Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

And the winner is….Surprise Contest

January 19, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

And the winner is….
Originally uploaded by Piulet

I just love all of the regular commenters on The Soap Queen blog.They add to a feeling of community and I appreciate reading your views on the varied offerings of this blog.

I put together a fun gift pack of essential oils and handmade soap and toiletries to award to a random commenter from this past week.

My dear husband picked a random number (#31). Michelle in NV,thank you for being a regular reader and participant in the Soap Queen community! Email me at info (at) brambleberry (dot) com to let me know your mailing information and I’ll get your goody box in the mail to you on Monday!

Parking Lot Humiliation

January 19, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thanks to my generous and wise younger brother Erik (affectionately known as ELF), I am enjoying a renewed interest in skiing. My sporty hubby and I headed up to Mount Baker to enjoy a clear day of skiing and cold. Though a chilly 19 degrees, the wind was nil and the sun out. Though my skill are lacking, thanks to the patient cheering of my husband, I didn’t feel like a giant sloth or outta-control orangutan on skis. My father-in-law was a ski instructor and my husband practically lived on the slopes growing up. He is remarkably experienced and smooth on any downhill, ice-covered terrain.

So, while Sporty Hubby swish-swashed his way down the mountain, I carefully snowplowed and slid most of the day. Though clumsy as a newborn calf, I enjoyed myself thoroughly and continue to be thankful for my brother’s thoughtful and kind gift.

To ensure that I didn’t feel too proud and haughty about the day, the skiing gods endeavored to trip me up. On the way out to the car, arms laden with skis and poles, I did a full out slip’n’fall – feet sproinging out from underneath me, skis and poles flying akimbo as my body suspended in the air before crashing painfully down on the ice covered pavement. To ensure complete humiliation, I started whimpering and tearing up with a full crowd looking on. Thankfully, the only thing I have to show for the fall is a diminished sense of ego and a painful elbow.

It was a great day of seriously fun physical activity. Now, if only I could stand up without my legs shaking uncontrollably …

Soapy Love Love

January 18, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Big kisses and thanks to SoapyLove from California for sending me a care package “just because.” It made my day!

Check out Debbie’s site here, her Etsy store here and her blog here.

On another note, I’ve been working on the soapmaking weekend extravaganza and have some fun ideas for a great line up classes. I’ll keep you posted when I have something (anything!) formally finalized.

Calorie Free Cupcakes

January 18, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

These fancy cupcakes are knitted by one Ms. Darcy. There’s a great interview with her here. She’s even starting her own knitting club in Tacoma, WA so if you’re in the area and looking for some knitting camaraderie, head over to her club posting.

As Ms. Darcy says:

What’s not to love about finding something wholesome and cute to do that utilizes a handmade craft art form?

I agree! There’s lots to appreciate about this creative cupcake art.

Cupcake Wrappers & Dish Soap Aprons

January 18, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

I just stumbled across another fabulous Blog and have spent far too much time reading all of their past posts.

It’s called Whip Up and is focused on sharing artsy & crafty ideas and tutorials. The also have a forum which looks like it is forming into something good.

Check out this article about making aprons for your dish soap bottle. It’s very cute and looks easy.

Then I found (while totally playing hooky from doing anything remotely business related):

Fancy Cupcake wrappers – How cool would these be for cupcake bath bombs?

They are $1 each – but considering that Bath Bombs are so inexpensive to make it seems that this would even out the cost.

Remember to look at other packaging ideas – not just those items that are sold specifically as soap or toiletry product packaging! Packaging is often the only thing that will set your product apart from others on the shelves.

Coming Soon! Embedded Ducky Soap Instructions

January 17, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Isn’t this little guy adorable? Look for instructions in the next week on how to make this kid-friendly, easy project.

On the personal ramblings side, I had a great time in Seattle yesterday and finalized the three top neighborhoods for our potential Otion expansion. The project is moving along very quickly, with mock budgets already done. Erik, the Otion store manager, will be working on three different retail store layouts – one based on more finished products, one based on more service related soap bar activities and one based on a much smaller footprint with only 50% of our current stock. It will be a busy month!

Last night, I hung out with Jody from Cucake Royale, Nicole from Baby Legs and Sam from Brain Candy Kids. We all met up to hear “Growth Expert” Bob Bloom talk about how to improve our offerings for customers. It was an inspiring talk. It got me thinking about building a community of soapers through more regional activities, like soapmaking boot camps. So, stay tuned in the next few months for plans around a Soapmaking Weekend in July in either Seattle or Bellingham.

Fun with Purple

January 17, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Aren’t these fun? I was doing some test designs with Bramble Berry’s Dark (liquid) Purple colorant and got to be really creative. The other colors I used were silver glitter and orange liquid color. The bars are a full 6.0 ounces because they are done in Heavy Duty Octagonmold.

And just for that, I’m buying a t-shirt

January 17, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

Johnny Cupcakes, an entrepreneurial genius and the brand behind the ubiquitous cheeky limited edition t-shirts and now retail stores, just pointed out an amazing similarity between one of his shirts and the multi-kazillion dollar Billabong‘s shirts. Judge for yourself in the photos above. The original is on the left. The “new” shirt is on the right.

For me, this brings to mind a phrase that we have long used at Bramble Berry, “Innovate or Die.” It’s a bit dramatic and yes, over the top but our worlds are always rapidly changing. There’s always a new kid on the block who is cuter, younger and gets a lot of buzz. They’re waiting to see what you’re successful at to ride your coattails.

