Heathen's Hearth

Say It Sunday - What do you do when you have the Flu

2010-02-14T19:39:00.000-05:00

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm perfectly willing to admit I'm usually a baby when I'm sick. Which is to say, if I'm not dying then I like to be pampered. The few times I've been sick enough to be in the hospital I kvetched the whole time about how I was fine and really needed to go do XYZ right this minute.

3 days ago I got cold. So cold that if the temperature in the house dropped below 70 I would start shivering. I had a headache, but that wasn't really anything considering how little sleep I was getting trying to do everything I needed to do.

Last night I became violently ill, the temperature in the house was 75 degrees and I was shivering so hard my back was popping. Today I am exhausted. I am barely holding food, and I have developed a cough. Everything I have made the last 2 days has been thrown away. I keep my soap making as clean as possible. I wear gloves when I need to, I clean everything with 91% alcohol as I use it, I sterilize everything in my dishwasher and I use preservatives, but I would rather bear the brunt of unhappy people for delayed shipments than pass on viruses.

So what do I do when I have the flu? I sleep a lot - 12 hours so far since 3am. I curl up on the couch with a blanket, a bottle of water, a good movie and my dogs. And I try really hard not to freak out about the work piling up.

Hopefully the rest of you are healthy and doing well. I will hopefully be moving again by tomorrow.

Thud Thursday!

2010-02-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

Ok, not quite yet. If I get everything I've set out to do today done, then I will thud later tonight.

I dreamed last night that my most recent supply order came in and I had 10 bars of every soap in the shop pre-made... it was a lovely dream. I was almost sad to wake up at 7:30 (before my alarm clock - YAY sunlight!) and realize it was just a dream.

But, these are the things I dream about. Go figure.

Right now I am living and breathing the shop trying to get new photos in there, new products listed (like the Cedarwood Lime Facial soap with French Green Clay!). I've got some great new products in the works, now I just need the time to get them all done!

Yesterday was a flurry of soap making and I even got a new one done for the Black and White Collection. If I get everything done this weekend I'll be working on the Viking Heart. I might get delayed on that a little bit though, I realized I'm dreadfully low on coconut oil, and probably only have enough for 4 or 5 more batches, which will more or less cover my upcoming consignment.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous day! And if you see this... come by and say hi on the Facebook Fan page. Become a fan.... I know a lot of people are leary of Facebook, but I'm so hoping it becomes a way for me to be able to interact with my customers on a more personal level. I like to talk, but sometimes one way communication is very difficult to manage.

I hope everyone has a fabulous day!

Technical Tuesday! The Dilemma of Wholesale

2010-02-09T23:22:00.003-05:00

There are a lot of discussions in the forums about wholesale. A lot of questions, and as many answers as there are people to give them. So while this isn't an in depth detail laden post, I'm going to venture to give my opinions on how I do wholesale and some generalized "rules" for wholesaling in general.

Rule #1: Don't Put the cart before the horse.

If you haven't done a thorough accounting of where and how you spend your money, what your supply costs are, what your overhead costs are and what your minimum profit margin is; do yourself a favor, and don't fret about doing wholesale. While wholesaling is a great way to get large sales all in one shot, and it can be a *great* way to get your business name out there, you're going to have a really hard time making a profit when the industry standard is a 50% discount off the MSRP.

Rule #2: Do the math.

In direct relation to Rule #1, as much as just about *everyone* hates spreadsheets (except possibly me because I'm a dork that way, and working on spreadsheets and symbolic logic problems are fun for me), they are indispensable for calculating your costs to the penny. They can be as simple or as complicated as you need them to be, but what it needs to track are:

Materials cost - each and every material you use. If you sew sock monkeys and each monkey requires 2 socks 1/2 spool of thread, 2 feet of sewing floss, 2 buttons and 8oz of stuffing (yes, i'm pulling these numbers out of thin air - I have no idea how to make a sock monkey)... then you need to account for all of those supplies. And don't forget the little stuff! Do you put a hang tag on your monkey? Do you print his name on it? Do you print it on a computer or do you print it by hand? Add in the cost of that tag, a couple cents for the ink. Do you sew a tag into your monkey with your brand/logo on it? Don't forget that too!

Fees and Advertising costs - are you selling retail on Etsy? If so, do you renew? Are you accepting payments via paypal? Propay? Odds are good you've got fees to pay for them. You need to build those fees into the final cost of your items. Do you advertise? How much, where? Is it free? Does it take time? Do you have to pay for your advertisement? Do you give out business cards? Do you give out samples? These are your advertising costs! Include them.

Salary - A touchy subject to be sure, but even if you're just doing this for fun, you should probably get at least a nominal sum for your hours. If you don't want to get paid for your work... my recommendation would be "Don't do wholesale". The reasoning is simple enough. Sooner or later you will resent working for nothing and if you started crafting because you loved it there is nothing worse than growing to hate it because everyone expects you to work your fingers to the bone for free!

Now... to give you an example so you can see how this works... (I am giving you numbers based on buying items from a local craft shop or random figures pulled out of thin air...this is just an example!)

Lets say you want to sell soap.

2lbs of soap base costs approximately $5
1 pack of 3 soap colors costs about $3
1 2oz bottle of mid-grade fragrance oil costs $6 - you'd use about .25oz to do 4 bars of soap... so $1.50
1 soap mold sheet to make 4 bars of soap will cost you about $9 - you can probably make 100 bars of soap before you break it... so about $.09
Shipping to have all of those items delivered to you costs $10 by UPS (yes, even excluding the soap mold)

So now you have everything you need to make 4 bars of soap.

so... add it all up... $2.5+$3+$1.50+.09 = $7.09
divided by 4 bars of soap = $1.78 per bar

Now... here's the kicker with soap, and I'd imagine with anything else - you want to stay competitive with your fellow sellers... so the market sets the price range. On soap the average is about $5 a bar.

So. Let's say we sell that soap at $5 a bar. We're making $3.22 per bar! (insert chorus of "i'm going to make soap because it sells so well and I can make loads of money!" here).

But wait! There's more! (Isn't there always?)

Now. You have to pay for packaging and labels. about .02 each (.02 for the packaging and .02 for the label)... You have to list it to sell it. .20 There are 76,000 listings in the bath and body category, so being new you have to renew your items about 4 times each on average to get them seen often enough to sell them at a fairly good clip. .80 cents there.

So.
$3.22 (after materials)
-.20 (listing)
-.80 (renewing)
-.04 (packaging and labeling)

= 2.18

then... finally! someone buys a bar of soap! yay! Now you have to pay 3.5% of that $5 to Etsy. Say goodbye to another .18 cents. And now we're down to $2.00 profit.

But wait, they're paying by Paypal! .30 is gone for the transaction fee and they take 2.9% of the $5 .15 ....

$2.00
-.30 (*transaction fee paypal)
-.15 (paypal %)

= $1.55 per bar.

So lets say you sell 8 bars of soap and you're making $1.55 per bar. You've made $12.40. Right?

But what about the electricity for the stove/microwave to melt the soap, the pipette you used to add the scent to the soap, the measuring cup you melted it in, the water and soap you used to wash it out afterward, the rubbing alcohol you used to get rid of the bubbles or sterilize the bowls and cups before use...

The fact that it takes about an hour to make those 8 bars of soap (including all time from beginning to packing it for shipment).

Oh wait! Shipping! You have to buy an envelope to ship it in, you have to buy business cards to put in there with it! You should probably have a thank you card of some type. You should possibly be printing off copies of the receipts, or including a handwritten copy from a receipt book. and and and and... all the little nit picky details come in...

But if you're wholesaling you don't have to do all of that right? So you save all of that money.

But you are selling for 50% of your retail. Because this is wholesale, and they expect you to sell them the soaps at $2.50 a bar!

So you don't have $12.40. You have $6.20 for 8 bars of soap and about 1 hour of your time... to say nothing of the time you spent promoting, and seeking out the wholesale account, developing your recipe, your design.

Now, I'm not trying to discourage anyone... but this is intended to show you that before you start worrying about doing wholesale... you really need to be in a place to buy your materials in large bulk amounts. You need to be at a point where you can make huge volumes to satisfy demand. And you need to be able to pay all the bills.

And if you're not there yet, don't worry. Telling someone who enquires that you are not able to do wholesaling right now, but you are grateful for their interest and hope that they will keep you in mind in 6-12 months (insert figure of how long it will be before you can wholesale if this is your goal). It's not a bad thing to not be able to wholesale. It's just not for everyone.

Next week I'll delve more into spreadsheets and how to determine what you should really be selling your items at if you're looking to make your craft into something you can earn a living with.

~Amy

Made It Monday with Wild Heather!

2010-02-08T22:12:00.001-05:00

We've gone from necklaces to descriptions, and now rings! Amazing how well soap and jewelry go together! But, before I ramble too terribly much, here's a little bit about today's guest writer, Heather!(minor issues with pics, I will be adding them in again as soon as I can!)

I got started making jewellery about 4 years ago, after dabbling in lots of different crafting trends. At the time, I was working with a woman who used to make jewellery during mother/daughter ‘dates’ who would occasionally sell a few pieces.After carefully looking at the pieces I purchased, I thought, “I bet I can learn to do that!” I started picking up beading books in the library and bookstore and making note of the types and styles of beads, I liked.

That summer, I happened to be in my favourite bead store in Victoria BC, and I asked a helpful employee if she could make a pair of earrings for me if I picked out the beads. She informed me that if she put them both together for me, she would have to charge me a (rather steep) design fee, but if she helped me put one together and then watched while I put the other one together, there would be no charge! That was my first pair, and I have never really looked back. After about 3 months of making earrings for myself, people at work started asking me if I would sell them. The first week I started selling, I sold over 20 pairs of earrings! That co-worker that had inspired me to make my first pair bought three pairs from me!

I find making jewellery to be incredibly fulfilling. I am always challenging myself to learn new techniques and styles. I have gone from basic ‘cold process’ assembly (making earrings solely by putting together purchased components) to learning wire wrapping, ‘Viking’ knit woven chain and even silversmithing. Once you fire up that torch and watch the way the silver melts and fuses together, everything changes! I love working with semiprecious stones, freshwater pearls, and combining colours and textures. I hope people derive as much pleasure from wearing my jewellery, or from giving my jewellery as gifts, as I do from making it.

(Note: I was absolutely delighted to be asked to contribute to HeathensHearth’s blog on Make It Monday! I absolutely love every product of Amy’s that I have tried, but my very favourite has to be her Pink Sugar Goatsmilk soap. The lather is just ridiculous, and it feels like an incredible luxury to use, but it’s so good for my skin at the same time! The wonderful fragrance doesn’t hurt,either!!!)

So, without further ado, here's today's Made It Monday!

This post gives a before and after look at how I made a moonstone ring. Or rather, two rings. These are works currently in progress, and they were both created using materials purchased at http://www.capilanorock.ca/. The first ring is composed of silver wire, hammered for texture, a sterling bezel cup and this lovely moonstone. (The first part of this entry has already appeared on my blog, My Jewellery Box, which you can find at http://wildheather-handcrafted.blogspot.com/.)

The front view of the bezel cup and the ring shank. The ring shaft was crafted from sterling silver halfround wire, formed around a ring mandrel and then bent to meet the sides of the prepurchased silver bezel cup. I could simply have mounted the cup onto a perfectly circular band of sterling halfround wire, but what fun would THAT have been?

The view of the left side

The view of the right side

The lovely moonstone cabochon.

If I place the cabochon in the bezel cup before I solder it to the ring shank, I'll ruin the stone. If I simply place it in the cup, to show you all the effect, it can be difficult to remove. HOWEVER, I have a great tip for this, courtesy of Barrie Edwards. Simply drape a piece of dental floss (UNUSED, PLEASE!) across the bezel and drop the stone over it so that it lays behind the stone. Then Here’s what came next!

I painstakingly soldered the bezel cup into the ring shank, using flux, easy solder cut into TEENY little squares, and my handy little butane torch. Once the pieces were solidly joined, I filed away the excess solder using an emery file. Yup, a plain old acrylic nail grade emery file that I bought at the dollar store! Then I filed down the edges of the bezel cup to prep it for the stone.

I really wanted to make sure that the stone would sit solidly in the cup. I knew from fiddling with it beforehand that it was quite a tight fit, but I wasn’t quite willing to risk it dropping out. Before pushing the stone down into the cup, I cheated JUST a little. Using a toothpick, I dabbed a smidge of E6000 jewelry adhesive into the centre of the cup. Make sure (and I can’t stress this enough) that your studio is well ventilated when you use that stuff, and that you put the cap back on right away, or you may have trouble tying your shoes (or doing anything else requiring coherent thought) for the rest of the afternoon! The fumes are pretty potent. Then I applied gentle pressure to the stone to seat it in the cup.

After applying pressure for a few minutes, I applied pressure to the cup itself using a cute little tool from Grobet: it’s a bezel rocker. It allows you to form the sides of the bezel firmly around your stone. Here’s the final result!

I have already produced one custom version for a long-time fan who asked if I could do it for her in size ‘huge’. It was only an 8.5...I can make them up to size 15! The next one I make, though, I think I am keeping for myself, because it looks so great on my hand!

