Blooming Tulips - New Products

New product announcement - Blooming Tulips soap!


I created this soap just for the Tulip Festival that we celebrate here in the Skagit Valley during the month of April.  It was a HUGE hit at the street fair last weekend and I'll have it available on the website for just a bit longer while the festival continues and I still have a few bars left in stock.
So you think tulips don't have a fragrance?  Well, it's subtle, that's true.  But when you're out in the fields you can't help but sniff all the fresh green of the leaves mixed with the light foral scent of the petals.  This soap is absolutely true - a very "green" leafy scent, fresh and clean, with a very pretty floral note at the end.  It's totally delightful and has been a huge hit with tulip fans.


Pair it with our matching "Blooming Tulips" bath salt for the perfect spring gift!

10 worst chemicals in cosmetics

10 worst chemicals in cosmetics via unhealthy earth

A great primer on what to watch out for. BTW, my products don't use any of these. :)

Tulip Festival and watering cans

This weekend is the Mt Vernon Street Fair - part of the bigger Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley. And it looks like it might be our 3rd dry and partly sunny weekend up here in a row. Good times. That second link will get you to the Tulip Festival page with maps of the fields, other events, all the happenings for the whole month.

Details:
Friday through Sunday, Apr 20 - 22
Fri and Sat 10am - 6pm, Sun 10am - 5pm

Located up and down the main street in downtown Mt Vernon, starting at the bridge and heading south. (Still don't have a map yet, argh)

Soapworks Studio booth - space #21 (new booth numbers this year) but same spot as last couple of years. I'm in the very north block of the festival, sort of kitty-corner from the main front door of the co-op. I'm in the southwest corner of that little quad of booths, with a Tulip Festival info booth right next door to me on the north side. There's a new acoustic entertainment stage on our corner this year too.

I've got a brand new tulip scented soap which is gorgeous - really green and fresh, actually smells like tulips! Can't wait to see how you like this scent. If I can squeeze it in I might try to make a few small size bath salts in the same scent - and take a few of those to the Berry Barn show for the last couple of weeks over there too while the Tulip Festival continues. The tulip blooms are just opening up, daffodils are done, but it's all in full swing.

More good news - the watering cans that I make little gift sets with finally arrived just today! Hurray! They've been on back-order for a while. But now I'll have those at the show to make sets out of too. And I've put the Gardener's Gift Set back on the web site for ordering again, now that I have the containers back in stock.

Here's what they look like - and as always, you can stuff them full of whatever products you like. The watering can by itself is $6.00 - and then you add in your choice of goodies.

Hope to see you this weekend!

Tax Day Deal!

Save some moolah this week!

It's IRS tax deadline today and pennies are tight. We can save you a little extra cash this week - we'll pay your sales tax for you!

Here's the big print: order anything, order any amount, have it shipped anywhere - we will pay the sales tax amount on your entire order.

Offer good Tuesday, April 17 through Friday, April 20.

Fill your shopping cart HERE!

Save Big!!

There is no fine print. Just place an order on our website any time between Tuesday, April 17 and Friday, April 20. You will not be charged sales tax on your order(s). As always, orders are not charged while you are online, but rather processed here at the studio when we get your order information. That means that your online confirmation will be for merchandise only. We add the volume discounts, shipping charges and taxes (none this week!) on our end when we finalize the transaction. Capiche?

Bunny Fluff

(Flickr photo credits)

Have a fabulous, slow, lazy, celebratory Easter weekend! Gorge on chocolate bunnies and jelly beans. Roll around in the grass hunting for eggs. Spend time with a large ham and a buffet of goodies. Sounds pretty good, right?

