How it all started…

as the granddaughter, great granddaughter and great great granddaughter of hog farmers in rural North Carolina, I happen to also be the great great granddaughter of the ingenious wives of those hog farmers. My grandmothers ( both maternal & paternal) made soap with the leftover lard! I grew up playing on dirt roads and drinking well water. I come from a long line of soap makers (and hog farmers), country folk that instilled the values of when one door closes… you build a whole ‘nother house with your own doors.

in 2011 my youngest daughter was diagnosed with a severe case of eczema. Thanks to her it sent me down a rabbit hole of natural/holistic skin products, ingredients and cures. With this knowledge I decided instead of using this to buy the perfect product for her skin, I would make it. I started, like my grandmothers with lard soap but decided to take a more vegan approach and fell in love with coconut oil. By 2012 I had perfected a soap, body butter, laundry detergent and hair conditioner for our family, and the best part was her eczema was gone! (eliminating high fructose corn syrup, food dyes, allergens and certain foods contributed to her skin’s recovery)

I’d make multiple batches of soap at a time with different scents. Because who wants to use the same scent of soap for months, right? And whenever friends or family came over I would make sure they left with soap, totally not so that I could make more soap and try new scents (sneaky,sneaky). They didn’t even have to come over, I was handing out soaps like Oprah hands out cars!

acceptance is the first step to change and I admit guys…I’m a soapaholic. In 2017 I decided to make you guys my enablers, I mean extended friends and family, and created Art & Sun.

art & sun is the overflow of my mind, whether its my love of soap, thrift finds, sewing, painting or refurbing furniture. art & sun is literally my love(s) overflowing. enjoy.