I have been going along for weeks now under a funk, and I knew the cause of it, but rather than deal with it I hoped it would just fizzle on it's own. It may seem strange but I can feel when someone has put negative intentions toward me. I feel it in my body and soul. I get extra tired, extra aches and pains, anxiety and low moods for no apparent reason. Well, I finally got fed up today and decided to get rid of it! Rather than send a vicious attack back at the ones doing it, I just decided to separate myself from it and burn that sucker, so I did and whew I feel better now. This was no little thing, evidently. Usually little things do just fizzle out. So, here is how I uncrossed myself and put myself in wealth restoration mode:
Step 1: Take a nice bath or shower with your favorite uncrossing soap. In my case, I bathed with a Patchouli and rue Castile.
Step 2: Make yourself a nice cup of hyssop tea and drink this while you get your ingredients together and consecrate your workspace.
Here is what you will need:
Your consecration tools. Mine are simple. I have a small quartz wand I like to use, and in this case dragon's blood powder for burning in my cute little incense cauldron. Now, I fill my burner nearly to the top with sand I collected from the banks of a sacred river in the mountains but you can use sand from anywhere special to you. The sand insulates so I can carry my little rascal around while I consecrate my workspace, which I do in a clockwise fashion for this.
a white candle ( I used a white tea light this time)
1 piece of jute twine
a little piece of white paper & some tape
a pen
uncrossing oil
your money jar
3 gold dollars
a sprig of catnip 
Get your workspace ready, and call your spirit helpers, then:
Write 'myself' on your paper on one side, and beside that, with enough space for cutting them both out separately, write whatever you want to rid yourself of. In my case it was evil rumors and poverty. (I decided to knock out two things at once) Cut them apart.
Tape 'yourself' to one end of your jute and tape 'evil rumors and poverty' to the other end.
Dip your right pointer finger in your uncrossing oil and go 3 times around the top of your candle with it, clockwise, then light that rascal. Next with 'yourself' in your right hand and 'evil rumors and poverty' in your left, put the middle of that twine into that flame. Voila! You just burned that unhealthy connection! Now, go burn those evil rumors and poverty to ashes over your toilet and flush those suckers to the sewer, septic tank, or hell where they belong. I always thank Water for bearing the burden away as I do this. Now, tenderly wrap the 'myself' paper around your catnip sprig and of course, surround it with coins and your 3 gold dollars in your money jar. There. You are done now and should be feeling much better! Of course make sure to send your helping spirits away to sleep kindly and undo your circle with joy in your heart. If the weather is good, at this point I step outside to give a final incense offering as my spirits go to rest, and also to thank the holy burning power of Sol. You certainly don't have to end things like I do, that is just my way.

There is no way to slice it nicely. The poverty has gotten pretty intense lately, and I am sure I am not the only one feeling it! It's amazing how people not living it can look at a low budget entrepreneur and think we have it made. Well, it is not so. A lot of entrepreneurs do not have Daddy's money, or grants or loans. All we have is grit and will and wiles.
All my children are grown, but I have grandbabies now and 7 or so cats to support, despite my daughter having taken on one of the dear special needs cats. Yes, my beloved pits passed on, and then the universe sent starvling kitties of desperation and as long as I have a bean to split, I just do not have it in me to turn a blind eye, say no, run away, hide, etc. So, I am downsizing the internet expense by getting a cheaper thing going here again on Weebly. And finally, I can let my witchery out of the bag with relative impunity! Still, you are not going to find a bunch of spells and such spilled here willy nilly, in bald bareness for the world to see! What then, would be the point of  'occult'? The picture features a fairly wild starvling cat that appeared at the new shop in the Spartanburg Flea Market. Poor lil feller, all I could do was offer him a snack and drink. I have not seen him since that day. My mission with the stuff I make really is to support a slew of 7 or so cats. The or so is tacked on because I have caught 3 more felines outside at the food dishes recently.  I do not require much, myself, but it would be nice to afford more than beans. Are you in the bean bracket too right now? I unabashedly have a cat in my bathroom sink at the moment. He does not feel friendly towards the other indoor cats yet and it is just So cold out there tonight. He seems quite happy in the sink though. 

