I found this cute Maple Leaf stamp at Brambleberry Soaping Supplies last month. I was planning to stamp just a few of my soaps for the Olympic Artisan Market, but I like it so much I’ve been stamping everything with it! I’ve ordered a couple of other stamps too and I’m thinking of possibly having a custom stamp made. If I ever get around to working out a logo for the shop I’ll probably use that.  I think the stamp adds a really fun look to the bars, don’t you?

This bar is scented with an essential oil blend from Brambleberry called Karma Synergistic Blend.  It’s supposed to be a dupe of Lush’s Karma, but I actually like this one better. It’s got some patchouli oil in it and I think we’ve determined that Jon’s not a fan. The day I made this soap he left for the evening without having dinner because he couldn’t stand the scent:-( Oh well, can’t please everyone right?

Here’s another one that I stamped. This scent is so pretty. I kept a bar of this soap on my desk while I was working all week after I made it just so I could scent my workspace with gardenias.

Well, I spent a very quiet 3 days at the Winter Artisan Market in Gastown at the tail end of the Olympics. A friend of a friend was also there for the earlier weeks so I had heard things had been very very quiet, so I wasn’t surprised. In fact, I thought seriously of just pulling out completely and not showing up. After spending 8 days in the mall in White Rock with such slow sales at the beginning of February, I just couldn’t face another 6 days of sitting and not selling.

I ended up agreeing to try it for 3 days. As expected, the place was a ghost town. All of the vendors were pretty disappointed, but apparently everyone who came to Vancouver for the Olympics just wanted to stand outside the Olympic Superstore (The Bay downtown) and wait in line for hours to buy the official olympic gear. *shrug* Well, they seriously missed out because the artisan market was amazing. So many incredibly talented Canadian artisans. Such a shame that we didn’t get to share our work with many of the visitors. It turned out that most of the shoppers we did get were locals. I didn’t mind– I just wish we’d had MORE of them:-)

So….on to the next event. I’m booked in for an eclectic little craft fair later this month called BLIM . It runs each month on the last Sunday, all year round. We had a look through it a couple of months ago and I decided to give it a try. For local readers, it’s at the Heritage Hall in Vancouver at Main & 15th. I’ll be there March 28th from 11-4. If you come by and mention my blog, you’ll get a free gift (and a smile!)

I’ve got nothing booked for April for markets, but still looking. If you know of anything coming up and wanting vendors, please let me know. On May 1 & 2  I’ll be taking part in Make It Vancouver at the Croation Cultural Centre which I’m so excited about! I hear it’s a great event and I’m looking forward to it.

All my upcoming market and craft fair events are marked on my calendar on the Juicybath website. Check it out sometime. It needs some updating with my new soaps and other products, but you can always browse my Etsy shop while I’m waiting for my website guy (ahem- Jon) to get more photos up on the website. I’ve been recently getting some regular sales from Etsy and it’s very exciting. There’s so much soap competition there, but I’m hoping to carve my niche. Trying to get into a habit of listing items more regularly to keep the visibility up.

Another soap photo just to make the post a little prettier:-)

This week I’m selling my products off a cart at Semiahmoo Centre at 152nd and 16th in White Rock. I’ve been there 2 days so far and it’s been rather slow selling. It was so much work to get ready for this, so I’m hoping things pick up as the week goes on. Customers so far have been really enthusiastic about my soap, so that’s been encouraging. Thursday and Friday will be tough- 12 hour days!

Here’s how my cart is set up. This took Jon and I several hours to do on Sunday evening.

I made up some great Valentines Day Gift Packs for this. Here is one for the ladies.

It’s got 3 bars of soap:

- Bouquet of Roses (scented with English Rose)

-Bottle of Wine (scented with White Zinfandel)

-Box of Chocolates (scented with Expresso Chocolate)

A handmade cotton facecloth (not by me, I can’t crochet!), and a little wooden soap deck that Jon and I made from some solid wood trim boards.

Another one for the girls…these are Matching Scent Gift Packs, each contains

A bar of soap, a jar of whipped body butter and a jar of emulsified sugar scrub.

I did these  in 4 different scents:

Black Raspberry Vanilla

White Tea & Ginger

Love Potion

Lick Me All Over

Next I did a Chocolate Lover’s Gift Pack containing:

Edible Chocolate Massage Butter

Chocolate  Expresso Sugar Scrubs

Chocolate Scented Soap

Chocolate Orange Lip Balm

I think this last one is my favourite.  A Six Pack O’ Suds beer soap gift pack. I had a lot of fun making soap with six different types of beer and choosing scents to match. This is what I came up with for the soaps:

Ginger Lime, made with Nut Brown Ale

Rosemary Mint, made with Lager

Unscented, made with Guinness Draught

Oatmeal, Milk and Honey, made with Oatmeal Stout

Chocolate Expresso, made with Chocolate Stout

Salty Sea, made with Honey Brown Ale

This is how the packaging looks. I had a custom stamp made

for this. Inside, I added kraft paper crinkle shreds and a handmade cotton facecloth.

