It's been a minute....

It's been a minute since I've been actively posting. With my side business picking up momentum and also being back in college, I really haven't had time to just sit down and just take a breather. So on the short side my good news is that I received all A's in the three classes I was enrolled in for the Fall semester and my shea butter business has beening doing great as well.

Yet I think the funny thing is that I have not talked about my side business really except for my last post and this one. So since I am so late in regards to this for those who haven't checked out my Instagram, Facebook fan page, or Twitter account. I have a whipped shea butter business called All That MsJazz. Shea butter is wonderful from head to toe, but don't just take my word for it, try some for yourself.

Yesterday I did my first vendor showing at a church function and even though I had a good time, the event wasn't in my opinion really catered towards the vendors. I was grateful for the experience and I definitely learned from it. There is another vendor opportunity next weekend that I'm hoping to be able to participate in. If not, I'll be having a huge overstock sale.

Overall, I'm hoping to become more active again on my blog. I just have to find the time. 

Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz

What do you do for an Auction, donate of course:)

Life is Beautiful and so is this basket!!

 Well the BMS Chili Cook off and Silent Auction which will be held next Friday at my job is almost here. This is one of the biggest events and is great because we receive a lot of traffic also due to the high school football game which also takes place as well. The Silent auction consists of not only donations from businesses around the area but also 'Family' baskets which are those made up by the groups of students at my job.

Since I started my business with my whipped Shea butters I'm always looking for ways to spread the word about my business and I came up with the idea back in July to make up a basket centered around pampering. I knew I wanted it to be a unique basket and I remember there was a former coworker, Kathleen Berhmann, who also had her own business, Buddha Bath and Body, making homemade soaps as well as other items. So I thought it would be a great idea to also ask  if she would like to donate some of her homemade soaps to the basket, another coworker, Denise Balley who is unofficially in to Partylite candles donated a candle holder and some votive candles. So since Denise wasn't an official rep I put the name of the lady, Kathy Willhite, who is her contact also in the basket as well.

I also bought a Loofah and some fuzzy socks to round out the items. 

I already had bought the basket and items to decorate the basket in advance at Hobby Lobby. I knew I had a certain vision for the basket but I knew unfortunately I wasn't skilled enough to put it all together. So this past Friday I finally brought all the materials up to the job and a coworker who had experience in making gift baskets put mine together and I have to say she exceeded all my expectations and did an amazing job.

As she was finishing up my basket with my hair dryer to shrink up the plastic so it would mold to the basket, her first class of the day was coming into her classroom. They were crowding around the basket and asking who it belonged to. I told them I had it made for the silent auction and that the whipped shea butters and soaps were handmade while the candle accessories were donated. It's a unique basket because all the items with the exception of loofah and the socks were from staff (present and past) who were connected to the school district that I worked for. 

the item list sign I made to go with the basket

I'm hoping the basket will be a big success and who knows, it might become something that we can do every year. If other coworkers have their own businesses and would like to donate then maybe next year the basket will be bigger. Not only are we doing it for a good cause but also it will help spread the word about our businesses.

All That MsJazz

Buddha Body & Bath

Party Lite - Kathy Willhite

 
Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz

Find a Vintage Market, find a piece of Heaven!!

Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to go to a vintage fair out in Highland, Illinois. Even thought I found it to be VERY strange that they named it the Saint Louis Vintage Market Days, but hey it is what it is. So I heard about this market from a family member who went out there Saturday afternoon. She had taken a picture of some vintage cameras. Recently I had been obsessed with getting my hands on a TLR camera and in her picture there were around 4 different options. 

Photo credit: Amy Hopper-Davis

I immediately zeroed in on the black one that was at the bottom. I figured it had to be a Yashica or even maybe a Rolliflex or Rollicord. So I decided Saturday night that I was going to go check out this market to see if maybe the camera was still available, for $50 it was a huge steal. Yet my biggest issue was waiting on AT&T to come out Sunday morning and fix a TV issue. Thankfully they came through and were done by 10:30am.

