Spring Newsletter 2009

At first glance, you may think I’m joking, but if you look very, very carefully outside, Spring is abuzz. Tiny little pink buds have popped on the ends of otherwise dead stick branches. Teeny green bulb shoots are just barely sticking up just barely from the freezing earth.

Did you know that 10 flowers yield 1 drop of nectar, 1 bee can hold 1 drop of nectar per trip, 10 drops of nectar yield 1 drop of honey, 10 drops of honey yield 1 drop of beeswax, so 1000 flowers yield 1 drop of beeswax. All of nature is a miracle, and the coming of Spring always knocks my socks off.

Of course it’s still the very earliest stages of Spring, but I’m so very much looking forward to the light, delicate, shyly tender beginnings of my garden. Watercolor scenes of cherry blossoms, star magnolia, tulips, and daffodils. Spring is the budding freshness of limitless possibilities.

SPRING SEASONAL SOAPS

To celebrate the season of love, flowers, and new beginnings, I’ve created a few new scents, all utilizing the new lush shea butter and hemp oil recipe. While prices for everything keep rising dramatically, I’m keeping the prices for all my products, plus the shipping charges, the same as they’ve been the last few years as we begin this year of uncertainty and belt-tightening. It’s my personal commitment to make the best products I can, as reasonably priced as possible, so nobody has to sacrifice a little daily luxury. Budgets are tight, but life is short, and taking care of yourself matters. ($4.00 each or 4 / $15.00)

White Lilac – True, beautiful lilac, just a blush fresher and lighter than a rich purple lilac. Sophisticated, elegant, lushly floral.

Jasmine, Pear & Rose – A blend of two traditional floral notes with an unexpected fruit, but it’s simply gorgeous. A pretty pink bar of pure loveliness.

Lemon Verbena – Now with more lemon! This is a true lemon verbena, an all-time favorite fragrance. I’ve added just a splash of tart, juicy lemon to jazz up the citrus note.

For several years I’ve featured the Moroccan Fig soap as an autumn seasonal, and it’s always so adored that I end up continuing it through winter, and field requests for it the entire rest of the year. So, I am adding Moroccan Fig to the regular list where it will reside permanently.

DEAD SEA BATH SALTS

Our Dead Sea bath salts are so lovely, so nurturing and such a nice value that they rank high on the list of most popular products. This Spring, instead of coming up with a few brand new seasonal fragrances to try, I’ve scented the salts to match my most popular soaps. Layering scent in personal care products is a wonderful way to make the enticing aroma last longer. Using soaps, lotions, and perfumes in the same or similar scents combines the aromatics, layering the scent notes, and subtly infusing your skin for an individual signature scent that leaves the house with you, instead of taking up camp only in your bathroom. They are the same 16 oz bottles of beautiful spa-quality soaking salts. Spring’s bath salt scents are: Lavender Lemongrass, French Lavender, and Vanilla Bean & Honey. ($ 8.00 each)

SUDS FOR A BRIGHTER DAY

I’ve hatched a new soap idea – it’s a new product line, which I hope will brighten everyone’s day. The new soaps are more of the mini-soap bars (a la The Pacific Northwest Collection) that I added last fall. They are roughly half the size of my standard bars, 2x2 inches square, and weigh 1.5 ounces each. I am selling them in groups of four, packaged in a sweet, natural jute string bag, and the scents will change with each new batch.

The “brighter day” part is that half of all the proceeds for these new soaps will go directly to Kiva.org, the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. Tiny little loans of $25 go towards goals of several hundred or a thousand dollars, whatever is needed for a small business owner in a developing nation to get the help they need to start their business, or to take the next step towards sustainability. It doesn’t take much to help somebody who is struggling to make their little business a livelihood for themselves and their families. I’m so grateful that for the last 13 years I’ve been able to make a living with my own micro business, and I want to share just a little bit of what I have to help others do the same. It’s my way of having Soapworks Studio give back, and having you all - my most fabulous customers- share in that process, while getting the most adorable little mini guest or travel soaps in return.

One more thing – the fragrances of these will be in a constant rotation. This first edition has a fruity floral combo. I’m constantly doing experiments with new scents for seasonal soaps, or testing out samples, so I seem to have an endless amount of scents to try. These will be my new playground for now. You’ll get to try different, fun, new stuff. And as the year continues, there will be new groupings of 4 soap scents to choose from, matched so that they go well together. Suds for a Brighter Day, 1st edition: Apricot Peach, Berry Delight, Grapefruit Splash, Pink Posy (Bag of 4 soaps, $10 each, 50% of all proceeds go to Kiva.org)

Spring Show Schedule

Since there are so few shows in early spring, I’m not including an extra show calendar insert. Instead, I’m jotting down the dates in April and May, and will have a full schedule in the summer mailing. You can always see the latest on the web site too, under “calendar.”

April 2-4 Pickering Barn, Issaquah
April 3-5 Best of the Northwest, Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, Seattle
April 7 – 11 Echo Falls Spring Show, Echo Falls Country Club, Snohomish
April 16-18 Puyallup Spring Fair, Hobby Hall of the Fairgrounds, Puyallup
May 6 – 8 Group Health shop space, Group Health Central Campus, Seattle
May 16-17 University District Street Fair, U Dist, Seattle

Happy Spring! For more information, head over to the web site: SoapworksStudio.com

Off for a break

Good morning all!

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm closing the studio for a quick break. The office is closed starting this morning, Feb 4, through Monday, Feb 9. I'll be back Tuesday and open for business.

Any orders or inquiries will have to wait a few days. I need to close up shop.

The spring mailing and all the hoopla surrounding the new products etc is also going to happen next week - starting Tuesday.

Be well!

Breaking news!

Two big announcements on the legal front regarding my last post. The handmade toy and kid's stuff community has gotten some good news. The Commission voted for a "Stay of Enforcement of Certain Testing and Certification Requirements of CPSIA" — which means that they are proposing a 1 year suspension of the burden of lead testing and certification while they take more time to review the rules and plan enforcement.

Press Release

And the FDA Globalization Act is now in discussion with new draft language that has changed drastically for the better. In this current draft of the proposed legislation, testing and registration for micro businesses will be voluntary and not require fees. Which is a huge relief to all of us in the indie beauty business. It's all still in development and they are still working on it, but all the petitions, letters and lobbying by everyone really seemed to work. We have become visible as a small cog in the business and industry world at least, where before we were invisible and unknown. So that's encouraging.

Happy Super Bowl weekend!

Kid stuff crafters in peril

Remember way back last August, when all of us in the indie beauty business were panicking about the dreaded FDA Globalization act, which would effectively shut down all the small soap, bath and beauty businesses in America with the stroke of a pen? I wrote about it here. Luckily, that's in limbo for now.

BUT, the same thing has already happened to another bunch of businesses. It's the handmade toy industry - but this new law is so bad that it covers everything made for children, including clothes too. I just heard about it from a friend who makes darling little aprons and skirts for girls. I had no idea that it happened, and it goes into effect Feb 10. There will be no more handmade children's clothing, toys, or accessories of any kind. Loads of businesses are having to shutter their doors.

It's not that I'm lazy, but I can't possibly explain the situation better than the Handmade Toy Alliance, so I'm linking to their site, but including the text here so you get a gist of it. I recommend that if you are interested, you head over and read more.

Change.org

Quote: A Proposal From the handmadetoyalliance.org:

In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys containing dangerously high lead content, unsafe small parts, and chemicals that made kids sick.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in children's products, mandates third party testing and certification, and requires manufacturers of all goods for children under the age of 12, to permanently label each item with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational companies to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each item have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their systems to include batch labels. Small businesses however, will likely be driven out of business by the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of as much as $4,000 or more per item. And the few larger manufacturers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.

