The sample size turned out so cute in my opinion. Only seventy-five cents and not a single one sold. Lol. At least I know a great candidate for several of these for Christmas.*smile*
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Caffeine combo
I think it would make a cute and cost effective gift exchange or host gift. There is a jar in the bottom of the new Cellulite Away Rub and the new Coffee & Dark Cocoa Facial Mask is in the bag on top.
Christmas sampler basket
I think this basket turned out pretty cute. Surprisingly not a single combo sold at the event.
Leftovers
Due to not selling as much as hoped, I have a lot of leftovers. I had to bring out another bookcase (my poor books…) just to hold the abundance of prepared products. I still have a little that doesn’t fit. Lol. Whew! Ironically, despite the leftovers, I need to make more of the two soaps that I sold out of. I’m like a little store now *grin*
Overbrook Craft Sale
Even with another table and keeping the extras under the table, I had quite a full booth. *grin* There wasn’t more than a few centimeters between my booth and the neighboring booths. I had planned on a different set up, but with the tight fit, it wasn’t going to work. The booth to my right had quite a set up, so I didn’t want people having to wind their way around my stuff.
Event Prep
Well, the craft sale event in Overbrook starts in a few hours and I’m actually extremely calm about it. *smile* I got almost every single goal for prior to the event accomplished even! Booyah!
I was in the throes of insomnia last night, and since my mind was circling all of the things I wanted and needed to get done, I figured that I might as well burn the midnight oil and get a lot of work done. I made a ton of changes to my website. There are a few new scents that I still need to create descriptions and identifications of, but didn’t worry about the ones that I haven’t been working with yet. I even put away the dunce cap (somedays I swear I need to slap one on lol) and remembered how to create a picture slideshow, so I now have a slideshow of some of my pre-made baskets. Somedays I manage to impress myself. *grin* I need to take a few more pics of some baskets, but overall I think the site has come a long way. By 7:30 Friday AM I figured that whatever I ended up changing or writing had high odds of coming out poorly, so I saved the changes and called it good. Lol. I admit that it took a while to quiet my mind even then, to get even a few hours of sleep. I’m really proud of my site though. I now have three rows on my page menu too!! *cheesy grin* I’m bizarrely delighted over that. Lol. I have another page that I didn’t set to be viewable my the public yet, too, called customer and tester feedback. I’m excited to include some of those! I really need to add an ingredients page since I no longer have to put ingredient labels on products and happily take advantage of that. However, I feel that people should have the ability to review the ingredients and want to make it possible. (Hey Z, I’m going to add that to a spreadsheet of things to remember. *teasing smile*)
Young Miss Ash came Thursday and Friday afternoon (hey, I lose track of the days and have an odd concept of days, since mine can be 30 hours long lol. Might as well prevent a bit of the confusion! *grin*). We worked on a price sign for the basket of lump of coals soaps, but it’s more of a holiday scene sketch, so I dated and noted her info on the back, and it’s in my china hutch instead. I made a pretty basic little $2 sign and slapped it on the basket a bit ago. Lol. We managed to get my inventory properly counted and documented (yeppers, another spreadsheet!! Spreadsheets, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…lol) and I now have an accurate spreadsheet to have sales and need to make for orders at my fingertips during the event. It’s also handy as a cheat sheet when people ask what the prices of stuff is, since it so wildly varies. We ended up having some coming of age discussions while I packed up everything. By the way, I did an (oh yeah, totally picture my groovy happy dance for this) awesome job at packing!! I packed that rolling tote so well that it took all of my strength just to pull the handle and wheel it a few inches to make a gathering spot for everything to take. Lol. As to Larry lifting and putting it in the Blazer, I’m sure it won’t be that big of deal. If it is, I might feel guilty, but I’m still tickled that I did a damn fine job of packing it! *finishing out my happy dance* I managed (again, impressing myself) to cushion between the bath salt jars, since I didn’t want to risk them hitting each other during transport and breaking. I cushioned them with the bath tea bags that needed to be packed! Instead of just putting the tea bags in their basket in a box, I figured I’d use less space and take advantage of their natural cushiness. Even thought ahead and put my samples all together in the little removable