Saturday, August 15, 2009

Friday, August 14, 2009

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Tonight's soap was Banana Nut Bread with oatmeal and cinnamon... yum. After it was poured it looked like the actual batter lol. I was joking with a friend and tld her making soap is like cooking but with a bigger possibility of exploding :)

Not the greatest pic of it but this is my Lavender and oatmeal log from today. I will have better pictures of the cut bars tomorrow. The whole house smelled great after unmolding this one.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tonight's soap

Before unmolding my patchouly and sandalwood soap I finshed putting together and Lavender oatmeal soap. I can't wait till it is hard enought to unmold so that I can cut it and take pictures. I think it will look really good. I used the last of my ultramarine violet coloring though. I'm going to try to budget in natural colorants soon. A lot of people around here are all about the natural stuff. Well at least half. The other half don't seem to really care as long as it smells good.

This is my Patchouly and Sandalwood combo. The bottom layer is the patchouly and the top is the sandalwood. Each bar weighs over 7oz except for one that weighs in the high 6s.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Here is a felted raspberry soap I was playig around with the other day. I am trying to become more daring with the felt.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

This is one of the pictures of Saturday's market set up. I made a new table cloth in a harvest theme that also serves to cover the front of the table so that people don't see anything that may be stored there.

Here is a closer look at the table setup. I like to think that it improves each week. In the middle front is my new gift from my 7 year old son from when he went to Niagra Falls with his grandma and aunt. He is so happy with that gift :)

Thursday, July 30, 2009

This is my Autumn-Zin-Lily soap. I made this for a fall soap swap next month. It has Zinnia seeds in it and day lilly petals and it is scented with Autumn Afternoon fragrance oil.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Here is another table pic from a couple weeks ago.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Here are 2 of the soaps that I have been working on. The first one is my Patchouly soap that I unmolded last night. The second pic is my lime soap that I am felting for tomorow's market. In that pic you can see 2 of the soaps that are drying and then the other ones in the background that have not been done yet.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Here are two soaps I felted yesterday as part of a house warming gift. The felting process is coming a long a lot better then it was.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Saturday's Market

Here I am at Satuday's market. It went better then the last few weeks. I have to finish felting the last of my plain soaps for this Saturday. And I should have my first order from VistaPrint so I will have my car magnet up and new buisness cards out. I will also make sure I use my tote and have it where it will be noticed but out of the way.

Large Banner

I just ordered a large outdoor banner this morning. It was a great sale that I couldn't pass up. VistaPrint isn't charging shipping on anything over $30 for 48 hours. So I got a real nice banner for just under $39. I can't wait for it to get here so I can post pictures of it.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Cool stuff

I should be getting three new items for business on Friday. I will have 1 car magnet, 1 tote, and 250 business cards. They were all free and all I had to do was pay the shipping. Next week I will be ordering g a 6' x 5 1/2' outdoor banner! It looks great. When I get my stuff this Friday I will post pictures for everyone to see. Hubby said I could slap the magnet on and drive every where with it lol. I'll make sure I put it some where that people will be sure to see it when I am at the farmers market.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Labeling

I knew I would have a lot of labeling to do over but wow. Although it still isn't as much as I had to to do the first time. I'm hoping to have everything changed over except for the sign. Also, I ordered a few things from VistaPrint website last night. They have a special going on where you can get free stuff to see if you like their company. I ordered 1 small rubber stamp, 1 car magnet, 1 tote, and 250 business cards and all I had to do was pay shipping! The tote looks great. I'm also really interested to see the magnet.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

I have changed the business name to Grand Kankakee Soap as of today.Still the same great soap just under a different business name.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Thursday, July 2, 2009

This is our resident toad. I found him today underneath my clothesline when I went to hang up the wash. We have been finding him in all kinds of places off and on. Our animals won't bother him either. O'ryan thinks he tastes nasty and I'm not sure if our chickens have noticed him yet.

Here is hubby from last Saturday's market. He has been such a big help and great supporter with my new adventure.

Showcase

I just purchased a showcase slot on Etsy. They will be running my slot tomorrow. I really think this show case thing helps. It gets the word out and people can see my soaps right then and there. I made another sale a couple days ago as well!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Last day at the Super Bowl

Saturday was the last day at the Super Bowl bowling alley. My hubby had suggested down a 4 for $15 sale and it went over great. I had to go and get change because it went over so well. I thought I had enough but I didn't. I thought that was so neat. And then there was a lady from the European Market and she toke a picture of my table and she took a business card. She said she would post my business on her site!

Saturday

Thursday, June 25, 2009

yeah!!!

