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Monthly Archives: April 2013

Logo and other fine details

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

Who knew that deciding on a logo would be harder than finding the perfect pair of shoes? *grin* Clip art or a thumbnail of one of my most appealing products? An elegant font, something whimsical, or something no one can ever say is hard for them to read? With head to toe hives right now I don’t feel comfortable touching product or equipment, so I’m doing all of this logo and packaging research instead. I know I’m not contagious, but still! Ew! I’ll stick to the tech and research side today and just let all of my sauciness show.

I realized while surfing through dozens of e-how articles and business site posts about logos that my packaging and labeling got a bit boring and stuffy. They reflect a little too much of the blah side of me. *grin*

What cries out “me” yet makes it stand out for all of the “you”s out there? So I’m going to spend a few days trying on the different logo “shoes” until I find the perfect pair to make my butt look dag on fine. *grin* Can’t tell that I’m in a cheeky mood, can you?

I can proudly report that I finally made up my mind on the creature for the Monsters Away Spray pictures. I’m going for a piñata. I’m going to be able to make it “float” then and not be scary. *happy dance* I admit that I kind of love that idea.

So I’m going to check the Monster off of the planning spreadsheet and go troll the printer companies a bit more. *grin* Can you imagine if we could earn frequent flyer miles for trolling businesses? I’d be in Scotland determined to help the hot Scots in kilts (because they’re all Gerard Butler clones that would be perfect in every historical romance novel, you know) see how much my goat’s milk lotion could help their skin after I helped them sample it. In fitting with that naughty thought here’s a pic of the apron I’m going to get and wear when I’m making product. *flirty wiggle of the eyebrows while humming “I need a hero”…*

20130408-215332.jpg I can use it for a background when I’m feeling particularly…um…in need of an eye-catching picture background 😉

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Can’t make up my mind

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

These pictures and conversation didn’t really go with yesterday’s work, so I’m doing a separate post. I admit that I’m feeling a bit meh about the monster wreath right now, so I decided to look at some other options. I kind of like the idea of using a piñata that can be used later at a party. Plus, piñatas are never considered scary, so I don’t have to worry about my own gory tendencies accidentally coming through. *grin*

So here are a few decently rated piñatas that could make cute “monsters” for the pictures for the Monsters Away Spray. Any votes??

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And then a refresher:

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Soap Experiments

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

I did a few experiments yesterday, but right before I was going to post them I developed a severe allergic reaction that landed me in the ER until midnight. The doctors aren’t sure if it was an antibiotic I was on or from touching a new plant yesterday. Thankfully we ruled out an allergy to any ingredients, which was a concern since I was making soaps when the reaction occurred. While I’m on bed rest with my epi pen beside me (and a probable beard brewing under my skin from all of these steroids lol), I want to share my pictures. *smile*

I’m not overly happy with the experiments with the decoration soaps, but it’s a learning process. I had some troubles “gluing” the decorations and my tremor resulted in a few wonky angles. Lol. My tremor was particularly strong because of the allergic reaction, but some is just part of my illness, so I’ll have to figure out how to work around that. I absolutely love the little button decorations no matter where they land on the soap though! *grin* No matter how I approached cutting the trims they were consistently uneven. Lol. So no judging on the odd lengths and overlaps, please.

20130407-165534.jpg An overall of the decoration experiments

20130407-165605.jpg A closer look at some of the trim and a button to top it off.

20130407-165644.jpg My favorite trim. I even cut one flower out to use as a decoration.

I also worked on a coffee loaf soap. The big base is a mixture of Coffee Beans FO and Hazelnut Cappuccino FO. Sadly the mouthwatering Hazelnut is so soft that I had to add the Coffee to boost it. The second layer is Coffee Beans with actual ground coffee, for a little bit of gentle exfoliation and texture, although the soap was a little too warm and melted into the bottom a bit, so I suspect there is some ground coffee down in the bottom. Topping it all off is some Buttercream soap frosting. I wanted it really frothy and wild, which took a lot longer than expected. I really like how it looks; the different colors, the wildness of the frosting, and the decadence of it. I am really looking forward to when the frosting is fully set and I can slice it. I think it’ll have more impact when laying down. I’m debating if I should add a dark drizzle, like when you get a mocha at Starbucks. Any thoughts?

