Satin and Birch M+P extraordinaire!

Papillon by Satin and Birch

I am impressed and inspired by the work of Leslie at Satin and Birch, who not only pours the soaps but designs and makes the moulds as well. These soaps are right up my street, and the packaging is gorgeous and compliments the decadent, opulent colours and shapes. Satin and Birch is the 'whole package' . I love to see glycerine soaps like these, so well thought out, and made with such an obvious passion and a good eye for style. It was the sweet little white horses that first drew my attention, but the whole shop is a feast for the eyes, you can almost smell the soaps just by looking at the pictures. I must pop a couple of pictures and a link here- I cannot bear not to! Definitely pop in for a look, you will not be disappointed!

A couple of fresh delights!

I saw these today on Etsy-I was having a relaxing browse and window shopping a bit! BaconSquareFarm's colonial red Birdhouse is something I need! So lovely, and ready for use by real birdies too! Or perfect home decor I think :) Then I spotted Silvine's amazing jewellery and in particular the Spring Cuff , and fell in love all over again! That is Etsy for you- beautiful finds on a daily basis :)

Lizzy's pressie!

I reckon the chances of Liz reading this blog before she opens her presents this morning (yes I know its boxing day) are so slim I am going to go ahead and post a piccy of it- I bought it from Purseona at Etsy about 3 months ago as it had to be made and sent from the USA. I love her bags and have long admired/coveted them. Lizzy's old handbag was deeply loved and rather ancient in fact I think she had it for at least 8 years although I could be wrong . Anyway she needed a new one and here it is. I had to get mum to choose from the array of beautiful fabrics as I feel I have absolutely no taste in these things! I especially love the little magnetic clasp. Hope my sister loves it too!

I love this!

I was lucky enought o be featured in a treasury on Etsy today (well my soap is) :) and alongside I saw this adorable ring which I am coveting! This is right up my street and the seller SweetMelodies has some lovely things in her store thats for sure! It has put me in mind of doing a blog treasury list as there are so many lovely items on Etsy, great excuse for a browse!!

Kerrera Skye

I have recently discovered this brilliant seller on Etsy- she is a Scottish lady now living in New Jersey, and she makes the most lovely, wonderful knitted items! I saw in particular this amazing bag which is firmly on the old wish list now of course! Wow but the rest of her shop is the same! Check it out here Kerrera Skye

Travel Soaps

Yesterday I managed to pour some travel soaps, that is soap in a little container which is perfect for travelling with. I made English Roses for my Mum, and Lavender and Amber for my stepdad. They are over from Spain for a couple of weeks and I spent the day with them yesterday so was up early making the soaps.
You can pop the soaps out of the container to use, and then put them back and click shut, so the soap is then fully portable. You can also use the soap while it is still in the container, but I would prefer to take it out. I have made the soaps to the same luxury recipe as all the soaps I make, so people can have home-y comforts on the go. Ive poured several other fragrances - so we will see how they look.

Very creamy soap!

I have made this week a new soap, in a Choc Fudge Cappucino 'flavour' . I am calling it Choccacina which incidentally is a pet name I also use for my horse :) . The thing is, this soap is the most creamy, lotiony soap that I have ever made and I am really not sure why! I look at the recipe and I think "why this one"? I nearly wrote off this soap as a disaster too when I first unmoulded it I didnt really take to it. The chocolate chips seemed to look funny. Anyway I tried a small bar in the bath-just to see how bad it was, and instead it was beautiful!! I love it, and am keeping most of this batch, but will list some in my etsy shop sometime this week, together with a few more new soaps as yet untested. I will take pics of the Choccacina once the sun is up to post on this blog. It really doesn't look much though..., you have been warned! :)

Almond Coffee

When I was pouring this soap, the whole house smelt like a coffee shop. The fragrance is almond milk but I coloured the soap with coffee which means there is a goodish coffee smell about the soap. I made three colours of soap and then poured them all together to make the soap a little bit swirly. There is Rhassoul clay in there, which is one of my favourite soap ingredients, shea butter and avocado butter and a little copper mica. The finished soap reminds me of an appaloosa pony!
I am planning to make another couple of soaps next week with this plain mould, and then hopefully by the second week in June my new moulds will have arrived from America and I can get busy with those!

HidenSeek's Storque Article!

