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Fish Bone Soaps

My favorite part of making soap and owning my own little shop is that I can make all kinds of funky soaps, and these funky fish bone soaps are my favorite! They smell delicious with their honey almond scent, and are super fun with their unique shape!


Find these great soaps on Handmade Sparks!

A little shout out!

I've been making soap for a while now, and I have got to say I love it more and more everyday! I wanted to share with you a fellow soap maker that has really inspired me when it comes to making soap. With this item, they truly taught me that the possibilities are endless. This "Eggs and Bacon" soap is my favorite item on sunbasilgarden's shop, however they have many great items. Thank you so much for the wonderful products and great inspiration!

Soaps and Such by Holly now offers wholesale rates!

Now that Soaps and Such by Holly is back in action, I've decided it's time offer wholesale rates alongside my already low retail prices :)

Roughly my retail prices range from $1.00 - $1.50 per ounce of soap. My wholesale price is now $.75 per ounce of soap, not including shipping. For example, a set of my pastel colored duck soaps are listed for $2.99 making them $1.495 per ounce retail, and the wholesale price for a set of the same soap is $1.50 making them $.75 an ounce wholesale. $15.00 is the minimum order amount needed to receive wholesale prices, so going back to the duck soap example that would be 10 sets or 50 individual ducks which equals 20 ounces.

Come visit my shop where you can get a little soap or a lot!

Customize your soap!

Soaps and Such by Holly now has more new shapes to choose from for customizable soaps. These soaps are great for party favors, gifts, or just to pretty up your space. We've got flowers, hearts, stars, ducks, fish, lots of others, and more to come! Click here to see all the soaps we now offer!

You can get any shaped soap in the colors: orange, blue, pink, yellow, green, and purple. Here's a sample of what the colors look like.


You also get to choose from any of these scents: Vanilla, Lavender, Honey Almond, Sweet Pea, Wild Berry, and Spicy Apple.

Soaps and Such by Holly is Back!

June 11th was the day my newest little boy was born. He is healthy, beautiful, and a wonderful addition to our family. It may takes some fine juggling skills, but now that I'm rested I'm ready to get back to work. Go ahead and stop by my shop www.soapsandsuch1.etsy.com to see all the new soaps I've added that are fully customizable. There are new heart and flower bars, and multi colored flowers and stars. I also have plans for some more great soaps soon to come so keep an eye out :)

It's been a while!

Well today is the first day in a couple weeks that I have actually had the chance to make soap. I have been so busy with homework, kids, and have had some family situations to deal with, that I had no choice but to put my hobby on the back burner. Things have slowed down a tad for me now, but the baby will be here soon so the chaos is sure to pick back up. So I've come to a conclusion... yep I'm gonna have to terminate my experiment :(. I am fully confident that it would have been a success, but only if I had the time to invest to make it work. I am however going to keep on making soap, just with less pressure. I still love the soap making process, and will continue to have my shop on etsy. I also still would like to blog here and there, so really not much has changed. Thank you everyone for understanding :).

Holly

Day 68

Well spring break is over tomorrow, so I should get back on a better blogging schedule. I'm sorry I haven't been posting as much. But I have good news, our 10 day dry spell is over. I got two orders yesterday, and a customer wanted to know my wholesale info to sell some of my items in her gift shop in New Jersey, how exciting is that? Also yesterday alone I had 125 visitors come to my shop, that is by far the most I've had in one day. Things have been slow, but that's okay since I've had so much going on lately. I have a feeling things our going to start picking up again very shorty. But for now I've gotta get.

Holly

302 days to go!

A couple days ago we made it past the 2 month mark and we're going strong. The last few days have been kind of slow though. I've been super busy with sick kids, and with my new classes that started yesterday. It is also spring break which means no school for the kiddos. I'm gonna try and get some soaps listed today because we haven't had a sale since the 10th which was six days ago. That just goes to show if you want to be successful no slacking is allowed :). Another bummer is a big custom order I sent out over 2 weeks ago still hasn't been received. I have to get on the phone with the post office to try and find it. Thankfully I have the receipt! I think on all large orders I better get tracking numbers, because that could be costly.

Please Help

It's day 59, and until April 4th 2010 all proceeds will be donated to a very special cause! I just found out that my second cousin, a very special little girl's mother is in desperate need of kidney surgery. If she doesn't get the surgery she only has about 6 months to live. I have never met this woman, but her daughter I have, and she has the greatest spirited I have ever known and I would hate for something so devastating to happen to her. If you want to read her story you can go to http://www.giveforward.org/justtosavealife/. Thank you so much!

Holly

Day 58

Wow it's been 58 days so far and things are going so great! I have been averaging a sale every other day which is amazing, and I've had 2 international sales! As far as my registry goes I haven't earned more than the $100 I've spent, but my husband says I've already made a profit if you count my inventory, and the value of all my tools and molds.

What's been really exciting is all the custom orders I've been getting. A couple of weeks ago I made a custom order of 30 little ducks that were just pink and yellow, and the day before yesterday that customers party grew and she needed another 30 in a hurry. I was having a great time making them, especially for an already satisfied customer. I was also glad that I could hurry up and get them to her in time for her party.