What lucky really is

"Every living thing is, from the cosmic perspective, incredibly lucky simply to be alive. Most, 90 percent and more, of all the organisms that have ever lived have died without viable offspring, but not a single one of your ancestors, going back to the dawn of life on Earth, suffered that normal misfortune. You spring from an unbroken line of winners going back millions of generations, and those winners were, in every generation, the luckiest of the lucky, one out of a thousand or even a million. So however unlucky you may be on some occasion today, your presence on the planet testifies to the role luck has played in your past." - Daniel C. Dennett - from Freedom Evolves

That quote gives me goosebumps. It's so terrifyingly inspirational - completely freeing and at the same time so full of responsibility and accountability. You want to live up to the opportunity you've been given. A little thought for a Friday.

BTW - the photo is a teacup piggie. I have seen this photo all over the internet repeatedly the last few weeks, so I have no idea where it came from originally or who to give credit to. But it's so adorable that I just couldn't help myself.

Spring Green

(link to Flickr credits)

Hard at work this week, getting everything ready for the Best of the Northwest show this weekend. Set up is tomorrow, and I've got a million things left to do. The pressure of a deadline always makes me work more efficiently. So I'm on high buzz today.

I'm looking forward to this show in particular, just to see how the spring soap scents do in person. It's one thing to have people buy them sight unseen, just by the description on the website or from the newsletters. But it's even better to watch them choose the scents in front of you. To see which ones they gravitate to, which ones they pick up, what they have to say about them - either to your face, or to the people they are shopping with. I get so much better feedback that way. And I'm mulling over if any of them will continue on through the summer.

If you've got a special favorite that you've tried and want me to make more of it - please let me know. I'm always happy to hear my customer's requests and ideas about what they want. I almost always try to make it happen eventually.

Shows this week: March 30-Apr 1

Best of the Northwest

I'm so looking forward to this show! My space is located at the very last row in the back, facing the windows on the back wall, just like last year. Love the light, love the space - and it will be our very last show in this warehouse at Magnuson Park. They will be closed for retrofitting after this and we'll be moving full-time to the cruise ship terminal for both spring and fall shows.

Northwest Art Alliance presents the 24th annual Spring Best of the Northwest art and fine craft show. Connect with over 100 established and emerging artists and craftspeople reminiscent of an old world marketplace. Come celebrate all things handmade, enjoy live music and make purchases of gifts of enduring beauty in the light-filled space of Hangar 30 in Seattle’s Magnuson Park. Join us for the Northwest’s premiere art and craft show.

Friday March 30 from10am to 6pm
Saturday, March 31 from10am to 6pm
Sunday, April 1 from 10am to 5pm
Hangar 30 Magnuson Park - Seattle, WA 98115

Tickets at the door $7.00 per person or $5.00 (+ tax) advance online ticket sales at www.nwartalliance.com – KOMO Day Friday March 30 tickets at the door for $5.25 – free admission for children 12 and under. Plenty of free parking!


Country at Heart - Skagit Valley's Berry Barn

This is a new show on my calendar! Just like last year, the Berry Barn will be open during the month of April during the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The front half of the barn is a small craft show, and I'll have a display of my soaps and products there. Stop in for fresh handmade pies (lots of rhubarb and berry varieties) and incredible ice cream too while you're out viewing the tulip fields.

March 30 - Apr 28
The Berry Barn, 14285 La Conner Whitney Rd, Mt Vernon
Daily 10am-5pm, Closed Mondays

What is creativity

"Creativity is just connecting things." - Steve Jobs

Creativity. We always seem to think other people have it and we don't. Or that it's some mysterious thing that appears out of nowhere and we have no control over it. This new book delves into what creativity really is, how it works in the brain, how it's a part of each of us. Completely fascinating.

IMAGINE from Jonah Lehrer on Vimeo.

Jonah Lehrer, from the introduction: "The sheer secrecy of creativity — the difficulty in understanding how it happens, even when it happens to us — means that we often associate breakthroughs with an external force. In fact, until the Enlightenment, the imagination was entirely synonymous with higher powers: being creative meant channeling the muses, giving voice to the ingenious gods. (Inspiration, after all, literally means ‘breathed upon.’) Because people couldn’t understand creativity, they assumed that their best ideas came from somewhere else. The imagination was outsourced.”

