Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Otion Visit!

August 31, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Thank you Renee for coming to visit Otion! She even sent us photos of her visit.

Renee said,

“It was fun to come to the store and see everything in real life and, of course, smell the fragrances. Fresh Baked Bread was awesome and so was Tomato Leaf! I had to really hold back the urge to splurge because I was trying to travel light so I just picked up a few little things. What a neat place. People who are close to that have no idea how lucky they are because there is no concept like this at all in my area…also, my area is very “chain” oriented so independently owned businesses are hard to find.”

Thanks for visiting the store and for supporting our little locally owned retail operation.

Shipping Supply Scams

August 31, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

My friend Bob blogged about office supply scams a few months ago. Click here to read his take on them. I read his post and enjoyed his writing style but the subject matter wasn’t interesting to me.

Until today when we got a bill for $1,014.95 for products that we didn’t order. The 500 sheets of laser printer cleaner paper came yesterday. We were puzzled but figured that shipping mistakes happen all the time. We weren’t suspicious and assumed it was someone’s mistake and would be easily solved. And then we got the exorbitant invoice.

The bill is for roughly triple what the paper costs at a normal large office chain. According to the invoice, the returns need to all be received within 10 days and there is a non-negotiable 20% restocking fee.

The company in question is in Brooklyn. It will take 10 days (with the vacation day on Monday) for them to receive the product. Of course, now we have to ship the very heavy box back to them at our expense. They charged us $39 to ship it to us in the first place.

Their 1-866 line rings only to a recording and they haven’t returned multiple phone calls.

There has got to be a better way to run a business. If they put half as much effort and energy into acquiring customers in an ethical manner, just think about what kind of a quality company they could build.

Kylie’s Signature Cupcakes

August 30, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

my signature cupcakes
Originally uploaded by kylie lambert

Kylie Lambert, the cupcake artist behind these confectionary beauties, says: “I create cupcakes that are unique & original using the freshest of ingredients. I delight in creating things that are unusual, beautiful & gorgeous!”

Unusual, beautiful, gorgeous – those all describe these cupcakes.

There are no cupcakes at my house. I settled for leftovers from last night’s book club – a Nanaimo Bar (a very poor subsitute) and highly fattening cheese and crackers for dinner.

Sophisticated 3 layered soap!

August 30, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Magic Hands Workshops

This soap is appealing on many levels. I like the bright bold color. The black strip is the perfect foil for the lighter sunshine meringue top. Texture plays a role in making this soap memorable. The stamp is barely noticeable yet provides another unique point of differentiation. Finally, the shimmer on the top of the soap helps to make it look sophisticated and special.

Bravo for a lovely soap and a well done photograph!

Why crafty guys make better husbands

August 30, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

I think crafty guys make the best partners. Here’s why:

1. Because it shows a dedication to the creative side of life
2. Because it shows an ability to focus on something other than themselves for longer than 10 minutes
3. Because it probably means they can match colors
4. Because they’re okay with going shopping with you (see #3)
5. Because they might actually be helpful when going shopping with you (See #3 and #4)
6. Because you can do activities other than t.v. in the evening
7. Because you can make Christmas, Easter, Happy Bulgarian Rootgrower’s Day, cards together
8. Because creativity as a family is fun
9. Because you want your husband to help nuture your child’s craft projects
10. Because it’s nice to have company at the scrapbooking/knitting/soaping/craft table
11. Because it means they can fix things

And, the best reason?

12. Because they don’t complain about your crafting messes

Does anyone have anything else to add?

Otion Soap Evangelists – A Young Soap Bar User

August 29, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

We like to start ’em young at Otion.

Recovering Control Freak

August 29, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

I am a control freak. That’s freak with a capital F. It is not a secret. I am currently almost incapable of relaxing. It’s not a good thing.My staff and my family are mildly tolerant of me, partially because I get so much done and partially because it’s just how I’m wired so they quietly roll their eyes and try to work around me. I’m trying to calm down though. My goals this quarter include meditating three times a week, and doing yoga three times per week and generally trying to quiet my mind.

I’ve been focusing on silence, space and letting life flow. I’m trying not to direct daily life so much.

It’s difficult.

So, I bought myself a $85 bauble to help myself remember to breathe, exhale and love the doing of nothing.

The artist says:

The pendant is 1″x1″ in size. It is hand stamped in my lower case font with the message “let life happen”. The edge has a hammered finished and there is a pierced drawing of a bird on a branch. The piercing was drawn freehand directly onto the metal and then cut out using a saw.

The necklace is made entirely of sterling silver and has been given an overall patina. The pendant has a shiny, brushed finish to it. It is 16″ in length and fastens by a lobster clasp. I have signed the necklace on a small tag near the clasp. As always, the connections have been soldered closed for durability.

Click here to view her Etsy store. Kathryn also does custom words and designs. So, if you have work to do and want to be reminded of it every time you look in the mirror, just email Kathyrn and invest in your own personal $85 visual reminder.

Best Low Carb Fruits

August 28, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

In case you were wondering, some fruits are better for blood-sugar-spiking than others. Mark’s blog here has the round-up. But here’s a hint: no melons for snack food. Sorry.