All day today I have been working on reorganizing my house getting ready for the new baby, and I've still got lots to do tomorrow. I did make these great massage soap bars last night and got two listed this afternoon. I'm really excited to use one myself because my back has been killing me. You can see them here Well it's getting to be my bed time but I will check in soon, have a good night everyone!

Holly

Day 55

Today I was working all day on a custom order of 80 tea bags, but this wasn't just any custom order, this was an advertising opportunity! Sampler Village was the one to place the order and use my tea soaps as thank yous, they also agreed to send along a little coupon that I made up to each recipient. The coupon is good for 10% off any item, and there is a coupon code on it so I can see how many come from the Sampler Village's fans and friends. Just another exciting experiment with in the experiment! I'll keep you posted on how this goes. The coupon expires July 31st so we'll have all the info then. In the meantime you should definitely check out the Samplers Village's blog at www.samplervillage.blogspot.com, they were nice enough to mention my soap and my shop in it today :)

Well I was planning on going to register for two more classes tomorrow, but that looks like it might be postponed for another day. My oldest daughter has a little fever tonight, and I'll probably keep her home with me tomorrow. I do need to register for these classes this week though. I only have 13 weeks till my baby is due, and the classes are 8 weeks long. I guess tomorrow will be a good day to get my house straightened up and take care of my babies.

I do have a idea for a tutorial I want to get working on tomorrow too! I finally got all the supplies I need, and I'm super excited! I fill you in on more details after I get it started.

Holly

Now on Youtube!

It's day 54 and I finally put a video up! Make sure you check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_1Y7J3fiQ8 The song is by one of my favorites by Amos Lee. Every time I hear it I can't help but smile, and realize how great life is! I hope you all enjoy it!

Holly

Tea Time Day 51

I finished up making the most adorable soaps, well actually it's the most adorable wrapping! It's peppermint tea soap wrapped in a faux tea bag. They smell so good, you almost think you could really steep and drink it.

So my husband and I were looking over my sales today, and we've come to a conclusion that simplicity seems to sell the best. The soaps I try to make look fancy kind of just sit on the shelf, but my hearts and ducks are my most popular sellers. So I think today I'm going to try and promote custom orders more. Show my customers the different colors and scents they can choose from for soaps like the hearts, flowers, ducks, etc.

Other than making soap and taking pictures, I need get studying! I have my math final coming up on Saturday, and my final English Paper due Monday. I better get to work!

Holly

316 days to go!

February was a GREAT month for sales! All together I sold $153.70! That is amazing, but my budget allowance is still pretty low at $13.38. I was on a roll get a couple sales or a sale everyday, but now it's going on day four since we've got a sale so lets cross our fingers we get one today.

I came across another tutorial of another soap I can't wait to make, it is made with tea. I saw these really cute tea cup planters at the hobby lobby that I would just love to display them in at a craft show. I also have a great idea on making a display rack. As soon as I get enough funds for the materials I going to make it and turn my idea into a tutorial.

I have made a lot of soap in the last couple days, hearts, butterflies, and I finally got those darn eggs out of the mold. That was so difficult that they might just be one of a kind! Here's a pic though, because they did turn out great.


This weekend I learned a new technique on blending colors, that is turning out pretty cool. I'm gonna mess around with this technique a little today and I'll try and get some pics soon. I better get going for now.

Holly

Day 45

Hello everyone,

I must say the mini duck soaps are quite the success! So far I've sold 88 little ducks this month, that is sooo exciting. Also my first thought was that they would be great for Easter, but a lot of people are using them for baby showers. That is a great idea, especially if you don't know the sex of the baby.

I have sold a lot of stuff this month, in fact we are up to $106.41 in sales. Since I've been reinvesting the money in molds and soaps and shipping cost unfortunately are bottom line number is staying low. Right now it's at $2.79 :(. But on the bright side, I have tons of inventory! Just posted on my shop alone is $85 dollars worth of products, and I have tons more in my cupboard. I think maybe Caradoc and I should do inventory again. That always makes me feel better when my budget is low.

I made a ton of soap yesterday, and even got a few listed today. I made these really great egg soaps but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get them out of the mold. Caradoc put them in the freezer hoping they would shrink a little and fall out. Here are some pics of the new soaps I made. They are my new Two-Tone Heart Collection! For now I better get, my kitchen is in dire need of my attention.

Bye,
Holly

Day 43

I'm sorry there was no blog update yesterday, it's just that my littlest girl isn't to fond of my new found hobby, so yesterday was spent as Mommy Maddie day. I think from now on unless I have something really exciting, my post will be every other day or so. I'm just sooo busy. Today alone I have a math test and I haven't even glanced at the material yet, and a English assignment. I finished taking photos of my lip colors and want to get them posted today, but I still need to write a description. Also I just got a custom order for 40 teddy bears today. That is awesome, but I need to run to the store for more soap and bags. So I'm busy busy busy, but at least everything I've got going on is fun, and I enjoy every minute of it.

Caradoc was funny this morning. He figured out that I take up 15 square feet of our house strictly for my business, so my rent should be $8/month, and $5 - 8 dollars for utilities. Not a bad overhead if I do say so myself. I think he was hoping for more so there could be a possible write off :). I will let you know when my lip colors are posting, but for now I have got to get to work!

