With beautiful packaging and bright colours, these freshly fragrant candles are crafted from natural-wax formulation of either soy, palm and beeswax, or food-grade paraffin. They are blended with essential oils and contain only domestic lead-free cotton or paper-core wicks. These qualities lead to a cleaner burn than that of vegetable paraffin which most other candle company’s candles are made of. The best part is that these candles are hand poured in L.A. only after we have placed our order! This lends itself to unbeatable freshness and quality.

 Illume candles are known for having a very high fragrance load. Rather than leading to an overpowering scent, Illume candles are able to fill your home with their fresh scent both burning and not burning. This idea of a candles scenting a room whether burning or simply a part of a home’s décor is what sparked Illumes initial owner Lynette Reed to begin making candles 15 years ago in her garage. The business has grown into a small boutique in West Hollywood where her objective of vibrant colours and unique fragrances still holds true today.

This summer Illume has introduced a line of lawn candlesinfused with citronella to keep those pesky mosquitoes away on Wisconsin’s warm summer nights. Their tropical inspired scents will turn your back yard barbecue into a tropical beach party.

One of the newest trends in jewelry is the use of Tagua, an ivory palm seed. Used like Ivory but without the trade restrictions and animal welfare concerns, Tagua is dried, carved, and dyed to make beads, buttons, figurines, and jewelry. The use of Tagua, or vegetable ivory, not only saves countless elephant lives but it promotes environmental and socioeconomic goals by stimulating South American economies. For example, the harvesting of this renewable resource provides jobs for local people. These jobs are a positive alternative to jobs which require workers to cut down the rainforest.

Minga is one such company that uses Fair Trade Tagua to make brightly coloured bracelets that are great for spicing up your outfit. Ming’s mission is to “seek to improve the economical lives of small producers in the southern hemisphere, creating Fair Trade relationships with retail advocates in the north, and promoting education for all.” We are proud to be one such advocate and hope you too appreciate these enviro/people friendly works of art.

 We are proud to  feature Kobo Candles in an assortment of unique scents.  This pure soy based candle has an unbelievable lasting burn time and the scent lingers without even having to light a match.  The packaging is equally as elegant as the scents and are just too stunning to wrap. They are created for those who are passionate about remarkable scents.

   Kobo uses only the highest quality fragrance and essential oils to create a full-bodied aroma.  If that isn’t enough, each candle is hand-poured with 100% domestically grown, pure soy wax and lead free, enviro-safe cotton wick, creating the cleanest and most planet friendly 70 hour burning candle on the market. Each candle is also complete with long reach matches and an extinguishing lid. Scents include White Birch Rosemary, D‘Anjou Lychee, Zapote, Orange Amber, Leather Mahogony, Figue Blanche, Gardenia Royal, Vetiver & Shaved Vanilla, Green Pearl Jasmine, and Portuguese Olive Blossom.

Kobo has just released their newest line of candles — Travel Candles. These beautiful 4 oz candles with their matches included are great for making stale hotel rooms smell like a retreat. The packaging and quality is just as perfect as the large candles. The travel candles offer a 20 hour burn time and come in refreshing scents like Golden Mimosa, Artesisian Lemongrass, Water Mint, Vanilla Citrus Zest, Champagne Ginger, Fresh Currant, and a variety of the 70 hour candle scents.

MMMM… You’ll wonder how you ever travel without your Kobo Travel Candle!

These gorgeous, dangly bunny rabbits, with their long ears and limbs, live in a wonderful lair behind a tiny hill-top. There are sisters and brothers, nephews, cousins and a whole family dressed in the most precious knitwear that you wish you could wear. Every morning they wake up the sun, before it rises, and in the evening they eat star-sprinkles with warm milk using a silver spoon.

