Eye Candy: Still Life with Onions

I'm a sucker for a Cezanne still life. Not sure why, but I find them appealing and comforting in a way that more formal still life paintings just don't. I'm planning to see this one and hope they have others at the Post-Impressionist Masterpieces exhibit at the deYoung during our break.

Eye Candy: Local Fashion Trends

My recent trip from where I live in California (Silicon Valley) to Seattle and then on to Vancouver made me realize all over again about the little fashion trends that pop up even up and down the west coast. For example, every single person I saw wearing a scarf in Seattle - and I saw a lot of people wearing scarves in Seattle - had it wrapped around their necks like this. (It's folded in half, with the loop end holding the other end in place.) No one wears scarves like that here. Of course, it's warmer here. :)

And then in Vancouver there were a lot of boots, including an extraordinary number of stylish over-the-knee boots like these. I'd never wanted to wear over-the-knee boots before, but by the time I left I was drooling over them. Again, it's colder and wetter in Vancouver than Silicon Valley, so boots are probably always more common, but they were incredibly beautiful too. 

As for what's popular in Silicon Valley? I'm not sure what would pop out at other people. We're pretty laid back - people in San Francisco are always better dressed - but there must be something, right?

Last Chance

If you still haven't ordered your holiday lollipops, this is your chance to do it! We're going on vacation starting tomorrow morning, which means we'll be closing the shop up this evening. You can use HOLIDAYS2010 to get 20% off your order before then.

We'll be taking some well deserved vacation time - the shop will reopen again on January 10th. We may pre-schedule some Eye Candy or Hockey Friday posts, but that's going to be it until then.

See you in the new year! Happy holidays!

Vancouver Wrap-Up

photo by Justine Kamionsky

I'd intended to write a long blog post much earlier than this about our wonderful time in Vancouver. I wanted to tell you all about the cute, delicious waffles and high-quality coffee at Cafe Medina and Rangoli where we had some amazing Indian food (though at least some of its fabulousness was from hunger - the best sauce of all).

I also wanted to tell you about all the wonderful people we met a One of a Kind Vancouver, from Mena Dragonfly to Natur'el Tea (I'm enjoying her Jasmine Pearl Tea right this very second) to the Luv'n Nuts folks who were right across the aisle from us. Not to mention Doug and Ally and Michelle and everyone from One of a Kind who were incredibly helpful and patient.

Alas, it's now three days later and the blog post schedule for the second half of December has gone completely out the window while we catch up on orders and customer service and everything else that you have to do to run a business.

In short: Thanks to everyone who came to One of a Kind Vancouver and thanks to everyone who helped put the show together! You are all awesome and wonderful!

One of a Kind Vancouver Details

We hope that if you live in/near Vancouver or are visiting this weekend, you'll stop into the One of a Kind show. We'll be setting up today and selling lots of candy (we hope!) for the next four days. Stop in and buy a Spice Rack, Breakfast Tray, or any of our delicious candy and say hi - we'd love to meet you!

Who: us, This Charming Candy
What: One of a Kind Vancouver
Where: in the Flavours section of the NewVancouver Convention Centre
When: Thursday - Saturday 10am - 9pm / Sunday 10am - 5pm
Why: Because you deserve a 10 minute treat!
How: any which way you can

We hope to see you there!

One of a Kind Vancouver Vendor: Bronsino Designs

I was wandering through the One of a Kind Vancouver listings, looking for Christmas presents to buy. My eyes lit upon the Haarlem bag (pictured) from Bronsino Designs and I AM IN LOVE. I'm 95% sure I can't afford it, and 100% sure I don't need it but, man oh man, do I want it. I'm at least going to visit her booth and drool for awhile.

Thanks and a Quick Announcement

Thanks:
A big HUGE thank you to everyone who came out to Urban Craft Uprising this weekend! We had a great time and we hope you did too. Sales were good (which we like) and I, personally, had a great time buying some Christmas presents for my family and stocking up on Secret Stash Sea Salts.

The Quick Announcement:
Susan and I are heading up to Vancouver for OoaK first thing tomorrow morning, so any Etsy order placed between now and next Monday will ship out on Tuesday December 14th. That's still plenty of time to make it through the US for any Christmas celebrations you might be having. Our last shipments of 2010 will be on December 18th, after which we will be taking a well-deserved break to play in the snow and spend time with our families.

