Homemade Laundry Detergent

- 2 to 2 1/2 cups washing soda
- One 5 oz bar of soap

•  Grate the bar of soap into a container with a lid.
• Mix in the washing soda

• Use the scoop from your dry detergent to measure your new homemade version 

*Pour white vinegar in the compartment where you would normally put your fabric softener.

• If your washer doesn't have a compartment for fabric softener, you can add the vinegar at the beginning of the cycle

                  OR

• If you're patient enough you can add the vinegar in at the beginning of the rinse cycle. 

Use coupon code "SummertimeSadness15" to receive 15% off of anything in the EnlightenedButterfly store

We at EB Designs are delighted to announce our summer blow out sale! All of our inventory consists of tank tops and T-shirts, so it must go before it gets cold out! Use the coupon code SummertimeSadness15 when you check out at the EnlightenedButterfly store on Etsy to receive 15% off of anything. The coupon is valid until the end of the month (8/31/2014). We can't wait to bring you the newest collection of EB Designs.

Now Open: Enlightened Butterfly Etsy Store

Today I am proud to announce the grand opening of the Enlightened Butterfly Etsy Store, a seller of recycled and redesigned T-shirts.

If You Have a Spare 40 Minutes

Poysined Faerie

For anybody that keeps tabs on my work I released a collection of short stories and poems under a pen name. It can be found here

Au Natural Beauty Tips

Anything that is good for your body is good for your skin and hair too. In the same respect, if you wouldn't eat it then it shouldn't go on your body because your body absorbs everything into the blood stream through pores. This idea might be a little difficult to get used to, especially if you enjoy make-up and dyes, but the switch is fairly easy.

Herbal Tea:
   Easy enough, throw any soothing herbs in some hot water and steep. Filter and rinse your hair.
   I'm not certain on the details of the benefits of specific herbs but marshmallow root is incredible for tangles and curly hair.

Vinegar:
   Using a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water you can either spray it on your hair or use it as a rinse.
   I like to add a splash of vinegar to my herbal tea to save a step. It cleanses your hair of residue. Do NOT rinse after using the vinegar, it is unnecessary.

Yogurt/Honey/Egg:
    A lovely hair mask that leaves your hair shiny and soft. You don't need all three but the whole package works wonders. Rinse with warm or cool water, water that's too hot may result in cooking the egg. 
    Again, you can put this on your skin (maybe minus the egg).

Oil:
   Olive oil is my personal favorite, but any oil would work. I wouldn't recommend vegetable or canola oil though.
   Slick your hand with oil and gently massage into your hair.
   Another note is to research before using coconut oil on your hair. It is a great anti-fungal and anti-bacterial but can also be quite drying. I reserve coconut oil for cold-sores, infections, burns, cuts or scrapes paired with honey to combat the drying affect. Coconut oil, honey and vinegar are all great to have on hand for first aid purposes.

The organic beautification station has no limitations if you have the time. Many teas you make can enhance, lighten or darken your hair and henna is a safe alternative to dyes. If you have time over the weekend for extra pampering, you can prepare face and hair masks out of foods that you probably already have in the kitchen. It might not save you money, but your skin and hair will thank you, and in my experience it costs about the same so why wouldn't you do it yourself.

Finally, if your bold and dedicated enough you can make make-up at home. Foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow, blush, lipgloss and even mascara are all things that you can make at home. It is time consuming, but for the same price as some expensive, organic make-up you can make way more of the same product at home.

Love and light.

Words of Wisdom

Ever Cyberstalk Yourself?

I Google searched my novel And This Too A Modern Fable and found some reviews on my short story A Weekend with Friends. Being who I am, this made me excited because they're good and honest reviews and can be found on GoodReads, but I have to repost them here because I'm so happy.

Jun 20, 2014 Grampy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This short story is a bit predictable, but it’s not at all a bad story. Madeline has a bit of car trouble on her way to a party with some of her friends. Without too much inconvenience she manages to get home, where the partiers are already waiting for her to arrive. But this is not quite the party her newer friends expected. Only her oldest friends know what’s in store.

