Friday, May 14, 2010

BOGO special: 2 soaps for $3.00!!!

I currently have 6 soap bars remaining in my BOGO special going on over on my etsy page! The soaps remaining are:

Japanese lotus blossom
Berry wine
Vanilla
Sweet pea
Jasmine
Green apple

BOGO SALE INFORMATION: Purchase any bar of soap listed above from my sale page on etsy and receive an additional bar absolutely free! You will need to provide me with your top 3 choices for your free bar from the options below when submitting your order and I will do my best to accommodate your first choice. It's on a first-come first-served basis.

Japanese lotus blossom
Green apple
Lemon verbena
Lilac
Pink grapefruit
English rose
Peppermint eucalyptus

I am still offering my "OOPSY" items at 50% off through paypal. I have 6 bars of celestial waters scented soap (approx. 2.5" x 3") for sale and 3 rosemary mint scented bath fizzies (approx. 2.25" diameter) (
Pics in this post). The price breakdown is as follows: 

'oopsy soap' - $2 each
'oopsy bath fizzies' - $1.75 each

Shipping and packaging for 1 "oopsy" item: $2
Shipping and packaging for 2 or more "oopsy" items: $3

Send payment to me via paypal: cass_jupiter@yahoo.com. Please specify which items you are purchasing when ordering so I know what to send. ;-)

I made English rose scented bath fizzies yesterday and I'm going to finish up a batch of soap tomorrow. I think it's going to look really cool when I'm done with it. Pictures to follow once they are completed!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Current items for sale

Today, May 13 is the final day for all listings on my original etsy page located here. All 4 soap bars listed there are 50% off, or $2.00 each because the listings are expiring! This is a great deal for handmade soap! Head on over there right away!

Also, my current etsy page has a sale going on as well, 25% off all large single colored soap bars (these listings will be expiring in the next few days as well, hence the sale).

If you read my previous post (or at least looked at the pictures), I am offering my "OOPSY" items at 50% off through my paypal. I currently have 6 bars of celestial waters scented soap (approx. 2.5" x 3") for sale and 3 rosemary mint scented bath fizzies (approx. 2.25" diameter) (see previous post for pics). The price breakdown is as follows:

"oopsy soap" - $2 each
"oopsy bath fizzies" - $1.75 each

Shipping and packaging for 1 item: $2
Shipping and packaging for 2 or more items: $3

You can send payment to me via paypal: cass_jupiter@yahoo.com

Please specify which items you are interested in purchasing when you submit your payment through paypal. Thanks! :-D

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Things don't always turn out right...

First of all I want to say Happy Mother's day to all you awesome mom's out there! I hope everyone had a really special day. :-D

Ok, so the purpose of this post is to show that I am NOT perfect by any means and in my soap-making mishaps do happen. I usually try to hide them because I am a "perfectionist" and mistakes are UBER embarrassing to me... I was tempted to hide this one from the world but I figured I can grow from this as a soap-maker and as a person. I'm accepting the fact that sometimes things that happen are out of my control. When things go wrong, we can learn from them and try to make sure it doesn't happen again!

So what went wrong you ask?!? Well, I'll tell you. When I started my soap-making back in November of 2009, I used the little liquid dyes from Hobby Lobby for coloring my soaps. This worked great! Then I started making soaps with two colors (i.e. some of my molds had flowers on the top so I'd make the flower one color and the body another). This worked great! Until I looked in my cabinet where I keep my finished soaps and realized the colors were meshing together and making a new color! And it wasn't a pretty color, it was usually brown or some other gross color. YUCK!

So after doing some research, I came across other ways to color my soap by using oxides and micas! These are non-bleeding pigments so they work perfectly for two-toned soaps! No more brown blah color! So I used some oxides in my soap and they turned out great! Then I decided to try some micas to color my soaps. They leave the soap a semi-opaque color of the mica you used with a really cool shimmery look! In the picture below, I used Brambleberry's super blue mica and lavender mica to color my clear soap then cut them into strips. Then I poured the clear soap and set the strips, let that dry, then made a light purple color for the final bottom layer. I cut them and here is how they looked:


They aren't the prettiest soaps ever, but I thought they looked ok, right?!? Oh, I forgot to mention the glitter! I love that little glittery shine. :) This was my first time using glitter and I might become a glittery soap fanatic now. hehe ;-) Anyway, I cut the soaps and covered them in saran wrap and let them sit on my counter. About 4 days later, I looked at them and they looked like this:


OH MY GOSH!!!! I couldn't believe my soaps turned into this! They weren't too pretty to begin with but this way they look DISEASED!!! I felt like this project was a failure. WAAAAH. I contacted Anne-Marie from Brambleberry (who is the nicest and most helpful person EVER!) and asked why this happened. She told me that when soaps with mica are placed in direct sunlight, they will fade like this (unless you use a UV inhibitor, which is like sunscreen for your soap!). The STRANGE part was that these soaps were nowhere NEAR the sun! I guess the lights in my kitchen must be very strong and mimic the sun. Oh well, not really much I can do about it now.

