DIY Natural Perfume Workshop 6/12

As I mentioned in my last post, I will be offering hands-on workshops where you can learn how to make a variety of your own natural beauty products. To start, on June 12, I will be hosting a DIY natural perfume workshop in Washington, DC!

Enjoy a hands-on lesson on crafting your own natural perfume. After an explanation of the properties of various essential oils and absolutes, you will enjoy formulating your own personalized scent. Throughout, I will give you the tools and knowledge that can be applied to your future DIY projects. Head home with some Herban Lifestyle sample products and your own aromatic creation!

This workshop will be held at Be Clean’s studio in the historic 52 O Street Studios, Studio #308. We will have a 6′ table with seats that can accommodate up 6-8 folks. It’s on the third floor, which requires a walk up stairs. We will have sips and snacks for everyone to enjoy throughout the class. And we will have a special shopping event after the class – attendees can take 20% off their Be Clean purchase.

The cost is $70.00 per person.

To sign up, visit my website. Or for more information, please email me at info [at] herbanlifestyle [dot] com.

 

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How to Make Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub!

Mary Kearns will be demonstrating how to make your own sugar scrubs and fizzing bath salts on Great Day Washington, a new morning show on CBS’s Washington, DC affiliate station WUSA9. The show airs live Tuesday, October 20th from 9am – 10am EST, so tune in if you’re in the area! If you can’t, the video will be available on their website. And here is the recipe for pumpkin spice sugar scrub we will be demo’ing!

It contains organic sugar and pure sea salt for exfoliation, plus real pumpkin purée for a bit of skin brightening thanks to the natural alphahydroxy acids. For additional skin benefits, and to make it smell delicious, just add some pumpkin spice blend. Delicious!

Ingredients: ½ cup sugar, ½ cup salt, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon pumpkin puree, ½ tsp pumpkin pie spices

Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well-blended. Because it contains fresh pumpkin, use immediately, or store in a clean jar in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Enjoy!

Hello Again, DC: Everything Old is New Again

The 1922 Lincoln Model 117 Seven-passenger Sedan

My great-grandfather bought one of the first Ford motor vehicles available for the mass market in the U.S., and my grandfather was brand loyal, owning nothing but Fords throughout his long lifetime.

Named after President Lincoln, the Lincoln automotive company was founded in 1917. Their rival Ford Motor Company purchased Lincoln in 1922. Fast-forward to December 2012, when Ford changed the name of the Lincoln division to the Lincoln Motor Company, granting it its own design, product development and sales teams. And now they are celebrating this new era in their 90-year history of making cars by re-introducing the Lincoln Motor Company, and unveiling their new take on the luxury automobile.

Through the “Hello, Again” tour, Lincoln is introducing a series of projects with artists who share their vision of re-imagining the past to create something new and innovative. Herban Lifestyle has been invited, along with other select local artisans, to be part of the Hello Again, DC event from June 6-16. Tours are available Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00am – 4:00pm and 6:00pm – 10:00pm. You can sign up for this event, including a test drive and interactive tour of DC, by visiting the Hello Again website.

During your tour, you’ll be given behind-the-scenes access to the Pleasant Pops mixing rooms to exercise your imagination and blend unique flavors. You will experience a private art drive as you cruise through an 18th-century alley curated by local artists. You will have a chance to touch and smell various herbs, spices and other ingredients Herban Lifestyle uses in our products. And you will have the opportunity to vote for your favorite flavor combination to be used in our new products to be launched later this year!

An assortment of Pleasant Pops | Image ©Pleasant Pops

Besides our shared respect for history, design, and innovation, I applaud Ford and the Lincoln Motor Company for making great strides in building environmental sustainability into their business models and their vehicles.

The 2013 MKZ Hybrid operates up to 62 miles per hour on electric power alone, using no fuel and has an EPA-estimated 45 city/hwy combined mpg. And here is a website that outlines some of the sustainability efforts that Ford, Lincoln Motor Company’s parent company is undertaking. This website lists Ford’s Top 10 green initiatives of 2008, including their Dearborn Truck Plant, which has the World’s Largest Living Roof (10.4-acres) according to Guinness World Records, and their leadership in being the first U.S. auto company to use 100% recycled fabric seating surfaces. And this website lists their Top 10 for 2011.

Lincoln 2013 MKZ Hybrid

You can sign up to be a part of the fun and innovative Hello Again, DC event at the Hello Again website.

Join us on 11/10 for our 3rd year at Crafty Bastards!

The following post was written by Katie Perugini, Herban Lifestyle’s Creative Communications Strategist.

