Monday, February 28, 2011

New! Eco Darling: Healing Herbal Bath Salts. Testers Needed!

Finally all of the ingredients of the bath salts are here. Therefore I mixed up two lovely kinds today. It will be ready tomorrow. I'm happy to announce that I need four testers. The first four people to comment on this blog can be the tester's under certain conditions. Please read before commenting.

Here are the following requirements:
1. You must own a bath tub, be able to soak in it, and love to take baths.
2.You must be able to pick it up tomorrow at Body Graphics in Pennsauken, NJ from 12:30 - 9:30pm or Wednesday at my house (only if you've been here before.)
3. You use them within a week on yourself in your tub.
4. Write a testimony to be used on the upcoming website. Your first name will only be used. It must be done within the week also.
5. You must not have sensitive skin, especially allergies to essential oils or herbs.

If you can agree to these conditions, then comment and let me know when and where you can come and get your free sample. There will be two samples of each Bath soak, and the you will be able to pick the scent in order of which you reply. So the last one won't have a choice!!

Good luck!!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Here come the complaints. No need to read on unless you want to feast your eyes on whining. Perhaps you'll hear the tiniest violin playing in the back ground. If you're lucky I'll end with something other than complaints.

This is the story of my life. My son and husband are sick, and my husband has been working the graveyard shift for the past two nights. All night I was mommy nurse with a spider monkey attached to my back or arm. Through broken sleep, I've given medication, been puked and snotted on, been a full service butler.

I'm so tired, and overworked. I haven't had two days off in a row for some time. I'm not sure when that will ever happen again. On one of my day off, Friday, I drew from 7 pm to 12:30am. Then woke up at 5am due to sick toddler and drew from 6 am - 12pm. Despite the hours of drawing on my "time off", I'm still not caught up with all of my homework. I have tomorrow off, but now all of our fun day plans are null and voided due to T's illness. We missed a birthday party yesterday morning we were really looking forward to. Not to mention, I still have hours of home work to do. I have some pretty exciting stuff to work on, yet it can be grueling. Not to mention it's exhausting. This week if I make a grand total of hours worked including "homework" and answering email, I'm sure it'll add up to around 60 hrs.

Without my fun this week, I would have sunk. On Monday, my hubby let me out to get a manicire, pedicure, and a massage. On Tuesday before work I mixed a bunch of different scents of the Eco Darling Scrub, and I experimented with developing a body butter. It was so creamy when I finsihed yet it hardened thus why it's called body butter. I love it, but I hope to try to tweak it so it's either a body lotion bar or a creamy lotion. On Thursday after work, I took a pole fitness class. This was exceptionally fun yet I got a great work out and was sore for two days. heck, I was sore leaving the place. I was the only person in the class yet the cost was still the same price of a group class. Those are my wins of the week. Well besides I got to work on some pretty fun pieces. I can't wait to finish them. Hopefully I 'll be able to get some fancy and professional healed pics too. (Hint hint!)

Many thanks to my client yesterday who drove 5 hours to get tattooed by me. I really appreciated that he could reciprocate, and take the trip. I've been up to New England countless times over the past 2 and a half years. It's quite difficult to escape right now whether it's due to inclement weather or health. Now that my husband is employed again, and our schedules our hectic, it's almost impossible.

Anyway here is one piece that I worked on this week that made me especially happy.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Eco Darling: Home Spa Body Care


I've been working on an all natural body care line for some time now. One of my favorite past times is going to the spa r using body products, but I can't afford the outlandish prices anymore. Not to mention I'd rather know exactly what's going into my body care products. If I can't read what the ingredient is, I'm weary. Most of the products are Organic and local as much as possible. I'm concocting everything from scratch form the highest quality ingredients, and I assure you that you'll be familiar with all of the ingredients. I'm trying to be as green as possible so now catalogs will be available. There will be a fb page and website asap.

After consensual human testing and tweaking, the scrubs are ready to be released!!

The 16 oz scrubs are bottled in glass jars. They have a base of EVOO, Organic Cane Sugar, Olive Oil, Grapeseed Oil, and Jojoba Oil with my own personal blends of essential oils.

There are four scents:

-Uplifting: Fruity mix of citrus essential oils, Lime, Grapefruit Orange, Lemon with a tinge of lavender.
-Ascension: heavenly floral scent with geranium, jasmine, and a small hint of Frankincense
-Tranquility: calming blend of exotic citrus oils Tangerine, Bergamot, Neroli and a hint of Ylang ylang
-Serenity: slightly floral and seductive essential oils such as bergamot, Rose Otto, and Ylang Ylang

All scrubs are $15 for the 16 oz bottles plus 3.99 shipping and handling anywhere in the US. Pick ups are available in Philadelphia and Pennsauken, NJ. Paypal or cash is accepted.