As a special thanks to Amy for featuring me today, I am going to send her a giveaway for readers: a pair of my Pick a Pearl earrings in either grey peacock, black peacock or pink! I’ll let Amy decide how to do the giveaway!

~~~~~~~~

YAY! Give aways! I think we'll do this nice and random! :) Tell me what kind of tutorials you'd like to see here, and next Sunday I'll select someone at random using random.org!

As a special gift, You can get 20% off at Wildheather's shop just by answering the following question:

What is her favorite product from my shop? If you answer the question correctly at checkout from her shop, you'll get 20% off your order!

Made it Monday with GalleriaDiGiani

2010-02-01T21:48:00.000-05:00

So last weeks MIM was all about how to make a necklace... which was awesome! This week, John, from GalleriaDiGiani, is going to explain how to write better descriptions for jewelry! :-D I think a lot of these steps can also be used for other applications as well, so lets see what he's got to say!

How to Write Better Jewelry Descriptions:

Ok, so you have designed your merchandise, you have manufactured it, you have taken all the photos, uploaded everything, and now comes the hard part (for some). How on earth do I write a product description beyond just saying what the piece is? There are a lot of factors that go into deciding what to say about your piece.

1. Pick a few adjectives that might describe your piece. Is it fun and flirty? Bold and eye-catching? Classic and stylish? Wild and imaginative? Pick a few adjectives that describe how it feels to you. Right away, when people see a few adjectives, they start to tune into the personality of the piece, and can instantly think of times when they feel the same way, and can relate to how this piece will work for them at times like that, thinking "You know what? This is a fun and flirty piece, it would be neat to wear when I go clubbing with my girlfriends", and right away, they are picturing themselves wearing it.

2. Talk about how things coordinate with the basics. Think about all those basics that most women have; the jeans and t-shirt look, the little black dress, the white blouse and skirt look, etc. Can you see your piece being worn with multiple items in the basics? If so, discuss it. Let them know this piece makes a great transition from your jeans and t-shirt to you little black dress. Showing a piece's versatility is a big plus. If women can picture it matching multiple items, they are more inclined to wear it. If they can only picture it with that dress they wear once a year at the holidays, they will be less inclined to buy it.

3. Play up a certain aspect of the piece. If you are trying to describe a chunkier piece of jewelry, you can mention how well it goes with turtleneck sweaters. Since turtlenecks are often a fall and winter thing, though, be careful about making it a seasonal reference. Mentioning that it goes well with a turtleneck all winter long might not sell that piece in May. That might lead to "I will think about it and come back for it in October." Instead, throw in a few different references that span a whole year. Yes, it will work for turtlenecks, suits, it will dress up that power suit, go well with that long flowing summer dress, etc. Now, you have covered an entire year, and again shown the versatility. That's win/win.

4. Play up the type of stones used, if any. If you are using stones like amethyst, peridot, garnet, citrine, etc, and your piece is faceted, by all means discuss the facets. Faceting was done specifically to catch the light. That means that piece will catch someone's eye across the dance floor just as easily as it will reflect the candlelight from a romantic dinner. You have now just appealed to single and married women in the same description, so you haven't left anyone out. If the stones are opaque stones (tigers eye, lapis, onyx, etc), you can talk about how they not an overly dressy stone (depending on the piece you have them in), so they could easily be worn in a variety of situations (such as work) in which other gemstones might be too flashy.

5. Form and function. If you have pieces that serve a function on top of being just pretty jewelry, play that up, and give examples where you can. For instance, I have a line of magnifying glass pendants. While they are pretty, and a great throwback to a bygone era, they also serve a modern function. You can use them for antiquing, and inspecting for all those cracks and nicks that can reduce the value of something. You can use them on a night out, to assist with reading a menu. That means you can leave those reading glasses at home and have more room in your purse, which is a big help, especially if you are only carrying a clutch and need the room!

6. One-of-a-kind pieces. Oh, I cannot stress this one enough. Anytime you have a one of a kind piece, play that up! How cool is it to know that you will own a piece that no one else can own that will be quite like it. Those are the pieces that will get you noticed, those are the pieces that will have friends say "Wow, where did you get that??" Isn't that a special feeling when that happens?

7. Age appropriateness. Sometimes, buying things for teenage girls, or "mature" women can be difficult. Not all jewelry styles necessarily work for either group. If your piece is delicate enough, or simple enough, that you could see your teenage daughter/granddaughter wearing it, or your grandmother, make sure and point that out. Not everyone is good at buying the right thing. Answering a question like that for them in advance can be a big help.

8. Heirloom quality. Does your piece have that look of heirloom jewelry? Does it look like something that has been passed down through the generations (things like cameos, or antique brooches, things like that). If so, make sure and mention it. Having someone see that buying this piece could start a family tradition might be the final push they need to make that purchase. Aren't we all touched to see family traditions, whether in our own family, or in friends' families. How nice would it be to start one of your own?

9. Does your piece help someone overcome a problem they have with some jewelry? Lariat necklaces, by their very nature, do not have clasps. Sometimes, on longer necklaces (say, 24 inches or longer), people make them a continuous strand, with no clasp. If this is the case, you can definitely discuss that. Some women have trouble working clasps, for any one of a number of reasons. By reminding them that your piece has no clasp, and that it would be perfect for anyone who has trouble with clasps, you have just shown that you have solved their problem for them, and have created a piece with them in mind.

10. Sterling versus Fine Silver. Not everyone may know the difference between the two. If you are using fine silver in your pieces, make sure and point out that fine silver will take much longer to tarnish. Of course, if you have some sterling and some fine silver pieces, it is probably best to watch how you word it, so as not to discredit your sterling pieces. Perhaps say that even with the best of care, sterling might occasionally need to be cleaned, whereas fine silver will require much less maintenance in that regard.

These are just some of the things to take into consideration. If you start thinking in these terms, you will no longer be saying:

"This necklace is 18 inches long and is made of small lapis beads with a large lapis pendant. This necklace can be resized. Indicate size when ordering."

Instead, you can now say:

"This stunning necklace is made of small lapis beads, completed by a bold lapis pendant. This necklace can be the centerpiece of your jeans and t-shirt look, can set off your white blouse at the office, would look stunning with you little black dress for that special dinner (you know, the one where you want to dress up, but still feel a little casual). No matter what the outfit, this piece will get you noticed. No matter your mood (fun, classy, elegant, relaxed) you will find many opportunities to wear this almost anywhere, and it will become the piece in your collection that you come back to over and over again."

I hope I have helped.

Giani

Say It Sunday - The 3000th Item Sold Edition!

2010-01-31T15:38:00.002-05:00

Wooo! It's Party Time!

Heathen's Hearth got its 3000th Etsy sale last night! A big thank you goes out to all of my customers over the last year and a half! This landmark wouldn't exist without you! And a very special thank you to Pixiebell for being the one to get me to that lovely number!

So now there are questions.

1. How to celebrate?
2. How to keep it going.

To answer the first... I think i'm going to have a 30% off sale.. :) I'll have to work on that. In the meantime there is a discount section in the shop.

To answer the second... I'm currently working on a consignment order for a shop in Pennsylvania, I have 2 shows lined up - 1 in illinois, and 1 in upstate new york... I have about 2 dozen new scents to get into the shop, and lots of new products lined up... including a fabulous new Paraben Free lotion that will be a blend of the best of my whipped body frostings, with the convenience of being able to ship it year round!

:-D lots of new stuff to do... so I think I'm going to go get started!

Hat's off for the Party! (thank you Danilykewoah)

Slacking Saturday!

2010-01-30T13:46:00.000-05:00

So I completely neglected the blog this week. My bad! This was quite a week though. 1 almost failed batch of soap (yay hot process and friends with quicker brains than me!) 1 batch that just absolutely exploded (NEVER make soap when frustrated), and busily trying to catch up after a very frustrating week.

Tuesday my aunt and cousin were in a head on collision car accident (no one was too badly injured) when 3 kids stole a car and went joyriding. 3 cars totally wrecked and countless other episodes of hairy carey.

I am attempting to solidify my social networking to allow more time for keeping in touch. I have set up a new fan page for Heathen's Hearth - so stop by and become a fan! Join the mailing list and you can get a coupon for a free bar of soap.

I plan on taking down the standard facebook page for Heathen's Hearth no later than February 15th.

It's barely afternoon and its already a day today. Blah. I'm totally slacking today. Guess its a good thing the weekend has 2 days. I've always been the first to admit I'm a little backward when it comes to doing things and snow is no different. It makes everyone else so happy... just makes me miserable.

I did manage to get one new listing up today before photoshop crashed on me though. I'm sooo looking forward to spring!

Made It Monday with MAB Jewelry

2010-01-25T12:06:00.000-05:00

Thank you to Laura from MAB Jewelry for sharing this awesome tutorial on beading a necklace - which is perfect, because I've been dying to try my hand at this for ages. I have some great beads too. Now to find all my supplies again!

How to make a simple beaded necklace on beading wire

Welcome to MAB Studios, aka my living room floor. I'd like to apologize for the state of my poor battered bead board. I've been using this little guy for about six years now, and I didn't realize how battered he was until I took pictures for this tutorial.

You will need:

Enough beads for your project

A clasp

Enough beading wire for the length of your necklace, plus about an additional 5" of wire

Crimp beads

Wire cutters

Needle nosed pliers

It's usually a good idea to lay your beads out in the desired pattern on a bead board. When I first started beading, I actually used a cutting board with a ridge in it, so you can certainly improvise and use something handy. Bead boards also give you measurements along the curved indentation, so you can judge lengths. I've laid out the main larger beads here, but I usually add smaller beads like bugle or seed beads on the back of a necklace. The back usually isn't seen when worn, and smaller beads are more comfortable worn against the back of the neck. Also, I often change the design between the time I lay out the beads and the point where it's finished. I did with this design!

Cut a length of beading wire about five inches longer than you want your finished piece to be. I use Beadalon stainless steel wire, .015" for almost everything I do, but different beaders like different wires. Experiment and find the one that works best for you. String a crimp bead and then another bead onto one end wire. Adding another bead at the end of your project will keep the crimp from rubbing directly against the clasp, which will protect the wire and lengthen the life of the piece. String one side of your clasp onto the wire. Loop the wire back through the bead and crimp bead.

Pull the wire tight, leaving about 1/4" of a loop between your bead and the clasp, so the clasp can move freely. Also, leave about a 1" to 2" tail from the wire end. Crimp the crimp bead flat with a pair of pliers.

Begin stringing your beads onto the wire. Make sure the first beads cover the tail you have left after crimping. I usually measure the piece at the halfway point, to make sure it's going to end up being the length I wanted.

After finishing your bead stringing, add a crimp bead and another bead at the end of your project. String on the other end of your clasp. As you did at the beginning, loop your wire back through the end bead, crimp bead, and down through about 1" to 2" of beads in your project. Pull the wire tight with your needlenosed pliers, leaving about 1/4" or so of room near the clasp, so the clasp can move freely. Crimp the crimp bead flat with your needlenosed pliers, being careful not to break the beads on either side of the crimp bead.

Trim the excess wire and your piece is ready to wear!

Sounds like fun! I can't wait to try it! I'll be posting the results of trying my hand at this soon! In the meantime, if anyone else follows along and creates a lovely piece, drop me an email and send me pics! I'd love to show off some of our creations. :)

Thank you again Laura!

Tuensday?

2010-01-20T11:59:00.000-05:00

Cuz yeah, I totally missed Technical Tuesday. Oh well. It happens. I am getting better, but I am still only human.

So... today's word of the day... Shipping!

And here is my question (already in convenient poll format over there to the right of this post):

Would flat rate shipping be a turn off for you in a shop? Ie. I know for a fact that the average cost for me to ship a package is $5 - even for 2 bars of soap. Yes, 2 bars. By the time I pay for postage, delivery confirmation, and envelopes, and the thank you cards that go in the packages.

The fact of the matter is I can ship up to 6 bars of soap (sometimes 8 depends on the soap in question) well bubble wrapped and secure, in a flat rate priority mail envelope for $5.

But, from the largest order to the smallest, it costs me $5 average to ship domestic packages. So what I want to know dear readers (and customers, or potential ones)... Would it be a turn off for you if you saw a flat rate shipping charge of $5 for the first bar of soap, with free shipping on everything else you purchased? Or would it encourage you to buy more products knowing that no matter how much you bought you'd only be paying $5 for shipping?

And, transparency being the goal here, yes, this is both a way for me to try to save my customers some money, but also a way to try to encourage larger sales... because while I must say that I don't mind shipping one bar at a time, and would always be willing to ship a single item at cost (postage plus envelope), it would be much easier on me in the long run to have multiple purchases done in a single shot.

So, express yourself! What do you think? Vote in the poll and tell me your opinions here. Let's get a dialogue going!

Made it Monday & A Call for Submissions

2010-01-18T10:56:00.000-05:00

Saturday was full of creativity for me. I had a boost of inspiration while making soaps for filling orders and came up with some cool new soaps.

I also managed to get some new things made and have begun to fill out my Black & White fragrance line. The Black & White line was inspired by the popularity of the 2 different Sandalwood bars in the shop, which I am sure you are all very familiar with.

Black Celtic Sandalwood

White Sandalwood

Now that line will be expanding. Many of the Black Fragrances have already been included in the shop:

Black Orchid

Black Amber

And the newest listing among the Black & White Line: Black Vanilla!

An arousingly seductive blend of exotic Madagascar Vanilla and Tonka Beans, resting on a sensually balanced base of passionate Patchouli.

And now, a call for you! Would you like to share your craft with the world? Every week I will be offering a Made It Monday post, and I would love to have you do a guest feature here! Share your talent and craft with my readers. All I would need is for you to choose a project that you would like to share - one you have already done, or one you are working on. 3-5 photos of the work in progress (all stages need not be photographed - you don't have to share your top secret production techniques, just the basics), and simple explanations of how you create your craft!

If you would like to share with us, contact me at heathenshearthsales at gmail dot com and let me know you'd like to be a part of this new feature. Include the approximate time frame that you think you can have the photos and instructions written up, whether you would like for me to edit what you send or post it as is, and what kind of craft you do (also let me know if it will take more than 1 entry - if you're doing something detailed, like making a necklace, it might be easier to split it into multiple posts)

I will let you know what weeks are available for your post (to avoid having the same craft run back to back). I will add a permalink button to your blog or shop on the left side of the post under a new section called "Made It Monday Crafters" which will also have a link to your entry so it can be easily found by readers.

This is a great opportunity for all crafters to get some excellent exposure. As of this week I am currently at almost 200 unique readers per week and growing fast! (2 weeks ago it was half that!). So get in touch!

Say It Sunday - The good, the bad, & the sick.

2010-01-17T16:31:00.000-05:00

So, I tend to keep my private life, well, private, especially when it comes to blogging. I'm not one to share lots of my personal life, because I'm never really sure how much information becomes Too Much Information. Today is "The Good, The Bad & The Sick" but I'm going to start with the sick, because its getting to the point where I can't avoid it.

Some of you will know from other places, most of you probably will not, that since the middle of September I have been having some fairly serious health issues. My doctors have not been able to determine yet exactly what is going on. Now, please, don't take this the wrong way - but this isn't a call for random guesses (which is why I'm not mentioning specific symptoms). Trust me when I say they've tested me for just about everything they can think of. I've had more tests and procedures than I care to think about.

So why am I mentioning this? Now we come to the bad. Even though things have slowed down since the holidays, I am still taking 3-5 business days to ship out most non-ready made items in the shop (ie, almost everything since supplies were seriously depleted in the holiday rush). I am working as hard as I can to get things made in multiples so that I can reduce that back to a 1-3 day turn around time, but it is slow going because right now I'm only able to work about 3-4 days a week (total 10 hour days), so its all I can do to keep up with orders as they come in - and some of them are still missing the 5 business day deadline. Not often, but often enough to worry me into serious debate about how to proceed.

Now the good. I am still planning on opening Little Heathen's by this week - a week later than planned, but hey! Better late than never! I am still planning on having the grand opening in February. I am caught up enough right now that I'm starting to be able to list new things in Heathen's Hearth again. I have plans. I am learning how to pace myself to avoid exhaustion whenever possible. I am on track right now to have almost as many sold items during the month of January as I had in December... which is amazing growth, and I am very thankful for it. Now if I can just keep up with the demand!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I am off to try to be as productive today as I was yesterday :-D My goal is to have all current orders in the shop packed and postaged for Tuesday shipment by tomorrow night! Wish me luck!

Saturday Sales & Specials!

2010-01-16T17:53:00.000-05:00

Its that time of the week again! Here are some fab sellers from Etsy who are offering sales and specials tonight. Please check shops for more information!

First up is the lovely Rose from 2kute! She's offering 20% off all orders of $10 or more. (Which reminds me I need to get more scrubbies for my facial care gift sets!)

Next up is Kristen from ModMomMe! She's offering Free USPS shipping for all fans on her Facebook page, which can be found here.

I have a key fob like this one from her and I love it! Haven't lost my keys in months! ;)

A couple of lovely soap sellers are up next:

Lindsay from BLSoaps is offering a FREE 4oz Shea Butter Lotion with all purchases over $25! You should try it - its fabulous! Personally, I have tried both that and this Jezebel soap - love it!

and last feature for the evening (but certainly not the least!) is MorganStreet who is offering 10-25% off!

I haven't tried any of her soaps yet, but maybe after I'm done with the Jezebel I'll try this one:

Enjoy! Happy Saturday Shopping! Me... I think I'll do 15% off all sets and baskets. :-D

Friday - I'm in Love - Steampunk Fascination!

2010-01-15T12:35:00.001-05:00

Steampunk Fairy By Deconstructress

Ok, so I'm not a huge fan of jewelry. I normally only wear a ring (my wedding band) and a short necklace with a howling wolf pendant. The jewelry I wear on a regular basis has emotional or spiritual meaning for me, so I'm very picky about it. Then too, I don't have what you'd call a social life, and so I don't usually have a reason to doll myself up.

However - there is a possibility I might go to a Steampunk Ball on the 25th of January -in which case I'd definitely need accessories...I already have some clothes around here that I can use for general costuming, but as I was looking for steampunk accessories, I did find some interesting outfits as well as you can see from the first pic in this post (all pictures take you to the shop or the listing in question)...

Decible Productions has this really cool looking necklace "Here Comes the Steampunk Sun"

Welsh Royalty has headgear covered with this really fascinating hair piece/hat. For those (like me) who think a real top had would be... well... over the top!

Alternatively, Instead of a hat, I'd probably go with something slightly more understated (I'm an understated kind of girl) and head for these hair clips that are also from Decibel Productions:

One of my fave sellers - and the woman who really makes me re-think my lack of exciting social life - Deconstructress has combined fairy and steampunk in the really cool outfit at the top of this post - but this outfit by The Jane Victoria is just... amazing!

As for me... I've already bought new laces for my corset. I have a corset, a skirt with a ribbon tie that will create an artificial bustle... I would need something I can wear under it (it doesn't cover the nipply bits) and accessories.

I also have a second variety that might work as well - A victorian costume gown in black velvet with a white bridal satin chemise dress and hoop.. The chest piece of the bodice has a gold gothic cross embroidered on it.

Come to think of it, I have quite a few pieces that would easily fit in - as they look quite a bit like bits and pieces of the outfit above - I'll have to wait though - as the top I'm thinking of is actually at someone elses house right now. *sigh* If I had the funds available - I'd just buy that whole ensemble and be done with it.

Right now though, I'm leaning toward the white brocade corset paired with the eggplant satin skirt with matching eggplant corset laces. There is also a matching white brocade neck corset, and I have ties for that if I decide to wear it. It has D rings hanging off it all the way around - and so i'm debating hanging a charm from them. Alternately I may go with the "Here Comes the Steampunk Sun" I need to decide soon though - as I have to have all of this in hand by Friday of Next week - the Ball is Saturday!

In the end I may have to make do with some thrift store finds - assuming I can ever get out to it. My car battery is still dead. :(

But the mail is here so it is time for me to go to work. I have lots to do and I'm running out of time. Have a creative day folks! (and if you have any steampunk suggestions let me know soon!)

THUD! The Sleepless version

2010-01-14T09:50:00.000-05:00

Because I am crazy and stayed up all night. But, it was fun. I spent all night just about chatting with fellow soaper DirtyAssSoaps discussing life in the universe, the necessity for 30 hour days, how unbelievably busy its been for both of us... and how much we're hoping to be totally caught up soon so we can get on to creating new lovelies for our shops!

IM really, sadly, is the next best thing to having a girls night in sleepover.

My to do list is printed and ready to be cracked on. Just as soon as I go perk some coffee, because I need it! This afternoon will be crashed by doctors appointments in 2 different cities (mine here in Suffolk and hubby's off in Portsmouth at the Naval Incompetence Facility), and so in about 3 hours I will not be getting anything worthwhile accomplished for at least 3 more hours. I am aiming for at least 5 packages posted by the time the PO closes, we'll see how those go.

Note to my fellow sellers: During the holiday rush from September through December WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING! I totally forgot an order because I f*cked up the shipping label, and I am kicking myself from here to Timbuktu right now and feeling like a total idiot.

On an up note: Little Heathen's has its new Banner, Avatar/logo, Label design, and is waiting for me to start photographing items to list. I even have the Grand Opening Give-Away planned out in my head... but that won't be till February - Stay tuned for sneak peaks, hints and other such things.

HALP!!!! New possible themes!

2010-01-11T23:35:00.001-05:00

For the Little Heathens Shop! Help me choose! Please?

Manic Monday

2010-01-11T12:31:00.000-05:00

So this is not going to be a regular kind of posting, at least, I sincerely hope not.

But it is definitely a manic kind of day. First, I overslept, again. I hate when its cold. It makes my arthritis flare and my sciatica act up, and falling asleep easily becomes a distant memory. Second, FedEx for the 3rd time, has promised me a refund on the packages sent December 18th that were supposed to be Overnight and took 2 days to arrive.

Then, oh my lovely customers how I adore you for keeping my business going... my how they shopped this weekend. So I have an absolute TON to do to get all of those out - and still desperately trying to carve out time to make new products and get the Little Heathen's soaps and things photographed so I can begin listing again!

So, my fellow bloggers and readers. How is your Monday going?