Bye,
Holly

Day 41

I can just not get over how cool it is to be able to make lipstick out of crayons! There are so many colors to choose from and that is great because they are fun for face or body paint too. They will be great for Halloween, or sporting events, and there are great shades for everyday use. I can't wait to get some labels made up!
I'm gonna try and get the labels designed today then printed up tomorrow. I have an ink jet printer, so I need to go somewhere that has a laser printer. I read that the ink jet will just smear with the oil in the lipstick.

Today I've had two sales, one on my etsy shop for a set of colored ducks, and then my mom in law bought some more lavender flower soap squares and some pink and black hearts. It's the first time I've had more than one sale in a day, maybe they'll keep coming in. I think the funnest part of starting this little business is breaking my own little records.

Today, however is also a bit stressful! My husband is taking the 2nd part of his CPA exam. It's always a bummer because you have to wait at least six weeks to find out the results. He has been studying a lot so I think he'll do great!

I better get going, lunch time is rolling around again.

Holly

Crayon Lipstick Success!

Okay, so I haven't made any soap yet today, but I did finally get all the ingredients needed for the crayon lip color. It turned out so good, all I need now is a cute label. Here is a picture of me wearing Crayola Red!

Wow, we've made it to day 40!

It is a rainy day outside, all the more perfect to make soap inside, but first I need to clean my kitchen up a little. I'm getting kind of a late start today, I had to run some errands, then I went to visit a friend I haven't seen in a long time.
Now I'm back home, and ready to get to work. First task is make lunch, second clean kitchen while kids eat, third make soap. I don't really have to much to update today, no new sales, but our shop got like 38 views yesterday! I think I need to go through my listings and write better descriptions, they are just pretty basic and I think I would like them to be more interesting. The kids are telling me they're hungry so I better get. Oh I almost forgot, here is some pics of the bath salts I made yesterday. Since they are wild berry scent I thought t would be fun to make their container a little wild and added a little boa to the lid. Very fun!

Holly

Soaps and Such by Holly Goes International!

It's day 39 and we've gone international! Yep, I got a custom order yesterday for 20 mini pastel ducks, and they are going to Canada! In the last 3 days I have made over a hundred little ducks, and my husband say he thinks I'm gonna quack soon, haha.

I'm glad to be getting all these orders because there is a special project I'm trying to save up for. Here is a link to the tutorial I found: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-lipstick-with-crayons/
It teaches you how to make lipstick using crayons, and I think that is just awesome. With all the different colors crayola has, I think this project will be fun. I already have a lot of crayons because I stocked up on new packages when they were on sale for a quarter after school season started. I have a few ingredients already, but I still need a couple more things. I'm really excited about this project, I hope it turns out good. Thank so much Belsey for posting this instructable!

I got side tracked with all the duck yesterday that I didn't end up making my bath salts so I better get in my kitchen and start on that. I did end up getting a little cabinet, Maddie doesn't like it which means it is doing it's job :). Have a great day everyone!

Holly

Day 38

Good Morning Everyone! Today's mission is organization. My craft area is a mess and no thanks to my youngest daughter my soap molds are everywhere. I'm gonna go look for some sort of cabinet today that is "childproof", and hopefully be able to keep the place picked up. Maybe something like this...

I made some really cute black and pink heart soaps for the gift bag I'm working on, they turned out so nice I might put them on my shop. They are larger than my mini heart soaps. I just have to wait to post them for a bit because I used a different kind of dye for these and I want to make sure it doesn't get ruined if it bleeds. If you remember those black and white squares, they ended up bleeding so much that they kind of just look like purple squares now, so I had to take them off my shop.
Speaking of shop, my Etsy store has been doing great at averaging 21 visits a day, which is incredible. www.soapsandsuchbyholly.com didn't get a single view yesterday, but I think it will just take some time. Well I'm off to go organize wish me luck!

Holly

Custom orders! Day 37

I finished the 40 ducks yesterday and got them sent out about fifteen minutes ago, and now I have a second custom order. My mother needs sort of a gift basket made, so I'm gonna put all kinds of neat stuff in it, and will take a picture when it's all done.

I was thinking yesterday how neat it is to do business on the internet, because in a few days my little duck soaps that were just here in my kitchen will be all the way in New York. I've never been to the east coast but have always wanted to visit, to bad I couldn't sneak in the mail with them, haha. Now I have soaps that went to Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, and New York! I don't know, I just thought that was pretty cool!

Today I'm gonna work on my mom's gift basket, but really I need to work on my English paper. I should be a lot father then I am, so that is going to take up most of my day. It's just hard to focus on studying when I can't think of anything besides soap. Oh well, I'll get it done, then back in the kitchen I go!

After paying for the shipping today my budget is now down to $13.84. Keep me out of the craft store and we should be okay! Here is a copy of our register so you can see how we're doing. Maybe we can get more red!!!

Day 36

We got off to a great start today, I had a conversation with a customer via Etsy, and received a custom order for 40 pastel ducks. This is definitely our biggest order by far, and after paying for the shipping for the last two orders, and some more raw white soap, we have $18.74 now in our budget. That is so much better than $1.81 :).

My oldest daughter stayed home with me today because she had a dentist appointment this morning. She is doing great, but needed a filling and is just a little tired. She wants to help me make the ducks, but I keep telling her she should probably relax. So I better get going so I can get these soaps in the mail by tomorrow!

