Having a sale!

I have always wanted to hold a sale, so now seems to be the appropriate time. I would rather hold a sale than try and go shopping in the Boxing Day sales today in town! I would hate that! So, although there are slightly bare shelves here at SoapyChica since the Christmas rush, I am holding a buy two-get a third soap free sale both on my main site and on Etsy. All the soaps will be freshly made and beautifully wrapped as always, its just that you get a bit extra :)

Phew!

I bet all those who sell handmade items in a small way online are all breathing a sigh of relief, that everything got out on time!
Well this year Christmas was totally hectic-even with my sister Liz's sterling help. I'm glad and happy for the sales and I know now that I must be over-prepared, not under prepared! Last year seemed busy, so I organised enough soap for the same level of sales, but sold four times as much in December so Im going to bear it in mind for next year. Somehow I thought the recession would have had more effect on the sales for all of us. Of course I didn't help myself by deciding Mid November to start presenting the soaps in luxury fabric, instead of cello bags. I remember that I was low on cello bags, and needed to make an order of soaps look pretty, and so I parceled them up in the chiffon that I normally use to line the boxes. 'Ah, I thought-they look rather nice, I think that is how I would like to receive a luxury soap, if I bought one' and that was it. I have been tying bows in my sleep this week I swear!
It will be nice to catch up with life again now, and tomorrow is set aside for making our house look like someone owns it once again!

Pamper evening!

I was invited to have a table at a pamper evening organised at my local primary school last week and I thought why not? It ran from 7-9pm so was not too long to attend on my own. I took all sorts of soaps because I really could not decide what to take! I was quite nervous also :) I sold quite a few simple spa soap slices-they were really the best seller and I had them piled in baskets at the front. One white chocolate and one coconut truffle bath butter jars were sold, and I think it helped when I actually opened a few up for people to have a 'go' at, and placed them in the centre of the table. The fancier, pricier soaps I did only sell a couple of but on the whole I was pleased with the evening and had great fun attending! There were some lovely candles and things there but I held myself in check admirably on the spending front for a change! I was able to use the stands I had got from off Ebay that are meant to be for cards, following EJ's tip off about them, they were easy to put together and I used them for my gift boxes and jars. I suddenly remembered half way through to take a picture of the table set up for future reference and also to show my sister liz , who has been such a help!

Gloomy lighting-enough already!

It seems the days are all overcast by the time I am ready to take pictures- I prefer to use natural light but such grey days really are not helping. Funnily enough when I took my pictures in my little room at home they all seemed to be light enough no matter what. It must be a magic window sill and I am going to resort to taking things home and snapping them there. Its annoying but not insurmountable-just a bit weird. I have been messing about with my website again today trying to get it to look right and be a little more user friendly, and I could do with some good pictures of my new boxes but its not going great so far!
Here are my latest tries- I promise the soaps do look better in real life :)

Some good, some bad, take the rough with the smooth etc!

Well it has been a bit like that the past few weeks, suddenly a rush of sales- delightful at any time of course and most welcome. Then an oven that caught alight and a small scale 'situation' and no oven ( it persists in bursting into flames- not a great quality really, so has been retired) . Now I have a ceramic hob with which to heat my blends and I am far happier-problem solved! And I have finally caught up with my orders so all is well. Happily Lizzy my sister has offered to help out with SoapyChica which will be fabulous as I need an extra pair of hands, particularly going forward into the Christmas season. Of course there was the Express feature, and now a possibility of a feature in another magazine also- which I will explain if and when anything comes of it so that I dont jinx it! The thing I am most excited about really are my new gift boxes- I like to offer the luxury soaps in a presentation box and I have found the perfect ones, so have been having a lovely play haha!
And yes- that iS the same soap as shown below-it wanted to be in 2 posts, it likes it- so who am I to argue?

Harry Potter Soap! well....sort of....

This is another soap that I just couldnt resist making, and I love how it has turned out. Do excuse a slightly fuzzy picture! This just reminded me of Harry Potter , and seeing as how I am excited to go and watch the film, I allowed myself the treat of it! :) Around the frame of the picture are such cute little details like a sorting hat, glasses, a quill!
The fragrance is a nice one, a little like face cream, clean and fresh. I know I am supposed to be taking pictures of my studio place, but its not quite as I want it to be yet. Mind you I do keep getting curious visitors popping in for a look :)

Slowly getting there.......