Saturday Sales & Specials!

2010-01-09T17:14:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Saturday round up of shops that I know who are doing Saturday sales and specials or who are having sales today!

First up:

My Other Princess Featuring the most fabulous bath fizzies EVER! She is offering 25% off all orders of $10 or more! I can't recommend her fizzies enough!

Tea Man. Has 2 listings in his shop for only .20 plus shipping for 25 tea bags! No catches, just great tea!

Sun Basil Garden is offering Free Shipping on purchases of 5 or more soaps!

ZadyBall is offering 10% off any one item, 20% off any 2 or more items through out their shop!

If you have a sale or special tonight, leave it here in the comments! :) Happy Shopping!

Wordy Wednesday! Murphy's Law of Business

2010-01-06T18:28:00.000-05:00

First, some announcements:

1. Please be sure to check out the sponsors of the blog over there to the right. Your support of them helps support your favorite bath and body products (ok, indirectly by allowing me to continue advertising, but still...)

2. Directly below said advertisers, are the current sales available in the shop and also a variety of give-aways being hosted on other blogs. If you would like your give-away to be mentioned, please send me an email with the URL and End date of the give away so that I can post it for you :)

And now the meat of the post - The Shops!

Running a business alone has been quite a growing experience for me these last few months. Talk about Trial by Fire - nothing like going it alone right before the holidays to really get your mind into overdrive! First there was time management to be dealt with - how do I continue to do all of the things as one person that two people used to do? And, I have to say, it is just not possible. And so, things like blogging, twittering, facebook, etc... fell by the wayside while I focused on the most important aspect of running a shop - filling orders.

I think I have finally gotten the hang of that one (hehe) - though believe me, I have started implementing changes on how things are done because in the process I made many mistakes. In all reality, just keeping up with orders some days was more than I could handle. 20 orders a day to make a part time income sounds easy enough - *if* you have the stock already made and the ability to put in huge supply orders ahead of time. Christmas season is *NOT* the time to realize you are low on key ingredients and short of funds! I wasted a lot of money (no I will not say how much, its painful) on 2-day or express shipping to get my supplies to me in time to fill customer orders. The end result being that for all that I had a fabulous December for sales - I have little to no profit to show for it.

Lesson learned - stock up in June - and always have a back up plan. You never know ahead of time that your car battery will die 3 days before the end of your Christmas purchase/shipping deadline and leave you stranded with no way to get to the post office in the next town over, because the PO in your town has lost so many packages that you refuse to risk shipping any more packages with them. It's horrifying. Plan for it!

I will still continue to make things in smaller batches, but I will, by the end of this month, have an ongoing stock of pre-made items - things that have no expiration date (soap, solid perfumes, lip balms) I will keep the most of on hand. Things that should be used up within a year of production (scrubs, lotions, frostings, body oils) I will keep fewer of pre-mixed, but there will still be at least 2 or 3 of everything, and double that of the popular scents. This will require some good record keeping, and will also mean keeping an eye on non-moving stock so I know ahead of time when and what may need to be put on sale for quicker movement. All in all, its about becoming organized and more streamlined in operations.

So how on Earth, you may be wondering, can I possibly be thinking about opening a second shop when I'm barely recovered from the holiday season of just one?

Well, that's the conundrum folks. You see, I know what my customers want - and many of you have been clamoring for the baby and kid products back. I know there is a demand for high quality all natural baby products. It's a very narrow market, and so I am banking on the idea that since the market is smaller, it will not see the explosive growth that Heathen's Hearth has seen over the last year (sales this past week are 20 times what they were during the same week last year).

Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to be wrong about the rate of growth - but I am prepared for it, or at least, better prepared for it than I was for facing the holidays. I truly expected that sales would taper off or die out, and they didn't. I certainly, based on last years numbers, never expected them to continue at a rate of 13 a day right up through Christmas day!

Anyway... for now, my plan is to do a soft reopening of Little Heathen's on Friday, Jan 8. I will slowly start adding in items as I get them made (following the same stock plan as above - everything going into Little Heathen's will be pre-made inventory to start with) and then will gradually build up stock as Heathen's Hearth has the funds to add new items (or as custom items are requested).

My current time-line will allow for a total re-opening (advertised, full inventory listed) by no later than February 1st. Assuming, of course, all goes as planned. First order of business is getting the other 22 packages sitting on the counter labeled, packed and to the post office. 1 day at a time, otherwise Murphy will get you!

Technical Tuesday - I'm "technically" late with posting lately

2010-01-05T23:47:00.001-05:00

But I have an excuse - really. I had to do inventory.

O.M.G. that sucked. You would not believe (ok, so I know all my crafter buddies would) exactly how much "stuff" one person can accumulate in a year! And all of it had to be sorted, weighed, tallied, counted, and recorded (to say nothing of being organized and restocked in the process because it had all just been moved from St. Charles to Virgina - yet another reason I *really* want to duplicate all my stock so I don't have to keep moving all that stuff!).

So - 4 days and 14 Legal Size pages of single spaced 1 item per line, later... inventory is *finally* done and I can get on with other things!

You see, I have this plan of greatness worked out in my head - now I just have to find the time to implement it. But it goes something like this:

Blog more often - I have 6 daily topics I plan to cover throughout each week -

Made-It Monday - Tutorials, New Products, other crafts I do, or other major accomplishments in my life... I will also use this spot for guest bloggers to share their crafts as well.

Technical Tuesday - Technical information, in depth information about the ingredients I use (all 12 pages of basic ingredients should give me lots of things to talk about), business information (the life and times of running a small business and behind the scenes sorts of things)...

Wordy Wednesday - You've already had a taste of this. Everyone else does "Wordless Wednesday" and I like to go against the grain ;-) Then too - I like to talk... A Lot. :-D

Thud Thursday - Thursdays for me always seem to be the hard days to get through. I mean, Mondays routinely suck for everyone. Tuesdays are the real start of the week. Wednesday is hump day... Friday is almost the weekend... Saturday and Sunday are days of rest and relaxation (can you hear the sarcasm in my text?)... but Thursdays are just... Thud Days. So these will be all of the things that make you go "huh?" and other inanities in life - and sometimes (like the Christmas version) it will actually be me making that sound as I hit the floor from running myself ragged. (This week's Thud Thursday will be the "things that make you say "WTF?" version.

Friday, I'm in Love! - Yes, yes, credit where credit is due... when I came up with that one I was, in fact, thinking of the Cure song. This is the day reserved for me to tell you all about the cool things I've found on the web - Etsy or otherwise, but primarily Etsy - to give a bit of encouragement and exposure to all of those cool handcrafted artisans out there in the world - because there are a lot of them that don't get near the attention I think they deserve...

Saturdays I haven't a clue what I'm going to do here... This may be the one day a week I don't blog - just because I'm sure you'll all get tired of me talking eventually. Though I am debating running polls or something to go along with the theme of Sunday's posts which are...

Say It Sunday - All of the things that people have said - good bad and otherwise about the shop, the products, and everything else. And yes, I said the bad too. One of the hardest parts of running a business as a sole proprietor is trying to get it just right. And, me being the human that I am, I am bound to f*ck it up from time to time. So, when someone has a complaint about something I've done, they don't like a product, or whatever the complaint might be, this will be the place where I work out what went wrong and how to fix it the next time around. I believe that transparency is the best way to go about doing things... Of course, as with last week, I will balance that out with all of the raves that people have about the things I make - because, though it sometimes feels immodest, I do sincerely appreciate all of the lovely compliments...it makes me remember why I do this during times when the stress makes me wonder what I was thinking in even starting it.

.... So yeah. That's my grand plan for the blog. Wordy Wednesday will cover my grand plans for the shops. Yes, shops, plural. This Friday, the 8th, I am reopening Little Heathens. It will be a soft re-open, very low key. I will be doing a Grand Reopening (with a party?) on February 1st - or as soon as I can get the full line of new products listed, which ever comes first. :)

Wordy Wednesday! (Now with Pictures!)

2009-12-30T11:08:00.000-05:00

Today's word of the day is Majestic!

Mind-Blowing, radiant, beautiful, exalted, grand.... there are all kinds of words that could be used to describe the things I see when I am here at the out-laws (aka, my BF's parents home in Asheville NC), but instead, I think today, I will just show you the Majesty that I cannot find words for today...

This is the view of the mountains from the bedroom window where we typically stay when visiting the out-laws. It's even more stunning at night with the lights of the towns in the valley all lit up with the mountains and clouds in high relief from the almost full moon.

And this was the view that I had yesterday when we arrived at the Biltmore "house". Standing at the top of the long hill near the statue of Diana, Goddess of the Hunt.

The interior was even more stunning, but alas, they do not allow photos to be taken of the interior. The whole of it is positively stunning...and the views from the windows of the upper levels are amazing - but in the end, they are much the same as the views from the bedroom here...

In the end, it has been a lovely weekend. The "vacation" from reality has given me wonderful inspiration for the coming year and I can't wait to get back into the kitchen and start creating new and wonderful products for everyone!

This is why I do this - Say It Sunday!

2009-12-27T11:10:00.000-05:00

So, yeah. December was one of those months that had me in tears from the stress of life more times than I care to admit to or that I wanted to count. But the last few days I've gotten some wonderful feedback from people who have used products from my shop for a long time, and some who have just recently started using them, and that feedback reminds me why I keep trying to improve and why I keep on chugging along even when things seem like they couldn't get any worse.

Like this:

Wow is an understatement for this product. I've lost count of the many very expensive facial products I've tried in the past. NONE of them offered me the kind of exhilarating experience that these items have. I HIGHLY recommend this wonderful set and I will definitely be purchasing more. Thank you so much!

Oh my goodness I'm in love! This little soap is amazing.. super easy lather, nice scent, & cleans without over-drying! A little bit goes a long way! The mask is amazing as well. I love that it's all natural. The toner tingles with freshness, & has a nice grapefruit scent. This little box set is a perfect way to try out some great products at an amazing price.. I will definitely be back for more. Thank you so much!

This one was one of my faves:

I just LOVE these sugar scrub cubes! They are the perfect size for one shower, they crush easily into just the right consistency, and the lather is nice. Skin feels soft and refreshed afterward! Thanks so much.
and this:

I cannot WAIT till the Little Heathens shop opens, cause if this balm is anything like the rest of the goodies, I am gonna lose my MIND!! Amazing!
~which is for the Calm Your Balm! Ointment for calming eczema and skin rashes that I am currently listing custom until the Little Heathens has its Grand Re-Opening in January.

So thank you everyone. I am so glad you are enjoying the soaps, and so happy I can continue to bring these fantastic products to you :0)

Wordy Wednesday! (now with numbers!)

2009-12-23T16:55:00.000-05:00

Todays word is F*ck!

I admit... its my favorite word. And I've been saying it a lot lately.

As in "The Post Office has really F*cked things up", and "Oh my F*cking god are you serious?!?" and "I'm going to F*cking go Postal - LITERALLY"

10 days - that's the number of days the post office has taken to deliver priority mail packages on average since December 1 (not including the 3 international packages (so far) that have taken more than 30 days to arrive - including 2 priority mail packages that took 30 days!).

4 days - the average number of days the local post office sat on packages from the time they were dropped off till they were scanned at the sorting facility before being shipped out.

5 - the number of packages destroyed or partially destroyed by the post office since November 15th of this year.

2 - the number of packages delivered 2 days late by FedEx

4 - the number of packages sent UPS that have been delivered (or attempted to be delivered) on time as promised.

$1000 - the estimated total loss this month due to mishandled, misdirected, lost, damaged, late packages (including postage, materials, and potential profit on the duplicate items).
$500 - the estimated total amount of packages shipped via other carriers and reshipped via usps carriers to correct postal mishandling of packages.

$5 - the average cost of domestic postage for orders.

$10 - the average cost of domestic shipping for orders via UPS.

total number of orders for the month of december - 90
total amount that would have been paid had all of them been shipped UPS - $900 (estimate)
total amount paid via USPS (both original and reshipped packages) - $745.52
total amount paid to other carriers (UPS & FedEx) to get packages to destination by deadlines after 12/15: $289

total cost to the PO or due to the PO's negligence: $1034.52

yeah. Next year - ALL packages are going via UPS.

Testing!

2009-12-23T01:58:00.000-05:00

is this on?

Blue - Frankincense and Myrrh
Gold - Amber
Red - Patchouli & Nag Champa.

THUD Thursday

2009-12-18T01:08:00.000-05:00

I just printed postage for 42 packages... on top of the like 10 that were already packed and posted and waiting to go.

I want to go THUD so badly right now. I'm trying to decide if its the better part of valor (or something) to just go to bed and rest and sleep for 7 hours, and then get up and finish tomorrow.

You see... someone posted a new truism on Twitter... "Procrastination is like masturbation...in the end you're only F*cking yourself".

I don't think I've procrastinated, so much as been lethargic from whatever is going on with my health, but it works out about the same...even though I feel a huge relief at seeing the light at the end of the tunnel I still have that rather dreadful feeling that I'm f*cked. I slept almost 40 hours straight from Saturday night through till Monday afternoon at 1pm. I was technically awake, or at least, physically ambulatory, for about an hour and a half during that time. Long enough at any rate to alarm my husband because of how slurred my speech was and how lethargic I was - and long enough to become physically ill from attempting to eat.

On top of being woefully unprepared for running the shop alone through the holidays this has become an ongoing stress marathon for the last few ~~days~~ ~~weeks~~ months. Between the health thing (I've lost almost 60lbs - 45 of which was lost over the span of 45 days between October and November), the post office debacle that caused me to have to redo multiple orders on top of the last minute holiday shopping orders, and the sheer volume of holiday orders (to say nothing of having to constantly reorder supplies due to earlier mentioned woefully unpreparedness)...I'm ready for about a week of sleep.

So my next few days look something like this (assuming I go to bed after making this post):

Friday: get up at 730, package the remaining completed orders and take them all to the PO. Finish the remaining orders that need to be finished, pack them all. Pack up the kitchen/shop supplies, load my truck, and drive from St. Louis to Maryland.

Saturday: Arrive in Maryland/Northern Virginia by 2pm. Drop off 2 orders to friends between 2 and 4pm. Drive to Southern Virginia. Get home. Die for at least 36 hours.

Sunday: If there is a god anywhere in the universe I will sleep the entire 24 hours.

Monday: get up at a decent hour (before 10am) unpack the truck, unpack the shop supplies, unpack any supply orders that have come in over the last couple of weeks, make whatever is needed for the last last minute pre-holiday orders and mail them.

So yeah. I think its definitely time for bed. I can still get it done in the morning. I have faith in myself.

Goodnight! I truly hope everyone has had a fabulous pre-holiday season, and wish us all a less stressful week to come!

The Many Mis-Adventures of Me - Introducing Wordy Wednesday

2009-12-16T11:03:00.000-05:00

Say that 5 times fast.

I was going to look for some witty way of saying the Many Mis-Adventures of Oh Em Gee... and was looking for a word that fit angsting soapmaker that started with G. It seemed appropriate since I lost 4 hours last night to a dead car battery because of the cold weather we're having... so, I hit the thesaurus, I like the visual thesaurus... it amuses me. Today it amused me more than anything and has inspired me to come up with a new thing to do on Wednesdays to cure mid-week boredom.

Everyone does wordless Wednesday - I'm going to do Wordy Wednesday! :-D

And the word of today is "soap". Everyone knows soap is a fabulous amalgamation made from the salts of either animal or vegetable fats (all soaps I make are of the vegetable variety, though I do want to try bacon soap - but that's another post).

However, Did you know?

Soap is also these things:

Money to pay a bribe:

A street name for Gamma Hydroxybutyrate aka GHB AKA the Date Rape Drug!

We must do something about this! Are we going to let soap keep this bad reputation? Is it not bad enough that all these big companies like to infer that their "detergent bars" are really soap? I mean, we as a people who love our soap must act! We cannot allow this disgrace of our beautiful soapy goodness to continue!

Does this look like the face of something as deceitful as bribery to you???

No! It doesn't! So join me fellow soap lovers! Raise your voices and lets be heard! Soap is much better than a drug! And it leaves you feeling clean and refreshed! Not slimey and low like bribery!

Who's with me?!?!

~Amy

Its time for the white rabbit!

2009-12-15T10:26:00.000-05:00

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

I'm not, but I am, and this is rather how I feel lately. I'm a bit dizzy running around trying to get it all done, but I am determined to get it all done - even the last minute orders coming in hoping for Christmas delivery. If I can possibly manage it, I will get those done as well...

I think I may have run myself mildly into the ground though. I slept all weekend. And unfortunately, that's not much of an exaggeration. I literally slept from about 10-11pm Saturday night through till 1pm Monday morning with only about 1-1.5 hours of "awake" time in there. And I hesitate to even call the stupor I was in anything resembling awake. I was upright, able to walk, and semi-able to converse, but that was about the extent of my awakeness.

I'm fairly certain I'm fighting off something, but I haven't the slightest clue what - and so for now am determined to go on the theory of denial. If I don't acknowledge it, then whatever is trying to brew itself can just hold off till I am home, the holidays are here, and I can afford a few days to be sick. :-)

Has everyone gotten their Christmas shopping done yet? I'll admit to having mine done - but I have not yet begun to sit down and actually put the gifts together or do my part of them. I keep thinking "I have time, I'll get it done, and yet, here I am on December 15th, only 10 days left to go till Christmas - 3 days left till I travel back to Virginia (which means 1 gift has to be done by the 18th and 1 has to be done by the 19th) and 3 gifts still to complete.

At least I've sort of managed to cook! I started a pot roast Saturday night, and so that was dinner for J on Sunday and for both of us last night. Today I'm using the leftover broth and starting a stew/soup for dinner tonight and tomorrow. Then I have to individually pack the rest of the meats to go in the freezer, bleach the kitchen, and then get my tush to work!

Have a great day everyone!

(Still no word on the shipping mess, I'm hesitant to worry too much about it beyond using a different post office until I get back here in January and know what the resolution was.)

Happy Crafting!

Amy

How much more expensive ...

2009-12-12T18:56:00.000-05:00

Can UPS be than USPS? I think I am about to find out.

I just had a conversation with my delivery lady that I wish I had never had. I scheduled a pick up for yesterday for 20 packages. They were still on my porch when I got home at 9pm last night, so we got back in the car and drove them to the Post Office in town.

I've been using the pick up option because the post office here is not conveniently located, and given how many packages have been going out, figured that it was best to save myself the half hour round trip and use that time for other things (like keeping up with orders).

She rang the bell about 5pm, and I answered and said "Hi, I don't have any packages going out until Monday, they were scheduled..."

Post lady "I know, for yesterday, here's your slip for the pick up, you'll want to read the note"...

There was a handwritten note at the top of the page, detailing that the slip was not given to the other route driver yesterday despite that being the scheduled date and that she should pick up my packages today and disregard the out of date postage metered on said pick up.

When she asked her boss about the out of date postage, her boss, she said, waived it off and said it didn't matter that too many people were shipping too many things and that the worst that would happen is that the packages wouldn't get delivered, or they'd wind up late, or eventually returned to me when they got around to resorting it when it came back through the chain.

I was so floored I completely didn't think to ask her to bring me back a copy of the pick-up slip. She's keeping it because she plans on taking it, along with the dates of the other pick ups that have been skipped (this is an average of once a week that she hasn't been given the scheduled pick up slips - just for me... at this point, about 3 weeks ago, she just agreed to stop if she saw packages on the porch whether I had scheduled a pick up or not - or more the point - if she got a notice of pick up required or not).

I asked her what was going to happen - she said she plans on going to the local post master on her day off on Monday, and that if she lost her job, she'd collect unemployment for 18 months and then retire, but she wasn't going to be the only one going down. Other than that her boss could "stuff it" because she was tired of them making her look bad, and that it wasn't any wonder no one used the post office to ship anything any more.

She then recommended I start taking my packages to the next town over until this all got sorted out, and in the meantime to verify that all of my customers actually got their packages. So now I need to change my shipping schedule, because the next town over is a 30 minute or so drive one way, vs the 30 minutes or so round trip that the town one is.

Or I need to find out if its really that much more expensive to ship UPS or Fed-Ex. Etsy has this cool new hook-up with Fed Ex to save us money when we ship with them. I think come Monday I will be seriously looking into it.

In the meantime, I will be writing emails to about 100+ people to verify their package arrival for all orders shipped (that i don't have other proof of delivery for) since the beginning of November. Then I'm going to soak in the bath and cry for a while... because its Christmas season, and between this and the PayPal debacle from the other day, I think I have reached the limit of what I can handle.

Then, after dinner (which will come right after the bath - oh how I wish I had another of these ), I will be hitting the kitchen. I have until Monday to get as close to done on all current orders as I can be, so that I can start working on anything that may come up between now and then so it all still gets where its going by Christmas.

Are we there yet? Is it New Years Eve? Is it 2011?

~Amy

Good morning! I took advantage of my extra 3 hours today!

2009-12-09T08:45:00.000-05:00

No, I did not suddenly become a morning person. I am still your basic old fashioned grumpus until I've been awake for 3 or 4 hours. The problem is, it just so happens I have been awake for 3 or 4 hours already, despite it only being 635am.

At 330 this morning, the wind advisory we've been under here in the St. Louis area, went from being an advisory to a full blown wind-storm. Apparently the balcony door didn't close all the way, so the 35mph wind gusts blew the door open (thank goodness for the cat box, it only blew open about 5 or 6 inches vs all the way!) and trailed in a 22 degree blast of cold air that left me wide awake. The fact that I was having nightmares about the shop right before that more or less determined my inability to fall back to sleep.

So, I spent the morning being productive in the shop. Got a bunch of new things listed, edited a few more, worked on copy for the listings, and futzed on twitter. :)

Here in a bit I'll be taking pics for said new listings, for now they have generic or distinctly older photos in them just to make do. The hard part, actually listing them, is done at least. And it solved a rather nagging curiosity of mine. Sandalwood everything sells very well, but for whatever reason, the sandalwood frosting wasn't selling nearly as well as typically expected - and I figured out why this morning - apparently, it was never listed! *slap forehead*

