Season's Greetings

With the last of the years shows nearly behind us now, we can finally begin to enjoy this holiday season.
We want to wish everyone a joyous and Merry Christmas & a very healthy New Year.

We will be closed December 15 through January 6th to celebrate the season and complete our year end inventory.

Happy holidays,

Cricket Corner Soapworks

Holiday Shows

November 15, 2008 The School Around Us Annual Holiday Fair
Fun for everyone.. quality artisans with an amazing array of gift selections. Come early, as it's a very busy show.

November 22, 2008 Bow HS Holiday Fair - Bow, NH
A really nice holiday fair, with 100+ vendors. Stop by & say hello!



December 6, 2008 Christmas Prelude, Atlantic Hall- Cape Porpoise- Kennebunkport
Kicking off the famous Kennebunkport Christmas Prelude. Tree lighting ceremony.. Santa's arrival. Be sure not to miss this one!

December 7, 2008 Christmas Prelude Holiday Fair - Kennbunkport
An amazing Christmas Fair, The entire weekend.. festivities for all to partake in! Marvelous selections of really nice crafts, gifts and food specialties. We hope to see you there!

and our last & final show of the season will be in Ogunquit, Maine

Christmas by the Sea Celebration
Annual Ogunquit Christmas Celebration

Celebrate Christmas this year near the sea in beautiful Ogunquit, Maine. Sponsored by the Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce. An entire weekend event, but our show will be:

December 13, 2008 - Dunaway Center - off Shore Road - right next door to the Fire Station. Hope to see you there!

Just poured.. Calendula Agave

Calendula soap is a popular seller for me. Mild, gentle creamy oppulent lather..and oodles of shea butter.. I decided to try adding some agave nectar to this last batch. I'm hoping it will darken up a bit, which I suspect it will.

Olive & Fig

Can a Beauty Product Save the World?

There is an interesting article in Redbook Magazine (Nov issue).
The title is "Can a Beauty Product Save the World"? It talks about Fair
Trade ingredients, and how a few companies (ours included) are getting their ingredients from South and Central America, and how they are helping the villages and
communities improve their quality of life, new schools, water
purifying systems, modern farming techniques, etc.

Even though the article was short....I found it interesting
because I do not really hear about Fair trade unless I bring it up to my customers!

I loved this part...'For a growing number of
other cosmetic companies, "green" beauty goes beyond recycled
packaging and natural ingredients. It's about social responsibility
using their products, money, and influence to institute global
change, one product and one community at a time'. Bravo Redbook for spreading the word!

Mainely Mint

We've been testing some new soaps for the upcoming holiday season and it looks like our newest, Mainely Mint bar will stay in our regular line.

Restocking & New Products

Our Farmer's Friend barrier cream was such a hit at Farmer's market this year, that I've decided to keep it in my line. Though it started out as a winter product, I'm asked for it often throughout the year!

Autumn Fairs & Festivals

Whew! It's been a very busy summer season.. Farmers market, another a big success again this year! Thanks to all our regular customers and new ones alike for a great summer market!

We're gearing up for our Fall festivals coming up soon. If you want to partake in some really, fun and wonderful festivals with quality artisans displaying their wares here along the Maine coastline, consider stopping by these three great shows! We hope to see you there.

ChiliFest 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When: Saturday, September 13, 2008
Where: Harbor Park, Wells
Cost: Free admission
Category: Fairs/Festivals
Description: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
National chili competition, live music, quality arts & crafts, food court.
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4th Annual Halloween & Harvest Fair Sat 10-4, & Sun 10-3
When: Saturday, September 20, 2008 & Sunday September 21, 2008
Where: Old Elm Tree Farm, Alfred, Maine, Kennebunk Road Alfred
Admission Fee: $ 1.00
Category: Fairs/Festivals
Description: Sat 10-4, Sun 10-3
Fantastic family fair featuring fall inspired arts & quality crafts and a marvelous selection of apples, mums, pumpkins, fudge, baked goods, cider and other harvest delights. Hayrides, live music, and a picturesque country setting add to the charm of this event. Rain or Shine "Raising Maine"
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This is a marvelous reserve that celebrates national Estuary Day annually at this event. Bring the entire family for a great day!

