This lady makes a product called bag-of-bones. They are plastic attachments for making the pot people. I didn't order them but her site has many cute pot people ideas. Be sure to check out the project of the month and go down to the bottom and click on photos! Cute stuff!(my fav is the one in the galvanized tub, I drooled over that shower-head for days, finally e-mailed her to see about getting one!) blessings-sherri Here is a link that might be useful: Annies bag-of-bones site

Hi Cheri, I've been meaning to respond for awhile and now am running out the door, so here's the quick answer and I can give more later if you want. Your plans sound lovely and as far as painting the hardware, I say go for it. The worst that can happen is it doesn't work out and you start over with new hardware. :-) My first concern though is how will you clean all the crevices to get every speck of oil/grundge off of the hardware so the paint will adhere over the long-term? You'll need a good solution for that. Next, spray-painting may leave a powder-coat, rough sort of finish which might be hard to keep clean, but may work. I recommend a line of products called Modern Masters. I've done a couple of metal painting projects and it is cool stuff. You will likely have to hand-paint. I would experiment on something else before you attempt your actual hardware, as it may take a few tries to get it right. I know I needed a lot more of the copper metal paint for the true verdigris (sp?) finish I was striving for, than instructions called for. Overall, the wear and tear of using handles is my biggest concern. Seems like cleaning, priming, painting and even sealing might be in order to pull this off, but that's me. I personally would give it a go. Hope this helps.

Mine are just filled with lavender, & they do well, both at craft shows & wholesale. Could be with the mints & the rosemary it may be too sharp of a smell. Also, the mints & rosemary are "invigorating", the chamomile & lavender "soothing, calmning", so they may be getting "mixed" messages via the limbic system. Just a guess, it may be a pleasnt smelling mix, BUT not achiving the goal you are hoping for-SLEEP. I too am cautious about other business's, but we are far enough apart, even WITH the internet, that we aren't in direct competition, other than both being in B&B. Eventually we may end up carrying some of the same scents, but even still that's not bad. One of my first wholesale customers was also in B&B, & had a web site.....that's HOW i got mine, I went through the web folks she used..... anyway, she bought stuff from me BECAUSE it was quality stuff she didn't carry, & going to craft shows she couldn't keep up, so she bought some stuff from me, & made some of her own. She also sold my stuff on her web site & ebay......but I DON'T sell my soap on ebay, so it was no problem..... But some competitors don't play nicely....I have one locally who is constantly trying to find out where i get my scents, etc......I'm VERY catious around her, not to say much of ANYTHING...... I'll watch for your booklets, & then get one off to the family! Hazel

I've started using walnuts or pistachios instead of pine nuts: Making Pesto? Hold the Pine Nuts NY Times Op-Ed by Jonathan C. Slaght Oct. 19, 2015 (Excerpted) MINNEAPOLIS — AT this time of year, kitchens across North America are filled with the aroma of freshly picked basil, fistfuls of peeled garlic bulbs, hunks of Parmesan, cruets of olive oil and jars of pine nuts. It’s pesto season. Mixing these ingredients into a delicious sauce for use throughout the winter months is an end-of-summer tradition. The tiny, delectable pine nut is often viewed as essential to a classic pesto “alla Genovese,” but it is the most vexing ingredient — for the high cost of even a small packet or jar of them. They also come at another kind of price: The pine nut industry may be contributing to the crash of an ecosystem. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a majority of pine nuts imported into the United States come from the Korean pine tree, a keystone species found primarily in the southern parts of the Russian far east. The temperate rain forest of this wild corner of Russia represents a mere 1 percent of the country’s territory yet contains about a quarter of its endangered vertebrate species. ....An ever-expanding road network, driven by selective logging, is exposing more and more of the region to the covetous reach of pine nut harvesters. Once collected, the cones are shucked and the nuts, still in their shells, are sold to Chinese merchants, who haul truckloads across the border to China. From there, they are shipped to overseas markets. Depending on the market price, local traders will pay about $6 for a sack of Korean pine cones, which can hold on average about 125 cones. Last year, I (the author) encountered a group of collectors in the forest that had filled 4,000 sacks — half a million cones — in just six weeks. At the peak of the harvest season, the forests are populated with thousands of collectors in hundreds of makeshift camps. The global demand is making this harvest unsustainable. The entire Korean pine ecosystem (which supports numerous species depending on the pine nuts for winter food) could collapse if it continues.