Re-Introduction

Life got in the way of my pursuit of Blogging, so, I will just start all over!

First of all, thank you for visiting my blog. My name is Nancy Krainz and I am the owner of Pocket Full of Sunshine Boutique, previously known as LydiaMarie's Bath & Body Boutique. I changed the name to better reflect the expanded product line, which now includes jewelry and other miscellaneous hand crafted items.

I first began making soap in 2004. I read everything I could find on soap making and learned that there are many different ways of making soap. I started out doing strictly cold process soap making. It quickly became an addiction and I soon had far more soap than I could ever use myself or even give away to friends and family. I started participating in craft shows and selling my soap in various local establishments and as time passed, my product line grew to include lotions, creams, lip balms and more.

I discovered the beauty of melt and pour soap and the creativity it afforded, which was not possible with cold process soap. I tried whipped cold process soap which allows more creativity than traditional cold process soap, but, I didn't personally care for the light airy texture of the finished product, so, didn't spend a lot of time with that. I worked for a while doing rebatching, which is grating and melting previously made cold process soap and adding different ingredients. I found this to be a time consuming task and the end product wasn't a attractive as I liked, though soap made through this method does have it's attributes, even if it isn't the prettiest thing you ever saw. I will get into the different types of soap making in future posts. I spent time also, making soap using the hot process method and didn't care for that at all. I made a few batches of liquid soap but wasn't as taken with the process as I was with making bar soaps.

Currently, I make mostly Goat Milk or some other type of milk soap, using the traditional cold process method. As the years have come and gone and after making what at this point is probably hundreds of batches of soap, maybe even thousands, I have learned how to be more creative, though I never lose sight of the potential dangers of working with lye and maintain appropriate safety precautions. My other steady products include lotion, foot cream, lip balm and melt and pour soap creations.

The purpose of this blog is to share the knowledge I have attained with years of practice.

Years back, I bought some beads and decided to try my hand at jewelry making. I didn't have the time necessary to learn at that point and soon packed the beads away. Over the past couple of years, the beads were brought out of hibernation and many new ones were added. I studied and practiced and studied and practiced until I was able to make professional quality pieces of jewelry. I sell at craft shows and on line.

Again, the purpose of this blog is to share the knowledge I have attained with years of practice. I will vary the subject matter with each post. Feel free to ask any questions you may have!