RSS Feed

Tag Archives: Homemade

I surprised myself

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Georgia's Pampering

I managed to fill all of the orders I have today except for figuring up prices. I pushed myself to work on lotions today since I’m feeling a tiny bit better. When I scooped base into the pan to warm and prepare to accept additives I somehow scooped within 2 oz of what I needed without having measured. Booyah! I totally impressed myself lol. Just a little overpour. I even got all of the ordered soaps done thankfully. Of course my legs are in absolute agony and I won’t be doing much for a few days, but what a sense of accomplishment!

Now from my prone position with legs elevated on a stack of couch cushions I get to look at sale items for Spring combos while watching my fav DVRed shows. A good day. *smile*

I also get to sniff my new FOs and determine what notes I catch. Some names are so inaccurate, so they’re getting renamed lol. Banana Cream Pie actually smells like banana taffy. I may play with adding vanilla FOs to see if I can make a cream pie scent, since that would be light and still decadent. Watermelon Mania is exactly like watermelon bubblegum. It has that sugary, fun scent of bubblegum instead of a crisp fruit scent that I expected from the name. I’m delighted with it, but definitely expected the fresh version. Fresh lemon zest is amazing, yet will definitely be a note in products and not be a stand alone. It’s so sharp and tart that it’ll be amazing with a little buttercream to mellow it out. Secret Crush has a really nice combination of floral notes. I’m sad to admit that I can’t even smell one FO at all, Relaxing. It’s suppose to be a crisp, citrusy, and soothing scent. Such a bummer! Mojito has a great crisp minty scent that I’m going to use it a lot I think, while Margarita is mostly all lime. I’ll have to figure out some variations to make it a bit more appealing I think. I’m still excited to plan out some new items.

Now I’ll write my to do list and enjoy some Downton Abbey. *grin*

Leave a comment

Posted in Bath Products (non-soap), Scents and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

My month away

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Georgia's Pampering

First, my apologies for a month lapsing. My health issues have me in la la land and to be honest, I’m really surprised I didn’t blog while out of it. *grin* As I’m currently waiting for a double dose of medicine to kick in, I may just succeed at a very odd entry. Lol.

I did fairly well over the holidays and mostly all due to my amazing family and friends. I turned a profit for the first time, which in the overall accounting means I finally came out even on all the Paypal fees I’ve paid in the past year. *wry smile* I got almost completely caught up in Quickbooks (damn secretary slacked on her job and didn’t enter stuff since the cancer event in September…I’d fire her, but it’s hard to fire yourself *wink*) and Quickbooks took away all that excitement about that first profitable month. Of course, I’m now going into the slow months too. It’s for three years that the IRS accepts a business in loss, right? *teasing grin*

Accounting aside, I am now disassembling my holiday baskets that I had pre-made and deciding what items will get renamed to sell year round. My inventory spreadsheet is absolutely useless at the moment with disassembling. I gave up making sure that my inventory count matched between Quickbooks and my spreadsheet. I learned that I can just override that QB warning that I don’t have enough inventory to sell those items on an invoice. Lol. Georgia’s own spreadsheets FTW! *grin*

I got notification from my wholesaler that my order is in processing. I’m excited that I’ll finally have the necessary bases on hand again and have some really neat new seasonal offerings that have cheered me up. I got invited to be a vendor at a Welcoming Spring-type event that I won’t be able to attend due to distance, etc, but it drove home that I need to plan for spring and summer events.

I got a watermelon FO that has top ratings from other crafters and both age groups love it, so I’m hoping for a real winner there. I got a margarita FO and mojito FO to really provide some fresh and fun options. Honeysuckle FO, a fresh laundry variant FO with hints of marine and ozone notes, and then also a different floral FO. It’s called a Secret Crush Type, so it’ll have to be renamed to keep me out of trouble, but crafters write that they can’t keep it stocked because it sells so well. That would be a nice problem. Lol. I also got a Vanilla Noir type FO also that I really look forward to smelling. 5 star peer ratings and it was one of my customer loyalty freebies, so doubly exciting.