tray that sits in the top of the tote. Set up should be easy peasy! Ash was thoroughly disappointed that I didn’t make any crackling firewood room and linen spray. We made sprays together Thursday and as soon as she smelled that one, which is a component of a custom blend that I made, she was massively hooked. Every time I turned around she was huffing that FO when she wasn’t spraying the squirt gun into Bo’s water bowl (squirt gun is Bo’s arch rival. It’s his punishment and incentive to do what he’s told when outside, but Ash was fascinated by the stream of the Nerf variety lol). I’ll make her a spray for Christmas, since she argued that SHE would use a spray of just that scent, when I had replied that I hadn’t made any of just it previously because most people don’t want to smell like firewood. Lol. She asked if I made some while she was gone and didn’t hide the disappointment when I said I had to focus on packing instead of making new stuff. She said that my baskets were “super cool”, although the coffee combo got a nose wrinkle and a teen dramatic statement that “I just don’t understand how people can like that. It’s so gross! It…stinks!”. Lol. Gotta love teens and preteens. *grin*
Anyway, Larry loaded the tables and chairs into the blazer when he got home and I stopped him (thankfully) from hauling my boxes of products out so we would just take off when we get up. Somedays I have to wonder what he thinks lotion and bath washes are made out of, since he’s nearly left them out in near freezing temps a few times. Lol. So I have a nice tower of stuff to haul out at 6:30. I’m just freaking proud I took my time, set my mind to it, and got it all done all by myself at my pace.
Wish me luck that I at least get some sales, if not orders, please. *smile* At some point I figure I need to sell what I’ve made before I get to keep making new stuff. Lol. What an annoying little technicality that I need to heed. And I’m hoping that the Twilight force is with me. I’d love to cash in on the new release and share these scents. I’m too dang proud to be the only one using them! I tossed in a set of Twilight stickers and bookmarks to sweeten the deal for a limited time offer. I’d love to sell out of all of my combos/baskets. That would remove two boxes from hauling back home and make me feel pretty successful. Lol. Anyway, I’m being to ramble (okay, okay…it’s all been near insane rambling, but I’m sticking with the delusion that I just started *sassy grin*) and need to get up in 4 hours (I need to find some night owl events from now on lol). I hope you have a fabulous Saturday and look forward to *crossing fingers* gushing about the insane popularity of my booth later. *laugh* Thanks for putting up with me and sharing in my booyah moments!!
Cellulite Rub
This is a big batch of my new cellulite rub. I found the recipe in my spa book and thought it would be perfect with the mocha facial mask. It’s ground coffee, granulated sugar, dead sea salts, and sweet almond oil. It has a very moisturizing and grainy feel, and has the awesome smell of ground coffee. The coffee FO that I had ordered smells awful, so it’s a relief to have a good coffee product that I can stand behind. Caffeine helps firm and tone skin, the oil is an awesome moisturizer, and the combo is a really nice exfoliant. (Pretty similar to my cocoa scrub, but more of a gentle formula for rubbing instead of the firm grain texture of my scrub.) This batch made nine 3 ounce jars of rub, plus a good amount of test product (too small to sell, but then I can use some. Oh yeah!). I ended up making a few combos where I put the jar of this and a two treatment bag of facial mask in a coffee mug. The rubbing motion is what does the most benefit for cellulite, in theory. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s very popular at the craft sale.
More combos
The left one is the kids tin and the right is the “Twilight Trio” with limited bonus of 4 bookmarks and a package of stickers of Jacob and Edward. I only have a few of the bookmark and sticker packages. I’m hoping that I get some interest in the Twilight products with the new movie coming out within a week of the event. I had a goal of a few Christmas baskets with Santa’s Tree Farm and Christmas Wreath Room and Linen Sprays. I would like to also have a bag of the lump of coal soap and something using Santa’s Workshop scent. I’d like to also include Spiced Gumdrops (I’m playing with what name I want or to leave as this) in a lotion or bubble wash, then include the Gingersnap Cookies sugar scrub. I’ve thought about doing something with a peppermint chocolate blend too, similar to the yummy smell of mint hot chocolate. I’m not sure if I’ll get the items and baskets done in time for the event, but I’ll at least add to the website. I just love to look at the festive prints and themes of what I have managed to complete *smile* It’s those small blessings we are suppose to remember to appreciate during the holidays anyway.
