Butcher’s Bunches
No Sugar Added Jams and Preserves
butchersbunches.com
With their adorable, flower-top design, hipster names and an emphasis on pure fruit and premium Utah ingredients, Butcher’s Bunches is the sweetest thing I’ve ever gotten to review. The six flavors ($8-$10 for 10 oz, $3 for 2 oz) I tried cover a nice cross-section of sweet and spicy, and rely heavily on organic and local produce and flavorings. That’s where any similarity to your grandma’s boring old jelly ends. Their take on marmalade, Sunbeam 4 You, features an intense, High West Bourye kick with perfectly bittersweet organic Arizona orange rind, and Gilligan’s Ginger presents a tart and spicy melding of apricots and peaches with very little sweetness. My boyfriend couldn’t get enough of the soft, sweet, pink, Brazilian-style Get Your Guav’ On!, which was more a sauce than a jam, while I preferred the chunkier, tart black raspberries of Utah Black Topper. My favorite was the deep pink Dirty Diana, a zingy cherry rum explosion, but we ate the entire jar of Amano chocolate/bananas foster Monkey Bizzness in one sitting. While some of these preserves do include cane sugar, the focus here is on the flavor and natural sweetness of the fruit, making these jams fairly diet-friendly and truly delicious. A jar of this would make a perfect gift, but make sure you buy a jar for yourself at Craft Lake City, too. –Madelyn Boudreaux

Chandeliquor
Wine Bottle Lamp
hollowalnut@gmail.com
Empty bottles of liquor or wine often end up being unusable accoutrements for my room that live next to my night stand. Fortunately, to speak for the character of Western civilization, Sarah Pendleton of Chandeliquor takes what we would normally (or, ideally) take to glass recycling facilities and, instead, lights up night stands and desks with empty wine and spirit bottles. Pendleton was kind enough to gift one of her Chandeliquor lamps to the SLUG office—and it is more than fitting! Pendleton modge-podged reprints of old, local show flyers of Iceburn, Endless Struggle and Starmy. In some way beyond my knowledge of crafting, Pendleton imbued the white paper with pink coloring, which matches the S-like swirls of paint on the lampshade above, which says “SLUG MAG brew est. 1989” in blue, green and a glittery silver. Pendleton opts for more yellow (versus white), less-abrasive light bulbs that provide a soothing luminescence to her finished product. Of course, you can always replace the light bulb with one of your choice, but with such a sexy, mood-setting tone like this, why would you? Find her under 2012 Exhibitors on craftlakecity.com to get a taste of what Pendleton has to offer, and make sure to visit her booth at this year’s Craft Lake City! –Alexander Ortega

The Cotton Floozy
The Gay Miracle of the Gulls
thecottonfloozy.etsy.com
Marie Brian is a crafting comedian—skilled in the art of embroidery and crochet—who creates beautiful pieces your boyfriend would appreciate. Marie Brian, aka The Cotton Floozy, is full of wit, sass and a little bit of crass, taking the art of embroidery to a whole new level. For example, “The Gay Miracle of the Gulls” will elicit the appreciation of those of you who have had the opportunity to hear the story of the Utah seagulls. Now, I’m not about to argue one way or the other on this one, but one look at this baby and I LOL’d—truly. I recently checked out Marie’s blog and am impressed by how clever she is. A few of my personal favorites include: “The only B word you should call a girl is beautiful, bitches love being called beautiful,” and: “Home is not where the heart is, home is where you poop most comfortably.” Golden. Other pieces include nods to Napoleon Dynamite, Johnny Lingo and Prozac (she may or may not be poking fun at Utah County’s sweet culture). Don’t get me wrong, Marie is funny, but she is also extremely talented. Your grandma might not be so impressed by the sayings in her pieces, but she will most definitely be impressed by her expertise. Stop by The Cotton Floozy booth at this year’s Craft Lake City to meet Marie, get a good laugh and pick up your very own Cotton Floozy original. –Karamea Puriri

Hint of Vintage
Book Clutch
hintofvintage.etsy.com
Ruby Findley of Hint of Vintage specializes in creating handcrafted, one-of-a–kind clutches out of gently used books. My book clutch once housed a set of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books from 1985, but has been reborn with an interior of blue floral fabric and an exterior mod-podged with the pages of a short story. A dainty pearl-fronted button and a small leather loop clasp the clutch together. The clutch is adorable, but I could see myself easily overstuffing the thing, as it isn’t very large. This being said, I feel like it’d be an awesome container for the random makeup currently floating around in my purse. Findley takes custom orders too, so if you have a book that you’re dying to create into a unique accessory, drop her a line or stop by her Craft Lake City booth! –Jeanette D. Moses

Spotted Hippo Soap
Honey Oat Porter Beer Soap
facebook.com/SpottedHippoSoap
Those who know me well will find a none-too-subtle subtext in the fact that I was asked to review soap. But hey, it’s beer soap, right? So, this basically counts as drinking—skin drinking. With that frame of mind, I stepped into the shower to test the brown and biege, handcut bar with anticipation. Many more natural soaps (think farmers market hippie stuff) have a problem generating a good lather—I’m not a soap scientist, so I’m not sure why, but that’s not true for this pleasant, aromatic, locally made product. The foam was rich and long-lasting, allowing certain cleaning of every last crevice. I received several compliments on how I smelled, which I must say is a pretty novel experience. The list of ingredients is also nice to see, as all the mains are organic or sustainable. Plus, it actually had all the things the label claimed (honey, oats, beer), not just extracts or flavorings. Spotted Hippo has also started making balms, butters and other body products, too, so if you’re looking for some local, high-quality bathroom tools, check them out at Craft Lake City on August 11 at the Gallivan Plaza. Soap up! –Rio Connelly