Of course, it wouldn’t be me ordering if food and desserts were missing! Banana Cream Pie FO, White Chocolate Raspberry FO, and a fresh lemon FO to play with. I want to do a lemon bar or cake type of scent. A nice play with some buttercream to sweeten that baby up. Mmmm mmmm. I saw a Whoopie Pie scent which I thought would be pointless to order, since I have all of the scents needed all ready, so time to try to make it. They called it “Making Whoopie”, which, like the Sex in the Shower scent, catches the eye, so I want to make a play on that too. That, if it turns out right, would be a very indulging scent that would be perfect in a variation of the seduction basket. I guarantee that you open up a bottle of that oil and a girl smells that luscious chocolate, she’s going to come investigate. *sassy wink* All in all, some exciting possibilities. More to come as things go on sale, if I can get profitable. My debit card might get taken away if I do too much preparing for the season and don’t see enough return. Lol.

A few other changes I’m excited over are new packaging options. My aunt brought up a great point in testing some Goat’s Milk lotion. It’s hard to get out of the bottle. (It can be a real razzle frazzle to get it into the bottles too! *teasing smile*) So, I found some jars to package it in. They’re amber, since clear was sold out and I declined the wait on the order for the clear to come in, and the other type of jars that I loved had really expensive lids, which is just stupid to pick then. I really try to keep things affordable and a lid that’s as expensive as a jar is just pointless to frugal (great word choice, right?! *grin*) me. I’m really super duper oddly excited about the new packaging option for bath salts. I noticed at the holiday craft sale event (seems like so freaking long ago) that everyone put down the salts when they saw how expensive they are. Well, a pint of dead sea salt plus additives IS expensive, even for me, but when I take a bath I indulge. I can go through a quarter of a canning jar of salts in one soak. I saw these new little cello options my wholesaler just came out with, that look like cellophane carrots, and are 12″ x 6″ cones. Perfect! Way cheaper than glass canning jars, cheap to ship, a more affordable sampling of how awesome my salts are, and look so freaking adorable I felt like I was 4 all over again looking at my Easter basket. If I do different layers of colors that’ll look even more adorable. Dude, if I wasn’t so meh I’d be doing a happy dance. *grin*

A few last additions that I’m happy about is trying out a gentle face cream and some pure aloe gel. I have a recipe for a leg relief gel using aloe and some EO that I’ve wanted to try since I saw the recipe months ago. The gel was on sale and I had been holding out for the base that I really wanted, so I finally get to try. That might make a great city wide garage sale seller come May and June. *crossing fingers* As to the face cream, it’s suppose to be so gentle that it can be used on faces or even babies, so I’ve had my eye on it to finally become available. I would like to see if I can add a few appropriate additives to it and add it to the acne line. It would mean a lot to me personally to have some options for teens, especially if it truly, naturally helps. If I don’t take that route, I might just make an official line for sensitivities and illnesses. I can’t legally say that it helps, but I can say that I experienced no reactions, so the population that has the same issues as me might have good experiences with this line. That’s a strong consideration. I’ve wanted to help Fibromyalgia and Arthritis sufferers, but when I can’t buy in bulk like the big guys, it’s just not affordable at either end. Maybe this could be the compromise.

Anyway, one last happy part to my order is a package of sliced luffa (loofah). I actually experimented with a small order I had on hand and gave as Christmas gifts, and I’m pretty proud of how they turned out. I pushed a slice into each round silicone mold (just a tiny bit wider than the mold, so it got jammed in if I’m being honest). Then I poured whatever Shea soap base in and saturated the luffa. After they set I popped them out and they became perfect rough spot soaps. Now, I did them in the experimental blend of Root beer Float too (*happy sigh* heavenly I tell you). The luffa should stay fairly soft now because of the exposure to the shower steam and water, as well as be submerged in the Shea soap. What a great soap to get heels ready for sandal season! There are several practical uses for this soap, so I’m excited to actually get the supplies on hand to make part of my line.