Anyone who produces or sells any of the following new or used items will be required to comply with the law: toys, books, clothing, art, educational supplies, materials for the learning disabled, bicycles, and more. Any uncertified item intended for children under the age of 12 will be considered contraband after February 10, 2009. It will be illegal to sell or give these items away to charities, and the government will require their destruction or permanent disposal, resulting in millions of tons of unnecessary waste, and placing an enormous strain on our landfills.

There is a clear disconnect between the sweeping nature of this law, and the narrow range of products that were problematic in 2007. The CPSIA applies standards that were put in place in reaction to the sale of toys contaminated with lead paint and toxic plastics. Rather than focus on these materials, this law places a guilty until proven innocent mentality on all children's product producers by imposing mandatory testing and certification, and in the process will kill an entire industry.

Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Let's amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!

And if you'd like to do one more thing to help save the livelihoods of a bazillion little home-based businesses in America, head over to this petition to sign the following:

Reformation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) HR4040

We, the undersigned, believe that HR4040 unfairly targets small businesses that manufacture or sell products for children by implementing regulations that require redundant testing. Such requirements are excessive and cost prohibitive, retroactively impacting billions of dollars of current inventory. The current Act has circumvented the public discourse necessary to truly ascertain the CPSIA’s impact on small business.

It's heartbreaking to know that so many of my fellow indie crafters are being shut down by this stupid new federal regulation.

Snowflakes

Brrrrr, it's been so cold outside. And this morning we have a sprinkling of snow. Everything feels colorless, black and white, hushed and empty.

My big Ebay sale went pretty well last week. I sold almost everything I put up. I did not make much money for all that effort though. The cost to ship some of them were more than the actual sale price. And the time spent after the sale was huge too - to send invoices to the winners, keep checking back for payment, boxing it all up according to cheapest shipping charges, printing postage and labels, leaving feedback, countless emails back and forth. Then the fees. So many fees. Insertion fees, commission fees, percentages to Paypal, percentages to Ebay, upgrading my account at Paypal, more fees. Ugh. Obviously, it's a lot tougher to make money at this than people think. And a whole lot of work.

I'll do a bit more next month. I've got more stuff to get rid of. I'm taking a short break the first week of February, and there isn't time to do another auction between now and then. Especially because folks take their time to pay up, and then you're waiting around for days to ship them all off. This is not an instant gratification, cash in your pocket, endeavor. At least in my experience. I'm a total newbie, for sure, but I think I have a pretty good system already in place with all the mail order I do. Yet it still required endless time at the keyboard. Learning a new skill, I guess.

The spring mailing is going out February 9. It's about a week later than I usually do it. As I mentioned, I'm taking a short break, a few days off, and it doesn't make sense to send out a newsletter and then run. It's all really early anyway for spring flowers and thoughts of gardens coming back to life. It can certainly wait a week.

I've made a few changes to the website in the meantime. New header and new colors. A few of the latest updates to the calendar, though nothing shows up until April. It's going to be a slow start to the year as far as shows. But I've got plenty planned for this year. Lots of applications went out, and notifications won't arrive for a bit. There will as many of the usual as I can do, and a few new ones too.

eta: just some grammatical edits. i think i love the word "but" just a little too much. must watch that.

In the mist

Or in the weeds. Or why I've been mostly AWOL.

Here's the scoop. I'm in the middle of a bunch of big projects, muddling around in a fog, in the midst of all this fog we've been having here, and not in any kind of mindset to chat cheerfully with my online gang. I apologize for the long breaks between posts, but it's probably going to continue for the next month or so.

The business - I'm trying so hard to get the spring stuff together, and it's not quite how I wanted it to go. I'm working on the newsletter, putting finishing touches on the new products and finalizing just one more soap scent.

But what is really messing things up, is that we decided to remodel the basement where my studio is located. I'm working on a refinance of the house, which is also running into obstacles as the market jumps around during this inauguration week. I'm trying to get contractor estimates and timing finished up, which is another headache. I'm also up to my armpits in clean up - a dozen years of just stuffing all the bits into little storage spots is now becoming overwhelming to empty out. All the leftover ribbons and containers and packaging pieces. And files and piles of ideas and experiments. I'm a visual person, so I like to have magazine pages and sketches and notes of ideas - some on the wall, some in folders, some in piles to go in folders or on the wall, or whatever. It's a long process of letting go of it all. And then there's Ebay.

I've bought plenty of things at Ebay over the years. But as much as I talked about selling my old stuff, I never got around to it. Now there's no choice - I just have to do it. So I thought I'd start small and do about 10 things for the first round. I gathered it all up. I took photos. Then took more photos because I didn't think they were good enough. Then I wrote a little introduction paragraph. Then I wrote little descriptions for each of them. Then I had to figure out the differences in all the forms for posting, work out the postage calculator wizard . . . which meant boxing it all up and then weighing each item. Then I started to do the actual posting. And realized that I needed to re-edit all the photos to a smaller size. And whoa. Suddenly, it's like two days later and I'm still glued to my chair and haven't showered. That Ebay thing is so time consuming, all for just a few bucks back, hopefully, if it sells and after they take out all the fees and commissions. It's not pretty.

A lot more stuff is going to just get pitched or sent off to Goodwill. The last couple of weeks have been a huge mess and I'm headed into a lot more. We're optimistically looking at February for the demolition and rebuild construction. By March I might have a space that actually functions that way it's supposed to, instead of a mouse in a maze running circles. That's the dream.

In between then, I'm taking a short vacation while the walls come down. And I'll be working out of the kitchen and the most awful packed-full dining room you've ever seen. I still need to re-locate my office into one tiny corner of my bedroom or something. It's going to be the biggest challenge ever. Especially because I'll be sending out my spring mailing in the middle of all that, and trying to do a flurry of orders while the place is demolished. And still be making a bunch of soap etc. Sounds like so much fun, eh? It just has to happen that way. I can't stop work - I need the money to be coming in now more than ever.

Oh, and I'm figuring out the whole show calendar for the year, prettying up my jury photos, filling out applications, and planning out the whole year ahead too. There are less spring shows this year than ever before. Not because I'm not doing them, but because the organizers aren't doing them - they just aren't happening at all. So it looks like April before I'll be back out on the road again. I'll need mail orders to survive. Oh, I hope this crazy plan works out. It's scary and hard work. I'll try to keep you up-to-date on the happenings - but not the play-by-play and the whining. I'll do all the whimpering and crying under the covers over here alone, kay? Send cookies.

New Sale Items

January means big clean up at the studio.

This year, I'm going a little deeper. I'm planning ahead for a remodel of the basement area where my office and work space is located. It's a ways off. But I'm thinking ahead. And just starting to add items to the clearance sale page on the web site. There are a number of new sprays there. I'm adding the rest of the winter holiday soaps there too.

And all the big jars of bath salts are on sale too this month. The bath salts aren't really a clearance item. Don't worry, I'm not dumping the bath salts, and they will continue. I'm just putting them on a discount price this month for the heck of it. To boost sales and because it is sooooo the long, hot, soaking season. If there was ever a time to just relax in a tub of hot water, it's now, when the skies are gray and the winds are cold. So they are on the usual bath goods page of the site still. They are 25% off the usual price all month. And maybe longer. We'll see.

Check back often on that sale page. I'll hopefully be adding more soon. And I'll post a note here when I do. Have a great holiday weekend.

