Twilight Inspired Treasury

We made a Twilight-inspired treasury in anticipation of Eclipse coming out today. Check it out!

Phenomenon

I think we can officially say: Twilight is a phenomenon. It started out with just the books, but has spawned movies and stores and an amazing number of blogs and fan tributes. It amazes me when something affects so many people so strongly, and moves them to create such fantastic things.

Our Love Triangle lollipops are just a small part of that, but we hope that you'll include them as part of your Eclipse viewing!

photo by Kevin Keeker

Blogs Blogs Blogs Blogs

We've been featured in a two blogs over the last week or so, and we wanted to make sure everyone saw them!

Last Monday, the gorgeous style blog Creature Comforts Blog had a quick One Good Thing post about our lollipops, featuring pictures of our lovely Nutmeg-Creme lollipops. She features small shops and Etsy sellers, and she finds a lot of amazing stuff. How does she do that?

Over the weekend, Voracious, the Seattle Weekly food blog, reviewed our Celebration Time lollipops, having bought them from the wonderful CakeSpy shop on Capitol Hill.

Read all about them!

Thank You Real Simple!

Now that June is done (and the July issue has been out for a couple of weeks), we need to take a deep breath and say a big THANKS to Real Simple for including our Adventure Pack lollipops in their Summer Gift Guide. We've had a nice little sales boost and are quite happy after a hectic month!

How I Started Reading Twilight

It's all Susan's fault.

That's not entirely true, not really, but it is the upshot. Susan read the Twilight books and had the (brilliant) idea that OF COURSE we needed to make a Blood Sucker. We also started brainstorming Pacific Northwest themed flavors for the Lickanthrope (Jacob) and Sweetheart (Bella) lollipops and then I was about to need to write some copy talking about the flavors and it was clear that I wouldn't be able to do my job without reading Twilight. How did I know what flavors would be good for Jacob or Bella? How could I talk intelligently about how the flavors and shapes related to their characters without knowing anything about their characters? I couldn't.

So I caved and read the first one. It helped - there's no way I would have known that every teenaged boy in Forks had a crush on Bella if I hadn't read it. I treated it as way more tongue-in-cheek than Stephenie Meyer probably intended, but it turned out to be entertaining! Then I traveled to Seattle for a holiday show and we snuck in a New Moon viewing while I was there. For those of you who know me, I hate watching a movie without having read the book. So I read New Moon. I read Eclipse shortly thereafter (and we're planning a trip to see Eclipse while I'm in Seattle for UCU).

There you have it. I discovered that Twilight is good, campy fun because Susan wanted to make a Blood Sucker. It is all her fault.

photo by Kevin Keeker

UCU Countdown: < 3 weeks!

Holy cow, the amazing Urban Craft Uprising show is coming up fast: July 10-11!

I’m happy to report that our lollipop production is on track and we are feeling incredibly energized about the whole shebang.

We wanted to share some exciting news about UCU:

1) I can’t even believe how awesome this is. Mobile Chowdown 4, an event featuring over 20 mobile food trucks from Seattle and Portland, will take place near the Experience Music Project at Seattle Center on Saturday July 10th, giving you yet another reason to come on down. Oh, and if you want me to pay you to stand in the Marination Mobile line to get me some aloha sliders, I’m accepting applications EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY :-)

2) UCU’s blog has begun featuring brief interviews with various vendors, including several who are doing product giveaways to the blog’s commenters. Head on over to read about the talented artists and crafters who’ll be participating in this show!

To sum up:

• What: Urban Craft Uprising / Mobile Chowdown
• When: 11 am – 5 pm, July 10-11 / Chowdown the 10th
• Where: Seattle Center’s Exhibition Hall / EMP

Blood Suckers and You

As food manufacturers, we are guardians of public health and we take that responsibility very seriously. So while we contemplated making our famous Blood Sucker lollipops with real blood for all the vampire fans out there, we decided that the risks were just too great. Therefore, you can enjoy them, worry-free!

Eclipse

Just in case you've been living under a rock, the latest Twilight movie, Eclipse, is coming out in 9 days. It should be good campy fun (at least, I think it's good campy fun) and I'm looking forward to seeing it with Susan when I head up to Seattle for Urban Craft Uprising in early July.

I'm also looking forward to having a yummy Blood Sucker or Sweetheart while I see it. There's nothing like eating a themed lollipop while watching the movie!

Blueberry Muffin

I used to go blueberry picking when I lived in Seattle. It was fun and you'd end up with way more blueberries than you could ever eat. This was also the time when I learned to make blueberry slump and blueberry muffins. I like the muffins better than the slump. The tanginess of the blueberries mixed with the moist, sweet cake flavors was a perfect breakfast snack.

Tangy blueberries complement sweet cake flavors in this delicious blue lollipop. You can find them as part of the Breakfast Tray collection.

Maple Sugar

Stamp the snow from your boots, huff hot breath over your cold fingers, and sit yourself down to a stack of pancakes swimming in syrup. Or save time and simply enjoy the yummy taste of maple-on-a-stick, whether it’s cold outside or not.

You can find these warm brown lollipops as part of the Breakfast Tray collection.

Sweetened Grapefruit

In grad school, Susan used to bring a grapefruit to class every day to eat for breakfast or a snack. She has memories of eating them during Search & Retrieval. I remember that in one 8:30am class - maybe 688? - our professor brought all of us grapefruit after watching Susan have her daily grapefruit.