Urban Craft Uprising Details

By the time you are read this post, I (Kate) will be in the air, flying up to Seattle for Urban Craft Uprising. It starts tomorrow! If you're coming - and I hope if you're in the Seattle area, you are - our booth is off to the right, towards the front of the room. Stop by, say hi, and buy some of your favorite lollipops!

Who: Us!
What: Urban Craft Uprising
Where: at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall (in the first level of the Pacific Northwest Ballet building)
When: Saturday & Sunday from 11am - 5pm
Why: Because you like candy and need to buy holiday presents!
How: by hook or crook, plane or train.

Laughing (And Bragging)

We received some completely hilarious feedback in our Etsy store, about our wildly popular Salted Caramel lollipops:
“Well, this didn't work out too good. I ordered these for Thanksgiving but they are all gone. They have been all gone since the box was opened and everyone grabbed one. These lollys are ecstatically tasty. Whatever you think you need, order a billion times as much and they may last you a month. O.K., you have been warned!”

We totally endorse this advice :-)
photo by Kevin Keeker

UCU Vendor: Bread and Badger

The second of our UCU vendor posts is Bread and Badger. We had the wonderful luck of selling in the booth next to her at summer UCU, where Susan got this awesome little octopus soap dispenser:

It's lovely and functional and she's great. Visit her and us and everyone at Winter UCU this weekend!

One of a Kind Vancouver Vendor: Mena Dragonfly

In two weekends, we'll be up in Vancouver selling at the One of a Kind show there. I'm really excited to see what Mena Dragonfly has. I'm in love with her Dots pottery, white bowls with orange dots at the bottom. I love the minimalism and the burst of color.

They're beautiful! If you're in Vancouver from Dec 9-12, stop by our booth and Mena Dragonfly's!

UCU Vendor: Secret Stash Sea Salts

As part of our attempt to persuade you to come to Urban Craft Uprising this weekend, we're going to be featuring a couple of other vendors on the blog this week. First is Secret Stash Sea Salts, mainly because I can't think of a simpler, yummier side dish than pan-roasted potatoes with their chipolte salt. I bought it from them at the last Urban Craft Uprising and it's been popular in our house ever since. Visit us and them at UCU this weekend!

What We Are Thankful For

It is the day before Thanksgiving and many of you are likely reading this on a phone while you're stuck in an airport or riding somewhere in a taxi or on a train or a bus. Safe travels to you all.

Susan and I would like to say THANK YOU. We are thankful for our friends and families and that we are relatively well-off in this crazy world. But also: YOU ARE AWESOME. Without you, we wouldn't have a business. We wouldn't be pursuing our dreams to make the world a little bit happier with sugar on a stick, nor would we be learning so much about ourselves and how the world works. And that is all because you make it possible.

Thanks. From the bottoms of our hearts.

Now go stuff yourselves on turkey (or a vegetarian turkey-substitute) and watch some football. You deserve it.

2010 Holiday Gift Guide

If you regularly scan the right hand navigation bar of our blog, you may notice a new addition to the press section. Our lollipops were included in the 2010 Holiday Gift Guide in Alaska Airlines magazine! We're on page 66. So if you're flying anytime soon, take a look for us!

Try a Popular Flavor

Are you new to our lollipops or have you not tried every single solitary flavor that we make? Why not try our Greatest Hits collection of lollipops? We selected the most popular flavor from each of the packs we've had for sale this year and put them together into one pack that would make fabulous stocking stuffers or favors at a holiday party.

These delectable flavors include:

• Pistachio-Marshmallow
• Salted Caramel
• Root Beer Float
• Maple Sugar
• Sweetheart (Honey-Jasmine)
• Pomegranate

They're bound to please even the pickiest of tastes!

New Music for Kate

It's Friday and that means a non-business related post from us. Mentally, this is the time when we take a small break from promoting everything we've got going on (UCU, OOaK, our Etsy shop) and write about hockey or music or we share something that's caught our eye lately.

Today, it's going to be music.

Susan loves music. Going to shows and seeing new bands and discovering new tunes is one of her favorite things to do. I, being a working suburban mom, don't really have either the time or the opportunity to do that. I rely on Susan to introduce me to new music and I love that she loves sharing and recommending bands and songs that I would otherwise not hear of.