Holly

330 days left to make a profit...

and we have a long way to go. Yesterday I made a new banner for my store fronts and my website. I really liked the last one, but it is just way too blurry and doesn't look professional. Let me know if you like it!

I thought the paisley background was a nice choice because all the photos of my soaps have paisley and other neat designs in the background.

Now that I have a new domain name I want to print off some more business cards today, and maybe edit my labels and tags. I also would like to add some more items to Artfire.com, even though in the last 11 days, I've only received 18 views. I tell you what, nobody beats Etsy.com as far as traffic goes, I received 22 views just yesterday.

I will be making soap today, but not for my business. Since Alexa has been so interested in my soaps for her birthday the other day I got her a soap making kit. There is no school today, so we're gonna see what we can make. I'll try to get some pictures.

Holly

Happy V-Day Everyone!

It's day 34 and love is in the air, I'm just kidding, but really things are going great. So far in the last month we have started 2 online shops, 3 if you count zibbet.com. We have started a website www.soapsandsuchbyholly.com, and have $75 worth of inventory up for sale. I have accumulated tons of molds, and still have a tich of raw soap. And we have a whoppin $1.81 left in the budget. I do have some inventory that hasn't been listed yet, that I need to weigh and get all the info for. One of which are these cute little pastel colored confetti squares pictured above. I'm going to try and get them listed today.
I hope all of you are doing something great with your loved ones on this Valentines Day, and for all of you who have purchased my mini heart soaps I hope your enjoying them!

Much love,
Holly

Sorry about yesterdays post

Today is day 33 and I'm totally bummed out that I didn't get a chance to write yesterday because yesterday was our one monthaversary for Soaps and Such by Holly! I did try to blog a little from my phone but if you checked in you saw I was having technical difficulties. The reason I was away yesterday is I went to Prescott and finally got my mini van, YEAH!!! My back is so excited because it will no long be hurting getting the kids in and out of the car, instead we can just walk in woo hoo. So yesterday was such a long day by the time I got home I laid down on the couch and conked out.

Well for our one monthaversary I got us a present, and it's super exciting!!! It's our very own domain name. That's right, all you have to do to from now on is type in www.soapsandsuchbyholly.com and you can find my soaps and my blog all in one spot. Now if you feel more comfortable coming directly to my blog or my shops that is definitely still an option.

The other day I was getting super stressed because really our budget is gone, zip, nadda, broke. Then I was thinking, I've just gotta get on the posting. I only have some soaps posted on artfire and maybe I can try out shophandmade.com. What I need to do is write up a schedule, where Monday is artfire, tuesday is Etsy, and so on. That way I make sure I hit all my bases and I'm not stuck on the internet for hours and hours. Speaking of which, I have been on here already for a long time today so I better get, and if I get a schedule written up I'll try to post it right away.

Holly

Awesome! I finally got my phone set up to Facebook!

Day 31 and almost out of money

Hello everyone! So I need some clear glycerin soap, but if I buy it I'm completely tapped out of a budget. I have a little white soap and some scraps left of different color soaps. Quite the dilemma because I haven't thought about what I would do if I ran completely out. Then last night my daughter woke me up at 3am and she shortly went to sleep again, but I was wide awake. So I was thinking about my soap business and what I have that I can put on my shop. Well, I have my bath salts, I just need to make labels. I can't use my sugar body scrub because I still need containers. Then I was think I have tons of polymer clay, maybe I can make some bathroom themed jewelry or bathroom themed scrabble tile necklaces. The only thing is I don't want to stray to far from soap and would this be considered cheating??? I pondered and pondered this for like two hours, and I decided I might give it a try and I convinced my self it wasn't cheating haha. I mean I have been using as many free resources as possible, and the first step I did was looked around my house for whatever I can use that I wouldn't have to go out and buy. Anyways, I guess we'll see how it works out. For now Maddie is being grumpy so I've gotta get.

Holly

Here is how my first attempt at Zebra stripes came out. Not exactly what I was thinking but still pretty cool!

I just set up my account so I can blog from my phone! Pretty cool eh?

The big three O

Yeah, it's day 30, and we have hit 300 views! I finally finished my math test yesterday and got a 90% (awesome), and we had a great time celebrating birthdays last night, however no soap making was done. I did get some good ideas going though. My mom came up with a great idea, and that is animal print soap. I'm going to have to play around and see what I can come up with.

Today no soap making will occur either because I'm going up to Prescott to help my mom in law move. Well actually since I'm prego, so I'll be watching her move, but still I will be out of my kitchen. I won't be back till tomorrow, so tomorrow's post might be a little late. I'm excited to get out of the city for a couple days though, maybe I'll get some more inspirational ideas.

Holly

Day 29

How exciting! I opened up my blog today and saw that I got my very first follower, thank you Sampler Village! Speaking of which Sampler Village has a neat website http://www.samplervillage.com/, where you can get samples, learn about new products, and spread the word about your own products.

Speaking of sending out samples, I guess it's a pretty popular thing because I've gotten two request today and one yesterday. It's very flattering that so many people like my stuff, I wish I had enough to send out. It seems like a fun way to advertise, but the shipping cost is just too much for me right now.

Yesterday I decided to make some pastel ducks and they turned out really cute! Here's a picture below.



Not even 5 minutes after I listed them on my shop they received 10 views, so I think they are going to be popular. Actually I got a lot of views on my shop yesterday altogether, it was my record high with 40 views.

