Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Screw Luck? Really?

January 4, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

After I wrote today’s blog post on the importance of being prepared, I read an interesting post over at Lip-Sticking (a blog devoted to marketing to women online) that got me thinking.

In almost every interview I’ve done, I credit luck, a great team and being in the right place at the right time for Bramble Berry’s business success.

Yes, it was hard work (and by golly, still is!). Yes, I gave up a lot (and still do) to ensure that Bramble Berry is a business of substance and integrity. And like my post earlier today says, “Luck is being available to take the opportunity.”

But on the flip side, I showed up on the crafting scene when the internet was in its infancy (back in the day when a Word document hastily thrown up on a URL was enough to get customers). And, when Martha was still all about soap (Martha, if you’re listening, can you consider bringing back that heyday of soaping creativity again?). I’ve always chalked that up to synchronicity up to pure luck.

But this article, by Lena West, purports that it’s not luck at all – it’s all about being available to take opportunities as they come at you. She says, “I’m not lucky. I’m on purpose.”

From the article:

I don’t believe in luck. I believe in being prepared.Even scientists who’ve studied luck say that it all boils down to your state of mind. That’s not luck. That’s something we each can control – our thoughts, responses and reactions.

Click here to continue reading. It’s a fast, thought-provoking post.

And, if you feel strongly about, please comment. I am very curious what you think about luck, synchronicity and business.

When Opportunity Calls …. We Stay Up!

January 4, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Local t.v. station, KVOS, called on Wednesday afternoon to invite us on their well-regarded morning show, Northwest Notebook. Of course, we were thrilled to get the call.

Panic quickly set in as we realized that a project needed to be designed, prepped and made for the show. And, we only had 36 hours to do it all! With Bramble Berry and Otion‘s holiday closure and inventory downtime, we’re scrambling to get back to our normal 24-hour-turnaround. There was no time to spare during work hours to prepare for this great opportunity.

This is where the rubber hits the road for an entrepreneur. Part of being “lucky” is being prepared to take all opportunities when they call. Being “lucky” in this case meant staying up until midnight to make sure that the project would be completed on time and the filming would go smoothly.

Soap Queen readers will get a step-by-step tutorial of the project (“Celebration Soap!”) in the upcoming week.

In the meantime, here are a few still shots from the t.v. shoot this morning.

It was a great experience. We shot the entire 6:00 minute segment in one take and made a project, talking the entire time. I’m a little nervous to watch the show and hear some of my answers. As I replay them in my mind, they sound more outlandish and foolish as the hours go by.

Ty asked about Bramble Berry’s business, how I got started, soapmaking as a creative outlet and what sets Bramble Berry apart from the other places to buy supplies – all while making making an embedded soap extravaganza.

Ty and his crew at KVOS were the consummate professionals and made it easy. The show will air at the end of January and if it hits YouTube, I’ll be sure to share it here.

And now, I’m off to follow my own adviceand write a ‘thank you’ note to Ty for having us on to help spread our brand of soap evangelism to the world (or at least Bellingham and Vancouver, BC)!

Wick Size

January 3, 2008 Filed Under: Home Crafts

The above photo is what happens if you accidentally choose the wrong wick size. The candle above was made with Palm Stearic Acid, giving it a mottled and unique look.

Over time, the core of the candle will burn straight down, eventually suffocating the weak candle flame.

If you missed the Beeswax Candle Tutorial, click here

The Martha Cookies

January 3, 2008 Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine

Frequent Soap Queen commenter, Shades Of Grey took on the challenge of making the adorable Martha Cookies (see post here).

I think she did a great job! She used no food coloring based dyes, which accounts for the difference in color between the Ms. Martha photo and hers. But the swirling and roll part of the cookie is remarkable! Great job!

If you’d like to read her full post, complete with tips that she learned from making the cookies, it can be found on the blog “Notes from the Homestead.” Click herefor the exact post.

Coming Soon! New Molds!

January 3, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Just to whet your appetites, these molds are coming soon (soon = late next week):

Ounces per bar: 4
Dimensions: 2.625″ x 2.6265″ x 1.25″

Cavities: 4
Ounces Per Bar: 3
Dimensions: 2.75″ diameter x 1″

The three below are stamps. For instructions on how to stamp your soap, click here.

Dimensions: 1.25” X .825”
Dimensions: 1.5” X 1.25”
Dimensions: 1.375” X 1”

First Soap of 2008!