Ok, maybe these adorable rabbits really come from Maileg, a Danish company that specialized in a contemporary collection of plush animals for children, but we know you will be captured by their cute personalities and think they really do come from a magical place. Maileg was established in 1999 by Dorthe and Erik Mailil. Dorthe is a graphic designer from The Danish Design School and also studied at the E´cole D´art de Marseille in France. The authenticity that underlines Dorthe’s touch has made her a well known graphic designer for both books and magazines. Dorthe´s designs have been featured at the Louvre, Paris – Caixa Forum, in Barcelona, and in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Maileg is sold throughout Scandinavia and Europe, and has recently become available in Japan and the U.S. - We are so proud to be one of those shops! Long and lean, these rabbits are the perfect size for cuddling, dressing, and sitting next to their adoring owners. Hugged and kissed for years to come, these rabbits make the perfect gift. We have a variety of sizes just for your special little someone’s birth, baby shower, birthday, or the birth of their new baby sister or brother!

Located in Boulder, Colorado these great leather free, jacquard handbags are made in the United States. The fabric and shape are designed by the women at Maruca. Like most women when it comes to their purses, they are extremely picky. It isn’t uncommon for a purse to get a new pocket or have a pocket shifted to the left a half an inch each season. This is because the women of Maruca use their products. They notice, like you, what design makes it is easier to reach your cell phone when the baby is crying and grocer is asking you “paper or plastic”, or what size purse can shove that extra pair of sunglasses in it. If that wasn’t great enough, each season a limited number of purses are made from the season’s fabrics and only sold to select retailers. Madison only has 2! This means a unique purse just for you without breaking that piggy bank!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Maruca’s 2010 spring/summer line. The new colours and patterns are bold and fun, many even have a botanical inspired print which we love! So let magenta, cobalt blue, lilac, and chartreuse green be your summer colours this year and stop in soon before the perfect purse for you is gone!

To view an online catalogue visit

http://www.marucadesign.com/

To take a tour of their studio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INNfdtovYVQ

To meet the women of Maruca

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVXrl1sxP84&feature=related

We are proud to be the first store to carry Judy Hutter’s high quality soaps. As a Rhinelander, Wisconsin native she began making bars of soap for friends and family, but in 2008 she brought her natural soaps to the public at Rhinelander’s farmers market. We love that each bar typically consists of 40-60% locally sourced ingredients. The combination of natural ingredients including rice bran, sweet almond, and grape seed create a superior cleansing and conditioning experience. She also uses seasonal ingredients to create new scents throughout the year. Ground oats are used in each bar of soap for a gentle exfoliation, benefiting to the overall health of your skin.

Judy’s soaps are cold processed which is very different from glycerin soap. Each bar begins with a base of locally sourced goat’s milk because it is the closest to the pH of our own skin. Once the frozen goat’s milk reaches a soft stage, lye is stirred in vigorously. While the mixture of goat’s milk and lye warm to the appropriate temperature, a combination of animal and vegetable oils are heated. The combination of locally sourced lard, beef, and bear or free roaming Icelandic sheep tallow are used because of their superior cleansing and conditioning properties, ability to enhance the benefits of the other oils, and ability to increase the hardness of the bar, making your soap last longer. A variation of coconut, olive, sweet almond, grape seed, avocado, hemp, apricot & palm kernel, rice bran, sunflower, safflower, evening primrose, and castor oils along with cocoa and shea butters are added to condition your skin. When all the temperatures are in agreement, the lye/goat milk solution is mixed into the oil solution and left to set. At this point a mixture of ground oats, fragrance oils, exfoliants, and herbs are introduced. When the resulting mixture reaches trace it is quickly poured into a mold and left to saponify for 18-24 hours. The soap is then removed from the mold and left to rest for 2-3 days before slicing into individual bars. Finally, it is allowed to cure naturally for about 6 weeks, then washed in salt water, wrapped and labeled, and sent to us!

Judy’s newest line of soaps are sweetly called “Soaps with Coats”. Each aromatic bar is covered in a felted, pure Icelandic wool “coat”. The soap lathers almost instantly, while the coat shrinks along with the bar. “Soaps with Coats” are ideal for your kitchen sink, a camping or hunting trip, in a bathroom, or for those who have trouble with slippery bars of soap.