Between the weather, the elections and Herban Lifestyle being super busy, it has been a crazy fall. And we’re more than ready to have some serious fun!

That is why we are so incredibly excited for Crafty Bastards return on Saturday, November 10th for it’s 9th year in Washington, DC. With temperatures projected to be in the 60s, over 140 vendors and an estimated 30,000 attendees, it is guaranteed to be an amazing show!

We are super honored and excited to have been chosen to be a vendor for our third year in a row! It’s not only a great place to be a vendor; it’s also a dream-come-true for the shopper looking for unique, high-quality handcrafted gifts. Typically the show is held in October but this year’s November date makes it ideal for holiday shopping.

You can take a look at the vendor gallery to get a preview of the who will be selling what, then download the official Crafty Bastards vendor map so you can make sure you find us and all your other favorites!

It’s also important to note that Crafty Bastards is showing a different hip DC neighborhood some love this year with its move to Union Market, located at 1309 5th Street NE in Washington, D.C., and accessible via the NoMa-Gallaudet University/New York Ave. station on Metro’s Red line.

If you are in the DC area this weekend, come visit us at booth #16 and say HI! In addition to everyone’s favorite fuzzy soaps, we’ll also have a variety of beer soaps, men’s grooming products, curiosity soaps and gift sets.

The show will be held from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Admission is $5.00 and 2-for-1 tickets are available for sale through tomorrow.

We hope to see you there!

Food, Fun and Funk: Smithsonian Folklife Festival Celebrates Its 46th Year!

I have attended the Smithsonian Folklife Festival every year since moving to the DC area. And I am a big fan of this event on the National Mall that features art, dance, food, storytelling and other exhibits that highlight various American and international cultures. So when I was asked to supply huge amounts of my soaps and such for sale at the Folklife Marketplace, I was thrilled!

At the end of last week, I dropped off a rented SUV-full of boxes of products for the Marketplace volunteers to do their magic. And yesterday a friend called to tell me that my products were prominently displayed in the Marketplace tent, so I headed down to take some photos. When I entered the Marketplace, I found that the first three tables were filled with my soaps, men’s products, and Herban Crafts kits!

And the Marketplace is just one of the many features of the Festival. This year’s themes are Campus and Community, Citified, and Creativity and Crisis. I took some photos while I was there, and look forward to really exploring the exhibits when I have more time.

The Festival kicked off last night with a free concert on the Mall featuring George Clinton and other funk legends. The was the first of many free concerts being offered during the course of the Festival.

Citified celebrates the art, music, food and community of the area of DC that sits east of the Anacostia river. As the Folklife Festival website explains, “Citified alludes to the fact that many African American residents living east of the Anacostia River have parents or grandparents who migrated from the rural South, particularly North and South Carolina, and who continue to maintain connections with their southern (although often no longer rural) heritage.”

image copyright Washington Post

Campus and Community features exhibits from several land grant colleges and the USDA, both of which are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year. Several of the colleges have exhibits focusing on the theme of sustainability, such as UC Davis’ exhibit on the ubiquitous problem of plastic bags and the University of Tennessee’s Solar House.

And Creativity and Crisis features the AIDS Quilt, now celebrating its 25th anniversary. In 1987, The NAMES Project Foundation offered hands-on quilt panel-making sessions that allowed individuals and communities to commemorate loved ones, find support and engage in dialogues about how to address the crisis. Today, The Quilt contains nearly 48,000 panels, a portion of which are on display on the Mall.

For those visitors who want to have a hand in adding to The Quilt, participants of all ages will have the opportunity to learn quilting techniques, make panels, and share stories from their own experiences.

The Festival is being held from June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, and is open from 11:00am to 5:30pm.

Showing Some Love to the National Parks

2012 marks the 100^th anniversary of the gift of the blossoming cherry trees to Washington, DC from the Mayor of Tokyo, Japan. This year the Cherry Blossom Festival, hosted by the National Park Service, runs from March 20 to April 27, with the Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Street Festival), to be held today, April 14.

Three Fridays ago, I spent most of the afternoon at the Tidal Basin admiring the cherry blossoms at their peak along with thousands of other people from around the world who were taking advantage of the perfect weather.

On my way to the Tidal Basin, I saw several bikers and runners on the path that runs alongside the George Washington Parkway (also run by the National Park Service), which is actually pretty gorgeous as far as parkways go, with several nice spots where you can picnic among the tress along with a close-up view of the Potomac River.