One dry day

It's quiet here. Well, actually I guess it's not really that quiet in the noise kind of way. It's quiet in the work kind of way. Just a few little orders dribbling in, and much of the end-of-year paperwork finished.

There is however, quite a bit of banging and shuffling and grunting going on. Major cleaning out. The rains have stopped, for a day. And we didn't need to be evacuated due to flooding here. Living on a big hill does have some benefits, even if it's hell during snow storms. But the basement leaks. Each time a bit more it seems. New little creeks and rivers showed up this week and meandered around to corners and under boxes. So I spent time moving stuff around, making little platforms for piles and eventually decided that I just had too much stuff stored down there.

I began small, starting with some boxes of old supplies and packaging that I haven't used in years. Ebay! I've never sold anything on Ebay, but it must be easy if millions of other people do it every day. I'll finally do it, I think. I'll spend days figuring out how to photograph it, write fabulous little blurbs that will be irresistable, and then post it up. After a week, when I don't get a nibble, or a single bid, I'll cry. But hope floats and maybe I'll make back a buck or two on the stuff that cost me quite a lot more at the time.

Then I started finding stuff I really needed to just pitch out - soap biz odds and ends that were so grime covered or out of date that they could never be used. So I started stuffing the trash can.

Then I started finding even more stuff - props and decorations that I once used but have moved on. Some will be donated, some sold at another show, all of it shuffled and moved around.

Then I moved on to the bedroom. I figured that if I was making a trip to Goodwill, I might as well toss in some old trousers.

Then this morning I decided to clean out my car. Major cleaning. Which is big, because it means that I can finally put the back 2 car seats in that were stacked in the corner of the study. Should have happened a month ago.

So that was just the first pass. No matter what kind of flooding we get next, I'm not going to get anything wet down there. But I do need to do another round of organizing. And if that Ebay thing works out, maybe I can sell off a bit more. Not only does hope float, but styrofoam peanuts do too.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009!

It's back-to-work day. The parties are over, the gifts unwrapped, the decorations boxed up, the horns tooted. And now it's back to the everyday humdrum.

The beginning of January is always so drab, gray and boring. Just like any good vacation, I'm not coming back energized and revitalized. I had a bit more fun away from work than I am having today back in the office.

But I am well rested. I do have a bunch of new ideas for things I want to play with this year. I've got a list of new goals and am ready to get started. It's just that today is inventory day, wherein I tear apart the entire studio and count everything. It's necessary for taxes and just general keeping track. And it gives me a chance to see where I am and get clear on what needs to happen next. Priorities are good. The effort will help me clean up a bit around here too. It's just not that fun, yanno?

Then there will be the cleaning of the files, starting new records with a clean slate. And more soap making in earnest for the spring newsletter which is due out at the end of the month. Valentine's Day is so close.

Hope you all had a nice holiday break. The snow was really something, wasn't it? We won't be forgetting our "white Christmas" for a long, long time.

Merry Christmas

Have yourself a merry little Christmas! Best wishes for a peaceful and safe holiday.

Snowbound for a whole week now, we've had to postpone our family Christmas Eve celebration. Nobody can get out of their neighborhoods to a main road. It's crazy and unbelievable. Hooray for living in the city where it's only a two block walk to the grocery store. And the mailman only missed one day, so the netflix have arrived too. He's mostly walking, driving only a few blocks on the main roads with chains, and then walking the whole route. Those guys are heroes.

As I post this, we've just gotten dumped with another couple inches or more of snow and it's still coming down steadily. We're due for another round by mid-day. Well, basically non-stop stuff. Possibly some rain mixed in later today. But then freezing again tonight. So the ice should make it all even more fun.

Staring out the window at the beauty of our snow covered world, I'm counting all the little blessings and grateful that I'm not at the airport or alone in some weird place. We just snuggle in another day.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Marshmallow World

Snowed in again today.

Half a block up, the neighbors built a ski jump in the middle of the street and at least a dozen kids were skiing and sledding down it. We were sledding with the neighbor girls in front of the house yesterday afternoon too.

Driving? Not so much.

Winter Solstice

The Shortest Day

by Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!

Third snowstorm in a week. We're snowed in for days and days. So many holiday activities cancelled. Now I'm beginning to think that Christmas Eve dinner at my place, the Feast of Seven Fishes, is going to wait until New Year's Eve. Living on the hill, it will be impossible for family and friends to travel here.

This quiet time, reduced to small forays on foot in the neighborhood and snuggling in my little house, is peaceful and comfortable. But it's not what I expected. Usually there is rushing and shopping and doing and seeing in the few days before Christmas. I've planned a menu for people who can't come, with food I can't shop for. I'm missing a few gifts for people on my list that I might not even get to see on Christmas. So we sit by the fire and catch up on reading. Walk in the snow, watch afternoon movies and nap. It's nice. Sort of suspended in time. And yet each day that passes is a little more worrisome as it gets closer to the holiday.

There are so many work tasks I could be doing - preparing for January and using this time to get ahead. But I'm not. I'm purposely not working. Intentionally not even thinking about it. This is a special time. And a time to enjoy the moment. There will be plenty of time ahead to work and to plan and to accomplish chores. But now is the time to savor the pleasures of winter. The shortest day. The longest night. The quietest hush.

Free Shipping!

In the spirit of the season, I've decided to announce my email list super special deal on the blog today too. Hurry, there are just 3 days left. Place your order before the end of Friday in order to get the free shipping and your gift there on time.

Teeny tiny note: If you wait til the very end of the day on Friday, you might miss the shipping deadline. I can only do so much :)

You've waited until the very last minute to shop by mail and the post office deadline is looming. The last day to ship priority mail is Friday, December 20. We're here to help you find that special something for everyone on your gift list, and ship it there just in the nick of time. Your bonus? Free shipping on any order of $30 or more, between December 16 and December 20.

Shop Now!

New holiday items on clearance sale too! Check out the Sale Page for great last minute bargains!

Packages, packages

Today is the busiest day for shipping. The whole world has spent the last weekend shopping and wrapping and checking their lists. And then Monday, the post office, UPS, Fed Ex et al are swamped with folks shipping out their packages to family and friends.

This is not the deadline for getting it there by Christmas. Not yet. The last day for shipping things by USPS Priority Mail, which is the service I use for all my business, is December 20. Today is the 15th, so that gives you just a few days left to figure out those last minute gifts.

I'm going to do one more email special this month. Just working on it now. So if you're not on the list, and want to be included in this or future discount or special announcements, head over to the web site and sign up now.

Snow!

Whee - a snow day! We got a few little inches of snow overnight. Man, it's cold. And it's going to stick around for a few days too.

It's a little bit unnerving for the cats, but exciting too. They've been in and out and in and out all morning. Out just long enough to get cold ears and toes. In just long enough for a quick warm up and a snack. Then back out to hop around some more, each time going a little farther away from the house. Lots of fun to watch.

No business today. None at all. It's a day off, and a snow day to boot! Peppermint white chocolate scones. Best recipe ever. I've never been great at baking, mostly because I like to improvise, and hate to measure stuff. But I make the effort sometimes and this was worth it. Of course I improvised from what the actual recipe said, but not too much.



