Next I tried out an idea I saw on the Soap Queen’s blog for Hot Cocoa With Marshmallows. This one was really fun to make and even though my marshmallows collapsed on this first batch (I shouldn’t have insulated the mold) I was pretty happy with the result. This fragrance is mouthwatering too! My son Devon already grabbed an off-cut from this batch for his bathroom.

These little guys are my first successful Melt & Pour soap projects. Working with M&P takes a steady hand and there is definitely a learning curve to figuring out the proper temps for pouring and levels of fragrance and colours. I’m really happy with how these came out. I’m making more this week!

Oh, I almost forgot my Pumpkin Pie Soap! This was made in 2 layers. The bottom layer has real pureed pumpkin in it for the great orange colour, and the fluffy white topping is made from a separate batch of whipped soap and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spices for the final touch. Who doesn’t love the scent of a pumpkin pie baking? This fragrance is fantastic!

My history with making bath bombs can be summed up in one word: FRUSTRATION.

a) I can’t get the 2 halves of the round bombs to stick together consistently

b) My round bombs usually get big cavernous cracks around them when they dry

SO– this is my solution: Bath bombs made with soap molds! I love how these came out. The details are so pretty. These are scented with Fresh Rain fragrance which I also used to make my Vancouver Rain soap.

Trying to set up, I realized just how MUCH product I have made in recent months. A 6 or 7 foot table just wasn’t going to cut it. Jon and I managed to get nearly everything out, but I don’t like the cluttered look. It’s hard to see individual items when there is too much on the table.  I’m going to have to streamline the display for the Make It Show in May. I’ve got a wonderful shelf unit that I bought from a soaper who was going out of business, but it’s so tall and wide that it makes it more difficult to see from behind the table and I like to be able to connect with my customers. I’ll have to do a little research to figure out a more efficient display. Perhaps I’ll give a try at making another stepped display out of styrofoam packing and just use one on each end of the table. Here’s how it looked at one of my Christmas craft fairs.

It was fun to be able to share some of my products with new customers. It was a lovely day too which helped! I’m considering signing up for the outdoor event they are having in June. Instead of using the hall, vendors will set up outside along the sidewalk. Should be fun! I’ve got a 10×10 tent I can use in case of too much sun- of course rain is a good possibility in June as well.

The vendor next to me on Sunday mentioned that she loves patchouli scented soap. Sandy has a fun and really creative selection of crafts. You can check her out at at FireFlyNotes on Etsy.  So far, the only bar I’ve made that contains patchouli essential oil is part of a blend– my Instant Karma soap. It’s a great blend, but not ‘pure patch’, so I decided to make a small batch as a tester. I added some dried patchouli leaves, a pinch of silk fibers and goats milk. The scent is actually growing on me! I avoided oven processing so poor Jon wouldn’t have to cope with a patchouli scented house. Here’s how it looks:

They will be ready to sell in time for the Make It Show on May 1 & 2. I’m excited for this event because if I make lots of sales it means I can make more soap! Right now my inventory is pretty full so it’s hard to justify making more.

Now, tonight I have to make dinner because the family is coming over. Off to find a good recipe to make pork tenderloin into something delicious. Wish me luck!

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

]]> http://www.triagefromhome.com/2009/12/the-countdown-is-on/feed/ 1 http://www.triagefromhome.com/2009/11/juicybags-is-back/ http://www.triagefromhome.com/2009/11/juicybags-is-back/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:41:39 +0000 Helen http://www.triagefromhome.com/?p=1210

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?

Yesterday, I showed my soaps for the first time at a local craft fair. Unfortunately the shopper turn-out was quite disappointing. You really can never tell how something like this is going to go, but I learned a few things anyway. I think it’s important to ask certain questions before deciding to participate as a vendor.

For example:

Is this the first year for this event?

Have you organized other craft fairs?

How many vendors will be there and what are they selling?

What is the expected attendance for this fair?

What kind of advertizing will be done?