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20130407-170729.jpg The finished bar. Smells like morning 🙂

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Poison Ivy Prevention

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

While I’m waiting for a soft set on my soap project I thought I’d pop on for a moment. With the weather getting nicer the plants are starting to green up and seeing some vines today reminded me of an easy tip from a PA for Poison Ivy prevention. Until I got married I never paid attention to the “poison” group. Amazingly enough it’s one of the few things that doesn’t affect me (yet), but Larry became really allergic once he hit 35. After getting steroids a few times the PA asked if he had been washing with Dawn Dish Soap after working outside. This caused us both to raise our eyebrows. *grin* She said that replacing your body wash with Dawn (especially orange, but we have experimented with others to test that part) will help strip the oils from your skin, which seriously reduces, if not eliminates, your chances of breaking out. So it may seem a little odd to people when they stay over, open the shower curtain, and among a ton of tester items they find a big bottle of Dawn on the shelf, but he hasn’t had another steroid shot for five years. There have been small break outs, but usually because he was out so long before he showered. Anyway, I wanted to share in case anyone else out there didn’t know this handy tip, but now I need to go whip some soap into submission (okay, okay, into a froth, but that sounded better *grin*).

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Honey Cleanser DIY

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

As I’ve said before I think honey is an amazing ingredient that has tons of awesome benefits, not just making a biscuit delectable. *smile* I have made a few variations of the “Honey Bear Cleanser” in the Ecobeauty book, by Lauren Cox. It’s actually what inspired me to start using honey in a facial soap (Acne Bee Gone Soap). I want to share this incredibly easy recipe with my favorite variation since I’m not feeling well enough to work on my projects.

“1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of water
2 tablespoons of liquid soap

Gently stir all of the ingredients together, being careful not to beat the mixture, as this will cause it to foam up. Pour the cleanser into a clean plastic honey near container or a container with a pour spout or pump. To use, pour a small amount in the palm of your hand, then massage it gently into your skin or even your hair. Rinse thoroughly with warm water, then pat dry.”

I’ve never claimed that I’ve made the perfect product for my face and doubt I ever will, honestly. I figure the big wigs with the labs have a better chance at that, especially when my illness makes things kind of complicated. So I use my favorite-for-the-moment facial cleanser in place of the liquid soap. When things really go wrong and I start breaking out on my face I even dab a dot of honey on the spot (after the night ritual), and usually when I rinse in the morning it’s at least a little bit better. Or I switch to my honey soap for a few days, sometimes.

Any way you look at it honey is amazing. Try adding a little to your favorite cleansers or “a dab will do you” when needed. *gestures for you to come in close and then whispers* I’ve even added it to my bath water when I’m having a lot of trouble with my skin. If your honey is a little too thick, it’s not bad. Just give the closed container a warm water bath (mine always tips – i hope you have better luck lol) and the crystals should turn back. It still works though, so I just take a butter knife and scoop some out. Local honey tends to crystallize a little faster in my pantry than commercial stuff, so I learned to not freak out over the crystals. *grin*

Hope this quick and easy recipe, plus the variation and tips, help you. Sometimes I feel like a folk doctor from olden times. “You have a boil? Ouch! Have you tried a little honey on it while letting the spot air out?” 😉

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My Monster

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

I’ve been working on figuring out a monster to use for the marketing picture for Monsters Away Spray. I have spoken to a few moms, a few kids, and last night I even ran a few ideas by an artist. Almost all of us agree that it should be colorful and kind of fun, so the picture isn’t scary to kids. (The boy that I asked said there needed to be robots, but I’m not about to go there…*imagining a bunch of smoke when liquid gets to the electronics or the cardboard getting icky if we made a fake robot*. Yeah, I’m dangerous enough just walking across a room. Let’s not add situational dangers. *cracking up*)

Anyway, I honestly don’t want to buy a stuffed animal or creature. Last night I eyed my troop of stuffed animals up in the canopy (hey, lots of sweet memories, so I couldn’t just toss them once I became an adult. Comes in handy when kids are over, too, and in a hanging canopy they’re out of the way. *smile*). I have a small dragon, a massive dog, and a nice sized bear that could all work with a little creativity. I could attach all manner of things! And then I decided to see what ideas Pinterest had for this project.