I finished my cucumber soap and Saturday's forecast is looking better. Now they are saying 88 instead of 91 and isolated thunderstorms. Its looking up. And I made a couple more sales on Etsy recently. The next soap I think I will make might be another blueberry cobbler except that this time I will color most of it blue and hold back a small amount and color it white to swirl into the blue. Sound good? I think it should turn out interesting at the least.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Awwww no more sweat :)

I picked up my dehumidifier yesterday and checked my soap this morning and everything is dry again. I didn't even get a little moisture off any of them except for a real thick one but I'm sure that one is dry by now. The dehumidifier is such a wonderful thing :). And I also have another order of soap going out in a day or two. I'm hoping that I will fair well this weekend at the market. I really need to order supplies and I have to start getting ready for my Fall Soap Swap on BYC. We are having a harvest theme and I can't wait to see every one's soap when they all get sent out!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Etsy

I had to more sales on Etsy recently. I hope this can keep up at least a little. It feels good to have it happen again. I have a few more soaps to prepare for Saturday and I would like to get my cucumber soap made tonight but I think it will have to wait till tomorrow. Tomorrow I also need to get shopping done and while I am out I have to look for a dehumidifier because this humidity is making my soaps sweat REAL bad.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Saturday's Market

The first soap I sold was one of my felted soaps! I sold about 5 of them, that's a lot better then what I have been doing with those. A lot of people are intrigued by them but they only smell them. I'm hoping that the people that did buy those soaps will spread a good word for me. One lady who bought my Made In America soap walked by and told me how much she liked it.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Saturday's Felt

I have been offering one kind of felted soap, Blueberry Cobbler. Lastnight I started felting other soaps. I want to offer Blueberry Cobbler, Lime, and Oatmeal, Milk and Honey scents that are felted. I'm hoping it will get people's attention even more.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Etsy



I paid to have 9 of my items showcased tomorrow. And I put a basket of oatmeal soap at the top of the list with my Berry Fusion right underneath it. I hope this will help to get some sales going.
Here are two of my Black Current, Ginseng, and Tahitian Vanilla tea soap. This has only been out of the mold a couple days and after it has cured a few weeks I'll be trimming up the sides. I think it turned out pretty good for being a completely new recipe.


Sunday, June 14, 2009

Tea soap



Last night I made soap using black current, ginseng, and tahitian vanilla tea. I opened up the tea baga after the steeped and let the herbs dry out. After bringing the soap to a thin trace I added most of the left over herbs from the tea and stirred it in. Then I poured it in the mold and sprinkled the rest on top. I didn't add any essential of fragrance oils to this one. That should make some of my customers very happy. I am really suprised at how well my Castile soap is going over. It only has milk, olive oil and rose petals in it but they love it.


Saturday, June 13, 2009

2nd Farmers Market

Today was the second market for me. I took my oldest son to help me today. Setup went pretty smooth for the most part. There weren't as many shoppers as there was last Saturday because of how cold it was today. About half way through it started to rain lightly and the wind picked up and got a little bit of water on my soaps. Then a little while later it really stated to come down more. We all ended up packing up and leaving an hour early today because of the lack of customers and the nasty weather. I'm hoping for much better weather next week. The one good thing is that I made back the money I spent for the vendor fee :)





Friday, June 12, 2009

Sandalwood



I have a new batch of sandalwood soap curing. It will be ready in about four weeks.


Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Picture of tent.


I have a picture of my tent at the market from Saturday. The quality of the picture isn't great but it's not that bad either. Next Saturday there will be changes made to the setup and I will have my camera with me this time.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

I made it!

I came out of the Farmers Market in one piece lol. Thanks to help from my sister in law and my best friend things went smoother then I expected. I did however forget my camera but, my sister in law let me use her phone to take a couple of pics. I will hopefully have those in a few days and then I will post them asap.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Big Day

Well tomorrow is the big day and I don't know if I should be nervous or excited lol. The van is almost packed and I'll put the soaps in in the morning. I am taking over 200 bars with me. And a small handfull of samples. I also sold some soap to the ladies at my bank lol. I will make sure to take my camera and get pictures of my setup to.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

R.I.P. Saleen

I'm pretty sure it is Saleen, not Steeda that is no longer with us. My 3 Golden Comets decided to fly out of their run while the dogs were out. Shelby is fine with just a couple small scratches on her comb, Steeda is doing fine also. I can't find anything broken our wrong with their bodies so I think they will be okay. Tomorrow I will be squeezing in wing clipping on my list of things to do.
Bye Saleen :(

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Strawberry Shampoo Bar










Here it is. Doesn't look the way I was wanting but it's not that bad either.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Dare Devil Steeda



Here is my daring and not very smart Steeda. She is one of my Golden Comet pullets and I have no idea what she was thinking when she did this.

