I have absolutely no restraint when it comes to cool, handmade ‘stuff’ that you can’t find in big box stores!

I have had visions of these bad boys (below) since yesturday when I first saw them….
I even went to sleep last night with magnets and push pins dancing in my head!

I broke down first thing this morning and purchased two different sets (along a few other ‘things’!) of the button magnets and push pins.

I have not decided quite yet what I am going to do with these though…

Our fridge has lots of magnets on it already (even though some of them are quite old they still work!) and I don’t have a cork board (hmmm…should I put this on my Christmas wish list? I can see where it would come in handy!) for the push pins.

I could save them and give them (for Christmas) to daughter #2 who has a fashion degree (and loves to sew) (and hopefully does not read my blog…or maybe she doesn’t even know I have a blog) (gasp!) (and who incidentally is looking for a job to put her fashion degree at work (hint hint)..anyone know who is hiring in the fashion industry in Seattle, Renton, Tacoma…or hell anywhere in Washington???)

Any who…
check out Moment In The Sun for the cutest button magnets and push pins along with cards, tags, notepads and pendants!

Hurry though….those buttons are going fast!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

I suck at carving pumpkins….really!
You don’t even want to see the pumpkin that I carved this year (honest)…well….I didn’t really carve it…more like sculpted the dang thing.
I peeled back and removed the orange rind and thinned out the orange shell so when you light a candle it will glow a nice orange….which worked fine with the exception of the goofy face on it.

Everyone’s pumpkin turned out better than mine (**sob**).

So to save you from the same embarassment that I’m feeling at the moment here is a link to wonderful and somewhat easy pumpkin carving ideas!

Starting next year….I Will Suck No More!

Pumpkin Carving Ideas

(Make sure you print out the ones you like as I have no idea how long that link will be active!)

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

October is for Pumpkins and I have two outstanding recipes that include pumpkin!!!

I left out the nuts and raisins in the pumpkin bread simply because I did not have any handy.

The pumpkin cheesecake is absolutely divine and super easy to make!

Pumpkin Bread

2/3 c. Shortening
2 2/3 c. Sugar
4 Eggs
1 Can Pumpkin (16 oz.)
2/3 c. Water
3 1/3 c. Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Cloves (ground)
2/3 c. Nuts (coarsely ground)
2/3 c. Raisins

Heat oven to 350. Grease botton only of 2 loaf pans.

Mix shortening and sugar in large bowl. Add eggs, pumpkin and water.
Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves.
Stir in nuts and raisins.
Pour into pans and bake approx. 1 hour, 10 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool completely before slicing.
To store, wrap and refrigerate no longer than 10 days.

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

2 – 8 oz. pkgs. Cream Cheese (softened)
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1/2 c. Pumpkin
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
Cloves (ground) dash
Nutmeg (ground) dash
1 Graham Pie Crust (6 oz)

Preheat oven to 325.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until well blended.
Add eggs, one at a time mixing just until blended.
Remove 1 cup of the batter and stir in the pumpkin and spices.

Pour plain batter into crust.
Top with pumpkin batter.

Bake 40 min. or until center is almost set.
Cool and refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.

I didn’t have time to take pictures of the above desserts…
But if you are in the mood for pumpkins and farms and just plain fun you can visit our flickr page and enjoy our pumpkin farm outing!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

We are sold out of our Halloween Soap Favors for 2008.

This item will be available again starting September 2009 (with a new revamped look!).

Don’t forget to sign up for our in-house newsletter and be the first to know when items are back in stock, new items coming and upcoming sales!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

As mentioned in the Seattle Examiner

Green Trick or Treats
October 21, 9:21 PM
by Angele Sionna, Early Childhood Parenting Examiner

Green up the Halloween of all of the little trick or treaters who come to your house. Here are some eco-friendly ideas to pass out when little goblins and princesses come to your door next week:

Honey Sticks Buy honey sticks made by local bee farmers. These are only a good treat for kids over one year old. For more on honey sticks, read THIS story.

Organic Raisin Mini-boxes The Newman’s Own brand organic raisins are a good choice and are available at stores across the US. (See newmansownorganics.com for where to buy.)

Recycled Pencils A good kind to try, the Earthwrite pencils (.$0.92/dozen, amazon.com) made from 100% recycled materials.

Individually wrapped caffeine-free tea bags A good one to try – Captain Teao’s Tea For Kids ($5 for a pack of 20, teaforkids.com)

Mini-Soaps Try the delicous smelling ones from countrymeadowltd.com ($21.50 for a pack of 25 soaps). They’re eco-friendly and bio-degradable. These little soaps smell so great you could just use them for a room freshner around the house too. I’d only hand these out to kids big enough to know that yummy smells aren’t only for eating!