If nothing else, this story will help you make up your mind, if you ever find yourself wondering whether or not to be friends with the local neighborhood psychopath. There is a good bit of violence, blood and gore in this story, which is to be expected from a horror story. Although I doubt “A Weekend with Friends” will give anybody nightmares, it probably isn’t for readers with weak stomachs, as the author points out right up front. For everybody else: check it out.

Feb 24, 2014 Kaila rated it 4 of 5 stars

wow.. So this was a messed up story but i liked it. Very short quick read. Not for those that get squeamish easy. Very unexpected the entire book especially the end. The writer is very good at details and making you feel like you are seeing it happen.  

 

Thank you for the positive feedback on what I consider to be a half decent and immature piece! :D

 

Love and Light 

My Week Away: A Brief Guide on How to Bring Real Homemade Food Backpacking, Camping or even on a Road Trip

I wish I could claim to be an expert and begin spouting scientific facts backed by precise caloric justifications. But instead of some essay with numbers and statistics, you get to hear about how some 20 year old survived her vacation. Hopefully my experience can offer some insight.

When my soulmate and I decided that we were going to take a bus from Montana to Arkansas, attend a 5 day music festival and then hop back on the bus, I was excited by the extreme challenge I was faced with. We've been making almost everything from scratch for about eight months, and our adventure to Wakarusa would be no exception.

My internet searches for an organic, all natural meal replacement bar recipe led me mostly to dead ends. I found lots of recipes, but all of them called for oats and some sort of protein powder. At the time of my research, I was having some issues with grains and didn't want to use oats in such an unstable environment. The last thing I wanted was to get sick. I also wanted to avoid the use of protein powder (although I would have gone with hemp) just because I have no idea what process the protein goes through to become a powder.

Basic Culinary Arts class taught me that protein provides more nutrients than carbohydrates. Protein also takes longer to digest, which I translate into being fuller for an extended period of time. These two facts were the only basis for the plan that I devised, and it barely worked.

I spent too much time trying to craft "bus foods", carb based super snacks for the bus ride to Arkansas. And after about 24 hours, I realized how badly I needed meat.

SO...
 Here's a base list of the food I made. 

-Veggie Rolls: Cinnamon Roll dough with cheese and a vegetable/seed filling (I used asparagus, garlic, hemp seed and carrot, onion, sesame seed). Delicious when fresh, however they are extremely perishable. If I wanted to use the same ingredients and take these incredible rolls backpacking, I would put the filling (cheese, veggies, seeds) in the dough.

-Cinnamon Apple Rolls: Cinnamon roll dough, shredded apple, cinnamon, hemp and sesame seeds. Again, fantastic but doesn't travel well. In order to adapt this dish for backpacking I would put the apple, spices and seeds in the dough.

-Cinnaminis: Mini cinnamon rolls. I wish I had an exact recipe, but I throw things together until the dough is the right consistency (I use sourdough instead of yeast). Let it sit overnight, roll it out, brush with an egg wash, sprinkle on spices and super seeds then bake at 350 until firm. They were super yummy and lasted the whole trip.

-Crackers: I wish I had made a few more batches of these instead of spending all that time on rolls. They're incredibly tasty, lasted the whole trip and you can add any ingredient you want to make it a super cracker.
           -A basic cracker is flour, water, salt... I add a pinch of sugar and a dollop of sourdough
           -Add in cheese, veggie puree, seeds/nuts to taste
    -Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, depending on what you put in your crackers. I've found that crackers with sourdough take longer to bake fully than crackers without

-Failed Fruit Leather: I tried to make some fruit leather, but neither the flavor nor the texture turned out quite right so it became something that I spent time on when I could've made something better. If I had succeeded I probably would suggest that everybody who has ever considered camping should make a batch. I learned that consistency is key and that mashing soupy frozen fruit in a bowl is not the same thing as pureeing frozen fruit in a blender or food processor.

