Fresh This Week: Helping Hand soaps

Yanno how I had that brainstorm last year to add some little mini soaps to my product line, with half of the profits going to Kiva.org? I spent so much time trying to hatch up a good name. And eventually I decided on "Suds for a Brighter Day." I don't even remember how I arrived at that one. I just know that I wanted it to be cheerful and give some sort of hint that it was a "doing good works" kind of thing, without it being overly "charity"-like. If that makes any sense. Anyway, last week while I was just staring out the window in a stupor, a moment of total brain fog and I sort of got lost in what I was doing, a new name just popped up out of the blue and brought me right back to reality. The new name is "Helping Hand" soaps. It's so much more accurate. Perfect really.

The small sized soaps are truly hand soaps (or travel size) soaps. And they are designed to fundraise a little bit for one of my favorite organizations: Kiva.org , thus the helping hand part. The next little bit (in italics) is directly from the website and explains it all in more detail. I've kept the "Suds" listing on the site for now, but added the "Helping Hand Soaps" listing too, so that you can find one or the other easily. It's a perfect gift item. And I've sold bunches of them in the past couple of weeks, so I'm super excited to send them a really big number of loans at the end of the month.

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 2 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 “Helping Hand” part is that half of all the proceeds for these new soaps will go directly to Kiva, 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.


Alright then? It's the same great little sack of tiny soaps with a new name. When the summer newsletter comes out in May there will be new scents to choose from. And the Helping Hand name will be official on the website and in the brochure that I send out. Have a great weekend - don't get too crazy with Spring Fever in all that sunshine!

Cheery Cherrys & Presidents

Who could possibly chop down a beautiful cherry tree? I don't believe that story about George Washington. Especially after visiting Mount Vernon last fall. It's beautiful, and it's obvious that he had a strong connection to growing things, with all his farm land, orchards, kitchen gardens, experimental gardens, even a greenhouse!

Monticello, Jefferson's home, was even more beautiful. For me anyway. I loved those gardens even more, and the stately view of the valley from his huge hilltop was breathtaking. Getting a chance to spend a few days taking in the history of our presidents gave me a new perspective into our Founding Fathers, and a greater appreciation for the vision of a few great men who built our country. Ethics, values, courage and determination are words that get tossed around in current political debates without much meaning, because they've become code words for other things. Power and money have infiltrated everything. But we have had great leaders in our country, and it's a good day to appreciate them. All of them, not just the two.

Quite the festive weekend we're having, eh? With the Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day under our belt, today we are honoring presidents, and then tomorrow is Mardi Gras. Let the good times roll!

Happy Valentine's Day

The scam

It started out innocently at first with a simple email:

"Hello,

I am (name removed), I need to know if your products are available in stock for immediate order,so can you reconfirm your website,so i can review again with the products interested in,and do let me know if there will be any special pricing i need to know about.

Lastly regarding payment I will be sending you my credit card for the full payment charges for my order,do you accept Visa or Master?


I hope to hear from you as soon as possible so we can proceed with the Order.

Regards"

Hmmm, new customer. Who prefers not to read the website first but would rather just email to get all the information. Okay. I can deal with that. So I give a brief explanation of the process, the products, the 4-bar discount, the acceptance of credit cards, and a few links back to the site so they could read it all in more detail. All good.

Then I get the next email:

"Below here is the list of my order:

soap bars
Qty: 300

Please get back to me with the total cost estimate for this order so that i can make my payment via my credit card,so DONT worry about the shipping,I will have the shipping arrangement for the pick up of these items from your place through my shipping agent.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW THE GRAND TOTAL OF MY ORDER AND ALSO THE ESTIMATED WEIGHT OF THESE ITEMS FOR SHIPPING REASON AND PICK UP ARRANGEMENTS."

All this with a contact name, business name, address, phone and fax numbers, from a trading company in Thailand. Wow. This was not what I expected at all. I was just thinking it was a local lady who wanted to order a few bars. Not a huge wholesale request from overseas. So I'm confused now - so many questions. Who is this? Where did they see my product? What kinds of soap are they even buying?

All of these questions and more I send back in my reply. Who is the shipping agent? Are they picking up the boxes from my studio? How are you sending me the payment information? Plus I explained that it would take 2-3 weeks to get the order together, and I would need half of the money up front as a deposit.

Then I start the googling and following up. There is nobody listed with that name, that trading company. No traffic from Thailand, or anything else unusual on the website. And I get a response which makes it all more clear. The language in this next message is very bad English and the punctuation strange. But it states that the shipping agent has shipped for them before, but unfortunately is not able to accept credit cards right now because they are "upgrading their credit card facilities." Whatever that means. Nothing.

