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Sunday Night Spotlight: EcoSoya Advanced Wax

Filed Under: Home Crafts

Now that it’s winter time, there’s nothing better than cozying up in your favorite chair with a good book, a hot cup of tea and a richly scented candle with a softly flickering flame (and for me, that only happen during the kiddo’s nap time and I love that quiet time!). Bramble Berry offers a number of excellent waxes so you can make your own candles, and lately our favorite has been the EcoSoya Advanced Wax. It’s 100% vegetable based and sourced from soy beans grown exclusively by domestic farmers. Best of all, it has multiple uses: this wax is lip and skin safe, making it an potential replacement for beeswax in lip balm recipes.

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2013 DIY Gift Giving Guide

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Gift-giving season is here and we want you to be all stoked up with a variety of soapy, DIY presents.  This gift guide has everything from gifts for the family and projects for the beginner and the advanced soaper. You don’t just have to make the gift yourself. If you have a crafty friend or family member, a DIY kit might be the perfect gift.

Why yes, this is Soap Queen wrapping paper. Purchase it here.

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Facebook Photo of the Week (November 15th ~ November 22nd)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Last Saturday we wrapped up our two-week-long Givember celebration with 24 DIY bath & body projects, and we hope you got a chance to participate in our specials and coupons. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter here so you can be notified of our next big promotion! This week we had a guest post tutorial on making beer soap from Swettis Beauty Blog and an adorable Jolly Jubliee melt & pour tutorial to get you in the holiday spirit. To finish up the week, we had a fabulous interview with Tanya, one of our favorite soapers from Baby Duck Soap Co. Be sure to check out her interview here.

Are you ready to see this week’s feature? It’s a soap pretty enough for the front of a Christmas card!

This week’s Facebook Photo comes to us from Jamie of the Okie Soap Shop. Her Country Christmas soap caught my eye because of its fun and festive glitter. I also love when soapers have an eye for photography and set-up design, and Jamie clearly does in this shot! Are you looking to learn more about photographing your soaps? Check out this blog post to learn more.  Thank you Jamie for being a part of our soapmaking community, and we can’t wait to see what else you have in store.

Jamie’s Facebook Page: Okie Soap Shop
Jamie’s Blog: Soap Blog

 Post pictures of your soap creations on the Facebook page each week for a chance to be featured on the Soap Queen blog and receive a sweet soapy package from Bramble Berry.

Goodbye Givember- 24 DIY Project Links

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Givember 2013 has come to a close (sob). Throughout the past two weeks, we offered six days of deals and coupons (include a surprise free shipping offer!) on our social media outposts, shown you 24 Christmas-related tutorials and (hopefully) managed to get you in the crafty spirit. This Givember has been a huge success, and it’s all thanks to YOU! I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your continued support of Bramble Berry, and I’m looking forward to many more Givembers. And for those of you that ordered at Bramble Berry, thank you (!); we are working through your orders as quickly as we can without sacrificing quality.

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Facebook Photo of the Week (November 8th ~ November 15th)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

What a week! I hope you had a chance to take advantage of our #Givember sales and coupons.  In fact, thanks to you, Givember has been so successful that we’re working overtime to get your order to you in the high-quality manner you’ve come to expect from Bramble Berry. It may take us a few more days, but it’s worth the wait!

To give you even more ways to interact with us, this week we rolled out the brand new Bramble Berry Help Desk Feature. Have a question? You can now chat with a live customer service person to get your issue resolved immediately! To learn more about this new tool, check out the blog post.

Have you gotten your order yet? Every order this month will include a sample of the delightfully sweet Cranberry Chutney Fragrance Oil. We’re hosting another Make It Month featuring the fragrance, so be sure to check out this post for all the details!

For now, are you ready to get up close and personal with the photo of the week?

