We are a husband & wife team who enjoy making beautiful yet functional bath, body, & home products. We specialize in goat's milk because we both have very sensitive skin, however we also make shea butter & glycerin soaps. As well as, soy candles, creams, lotions, colorant free splashes & room fragrances.

This is truly a blessing to take a hobby & make a little business out of it, something we can share. It gives us an outlet for our creative side & we love the end result. It's amazing to lay awake in bed at night because you have so many ideas running through your head...then you get up in the morning and make it happen. It's amazing to see a finished product that you created yourself.

Some of our best sellers are our Pink Sugar scented products, our sheepie soaps, & the cute "Slipper When Wet" Soaps...you've got to love a little soap humor.

Come on by & check us out when you get the chance.
www.LostRiverRags.etsy.com

TheOldBarnDoor!  Our very own OBD...

You know that great line from the end of The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy looks up at her friends and family and says something to the effect about “looking for her heart’s desire she wouldn’t look any further than her own backyard.”  Well, my life is sort of like that…except I discovered I didn’t have the right backyard.  So, after a 25+ year high pressure career, my husband and I chucked it all, sold the house in the big city and bought the farm…really…we bought a farm.

I’m not entirely certain what made us think we could be farmers as we didn’t grow so much as leaf lettuce when we lived in the city but knew we needed to make a change in our lives.  We have always been outdoor people with a deep appreciation of the world around us.  Our lives had become one of constant “take” and we knew it was time to “give back” to nature and the world around us.  So now we find ourselves 3 hours away from family in a beautiful log home (means drafty) with no neighbours in sight and a view of Lake Ontario. Not that we are anti-social but we do enjoy the peace and quiet. 

We are organic farmers and do most of our work with as little equipment as possible (means we can’t afford a big tractor).  We raise meat sheep, laying hens, meat chickens, and we are graced with the presence of a lovely retired race horse (pacer).  There is also an assortment of cats (Frankie Beans is my avi) and our crazy collie Abbie.  I have a large market garden of heirloom veggies and grow anything you can think of

I shared a love of stamp collecting with my father.  We could often be found pouring over scraps of paper leafing through catalogues and I’m sure to the uninitiated we must have looked like spies plotting our next great adventure. When he passed away a few years back it fell to my (means my sisters dump this on me) to dispose of Dad’s large collection of stamps, covers postcards etc.  I quickly found that it rekindled my interest in geography and history, two classes I should clearly have attended more often in high school.  I have acquired some cards of my own along the way and this is how I come now to Etsy to share these beautiful vintage cards with others. 

 

I am happy to announce the next winner of the random blog and banner feature.  I hope everyone reads, enjoys and takes inspiration from CandN's story...

I started doing paper crafts about 2 years ago. I love having a hobby and creating new things. Finding Etsy was great for me because I could keep creating and hope that people out there would like my items so I could create more.

I was in a craft store one day and was looking at paper and thought what can I do with that? I had the idea to do a card and from there it all began. Now everytime I see a paper I think what can I do with that? Sometimes I will be just daydreaming and come up with an idea and want to get started on it right away. I then post it in my shop and hope it sells:)

I started with just cards, as my name implies, and then branched out into jewelry, notebooks, post it note holders, etc. My post it note holders have been a great for little gifts to have around and especially for teacher gifts. I then had an idea to do magnets because everyone needs those. Again I started small and as you can see, keep adding. My alphabet magnets and spell your name magnets are new to my shop. Many people seem to like them and I am hoping they take off. I keep experimenting with size, etc to see what people want.

I got into scrabble tile and glass tile pendants too. They are fun to make and people seem to like them. I have gotten some custom work off of those. My handstamped jewelry is just beginning, I plan to add more in the future.

So I just keep thinking of new items to put in my shop hoping that people like them. I love custom work so if there is anything you would like, please let me know and I will work on it for you.

This is not my full-time job, but would love for it to be someday.