So when she IMed me before a recent trip down here to ask if I wanted her to make me a CD my response was "Of course I do!" The CD she made was wonderful and both I and my daughter like listening to it.

Here is the full playlist:

1. Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells
2. I'm in Your Church at Night - Active Child
3. Windstorm - School of Seven Bells
4. Walls - Shout Out Louds
5. Higher Than the Stars - Pains of Being Pure at Heart
6. God Knows I Had Plans - Mary Onettes
7. Coast of Carolina - Telekenisis!
8. Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9. The Lessons: The Exploding People - Cloud Cult
10. Designer Skyline - Owl City
11. Swim Until You Can't See Land - Frightened Rabbit
12. Beautiful Amnesia - Visqueen
13. 5 Years Time - Noah and the Whale
14. Song Writes Itself - Pela
15. Angela Surf City - The Walkmen
16. The Weekenders - The Hold Steady
17. Stadium Love - Metric
18. Bloodbuzz Ohio - The National
19. Wolves, Live@KEXP - Phsophorescent
20. Threads - This Will Destroy You

What's your favorite new music? 

Congratulations!

Thanks to both gen and Miranda for their recommendations! To show our gratitude, we will give both of you a pair of free tickets to the One of a Kind Vancouver Show, December 9-12 at the Vancouver Convention Centre!

Please contact us – thischarmingcandy@gmail.com – to claim your tickets and a free candy sample. We just need your mailing address and you’ll be all set. We’re excited to meet you next month :-)

OOAK Vancouver ticket giveaway

Do you live in Vancouver, BC? Are you going to be visiting there soon? Like, say, between December 9th and 12th? Would you like two FREE tickets to the One of a Kind Vancouver Show (adult admission is otherwise $10)?

Leave a comment below before 9 pm Pacific time tonight. Tell us the name of your favorite Vancouver restaurant and your favorite dish there (a link to their website would be double-plus awesome).  Hey, we need to eat while we’re in town, right?

We’ll pick a winner at random from among the commenters. Check back tomorrow to see if you won. We will ask you to e-mail us your postal address so that we can send you the tickets and a bonus candy sample. Now, how awesome is that?

p.s. Become our fan on Facebook so you get advance notice of the next giveaway. We have a total of 3 pairs of tickets to give away…

Thanksgiving Lollipops

If you want to have some yummy lollipops at your Thanksgiving feast (like this pictured selection of Greatest Hits lollipops) please note that it typically takes about a week for a shipment of our lollipops to get from Seattle (where we ship from) to the other side of the country. We encourage you to order by tomorrow, Wednesday November 17th to be sure that you'll get your lollipops before the big meal.

Setting a Pretty Table

I love a pretty table setting, and I suspect I'm not alone. There's a reason all those sell-your-house shows on HGTV always staged with a set table - it makes it easy to imagine yourself having a big dinner like Thanksgiving, with all your extended family invited and a plethora of food.

That said, I'm not very good at actually creating those settings for everyday. Sure, we've got nice dishes (I love Villeroy & Boch) and matching napkins (which are always wrinkled because who irons napkins every week?) and sometimes even flowers sitting on the table. But during the week with a 7-year-old and a business to run, who has time? Getting everything on the table is more the goal, not making it look good.

But this year, I'm looking forward to Doing Things Right for Thanksgiving. It's going to be just a small family affair, but we've already got the turkey and we're planning on a peanut butter pie (yum!). I'm going to pull out the good dishes, and I might even iron the napkins! I will include some Maple Sugar lollipops as part of the place setting though. I'm not sure yet if I'll put them on the plates or maybe at the top of them, but their warm brown color and toasty labels will complement the fall table colors perfectly.

November Promotion Reminder

We know that people enjoy giving and receiving our beautiful, handmade lollipops as gifts. Whether you’re picking up an Adventurer’s Pack stocking-stuffer for your foodie brother, a Greatest Hits for your child’s music teacher, a Breakfast Tray treat for your carpool organizer, or all of the above -- you thoughtful gift-givers deserve to be rewarded, in our opinion!

During November 2010, all orders totaling more than $60 (excluding shipping) will receive a free 6-pack of those lovable misfits: the Charm School Dropouts.

