Revisiting soap packaging…again.

‘Round and ‘round I go with the whole packaging dilemma.  BUT, I might be on to something…FINALLY!  You see, I love to make beautiful soaps.  My favorite technique is to swirl several colors together.  I don’t have the art perfected, but I’m working on it.  I do, however, like most of the soaps I’ve swirled and want to show them off.  I realize packaging is part of marketing and selling the soap, but I want the SOAP to market and sell itself and that won’t happen if it’s covered up inside a box.  My most recent packaging has been to use a white box with an oval window.  This allowed the soap to be both seen and smelled, but the WHITE is grating on my nerves.  Even though you get a glimpse of the soap through the window, I’ve struggled with what to do with all that white space around the soap.  I’ve made colorful labels and used ribbon bows on the front, but that becomes time consuming and costly.  And there’s still a lot of white.

The solution? Vellum!  It’s transparent, inexpensive and allows me to label my soap while still letting the soap be the focal point.  So, what do you think?

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

At least in my house it is because I’ve started making my holiday soaps!  I love Christmas and making these great smelling soaps has me singing Christmas carols.  My first batch of holiday soap is called Wintergreen.  It smells like apples, oranges, peppermint and a hint of cinnamon.  Mmmmm.  It’s a crisp, winter scent.  The soaps are a swirl of white and spearmint colors with sparkles on top; reminds me of glistening snow on evergreen trees. 

Celebrate!!!

Since mid-April, Catie Beth has been donating profits to Ted and Cheryl Schoenling’s Adoption Fund.   I’m excited to announce that Catie Beth has donated over $100 ($113.05 to be exact)!!  I want to say a BIG “Thank You!” to everyone who has made a purchase during the past three months or has told a friend about Catie Beth.  I’m still donating profits to The Schoenlings, but wanted to pause and share this milestone with you.  You can follow the Schoenlings at http://joyfortheseasons.blogspot.com/

I love making soaps and lotions.  I love having my own home-based business.  But more than all of that, I LOVE helping unite orphans with their forever families.  Thank you for being a part of that mission.

                   Cheryl (Nipper) Schoenling and Me (1994)    

Evening Garden

I love the smell of a garden in the evening; when the sun has just set and the flowers release their fragrances.  My latest batch of soap reminds me of an evening garden. I began with just Neroli and Orange, but I used too much Orange EO and it overpowered the Neroli FO.  So, I poured a bit out and added a little Ylang Ylang EO.  Perfect!  It has a lovely floral orange scent.  I used my new Mango Butter in the recipe, so it will be super moisturizing.  I can’t wait until it’s ready next month!

Patriot Soap

Our family recently returned from touring Washington, D.C. One of my favorite exhibits at the Smithsonian was the Star Spangled Banner Flag.  It was the original flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner” in 1813.  It was worn, faded and missing pieces, but oh what a treasure! 

The flag was the inspiration for my latest soap, “Patriot”. I’m usually not very good working with Melt and Pour Soap, but I’m so pleased with how this one turned out!  I wanted it to have an “old time” feel to it, so I used a brick red oxide and swirled the colors a bit.  To capture the spirit of Independence Day, it’s scented with Watermelon Fragrance Oil.

Ugly Soaps

As hard as I try to make sure every batch of soap turns out the way I want, there are some batches that just don’t.  Other than the bars of soap that I test before deciding to introduce to the public, I mostly use the “ugly” bars of soap for my personal use. Those are the bars of soap that didn’t turn out the way I planned.

But I’ve been thinking, “these bars of soap are wonderful.  Sure, they aren’t very pretty, but they smell great and contain moisturizing oils…so why should I keep them all to myself?”

So, I’m introducing my new line of “Ugly Soaps”.   These are soaps that are moisture-rich and smell great….but you might not want to give them as gifts.  PLUS, they’ll be sold for less than the more attractive bars of soap. 

The first in this line is called “Relax”.  It has a soft, relaxing smell and is great for your skin, but it was supposed to be blue instead of brown.  I think the vanilla in the fragrance oil caused it to discolor quickly. 

Buy some Ugly Soaps for yourself and discover the beauty within.

 

 

Do Over!

A couple of days ago, I made a batch of layered, glycerin soap scented with Papaya Coconut.  I sold out of the previous batch because it’s a great summertime fragrance! 

 

Well, my second batch here didn’t go so well.  For one, the colors were too muted and not as bright as I had wanted.  Also, the layers came apart when I cut the bars.  Oops!  I left them too long in the freezer. 

Today, I cut up the old batch, melted them, added more mica and tried again.  They turned out brighter and, best of all, they stayed together!  A plus for any soap.