Dessert cakes ready to go
I’ve gotten very little done while super sick, but I managed to finish packaging and labeling all of the stuff that I made last week. I think these turned out pretty well for local sales. I even packaged them this way to add to the baskets. I made a “Sweet Treats” basket that has this soap, a licorice scented ornament soap (“Not your usual ornament” is what I finally decided to name those), Pumpkin Buttercream lotion, Hot Apple Pie body and massage oil, and a jar of each Gingersnap Cookies and Cherry on Top sugar scrubs. It’s a fun group of scents in my opinion. I also included the dessert soaps in my kids tin combo. In a little holiday themed hinged tin I added this soap to Ginger Girls soap, Not Your Usual Ornament soap, Bubblegum Victorian Heart soap, Bubblegum lotion, and Fruity Patootie Bubble Wash. It is more of a girl’s variety, but I figure that people could switch out the soaps if they want to give to a boy. I have the lids taped in an upright position with paper crinkles in the bottom to support the products. For display I have the products upright. The nice thing is that the person can adjust the items and then close the tin. Ready to pop under the tree with a tag. It’ll be interesting to see what variation the dessert soaps sell in. *smile* I think the tin with the soap in a truffle box inside, with stuffing, will work well for shipping too, as long as the postal worker pays attention to the this side up and fragile labels. I’ll keep you informed as I work through the possibilities.
Just random thoughts
Miss Ash came and helped me do some packaging and deciding on table layouts. *smile* I’ve been laying here sick as can be and thinking about what we accomplished, since I’m doubting I’ll be able to sleep for awhile.
Between the two of us all 24 bags that include two soaps for “lump of coal” are bagged and tagged. They actually fill an entire holiday basket, so a very enthusiastic Ash said that she will make a sign next week with the price when she is here. Not my style with the hearts and stuff that she mentioned (clarification: I’m totally corny and love cheerful decorations, but not when it involves either of my businesses), but she was so excited that there was no way to even caution to keep it low key. *smile* Thinking on it I realize that I need to not be so straight-laced about the presentation. I am the one that put erotic dice and couples coupons in the seduction gift basket and went with Sex in the Shower and Fruity Patootie for scent names. Lol. So we tried some tinsel garland around the baskets that hold various products (I’m using the metal baskets that hung in my craft book to hold the stuff even now and will leave stuff in the baskets when I pack, so set up is a breeze), I found a tiny bucket with a hand painted snowman face on it to hold my tester spatulas, and bows and ribbon to decorate some of the products. I won’t put the adhesive bows on anything until event set up, since they’d be killed in transport anyway. We made a few adjustments from what I had imagined, but I think it’ll all look really good.
One thing that is stumping me though is my banner. I got a 4 foot banner printed, put the adhesive loops on it today, and then tried a few different ways to hang the sign from a table. Um, epic fail, as they say. When string is used, tied to the back legs and draping the banner on the front, the banner buckles. I tried taping the loop areas to the tablecloth and the whole kit and caboodle slid off the table, including the products that were on there. Lol. It was a long shot anyway, but didn’t expect it to pull everything off. *grin* Tying the banner to the front legs just lets it slide right down to the floor, as I figured, but wanted to honestly say that I tried all obvious possibilities. Lol. When I had a booth with a banner at an event for my consulting business I had a back wall that I could hook it into. This is a church event, which I didn’t really take into account during the planning. *rolling eyes* Yeah, anymore for every great idea I get I have five “um” moments. *wry smile* If you have suggestions, please don’t hesitate to provide them! I’m certainly not in a smart streak at the moment. Lol.