I have had a lovely thursday and friday off from grooming to move into the new soap place- I am glad because although I love the hot weather, its very itchy when the dogs' clipped hairs stick to your glowing hot face, and when you try and itch you just transfer more over! Of course having two days off in a row fills me with guilt, as people are suddenly desperate to have their dogs clipped because of the heat, and the phone has just not stopped ringing. The last extra time I had off was Christmas week though so I must take this time before I explode!

I have collected a couple of tables kindly donated to me through freecycle, so I have surfaces to work on, and I am collecting another today-my little van has never seen so much action! As I am waiting in for my supplies and labels though this morning I have found time to update my website with a few more soaps-guest ones this time. My site looks full-although several products overlap categories really so they show up more than once! Now I am going to start making a few other product types I will not know where to put them! here is my link to my new page if anyone fancies paying me a visit! SoapyChica

Gifts for Teachers

I have been busy re stocking my little online shops last month-it seems silly but I am kind of getting ready for Christmas in my mind as far as soap making goes. It was all a bit of a shock last year and I was overwhelmed rather by the orders I had. I am sorting out getting my labels printed for me, and things like that which make life easier. I am also starting to put together my packaging in a more organised and attractive way. I have also been thinking that teacher gifts may be a possible market towards the end of term, hopefully all those hard working teachers will be getting something nice from their grateful students :) I will be making some more of my ornate square soaps next week hopefully and I am really looking forward to that... That one there is Honey Galore a great favourite of mine!

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! :)

Photographing white soaps !

This is a constant challenge! Is it just me, or are some colours of soap more difficult to take pictures of than others? All my white ones come out funny, and they always have! I will keep trying, but am I destined to be disappointed? For instance my angel wings, and my pretty corsets in white and cream look so much better in real life than in any of my pictures. I so use the macro, and I try to use a good natural light and I am almost satisfied with most of the other pictures, its just the white ones!
I must and shall do research into this!
Here are the naughty ones in question.

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!

Some usable soaps (hopefully)

I decided to make some nice plain bars for my SoapyChica shop, since so many people tell me they could never actually wash with my soaps and I thought that was a shame! I have made soaps with the half round moulds and they make a nice large bar. I cant really use my SoapyChica stamp on them-that is the only drawback, but I love them anyway as they are so smooth . I have used shea and avocado butters and two types of clay, including my favourite Rhassoul, and some of my favourite fragrances as well so I have really enjoyed making them, and I want to make some more next week. The silly thing is I want to try one and I am too scared to use one and spoil it :)
Here is a pic of the Honey Pudding one I took today.

Little celebration cakes in boxes

These are little fancy cake with piping and tiny little roses, they smell of vanilla cream and each one comes in its own little box tied with ribbon with a matching tag. I love these, they are so cute and I am going to make them in a few different 'flavours'. I am going to do chocolate, fairy cake, vanilla, and sweet cream for starters. Still on the topic of yummy (and calorie free) cakes my sister is making delicious cake slices and cupcakes using her own original recipes and they are so nice that I will be posting pics on here as soon as I get them!

Im waiting for the postman :)

I have itchy soap making fingers this morning! I can't wait to get started, and I am waiting for some lovely supplies. Maybe tomorrow I may get started as I have a nice day off, all to myself - what bliss! I have some new soap ideas planned, as well as enhancement of some of last years favourite designs. Hopefully I will also be having my labels made at a printers this year, as label making is very unpredictable using my own printer to say the least. I am also looking forward to helping my sister with her new designs and formulations-very exciting! I will keep my dog grooming head on for the day today though as I have some really great puppies to pamper!

Two months away

I cannot believe that I have not had any soapy news for two months. Its true though, I have had to concentrate on my salon for a bit really, to get it up and running. I have to make soap now though, and am eagerly awaiting my new supplies and moulds,. I love waiting for pressies like this, its fab! Oh thats just reminded me about Fablet (must order some more of that lovely stuff too).
Well I am going to add some more soaps to my stores and I will also be helping my sister get her soapmaking off the ground too, from her little pink cottage in Suffolk(sounds ideal for soap making doesn't it)? I have been choosing my fragrances carefully this year and I am going to use the ones that family and friends, customers and of course MYSELF cannot do without! I will always play with new fragrances of course-every soapmaker knows the addiction! (I am hankering over parma violet today of all things-perhaps parma violet Fablet is still available, have to check)

If anyone has not tried Fablet then I heartily recommend its delights to all here is a link Fablet
The picture is not of Fablet, but of a soap I made that smells like dairy butter fudge, I could eat it as soon as look at it!