So, all of these new listings and edited listings are now located in the Sale section of the shop. Everything there is 15-50% off, and the listings are only good "while supplies last". I have an excess of inventory left over from the last show I did about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, and since I'm going back to the Virginia House on (or around) the 18th, I want to clear it all out so I don't have to pack it and move it. (Hot process soaps excluded for the most part because those take too long to restock).

The cool part - other than getting really great products on sale - is that I'm currently at about 6-7 (business) days for fresh made products... since these are already made, they can be shipped immediately - which means they'd be great for you Canadian and European folks because I can still get them out before the holiday deadline.

Speaking of... this coming weekend is the last sale I will be having this year, probably for at least a month or so...I might have a small one on my birthday in January. So I'm offering a sneak peak for blog readers. I'm going to be offering Free Shipping for all domestic orders over $25... 50% off First Class International Shipping with orders over $40... Free Flat Rate International Shipping (medium box - a $26 savings) on all International orders over $75. If you mention this blog post when you check out, you can get the sale prices now. No exclusions applicable - this is valid for anything in the shop including sale and clearance items.

So now I am off to enjoy my oatmeal, which hopefully doesn't have too much cross contamination of wheat or gluten since its the only breakfast food in the house... and then I'll be getting back to the To Do List of Doom. ;-D

Have a great day all! Don't forget, more to come tomorrow about the approaching holiday! :)

~Amy

I can't believe it! There are only 25 days left in the year!

2009-12-07T13:03:00.001-05:00

Where did this year go?!?! I haven't the slightest clue where my year went.

But you know, that means there are only 19 days left until Christmas, which is what most of us are ramping up toward these days.

The shop has been alternately slow and very busy... between that and the ongoing testing with my health, I feel like I haven't had a break - but of course, I have. I took Friday and Saturday last week for myself. Friday I wasn't left with much choice since the sedation didn't really wear off until late Friday night. Saturday I was just bone tired and wound up sleeping most of the day away.

I've discovered the last few months that its sometimes more important to listen to my body than to my never ending to do list. My anxiety aside, I will be no good to anyone if I'm too sick to function. So I bite the bullet on occasion and give in to my body's demands that I allow it to rest and recuperate for a day or two.

I want to do something special for the holiday season. I already have one last sale of the year scheduled (sneak peak coming soon just for bloggers!), but I am thinking I'm going to do something else for my readers.

So, keep an eye out here. Tomorrow I'll be making the big announcement, both for the sneak peak of the upcoming sale, and for the magic that will be the final countdown to Christmas! :)

In the meantime, lets try to start some discussion here! I always feel a bit like I'm talking to myself in the big wide world of intarwebz. So tell me something...what kinds of topics get you talking on a blog? What would you like to know about me? About the shop? Should I start including more personal information and a little less of the running billboard?

For example, odds are good that I'm never going to be able to eat gluten again... would you be interested in my food journeys for finding gluten free recipes? Should I start a new blog for that?

Talk soon!

Amy

Weee!

2009-12-07T01:15:00.000-05:00

The First Snow!

It's not going to stick, and its light and kinda crunchy like ice... but its snow! Happy Winter (officially - well, in about a week at the Solstice).

I'm sure everyone is going to become very tired of me posting "I swear I'm going to post something fascinating really soon!"... but I am!

I have some really good things coming! First up is a returning product - Lip Balms! This time though, they are going into tubes by popular demand :-D

Flavors -
Almond Biscotti
Clove
Marshmallow Fluff
Butter Toffee Crunch
Cream de Menthe
Orange
Caramel
Cinnamon Candy
Hazelnut Latte
Peppermint
Chai Tea
Jolly Rancher
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Cherry
Lemon
Ruby Pomegranate

the returning and new mix of lip balms :-)

Pictures and listings coming this week. They'll be listed at $3 each or 2 for $5. :-)

Also, a new product is on its way! as well as the full scent list for 2010! :-D Stay tuned!

And pssst.. I don't have a lot of time on my hands lately! So what am I missing out there in the blog world? What do you want me to know?

Tis the season!

2009-12-03T12:53:00.000-05:00

To lose your mind! Bwahahahaha

Ok, ok, not really. Its been a madhouse around here. I lost a day somewhere, and blissfully wandered through yesterday thinking it was Tuesday, when in fact, no, it was Wednesday. So now I have packages going out today by express mail. My fault, coming out of my pocket. I will get over it.

I will have fun and interesting things to report soon. I promise. In the meantime, I came back from Thanksgiving, was very productive on Sunday, lost Monday to being sick, and I still have no idea where Tuesday went. :(

So yeah... my to do list is 5 pages long, and getting longer by the day. I have so much to do, and I need a clone. Anyone got a cloning device? ;-)

How are your holiday preparations going?

It's Black Friday! What did you buy?

2009-11-28T00:24:00.000-05:00

Gifts for everyone else right? Naturally, that's typically what people buy on this day.

I however, spent not a penny. I had my holiday shopping done a few weeks ago. I'll grant you my list is small (only 4 people not including the kids) and we're all restricted to $25 or handmade items, so it wasn't like it was a big challenge.

Ok, so finding presents for 3 40ish year old men that were unique, mostly or totally handmade, and that were under $25... *and* had to be "usable" items - ie...no kitschy anything or knicknacks or collectibles. It had to be functional.

It was a challenge - which was why I started shopping 2 months ago. :)

So, in honor of this day of economy boosting... here's a list of things on Etsy I haven't bought, but wish I had the money for.

5. Luxe Amber Honey Citrine and Oxidized Silver necklace by ANORIGINALJEWELRY

4. Just about all of the t-shirts from Munchey's shop, but if I had to pick just one: I used to care, really, I did..

3. A lovely reminder of the deity who runs my life...carved by TreeSkinStructures. Old One Eye

2. Lovers by casanovax2 for its elegant simplicity and stunning clean lines

1. And the number 1 thing I want on Etsy right this very moment...... is from Mindlesspursuits.

Tomorrow will be a new top 5 things I want on Etsy. Possibly. Tomorrow I'll be driving from my Out-laws beautiful home in Asheville, North Carolina... back to lovely St. Charles Missouri.

I will endeavor to at least stop in and say "hi"! In the meantime, what's you're favorite item on etsy right now? Tell me what I should be spending my money on.

Happy Long Weekend!

2009-11-27T11:24:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I so wish I had taken pictures of the food before it was served here at my Out-Laws. My MOL is a fabulous cook anyway (and I should know, I've eaten like 3 meals she's cooked - but not one of them have ever been less than something you'd see in a cooking magazine), but she really outdid herself for turkey day.

Going on the assumption that what is really wrong with me is Celiac Sprue - she made the ENTIRE dinner, Celiac friendly (except the Pecan Pie, which I hear there is no way to accomplish - not big on it anyway, so I didn't miss it).

So I had turkey, stuffing, gravy, cauliflower with hollandaise/cheese sauce, broccoli and butter, fruit salad, sweet potatoes with marshmallow and pecan topping, and my very own crustless pumpkin chiffon. OMG - that stuff puts pumpkin pie to shame (but don't tell J I said so. ;-)

It was absolute divinity. And now, we go from the lethargy of food to the madness of the true holiday shopping season. And naturally, in my own way, I am participating as well. Though I must say, after 3 years of working retail during the holiday season in my 20's, I *never* shop on these days, except from the comfort of my home. :)

So I am thankful for a fantastic mom-out-law, the divine dinner, and internet shopping!

So, what are you thankful for this weekend? What are you thankful for every weekend? Inquiring minds want to know!

So as of last night at midnight, all prices in the shop have been marked down for the long weekend. Black Friday till Midnight Monday night everything in the shop is 25% off.

Everyone in the US, Canada and Mexico get free shipping with orders over $50, and everyone else in the world gets free shipping with orders over $100.

So go, shop, spoil your loved ones with gifts and treasures... and then don't forget to stop by early for great deals from the shop as well. :-) And then go to the post before this one and register for a chance to win a Creamy Sugar Scrub and a matching bar of soap :-D

Happy Birthday! A Game and A Gift

2009-11-25T07:05:00.006-05:00

And a happy birthday to my dad :-) Ha! For the first time since high school I'll actually be on time wishing him a happy birthday (ok, I admit, that is just a bit sad - but when you realize that I don't even know what day of the week it is without being reminded 30 times a day, its really no so horrid - I mean, I get the month right, and usually the week).

So lots of things going on right now (what's new?), first up, New product in the shop! Yay!

Creamy Sugar Scrub! A decadent treat, a new twist on a much loved product! No muss, no fuss, no mess, no slime! Just a creamy delicious blend of unrefined Mango Butter, Apricot Kernel Oil, Grape Seed Oil, and the purest Cane Sugar available. Formulated with a 100% paraben free preservative, as always, used at the lowest safe levels possible.

Its thick, its creamy, its scrubby! (and naturally, the inaugural scent was Sandalwood - you can however, buy the listing - psst! its 25% off now through Monday for the Turkey Sale - and request any scent you would like!)

And its in the spotlight! Look at it shine! Isn't it fabulous? Such a beauty! ok, I'll stop now. ;-)

I'm so excited I finally get to list these! I've been perfecting this and wanted to list it forever! I originally designed it for salt scrubs that were done by special request for some outside clients of mine who needed them for spiritual cleansing, but I didn't want to list them in the shop and have it be competing with the sugar scrubs - plus, I've never been a big fan of drippy scrubs anyway... and too many of the creamy recipes still leave you feeling like you just showered in an oil slick - just with less mess.

I wanted something whippable to hold lots of sugar for excellent exfoliation. Creamy and oil based, but not oily looking or oily feeling. And by golly I've got it! Right here in this fabulous little jar of whipped cream sugary goodness.

And perhaps the very best part of all, due to some recent changes in how I am able to purchase supplies, its even less expensive than the original scrubs! It can't get any better!

I'm torn though. I need to figure out what to call it. :(

Right now its listed as "Sugar Scrub Cream" - but I kinda like "Cream and Sugar Scrub" ... which will either go over really well when I do the Cafe Mocha, or be very confusing.

So here's what I'm going to do. Help me name it, and 1 lucky winner will get a Jar of Scrub (10 ounces) in the scent of their choice, and a matching Hot Process soap (about 5 ounces, recipe of their choice - Three Butter, Cocoa Butter or Olive Oil).

All you need to do to enter, is leave me a comment here, telling me which name you like better

1. Sugar Scrub Cream
or
2. Cream and Sugar Scrub
or
3 - Invent your own!

Plus a way to contact you (blogger account, face book, twitter DM, however that works for you!)

And for bonus points, plaster this everywhere you want to, leaving me a link to each place you plaster it, and I'll enter you as many times as you can find unique sites to post it to (1 entry per site, you can't have 500 entries for retweeting it every 10 minutes and spamming your poor friends - though I will appreciate your effort).

Contest will end on Sunday night (November 29th) at Midnight! So tell all your friends, and help me decide what to call these decadent treats for your skin! :)

So many changes, where to begin?

2009-11-23T20:43:00.004-05:00

It's not quite the New Year as a lot of people think of it... but we are definitely heading into the end of the year in general, and for many pagan folk, myself included, Samhain, also known as Halloween (the period between sundown on the 31st through sundown on the 1st of November), marked the turning of the year.

It hasn't been the easiest start to a new year for me, or for Heathen's Hearth, but I am still determined to make a go of it. I have every intention, no matter the rocky beginnings, of making this year to come better than the year before. Plans are already in motion for many aspects of how I intend to make that work.

I am branching out into doing craft shows. Thus far I have done 2 that are local to the St. Louis area, and I intend to do shows in Missouri, Virginia, and Maryland throughout next year. Both shows were, on my scale, great successes and I look forward to more in the future. I realized how much I missed being able to have that one on one contact with clients, and how much a difference it can really make.

If there's a show you think I should come to in one of those states, or any nearby ones (like North-eastern North Carolina, south-west Illinois, anywhere in Maryland) do feel free to let me know. If the show is big enough, I may even consider other states.

There are going to be some product changes as well. The first change has already been started, and that is that I am moving to all paraben free preservatives, all pthalate free fragrance oils, and I am branching further into using therapeutic quality essential oils, and reducing the number of perfume and fragrance oils carried in the shop.

I will still be carrying many of the favorites (Sandalwood, Pink Sugar, Lemon Cream, Leather, Patchouli and Nag Champa) and of course, will be rotating out newer fragrances every couple of weeks or months in favor of new exciting limited edition soaps.

Some of the other changes are going to include: More products with fewer artificial colors - especially the newer version of lip balms (coming back soon, in tubes!); new scrub cube and sugar scrub formulations (now creamier, easier to use), Bath Salts (a favorite is back again!), and Salt Scrubs (for those who prefer a more robust exfoliation), and new products overall.

Current formulations almost ready to come out of the testing stage are: Facial Moisturizers (yes, a full year after they were first requested, I have come to the perfect 100% natural moisturizer!), a new line of masks and facial soaps that have come from the customized requests of multiple customers to offer a wider variety than just the basic 3 (oily/blemished, dry/sensitive, normal), Olive Oil hot process soaps, scrub cubes (already in the shop under the new formula), and Sugar Scrubs.

All of the products offered in the shop will be the same high quality products you are used to. Many of the changes, like the fragrance oils, essential oils, and preservatives used, will not be noticeable to most people. The new formulations will of course, and I will be offering both side by side for a while, and slowly phasing out the older formulas. If, after they are phased out, you still want the older formulations, I will happily continue making them on a per request basis.

The biggest change of all I have not mentioned yet. That change took place a few weeks ago, and that is that Misty is no longer working with me on Heathen's Hearth. She has opened her own shop on Etsy at http://www.wickedsoaps.etsy.com. For those of you who love the cold process soaps, make sure you head over there and check them out. She's coming out with some great new scents and products as well.

Many of the changes that will be taking place here in Heathen's Hearth are due to some other issues that I have been having of late. Which is to say, they kinda know, but aren't real sure yet. I am suffering from malnourishment due to a partial failure of my digestive system. I have lost over 50 pounds in 2 months and it has begun to sap my energy levels and causing me to have what amounts to "full body charley horses" due to a lack of vitamin and mineral absorption.

The biggest thing right now, is that I have gone from the normal 3-5 day shipping time that people have come to expect from us, to 5-7 days. In order to get this back down to the lowest shipping turn around that I can, I have begun to implement a plan to narrow the shop products to only what I have on hand. I will not remove anything from the shop as it is listed now, unless or until new products replace them (such as the sugar scrubs).

It is my hope to have a definitive diagnosis and a "fix" sometime within the next 2-3 weeks. I am asking for your patience during this time. I know it is very frustrating on your end as the customer, and I can't assure you enough that it is just as frustrating on my end. If I get beyond the point of a 5-7 business day turn around, I will be putting the shop on vacation status until I am caught up again. I am hoping I will not have to do this at all, and that the plans in place to create ready to go products in the most popular items (such as soaps), will prevent it from coming to that.

I could not continue to do this without the support of the fans and friends of Heathen's Hearth, and I look forward to working with you again over the coming year. Thank you so much for your continued patronage in this exciting and life changing adventure.

hey everyone

2009-11-16T16:46:00.001-05:00

Please be patient. I promise I will be posting soon - I know there is a bit of disorganization here on the blog right now, but unfortunately right now I am unable to repair or edit the settings or items in the side bar.

I promise I will be taking care of this problem as soon as I humanly can.

In the meantime, please check the shop announcement for latest sales details and disregard the information on the side bar.

I will get back to regularly posting just as soon as I can.

Thanks!

Amy

Happy Labor Day

2009-09-04T11:15:00.002-04:00

Ok, so not yet. I really did intend to write this week. *sigh* Its been busy as all get out around the Hearth here, so I haven't really had the time.

I will be writing a blog post later this week. But in the meantime, here's an article from last year on our Body Frostings. Since they are soon going to be back in our shop for the season, this is a good time to get reacquainted with them, and it does contain the beginning of the information that I will be posting on over the next couple of months about all of the ingredients we use in our products and why we use them.

Check out our Labor Day Sale in the shop for 25% off you're entire order! And while we don't have our body frosting in the shop yet, you can pre-order it through our shops alchemy function by clicking this link: Request Custom Item

On Body Frosting and the Nature of Oil:

We've been offering body frostings in our shop since the second week of November of 2008 due to heat and melt issues, we had to stop shipping them as of April 2009, and will be bringing them back in September of 2009. 99% of the people who have tried them, have loved them. But occasionally there are some confused reactions on what a body frosting actually is, how it works, and what its for; so this is going to explain all of that.

What is it? What's it for?

First, the name of the product, Body Frosting. Frosting (or Icing as its called where I grew up) is a frothy creamy substance used to cover cakes (a lesser known or realized use of frosting is it keeps your cake from drying out - plain cake dries out much faster than cake with frosting)... our "frosting" is a frothy creamy substance used to keep your skin soft and moisturized. Unlike real frosting however, where you have to use a full 8 or 9 oz jar to cover an itty bitty cake, 1 3oz jar of body frosting is enough to cover your whole body daily for about 2-3 weeks.

I personally use a tea tree & peppermint frosting on my feet daily, and it takes me almost a week to go through a 1/2 ounce jar of it...trust me when I say that the phrase "a little dab 'll do ya" is very accurate in the case of our body frostings.

"Why is that, exactly?" You may ask. Well, I'll tell you.

What goes in it?

Well, as I said, a little dab'll do ya - because our body frostings are a pure blend of 100% natural oils and butters, a little bit will go a very long way. The ingredients in our body frostings are very simple. We start with pure refined Shea Butter. Once this is melted down we add in coconut oil, grape seed oil, apricot kernel oil, and vitamin E. The last ingredient we add is a preservative which helps protect the frosting (and You) from harmful bacterial growth.

I've expounded a bit in previous posts about Shea butter, so I will summarize for you for now.

Shea butter (also known as Butyrospermm Parkii Fruit, aka, shea tree nut butter, etc) is the solid oil extracted (typically by expeller pressing) from the nut or fruit of the Shea Tree. It contains high amounts of Vitamin A and is well known for its healing properties for a variety of skin conditions (eczema, dermatitis, dry cracked skin, rashes, blemishes[anyone ever used retin-a the acne cream?], stretch mark healing and prevention, and more). Those people who have latex or nut allergies should *ALWAYS* do a patch test to determine if they will have a reaction to shea butter.

Coconut Oil (Cocos Nucifera Oil) is a solid at room temperature oil that contains high amounts of lauric acid and others which are helpful in maintaining the naturally slightly acidic nature of human skin. It has been shown to help fight certain strains of candida and thrush, and also helps in the breakdown of bacteria which causes the oders in human sweat. Due to its fast absorbtion rate and high fatty acid content, it is an excellent all purpose skin moisturizer. It has a shelf life of about 2 years when stored in its naturally occurring solid form.

Grape Seed Oil (Vitis Vinifera Seed Oil) is a highly touted oil for use on stressed and damaged skin. It is high in linoleic acid, an omega-6 acid that helps cells maintain and replenish their membrane structure, leading to less visibility in stretch marks and wrinkles. It tends to be slightly slower at full absorption, making it an excellent carrier oil for essential oils, and providing a protective barrier for skin, while not creating an overly greasy feeling after application. This oil has a shelf life of approximately 1 year.
Apricot Kernel Oil (Prunus Armeniaca kernel Oil) is another lightweight oil that acts similarly to both shea butter and Grape Seed Oil, due to both its high Vitamin A content, and also due to its high content of linoleic (and oleic) acids. It absorbs quickly into the skin and does not leave any oily residue behind once it is completely absorbed. It has the shortest shelf life of all of the oils we use, at only 6 months when stored in a cool dark environment, and is why we recommend using your frostings within 3 months for best freshness.

Vitamin E is added both for its ability to help prevent rancidity in oils, as it is for its benefits to your skin in combination with all of the other oils we use. Vit E is a regulator for Vitamin A - it helps to maintain a healthy balance of Vitamin A within the skin. Due to its antioxident properties, Vitamin E helps protect skin from UV light, and boosts the power of sunscreens when applied at least 20 minutes before going out in the sun. It also helps fight free radicals in the skin which can cause wrinkles, liver spots and skin discolorations.

Lastly, we include a brand of preservative called Germaben IIe. This is made up of the following preservatives: Propylene Glycol, Diazolidinyl Urea, Methylparaben, Propylparaben. It is used at approximately .5%-1% of the total weight of all of the other ingredients combined. This combination of preservatives is effective at preventing the growth of bacteria, mold, and fungus and keeps your product fresh through out its shelf life, protecting you from having icky things growing in your body frosting.

So Why use body frosting instead of standard lotion?

Standard lotions and moisturizers contain water, and lots of it. And while this is fine and there is nothing wrong with it, it has the side effect of requiring reapplication quite frequently. Part of the reason standard lotions and creams make your skin feel softer and smoother is that the water in those creams absorbs almost immediately, and swells the cells of your skin, which does temporarily relieve the look and feel of dry, wrinkled skin.

However, water evaporates almost as rapidly as it absorbs, and sooner or later, typically within a few hours, the water will have passed through the cells and you find yourself reapplying the lotion. The great thing about our body frostings is that they actually help to *heal* the skin, not only reducing the look of the fine lines and dryness of your skin cells, but actually aiding them to correct and repair themselves. And while it can't completely reverse the aging process, it can, and does, help your cells to retain their own natural moisture more readily, and thus correct the problem of dry skin with only 1 or 2 applications per day, versus the 5-8 times a day one would typically apply a standard water base mixture.

This is something to consider both for the health of your skin, and your wallet. While our body frostings run about $3 per ounce, versus the more standard $1.50 to $2 per ounce, they are actually less expensive over the long run, because you will use significantly less of them. So its the best of both worlds. You save your skin, and some money, and life doesn't get much better than that!

And always bear in mind, that phrase "a little dab'll do ya"... If you try to apply our frosting the way you are used to applying lotion, you will wind up looking like you've just swum through a river of mineral oil. Go easy on it. Apply a little bit, and if you feel you need more, wait till it absorbs first, and then see how you feel. By all means, use as much as you'd like, just be careful not to overdo it, or you might, as one customer recently put it "glow" after application.

Hey Hey its Saturday!

2009-08-29T18:45:00.002-04:00

And you know what that means!

Saturday Night Specials! This is a rather special weekend - Misty is in the process of moving to Michigan (they arrived safely last night! yay!) and I'm holding down the fort - ACK! lol

Also, this weekend, we're participating in the Weekend Deals on Etsy - and have been featured in the Weekend Deals Gift Guide! Thank you Etsy!

So for the Entire Weekend - we're offering Buy 1 Get 1 Free on all soaps in the shop (equal or lesser value products are always the free ones folks! - Limit 2 free soaps per customer) and Buy 1 Get 1 50% off (limit 4 50% off items) on all other products in our shop!

But, since its Saturday, and it wouldn't be a good Saturday without an SNS - I've eliminated the limits! So stock up now, believe it or not the holidays are coming up quick and this would be a great time to start stocking up on some of our great summertime scents to keep the season going!

