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Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
December 29, 2003

A Publication of The Handmade Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Vol. 4, Issue 53
To subscribe, click here.

Creating Opportunities For Your Handmade Beauty Business!!

Check out what our members have to say!!

1. HBN Update: Welcome New HBN Members!!
2. Handmade "Goodie" Recipe Of The Week: Orange Poppyseed Thumbprints
3. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question
4. Handmade Beauty Product Review: A Suite of Handmade Soap

Welcome New HBN Member!

Soaps & Scents, Inc. | Linda James | St. Croix, USVI
* handcrafted soaps and bath & body products, many made with the tropical fruit scents of the Caribbean

HBN Members On The Move!

I'm sure many HBN members are involved in various forms of giving during this holiday season, but one member's "helping hand" caught my eye and I wanted to tell you about it. This year, HBN member Kim Baron of Fallen Muse WebWorks (HBN's Chief Technology Officer and very talented website designer) assembled gifts of clothing and toys for a single mother and her three daughters, ages 4, 3 and 5 months. Kim put together a basket of handmade beauty products for the mother - provided by HBN member Vienna's Herbal Compounds - along with a delicious Christmas dinner. What a difference Fallen Muse, Vienna's Herbal Compounds and I'm sure many other HBC subscribers are making in the lives of others around the world during this special time of year. Thank you for sharing your gift of giving and reminding all of us that the holiday season is most appropriately celebrated when we share our blessings with others.

Learn more about our members and their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through HBN's Online Member Directory, now with 4 ways to search: (1) by state/country; (2) by member business name; (3) by keyword search; or (4) using our new alphabetical listings.

Orange Poppyseed Thumbprints
Yield: About 30 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons poppy seeds (yes! you can use them in something besides soap!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup orange marmalade
some flaked coconut (optional)

Blending Procedure

Step 1. Heat oven to 300°F. In a large bowl, beat together the powdered sugar and butter until they are light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg and blend well.
Step 2. Add the flour, poppy seeds and salt and mix well. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. If you'd like, you can dip some of the cookie bottoms in a bit of coconut if you'd like some toasted coconut on the bottom of some of the cookies.
Step 3. With your thumb, make an imprint in the center of each cookie, and fill the well with 1/2 teaspoon of orange marmalade.
Step 4. Bake at 300°F for 20 to 25 minutes or until cookie edges are light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheets immediately and place on wire racks to cool.

When you visit MakeYourCosmetics.com, it's easy to buy the ingredients you need by clicking on our Selected Supplier links:

Essential Wholesale: pure essential oils, over 200 cosmetic bases, hundreds of carrier/fixed oils such as meadow foam, cranberry, jojoba and shea butter plus a new Short Run Private Labeling Program!

Bramble Berry, Inc.: over 105 different fragrance and essential oils (including their exclusive "Energy" and "Relaxing"), all soap tested, soap molds and unscented soap bases!

Sunrose Aromatics: pure essential oils (many organic), carrier oils and other aromatherapy products, each carefully selected for quality. Check out their new Perfumer's Emporium.

The Scent Shack: fragrance oils and soap supplies. Fragrance oils are pre-tested in cold process, melt & pour soap, and candles, and test results are listed at the Web site. Scents tested by soapers for soapers!

As I mentioned last week, the trivia question is taking a break until 2004. Next year, not only will the question include trivia about handmade beauty, herbal and cosmetics related issues, but I will also begin to sprinkle some educational trivia about the world of small business. Stay tuned for thought provoking questions about business that will help you grow and manage your own enterprise!

A Suite of Handmade Soap by Pure Harmony
5/6 ounces per bar | $6.00

This holiday season, I decided to purchase soap from one of my favorite handmade soap companies -- Pure Harmony. My plan was to give the bars away to friends and family members as Christmas gifts -- honest! I got the Lemon Poppyseed for my husband (who insists on using lemon scented soaps) and I ordered 4 other bars to give as gifts: Chai Tea, Grapefruit, Lemon Oatmeal and Clay Foam. But then, guess what happened? I tried the Lemon Poppyseed (behind my husband's back of course). And then it was gone, but it still was not December 25. So I got out the Lemon Oatmeal (organic oats with finely ground lemon peel and litsea cubeb and vetiver essential oils). Then that one was gone. So I sniffed the Chai Tea, which I really didn't think I would like so much. But to my surprise, it smelled so much like a drink from Starbuck's that I just had to try it. So I did, and I loved the essential oil blend of cinnamon, ylang ylang, ginger and vanilla CO2. Plus this special bar is topped with a lighter shade of soap (the "foam" on the drink) and then sprinkled with nutmeg spice. How clever is that??!

Alas, I was left only with the Clay Foam and Grapefruit, and what do you think happened. Christmas came and went and they are still in my bathroom. My holiday gifts were found elsewhere. I'm almost done with the Chai Tea bar and plan to start on the Grapefruit next. It's made with beta carotene (for a golden color) and a cheerful grapefruit essential oil. Last but not least, I plan to try the Clay Foam -- the most exotic of the bars -- made with Rhassoul green and sea clay, plus an essential oil blend of clary sage, patchouli, cedarwood, vetiver, sandalwood and bergamot. Yum!

Oh! and yes, these bars all have a really rich and creamy lather, and are made with olive oil, coconut oil, virgin coconut cream, shea butter and cocoa butter, and are superfatted with jojoba oil. You would not be disappointed with any of them. You can get your own Pure Harmony soaps by emailing Marsha at pureharmonyva@aol.com. Try the Mandarin Walnut, Bay Leaf, Patchouli Geranium, Cinnamon and many more!