I didn't work on my math at all yesterday, which is no good, so that is what is on the agenda today. Also my mother is coming to visit. Tonight we are celebrating her birthday and my oldest daughter's birthday so that should be fun.

Bye bye,
Holly

Day 28 and things are GREAT!

So far we have had 3 separate sales transactions, that's good but can be better. This morning I renewed some listings and think I'm gonna hurry and get some more spring inspired items goin. I went to Hobby Lobby this morning to buy some more raw soap because I was completely out, and I also bought some paper for my labels and tags. My budget is now down to $7.56, that is the lowest it's been, scary.

Oops, I was just trying to multitask and melt some soap while I blogged and burnt my soap. It looks like a pretty coffee and cream color, but smells horrible. Thank goodness it was just a little because those types of incidents do not help the budget.

Today I have a pretty busy day. I'm gonna try and make some unburnt soap, get my house ready for my mom to visit tomorrow, and finish and English assignment and take a Math test. I better get going.

Holly

Superbowl Soap Day

My soap doesn't really have anything to do with the super bowl, except I'll probably be making soap while it's on. I personally am rooting for the Saints mainly because they beat out the Cardinals, and if the Cardinals have to lose to somebody it mine as be the winners of the super bowl. Anywho, enough football talk. I got kind of a late start today on my blog so I apologize for that. I had family here visiting this morning, then I had to take Alexa shopping for her birthday that is coming up this Wednesday.

I did have to recall my spa sets this morning unfortunately. It's a great product and I actually tried the sugar body scrub last night and my skin is super smooth. The only problem is the grape seed seeps through the plastic bags I packaged them in. So until I find or rather am able to afford a better container it will be put on the shelf. However the bath salts store really nicely in the bags so I will probably list them separately.

Yesterday I figured out some cute packaging for my soap squares that are pictured above, they turned out even better in real life. I also made some lemon/green tea body scrub, which doesn't use as much oil as my other scrub and I will be able to list them soon.

My mother in law purchased a set of soap squares from me this morning, so now our budget is up to $15.73. Thank you so much Karen, I hope you enjoy them! Also today is my mother's and Karen's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU TWO!!! Now I am off to do some listing on my shop.

Holly

Day 26

Hello Everyone!

Having a live in accountant definitely has it's advantages when your starting a business let me tell ya. Last night my husband and I had a lot of fun taking inventory of my soaps and figuring out down to the penny what each ounce of soap cost, and much the profit is and all that good stuff. The only thing that was a little discouraging is I found out if I sold every item I've made so far it would put me at $80.31, then add that to my $12.74 and I would have a grand total of $93.05 which is $7.00 away from my goal. Now that I think of it though that's not really that bad because even though I have spent almost $30.00 on molds, it's really like I only $6.95. Aw, okay I feel better now. I also still have some raw soap that wasn't accounted for in my inventory too.

Caradoc and I were also looking up craft shows online and came across this great organization,Az Home Show Women. They do all kinds of things like party planning, and house parties, and craft fairs. They give tons of resources to women to find jobs and help them to work from home, and all sorts of stuff. Here is a link to their website if you want more info http://azhomeshowwomen.com/default.aspx. What is neat is they are all around Arizona, but also do a craft show the 2nd and 4th Friday and Saturday every month. It cost $25 a day, or $35 for 2 Fridays or Two Saturday, or $65 for all 4 dates. You get a 10x10 area and an 8ft table with chairs. I don't have nearly enough inventory, but as soon as I do I'm gonna be all over that craft show. I'm just really excited because crafts shows are what my whole childhood was about. Every weekend I was either with my grandparents, my mother, or my Aunt Diane somewhere in AZ working a craft show. All my family made their own jewelry, and I would sell little earrings I made. If I wasn't selling earrings I would run around and look at all the great booths, then take naps under the tables. It was always a lot of fun, and I can't wait to take my oldest daughter Alexa with me. I think she would really like to look at all the pretty stuff.

I've already made some soaps today that are drying, but I probably won't get anything else done today. Some of my family is getting together for my mother in laws birthday in Anthem, and then come back to my house for the evening. As usual though I will try to check in on the shops and what not.

Holly

Still alive on day 25

I finished up my Spa Sets and they look really great. I got some really good pictures and I'll get them posted on my shops as soon as possible.

OMG, I had no idea how much time you have to spend on the computer to get your name out there, and have people look at your stuff. So far with this business I probably spend 10% of my time making soap, 5% buying supplies, and 85% on the computer wither social networking or setting up shop. I think once I get the hang of all the sites, and finish getting everything set up it will cool down a little.

Yesterday I read an article from Etsy, that talked about the importance of taking advantage of all the free websites for free advertising. It suggested Flickr.com and about 20 others. I don't think I can handle quite that many, infact I think I might need to downsize already. So here is a list of the websites I'm gonna work with for now until I get them completely under control.

1. Facebook.com - I opened a fan page you can find by typing in Soaps and such by Holly

2. Blogger.com - www.soapsandsuch1.blogspot.com
Of course this one is necessary!

3. Etsy.com - www.soapsansuch1.etsy.com

4. Artfire.com - www.soapsandsuch1.artfire.com

5. Youtube.com - www.youtube.com/soapsandsuch1


I might open a Myspace account specifically for my for my business to stop bombarding my friends and family, but I'm not sure yet :). Those five sites are definitely enough to keep me busy, and have so many features to offer that I'm sure my soaps will be seen.