SO... I've decided to offer these "OOPSY" soaps at half price (ONLY $2!!) if anyone is interested in purchasing them. There is nothing wrong with them, they are just faded but they do smell great (celestial waters fragrance)! Here is the fragrance description: "This is not an oceanic scent but more of a sweet mountain spring scent. Imagine a hike on the banks of a babbling brook through the Appalachians, with the sweet clean scent of hemlock, magnolia, and honeysuckle lingering in the air."

If you would like to purchase one or more of these soaps, Please send payment ($2 per bar with $2 shipping/packaging charges ($3 shipping for two or more soaps)) to my paypal account: cass_jupiter@yahoo.com

Oh, and there was another oopsy that happened... I made my second batch of bath fizzies and apparently the mixture was too moist. They immediately started flattening out on the bottom so I re-molded them and took off the top half of the bubble and left the bottom half on so it wouldn't flatten out again. Then the top half proceeded to "grow" so they turned out looking like acorns. (the bottom in the picture was actually the top which mushroomed out)


So because these turned out "acorn shaped," I will also offer these at half price too! They are rosemary-mint scented with a slight green color to them because I added some dye to them. :) If you would like to purchase these, they are available for $1.75 each and the shipping/packaging charges will be $2 for one or $3 for two or more. You can mix and match these with the "imperfect" soaps above if you'd like! You would send payment to my paypal: cass_jupiter@yahoo.com

Ingredients for the bath fizzies: Sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, sweet almond oil, water, rosemary mint fragrance, and yellow and blue dye

Also: All soaps on my original etsy are now 50% off until May 13 when the listings expire! Only $2 per soap! Check them out!

You can check out my milehighbodycare etsy page for 25% off all large single color soaps!

Have a great night everyone. :-D

Monday, May 3, 2010

New items listed on my etsy!

Hey everyone! Remember that post last week where I gave a preview of my "plaid soap?" Well I cut it and it's for sale now on my etsy page! Below is a plumeria scented soap which smells EXACTLY like your favorite plumeria products from Bath and Body Works. They may have discontinued it but you can now buy it from me in the form of an adorable plaid soap! :)


Since I had extra stripes left over after creating the soap above, I decided to make a new color and create a slightly different look! This one is honeysuckle scented, it smells yummy, and it looks so darn cute!


Last week I also made lavender scented bath fizzies. The smell is strong, but lavender has relaxing properties which is perfect for a bath when you are TRYING to relax! Drop it in your tub and watch it fizz! They contain sweet almond oil which is an excellent natural moisturizer, and has been known to soften the skin! So you get a great smelling bath AND soft skin when you're done! Who could ask for anything more?!? ;)


If you buy these bath fizzies off of my etsy page, this is what they'll look like when they arrive at your home! They would make a great gift for that special someone in your life (or you!!) who is stressed out all the time and needs to relax. We ALL know someone like this, right?


By the way: ALL single colored large soaps are STILL 25% off on my etsy sale page! They were originally $4 and are now $3! The listings will be expiring in 15 days, so don't let these soaps get away! ALSO: my original etsy page found here is also having a 25% off sale. These listings will be expiring in 10 days! Don't miss out!

Thank you for being a friend... :-)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Wedding soap preview!

Ok, so I have been a BUSY BUSY bee working these past FIVE (YES, FIVE!) days on my wedding soaps! My internet presence has been lacking lately (I guess that's a good thing since I'm on my computer 14+ hrs. a day) I feel like this has become a full-time job! I wake up, run, shower, then get into the kitchen and start cooking soaps until the wee hours of the morning! Here is a small preview (of course I'm not going to show the finished product, I don't want people to see them before the wedding! And if you think you know what it is, keep it to yourself!).

I started working on these last Wed. Below are parts 1 and 2:


I cannot show step 3 because this is when the magic happened... Below is step 4, the final step (and step 4 took me 4 days to complete! Oye, it was the most time consuming part) and voila! They are finished!!! (BTW: That's my new loaf mold in the pic. that came last week! I L-O-V-E it! It's 12" x 3" x 3.5" and it's going to make for some fun future soap projects!)


Below is another fun little soap I've been working on for the past 3 or 4 days. This one is an 8" x 8" square (shown below) that I made and it needs to be cut down into smaller pieces (which I'll do tomorrow because the STUPID Fed Ex guy who I mentioned in my last post left my supply box in the office! GRRR). Once I cut this block down, I'm going to offer these for sale on my etsy page! Did I mention it's plumeria scented? YUM.


Okie dokie, I'm gonna hit some hay now. It was a long and laborious day of soap-making and I am exhausted. ;)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Today was like Christmas!!!

Well, almost...