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Givember Massage Oil

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials

We’re continuing the Givember madness today with this fabulous massage oil. Jojoba Oil is a bit of a misnomer because it’s actually a liquid wax, but it’s known for its ability to absorb into skin and moisturize. Jojoba oil also has an indefinite shelf life, which make this an excellent, long-lasting gift.

This massage oil is part of our Romance Gift Ensemble, which includes tutorials on how to make bath salts, whipped shea butter, a spruce-scented candle and a pink salt scrub. Scroll to the end of this tutorial to learn how to make all four! Our Midweek Mayhem continues this week too, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on various social media outlets to be the first to hear about all the deals.

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Selling Success at Fairs and Public Markets

Filed Under: Business Musings

By now the holiday craft season is in full swing, and you may be experiencing a bit of “seller’s fatigue” – it can be exhausting remembering to pack all your supplies, set up and take down your display, and be on the ball and ready to go week after week. Bronwyn Bacon, a soapy enthusiast who has worked in customer service and business management for more than a decade, has amassed a wealth of tips and advice for being successful at craft fairs and markets. Read on to learn how to sell for success! — A-M

Before You Go

If you’re still new to fairs, I strongly encourage you to set up your booth at home (or in your backyard) from top to bottom. Don’t guesstimate on how much time you’ll need; by setting it up for real, you’ll know exactly. Just to be super prepared, add a half hour for “issues” that always seem to crop up. Once you have as much of your booth set up as you can and it’s arranged to your liking, take photos so you have a reference to easily recreate your setup.

Expect the unexpected when taking your products on the road. Time yourself so you know exactly how long it takes you to set up and tear down your displays.

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Festive Holiday Potpourri + Free Label

Filed Under: Home Crafts

Heading to a holiday party and need a quick gift? This adorable holiday potpourri jar can be assembled in 10 minutes or less! This project incorporates plenty of holiday hallmarks, including cinnamon sticks, cloves and of course, the sweet and spicy fragrance of freshly baked pumpkin pie. Downloadable (free)! labels make this a complete gift giving tour de force.

Learn how to make this adorable Holiday Potpourri, complete with free gift tags! [Read more…]

Make it Month: #BrambleTart

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

We’re continuing our Make It Month Feature using the Sample of the Month, Cranberry Chutney Fragrance Oil. With every order you place at Bramble Berry throughout November, you’ll receive a complimentary .5 oz. sample of this wonderful holiday fragrance.

Cranberry Chutney Fragrance Oil is one of our go-to fragrances oils because of its diverse fruity notes grounded by subtle spice. There are hint of apple, raisin and concord grape, and of course the robust scent of tart cranberries. It performs well in cold process soap, but note that it does discolor to a warm tan. In terms of other bath and body products, we like this scent so much that we use it (along with Santa’s Spruce!) in our Givember 2013 projects.

The guidelines for this Make It Month are the same as our Make It Month: Chai Tea Cybilla, but here is a quick refresher on how it all works:

  • Your project needs to utilize the Cranberry Chutney Fragrance Oil. Cold process, melt and pour, lotions, scrubs, home crafts and all other bath & body projects are all welcome.
  • Post photos of your creations on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page between now (November 4th) and Wednesday, November 27. Entries submitted after November 27 will not appear in the Facebook album.
  • Your entry must include the hashtag “#BrambleTart” in the photo caption. Without the hashtag #BrambleTart, your photo will not appear in our Facebook album (the hashtag makes it possible for us to search for just those photos for the Make It Month).
  • You can make multiple projects, but we will only consider three photos per person.
  • We will post a collage of staff favorite projects on Friday, November 29th. We’ll base our choices on how unique and creative the item is.
  • We encourage everyone to participate, from veterans to newbies! All photos submitted before the deadline that include the hashtag #BrambleTart will appear in a Facebook album on the Bramble Berry Page.

Ready, set, create! We can’t wait to see what kinds of projects you’ll create this month =)

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Happy Brambleween!