After mapping my route to get out to fair I realized that this was going to be a bit of a trek. Almost an hour to get to the Madison County Fairgrounds. So I made my way there and I couldn't believe how many corn fields are in the area. I eventually made it to my destination and ended up parking on a baseball field along with numerous other cars.

I start making my way over to the fair grounds and there didn't seem to be that much activity but when I eventually did make it to the main entrance to pay my $5 admission fee, holy crap.....this place was BUSY. I was absolutely amazed at all the people there and all the different items that were up for sale. I saw vintage clothes, furniture, accessories, jewelry, you name it was probably there. 



Yet the biggest surprise was seeing a former coworker also out there with her wares.  Kathleen Berhman owns Buddha, Body and Bath. She makes wonderful handmade soaps, candles, lotions, and lip balms.

 There was also 2 huge barns that had vendors in them as well as two warehouse buildings also with vendors. I walked around and took in the sites. I actually made more than one trip of the whole place just to make sure I saw everything. I did eventually buy a few things.

Soaps for my mom from Buddha Body and Bath

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Wine Caddy from Reclaim Renew

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Homemade leather bracelets with hammered brass designs from Barn Trash

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There were a few food trucks as well and I decided to try the pizza truck and I must say it was pretty good!

Slice of the Hill

I also made sure to take plenty of pictures so I could remember the event. I definitely plan on coming back again.  In regards to the camera I was originally interested in, I did find the seller and her booth. Unfortunately she had sold the camera (it was a Yashica) Saturday evening but I did get her business card so I might look her up in a few months to see if she was able to find any more TLR cameras. 

Villa Design

The Vintage Market will be back in Saint Louis during the Christmas Holidays.

Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz

Paint Nite - Joyias Tapas

Yesterday evening I enjoyed another Wine/Painting event (Paint Nite) down in Tower Groves at a restaurant called Joyia Tapas. I made sure to get down there at least 30 minutes before the event started to make sure I was able to get a good seat. The restaurant was very nice and I made sure before we started at 7pm to have a glass of moscato and a sprite on deck to enjoy.

Eventually 7pm comes around and our head painters along with, I think, was the owner of the restaurant introduce themselves and inform us that during this wine/painting party servers would be around to bring us drinks and food which was definitely a nice and welcomed difference from the other previous two wine/painting parties that I have attended.

After all of the introductions the head painter starts the class and we see an example of the painting that we will be doing for the evening.

Name of Painting: Reflection

 So we start our paintings with a blank canvas and start to do solid colors across and blending the colors as well.

Throughout the evening I'm making some small talk with some another lady at my table and after we paint up to this point, we take a small break to let our canvases dry before starting on part two of paintings, which is to painting bushes, and you can imagine the funny jokes that were had about that.....lolol

So I started off painting my bushes and tree trunk in the color black as the example painting but when I started to makes the leaves for the trees something in me decided to change it up and go in a different direction. So I decided to make my tree a deep dark green and follow it up with a slightly lighter green in the middle of the leaves.

 

 After I was done with my first tree, I flipped my canvas upside down and proceeded to make my reflective bushes (in green) and tree. Yet while we were painting, we were treated to a belly dance performance.

So while the belly dancer was giving some wonderful entertainment, I was bobbing my head to the middle eastern music and started to make my reflective tree and again decided to make it different and painted the trunk brown and gave it the leaves a fire orange and red tint. The bushes were green and to finish the look I made the stars on one side white with a white moon and on the other side yellow stars a blood red moon. I was very proud of my masterpiece;)

After I was done, I took some pictures to remember the moment but unfortunately they didn't have any metallic sharpies so I didn't sign my name yet to my masterpiece. That shall be rectified soon;)

 Overall I had a great night, I can honestly say this has been my best wine/painting party to date. Probably because of the location, atmosphere and the positive ambiance of the place and staff. If you ever get a chance to experience +PaintNite , enjoy yourself. You won't regret it;) and if you are able to experience it at Joyia Tapas, definitely prepare to have a good time! I plan on coming back to try out the food!

Until the next episode....

 All That MsJazz