My goal was to run 50 miles between Thanksgiving and Christmas but as of tonight, I’m only at 38 miles. I may have to admit defeat given the houseful of guests and full family holiday schedule. Two more days to go…
When the Mouse is Away …
My husband and my brother wanted to go bowling last night. Normally, it’s a Saturday night and weekends are for family. But, Erik (Otion Store Manager) and the hubby really wanted to spend some guy time. But, we had a living room full of gifts to be wrapped, cooking for 9 to do, and a thorough house cleaning to perform before my Mother showed up.
Our conversation went like this:
Hubby: “Well, I know we have all of the cooking, cleaning and gift wrapping left to do before your folks arrive at 5 tomorrow, but I really want to go bowling and just hang out. Please?”
Me: (sigh) “Honey, tomorrow won’t be enough time to cook the food, wrap the presents and clean our house. It’s a mess!”
Hubby: “I’ll work super hard on it tomorrow. I swear. You can just sit on the couch and read all night while I’m out. When’s the last time you got to do that?”
Me: (grudingly) “Well, you do have a point. And, I do have a book club book to read.”
Hubby: (silence) (pleading eyes)
Me: “Okay, go out. Have fun. Be home by 11 so we can get a good night’s sleep at least?”
As soon as he was out the door, I was doing the happy soaping dance! Woo-Hoo! Forget the book club book; a night to myself to make soap and goodies! What could be better?
Within 15 minutes, all the counters in our house were covered with soap and bath fizzy making stuff.
I made bath fizzies.
I made lotion (Berry Red Labcolor and Rosehip Jasmine fragrance).
I made liquid soap (Berry Red Labcolor with Rosehip Jasmine fragrance).
I made M&P soap.
And, I was 85% cleaned up by the time he got home so I didn’t even get caught.
Salvation Army Shopping
Every year for the last eight years, Bramble Berry has adopted families through the Salvation Army. Our staff donate their time after work to pick out perfect Secret Santa gifts and Bramble Berry donates our dollars. For 2007, Bramble Berry donated over 5% of our profits to various non-profits, both local and national. Bramble Berry’s social responsibility statement can be found here. One of our values at Bramble Berry is “Be Socially Responsible,” and another is “Be Kind to our Employees and Customers.” The Secret Santa Shopping trip meets both of those criteria. This year we had 17 people on our Christmas Secret Santa list.
That’s Amber (customer service and marketing) handing out lists for shoppers. Andrew (on the right) got 2 boys, ages 6 and 8. Andrew packs most of the Bramble Berry orders and has been at Bramble Berry for over two years.
This is Jess (from the Pouring Area) looking dubiously down at the shopping cart and comparing it to her list. She’s wondering if the gifts are exactly perfect for her Secret Santa person. Jess had a Mom who wanted a nightgown and new towels. Joanna (on the right, works in the Shipping Area) is wearing a hat she knitted herself. She has a small business selling her knitwear on Etsy. Click here to go see her shop. Her hand-knitted hats are just $15.
With 17 people on our list, we had quite a few full carts but thanks to Amber’s extreme organization, the shopping was done in record time – two hours. The sorting of the gifts to deliver to the Salvation Army took a bit longer. There were a lot of bags filled with gifts.
It took almost 45 minutes to check out. The poor clerk was very shocked when our entire 13 cart caravan showed up at her lane. The manager of the Bakerview Fred Meyers shut down the lane for our purchase (thanks Larry!). Because of Amber’s Mom’s crafty coupon sleuthing (that’s her in the red coat in the top photo), we saved 15% on all of the clothes and 10% on all of the toys. With the savings, we were able to buy extra big gift cards for the food portion of the gift. Hopefully they will be spent on a bountiful Christmas dinner (and beyond). The receipt that came out of the printer was literally over 2 feet long. I was thrilled to swipe the credit card for the donation.
This holiday season, all of us at Bramble Berry, Otion & Organic Fusion are grateful for the abundant blessings of the 2007. Here’s to a successful, joyous and delightful 2008!
