Etsy, Etsy, Etsy

I have had a dream of creating a store on Etsy for years now.  It always seemed like a pipe dream... that thing I'd always see as a possibility but never would actually do.

Well then I stopped working, became a stay at home wife and mommy in waiting and began to see all this time in front of me.  For the first five months it was FULL of painting rooms, construction, building furniture, buying furniture and general "move in and prepare the house" kinda stuff.  But all of that has begun to slow down (or rather get more streamlined) and I found myself once again drifting to the "what if's".

The main thing I always was stumped on was "what would I even sell?". One day my friend Jenna (who is a rockin' massage therapist) was at the house and I was showing her the salves I make.  I gave her one of my muscle ones and suddenly she asked me why I didn't sell these.  It was like a lightbulb went on and I suddenly realized I already had everything in place to have the etsy shop I always wanted.

So "With Love" was born.  Yes, the name is a spin off of the blog.  The more I learn the more I see that we are called to do everything with love and so why not use that?

So what am I selling?  Right now it's salves and massage oils.  I have a hope to eventually also sell these awesome decal patterns that Steve designs but that is further down the road.

What is a salve?  A salve is a thick oil that is also known as a balm or ointment.  You put it directly on the skin and the herbs do their work.  It's gentle and really has no side effects (unless you have an allergy to an ingredient so read carefully).

Once and awhile, over the two weeks I'll feature the different salves and what they do so people can get an idea of what's available.  If you've ever been to my house chances are I've used at least one on you... especially our "Love Bug" salve!

This week I'm featuring the Misuli Muscle Salve.

The ingredients are: St. John's Wort, Arnica Flowers, Lobelia Leaf, Comfrey Leaf, Peppermint Leaf, Cayenne, Grape Seed Oil, Beeswax, Eucalyptus Oil, Vitamin E Oil and Rosemary Extract.

This muscle salve was the first salve I ever learned how to make and so it and it's name are very dear to me. Misuli is Swahili for muscle and I wanted to create something that honored my love for the continent of Africa. I decided that for every purchase of this salve 10% of the profit will be used for micro loans on kiva.org to help small business owners in Africa.

The shop officially opens September 1st and we can't wait!! If you want to stay updated on deals, kiva loans and all the other crazy things we decide to do make sure you click here and "like" the facebook page to stay updated!