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I saw an article about how some guy hooked carpets which were portraits of big CEO's and then sold them for 1,000's of dollars. My dad is a carpet-hooker and thought he'd try the scaled-down, little CEO version worth . . . what, ten bucks? Here I am, in carpet. Kaila Westerman TKB Trading, LLC www.tkbtrading.com

I'm lucky to live a stone's throw from Oakland's Koreatown , and I always enjoy shopping there -- especially when on the hunt for soap molds. I found two possibilities in my last expedition I wanted to share with you. This first one is called a " Kimchi Cutter". Kimchi is spicy, pickled cabbage eaten in Korean cuisine. But for soapmakers this cutter makes a smart little loaf mold. It measures about 11" long, 6" wide and 3" deep. It's especially nice because it comes with a lid and the cutting device stores flat inside the lid, making the whole thing very compact and perhaps a good way to transport loaf soaps to and from a craft show. At the store it cost me $9.99. Google Kimchi Cutter to find one of your own. This next find looks like a kind of jello mold. Sorry I can't be specific about company brand or name of product, the entire package is in Japanese. For $4.99 I got three small loaf style molds: a half round, a square and a wavy bo...

Financier Warren Buffet says that he always tries to go to bed at night a little smarter than when he woke up earlier that day. If you are having a hard time accomplishing that goal today, let me help by introducing you to pen turning . Did you know that there are people dedicated to the hobby of handmaking pens by turning them on a lathe? I didn't until I was contacted by a man named David who asked permission to link to my website so that other pen turners could purchase our colorants for their projects. Here is David's educational link with photos: MasterdCrafts (p.s., note the TKB Trading liquid colors in use!) Kaila

Yesterday, I was contacted by the Toni Payne Element5 Mineral Makeup . She asked me to let you know about her company: that it exists, that it specializes in mineral makeup for women of color. Also, that she has an online shop called Tonipayneonline.com . I am dutifully reporting said facts. I can't comment on Toni's products as I've never seen them (although I imagine they are wonderful, since she is clearly a creative and energetic business woman). Instead I'd like to comment on what strikes me about Toni's "body of work" as a businesswoman. First, I applaud Toni for branding her own name. A little 'who is' searching shows Toni has several websites. A fashion site called hotntrendy.com was created in 2003 (reseller of a variety of fashion products), Element5 was created in 2005 (focus on makeup) and tonipayneonline was created in 2006 (kind of a blend of the two). Not only did Toni establish her brand with tonipayneonline, she also uses her name...

A greying friend recently asked about this topic and I googled up a great article on the subject written by Laurie Berger of the Vegetarian Times in 1998. Here is the hyperlink -- which includes references -- my quick summary follows below: Hair color to dye for: the good, the bad and the ugly on natural cover-ups - natural hair dyes Studies have linked hair coloring to cancer (! women who dye their hair have a 50% greater risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma). Several "natural" hair dyes are now available off the shelf (! Natural hair dyes account for 10% of the annual $1.25 billion hair dye market). Be forewarned: "natural" is a word without any legal meaning in this industry. A self-claimed natural dye can be just as toxic as your off-the-shelf chemical stuffed Clairol (made from coal tar dyes). But natural dyes which are safer than the coal-tar-dyes are quite effective and a National Cancer Institute spokersperson says: "Based on what we now ...