Get a jump on your holiday shopping and you’ll receive a little something extra from This Charming Candy as thanks. We love our customers ♥♥

Eye Candy: Sherlock

I've just finished watching Sherlock, the updated version of Sherlock Holmes from the BBC - it's just aired on PBS, and they've got the episodes online until December 7th. It was fabulous and I loved it (yes, I'm also a big Doctor Who fan), but the reason that this qualifies as Eye Candy was the third episode - the art direction for the whole thing is lovely, but The Great Game was PHENOMENAL. Kudos to the designers and cinematographers and everyone who worked on it!

This is the series promo video on YouTube.

Lollipops to Hand

I don't know about you, but there's a point in almost every day when I could use a little pick-me-up. It's usually in the afternoon, my energy levels are lagging a bit (or a lot), and a little tea and sugar gives me the energy I need.

When I first got to Silicon Valley, I used to take my daughter over to a neighbor's house. The kids would all play together and we would sit and have tea and cookies together. It was a lovely little ritual we had. Now, of course, there's no time for such leisure, and I often eat my pick-me-up while I'm volunteering or emailing or helping my daughter with her homework. A little bit of candy, like a Salted Caramel lollipop, is often just what the doctor ordered.

Being a Good Host

It is the time of year to travel and have house guests. Last summer, Lifehacker put a wonderful post together about how to be the perfect 21st century host, and I have to confess that I read it over with a fine-tooth comb. Not that we have that many house guests, but it's always nice to be able to treat everyone right.

If you are going to have some visitors for Thanksgiving or another holiday this year, why not put some lollipops into a small vase in their room? Often when you've just finished traveling, you're exhausted. A small pick-me-up is just what the doctor ordered. (Our Root Beer Float, Bubble Gum, and Birthday Cake lollipops are pictured here for just that purpose.)

Share Your Lollipops!

Back when I worked at a Large Technology Company, the department admins always had a stash of candy. It was a great excuse to get up from your desk and stretch, and maybe even go carry on a face-to-face conversation, not just type some words into your computer's IM window.

May I suggest that our lollipops, perhaps even our warm, fall-ish Tangerine-Clove lollipops would be perfect to have on your desk? This is the time of year when a warm, spicy flavor would be most welcome, and what better way to meet people at work?

Charming Ways to Display Lollipops

If you’d like to become one of those wonderful, smart, beautiful, creative people who’s incorporating lollipops into a party, huzzah! Here are a couple of cute ways to display the lollipops.

If you’re putting lollipops at individual place settings, BlumeBuds combine a name card with a little test tube for holding a flower… or better yet, a lollipop :-)

If lollipops will be part of your dessert table, this peacock-shaped holder from Jonathan Adler is elegant and would look impressive filled out with colorful suckers in beautiful packaging… such as our Greatest Hits collection.

We’re always interested to hear of ways to display lollies creatively – so drop a link in the comments if you’ve got one, or shoot an email to thischarmingcandy [at] gmail [dot] com!

Eye Candy: The Winged Victory of Samothrace

The Winged Victory of Samothrace is easily my favorite sculpture in the world. I'm impressed when it looks like the marble fabric could actually move like regular fabric.

That, and it's impossible to stand like that and *not* feel like you could accomplish anything you set your mind to. Go on, try it. I dare you. Feels good, doesn't it?

In fact, I think I'm going to stand like that right now.

photo from Wikipedia

It’s Too Early For This

Does any of this sound familiar?

• Your project team has a regular 7 am conference call with colleagues halfway around the globe.
• Your six-month-old is up. Again.
• You're signing in runners at a Sunday morning 5/10k run.

People are coming through for you at unreasonably early hours of the day. Bring a creative treat to show your gratitude for their dedication: Breakfast Tray lollipops honor the tastes of morning and are sure to bring smiles to tired faces (though maybe not to your six-month-old).

Blueberry Muffin, Sweetened Grapefruit, and Maple Syrup. Now that’s what I call a sweet morning!

TCC Invades Canada

This Charming Candy will close out our 2010 craft show schedule with a four-day extravaganza in gorgeous Vancouver, British Columbia. We are so excited to be making our first appearance in Canada, the birthplace of our favorite sport – that’d be hockey, for those of you who are new :-)

If you’re anywhere near Vancouver, BC, come to the One of a Kind Vancouver show. It will be an incredible source for thoughtful and creative gifts for anyone on your list. We’ve been browsing the list of artisans and getting pretty excited ourselves.