Right next to the Tidal Basin sits our National Mall, which isn’t looking quite as pretty. The National Mall’s last renovation was 30 years ago, after the country’s bicentennial in 1976. Between the reduced Park Service budgets, which haven’t allowed for adequate upkeep, and the over 25 million annual visitors (more than Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon combined!), the Mall is in pretty sad condition.

Our national parks are an incredible resource, and I highly recommend visiting them. Being outdoors has so many benefits for the body, mind and spirit. Even if you don’t have a lot of vacation time, you can search the National Park Services’ website. to find a National Park near you that can be visited in just one day or afternoon.

Even if you don’t have time to visit them right now, there are a few ways you can help support the health and vitality of our National Parks. First, the Eco Etsy team is holding their Annual Handmade for Earth Day Auction. All proceeds from the year’s auction go to support the National Park Service. I highly recommend you check out the beautiful eco-friendly items being auctioned off for this good cause.

A second way you can help is by supporting The Trust for the National Mall, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, which is dedicated to “restoring and improving the National Mall while providing new educational and volunteer activities to connect visitors to the Mall’s rich history.”

You can also join the L’Enfant Society whose members support the Trust for the National Mall in its mission “to raise funds to restore the National Mall and build awareness for the current state of the country’s most visited national park.” You can download a PDF of the L’Enfant Society Membership Brochure. Another fun way to support the park is by attending the L’Enfant Society’s 4th Annual Ball on the Mall will be held on Saturday, May 5, 2012!

Join Us at DC Craft Mafia’s Monster Craft Mash on 10/29!

[October 29, 2011, 12:55pm – the organizers of the Monster Craft Mash have announced that the show is being cancelled due to predicted snow in DC tomorrow. They will be organizing another Spring Fling in a couple of months, and I will be participating, so please stay tuned for more info!]

I hope you can join us at DC Craft Mafia‘s Monster Craft Mash! It will be held on Saturday, October 29th, from 11:00am – 5:00pm at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, at the corner of 15th St. and P St., NW, Washington, DC.

There is an amazing list of vendors, offering a wide array of crafty goodness from gorgeous jewelry, to beautifully designed accessories, unique home goods, exquisite paper goods, delicious bath and body products, and so much more.

For more information, visit the Monster Craft Mash Facebook page, or DC Craft Mafia’s website.

Getting my Green Geek on at the Solar Decathlon

The following post is by Katie Peige, Herban Lifestyle’s Sustainability Associate

This year Washington, DC hosted the Solar Decathlon for the fifth time since its inaugural competition in 2002. Since then, the competition has been held every two years, allowing students two years to take their proposed ideas and turn them into reality. Twenty college teams compete at the Solar Decathlon where have the opportunity to win several different contests including Most Affordable, Best Architecture, Best Engineering, and Best Communications. Teams ultimately compete for the top honor of winning the solar decathlon, which is determined by the team with the most overall points determined by diverse criteria. There is also the coveted People’s Choice Awards, which adds an additional layer of fun and really makes the students shine when they are giving the public tours.

I originally planned to hit the whole competition in a day but gave myself the backup day of Sunday just in case I could not get to it all. I am so glad I did. Saturday was a mad house and the lines were quite long, so after about two hours I only saw about four houses and I was starving (the venue ran out of food) so I decided to return the next day.

I am so glad I came back. I was determined to see all of the nineteen homes, an endeavor that took me about six hours over the two days. After six hours and two days the houses start to blur in your mind and it is hard to remember which awesome detail or technology went with which house. After a bit of review thanks to the handy dandy information the teams handed out, my people’s choice award went to Maryland.

Image source Treehugger.com

Rather than basing my choice on the engineering, I to admit that I picked my favorites based on which ones I could see myself moving into the next day. Maryland won hands down for my People’s Choice Award vote, mainly because I am from Maryland and have a serious affection for anything that promotes the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland’s house, dubbed Watershed, not only produces all of its energy but also has an impressive water management design complete with a green roof. Instead of all the water going down the drain and eventually to the sewers, the greywater (wastewater that does not contain biosolids such as feces or food) gets diverted to the greywater treatment wetlands where the plants break down the nutrients and remove pathogens allowing the now clean water to be used for plants elsewhere around the house. There are countless reasons why I love this house, there are so many cool features such as their interior design (complete with the taco bed/table) and amazing engineering features such as the Liquid Desiccant Waterfall system which absorbs humidity from the air. I highly suggest checking out 2011.solarteam.org to check out all the amazing features of Watershed.

photos of a taco bed

There are several design features I would like to highlight briefly for the other homes. I really enjoyed the small spaces and was inspired by how comfortable these small houses were. I was especially fascinated by the ways teams hid the beds (Murphy beds, taco bed/table/, giant drawer).  I loved Middlebury’s house and was very impressed since they do not have a school of architecture. All of their furniture was made from locally harvested Vermont wood or reused pieces such as a really cool old trunk that they were using as a coffee table. One of my favorite highlights from this house was the idea of having a greenhouse in your kitchen, so if you needed basil, for example, you could just turn around and pick some and throw it into your simmering pot. Appalachian State, the Solar Homestead, was stunning as well. It seemed to have the most space and felt very homey. My favorite part was the kitchen/living room area due to their clever way to cover up the kitchen. If you have guests over for movie night, just cover it up with a movie screen!