I’ve got to get there super-early tomorrow- proabably 6 AM-  because the Olympic Torch Relay will be taking place right outside the mall tomorrow morning around 6:30 so the main street will be closed.  I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see the relay come through here in Delta, but Devon will see it in front of his school later in the morning. I think they are starting classes later so the kids can all see the torch going by.

I got this idea from another blogger. Seems like nice way to look back at my year. I’m thinking of trying to do this every January. I know I’m a little late for reflections of 2009, but here goes anyway:

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?
I learned to make soap.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

No, I don’t make any actual new year’s resolutions. This year I do hope to get back into better physical shape. I really dropped the ball on fitness in 2009.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my niece had her third son.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, and I’m very grateful for that.

5. What countries did you visit last year?

No travel for me last year, unless you count hops over the line to Bellingham and Seattle. My sister and I did a 2 day road trip to shop in Seattle and it was so much fun. We haven’t had time alone together to reconnect in years and we laughed and cried. I want to do it every year now, at least!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
A full-time-employed husband. He wants that as much as I do though. Here’s hoping that 2010 brings a great career opportunity for him.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The actual date numbers don’t stick in my mind, but the weekend garage sale I had in March to raise money for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer was crazy. I almost killed myself and Jon too, but we raised $1700 so I consider it a great success:-) The actual weekend walk in August was an amazing experience. The day my daughter surprised me by turning up back home suddenly after being in Calgary for several months. The day that a doctor told me and my mom that she probably had early stage Alzheimer’s Disease. May 1st, the day that me and my family helped my mom move into her new apartment.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Finishing the Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk of 60 km over 2 days, and raising over $2000 for the BC Cancer Foundation.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Neglecting my physical health by avoiding regular exersize.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing serious, thankfully.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
The soaping supplies from a soapmaker who was going out of business. It was an incredible deal and it really got me jump started with my soapmaking!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My brother’s. He fundraised and then rode his bike over 400km in one day from Kelowna to Delta to raise awareness and money for the Canadian Cancer Society in the Ride 2 Survive. It was an amazing accomplishment.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I wouldn’t go quite as far as appalled or depressed, but I was pretty irritated with the moderators of a certain soapmakers’ forum for banning me. Get over yourselves, seriously. Your loss

My son gave me a few moments to be appalled about here and there (what teenager doesn’t?) and when he was struggling with anxiety and depression early in the year it was pretty sad for me, but I don’t get depressed easily.

My mom’s ongoing struggles with her memory make me sad. I try not to get depressed over it though, just try to help as much as I can.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Most of it went for just keeping us going day to day, but another large portion went to get me set up for making soap as well.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I don’t think anything was quite THAT exciting in 2009, but selling nearly $500 in products at one small craft fair I did this fall was exciting for me.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
I don’t know that it will stick in my mind for always, but Adam Lambert singing ‘Mad World’ on AI was pretty cool. He made the show fun to watch last year.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? A little sadder.
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter.
c) richer or poorer? poorer (we’re talking money, right?)

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I’ll say it again- physical activity. Also- wish I’d done more fun things with Jon. Life can get kind of routine at times and we forget to enjoy our time together and just do fun stuff.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Eating. Complaining.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my family at our house, we had everyone here for dinner.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

No, but I stayed in love.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Definitely LOST. Can’t wait for it to start again next week. It’s the last season though:-( I also had a lot of fun watching American Idol with my son, Devon. It’s our mom-and-son bonding time. We don’t get much of that anymore so I really enjoy it. Other than that, I don’t really watch TV anymore.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate is a very strong word. I don’t have true hate for anyone. There are a few irritating people I try to avoid though.

24. What was the best book you read?
The Time Travelers Wife. Absolutely pulled me in. I didn’t want it to end, but couldn’t stop reading.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don’t really discover music. That’s Jon’s area:-)

26. What did you want and get?
A new washer and dryer- front loaders, they rock.

27. What did you want and not get?
A new kitchen. (not expected, but still wanted!)

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Nothing sticks out in my mind other than Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I don’t think it was the best of the series but I’m a big HP fan, so I enjoyed it.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 46. Jon took me out for dinner to the Washington Avenue Grill. It was lovely.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I could have had the kitchen renovated, or finished all the half-done projects on the house.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
I’m pathetic in this department, as all who know me are aware. I spent most of the year in my jammies working from home, or in my comfy jeans- mainly because I’ve gained weight and don’t feel good about how I look

32. What kept you sane?
Being loved by a wonderful man.  Having a hobby that I love. Working from home.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Embarrassingly, Adam Lambert. I know, he’s young enough to be my son and he’s gay but he’s adorable and his voice is incredible *shrug*

I also really admire Brad Pitt for all he does for people in need. That makes him pretty fanciable, and he doesn’t look half bad either, let’s face it .