I just need a healthy clone of myself to actually make this stuff,, especially since I’m really excited. I also need to update my website I realized today. I took down Christmas decorations the day after the holiday, but still have those products promoted all over on my site. Time for some virtual housekeeping I suppose.

Thanks for being patient with me, for all of the encouragement, and I look forward to telling you about some new adventures for this next season. By the way, any input on one thing – I love the name “naughty elf” for one of my wintery seductive scents. I’m kind of thinking of leaving the name year round because it is catchy and cute. Any thoughts? Anyway, I hope everyone has a fantastic day and is sleeping well. Please cross your fingers that my doctor figures out a new treatment plan so that I’m no longer alternating between a narcoleptic and insomniac. *goofy smile* Waves from a snuggly Bo dog too!

Leave a comment

Posted in Scents, Uncategorized and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Pop a Wheelie

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I admit that I struggle with creating catchy or unique product names, just like I struggle with naming my poetry. Typically a poem will end up untitled or part of the first line. I suppose that all of my creative umph goes into the poem, so there isn’t much left for the title. Same with my products usually. Every so often I do really well though, I think. I love Acne Bee Gone and Have Your Cake and Bathe With It Too (long one for a small dessert cake soap, but it matches the work that goes into it and I love it too much to change it). I managed to come up with another perfect one.

I made some new mechanic bar soaps to give as Christmas gifts and used “Sand Dune”, one of the new FOs. Sand Dune just didn’t do it for me as a name, so I started going through my limited vocabulary of motocross terms. Suddenly I heard a friend’s little boy saying “pop a wheelie” over and over from my memories. Oh yeah, perfect! The guys will love it, it actually fits their moto lingo, and one of the recipients happens to be that little boy (not quite so little now though). Heel Clicker was the only other lingo that had a chance, since it was better than roosting, whoops, and hang on (exhausting my lingo knowledge for the most part *grin*, I suppose I should listen more instead of allowing the wah wah of Charlie Brown’s teacher to replace what is said). I’m pretty happy with Pop a Wheelie and the soaps turned out really nice. I had just one little issue with the soaps. I decided to change things up and use my new spa sayings mold instead of my usual “homemade” or plain bar molds. When I bagged the bars I had a little head scratcher when I realized that I’d have to figure out which moto enthusiast guy would get the one that says “romance”. *snicker* I totally forgot about that one. I got too stuck on refresh and uplift. Lol. Doh! I experimented a little on this batch too (as if I’d leave a recipe alone and just make something as I had previously). I decided to add some ground apricot seed to the pumice to see if that helps with the performance. The seed that I have is gentle enough for sensitive skin, yet is good at exfoliating, so I figure it has a good chance at improving the mechanic soap. Please cross your fingers! Since they were gifts I didn’t make testers, so I have no idea how they will turn out. I have 4 testers that I’ll have to check up on after Christmas, I suppose.

I used Oakmoss in sugar scrub that I made for gifts, too. I have to say that it’s way more of an ocean scent than woodsy. It has that dark undertone of the recesses of the woods, but mostly it has crisp, clean, and inviting notes of a body of water. There is a slight tang that I can pick up on that is in most perfume and cologne bases, but so far no one else smells that note thankfully. (I admit that my nose is sensitive. I can smell milk or bread turning days before it does. Sucks for me since I won’t touch them then, while others can finish it up before it actually turns. Comes in handy for my little hobby though.) I had a horrible time coming up with a name for such a contradictory and complicated scent. Plus, most that I liked I figured would be way over most heads, like mythological names. I like Oldies and was sitting there listening to them while finishing a few things up, when I heard “Beyond the Sea”. Booyah! To prevent any infringement I went the extra word and named it “Beyond the Sea, Somewhere” which amused me once sugar scrub was added, because it looks like “somewhere sugar scrub”. *smile* We’ll see if anyone takes it that way. Lol.