~~~~~~

Now, It did take me a bit longer than I thought to recover from my out of town trip last week, but I promise I haven't forgotten about the poll from last week, and the first article in the series should be rolling out no later than Wednesday! I've decided since Hump Day is about the slowest day of the week (after Morose Mondays that is) that it would be a fine day for reading up on all you ever wanted to know (and maybe some things you didn't want to know) about the things that go into our bath and body products!

So, keep an eye out for Wednesday, and in the meantime, I will endeavor to keep you as up to date as I can!

~Amy

What do you know?

2009-08-16T19:26:00.002-04:00

Better question, what would you like to know? I'm putting together lists of ideas for topics to write about here in the blog and I'd like to know what our readers would like to read. So friends, what shall it be?

There is a poll on the right sidebar in the blog. There are 4 choices (and I'm pretty sure you can pick more than one, this is the first time I've set up a poll on the blog), so cast a vote, and let us know what you'd like to read about.

The first three answers are things that directly relate to what we do and the things we use - essential oils, base oils and butters, and the possibility of listing more tutorials here on the blog. The last choice is up to you.

Do you want to know more about effective advertising? How to find your target market? Shop critiques. You name it, I'll try to write as informative an article as I can just for you.

So drop a line (here in the comments or over there in the poll) and let me know what you'd like to read about!

(I'll be watching the poll this week - it ends on Aug 23rd in the afternoon and I'll start posting new articles on the 25th)

~Amy

Hey Hey its Saturday!

2009-08-15T18:24:00.001-04:00

Time for our Saturday Night Specials:

Buy any Toner or Mask get a free 1.5oz matching facial soap! Just enter the soap name in the notes to seller.

Weekend deals: Free Shipping on all orders over $40

SNS:

Buy 4 Get 1 free - full size goats milk or glycerin soap! Leave your soap choice in the notes to seller at check out!

Buy 1 get 1 half off - on all lotions, 8oz sugar scrubs, and 6oz Scrub Cubes!

(SNS Excludes soaps in the sale and clearance section! Thank you!)

SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL!!!

2009-08-08T17:42:00.001-04:00

Hey guys! Its that time again!

Sale starts at 5p ends 9am EST on Sunday!

20% off everything in the shop including clearance and sale items!

Discount will be given by refund through paypal!

bonus:

Order $25 worth of product and get a free lip balm (leave flavor in the notes to seller)

Order $50 worth of products and get a free bar of soap (leave scent in notes to seller)

Order $75 worth of products and get free Shipping (*US and CANADA and MEXICO only!)

We have a winner!

2009-08-05T12:09:00.002-04:00

We have a winner!!!!

Happy Backward Birthday to Beth aka aylwyn :-)

Congratulations! You have won a full set of our Cucumber Melon products!

Thank you to everyone who entered, for your support through this last year, for enjoying our products... it means everything to us!

Stay tuned! New articles are in the works, and I'm sure we'll have lots of things to talk about in the coming year!

Next up will be an introduction to our fall scents, which we will be rolling out in the next 2 weeks.

Happy Backward Birthday Give Away!

2009-07-22T16:48:00.007-04:00

As Misty pointed out yesterday, we have reached the 1 year anniversary of opening our Etsy Shop! What a year it has been! We owe you guys so much for being so supportive of this endeavor. With that in mind, we're pleased to announce our Happy Backward Birthday Give-Away!

Now, we've never been known for following the usual trends, and we're not about to start. So, instead of getting presents for our "birthday", we're going to give some away! We're at the peak of summer, when everything is fresh - fresh veggies, fresh air... you get the idea. So we've chosen one great summer scents for this give away - Fabulous Cucumber Mint. Its a deliciously crisp blend of mild cucumber and cooling fresh mint - perfect for the dog days of summer ahead.

And this isn't just any old give away. The lucky winner is going to be getting a set of Full Size Products from our summer line up - almost $30 worth of products! You will receive:
1 5oz bar of glycerin soap, 1 4oz jar of our Goats Milk and Honey lotion, 1 8oz jar of Skin Softening Bath Salts, and 1 5oz jar of our Exfoliating Sugar Scrub.