Jon said he searched for info online about this fair and it wasn’t even advertised on craigslist! I’m sure there are other things I could do to research fairs. Something I thought of was to contact previous vendors and find out how the event was attended last year.

Jon and I stayed up nearly all night Friday setting up and printing the product labels, labeling everything and making signage. I finally crashed out at 4:30 am and Jon was up till 5:30. We had to be up again by 7:30 to go get set up for the fair. You know something? I really have the most wonderful, loving and supportive husband. He came along with me  yesterday, helped me set up, kept me company, went to get me lunch, helped me take down and pack up and then got me home safely so we could crash again. We went to sleep at 6:00 pm last night!

There were only about 15 vendors there. It was very low-key, with the tables widely spaced in a very large hall. The thermostat controls were locked up in the morning, so they weren’t able to get the heat turned on until the afternoon. Luckily I’d worn a hoody jacket, but it wasn’t enough to keep me warm. All afternoon I kept dreaming about getting home and into our heated waterbed. The lady who ran the event was apologetic, but what can you do? We probably sold enough to cover our table fee and lunch, but that was it. Many customers were  interested in my solid shampoo and conditioner cakes and  solid lotion bars, and I sold quite a few.  Some customers mentioned how they would be great for travel, so I would like to try to find some reusable storage containers for the shampoo and conditioner cakes. Maybe something like the lotion bar tins, or maybe something plastic and water-tight.

I met someone who might be interested in doing a fundraiser with my Scrabble tile pendant charms, that would be fun to do if it works out.

Here’s a few more photos of some of my products on display. These wooden display shelves were made by the husband of a soapmaker who sold me a bunch of her supplies when she sold her business. I think this shows off my soaps really well.

These are the shampoo and conditioner cakes. I think these are my favourite product. Made from shampoo and condtioner ingredients (they aren’t soap!) but without all that water and extra packaging. Great for camping or travelling. No water, so you can take them in your carry-on luggage for flying.

Last Christmas, I bought some fun jewelry pendants for my daughter from Etsy. They were made from Scrabble letter tiles, with a Twilight theme. They were a huge hit with my daughter and her friends, so I thought I might try my hand at making some. I’ve ordered some supplies and as soon as they arrive I’ll give them a try. Here’s a shop that makes some really sweet designs.

I’m working on an idea to recycle old pop and rock LPs into drink coasters, but I haven’t hit on the exact method I’ll use. I picked up a few dollar store cork-backed coasters and decoupaged them with cuttings from scrapbook paper. They turned out pretty well, they just need a couple of coats of spray varnish to make them waterproof. This is how they started:

And then after I tweaked them (they still need the spray coating):

Then I started researching soap making. I know– nothing recycled about that– but there’s something about handmade soap that just grabs me. There is an amazing amount of information out there in web land about handmade soaps. I’ve been riveted to YouTube, watching people hot process and cold process and whatever-process. There’s a fantastic soap supply shop not far from here, so I dropped in and gathered everything I needed to make my first batch. There’s no way I was going to have the patience to wait 4-6 weeks for a cold processed batch to cure, so I thought I’d try hot process first. It was fun and easy, although after reading all the warnings about working with lye I was a bit nervous at first. There seems to be a lot to learn about how to scent soaps correctly with oils or fragrances, let alone all the additives I can barely pronounce! Anyway- for my first batch I used an online soap calculator to mix coconut, palm, and olive oils and shea butter. I tried a grapefruit essential oil for scent because Jon and I both like citrusy soaps. I added some tumeric for colour and a handful of grated orange peel for a bit of texture.  I loved how the colour was a bit uneven and the cut bars looked kinda rustic (in a good way), but …..NO scent! I was so disappointed. I mean, it’s ALL about the scent with handmade soaps, right? So, I headed back to the soap supply shop to ask for advice. I decided to go ahead and grate all the soap up and rebatch it (melt it down and try again!) Pretty simple to do– just grate it up with a cheese grater, chuck it all in the slow cooker and wait till it goes back to the mushy stage. It took a while and some mixing but it got there. I found out that citrus essential oils have a low flash point, which I think means they evaporate at low temps (like 110-115 F) so I let the batch cool down to just below 110 F before I added a dose of Sweet Orange and Grapefruit, with a dash of Litsea Cubeba as well. Do I sound like I know what I’m doing? Apparently that last one helps to hold on to the citrus scents. Let’s hope so!