As he begins to explain, it's just our own humble brains sifting through all kinds of bits and pieces all day long. Putting things together, trying to make sense of random information, making connections, accepting them or rejecting them, and then sometimes there are "AHA" moments, when two dots connect that we hadn't expected to. The excitement to have discovered something we think is new and that will make sense to other people too - that's the point of creativity.

"Creativity shouldn’t be seen as something otherworldly. It shouldn’t be thought of as a process reserved for artists and inventors and other ‘creative types.’ The human mind, after all, has the creative impulse built into its operating system, hard-wired into its most essential programming code. At any given moment, the brain is automatically forming new associations, continually connecting an everyday x to an unexpected y.” - Lehrer

And as I read on, I think "Ahhh. Why didn't I think of that before?" But it's really all about where you put your focus. Because where your thoughts go, that's where your own creativity lies. Some days I'm only thinking about smells. Or colors. Other days it's the business of the business - operations and functions and process. And still other days it's marketing and selling. I'm not sure if all that scattering around is more or less creative. But I'm looking at it in a whole new way.

Rain, rain, go away

1. a flower, 2. Untitled, 3. Puddle landscape, 4. puddle, 5. rain boots, 6. rainy day, 7. Rainy Day, 8. * узоры *, 9. It rained softly at Cefn Onn

Spring means rain. Lots of it. But I'm ready for a little sunshine and flowers. Maybe a bit of those record sunny hot days everyone else in the country is having. It's cold here. And grey. And tiresome.

Yesterday was opening day at the Vasa Park show. And it was very busy in the morning, even though the rain was pelting, a total deluge of water. You had to run from the door to your car in the parking lot, and even then you were soaked through. By lunchtime, the rain was worse, and the crowds thinned a bit. But there are great things there - $3 pots of pretty ranunculus. Easter stuff - and all kinds of chocolate goodies for the baskets. It's on till Saturday. And it's drier today -- for now.

A Beer for St Patty's Day

Sending you a bit of luck 'o the Irish to you on St Patrick's Day!

The custom of imbibing alcohol on St. Patrick's Day comes from an old Irish legend. As the story goes, St. Patrick was served a measure of whiskey that was considerably less than full. St. Patrick took this as an opportunity to teach a lesson of generosity to the innkeeper. He told the innkeeper that in his cellar resided a monstrous devil who fed on the dishonesty of the innkeeper. In order to banish the devil, the man must change his ways. When St. Patrick returned to the hostelry some time later, he found the owner generously filling the patrons' glasses to overflowing. He returned to the cellar with the innkeeper and found the devil emaciated from the landlord's generosity, and promptly banished the demon, proclaiming thereafter everyone should have a drop of the "hard stuff" on his feast day.

And, it's also an integral part of an old tradition called "drowning the shamrock."
On St. Patrick's Day, the shamrock that has been worn in the hat or lapel is removed and put into the last drink of the evening. A toast is proposed and then, when the toast has been honored, the shamrock is taken from the bottom of the glass and thrown over the left shoulder. Sláinte!

Guinness Beer Soap!!!

So this St Patrick's Day, while we might partake of dram or two, we've come up with cleaner way to celebrate the holiday - Guinness Beer Soap. I've made just one special batch of soap made with pure Guinness Beer, so when it's sold out, we'll be drowning the shamrock and shutting it down til next year.

This is a traditional unscented soap, but a bit of the hops and sweetness comes through, with just a mild scent of grain. It smells very lightly of the beer itself and is quite pleasant for menfolk, womenfolk, even wee folk.

The ingredients in beer make an excellent skin conditioning bar. The hops soothes irritation, the amino acids in the beer soften skin and the polyphenols are anti-bacterial too.