Otion Press Kits

August 28, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

We have spent the last few months preparing to do a local media blitz with Otion press kits. My sister in law, Cheriss, worked for Deutch LA for the last few years. She has a degree in Marketing, is creative and saavy with press. She was quite generous to help out with our press kit blitz.

Each of the press kits contains a letter from the founder, an Otion FAQ sheet, 1 bar of soap, and a full color/full bleed 8 page glossy about Otion. The special feature with the glossy is a perfume vials on each page. The vials are filled to the brim with our best or most unique fragrance oils. Shew Design did the initial design work for the glossy insert, including the genius idea of including the fragrance vials.

All the labels for the soap were done on full-sheet labels. The labels were cut out by hand and painstakingly peeled apart (thanks Cheriss!)

The final kits shipped out yesterday. Next week, I will focus on calling each of the 24 news outlets and ask if they received the press kit. When they respond enthusiastically (fingers crossed), I’ll explore story ideas with them. For example, a family vacation publication would be interested in our soapmaking bar but a magazine focusing primarily on singles would want to focus on fun, exciting date nights. And really, what’s more fun and exciting than making soap?

As the founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK says, the way to get press is just to pick up the phone. The magic phrase, according to Brian Scudamore , is “Hey! I’ve got a great story for you!”

The phrase has been instrumental in getting 1-800-GOT-JUNK lots of free press. Let’s hope that it’s magic for Otion too.

Wrap Your Car in Ads

August 28, 2007 Filed Under: Business Musings

The New York Times has an interesting article about advertising on cars. Click here to read it.

An excerpt from the article:

Brian Morris, the owner of We Fix Ugly Pools, a pool repair and construction company in Phoenix, wrapped more than 30 vehicles in his fleet in ads for his company. He monitors how customers find him, and attributes more than $1 million in revenue over the last year to people seeing one of his trucks in a driveway.

Day 7 Coco Balm – Final recipe

August 27, 2007 Filed Under: Lip Products

Day One: Set Up

Day Two: Double Boiler Set-Up

Day Three: Hersheys Trouble

Day Four: Bittersweet Recipe

Day Five: Clean-Up

Day Six: Cocoa Balm

After testing the chocolate balms all week and overdosing on chocolate this weekend, there is a clear winner. The Brambleberrians in the office (Nicole, Amber, Jen and Anne) agree with my choice of chocolate winner.

I was surprised when we all chose the Bittersweet Baking Chocolate as the best texture and taste. The Bittersweet Baking Chocolate beat out all the other expensive, organic, fair-trade chocolates. Of course, there’s not much marketing cachet with regular Bittersweet Baking Chocolate so keep that in mind when formulating your product for sale.Our favorite recipe is easy and simple.

1.5 oz. Bittersweet Baking Chocolate
1 oz. Beeswax
1 oz. Jojoba Oil

Here is an easy variation to make your ingredient label more exotic and your marketing pop!

Marketing Genius 101 Variation
1.0 oz. Bittersweet Baking Chocolate
.5 oz. Organic, Fair-Trade Certified Chocolate (like Seattle-based Theo)
1 oz. Beeswax
.3 oz. Sweet Almond Oil
.3 oz. Jojoba Oil
.3 oz. Avocado Oil
.1 oz. Vitamin E Oil

Marketing Points: Contains Organic, Fair-Trade Certified Chocolate! Vitamin E oil promotes supple lips! Avocado Oil is high in essential fatty acids for moisture! Jojoba oil closely mimics the skin’s natural lipid profile!

The basic proportions for our winning recipe is:

42% chocolate
29% beeswax
29% liquid oil

You can take these proportions to create your own recipe. The math looks something like this:

3 oz. total recipe

3.0 x .42 = 1.26 oz.
3.0 x .29 = .87 oz.
3.0 x .29 = .87 oz.

If you want to make a larger recipe, just substitute the “3” for whatever total weight you want your recipe to be and multiply out the math.

Questions? Comments? Just post and I’ll get back to you in a timely manner.

Now, go forth and choc-i-fy!

Creative Photos

August 27, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Click here to see more photography by Chema Madoz.

They love us! They love us!

August 27, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

We are totally feelin’ the love out there for Otion, soap and all things Soap-Queen related.

Big thanks to Joanna at The Soap Bar Blog for writing about our own little homegrown soap bar – Otion and reviewing our Soap-Queen blog. Read her take on Otion and the blog here.

Michelle, a frequent reader at The Soap Queen won our box o’ goodies two weeks ago. Read what she has to say about her faves in the box here.

Renee in Texas visited Otion. Click here to see her photos. I love the one with Mark wearing his Otion apron.

Thank You to Renee, Jo and Michelle for the support!

Photos from Alicia’s Class

August 27, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Here are some photos from Alicia Grosso’s Soapmaking Class! A big shout out and thank you to Alicia and her sweet husband for staying overnight in Bellingham to teach. They even hung out to do dinner with the whole class. Alicia was the sweetest (!!!) person and I am frantically trying to get here up to Bellingham next year for a full weekend of classes.

Thank you Alicia!

Alicia and Katy Kate

View from Instructional Lab Upstairs

Alicia Signing Books