I love how my Fisherman’s Soap samples turned out. I have trouble selling the awesome (seriously, it really is) soap because it is expensive due to the star anise EO in it, so I thought the other day of pouring a batch into the lump of coal mold. Friday evening I shrink wrapped all of them and later today I hope to label and price them. I honestly really love shrink wrapping. Lol. Nerds like the simple amusements of life, too. *teasing smile* I thought Miss Ash would be so excited to watch the wrappers create the cool seal on the soaps, but she wasn’t. I admit that I felt a little odd about being giddy over the shrinking when a kid wasn’t, so I stopped until after she left. You better believe I got the blow dryer going as soon as they were down the driveway! Lol. It gives an odd sense of accomplishment to have the wrapper cinch down. *grin* Some people like popping bubble wrap; just leave me with stuff to shrink wrap.
I admit that I couldn’t control my gasp when I saw her drop one of the cake soaps into a bag instead of easing it in carefully, making sure not to mess up the top, etc. Thankfully I didn’t like how it looked in zip lock anyway, so I gingerly removed it and will experiment with a cello bag later. I didn’t realize it until it happened, but I’m protective of my final version of the soaps. Lol. I couldn’t play off the gasp, but managed to smoothly end the packaging of those. By the way, I’m looking at truffle boxes to safely package these soaps for shipping. If I box them in those, then put them in the mailer with peanuts or paper filler, and the postman actually adheres to the fragile and this side up signs, then it might just work. So please don’t give up hope yet Aunt Ina! : ) I have to figure out a way to ship to CA anyway, so it’s a high priority. They even came out cheaper than I expected, although I may have to adjust if the boxes are more than my customary packaging. I will keep you posted though!
I still need to make some holiday themed baskets. I got my delivery from Oriental Trading of basket bags, the coal drawstring bags (odd note on those – Dollar Tree had better quality of them than these), and a variety of bandanas to line baskets. “Sweet Treats” will be a really fun basket to assemble. With the holiday patterned basket bags to cover the basket, I think these baskets will be so adorable!
I’ve been playing with name ideas still and think I came up with a real winner. “Anything but simple”. I honestly was thinking of personality traits and characters, and that came to mind. That will be perfect for a new custom blend. *smile* I really look forward to that one, so that I have a signature scent for myself that represents what I think about myself. Lol. Also came up with “Be my baby” for a baby safe item (ugh, probably have to be lavender *wrinkling nose*). Originally I thought of Baby Mine, but figure the song and movie probably copyrighted that line. I want to come up with a “Be mine tonight” to add to the seduction basket too. Once that popped into my head I couldn’t shake it and knew where it would go perfectly. Lol. The worst scent that I can’t come up with a name for is licorice. I don’t really want to name a lotion “lump of coal lotion”. *grin* It’s tempting so that I can just be done with the ornament soaps and lotion that need labels. I also want to come up with a name that includes fairies for a super soft blend that I want to make. “Fairy dust” is a copyrighted name, but I still want to stick with fairy in the name. I can’t give a logical explanation for it, but then again, I don’t have to! *sassy grin* I also need to finally decide between “Ginger girls”, “Gingersnap girls”, or “Gingerbread Girls” for a soap. I’m leaning toward leaving as just Ginger Girls, since the scent is so complex and neither gingerbread or snap specifically. There is all the spicy sweetness, but doesn’t fit the expected scent profile that I have. Any opinions?
Anyway, I have tons left on my to do list, but am impressed I’ve gotten this much accomplished. I even started gathering and packing what I need to take, like business cards and signs, etc. I just keep reminding myself that slow and steady wins the race. I really need to quit making stuff that I want to experiment on (dang need to learn something new constantly!) and focus on priority things for now. I just need to decide if linen/room spray is a priority too, so I can please both parts. *grin*
Anyway, thanks for bearing with my random thoughts and commentary. As always, replies, suggestions, and ideas are greatly appreciated. It means a whole lot and helps me think outside the box more often. *grin* Sweet dreams, happy falling back, and I hope you have a fantastic weekend!!
Georgia's Pampering 