Safe for all ages! The soap-making process eliminates the alcohol content of the beer, so using this soap will not intoxicate you. It will not impair your ability to operate heavy machinery or motor vehicles. But as always, this soap product should not be consumed internally.

Price: $ 4.25 each or 4 bars for $16.00

Shake your shamrocks this St Paddy's Day! And start it off right with a quick suds-up in Guinness Beer soap.

Hope

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don't give up."

Just clearing out some old drafts on Blogger today - a distraction from doing what I really need to be doing right now and can't seem to get going on.

I found this quote that I had saved a while back - have no idea now where it came from or who said it though. During the rougher times when things seemed like they might all fall apart. And it kept me going. It inspired me just enough to keep at it, keep thinking, keep working.

This year (at least so far) it seems as if things have turned a corner. Personally and work wise. 2012 is a little brighter, a little happier, and the flow is back. Plus it's almost spring. Almost. The sun is working it's magic. Love love love the sunshine.

First Show of the Year 2012

Next week is the very first craft show for this year - Vasa Park's spring show.

I can't even believe it - my short couple of quiet months has flown by and it all begins again. Back to the packing and shlepping. It's a total mix of emotions. I'm excited and looking forward to seeing what this year brings and to show off the new spring scents. And I'm a bit sad that I have to pick up the pace and get back to the grind. And as usual, I'm also a little stressed and anxious because I did nothing early to prepare in advance, so I'm going to be pushing it hard this week to get it all ready, packed up and loaded over there.

Here are the show deets - hope you can swing on by:

March 15 - 17
Vasa Park Ballroom
3549 W Lk Samm Pkwy, Bellevue
Thurs & Fri, 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm

I'll have all my new spring scents there. The show will be filled with spring decor, garden stuff, Easter gifts and decorations - everything you need to get hoppin' for spring.

The following week is Best of the Northwest. It's going to be the last time at the hangar in Magnuson Park. I'll have more about that next week. And if you want to check out my full schedule, it's HERE. I'm updating it as soon as confirmations arrive, and more are coming in this month.

Today's inspiration

Playing with a new toy today - Flickr and mosaics. Click here to see the images in larger format, with source info.

I'm working on a new promotion for St Patrick's Day. I'll be sending it out to my email list, so don't forget to sign up here. And I'll post it here too.

March on!

If you are on my email list, you know that I had a big deal going on yesterday. Since Leap Day is a bonus day, I gave away free stuff with orders placed yesterday.

Lots of orders came in - super cool! And you all got free soap dishes, or free mitts or soap sacks with your order. Nothing is happier than free.

I'm mentioning it here, because if you are not subscribed to my email list, you missed it. I'm going to do at least one of these "insider" deals each month this year. Free stuff, free shipping, no taxes - that kind of stuff. Discounts and special announcements. They won't always be posted on the blog.

So if you want to be in on the action, head on over to my sign up page and add yourself to my email list. But here's a gift just for you guys: if you switch over to email only, and opt out of getting the snail mail version of the newsletters, then I'll give you $5 off your next order.

You will still get the email version of all my seasonal newsletters. You won't miss a thing. But we'll save a few trees and stamps.

The auto-email confirmation you get from the sign-up process won't be able to tell who actually made the switch. So check your inbox for a special email from me with a discount code in it to get this $5 off deal. I've got it covered - I'll make sure you save the dough.

Can't leave it alone

No that's not my cat. Just one of those "crazy cats sleeping" photos that people send other people who have cats. I started here because it's such a perfect butt-in-the-copier kind of photo. And I've done nothing but take photos all week. Erm, for the web site. Not my butt.

When I first started my work life right out of college I was a lowly secretary. And my best friend was the secretary at the desk next to me. Sometimes after we'd been out partying we would head back to the office (it was all walking distance in downtown San Francisco) and hang out in the copy room taking insane copier-photos of ourselves. Not butt shots - at least that I remember. Mostly crazy-face-pressed against the glass photos. Probably it was easier than finding a photo booth somewhere. And you just gotta immortalize all that fun. I digress. Way off track.