Ways to enter:

1 - leave a comment on this entry telling us your favorite part of summer.

2 - be a follower of our blog (you do not need to leave a comment letting us know you follow us, these entries will be pulled from our followers list from blogger.com)

3 - every item purchased from our shop before August 1st will get you 1 entry

4 - post a link to this contest on your social networking site of choice (1 entry per website, leave a separate comment for each link-back to have them all counted... maximum 3 entries per person via social networking) examples include blogs, facebook, myspace, twitter, plurk etc.

Entry deadline is 11:59pm August 1st (the one year anniversary of our first listed item). Winner will be chosen at random from all entries using the Randomizer at www.random.org and will be announced on August 4th (the one year anniversary of our first sale!).

We're looking forward to moving into the next year with lots of new product lines, fabulous new scents, and of course, lots of time getting to know our customers - because without you, we wouldn't be here at all.

Free The Teen! - Free Shipping Sale!

2009-07-16T21:08:00.005-04:00

Hi there!

It is almost the end of the summer, how have you been spending yours?

Tyler, my son, the 14 year old of the household, has spent his summer babysitting Misty's 6 year old son. While this is a very worthwhile endeavor (and he's been compensated for the time spent), he hasn't yet gotten his summer vacation. We would like to change that by giving him an extended trip to visit with his extended family in Florida.

Effective immediately - We are offering FREE shipping to the United States and Canada ($10 maximum shipping to all other countries). Once we've raised enough money to fund his travel expenses to visit with his favorite cousin the sale will be over, so buy early, and stock up for the rest of the summer so you can take advantage of this great offer!

(This can be combined with any other sale prices in our shop, so stop by soon!)

~Amy

Remember those adorable little kittens?

2009-07-14T00:47:00.004-04:00

They're about 8 times as big now.. the biggest is about 2lbs now.

They have definitely made life here interesting the last 7 weeks or so. I am currently sitting on my floor. Would you like to see why?

The second image is Gigi. She used to be the runt.. she's bigger than at least 3 of the other kittens now.

Don't they look comfy in my recliner? LOL

~amy

Because I almost peed my pants

2009-07-11T12:04:00.003-04:00

Good feedback is wonderful. FUNNY good feedback is priceless!

For our White Chocolate Truffle Goat's Milk Soap:

"Great quality soaps, great scents and great service. I could gush on and on, but I think that everyone is sick of hearing me go on and on about how great Heathens Hearth is..."heathens hearth this...Heathens Hearth that...". i'm addicted .My family tried to stage an intervention, but i locked the bathroom door..." - houseofv

For our Black Celtic Sandalwood Soap:

"Completely addictive scent. leaves you smelling and feeling like you've been making out with foxy man who is a combination of Braveheart,Marilyn Manson and Zeus." - houseofv

Oh happy day!

2009-07-10T11:56:00.002-04:00

Our Coconut Lime Sugar Scrub Cubes made it to the Front Page today! All because of Balanced's gorgeous treasury that she so kindly included us in!

Thankful Thursdays

2009-07-09T09:01:00.010-04:00

I am such a slacker...no new blog posts since last Thursday! Yikes. I guess it's time for me to step up to the plate and get some worthy reading up! On the LJ community I am part of, each week we do a post called Thankful Thursdays. I'm going to bring that over here today :)

Today I am thankful for:

My 6 year old little heathen, even if he does try my patience and throw head-spinning, pea soup spitting fits. Wait...isn't that most 6 year olds?

I have a nice house to move into at the end of August when I go home to Michigan that will have plenty of space for my supplies.

Heathen's Hearth surpassed 1,400 sales this week!

Coffee!!!!!!!

Speaking of coffee (you know it's one of my favorite things in the entire world, rating somewhere between my son and my honey on the"I love" scale and between breathing and sleeping on the "must-have" scale), so it's no wonder we have an array of these deliciously tempting, "too much blood in my caffeine system items!"

Orange Mocha Soap
With added cocoa and shea butter, we blended double brewed coffee, coffee grounds for light exfoliation, sweet orange essential oil and chocolate fragrance oil for a mouth-watering aroma that you will be hard-pressed (coffee pun fully intended) to resist!

Cafe Latte Lip Balm
The delicious taste of a smooth Cafe Late in a smooth, moisturizing balm for your lips.

The Jupita Caramel Macchiato Soap
The aroma of fresh-brewed cappuccino, filled with heavy cream, and sweetened with sugary caramel over ice! Sweet, smooth and cool...just like it's namesake.

Cafe Mocha Goat's Milk Soap
Just like your favorite coffee shop mocha, this soap is perfect a way to start your day. Made with real coffee bean for a burst of caffeine for your skin! Caffeine isn't just for your morning pick-me-up any more. Its also been shown to have excellent restorative affects on your skin as well!

Cafe Mocha Sugar Scrub
Our Cafe Mocha Sugar Scrub contains real coffee grounds for extra exfoliation. It also contains caffeine which has been shown to have excellent restorative affects on your skin as well!

Orange Vanilla Latte Soap
The heavenly scent of robust coffee blended with creamy vanilla and orange, with added coffee ground for light exfoliation...makes absolutely dreamy bathing experience!

We've also introduced some new products in our shop that are summer must-haves!

Pest Repellent Spray
A unique blend of natural essential oils in a base of witch hazel and organic aloe juice. This is a synergistic blend of mother nature's best defense against little biting pests!

Pest Repellent Soap
This soap contains a unique blend of therapeutic grade essential oils that have been shown to be repellent to a number of bugs and pests including: mosquitoes, flies, gnats, ticks and fleas. Each essential oil was chosen both for its bug repellent qualities *and* for the clean and uplifting scents they leave behind.

Soothing After Sun Spray
Aloe juice will soothe and help to moisturize your skin while our blend of essential oils are known to help speed the healing of sunburned and dry skin...and the added peppermint will leave you feeling cool and refreshed.

We are always adding new Cold & Hot Process Soaps and make sure you check out our Facial Care Section for some great soaps and masks....and be on the lookout for Facial Toners soon!

A chance to win a bar of Heathen's Hearth Soap!

2009-07-02T11:09:00.002-04:00

CreateAThought is having an awesome giveaway on her blog for a change to win our CreateAThought Soap and some goodies from her shop!

Check it out here!

Awesome Reviews!

2009-06-30T10:30:00.013-04:00

"Misty and Amy make soaps the way I would make them (if I was a soap maker). Their attention to detail and presentation is amazing and very professional. The wide variety of fruit & floral fragrances teamed up with the decorative molds make for perfect gifts or a little luxury for yourself! Unique scents like Brown Leather add depth and excitement to the lineup. The soaps are all very generous in size, and I'm impressed all the way around! They provided excellent communication from start to finish and were very generous with sample soaps and a free gift. Thank you, Misty and Amy! I enjoyed the experience of purchasing from you very much." - stevetoearth

"My son (Eli) has had eczema since he was born - he's 5 years old now. He constantly is scratching because his skin breaks out in these rough, patchy areas all over his body. We're in Florida and the heat makes it even worse because he sweats. Try keeping an active 5 year old boy from playing or sweating in the summer. It's impossible.

We've tried everything...over the counter lotions and creams, prescription steroid creams (Elidel, etc.), baby bathwash, Hydrocortisone cream, you name it - the list goes on and on. Most are ineffective, burn his skin, or are so strong (steroid cream) that we worry there will be long lasting repurcussions. The steroid creams actually changed the color of his skin.

We tried the Oatmeal (Milk) and Honey soap last night during bathtime, with the Orange Ouchy Ointment afterwards. I'm in love!! The soap was gentle but I still felt like all of the little boy dirt was gone. When I rubbed it on Eli's skin, he actually sighed and said "that's nice Mom."

The Orange Ouchy Ointment went on right after his bath. I am so impressed with it because it's just perfect - just oily enough to really coat his skin and gentle enough that it didn't burn or irritate the already inflamed skin. With his eczema, the skin will often crack and split, which makes applying anything to it painful. I've spent literally hundreds of dollars on various things to help Eli's eczema with little to no success - I spent less than $20 on the soap and Orange Ouchy Ointment...and Eli actually had a night free of itching.

You have a loyal customer here...we'll be back for more, guaranteed. And I would definately recommend Orange Ouchy Ointment to anyone who has sensitive skin or is dealing with eczema - especially for children." - TeenyTinyFashions

"LOVE IT!!! First, I have asthma and can't wear many scents, no perfume, etc. This is a light scent that lasts and smells soooo wonderful! Very moisturizing and such a light, delicate scent! I can't describe how much I fell in love with this product! Can't wait to try more!" - Easy123

"As soon as I opened the package from HeathensHearth it smelled like heaven. I was so excited to get to this scrub and I was overwhelmed - stunning stuff, looks and smells and feels so good. Simply divine. I can't recommend this seller enough." - FashionFauxPas

"I dont know what I did before these sugar scrubs...best things on earth!" - mainecoons4

"Oh.My.God. I am OBSESSED with your perfume oils! The scent is insanely long-lasting and smells BEAUTIFUL! I can't stop smelling myself! As usual your soaps are superb - I can't wait to try the Cafe Mocha!! HeathensHearth is seriously the best soap seller on etsy!!" - LoveandLust

Come Sit a Spell

2009-06-30T09:55:00.003-04:00

And enjoy the magical items from this amazing treasury!

Take a stroll down our aisle

2009-06-26T14:15:00.002-04:00

We've rented a booth at Handmade Crafts for the month...stop by and check us out! You can find us at Booth B-11 or under the Bath & Body category!

A new way to do a craft show!

2009-06-23T10:58:00.003-04:00

Online! How amazing is that? Now, like a lot of people, I love going to a local craft show and browsing the aisles and tables...I always find some really great stuff. But now you can do that from your couch if you want to, day or night!

Handmade Crafts is a virtual craft show where handmade crafters and artists can showcase and promote their items online. You can find anything from Bath & Body and Candles to Jewelry and Metal Crafting...and everything in between!

Check them out: www.handmadecraftshow.com and watch for us, as we should have a booth up there soon!

2009-06-20T17:16:00.000-04:00

¤´¨)¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)(¸.•´ (¸.•`¤~♥ SNS at Heathen’s Hearth! ♥¤´¨)¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)

Yep, it's that time again!

20% off your entire order and a free 1.5 ounce bar of soap with orders over $25! (As usual, this does not include shipping charges).

Be sure to check out our new Cold and Hot Process soaps: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6062671§ion_id=6173711

Special runs from Saturday at 5 PM EST thru 6 AM EST Sunday Morning. 20% refund will be issued via paypal after payment is received! If paying by USPS money order, please convo us for a revised invoice.

We've been Featured!

2009-06-12T11:10:00.003-04:00

The lovely Nicole from KnittedForEwe was kind enough to do a blog feature on Heathen's Hearth! Check it out HERE and find out a bit more about us :)

Art + Yard Sale = Yart!

2009-06-10T09:23:00.002-04:00

We are participating in the Yart Sale on Etsy sponsored by Team ESST!

-Sale runs June 10th through June 14th.

-Save 15% on everything in our shop (does not include shipping charges).

-Your refund will be issued via Paypal after payment is received! If paying by USPS money order, please convo us for a revised invoice.

We have a winner!

2009-06-09T13:07:00.002-04:00

Our Lemony Goodness Giveaway has ended and closed and we are pleased to announce the winner!

Yolanda from silvercloud07 is our lucky winner and will receive:

16 oz (that's ONE POUND!) of Lemon Cream Caramel Popcorn
5 oz bar of Iced Lemon Biscotti Natural Goat's Milk Soap
10 oz jar of Iced Lemon Biscotti Shea & Aloe Sugar Body Polish!

Thank you to everyone who entered and check back soon...Heathen's Hearth will surely be doing another giveaway in the near future :)

Ohhh, the Treasuries...

2009-06-02T09:47:00.004-04:00

For the first time in a long time, I snagged myself a treasury this morning. I went with a sweet tooth theme...I think you'll like it, lol.

Yummmmmmmmmmm
Chocolate and Icing and Sugar, oh my!

We are also lucky enough to be featured in two other treasuries...

Green With Envy by miasophia

Stars and Stripes by starkitty1969

What an honor!

2009-06-01T15:05:00.008-04:00

Many thanks go out to Debbie May and Jill Speegle from Wholesale Supplies Plus for featuring my Tuscan Vineyard Soap on the company blog today! I can't tell you how happy that made me!

Check it out here!

And since we're talking about it, here are some of my other CP soaps that will soon be listed in our shop....just as soon as they are done curing. I should have the Sangria, Honeydew Melon and Black Canyon listed within the next week.

Orange Mocha

Sangria

Black Canyon

Honeydew Melon

Lemony Goodness Giveaway!

2009-05-28T09:22:00.006-04:00

What happens when you mix a bit of DoubleDippedSweets and a bit of Heathen's Hearth? A blend of deliciousness for your tummy and your body!

We have decided to team up and offer some smell-goods and some taste-goods! Something that will satisfy your taste buds and your skin!

Since Summer is almost upon us, we have chosen a flavor (and scent) that will be refreshing, sweet, dreamy and just altogether wonderful...

From DoubleDippedSweets, you can win 16 oz (that's ONE POUND!) of Lemon Cream Caramel Popcorn.

"The flavor of this is incredible! Tart, yet sweet, and very smooth. We take our Homemade Caramel Popcorn, and cover it in White Chocolate that is flavored with Lemon extract. Lemon zest is then generously sprinkled over the entire batch."

From Heathen's Hearth, you can win a 5 oz bar of Iced Lemon Biscotti Natural Goat's Milk Soap...and a 10 oz jar of Iced Lemon Biscotti Shea & Aloe Sugar Body Polish! These items are so new, they aren't even listed in our shop yet!

A zesty lemon rind aroma rounded out with buttery yellow sponge cake, toasted coconut and buttercream frosting....in our all natural goat's milk soap and our brand new, thoroughly decadent, 100% natural Shea & Aloe Butter Sugar Body Polish.

So how do you enter this delicious giveaway? Let me count the ways....

Go to our shop, Heathen's Hearth, browse our items and come back here, leave a comment telling us what your favorite item in our shop is.

Go to DoubleDippedSweets shop and choose a favorite item, go to her blog, and leave a comment with your favorite pick.

Blog about our contest (make sure you comment here with a link to the post for verification).

Twitter about our giveaway, and again, comment here with a link to your Twitter.

Link our giveaway on Facebook, Myspace, or another social network site (you know the drill....comment here with a link to your site, lol).

Purchase from either or both shops: Any purchase made from our shops will earn you entries into the give away. **1 extra entry for each item purchased. Make sure you leave a comment letting us know you purchased!

Be a follower of our blogs. If you already are, make sure you leave a comment letting us know!

This giveaway will end Sunday, June 7th at 11:59 PM! The winner will be randomly chosen after all entries are tallied using random.org and announced the week of June 8th.

Introducing Body Frosting Soap!

2009-05-24T02:38:00.008-04:00

That's right. Everyone loved our Body Frosting so much, that I decided to turn it into soap! Misty and I have recently ventured into Cold and Hot process soap making. I must admit, it is very addicting. Misty went for Cold Process, I on the other hand, don't have that kind of patience or the ability to delay my gratification for that long (not to mention, I move around a lot, so waiting 5 weeks for soap to cure is really beyond my ability to fathom)...so naturally, I went for Hot Process, also known as Crock Pot soap.

Since I was in the process of setting up shop here in St. Louis where I spend part of my time, it took me a bit to really get settled in, so I am a week or so behind Misty when it comes to making new things. First I had to gather all the equipment. Crock pot, pitchers, stick blender, soap molds (that was the hardest part to get - but I'll explain that in a bit) etc etc. But, finally, I got it all together. Technically, I've made a couple of batches of soap at this point, but, since the process is such a fast one, I wanted to make sure my attention was fully focused on the soap making until I got through at least 1 batch before trying to tinker with the camera at the same time.

This time, I took notes however, and pictures... so this is sort of in the nature of a roughly sketched tutorial...please bear in mind, however, that this is by no means a complete representation of every step taken, and you should do lots of research before attempting this. Please do not do it based on this information alone. I am including the times and some of the notes from this batch for your information and amusement. :)

Step 1: Gather all of your ingredients. Its best if you can have them all sorted out and separated before you begin. Since this is much like the CP, and Misty already talked about that, I skipped that part. :-D

Step 2: Make soap. lol

Time: 8:46pm. Mixed all butters and oils into the crock pot, and turned it on high power. It stays on high power throughout this entire process. Here is a photo of the butters at 8:53pm, they are starting to melt together nicely...

8:53pm measured out water and lye after checking on the oils. This particular recipe called for 14oz of water (I use filtered tap - the water around here is actually pretty decent) and 4.78oz of lye. The lye is actually already measured out in that little white tub. I do it this way, because I mix the lye outside due to lack of good ventilation in the apartment. Since I have to wander out the back door, down a step and around a corner, I decided the safest mode of transport was in a sealed container.

