Once upon a time in a not so far away land lived a woman (Mrs. M) and her lovely daughter-in-law (also Mrs. M) who had a great idea born out of necessity! We needed a way to provide personalized and economical gifts to our friends and family at Christmas time. Our gateway product was a simple sugar scrub. The miracle of the sugar scrub was that it made your skin feel softer than could even be imagined and left behind a mood-pleasing scent known to trigger happy memories. The feedback we got from this simple but lovingly created gift was amazing. People encouraged us to make more and even asked us to sell our products—and Mrs. M's Handmade was born!
Not long after our dabbling in sugar scrubs did I learn from my dear friend Mrs O that lotion was “not that hard to make.” She pointed me toward a book of lotion-making basics and I started experimenting. It was so much fun! Like cooking without the calories! Lotion making is such a creative process-the sky is the limit! Suddenly I found myself surfing the web, learning about the hundreds of oils, butters, essential and fragrance oils available. Wow! Who knew? When I compared the recipes to the labels of my favorite lotions I learned that many contained manufactured or man-made ingredients. Knowing that the skin is the largest organ I acknowledged that putting those chemicals on the skin to be absorbed by the body might not be in anyone's best interest. This AHA moment triggered greater motivation to find natural alternatives.
We love being able to control what goes in our lotions. We experimented with various combinations and have settled on a combination of grape seed oil, avocado oil, Shea and cocoa butter. Very California!
Alley and I have grown our repertoire to include not just sugar scrubs and lotions but also lotion bars, whipped shea body butter, lip balms & scrubs, room and linen sprays and baby booty balm. We spend much of every Saturday whipping up new delights in my Valencia kitchen while Payton plays around us. Life doesn't get much better than this. Payton, now 3, loves our products and seems to have a near obsession for “bars” and “chappie”-and has been known to taste test both with no ill effect!
We began showing our creations at local craft fairs in 2014 … and invited Mr M along.
While we're working in the kitchen, he's working in the garage to create unique wooden cutting boards, cheese boards and serving pieces. He also contributes our display pieces. Together, we are Mrs M's Handmade!
Please check out our websites: Mrs Ms Handmade, Mr Ms Woodshop, MowryJournal.com
The Mrs M's: Velda & Alley Mowry
Mr M: Henry Mowry