I've been obsessed with my web site this week. I can't stop messing with it. If you've visited in the last week or so, you have probably seen big changes. And it's not really done. I guess it never will be truly done.

One of my big goals this year was to really update it. Better design. Better photos. Better descriptions. Easier to navigate and find stuff. Just more usable and inviting in every way.

Today was a big photo day. We had a couple of two minute patches of sunshine, but it was dry. So I hauled a bunch of products out to take new pictures.

Here one of the new ones - a cuter look for the soap sacks. I did more vignette-style shots with stuff in the background. Group shots of things. And added 3 little bubble-type photos of products to the home page.

It's clear that I have no photography training, expensive equipment or special talent for styling. If you've been to Etsy or Pinterest, every single photo is like a million times better than what I had up there before. So my goal was to start working on my own. A little at a time. Just practicing. Each new and better photo I've uploaded to the site. Some items have had several different photos just in the last day or so. And they will stay until I can get an ever better one. For now, I'm just taking small steps in the right direction and teaching myself how.

There is no budget. No hiring of professionals. It's all DIY over here. If you've got feedback or opinions on any of the new stuff let me know. Good or bad, I'm all ears.

"That is a cheetah."

"A cheetah. That's a cheetah."

A hilarious and refreshing take on logos, from a 5-year old's point of view.

Spring Newsletter 2012

Yep, the spring newsletter is off and running. It should be in mailboxes and email boxes today. I'm posting it here on the blog for anybody who missed it elsewhere.

I've done a full website update to go along with it. Pretty much all the same pages, just a cleaner, fresher look. And hopefully it's easier to navigate, read, and find stuff. Of course please give me a shout if you find something that needs attention. It's just 'lil old me over here. I strive for perfection, but you guys are my "team" and I count on you to give me feedback if I missed something.

So away we go: link to Home Page, and link to the Spring Seasonal page to find everything below.

“It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is.
And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you DO want,
but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” Mark Twain

Hello lovely people,

I think the very first sign of spring must be the birds. During the dead of winter there is mostly silence. But one morning, suddenly a cacophony of twittering and cheeping erupts outside your window, and you notice that there are little flocks of birdies hopping around outside, flittering among the naked tree branches and barren bushes. The birds can’t be wrong. Something is coming!

After spending months focused indoors, peering out the window I notice even more signs of spring, more every day. There are pink buds on all kinds of dead-looking plants and a couple of green spears are poking straight up out of the ground. The frosts, snow and ice storms didn’t kill them! The next day a bright, shining, shaft of sunlight pierces the grey. I stand in the middle of it, blinking, soaking it in and remembering. A few days later I realize that the morning sun is up earlier, a lot earlier. Heavens, there’s still daylight when I finish work, instead of midnight darkness and pelting rain. With a sigh of relief and a rush of delight, spring is beginning to appear.

Oh, no question, it takes its time. And sometimes it seems to take a step backward too. But maybe it’s all that eager anticipation that makes it so deliciously welcome when it gets here.

SPRING SEASONAL SOAPS

To celebrate spring -the season of love, flowers, and new beginnings - I’ve created some new soap fragrances. For me, spring scents are inherently light, green, fresh or flowery. After months of dead leaves and naked 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! ($ 4.25 each or 4 bars for $ 16.00)

Grapefruit Ginger – Cheerful citrus is always a splendid way to wake up in the morning. Combined with warm ginger, this fragrance can’t be beat to perk up the winter doldrums. Filled with sweet orange, tangerine, bergamot and pink grapefruit, this is a soft and delicate citrus scent with just a subtle hint of ginger spice. It’s a lovely cantaloupe peachy color, adding a spot of happy to a plain white bathroom.