Western Canadians who’ve been considering buying our beautiful small-batch confections can save considerable time by getting them in person and not having to deal with waiting for shipping and customs that’s part of the territory when buying online. Everybody wins!

DATE: December 9 - 12, 2010

TIME: 10:00 am to 9:00 pm Thurs-Sat / 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Sunday

PLACE: The New Vancouver Convention Centre
1055 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC, V6C 0C3

TICKETS:

Adults $10.00
Seniors (65+) $6.50
Students (13-17) $6.50
Children (12 and under) Free

P.S. – become our fan on Facebook and you might win complimentary tickets to enter the show! Details soon.

Handmade Holidays

Recently I’ve noticed a rack of 2011 calendars for sale in the grocery store… which I’m taking as a sure sign that holiday shopping season is upon us :-)

Even if you’re not yet ready to start buying lovely handmade lollipops for all the lucky folks on your list today, you’ll probably be ready in early December. Great news for Seattle area residents! This Charming Candy is thrilled to be a vendor at Urban Craft Uprising Winter 2010, Seattle’s biggest indie craft show with the world-famous swag bags for the first 100 customers.

Buy handmade for the holidays!

DATE: December 4th & 5th

TIME: 11am  - 5pm

PLACE: Exhibition Hall @ Seattle Center

Exhibition Hall is in the basement of the Pacific Northwest Ballet building on Mercer Street, roughly across from Teatro Zinzanni.

Gifts for the Gift-Giver

If you happen to be one of those super-organized people who is already starting their holiday shopping*, we are kicking off the season with a special promotion. During the month of November, if you buy more than $60 worth of candy** from us on Etsy, we will throw in a pack of Charm School Dropout lollipops for free! Buy candy as gifts for your friends or as a Thanksgiving dessert and you'll get some extra for yourself. You can relax for ten minutes, enjoying a delicious lollipop, and get a small kick of sugar-energy when you're done.

* Will you come help me organize my life? That'd be awesome!

** Not shipping, just candy

Eye Candy: Uh, Eye Candy

Amy Atlas Events has a gorgeous section of photography on her website called, perfectly enough, Eye Candy. The pictures are amazing!

1000th Etsy Sale!

No, we're not quite to our 1000th Etsy sale, but we're getting close! This is quite the milestone for us - I'm not sure we thought it would happen quite this quickly, but we're certainly happy about it.

To celebrate this amazing milestone, the person who orders the 1000th item from our Etsy shop will have their order DOUBLED. That's right - if you order one Spice Rack and one dozen Sweetened Grapefruit lollipops and you're the person who orders the 1000th item, we'll send you TWO Spice Racks and TWO dozen Sweetened Grapefruit lollipops! It's a great deal.

So stop by the shop today, and maybe place an order. Perhaps you'll get your order doubled!

NaNoWriMo

I've done NaNoWriMo before. It can be quite the slog, but so much fun when you're done. You've written a book!

Picture yourself halfway through the month: it's November 15th, you've got 20,000 words written out of your 50,000 required. It's late, you've got a deadline at work that you've been slacking off on because you're trying to get this particular scene juuuuuuust right. But hey! You suddenly remember that you've got exactly what you need: lollipops! Blueberry Muffin lollipops, to be exact. Why Blueberry Muffin? Because they have a great warm muffin taste combined with the zing of blueberry that leaps out at you to give you that kick in the pants you might need about that time.

(We also recommend our hazelnut-coffee flavored Lickanthrope lollipops to remind your body of caffeine without actually making it so you can't sleep.)

Good luck with your novel!

We Have Liftoff

Lots of people, particularly kids, have trouble clearing their ears when the cabin pressure changes in an airplane. One technique for unclogging your ears is to swallow or yawn.

Eating a lollipop is one way to stimulate your saliva production and increase the number of times you swallow. If you’re traveling for business or pleasure anytime soon, be sure to include lollipops in your carry-on bag. Even if you’re not headed away on a tropical vacation, try our limited edition of sweet-tart tropical flavors: mango and pineapple suckers.

Treats for Volunteers

I don't know how your kids' school(s) work(s), but here in California the schools rely heavily on parent volunteers. Recruiting people to volunteer can be touchy because so many parents work and they're asked to volunteer so often.

I will admit to using candy to get people to show up. As one person told me last year: "I've learned that if I help, I get yummy lollipops." It really works!