The charming Eloise from HidenSeek included one of my gift sets in her Etsy Storque article which I was so pleased about. But the best thing is Eloise's art work which has been one of my favourite things ever since I first found her lovely shop. Her paintings are just wonderful and I want them!

Etsy Front Page

I missed it this time but I was lucky and a couple of kind people emailed me to let me know my coffee bean soap was on the front page, and to offer congratulations.
The lovely Pennydogaccessories got me a screengrab! I really like this treasury, compiled by Redheart13 and I am so glad it got to the front page.

EtsyVeg Blog Treasury!

I am a proud member of EtsyVeg Team, an Etsy team made up of vegans and vegetarians, and am excited to have the honour of my soap appearing in the latest blog treasury. Its the Sweet Drizzle Fairy Cake soap, containing shea butter and mild clay, and smelling rather like jammy sponge.

Front Page of Etsy!

I woke up this morning to see one of my soaps on the front page of Etsy. It has never happened to me before and naturally I am cockahoop! In real terms in will probably only be there for an hour or so, but it has generated me hundreds of 'views' to my item so its got to be a positive!

Logo for SoapyChica!

I am delighted with my new logo, which has been designed for me by a fellow Etsian Manyi from maustudio.
I have loved the whole process, from sending Manyi my ideas on theme etc., to receiving the choice of five to pick from, and of course the arrival of the finished logo (very exciting)! I really recommend Maustudio to anyone in need of some good graphic design.

SoapyChica Truffles

I have been making some more truffles to put in little gift boxes for Christmas presents and stocking fillers. I have made chocolate, chocolate and vanilla, vanilla cream, and white choc and raspberry today. Such a self-indulgent thing to do - I love all the fragrances and I get carried away making them - its brilliant fun. I will take some (hopefully) better pictures when we get a sunnier day. (!)

Halloween Soap Giveaway

I am getting into this blogging malarky so much that I have decided to do a giveaway. I will be giving away one of my vegan glycerine soaps- Strawberries and Cream fragrance. This is a cameo style soap poured in pink and white and will come in one of my lovely little Ole Bag Lady fabric gift bags. In order to enter please comment here, telling me which of the soaps you like best in my Etsy shop, and I will draw a winner on the last day of October.

My heart is in a treasury!

I am delighted to discover that another Etsy member Big A Little A has featured my Black Sugar heart in her treasury . I took a picture of it as it is a really pretty one. Its an honour to be featured beside such talented artists as well. Here is the link but it may disappear at any time. http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=28948

My latest custom order-daisy soaps to the USA

I also have some pictures of an international custom order I had last week for some favours for a fabulous customer from Etsy. She wanted several of the garden daisies design soaps, for all of her friends at her party. She had an idea of the colour scheme she wanted and was very helpful in describing her vision of the soaps, and I must say the end result was very striking and worked brilliantly. The deadline was tight and I managed to get all of the soaps designed, made and in the post for the next day. I worked through the night but it was worth it as I really want those soaps to arrive in time for the party.

Christmas Soaps

Well I think its definitely time to think about Christmas soaps.
I have begun to list my new Christmas Tree soaps on Etsy and Folksy now, in several very lovely fragrances, but there are a lot more seasonal products to come.
I received my gift bags in Christmassy themes from The Ole Bag Lady this week and am delighted with them, so many adorable designs, with little reindeer and snowmen etc. I will be getting more in a week or so. I am finding it hard to prepare for Christmas sales as it is my first year of trading, and I am not sure how big the demand for gift soaps and sets is going to be.
One day I will finally work out how to add photos on this blog and I will be very happy!

I am back!

Well one whole month away from my blog (nearly) Its almost as bad as the time I have spent away from the gym! All because of my new Etsy shop -it is too addictive really so I have dragged myself away. I have seen a few great blogs though from fellow Etsians and I am going to try and see if I can add some here. I have had my first proper wholesale order now and have a couple more hopefully in the pipeline stages. I am very pleased with the kind of shops that are interested in my soaps-very much the sort of market I have been hoping for.
My latest soaps that I have in my shop are Figs and Leaves, which is a Lush-type fragrance, and Black Cafe (Jo Malone 'Black Vetiver Cafe' type), and Creamy Fruit Smoothie which is a blend of several oils, milky, fruity and creamy.
I have also been working on my seasonal holiday range as well which I will be adding to the shop in September.

Etsy West treasury

I have another treasury here http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=15761