Good Morning Everyone!

Today is day number 17 and I've got some stuff to do, but first I want to tell about how great day 16 was, yesterday! First of all we hit the 100 view point, but since then my blog got 37 views. That is incredible for just one day, I guess that recap helped. I was very productive yesterday, I posted four new soaps, mainly mini hearts. I also opened up a shop on zibbet.com. My shop address is www.zibbet.com/soapsandsuch1 , and it's still called Soaps and Such by Holly. I don't know how much I'm liking zibbet.com yet, it's very user friendly and looks professional. The only thing is my items were posted yesterday and they've only had two views, so I'm afraid that there might not be enough traffic. But who knows, it is completely free to use, so only time will tell. I also made some soap, cleaned half of my house, and made the cutest little tags pictured above. I though they would be handy to write what scent the soap is on the back when it's packaged.

Today I'm gonna try and clean the other half of my house, and maybe experiment with my soap making skills. So far I've been playing it safe by using molds, which isn't always as easy as it sounds, but I would like to make more bars of soap that have flowers and hearts and stuff in it. I've tried a couple of times so far, but my soaps bleed together, and I end up with a bunch of swirls. I was reading last night that you have to make sure your soap isn't too hot, but that is tricky because it hardens and cools really fast. Well we'll see how I do, later I will be sure to post some pictures whether they are good or bad, haha. For now I just realized I'm completely out of diapers except for swimmer diapers, and need to get Maddie dressed and run to the store. I almost dread going to the stores now because I have to use so much self control to not buy ice cube trays, or packaging supplies, or other business needs. I promise I'll stay strong!

Wish me luck,
Holly

Woo hoo over 100 hits!

We have officially had over 100 hits on this blog, and I want to thank all of my readers, and thank everyone for passing my blog around. It is day 16, so only 349 days left to make this project a success.

I thought maybe I should do a quick recap for any new readers. About 3 weeks or so ago I made molded glycerin soaps for the first time and fell in love with the process. It really is fun, and there are all sorts of shapes, scents and colors you can use. Well I was watching the movie Julie and Julia. In this movie Julie tries to cook every recipe in Julia Childs cookbook in a years time, then she blogs about it daily. I though, what a fun idea. Then the next day on the radio I heard this woman talking who took Oprah's advice for a year, and blogged about it everyday. When I heard that, I just had to come up with something of my own. Since I recently found a new passion for making soap, it seemed perfect. I have a year, 365 days, 52 weeks to start a successful soap making business with only one hundred dollars. By successful I mean turns a profit, it doesn't have to be a lot, just more than I put into it. The challenges I face with this project are by no means am I an expert of making soap, I made my first bar ever about 3 weeks ago. I also am extremely busy, a mother of 3 with one on the way, a part time college student, and a wife.

So far this project has been going great. I have opened an online shop at etsy.com called, "Soaps and Such by Holly." To visit go to www.soapsandsuch1.etsy.com. We have not gotten any sales yet, but are well on our way. This morning I posted my 12th item for sale, it wasn't that long ago that I had no inventory. I thought it would really be hard to make soap and still have a lot of quality time with my family, but it's the complete opposite. My youngest daughter that stays home with me still hangs out in the kitchen while I'm melting and pouring, and her nap time is perfect blogging time. My son doesn't get to involved, but he is loving the soaps I mess up because he plays with them in the bath. My oldest daughter is having fun making soaps with me, she add the color and does the stirring. Up above is a picture of her in action. What is really great is my husband has been super involved. He is a public accountant and has all kinds of ideas as far as business plans go, but what is funny is before my project he didn't even know decorative soap existed. It was blowing his mind when I showed him all the different soaps there were online.

Needless to say I'm having a lot of fun with this project and I hope you are having fun being a part of it. Some of my plans for the future are too maybe post some tutorials or make a video, open another online shop at a different venue. I would like to get enough inventory to actually do a real life craft show, but that could be a long way off. If any of you have any ideas please feel free to comment, I would love to hear them!

