exciting things have been brewing for fall!

crazy i know. i am not one to wish upon summers end. aside from massive seasonal allergies, fall is gorgeous here! here are a handful of items that are new to get you in the mood. 

{pumpkin & leaf} soap set $8.00

a lovely blend of oak moss, chai and gingersnap

 

{candy corn!} lip balm. limited edition, while supplies last.

New {Mon Petit Secret} Perfume oil. $ 8.00

 

{White Ginger & Amber} Perfume Oil.

 

New {Perfume Sample Trio}. You pick 3

 {Rosemary Mint) Perfume Oil

Peppermint and whisper of rosemary on a bed of vanilla. 

 (ok, so this is a tad wintery, but let's face it, that's unfortunately around the corner too!)

...and even though it smells like fall in here, it's 73 degrees out, and i am going to enjoy my last week and a half of summer. 

xoxo!

i have an internet business, do i charge tax?

Since I was Featured, I have gotten this question probably 20 times.

The Internet takes tax-free shopping to a new level. In fact, no-tax shopping has become a prime lure of online retailers looking to hook consumers on click-and-charge buying. Despite what you sometimes hear, however, some Internet sales are subject to sales tax, and even when a site doesn't collect sales tax, consumers are technically responsible for remitting any unpaid sales tax on online purchases directly to their state.


If you a run business with a physical storefront, collecting sales tax is pretty straightforward: you charge your customers the sales tax required by the jurisdiction where your business is located. So, if you operate a retail store in Nashville, Tennessee, you collect both state and local sales taxes from customers buying merchandise at your store.



Now, suppose you start selling your products online. Does mean you charge them the same sales taxes on those coming into your store? It depends.

If your business has a physical presence in a state, such as a store, office or warehouse, you must collect applicable state and local sales tax from your customers. If you do not have a presence in a particular state, you are not required to collect sales taxes. In legal terms, this physical presence is known as a "nexus." Each state defines nexus differently, but all agree that if you have store or office of some sort, a nexus exists. If you are uncertain, whether or not your business qualifies as a physical presence, contact your state's revenue agency. If you do not have a physical presence in a state, you are not required to collect sales taxes from customers in that state.
http://www.business.gov/business-law/online-business/sales-tax/

new things have been brewing.

tons of new items in the shop for summer. 

 

new perfume oils are in!

my new fav is Refresh. Blood Orange, Ruby Grapefruit, Lime and Ylang Ylang.

 

 Four New Soaps! Glycerin and Goats Milk soaps

 

Marble Rings in 4 colors

 

Lavender lemonade Lip Balm

 

Rosemary Mint Lip Balm

...and orangethyme got a new etsy banner!
*** 

and please give a giant welcome to my newest lovely wholesale account: Melissa of Wool & Honey!  and of course, you can become a FAN on facebook! i recommend it, the shops is adorable! don't you just want to go hangout there? i know i do.

oh! and!!

what's hotter than a cute boy with an etsy shop? not much.

my husband is now selling his art in his etsy shop. take a peek. 

ok, so...what IS a treasury?

i have actually been getting the question a lot

from my not-so-etsy familiar friends.

i am going to break it down the easiest way i know how. it's a collage of pieces, that someone has put together of their favorite items, or just plain items that look good together. there are bajillions of treasuries on etsy that you can browse. when you are at the front page and you see that pretty collection...that IS a treasury that someone has put together. AND how they made it there, was by you clicking on the items in the treasury. the more popular the treasury, the more it moves up to the front and has a chance to make it to the front page! this is wonderful exposure for an artist. but treasuries expire! so it's important to get that link out there as fast as you can and get as much exposure as possible.

because most will never see the light of day.

treasuries are not used for self promotion, so the items in my treasury here, are other artists that i am promoting.

i feel badly about how many treasuries i am in, i am kind of a treasury hog. i wake up to usually 3-4 a day. i cannot promote them all, as i feel like 3-4 postings a day is really too much. i hope that no one ever thinks that i do not appreciate their efforts, but if i posted all of them, i'd see my fan base drop from over posting.

some are really pretty, some are funky and some are quite 'interesting'. i end up promoting the ones that i feel have major eye appeal in hopes it will get some serious clicks. well, for the first time ever, i made my own. and let me tell you, it took me close to 2 hours. it's really time consuming going through your favorites, browsing, and just making this look like a piece of art on it's own. you then have to contact everyone you feature, and let them know so they as well can promote the link. so, here you go. my very first treasury created by me. please, click your life away.

spokane comicon is this weekend!

want to get a really sweet gift bag this weekend?

holy hawk tails! it's this weekend!?

where has the time gone?

spokane comicon is the inland northwests' only Comic Book and Pop Culture show, created and ran by my wonderful husband! we work really hard all year on this, and the last 3 months leading up to it are especially busy. well, if you are in the area, or in washington in general, i promise you this will not disappoint. who does not want to meet and hang out with some seriously awesome Star Wars peeps? this is such a wonderful family event.

it's only $5.00 to get in and most of the activities are FREE. you can get your photo with a Star Wars Character, meet Charlie Schmidt, the creator of Keyboard Cat! yes! charlie will be here! he is a local spokanite and he will have all sorts of cool keyboard merchandise. The Lilac City Roller Girls will be here too! So much more, it's hard to list it all. But really, come check it out. There is a costume contest at 5pm, that is always such a hoot! Lanna will be going as Wonder Woman this year.