Punkinfiddle- A National Estuary Days Celebration

Punkinfiddle 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When: Saturday, September 27, 2008
Where: Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm, Wells
Cost: $10 per car
Category: Fairs/Festivals
Description: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Harvest festival with many fine quality crafts, performing fiddlers, live Border Collie sheep herding demonstrations, various fibre demonstrations, live entertainment,apples,pumpkins & food court.

Stuck in the Mud

Two of our 'muddy' bars... Stuck in the Mud with Dead Sea mud and French red clay that will gently exfoliate and draw impurities from your skin.. loaded with shea butter and jojoba.

Our Rosemary Sea Mud bar became so popular last summer, we've decided to keep it on board..with organic goats milk, Atlantic kelp, Dead Sea clay, sea salt, & shea butter.

Sea Glass Soap

Colorful pieces of blues and green soaps imbedded in our naturally creamy shea butter and olive handmade soap, with a gorgeous clean
fragrance.

The Garden Collection

Tuscan Garden soap.. tomato & basil

I really love tomato basil soup! And for the longest time, I've wanted to try formulating a soap using tomatoes. I finally gave it a whirl a few weeks ago and very pleased with the results! It will make a nice addition to my Farmer's Market soap line-up this year. The orange bar in this grouping is the result.

Olive Squalane

Olive Squalane is often referred to as "nature's facelift" due to its ability to help reduce wrinkles. By helping skin rehydrate and regenerate as well as retain moisture once rehydrated... olive squalane is a great additive for products meant to help with excoriated and problem skin such as eczema & psoriasis.

Squalane penetrates the skin almost instantly, leaving no greasy residue,making it a great 'carrier oil' for helping other ingredients sink deep into the layers of your skin. Very close to our own human sebum, olive squalane is known to help keep the skin supple and moisturized while helping the skin form a protective barrier against bacterium. It is readily soluble in other oils commonly used in our formulations and adds an elegant feel to lotion & cream formula's.

I really enjoy the addition of olive squalane to my facial serums & that it is vegan friendly.

Rosemere Cottage

This week, I have been trying to update the website **sigh, an unending project, LOL and get soaps cleaned & wrapped.. Rosemere Cottage is a big seller for me during the warm summer months.. it's fragranced with a soft blend of rosewood, lavender and a titch of amber and colored with Australian pink clay.

Spring Soap Logs

I'm trying to get soaps readied for this season's opening Farmers Market.. here's a few of what I've been working on... gardeners, natural cucumber, tomato soup, ocean sprite, harbour mud logs, kaleidoscope, blue moon, caldenula, mystic rose, rosemere cottage & comfrey sage soap logs.

Forbidden Fruit - Amber & Fig Soap

My first time formulating a soap using amber resin... gosh, it's just such a lovely essence.. though really darkens the soap to an almost amber brown shade.. but glorious fragrance! Not knowing what was about to happen, I added rose clay to this bar as well.. & as you can see, it's now no where to be found! LOL But, what lovely lather this bar has!

Green Thumbs

We're gearing up for this seasons Farmers Market..(isn't it great to be thinking Spring!) one of my most requested soaps is our gardener's Green Thumb Scrub Bar.

Oil of Tranqulity--Vetiver

One of my favorite blending & fixative oils is.. Vetiver

India has an abundance of fragrant flora, and one if the most beloved is the wild grass called Vetiver, where people have been distilling vetiver roots for their fragrant oil for thousands of years.

Root bales drying



Vetiver roots being transported by oxcart






Vetiver is strongly antimicrobial and also used on cold compresses to reduce fevers and pain from inflamed joints and arthritic swelling.

Aromatically, the vetiver root gives us a very potent fragrance oil that is used in perfumery as a fixative, or base note and then serves to hold other lighter fragrances together in a harmonious whole. Vetiver is one of the strongest fixatives, with tremendously long scent life.

The fragrance of vetiver oil is green and grassy, earthy sweet and smoky, with traces of mint & some consider a musky essence as well. Vetiver’s fragrance can vary from plant to plant, even in the same region. It can often be appreciated better when diluted to about 5-10% in a nice oil such as jojoba.

One of my favorite blends is: vetiver, patchiouli & frankinscence.. but it also blends well with jasmine, grapefruit, lavender, sandalwood, rose & ylang-ylang.

Taking some.. time off