But the gist is that they want me to take the entire credit card transaction for my whole order, plus $965 in shipping charges, plus a $100 credit card transaction fee, plus another $50 for a western union fee to transfer money back to the shipping folks. And please do it immediately upon confirmation. They will get me the credit card right now. Am I online? Their payment is ready immediately. Today. Again, right now. Money coming your way. Lots of it.

No response to any of my questions about who they are, what is the nature of the business, and more importantly, no response about what they are actually ordering from me, beyond the ambiguous total of 300 bars of soap. Clearly not legitimately interested in the product, or my business. Just want to get that money thing done. Today. Right now.

So I started to write a response about how I would not accept funds for somebody else's business services, that if I could do the Western Union thing, so could they. But I just didn't want to play any more. So I went silent. And they've left me alone for a day. I'm guessing we're done.

I have no idea how the scam operates. Obviously it's a stolen credit card number. But I'm not clear how it goes from there. Like do they somehow back out my credit information through the transaction process? Or is it just simple money laundering and they get their half, and I get half for doing it for them? Am I responsible somehow for those fraud charges? I don't care, really. I'm not interested in getting involved in any way. And I'm so tired of having to watch my back all the time. People are so darn busy and creative in their criminal endeavors, aren't they?

On a happier note, the last week has been incredibly busy with orders and requests. The shop went well last week. I'm trucking along through February at a brisk pace, and all is well. Valentine's Day this weekend, and Mardi Gras a couple of days later. Who Dat!?!

Groundhog Day

All you have to do is read the words "Groundhog Day" and it brings up the old Bill Murray movie. And with it, the notion of living the same day over and over again repeatedly, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

It's the code name for living a totally boring life, swallowed up by a daily routine that plays itself like a broken record. As much as I'd like to imagine a life where each day is a new adventure, I'm sort of stuck in a rut. Like most everybody else. There are jobs and schedules and routines that are unavoidable. It's hard to find ways to mix it up, to break up the monotony. Like drive a different way to the same old places. Eat breakfast for dinner. Listen to a totally new radio station for an hour.

Maybe I'll do some of that today. Because today feels like all those days in December when I worked harder than I wanted to. The mailing went out and already there are orders in the inbox this morning. And I've got a big wholesale order that needs to go out today too. And I'm trying to pack up everything, old and new, for a show this week. I'll be at Group Health in my little shop space on Thursday and Friday.

I usually don't have so much going on this time of year, but I needed to get started earlier, and I had a lot of catching up to do in January. That quiet time in the winter? Didn't happen. Which isn't altogether bad. But I don't want to live in Groundhog Day either. I like the up and down tempo, busy and slow times of the year.

Punxsutawney Phil said 6 more weeks of winter this morning. Maybe by the time the official spring rolls around, I'll get a little break and head off to somewhere interesting for a short vacation. In the meantime, I'll settle for little mini variations in my day. Chicken and waffles for dinner? A trip to the beach for a quick walk?

Spring Newsletter 2010

I've just mailed out the Spring 2010 Newsletter to the mailing list, and emailed out the same info to the email list, so I'm posting it here too, just to cover all the bases. Like before, rather than spend a huge amount of time adding links to each and every product mentioned, I'm just adding one link to the Seasonal Products Page, where you can see all of the new items at one glance.

Here is the Seasonal section of the websitewhere you can find it all. And below is the full text of the newsletter:

Dear Friends,

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, I don't even have to tell you that Spring is on it's way. With the unseasonably warm, dry weather we've had this month, bulbs and leaflets are beginning to pop out all over. Crocuses! A pink cherry tree in bloom! Gardeners are itching to get their hands in the dirt and get going - the anticipation is irresistable. When the whole outdoors begins new life, you can't help but feel hopeful and happy and ready for new beginnings.

SPRING SEASONAL SOAPS

To celebrate the season of love, flowers, and new beginnings, I've cooked up a few new soap fragrances. For me, Spring scents are inherently flowery, even a a bit girlie, unlike most of my other scents throughout the year. After months of dead leaves and barren trees, the whiff of blossoms in the breeze is a breath of fresh air. Pretty flowers, flouncy skirts, tip-toeing through the tulips - that's Spring!

White Lilac - A runaway hit when I introduced it last year, this one is a repeat for spring. Absolutely true to its name, it's a gorgeous lilac fragrance, just a blush fresher and lighter than a darker purple bloom. Sophisticated, elegant, lushly floral in a creamy white bar.