I have a list of names that I and others have brainstormed, but somehow nothing that I have been making fits any of those names. Murphy’s Law.

Anyway, I woke up way too early and am getting cranky, so I’m going to go finish my last two orders. Huffing some sexy smells should turn the day around. (Both orders are for seduction baskets. Too cool! Both get a little customized, too, so it takes more of my abilities than just putting stuff from a list into a basket. Have I ever mentioned how much I like to be challenged and mentally stimulated? Lol.) Have a wonderful weekend and be safe if fighting those holiday crowds.

1 Comment

Posted in Scents, Soaps and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Buttered popcorn

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

My wholesaler was running massively behind, so when I put in my replacement order a couple of days ago I didn’t expect anything until after Christmas. (I still haven’t received my order from B&N from Black Friday after all.) Much to my surprise my box arrived and I got to unwrap my own present *grin* I ordered some new scents that were on sale and couldn’t wait to start sniffing.

Out of all of the new scents I was so excited to get Candy Corn. It’s been on my wish list on the site for months and once it was down to a few bucks for a big bottle, that baby was mine. *smile* Anyway, the blurb describes it as a soft vanilla with sweet notes. Um, I think my bottle didn’t get that memo. *pout* I swear to you that it smells like buttered popcorn! I have no idea how that will make a decent soap or lotion, that’s for sure. Lol. Any ideas? Maybe I should make a group of gag gifts with the positively awful scents that I’m beginning to gather (about one per every ten I order anymore *sigh). Buttered popcorn, stinky gingerbread that smells like an odd bread pudding, and the rank Cafe Latte…

And my mind wanders…sorry. *grin* I got two amazingly great scents that I’m tickled about. Pumpkin Spice isn’t quite as mellow as the Perfect Pumpkin that I have (which I had to restock in this order too, since it’s awesome!).

My customer loyalty gift from the wholesaler was Oakmoss and it is divine. It has a gentle earthiness to it, but such a clean, uplifting top note. It’s almost like sitting on the side of a waterfall, on the rocks by the pool area, and taking a deep and cleansing breath. *happy sigh* I think it’ll make a phenomenal unisex scent. Not too sweet or musky, not too heavy, not sharp…nothing but simply great.

So I’ll switch my thinking to the wasted FO was free and Oakmoss as my new, great purchase. *grin* Makes me feel better about the cost. Lol.

Anyway, I have a replacement scale battery, extra clear soap base, bath whip base, and lotion base, so I need to really get into gear if I can reign in my symptoms. *smile* I want to make the mens sugar scrub in Oakmoss now. Tonight I’ll stay quiet and laying down though, enjoying my Tizanidine, and play with name ideas. It’ll be hard to not go with the predictable line. Lol.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Leave a comment

Posted in Scents, Uncategorized and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

The kitchen just might explode

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I haven’t been overly productive the last few days, since I haven’t felt well, so I decided to really give a push last night to get a few things done.  When I got off of the computer I sanitized my workstation in the kitchen and then started to get things out to start working.  I really want to make a more masculine scented scrub option, so that was my main priority.