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Happy Halloween! What is everyone dressed up like today? I’m dressed up as a soapmaker and have been testing recipes like a mad scientist all morning long. Jamisen’s is going to be a dinosaur again this year and Lily is going to be a baby pumpkin, which is the cutest darn thing you’ve ever seen. Onto the main event for today!  Our customer experience manager Kevin, took a quick trip to one of our favorite fruit and vegetable stands here in Bellingham with his boys to get the pumpkins for Team Bramble Berry (office and warehouse included!)

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Facebook Photo of the Week (October 18th ~ October 25th)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

After a quick trip to Las Vegas for a business conference, I couldn’t wait to get back into the office to see all the fabulous photos that were submitted to Bramble Berry’s Facebook page. Many of you have even shared your soapy creations with us for our #BrambleChai Make It Month contest. Remember, you only have until October 30th (Wednesday) to get your photos submitted. For more information on the contest, click here. If you need some extra creative inspiration, check out the Chai Tea Latte Candle Tutorial.

This week we had a great time catching up with Silvia from S.V. Soaps with a second interview finding out what has changed in her soapy business from a few years ago until now.

The end of the year is coming up soon and we know how important it is to keep your business running throughout the holidays, be sure to check out the The Ultimate End-of-the-Year Business Inspiration guide for interviews, blogs posts, how-to guides and more for your business needs. Are you ready to find out who we are featuring this week? Check it out below!

This weeks feature is a burst of color from a familiar face. Katie of Royalty Soaps shared her Crisp Anjou Pear and Champagne cold process soap.  Her design was stunning and we all thought that she has an eye for color. She told us that,  “Bramble Berry’s Fragrance Oils are really just top of the line quality. They make creating gorgeous things easy!”  You may recognize Katie from our Spring 2013 S.O.A.P. Team. She was part of the team that picked our Tart Apple, Shave and a Haircut and Spring Meadow Fragrance Oils. We enjoyed Katie’s responses to the scents, and you can check out her videos (!!) here and here. Thank you to Katie and all the soapers and crafters that make our community a wonderful place to share and learn from — I am always so excited to see what you have to share with us.

Katie’s Facebook Page: Royalty Soaps

Katie’s Blog: Royalty Soaps

Katie’s YouTube Channel: Royalty Soaps

Post pictures of your soap creations on the Facebook page each week for a chance to be featured on the Soap Queen blog and receive a sweet soapy package from Bramble Berry.

Make It Month: Chai Tea Cybilla

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

As the leaves turn colors and the weather gets colder, there is nothing better than bundling up with a warm cup of Chai Tea. Throughout October, Bramble Berry orders will receive a complementary half-ounce bottle of Chai Tea Cybilla Fragrance Oil. To celebrate this sweet and spicy fragrance, we’re encouraging you to use the sample to create a unique bath & body product as part of our Make It Month.

This month’s Sample Page project features Chai Tea Cybilla. Take a look at the Sample page to learn how to make your own Chai Tea Candle.

Chai Tea Cybilla is a wonderfully warm and comforting drink that has welcoming, familiar scent. You can use it in everything from melt and pour soap, cold process soap and even our Sample of the Month project — a wonderfully whipped candle! With its traditional Earl Grey Tea base and sweet notes of Vanilla and Nutmeg , this delightful and spicy fragrance is fantastic in fall soaps.

Be aware that this fragrance will discolor, so take that into account when you’re formulating your cold process recipes. To learn more about how to use the fragrance’s natural discoloration to your advantage, check out this FAQ blog post, ‘Why did my soap turn brown?’