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
I really wish I were more interested in politics, but I’m just not. It was pretty exciting to see Obama getting inaugurated, for many reasons.

35. Who did you miss?
I missed Jon’s parents, who live in England. I wish we could see them more often. I also missed my dad as always. I can’t believe it’s been 11 years since he died.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Nobody in particular sticks out in my mind. I guess I don’t meet too many new people.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

Make sure the people you love know it, and show them often. You never know when you might not be able to tell them again. (related to my mom’s memory problems)

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

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I chose a winning comment by using a random number generator, and Lisa was the winner of my handmade soap giveaway! Congratulations Lisa and thanks everyone else for coming and entering the contest. Here are the bars that Lisa requested as her prize:  Bubble Gum, Lemongrass & Lime and Sea Salt Spa. They are on their way to Maryland today. I hope you enjoy them Lisa!

Happy New Year everyone! To start the year off right, I’m holding a little giveaway contest.  If you’d like the chance to WIN your choice of THREE bars of my handmade soap, here’s your chance.

Shipping of the prize is limited to Canada and the USA.

It’s so simple to Enter to WIN !

**Just hop over to my etsy  shop here, and/or the soap list on my own site here (more products are listed there) Have a look around and then come back and leave a comment telling us which soaps you would like to win  (don’t forget to leave your email for contact- it won’t appear publicly)**

For additional entries:

1. Tweet a link to this giveaway! (one entry per tweet– no limts!)

2. Follow me on Twitter here

3. Subscribe to my blog

4. Add a link back to this giveaway on your own blog (give us the URL in a comment here)

5. Blog about this giveaway with a link back here

6. Add my blog to your blogroll

7. Post a link to the giveaway on Facebook

8. Add my blog button to your blog

Please leave a separate comment below for each of your entries. The contest will run for 2 weeks, from Jan 1st till Jan 14th at noon (or as soon as I get a chance to do the draw that day)

Winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. The winner has 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn and you’ll forfeit your prize.

Good luck everyone!

Jan 14/10 Update: The contest is now closed. Thank you everyone for visiting and entering to win. The winner has been contacted and has 48 hours to respond to claim his/her prize.

Well, it’s actually 2010. I remember when Vancouver won the olympic bid for 2010 several years ago and I thought to myself what ages my kids would be that time. It was hard to imagine Alison at 20 and Devon nearly 18, but here we are! Time sure flies.

Looking forward to seeing what 2010 brings. Devon is graduating this year which is amazing to me. It’s hard to believe the school years are nearly done for us. Can’t imagine what he’ll be doing after that but I sure hope he comes up with something soon. What couldn’t my kids be the type that had their futures all planned out? Well, I can’t complain too much since I was exactly the same at their ages. I didn’t figure out that I wanted to go back to school until I was around 20. I spent a few years making low wages and working much too hard for it before I realized I was the only one who could change that.

I hope to find lots of opportunities to grow my soap business this year. Right now I’m working on soaps and other products  for Valentines Day. I’ve rented a cart to sell at Semiahmoo Centre in White Rock from Feb 7th – 14th. My challenge is to have enough product to fill the cart and make an attractive display, but not so much that I have tons left over when I’m finished. There’s just no way to guess how much I’ll sell, so I’m thinking I’ll plan for enough product to at least triple my costs.

A few ideas I’m working on for Valentines Day Gift Packs:

Triple Delight: A Bar each of ‘Bouquet of Roses’, ‘Box of Chocolates’ and ‘Bottle of Wine’ soaps, wrapped elegantly with a handmade wooden soap dish. The soap scents I’ll be using are English Rose, Expresso Chocolate and White Zinfandel. I’ve already made a couple batches of the Roses and Chocolate soaps– they smell fantastic!

Then for the men, I’m planning a ‘Six Pack of Suds’, which will be a package of six different half-size bars of Beer Soap.  Jon gets the credit for the name- I love it! Here’s a shot of one of my current beer soaps, made with Labatt’s Pilsenser:

Of course, I’ll bring all the rest of my soaps and products along for sale. I’m also thinking of doing some sort of Chocoholics Gift Pack, including a soap, an edible body massage butter, lip balm and bath bomb.  I’ve ordered some new fragrances to try out as well: Extremely Sexy For Men, Love Spell, Lick Me All Over, Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Back Raspberry Vanilla. They all sound incredible. I’m planning some coordinated gift packs of different products with the same scent too. Makes it easy when it’s all wrapped up together.

Off to get started on some more soap!

