OUR BLOG HAS MOVED

We have moved here....

Mrs. V's Made by Hand Holiday Market

Well, I can't believe Mrs. V's new digs.  Her new house is absolutely gorgeous and it was great seeing past customers.  Thank you to Barb and Doug for hosting a great event and to all the fellow vendors that were there. For any new customers that bought Pura Vida soap, please feel free to send an email and give a testimonial so that it can go on our website!  Thank you for your purchases.

Sharon's Artiquities and Pura Vida Gift Set

My neighbour at the market, Sharon, makes these awesome one of a kind hand painted glass soap dispensers (amongst other things).  I have them all over my house.  She paints them onto these cool jars and then fires it up.  Since I sell liquid soap, I thought, why not get them to put in a gift set?  and Voila! Done. $25.00.  All different kinds and colours to suit your décor for the kitchen and/or bathroom.  Check us out at the Hamilton market, at Mrs. V's Made By Hand Holiday Event, or here.

Old School Soap

So, yesterday I decided to make soap old school.  And by old school, I mean make a batch of less than 20 soaps - which I haven't done in a while, using an old school mold and an old school cutting method.  First, my batch seized a bit when I added my fragrance of Cherry Blossom/Sakura and so I basically glopped it into the mold.  As you can see from the mold,  it doesn't look pretty.  But then when I cut it, I had these massive 5-6 oz bars!  They definitely will not fit into the Pura Vida boxes so I will have to package them old school as well, with the band around them.  But I have to say, I love the colour and smell of them.  It looks gray in the picture, but its more of a blueish gray.  They are solid soaps.  S-O-L-I-D......(said with fist pumping).  Can't wait to try it.  I will have to wait 4 weeks. 

Brampton's Christmas Market

It was good to be back in Brampton and see vendor familiar faces and customers!  Congratulations go out to my neighbours at the market, Daniel and the lovely Renatta from T by Daniel for the opening of their new store - coming soon to downtown Brampton.  I would also like to say a big thank you to Kristina, my other neighbour from Dolcezza Custom Cakes.  A lot of repeat Pura Vida customers asked me where they can get Pura Vida products.  You can, of course, buy online here, but to save you shipping costs, Kristina has graciously allowed me to use her store as a pick up area for all my Bramptonian customers.  So...if you order online, you can now choose the "Pick up in Brampton" option and deliveries will be made at a set date to Dolcezza Custom Cakes.   While you are there - pick up a sweet treat for yourself (the peppermint chocolate cupcake is awesome)!

Just a reminder that Pura Vida will be at Mrs. V's open house this Friday to Saturday:

November 22nd from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
November 23rd from 10:00am to 2:00pm
November 24th from 10:00am to 2:00pm
15242 Creditview Road, Caledon

(2nd house south of Olde Base Line on the west side)

 

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my booth and made a purchase - even Brampton Batman stopped by to check out our soap!

 

 

 

 

Meet my neighbours at the Hamilton Market

I have to say that I look forward every weekend going to the market, not only because I am meeting new people and repeat customers, but because I get entertained by my two neighbours, Sharon and Peter and his wife (who was not there yesterday - we missed her!).  Peter does custom t-shirts and it is hard not to make a purchase from him every Saturday that I am there!  Check out his Hammer t-shirts - they are a big hit with super reasonable prices.  Then there is my other neighbour - the super talented Sharon, who does one of a kind art work on glass and tiles.  All three of us are ready for you to come by and do some Christmas shopping!

Holiday Shows

There will be some changes to our dates that we will be in the Hamilton Market Cart program which runs alongside the Farmer's Market at Jackson Square.   An update:
We will not be there on the following dates:  November 16, 23 and 30.  Pura Vida Spa...ahh! will be at the following:

Brampton Downtown Development Corporation's (BDDC) Christmas Market
(sponsored by Lowes)
November 14 – 17, 2013
November 14, 15: Thursday and Friday:  4:00pm – 9:00pm
November 16: Saturday:  12:00pm – 10:00pm
November 17: Sunday: 10:00am – 4:00pm

Mrs. V's Preserves Made By Hand Holiday Market

Over 10 different vendors 

November 22nd from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
November 23rd from 10:00am to 2:00pm
November 24th from 10:00am to 2:00pm
15242 Creditview Road, Caledon

(2nd house south of Olde Base Line on the west side)

Caroline's Crafty Corner #1 - DIY ottoman

So, as the owner and creative director of Pura Vida Spa..ahh!  I have always kept this blog about Pura Vida.  But today, I am going to personalize it a bit, and maybe even have re occurring Caroline’s Crafty Corner posts.  I am going to tell you about a project that I recently did.  Feel free to comment (or not) on what you think about it.  So I have this coffee table which I don’t really love, but it does the job of doing what a coffee table should do.  I recently got this toy for my son who is 14 months that has a suction cup on the bottom of it, so that you can spin this wheel thingy.  I suction cupped it to my coffee table, and lo and behold one day he pulled it off.  Well, the faux marble came off and now the table has a piece of faux marble missing from it making it look very ghetto.  Furthermore, my son just whacked his face off one of the corners of this table and two days later, looks like he has a black eye, but that’s another story.  I decided to turn this ugly looking coffee table into an ottoman.   