It’s all cut and drying now- Yeah, it looks pretty rough, but I prefer to call it rustic:-) I’m calling it Marmalade Smoothie. What do you think? It was starting to get quite solid when I was packing it into the molds. It smells very good in the room, but who knows if that’s from the oils that got all over the utensils or the actual soap! It should sit to dry out and harden for a week or two before it’s used, so I’ll post again later with the final outcome. Next I thought I’d try soap made with beer! Jon had a can of Red Racer Pale Ale that somehow sprung a leak near the top, so he let me steal it. Wish me luck.

Ever since I first saw them at LUSH I’ve wanted to try making bath bombs at home. You know, those hard and dry colourful bombs that burst into fizziness when they are dropped into the water? Well, I made my first batch the other night. They are a bit tricky if you don’t know what it’s supposed to look or feel like at the molding stage, but I think I figured it out. I made pale pink half-balls scented with grapefruit essential oil. I need to find a better mold, or maybe use my heart-shaped muffin pan.  I tried using some hollow Christmas tree ornament balls (they are sold with candy inside) but they had a bit of a lip inside the open edge that made it really difficult to get the bombs out. I can see these would be really fun to make and sell- there are lots of colours, scents and accents you can add to decorate them. They’d make great gifts and stocking stuffers. Can you see that they are pink in this photo?

This last one was really fun and easy. I melted down some old broken crayons in the oven in star-shaped molds. I thought it would be fun to have something fun and inexpensive to sell and a way to pass on the recycling message to kids. They turned out so well, although the hard part was getting all the paper wrappers off. Soaking them in water helped but some were really stuck. The finished crayons look great and are fun to colour with. They would be perfect for kids to rub on paper over textures to make designs in a mix of colours. Excellent stocking stuffer too! I got the idea from a teacher who made these and gave them to her students on their birthdays- sweet! I love that these are chunky and easy for little kids to hold.

Danetta, who said:

“Everything in her shop looks so fabulous! One of my favorites is the Another Dimension Sprinkle Star Pendant”

Congratulations Danetta!
Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway.
Please shop at Everythingsblue’s Shop- her jewellery is so much fun!

Yesterday’s craft fair was so different than the others I have attended. Very low-key. It was a dark, rainy, gray day. I’m not sure if that was the only thing that contributed to the low turn out, but it was incredibly quiet. Maybe lots of other things going on this weekend in the area? Hard to really say. Jon came with me which was much appreciated because we had a chance to spend time together and we made it fun. Turns out, I ended up making really good sales anyway– mainly to other vendors! I sold my favorite little Blue Raspberry Mini Backpack, which was very exciting. I knew I would find someone to love it:-)

Actually, there were TWO buyers who wanted to purchase it, so I’m making another one for buyer number two. Custom orders are so fun because I can add features that the customer would prefer to make it just right for them.

On a different note completely: Jon sent me a link last evening to a site with recipes for making bath bombs. These look like fun to make and I want to try it! I really have to focus on Juicybags this week though as I have another show booked for this Friday/ Saturday.

“A Real Gem”
Jewelry and Accessories Gift Show and Sale
Friday, Dec 5 (6-9 pm)
Saturday, Dec 6 (10 am to 4 pm)

Ocean Park Community Hall
1577- 128th St, South Surrey

Sunnyside Elementary School Click the link for info and address.

The other day I spent hours making a whole bunch of Gift Card Holders. These seem to be really popular. So many people are buying gift cards now. It’s so much easier than trying to find exactly the right gift. Last year I gave my 18 year old daughter a Mall gift card which was valid for nearly every store in a HUGE mall near us. She was thrilled because she went shopping AFTER Christmas and hit all the sales! She ended up with things I wouldn’t have been able to buy for her at holiday prices.

