured Tom Brady. I was a Witch(quite a stretch) and Gerry was Randy Moss with a creepy mask. It was a blast. Oh, and do notice our friends dressed as Betty & Barney Rubble along with Sarah Palin. Aren't they adorable? ;)

Feel the Love Friday Hops Aboard the Holiday Express

I hope you all had a fab Halloween! We had a blast. I'll have to post about that this week. I have a picture of a great friend in lederhosen, but he won't let me blog about him... I have to apply a little pressure. It will be worth it, though. He has great knees. hee hee!


Congratulations to Teresa R of Life, Homesteading & Everything. She's an adorable mom who home~schools here sweetie kids and muses about everything from fine lit. to chickens. She's also a great handcrafted soap customer. Who doesn't love that? Go over to her blog. You'll love her, too! So, Teresa.... Here's the giveaway gift.

It's my Holiday Trio of Artisan Soap... a cute little package of my three holiday favs~ perfect pumpkin, cranberry cheer & vermont spruce. It's all dressed up and ready to give. Or keep. I love all three of these soaps. Hopefully you will too!

You can grab one from etsy. They are great for hostess gifts during the Holiday Party Season or for Stockings & Hanukkah treats. Congrats to you, Teresa & thanks for being such a great, sweet friend! I have your addy, so I'll get it out to you this week!

Under the Willow Love & The Inevitable Last Minute Halloween Crunch

How cute is Carrie~Gigi of Under the Willow? I'll tell you! She won my Feel the Love Friday Giveaway a couple of weeks ago and she sent ME a package of goodies! That just cracks me up.
I'm feeling pretty lucky and well loved! She sent these 2 adorable fabric bags, which are perfect for wrapping a gift to someone you love, or for storing your special things! They are adorable. I love the prints, too! Notice the cute dogs and the sweet prim design!

C~G also sent this brilliant idea for using that tiny bit of m&p left over from making a batch of soap! Look at these pinecones! Aren't they sooo sweet?! She says to dip them into your leftover soap 3 times, to coat them well. I'm guessing you'd let them dry for a few minutes between dips.
How sweet and perfect would these be to decorate your Tree this Christmas? Or to put in the guest bath for a lovely, natural looking decoration? It's such a great idea! I always have that little, tiny bit of leftover. I'll bet it would even work with a thin~trace CP... just have to let them cure.

Thank you so much for all of the soapy love, C~G! You're way too generous! Go visit Under the Willow and Mud Puddle Girl to read Carrie's great, fun blogs. And head over to her Under the Willow site to purchase some divine goodies!! She it too cute!! :)

So, it's the day before Halloween. Undoubtedly, I'll be charged with some "minor" tweak of the costumes or, worse, someone will decide at 4:37 tomorrow afternoon that they hate their costume and burst into tears~ lol! I remember when the boys were little and they would come to me with their adorable little faces and say, "MOMMY?! Would you make me a PIRATE COSTUME? I brought you the stuff to make it!!! " They'd look up at me with big, proud smiles and produce 3 toothpicks, 7 LEGO pieces and a tortilla. At least these days I can just go to the store like everyone else! Let me know about your favorite costume! Did you *gulp* sew it from scratch, pull it together? Feel free to link me to a picture. I just love this stuff! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Bubbles are Beautiful

I still love this little spot that I put together on animoto.com

Feel the Love Friday Giveaway on Monday

Wow! I feel like I fell off of the face of the Earth. Actually, I just got back from a super fun 3 day craft show in Essex, Vermont (outside of Burlington). Whew! That is some seriously fun, hard work! Here's a little picture... I couldn't find one where I didn't look all pooped out! :)

I had a great time. It's such a blast to meet up with fellow crafters. I even had the chance to meet twitter friend Stephanie from Honey Bee Soaps. (She's such a cutie & her lemongrass soaps smell like heaven!)

So here's the announcement for Friday's Giveaway on Monday. ;) I promise I'll be back on track this Friday! PROMISE!!!!

Congratulations to Bunny B! She is the big winner this week. The treat is a slice of Whipped Pumpkin Soap. It was a big hit at the fair and even earned me 3 great new wholesale accounts (!) As is always the case, it was an afterthought that I grabbed on my way out the door. Love that! I'll be popping it onto Etsy tomorrow. (ps... It also comes in Cocoa!)

So, Bunny! Email me your address at twinbirch(at)verizon(dot)net. I'll pop it in the mail and you can have your very own Pumpkin Party!

Featured on Little Window Shoppe

I'm blushing and happy today. I received an email from Emily Norton of Little Window Shoppe.com. Her site is the greatest spot for browsing through adorable shops & sweet products.
Anyway, she wrote a blog post about Halloween products and featured my Boo the Ghost soaps and my Hauntingly Adorable Halloween Ducks. *big smile*

Here's what Emily says about her fun sight:
"Little Window Shoppe was created to highlight sweet shoppes and charming ideas in order to promote Shoppe and Boutique owners (with thousands of viewer each week), as well as help Window Shoppers find delightful ideas. "

Delightful is the word. Click over there, click around and be ready to smile with delight! Thanks, Emily! Happy Halloween!