Since I changed a couple ingredients and did the whole thing a bit differently, I guess I can print my own version of the recipe that I found in a magazine a couple years back. Here's mine:

Peppermint White Chocolate Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter, cubes
1 cup white chocolate peppermint mint candies, chopped into bits
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheet.
In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt - just a few times until well mixed. Add the butter and pulse again until very well blended. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the cream, egg yolk and vanilla. Add the dry mixture to the cream mixture and stir together to form a wet dough. Gather it into a large ball. Dust your surface with a bit of flour and knead the dough ball a few times til it holds together well, but don't over work it. Flatten it out into a large circle and cut into 12 pizza slices. Place on greased baking sheet. Brush tops with a bit more of the cream and sprinkle with a pinch of sugar. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

They are cakey, crumbly and soft, just the way I like them. I'm not a hard scone fan. And the candies? The original recipe talked about white chocolate chips and peppermint baking chips. I've never seen peppermint baking chips. But I used the seasonal flavored peppermint white chocolate thin mints that the Andes brand had at Safeway. You can improvise with whatever you find. Or do candy cane bits with white chocolate chips. That would be good too. Just make it a cup's worth of the add-ins.

Happy snow day!

Whooooosh

That's me letting out a sigh of relief after holding my breath for the last few days.

I was waiting to see how my Phinney Ridge Winter Festival show would go. It's my biggest show of the winter season each year, and would (or would not) give me the money I needed to keep going through the spring next year. Not that I'm out of business if it's not that good. But I'd have to tighten my belt so much harder. Oooch.

So the verdict is . . . . UNBELIEVABLE. It was a record breaker for me. The best I've ever done there. Ever. And the best two day show sales in my whole career. I'd snoopy dance, but my feet still hurt and I'm still a little glazed over. But it's good. It's great. And makes up for a lot of other stuff that didn't go as well. Happy days.

I'm done with shows for 2008. Another huge relief. I won't have to load the stinkin' car again for a couple of months. It is a huge pile of mess in the dining room right now. Just getting it out of the car and into the house was all I could do this morning. I've transferred some of it back into the studio later today. But it's a bigger process of putting it all away for a long time, not just til next weekend. It needs to be fully unpacked, organized, cleaned up and truly put into storage. Kind of a bigger process and it's going to take an extra day or so. But that's all good stuff too.

I've got mail order to catch up on again tomorrow. More soap to be made. A few other projects in the percolating stage. (yes, L, I'm working on the palm oil issue - you're right and I'm going to make the change).

So that's it. Tonight I almost can't believe it's over. I can't quite take it in. I mean, it's not like I'll just be sitting around in my jammies eating bon bons now. It's a full time business and it never stops. There is more every day. But my time is now totally under my own control for a couple of months. What luxury.

Now I can figure out what I was actually doing with my life before this madness of holiday rush hit. And start my own holiday making for a couple of weeks.

Product Note

Small announcement, ahem. I'm almost out of the winter holiday soaps. Like sold out within the next few days.

The past two weeks of mail orders has been all holiday soaps, and lots of them. And I'm down to my last show, so I hadn't planned to make more of them. Somehow I ended up just a bit short of what I probably need for the next couple of weeks of online and mail orders. I guess that's how it works out this time.

The seasonals are always a guessing game. I make a bunch more of the spring and summer soaps because they can be sold all summer and into the fall with no problem. There is always another sale each week and the seasons all blend. And the fall soaps I go a little heavier on too, so that I have them through the holiday season. They usually last through the November shows. But Christmas is different. It's fast and short and intense.

I have to make a decision early, because the cure time is a month. And after the rush is over, it's dumb to have holiday hoopla soaps hanging around after the party is over. Nobody buys them in January, and February 1st ithe spring soaps are already introduced. So it becomes a big clearance sale or a lot of scraps. This year I couldn't afford to make so many that I'd have extra. I went right to the edge to be more careful of my costs.

And the year turned out pretty good. I thought they would last longer. They didn't. A few big corporate and gift orders (well a bunch this time, yippee) and the inventory is down to the bottom. In fact, I'll only be able to bring a few to the Phinney show. So this is a heads up. If you're still planning on ordering the Winter Forest, Flannel Jammies or First Snow this year, do it today. I've got a bit more Hot Cocoa, but the Turkish Coffee is getting close too. When it's gone, it's gone this time. I need to move on to the spring stuff already. It's too late to make more - because the window for curing a new batch and having it ready by Christmas shipping deadlines is over. My apologies to future orders. Yet a big sigh of relief that sales are flooding in this scary season.

Phinney Ridge Winter Festival

Just thought I'd mention this week's show. It's my last one of the year. Seems odd to be done with shows the first week of December. But there truly aren't many shows after this one big weekend. It becomes "panic at the mall" season in late December. I guess you need to plan ahead for the handcrafted shows. Anyway, this is a reminder - get over here for the very best artist's wares in Seattle. Well, there are a few other good shows this weekend too, but I personally love this one the mostest.

Winter Festival and Crafts Fair
Phinney Ridge Community Center
6532 Phinney Ave N, Seattle

Dates: Saturday and Sunday, Dec 6 and 7
Hours: 10am-5pm both days

There is a small admission fee ($2 PNA members, $4 general public) which supports the Phinney Ridge
Community Center and its programs. Artists (115 booths) are present at their booths, and this is truly one of the highest quality shows with lots of holiday gift items. Donations for local food banks are requested here. Food and entertainment is available throughout the show too.

Soapworks Studio booth: Red/Preschool Room in the lower level of the Main Building. Same spot I've had for a gajillion years.
Link: Phinney Center
List of all the artists at the show: Artists

December begins

First day of December. It's the last month of the year. And usually chock full of so much activity it passes by in a blur.

The shop is perking along. We've got just 3 more days this week and it closes up for the year 4pm on Thursday. If you're planning on doing a little holiday shopping, head on over.

Cyber Monday was pretty good for me. Except that it was mostly phone in orders, instead of online orders. Funny. But I'm all caught up on the weekend's orders, and starting in on today's orders, so those will all go out tomorrow. It's been the easiest holiday season ever for me. And not because the business is so slow, in fact the mail order is bigger than ever. I think I'm just more prepared and not stretched as thin as I usually am. So it's all under control and I'm not short of inventory. Orders are getting out really quick and only one mistake so far on getting an item wrong. I think I blew about half a dozen orders last year - going so fast that I missed something or switched an item between orders I was doing all at once. I am seriously trying to check and double check each invoice and each box. But there's always something. When all the boxes are lined up and I'm packing them one after another, it's so easy to switch a bar or forget there were 3 of those instead of 2, or something.

Mr J L called this morning to order a few bars of soap. He's the husband of one of my longest and most loyal customers. They moved from Puyallup to California about 6 years ago, but she kept regularly ordering from me and was always so complimentary and kind. When he began, I thought he may be ordering something special for her for Christmas. But he explained instead that she had recently passed away, but that he liked the soap too and wanted to continue ordering and receiving the little newsletters. Bittersweet moment. I'll miss her a lot - I have no idea how or why she's gone, but I guess it doesn't matter. It felt wrong to pry. I'll just remember her cheery phone calls. And wish the Mr. a holiday season of peace.

Peace. We could all use a dose of that this year.

Turkey Butt

It's been a few days since I've poked in here. Feels a little stale, maybe I should open a window?

How was turkey day? I had a good one, sandwiched in between days at the precious little shop I'm manning this weekend. Wow, I stuffed myself. I think I got turkey butt. Or this stool is kinda small.

Friday was pretty busy over here. Yep, I'm blogging from the shop itself. Last time we were here, the Saturday was totally dead. So I expected today to be slow too, and decided to haul over my computer.

Probably everyone in the world has a laptop and wouldn't think twice about that last statment. But I don't have a laptop. I've got a Mac, and while it's all one piece and more portable than others, it's still a heavy beast to lug on a road trip and set up. I have so much paperwork and general computing stuff to catch up on, that I just felt like it was necessary to be productive today, and not just sitting around reading magazines waiting for the 2 or 3 customers to straggle in all day. I've got the fuzzy slippers on, the snacks and soda pop. A full ipod of Christmas carols. It's almost better than my office. Wait, no. It's not. It's a glass fish bowl and this rolling cart that I'm set up on hurts me. And the chair is really bad. I think I mentioned that.