Well here it is, a sneak peak of my new product before it gets listed. It is a peppermint flavored spa set that includes, bath salts, sugar body scrub, and 6 little heart soaps. Enjoy!




One more thing before I get going, I haven't spent a penny since the day before yesterday, yeah!!!

Holly

I smell peppermint!

Today is day number 24, and my entire house smells like peppermint. It's not to bad though because peppermint is suppose to be a cure all aroma. They say it helps with allergies and sinuses, and makes you feel refreshed and alive. Yesterday I made some peppermint heart shaped soaps and soap squares that turned out really cute. I also made a peppermint sugar body scrub and peppermint bath salts too. I was thinking maybe I would sell them as a combo on my shops, like a little spa set. The weather was so gloomy yesterday I couldn't get any good pictures, so I will try today if the sun comes out.

I decided to open up another shop on artfire.com, the address is www.soapsandsuch1.artfire.com. It's ranked pretty high as far as traffic goes, but it is going to take some getting use to. It has so many features that I'm not sure how they all work yet. I think this will be a good step in the right direction. Etsy is fabulous, but I need to get my stuff seen if I want to not go over my budget.

Today I'm going to try and update all my sites and do some networking, and do the finishing touches on my new bath products. Hopefully I'll get the spa set posted today.

I better get,
Holly

Happy Day 23!

I've figured out why I like blogging so much, I think it is because it's the most relaxing part of my day. It's the only time I get to sit for more than 5 minutes and just relax, well and write. Anyhow, today Maddie and I took a field trip to the container store, and to Whole foods to get ideas. I saw lots of cute containers but they were all super expensive, and at whole foods they have tons of natural soaps and essential oils. All of the soap smelled so good, but my favorite was the lemon/lavender. Here's a picture of their display, I would definitely like to make some soaps like these in the future.


I did spend some more money between today and yesterday, but I just couldn't help myself. I was watching a craft show yesterday called, "She's Crafty" hosted by Wendy Russel. She had guest on who makes bath and beauty products and they made the cutest sugar body scrubs. I already have all the ingredients to make some, but I really really needed a container to put it in. On the show they use cute honey bear containers, but I couldn't find any of those except online. I also decided to look up other homemade recipes online and there are tons, for masks, scrubs, and bath salts, you name it. I thought if I started making some of these products too, than the "Such" at the end of my shops name would make more sense. Not just soap, Soaps and Such by Holly. So I ended up spending $6.36 on Epsom salt, plastic bags, 6 little bottles and some paper for more tags. Actually it turned out the cashier didn't charge me for the bottles, but I didn't find out till I got home. My budget is now all the way down to $12.74.
I think I might need to upload more items on zibbet.com but I still have only had 7 views, so I don't know if I would just be wasting my time. It makes me kind of sad, because I think zibbet.com is a newer site, and the people behind it seem pretty cool. I would open shops all over the net, the only problem is it is so time consuming to set them up, then post descriptions and yadda yadda. Then the best part of this project is connecting with people and the craft community, but there is no time for that when your busy posting. With Etsy.com you get to read a lot of great articles about the sellers and meet new buyers, and just mingle around. I guess I'll post a couple new things on zibbet.com but if the view trend stays the same I might have to move to the next venue, or keep zibbet.com for back up.

Today's to do list:

1. Post items on zibbet
2. Make scrubs and salts
3. Clean kitchen
4. make soap
5. Brother and Sister in law come to visit

Until next time think happy sale thoughts,
Holly

22 down 343 days to go!

Hi everyone! Today is day 22 and we have 20 items listed on my shop, had to soap orders, and have received 232 views on this blog. Things seem to be going pretty good, but as I look around my house I notice it has been seriously neglected. I have been picking toys up here and there, and have done laundry and the dishes regularly, but since I've been more interested in soap than chores lately my clean laundry has not made it into drawers, nor my dishes into cupboards. So since I was so productive yesterday in my soap world, today's focus is clean clean clean! My husband has been so supportive and I would like to keep it that way, haha.

I will wait till after I tell you about all the stuff I did yesterday. I made my very first tutorial ever, and posted it on my blog last night. I'm pretty proud of it, and it was really fun to make. The soaps turned out really great. I also made some other soaps in the shape of teddy bears that are also pink and blue, but I probably wait till tomorrow to post them. Last night I posted another set of flower soaps because Mother's Day is coming up, and what mom doesn't love flowers??? Now this last thing I did, which I'm super excited about because it is a whole new dimension towards my project is I started a channel on Youtube. I have not posted anything on it yet, but I've got tons of ideas. I would like to make a proposal video telling about my project, so people can see who is actually behind all of this. I would like to put some slide show tutorials up with some music in the background, I'm thinking maybe the song "Glycerin", by Bush since I'm working with glycerin soap. I would also like to take videos of special events that going along with my experiment, like if I get to do a craft show I would like to document my very first one. Well We will see how it goes, my husband said I might be able to get a video camera with our tax return, but that I actually have to make family videos too and not just soap :). What got me into this Youtube idea is we got another Etsy conversation from a girl who does beauty product reviews and she asked if I wanted to start a contest or sponsor one for her. I definitely would like to work with her, because she's got a great personality and does a good job on her videos. She seems to talk unscripted, knows what she's talking about, and is fun to watch. Here is a copy of the convo she sent:

Hello,My name is Iryna,I have been on your website a couple time and was wondering....I have a youtube account and will have a 100 subscribers contest. I would love to try out some of your product and would advertise your company if i find the products really amazing and other people should purchase them.As for my contest i am hoping you would like or can sponsor me. My youtube link is - http://www.youtube.com/ira3345 . Your help will be much appreciated.Thank you for your time and hope to hear back from you soon! Iryna

The only problem is I don't really know what to send her yet that would be her style, so I might still wait a little bit. But if you get a chance I would check her out.

