Leather and Vanilla Bean

Few new pictures for you all to see. Leather and Vanilla Bean soaps as well as the Zombie Punch bath bombs.

bath bombs!

The show this weekend was fair it was mainly a Car Show that also had a small craft show area. They placed all the craft tents out of the direct foot traffic so I felt that kept some people from coming over. Booth fee wasn't very high and I got a few new customers so you really can't beat that I guess.

Bath Bombs were moving pretty good this weekend and the new ones in Zombie Punch moved the best. So tonight since I wasn't in the mood to make soap tough I really need to make some I decided to make bath bombs. Did some in Zombie Punch, Lavender, and Black Raspberry Vanilla.

Tomorrow night I should be setting up the photo area and getting some good pictures of all these bath bombs as well as pictures of my new soaps that are scented in Vanilla Bean and Leather.

a special candle project

So a few weeks ago my neighbor passed away, his wife had passed away about 4 years earlier. I pretty much grew up playing at their house as much as I did at my house they were basically like my grandparents even though they weren't related.

Well now the house is being cleaned up by their kids for a big estate auction. His wife was real into canning and had tons of empty jars as well as ones filled with fruits and other good things. I decided to borrow two of the jars before they were taken(shhh don't tell) to make into candles for their kids. One of the lids still has her writing on it so I think this will make a great keepsake for the family.

First one I made and is pictured is scented in Granny's Pie Crust and the one I am pouring right now will have a small touch of the pie crust as well as Strawberry Fields so it should smell like strawberry pie. I did color the second one with a touch of pink, but as you can see from my hands the pink all pretty much ended up on me. That pink dye and I never get along as it seems to get every where!

I will be giving these to them on Sunday. :)

Reminder this Saturday I will be at the Abbey Antique Car/Craft show in Canon City, Colorado.

check out what the view will be...

Today I was bored and decided to take a drive up into the mountains to take pictures. I really didn't have a game plan on where I was going but I ended up in the area of where my first craft show in June will be Silver Cliff/West Cliff Colorado. Let me tell you the views from this show will be out of this world. Sure will be rough to look at these mountains for two days :P

This is just a tease as the mountains stretch across the whole valley pretty much and I will get better full view pictures when I am at the show.

This link gives an idea of how cute the towns look and I have to say I am now really looking forward to doing this show
http://www.sangres.com/colorado/custer/westcliffe.htm

new Soap trailer and banner

So ended up getting a trailer today to haul all my soap stuff in since I had a car and a truck packed full. This will also help keep the rain off things(it rained last show) and make it so two vehicles don't have to be taken to shows that are longer distance.

My new banner came by UPS today this one is 10 feet x 2 feet and is for the outside top of the tent. Trying to do more things to bring attention to my booth and thought this might help. Sorry for the not so great picture of that one but it is raining outside at the moment :P

Been working on Bath Bombs this week. The pictured ones are Zombie Punch and 7-up. Have some in Summer Medley and Whipped Cream almost set up and tonight have to decide which two scents I will make next.

Really been digging the Zombie Punch scent I think it is the fact that the base of it is papaya and it has me thinking I might need to make a soap that is straight papaya. Too bad I decided this after I just placed my supply order!

Anyone else like Papaya?

making a game plan

So I heard the Art on the Arkansas show I was doing in June is being canceled which is a bummer cause that was going to be a good show since it was juried.

So for the last 2 nights I sat down and had to come up with a show game plan. Now I know what you are thinking this is pretty late in the year to be starting but I really wanted to see how a show or two went before I committed my money to more shows.

Night one I had planned out a show about every weekend most of the summer. I later decided that was lots of money going out the door for fees and I was worried about how I would find time to get stocked up and stay stocked up.

Night two I weeded the list down some more to a variety of shows in different areas in Colorado so I will have more chances at new customers. I even have a really big show planned for the end of summer. Going to take notes this year and then next year I will plan earlier and may try out different ones or return to some of the really good ones from this year.

Now I need to order more supplies(yet again, lol) and get try my best to get as far ahead as I can because a few shows are still going to be back to back. hmm wonder if I will decide to order a new scent or two :)

PS Next show is May 22

new soap cutter and spring flowers

Iris

Lilac's

Chives

So my other soap cutter works great for cold process soap but it has struggled with the glycerin soap cutting. The guitar strings just couldn't get cut that soap so my dad designed a new cutter for me. This one is a hydraulic press and it cuts the soap bars with no problems now!

Also posting a few more spring flowers from around my house loving that winter is going away!

Stonehenge, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Patchouli pictures

Ok here are the new batches of Stonehenge(top picture) and Black Raspberry Vanilla. I didn't get the colors as rich as I usually do on the BRV soap but it still came out cool, just have to remember to use more color next time.

Also got around to taking pictures of a new soap Patchouli.(bottom picture)

So does the new batch of Stonehenge look like a keeper? I am torn this one is cool but I also really liked the black swirls in the other version. hmmm what one to do next time :)

back from the craft show

Well the rain managed to stay away till the very end of the 2nd day so I got lucky.

It was so much fun to finally get to see people smell all the different scents and see what they thought of them. I have to say Zombie Punch was a hit and I will be getting it up on Etsy Monday so be on the look out.

I had a crazy run of people wanting the Stonehenge type soap for men. I ended up having to come home after a really long day to make another batch so I can have it in stock for the next show.

The funny part is I was so tired last night that I messed up making it. I had poured it into the mold and kept thinking hmm it looks odd but I couldn't place what was wrong so I started to clean up some and then it hit me I totally forgot to pour the black swirl(which I had sitting right there). Well this is one of the fastest setting soaps so I rushed to dump some in and I figured hey at least the top will be pretty. I Cut it tonight and it looks really cool very similar to the design I do for the Black Raspberry Vanilla yet not done with that technique at all. So maybe my oops came out cooler! pics to follow in 1-2 days and you can tell me if my oops was good.

Had some repeat customers that had purchased soap on Saturday and came back on Sunday to get more. I also had another person who got a bar of the Stonehenge for her husband the day before tell me that he loved it and she will probably have to get some more next show so I was really loving the early feedback coming in.

There were about 3 other Bath and Body makers at this show and one ended up getting stuck right across from my booth somehow(bad show planning!) so that wasn't the best but my work speaks for itself and is unlike other soap makers so it didn't phase me at all.

Now I am off to go unpack all the soaps so I can see what I need to rush and make more of in the next day or two. I see a soaping marathon coming so I can be ready for my next show in 2 weeks :)

Picture above is of the booth this weekend(don't mind the boxes in the background they were covered up with quilts after I finished the set up)

oh and thanks to everyone who made it out you made the show really fun for me!