-Noodles: It was too hot in Arkansas to try and make during the festival, but we tried my homemade, organic version of ramen a week after we got back and they  were amazing. The noodles would be best prepared fresh instead of prepared and dehydrated, but this is worth the effort.
     -Take a basic egg noodle recipe and dehydrate the noodles. (Lowest temp on your oven is fairly sufficient, leave the oven door open for ventilation)

-Bullion Crackers: I wanted to make bullion cubes but I rushed through it and made broth crackers. You can eat them like crackers or you can crush them up a little bit and mix in boiling water to make broth.
            -Skim the fat off your stock (I used chicken)
      -Melt stock, add in salt, spices, salt, I ground up some dehydrated vegetables and added that, even a small pinch of wheat but that's entirely optional.
      -Pour mixture on a lined baking sheet (the thinner the crisper) and bake at the lowest temp with the oven door cracked until there's no moisture left.

** Jas. Townsend and Son, Inc has a much better tutorial on how to do this. I will definitely use this method the next time I make this.18th Century Portable Soup

-Breakfast Bars: I should have spent more time and money on these delicious treats. It's possible to do with a decent knife and some dedicated rock chopping, but it won't be the same end result you would get if you threw the ingredients into a food processor. I learned that better, more nourishing carbs come from fruit as opposed to grain (painfully obvious to me now but we have to go through these experiences to learn I guess) If you want to experiment with whole foods backpacking take more fruit than grain.

-Trail mix: It's simple enough, but again, fruit is necessary. Any pleasant dry fruit is perfect. I found that without enough fruit the mix was too dry.

I researched and planned for months, only cooked for about a week and a half. We made it 36 hours on the food that I prepared, which I found impressive because at one of the bigger depots we saw an Amish family eating bus stop chicken sandwiches.

However, when we got to Fayetteville, it was time for a burger. If you are ever in Fayetteville, AR and want to eat somewhere with great food, incredible service, beautiful plating, decent prices and organic ingredients please stop by the Greenhouse Grille. We split a salad with grilled chicken and both got fat burgers with sweet potato fries. It was the best food I've had at a restaurant.

By that time I had fully realized that we didn't bring any tuna or jerky or anything. We had to buy some store brand tuna, checking the labels diligently to find something without soy. It is possible to go from organic to budget, but I wish I had planned in advance. Don't forget your meat of some kind when you're backpacking. It'll be expensive in one way or another, but it's so nourishing (unless you've figured out how to go without, you get a gold star ^-^)

We were able to buy some produce (and more tuna) in Ozark while we were at the festival, which made it easier. The night before we got back on the bus, we made a salad and found a can of organic chili.

It was on the way home that I realized more breakfast bars would've been awesome. If I could do it again, I'd be much more prepared now.

Some other things we did to prepare for our trip included eating a large, colorful veggie stir-fry the night before and eating (sharing) a decadent homemade pizza the day we got on the bus.

It's not impossible, it takes planning, and I had to take a few last minute short cuts, but preparing your own organic, wholesome foods to take on a long trip, or even a day outing is rewarding and not even that difficult if you have enough time.

Coming Soon

Monday morning when I opened my front door, this pot o' gold was waiting for me. It is a dream come true to have these hard copies in my home. But they are only visiting. One of the copies is for me and then I will be distributing some around town in the local libraries.

Love and Light,
End Transmission.

Reviews! :D

So far all the reviews I've received have been positive. I'll start out by posting my favorite one.

"Hmm... this one is hard for me to review. I liked the writing, the author did an awesome job making me feel like I was there and seeing what was happening. I did get confused on the characters, they changed a lot. I am not a zombie fan and for the most part that didn't interest me but the love parts did so that cancelled out the people eating. lol I do have a lot of zombie loving friends I will recommend this book to. It was very well written :)" -Kaila

"Ms. McIntyre's first book is not to be missed. She effortlessly blends science fiction, romance and horror elements into a seamless package.
Her characters are relatable and the novel is an easy read. I couldn't put it down. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this title gets picked up by a large publishing house. Fun stuff here." -Danielle R