Or, there’s the big corporations waiting to see what the next great idea is. Etsy had a niche market, carving out a place in online auctions by specializing in the handmade. Ebay is jumping right on that bandwagon with a home page interface that’s starting to look more familiar to Etsy users.

What does this mean to you and your small business? It means that you cannot sit on your laurels. You can never get too comfortable with your great idea (anyone remember when Primal Elements was the only slice-it-yourself MP soap company?). You can never stop creating, improving and pushing the trends yourself. You never know – it might be your little company that prompts Bath & Body Works to decide that cupcake bath fizzies are the next big thing.

Lovena’s Oven Hot Process Soap Method

January 16, 2008 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

I’m headed out to another day of Otion Store Two location scouting in Old Bellevue and the Queen Anne neighborhood (for all you Seattle based readers). I’m bringing my pedometer to see how far I walk in the neighborhoods. I’m betting I log at least 2 miles.

In the meantime, Lovena has a detailed Oven Hot Process Soapmaking Method tutorial on her site.

If you’re at all curious about making oven hot process soap, this is a great place to start.

One of the arguments for doing hot process soap is that you can use it right away. Unlike traditional cold process soap, it does not require a 6 week cure time. This makes HP soap particularly appealing if you are on a deadline or do a lot of craft shows and like to manufacture fresh to order.

Oprah’s TV Network

January 15, 2008 Filed Under: Business Musings

Continuing her run at world dominance, Oprah has announced the formation of her own TV Network – the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Continuing on her path to help others lead their best lives, the t.v. venture will focus on a broad mission involving celebrating life, inspiring and entertaining. Oprah will have full editorial control.

The thing that I find most inspiring about Oprah’s accomplishment is that Oprah wrote in her journal 15 years ago that she wanted a t.v. network. Now, over a decade later, her goal is becoming a reality. Little baby steps towards big goals eventually lead to greatness.

Go Oprah!

The Shopping Spree Continues

January 15, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thanks to this Etsy Treasury (put together by AJ’s Country Cottage), I am continuing my shopping streak today. Take a look at a few of the bars I purchased – doesn’t the second bar look exactly like a thick slab of granite?

You can buy your own bar of faux granite soap at Savonara’s shop here.

With only 20% reporting …

January 15, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I went on a wee bit of a shopping spree this morning on Etsy. I bought this creative soap from the MagicHands Workshop in California. The soap is using our very own Winter Grapefruit.

and this:

I couldn’t justify yet another Letterpress card set so soon after my last binge. But …. I did. In my mind, the fact that I sent out two “Congratulations” cards yesterday and two “Thank You” cards today means that I am almost out of cards and need more. It’s not a legitimate justification but PistacioPress‘s beautiful work tipped me right over the edge.

In other news, the Blog Direction Survey has been completed by about 20% of our active daily readers. Right now, over 80% of you are asking for more soap projects and only 16% want more candle tutorials. I wish I would have had this information before I knocked myself out with massage candles this weekend (ha ha). But, if you’re reading this and thinking, “Hey! But I really want to learn about candles!” and don’t want just 20% of the readers to decide the direction of the blog – make sure to fill out the two-question survey located here.

Finally, Playing with Soap has a great tutorial on making soap with Beet Juice. Notice the before and after colors?

Click here to go see her experience in using this natural colorant in soap.

More Celebration Soap Options

January 14, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

If you missed the Celebration Soap, click here to recap this easy project.

The photo below shows a common issue when embedding objects in melt and pour. Sometimes air bubbles will catch under the wide, flat surface of the embedding soap. If the air bubbles are trapped between the mold and the soap, a bubble will form. The soap isn’t ruined. It’s just not … perfect.

To escape this not-perfect look, first spritz your embedding object with alcohol. Next, add your embedded goodies at a slant. This allows the air bubbles to slide up the side of the hardened soap, leaving your surface smooth and unpocked.

Another pesky issue with the Celebration Soap sinking glitter. Unless the soap is very viscous, it will not support the weight of the glitter. This leaves a very top-loaded glitter star. A solution for this is to pour the soap in the mold, wait 30 seconds and then sprinkle glitter on the backs of all of the bars. The slight surface tension in the soap will support the glitter, leaving both the tops and bottom of the soap densely glittered and shiny.

The soap on the left utilizes the same method as the clear Celebration Soap but uses a white overpour instead. One of the features that makes melt and pour soap so artistic and creative is the ease of design options. Just by changing one color, there’s an entirely new design of soap!

Look for more soap combinations and final photos later this week.

Beeswax, the Microwave Killer!

January 13, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Or…. Brother Knows Best.

It was not one of my finer moments. Erik (my younger brother and also the Otion store manager) cautioned me that my lip balm project wouldn’t work. However, since he did so in front of my mentee Linda, I did not listen to him (to better maintain my Alpha role, of course). Had I listened, I would have heard him saying that the glass I wanted to melt our from-scratch lip balm in wasn’t strong enough to take the sustained heat required to melt the beeswax.

Alas, ego and hubris always go before fall. After six minutes in the microwave, there was a “ding!” to signal the batch done and then an impressive BOOM! (which turned out to be an exaggerated portent of doom).

Opening the microwave found this scene:

The glass, the oils and the wax were all over the microwave; my brother’s taunting laughter filled the air. It was humorous (yet also mildly embarrassing). On a serious note, both Linda and I are lucky that we had not opened the door to the microwave prior to the big BOOM! We could still be picking out glass from our gentle faces.

After using most of the paper towel roll, we managed to sop up the oil, waxes and glass. The microwave still hasn’t recovered fully. Strangely enough, Linda wasn’t all that enthused about trying another batch.

Gee, I wonder why?