Meyer Lemon – When I traveled in Italy last fall, I fell in love with lemon all over again. Limoncello, lemon syrups, marmalades, soaps, they were heady and intoxicating and everywhere. This is a truly beautiful, luscious lemon fragrance – no tartness, no furniture polish, just gentle, light, clean and fresh lemon in the very best graceful, understated way.

Sea Salt Spa – Turn your shower into a relaxing spa! Rough and dry winter skin needs a little pampering and sea salt soaps are one of the most popular ways to get the glow without expensive spa treatments. This soap recipe is packed with mineral-rich sea salts which exfoliate and soften skin, soothing itchy or dry patches, leaving you silky smooth and hydrated. It’s not a scrub bar but rather a smooth textured soap – a moisturizing treat in just the time it takes to shower. Scented with natural oils of lavender, rosemary, mint and thyme, it’s brightly herbal and energizing. (100% natural soap)

Spring Rain – Spring rains are lighter and fresher than fall or winter rains. They dance in the new green leaves and splash around the blooming flowers. A blend of soft, ocean rain with a whiff of tender blossoms, this is my interpretation of a gorgeous spring rain fragrance. The color is absolutely beautiful too, a transparent cloud blue color that mirrors the skies on a perfect spring day.

Jasmine, Pear & Rose – Several years ago I introduced this scent, and it was the best selling soap of the season. It’s so pretty and fresh and nothing like you would expect when you imagine each of the three components individually. They just seem to come together so beautifully. It is lightly floral, slightly fruity, sparkling and crisp in a petal pink bar.

White Lilac – This soap has become a spring tradition every year, and I don’t mess with traditions. Potent and absolutely true to the flower, it’s a gorgeous lilac fragrance. Sophisticated, elegant, lushly floral in a creamy white bar. And if you love lilac blooms as much as I do, you won’t want to miss the Lilac Garden aromatic spray either. It’s available year-round, but certainly brightens up a winter-weary room right now.

VALENTINE’S DAY GUILT-FREE TREATS

There’s still time to order gifts for your 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 ideas, or give me a call to put together your own Valentine’s Day gift.

WINTER CLEARANCE SALE

During the last month, I’ve had all my remaining fall and winter holiday seasonal soaps, sprays, bath salts plus lip balms at big discounts on the web site. I’ve got deals left! Check it out at SoapworksStudio.com/sale.

SPRING SHOWS

It’s still early in the scheduling of shows for 2012. Deadlines are in the works with notifications and contracts to be determined in the next few months. But here are a few that are on the calendar right now. Check the website any time (“Show Schedule” button) for all the latest information.

March 15 - 17
Vasa Park Spring Craft Show
Vasa Park, Bellevue
Thurs-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6pm

March 30 – Apr 1
Best of the Northwest
Hangar 30, Magnuson Park, Seattle
Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm

April 20 - 22
28th Annual Tulip Festival Street Fair
downtown Mt Vernon
Friday and Sat 10-6, Sunday 10-5

May 9 - 11
Mother's Day Gift Sale
Group Health Central Campus, shop space
108 - 15th Ave E, Capitol Hill
Wed - Fri 9am-4pm

May 19 - 20
University District Street Fair
Sat 10-7, Sun 10-6

Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil poked his head out of his hole this morning at Gobbler's Knob (love that name!), and declared 6 more weeks of winter.

I know my little groundhogs don't mind hibernating in the blankies for a little longer.

And in reality, I know we've got another 6 weeks or more of cold weather, rain, and winter weather. But it's getting lighter and brighter each day. There was still daylight yesterday at 5pm! The sun is making brief appearances and it just feels lighter already.

I guess it's time to get the spring newsletter out then. It will be in mailboxes next week.

Eat. Move. Learn.

I can't stop watching these 3 little one minute videos. Over and over.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

I just want to rush right out, buy plane tickets, travel the world. Perfect inspiration when you're sorta bored, sorta blah, sorta sick of your routine.

Today's a new month. Time to get out there!