There is also a recycling program. If you live in the area and can drop off your used jar and cap, I will clean and refill your jar and give $3.00 off the regular price for your refill. If you live too far and want to send it back in the same packaging (box and wrap), then I will waive shipping and handling fees when you buy the scrub at full price.

I also have massage oil blends that I can make for you with the complimentary scents. Also I'm working on lotions, but prices for those aren't available yet. Let me know if anything interests you. There are more products in the makings so keep checking for updates.

There are many healing properties to the essential oils, and I can send you info on them.

Another thing I'm working on is the name for my body care and home spa line. I could use your help. Eco Darling is the best I could think of. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, and there will be a give away to anyone who comes up with the name I use.

Once everything is in order, I will be hosting Eco Darling Home Spa Parties so that you can test your products in put orders in. Let me know if you're interested in coming. Dates TBA.

Feel free to PM or email me with any questions or suggestions.

Thanks,
T
teganink@me.com

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

USA Challenge

Christina Aguilera messed up the National Anthem at the Superbowl. Thankfully football isn't popular in other countries, and hopefully no one else noticed. Tell me this.... Do you know all of the words to The National Anthem? Better yet, can you name all of the states by sight from looking at a map of this country?

I might be able to do the National Anthem, but I can tell you straight up that I can't name all of the states by sight. My coworkers and I tried this a few months ago aduring a slow night at the shop. None of us could do it. Therefore I have a mission. If I'm going to expect my son to learn these things, then I better make sure that I know them first. Therefore I'll be studying this in my spare time. Wait, does spare time include driving in the car? Perhaps I'll print one out and hang it up in in there.

I challenge you to do this. I especially challenge the teacher's out there. No cheating!!! For extra credit, you can write the words to the National Anthem.


Copy and Paste the numbered list, and post in my comments. I'll grade them, and let you know how you do.
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Here's a map. Name the states using the numbers as listed on the map.

Monday, February 7, 2011

ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD | OFFICIAL RELEASE | 2011



A couple of weeks ago, three different people within a span of an hour strongly suggested that I watch these documentaries. I took their advice, and have been blown away by the suggestions for a better world where life is truly respected. Please ope your mind, and check it out.

Next I'm off to see what the website to join the movement!!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Gratitude and Acceptance


The scripture depicted in this tattoo is "in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" according to the new American Standard bible.

This woman has been a godsend to me. She first came to me the day I recently had a spiritual awakening, about 17 days ago. It was for the consult for this tattoo. She brought me a huge box of food, which was extremely amazing and delicious to boot! The gesture brought tears to my eyes because of her random act of kindness. This was a huge help to my family and I espeically since we've had some rough times. She said she'd read my blog and felt compelled by God to cook for us. This was the catalyst of that big day in which I was pulled out of a deep depression.

During our tattoo appointment this week, we connected even more. She brought me a colorful bouquet which was an inspiration for the colors we used that day. Throughout the tattoo, we realized how much we had in common. Well she's a pastor, and I'm not. However, we had plenty to chat about - parenting, marriage, and on and on. How lucky I feel to have people like this come into in my life through an occupation I love. It's such an honor to have this job. I'm able to create meaningful pieces of artwork for people who will enjoy them for life. I'm making permanent marks on their bodies and on occaision my clients make indelible marks on me and influence my life. This woman is a true example of this because she touched my heart.

My life is better now since I've accepted that I'm not the one who's in control anymore. My higher power is. I've embraced daily prayer. Not to say that my life is perfect now, but I have some tools to help me through the tough times. I still have a lot to work on, and I'm sure that I'll never be perfect. In conclusion, I'm a more positive and happier person.

This May is my anniversary of fifteen years since I first picked up and used a tattoo machine. That's almost half of my life thus far! It seems like yesterday that I had ten years under my belt. Time flies when you're having fun.

Well I can't say that it's always fun. It's exhausting. The hours are long and go beyond being at the shop and tattooing. There's answering emails, booking appointments, ordering and taking inventory of your supplies, and lots of drawing to do for homework. My hands go numb, my back hurts, we don't get a pension or health insurance, but I can make a living off of it. I'm not getting rich, driving a fancy car, or owning a home. Hopefully someday I'll be able to acquire those things, and my family is taken care of. The material things don't matter all that much to me anyway. What matters is that my family is loved, happy, fed, protected, and clothed. Besides the good outweighs the bad, and there's nothing else I'd rather be doing for a career.

Not to mention, people such as this woman make all of the hard work worth it. Perhaps I subconsciously forgot her containers so that we'll meet again soon. In conclusion, I can't forget to express my immense gratitude to the woman, Gale Mosman, who took me under her wing in 1996. Thank you Gale for teaching this tradition to me.