Ready to show off your Make it Month creation? Check out the full details and helpful tips below: 

  • Your project needs to utilize the Chai Tea Cybilla Fragrance Oil. Cold process, melt and pour, lotions, scrubs, home crafts and all other bath & body projects are all welcome. 
  • Post photos of your creations on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page between now (October 7th) and October 30th. Entries submitted after October 30th will not appear in Facebook album.
  • Your entry MUST include the hashtag “#BrambleChai” in the photo caption. Without the hashtag #BrambleChai, your photo will not appear in our Facebook album (we use this hashtag to easily find the photos; the hashtag makes it possible for us to search for just those photos for the Make It Month).
  • You can make multiple projects, but we will only consider three photos per person.
  • We will post a collage of staff favorite projects on November 4th. We’ll base our choices on how unique and creative the item is.
  • We encourage everyone to participate, from veterans to newbies! All photos submitted before the deadline that include the hashtag #BrambleChai will appear in a Facebook album on the Bramble Berry Page.

This is an excellent way to show off your creations, and it’s a great source of inspiration for your upcoming holiday projects. In the past, we’ve hosted Make it Months with a variety of themes, including 4th Of July, Oatmeal Milk and Honey Cybilla Fragrance Oil and creative packaging.

To give you a few ideas, here are a few photos from a recent Make It: 4th of July challenge:

We’ve given you the instructions, and now it’s up to you to start crafting, creating and soaping. We can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!

Soapy Social Media Roundup

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Welcome to the end of September, everyone! It seems like just yesterday it was summertime, and we’ve been taking advantage of the changing seasons by getting out and about as much as possible. We enjoyed an evening out on the beach and have been taking plenty of pre-dinner walks throughout our neighborhood. In fact, the changing scenery is what inspired our newest melt and pour project!

In Soap Crafting news, I am very excited to say that we’ve reached the number 1 selling book on Amazon in three categories: soapmaking books, candlemaking books and candlemaking Kindle ebooks. Myself and the team are overjoyed by this news, and I am so excited to share my passion with others through this book.

In baby news, a new Brambleberrian has joined our family! Our Social Media Manager, Kristen, gave birth to her first child, Ewan Montgomery Clawson on Saturday, September 21. Both momma and baby are healthy, and they stopped by the office yesterday to say hi. Ewan is so tiny, and it’s hard to believe that Lily was that small just a few short months ago! I was so awestruck and gobsmacked that I didn’t get one picture (!). She’s promised to stop by next week so expect a photo of the littlest Bramble Fan soon.

For now, sit back with a nice cup of hot apple cider and enjoy this week’s Soapy Social Media Round Up.

Pins:

Clockwise from top left:

  • You know the holidays are around the corner when you start seeing an influx of red and green-hued soaps, and this is one of my favorites so far. The red, which can be difficult to achieve in cold process, is absolutely stunning and I love the dusting of glittery mica on top.
  • How cute are these lace mason jars? I love burning candles in the fall and winter months, and this is a fun project with such an elegant result.
  • Timeless, classic and super chic, rose body products never go out of style, which is probably why I am in love with this Peppermint Rose Lip Balm. This recipe is super simple, and infusing the fresh rose petals is a great way to practice infusing oils, which is a technique I use all the time in various recipes.
  • The writing is (literally) on the wall — it’s fall! Thinking about hanging this cute little banner in the office somewhere to celebrate.

Instagrams and Vines:

It’s getting colder around here, but that didn’t stop us from creating this bright, flower-inspired cold process frosting recipe. Soap frosting is super fun and way easier to whip up (pun intended!) than it looks. Check out a tutorial we did for soapy cupcakes with frosting to try it for yourself.

Our first holiday inspired soap of the season! This is our Holiday Holly design, made in our Square Tray Mold and garnished with real Cranberry seeds.

Tweets:

  • This list of business (and life!) lessons from Bella Lucce is so inspiring. I love thinking about her first tip — passion is a great equalizer. Don’t let the fear of failure or the unknown scare you away from starting a business around something you love.
  • I could not believe this when I first saw it: an Odwalla Super Food smoothie has as much sugar as FIVE Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. How unbelievable is that? I love comparisons like this because they cause me to pause and examine all those “healthy” food claims.
  • This blog post shows that even some of the world’s most successful corporations still haven’t nailed down social media yet. Social media sites such as Pinterest aren’t just for posting pretty pictures (although how many hours have we all spent looking at pretty pictures on Pinterest!); they represent very real ways to build and maintain a loyal customer base.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! To keep up with the latest soapy social media throughout the week, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Vine, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.