20130404-175009.jpg I’m seriously thinking of making a version of this guy. I wouldn’t have to deface a childhood memory or something that Larry won for me when we were dating (wow, was that really almost half of my life ago??). If I do this I will put wiggly eyes all over, but especially a set on the top, so if it’s “haunting” under the bed it’ll look like it’s still looking at the kid when they peek under there and spray it. Plus it’s sturdy and bright enough to just hang out in the closet for that version of the shot. It’ll be fun to bring it out to decorate with afterward, too.

I admit that it’s really hard to go soft on the scariness. I love blood and gore. (Weird thing is I get squeamish watching someone put contacts in though. Love to watch botfly extractions and look at medical journals full of wounds, but seeing someone in person put contacts in or even remove a splinter…I scream like the girl in The Ring is after me. Rofl.) It’s so hard to not think of dripping blood (I actually have a theatrical blood kit in my cabinet *trying to whistle innocently*), jagged fangs, crusty boils, and a body part snagged in the teeth. *happy sigh* So I get extra credit for trying to keep this on the adorable side. *grin*

A little background note – we’re coming up on our tenth anniversary and have discussed a party (although this was originally thought up for the fifth, then agreed to reconsider at ten). Although it’s in June we would have a total costume, blood, gore, and black lights kind of event. When we had been planning our wedding one idea we had considered was Frankenstein and The Bride Of, then our wedding party would be other monsters. At the time there were too many itty bitty kids and we were worried that we’d scare them, so it got set aside, and then Larry won the debate for a traditional wedding. When we thought of the anniversary party we found some Halloween and movie prop supply stores that have some awesome dismemberments, packaged body parts, and what not. The person being electrocuted is out of our budget though, sadly. *laugh* A severed hand holding the knife for the vegetable spread on the buffet, a coffin that people can get into and take pictures in, and even a box of miscellaneous costume pieces in the bathroom in case someone wants or needs to get more into the theme…

Now you get why “cute” is so hard for me. *grin* Any input on which kind of monster you think would look good for the marketing?

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I’m in love

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

Ah, Spring is here (well, it forgot to come around my house yet, but the calendar says it’s here) and love is in the air (could be the flu too, but love is way more poetic). And I have a new love. That little silicone fondant mold I bought yesterday is my absolute favorite non-techie item right now. Wanna join for a little “Hallelujah”? *grin* I swore I heard it when I tried the mold out today and the soap was set, and removed, within the hour.

I decide to do the prep work so that I can try decorating soaps tomorrow, so I poured some guest rectangles, the new decoration mold, and even a loaf (more on that later). Since it’s just a test run I didn’t get overly creative on the colors and made it super simple. I thought the decorations would look cute and had a few variations in my mind’s eye, but never imagined them to turn out quite so well.

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A full view of the decorations

The only real snag I ran into is that those buttons are seriously shallow. As in tip the measuring cup of soap and as soon as soap is near the spout pull up or else they get too full. Almost every one of them has a pretty rounded back, which may be a problem when I try to “glue” them all flat and neat against the bars of soap. I haven’t decided if I am going to cut the wide trims to go around the sides or if I want to use them across the top. I totally love the buttons though. *happy sigh* Here’s a close up…

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It’s a little cool in the house tonight (I’m too tired to start a fire and it’s hard to get the temperature just right in the kitchen anyway), so the soap started to create a skin a bit sooner than hoped, and a bit of the skin slipped into the really wide trim piece, which is why it’s a little wonky. I really like the cute trim, to the left of the wide piece. Everyone knows I’m not usually into “cute”, but that trim is adorable.