Jasmine Mint - A few years ago I featured this stunner, and I've recently been craving this particular blend, so it's back for an encore performance. It's a marriage made in heaven, with sweetly floral jasmine blossoms paired with fresh mint leaves. It's light, cool, and perfectly lovely. Pretty pink petal-colored, it's love at first whiff.

Orange Blossom & Lily - If you've ever walked into the lobby of some fancy spa or hotel and stepped into a fragrance cloud of pure tropical floral heaven, you'll understand that there is nothing dreamier and intoxicating. The scent of this soap is elegant, luscious, and blissful in the way that only an opulent bouquet of flowers can be. Classic orange blossom, or neroli, blends with tuberose and lilies, with hints of jasmine and gardenia. It instantly transports you to paradise. The color of a juicy peach, it's enchanting and captivating.

Sweet Dreams - This soap is a companion to our long-standing linen spray of the same name, it's an aromatherapy blend of lavender and chamomile essential oils. Both of these natural oils are calming and relaxing, soothing and healing - who doesn't love that? A very light, soft purple color, it's sweetly herbal and clean, with just a wisp of violet. (100% natural soap.)

Other Additions and Subtractions - Since we're still (supposed to be) in the middle of sniffle season and grey skies, I'm keeping the Eucalyptus Lemon soap in stock. I'm also bringing back the Cinnamon Pear from the Autumn seasonal list, due to the gazillions of requests for it. The Red Currant & Tangerine and Sacred Smoke are being discontinued.

PRICE INCREASE

We haven't had a price increase around here since 2005, when the soap bars went from $3.95 to $4.00. This year they will increase to $4.25 each, and I'll keep the 4-bar discount, which will now be 4 for $16.00.

For a 4.5 oz bar, it's still a better price and value than most of the other handcrafted soap out there, locally or nationally. And we like to think it's still better quality too.

DEAD SEA BATH SALTS

Our Dead Sea bath salts are so lovely, so nurturing, and such a great value that they rank high on the list of most popular products. These rustic, chunky salts come directly from the Dead Sea. Soaked in for centuries, these pure, fresh salts have a mineral content that is 7 times greater than other types of sea salts. They work wonders on purifying and detoxifying, improving circulation, moisturizing skin, soaking away stress, and relaxing muscles, aches and pains. And did I mention, the unbelievably soft, silky smooth skin? Oh my. For little foot baths or long evening soaks, these are the best bath salts I've ever tried. Giant 16 oz bottles of beautiful spa-quality soaking salts ($ 8.00 each).

I'm keeping the standard scents of French Lavender, Vanilla Bean & Honey, and Almond Ginger that have been on the menu all year. And I am adding two new Spring scents of Grapefruit Lemon and Mandarin Orange, both incredibly juicy, bright, and sunny citrus blends that are luscious for soaking in and cheering up the dreary winter blahs.

SPRING SEASONAL SPRAYS

In addition to the soap, I'm also bringing back the Jasmine Mint spray. It's such a sweet, fresh, happy fragrance to lighten up your surroundings for Spring. (4 oz bottle, $ 6.00 each)

And, of course, the Lilac Garden spray is one of our standard scents, but especially lovely in the spring too - mmmm, dreamy.

Or pair our Sweet Dreams spray, Sweet Dreams soap and the new Sweet Dreams lip balm too in a beautiful gift set.

NEW SPRING LIP BALM FLAVORS TOO!

These are all natural flavoring blends, for 100% natural lip balm. Sweet Dreams (lavender, chamomile and vanilla), Jasmine Tea, and juicy Passionfruit. Wickedly delicious. Don't forget - there's a kissing holiday coming up and you'll want to pamper your pucker! (1/2 oz tin, $2.00)

SUDS FOR A BRIGHTER DAY

I started this idea last spring - a new product line of mini-soap bars packaged in sets. The bars are roughly half the size of my standard bars, 2x2 inches square, and weigh 2 ounces each. I've changed the packaging this year, and selling them in groups of four, packaged in sweet little polka-dot organza bags. The four scents available are the four new spring scents: White Lilac, Jasmine Mint, Orange Blossom and Sweet Dreams.

The "brighter day" part is that half of all proceeds for these soaps goes directly to Kiva.org, a person-to-person micro-lending group, empowering individuals to lend directly to entrepreneurs in the developing world. Tiny 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 needed to start their business, or take it to 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 14 years I've been able to make a living with my own micro business that I want to share just a little bit of what I have to help others do the same.

