Spring is springing at Bale and Twine! Here is a cute, lightweight, tote that I painted and sewed up for my Etsy Shop! 
hello tulip…
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Author Archives: baleandtwine
Farmers Market Style! Introducing Pepper Man and Tomato Man!
Summer is coming! I have been working on my Pepper Man and Tomato Man graphics in preparation for the gardening season:-) I created these fun veggie images with produce from our garden!
Today I created a fun summer tote, perfect to take with you to the farmer’s market, grocery store or where ever your travels take you! Would make a great gift for anyone who loves the outdoors, gardening, of course veggies! I am wearing my Tomato Man tee! 
The tote’s front pocket features my original Pepper Man artwork! I am also working on printed greeting cards and handkerchiefs and of course tees! 
The bottom image features my original Rock Man artwork. It all started with him! 
snowday—dogs love snow!
The dogs are not the only ones out enjoying the fresh snow today but they sure look like they are having the most fun;-) A surprise snowfall and it is gorgeous. Had to hurry out and get photos before it started to melt away..
Printed Accessories… Delightful Handkerchiefs
Yeah! Fabric is in and I am very happy with it. I have been working with some of my watercolor pictures and some vegetable photos to create fabric. Here are some pictures. I decided to print them in square patterns for the first go around so I could sew up some delightful handkerchiefs. Love using them for a bit of color, on a bag, around your neck, in your hair, or just have out. I sewed up two this evening, the fig is for sale on my Etsy shop. 
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day. Here are some sweet Spring earrings to celebrate with:-) I am waiting patiently for some fabric that I designed to be printed. Can’t wait to see the results! So to keep busy today I sat down to make this little sweet treats. Enjoy!
hearts, hearts and more hearts…
My cold still has me indoors so I am moving around a bit slower this week. I decided to work on soldering and came up with two fun projects. Etsy is covered in hearts to lure all you happy valentines in:-) So I have added my two happy hearts:-) 
These two whimsical hearts dangle from chain with a really cute swarovski star attached. Fired up after creating these, I decided on my new challenge. One of my friends has been asking me to create initial jewelry (wanting to have her kids’ initials on a bracelet or other piece of wearable art). Since I have not been doing much of the silver clay work recently (material prices are crazy), I have been trying to come up with a fun design for her. It was so much fun to work on. See photos here. 
Guess I should make one for me with my kids’ initials:-) For all you Valentine’s Day shoppers, I have lots of fun products, perfect for spoiling your Valentine. 
Treat your sweet one with the gift of handmade! Great for men and women.
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winter treats! spoil your valentine!
Totally forgot to post about the new solid perfume made with mango butter! Had a gorgeous sunrise the other morning and it set of a day of product making inspiration! So far all my lovely sampler friends have given me the thumbs up:-) YEAH! Oh, and I have a new handmade lip balm too- this time with Shea Butter. Geez, not sure where my tired brain has been lately. New soy blend candles are made too! Scents such as Peppermint Eucalyptus, Amber Dune, Chocolate Fudge and Romance in the Garden! 
These are new great products!!! Available now! 
exploring copper and enamel
-8 to 50, lovely winter really:-) No wonder everyone has the sniffles! Anyway makes for some cool photos and crazy different snow textures everyday. Some days the snow is so fluffy and powdery, then it is heavy and wet and today it is topped with ice for a cool crisp coating! The patterns of the ice on the window above are crazy- only nature can create that;-) 
Here is a photo of the Amber Dusk with oatmeal soap and Bright Lavender Pep soap made last week. The lavender soap was made with cocoa butter and has a crazy creamy texture right now- will see how it hardens up as it cures. 
What next? Well, I have been exploring the world of torch fired enamel copper jewelry. Has such an ancient feel to it with the warm copper coloring and fun enamels. Off to prep yet another hot cup of honey and lemon tea:-) sniff!
heart in the snow…
Here are some fun pics from today. Starting off we have some photos from my ski with the dogs this morning. Heart in the snow and someone has been busy in this tree! Followed up by photos of the orange soap I promised the other day. Finally unmolded it and love the results. Check out the bars with the layer of apricot seed powder. The bars with the powder all the way through will be great coming gardening time- scrub that dirt away:-) I had an idea yesterday that it might be fun to incorporate a painting of my ingredients into my packaging or signage. So I picked up the brushes today and tried a fig painting first. I want to make it very simple and colorful. We’ll see how it translates to packaging. See photos at the end of this post. 
soaping making time
New Year! New soaps. On Monday I created a new shea butter soap with blueberry seeds, and a blend of grapefruit, lavender, lime, bergamot, rosemary, clary sage and black pepper essentials oils. The result was a very mild, soothing scented soap. As always it has to sit for a month before cured so we’ll check back in February to see where the scent ends up. I think it will be a nice one for those who prefer lightly scented soap. 
Today’s soap was blend of Grapefruit, Orange, Ylang Ylang, Rosemary, Cedarwood, Balsam Peru, Clary Sage and a hint of Peppermint essential oils. I add some apricot seed powder. To one of the trays I layered the soap, bottom without the powder so there would be a gentle side of the soap. I know my young ones sometimes prefer the soap without the scrubbing action. Hopefully get some pics of this soap tomorrow when I take it out of the molds.