Boy, I got a lot done. A lot. It feels great. Some of this stuff I don't even get to do until January a lot of years. I'm all caught up to right this very minute on accounting, bookkeeping and database stuff. Now if only I could be that caught up on the mail orders that are streaming in. Hopefully I'll get a break for a few hours on Monday to do some of them. And I've got all day Tuesday in the office, so that's next. This week's focus is getting a heap of soap done for Phinney.

I need to be super prepared for Phinney - it's my biggest winter show, and I need it to be like twice as good as it ever was. I'm a comedian, eh? Since almost everything is down this year, and some of it is really really really down. Now that I've got all the numbers in one place, it's not looking that great. Oh, it's not horrible bad. Just super tight and worrisome. But there's still a month of shopping to happen. And belt tightening - which I think is why this little chair hurts so much, perched on it all day.

It's the weekend to be thankful, and grateful - counting my lucky stars. And I am. I'm still here and I'm still in business. Nobody trampled me to get into the store for door buster deals yesterday, but I had happy folks in and out of here all day.

The shop is open another 4 days - Monday through Thursday. I've been closing at 4 - so don't wait til the last minute to run over. It's so incredibly slow after 2 or so, that I just can't sit still another minute. I'm awful at this shop sitting thing and I start to get so antsy to get home and work on other things that are just screaming at me from my desk in the studio.

Tomorrow the shop is closed, like anyone cares, and at home we've declared it tree trimming day. So I'll have to hunt out all the decorations and make a run to the store for more lights. Eggnog eye openers and mountains of mess ahead. Sounds grand. If I hadn't been listening to christmas music for 8 hours straight the last week, I wouldn't believe it's the holidays already either.

Hope you're all having a fabulous turkey weekend!

The shop is back

The shop is back for one last appearance before the holidays. I mean, of course, my little retail space at Group Health on Capitol Hill. I'm open this week (except Thanksgiving) and next week through Thursday.

Patricia (the Paige Lisbeth caramel lady) is joining me. We are "renting" their little retail space on Capitol Hill to set up our own gift shop for the next two weeks. A portion of all of our sales goes to the Patient Needs Fund - part of the Volunteer Services Dept, which buys supplies and necessities for patients there.

Hours:

Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov 25 and 26 - 9:30am to 4:30pm
Thursday, Nov 27 - closed for Thanksgiving
Friday and Saturday, Nov 28 and 29 - 9:30am to 4:30pm
Sunday, Nov 30 - closed
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Dec 1 thru 4 - 9:30am to 4:30pm

Location: Group Health central campus, Seattle
Address: 108 - 15th Ave E, Capitol Hill, half a block south and across the street from the big Safeway store at the corner of John St.

It's been a whoosh of setting it all up, with twinkie lights and snowflakes and decorations. And we're splitting up the hours a little bit, so Patricia is doing a couple of mornings, while I catch up at the office. And I've got a couple of afternoons while she makes more caramel. Hope you can get a chance to stop by and say hello - pick up a little something for the stockings and gift list.

Vasa Park Holiday Gift Show

This week is the new holiday themed show at Vasa Park Ballroom on Lake Sammamish in Bellevue.

As I mentioned last month when we did the first fall one, this is not the same show as the one that had been there for years under Sue Van Gerpen. But if you're feeling nostalgic, there are some of the old vendors, and it's still the same rickety old place. But there are new crafters too, so new cool stuff to check out, and this time around it will be holiday and Christmas items. It's a boutique style show, which means there is a central cashier and artists are not generally "working" their own booths, except for a few folks who are taste-testing their treats or personalizing something.

We will be setting up the displays today. And it gets into full swing tomorrow. The deets:

Country Creations Home and Gift Show
Vasa Park Ballroom
3549 W Lk Sammamish Pkwy
Bellevue, WA

Dates: November 20-22
Hours: Thursday and Friday 10am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 5pm

Link to directions: Vasa Park Resort

Might I also mention that I am having a love affair with Excel lately? I am. If you've been reading along, I'm totally not into math. But as a business person, owner, keeper of the bottom line, I have to have my finger on all those dreaded numbers. So I had a friend make me some Excel spreadsheets a few years back for the basic accounting stuff. And I've taught myself how to make new spreadsheets and work all the little shortcuts and stuff. Now I'm on fire. I've made little charts and graphs for so many things and it makes life so much easier. And my competitive streak loves to analyze all those little bottom lines. Mail orders versus shows. Sales at each show. Sales from month to month and year to year. Production of inventory.

It's pretty simple to set up really, and then when I get a free hour on a quiet evening, I can input my notes and see it all add itself up and report back. It usually makes me feel a lot better about all my hours slaving away in the studio lately. November is the toughest month of all as far as deadlines and intensity. So right about now I'm starting to feel sorry for myself and pooping out. Knowing exactly how I'm doing though makes it better.

I've been doing this for what? a dozen years now? And I'm finally figuring out what I'm doing. Or at least how much money I'm making doing what I'm doing. Slow learner :)

Just past Monday

I was trying to get a teeny tiny minute to post yesterday, but the whole day was such a blur. There's so much to do this month that I can barely think straight.

The Best of the Northwest show was 'just a'ight for me dog.' Nothing too spectacular, but not a total stinker either. It's weird because it's somewhat disappointing to not have the sales I want, and yet thrilling to still have any shoppers at all, given the expectations for this year. It seemed to be more shopping for themselves rather than gift buying - and others said the same. Maybe people aren't quite ready to think about their holiday gift lists yet? At least that group, that weekend?

Because there is plenty of holiday shopping going on over here at the studio with mail orders. In fact, I'm slammed and surprised by how many wonderful folks decided to get a whole list of things for gifts from me this year. It's fabulous and overwhelming. Today. Overwhelming today. And yesterday. I wasn't able to do orders during the weekend since I was caught up in the big extravaganza that is the Best NW show. So the orders piled up for four days and it became more than a mole hill.

Monday became a race to the post office finish line to get as many done as I could and out the door. Big orders, little orders, far away orders and nearby. Today will be a repeat. Except that I'm supposed to be packing up for the Vasa Park show which sets up tomorrow. It's going to be a long day. And it's all good. I'm so grateful for my faithful customers who are keeping me afloat this year, with their business and their kind words of encouragement. It will all work out. Because, as my friend Kim says, "it's what we do." And it IS what I do. So somehow it all gets done and it all works out. Proceed and continue, sometimes little baby steps, but still moving forward.

Oy this place is a wreck. So many revolving and rotating piles. Stuff coming in, stuff going out, rearranging the bins and boxes endlessly. I'll get the Vasa Park show details up either later today or tomorrow. Basically it's Thurs through Sat out on the beautiful shores of Lake Sammamish.

Phone ringing, gotta run for now.

I have a new toy

Help me. I can't stop.

Here's how it started. A customer called to place an order the other day. He had just moved and gave me his new address. But then a few hours later, he called back in a panic because he switched up the house numbers on his new place. So I processed the order, packed it up and was getting it ready to send. I use the Post Office web site and pay for postage online. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I just type in the address info, and it creates a super official postage label with tracking bar code and all, which I print on my own printer. So I just affix the label and can drop off the whole bunch of them at the post office at once. No waiting in line, it's already paid for. It's a breeze, and cheaper, and gives me free tracking. I swear, it's a miracle.