VALENTINE'S DAY GUILT-FREE TREATS

There's plenty of time to order a gift for your favorite sweeties. Bath goodies are the perfect thing for those of us with healthy New Year's resolutions. And I've got sweet pink polka-dot organza bags, charming heart-patterned ribbons, and vintage postcards to dress up just a single bar or a whole basket full of treats. Check out the web site to see some of my ideas, or give me a call to rustle up your own.

Fresh This Week: Spring Show Schedule

Just a heads up - my Spring Show Schedule is now updated and in place on the web site. There's quite a bit going on earlier in the spring this year.

There are 2 shop appearances at Group Health this spring - one right around the corner, just in time for Valentine's Day, and the other one is the beginning of April - perfect timing for the start of spring, Secretary's Day and Easter. I've done a number of times over the past couple of years, setting up a temporary shop in their tiny retail space. And I've reserved it for 4 times this year (Feb 5, Mar 31-Apr 2, Aug 18-20, and Dec 15-17). So excited to do a hearts and flowers theme for Valentine's Day with all the brand-spanking new spring stuff.

Best of the Northwest is moved up to March, and we're back out at Magnuson Park for this one, but in a different hangar than before. It's still super easy to get to plus free parking.

I'm headed back to the Mt Vernon Street Fair in April, for the Tulip Festival. I've missed it the last couple of years, just scared of the weather, but since we've had such a mild winter, I'm going to give it another shot and hope I'm not rained out or blown away. That weekend is always so iffy. We've even had snow. Fingers crossed that this year is at least partly sunny and mostly dry. That's all I ask.

There's a new spring show at Eastlake High School in Sammamish, and it's in the gym, like we were in November. So if you are in that neighborhood - it's Sat only, March 20, and a great time to stock up on spring scents and stuff.

Then there's the usual Starving Housewives show in March at Echo Falls Country Club. A new (for me) Garden Art show at the Depot Arts Center in Anacortes, April 24 & 25. And finally I'll be back at the U Dist Street Fair in May (15-16).

That's the show scoop. And next week is the big Spring Newsletter and all those exciting announcements, so meet me back here for all the news. Have a great weekend!

Simple pleasures

Last week I posted the quotes that I chose to signify the philosophy behind my business. Today I wanted to share the ones that didn't make the cut, but that I still keep nearby, and refer to from time to time, just for inspiration. They are all in the same theme, and all still pretty good too.

"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats." Iris Murdoch, The Sea The Sea, 1978

"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1917

"It isn't the great big pleasure that count most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones." Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs, 1912

"Taking joy in life is a woman's best cosmetic." Rosalind Russell

"Simple pleasures are the last refuge of the complex." Oscar Wilde

"Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived." Helen Keller

"In the end, what affects your life most deeply are things too simple to talk about." Nell Blaine

"Beauty is an ecstasy, it is as simple as hunger." Somerset Maugham

And if you're not into all the quotes -- I promise I'm done for a while :)

Sunrise

The colors in the morning sky this time of year are spectacular. Dark purples transforming within minutes to exotic oranges and pinks as the sun pokes its head up over the mountains, streaming into the windows.

You've got to get up early to see the sunrise show. But that's my favorite part of day, quiet and peaceful as lights pop on in windows around the neighborhood. Dogs and their walkers start their daily route, the jangle of leashes breaking the silence of the sleeping world.

I can't wait until I can sit outside with my coffee and watch from my patio. The lure of spring is getting louder and louder.

Fresh This Week: New Lip Balms

Such a hectic day. There hasn't been much time to get to the computer until this evening. But there is new stuff in the studio this week. It's a little sneak preview of some of the new Spring Seasonal stuff, just for those of you paying attention.

I have 3 new lip balm flavors which I'm announcing in a couple of weeks in the newsletter. I just finished them today, and they are different than the usual stuff, and pretty great. They are all natural-flavorings, so the lip balms are still 100% natural, with a natural sweetener and a ton of great, nourishing oils in them. No color, just clear and a tad bit glossy, but not gooey. It's the perfect mix of oils to wax so it's not too soft and not too hard, a nice balance. Some people have said it's the best lip balm ever. But you can decide for yourself.

Ok, drumroll please. The newest flavors are: Jasmine Tea, Sweet Dreams and Passionfruit. Jasmine Tea is a lovely blend of Jasmine Blossom and Green Tea leaves. It's subtle and natural, a light floral green tea scent and flavor, and perfect for tea lovers.

The Sweet Dreams is a complement to the aromatic spray of the same name that I have made for a million years. It's a blend of lavender and chamomile, sweetened with a bit of vanilla sugar. Flowery and similar to the Lavender lip balm I made a couple of years ago, this one is light and fresh, not overpowering, but delicious.

