Interview with Secret Leaves on Worsted Witch blog

Hey everyone. A few weeks ago our Secret Leaves scrap journals were featured on the Worsted Witch blog. The Worsted Witch is a wonderfully written and worthwhile blog for the green-minded crafter. Owner/blogger Jasmin Chua highlights her latest indie sustainable finds every few days for us all to enjoy. After we learned she blogged about us we wrote to tell her thank you and she wrote back requesting an interview. Of course, we agreed.

She asked great questions and we were thrilled with the way it turned out. Please visit and read the interview with Ann. Leave a comment--and tell Jasmin Secret Leaves sent you! : )

If you are in the mood for more eco-reading check out Treehugger, another fun and informative site.

Ann and Sharon

Sheila's Super Fine Soaps

Sharon was so excited last week because her sister, Sheila, was coming in town. Were they planning to go out on the town or see the sights? No. Sheila is madly in love with making soap so they spent the majority of the visit shopping for soap supplies and designing belly bands for the packaging. Smells like an obsession, doesn't it? And the soaps smell fantastic too.

Sheila has spent many hours researching and fine-tuning the art of soap-making. Take a look at her handywork so far. The colors are so cheerful and pretty, they look good enought to eat.

As you can see, the soap production is coming along just fine, but as always with the beginning of a business, it was difficult finding the correct name. For the last few weeks, Sheila and Sharon have had many a conversation on the subject and finally nailed it with 'The Bath Hour.' Then came the challenge of designing the identity for the packaging of the bars. This is where Secret Leaves factored in. After all we are a design-based company. So the weekend was spent with the two of them happily playing with ideas and, I must say, I think they have it.

Here are some examples of the belly bands. The overall look of the packaging is consistent, but different scents will each have their own image. A custom rubberstamp is being made that reads "At least 4 oz. of pure bliss." Right now my favorite image is the goat. It is for the goat's milk & almond soap. I know I will be buying several of these.

Ann

Do you need a chocolate fix?

Have you ever been sitting on the sofa, watching something worthless on TV and you have a terrible craving for chocolate but there's nothing in the house to satisfy it? Here is a recipe for Chocolate Pudding Cake that is fast, easy, delicious and made from ingredients you have on hand:

Chocolate Pudding Cake

Cake ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cake ingredients: Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cocoa together into a 9" square baking dish. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla. Spread batter in pan.

Topping ingredients: Mix topping sugars and cocoa. Sprinkle over batter. Pour water over all and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until top springs back lightly when touched.

The "topping" turns into a thick, dark chocolate sauce that oozes out of the crusty-topped cake.

YUMMY!

Sharon