But I digress. I typed in this man's new address and got an error message. If it's not a valid address, it won't let me do the label. Another super cool bonus. I'll never have to worry about a returned package because I wrote the numbers wrong, or the customer made a mistake when typing in the online order . . . it's all good. So I google mapped the two different house numbers that he gave me to see which one was an actual address. Just to see if I could make sense of it, before having to bother him again.

Well, you all probably know this, but it was new to me. Google maps now has street views of addresses. I guess it's been in the works for awhile, and it's very controversial, and there is litigation pending, blah, blah. But they currently have pictures, from the curb, of addresses from all over the US. It appears to be only cities, nothing in smaller or more rural areas. I saw his house, and then typed in my own and got a sweet picture of my own house from the summer when it was sunny and gorgeous. And then typed in my sister, and my mom and . . . here's where it gets dicey.

It makes me a little skeevy even admitting it. But I typed in friend's addresses to see their houses, and a customer or two, and more friends in New York, because I love NY street scenes. It's totally wrong and voyeuristic. But I know these people and have seen their houses before. But of course the privacy issue is huge. I mean nobody wants the whole world to see where they live. Um, but it's kinda cool too.

It makes perfect sense for businesses, way more than personal homes. If you're looking for a new restaurant, or need to find a business or office, it's really helpful to see a picture of the outside of the place as well as get directions from Google maps. And people's homes crosses the line. Yes. So make me stop. Besides, I don't have time. I need to head out to set up the giant Best of the Northwest extravaganza today. So I am putting down the mouse and leaving my computer screen. Now. I swear.

The next few days will be a blur of super long days selling soap at Seattle Center. My free passes are gone, but I have about a dozen postcards which give you 50% off the ticket for you and a friend. That's a buy one, get one free, type deal. Call me.

Best of the Northwest

This year's Best of the Northwest fall show has moved to Seattle Center. It's such a big show that we are using both the Exhibition Hall plus all of the Northwest Rooms - it's spread out a bit but all connected.

The food and entertainment is in the Northwest Rooms area, and I'm in the middle of the rooms. My booth will be in the center room (the Olympic Room) up against the far wall. I don't know if that's good, bad, or what, but that's where you can find me. It's all new - although many years ago this show started at Seattle Center. So we'll see how it turns out. Hopefully much better than the spring show experiment at Qwest Field.

There is an admission fee to get into this show - but tons of postcards with discount coupons, and I've still got a few free passes, and you also get $2 back if you get your ticket stamped at both the hall and the rooms - meaning if you visit the entire show and don't skip half of it, you get a small refund. It's an incentive to see it all. Which I would think you'd want to do anyway, since you are there to see the show and paid to get in. But that's the inside scoop. If you are interested in going, and want a pass or coupon, please CALL ME this week, and I'll get it to you. I know it's already getting late, but there is still time to arrange something.

Details and ad blurb: Celebrate our 20th Anniversary with over 200 artists. Friday evening will be hosted by the Preston Kuppe Guild to raise funds for Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center. The Artisans of Northwest Art Alliance are committed to fostering a network of artists, art supporters, art organizations and collectors. Founded in 1989 by thirty artists, we now represent over five hundred artisans annually, who are young and old, emerging and established, and working in all mediums.

Dates: Friday through Sunday, November 14-16
Hours: 10am-8pm Friday and Saturday, 10am-6pm Sunday
Link: NW Art Alliance (you can also print a coupon right from this site too!)

Tightrope

Balancing on the high wire.

Last week's marathon is over. And the new week's marathon has already begun.

Yesterday was long. Up at 5, loading the car at 6, setting up the show at 7. Working the Eastlake show from 9-4. Rushing home to throw everything out of the car, grab a sandwich and rush up to Maltby to tear down the Echo Falls show by 6. Rushing from there to the Hollywood Schoolhouse by 7 to tear down the 3rd show. I could barely squeeze a path through the house this morning, with all the piles of props and inventory. Special thanks to my parents who helped me at the end. I couldn't squeeze another bin into the car and was seriously pooping out.

I've unloaded it all, inventoried it all, re-packed what I could for this coming week's show (Best of the Northwest - which I'll blab about tomorrow). And did a million loads of laundry and food shopped and tried to squeeze in some time off my feet in a chair. It's all good. The orders have been piling up all weekend, and that's tomorrow's task. There's another mountain to do tomorrow, but it seems doable.

The final tally is ok. For the marathon of 3 shows last week I ended up right about the same spot as last year. Two shows were up (just a teeny) and one show was down (just a teeny), so it's all a wash. Which is a miracle and way better than I was expecting, given the state of the economy and all the rotten consumer spending and sales reports that have been coming out the last couple of weeks. I'm grateful for every penny, and met some of my lovely and loyal customers, which I so enjoy.

I've scheduled myself a little bit less than last year with the shows this month. It was a decision I made at the end of last year, to not run myself into the ground in November and early December. I realized that I just try to squeeze too much in, and don't do the job I'd like to at any of it because I'm spread too thin. And realized that I'd actually like to have a bit of a life - to remember what those two months are like instead of just being a blob of stressed out stupor that doesn't experience any of my own holidays any more.

So that was all good . . . until the economy went belly up in September, which I guess I didn't see coming, even if everybody else did. I've been thinking that my great plan was going to be really stupid, and that I would need to do twice as many shows this winter to make half the money I had before - and that maybe I had set myself up for total failure. Well, the good news is that I think I'll survive, and it might just have been a good idea after all.

Oh, the money will still be really tight. But I've been much less stressed out this week than usual. And I'm not dreading next week or the week after. I've got enough inventory to cover all the bases, and not run out of this or that and freak out about how to make it all work. It's a little early to know how it will all turn out. But I'm hopeful and optimistic. At least right now. Even if my poor feet still hurt and I'm bone tired. I'll go to bed early -- and tomorrow is another day. Oh, and that dratted cold is on it's way out - almost completely gone. Yahoo.

Winter Holiday Newsletter

I always post the most recent newsletter here on the blog when it goes out. It's just been mailed out to the mailing list, emailed out to the email list, and the website has been updated too. So just to complete the circle, I'm posting the Winter Holiday newsletter here also.

Just a note though - I usually post the letter with all the linkies. But it takes forever to get all those tags typed in, and now that the site server and email hosts have upgraded their templates, the coding doesn't talk to each other, and it doesn't cut and paste over here either. Each one of those linky-poo's has to edited by hand. It's a lot. A really really lot. And I'm already pressed this week. So I'm just posting one big link at the beginning, at the title, which takes you to the entire new web page of all the holiday products. From there, you can click on any single new product or wander around the rest of the site easily. I think that should work out ok?

Winter Holiday News

Brrrr, baby it’s cold outside. Puff of breath, mittens rubbed together, scarf scrunched a little tighter, it’s winter. A frigid nip in the air signals the next act in the play of ever-changing seasons. A curtain of quiet hush and cold stillness falls, darkness replaces light. One magical snowflake dances and twirls down from the grey sky, gently touching your nose, a teasing kiss from Jack Frost. Winter’s beauty is the contrast of stark silence outside, while inside the joyful celebrations toot and jingle, one after another, throughout the next couple of months. Cozy snuggles by the fire, long anticipated visits with family and friends, and nostalgic feasts are just some of the treasures of Winter.

The holidays are just around the corner, and with all the extra activity in your schedule, simplify your life by having Soapworks Studio help with the gift giving. This year make it easy on yourself and shop from home. Lounging in your jammies, we’re just a click away. We can ship the order to you, or directly to your family and friends with an enclosed holiday card - saving you time, money and hassle. We have a Santa’s Sack full of great ideas for special presents, stocking stuffers, teacher and co-worker gifts, or a special treat for a party hostess.