Our floral honey-jasmine Sweethearts are a perfect sweet to entice grown-ups to do your bidding - I mean, help out at school events.

Eye Candy: Shooting Star Press

Ok, some of the eye candy posts have become disturbingly high brow. How about some high-flying pro wrestling to mix it up.

AWOOOO! (That’s Me, Howling at the Moon)

The next full moon is this weekend – October 23 2010. Whether your personal werewolf beliefs involve lunar-induced phase changes or not, we can all agree that Lickanthrope lollipops are a ridiculous delicious pun on lycanthropy.

Hazelnut-Coffee lollipops can be part of your Halloween plans if you remember to order by this coming Sunday, October 24th. It’s the day after the full moon, so you can remember it that way :-)

I Vant To Suck Your Blood

Happy Halloween to all vampire fans! If your Halloween plans include True Blood, Twilight, or vampires in any form, Blood Suckers will delight your friends.

The cool, tingly flavor of anise mimics the vampire’s cooler-than-human body temperature… and the clean sweet taste of apple presents the temptation of eternal life that lurks in the vampire’s kiss...

If you’d like to have seductive, deep red Blood Suckers (or any other flavors of lollipops) at a party you’re throwing or attending, you should order from our Etsy store by this coming Sunday, October 24th, to ensure delivery in time for the 31st.

Halloween Costume Parties

We love this idea! At last weekend’s EtsyRAIN craft show, some folks bought the Love Triangle collection to give as “best costume” prizes at their upcoming Halloween parties.

Speaking of witch which… Halloween is just around the corner! If you’d like to have This Charming Candy at a party you’re throwing or attending, you should place your order by this coming Sunday, October 24th, to ensure delivery in time for the 31st.

Do you have your costume yet? I still need to get a key part of mine ready. Ack!

Greatest Hits for Sale on Etsy

You all love the Greatest Hits collection! At least, that's what it seems like from the EtsyRain sales this weekend. It's finally for sale over on Etsy, so if you're not in Seattle or couldn't make it to the show this weekend, head on over and check it out!

EtsyRain and Greatest Hits

To all of our Seattle readers: we are selling lollipops at EtsyRain today and tomorrow! So stop by and grab a couple of your favorite flavors.

We will also have our Greatest Hits lollipops available for sale for the VERY FIRST TIME anywhere! They'll be on Etsy on Monday for those of you not in Seattle or who can't get to the Intiman Theatre this weekend.

Our EtsyRain Neighbors

Have we mentioned EtsyRain a lot this week? That's because Seattle has a lot of great artisans who will be selling their incredibly gorgeous creations there. Like the folks who will be on either side of us at the show.

Foamywader makes absolutely divine jewelry, like her Orange Blossom Cluster Necklace (pictured), freckles necklace, and her Buffy earrings. We, personally, can never resist a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference.

Greenbelts will be on our other side. She makes fabulous cuffs, collars, rings, belts, leashes and anything else she can from vintage belts. We've pictured her lovely carved coconut and giant wood buttons cuff, but check out her Etsy store for lots of other goodies.

We'll all be hanging out in the upper balcony of the Intiman Theatre tomorrow and Sunday from 11 - 5. We hope to see you there!

EtsyRain Details

For all of you in Seattle, it's the EtsyRain show this weekend! We've got lots of candy ready to sell, so I hope you're ready to buy. And if you get there early, we donated candy for every single swag bag.

Who: This Charming Candy

What: The EtsyRAIN Pre-Holiday Show

Where: The Intiman Theatre in the Seattle Center

When: Saturday and Sunday, 11-5

Why: Because you need lollipops for your Halloween party, or to share with your co-workers, or to eat while you participate in NaNoWriMo, or just to have around the house

Maple Sugar Lollipops are Good

Our little ghost also loves her some Maple Sugar lollipops. Look at her holding that lollipop to her mouth like she just can't wait to eat it!

Get some yummy Maple Sugar lollipops (or whatever flavor tickles your fancy) for yourself or your little ghosts at the EtsyRain pre-Holiday show in Seattle this weekend or from our Etsy shop!

Ghosts Love Pomegranate Lollipops

We had some fun taking Halloween pictures during our last photoshoot. Check out this adorable little ghost making off with a Pomegranate lollipop from our new Greatest Hits collection!

