Arizona Camping

The Memorial Day Weekend was a great success in the sense of wilderness training. We set out for the camp experience on Friday, eager to get to the high desert, we packed everything from the coffee pot (we didn't have a percolator) to the umbrella, but we forgot panchos and enough tarps to cover our tents let alone underline them. Hoping for good weather, we set off, only to find a rainstorm looming on the horizon. We forged ahead only to be soaked in the night with monsoon like rain that drenched our tent and all that inhabited it. That was Friday and Friday night, but to our great excitement and surprise that was the beginning of a great weekend. The dry Arizona air quickly dried all our bedding and matress pads as well as our tent. The rain cooled the temps enough to require a nice camp fire each night until we set home Monday afternoon. The rain also enabled us to have a fire in the camp. You can't have s'mores without fire and camping without s'mores is just not complete. Attached are the beautiful flowers my daughter and hubby picked for me by the lake. Hopefully time lends to more camping in the coming months as this was a great start to what looks to be a great summer!

Memorial Weekend Sale

Memorial Day Sale: Friday, May 22-Monday, May 25, 2009

Buy 3 bars for $10- see post under "Sale" section
Spend $20 get 10% off before shipping awarded in Paypal
Spend $40 get 20% off before shipping awarded in Paypal
*all orders come with surprise gift

All Natural All Oceanic

Introducing Oceanic. This soap is best described as clean and fresh with a vacation attitude. It reminds me of something you would find in a pricey beach resort or a cute boutique near Martha's Vineyard. A little east meets west in this fabulously coastal splash of sun, surf and sophistication.

The Batik Collection

Introducing the first of many in the series of our Batik Collection. The above bar is scented with essential oils and has a distinctly lemon ginger aroma. These all natural bars are inspired by batik art and can be found online at Desert Soapstone.

Anne Marie explains color

Hey everyone in cyber world. Desert Soapstone just wanted to share a little about our color preference with our readers and buyers. We prefer the natural (as you see under our profile)colorants in our soap making. We are very concerned about anything that may be harmful to your health as well as our own. In this video you will see a demonstration and a little bit of info on the art of making soap. Thanks Anne Marie! But also we would like to point out that we use oxides, ultramarines and herbs for our colorants and never use FD&C colorants (not that these are entirely bad, but some don't like them)in our soap making. So if you are like us and prefer the natural over the unnatural, but still like to smell good, have a look at the video and see a little bit into our world.

Baby Shower Soap Favors

O.k. so my awesome sister got married a year ago and they are about to have their first baby. A girl, who will have a rock star name...Not going to say it here for the sake of privacy. But anyway, my sis's baby shower is this weekend and unfortunately I have to miss it (loser, I know). So in my stead I am sending down 32 pieces of soap for party favors that I hope her cheerful supporters will be able to relax and enjoy once they return home with a belly full of cake and excitement for the little bundle to arrive.

Anyone having a shower or party and in need of party favors or gifts should visit my Etsy shop and send me a convo (email, Etsy style) and I will be happy to customize to fit your needs.

Attention Wine and Soap Snobs

We have done it! It was a first attempt at something we have been wanting to do for a long time, but could never find the time to just play. Yes, we have taken the cheapest Trader Joe's wine we could find, Two Buck Chuck(Charles Shaw to you non Trader Joe's people) and made it into soap! We had a leftover bottle that turned to vinegar so we decided why cook with it when you can make something that lasts 50 times longer and smells great? Rustic was the goal and I think we achieved it. It was a simple process really. We let the fizz go flat, added a little this to that, and when we were all said and done we had a big bowl of phat. O.k. so I'm not as cool as I think, but at least I have great smelling soap and even better, a lodged cork waiting for freedom.

Pitseel: For the best veggie food ever!

BBQ Ribs

Recently I encountered Pitseel. Another Etsy shop of course. I found her one night while having a bout with insomnia. She had made a forum post and I commented and she bought some soap and I in turn checked out her shop. Wow! I found a plethora of exciting and mouth watering foods that at first glance would appeal to even the hardest of die-hard meat eaters. But at second glance I see that her shop is a vegan's haven for everything from BBQ "ribs" to Hot Wings.
Hot Wings->

Where was this girl when I was in highschool? I admit, I am a full meat eater, but yet, not die hard. I still have my tofu fu moments.
Yes, that's tofu fu. Vegans and carnivores alike, give Pitseel a shot. You won't regret it.