Winner of Weekly Contest!
Congratulations to Comment #90 for the week, Natalie from Koinoniacommunity.
I think this is the 2nd time that Natalie has won a contest on The Soap Queen. She is one lucky soaper!
Natalie, you have a starter pack of Essential Oils from Organic Fusionbeing sent out today. =)
Merry Christmas from Parking Department?
I had a meeting downtown today. I knew my parking meter would expire at 11:00 a.m. At 10:55, I had my quarter out, ready to go stuff the meter. But, the conversation wasn’t at any sort of natural pause so I just hoped that the meter maid wouldn’t be in my area.
After the meeting, when I got to my car, this was on my window. I groaned inwardly and prepared myself for a $10 ticket.
Instead, I found a candy cane and this in place of a ticket.
Notice the $0 amount and the nice message? It was a delightful holiday surprise.
Cow Cupcakes
The artistry and painstaking patience on these cupcakes is astounding. Kylie Lambert has taken the cow cupcakes to an art form – and a consumable art form to boot. Anything this pretty deserves recognition, praise and then, a thorough devouring.
Customer Review of Spellbound Woods
Thank you to Evie for this delightful note about Spellbound Woods. While we get many feedback notes from customers every day, this one was particularly well written and evocative. Happy Friday!
I absolutely LOVE the Spellbound Woods fragrance oil. I’ve been looking for a blend like this for my male customers. I did add some amber a couple of drops of vanilla and man, what a scent!
This is going to be one to really play with. I wanted a scent that was all man that didn’t shout around the corner before the man appeared!
This is lovely. I completely got the visual of a leather high backed chair, an expensive tweed jacket , a well packed pipe of the finest of tobacco in a magnificent home library……….this is one that will be versatile. This is a classy scent for sure. If one knows their scents, a slight alteration can make this work several ways and this is a scent that can stand on its own. This will smell perfect without altering a single note. Thanks!
Etsy Love
I heart Etsy. There are so many amazing small businesses selling on Etsy.
Take Roninosities – her soap came in the last Sampler (don’t know about the Sampler? Click here to see their site). Robin makes very unique soap and sells it on Etsy.
Soap Crayons? With a handmade box and probably hand cut to boot? That’s creative.
Or, how about this giant 17.5 ounce sized Buddha Soap?
For $20, it comes with its own soap dish and is a very affordable price.
Robin also does photography and fashion design.
Panel Discussion from Crave Show
Portions of the panel discussion from the Crave Show (see posts here and here) is up on the Whitney & Wyatt show web site. Click here to watch the 4 minute clip entitled “Following Your Bliss.”
Interview: Maggie from A Wild Soap Bar
We are lucky to have Maggie from A Wild Soap Bar for an interview on The Soap Queen. Maggie is a very successful soapmaking entrepreneur located in Austin, Texas. She’s been interviewed by Co-Op America, and also an interview with the Lifestyle CEO, Donna Maria. Check out Maggie’s impressive press page here. She is on a positive trajectory with her company.
- First things first, why soap?How did you fall so passionately in love with soap that you decided to turn it into a business?Well why not?I’ve always liked to do things with my hands so I decided to try soapmaking back in 1995.I was inspired after reading by The Soap Book by Sandy Maine so I dove right in and started making soap. I quickly became addicted, and the rest is history.
- Do you have any business background that helps you in your business?No, but oftentimes I wish I did!I ran a YMCA afterschool program for 80 kids before turning to soapmaking full time.That definitely taught me the virtues of patience!
- What’s the best part about being self-employed? The worst part?There’s something extremely satisfying about knowing that everything you’ve achieved is the direct result of your own blood, sweat, and tears. Of course if your business falls short in some areas, that’s a direct reflection on you too.I guess the worst thing is the long, and I mean really loooooonng hours.But if you’re passionate about what you do, you get totally absorbed in it and even the long hours don’t seem quite so long.
- How much time do you spend making soap versus doing other administrative tasks? About the only time I make soap these days is when I’m formulating custom test batches for wholesale customers.This is a wonderfully creative outlet, but it doesn’t take up much of my time.My son Jory has been making almost all of our soap for years now.I taught him well.
