New Products!

I’ve been having some more fun with wire and beads 🙂

Not all of these are yet listed in our Etsy shop (I’ve been spacing out the listings to cut down on our renewing costs), but they are being added. Some are already there 🙂

Watermelon Day

Woot! It’s Watermelon Day! (Yes, we have a tenancy to find some very strange holidays to blog about).

Watermelon screams summer (or it would if fruit were vocal). Even though I personally don’t care much for watermelon (it’s a texture thing), but I love the smell of fresh cut watermelons. Probably the coolest thing about watermelons though is the amazing watermelon carvings people do.  Here is a video of one carved into a dragon and at the end of this post will be a link to a how to for creating a peacock watermelon centerpiece fruit basket thing.

A while back we designed a pair of Watermelon Fairy Wings (Amber actual wore a pair of these to work today ^^). I think they may be the wackiest pair of wings we’ve made yet, and were the very first design that we experimented with spray paint on (and consequently fell in love with the adjustable tip on Krylon brand spray cans). The Water Melon Fairy wings are currently available for sale in our Etsy shop.

We’ve also made a watermelon toned tutu (the tutus are not yet available in the shop but will be in the near future).

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Watermelon Gardeing Bikini Top – $35

Watermelon Tinted Lip Balm – $4

Amy Butler Laminated Fabric Beach Tote – $49

Versailles Swan Necklace – $95

Watermelon Fruit Polymer Clay Slice Beads – $5

Organic Sugarbaby Watermelon Seeds – $2.50

Tattooed Woman Giclee Print – $250

Strawberry and Watermelon Bibs Pattnern PDF – $3.99

Watermelon Pink Ornate Vintage Style Picture Frame – $12.99

Watermelon Crochet Lace Choker – $14

Tingled Pink Suckers – $10

Watermelon Wire Wrapped Earrings – $32

Watermelon Sorbet Necklace – $550

That’s My Jam Watermelon Jelly – $6

Lil Sprouting Watermelon Baby Beanie and Booties Set $20

Watermelon Wedge – $12

Watermelon Hammock – $105

Watermelon Bubblegum Sugar Cube Scrub – $12

Watermelon Button Baubles – $7.50

A Summer Snack Original Oil Painting – $38.50

Watermelon Sugar Cookies – $7.25

Watermelon Novelty and Specialty Fibers – $6.50

Petite Watermelon Cupcake Earrings – $10

Recycled Grocery Bag Basket – $28

The Etsy artists featured in this article are:

woodenfencesoaps, beckandcallgirl, tooaquarius, sheridesthelion, EarthBabyDesigns, preciouspatterns, chocolatecupcake, zaythehappyhatter, customphotoprops, nicolesuder, WatermelonWishes, ForStitchesSake, VintageFiligree, beadpassion, CleanQueenSoapCo, meadowsjewelry, ChatterBoxArt, karnsugarmandesigns, bagsagain, ModernNeedlepoint, mihow, jamgeek, butterandlove,  and TheLitterRagamuffin

Also check out this Water Melon Cake recipe I found and this series of videos on How-To Create A Carved Fruit Center Piece.

And a little announcement. We are beginning construction on a new website which will become a kind of one stop shop for everything Barbed Lotus. We will continue to do the blog, but it will eventually be moved to the new website. We will also continue to have our Etsy shop and DeviantArt profile, but will also have everything that we make available on the new website including booking for our henna and face painting services. More to come on the new site later : )

A Slightly Late Lughnasadh

Happy Lughnasadh, or Lammas, or any other of the various names for August 1st. In the Northern Hemisphere the beginning of August marks the beginning of harvesting and the first day of August is a harvest festival day in many cultures and faiths. This is when you start getting all those wonderful summer crops.

Every holiday has it’s staple celebration food, and the first harvest festival’s is bread. Speaking of which, check out this wonderful recipe for sandwich bread I tried a couple weeks ago. It was some of the best bread I’ve ever had (which is saying something because I really suck at baking bread and it still came out good). Add the following simple recipe for homemade butter and you’re all set.