Only 5 days till Christmas! This is the week where I start getting really anxious because I never have all my shopping done.  We are having Christmas dinner here for the extended family, so the house needs to be cleaned, food (and booze!)  shopping needs to be done, presents wrapped….and probably a million other things. I’m working today and then overnight tomorrow, so my time is getting really crunched. Hopefully I can motivate my men to help me get things ready. So, just need to work a night shift tomorrow and then it’s full-on Christmas prep!

Every year, we do a big Christmas breakfast to eat after we open our gifts. I do an egg strata the night before that goes straight into the oven in the morning, and overnight french toast for Devon. Maybe I can actually get all my gift wrapping done before Christmas Eve this year. I hate that late-night frantic wrapping and tagging!

In other news, I’m waiting to hear back from a leasing agent about renting a selling cart space at Semiahmoo Centre during the week leading up to Valentines Day to sell my soaps. There’s a Body Shop in the mall though, so I had to submit a letter describing my products and how they differ from The Body Shop’s stuff and we’re waiting to hear back from the mall administration. No word this week- hopefully Monday! If it’s yes, then I’ve got lots of soap to make by then. Of course I have no way of knowing how much I will sell, so it’s really guess work knowing how much to prepare, and which products to include. I’m planning to focus on my soap though.

Here’s a pic I took of part of my soap display at my last pre-Christmas craft fair. I loved how my soaps looked on this. I made it out of scrap styrofoam packing materials!

Here’s my most recent batch right after cutting. It’s scented with Pineapple Cilantro but I think it smells just like fresh pineapple. I added some coconut shreds for scrubbiness too. This one will be ready for sale on Jan 13th.

I got my first 2 sales from my Juicybath Etsy shop this week! Out of the blue– a Rosemary Mint bar, and then later the same day, a Licorice scented Lump of Coal. I was so excited. I actually found a couple of local buyers to purchase the rest of my batch of Lump Of Coal Soaps. I was so glad because I did a lot of work to get the packaging and the tags just right.  I think they turned out really well.

In case it’s not readable in the photo, the gift tag says:

You’ve Been Naughty

Here’s Your Lump Of Coal

Handcrafted Soap

Licorice Scented

I spent some time listing some of my Juicybags stuff in my Etsy shop last night. I forgot how time consuming that can be! Now to promote and try to get some sales for Christmas. The great thing about my Juicybags for online shopping is that the shipping is usually quite reasonable since they are so lightweight. If I can pack them flat enough, I can even send them by letter post which is much cheaper than package rate.

Now- if only Canada would get a nice, simple flat rate system going I could get to selling more soaps too! I have to get Jon to update my Juicybath site today. I’ve sold out of so many of my soaps that are pictured there. Lots of new stuff is on the curing racks though. We just have to figure out how to get better photos to show them off properly. I’ve got another craft fair this weekend so I’ll be busy in between working nights (ugh!) this week to get everything stocked up again. I need to make more Whipped Body Butters and I need scent suggestions. I made some unscented and only sold one or two. I guess scented is the way to go for that product.

How about:

Coconut?

Pineapple Cilantro?

Instant Karma? (like Lush’s  Karma)

Mango Melon?

Orange?

Lavender?

Honeysuckle?

…but they feel that way anyway…

Last week was my birthday. I don’t get excited about them anymore. Who wants to be older anyway? (besides my teens that is!) Jon is always sweet and finds a way to do something special for me. This year he gave me a card, inside he listed reasons why he loves me. It is just beautiful and something I will treasure. We went out for dinner too and spoiled ourselves with 3 courses. We don’t do that often, so it was a real treat.

My friend Yvette made my day by having a bouquet of pink roses delivered to me! Wow….somehow flowers just make me feel so loved and appreciated. Maybe because they seem like a decadent gift, something I wouldn’t buy for myself.

My kids, on the other hand, were pretty lame about my birthday this year. I try not to let it bother me, but I wish they could put a bit of effort into it. My son remembered and wished me a happy birthday, and my daughter bought me a generic card. Is it too much to hope for a thoughtful gift? Nothing expensive. Just something that shows they thought about my birthday for more than 15 seconds, you know? They could make me something or clean the house for me, or even bake me a cake— but they just don’t. Some years they do better, but maybe it’s just their ages. They are still so wrapped up in themselves that they don’t think about me much anymore. My daughter spent days on end planning her friend’s birthday party and creating a slideshow video for her…..I got a card (not even a MOM card, just a generic card you could give to someone you work with!) That shows you where I rank on her priority list right now! I’m sure when it’s my son’s girlfriend’s birthday, he’ll be stressing for days about what to get for her. (and asking me to buy it since he has no job!)

I guess that’s why I try to keep myself so busy all the time. I wonder how they would feel if all I did for their birthdays is give them a hug or a card?