Featured Seller: Crowley Manor

Do you love amazing smelling soaps?!? Then I have found the lady for you! Patricia, with Crowley Manor, will blow your mind with her soaps! She is located right here in Colorado, so that makes her even more special. My husband uses her soaps in the shower and I have her soap in the kitchen as well. Our favorites are Into the Woods, Lemongrass, and Almond Sunset. Although I did just get a shipment from her, and my new favorite is the Pumpkin Harvest! She is always coming out with different scents, and they are always sure to amaze the senses. Thank so much Patricia for doing this interview!

Visit Crowley Manor at: http://www.crowleymanor.etsy.com

How did you get started?

As long as I can remember, I have felt the need to create to be content, I draw, paint on silk, owned a stained glass design studio, designed unique one of a kind handbags (another shop on Etsy adesignerhandbag.etsy.com). It is what drives me and defines me. The longing to put out a great product, and most importantly to bring a smile to the receiver of the product, is the driving force.
One day I decided it would be fun to try soapmaking. Colorado is a very dry climate, and very unkind to my skin. I buried myself in books researching the soapmaking process, took classes with a certified soapmaker and essential oil expert who specializes in certified organic products, began studying herbs and essential oils and their effect on the skin and how people respond to scents, and how it may set the mood for a moment or a day. Also, knowing that goat milk is a wonderful humectant and very close to the skin’s natural ph level , I choose to also offer goat milk soap. I am also aware though that some of us, wish for natural products which are vegan as well, and therefore, I aim to keep all of us happy!
Long story short, I didn’t wish for store bought goat milk and researched dairy goats, ones which had the highest butterfat content (for the creamiest soaps and if by chance I ever find the time, I will also make Chevre cheese) I searched for just the right goats for over a year, crossing Colorado from one end to the next, as I wished to see the stock first hand. I fell in love with the Nigerian dwarf breed, due to their demeanor, size and that almighty yummy milk! My husband is the Crowley part, of Irish decent, I could not use Crowley Castle as it still stands (one wall of it) in Cork County, Ireland dating back to the feudal era. So, the next best thing, we would be Crowley Manor. It’s all in fun and certainly better than “Goatzilla” as my dear husband would have had us call the herd.

What inspires you?

Ah… soap scents, my mind always wonders…happy, sad, energized, relaxed, depending on my mood, I begin playing with the essential oils, or driving in the mountains I want to relay a certain feeling. Imagine the warm sun on your skin…..maybe transports you to the tropics. Close your eyes, can you smell the ocean, or the scent of sweet almonds and oranges. Perhaps it’s in the midst of winter and you can’t wait to get home and away from 6 feet of snow piling up outside, turn the key, open the door and a wonderful aroma of hot tea and cinnamon wafts through the room…that’s how the ideas pop into my head. My favorites in the winter Oatmeal Milk and Honey with the coffee bean, it is a very comforting winter scent or the Fireside Orange Spice, Spring I enjoy the Into the woods unisex bar or Lavender and for those hot summer days the citrusy bars such as Lemongrass, or Royal Riverbend are some of my favorites.

What do you love most about Etsy?

I came across Etsy quite by chance a couple of years ago, I was googling something, found a shop of interest with a link to Etsy and the rest is history. There is not one particular feature that stands in mind at this time, as again that will depend whether I am chatting with other etsyans, or answering and reading through the forums, but I can say that Etsy is a very positive experience for me and that I am making friends worldwide who would never entered my realm had it not been for Etsy and I am very thankful for all whom I have met thus far.

What do you enjoy doing when you aren't creating amazing soaps?

In the bit of time that is left, I visit my two horses who are boarded on a ranch about 15 mins. from our house. I wish they could be with us full-time to, but this works best for us this way. They have a 50 acre pasture with a running creek in a pretty mountain meadow. It is funny to see them galloping across the pasture to meet us, as they know that I have their grain bucket in hand, ready to give them a treat. My Morgan/Arab "Beau" is 15 but you would think he is a teenager still and always full of pranks and surprises.Our quarterhorse "Dreamweaver" is younger but quite a gentleman and a sweetheart of a horse. He is a full 16 hands and a beautiful sorrel color with white socks. If not with them we play with the goats and our English bulldogs Dozer and Rocky and last and not least "Shibi" our rescue Dutch Sheperd. We enjoy going for mountain rides in a 1992 "Smurf" blue miata that my husband is constantly refurbishing :)in search of new vistas. We just love life here in the Colorado mountains and feel very lucky to live here.