Interview with Holly of Missouri River Soap

Filed Under: Business Musings

After reading Missouri River Soap’s blog for several months, I finally had to break down and buy some of her fabulous soaps. As soon as they arrived I was in soap heaven (!) and could not ‘t stop oohing and ahhing over the unique designs, fantastic scent combinations, and cute packaging. Holly has such an artistic way with her products that I want to share with you. She also makes the most delightful little wax tart brittles that smell like  Rain, Fresh Linen and more. Read on to get soapy inspired…

Soap Queen: Tell us a little bit about yourself! When you’re not busy keeping your shop stocked with soaps, what are you up to?

I am a stay-at-home mom to three young children and a wife to a wonderful, supportive husband. There is always much to do in the field of household management and I don’t have a lot of free time. Of course, when I do have free time, I make soap! We are mostly home-bodies and enjoy quiet family time. We do have a boat and enjoy taking it out on the lake in the summer.

Soap Queen: How did you get started soaping?

I started soaping nearly six years ago. With three small children, I was washing my hands frequently and I found my skin was so dry and tight from commercial soaps. I used some lovely goat milk soap from the health food store and it sparked my curiosity. Why was it different from the soaps I bought at the regular store? I checked out the Everything Soapmaking Book from the library, started reading about using lye, and promptly returned the book to the library. After a while, I found I was still intrigued and started doing additional research online. I was just so fascinated by the process. I learned that lye must be respected but not feared. Soon after, I made my first batch of soap, a soap heavy on the cocoa butter. I used the oven process method and my poor little boy came running into the kitchen asking me when the chocolate chip cookies would be ready. What a let-down for him! The next day I made a batch of goat milk and honey soap and the rest is history. Unfortunately, I haven’t done much baking since!

Soap Queen: What prompted you to start your business? 

In February of 2011, I started publishing videos on YouTube. I received great feedback from my videos and so many people encouraged me to start selling. I really didn’t seriously consider it until early 2012, a year later. I had been making soap for nearly 5 years before I started selling in late 2012. I felt confident in my recipe and my abilities and I really needed something to fund this hobby of mine!

Soap Queen: Your soaps are so unique and really they stand out to me! Where does your inspiration for your designs and names come from?

I get inspiration in nearly everything I do it seems. Whether it be cooking, going for a drive, surfing the internet, etc., I find there is inspiration to be drawn from everything around me. My best ideas seem to just ‘come to me’, usually when I’m lying in bed at night, trying to fall asleep. Then I end up staying awake because I’m just so excited about the idea and I begin working it all out in my mind.


Soap Queen: Do you only make cold process soap or do you have a hidden love for melt & pour or lotions?

I only do CP soap now. The first couple of years of soapmaking was dedicated to making crock pot hot process soaps. Like many others, I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting to use the soap. My patient side finally kicked in and I realized that I much preferred making CP and waiting for them to cure. I have experimented with making scrubs and lotions and the process wasn’t one that excited me. I will leave those to the people that enjoy it! I discovered that working with wax is also great fun for me, in a way similar to making soap, so I enjoy making scented wax brittles and testing candles.

Soap Queen: What is your favorite Bramble Berry product?

It is hard to pick just one favorite product. If I have to choose, I choose the new silicone liners. I have several varieties but I particular love the one for the loaf molds. They are above and beyond handy! I always find the fragrances, essential oils, colorants, and other soap making ingredients to be top notch and I can always depend on quality from Bramble Berry.

Thanks for chatting with us, Holly! I really enjoyed hearing about how you got started, and can’t wait to see your business thrive and develop! For more soapy inspiration, you can check out Holly’s Facebook page, online store, blog and YouTube channel!