And the Passionfruit is a luscious tropical fruit flavor, similar to mango. The kissing season is coming up soon, after all, with Valentine's Day just around the corner. What better way to pamper your kisser and get it in the mood than to pucker up with Passionfruit lip balm?

Ingredients: Almond oil, coconut oil, beeswax, avocado oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, vitamin E, natural sweetener, natural flavoring oils
Nt. wt. 1/4 ounce.

Luscious Lip Balms HERE! I've just put them up on the web site so you can purchase them any time.

The power of words

When I first began dreaming about my business, and trying to come up with an entire new concept and name and logo and whatnot, I decided I needed a little inspiration. I wanted to convey simplicity and necessary daily luxury, but I wasn't quite sure how to put it all together.

So I headed to the library, and hit up a couple of bookstores, searching for books of poems and quotations, looking up those phrases and related ideas. It has always seemed to me that just the perfect little phrase conveys so much more meaning than endless sentences and paragraphs of lengthy description.

I wanted a meaningful tag line for my new brochures. And I ended up with pages of them. Then it was a matter of editing it all down to the single one that worked the best. I couldn't do it. I ended up with two, and they've been there since the very first day, on every printed flier I've done for the past 14 years.

For those of you who might not have seen one of my simple little brochures, on the very back of the 3-fold brochure are two quotes. The top one I found in a pile of ancient magazines at an antique show, and it absolutely stopped me cold. It's from Woman's Home Companion, December 1935. And it could have been written ten years ago, or yesterday. It's absolutely the theme of the day, in this culture that we live in right this very minute. I can't imagine how different the world was then, and yet the sentiment was so much the same:

"Year by year, the complexities of this spinning world grow more bewildering and so each year we need all the more to seek peace and comfort in the joyful simplicities." Woman's Home Companion, December 1935

Each time I read it, it seems more true than before. So it stays in place.

The second one is a poem from Edna St Vincent Millay (1982-1950), a fascinating woman poet, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, for The Harp-Weaver, and Other Poems. Her best-known poem might be "First Fig" from A Few Figs from Thistles (first published in 1920):

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!

As much as we all love that one, the one I chose for my brochure came from the Pulitzer prize winning book, The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems, 1923. It's just two lines from the poem called The Goose Girl:

"And all the loveliest things there be
Come simply, so, it seems to me."

The full poem encompasses so much more and sort of takes the sentiment off track, for my own purposes, but it's here:

"Spring rides no horses down the hill,
But comes on foot, a goose-girl still.
And all the loveliest things there be
Come simply, so, it seems to me.
If ever I said, in grief or pride,
I tired of honest things, I lied:
And should be cursed forevermore
With Love in laces, like a whore,
And neighbours cold, and friends unsteady,
And Spring on horseback, like a lady!"

I'm not sure I have ever shared the story of why these quotes are on the back of my brochures. But it probably seems obvious anyway. I treasure my little simple daily luxuries, and a beautiful bar of heavenly soap in the shower each morning is one of them. I was hoping that sharing my own hand made soap bars would give that special lift to other people who used them too. And after all these years, and all the different evolutions of the scents and products, I still hope my customers feel that way.

A Totally Sunny Day, for a change

The things that will destroy us are politics without principle, pleasure without conscience, wealth without work, knowledge without character, business without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice. - Mahatma Ghandi

I know, it's MLK Day and I should be quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. today. There are a gazillion good ones of his too. But I'm purging files this afternoon (so holiday-making, eh?) and found this little quote tucked into a corner. It's worth sharing.

I spent the morning out in the garden. Which is sooo cool. We've had endless days of gray and rain. (In Seattle? Why, yes) But today is warm and sunny enough to be outside basking in just shirt-sleeves. The temperatures have been fairly mild, instead of freezing, but today blows the roof off. Garden hands in January! What a hoot! Little pink nubs of things are poking out everywhere. And bitty leaflets of things coming out of the ground. Now I'm getting desperately anxious for spring to arrive, fully knowing that we've got a couple of months yet.

Since there is no mail delivery today, shipping of orders will resume tomorrow. And I presume, the rain will too. But today is shiny and happy and bright, and I hope most of you had the day off to enjoy it.

Fresh This Week: Erm . . .

Ok, so I've committed myself to posting a blog every Friday, announcing what's freshly made or new this week. It seemed like a great way to be more regular with the blog, more productive with my communication and a way to describe what's going on behind the scenes here at the studio/factory. All really good things.

One of the most important things I want to do with this regular "Fresh" feature is to link to the cool new stuff on the web site and hopefully increase traffic and sales. Of course. This is a business after all.