I went to get out some bath whip, which is a main component in the scrub, but couldn’t find a jar.  I finally found some in my emergency stash “hidey hole” and gave a sigh of relief.  Then I began to bite my lip when I realized that I don’t have enough of the usual extra clear soap base that the recipe calls for until my order is delivered, who knows when, until I found an alternative that I think might be kind of nice, since it’s a creamy variation.  Okay, second crisis averted.  Cool!  I got out the little holiday print plastic buckets that I wanted to put the finished product in, so they’re ready to just pop a gift tag on and put under the tree.  I sanitized them and let them sit to dry while I got ready to cut the soap for melting.  I had to roll my eyes when I went to turn my digital scale on and it said “lo”, and shut itself off.  Seriously?  So, I chilled myself out and went to my battery drawer to get another battery.  Of course the scale has one of those special CR disc batteries and I have two, but not of the number that the scale needs.  I mean, at this point it was just totally an “of course” thing.  *grin*  Okay…quick thinking prevailed and I grabbed my household scale.  Hmm….won’t read mere ounces (and I don’t have much more than the needed 10 ounces of the soap anyway), so I sigh and step onto the scale with the soap on a lid, knowing that I’ll have to suck it up and see my weight if I want to get the measurement of this blasted soap.  Once the weight is flashing I put the soap on the cutting board while still on the scale and look back down to see the difference.  Seriously?!  The scale was so mean that it didn’t bother to read a difference in the ounces of me versus the ounces of soap.  Just stayed the same weight.  *sigh*  Appliances can just be so cruel.  lol.  Fine!  I’ll just scrap making scrub for now until I get the new battery and will make some of the pumice soap that I need, since I sold out.  Um, genius?  Knock knock…still no way to measure the soap to make the bars.  *rolling eyes*  Okay, so now that my spectacularly stupid moment was over I go to put the scale away and the glass top comes off.  The glue had come loose and now my scale is a bit wobbly.  No biggy….super glue is awesome and a quick fix.  I put the stuff away and then go to the now dry buckets.  They’re totally ready, so I figure I’ll pop the lids on and they’ll be ready for when I actually can make some base.  Yeah, cue eye rolling now…the lids didn’t fit.  *cracking up*  It’s a miracle that I wasn’t hyperventilating at this point and I was texting with my friend at the time about all that was going on.  She advised that I just get out of the kitchen before it exploded, the way that things were going.  *grin*  The guilt though is soooo strong that I haven’t done much more than read and pack a few boxes, so I decided to box up the remaining dessert cake soaps.  Oh yeah, you see where this is headed, don’t you?  lol.  I had three of the perfect favor boxes left and had some of the fat square soap boxes that I had found in my hidey hole that might just work for the rest, since I’d like to ship a few more.  First one I managed to cause the flaps to come apart, because adhesive now hates me, too.  Double sided tape is my friend, though, and that puppy got wrangled.  Second one went perfectly, so I should have been on guard, right?  The third one I could see almost in slow motion…I pick it up, move my hand the three INCHES to the box and suddenly I see my hand becoming weak, the fingers stiffening and beginning to spread…splat.  Apparently the cherry soap “sauce” has hardened rather well with the extra cure time and there’s just a bit of a dent in the bath whip “ice cream” below, but the sauce remains perfect.  lol.  No biggy…my mom has always embraced the little mistakes in my art, whatever medium I currently am into, as part of the gift of uniqueness of that item.  That one is in Mom’s Christmas stocking.  *grin*  Anyway, I used my other hand and got the third box filled.  Beautiful.  I assemble the soap box to test it out and it looks just great, although it is cardboard instead of something pretty, but I don’t care at this point.  I carefully wrap another cake soap in tissue to help protect and cushion it in case the postal worker has to hit the breaks suddenly or someone decides to play shuffleboard with the gift box my goodies are going into (hey, I’ve heard the stories of what goes on behind the scenes and received some seriously smashed up boxes myself lol).  As I am putting the soap into the box I notice that there’s a little bit hitting on the edge of the box.  Hmm….maybe I need to sacrifice some of the tissue?  Of course not!  I mean, it was a day to live on in infamy, right, so shouldn’t we add one more to the list?  Yeah, the soap is less than a centimeter too big itself to fit into the box.  *cracking up*  I tore a sheet of wax paper and covered the remaining soaps with it, and just walked away.  lol.  However, I couldn’t just walk away with a scrap of dignity and call it a crappy night.  Nope.  Nada.  I slipped on the way out of the room, so I crashed into the living room in utter defeat.  *grin*  Needless to say I sat and finished reading my book for the rest of the night.