  We had a super fun time rescuing some tadpoles from the big swimmingpool (which is such a chemical waste) this past spring and many tadpoles made it into the froglet and toadlet stage, then hopped into their futures. After the tadpoles had transformed, I left the kiddie pool out for a while to be certain the traveling frog orgy had not innoculated it with more spawn. When I discovered no eggs or tadpoles, I drained the festering mini swamp, and began plan B. Since I am not a fan of battling the invasions of ever present and truly horrid Bermuda grass into my planting beds in the ground, I decided that the kiddie pool would be the perfect home for my 7 or 8 year old last surviving strawberry plants. My poor plants have been languishing in some ridiculous tiny hanging planters, with no room for expansion. My mother has tried repeatedly to kill them off entirely when I have had them in other spots, and yet, some survived. (I don't know what she has against strawberries? Perhaps she can't identify the plants when they are not bearing fruits?) So, on to the good and some would say terribly tacky stuff-which is just perfect for this cookie cutter suburban beige bland neighborhood we are currently stuck in! After I dumped the gross water out of the pool, I cleaned it a bit. Then, I pulled out the drill and put in the biggest bit we have-which is about a 3/4" I think. It is so old the markings have worn off and the bit case is always a jumble. I drilled holes all around the bottom of the kiddie pool, about an inch or so above ground level. Then, I grabbed the can of cheap black spray paint lurking in the garage and gleefully obliterated the cute little Paw Patrol figures on all the places that would be visible after the pool was filled with dirt and plants. (This was just the sides & rolled out lip of the thing).
I could have gotten uber fancy with the spray paint and given it a faux textured finish or some such to go even further with the disguise, but lately I'm into cheap and easy with whatever is already available sitting around and gathering spiders in the garage. After the paint dried, I plopped the pool down on a likely spot in the yard, threw some rabbit doo doo hay, compost, leftover potting soil & peat into it and mixed it up a bit. Lastly, I plunked in the languishing strawberry plants. I raked some needle chaff from under the dreadful Leyland cypress trees and used it as a finishing mulch. Voila! The catbird will be delighted if the strawberries thrive, and the grandchildren may be as well.

Whew, My family has been blessed with increase this spring! We welcomed our beautiful new grand daughter in April and are now waiting for the birth of our precious grandson! Helping out with my new grand daughter is such pure joy...and..to be completely honest..fatigue..Looking back, I don't know how I managed with my girls! Of course, I had friends but my mother was not the kind to stay up all night with a night owl newborn while I caught a few winks. I must have been raving crazy. I remember how unimportant outfits, makeup, perfumes and being put together on the surface became. I remember grabbing handfulls of dry cereal and stuffing my starving face while burping babies on my chest. The isloation was the worst with my firstborn. It was me and baby, stuck together, day and night it seemed. Her father was off to work, and there we were, trying to figure it all out with ourselves, huddled in a house, tormented by the sounds of workers putting new siding on the thing. The next baby came along when the first was two, and it didn't seem so hard. My mother was around then, to lend an occasional helping hand. I am forever grateful for the times she rocked the new baby, so I could stuff my face or go to the bathroom! My oldest girls were nearly in their teens when the next daughters came along, so they were perfectly happy to watch the baby sisters while I fixed dinner or some such. I don't think I could have managed without the little breaks they gave me. Now it is my turn to give my own daughters little breaks and helping hands. Luckily, I too am a night owl, so a night long baby fest is fine with me! The problem I face is stamina. I might make it through a night, but then I must rest, and expect not to do diddly squat the next day. The arthritis kicks up it's own fuss, and if it gets bad, no amount of herbs will lessen it. Strategic placement of all baby accessories is a must! (This is good for everyone, not just an arthritic grandma) I have to take the spinal arthritis into account and make it so I don't have to bend over much, and likewise, it is far better for me to waltz around with a fussy baby than to sit and rock in a chair. Aren't those velcro diaper fasteners a Godsend? I will not be fastening any diaper pins-whew! Nothing worse than trying to pin diapers on a kicking baby! I think to myself, I have arrived! I am the Grandma now! I am overwhelmed with gratitude as I hold my darling beautiful grand baby and waltz around the livingroom at 3 a.m., knowing that her parents can catch a little rest and worry a little less. 

Not all soap is good for all skin. I can't say this enough! I try to not offer soap that has a higher likelihood of causing reactions, but sometimes things do just happen, and then, sometimes I just can't resist the urge to make it! Tomato soap has been touted as a remedy for acne prone skin for ages. Is there truth in this? There may be for some people, but definitely not all people. Tomatoes can actually cause unpleasant skin reactions! It is possible to develop contact dermatitis from tomato plants and from the fruits. This is something to bear in mind if you are considering a tomato containing product for your cleansing needs. My family and I can use tomato soap with no problems, but that doesn't mean it is great for everyone. I made and have been selling varieties of tomato soap for a while with no ill fortune until....recently. This prompted me to put an allergen warning under my product descriptions as well as issue my customer a refund. I felt so badly for the person! 