""And This Too: A Modern Fable" written by Emily Owenn McIntyre was more than a Zombie Thriller. It is packed with terror, action, emotional turmoil, travel and romance. This young author has created a well written, suspense thriller with true to life characters and a multitude of events which makes you hope for a sequel. Her writing style is fast moving and yet thoughtful and mind provoking." -Laurie Wilson

"Emily McIntyre does a great job in capturing the reader attention and holding it. This story gets started and just never gives the reader a chance to get bored. Although fast paced, I still understood the plot and characters with the greatest ease. This is not a book for the easily offended. It does contain very colorful language, and paints a vivid picture of death and dying." -Elizabeth Edwards

I would love to hear what more of you think, bad or good I am still interested in your opinion, so I urge anyone who has read this book to leave a review either in the comments here or on Amazon.

Love and light
End Transmission.

Another Shameless Plug

One day my soulmate and I were browsing a site called reddit, and we discovered this indie film project called "Buds" about cannabis curing the zombie virus.
As a firm believer in the independent industry I decided that I'd try to get the word out as much as I can about this project. So check it out. 

Love and Light
End Transmission.

And to go with those shorts

I made this "bikini" top. I modified this pattern.

Too Late to Hate, Live in the now

When I finally managed to put this book out, my father mentioned how proud he was of me and how impressed he was with the amount of work I put into promoting it (the book trailers, asking friends to share them on the FB, and posting about it on reddit). He mentioned that he thought my ex stifled a lot of my creativity, and this comment really bothered me. Not because of any residual affection towards that person, but because it's in the past. Through my experiences as an "adult" I have learned that all that matters is this moment, it doesn't matter what happened before and it doesn't matter what's going to happen in the next moment. It takes a while to understand this thought process, but once you can find the inner peace, you realize that everything that anyone has ever done to try and break you isn't what matters. What matters is that you bend instead of break. 

My father said this because I am extremely wary about youtube, and putting my face on the internet. I find it extremely funny that I used to want to be a model because I can hardly stand to have my picture taken anymore. It wasn't because of being free from my abusive relationship that led me to try and market And This Too, I want my book to do well because I think it's a decent piece of literature and I feel very deeply about it.

Love and Light
End Transmission.

So I made these shorts

 Front

Back

 Crotch Detail

Leg Work

 

Click here for the full pattern

Recommended Listening

If I could have had things my way, I would have come up with an entire playlist to go along with my new novel And This Too , however, that hasn't been doable with my current schedule. What I am able to do is give curious readers a list of musicians to check out that I think go along with the story. So if you want some new music to go with your new book check out, Grimblee, sAuce, Phutureprimitive, Emancipator and Pretty Lights. I've seen all of them live except for Pretty Lights, but here's why I love his new album.

Thank you all, hopefully someone will be intrigued enough to take a listen.

Love and light,
End Transmission.

Eat Your Heart Out Promotion Weekend

This weekend, starting on the 14th and ending on the 17th you can buy And This Too free as an ebook! I haven't had time to format the book properly, so that will be resolved in a couple of weeks.

Author's Page

To reduce cost and because my computer is having a hard time putting pictures and text in the same document I decided to post my about the author page here. When you buy And This Too there won't be any pretty pictures on the side, just the simple note describing what I think readers should know about me.

Hi there, I'm Emily Owenn McIntyre, a native to Bozeman, Montana. When I'm not writing, I'm disguised as a humble convenience store clerk. Any other time you will find me glued to the hip of my soulmate and, our large cat is always somewhere nearby.I consider myself to be a writer and a multifaceted artist. I am a firm believer in independent productions of every kind (music, movies, books, etc.) and you will probably never see me backed by a gigantic publishing company for that reason.
Love and light.

It's About Survival

When a bizarre illness devours the nation, Harley Monroe's only concern is that her friends and family can survive. Navigating a labyrinth of hope and despair, And This Too is a flavorful glass of Zombie brand apocalypse with a refreshing splash of romance. Meant to thrill and enlighten, And This Too provides a delightful and disturbing reminder that everything comes to pass.