I knew my soap supplies from Brambleberry were coming today via Fed Ex, so I was SUUUUPER excited all day!!! :-D I even got up and did my run earlier than I usually do so I would be able to wash up and get started with my soaping when I was done. EEEEEEEE It's just like Christmas!!!

So 3 pm came, then 4, then 5... I kept looking out the front door like a kid looking for Santa Claus and wondering, "where is the Fed Ex guy with my boxes?!? I want my boxes!" I figured he forgot about me, so I went downstairs to the office to see if he left them there and they hadn't seen him yet. GRRR! I was starting to get so frustrated! FINALLY at 5:55 he knocked on the door, left the boxes, and ran away. It was like he KNEW I was waiting for him ALL day long and he was embarrassed and didn't want to face me. By the time my boxes finally came, I lost my motivation to work on my soaps today because I was frustrated... THANKS A LOT Mr. Fed Ex guy!

These supplies today are for my wedding favors I will be making. They are going to take me DAYS to complete, possibly even a week or more so I was really hoping to get started on them today because there are multiple steps that must be completed, then the pieces need to be cut... OYE!

Anyway, Guess I'll get started on them tomorrow! I'll post some pics as I'm working on them so you can get a sneak peek of what I'm working on. I won't post the finished products though because I want them to be a surprise for the wedding guests! Since there will most likely be extras because of the way I'm making them, I will be offering them for sale on my milehighbodycare etsy page after May 23!

By the way: All large soaps are STILL 50% off on BOTH of my etsy pages! Don't let these deals get away! The links are: carecreations and milehighbodycare. Once my carecreations page closes, I'm going to offer another special on my milehighbodycare page... Stay tuned!

Please support me by becoming a fan on facebook and invite all of your friends to become fans too!

And because pictures are fun to look at, here is a picture from Nov. 13, 2009. This was my FIRST attempt at two toned soap! They were apple scented. :-)

Ciao!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Welcome to my blog - first post!!!

I suppose I should give you a little background on my soap making... Body products are things I have ALWAYS loved to buy and use, whether it is body spray, lotion, soap, shampoo, foot scrub... I think you get the picture. ;) Too many products today contain harmful chemicals in them because they are cheap to use and I wanted to try to find more "natural" body products without parabens, sulfates, urea, etc. (All those EVIL things that cause cancer and other bodily harm) Those "natural" products on the market today can get quite costly, so I decided to find a less expensive alternative...

Anyway, I am the kind of person who gets the idea to do something and then after a week or two I stop because I get bored. I guess that makes me fickle... I decided sometime last summer that I wanted to try my hands at soap making! I started researching it and realized that the costs of buying all of the tools and equipment necessary was going to cost a pretty penny. So I refrained from buying any of the tools and after about a week, the desire had subsided and the idea of soap making became a distant memory.

About a month after that initial idea to make soap, I decided I wanted to do it "for real" this time. This was in November of 2009. So I went out and bought all of the supplies I needed, bought some soap base from my FAVORITE website, Brambleberry and about a week later began my newfound hobby! I had so much fun melting the base, adding fragrance, and color to my soaps! They looked so "professional" and made my apartment smell amazing! Every day it smelled like something completely different. Needless to say, I had a newfound love of bar soap that I had never had before. (Side note: you can see most of the stuff I've made on my Flickr page, and if you like it please become a fan on facebook!)

From November until now, I've tried my hands at many different items: soap, lip balm, bath salts, and even lotion! Honestly, the lip balm I think turned out a little "sandy" and the lotion turned out a little greasy, but nonetheless it was still fun cooking these things up in my kitchen and I know with a little time and practice, I can come up with the "perfect" recipe. :)

After making my soaps for a few months, I signed up on etsy to sell them! (because who DOESN'T want handmade soaps?!?) (Side note: here is my original shop, carecreation and my current shop, milehighbodycare where ALL large soaps are currently 50% off) Needless to say, I didn't market my soaps well enough and ended up only making 4 sales since January of 2010. I started wondering: 'why wasn't I successful at selling my soaps?' and I came to the conclusion that my soaps were very plain and I didn't have the best marketing strategy. So once all of my current listings expire (which should be in the next few days), I'm going to take a little time off, regroup, and approach soap making in a different way. I've found some REALLY cool ideas in a book I bought at Hobby Lobby, my local craft store and I'm dying to try them out!

I'm going to be making soap favors for my wedding next month and I am using one of the ideas out of this book I bought. They are going to be way more work than I have been used to, but if I make them right they are going to turn out AMAZING. After these soapy wedding favors are done, I'm going to attack the etsy world by storm with a new marketing strategy and brand new, fancy soaps!

I WILL NOT FAIL the second time around. Failure is NOT an option. I can't wait for you to see the new stuff I will be offering in the next few weeks!

Thank you for stopping by and if you made it all the way to the end, you are a real trooper!

P.S. I apologize for this blog post getting so long, as you will come to see and know me, you will realize I am a REAL "chatty Cathy." hehe ;-D