Thanks again everyone,
Holly

Day 15 continued...

Here are those duck pictures I promised. Not too bad with the digital camera. My cell phone works nice for quick pics here and there, but I think I will use the digital from now on for photo shoots. I definitely need to redo some of the pictures on my shop. for example my fast food soaps are much cuter than that photo makes them appear. Well like I said in my earlier post, tonight is reserved for catching up on English homework so I better get.

Holly

Day 15

So my lesson learned to day is to keep my work space on the opposite counter as my toaster, talk about crummy. Anyways, I think I got my digital camera figured out and am going to take some test pictures on a new line of ducky soaps I'm working on. I'm just finishing up a batch and will try to post some pictures for you later today.

I think I might be getting a little too distracted on this project because I just found out that I am a week behind on my English homework, rather than a week ahead. Tonight is reserved for a non-stop catch up session. Last night however was a great soap experience, my six year old daughter Alexa helped me make some cute little soaps. We had a blast and she was very proud of her work. I gave her a couple of soaps for helping out, and she is now displaying them nicely on the bookshelf in her room.

We still haven't had any sales, but our views are in the 30's. I'm going to post some cute little fruit shaped soaps and see if that gets us any sales, or a least more views.

Till next time,
Holly

2 weeks down, 50 to go!

Today we hit a milestone which is very exciting. I posted item number 10 on my shop this morning! It wasn't very long ago that I had nothing to list on there. My main collection is hearts, which is great because Valentines Day is almost here, but I think it's getting to close to be able to market very much more. So now I need to focus on spring, hence the yellow soap ducks I listed this morning. I do have some flower molds that would be cute to make so I might work on them today, and I still need to get working on some better pictures. Todays is going to busy, besides my soap project I've got math homework and housework to get done. Well lets hope we get some views on our items, while I get a move on.

Holly

Day 13

Sorry it's taken so long for me to write an entry and update all of you, but I'm here now and have some exciting news! We got another conversation on Etsy, yeah! A woman wanted to know how much it would cost to buy 100 mini heart soaps, including shipping. She wants to use them in a bridal shower invitation. She now is going to talk it over with her fellow hostess and will get back to me in the next couple weeks. That would be great if our first order was such a big one.

My trip up north was fabulous, and the snow was beautiful. It's funny because it was freezing there, and it's almost hot today in Phoenix. I got a chance to hang out with a lot of family, but I didn't get much work done. I did however hand out a business card, it was to my mother in law, but still I felt professional.

I think I need to work on getting some better photos, you know ones that make my products look more desirable. I'm going to see if I can mess around with the settings on my digital camera to see if I can get it to focus better. I found a video that talks about how important photos are, and I think mine need some work.

For now I better get going, but I'll let you know if I hear anything about the mini soaps.

Holly

Day 11 Continued...

Today was extremely productive! First I made up the cutest little business cards, then I was off to the craft store. I got an amazing steal of a 5 pound bag of soap for only $8.99, thanks to my 40% off coupon. Since I saved so much, I got some vanilla fragrance and a duck shaped mold also. My total mount of money I have left is $29.79, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit nervous. Also today I made a lot of different soaps: green and yellow hearts, hot dog and french fry shaped, ducks, and mixed fruit. They all turned out really great! I even listed a couple new soaps on Etsy. I like to spread out my listings so I keep getting visitors, and my stuff is just sitting at the bottom of the search list.

I haven't opened any new shops online, just because I don't want to get overwhelmed to quick, but I just might have too if nothing sells soon. I'm thinking maybe I need some better photos of my items, ones that make them look more desirable. Or maybe I just need to relax, it's only been eleven days.

Tomorrow will not be as productive, I'm going on another road trip, this time with the whole family up north to Prescott. We're going to see my sister in laws new house and play in the snow before it melts away. I'm very excited, and the kids are excited too. I'll try to sneak away again to list a couple more soaps and do a little blogging. Until then, Good Night!

Holly