But this month it's really hard to do that. The "what's new" is still curing for a couple of weeks. I'm up to my eyeballs in making batches of soap to catch my inventory up to speed for the whole spring seasonal announcements in a few weeks. I'm making batches of the regular scents, batches of the spring scents, soap, soap, soap.

And I don't want to spoil the anticipation and excitement of what the spring stuff is too soon, so I'm keeping my lip zipped about that this week. In fact, I'm not even 100% sure what they are. I do a few experiment batches alongside the ones I think I'm going to do. Just in case something turns out super good, or super bad. It gives me wiggle room.

The other thing I've spent a ridiculous amount of time on this week, is sourcing new packaging. Sitting on my butt at the computer searching the internet for cute new bags and bows and boxes. Retail is all about packaging, so they say. And I strive to have new and unique looks to the gift stuff. I'm reworking the Pacific Northwest collection for this year, and the Suds for a Brighter Day sets that I had last year, where a portion of the sales went to Kiva. The balance is concept vs cost. I can't make it too expensive that it won't sell and I'm stuck with a big investment of pretty doo-dads that sit on the shelves. I placed a couple of small orders yesterday to try out some ideas. So that's not that fresh either . . . hmmm.

And finally, I've spent a few days shuffling around the show applications, pencilling in and scratching out things on the calendar. Trying to come up with new and better photos for jurying for the shows. Today the whole pile of them get mailed off. This particular task? So not fresh or exciting to announce. I won't know which shows I get into (or not) for weeks. So the show calendar on the web site is totally bare for 2010. I've got a few that I know for sure, a few that I'm pretty sure about, mostly later in the year. But nothing groovy and new to announce this week.

Other tasks going on this week: planning out an email promotions schedule for the year, supply orders, errands to pick up supplies and equipment, costing out shopping bags, catching up on filing and cleaning my desk, infusing the healing salve oil for production next week, drafting the spring mailing newsletter, buying stamps and getting envelopes ready for the mailing, sending out orders, trying to keep the cats from going insane with all this endless rain day after day.

So that's it. Nothing fresh, new, exciting or linkable for this week. But in the spirit of keeping up the commitment, I've duly noted what is happening here in the studio this week.

Perfectionist

I was going through the exercise of cleaning out my blog drafts today. Lots of times I start something, even if it's just a sentence or two, and sort of file it away for a day or two in the future, when it's had time to perk and develop. Or I need a little extra help to get started writing. And after several years of ignoring them, I decided to clear out space.

As I was going through the list, I found this one from January 2006. It's fully written and rather potent. I guess I finished and then chickened out from actually posting it because it was a tad too personal at the time. It probably still is. But it still rings true for me as I sift through my goals of what I'd like to accomplish in 2010.

What is a perfectionist? I use that term for myself sometimes, but I’m not sure that’s what it really is. On occasion, it seems more like an excuse. I’ve started writing a few blog entries over the last couple of days, but never finished them. I wasn’t happy with the topic, the tone, or the way it turned out, so I didn’t publish them. I just chalked it up to being a “perfectionist” and that they needed more work. But I think it’s really fear. Fear that somebody else reading it would find it unacceptable or not worthwhile.

This is a ridiculous assumption, and crippling. Even if I was writing articles or best-selling novels, if I let fear stop me from writing what I was thinking, I would never get anywhere. I know that I let this niggling fear stop me in many projects I would otherwise like to try, and I knew I would struggle with it in this endeavor. I just didn’t know it would show up so quickly and be so pronounced. But here it is. I’ve called it other names too – laziness, procrastination, lack of focus. Today I’m going to call it out as fear and see if I can’t get to the heart of it.

I’ve got lists and lists of things I wanted to do – craft projects, classes, new business ideas – all of them either stopped in the research phase, or the idea phase, because I felt I didn’t have the skills to make it work. And I wanted to do it right, if I was going to do it at all. My rational mind fights back with “how can you possibly be an expert before you’ve even started it.” I know very well that you need to just jump in with both feet and make a few mistakes and keep trying in order to teach yourself how to do something well. Even brilliant geniuses or experts in their field, even people who were “born to do” something, still started somewhere, made mistakes, looked foolish before they became really good at their own particular gift. And the best of them still fall down once in awhile or screw up. Everyone does. So this reluctance to start something because you may look foolish? Is the most foolish thing of all. Yes, this is my brain fighting with my ego and my self-confidence. We are going to duke it out today.

And today I am filing this little blurb about why an otherwise intelligent, accomplished and confident woman sabotages and limits herself with irrational excuses, instead of just living her life full out. Embarrassing to admit it? Maybe. But I’m doing it anyway. (And I’m leaving the little non-sentences in too, for kicks.)