Holiday Seasonal Soaps

The upcoming holidays have sparked a bunch of new wintry wonderful soap scents for a little fun in the shower, or a special gift for someone (or everyone) on your list. ($4.00 each or 4 bars for $15.00)

First Snow - A soft blanket of freshly fallen snow, an icy breeze, and a wintry breath of peppermint, this soap is cool, fresh and tingly as a snowflake against your cheek.

Winter Forest – The most perfect, magical Christmas tree can only be hidden deep in the winter forest. This dark olive green bar is much more than simple pine needles – it is filled with the scents of lush forest, warm woods, rich earth and the clear night sky. A magnificent blend of fir, cedar, juniper and cypress, it’s the ultimate forest fragrance.

Turkish Coffee – There is nothing more irresistible than the fragrance of freshly ground coffee beans or a cup of perfectly brewed coffee steaming in a mug. Well, nothing except maybe a hint of delicious cinnamon and hazelnut added to your cuppa. Try a little exotic spice in your morning routine, and little coffee in your shower!

I’m also reprising a couple of favorites of year’s past, just to keep up with requests for special customers.

Flannel Jammies – The scent of clean, fresh, cotton warm from the dryer, and one of my favorite comforts of winter – snuggling up in a pair of cozy flannel pajamas. This soap is ivory white and silky smooth.

Hot Cocoa – Think steaming mugs of rich, dark, chocolate topped with fluffy mounds of whipped cream after a frosty afternoon of skiing, skating or hiking in the woods. Colored with cocoa powder, it’s a pure chocolate soap and a special treat for that choco-lover on your list.

Are any of those fabulous Autumn Seasonal soaps left you ask? Why, yes! Apple Jack, Pumpkin Spice, Moroccan Fig and Cinnabar Oatmeal are still available while supplies last in November.

Pacific Northwest Collection – It’s back!

This is a new take on an old favorite. Years ago when I first started the business, I had small boxes of four triangle shaped bars of soap in different “collections” or themes. The Pacific Northwest Collection was far and away the most popular version, and I’ve had endless requests to bring it back – so here ya go. The soap bars are a bit different this time around, handier little squares of 2.5 ounces or roughly half the weight and size of our regular bars. The four soaps are bundled in a Kraft cardboard box, appropriately scented in Rain, Forest, Mountain and Sea, with lovely soft colors of ivory, olive green, oatmeal brown, and pale blue. The Pacific Northwest Collection is the perfect little gift for anybody or everybody on your list. Who can resist the allure of teeny soap bars in captivating scents? Send a sample of the Pacific Northwest to your friends in faraway places or just away from home. (Box of 4 soaps - $10.00)

Winter Holiday Home Fragrance Sprays

Add a little festive spirit to your home with one of our winter holiday home fragrance sprays. Mist your house and holiday decorations just before guests arrive, or spritz your gift boxes, cards and stockings -- your family and friends will receive a whoosh of holiday scent when they open their presents! (4 oz bottle - $6.00)

Holiday Spice - this is our most requested seasonal spray, every year since the very beginning --oranges, cranberries, spices and greens all blended together for the perfect scent of magic and delight.

Winter Forest - the companion to the soap of the same name described above. Do you have one of those artificial trees? This spray can bring the forest indoors and give you that fresh tree ambience you’re looking for.

Festive Lip Balm

Just for the holiday season, I’ve added Hot Cocoa, Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Mint flavored lip balms to the menu. It’s the same nourishing, natural lip balm base that I carry in a dozen lip—smack ing flavors, just a few new flavors for Christmas stockings and holiday memories. See the enclosed brochure or the web site for the full list of flavors – Coconut Lemon, Vanilla Tangerine, Cupcake, Root Beer, Raspberry Soda . . .mmm. (1/2 ounce tin, $2.00 each)

Gifts Galore

Attention Holiday Shoppers! It’s the gift-giving season, and fun bath stuff is a great idea for everyone on your list because it’s a pampering treat which feels luxurious, doesn’t add clutter and stays within your budget. I’ve got an elfin mountain of new gift sets and packaging ideas:

New Gift Boxes: New, unique, and downright adorable origami style boxes to gift wrap a single bar of soap, or two bars of soap, or exactly sized to hold a bar of soap plus one of our cotton scrubbie accessories - like the cotton washcloth, soap sack or scrubbie mitt. These are the perfect small gifts for those special office folks, the patient teacher, the friendly neighbor, the dear who watches the pets while you're away, the lovey who does your nails or hair, that gaggle of book club gals, you know who I mean – check everyone off your list at once!

New Gift Bags: Soapworks Studio is now carrying adorable cotton print tote bags to stuff full of goodies for any gift-giving occasion. 10x10 inches with a wide-gusset bottom and handy handles, these are made from recycled fabric scraps in the most charming patchwork designs, 100% cotton. Add some of the bath salts, sprays, soaps, and bath accessories for a gift guaranteed to please. When the pampering is finished, the bag can be used for shopping trips or light handbags.

Gift Certificates: You know they love Soapworks Studio products but you’re not quite sure which scents they like the most? Or you have a choosy someone on your list who likes to select their own signature scents? Or you’re just plain out of time in all the holiday rush? I’ve got the perfect idea! Give a gift certificate from Soapworks Studio so they can choose their own favorites from any of our products on the list. You may purchase a gift certificate in any denomination of your choosing. we’ll pretty it up and send it off in a lovely decorated envelope. The perfect gift for that particular friend , the choosy family member or any number of special someone’s on your list with a flair for pampering themselves.

My Own Holiday Shop

I’ll be repeating my little temporary storefront at Group Health in November. I will have my own retail shop for two weeks at the end of November. Group Health Central Campus on Capital Hill in Seattle has a tiny storefront that I am “renting” to have my own shop space. They loan it out to artists and a percentage of sales funds their TLC Guild. It’s designed to be a gift boutique, especially focused on winter holiday gifts. It’s located at 108 – 15th Ave E, kitty-corner from the Safeway on John St. November 25 thru December 4. I’ll be closed on Thanksgiving, but open on the weekend. Hours are 9:30am to 4:30pm each day. It’s a great way to see my entire product line in one place, pick up all your gifts and save on shpping!

Internet & Mail Ordering
Holiday shopping online or by mail saves you time, expense, and the headache of traffic jams and crowded malls. We ship within two business days, and can send your items directly to family and friends - with gift enclosure cards too! Send in the enclosed order form, call during business hours, or for late night brainstorms, order from our web site SoapworksStudio.com. Spend more time celebrating and less time fretting. One final note, my office will be closed from Saturday, December 20 until the last holiday party is over on Wednesday, January 5.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday and magical moments with those you hold close.

A new day

On January, 20, 1993, Maya Angelou spoke these words at the Bill Clinton inauguration and they ring truer this morning than ever before:

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.

This week's shows

I have so many antique postcards for Halloween and I didn't get to post any of them. And I was so buried in work and a hacking cold that I didn't even get around to posting a picture or a simple holiday greeting. Boooo. Sorry I'm late. Hope you all had a fun time celebrating. I pretty much missed it.

I'm still down with a bad cold and it's been a tough weekend to work. Much to my dismay (because I really can't afford to lose the money) I had to cancel one of the 4 shows I was planning on doing this week.

I will NOT be at Meridian Valley Country Club's show on Monday and Tuesday. I'm at half capacity the last few days, and couldn't pull enough together to do all four shows I had scheduled for this week, I couldn't possibly be ready to set up two shows tomorrow. So I needed to pull out of one at the last minute. I'M disappointed, I know THEY are disappointed, and I hope I'm not disappointing too many folks in Kent . . . but I know there will be some. I'm truly sorry.

