Donna Maria's Handmade Beauty Connection
January 19, 2004
Happy Birthday Martin!!

1. HBN Update: Welcome New & Renewing HBN Members & HBN Members On The Move!
2. Handmade Beauty Recipe Of The Week: Velvet Sugar Scrub
3. Beauty & The Business Trivia Question: win some essential oil!
4. Create The Life You Love™: Surviving The New Year Let Down

Simply Soap | Carol Ochs | California
* renewing member; luxurious, handmade natural soaps; Old World craftsmanship -New Age artisan design

Sunshine Garden Soapworks | Stephani Halderman | Wisconsin
* renewing member; high quality handmade soaps and glycerin soaps, lotions, lip balms, & bath salts

SunRose Aromatics | Rosanne Tartaro | New York
* renewing member;  essential oils (many organic), carrier oils and other aromatherapy products, each carefully selected for quality

Bubbles 'n Bees, LLC | Tammy Taylor | Maryland
* renewing member; soaps, creams and lotion bars are made from quality vegetable oils and pure essential oils or fragrance oils

A Wild Texas Soap Bar | Maggie Hanus | Texas
* renewing member; handmade soaps with a Texas theme

Rainbow Meadow | Melody Upham | Michigan
* renewing member; wide array of essential oils and soapmaking supplies

Outer Body Experience | Sarah Porter | Colorado
* renewing member; choose your experience: Tranquil, Adventurous, Exhilarating, Soothing or Practical

Utopian Garden | Charlon Bobo | California
* renewing member; a company collective offering expertise in education and professional services

Cloud Nine Candle & Bath Company | Randi Aldridge | Nevada
* renewing member; a full line of handpoured candles and handmade toiletry products, created with the sensory experience in mind

Oliver Aromatics | Darlene Oliver | Washington, DC
* renewing member; My man body oil, OOh Baby Baby body oil, Jazzy Jasmine Hair Oil, Hair-n-Body Butter, Sacred Body Polish, Bath Salts, Bath-n-Body Soap

Bottles and Jars.Net | Anne Kremer | New York
* renewing member; supplier of plastic and glass packaging for all your toiletry needs; no minimums

Honeychild Handmade Soap Co. | Roberta May | Wisconsin
* renewing member; luxurious soaps with shea butter, cocoa butter and silk, scented with skin-friendly essential or fragrance oils

Naturebath | Kathleen Healy | Ohio
* renewing member; products meticulously handmade in small batches and formulated with the highest quality ingredients available

SandPea Herbal Soaps and Botanicals | Sandra Posey | Maryland
* renewing member; a beautifully fragrant assortment of gourmet body soaps, rich, fluffy body mousses, thick and creamy body butters, and more

Pampering U, Inc. | Lynn Turner | Maryland
* aromatherapy bath bags, vegetable glycerin soap, powdered milk bath, foot care products, massage oil, fragrance oils, oil warmers, potpourri and

Pampered Pleasures | Nicole Watkins | Maryland
*handmade soaps, bath blasts, bath crystals, bubble bars and gift baskets for all occasions

HBN Members On The Move!

HBN member Baby Bouquet (formerly Jacquelyn Reve) has revamped their business and is pleased to announce the opening of their new website!

Exercise equipment maker Nautilus Inc. is now selling personal care products made by HBN member AthleteGift, which makes personal care products for active people.

HBN member Tvål! is excited that their body butter is featured as a "highly recommended moisturizer" in the e-zine Cybelesays.com.

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.

Last Week's Question: I am the most comprehensive measure of US economic activity. I am the value of goods and services produced by US-owned labor and property in the United States. It is important to be aware of me if you are a producer of any goods in the US for many reasons, including which your production figures count toward my final numbers each year! Historically, I have been very strong in the US, but over the last generation, since the end of the industrial revolution, my numbers have slipped more than usual now that many other countries are producers to be reckoned with in their own right. What am I? 

We hear it (and sometimes experience it) year after year. The New Year's resolutions take effect on January 1, and by the third or fourth week of the year, hope starts to dwindle that the goals will ever be achieved. Well, alas, it's 2004. The New Year has once again come and gone, and now it's time to start assessing how we're all doing so far on our New Year's resolutions. Are you feeling as positive as you were on January 1? Are you doing as well as you'd hoped? Feeling like you'll never accomplish some of those goals that seemed so attainable at the start of the New Year? Well, don't despair! Here are some tips to help you pull yourself up by the bootstraps when your goals seem out of reach and your confidence level plummets.

1. Remember To Believe In Yourself.
For many of us, negative self-talk is a part of our everyday lives. We're constantly feeding ourselves with messages like "I can't ... I'll never ... It's a waste ..." It's no wonder that we get to a certain point after the New Year and just give up. I don't personally know why we do this to ourselves, but I've seen it time and time again, and even experienced it in my own life. Anxiety, depression, guilt and anger seem to culminate and create a sense of doom and gloom. That's life, but it doesn't have to rob you of your self confidence and your gifts and talents that can be put to good use to move you forward toward your goals. Surround yourself with positive strokes, upbeat self talk and people who will encourage you and help you build your self esteem and confidence. While this is not an overnight process, and we will always experience the blahs and blues every now and then, making sure you surround yourself with as much "positivity" as possible is a sure-fire way over time to inch toward your goals.

2. Neutralize The Nay Sayers.
While we do a fabulous job of negative self-talk on our own, there's no doubt that we all have people in our lives that seem to want to shoot down every positive step we try to take. You know exactly who I'm talking about in your own life, right? You wake up, geared up for a great day and you are excited about continuing to pursue your New Year's resolutions. There you are minding your own business, when a long-time friend calls. You share your New Year's goals and BAM! She begins needling away at you with negative energy. "Why are you doing that? Haven't you tried that before and it didn't work? That might be a waste of time, don't you think? Wasn't that your resolution from last year?" At first you think it's just conversation but as it continues, you realize your "friend" is trying to sabotage your efforts. You have two choices at this point. You can allow her negativity to bring about feelings of helplessness and anger. Or you can simply rise above the fray and realize that her efforts to make you feel bad may be the only way she knows how to deal with her own feelings of low self esteem. Choose the high road by neutralizing her ability to hurt your efforts. Either end the conversation due to some other "pressing need" or better yet, simply address the issue face to face, letting her know that you are determined to reach your goal and have decided to surround yourself with a cheerleading section. If she can't be on the squad, you'll just give her a call when you've reached your goal. By putting the ball in her court, you give her the choice and the control. She can be either on your side or not, but she cannot be in between. Voila! You've neutralized her, empowered yourself and made it one step closer to accomplishing your goal.

3. Remember That Feeling Follows Activity.
Someone once told me that feeling follows activity. By way of example, it's 6:00am and you promised you'd go out for a 20 minute jog at that time each morning. But this particular morning, you're feeling especially pooped so you bag the jog, sleep the extra 20 minutes and get ready for your day. Why (aside from the obvious sabotaging of your exercise goals) is that a mistake? Because it puts feeling before activity. Next time, instead of waking up and allowing the fact that you don't feel like jogging control your actions, try reversing the process. Decide that you are going to jog, get up and start jogging, and watch the feeling follow the activity! I have experienced this time and time again in my life. More often than not, I am now able to consciously ignore how I feel, and choose instead to start the activity, and the rewards are tremendous -- an increased positive activity level and more productivity for starters. Try this in all walks of life -- when you don't feel like tackling that dreaded project, don't feel like getting out of bed or whatever. It works!