I’ll get a new battery tomorrow and contemplate trying again.   I can switch to using the empty whip containers that I stash for putting tester products into.  I figure that they might not be as cute as the buckets, but they twist on securely and I can trust them.  I might have someone else cut the soap though, because if the universe is still hating me, I will probably cut my finger off.  Maybe when I’m melting the base I’ll actually cause an explosion in the kitchen, though….okay, maybe I won’t make anything new for awhile.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Float My Soap

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I finished making up all of the products that have been ordered so far. With free reign in making bars of soap I made a few new blends and one turned out phenomenal in my opinion. It’s a root beer float with a nice hint of vanilla. Oh man do I like it! My working name is “float my soap”. It might not be the best, but I think it’s a cute play on float my boat and root beer float. What are your thoughts?? I started out with using it in some regular bar soaps with nice raised lettering words. I couldn’t resist using the same scent then in some loofah soaps. I squished some loofah slices in some round guest molds, and then poured the soap over and in them. The moisture of the soap and when used will soften the loofahs very effectively, although I’m concerned about rough edges peeking up out of the soap and being too abrasive, so I need some testing before offering it on my site. I’ve been wanting to make loofah soaps since early summer, so I’m so excited! *grin*

I upped the awesome factor with some lemon powder. It didn’t change the scent, but caused a bit of yellow speckling and is really beneficial. I don’t think the speckling detracts at all, just helps with the homemade look, and I love how it helps the skin.

Sadly not all work was a success. *mock pout* The Acne Bee Gone facial soaps in Fruity Patootie for my brother’s stepdaughter may be something she will like (oh yeah, sooo crossing my fingers on that), but it makes me wince. Just 2 MLs to 6 soap rounds and my mold smells so strongly of fruit punch that I want to lock the mold away for a few months. Lol. If they like it, then it’s all worth it, but I might try to discourage future purchases of it. *teasing smile* I’d never do that, but boy would it be tempting.

I also decided to finally try blending floral with a more neutral, dark note, but I declared it an epic fail. I’ve been reassured that it’s “not that bad; still sellable” with a shrug, so maybe it’s my super sensitive nose that makes it seem so horrible. I’ll have Miss Ash give her utterly honest youthful opinion of it when she’s here and know if it’s going in the write off bin or on the shelf to sell. *grin*

I need to finish assembling my brother’s basket, tape up my stepmother’s order, and then work on family gifts. I’d probably finish the baskets up if it wasn’t going on 5 AM and my longing for the insomnia to end. I would really like a few hours of sleep before the roofers come to finish up. Maybe I’ll go huff some Sleepy Time spray ; ) I wish you a very good day.

Leave a comment

Posted in Scents, Soaps and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Like a bakery

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

Despite the blahs I’ve managed to get a few items made. *happy dance* I made a big batch of dessert cake soaps and they smell phenomenal. Between them and the cake batter lotions, and the pumpkin buttercream lotion, it’s a delightful mixture like in a bakery. I experimented with rolling the “ice cream” scoop of bath whip for the dessert cakes in slightly cooled melted glycerin soap. Ummm…epic fail. *biting lip* There was whip everywhere and the texture as it cooled…ugh! The whip developed a tacky texture where it got coated with the soap. Oddest feeling and experience ever. Lol. Thankfully that was soap number 13, the experimental child of each big batch. *grin* I try to have an extra in case of something bad happening when I’m doing a big batch.

I also filled the orders for goat’s milk lotions. Wow! I’m completely out of goat’s milk base now. That’s pretty cool. *smile* Anyway, a few are the new version with emulsifying wax. That was a learning experience, let me tell you! Lol. It certainly doesn’t take much of the wax pellets even in a big batch, but it took almost an hour in warm base for them to melt and incorporate. I didn’t expect that. Lotion has to be warmed at a low rate or else it turns nasty very fast, but it was hard to hold my little patience and not crank the heat when I’d all ready waited half an hour to melt the lotion anyway. Lol. I measured and did my additives, and then poured each version. After they were done I got to take a swipe of the caked on lotion on the side of my lotion pot and tried it out. Holy smokes!! I seriously think I may have to add to all adult lotions now. It’s so creamy and leaves the neatest feeling. It’s this smooth and thick feeling like it’s really working, and will take awhile to soak in, but doesn’t have that greasy or tacky feeling that some intensive care versions of lotions have. *happy dance* So awesome!! I’m debating offering the wax as an a la carte option, but the nerd in me can’t resist giggling at imaging “Sex in the Shower 2.0”. *snicker* Of course, you have to have the robot voice announcing it in your mind. We’ll see which version of me wins on how to incorporate emulsifying wax into my line. *grin*