Fresh This Week: Clearance Sale

One of my big new ideas is to be a little more consistent with this blog. And to let you know more about what I'm making here in the studio on a weekly basis. To sort of let you into the process of how the products get made.

So I'm going to try to institute "Fresh This Week" journals each Friday, as a way of announcing what is new, and what I'm working on.

This week has been a frenzy of making more of my regular soap scents to build up my inventory. The last little Christmas rush put me out of stock of many of the most popular flavors of soap. And as I've said before, it takes several weeks for the little buggers to cure, so it's time-consuming and a lot of batches to get caught up again with the full menu of scents that I carry. Since that is so totally boring, it's not worth a big crowing about blog post.

The other thing that has to happen here in the first few days of January is the big inventory. For tax purposes, I am supposed to count every single item and supply in my entire stock and studio, put it down on paper and call it a "year-end inventory." What sucks about this particular task is that it needs to be tied to a monetary cost. Each product - a bar of soap or a jar of bath salts - has to be broken out to it's actual costs, from raw materials to the packaging and container bits. So I count how many jars of bath salts I have on hand, and cost out the salts, the fragrance, the jars plus lid, and the label, and come up with my actual cost of what that product costs to make. That's the "actual cost." And this needs to be listed next to every item. Plus every ingredient I have on hand too. Lots of searching for invoices from earlier in the year.

Ingredient costs vary a lot throughout the year, and from year to year. It's not that easy to just transfer the costs from one year to the next. Olive oil has gone way up, and back down. Sometimes a particular container radically changes price too - like the tins, due to cost increases to produce it. Anyway, it's a time-consuming effort and boring and blah, blah, blah. The only silver lining is that it keeps me on track with knowing if I'm out of whack with my prices, and what I need to cut back on. Plus it makes me look at what I have on hand that just needs to be cleared out of the studio to make room for new stuff. Odds and ends of items that need to go. Clearance sale!

That's the long, rambling, prelude to my announcement that I've got the Clearance Sale page back up with a few items that I'm putting up at a huge discount. There isn't a lot of stock of any of these items, so if you're interested, don't delay.

Here's your link to the sale page to BUY NOW! When it's gone, it's gone.

Sleep

"It is a delicious moment, certainly, that of being well-nestled in bed and feeling that you shall drop gently to sleep."

Leigh Hunt

For me, January is sort of a month of hibernation. Catching up on sleep. Working quietly behind the scenes. It's a month of creating goals, making plans, setting up a calendar, putting all the building blocks into place for the year ahead.

All the little notes I've made throughout the year for new scents, new products, new ideas for packaging, marketing, selling or whatnot are thoughtfully considered - and either tossed, filed away for another year, or put into action. It's fun to re-imagine the whole business and start fresh. Often it just ends up being more of the same, for practical reasons, but I like the exercise of imagining things completely differently. What if I didn't do this, or this, or that anymore, but did it this other way instead? Usually something interesting pops up. And the end result always makes my life easier or better.

It's the freedom of reinvention that keeps me sane. and happy.

Toast

Phew, the rush is finally over. Last minute orders continued into last week - all while I was juggling all my own shopping, baking, wrapping of gifts, and decorating. Christmas flew by so fast, didn't it? After the months of preparations, it all slips by in the blink of an eye.

Now I am over-sleeping a bit. Wearing my pj's until noon. Catching up on the gigantic heap of disordered mess in my office. It's a lot of putting away and making little piles of things to do. Like the bookkeeping, filing, inventories, taxes. January is full of so many little tasks. Definitely not a slacker month, but quieter. No shows, no rushing around. Orders have slowed down to a little trickle for one month. But the paperwork pile is staggering. New show applications area at the top of the list, along with all the end-of-year books.

I must say, last year was puny in comparison to the last few previous years. Sales were down in the spring, by a lot. And summer was a lot slower than usual. But November and December were up from last year and mail order did a bit better too. So those are positive signs. I'm going to work harder this coming year, on all kinds of things. I've got a bunch of ideas about what I want to change and what I want to make better. I'm kind of excited about it all, and hopeful. Glad that 2009 is over, and I'm still here.

Postage rates increase again on January 4th. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to make some changes in that area. Prices will go up in the next mailing - Spring 2010. I'm also going to do a clearance sale of the last of the winter items. That should be up next week, and it might be a good time to stock up on a few things at the cheaper prices. February 1st will be the spring newsletter, price changes and new updates.

