Love Suds: Oliveira Bags

The Herb'n Mixtress is constantly on the look out for fresh, hip, and funky businesses, especially where conscience living, and sustainability are concerned. These are the types of folks that I like to shout out and give props to for their contribution to the green movement in my Love Suds collection.

So without further adieu... The Herb'n Mixtress is giving a big soapy, sudsy shout out to Oliveira Bags!!!  I recently came across her cute little shop while perusing Etsy, and when I saw this  MY BAG, I knew I just had to get it-- it called out to me. The "my name is Tedra, and i'm an impulse buyer" post will come a bit later :p  Back to the bag, it's the perfect go-to for on the go girls (and guys) like moi, especially for use during Farmer's Markets and festivals.  Aside from making reusable shopping bags, you can also find reusable sandwich bags (awesome right!) and haute designer, and most importantly, multi-purpose Gourds.  And the perk of course is, the more I use it in lieu of the plastics, the smaller my "footprint" becomes, and let's face it, I can look that much more interesting (okay, maybe not).  But never the less, I feel more and more like i'm doing my part.  You can too!!! Find her and her bags @ Oliveira Bags

The Party's Over! Or Is It...

Mardi Gras is over and all I can say is thank you Lord!!! It's not that I don't like the historical celebration that is New Orleans, it's just that in my day job as a Police Officer, we have a very different perspective than that of the average parade reveler. I won't get into the details, but I'll say I don't miss those 12 and 16 hour days. Any who, as y'all know, because of my working schedule, I had to put my Etsy shop on vacation for those two weeks. I really wanted to reopen the day after Mardi Gras, but damn it I'm tired. Yesterday, I treated myself to a massage, and today it's been sleep, sleep, and more sleep. And later on, I'm gonna get out with the girls, my mini mixtress' and go get some crawfish, crabs, and a daiquiri for me.

Now what's happening with HDH? BATH BOMBS BABY!!! Yep, we are rolling in fun, colorful, smelltastic, bath bombs!!! Of course y'all know I have to rename them, if you haven't figured it out, I tend to skirt around typical product names, hence, bath bar, soft serve, yeah you get the point. So I guess I'll put on my thinking cap and find a locally inspired name for them. Look for em soon!

HDH will be returning this Monday, March 14th!!! You can look for new products and Greta deals all day!

Finally, it's festival season in NOLA!!! And First up on our list is the Freret Street Festival! The booth has been requested, and now we're just waiting, with fingers crossed, for our acceptance email. As soon as I know, you'll know.

So, what's been going on with y'all? Did you celebrate Mardi Gras? If so, how?

Herb'n Mixtress,

Make Scrub Not War!!!

Getting The Party Started

Yesterday, I took a big step and launched my very own Etsy shop!!! Herb'n Development Handmades. I make and sell handmade bath and body products, such as lotions, soaps, body butters, hair care items, etc. Initially, I wanted to wait until I had all of my "ducks in a row" i.e. perfect pics, perfect labels, beautiful website, a large inventory, etc. And while there is nothing wrong with having all of those things, I followed one key piece of advice. "Start where you are, use what you have." And, now that I have, I must admit that in my head, I was absolutely making things more complicated than what they needed to be (in some respects, I probably still am). Since starting this journey I am blessed to have been led to sites and networks such as the Indie Beauty Network, Essential Wholesale, Bella Lucce, Brambleberry (whose Youtube videos I watch almost religiously) and countless others who freely impart their wisdom to newcomers like me. If you are just entering the handmade industry, networking with just the few that i've named here is great way to start building a solid foundation.

After finally taking that one intimidating step, I decided to take on this next step into the world of blogging. Not that I haven't tried my hand at blogging before, that was some sort of bloggerized (is that a word) catastrophe, that has since been deleted and cast into a firey pit. This time, I won't scurry off into a corner at just the mere thought of blogging. Here I intend to chronicle my journey as a fresh new entreprenuer and my love of creating new products, and share what I learn along the way. I hope that you will hang in there with me as take my first steps, and follow me on this ride. Oh, and please check out http://www.herbndevelopment.etsy.com/ where all things are "Handmade by hands God made" (yeah check the slogan, I made it up myself, LOL!) I will be adding more products in the coming days.

Peace and Blessings