At 9:01 I went out and mixed the lye. At 9:07 the lye was completely mixed in and my oils and butters were now completely melted.

At 9:09 I mixed them together, pouring the lye water slowly into the oils while stirring continuously. At this point you now have to stir the mixture continuously for about the next 20 minutes. As you can see, I cheated for about 30 seconds at a time or so to take pictures of some of the process. This picture is after they are completely mixed, had been stirred together for about 1 minute, and I had begun running water in the pitcher that held the lye water. I run the water for about 3-4 minutes to be sure that straight lye is not washed down the drain - it does HORRIBLE things to pipes if you do not rinse the lye thoroughly and flush with LOTS of water.

9:16pm, the mixture begins to lighten as the lye reacts with the oils. It's supposed to resemble the texture of thin gravy... which it more or less does, but since I tend to over boil my gravy, its hard to say. Suffice it to say it develops a bit more consistency than straight oil, but is still very runny.

This is approximately trace. I say approximately, because the more you stir during this 20 minute time frame (from the time you add the lye until separation occurs) the faster trace happens, and because of the heat, it tends to only remain in trace for about a minute, if that long. This picture was taken at about 9:20, only 11 minutes after mixing the 2 together.

9: 24 - Separation had begun to occur, but my camera ran out of battery juice and I had to wait for J to bring me down some new ones. Once separation occurs you stop stirring and let it cook with the lid on. This picture was taken at about 9:27, I stirred again just before taking the picture, so you could see what separation looks like. Its that ring around the outside of the crock pot.

This pic was taken at 9:30pm. You are supposed to let the soap "cook" for 6 minutes or so, without stirring, and preferably without taking the lid off the pot, except if the soap starts to climb out of the pot, in which case you take the lid off and stir it down, put the lid back on and wait some more. You don't want the water to evaporate too quickly. (I'm not sure why... one of these days I might leave the lid off just to see what happens.)

At this point I begin collecting what I need for the final stages of the process. Hair dryer (don't worry, trust me, its important!), fragrance oil, colorant, grab my prelined mold and set it near by, etc.

This pic was taken at 9:33pm. Its coming along nicely and has the consistency of applesauce when stirred. I let it cook for 6 more minutes, stirring only as needed to keep it from climbing out of the pot, which it didn't try, so I didn't stir. I half expected it to though, as the batch of Three Butter soap was really trying to crawl out of the pot at this stage of the game.

Now comes the Volcano! This is why you need the hair dryer, and no I don't have pictures. I might have to get J to help play camera man for the next batch so you can see what I mean. The last time I stirred was at 9:40. Based on previous batches, I estimated that Volcano would be reached at 9:44, I was off by a minute, it actually occurred at 9:43! Once the volcano begins, and the soap begins to climb the pot Turn OFF the crock pot! Continued heat will force the soap to expand explosively.

Roughly, what happens during the Volcano stage, is that the soap is now being cooked, and as it cooks, it expands rapidly. The air bubbles are exploding and the soap is forced to expand. The hotter the soap, the faster it expands. Thus, the need for the hair dryer. If you stop stirring at any point during the Volcano stage, the soap will jump out of the pot, almost exactly in the way a volcano explodes. So, while one hand madly stirs away with a wisk, the other hand is holding the hair dryer, set on cool and medium or high fan, held up high enough not to blow molten soap all over creation, trying valiantly to keep the soap from escaping the pot.

Its actually rather hilarious looking and rather tense all at the same time. But, after about 2 minutes of mad stirring and blowing....the expansion starts to slow down, the soap begins to relax, the bubbles start to dissipate, and the soap begins to change from chunky applesauce to petroleum jelly... (ok, not really, but that's what it looks like).

Normally, you would add color after all this is over, however, it is very hard to stir fresh vaseline...so, I cheated a bit at this point, and began adding colorant to the soap while it was still gelling. However, it didn't really have any effect, so far as I could tell... but... this is what I wound up with at 9;47pm

Looks kinda nasty doesn't it? LOL But there you have it... its soap. A little dab on a *gloved* finger, blow on it to cool it off, touch it to the tongue...no zap. Its official, we have achieved soap!

At this point you blend in the Fragrance oil (I used 1oz of FO for a 35oz batch of soap) and colorant, stir until its fully incorporated, and then put it into the prelined mold. Tap it on the counter from time to time to knock out the bubbles that might form and help it work its way into the corners....spread it out with a spatula. Once its all in the mold, take another piece of wax paper and spread it over the top. then with either a plaster knife (which I don't have) or a pair of oven mitts on your hands (which I do have) pat the soap down into the mold to create an even surface on the top (or not, up to you).

The soap is still very hot at this point, so you have to wait for it to cool before you can remove the wax paper. But when you do....

Voila! Soap!

As of 2am the soap was still rather soft, so I am leaving it till morning for unmolding and cutting. I shall post more pictures then.

Soap of the Day ~ Monday, May 18

2009-05-18T08:39:00.003-04:00

The Heartsabustin Natural Goat's Milk and Glycerin Soap!

A sparkly blood red top layer in natural glycerin soap over a creamy white layer of natural goat's milk soap in the delicious scent of Strawberry Cream!

Our embodiment of Heartsabustin is bright, fruity, and delicious...and of course in the shape of a heart! Today it is 25% off, only $3.75.

Visit Heartsabustin at http://www.heartsabustin.etsy.com!

Soap Making Tutorial

2009-05-18T08:33:00.001-04:00

The first in many tutorials to come on the Etsy Chat Team Blog.... check it out!

Misty Does Melt & Pour

SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL

2009-05-16T16:08:00.000-04:00

Take 25% off EVERYTHING in both shops (does not include shipping): http://heathenshearth.etsy.com and http://littleheathens.etsy.com and receive a free 1.5 ounce soap with your purchase!

Special runs from Saturday at 5 PM EST thru 6 AM EST Sunday Morning.

25% refund will be issued via paypal after payment is received! If paying by USPS money order, please convo us for a revised invoice.

Soap of the Day ~ Lavender Natural Goat's Milk

2009-05-16T10:18:00.006-04:00

Friday, May 15, 2009 Soap Of The Day is Lavender Natural Goat's Milk Soap!

Delicately colored and scented with soothing lavender essential oil for a relaxing and soothing bathing experience.

Save 25% on this soap. The listing is already at sale price, so no waiting for a refund....just grab and buy!

Wanna try a smaller version of it? Here is our 1.5 ounce bar that is only $2.

Soap of the Day ~ Coconut Lime!!

2009-05-15T08:16:00.003-04:00

Friday, May 15, 2009 Soap Of The Day is Coconut Lime Natural Goat's Milk & Glycerin Soap!

Sweet and tart, this bar smells amazing. Definite overtones of coconut with a nice follow up of tangy lime, in a beautiful lime green natural glycerin soap with chunks of creamy white goats milk for added pizazz.

Save 25% on this soap. The listing is already at sale price, so no waiting for a refund....just grab and buy!

Wanna try a smaller version of it? Here is our 1.5 ounce bar that is only $2.

And of course, what bathing experience is complete without Heathen's Hearth sugar scrub? NONE, I SAY!

They're Heeere!

2009-05-14T20:30:00.003-04:00

The kittens that is. :)

So here are some pictures (ok some of them, i left out the ones with the after birth in them) of Quinn and her new babies.

The little dude up there on top (the only grey one in the bunch, and the only one that doesn't have the black/brown markings like mom) is the runt. There is some wonder if she's going to continue to let him nurse - she rejected him and the others are soo much bigger than him (litterally probably twice his size) that he was having some trouble getting started. While mom was distracted I managed to get him to latch on though, and he's been going to town for about 20 minutes or so now. Weeee!

Soap of the Day ~ Thursday, May 14

2009-05-14T15:21:00.002-04:00

Thursday, May 14, 2009 Soap Of The Day is Tuscan Melon & Apricot Natural Glycerin Soap!

The rich sweet taste of Tuscan melons paired with fresh apricot and a hint of honey with added apricot seeds for gentle exfoliation. This soap will take you away to sweet summer under a warm Tuscan sun!

Save 25% on this soap. The listing is already at sale price, so no waiting for a refund....just grab and buy!

Virginity Lost!

2009-05-13T11:13:00.008-04:00

I had been thinking about it for awhile. While willing, I was apprehensive, nervous and to be perfectly honest, rather scared. From what I had been told, it's very addictive...once you do it, you want to do it all the time. And it can be dangerous! Worry not, though...I was sure to go to the pharmacy and get what I needed to be safe.

The first time took a lot longer than I expected. I thought it would happen much more quickly than it did and wow, was I sore afterward! But the outcome was so worth the pain.

That's right, folks. I popped my cherry...I made my first batch of Cold Process (CP) soap!

I took some photos of the process...please keep in mind that they are a bit blurry and some are dark. It's not easy taking photos one-handed while wearing rubber gloves, safety glasses and a mask, lol.

I set up all of my equipment and ingredients.....

...and then I weighed out the oils and added them to my stainless steel pot.

I measured my water and then weighed my sodium hydroxide (lye) and VERY carefully mixed the lye into my water (while wearing all of my protective gear!). The lye-water mixture get very hot....so while that was cooling down I slowly melted my oils over low heat. Once both mixtures were around 98-100 degrees, I bundled myself back up in gloves, mask and safety glasses and slowly poured the lye mixture into my oils.

I stirred and stirred with my wooden spoon for all that I was worth...once the lye and oils mix together, you need to stir until the mixture reaches what is called "trace." Trace is when your lye mixture and your oils finally combine together and the entire mixture becomes thicker, like pudding, and you can "trace" on the top if it with your spoon.

This photo is of me stirring and stirring, before the trace stage. Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of the trace stage (well, I do, but it's so blurry it doesn't matter, lol).

Once your mixture reaches trace, that is when you add your essential oils, fragrance oils, colors and/or any additives. For this batch, I added Honeydew Melon fragrance...and then I poured out a cup or two of the soap and added green color to it.

I then poured the mixture into my soap mold, then swirled the green colored soap into it.

I wrapped it with a towel and let it sit for about 24 hours or so, then I unmolded and cut my soap!!

Ta-da!!! I has soap! LOL....in fact, I loved doing it so much, I made another batch the very next day. I made one minor adjustment, though. Screw the 2 hours of stirring to reach trace...I invested in a stick blender, and let me tell you what...that was the best $25 investment I've ever made! I reached trace in literally under a minute!

Here are some photos of my 2nd batch...this one is Sangria!

Soap of the Day ~ Wednesday, May 13, 2009

2009-05-13T11:08:00.002-04:00

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Soap Of The Day is Pink Sugar Type Natural Goat's Milk Soap . This soap is a fruity blend of cotton candy, lemon drops, caramel and raspberry jam and a hint of musk....a delicious and delectable treat!

Save 25% on this soap. The listing is already at sale price, so no waiting for a refund....just grab and buy!

Teakwood - Tuesday, May 12 Soap of the Day!

2009-05-12T08:43:00.003-04:00

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Soap Of The Day is Teakwood Natural Goat's Milk Soap!

A blend of Teakwood, Sandalwood, Cedar, Vanilla...this is a sweet yet earthy and exotic scent that is perfect for men or women.

Save 25% on this soap...it's only $3.75. The listing is already at sale price, so no waiting for a refund....just grab and buy!

I'm a Handbag Whore

2009-05-12T08:29:00.003-04:00

No, seriously, I am. Ask anyone. I will do anything for a gorgeous purse (well, almost anything...).

One of my favorite handbag dealers is Heather of DukDesigns and luckily for me, the only thing I have to whore out to get my fix is some smell goods from our shop.

I just received my second purse from Heather and I swear, I nearly had an orgasm opening up the box and pulling it out.

Not only is it freaking awesome, gorgeous, rockin, kick-assin (I know that's not a word, but whatever), I received it Monday after ordering it Friday night! That is some express shipping, folks.

Go forth and check out her shop...not only does she currently have a sale section full of pretties for less than $10, but you won't find anything in her shop over $50!

Soap of the Day - Monday, May 11, 2009

2009-05-11T08:17:00.004-04:00

Monday, May 11, 2009 Soap Of The Day is Vanilla & Brown Sugar Natural Goat's Milk Soap!

A very light and basic scent for those of you who like sweet, but not too sweet, and simple over complex. Our all natural goats milk soap is specially formulated to help your skin recover from winter's drying cold and drier heat, and the brown sugar is perfect for gentle exfoliation.

Save 25% on this soap. The listing is already at sale price, so no waiting for a refund....just grab and buy!

Soap of the Day ~ Saturday, May 9, 2009

2009-05-09T09:54:00.003-04:00

Friday, May 8, 2009 Soap Of The Day is Rice Petals and Shea Natural Goat's Milk Soap. This soap is so soft and delicate. This soul-soothing fragrance has top notes of ozony sea water, crushed ginger root, and anise leaves. Middle notes of coconut milk and rice flower; and sits on base notes of amber, musk, and sandalwood.

Save 25% on this soap. The listing is already at sale price, so no waiting for a refund....just grab and buy!

Soap of the Day

2009-05-08T10:19:00.002-04:00

Starting today, we have a new feature in our Etsy Shop! Every day we will be featuring a different soap at 25% off. The listing will already be at sale price, so no waiting for a refund...just grab and buy!

Friday, May 8, 2009 Soap Of The Day is Oatmeal, Milk & Honey Natural Goat's Milk Soap.

This double layer soap is as adorable as it is moisturizing! The top layer is a mixture of goat's milk base and honey while the bottom layer includes not only goat's milk and honey, but ground oatmeal and a touch of molasses.

And we have a winner!

2009-05-07T09:47:00.003-04:00

quelleheure4 is the lucky winner of the Treasures Of The Deep giveaway!

We had a LOT of responses and appreciate everyone who entered!

Stay tuned for the next giveaway, soon!

The Creme de la Cream!

2009-05-06T16:08:00.005-04:00

It was with great sadness (on both our part and our customer's) that we had to discontinue our Whipped Body Frostings for the season.

We thought that we would get through the warm months without a lotion or cream and all would be ok. But then we found something that we just knew we had to offer in place of our frostings!

Our Goat's Milk & Honey Body Lotion is thick and rich, without being heavy, oily or greasy. Like our body frostings, it doesn't take much, and it soaks into your skin like a dream, leaving it beautifully hydrated and soft.

Since it's such a new addition to our shop, we only have a few listed at this time, but it is available in all of our scents (you can find our complete scent list here)....if you want a scent that we don't have listed in our shop, just drop us a convo and we can get it made for you.

$50 to spend on Etsy?

2009-05-06T09:06:00.002-04:00

Seriously. What if someone handed you $50 to spend in one of many etsy shops? I dunno about you, but I'd be pretty damn excited.

Well...it's your lucky day, because someone is doing just that!

An anonymous member of the Etsy Chat Team is donating $50 to one lucky winner to spend in one of the partcipating Etsy Chat Team shops. All you have to do is follow the Etsy Chat Team blog!

It's that simple. You could be the lucky winner who gets to choose between delicious food, beautiful jewelry, pampering bath & body products, amazing smelling candles, and more!

Here are just some of the shops that the winner can choose from:

1. www.MIASOPHIA.etsy.com
2. www.DropsofJupita.etsy.com
3. www.Jupita.etsy.com
4. www.Danilykewoah.etsy.com
5. www.BALANCED.etsy.com
6. www.WINEMAKERSSISTER.etsy.com
7. www.VANTIANI.etsy.com
8. www.LITTLEBOPEEPKNITS.etsy.com
9. www.BOHEMEANNE.etsy.com
10. www.CHROMASMEAR.etsy.com
11. www.HEARTSABUSTIN.etsy.com
12. www.SASSYFRAZZLE.etsy.com
13. www.2KUTE.etsy.com
14. www.SOJOURNCURIOSITIES.etsy.com
15. www.BLUENOSTALGIA.etsy.com
16. www.KristaLawhon.etsy.com
17. www.DOUBLEDIPPEDSWEETS.etsy.com
18. www.STITCHESOFTHEPAST.etsy.com
19. www.HolisticallyHeather.etsy.com
20. www.thejewelrydream.etsy.com
21. www.FANCIFULFORM.etsy.com
22. www.AKKRICKET.etsy.com
23. www.VEGANSAMPLES.etsy.com
24. www.AUNTIEDIS.etsy.com
25. www.thewashhousestudio.etsy.com
26. www.queenbee92026.etsy.com
27. www.vireo.etsy.com
28. www.HEATHENSHEARTH.etsy.com
29. www.littleheathens.etsy.com
30. www.ARTFULGOODIES.etsy.com
31. www.wallexpress.etsy.com

For more information, click HERE!

Star Wars Day Sale!

2009-05-04T12:25:00.006-04:00

In honor of Darth and Luke, CP30 and R2-D2, Leia and of course my favorite, Han Solo, Little Heathens is throwing a Star Wars Day Sale!

Everything in the shop is 25% off (shipping not included) and your refund will be reimbursed via paypal after payment is received!