Pitseel, an etsy shop dedicated to vegan culinary delights and showing major signs that she's going to be around for a while.


After all, she took a chance on me and ordered the 8 bar variety pack before even trying a single soap sample.
8 Bar Variety Pack

Arizona: Mingus Mountain

Above: Watson Lake, Prescott, Arizona
For those of you who haven't been to my etsy shop and read my profile, my husband and I love to go out and be in nature and hike and drag the whole family with us, that is, if they will go.
Most of my readers have no idea what kind of exciting things there are to see in Arizona. Once I was visiting with a friend from out of town and she asked me, "So what's in Arizona besides mobile homes and dirt?" Her question only indicated to me that she had obviously never been here. Unlike the popular Hollywood images, Arizona is anything but mobile homes and dirt. Its rivers and streams, canyoneering dreams and monsoon frenzies, verdant (green for you simpletons), yes, verdant, blooming and beautiful. Actually, if you want to get technical, Arizona consists of at least 5 of the 6 major earth biomes. In fact out of the freshwater, marine, desert, forest, grassland and tundra, the only one Arizona doesn't have is the marine biome. Since Arizona doesn't have ocean front property (yet) I'll have to just write some entries on our other biome trekking. The pictures in this entry don't do Arizona justice, but stay tuned and in between the soap entries I will include some of our latest journeys.
Today we went hiking on Mingus Mountain in the middle of Arizona. Near Prescott, Mingus Mountain is home to the famous Jerome, Arizona and a number of hiking, biking and camping trails. Since this mountain is practically in our back yard we decided to trek it and go where, many have gone before, but where we have never gone before. O.k. so maybe once or twice before. Like earlier in the year when we went up on Mingus to throw snow balls at each other and see who could come the closest to a Sonny Bono on the pine trees. We've lived here the majority of our lives and had no idea there was a lake, er uh, pond up on top of this mountain. We found some interesting botanical features like the cacti growing out of the rock and the moon coming up over the trees at dusk. I have also included (for the skeptical) a picture of our weekend hike at Watson Lake. Yes, there is water in Arizona!


Above: Moonlight on Mingus Mountain

Above: Cactus growing out of rocks, or so it seems.

Tenth Street Saks: An Upscale Oasis

Recently my coin purse I bought from Desert Dancer in Cottonwood, Arizona broke. Desert Dancer is a perfume, soap, candle, everything shop that I grew up visiting as a child. I loved my coin purse and had it for years. It reminded me of my youth. I remember that I paid around $6USD for it and was hoping to go back over to Cottonwood soon to get another one. Then I remembered I made the Handmade Pledge on Etsy.com and decided to make my purchase from an Etsian. As you know, if you are an internet shopper, sometimes what you get is great quality and you always go back. Other times what you end up with would be better off buried in your garden than anywhere near you. Well I decided to step out and order from a company I was not familiar with. The above is what I purchased. I have to admit, I expected a cheaply made, very hard-to-fit-anything-in pouch, but for $6.75 what did I expect? Let me be corrected right now. When I got my package from Tenth Street Saks, it was inexpensively mailed. This is important to me when I order online. I hate it when I order something and the thing inside comes in ten layers of fluff that I had to pay for. Kudos to Tenth on their mailing technique. So I open the envelope and inside I find this soft suede like, but smooth like leather, easy to open, perfectly sized for my cards, cash and change, coin purse that I can easily hook to my belt if I don't feel like carrying around my purse. For $6.75 (and that included shipping) I got an American made replacement for my long loved and much used simple coin purse that I think was made in South America. Way to go Tenth Street Saks. I hope your business takes off and I see your stuff in shops like Desert Dancer around the world.

Polka Dot Moon Features Desert Soapstone in Latest Contest

Contests are a big part of the Etsy diet. Many artisans have contests on their blogs to intrigue new followers and make new friends. Often it is a brilliant way to network. Desert Soapstone has offered to donate a free gift to the winner of Polka Dot Moon's latest contest (to be posted 4am, Sunday, May 3, 2009).
For anyone interested in entering this sweet contest, the winner will receive a free 4 oz. Kumquat Scrub and 4 oz. Kumquat Shaving Soap. Please visit http://www.polkadotmoon.blogspot.com for more details!