Get some lollipops for yourself or your little ghosts at the EtsyRain pre-Holiday show in Seattle this weekend or from our Etsy shop!

EtsyRAIN Pre-Holiday Craft Show

Do you still need to grab a pack or two of Love Triangle lollipops for your Halloween party? Or a pack of Pistachio-Marshmallow lollipops for a Day of the Dead gathering? Or a stash of Salted Caramel and Hazelnut-Coffee lollipopos to sustain you through NaNoWriMo? Or just need a couple of Spice Racks to have in the house?

Come to EtsyRAIN this weekend! Susan will be selling yummy candy at the Intiman Theatre in the Seattle Center.

You Say It's Your Birthday

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered.


This is it! We've been selling lollipops for one whole year, and we're still around! Yay us! Forgive us for being so thrilled, but this is a Big Deal.

To say thank you to all of you, our customers, twitter followers, facebook fans/likers, blog readers, friends, and family, we will be giving away Greatest Hits collections to 5 lucky people today.

All you have to do is leave your non-anonymous comment in today's blog post telling us what your favorite flavor is. At 5pm Pacific Time, we will choose 5 commenters at random and notify you that you've won. One comment per person please.

Here's to another fabulous year!

Greatest Hits

Introducing our Greatest Hits collection! For the holidays this year, we wanted to showcase the favorite flavor from each of the six collections that we've had for sale in 2010. The collection has two of each of the following flavors:

• popular Salted Caramel (from the Spice Rack)
• yummy Pistachio-Marshmallow (from the Adventurer's Pack)
• kid-riffic Pomegranate (from early-2010's Fruit Basket)
• inviting Maple Sugar (from the Breakfast Tray)
• fragrant Honey-Jasmine (aka the Love Triangle's Sweetheart)
• warm Root Beer Float (from Celebration Time)

These are perfect for you to sample your favorite flavors from each pack or to introduce your friends to our lollipops!

We'll be giving away 5 of these special collections tomorrow on the blog! We'll have them at the EtsyRain craft show for the first time on Oct 16th-17th, and list them for regular retail sale on Etsy on Monday Oct 18th. 

Look for details in tomorrow's blog post!

The Return of Hockey Friday - Only on Wednesday

Yes, yes, it's only Wednesday, not Friday. But there are other things afoot on Friday (hint: it's our 1-year anniversary!), so this week's Hockey Friday is destined to be on Wednesday.

The NHL season starts tomorrow! Philly plays Pittsburgh tomorrow night for their season opener, and San Jose starts its season with a game against Columbus in Stockholm on Friday.

I've no idea what the prospects for either team are this year, though I'm confident that both TCC teams will meet in the Stanley Cup finals (like they *almost* did last spring). And then our company will be torn asunder by hockey rivalry. Or something.

Go Sharks! Go Flyers!

Do you need a last-minute gift favor for your hockey party? Consider teal Teaberry lollipops for your Sharks party, or orange Tangerine-Clove lollipops for your Flyers event.

Lollipops Are Antennae #2

A small alien with lollipop antennae visited some SETI satellite dishes during the same field trip as yesterday's post.

Math Geeks!

Susan and I are both recovering math majors. So when we got this picture of a little field trip some of our lollipops took, our hearts just about melted. (For those of you who don't know, Alan Turing was a mathematician who also happened to be a key player in developing computer science. He was also a Big Deal Codebreaker during WWII.)

Eye Candy: Isabella Rossellini

When I was in college, I used to buy women’s magazines such as Cosmo simply to collect Lancôme advertisements featuring Isabella Rossellini. The woman is the very definition of Eye Candy. I found this scanned-in ad on flickr:

Yup, I had that one up in my dorm room.

credit: veronique3 on flickr

Kate's Studio

Inspired by Susan's post about the kitchen, I wanted to post about my little corner of my house that's my office. This is, unadulterated, how it looks right now. It's a mish-mash of personal and business stuff, though heavy on the business side of things.

One of my jobs is putting the stickers on the bags - you can see sheets of lollipop labels sitting on the left-hand side and some bags sitting on top of them, and sheets with all the stickers removed on top of the books.

Most of what I do is computer work, and my trusty Mac is peeking in on the right-hand side of the picture. (That's a dark corner of the desk, which is why it's not pictured.)

And yes, that's a Stieg Larsson book sitting on my desk, waiting to be returned to the friend I borrowed it from.