- How much time do you WISH you spent making soap?I don’t have much time to think about it really.I love what I do!On top of custom formulations, I also do all the marketing, label design, customer service, website work, bookkeeping, ordering supplies, UPS shipments, paying bills, writing newsletters . . . and a gazillion other things.Occasionally, I pitch in to help my employees get a stack of orders out, but 90% of my time is spent in the office on the computer or on the phone.For someone who has no business experience, I’ve studied hard and I think I’ve managed pretty well.
- How do you decide what fragrances/essential oils to use? Do you follow trends, listen to your customers, go with your gut, a combo? For the most part,I follow my intuition when formulating our essential oil blends and I think I have a pretty decent nose for what works.The more you play around with the oils and the more you get to know them, the better you get at blending.I think a lot of people get too wrapped up in trying to follow the textbook recommendations.I just follow my nose and don’t get too uptight about it.I also sniff soap wherever I go (don’t we all?) and I pay attention to what other soapmakers are doing too.I read trade magazines as well, but I’ve never been one to hop on every trend.
- Did your Black Friday Thanksgiving sales promotion increase sales? I sort of “borrowed” that idea from another newsletter, but yeah, every time I send out a special newsletter deal it increases sales.People LOVE to save money!
- What’s your favorite product to make? I’m kind of partial to body balms these days.I mean who can’t resist filling up each little tin to the brim with this hot, wonderfully creamy, wildly aromatic concoction?I don’t especially like burning my fingers though.
- How often do you data mine your sales reports to figure out what items you’ll be carrying again? Or, do you go by gut feel?I know when something isn’t selling well and it doesn’t hang around for long either.We still do a few larger craft shows and that’s when I get a really good feel for what sells and what doesn’t.I look at sales reports occasionally to confirm
what I already know. - Do you have any hobbies outside of soap? Do tell! =)Soap and balms pretty much consume me, but I do get to incorporate my life-long interests in native plants and botanical medicine into my business and that’s pretty sweet.
- Totally optional question: If you could have $3million in venture capital but you would have to give up 75% of your company and you’d have a boss and a board of directors to answer to, would you take the money?Now that’s a toughie.I’d like to think I’d say no . . . but I wouldn’t put it past me!
Thank you Maggie for sharing your wisdom and experience with us!
A video of Maggie’s Operations
Christmas Card Time
I normally love to make Christmas cards to send out to family friends and especially relish the updates that Christmas mail brings. Time is even more precious this year and so our card design isn’t very complicated at all. We’ll be lucky to get these written and postmarked by Christmas!
Hubby and I had fun making these card precisely because they weren’t complicated. We just had to cut, glue and wait. I normal rubber stamp our holiday cards but didn’t have the bandwidth (time is tight) to do it this year. I hope our family doesn’t mind, notice or care.
Now comes the 2nd part – writing to our friends and family to celebrate the season and wish them a fabulous 2008!
Hubby and I had fun making these card precisely because they weren’t complicated. We just had to cut, glue and wait. I normal rubber stamp our holiday cards but didn’t have the bandwidth (time is tight) to do it this year. I hope our family doesn’t mind, notice or care.
Now comes the 2nd part – writing to our friends and family to celebrate the season and wish them a fabulous 2008!
Fastest Mile Ever
Sweet! It was a total delight to hear my little Nike + iPod Runner tell me this morning, “Congratulations! You’ve reached a personal best for your mile!”
Given that I don’t even like running (click here to read my rant about why I run), I was buoyed about the news. Apparently, 3 cups of coffee on an empty stomach is the breakfast of champions! I’m not a natural runner but thanks to Chi Running, I’m making progress.
Jelly Roll Sugar Cookies (thanks Martha!)
These cookies require the use of dental floss. If anyone actually tries to make them, please send photos. The jelly roll cookies look like the jelly roll soap that we just made on this blog!
Click here to get inspired by the full instructions from the divine Ms. Martha.