I have a few more things left to make, but I’m done for the day. I hope you have a fantastic weekend and hope your house smells as amazing as mine right now!!

Leave a comment

Posted in Bath Products (non-soap), The Holidays and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Cyber Monday

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I got my first Cyber Monday order. How awesome!! I wanted to write last night, but got distracted. *smile* If you’re reading this, thanks again Bro. *grin* There is something so delightfully exciting about the order being on such an infamous day. (Heaven knows it couldn’t have been on Black Friday because I was too busy shopping myself lol.)

I am tickled to have two new holiday orders and especially because I have lots of extra time in which to work on them, since I’ve been running on “sick slow mo” as I call it. Lol. I have several items in my pre-made stash, but still have some work to do. Mostly I need to get my new version of goat’s milk lotion made, so that’s Thursday’s project. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazed and honored I am that my lotion stands up, if not exceeds when I’m not trying to be humble *wink*, professionally branded lotions for severe chapping. Holy smokes!! Anyway, I have a goal to revamp the lotion with emulsifying wax to increase the moisturizing properties and beneficial time. It creates a thicker, creamier lotion that has more binding properties, similar in a way to those silicone glove treatments that were popular a few years back. I’m hoping that the extended treatment will reduce, if not eliminate, the need for people to cover their hands with plastic bags and socks or gloves to create a sauna atmosphere and increase how well the moisturizers work. Who wants to sleep with weird stuff crinkling on their hands? Plus, who says that a good thing is good enough? *grin* Saying it worked wonderfully is like issuing a challenge to try to make it better. Lol. I become way too curious about the benefits and ingredients, so I love to work on a new puzzle.

I also will be making a lot of dessert cake soaps. I’ll try the “ice cream” rolled in slightly cooled melted soap to see if I can make it a little less fragile. *crossing fingers* I’ve been toying with the idea of taking a few of my “ruined” soaps (the vanilla in the fragrance oils turned them brown before I learned about the additive to prevent it) and shaving little “chocolate curls”. Or at least try. *grin* I have a cheese slicer that might make nice little decorations and would LOVE to not have more waste than I must anyway. I know from being a billing consultant that you always have write offs, but even then, even when it was a write off to help a patient or when I knew that something really needed to be written off, I felt like I did something wrong. Lol. Like that balance in the column is saying that I’m that bad and wasteful. Isn’t it funny how the mind can work? Anyway, I try to find uses for everything and doubt that people want little brown soaps in their stockings this year. *grin* May smell great, but that visual…dude. Lol.

I need to look around for some basket wraps that conceal the baskets and product, so that the orders are ready to put from the box right under the Christmas tree. All of my wraps are transluscent. Bah! I then figured out that if I use a wrap on the baskets that I have, then I have to go up to the $10 shipping box all because of a couple of centimeters. So not happening! We all want the cheapest shipping possible and I refuse to let a wrap screw that up. Lol. Dang, that means I’ll have to go shopping…*grin*

It was amusing to me that both orders I got this week seemed simple at first. Then it became obvious that it was my business and got really complicated. Lol. “I want a goat’s milk lotion.” Okay, want 1, 4, or 8 oz? Want it in which scent? If you like that, you might consider this…and do you want the original or the new version? Oh, need some soap? Would you prefer a bubble wash instead of a bar soap…etc. So many options. Lol. I got a little overwhelming I think. I suspect that my need to be occupied and learn has created an overwhelmingly vast array of options for customers. I wonder if some of the people who have told others that they’ll be ordering were intimidated by the amount of options..? That’s a sad prospect.