Simple Homemade Butter

Ingredients

• 2 c. Heavy Cream
• 1/4 tsp. Salt

Mix heavy cream in food processor or blender for approximately 10 minutes. You will know it’s ready when you can clearly see separation of butter and excess liquid. Strain out the extra liquid and mix in salt to taste.

Variation Tips:

You can make great garlic bread by adding garlic powder and other Italian spices in with the salt, or make some sweet honey butter by drizzling in some fresh honey . A great extra to really make a special sweet butter is adding in just a touch of ground vanilla beans and cinnamon and a pinch of brown sugar with the honey. Oh so good on scones.

The beginning of harvest season is a time of amnesia to for me. It is right at the point in the year where it is so miserably hot that you start to wish for winter (completely forgetting how miserably cold it can get in the winter). Kids are trying as hard as they can to enjoy the last of their break, people are cramming in camping trips, and even the weather seems bound and determined to put as much summer into this month as possible. For right now though I’m going to settle down with a slice of buttered bread and cold mint tea and relax for a bit.

Autumn Wish Apothecary Jar – $11

Turquoise Distressed Solid Wood Bread Box – $48

Gourd Table Lamp – $300

Autumn Acorn and Oak Leaf Necklace – $27

Sweet Southern Style Cornbread – $12.50

Harvest Sun Rise Hand Spun Yarn – $32

Strawberry-licious Dessert Stand – $20

Blue Stoneware Bread Baker With Recipes – $26

Minature Pastry Bread Molds – $8.95

All Season Couture Tribal Vest – $140

Lilac Blossoms Earrings – $26

Super Market Tote with Groceries PDF Pattern – $5.99

The Summer Harvest Faire Locket – $28

Play Food Crochet Pattern – $6

Glow Labradorite and Garnet Necklace – $42.50

Winter Berry No. 2 – $20

Copper and Honey Felt Flower Brooch – $23

Hand Painted Sunflower and Butterfly Parasol – $40

Pumpkin Basket – $35

Stoneware Berry Bowl – $24

The Etsy artists featured in this article are:

studiotempera, AprilHilerDesigns, SparklePeach, WhisperandHush, Gamut, revivalfiber, LoveandDream, ARTintersect, Brigite, handarts, AnneMariesPottery, OnceUponAPedestal, brownpaperbagart, CircesHouse, nealpottery, GulfCoastCottagePDF, SexyStitches, CraftyAnna, turquioserollerset, and MinatureSweet

A Day of the Market

Okay this is my second go at writing this article up (thank you WordPress for glitching on me at 2am).

This Saturday is our the kick off to our third season at the Ogden 25th Street Farmer’s Market. It will also be the start of the 75th Ogden Pioneer Days celebration.  I had written a lot more earlier, describing the history of the Pioneer Days celebration, the only Ogden city festival that used to happen on 25th Street. But, it’s late and I’m annoyed with WordPress (probably more than necessary, but hey like I said, it’s late) so I’m going to save that for this weekend (the celebration goes on all week).

As for the farmer’s market, that in itself is a mini festival every week from July 10th until September 25th ending with the Harvest Moon Festival. The market normally runs from 8am to 1pm, but to celebrate the kick off it will be staying open late a couple of hours. We will be at our usual spot just west of The Needlepoint Joint on 25th street (half a block down from the park) doing henna tattoos and selling many of the items found in our Etsy shop.

Skulls Hobo Bag – $69.99

Going Green Market Baggie – $17

Custom Made Tote Basket – $42

Personalized Family Market Tote – $20

Heirloom Yellow Pear Tomato Seeds – $2.25

Squirrely Tool T-Shirt Bag – $10

Emilia Endless Summer Tote – $25

Egg Gourds – $2

Long List Notebook – $8

Arr Field Bag – $20

Large Herbal Tea Kit – $35

Roselle Seeds – $4.50

Basil Silverware Marker – $6.50

Reusable Food Bags – $13.50

Pomegranite Tote – $45

Throw n Grow Seed Bombs Gift Pack – $16

Coke and Rum Jam – $6.75

I Love My Farmers Market Pin – $2

Heirloom Parisienne Carrot – $2.50

Jeremiah Market Basket – $45

The Etsy artists and growers featured in this article are:

azuredandelion, jjonni, ShopJessBecause, rainbowswirlz, thecraftypantry, xcessrize, kootsac, redstarINK, AskDebbie, TheGreenDragonGifts, urartist, birdsarebeautiful, soymilkcafe, SevenAcreWoods, FlowerBomber, monkeysalwayslook, MrNature, Thebearfootshaman, dasweetzpot, and purposedesign

Yay For the Bard!