Our personal history with them made including grapefruit as a lollipop flavor in our Breakfast Tray collection a no-brainer.

These luscious pink lollipops are reminiscent of grapefruit halves sprinkled with sugar. You can find them as part of our new Breakfast Tray collection.

Introducing Breakfast Tray Lollipops

Inspired by cake and pie for breakfast, we thought why not lollipops? Blueberry Muffin, Sweetened Grapefruit, and Maple Sugar are all traditional breakfast foods that inspired these scrumptious lollipops. Blueberry Muffin is rich blue, Sweetened Grapefruit is citrusy pink, and Maple Sugar is warm brown. Perfect for anyone who wants a treat for breakfast.

We're trying something a bit different for this collection. We haven't taken our photographs yet, so for now the Breakfast Tray collection will ONLY be available via email or at craft shows (read: Urban Craft Uprising). If you would like to try decadent Blueberry Muffin, tart Sweetened Grapefruit, or warm Maple Sugar lollipops, drop us a line!

The Small Print:

• Price: One pack of Breakfast Tray flavors is $9, the same as our other collections. Shipping in the US on one pack will be $3, any additional packs will ship for $1.50 apiece.
• How to pay: We'll invoice you in PayPal or you can send us a check. Let us know which you prefer in your email. Your order will ship within 2 business days of your payment.
• What can be in your order: If you're contacting us for a Breakfast Tray order, you can include other collections or dozens in your order, but be aware that availability (particularly for the dozens) may be limited. Prices on other collections are as they're stated in our Etsy store.
• Gift info: We are happy to ship your order as a gift! Let us know in your email who and where to ship your lollipops and we'll include a gift invoice.
• Size and weight: Each lollipop is 1.5" (3.8cm) across by 5.75" (14.6 cm) long. A collection of 6 weighs 2.2 oz (63g).
• Our lollipops are gluten-free.

More Music!

We'd like to share four more candy-themed songs today. Yay, music!

• Confections - NPSH
• Lollipop - The Hidden Cameras
• 32 Flavors - Ani DiFranco
• Lollipop - Ben Kweller

What's your favorite candy/sugar/confection themed music?

Candy Music: The Sugar Edition

Yesterday, it was music with "candy" in the title. Today, it's "sugar".

• Sugar Sweet - Muddy Waters
• Brown Sugar - Rolling Stones
• Sugar Hiccup - Cocteau Twins
• Sugar in my Bowl - Asylum Street Spankers
• Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead

Candy Music

We like our music at This Charming Candy. Susan, in particular, has a blast putting together playlists for our tasting parties. (Probably for other things too. I know about the tasting parties.)

Here are some of our favorite songs with "candy" in the title:

• You Want the Candy - the Raveonettes
• The Candy Man - Cibo Matto
• Buy Her Candy - Sleater-Kinney
• Big Rock Candy Mountain - O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack
• Candy Shop - Madonna

Tomorrow: songs with "sugar" in the title.

Hockey Wednesday: Stanley Cup Edition

I’ll be making lollipops today and hoping to get out of the kitchen in time for some or all of game 6.

GO FLYERS!!!!!!!!

Where To Buy Some Charming Candy

Readers of this blog are no doubt aware of This Charming Candy’s Etsy store. Our mission to bring gorgeous and delicious hard candy to the world has taken an important step forward. We’re humbled, honored and excited to announce that the citizens of

• Issaquah, WA
• Seattle, WA
• Beacon, NY and
• Eastsound, WA

now also have the opportunity to buy lollipops in a local store! Respectively:

• X Marks the Tot
• Cakespy
• Gourmetibles
• Boheme

We’ll post a little bit about each store in the coming days.

photo by Kevin Keeker

What Is Cardamom?

Susan and I both have a soft spot for our Vanilla-Cardamom lollipops. They're fragrant and have a wonderfully complex flavor.

But we also occasionally get asked: what is cardamom? Our best answer is: when you eat Indian food, you know those green pods that are mixed in with the rice? Those are cardamom pods. Their flavor combined with vanilla and the sweet sugar is delicious.

Bulk Discount Prices

Do you need a LOT of lollipops -- more than 100 -- for an event, like a wedding or birthday party, or a bunch of office gifts? We offer bulk discount pricing on our current selection of lollipops. Email us to find out more.

We're New at This

Susan and I spend a fair bit of time thinking about risks: what are the risks to our fledgling company? What can we do to minimize those risks? One of our biggest risks that we face is: we've never run a company before.

Neither of us was the kind of kid who had a summer business mowing lawns or started a small web design firm in their dorm room. I'll admit to having an occasional lemonade stand and a fondness for counting money, but that's about it. So we knew going into this that we'd make mistakes, and that had to be ok as long as we learned from them.

This has led to one of our core company mottos: Tomorrow is an opportunity to be less incompetent that we were today. Today I will not blindly copy an invoice to only update the address and not the order. Today, I will get through all of my email. Today, I will look for more ways to prevent making mistakes tomorrow.

We've got good heads on our shoulders. This is a risk that we minimize by learning as fast as we can.

Weddings!

It's the first of June today, and that means it's the traditional beginning of wedding season. We're working with a couple of brides to create custom lollipops to match the color of their weddings. We love playing with color! The picture above shows just some of the lovely colors that our lollipops come in, and we have lots more in little bottles in the kitchen.

If you want lollipops in a custom color for your wedding or any other event, contact us. We'd love to talk to you about it!