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I’ll experiment with the decorations on the pink glittery guest rectangles underneath the wax paper. It may be an extra day before I post any examples if they’re too embarrassing. Lol. Just a fair warning.

Last, I decided to pour a quick small loaf using a blend of my coffee FOs (Hazelnut Cappuccino and Coffee Beans). Once it sets I plan to smooth some bath frosting over it and see how little slices look. I may even drizzle a little dark soap, in Hazelnut, over the frosting too.

20130403-233314.jpg I almost added some ground coffee to the soap, for mild exfoliation and because it’s a natural deodorizer, but decided I wanted to try a pretty version first. *grin*

I’m pretty happy with today’s pours. I had an epiphany earlier that if I was still painting instead of making my products, I wouldn’t be so worried about losses and taxes. That realization helped take the pressure off and I’m just going to have fun this year. That made today’s pours really enjoyable and I’m even more excited to try using these decorations. *big smile* I’m crossing my fingers that I have something fun to post tomorrow.

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Soap Decorations

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

I went to Hobby Lobby today while running errands to see if they had any containers that would be just right for the Splish Splash Duck Soaps. Although I didn’t find anything for that I found some really cute fondant molds.

I’ve been eyeing what the wholesaler calls “Deco It” molds. Basically they’re molds with several detailed and shallow patterns. You pour colored soap into the details and when they’re unmolded you “glue” them (with a little soap and alcohol) onto the surface of your main piece of soap, making it quite impressive. You can make a simple square soap into a package, scatter flowers all about, or put a fancy little border around your soap. I’ve been itching to try this since they came out on one of my wholesaler’s sites, but couldn’t justify the cost.

While looking at the fondant tools (you’d be amazed how many things can be repurposed for soap) I saw their fondant molds and realized that the “Deco It” molds are really just these fondant molds. *grin* Plus, they’re a bit cheaper, too. *small happy dance* I had a really hard time deciding, but even Larry liked this one, so I got a really cute mold.

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The trim could be really cute across the top of a bar or along the border of a guest round, while I think soap buttons would be one of the cutest additions for a kid’s soap. Larry thinks the bow might be neat as an embedded soap, too. I’m so anxious to try these decorations out. I hope I have some examples to share soon, but couldn’t resist showing you.

I hope you have a great night and a happy Wednesday!

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Catching Up

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Georgia's Pampering

I got hit by a migraine last night, so I couldn’t stand the light in order to post an update on the melts, but I promise that I was (maybe excessively, as my husband claims, although I wouldn’t apply that term *grin*) experimenting on the cocoa massage melts. I really, really like the smell of the melts. That sounds a little goofy, but have you ever ran across some synthetic chocolate scented items that just don’t smell real? Or they are so overwhelming they’re almost tangible and smacking you so hard that you’re amazed that your nose isn’t broken? The Fudge FO gave a little depth to the actual dark cocoa powder and I’m a tad over the moon about it. *smile*

I have to admit that the texture of the melts has puzzled me a bit. Hastening the setting up of the melts by cooling them caused a super dry, and sometimes cracked, exterior. The testers that were left out don’t have the same look, but after breaking every single one of them into pieces I know that they still haven’t fully set inside. *sigh* I’m not sure which I prefer or will use, but I actually like them both.

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Despite the dry exterior the melts have a lot of pampering to offer. By letting it sit on your skin for a few it warms up and you can spread some of the melt across your skin. If you get a little impatient (*whistling innocently and cleaning the cocoa out from under my nail*) you can give a quick blast from your hairdryer and it’s the perfect temp to spread. *grin*

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The only downside, to me, is that it can take a little more rubbing than expected to get the cocoa rubbed in, so if you (or your incredibly impatient helper that wants to be looking at Craig’s List instead of rubbing stuff into your skin) don’t give it enough rubbing you’ll have some brown streaks until it naturally finishes soaking in. Lol.

One last bit I love about the melts is that even if you need to wash up the oils create a barrier on your skin, so the water just beads right up, and your skin keeps getting nourished for hours.

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See, it worked!

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