(Thank you for the mention Angele!)

For more Halloween Tricks or Treats visit the Examiner’s Halloween page!

Halloween Soap Favors

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Below is a gift basket we did for a long-time customer.

Since it is fall we used that as our theme and included our Fall Harvest Soap, Herbal Tea soap and one of our Herbal Tea Sugar Scrubs then included a few fall silk florals.

It was then wrapped with fall themed cellophane and tied with raffia.

Even though we don’t offer premade gift baskets on our website we DO create Custom Gift Baskets for any occasion!

Our Christmas holiday season is fast approaching!

Send us an email now (sales(at)countrymeadowltd(dot)com) and let us know what products you would like packaged in a gift basket. We would be delighted to give you a quote!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Order your Christmas gifts NOW and save 25% on your entire order!

We know it’s early in the holiday shopping season but things tend to get hectic the closer it gets..and let’s face it….Thanksgiving will be here the next time you turn around!

We are here to help you with your holiday shopping for that hard to buy for person…and give you a healthy 25% discount at the same time!

Enter code: Prexmas2008 during checkout to receive 25% off

*Discount is valid from October 15, through October 19, 2008
*Discount does not apply to Limited Edition products, Imara products, Lavender/Patchouli or Vanilla/Patchouli soap
*Discount does not apply to sales tax (if applicable) or shipping costs
*Discount is not retroactive
*You must enter discount code to receive discount
*May not be combined with any other discount or offer

NOW would be a good time to order your soap logs!
Cut your logs into desired shapes and sizes then wrap with holiday flair for unique holiday gifts.
See our BLOG POST for soap log gift ideas!

Remember…
This sale is available for 5 days only!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

We are currently test marketing three fantabulous soaps through the end of the year.

These soaps are available in limited quantities but we hope to add them as a new collection sometime in the first quarter of 2009!

All three scents are very unisex and appeal to both men and women.

Our test marketing soaps are NOT packaged in our normal branded boxes but instead are wrapped with hemp cord and decorated with various beads.
Beads can and will vary due to availability.

I ADORE all three soaps and they are my newest favorites!

Crystal Blue – A clean, sporty scent laced with citrus, muguet, ‘musk’ and orris

Sandalwood Vanilla – Sweet, creamy with a slight touch of ‘wood’, I’m looking forward to adding this our ‘keeper’ list!

Wild Mint & Ivy – Top notes of spearmint and peppermint, middle notes of lavender and citrus with base notes of woody, moss and patchouli!

Crystal Blue Soap

Sandalwood Vanilla Soap

Wild Mint & Ivy Soap

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

**Holiday Order Processing:
As we get closer into fall and the upcoming holiday season our normal order processing time will increase from 3-4 days to 4-5 days. Order processing starts the day after you place your order and does not include Sundays.

Example: If you order on Monday the turn around time starts on Tuesday so as things get busy your order may not ship until Saturday or the following Monday.

We will make every effort to have your order shipped in a timely manner but the high volume of holiday orders WILL increase our lead time.

**Holiday Shipping:
We use USPS and UPS Ground and as the holidays get closer shipping carriers experience an extreme increase in delivering packages resulting in a longer shipping time.

Country Meadow is NOT responsible for the shipping schedule of the carriers! We have no control over how fast your package arrives to its destination and will not accept responsiblity if your package does not arrive in time!

ORDER EARLY and adjust for the increase in shipping time otherwise your gift may very well arrive after Christmas.

**Product Inventory:
Due to the holiday season and the upcoming end of the current year our product inventory will decrease.

While we make every effort to have product in stock it is entirely possible that certain products (especially seasonal ones) will run out! Again – Ordering early will insure availability!

Because our suppliers also run low on ingredients it is often times difficult to reorder needed supplies during December and into January so once we run out of a specific product it may not be available again until mid-January.

We would again like to stress the importance of placing your order early enough to insure product availability, processing times and the increase in the holiday shipping schedules.

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Our fax machine was not working properly the last few days..
apparently it was out of ink.

Last night I put ALL new ink cartridges in…
and it’s still giving me ‘no ink cartridge’, ‘low ink’ messages.

We have tested the fax (both outgoing and incoming) and it appears to be working properly..

However…

If you send us a fax will you please shoot us an email as well (sales(at)countrymeadowltd(dot)com) to verify that we received the fax?

For those of you who may have faxed us over the last 2-3 days….
We never received them.
Will you please refax?

Thank you!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Spa Products
Gentle on your body…
Gentle on the earth…

www.countrymeadowltd.com