Well I’ve got the updates to the site running. I lost a bit of the formatting in the process so I have to go through all of the products again and do some editing to make it look pretty again.  I think everything works, but I have not processed an order with the new setup yet, so if you have any problems let me know right away.

The snow is finally almost melted… we’re being hammered by big winds after the snow melt and massive rainfall in the last 24 hours, so I’ve been watching the trees around our house very closely.  We just lost a huge one about an hour ago, luckily it was several yards behind the back yard and did not fall toward the house.  I watched it come down and snap like a twig, scary!

I am trying to get back into the swing of things after the holidays.   I took a much needed week and a half off after working 12-16 hour days that started in November getting holiday orders ready.  We enjoyed lots of good music, getting snowed in in Portland with great friends, getting home to record breaking snowfall, and spending Christmas at home being lazy in our pajamas playing video games and eating non stop.  Somewhere in between all of that, my new obsession with baking bread, learning to play guitar and keeping the household at a dull roar, I have to make the time to actually get some work done!  It’s so distracting working from home.

Well yet again, I think I have fixed the checkout.  When you click the “Make Purchase” button from the shopping cart, it will take you to a paypal log in screen.  You can either log in to your existing Paypal account on the right side of the screen, or if you don’t have an account, look closely to the left of the log in box and there is an option (that is unfortunatley very small and unobstrusive) that says “Don’t have a Paypal account?” and then there is a link to click that will take you to where you can use your credit card directly.  EASY!

After the holidays are over I am going to submerge myself in the website to update WP and the shopping cart.  Hopefully everything will go smoothly and things will fall into place.  If not, I will be looking at other options to speed things up and get the website (mostly my end) more efficient.

Happy Holidays!  Thank you to all of you that put in orders this year, especially in the last month.  I appreciate my clients spreading the word, I certainly could not have done this without you.  For those of you that missed out on getting orders in for the holidays (and those of you that just can’t stay away), keep an eye out, there’s a rumor going around that I may be having a January post-craziness sale to clear out the last of the holiday stock.

I mentioned in my previous post (omg 2 months ago!) that there was some wholesale stuff going on, and yes indeed there is!  My products can now be purchased at Skinthia’s Full Body Spa & Massage in Lake Stevens.  If you are a local, it is really in the best interest of your well being to get in there and check it out!  I would highly recommend seeing April for some massage because she is truly talented (and you just might get my products used on your booty to boot!)

I’m preparing a Winter newsletter to get out to all of my customers, but that also keeps getting back-burnered.  I was waiting on getting the new products ready so that I could officially announce them, but I guess I’ll do that here.  I should have them on the site in the next few days, but please look forward to the new solid perfume sticks, and the most fantastic anointing balms made with Rae’s Herb Majicks oil blends.  They are truly fantastic, and I’m not just saying that because I made them… other people are saying it too, I promise!  The Herb Majicks site is also finally getting its grand makeover, so very shortly you will be able to order the incredible line of HM products online.

I am still working on the whipped shea butter recipe.  I’m not sold on it 100% yet, but I am still hopeful for it.  It will probably be a project for after the holidays.  I am also playing with the idea of producing small tins of cuticle butter, and maybe doing a hair wax which is something we already use here at home.

Ok, I am off to get started on cleaning and doing inventory after the very successful product party last night.  As soon as everything is updated I will work on getting that newsletter out and will most definitely encourage you to get your holiday orders in asap if you want them in time for Christmas!  I need to have orders in by probably the 11th or 12th of December to promise Christmas delivery.  I will be out of town again December 19-21 so will need to have everything ready to ship before then.

The most recent sideline has been my dog getting sick. It was a whirlwind week with her declining health that lead to emergency surgery, and now a fantastic recovery. I’m not sure that I actually slept more than a few hours at a time last week. It wore me down and I didn’t have it in me to work on work.

I jumped back into it today and got a huge batch of kelp and aloe made so it can sit and cure for a month. I also played around with the all-natural goat milk base and tried out some peppermint-rosemary-basil bars with green oxide marbling. I’m also playing around with a recipe for whipped shea butter and need to get some into the hands of my testers!

Exciting things are happening in the wholesale realm! I’ve got my foot and all of my other 2000 body parts in the door of a fantastic little spa that I will expand upon more later!

It’s time for another weekend getaway… I miss Portland and my P-family! Once I get back, it will be nose to the grindstone yet again!

So it goes, life sometimes gets in the way. I’ve been trying to fit the soaping in when I have a moment… except it seems like I’ve just been working on the site in all my free time.

Since my last update, my baby sister has gone and got herself hitched to a nice boy in flip-flops. She talked me into doing the favors for the reception, so I used it as a really good opportunity to practice doing a larger project.

Wedding favors

A lot of my soap stock went to that, so I am ready to get more made and curing. I just listed a fresh batch of goat milk and clay, peppermint luffa, and oatmeal and aloe as well as the new double chocolate, and pirate scrub soaps this evening. Thanks to my growing base of loyal followers, I am almost sold out of several of them in just a few hours. Thanks ladies, you are the best! I can’t wait to make more soap and get it out to the rest of the world!