I got a new stereo for my studio for Christmas. It's gorgeous and I forgot how much I liked having a little something in the background while I'm working. I didn't know how much I missed the music. I love it.

I also got a Cuisinart toaster from my sister. I have been struggling with toasting a darn bagel, which always burned or got stuck and had to be shredded to get it out of the old cheapie toaster. This one is so beautiful, it's a work of art. And it makes the most perfect toast I've ever had. Truly. I adore this sleek silver machine in my kitchen. I want to toast everything.

So a toast to the new year. And a chance to start all over again.

Shipping Deadlines

Just a quick pop-in to say that today: Thursday, December 17 is the guaranteed last day for Priority Mail shipping in order to get it there by Christmas.

If you are shipping to a local address, it usually takes just a day or two, so there might be time left. No guarantees. But if you are shipping across the country or out of state, this is it. Get your mail order in right now.

I've gotten so many mail orders this month that I'm down to the wire on lots of my products. A bunch of the regular flavors are sold out, though the 4 holiday scents are still in stock. At least for today. The holiday lip balms and bath salts are sold out. All the sprays are still available. And the shop shelves will be very bare until early January. I'll get back to making the soaps in the next few days, but they will need cure time. So it's not until the new year that I will be fully stocked again. I tried so hard this time too, not to sell out before Christmas. No matter what I do, there is always something that comes up and wipes me out. Which is good, don't get me wrong. But gives me panic attacks too, which is no good.

This whole announcement is probably a little too last-minute - sorry. I lost track of time with all the coming and goings and running to the post trips. But there you have it.

I'm almost at the end of the long, long ride that is the holiday circus. What a relief. It was good. And chaotic. And stressful. And prosperous, for the most part. So now I need to get my own shopping done. And find cards, if there are any left on the shelf. I can't wait to get out of the studio for bit today and see what's out there. Fa la la la la.

We've Got A Shop This Week!

This week I've got my own little shop space over at the Group Health campus on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Michelle Deyoe is joining me with her whimsical jewelry pins, and Nancy Ensign too, with her vintage pieced jewelry and collectibles. Lots of holiday gift stuff, loads of great gift ideas.

We're located in the Group Health Shop Space, Central Campus, Capitol Hill
Address: 108 - 15th Ave E, Capitol Hill, half a block south and across the street from the Safeway at the corner of John St.

Hours: Wed-Fri, Dec 9 to 11, 9:30am to 4pm daily

We're going all out, with twinkie lights and trees. Hope to see you there.

Oh, by the way, this is my last show of the season (except for the final weeks of the Allied Arts show in Bellingham). So last local Seattle show, anyway. And I'm starting to get a little thin on inventory. Yes, I know there are weeks left before Christmas. But it's been a big huge month of shows and mail order and that's how it works. So if you are on the fence or need a bunch of stuff for gifts this year, it's a good time to either stop at the shop, or get an order in. No pressure, though :)

This Week's Shows - Dec 1

A whole bunch of stuff is happening this week. It's packed full of shows. And the mail orders are flowing in. There's still time to order, but stock is getting thin in spots after all this hoopla. So don't delay on working on your gift list.

The Holiday Festival of the Arts in Bellingham continues, and has their big gala reception this Friday night:
GALA RECEPTION AT THE HOLIDAY FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
Friday, December 4 from 6-9pm - 3548 Meridian St. across from the Bellingham Country Club
Please join us for hors d’oeuvres, a glass of wine and live music. Music provided by End of the Road String Band, The Honey V’s, The Honeybees and Chuck Dingee & Friends. This is a great time to shop for the holidays and enjoy your self!

Hilltop Holiday - part of Bellevue's Magic Season of events
Northwest Arts Center
9825 NE 24th St
Bellevue (Clyde Hill area)
Wed - Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-5pm

Phinney Winter Festival
Phinney Neighborhood Center
6532 Phinney Ave N, Seattle
Sat and Sun 10am - 5pm
* Note: I've got a different spot this year and will be in the downstairs Blue Room of the main (blue) building. Right across the hall from my usual spot in the Red Room, and a little smaller space. So look for me, and let me know if you want a big bundle of any one thing so I can make sure to bring it. Or if you are looking for something specific, just to make sure I have it along. I've got to squeeze in and cut back on some of what I usually have there due to my smaller location, and I want to make sure I don't disappoint anyone who needs say a dozen bars of anise soap or a boatload of berry baskets.

Wow, it feels like I've been in this merry-go-round of holiday madness forever, maybe a year or more. But it's only been one month. Four weeks of non-stop shows and orders. And we've still got a month til Christmas. My party horn will be all worn out by then. But it's going good. Very good.