King Tut Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle

As part of our most amazing weekend, we went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center.

The lighting wasn't that great for picture taking, but we did the best we could!  Overall, it was pretty impressive!  It amazed me that all of these artifacts were made specifically for burial - they must have spent their entire lives preparing for death.  On one of the signs inside it said that there were over 5,000 objects found in King Tut's tomb, and it took the discoverer 10 years to identify and catalog all of his findings.  What was displayed in the exhibit was only a sampling of what was found.

 They even made special sarcophagi boxes for their cats! (A different kind of cat box. lol)

 Not a great picture, but I thought this lady was quite lovely.

 And you can't tell by this picture, but this statue was enormous!  A normal sized person would be shorter than the red box it's standing on.

 There was quite a number of beautiful gold necklaces like this one.  The top part is a counter weight that has it's own intricate design, and the bottom part is decorated with lapiz lazuli scarabs.  Gorgeous!

 This is one of several model ships that were buried with King Tut.  It was believed that they would magically become life size and carry the King into the afterlife.

This is the outer sarcophagus that is made of wood and painted.  Inside were three more sarcophagi that were made of pure gold!  We didn't get to see the gold ones, apparently they want to keep those in Egypt.

Below are pictures of our favorite piece in the exhibit.  It's a miniature canopic sarcophagus.  There were four of them buried with the Pharaoh that contained his organs.  This particular one contained his stomach.  It's made of pure gold and inlaid with precious gem stones.  Inside it's inscribed with hieroglyphic quotes from The Book of the Dead.

And this is the golden head covering that was on the mummy of King Tut.  How amazing!

And when we stepped out of the exhibit we had this awesome view of the Space Needle!  And it was a perfect summer evening with a gentle breeze.  Fantastic!

Seattle's Pan Pacific Hotel

This last weekend was me & Hub's 10th Anniversary.  So to celebrate, we went to Seattle to visit the EMP, the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, and to experience some amazing glass in Tacoma at the Museum of Glass.

There is WAY too much to say about the amazing time we had to put into one blog entry, so I'm going to break it into three parts:  the hotel & the EMP, King Tut, and the Museum of Glass & Dale Chihuly.

The Pan Pacific

We arrived several hours before our scheduled check-in time at the hotel, but made arrangements to make use of their parking facilities ahead of time so we planned to park and do some sight seeing before checking in.  But the kind people at the front desk were able to go ahead and check us in early!  When we got to our room, we discovered that although we had reserved a queen room w/ no view, we had been given a king room w/ a view that was TO DIE FOR!!!

 The rest of the room was pretty amazing too!

 And the view from the other window wasn't too shabby.

 After oogling over our good luck, and thanking the front desk people profusely we went out to do some sight seeing at the EMP (Experience Music Project).  It's also a museum of all things pop culture & science fiction, which was the main attraction for nerds like us.  They are currently hosting a really great Avatar exhibit, complete with props from the movie and large scale models that the artists used to make the CGI, which was awesome to see.  There was also a fun exhibit with the Icons of Sci-Fi.  And much to my excitement, I was able to get my picture taken with a Dalek!

 In the gift shop I picked a up a fun new R2D2 silicone mold, so I'm sure I'll be offering R2D2 soaps in the near future!  I asked the lady at the counter if they had TARDIS molds, and she said, "If it exists, we have it, but we don't have it."  So I asked, "Do you have anything TARDIS shaped that I might be able to make into a mold?"  And she said, "Yes!"  And then she got excited when I told her that I was planning to make soap out of it, so I might even have a new customer! lol

After the EMP we went to dinner & the King Tut exhibit, and then we came back to our room to find this!  We had mentioned at the front desk that it was our anniversary when we checked in, but we hadn't ordered anything special for it, so this was a complete surprise!  Again, the people at the Pan Pacific treated us like royalty!  We'll definitely stay there again!

Bag O' Bones Pirate Soap!

Yes, I've been busy this week!  Made a bunch of new soaps in fun new molds, and I spent all day yesterday canning strawberry jam!  WHEW!  I think I might need a vacation from myself.

It's all worth it though, right?

For now I'm offering this as a novelty gift, but I'll happily do custom orders for party favors as well!  Bag O' Bones is going to be offered at the very reasonable price of $4.00 a bag!  What a deal!

And since I'm having Christmas in July this week with the coupon code CIJPDX for 10% off it's even better!

Easter Island Statue Soaps

Hot outta the mold, Easter Island Soaps!

There are 9 guest sized soaps in each bag, plenty to make your own Easter Island!  I can also package these as favors for your next Tiki theme party!  These are scented with bay rum fragrance oil, but I can make them as a custom order in any scent you choose.

The gift size package above is newly listed in my Etsy Shop!  I'm currently offering 10% off as part of my Christmas in July sale!

Bath Bomb Cupcakes!

I've been talking about making these for months now.  My first few batches were total failures, but I finally think I have it down and can produce something that's worthy to sell!  Actually, they're more than just worthy, they're quite possibly the most adorable thing I've made to date.  But, you be the judge!

I've figured out two packaging options.  The bag option will be used for out of town customers, I think it will fit better in my shipping boxes.

And then I have this boxed option that I'll use for local customers and craft fairs.

The cupcakes I have in stock are scented with lemon and blackberry oil, but they can be made to order in whatever fragrance or color you like.

They're newly listed on my Etsy Shop as of today!  And since I have that Christmas in July sale going this week they're currently 10% off!  So now's the time to give them a try!  

Christmas In July Sale!

I've just now activated my Christmas In July coupon!  So you can officially start a few hours early if you like.  Just go to my Etsy shop, and use the coupon code CIJPDX to save 10% on my entire shop!

To see what other shops are offering similar discounts during the sale, check out this link!  PDX Etsy Christmas In July Sale!

PDX Etsy Team's Christmas In July Sale!

My PDX Etsy Team is having a Christmas in July Sale!  There are 40 participating shops, each with unique handcrafted items that you won't find anywhere else!  Shop early for Christmas gifts, or treat yo' self to something special! 

And of course, I will be offering  a special discount for the sale!  This will be my very first sale, so I'm pretty excited about it!  Get 10% off my entire shop!  So if you've been thinking, "hm, I wonder how blissful Lavender Bliss could be..."  Go for it! 

Or maybe you've thought, "That Walk in the Woods soap sounds fresh and northwesterny.."  Now's the time!

Or maybe you've been curious about my new laundry soap.  There simply isn't a better time to try it out!

The sale starts July 12th!  All of the details, including links to other participating shops, can be found HERE!