Okay okay I better go clean!

Later,
Holly

Teddy Bear Soaps Tutorial

Here it is, my very first tutorial ever!!! Please when you are finished reading leave a comment letting me know what you liked and didn't like so I'll know for next time.


These cute little soaps are perfect for baby shower favors or to put into gift baskets, and best of all they are really fun to make!

1. The first step is to gather all your supplies. Here is what you will need:
-Raw glycerin soap
-Soap Dye
-Fragrance Drops
-Plastic Mold
-Small Plastic Teddy Bears
-Wooden Spoon
-Sauce Pan or Microwavable Safe Dish to melt soap
-Rubbing Alcohol

I found all these items at my local craft store pretty easy, except the spoon and pan.


2. Now it is time to melt your raw soap. You can do this in the microwave or on the stove top, either way you want to melt it slowly. I prefer the stove top mainly because my microwave is in the garage and barely used. I melt my soap on low heat.


3. Once soap is completely melted it is time to add the color and the fragrance. I like to put one drop of color at a time so I'm sure to get a color I like. They say to use 1-5 drops per ounce of soap. For this tutorial I'm using a pink dye and sweet pea fragrance.



4. Make sure soap is not too hot and start to pour in the mold cavities. Only fill them half way full and let harden for 5 minutes or so. They need to be just hard enough so the toy can sit up straight.


5. Spritz the hardened soap with rubbing alcohol and place they toy in the middle of each cavity. The rubbing alcohol helps adhere the soap together.



6. The last step is to fill up the rest of the mold cavities with melted soap and let harden. I like to wait an hour or so, and for faster drying times let it harden in the fridge. After you pop your soaps out of the mold they should look like this!




These cute little soaps are fun and easy to make, but if you don't have the time they are available for sale at my shop Soaps and Such by Holly at www.soapsandsuch1.etsy.com. Thank you so much for checking out my tutorial, and I hope you had fun!

Holly

Day 21

What a busy morning I've had already. I dropped the kids off at school, then yesterday I sold my car (YEAH!!!) and had to pick up the notarized title from my husband today, went to the grocery store, went to the craft store, went to the bank to pay rent, to the post office, and finally back home, whew! Oh yeah, in between somewhere in there I stopped and got an egg mcmuffin with OJ, yummy.
So I've got some good news and some bad news about the craft store. Yesterday when I went my usual craft store was closed because it was Sunday, so I went to another down the street and I had amazing self control. I spent a little over five bucks on lavender fragrance, which I needed to finish my order, and some cute little bags for future packaging. Today however was a different story, I saw the cutest teddy bear molds, then these little pink and blue plastic bears I can put in the soaps, and then of course I needed more soap. I spent $11.54 today, which isn't bad because I printed off another 40% off coupon from the internet, but if you put that with yesterday's 5 bucks it adds up. Then my shipping cost were more than expected at a whopping $6.30, and I paid my etsy bill early because I don't want it sneaking up on me and it was $5.15. So the bad news is my bottom number which is now only $18.10. I am in absolutely in no way allowed to buy anything else for sure until we get that number up at least over 30 dollars. It makes me nervous being so low. I am still confident however, I have quite a bit of raw soap to make more and more inventory. I can't wait to do something with these little bears. Unfortunately my busy day is not over, I still have some English homework, housework, and finish the car transaction so I better get going

Bye,
Holly

CLEARANCE

Back on day 4's blog I mentioned how I should probably get a clearance section going on my online shop, www.soapsandsuch1.etsy.com. It's now day 20 and I set the clearance section up this morning. I made some really cute soap squares that turned out so great, the only problem is I accidentally mixed the scents together so some are sweet pea/vanilla/honey almond, and the rest are sweet pea/vanilla. They still smell good and look so great that I just couldn't throw them out.

Yesterday I wasn't too productive with Soaps and Such by Holly, but I kicked butt on my English homework and got all caught up, at least till Monday. I also went and saw 3D Avatar with my husband, while my father in law babysat. It was a really great movie, and it was the first movie I've ever seen in 3D and that was so cool. I think the best part, even though it was in the middle of the afternoon, is that Caradoc and I got out of the house together with out a single kid. I love my babies to death, but I think we have been out together probably about 4 times since Madelyn was born and that was like 17 months ago. What was really funny though is as soon as the movie was over I wanted to get back home as quick as possible. I just felt bad for Maddie, I knew she was in good hands, but we were gone for three hours and I didn't want her to think we weren't coming back or something. Who knows what goes on through a babies little minds. When we got home her grandpa said she didn't even noticed we left.

