Balms away!

I am so happy to share with you the newest additions to the Tattooedgeek Inc. product line.

The first addition is my new series of fragrance oil rollers.  My fragrance oil rollers glide on smooth, absorb  almost instantly into your skin and smell wonderful!  I'll be adding more fragrances over the next few days. You can expect to see a matching fragrance oil roller  for every one of my candle scents as well as a few new surprises.

And now for the Balms!  I'm adding dozens of  new lip balms to the shop.  My lip balms are super moisturizing and come in lots of great flavors.  Most are flavored with pure essential oils and a touch of Stevia for a bit of sweetness.  Needless to say both of my new fragrance oil rollers and lip balms are completely vegan, they are also free from all petroleum by-products.   

Growing Pains

Almost two whole month have past since I updated HSVH last. My blogging time has fallen victim to Tattooedgeek Inc., which by the way I'm pleased to report has been doing well.  My sales are increasing, especially wholesales orders.  I've had the pleasure of working on several sets of wedding favors including my favorite, the Sugar Skull Lip Balm favors pictured below. 

I was asked to create a custom aftercare kit for a local tattoo parlour. The kits include a 2oz cruelty free rosemary and lavender glycerin soap.  Rosemary essential oil is excellent for minor skin abrasions, it helps stimulate healing.  Lavender essential oil is a natural antiseptic.  I've been told that over 50 of the kits have already  sold.

My daughters and I were able to vend in Brooklyn on May 1st & 2nd as part of the Brooklyn Lyceum's Spring Food and Craft Market. We brought my new line of 3.5 inch pocket mirrors to the Market.  I brought 27 mirrors and came home with just two.  The mirrors will make their shop debut sometime this week. 

I love vending in Brooklyn, it's always a great experience.  Not only was the Spring Food & Craft Market fun, but I also got to meet customer/fellow etsyian and vendor Darlene from Ursula and Olive ( http://www.ursulaandolive.com/, http://www.ursulaandolive.etsy.com/.)

Just as their banner promises, Ursula and Olive offers up really fun and bold  geeky goodness in the form of necklace pendant combos, earrings and a few other awesome products, all extreamly well crafted.  We brought home one of Ursula and Olive's Mr. Spock necklaces, next time I'm getting the "Snape is sexy" pendant. (And now you know where the geek in Tattooegeek comes from.)

Food has been another causality of Tattooedgeek's recent growth spurt. There has been many a 9:00p.m. microwaved Amy's burritos as of late (we like the breakfast ones, they're vegan and really good.)  Michael's birthday provided a much needed respite from all of the frozen vegan food.  I put aside work and made Lemon Pepper Seitan Medallions with steamed string beans and a wild rice blend.  I formed the Seitan as if I was making sausages to get the medallion shape.  I dredged the medallions in organic corn starch then fried them until golden and crispy.  I then smothered the medallions in the Lemon Pepper sauce.

Not being much of a cake person myself, I opted to make super chocolaty cupcakes. Nobody complained!

I really need to figure out how to manage my time better.  One decent cooked meal a month is completely unacceptable.   Any suggestions?  How do you handle family, work, food, homework, cleaning etc....

Vegan MoFo day7 ~ Vegan food & Etsy. Etsy Sellers specializing in made-to-order vegan delights!

If you're anything like us than you do not live in a very vegan friendly area.  I drool over twitter reading tweet after tweet from happy vegans enjoying the vegan cuisine from their local vegan friendly eateries.  Here we have a mediocre at best health food store, and all vegan friendly restaurants are a minimum of 30 miles away. 

Then I discovered that there are a plethora of Etsy shops dedicated to vegan offerings.  With a click of my mouse I could have fresh homemade vegan fare delivered to my P.O. Box.  We could fill our bellies while filling the pockets of small independent Etsy shop owners, well maybe not fill the pockets - but you know what I mean.  In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that we recently threw our hats into the Etsy Vegan food delivery ring as well.  A few months ago we opened  Medusa Fine Vegan Fare or http://www.medusafoods.etsy.com/.  Medusa Fine Vegan Fare's soul purpose is to provide high quality vegan entrees to those without access to such, or those busy vegans and vegetarians looking for a quick healthy meal.

On Medusa's menu you will find seitan based dishes like Thai Peanut, Southern Fried Cutlets, Vegan Tandoori Chicken, Maple Teriyaki and Buffalo Bites with Vegan Blue Cheese Dip to name a few.

Our shop isn't the only vegan food based Etsy shop.  We found a few others like Sweet Fritsy where you can find these wonderful looking donuts and  many other awesome looking vegan goodness.   http://www.sweetfritsy.etsy.com/

And I can't forget The Cupcake Mint  where you can order this bad boy or one of his equally mouth watering siblings. http://www.thecupcakemint.etsy.com/

When shopping on Etsy search vegan, vegan plants and edibles, or vegan food to find these and other vegan offerings available from some of the many different vegan friendly Etsy shops.