Here's where I WILL be this week:

Starving Housewives at Echo Falls Country Club
20414 - 121st Ave SE
Snohomish, WA (Maltby)

Dates: Tuesday through Saturday, November 4 - 8
Hours: Tues-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm

This is a boutique style show with a central cashier. Wonderful handcrafts and charming antiques. Look for one-of-a-kind holiday gifts!

Link: Starving Housewives

Red Ribbons & Reindeer at
The Hollywood Schoolhouse
14810 NE 145th St
Woodinville, WA

Dates: Wednesday through Saturday, November 5 - 8, 2008
Hours: Wed 3pm - 8pm, Thur-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm

This is a boutique style show with a central cashier - a long standing tradition for Christmas shoppers. This is the 20th anniversary of this show!

Eastlake High School PTSA Holiday Bazaar

Eastlake High School, cafeteria
400 - 228th Ave NE
Sammamish, WA

Date: Saturday, Nov 8, 2008
Time: 9am-4:00pm

Artists are present at their own displays. Moms and kids are all volunteers and they put on a great holiday gift show each year! All of the participating artists donates a gift basket of their creative talents and a raffle is held all day long, with several winners every hour. Your chances of winning are pretty darn good, and an excellent way to pick up a freebie holiday treat!

Sniffles

I've got the flu. Or a cold. I can't tell the difference. They used to be 2 different illnesses when I was a kid. Flu you had stomach upset and threw up a lot. Cold was runny nose and fever. Now they are both snot. So who knows. It's just bad.

The shop is poking along, a bit slow. And the rest of my fall show prep and newsletter and whatnot is threatening to drown me. That's probably why I got sick. It's all so overwhelming.

But I'm taking it one day at a time and just doing what I can. Today I'm back at the shop all day. Patricia is there all day tomorrow with samples of stuff - her jams, caramels, lavender lemonade. And then it's over. Thursday (tomorrow) is the final day of the shop. So get it while it's hot.

We'll open the shop again Thanksgiving week, and be there through the first week of December. So if that's a better time, mark the calendar. Gotta run, gotta stock up on Kleenex and get going. I'm not used to having a schedule - and I don't want to be late to open.

Shop. Around the Clock.

Last week at the shop, Patricia and I were encouraged the first day, a little slow on Friday, and then discouraged on Saturday. A slow slide down hill.

In May, when we opened up here for the first time, I had so many requests from people to please please please have weekend hours so that other working folks could make it over to do some shopping too, not just the Group Health employees and neighbors. So this time, we made sure we were open Saturday. We had exactly 2 people stop in all day. It was deadly boring, and not worth the effort.

Maybe it was the gorgeous day. Maybe it was the time of year. Maybe it's just the way things will be this year. We're re-thinking our hours for the November/December schedule. Of course it's closer to Christmas and people will be holiday shopping. Isn't the day after Thanksgiving the biggest shopping day of the year afterall? But it's also a holiday weekend, and a lot of folks will be doing family stuff or traveling, and I'm not sure our little location will get any traffic. The big sales are at the malls. So it's a toss-up. We'll know more after this week is over, and have a better idea of what we want to do.

Of course I'm sitting in that little space dreaming big about hauling in lights and garlands and ribbons and trees . . . But I've got to be realistic too. As much as I love to decorate, it has to be practical. It has to fit in just a few car loads, not truckloads. And I've still got to leave room for our merchandise - not just the froo froo. And maybe we picked a bad week. Yikes.

Sunday is my day off. Except I'm working on a million things instead, just because it's that time of year. And tomorrow I'm back in the shop all day. Hopefully this coming week works out a little better. Do you need some extra special delicious caramels and caramel corn for Halloween treats? Do you need a little special something for a party hostess or a grownup trick-r-treater? We've got you covered!

Friday Shop

We had a great time decorating the shop this week, and yesterday was our first day open. Pretty good day - folks started to pop their heads in to see who the new folks were and what was going on. I'm hoping it will be a good week.

Besides the lovely caramels and caramel corn, Patricia has some fresh caramel apples, Jonagold apples, which are always so juicy. And I've got all the soaps, sprays, balms, bath salts etc. But there is a book shelf of soapmaking and craft books, practically new and all for sale - $5 each. Most of them are gorgeous picture books, and ones I collected earlier in my career for reference. So if you've got someone on your list who's always wanted to try making soap and wanted to know how to start, this might make a good gift. There are fall decor items too - candles, vases, brown satin hat boxes, miscellaneous vintage collectibles. It looks great - hope you can get a chance to stop by for minute. There's usually parking on the street right out front too. It's 1-hour parking, so the spots are always opening up.

Oh, and I've got some new hemp fabric bags for gifts. They are fully lined with white cotton and have a rope drawstring. They are that irresistible contrast of rustic and elegant, and hold a bar of soap and a cotton scrubbie just perfectly. A nice little bag for other uses also, any kind of small gift would tuck in quite nicely - $3 each. The natural hemp color is lovely for fall, but it would look really sweet for Christmas too, especially with a sprig of holly or greens tucked into the top.

Fall Shop

Usually I operate under the "why do today what you can do tomorrow" philosophy. But this time of year, I have to stop all the procrastination and really work ahead of myself. I had planned a full weekend of non-stop work. But the weather was especially beautiful and I had to go outside and revel in the sunshine and the magnificent fall color. Sunday we took a little road trip along Highway 2 to Leavenworth. That drive along the river and through the mountains is always so pretty, and yesterday was breathtaking. So nice to take a day off and just enjoy the view, watch the trees and rippling river sparkling in the sunlight.

This week I am starting my first of two little holiday gift shops at Group Health. Patricia, my friend who makes Paige Lisbeth caramels, is joining me. We are "renting" their little retail space on Capitol Hill to set up our own gift shop for a week or so. A portion of all of our sales goes to their Patient Needs Fund, which buys supplies and necessities for patients there, part of their Volunteer Program. We're setting up the next couple of days, and we'll be open according to the following schedule:

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct 23, 24 and 25 - 9:30am to 4:30pm
Sunday, Oct 26 - closed
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Oct 27 - 30 - 9:30am to 4:30pm

Location: Group Health central campus, Seattle
Address: 108 - 15th Ave E, Capitol Hill, half a block south and across the street from the big Safeway store at the corner of John St.

So that's the next two weeks, and we're open on Saturday for working folks to stop by too. I'll have all my fall products and full line. Patricia will have her caramels and caramel corn, as well as some fresh caramel apples. And we'll have other fall decorating and gift things too, so I hope you all can stop by.

Vasa Park Show

This week is the new autumn and harvest themed show at Vasa Park Ballroom on the shores of Lake Sammamish in Bellevue. It's not quite the same as the one that was there for years - sadly, Sue Van Gerpen had to shut down her schedule of shows early last year. But Sandy Roundy, who has been a show organizer here too for a gajillion years, is taking over that location to do her version of a fall craft show in the same location. There are a number of the same vendors, and a number of new vendors, so a little of something for everybody. It's a boutique style show, which means there is a central cashier and artists are not generally "working" their own booths, except for a few folks who are taste-testing their treats or personalizing something.

We set up the displays yesterday - lots of gift stuff and decorative home stuff for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Autumn occasions, plus little bits of Christmas stuff too.

Country Creations Home and Gift Show
Vasa Park Ballroom
3549 W Lk Sammamish Pkwy
Bellevue, WA

Dates: October 16 - 18
Hours: Thursday and Friday 10am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 5pm

Link to directions: Vasa Park Resort