About Us

Our in a nutshell Team

In a Nutshell is published on a monthly basis and is created by voluntary contributors.

Editor in Chief: 
Khadijah Lacina  ummnusaybah@yahoo.com
     Khadijah lives in Sana'a, Yemen, with her husband and six (and three fourths) children. A woman of many talents (HAHAHAHAHA), she has been making soaps for a loooooong time now, is an herbalist, homeschooling mom, translator, teacher, writer and student.   She enjoys making dolls, quilts, and clothes for her family, cooking, crocheting, knitting, reading, gardening, working out, and she loves to spend time playing outside.

Co-Editor:  
Jessica Miller   jessica@soapnuts.com
     Jessica lives in Florida with her husband, three little kids, two horses and five cats.    She loves to make cold process soap, go to the beach, stay up late,  and find new obsessions...   meaning "hobbies".       Turn offs include people who tell her the endings of movies, the alarm clock, and running out of hot water.

Monthly Columnists:

Denise Washburn
     Denise lives in North Western Pennsylvania, surrounded by the Allegheny National Forrest. She has been married to her husband, Bill, for 19 years and they have a 15 year-old son, Billy. Denise is an internationally certified childbirth educator and a nationally certified birth doula who also has a day care in her home. Denise was first interested in making soap in an effort to recreate her grandmother's "lye soap" as a Father's Day gift for her dad. She took a soap making class at a School of Natural Living. This gave her one recipe and one method... then she found Soapnuts! Cleansed by Nature is the name of Denise's soaping business...but it's not really a big business. Mostly it is selling to friends and family and a few craft shows and a few regular customers. Hmmm, other hobbies... She doesn't really have any other hobbies that she does regularly. Denise does a lot of different crafty things, but most are out of necessity (mostly for gifts or to avoid buying something). She sews, does leather craft work, and makes jewelry. She is currently learning how to knit...OK, she's *planning* on learning how to knit in January! :)


Frances Schuff   franhaz@aol.com
     Frances lives in New Jersey with her husband, two cats and a dog (who really rules the house), with two children away at college completing the family. She enjoys making cold process soaps and experimenting with creams, lotions and scrubs. In real life, Frances is a teacher in a public school in NYC, currently concentrating on staff development in math. She enjoys 
any type of handwork especially knitting, quilting and redwork.   Her idea of paradise is sitting on a warm beach, with a good book, a new knitting project, 
surrounded by family and friends.

Marian Lane
     Me: I'm a blond...and a short mischievous one at that. I live on caffeine and carbohydrates, balanced by a fanatical desire to exercise.  I'm married to THE BEST man in the world.. a contractor who can fix anything in the world... and is the center to my flighty path through
life. I have two great kidlets and a small zoo of animals. I found the Soapnuts by accident and just fell in love. I have made creams for what seems like forever, but soap was a new thing to me... of course, now I am hooked and I love to preach the message of "safe soaping". I am a student of aromatherapy and herbology, a cardiac ICU nurse and am known around this corner of the world as "the Antelope Woman" by the locals (I'm always bounding around the county... sun, snow or rain). My hobbies are vast and varied.. I am currently into jewelry making, avidly planning my new garden sections for next spring...uh, that's June in my neck of the woods, and I have that darn knitting thing hanging over my head like a fuzzy stone. I WILL DO IT...even if I kills me lol!! I come across sometimes as controversial and nosey, and very sarcastic.....well I admit, I can be. However, never, ever think the things I say and do are mean spirited...I am just the perpetual kid....the one that always annoyed everyone one with "why why why!!". I figure if you don't ask, you won't know. I guess I am making up for all the wall flower years I spent in school! I love you guys and am pleased as punch to be part of this newsletter!

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