What's happening at the palace

 Two new cold process soaps are curing, several melt and pour glycerin soaps are made and labeled and I have been selling vintage drapery materials on Artfire, but, not soap recently.  What's up with that? Well, one thing is certain. The craft show schedule is heating up and I know that I sell soap there.

  

  One of the soaps that I made has Bentonite clay and lanolin in it.  Adding clay to soaps is necessary for a good shaving soap.  The clay allows the razor blade to glide over the skin, making the process so much nicer.  Having lanolin in the soap helps in the process, also.  This soap is one of my daughter's favorites. The oils used in this soap are all vegetable, but, the added lanolin prevents me from labelling it as vegan.

  The other CP soap is definitely not vegan, as it contains both beef and deer tallows.  These make a wonderfully hard bar of soap that will last a long time in your shower or at your sink.  The very first time that I made soap with deer tallow, I was so impressed that I wanted more.  It had scented that batch with Peppermint, Lavender and Sandalwood essential oils.  This time I used Patchouli EO and mixed it with Apple-Pear fragrance oil.  Very nice fragrance.

  Be sure to visit Artfire to see my collection.  These will show up in about a month. The shaving soap is a mustard yellow and the tallow soap is neon blue.

 

New Year Intentions

  I thought about calling the title of this post, New Year Plans, but, decided to call it New Year Intentions.  My plans seem to often go astray, no matter how hard I try to stay focused on them.  It possibly could be that I am slightly ADD, or, it could also be that I have many different tentacles of this octopus that I call my life pulling me away.  Be that as it may, I need to put the plans on paper, er on computer, er, ummmm.  Just what do we call this?  Put the plans on Blog?!  I guess that will work.

  My soap making business will be growing.

  My soap making business will be acquiring a new sense of determination.

  It will become more professional.

  It will make use of the 10 Core Business Principles.

  I will totally invest myself into it.

  I will post more updates on this blog, on my Artfire blog, on Facebook and on Twitter.

  I will be serving those customers who desire a Vegan product.

  I will, also, be serving those customers who are not bothered by animal oils, as these make great soap.

  I will endeavor to use more natural products.

  

  As you can see, these are my plans.  Or intentions.  But, just remember this: "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Anonymous.   Stay tuned and see.

Merry Christmas, Happy Yule

  May your days be filled with Joy and Happiness, Newness and Wonder, Rejoicing and Frivolity, Peace and Calming this Holy-day season.

December musings

  Here it is December 9th and we have a snow storm coming.  This is just normal upper midwest weather, so why bother to worry about it.
  Had a really good  craft show on the 5th . It was a first time  show for this venue  and they had other quality  vendors, which seemed to appeal to the public.  I 'm  happy with my results.  This was the last show of the season for me, and now I have to focus on reorganizing  my stock, weed some of it out, and plan for the future.  But, I also have to deal with income taxes.  I have been doing our income tax by myself, but, may have to alter that plan.  We had some unexpected income this year and some unexpected outgo, too and I will have to do a lot of research to file properly.
   I want to give a shout out to all of my fans from Facebook.  Thanks guys, you are all great.  More as I have time.

Happy Thanksgiving

A Blessed and safe Thanksgiving to everyone.  Remember all that you have to be thankful for and remember all of those who may not have anything to be thankful for.  Peace.

My website

I am soooo glad that I was directed to become a part of the Artfire community. This craft based website offers to its sellers so many business perks and business help that just blows my mind. After you pay your monthly "rent", they are really under no obligation to you, except to give you a venue to post information and pictures of what you have to sell.  Artfire goes way beyond that.  They are actually training us to be internet sellers, by giving us the opportunity to learn how to run an online business.  I know that I am astounded by what I have learned in 10 short months.  Thank you, Artfire.

  We are offering deals galore on Artfire.  Some shops are including free gifts, some are offering free shipping, some are offering percentages off, and some are offering BOGO.  You really need to visit sometime.  My shop has a preview to the right of these words.  You can click on the pictures and they will take you directly to Artfire. Hopefully, you will buy something while you are there.  It is also possible to purchase products without leaving Blogger.

computer problems

I am sorry that I haven't posted anything lately.  I have been trying to cope with Verizon's blasted DSL.  I am not a happy camper. I do not like it when others try to tell my computer what to do.  It is my computer, I pay for the DSL, and all of the other programs running on it.  Stay away from it.   Sheesh!!!

   That being said, I will try to calm down and talk soap.  I was set  up at a craft show this past Saturday.  It was not a great show. I almost doubled my rent for the day, but, that does not even come close to the cost of product, etc. Michigan's economy, and the US economy in general, is in trouble.  We need different leadership.  Not the present tax and spend yo-yos that are there now.