One More Because I Feel Like It

This is the last book trailer I'm going to do. As I was editing the other teaser (which, yes it is the exact same video clip just a different voice over) I realized how great this monologue is and had to share it. It is an actual passage from the book (I won't tell you who or where, you'll have to read And This Too to find out. You can view this video on youtube as well.

Written, Directed, Produced by Emily McIntyre
Filmed and Edited by Enlightened Butterfly Productions
Guest Starring Lucy's Friend Shannon

Extended Book Trailer

This is the third book trailer, the extended cut. View on youtube here.

Written, Directed, Produced by Emily McIntyre
Filmed by Enlightened Butterfly Productions and Jill McIntyre
Director of Photography Chris McIntyre
Edited by Enlightened Butterfly Productions
Special Effects Make-up by Enlightened Butterfly Productions
Music and Voice Overs by Giant Radioactive Rubber Pants

Second Book Teaser

This video was quite an interesting project. I had several technical difficulties that I had to overcome and despite wanting to use Lightworks my computer couldn't handle it so I had to use my old friend Windows Movie Maker. If you'd rather, you can watch this trailer on youtube.

Directed, Produced, Written by Emily McIntyre
Filmed and Edited by Enlightened Butterfly Productions
Music and Voice overs by Giant Radioactive Rubber Pants

Book Trailer

 

It's finally here! I've been working on this for the past couple of months, designing logos and music clips, crafting special effects make-up and trying to figure out how to become a blonde, and this is what we came up with. You can also see this video on youtube .

A special thanks to Someday Monday Media for their help with this project.

Directed, Written, Produced by Emily McIntyre
Filmed by Jill McIntyre
Director of Photography: Chris McIntyre
Starring Missy Roulette as Herself
Special Effects by Enlightened Butterfly Productions

Star Date: February 1, 2014

This is just a sneak peek at what I've been up to. I can't tell you what it is I'm working on, but just in case anybody cares or wants to guess here I am at a taping of the book trailer for my next piece.

Star Date: January 20, 2014 Disappointment

My parents always taught me that if I don't succeed at something the first time I need to get up, brush the dirt off my knees and try again. That being said I've been working on a book trailer for something I'm not going to talk about (oh the suspense) and needed a blonde. I don't have many friends so originally I was going to lighten my hair to blonde. Three weeks of lemon juice, chamomile tea and cinnamon bark essential oil later my hair is still the same color as it was last month. So I decided to resort to hydrogen peroxide, which is supposed to work great. (If you try to bleach your hair with peroxide, only use a 3% mix. So 3 ounces of peroxide in ten ounces of water) My hair is still the same color. I realized that a few months ago (September/Octoberish) I dyed my hair with a mixture of henna and beet juice. The purplish color that the beet juice added has mostly faded/washed out/bleached away, and I used some grocery store bulk henna that wasn't very high quality but nonetheless it has at least protected my natural color through this journey.
SO, a wig is going to be used instead. I'm super disappointed that it didn't work, but thrilled to report this new finding: don't try to bleach your hair four/five months after using henna because it probably won't work (especially if your hair is already reddish).

End Transmission.

Star Date: January 11, 2014 Surgery

As I get closer and closer to being done with my current project, I thought that I should share with everybody how important it is to be able to hold a piece of paper in your hands and mark it up as you read. I thought I was done with my story and I was ready to be done with it. Then I realized that there was still a lot of editing to be done, the first half of the novel was written when I was ages 16-18 so it

wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't ready to be printed. So
I used up 65 pages of printer paper and borrowed my dad's red pen and went at it. The changes in the story have been incredible. It's fluent and reads the way I think it should instead of sounding like a 16 year old venting pent up angst. These were a couple of my most marked up pages. i just wanted to remind any reader who is also a writer that the process is never done, and it is always a good idea to step back, put your editor hat on, and tear the piece up so you can sew it back together as a 2.0 instead of a beta. I use red pen because it is incredibly symbolic. I love making my work "bleed".