Getting close

Only a few more days until my first Farmers Market :). I'm pretty sure I already have one definite customer. She goes to the market on a regular basis and has tried a bar of my soap recently. She loved it and looks forward to seeing me there!
I'll be getting back to work tomorrow on another batch of soap. I haven't made any for a few days because I was helping a friend move, so now its back to work I go. I am considering making a shampoo bar tomorrow. I will be taking before and after pictures to post on here.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Gazebo



I went and purchased my 10x10 gazebo a couple days ago. I put it up by myself to see how easy it would be. It isn't hard to put up but will definitly be easier with two people. My husband and I have decided that our 13 year old son will be helping me every Saturday. We think it will help him learn a few things this summer while school is out.


Monday, May 25, 2009

Soap inventory

I just counted up how much soap I will have ready for the Farmers Market. I have 273 bars ready to go! That is a over hundred more then I had a while back. I didn't think that I would have that many ready. I also have about 49 bars curing right now as well. Hopefully I will get a good response when I go. The market has never had a soap maker there before so it will be interesting. Right now I am working on printing out 273 labels while I have the motivation lol. That is certainly not something I want to put off for long.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

New Berry Fusion




I made another batch of Berry Fusion soap tonight. This time I decided to try something new. The last batch I made was a double layer with one color on top and another on the bottom. This time I decided to do a swirl in both layers but with a different color swirl for both. The bottom is a turquoise and the top is a violet. I can't wait to unmold it tomorrow and take a look at how it turns out. I also used the same to fragrance oils, sun ripened raspberry and strawberry delight.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Eucalyptus Swirl



Here it is. I swirled it with brown oxide and forest green oxide. I'm really surprised at how fast the eucalyptus fragrance oil accelerates the process.

Tonight's Soap

I will be making Eucalyptus Swirl tonight. I'll post pics after pouring it into the mold. And there isn't much time left before the market starts either so I need to get what oils I have together and try to squeeze in a few more batches.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Today's rebatched soap







It looks so much better then it did last night. It already had dried lavender buds in it when I melted it down today. So after I poured it into the mold I went out and got some lilac flowers from my lilac bush. I pushed those into the top of the soap. It isn't ready to be cut just yet but it should be soon.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Cucumber

I rebatched some of my cucumber soap Monday and it didn't turn out to bad. I added lemongrass essential oil and sprinkled carnation petals over it. It is a nice pale green with pastel colored petals on the top. I will post pics a little later.

Saturday, May 9, 2009



This is my trial setup for the market. I wasn't able to setup outside today because of the weather so I setup in the house. It's not done but there are always going to be changes. I don't like the sign on the front of the table to much though. When I get my tent next week I'm going to try hanging it from the front and see if I like that better. There will also be more soaps added before the market starts.



Friday, May 8, 2009

Setup tomorrow

Depending on the weather I'm going to setup my table again and put my banner on it this time. I'm going to see how it looks hanging from the front of the table and I'll take lots of pics. Next week I should be getting my 10 x 10 canopy and sides. When I get that I'm going to set everything up again and this time I'll attach the sign to the front of the canopy so that it hangs down a little.

Broody Buella



She's so grumpy lol. And she stole another egg for Red my Rhode Island Red hen. :)

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Banner!!!!!







Here is my banner for the Farmer's Market next month! My friend from church made it today. Isn't she great! I would never had had the patience for it. It is hanging in the basement to get the creases out of it so the picture isn't that great but I will have better pics soon. Oh, and the banner is 18" x 48". It will look great the table. As soon as I put it up with the table and everything I'll post more pics. It should look great.



Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Broody Hen

My hen Buella is broody. I had no idea that Buff Orpingtons are so prone to broodiness that they will sit in their nest even when there are no eggs to hatch. She has been sitting on my other hen's eggs. The boys and me went out this afternoon and bought eggs for her to sit on. Hopefully some of them might hatch. I'll take pictures tomorrow and post them in all her grumpy broodiness lol. If she does hatch eggs I think she'll make a great mama.

Sign for the market.

I'll be going over to a friends house tomorrow to help her design a vinyl sign for me. I can't have it any smaller then 15" x 20" and I definitely am not artistically inclined when it comes to anything on paper lol. She said she can also put grommets on it so that I can hang it! :) I'll post pics of it tomorrow when I get home with it.

Fourth of July Soaps










They didn't turn out as bad as I thought they would. I used peppermint and vanilla essential oils and it smells better then I expected.