Thanks to some not-so-gentle urging I will be trying out a bergamot soap next… and you know, I’ve got a couple more things up my sleeve.

Well, we’ve been back from the coast trip for over a week, and I still haven’t gotten the new tarts on the site!  I’ve been trying to deal with a shopping cart malfunction.  Well, I don’t think the cart is malfunctioning really, I just jumped the gun and updated WP, but I don’t think my cart was ready for it.  Too much geek work for me, I would rather play with soap.

The soaps have been a huge success and taking up a lot of my time. After setting aside an extra or two of the bars that I personally cannot live without (GM & Clay, Peppermint Luffa) I’m nearly sold out of all of the first batches!  I can’t keep my oils and butters stocked around here, I’m forever waiting for an order or something or other to arrive.

The next batch that is almost ready is a lovely bright and colorful hibiscus, lemon, and sweet orange. I tested it out today and the lather was so fluffy and thick, I think it’s going to be a fun bar o’ soap. Also coming soon… a chocolate lover’s dream, a bar with tons of unrefined cocoa butter and real cocoa powder to give it a chocolatey swirl. YUM.  We’ll just pretend that every mad scientist batch of soap is coming out perfectly without any issues like gooey congealed half-soap that bleeds blueberry juice out of unauthorized crevices.  IDKWYATA.

I delivered my first soaps to Ash Way Pet today! If you are in the neighborhood, stop on by and check them out! I was working really hard on a graphic for the dog shampoo bars, but couldn’t achieve what I was envisioning, so I have enlisted the help of a stellar graphic artist, and I can’t wait to see what comes of that.

In case you were ever wondering where my company name came from….

"Oh, are we taking photos?"

I get a lot of help with every aspect of the business, especially product photos.

It’s been a busy week with out of town visitors and a fun time with Mike D and Thee Loyal Bastards last weekend.  I also got turned on to Fernando Viciconte who I am enjoying listening to, especially in these wee hours late into the night in my little laboratory.  Long week, but now it is time to pack up the wagon and dump a whole lot of money into the hands of the oil tycoons.  We are headed to the Oregon Coast to enjoy sand, (hopefully) sun, surf and 30-something of my favorite people for a 4 day gathering.

This is from the same spot last September:

Beautiful!  We will drag ourselves home on Monday, and I will pick up where I left off on Tuesday.  Next week I will be changing the site over to the new massage tarts - now just a little bit smaller, in a “single serving” candy wrapper, and selling for almost half the price.  I will also offer 2 tarts in a tin, which is awesome and reusable.  I’m packing around bars and bars of soap with me so they will all get a good testing this weekend.  I have a couple of recipes that I already think are going to become regular sellers, and yet I’ve still only scratched the surface of the soap world!

Have a great weekend!

~ Crystal

Good news for you lavender lovers out there. I have blended this happy essential oil in to the most perfect little tube of lip balm! Mmmmm…. Lavender Lips…..

I have also reformulated the lip balm tubes just a bit. I added in a touch of beeswax to firm it up a little. The previous recipe was excellent for Winter, but now that it’s warmed up I needed to protect against your balms turning into goo in your pocket! The tins will remain beeswax free, so those are still a vegan recipe. I am going to test out some candelilla wax to possibly replace the beeswax, or to at least offer a separate vegan option.

The rest of the luscious lip loving labor of love recipe is the same… mango butter, shea butter, jojoba… seriously, if you haven’t tried it, you need to!  Not only will you be thanking me, but everyone that pays a visit to your lips will notice the difference!

I made some small batches of massage tarts and some lotion bars today testing out different molding and packaging techniques…. as always, look forward to some changes in the product line!  I’ve got so many different things going on today, I don’t know which direction to go!  BACK TO WORK!

Well the year is motoring right along! The last couple of weeks have been buuuusy! We took a trip over to Eastern Washington for my sister’s bachelorette weekend getaway. The weather was gorgeous and perfect after not seeing much of the sun on our side of the state lately. We rented a great big house with a great big view and a lovely salt water swimming pool. It was a great way to kick off what seems like a very late summer!

The next intro to Summer was the day after Solstice when we made it down to the Fremont Street Fair to catch the Solstice Parade. They were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the parade and it was bigger than I’ve ever seen. This parade is unique in that anyone can participate, although signs or anything written is not allowed. You are also not allowed motorized vehicles, so any of the bigger float displays must be human powered. The parade is kicked off every year by the bicyclists (and rollerbladers and wagon riders) in various stages of dress and (mostly) undress, body paint and costume. It is always a great party day for the whole family!

This is where I would post pictures of the parade, but most of the pictures I’ve edited so far are pretty much full frontal nudity shots… so….

Now I am back to work with my nose hard at the grindstone. I’ve been updating the site and getting ready to jump into production mode for the next couple of weeks until we shuffle off on our next adventure… 5 beautiful (fingers crossed) days on the Oregon coast with a large group of friends from all over North America. I can’t wait!

~ Crystal

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