This project cost me all of ten bucks – partly because I already had most of the material from another crafty project (made my own headboard).  So what you need for this crafty project is:

 

·         a staple gun (the kind you plug in – borrowed from my dad so again, no cost)

·         Foam padding (bought this at Walmart, supposed to be the foam pad for a twin bed.  You can buy from Fabricland or any other fabric store, but it was more expensive, and this does the trick!)

·         Batting (this I did buy from Fabricland)

·         Fabric Adhesive (I have Elmer’s Multipurpose Spray Adhesive because you can use it with fabrics, metal, wood , cork – a whole slew of items)

·         Your fabric of choice (make sure you measure enough to cover the table and be stretched over to the underside so that you can staple it)

Ok, so I cut the foam to the size of the table.  As I used leftovers from my headboard, this was not one solid piece but rather different lengths cut and put together to cover the table. (you would have thought I would have taken a picture, but, I forgot!).  You spray the adhesive on the table and then stick the foam on.  The adhesive is kind of stinky, so open a window up and don’t have your fourteen month old in there inhaling this stuff for a while.  Cut batting so that it covers the foam and table completely but can also be stretched to the underside of the table where you will staple it.  Staple it making sure to pull the batting taut.   Do the same for the fabric.  Stretch it over the batting and pull it taut to the underside and staple it.  Watch your fingers!  The corners were a little bit tricky, I ended up carefully folding in and pulling it tight to the underside.  The underside, let me tell you, is a hot mess.  Good thing you don’t see it.  Finally, I got my dear husband to cut the legs down to size so it is more of an ottoman where we can rest our feet.  Voila!  Photos below…good idea? Well, now….where do I put my coffee and beer???  I am going to look for a tray tonight that can be placed on the ottoman for just that purpose!  Let me know what you think!

 

 

Back at the Market!

Back at the market today!  We have a new t-shirt vendor sharing our space.  I bought a very cool ‘THE HAMMER” shirt from him.  We are now getting ready for the Christmas season and Pura Vida has just finished making two new batches of soap – one a new scent and one a top seller (Spiced Mandarin, made with French green clay and oatmeal – great for your face).  Both of them smell like Christmas! We will be putting together a stocking stuffer package of EXCELLENT value:  the two Christmas smelling soaps plus a sample size hempseed lavender hand and body lotion for $10.00.  What a bargain – it’s like getting the hand and body lotion for free! 

Pura Vida has also just finished making another batch of soap made with sake kasu/lees from the Ontario Spring Water Sake company.  This is our third year in business with the sake company and we are proud to be their supplier of sake soap.  Check out some of the pictures.

Locke Street Festival!!!

What a day - rain, rain, go away, come again another day!  But people from the Hammer are troopers!  I was surprised to see such a lot of people braving the rain and chilly weather.  In the final hours of the festival, the sun did come out.  Many thanks to BITTEN for the nice dump of water I got whilst in line for an Eastwood cupcake....that's ok though, I did get two FREE ones as a result of being sopping wet!  Sharon, my tent mate, kept the jokes coming so the day was fun despite the weather.  I also met a lot of great new customers who promised to make it to the Artist Market at Jackson Square.  FYI:  Pura Vida Spa...ahh! will NOT be there, Saturday September 14, 2013, but we will see you the following week!

 

 

Market Date Changes

We are at the Hamilton Farmers Market!  You can find us there most Saturdays.  If you stopped by our market cart and picked up a pamphlet on our summer dates, please note the following changes:

FROM:                                                        TO:

Friday, June 28                        Saturday, June 29

Tuesday, July 9                        Tuesday December 24

Saturday August 24                  Saturday, November 2

Yesterday was our first day at the market!

Our first day at the market!  Thank you to all the new customers today.  We really appreciate your business and we hope that you will leave us a testimonial for our website. 

We have found a new home in Hamilton!

We are proud to be a part of Hamilton’s Farmer’s Market -

Artisan Market Cart Program! 
You can find us here (35 York Blvd) on the following 2013 dates:

Saturdays

June 8, 22
July 20
August 3, 10, 24
Sept 14, 21
Oct 5, 12, 26
Nov 9, 16, 23, 30
Dec 7, 14, 21   

Tuesdays

June 11, July 9

Fridays

June 28

Click here for more information about the Hamilton Market. 
Pura Vida Spa...ahh! will be at the market from 8 -3.