My arthritis has been quite unpleasant for the past few days, and I realised that I had slacked a bit on my ginger and turmeric consumption. I happened to have a huge ginger root sitting neglected in the basket, so I decided to prepare it in a different way. When some herbs are heated, cooked or dried, they lose potency, but ginger seems to endure well. Sometimes, what is good for us is neither pleasant nor easy to consume, so preparing herbs in an effective yet pleasing way can be a challenge! Here is how I make candied ginger root:
2 cups fresh ginger root, peeled and sliced
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup white suger
1/8 cup raw honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
a dash or 2 of cinnamon if desired
1/4 tsp vanilla extract if desired
Put everything above into your pot and simmer until your ginger root slices are tender. (You may have to add a little water along the way, but don't add a bunch. Just keep the ginger off the bottom of the pan a tiny bit) Then, strain your ginger out and roll it in a bowl of white sugar until every piece is well coated, and spread it on wax paper to dry. The liquid left behind should be a nice syrup, and you can use it in other recipes, or for colds.
I do get burned out on tisanes, so a more solid way of consuming certain herbs is a welcome break! Caution: Candied ginger should be treated with respect! Eating too much (and it IS hard to resist, if you like ginger) can cause stomach upsets, diarrhea & heart burn. Ginger can inhibit blood clotting, so I do not advise consuming greater amounts than are commonly used as seasoning if you are also taking pharmaceutical blood thinners.

Hopefully, some shreds of the old Crafted Herbals site will remain after the 21st, but there will be no plethora of soap varieties listed for sale here. The plethora has been dispersed to other selling venues, which is not at all a bad thing! There is So much restructuring to do, and doubtless it will take a while. The look of this may be a bit hodge podge for a bit, as integration progresses. Bubble bath! Yes, this year, it's all about enjoying a pleasant and satisfying bubble bath! How I have longed for bubble bath! There really seems to be no way to make a satisfying bubble bath without some form of sulfate-ish surfactant, but so far, sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (a kinder cousin of the oft maligned sodium lauryl sulfate) seems to be a winner for my temperamental skin when it is coupled with some good oils. I have been immersed in test bubble bath formulas for a solid month and it has felt darn good! 

I have posted notifications about the fact that this site as it is will not exist after January 20th. Yes, that's true. I have sold more on Ebay in the past couple of months (and it's a totally different handmade product) than I have sold the entire past year on this website. Does this mean that Crafted Herbals is going away? Not entirely! There is just no reason to keep paying and paying for a business site that isn't paying for its self. I would rather put the money that I am going to save in the imminent downgrade into developing and creating new things! Crafted Herbals will still offer great soap, and there will still be a Crafted Herbals website here, but it won't be a fancy Weebly business site. It will be a site with links to places with our soap and other handmade wares available for purchase. 

I confess that not everything I make is made with natural things. I have been a semi serious Littlest Pet Shop hoarder for going on 15 years now. It started when my now 17 year old daughter was 3, progressed through her aging out of her Littlest Pet Shop toy collection (which I refused to part with) and continued with my youngest daughter, now 12. Oh yes, my children are my excuse for hanging on to these little critters. No one actually plays with them anymore (unless my grand daughter is over), but No, no, no I won't let go of a single one! In fact, I do sort of play with them. Yes, I make things for some of them to wear, and when the grand daughter is over, I sometimes make them talk. My 12 year old got me into making flower crowns for them. It's a hoot doing a photo shoot. Some of the kitties are down right sassy! Now days, these cute little critters go by the shortened moniker of LPS in a lot of places, and the look of them has changed so much over the years. I'm a snob about these changes. If it doesn't have a good bobble head, I don't want it. And then, Hasbro changed them horribly a few years ago...snicker..lets not get me started on the frogs, and the shapes of their heads, which reminded me ever so much of...well, just turn one upside down and make it stand on its head and I think you will catch my drift! I found a site here on Weebly devoted to protesting those unfortunate changes: stopnewweirdlps.weebly.com/letters-to-hasbro/letters-to-hasbro 
​My favorites are the ones that came out in the mid 2000s. There was even a Littlest Pet Shop cartoon series. It was O.K., but I think My Little Pony is better. I prefer the free lance You Tube Littlest Pet Shop videos. Remember, before you decide that I'm completely bonkers: I never watch any of this stuff solo. I always have the excuse of catering to a child ready on the shortest notice. If you happen to want a flower crown for your sassy LPS kitty, you can find our work on EBay. (Well, mostly it's my 12 year old daughter's work)