January 2, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Bramble Berryhas been testing a new house soap base for almost a year. We’ve been very hard at work formulating a high quality, economical soap base for our bulk soap users (bulk = purchases over 500 pounds at a time). After the tests below, I think we might be close!First, we test for clarity: this is a 1.5″ square cube of the soap. You can still read through it!

The next test is crafting ability: how evenly does the base melt? How quickly does it set up? How well does it take fragrance load? The answer for this soap is that it melted evenly, gave adequate time to craft with and took heavy fragrance loading.

Here is my first attempt at embedding the ducky pencil eraser (get your own at Giftapolis .com). It wasn’t so good – Mr. Green Duck wouldn’t quite stay down and ended up breached on his side. I used a slightly yellowing fragrance so the soap isn’t as blue-clear as it could be but it has good transparency.

Test three is the final product: how does it lather? Does it look clear? Is the scent sticking in the soap? I’ll keep you posted on all of that once the soap comes out of the molds and in use.After three breach-duck fiascoes, I finally figured out how to balance and anchor the disoriented duck on his head so that the duck shows up clearly and in an upright fashion when the soap is popped out of the mold. It’s the small victories like this keep me going.

I’ll keep you posted about the base. Wouldn’t it be great to get a super aggressive price for pallets of soap on the West Coast?

The Long Road to Self-Improvement

January 1, 2008 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

If you are like the majority of Americans, you woke up this morning with the best of intentions to start your new diet, wipe out household debt and spend more time with family. For most people, January 1 is the day to reflect on the previous 365 days and promise to do things better and differently in the New Year.

Not for me though – I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions.

Instead of one big eggs-all-in-one-basket New Year’s Resolution, I make goals in November for the upcoming year. Why November? With Thanksgiving and abundant family time, it’s the time of year that I feel most grateful for what I already have.

Then, I break the yearly goals down into achievable bite-size packets for each month. By the time January rolls around, I have my yearly goals clarified and my monthly goals sketched out as well. With the smaller baby steps to leading to steady progress, it makes huge goals seem achievable.

My goal list ranges from the very difficult (open a 2^nd Otion store location) to the very simple (practice yoga one time per week). If achieved, these goals will help to move me ahead professionally and personally.

What about you? What are some of your goals for the year?

Comments on this thread through January 5 will be entered into a goody box of handmade soaps and sundries, essential oils and a soapmaking DVD.

Websites as Graphs

December 31, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thank you to SoapyLove for finding this cool little applet.

This site graphs out various pages on your web site as dots

The graph for Bramble Berry, is different than Otions, or The Soap Queen.

What do the colors mean?

blue: for links (the A tag)

red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)

green: for the DIV tag

violet: for images (the IMG tag)

yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)

orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)

black: the HTML tag, the root node

gray: all other tags

Congressional Vacation Days

December 31, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thank you to my Dad for sending me this educational clip about how many days Congress works. Enjoy!

Skiing Today!

December 30, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

My husband, brother, fiance, brother-in-law and one stray friend went skiing up at Mt. Baker today. Click here to learn more about Mt. Baker (the most glaciated of the Cascade volcanoes). There was 5 inches of new snow and it was snowing lightly all day. While the snow wasn’t great for visibility, it did keep the ice down to a minimum.

I never would have believed it if it hadn’t happened to me but the new K2 “True Luv” skis that my brother Erik got me for Christmas totally improved my skiing game. I enjoyed the skiing expedition much more with these new skis, even in my old gear. My gear is so old that my goggles literally fell apart after a few runs. I had to buy a new pair up at the mountain. Either way, I felt almost graceful with the new skis and almost capable of getting down the mountain without harming myself or others.

It was a tiring day, even with the new skis. My legs feel like jello and my calves are bruised from the rear-entry boots (from 8th grade!) but I wouldn’t change anything about it. Quality time with family is so very special. And bonus, we all made it off the mountain with no injuries.

Cutest Felt Birds EVER

December 30, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

My mom is a bird lover. Shhh, don’t tell her but these little ornaments might find their way to her house this year (her birthday is coming up.) I love what the artist has managed to create out of felted wool.

The creator is one Ms. Lauren Alane. Her web site can be found here. There are even more adorable photos on her site.

She says:

My love of making things began at a very young age, when I sewed my first pair of geese from a pattern my mom had in her sewing room. I have been hooked on crafting (and on birds) ever since! Currently my favorite medium of crafting is needle felting, and each of these birds are needle felted out of wool.

Her blog is updated regularly with fun musings and inspirations. She even tosses in some cooking photos.

Her Etsy Shopis a bit picked-over due to the holiday season rush. Hopefully there will be new whimsical creations soon. My Mom’s birthday is coming up soon!