Have a very Happy Mother's Day Weekend (and GO LEAFS GO)

Well, the Leafs make the play offs and this blog has been neglected!

To all our customers from Mississauga and Brampton, thank you for your continued orders.  Even though we moved to the Hammer, we are grateful to all our customers in the Peel Region.

The Made by Hand Show is coming to Hamilton for the Christmas show and we hope to be in it!  We will keep you updated.  We are looking into venues around Hamilton to do some summer shows.  Again, we will keep you posted.

Congratulations to Jennifer Reisin for winning the Mother's Day gift basket.  It consists of some Cleanse Me Soap Bars (made of course with some serious skin loving oils), our new fragrance of Peppy Peppermint Hand Soap, Moisturize Me Mango Tango lip balm and a Quench Me Hand and Body Lotion.  Hope your mom (or you) love it!

Hope everyone has a very Happy Mother's Day weekend!

Spring...please come soon!

With the winter weather in full swing this year (last year was quite mild), we are usually gearing up for our spring shows and our Art in the Open booth in Brampton for the summer - busy making loads of soap.  Unfortunately since we relocated to Hamilton this year, we will not be doing the usual Spring shows or Art in the Open (boo hoo).  We will be looking for venues more local and keep you posted.  The good news is that I heard the Made by Hand show is coming to the Hammer!

We are still making sake soap exclusively for the Ontario Spring Water Sake company so if you are ever in Toronto’s Distillery Historic District, stop by their brewery, pick up a soap and try some sake!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Thank you to everyone for your continued business this past year.  Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Where did the time go?

Between having a newborn, trying to sell my house, packing up for my move to my new house AND keeping up with Christmas orders and attending shows.........I have to say, I have neglected my blog.  But, hey...I am back now.  And in full swing.  The Peel Regional Police Association show the weekend of November 10 and 11 was a lot of fun with familiar vendor and customer faces.  I reluctantly had to bow out of the Brampton open air Christmas market in the square because of packing....ugh....and heard it was an amazing success!  Sorry to all my Brampton customers.......but, I was at Mrs. V's Preserves tonight and will be there on Wednesday (can't make it on Friday or Saturday).  I will also be at Beatty-Fleming Sr. P.S, November 29, 3-8 pm.  Christmas is just around the corner!

Summer hiatus over...........

With Summer over, Fall in full swing and the Christmas season coming up, Pura Vida Spa...ahh! is getting ready for the holidays and upcoming craft shows.  Please check back here or on our homepage to see a list of shows we will be doing. 

We have changed our soap packaging (slightly!).  We now have our soaps packaged in a kraft box - and let me tell you, it took a while to source just the right one!  We also have added some new soap scents to our line....after many many many requests, we finally succumbed to the pressure and now have a Patchouli scent in the line up (not really a fan of it).

Check here for our new soap scents.

I had a beautiful boy!

On July 13, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Cristian.  Throughout my pregnancy I used my very own Mummy & Me - My Big Fat Belly Balm on my tummy, and after my delivery, I can happily say that I have NO STRETCH MARKS!! Yipppee!  As I am also breastfeeding, I am using No More Sore Boobies Balm which has also brought me relief while nursing - I have yet to have chapped nipples.  So, I know, I know, a bit of a biased review since I make the stuff....but just to let you know - it works!
Click here for a special price on Pura Vida's Mummy & Me My Big Fat Belly Balm and No More Sore Boobies products.

Canada Day Long Weekend!

We will be at Art in the Open this weekend, on Saturday, June 30.  As mentioned before, we are only at the market this year part time (boo hoo) because of my little bundle of joy that should be coming any day now (well, in about 2-3 weeks!).  As it is my first, I figured I couldn't multi task just yet; make soap, do the market and take care of a new born (although I am sure there are tons of moms out there who do!).  I will wait until I get into my groove.

On another note, I have been seriously thinking of the direction that I want to take Pura Vida in, and I am considering selling wholesale loaves of soap and getting into private labelling.  Loaves will be more cost effective and will also allow other small businesses such as spas, bed and breakfasts and boutique shops to have their own private line.  As I hammer out some details about this new focus and plan I will be sure to update my website. 

Also, in preparation of my little ones arrival, I have made some new soap scents (in addition to our popular Spiced Mandarin and Hard Candy), which will be added shortly to the website and be available for purchase at the market (with my limited time left there), as well as a new lip balm.

Finally, you can now find our products in WATERDOWN, at Rustic and Refined Interiors, http://rusticandrefinedinteriors.com/.  If you happen to be in the area this long weekend, check out ribfest (yum!) and the store - which has a gorgeous harvest table that I will have to make mine once I move!  Rustic and Refined Interiors also features numerous other artisan's creative work.