The holders are such a fun way to present a card and can be used as coin purses after ‘gifting’ or as an ID or bus pass holder.

I made another batch of bi-fold wallets and finished them last night. Today I need to try to get some more pencil cases done and maybe a few more clutch wallets. I have no idea when I’m going to do it though! I’m working 12 hours today until 8 pm and I have to be at the craft fair at 8 am for set up in the morning!

I wish I’d had time to get to my favorite Thrift Store this week, because I really need some more denim to use for making bags. They sell jeans there for $1 a pair. Can’t beat that! Well, I didn’t have time to make more bags this week anyway, so I’ll be sewing next week when I’m off work. I have a 2-day show the first weekend in December, so I’ll need to work on my stock for that.

After that- it’s Christmas shopping time. I bought a nice second-hand TV for Devon for playing his XBOX games on at a good price from a co-worker. For Alison, I think she could really use a new digital camera. She is going traveling in January with a friend. They have hopes of ending up in Europe and then on to Australia. They are starting by going to Texas to see her ex-step-mom and half-sibs. (wow, their titles are getting really complicated) She says she plans to work there to save enough money to go on to Europe. At least she can legally work in the US since she was born there. I wish her luck- I say travel now while you’re young and have the freedom! Of course I will worry, but I think it will be a great experience for her.

I sold so many things that I’m going to be scrambling this week to try get more things ready for the next one at Sunnyside Elementary this Saturday. Looks like there are going to be some other great sellers there too.

My Recent Awesome Gift Purchases from Etsy

I thought I would blog about some of the great giftsI found on Etsy. I can’t post all of them, because certain people like to read my blog (ahem, my darling husband) but I will post a few anyway.

These first 2 are from one of my favorite shops called Nothing Like It. This girl is an amazing artist. Her stuff makes me laugh out loud:-) Here are the little ABC (already been chewed) Gingerbread Men for my Christmas tree. Hey- so I bought myself a couple gifts too, so sue me!
This reindeer ornament is hilarious too. I love the tongue sticking out, it just makes it perfect. I had to have this one. I justify these purchases because I misplaced (or maybe lost) some of my precious ornaments when we moved in 2005. That’s a good reason, right?
Check out her sold items. Everything she makes is one of a kind and she creates your items to-order. If you can imagine it, I think Robin can make it.

The next one are some amazing soaps I bought from Sunbasilgarden These are true works of art. Bacon and eggs soap with the scent of pancakes for my bacon-loving teenage son, and Gingerbread man soap with gingersnap scent for my sweet-loving daughter. This shop has lots of other soaps, not all novelty like this- many gorgeous colours, shapes and fragrances.

Next is a shop I found while reading the Promos forum on Etsy. There was a thread where you buy something from the last shop on the list and then someone else will buy something from your shop, etc. I clicked on JesseJanes Shop which happened to be last on the list at that time and YES!! I found the coolest pendants made from Scrabble tiles with images from the Twilight book series. My 18 year old daughter is a big Twilight fan, so I bought her this cool set of pendants that come wrapped in a tin box for giving. She is going to be so excited and thrilled when she opens this!

These are so neat! I found these Mario and Power-Ups Magnets by Spooons for my son who is a long-time Nintendo fan. (well, he’s moved on to X-box 360 now, but he still has nostalgia for the mario-days) He will think these are really sweet. I found Spooons shop through this item which was running on OwnTheHour

Last one I can safely post….this is from Everythingsblue I think I found this shop through her a tweet on Twitter. This is the sweetest little Sweetheart pendant, it’s made of resin and filled with real candy sprinkles. Another one for my daughter who loves cute stuff like this. Her jewelry is really interesting and fun.

Please check out all of these shops. They won’t disappoint! Send me links to your fave shops too. I love to browse:-)