Thursday, December 13, 2012

A bar of soap is only as good as it smells


Today, My Husband Dan, sent me a very inspiring video that basically defines why businesses succeed and why others don’t. The questions presented are why do I do what I do? Or better yet why make soap at all? Or why teach it to other people? So I thought for a moment, thinking it’s going pretty good maybe I am doing the right things? Otherwise I would have been out of business already—right? Well we know where that came from… Let’s just say I have a healthy dose of EGO. Maybe my German Puerto Rican roots are showing now? Hmmmm..

Anyway, back to those hard to answer questions, I had to think back to when this all started.  It was the early 90’s in my 20’s when I flew for Delta Airlines and had numerous layovers in Brighton England. There I discovered a little shop called “The Body Shop” everybody knows them now because they raced across the pond to open up a shop in every mall in America.  The main reason I loved their shop was the aroma streaming through the English glass doors that grabbed by my nose and dragged me in.  Then once you are in—you are completely inundated with the why.  Let me explain, the Body Shop International is designed around their need to educate the public on why you should be purchasing FREE TRADE products that come directly from the source harvested in such a way to protect and encourage the communities they came from.  Inspiring right?  I bought from them because I enjoyed the natural smelling products with ingredients that were good for my skin. Needless to say, I probably built a few stores here in America.  Good times!

Which brings me back to what motivated me in the first place to start making soap?  Since early on in my childhood I knew I was different, I found out that scent would either:  give me a headache, make me dizzy or make me feel good.  So I set out for the “Feel Good” part.  Since then I have developed that part of my senses to be very keen on what exactly everything smells like. Heck, I still smell my glass every time before I pour something in it. Weird huh?  It’s a proven fact that our sense of smell is tied directly to the memory part of our brains, which is why scent is so inherently personal to each of us.  Check out The Sense of Smell Institute for some smell good facts:  http://www.senseofsmell.org/.

Ok so then why soap?  We’ll for me it’s the easiest way to facilitate the scent!  Not really, it has to be a good skin loving bar as well. But it was the main reason I picked a bar in the first place. I spent a lot of money in the beginning buying all my fragrances and essential oils because unfortunately there are a lot of stinky fragrances. So I had to wade through the fragrances that didn’t last or with stand the process of soapmaking, ones that didn’t morph into a scent that I didn’t recognize and ones that were just plain “stinky”.  Ultimately what came out of it was a new found knowledge of scent and where to find them. A bar of soap is only as good as it smells, if you don’t pick it up you will never know what you’re missing. I believe a scent memory is important to your wellbeing and genuinely want you to feel better. The scent for my soap is carefully chosen for their harmony with nature, clarity of mind, wellbeing of the body and quality to help keep you grounded.

Soap is pretty easy to make with a few ingredients that do not have to cost a lot of money, you don’t have purchase huge vats of anything to get started and you can use your own cooking equipment to mix it in. When you are ready to learn how—sign up for one of my classes.  The 2 day weekend workshop in January is filling up! Deadline to SAVE $$$ will end DEC 31.




Friday, November 23, 2012

Backdrop Curtain Tutorial

Learn how to make a gorgeous backdrop for your craft table this holiday season.  It's pretty simple and only took me a few hours of my time and I had a fabulous backdrop.

****Some close up photos***















Enjoy and have fun while you are making this- remember you can use any strips of material or ribbon!
Happy Holidays-



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

It may not be so easy starting a small business anymore.


I just found out yesterday- Our local county here in middle Georgia (not the big city--but really--the country), wants all home manufacturing (soapmaking, bath and body products) businesses to apply for a zoning variance, attend a hearing (waiting for at least 40 days before the hearing begins) and supply a survey of their home so they can apply for a business license. And it's not guaranteed they would even get approved. What are your thoughts? State Regs are not even this bad. Mind you we are a community of about 150,000 people. I guess weeding out new small business is what's in right now?

See this document on the requirements for Houston County-  http://www.houstoncountyga.com/assets/downloads/BusLicHomeOccupationsRegulations.pdf

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Southern Living Magazine "LOVES" our Soap!

We were contacted back in Aug by Southern Living Magazine to share our Christmas 2012 Soaps.  We'll I am happy to say the Issue is "Christmas At Home" 100 Ways to Celebrate The Season.  They gave us placement on page 9!






Thank you for that FABULOUS write up-- SOUTHERN LIVING!

Want to purchase that soap?  
See it on the front page of our website--

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Olive Oil Story


There was some discussion about Olive Oil for soapmaking in our class this weekend.  I thought I would go straight to the horse's mouth so to speak when I post this.  I checked out the USDA's website for the grade descriptions and this is what they say.

There are 3 types of Olive Oil:  Olive Oil, Virgin Olive Oil and  Olive-Pomace Oil -
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3011889

"Olive oil is the oil obtained solely from the fruit of the olive tree(Olea europaea L.), to the exclusion of oils obtained using solvents or re-esterification processes and of any mixture with oils of other kinds and shall meet the minimum requirements of Table I, found in §52.1539 of these grade standards." 
"Virgin olive oils are the oils obtained from the fruit of the olive tree solely by mechanical or other physical means under conditions, including thermal conditions, that do not lead to
alterations in the oil, and which have not undergone any treatment
other than washing, decantation, centrifugation, and filtration and
shall meet the minimum requirements of Table I, found in
§52.1539 of these grade standards. No additives of any kind are
permitted." 
"Olive-pomace oil is the oil obtained by treating olive pomace (the
product remaining after the mechanical extraction of olive oil) with
solvents or other physical treatments, to the exclusion of oils
obtained by synthetic processes and mixture with oils of other
kinds and shall meet the minimum requirements of Table I, found in
§52.1539 of these grade standards. Alpha-tocopherol is permitted
to restore natural tocopherol lost in the refining process for refined
olive pomace and olive-pomace oil. Maximum level: 200 mg/kg of
total alpha-tocopherol is permitted in the final product. "

The New Yorker posted about "The Olive Oil's Darker Side" In Feb 2012 http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/02/the-exchange-tom-mueller.html

Tom Mueller has done some extensive research on how corrupt this industry really is in his book called "Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil"

The Truth In Olive Oil Website:  http://www.truthinoliveoil.com/

A Buyers Guide in the US for Olive Oil http://www.truthinoliveoil.com/great-oil/how-to-buy-great-olive-oil/

What's your take on it?  What do you think of grocery store olive oil/no brand name? Is it really olive oil at all?



Monday, September 17, 2012

Color Branding

Color Branding?  Sounds pretty good hmmm.. I came across this very cool graphic and since I am designing new website this should really come into play. My new website should be up and running before Oct 1. We'll be expecting some down time and I will announce it before we switch over. So look for it:  http://mossycreeksoap.com/  It will be very user friendly with some very cool new features-

Anyway-  this graphic... It discusses color and why it's so important in branding your product. I thought I would share this with you guys--

 I love this company: http://dailyinfographic.com/the-illusion-of-choice-infographic .  I think it's important to say that most people love pictures.. so here you go!