Friday Follower - Pam

I'm proud to introduce this week's Friday Follower to you as she has also been my studio assistant for the last month. Pam, also known as Bayside Rose within the blogging community, is very creative and fun to work with and we share similar interests such as a love of French Style, vintage finds and of course beautiful fabrics.

Pam has recently developed a lovely range of natural hand-made soaps which includes an exclusive range for Thea & Sami. Read on to find out more.

Who is Bayside Rose?
Bayside Rose came from a foundation of bayside living and passions for collecting and using vintage items in the home and making beautiful things. I am also about trying to find natural ways to be healthier and taking small steps to get back to the basics. This started with making natural soap and seeing the difference.

Bayside Rose is passionate about all things in life and also enjoys art, travel, sailing, and shopping for vintage. The combining of vintage and handmade is another focus for me and it is something I love to share.

You recently started writing a blog. What inspired you to start writing? After walking away from a corporate background last year I felt I needed to get in touch with my creative side which had been quashed by policy and procedures and 12 hour days. I began to acknowledge that I quite simply had time to work out where I was heading. I checked out a few blogs and was immediately inspired by the originality and creativeness - immediate addiction.

My Bayside Rose blog is my creative persona that allows me to share my passions of travel, handmade and my love of vintage collecting. Writing a blog has given me the opportunity to delve into my creativity, who knows where it is going to lead.

Tell us about your products? My new philosophy in life is to ‘keep it simple’ and this includes my range of soap. A simple natural soap made with simple natural ingredients is what I stand by and what I produce. My products are handmade in my kitchen by me. Each slice is an individual creation as the soap is cut straight from the log with no refinement at all. Completely 'au natural'.

I source the best quality oils I can for my soap, this includes extra virgin olive oils, coconut and sunflower oil. I love this combination of oils as it results in a lathery, moisturizing soap. The top of the range essential oils I use add their intoxicating but gentle scent while invoking their own individual properties.

What keeps you busy when you're not making soaps? Family, sailing, gardening (my particular love of Roses), travel (I'm a Francophile), collecting and making stuff and working part-time at Thea & Sami.

Do you think you will be expanding the range? I really want to keep the uniquely one-person operation because I do not want to lose this unique product that I am creating. To me, handmade is just that - handcrafting a product with the essence of ownership and control from beginning to end. I have 100% control of what goes into my soaps and how it is made and I want it to stay that way as I do not want to compromise on quality.

I don’t want my soaps to ‘look’ like everyone else’s but I have planned for some expansion of these healthy products because I believe they are good for you. This is just the beginning.

Would you share something interesting about you that isn't common knowledge? I am a qualified Interior Decorator and whilst I have not used this qualification in a professional sense I have used it to renovate and redecorate many homes that I have owned in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The last home renovated was a beach shack at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island which was about 10 years ago now.

Here's a peek of the natural soaps that will soon be part of the Thea & Sami eco-product range, all beautifully wrapped with our hand-printed fabrics and linen cord. Displayed in our reversible Bread Basket.

Thanks Pam! You may say hello to Pam over at Bayside Rose where she is also hosting a blog giveaway.

All images are courtesy of Pam for the last one, taken by Thea.