Greenhouse in the Middlebury kitchen

New Zealand’s house was drop dead gorgeous. The house is called First Light because New Zealand is the first country to greet the new day sun. One of my favorite features of this house is the use of recycled sheep’s wool (an abundant renewable resource for New Zealand) as insulation. Tidewater Virginia’s Unit 6, was super fun and well decorated. I loved the sliding bookcase that doubled as a bedroom door, and the students played it up pretending there was a special book you had to pull to reveal the secret chamber. Interestingly, Tennessee’s team used Solyndra’s solar tubes that collect light from every angel instead of the sun shinning directly onto a panel, pretty sweet technology, too bad Solyndra is now in the headlines for a scandal.

After spending two days at the Solar Decathlon, I was sad to leave – there was still so much left to learn! I was so jealous of these students, and it made me miss school terribly. By the way, I went to Arizona State University, and I was shocked that there was not one school represented from the sunny dessert areas such as Arizona or New Mexico. I am just going to cross my fingers that Arizona State will be at the next Solar Decathlon; I know I will be, I would not miss it for the world.

Join us at Crafty Bastards on 10/1!

For the past few weeks, I’ve been busy gearing up for this year’s Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Show in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC. In its 8th year, it’s one of the biggest craft shows in the country drawing an estimated 30,000 attendees. I am super honored to have been chosen to be a vendor. And it’s not only a great place to be a vendor, it’s also a dream-come-true for the shopper looking for unique, high-quality handcrafted gifts.

fuzzy soap display at Crafty Bastards 2010

It’s a huge show, with tons of great stuff to see and do – besides all the amazing crafts, there will also be DIY demos, food vendors, as well as the new Young & Crafty (featuring the wares of crafty kids 18 and under) and Crafty Food vendors (featuring home brew, preserves and pickles!). So, in order to maximize your time there, you can take a look at the vendor page to get a preview of the who will be selling what, then download the official Crafty Bastards vendor map so you can make sure you find all your favorites.

If you are in DC that day, please stop by Booth #88 and say, “Hi!” (If you are in the market for fuzzy soap, try to get there early, since we sold out of all 100 before the end of the day last year!) I hope to see you there!

Our New Brick and Mortar Friend: CARBON, DC

image copyright Examiner

The following post is by Katie Peige, Herban Lifestyle’s Sustainability Associate. We are kicking off a new blog series that focuses on the cool, sustainable shops that carry the Herban Lifestyle line.

CARBON, located locally in Washington DC across from the Woodley Park-Zoo/ Adams Morgan metro, starts off the series after our line debuted there with a day of demos on August 6^th. I first visited CARBON in April for an SBNOW event. I was so impressed that I later mentioned it in our Mother’s Day blog post featuring places to buy cool sustainable gifts for mom.

CARBON opened its doors in 2004, offering comfortable and chic shoes. In March 2011, CARBON expanded its offerings to include eco-chic clothing, jewelry, handbags and more thanks to the new owner Katherine Limon. Apart from being a fashionista’s paradise, what excites me the most about CARBON is its environmental commitment, especially the fact that it is 100% wind powered.

Recycled silver cherry blossom necklace by Melissa Lew. Image copyright Melissa Lew.

Other sustainable aspects of the store include a commitment to showcasing the work of local artists and artisans. Recently, the photography of Max Landerman adorned the walls of CARBON, an exhibition that will continue through this month. And the jewelry of Melissa Lew really caught my eye with her Asian influence and spectacular cherry blossom designs. Katherine is gearing up for the fall so there was a huge sale for her spring and summer items including a 40% off sale on the shoes with the exception of the new inventory. There are many temptations in the store such as their handbags, jewelry, and restyled vintage clothing.

image copyright The Fashion Brewery

Be sure to stop by CARBON for local and sustainable fashion offerings and be sure to check out the Herban Lifestyle products when you are there! CARBON is located at 2643 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington DC 20008.