American Made Vendor: Handcrafted Honey Bee

Today we're showcasing Handcrafted Honey Bee, a skin care company out of the small mountain town of Tehachapi, California. Founded by Stacia Guzzo and her husband Robert, Handcrafted Honey Bee offers body care products with an ingenious twist: you make the product yourself! The company provides you with a DIY kit for the product, be it lip balm, or facial cream, or deodorant (to name just a few of their offerings.)

Founder Stacia recognized a need for her company when she moved from the city to more rural Tehachapi and began experimenting with creating her own body care items. With two small children, she wanted "to learn a little more about what we were putting on our bodies on a daily basis." She learned to make her own soap and lip balm, and eventually began to teach classes about homemade goods. Realizing that demand for self-made products was high, she conceptualized a company where she could help customers get started with the process. 

Each kit is specially formulated with natural ingredients and comes complete with all the jars, labels, containers, and tools you will need. What we especially appreciated was how explicit Handcrafted Honey Bee is about the exact ingredients and materials that come in your kit. Take, for example, the "Just Face It" Nightly Facial Kit. 

On the page for this kit, Honey Bee lists each specific ingredient you will receive (Almond Meal and Rosehip Oil, for example), the four different products you will be able to make, and the approximate time each product will take to create. The company also lists possible substitutions for ingredients if you have a potential skin worry. In fact, this level of customization is one of the things Stacia feels is so special about her company. On her American Made site, she explains: 

I think there are two distinct characteristics of Handcrafted Honey Bee that set us apart. The first is the ability to completely customize the kit according to your skin type, to substitute ingredients due to allergies or personal preferences . . . The second characteristic that sets us apart is our emphasis on the educational component of making skin care. We believe that making skin care isn't just about learning how to follow a recipe or a set of instructions, but instead is an opportunity to learn a new skill set. This is one of the reasons that we include information about every single ingredient in each recipe, including its source and benefits. 

We were drawn to Handcrafted Honey Bee not only for its great products and mission statement, but also because we loved the concept behind the name. Just as honey bees work to create their own sweet and natural product, so we conscious-minded consumers can use nature's goodies to make our own balms and creams. The idea brought to mind one of our favorite Bleu de Toi prints: the Buzzing Honeybee Guestbook.

Stacia offers kits and mini-kits for gatherings like kids' parties and "Girls Night Ins". We especially loved the "Lava Lamp Lip Gloss" kit. For 9.99, you can make two groovy lip glosses with your girlfriends. We had fun envisioning the different kind of DIY-events you could host with your girlfriends: baby showers, bachelorette parties...maybe even a honeybee-themed gathering! 

As a special promotion for Bleu de Toi, Stacia is offering a a 15% discount on ALL products through November 15th. Use the discount code: BLEUDETOI

Thank you Handcrafted Honey Bee, and good luck in the American Made contest!

Photos courtesy of: Courtney Sacket Photography

American Made Vendor: AENDEE

In the spirit of "celebrating the maker," we're bringing you features this week on our favorite American Made contest vendors. First up is AENDEE, a company that "upcycles" old items of clothing into accessories such as neckties, pocket squares, and infinity scarves.

What we particularly liked about AENDEE was its focus on crafting "heirloom" pieces for its customers: taking a special item of clothing--grandpa's favorite shirt, for example--and creating a bow tie for baby out of it, or wedding cufflinks. These mementos carry cherished memories and connect generations of family together.

AENDEE is the brainchild of Ashley Dedin, a student in philosophy and studio art, who always loved altering and repurposing thrift shop finds. After receiving a commission for custom neckties in 2012, she began to sell her wares at a consignment store and local craft fairs. Since that time, she's opened an Etsy store, as well as a brick-and-mortar shop in historic downtown Fargo, North Dakota. You can read more in-depth about Ashley and her store on her American made site.  We especially loved what she had to say about the mission of her business:

AENDEE is really about giving new life to old materials. I don't just make upcycled accessories, I tell stories. I've crafted a necktie for a young woman's wedding day that was made from one of her dad's shirts (who had passed away). I've made a collection of heirlooms for a family from old neckties and jewelry that a daughter had held onto for many years. . . To me, that's priceless.

We were also drawn to AENDEE because of Ashley's custom work with wedding parties. She primarily does this custom work through her Etsy store, where she will plan with you to coordinate wedding party colors or utilize a special item of clothing. 

We love the rustic charm of these bow ties, and we had fun envisioning them at a country wedding, perhaps paired with our Mason Jar fingerprint guestbook. :) 

To see some ideas for a rustic wedding check out our Country Charm Pinterest page: 

On the top left, color-coordinated wedding ties from AEDNEE

Thank you, Ashley, for providing us pictures of your work, and best of luck in the American Made contest!

Anniversary Sale!

Five years ago this week, Hilary and Josh were married under a splendid oak tree at Paramount Ranch in California. On the hot October day, guests sipped on Southern sweet tea, snacked on divine cupcakes, and enjoyed an array of handmade touches at the picturesque, rustic location (a film site for dozens of Hollywood westerns!). Read more about the wedding here.

At the wedding, guests left their fingerprints on the first (yet to be named Bleu de Toi) guestbook tree!

The original "Great Oak Tree" design!

 As we celebrate the anniversary of this wedding, we also celebrate the beginnings of Bleu de Toi. Out of this event came the "seed" of an idea--a seed that would grow into many trees, and a dream that would send us flying towards the sky.

To mark the anniversary, and as a thank you to our customers, we're offering 17% off all orders from October 14th through October 19th. This discount applies to sales made on both our website (with coupon code 5YEARANV) and our Etsy store.

We'd also like to thank you also for voting during the Martha Stewart American Made contest. Today is the last day to vote! Winners will be announced this Friday. We've really enjoyed being a part of this contest and seeing all the creative, handmade work being done across the country. In the spirit of the contest, we'd like to celebrate our fellow American "makers" by featuring some of our favorite companies we came across while participating. We'll be bringing you these features across the week, so be sure to check back in to the blog over the next several days. 

Happy anniversary to Hilary and Josh, and happy birthday to Bleu de Toi!

Baby Bundle: Scott and Leslie

At Bleu de Toi, we're lucky to share in our customer's most joyful moments. Sometimes, we even get to share in more than one, like when a couple has us do their wedding guestbook, and then a little while later, their baby shower book!

Scott and Leslie are such a couple. They celebrated their marriage three years ago with our Large twisted Oak wedding guestbook tree, which now hangs proudly above their fireplace.

And now it's time for baby!

Scott and Leslie chose the adorable Baby Bundle balloon guestbook to welcome their little one. We love this photo shoot with the antique truck--particularly the way the colors match perfectly with Leslie and Scott's BDT ink choices.

A baby guestbook is special because there are several opportunities for loved ones to place their fingerprints. Below is a picture of the Baby Bundle guestbook ready to go, without any fingerprints yet. Leslie and Scott requested "You Are Loved" as the text beneath the bundle, as well as their sweet bundle's future name: Audrey Grace McCoy.

Leslie first had a baby shower where guests left their marks. In order to keep the baby's name a surprise till after her birth, Leslie covered up Audrey's name. 

Then, a couple months later, the couple actually brought the guestbook to the delivery room and had the delivery nurses sign it! What a brilliant and poignant idea!

Now, the guestbook hangs in little Audrey's beautiful nursery. Family and friends who come to see her in her first months of life can also leave their fingerprint on the guestbook, creating an ever-expanding picture of the all the people who care for this sweet baby girl!

Thank you, Leslie and Scott, for sharing these gorgeous pictures with us, and for letting BDT be a part of your precious celebrations!