July 7th through the 10th is the Utah Midsummers Renaissance Faire! This faire lands right smack in the middle of the huge Shakespeare festival there. If you haven’t been to the Shakespeare festival you are missing out. The college has a replica of the Globe Theater and everything. I went a couple times in high school to compete.

We had been planning to attend this year’s ren faire as vendors, but unfortunately couldn’t. It’s definitely on the tentative schedule for next year.

So more of Shakespeare-y goodness, gotta tell you about a great pair of books. Chasing the Bard and Digital Magic by Philippa Ballantine. Chasing the Bard is “Will Shakespeare in his own midsummer nightmare” and Digital Magic is a sort of sequel where the fae meets the future. I love these books. Chasing the Bard is currently available on Podiobooks.com as a serialized podcast novel, and Digital Magic is currently being podcast. If you like the podcast version definitely donate. Podiobooks gives their authors 75% (way better than normal royalty rates for authors). I Mainlined Chasing the Bard when I first started listening to podcasts, all accept the last three episodes. I wish I had found it sooner because the contests sounded like a lot of fun. I’m currently listening to Digital Magic. I’m not got to fully review them because I don’t want to cause spoilers, but both are great to listen to while crafting. Below I’ve included the promos for both.

Chasing the Bard Promo

Digital Magic Promo

Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare Art Print – $18.50

Yorick’s Skull Printed on Antique Shakespeare Page – $9.50

Baby Doth Protests Too Much – $16

Love All Silver Ring – $120

In My Heart of Hearts Tank – $22

Kill the Lawyers Pillow – $15

Crocheted Caliban Shakespeare Art Doll – $65

To Thine Own Self Be True Spiral Pendant – $34

All the World’s A Stage Print – $12

Ophelia Vintage Style Tags – $2.95

Merchants of Venice Hip 2B Square 185 – $10

Shakespeare People Pippa – $7

Bard Owl Notecard Gift Set – $12

Shakespeare’s ‘Heaven and Earth’ Steampunk Necklace – $69

Gift Wrap – $10

Portia Art Locket (Immortal Longings Collaboration) – $60

Juliet – $20

Shakespeare Play Paper Rose – $5

Infinite Monkey Theorem – $18

King Lear Dragon Wrap Bracelet – $98

Juliet Doll – $349

All the World’s a Stage Pin – $1

Tyranus – $85

Zombie Ophelia – $125

The Etsy artisans featured in this article are:

lpjewelry, beanforest, SteamBathFactory, immortallongings, neenacreates, katrinascards, thedreamygiraffe, CaoimheLily, LibertyImages, JezebelCharms, kwaraw, heartwaorksbylori, Auntieemdolls, BonnieLeeFontaine, gawkpop, LazyDayCottage, pocketfullofpoesy, AnnieVicar, katsinthebelfry, myworldsastage, merigreenleaf, roslynscloset, chetart, and EllasBellas

Wedding Week Announcement!

So this next week we are doing something special. We are going to have a theme week dedicated to weddings, start to finish.

Starting with the proposal and working our way to the honey moon, there will be a new gift guide up everyday for a week. So here is the schedule:

June 27th – Popping the Question

June 28th – You’re Invited

June 29th – A Place to Remember

June 30th – Favored Guests

July 1st – The Cake is Not a Lie

July 2nd – Why is the Bride Blushing

July 3rd – Honey Mooning

New Creations!

So got into a new craft. I have discovered wire working!. Ok, so with the wings I was already do wire working, but I’ve always wanted to learn how to do wire jewelry making. Especially earcuffs. And just before the Utah Renaissance Faire and Fantasy Festival I did just that.

These are going to be available in our Etsy shop very soon.

Ogden 25th Street Farmer’s Market

Today was our first day back at the Ogden 25th Street Farmer’s Market. Below is some snapshots from throughout the day at our booth (we were somewhat homebodies today).