When Life Gets Nuts!

Many of you may know that I recently left the Virginia area and moved back to my home town in Massachusetts. Well, that made for a more hectic life than I ever thought possible. Now I've had a month to re-energize, refocus, and this month is all about posting my new, wonderful teas!

What's coming down the road?

A tea for the common cold! That's right, it helps clear the sinuses, soothes the throat, and calms the stomach all in one! I've been testing it on local family as well as myself and I can happily report that it works gently and silently and caused our nasty colds to last 3 days tops! Can you imagine??? Woohoo!

A tea for menopausal women! I'm leaving out the Red Clover that many such teas include because all the post-menopausal women in my family found Red Clover to react horribly in their systems and actually made things worse...so why take that chance?

A tea for diabetics! Every little herb in this baby is known for helping the body regulate blood sugar as well as reduce edema! It also tastes sooooo yummy! Waiting for a report back from my guinea pig to see how well it worked for him and I'll be letting you all know!

A tea for women trying to get pregnant and want an added boost to their fertility. I will be joining this group shortly (wedding in less than 90 days!) and wanted to create something for those of us who need a little extra help and want it to be more pleasant than a shot in the buttocks :)

I'm also going to put out a new line of yummy teas that are purely for taste! I know! All my teas are good, but these babies are specifically for the yummy factor. Does the fact that they are also good for you detract from the yumminess? Not even a tiny bit.

So keep your eyes open and check back here or at my Fan page on Facebook because I'll be letting you all know as I post them.

Nice to be back!

Jacqui

BIG TEA SALE!!!

Ok kids! I have never done this before but I'm having a tea sale! This weekend, starting Friday night, I will be offering all my teas (premade, not the samplers) for Buy 2 Teas and Get 1 Free!

So mix and match, get a Detox Tea for the holidays and a Happy Tummy tea for Aunt Mae and get your coworker Noggin Number for Free! Buy your friend struggling through chemo two bags of Tea-Mo-Therapy tea and get yourself Miracle Elixir to get through the winter months healthier than ever.

But, this is a weekend deal only, Friday night through Monday morning. Simply purchase the items in the shop and don't pay. I'll invoice you for the correct amount. All my teas are made by hand and are made fresh to order! If I've had it sitting for more than a week it goes into my new "Overstock" section. The teas can last up to a year and still be fresh, and once you see experience how delicious they are and how effective you'll be coming back for refills!

This sale is going on in both my Etsy and Artfire shops, so take your pick!

http://www.theomintention.etsy.com/

http://www.theomintentnion.artfire.com/

Why am I having a tea sale you ask? Well, to be honest its because I want more herbs and supplies! I have dozens of new items rattling around in my head and want to make some large orders but can't until I have made some more sales! So tell all your friends about my sale and you'll be seeing lots more delicious teas, invigorating bath salts, yummy lotions, and healing oils listed in my shop before you know it!

This Weekend, in My Cave

This weekend I have a lot of work ahead of me as I embark on some new tea and herbal items. Not only will I be making the Bath Salt, Cleansing and Anxiety teas, as I said I would this week and have had NO time to do it, but I will also be trying to create a new tea for a fellow Etsy seller who is in need of herbal assistance AND a tea combination for those suffering from Diverticulitis.

And that's not all! Channeling Billy Mayes here....

I will also be starting some herbal infused oils as well. This means more creams down the road, massage lotions, etc! Yippee!

So, I'm putting out there a request for new ideas! What kinds of teas or herbal body products would you love to see me offer? (no pressure to buy, just looking for some great suggestions)

Feedback Hugs

There is not much that can rival waking up exhausted, having a rough commute to work, logging onto your Etsy account to find that someone left you positive feedback and said lovely things about the product. That immediate glow of happiness and joy...knowing that someone really likes something that you made with your own hands and put so much time and effort into! I just want to reach through cyberspace and give that person a giant hug!

Now, I appreciate the glowing feedback I get for my readings, trust me I do, but I've always felt as though I participate very little in the readings. I simply go through the motions and allow Energy and my spirit guide to choose the best possible cards for that person. Sure, I may decipher the meaning from it, type it up nice, and add a little of my own thoughts and suggestions to them, but overall I would say readings are a group effort.

The teas and other herbal products (some of which I'm still testing) are 99% me. I research them, I read about the herbs, I check sources to make sure I know what possible side-effects they may have for people, I mix them, brew them, taste them, test them, design them, and package them. While I completely accept that I have my spirit guide to thank for a lot of the success I've had so far with making my teas and products, her inspiration and gentle guidance still leaves me with the majority of the work.

So, the feedback I get from my readings, while it lifts my spirits and has the double blessing of showing others that I'm not some internet fraud, is wonderful I have to admit that getting great feedback for my teas just makes my week! So don't forget to leave great feedback for others! Tip your waitresses!

This Weekend's Plans

Well folks, tonight is beef and beer date night. Tonight, the hunny and I grab a steak and a beer and go see Harry Potter 6: Half Blood Prince. Looking forward to it!

This weekend will, as usual, be a weekend of WORK! We have wedding planning to do and I desperately need to do some work on my Artfire and Etsy shops. I need some better pictures, I need to adjust my tags to they show up more often on search engines, I need to go through my descriptions and make sure they are accurate and spelled correctly (eeps)...and I need to post new items!

This weekend, sunlight permitting, I will be posting my new set of 5, count them, 5 tinctures! I am also happy to let you know that I have tried out my lovely new Dead Sea Mud mask and it has worked beautifully! I will also be posting that as well. If I have time I also want to make my new oil into a cream...but I don't have the wax, so we'll see how far I get with that. Yummy, fun weekend! What are your plans??

Why I Love/Hate Facebook

So I joined up with Facebook a week or so ago, both as myself and as a fan page for The Om Intention shop (feel free to become a fan..ack, I have "fans", I'm famous! Yay!). At first nothing happened, then I found some people I knew and "friended" them, now I'm getting in touch with all my old college friends and even my college roommate! It's been so wonderful seeing how everyone is doing but it is becoming addicting and perhaps dangerous!

See, the problem is we are getting ready to invite 87 people to our wedding thanks to a few unexpected direct invites made by my mother which is a lot more than we anticipated for our small little wedding. Now I'm seeing my college roommate, my dear friends that I shared so much with for 4 years of fun, embarrassment, and drunken moments that I will NEVER share with anyone else....and I want to invite them too! Oh hell, I want to invite EVERYONE! Come one, come all! Get ready to have some great food and do some ridiculous amounts of dancing! I want to shout it from the rooftops....then I think of the catering bill...how many more favors we'll have to order....and I begin to calm down.

So I came up with a plan! If you all buy TONS of tea and herbs from me between now and January I will have enough extra income to invite everyone to my wedding! And you'll have lots of wonderful tea and herbs and the heartwarming feeling of helping me make my wedding dreams come true. hehehe

Featured on Etsy's Front Page

I, like many other Etsy sellers have tried everything we can think of to get attention from buyers. I, myself, had bought into doing two separate Showcases for $7 for 1 day and got not a single sale from it. But this weekend I saw just how fabulous being featuered on the front page can be!

Yesterday morning I went online to see if I had a sale and in my inbox I saw I had 2, and they were for my herbs! This rarely happens so I excitedly went to the Etsy site to relist and as the front page of Etsy came up I saw a very familiar picture at the very top! One of my own herbs!

Etsy had decided to do a feature on items with the word Organic in them and they had chosen my Organic Gotu Kola tea aid as one of them. I immediately went to my shop and by that time I had 2 MORE sales! I had also made a sale from my Artfire account as well! I was so excited that I had to let my Earthpath Artisan team members know, and by the time I had posted something about it in the team forum and relisted the several items that had sold I had 2 MORE sales!

WOW! So I did my little "Thank you PPF" dance around the kitchen as my sweety made brownies from scratch for a barbeque and I screeched like I hadn't screeched since I was about 12.

Etsy can feature me any time they want to! I just wish I had known they would earlier because I have now run out of my tea-bags that I use and no one in my area, or even within a 20 miles radius carries them so I've special ordered them for immediate shipping. I may not have enough to finish all the sales I made this weekend but I should have the new order by Wednesday or Thursday and then off they go!

Elixirs in the Making

No, for those who know that I've been down and out with a fever these last couple of days, I have not been making anything while sick. I would never want to infuse whatever it is that causes this in anything I make so I've stayed far away from my herbs and yarn. I have, however been reposting things, making things I have already available in different forms, etc. I have, however, been downing my Knock Out Punch tea and sleeping through the night despite my typical sleepless fever. (have you ever sweated from your ankles? its not fun.)

One thing I did do over the past couple of weeks was make a few elixirs that I'm getting very excited about. I don't want to give it all away but one is for...well....allowing our male counterparts to stay "engaged" through acts of amore. I'm calling it "Got Wood?" I'm also making one to help with hangovers called "Hair of the Dog." I made them on May 30th so they won't be ready for another 20 days, but I'm getting very excited to see the reaction.

This weekend I'll be helping out at the local nonprofit healing center that my aunt and her partner work at, so I'm sure I'll be all enthused and creative when I get home from that.

I hope I have time this weekend to make some bath salts. I got some fabulous Dead Sea Salt, Himilayan Pink Salt and Epsom Salt, and want to play!

Herbs I Use And Their Possible Side Effects

Herbs, and the people who use them, are still considered rather primitive as far as the government is concerned so there is very little legislation, protection, or guidance for those of us who use them in our practice. Because of this we have to be super careful about everything we do and say. I have my own little "FDA approved"-type wording on my Etsy account but I get worried that people won't pay attention, so I'm creating this post which I will update on occasion with links to a Physicians' Desk Reference site and to the specific herbs I use. If anyone has any concerns or questions about how the herbs in my products will affect them they can use this as a guide as well as contact their own doctor for advice.


Alfalfa, Ashwaganda, Astralagus, Barley, Calendula, Chamomile, Coriander, Damiana, Dandelion, Eyebright, Fennel, Gingko, Ginger, Gotu Kola, Grapeseed, Jasmine, Kava Kava, Lavender, Marshmallow, Passion Flower, Peppermint, Red Clover, Rosemary, Tumeric, Valerian, Wild Carrot, Wild Yam, Yohimbe

http://www.pdrhealth.com/drugs/altmed/altmed-a-z.aspx

The Eagle (or rather the herbs) Has Landed

The day herbs arrive is like Christmas for me! Today Mike, the UPS guy, arrived with a small brown box with my name on it. Inside were a few containers of some of the loveliest organic herbs I've seen. Astralagus, Rosemary, Barley Grass...woohoo!!!

So, now that the herbs have arrived I can finally begin my adventure with my new teas, Tea-Mo-Therapy! Of course, before I even open one container I'll be giving HowlingCaterpillar her Chakra Reading as promised. I would have last night but I was in DirectTV Customer Service Hell. (we've now been upgraded from customer service reps who won't call us back to a case manager who won't call us back) What I put up with for my weekly Bones and House.

So, this weekend will be lots of playing with herbs, and I will come out the other end (fate and karma willing) with three new teas, a few bath teas, and some sales. Fingers crossed!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things, Part 5

There are so many wonderful things on Etsy that so rarely get seen or featured, I figured it was high time I did something about it, so I created my own little Featured section and I plan to have one at least every other Friday if not every Friday. So I might be knocking on your Etsy door some day, looking to feature one of your items! Don't be surprised.....

AvalonAdornments is not only one of my fellow EAST Team members, but she's a pretty fabulous person. Even putting that aside she's very talented at making lovely jewelry. This is only one of her many examples, the Siren Of The Sea necklace, with pearls, black lip mussel, shell charms and more, this necklace is just beautiful. It's also on sale as she moves her studio (the less you pack the better, I totally agree!) So take a look at her shop, chock full of gorgeous pieces!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5895533

I hate needles, and despite that I do have a tattoo. Not wanting to deal with more needles to get something pretty etched onto my person, I stumbled upon these fabulous tights, or rather thigh-high stockings, from Post. Lovely, feminine, and not quite as permanent, these sexy White Tattoo Socks are a great alternative!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24566725

If these aren't your style Post has other options for you!

Even if Greenfingers wasn't another fellow EAST Team member I'd still adore her for her creativity, her leadership, and her kind heart. I'd also love to get this beautiful, handknitted love charm for being so generous with my praise, hint hint. j/k. The Path of Desire Knitted Heart Love Charm is actually a collaboration with a fellow artist and Greenfingers by hand-knitting, embroidering, beading and filling with a small bag of herbs. She has quite the collection, so if orange isn't your thing you could try any number of other heart love charms!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5017219

I can crochet fairly well. I'm not overly creative with it, so when I saw StudioKarma's collection of intricately crocheted necklaces I was blown away. They are stunning, precise, and such lovely colors! I can only imagine how many hours she puts into each beautiful piece.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5610501

If I'm ever in Turkey I am absolutely stopping by to watch you work hun!

So, that's it for Part 5 of my favorites. I love suggestions, so if you have spotted something that you are dying to share, send me a link and let me know and maybe I can feature it in a future blog post. Who says Etsy gets to have all the fun? I personally think that everyone should have their own Etsy Favorites listed on their blogs. Don't you?

New Stuff and Trading!

I made my first trade today! Woohoo! No longer am I the Trading Virgin of Etsy! I'm getting some lovely vintage Italian tissues and she's getting one of my Past Life Readings. Very exciting. I don't know if I'm more excited about getting the tissues or doing the reading...these are so much fun!

Oh, and I put up a couple more items in my shop recently. While I don't have pictures of it yet I put up my Frog's Throat Tea, my A Month in Advance spread as well as my suscription option! I know it seems expensive, but when you consider that the Month spread is $18 and 12 Month spreads is $130 you'll realize what a deal it is.

I have a lot of plans this weekend...hoping to solidify my brand once and for all. My problem, I think, is that I had to pick a niche! I want to do readings, but I also want to work with herbs, and I also like crocheting and will be doing more of that, and I want to create my own brand of healing bath products. How do I create a brand that encompasses it all????

Have a wonderful weekend all!!!!

Working for the Weekend

Yay! I know it's only Thursday but that means the weekend is almost here. While I am slightly saddened that my honey will be leaving Saturday morning for a week in Tokyo, I am happy to have the place to myself so I can lock myself in my little herb dungeon and mix some fun stuff! The only down side is that she is taking our digital camera with her. Ack! Luckily I have a photographer friend who has about a dozen different cameras and I might be able to convince him to lend me his. Fingers crossed!!

So, things I will be working on this weekend:

- 3 new herbal teas (man, that rooibos tea I got is phenominal!)

- 3 new herbal bath teas (I get to try them out! woohoo!)

- 1 or two new tarot card readings

- 1 prayer shawl which may be done by next weekend

- Creating my brand, logo, and trying to get my printer to work right, urg!

In fact, I have a little cash in my PayPal account so I may make another purchase or five. Stop me, I'm mad about herbs!

New Products! Chakra Balancing Teas!

I have had so much fun making these teas. I think I nearly giggled when I saw my herb order arrive. Woohoo! I got right to work. All of the herbs are certified organic so while I can say that they are organic I can't say it's certified organic since the tea itself isn't certified once its put together. Oh well. I know it's organic, you know it's organic, thats all that matters, right?

The Root Chakra tea is my favorite of the two. A spoonful of sugar makes this tea very addicting and delicious. It has Alfalfa, Chamomile and Gotu Kola. All together they are very healthful, nutritive, and great for the immune system. Each package will include 15 tea bags. I can also make a large bag, about 4 ounces, of loose tea for anyone who prefers that. You can always convo me on Etsy and let me know. I'll even include a bleach-free muslin tea bag with it for free!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22965348


Sacral chakra tea is so mmmmmmm, yummy. It's quite potent and has a strong taste, since it contains ginger but it's not unpleasant. In fact, it's the ginger root that does the most for the chakra and the body. This tea contains Damiana, Ashwaganda, and Ginger root, and is great for balancing the chakra as well as improving energetic balance overall, increasing libido, and works well for men in terms of fertility and impotence. But you don't have to tell him that! hahaha



http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22966544


I spent most of the weekend finding the right mix for these two teas and have already run out of tea bags. Ack! I have already put in an order for more bags AND more herbs for my next set of teas. Looking forward to another weekend of playing!



Now, just like I say on the Etsy site, and with any herbs, if you have a lot of sensitivities or allergies or are very ill or pregnant or nursing, or balancing your checkbook, etc, please consult a doctor before using it. Now, I won't guarantee that it will work for everyone, but I found, amazingly, that the Root Chakra tea helped me enormously with my allergies. I had a cup last night and today my partner and I drove around with the windows down...she was sneezing up a storm, her nose was so stuffed up. I was fine. This NEVER happens!! I'm the biggest ball of snot during cherry blossom season. So, if this reaction keeps happening I may need to market it as an allergy helper :) But don't tell the FDA! hahaha

To Bath Tea or Not To Bath Tea

I've been trying to think of things I can make for my Etsy store that will give me a lot of enjoyment and that people may enjoy. As a novice herbalist I am enthralled with the amazing powers of natural products, herbs, spices, etc. and would love to use them in so much more ways. One way I was contemplating was in teas and bath teas. My only concern was that it takes a good chunk of money to purchase the products as I'd want to purchase them in bulk to save money.

I know where I can find the product I'll need and at reasonable prices, but I see a lot of other sellers on Etsy and in looking at how much they are selling their products for I'm not sure it would be worth it financially. Also, in my creative fervor I would need to make the packaging as cute as possible, and to do that would take even more of an investment.

So I'm putting this question out to the two people who apparently read my blog (and neither is my mother as she'd have a heart-attack if she knew her daughter was giving tarot readings). Here goes...and feel free to leave comments!

Bath Tea: Using Dead Sea Salt and various organic and fair-trade herbs I will make incredibly healing and yummy smelling Bath Teas (Bath Salts). Included with the tea itself will be a reusable unbleached muslin bag with drawstring. The tea will come in a cute 4 oz. aluminum tin with a label on top relating the tea/salt to a vibrant classic painting, along with instructions on the bottom of the tin for use, storage, etc. The 4 oz. of tea/salt is enough to make 8 luxurious baths. The teas/salts will all be made with the purpose and ingredient base of healing various ailments from insomnia, eczema, headaches, infertility, depression, etc and would be very relaxing or invigorating depending on your need. Now, in order to sell this and make enough profit to pay for supplies to replace it and possibly half the supplies for a second, I would have to charge about $9. That would break down to a little more than $1 a bath.

Now the big question....is this something that you would buy?