Yeah, we just received another order as I was writing this blog today, this time for 3 dozen mini heart soaps. Thank you so much embrace123! They actually wanted a custom scent of lavender, which I'm really excited about because I've been wanting to add it to my inventory. The only problem is that means I have to go to the craft store, and we all know how scary that is :).

Holly

Computer Savvy Day 19

First of all, woo hoo!!! We hit 200 views this morning on my blog. It took 16 days to reach 100, and only 3 days to reach 200, incredible! So yesterday I got a lot of technical stuff accomplished. I think if your gonna try something like this, you definitely need to know your computer well. I have an okay amount of knowledge as far as computers go, but I don't know a lot about programming or terminology. I would have to say I'm a trouble shooting type a girl, and can work the basic application. For example my husband tore apart and installed an "S-Video card" so we can watch whatever is on our computer on the t.v., and I set up the program so we actually could see it on the screen, talk about team work.

Thankfully a lot of the websites I've been working with lately are pretty easy. The three sites that have been must haves for this project have been fairly simple, blogger.com, etsy.com, and paypal.com. I was reading reviews on blogging websites, and it looks like blogger beat out the rest of the competition as far as user friendly goes. Etsy.com has so many helpful tips and advice and is not too complicated. I've had my paypal account for years from paypal.com so I'm not too sure how difficult it is these days.

Yesterday I started working with two new websites, technorati.com and Google Analytics. Technorati.com isn't hard, it's suppose to be the number one blog directory. You pretty much just sign up, and you can browse through blogs and get your own seen. What I really wanted to tell you about today is Google Analytics, it is so awesome. I have yet to discover all it can do, and I think you definitely need some comp knowledge. The best feature is the visitor trending, it pretty much can tell you everything except the identity of who visited you. You can see what times your site was visited, what part of the world your visitors live in, what website sent them to yours, and how many visitors you got and so on. I even noticed this morning it tells you what browser they use (Internet Explorer, Mozilla etc...), and what kind of connection (cable, DSL, Dial etc...). Don't worry though, it doesn't share any personnel info, such as name, address, or anything like that. I set up an Analytics account on both my blog and my store and it's been fascinating.

All the websites I wrote about this morning are free to use, and great online resources. Etsy.com charges a fee for listing and selling items, but it's not too much. It is just amazing all the FREE resources there are out there on the world wide web, I almost find a new one everyday. They come in very helpful it you want to start up a low cost business and get your name out there.

On a side note I would like to apologize for my misuse of grammar and punctuation and even spelling. It's almost like my mind thinks way faster than I type, and I barely have time to write these blogs much less go back and edit them. I promise from now on I will try to at least give them a once over. Just like the fact that I'm not a expert soap maker, I'm not a professional writer either. I was reading my blog to my husband this morning and he corrected me a lot, and I know that has to be frustrating to some of my readers. Well thanks for reading despite my skills :).

Okay, I'm off to post a new soap in my shop, here is a sneak peak picture of it up above.

Holly

Blog Makeover!

I just gave my blog a new look, let me know what you think?

Holly

We got our first sale, YEAH!!!

Today is day 18 and we received our very first sale at www.soapsandsuch1.etsy.com, YEAH!!! I just knew it was gonna happen soon. The order was for a dozen red mini heart soaps and a dozen purple mini heart soaps. A woman all the way in Indiana purchased them. Thank you so much kplucker for being my very first customer! Here is a picture of the soaps all packaged up and ready to go!


So now we can actually add money to our budget instead of taking it away. The total sale came up to $6.23 and that's including what she paid for shipping. That brings our budget up to $36.02. Now I haven't deducted any money for my cost of shipping yet, because I haven't received the funds through paypal yet and haven't sent it out. As soon as the funds come in I'll go to the post office on my way to the grocery store. I'm so excited, this is a great start to the success of my project.

I was actually discussing all morning my astrology chart with my father in law, he is an astrologer. I was asking him if my chart looked like I was going to sell a car today, because after the baby gets here our little prism will not fit all of us and I need a bigger car. Now he whips around a lot of astrology lingo that goes over my head, but basically he said my creativity will be educational and fruitful until about June. He said I have all sorts of trines on my chart, and trines are usually gifts. The "until June" part makes sense because that's when the baby is due. So from an astrological point of view, my experiment looks very promising to succeed. Honestly I think it's already a success, I'm connecting with all sorts of friends and family, and I've learned more in the last 18 days than I ever expected. Thanks every one!

Holly

hmmm

This one isn't bad, but this is suppose to be the bottom of the bar.


This on didn't turn out very neat or clear.


You can't really tell what is embedded in this one unless...


you hold it up to the light!

Well my soap experimenting so far today wasn't a complete failure, however I wouldn't exactly call it a success either. My soaps did not turn out good enough to sell, but I think I learned some tips.

1. Make sure your molds are clean and completely free of left over soap. This will help keep them neat and tidy.

2. There are two bases to start with, white and clear. If your embedding soaps I don't think you should use clear with clear because it is hard to see, unless maybe if your using the loaf technique.

3. Be patient, no soap looks good with a fingerprint right in the front of it, let your soaps harden all the way.

Now remember in no way am I an expert, these tips are just my opinion, and stuff I learned through trial and error. I said I would post some soaps even if they didn't turn out good so here you go.

Enjoy,
Holly