In the meantime I’m writing my notes (and yes Z, I have a spreadsheet *grin*) while I have zero energy, so I’m ready with a game plan once I find some energy in my toes or something. Lol. I’ll let you know how the science experiment with emulsifying wax goes. Sweet dreams and a wonderful day to all.

Leave a comment

Posted in The Holidays and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Details about the event

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

As my recent picture posts hint at, the craft sale didn’t have as robust of a turn out as hoped. I’m delighted to have done $111 though! Much better than the last time where only the event organizer bought something. I have so much product ready to sell now. If 1% of the people from the event that said they would look at the site and order do so, then I should have a good amount ready to get to them immediately.

I sold completely out of the dessert cake soaps and both of my Mechanic’s soaps (they’re pricey, so they don’t sell fast, which is why I don’t make more than a couple at a time). I’m beyond tickled!! I loved how people just lit up and marveled at them. Two little boys weren’t having a good time at the event (I suspect it was probably nap time) actually cheered up when their mom bought them each one. The little cello bags turned out perfect for little hands, too. They could grip at the top and there wasn’t a worry about heating up the whip “ice cream” to melting or smooshing it. Yay! I look forward to the next batch when I’ll try rolling the refrigerated whip “ice cream” in a layer of melted soap. Hopefully the low temperature will prevent the whip from melting when it comes in contact with the soap.

I have to say that I loved being able to provide helpful tips and products to receptive people. I talked so much that I lost my voice and had to have a lozenge to get it back. Lol. For those that wanted to learn about stuff, it felt amazing! I hadn’t realized just how much I miss that helpful interaction that I got, one on one, with patients as a medical billing consultant. The really cool part is that I have learned enough from being around the doctor and nursing staff that I understood a lot of the conditions and symptoms that people asked me about, so I was able to recommend the right products for them. I figure that the extra work to figure out the right product for people will have a greater chance of being a return customer. One woman even bought some acne soap after she had bought some other products a few minutes before! *happy dance* Her son has some skin issues and I’m hoping that my soap helps. I told her to let me know how things go, etc, and actually look forward to the challenge.

I was surprised that none of the combos sold. I really figured at least one of the Twilight combos would sell since the newest movie is about to premiere at the theater.

I’ve been up all night due to a surprisingly massive flare up after my exertion. Meh. At least dealing with all of this has made me very aware of the needs and complications of chronically ill people and now I have some potential customers for the new pain relief line that I hope to work on ASAP. That makes this flare up so worth it! If I can actually help someone that will be amazing. I try so hard to have a good impact and this seems to be a great avenue for it. Awesome!

So…does anyone want to come deal with my mess? Lol. I got all of the product shelved, but now all of the boxes and tote, etc, are stuffed into my office and need dealt with. At least it’s no longer where others will see my mess!

One last little thing that really surprised me was how many people told me that they really could appreciate and admire my entrepreneurial skills. Wow! The first time totally caught me off guard and the couple of times afterward were no less surprising. If anything, I was more surprised each time, because it seemed unfathomable that more than one person could feel that. So freaking cool!!

By the way, I will never carve a pumpkin or house out of soap. A guy literally asked me if I did or would do that. Of course, he also said that he wanted me to carve the house so that he could live in it, so that made it feel even weirder. I have no desire to carve soap. It’s enough of a pain to trim the overflow off with an Xacto knife (especially with a tremor and involuntary movements!). Lol. I definitely got some great experience for how to handle unexpected things on the fly. If I do another event, it should be a lot easier. I think all of the weirdest questions that could ever be asked were at this event, so easy peasy!

Have a great day!! Thank you all for the encouragement and the support!

2 Comments

Posted in The Holidays and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Event Prep

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

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!!

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →