Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Busy Little Beavers

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  This year is proving to be a very busy one so far.  Wedding season has just started for me which means Bye Bye Summer :( I think I have maybe 2 weekends this whole summer to myself.  And for one of those weekends I have to plan my lovely sister Kirbie's Bachelorette party.  I was thinking either ziplining or skydiving.  Probably the ziplining since the skydiving will set us back about $300.  But definitely something I must do down the road.  But enough about that, let's talk soap!
So if you read my blog you know that I am now making wedding favours for THREE weddings.  I'm currently waiting on a Bramble Berry order I placed to get some mica's before I start doing some trial runs.  I know the details of what 2 of the 3 people want, but I have time to get the third done (her wedding isn't until October 1).  My sister wants to do a His & Hers soap, so I'm doing a Guinness beer soap for the guys and the girls will get a Pearberry scent with (well this might change) green, orange, white and purple swirl.  I have the first 56 bars of the Guinness done.  56 down, 544 bars to go! So yes, I will be busy indeed.  Never mind keeping up with soap orders and getting a stockpile of soap ready for the craft sale circuit.  Which I plan to fully take advantage of this year.  I'm slowly starting to spend more time on my soapy business and less time on my full time job.  We'll see how one affects the other. Of course my long term goal is not to rely on my full time job and only make soap, but we'll see. (and if my amazing boyfriend allows it lol)
He truely is amazing to have put up with me for almost 11 years.  Or perhaps I'm the amazing one for putting up with him.  Either way, we both rock!  I'm pretty excited for him though because after 2 months of being a "kept man" he has got a new job!  It's rather bitter sweet though.  He'll be gone for 10 days and home for 4.  But on his days off, he'll be doing local jobs.  He's fresh out of school with his fancy Red Seal in Construction Electrician.  I'm so proud of him! After 7 years it's finally all paid off.  Now it's time for him to bring home the bacon so he can buy this girl a new house!!  He has promised me (whether he remembers it or not) that one day I will be able to quit my full time job and focus 100% on my soap, which he knows is a big deal for me.  He seems to figure I'll be making more money than him.....here's hoping.  He truely is my biggest fan which is quite funny because for anyone that knows him, he's a big tough guy.  Not the type of guy you'd think would get excited about my latest batch of soap.  He likes to help from the side lines, but mainly his favorite job is testing and smelling.  He's so cute, after every batch I make he insists it's his new favorite.  I keep telling him they can't all be his favorite.  He secretly likes the florally soaps too.  One of his favorite scents is Japanese Cherry Blossom.  But his all time favorite is Nag Champa.  I guess it appeals to the hippy in him.  Another reason why I luv him.  He puts up with my "hippyness" and all my crazy shenanigans.
But enough about Josh, this a soap blog!
In my last order from BB (the disaster!) they scent me a sample of Ginger Fish FO, which is a very undesirable name, but I assure you it smells amazing.  Pretty much like Ginger Ale.  So my new mission is to make a lemonade soap with the Ginger Fish and obviously Lemon EO.  I bought some Fizzy Lemonade mica from BB and I want to garnish it with some dried lemons, just to give it that little bit extra.  I have all these big plans for soap but I have no idea when I'll be able to test them out.
My other sister has been trying to tell me that I need to come up with a "line" and stick with it.  And if I want to stray from that line and make other soaps that's good too.  But do a monthly special or something.  I completely understand what she's getting at but I can't help myself!  I think I will pick maybe 10 bars that I want to continually make and have those bars for sale at the Crazy Daisy Emporium in Boissevain (who are now carrying our soap......so exciting).
The beer soap has definitely been a hit with all our customers, particularly the Guinness, aka my favorite beer!  I have big plans for my beer soap but need to get some time together to actually make them.  I won't reveal my secret plans yet, but I promise to post pictures once I have them all done.
Before I make soap I like to google image what I'm going to make and see if anyone else has made something similar.  I strive to be different and think outside the box.  And I can assure you, after 1 hour of googling  I didn't find a single image that mimics my new beer soap plan.  So this will be another "one of a kind".
But enough rambling from me.  Just wanted to touch base and let you know I haven't forgot about my trusty blog and I promise to get some pictures up here soon.  My oldest sister took some pretty amazing pictures of my soap last week while she was home.  I'm still waiting on her to email them to me.  So if you're reading this Kiley......HURRY UP!
And if you are one of my followers and cannot wait to see pictures, go to my Facebook page.  I have quite a few pictures up there.
Bye for now, I'm off to my Level 2 Reiki course tonight.  Pretty excited about it, my instructor is a true gem.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, sounds like your doing some serious business up there! Great work! I had a question about how you girls got into the wedding favous side of things? I've been toying with the idea for awhile now, but wasn't sure the best way to get the message out. Any thoughts or suggestions?
    Cheers!! :)

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  2. Well we never really did anything to get business. My sister and I talked about me doing the favours for her wedding and the rest was all kind of word of mouth. The other 2 weddings I'm doing are for friends who have been using our soap for a few years. So I'm thinking that these favours might drum up even more business for us. I'll put our contact info on each bar so that if someone wants any they can get a hold of me.
    I can't stress enough how much networking online has helped build our business, especially Facebook. It's a way for me to keep all our customers updated on the newest products and we can interact with them. These are all things you probably already know. A good idea spreads like wild fire. So if you can even do favours for one of your friends weddings, the business you will pick up from that one wedding alone will keep you busy. Just be sure to have your contact info on everything!
    I'd say 80% of our customers have all been from word of mouth. Once people find a product they like they tell everyone about it. Or if they have your soap out in their washroom and company comes over they ask where they got it from. I've had a lot of referrals from people.
    If you have a facebook page or a twitter account, just post that you are in the market to do up wedding favours. It's a really neat idea and everyone is always looking for something different to do.
    Good luck :)

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