WHERE: Spokane Community College Lair Bld 6

WHEN: saturday may 22nd 2010

TIME: 10:00am-5:00pm

(the costume contest starts at 5:00pm, so don't run off!)

we have some really special friends coming from Seattle to hang with us for the day, and i have to say...thank you! this means a lot to us that you are making the time and joining us in something that is really special and important to us. we love you so much!

i just love the feeling of sunday, don't you? 

we all had a really relaxing, but productive weekend. 

i managed to get all of my lip balm orders done. made, filled, labeled and packed. and it's only 3:00. normally i am starting this process at 7:00pm, so i feel pretty excited about it. i got a handful of really scrumptious soaps made. aside from causing ruckus, satchel has been sleeping most of the day. here are a few photo's of that i finished and satchel's comfy day. since i still have a good amount of light out, we are headed out to mow the lawn. we are having sausage and mushroom pizza for dinner. just made the dough, so it should be good to go by 6pm. hope you all had a nice weekend.  

 

blueberry pomegranate

 

blood orange

 

 lilac

 

tranquil lime:  lime, fresh air and basil

 

gardenia

what's your pizza like?

there are plenty of *snobs out there. you know, movie snobs, music, wine, coffee, beer...we all have our one little thing that we just hold to a really high standard. admittedly, i am a pizza snob. i loooove pizza, but it has to be a good one. and for me, that would never come in any frozen variety. and this is not the part where you need to convince me that said frozen pizza is great, trust me, im not interested.  for me, it's all about the crust. it's a make it or break it deal.  i like my crust thin. my perfect pizza would never contain pepperoni or olives. i love very few toppings. i am not a combo lover. to me the 'more the merrier' is not merrier. i do have a very small handful of favorite combo's but the one that melts my heart immediately is Pizza Margherita.

fantastic pizza in spokane? look no further, you are not going to find it. i mean *really* great pizza. sure, we have some good pizza, even some tasty pizza, but not that authentic-crave it immediately pizza. my husband works directly with many executive chefs and in one of if their meetings in seattle, this was a topic. and to my delight, they all agreed. fabulous pizza does not reside in spokane, and we long for something really great. i love Pagliacci in seattle and village pizzaria in langley. i miss the pesto pizza so badly.

one thing i love to hear about is what other people love on their pizza's. and it's ok if you love frozen. i'd never say yuck to your favorite pizza.since crust is so important to me i have really been on the hunt lately. i have been happy with something i found at a local safeway. there are two safeways by me and only one carries it. fresh pizza dough made daily in their deli section. it's only $1.73 for the big round beautiful piece of dough. this makes for a very cost effective pizza as well. lately in a pinch, we have been let down that they are out. i have never actually made my own until last week. and why not? it's too dang easy! it's about the least expensive thing you could make. the problem is, you have to let it rise for 1.5-2 hours. not the ideal i need it now dinner idea. but if you have the time, it's perfect. 

here is the recipe that i looked at. i love that it has a visual. 

with my new fresh dough making skillz in hand, i was able to craft my perfect pizza. i am one happy camper. 

i'd love to hear what your favorite pizza is! and what you like to have with it. 

here is the process of my pizza:

i roll my crust thin 

(we don't have an actual pizza pan, so as you can see it needed to be trimmed.)

spread on favorite marinara.

add fresh mozzarella

add fresh tomatoes and basil

pop that beauty in the oven

baked beauty. let rest for a few minutes. 

slice it and eat it! 

there you have it. my very favorite pizza, that makes me really really happy. 

share your pizza with me!

and i won't be offended if you hate tomatoes. i look at it like this, for every tomato you don't eat, i get two.

a little bit of stuff

* i have just entered this photo into a contest. would you be kind and vote?*

it was a really nice day yesterday, it was sunny and although we didn't spend any of it outdoors, we got a lot done! i was able to gt all of my orders packed and shipped by Noon and a little more inventory made. After that we went in search for some paint for Husbands art room. i took him our of his comfort zone a bit and got a dijon yellow for the cubbies. i could tell he was not overly excited, but i knew once it was up he'd love it. this dang cat of mine is just too cute and i can't help but post a million photos like a crazy cat lady. today is overcast and cruddy looking, so we opted for a bit of cleaning, a pot of turkey chili and the mariners game. 

sounds good to me.

above: the before

the after

gray and yellow. it's matches batman nicely. 

welcome Satchel!

this is our newest family member.
he joined us friday evening, and blended in very well. 

he is super sweet, soft and snugly and loves to play. he can fit in your pocket.

tuck is still *trying to get used to him. 

it's been a quite a year for me already. i had something come into my life that i never in a million years thought i would. it was a surprise that i never expected to be so happy about.in the past, i had briefly imagined what  it might be like one day, and of course things are never as you imagine or plan. this far exceeded any of my thoughts. and i like it. it has been really exciting to think of all the possibilities and memories that i am about to create. here is one of them...

this weekend we created some felt food for lanna. they re quite adorable! 

if you have a little one, or just like to make cute things, i highly recommend this. it's easy, but time consuming. and completely worth it. *much like getting to know someone. here is where you can buy this cute breakfast set. there is much more to this set, and we plan on making them all! unless we decide not to of course. because that's a possibility too.

 

  

  

pop tarts. I KNOW. how cute are these? 

MARSHMALLOW PEEP lip balm.

also in the shop!

 

sugary, marshmallow goodness!

sweetened balms. 

if the real deal is not for you, this very well can be!