Merry Christmas

With the last of the years shows 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 19 through January 6th to celebrate the season and complete our year end inventory.

Happy holidays,

Cricket Corner Soapworks

It's a Wrap

Whew! I can finally say for the first time in three years that I am all set for the rest of this years' Holiday shows. Trimmed & wrapped--herbal soaps for your pleasure. Luscious cream and lotion elixirs, small assorted gift baskets--ready to give gifts, and of course our herbal balms and winter weather skin care items.

New England Christmas

Where does the time go to? I've been so busy readying for my upcoming holiday shows, I forgot to post the dates up here :)

November 13, 2010 Holiday Craft Fair, Hampton Inn Hotel- Wells, ME

November 20, 2010 Bow HS Holiday Fair - Bow, NH
A really nice holiday fair, with 100+ vendors. Stop by & say hello!

December 3 & 4th, 2010 Women's Holiday Art Sale, South Berwick Town Hall Auditorium- South, Berwick Friday evening from 5-8 PM, Saturday 10-2pm

December 4, 2010 W/O Music Boosters Christmas Fair, Wells JHS- Wells, ME

December 4, 2010 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 4, 2010 The Women's Holiday Art Sale continues, South Berwick Town Hall Auditorium- South, Berwick Saturday from 10 AM - 2PM

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

December 11, 2010 Christmas by the Sea Celebration
Annual Ogunquit Christmas Celebration - Dunaway Center, Ogunquit, ME





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 11, 2010 - Dunaway Center - off Shore Road - right next door to the Fire Station. Hope to see you there!

Cashmere Scarf

With the arrival of chilly weather, why not slip into something silky smooth and sexy! We're gearing up for the holiday shows and Cashmere Scarf is always on the top of my XMas shoppers gift list. A gorgeous confection of unrefined Fair Trade shea butter, Monoi de Tahiti & Kukui oil whipped into a decadent body butter with an essence that will knock your socks off!

The guys love it-- the gals go nuts for it. You'll just love it too!

Punkinfiddle Festival

We're stirrin' up the soap pot for one of our favorite shows of the year -- Punkinfiddle Festival at the Laudholm Farm - September 25, 2010, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Come to our 8th annual Punkinfiddle festival. Our National Estuaries Day Celebration features traditional crafts, hands-on learning, lively music, old-fashioned games, fun food, farm animals, and lots of smiles in a historic seaside setting. Great fun for the entire family!

Wild rose herbal soap

Where has this summer disappeared to? Could it be working full time? Caring for sick dh? Or doin' three farmers market a week? I don't know about you guys, but I need to get off this crazy schedule! LOL But I have to say -- it's been a great summer, weatherwise -- unlike last summers endless weeks of rains. Dry & hot hot hot this year it was. Great for veggie gardening ( I don't know what I'm going to do with all these artichokes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants piled up on my counter) and just awesome for the beach roses that are so prolific along our coastline during good summer weather. In July, the display was just spectaculiar here and I pounced on the opportunity to gather as many as I could lay these hands on to dry. It's an annual event for me each summer and one that I thoroughly enjoy. Who can really resist that marvelous essence? Not me! Now, I am just waiting for our first frost to gather my rosehips for winter syrups, jams and brandy :)



I do like the addition of dried beach rose petals in my bars.. and infuse some that will go into my creams--though it's a shame that they start out such a gorgeous color and fragrance to die for--that they still turn a tannish pink when fully dried ( unless you buy them, and those have been spritzed chemically to hold the colorfastness) But then, I'm sure once they hit the lye pot those expensive dried roses must do the same darn thing?

This is my wild rose bar, that's a really good seller for me -- scented with rose geranium, palamarosa and rosewood blend and a titch of lavender

Summer Soaps

These are a few of my best selling summer soaps. We live in a tourist community. Beachcombers and just ocean lovers alike swarm to our neck of the woods during the summer months. Along with our signature bar-- Gift of the Sea, these three are always a hit at my markets.

For the lavender lovers

Myself included.. Lavender oatmeal soap getting packaged for farmers market this week.

Kennebunk Farmers Market

We're ready! Are you ready? Celebrate May Day and stop by the Kennebunk Farmers market's opening day and townwide celebration! You'll find us again this year at our three market places, weekly. Stop on by and say hello!



Our schedule of markets for this summer and opening dates.





Kennebunk Farmers Market -- May 1st 8am-1pm - Saturday

Wells Farmers Market -- May 19th 1pm-5pm - Wednesday

North Berwick Farmers Market -- May 28th 3pm-6pm - Friday

Fish of the day

We're gearing up for the opening day of farmers markets here and I'm really glad. The local fishermen are hounding me for this bar of soap.

Vanilla experiment

This was a new soap for me. I don't typically do, sweet, or fruity & on a whim I gave this a try.. mostly to get rid of a bottle of vanilla I had floating around here. LOL These were just unmolded.. so I'd expect at least I'm hoping so,they will get darker? I was shooting for a lot darker than this.



I added powdered chamomile & calendula petals sprinkled as my dividing line & no fragrance to the top lighter portion.



Update** this shot was taken on day five.. I'm really pleased with the difference and how much darker the vanilla portion has become!

I posted this soap on a private soapmaking forum I am a member on, and another member suggested this site to see more vanilla comparisons. A very interesting study and pictoral.

Italiano Soapworks

While traveling in Italy, at one of the Tuscan hilltown markets, this soapmaker's display caught my eye. Isn't it great!

Individual molds

I hear many soapmakers complain about the release using individual molds..so here's my soap formula I use in most of my individual molds. I should add that I primarily use Milkyway molds, but have used just about any shaped object with this same formula. It's a really nice bar with creamy, oppulent lathering abilities.



Olive oil 44%
Palm oil 20%
PK oil 16%
Coconut oil 10%
Cocoa butter 10%

After the soap is poured and insulated well, just leave them in the molds 24 hours and the soap will just drop out. If you can't wait the 24 hrs,and pop them into the freezer for 15 minutes. Happy soaping and Happy New Year!