If Our Lollipops Were A Boy Band

I have no idea why I started thinking about this, but what if our lollipop collections formed a boy band? We’ve got five collections, which is the perfect number for pop superstardom!

• The bad boy – he’s irresistible and ends up in a Love Triangle without even batting an eye.
• The sweet one – Celebration Time is popular with everyone, wants to hang out and have a good time; he parties but not too hard :-)
• The nice boy – the Breakfast Tray is an early riser, gets his homework done on time, offers you a ride to school when he sees you standing at the bus stop. Awww.
• The jock – snowboarding, bungee jumping and capoeira? Definitely the Adventurer’s Pack. He’s XTREME, man. Mmm, I bet he smells really good.
• The serious, shy one – the Spice Rack writes poetry and seems grown-up for his age. Don’t break his heart!

Who’s your favorite boy band? I just discovered Super Junior M, but they’ve got 7 dudes! I guess we’d better come up with more flavor themes, haha.

This Is My “Studio”

Sometimes people are surprised to learn that I don’t make This Charming Candy at home. I’m quick to let them know that any food that’s for sale to the public must be made in an approved facility by people who know safe food handling practices.

It’s somewhat similar to artist renting time in a studio. For example, many of my crafting colleagues use the excellent facilities at Seattle’s Pratt Fine Arts Center to do metal, jewelry, glass and other projects.

So, I rent a professional catering kitchen in which to make our delicious lollipops. I’ve met some great people who work for and who rent from the kitchen. I love having access to a large workspace and tools and equipment that I don’t have at home. Did you know that the dish sanitizing cycle in a professional dishwasher takes only about 90-120 SECONDS? How cool is that!

This picture happens to have been taken on a Sunday, which is why I appear to be alone in this large kitchen. Sundays tend to be quiet days in the catering business. When I’m making candy on weekdays, I have a lot more company!

photo by Kevin Keeker

Your Commute Sucks

A friend mentioned that having one of our lollipops handy during his long, traffic-y commute just might make it suck less.

That’s a theory worth testing! Do you keep a stash of charming candy in the car for long trips and boring commutes?

An Eclectic Morning Playlist

Some mornings I need an extra boost to get going. And some days, post-lunch food coma is worse than others. When that happens, I pull out this extremely eclectic play list with a today-is-going-to-be-great theme. It consists of:

• Someday, Tegan & Sara (alternative)
• Perfect Day, Hoku (you know, that song at the beginning of Legally Blonde)
• Today is Gonna be a Great Day, Bowling for Soup (uh, yeah, the theme song from Phineas & Ferb)
• Ordinary Day, Great Big Sea (celtic)
• Constructive Summer, The Hold Steady (more alternative)
• Pocahontas Proud, Gretchen Wilson (country)

It's, um, not what you might call coherent in terms of music. But all the songs are about either building something or having a good day or both. And it gives me the energy to make myself be something someday.

Wholesale Accounts

Also, due to our tightly packed Q4 production schedule, we just don't have the bandwidth to take on new wholesale accounts right now. Please contact us again in 2011!

(I can't believe I just typed that. It's only September!)

New Packaging Pictures: Charm School Dropouts

Just in case you've never ordered a pack of Charm School Dropout lollipops from us before and wondered what they looked like, here they are.

photo by Kevin Keeker

Lollipop Antennae!

I was holding the spare lollipops in my hands during our last photoshoot and somehow ended up showcasing them as antennae on the top of my head.

photo by Kevin Keeker

We're going to be announcing a special on these star lollipops over on Facebook later today. So keep an eye out for it!

New Packaging Pictures: Adventurer's Pack

photo by Kevin Keeker

I can't help but think that this green looks like it should be new leaves and twigs in a forest or jungle somewhere, somewhere perfect for being on an adventure.

Eye Candy: Ferris Wheel in Fog

One summer, our friend Mark visited me while I was vacationing down the shore with my family in Ocean City, NJ. He took this amazing picture of the Wonderland Pier’s Ferris wheel when it was shrouded in nighttime fog. It’s one of my all time favorite photos.

photo by Mark Handel

Giant Paddles

I wonder if we’ll ever be making candy in huge enough batches that I’ll need a 5-foot paddle to stir the sugar + water together?

Right now, a standard wooden spoon still fits the bill :-)