Scrumptious Little Things

Scrumptious Little Things came to life in the spring of 2012. The five, long, hard years prior to this, I had been working with Mathieu; growing organic fruit & vegies and selling them at daily provençal markets. I wanted to start a small business of my own, one where I didn't have to worry about getting my hands dirty or being stung by wasps. One where I could bring together all of my passions such as photography, sewing, embroidery, jewellery-making and paper-crafts.

Selling melons at a market.

In between looking after my son, my parents and doing odd jobs here and there on the farm for Mathieu, I began working on small projects that, at the time, would be for myself or friends and family.  I would make little bracelets of silk ribbon and fresh water pearls; jewellery purses; felt-flower brooches that could be added to hats or winter coats; greeting and thank you cards and lavender heat-bags... not to mention the journal full of ideas roughly scribbled down for future use.

The Birdy Purse - perfect for small bits of jewellery!

One cold winter, a neighbour who had seen some of my 'little things', asked if I would make him some invitations for his wife's birthday. I made a couple of mock invites and showed them to him. He picked the one he liked, gave me all the details and off I went. At the time, I wasn't really focusing on what I was going to charge him for doing them, I was just thrilled that someone was paying me to do something that I enjoyed doing. The day that I delivered them, he asked if I had thought about what I would like to be paid. I pondered the question for a moment and before I answered him, he had placed 250€ in my hand. After the initial shock had passed and I managed to say thank you, I left his house thinking, 'hmm, now this is something that I could do'! I have done a few different invitations since then, both hand made and computer generated.

Computer generated invitation.

Last year, however, the planets aligned and I discovered a true passion of mine. One that I was to later learn, was actually a family tradition. Soap making. I was destined to do it!

I found a book on my shelf that I had bought in my early 20's {I was a member of the Double Day book club and the starting-out offer, was 5 books for $1 each. As a lover of books and reading, I joined up as many times as I could. One of the books that I bought, was 'The Art of Soap Making'. It was a beautiful book, full of glorious photographs of delicious looking handmade soaps} and I decided to give it a go. I found an online supplier of all the goodies that I needed to start out and made my first batch of lavender soap. Unfortunately, it had gone rancid and was a huge blunder. But, I tried again, and the second time was a charm. The more I made, the more confident I became and now, I kind of feel like a pro - although really, I am far from that!

The perfect lavender soap!

So, along with my new found skill, I was ready to put bundle everything together and pretty it up into a neat, little package - all I needed was a name. But that was simple! I already had the 'little things' part, because once when asked by someone at a market, 'what is it you actually do', my response was this - 'I make... little things'. 'Scrumptious' is a word that I have always loved the sound of, so, I just put the two parts together and it seemed to just roll off my tongue.

My precious, little man!

If you would like to see some of the things I make, this is the link to my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/scrumptiouslittlethings

You can also follow me on Instagram:

http://instagram.com/scrumptious_little_things

I dont have an Etsy shop set up as yet, but it's on my 'To Do List' for sometime over the next fortnight.

And that is the story of how Scrumptious Little Things came to be.