There's lots to choose from (click on the pics to take you to the listing)!

Bubble Bath/Body Wash/Shampoo - 3-in-1! This listing is for BubbleGum scented, but we can do it in any of our fragrances!

Cookies and Cream Natural Goats Milk Soap!

Oh Baby! Butt Balm

Lavender & Chamomile Soothing All Natural Baby Oil

So remember, on this day, May The Fourth Be With You...and save 1/4 for your Little Heathens!

We Did It!

2009-05-04T09:58:00.005-04:00

We really did it!

Hellllllooooooooooooooooooooooo 1,000 sales!

Oh Holy God, Does That Look GOOOOOD?!

2009-05-02T14:41:00.003-04:00

So in my boredom last night, I meandered into the Team EEAT chat room where some of the members were having specials. Normally I don't do this because, well....the man is on a diet and we are watching what we eat, but I was ecstatic to find a shop I've never seen before so full of yummies I could barely stand it!

KitchenStories has been selling on Etsy since January of 2009 and right away you can tell she's doing something right, as she's had over 60 sales in that short time.

Once you take a look at not only her delicious sounding concoctions, but actually look at her presentation of them, you can see why!

Here are the yummies that I just couldn't live without!

Cajun Spice Blend

Ultimate Steak Blend

French Herb Pasta Salad Mix

And finally...I saw this and even though we are supposed to be eating healthy, I said, "Screw it!"

Double Trouble Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Really....what are you waiting for? Not only are her items delicious looking, but they are so darn affordable, you should buy 2 of each!

The SOOOO Close Free Shipping Sale!

2009-04-30T11:34:00.004-04:00

We are 12 items away from 1,000 total items sold in our shop, Heathen's Hearth ...so to get the ball rolling at get to that 1,000th sale, we are offering free shipping in the US/Canada!

All shipping charges will be refunded via paypal at the time of purchase!

Take advantage of it to get some of our new summer must haves:

Strawberry Banana Lip Balm

Cucumber Mint Natural Soap

White Tea Sugar Scrub

Lavender All Natural Soap

And these are a few of my favorite things...

2009-04-27T15:03:00.010-04:00

I shouldn't have used that title because now that song is stuck in my head. LOL.

Anyway, we have added some awesome new things in Heathen's Hearth over the last week or two and I....well....I just wanted to show some of them off, plain and simple, lol.

Citrus Cuticle Cream

Cucumber Mint Natural Soap

White Tea Sugar Scrub (this is also available in 10 oz!)

Lavender Natural Goat's Milk Soap - 1.5 oz

Dirty Dreaded Hippy Natural Goat's Milk Soap

SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL!!!

2009-04-25T17:47:00.002-04:00

Its that time again! Saturday and the Saturday Night Special!

25% off everything in both shops - refunds will be issued through paypal after payment.

Free Shipping to the US and Canada on all orders totaling $25 or more (we will combine purchases from both shops for the free shipping minimum!)

So go, run, shop, buy! Remember that each purchase also enters you in our give-away!

Happy Etsy Day!

2009-04-24T14:22:00.003-04:00

For more information on Etsy day, you can check out this article in the Etsy Storque (which is their blog, I have no clue why its called a Storque).

Anyway...

To Celebrate Etsy Day we're offering 25% off both shops until Midnight tonight. We'll combine shipping if you order from both shops, so if you've been eying something special, now's the time to get it!

While you're here, check out the following give aways we're involved in:

From Audrey's Country Crafts Blueberry Bath Salts and a LOAD of other goodies from various Etsy shops...

From J Leigh Designs: 1 jar of Bazooka Bubblegum bath soaps

And of course, our own give away, link to be found over there on the right side of our blog.

:-D

Happy Etsy Day! Support handmade!

Treasures From The Deep Giveaway!

2009-04-23T16:03:00.009-04:00

I knew it was time for a giveaway, but I didn't know that it would be so freakin awesome! Sojourncuriosities and we of Heathen's Hearth have put our noggins together and come up with a giveaway that will have you praising Poseidon himself!

We are offering a bountiful plunder worth more than $50! One lucky winner will receive the following:

From Sojourncuriosities....

Mermish Heiress Earrings.

From Heathen's Hearth....

Stormy Seas Perfume Oil (15 ml)

The Sojourncuriosities Natural Goat's Milk Soap (5 oz)

Ocean Breeze Sugar Scrub (5 oz)

So how do you enter this fabulous giveaway? Let me tell you!

Leave a comment to Heathen's Hearth's blog and Sojourncuriosities' blog telling us what your favorite items in our shops are. Our shops are http://heathenshearth.etsy.com/ and http://sojourncuriosities.etys.com/ (if you do not have a blogger account, please leave an email where we can reach you!).

Blog about our contest (please convo or comment in either blog with a link to the post for verification).

Use a social networking site to talk about our shop (again, please link to page in a comment in one of our blogs... Valid sites are Twitter, Myspace, Plurk, Facebook, etc...).

Purchases from either or both shops: Any purchase made from our shops will earn you entries into the give away. 1 extra entry for each item purchased. Make sure you leave a comment letting us know you purchased!

Be a follower of our blogs. If you already are, make sure you leave a comment letting us know!

This giveaway will end Sunday, May 3rd at 11:59 PM! The winner will be randomly chosen after all entries are tallied using random.org.

Thanks! Now go spread the word!

I think it's about time...

2009-04-22T16:56:00.001-04:00

for another blog giveaway...let me confer with the other half of the business and I will get back with ya!

Secret to Success on Etsy?

2009-04-21T09:30:00.005-04:00

Everyone wants to know what it is. What is that one magical secret that will make me sell and sell and sell?

The fact of the matter is, there are no secrets. Successful selling on Etsy comes down to one thing -- Common Sense.

I don't consider myeslf the Be All End All Know It All of Etsy selling...there are other shops more successful than us...but we have had over 900 sales since opening shop in August 2008. That's an average of over 100 sales per month.

We've sold that well because we follow some rules. I've put them together for a common sense approach to selling on Etsy that has worked well for us.

1.) Make a product worth selling. This one is pretty simple. I am not even going to go more in-depth on this. Are YOU going to buy a crap product? Nope, didn't think so.

2.) Photos. Photos are such an important part of successful selling...and again, this should be common sense. You are selling online. People cannot touch, hold, smell your items. Your photographs are their only way of seeing how wonderful your product is. Do you really want to put your $50 silver and gemstone pendant on your kitchen table and take a picture with the overhead light on and your camera flash glaring off of it? NO. It's going to make your amazing, gorgeous and wonderful pendant look like garish costume jewelry. When taking photos, follow these rules:

~Use a neutral background. Whether it be dark or light (it depends on your item), make it all one color...it will let your product steal center stage, as it should! Don't use a busy, decorated background.

~Natural lighting is best for picture taking, but direct sunlight isn't the best. When I take photos of our products, I do so at our kitchen table where there are two windows that let sunlight shine in.

~If you cannot use natural lighting, the next best thing is a light box. You can buy or make these. I have never used one, but I know many people who do and they have great photos.

~Do not DO NOT DO NOT use your flash.

~Get close-ups of your items. I find that off center, close-ups that don't necessarily show the entire item attract more attention. You can use a photo editing program to crop, brighten, and otherwise edit your photos. I use Picasa and it's free. Here's an example:

~Remember, a good photo...attractive picture will not only catch a customer's attention, but has a better chance of making it into a treasury and therefore possibly making the Front Page.

3.) Make sure you thoroughly describe your item. How large is it? Give me measurements. Is it Bath & Body...then I want to know exactly what the ingredients are.

4.) Do not list items and expect them to magically sell because they are available. Do not rely on Etsy to sell for you. Yes, you pay Etsy when you list AND when you sell, but don't think of that money as going toward advertising. Think of it as rent. Etsy is a venue. They aren't an advertising site.

5.) Market, promote and network your Etsy shop. As I said in #3, this is your job. It takes work, and it can't be done overnight and quickly. Some of the simplest ways to do this is to participate in the Etsy Forums and Etsy Chat rooms...but don't stop there. There are a ton of ways to freely promote your shop. Here are just a few:

~http://www.twitter.com/ Twitter is one of those great networking sites that doesn't take a lot of time or energy. I call it The One Sentence Blog. I use it to show what just sold, what's been relisted, what specials or sales we are running, new items that we've listed. And on and on and on...
~http://www.blogspot.com/ Blogging can be the single most effective marketing, promoting and networking tool in your arsenal. "But Misty, I hate blogging!" Boofreakinhoo. You want to sell? Then you have to work. "But Misty, I don't know what to blog about!" Blogging is important...and blogging regularly is even more important. You need to build up a base of regular readers. Which means blogging about interesting things, along with blogging about new products/items in your shop, specials, sales, etc. etc. Feature other shops/blogs on yours. Do a giveaway. Blog about things you have found on Etsy that are just completely awesome. Hell, blog about the newest recipe you tried for your family's dinner.
~http://www.facebook.com/
~http://www.myspace.com/
~http://www.flickr.com/
~http://www.plumdrop.com/
~Business cards. They are a must. We send a few out with every package, I hand them out to friends, family, strangers. Check out http://www.vistaprint.com/. They have good business cards at very decent prices...heck, usually they are free and you just pay shipping. They have a lot of other promotional items you can purchase, too.
~How often do you email? I have the links to both of our Etsy shops in the signature line of my email...and in the signature line of every online forum I frequent.
~Join an Etsy Street Team.
~Word of mouth. Have your friends and family let other people know about your shop.

6.) "Misty, I bought a showcase slot and it didn't do squat for me...not much traffic and no sales! What gives?!" Showcases are notoriously hit or miss. If I had to take a guess, I'd say about 90% of those who have told me they've done one, wouldn't do one again. Myself included. We have found that we get much more exposure, traffic, hits and sales by taking the money we'd budget for a showcase, and use it to renew items in our shop. It costs $.20 per item, so we usually renew anywhere from 2-5 per day. Renewing is like listing or relisting in that it moves the item up to the top of the searches and you get your few seconds of fame by appearing on the front page.

7.) Tag your items properly and use as many as you can! I strive to use all 14 tags in each of my listings. These are important! If someone is searching for something on etsy, it's the tags that will make your item appear in the search. So if you are selling a silver pendant, and you don't have "pendant" or "silver" in your tags, then you are not only S.O.L., you failed Common Sense 101. Tag, TAG, TAG!

8.) Fill out your profile and shop policies completely. Cover all the basics. What type of payments do you take? When must payments be made? At the time of purchase? Do you give a 1-3 grace period? What is your return policy? How long after receiving an order do you ship it out? How do you ship? USPS? Parcel Post? First Class? Priority? UPS? Fed-Ex? These are important things that I consider before making any purchase on Etsy.

9.) Price your item correctly. This is hard. Very hard. Do a google search. Search the Etsy Forums. Find a formula that works for you. "But Misty, it costs me $25 in supplies alone to make this pendant but I see someone else selling something similar for $30. What should I do? I know I should list it for more if I want to make a profit, but I want to be competitive." Here's my answer: Who gives a flying f*ck what other shops are selling things for? Price YOUR items how you need to. Don't pay attention to what other shops are doing. This is a cardinal rule. You will be much MUCH happier if you worry only about your shop instead of everyone elses.

10.) Offer unparralleled customer service, but stick by your policies. If there is a problem with an item you sent out, fix it. Send out another item or offer to reimburse the customer. If the customer just doesn't like the item like they thought they would...well, that's not really your fault (unless you mislead potential buyers with false information in your listings), but you need to handle it with finesse. If a package never makes it to the destination, it is your responsibility to replace or reimburse the customer. I see all too often shop policies saying that once the package leaves their hands, they are no longer responsible. Nope. That is completely wrong. The customer has up to 45 days to file a claim with Paypal if the package is not received. You ARE responsible. The short of it is, if you run your shop well and have great customer service, your buyer is more apt to come back again.

Well...I think that is it for now, lol. I am sure there are many more things that could be added, but this is a good start.

HAPPY SELLING!

Pain in the butt?

2009-04-20T12:34:00.009-04:00

From our Little Heathens shop, here is our newest product....

Oh Baby! Butt Balm

A butt-ton (pun fully intended) of natural skin soothing butter and oils that are perfect for keeping your little heathen's bottom naturally smooth and healthy!

Now hold on to your backside because this is one long blog post, but we want to inform you of the benefits of our ingredients!

Cocoa Butter has been called the ultimate moisturizer, and has been used to keep skin soft and supple for centuries. It is one of the most stable, highly concentrated natural fats known, and melts at body temperature so that it is readily absorbed into the skin. Cocoa butter is often recommended for treatment of skin conditions such as eczema and dermatitis. When applied topically, it creates a barrier between sensitive skin and the environment and also helps retain moisture.

Sweet Almond Oil and Apricot Kernal Oil are easily absorbable and serves as a great emollient, by lending a soft glowing beautiful touch to the skin. It balances the moisture in the body. In case of loss of moisture, it helps to restore it. It makes a great lubricant, thus aids in combating itching and inflammation. It is an excellent natural moisturizer that is suitable for all skin types.

Grapeseed Oil is of great use in treating the stubborn acne and other skin problems. Grapeseed has a high content of linoleic acid, a fatty acid essential for the cell membranes and the skin. Grape seed oil serves as a wonderful moisturizer and truly nourishes the skin. This carrier oil lends a shimmering touch to the skin.

Organic Calendula Oil is the most successful oil for assisting us with dry and damaged skin, skin inflammations, rashes, diaper irritations, and other skin disorders.

Neem Oil has numerous benefits for both therapeutic and medicinal use. Among other properties, this oil is anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal.

Tea Tree Oil has wonderful properties that makes it a popular natural agent for helping with fungus, bacteria, and virus and is an excellent natural remedy for hundreds of bacterial and fungal skin ailments such as acne, abscess, oily skin, blisters, sun burns, athlete's foot, insect bites, rashes, dandruff and other minor wounds and irritations.

Lavender Essential Oil has antiseptic and antifungal properties. It is used to treat various skin disorders such as acne, wrinkles, psoriasis, and other inflammations. It heals wounds, cuts, burns, and sunburns rapidly as it aids in the formation of scar tissues. Lavender oil is added to chamomile to treat eczema.

Chamomile Essential Oil is a great analgesic, which is known for its antibacterial and antiseptic properties. It is also beneficial in treating skin disorders like eczema, blisters, inflamed wounds, boils, dermatitis, and rashes.

The best part about this balm is that you don't just have to stick on your wee one's nether regions...you can use it as a healing hand balm, balm for nursing mommas, and heck...slap some on your own bum if need be!

Welcome to Little Heathens!

2009-04-16T14:06:00.005-04:00

I am so happy to say that our newest shop, Little Heathens is not only up and running, but already selling! This is on it's way to becoming your favorite place to shop for your little heathens' bath and body needs!

Here is a peek at what you can find there right now (clicky the pics to take you to the listing)...but keep watching, we will be adding more and more over the next couple weeks!

I <3 Photoshop

2009-04-15T17:17:00.004-04:00

Ok... so we all know its in bad form to photoshop your pictures to the point that they look nothing like what ever it is you actually took a picture of. At least in so far as when you're selling things. But I've been playing with my copy of photoshop for a while now, and though I have no edumacation on its use what so ever, I'm discovering all sorts of nifty things that can be done with it.

Even pictures taken on icky nasty days like today can be made to appear as if they were taken in much better lighting.

Here's a couple of examples:

Tuscan Melon & Apricot Glycerin Soap with Crushed Apricot seeds for exfoliation:

Coconut Lime : The original untouched photo followed by the retouched photo after adjusting the light balance.

Lemon Verbena Scrub Cubes: Before editing and after adjusting the light balance.

Don't they look perty? Much more like their beautiful selves than the gloomy day would normally give us the ability to show.

So, theres 2 of our new summer scents... they're also currently being introduced in our shop along with Sweet Pea.

For those of you jonesing for the grapefruit based scents... definitely go for the Lemon Verbena. You'll love it.

sale, Sale, SALE!

2009-04-13T13:59:00.002-04:00

Yeah, the came out about a week ago, but we are having an Introductory Sale for our Perfume Oils.

We've marked them down 20% from $15 to $12 from now until next Monday so get them while the gettin is good!

Check them out! Right now you can choose from:

Sum-Sum-Summer Time!

2009-04-13T11:22:00.001-04:00

So we have a bajillion scents that I want to use to make new soaps and scrubs and all sorts of smell goods...but really what I need to do is figure out which ones are priority.

So...my mission to all of our blog readers...

What are your favorite summer/warm weather scents and fragrances? Give me some ideas. What would you like to see in Heathen's Hearth?

Etsy Inspirations! The Artists of Etsy Immortalized in Soaps!

2009-04-09T08:51:00.002-04:00

I have to say, that making the decision was difficult for me. Everyone gave us some great answers for how they inspire people and some even better soap design ideas!

But our 5 choices were:

LilBees - aka Mommy Bee here on Blogger.

BeadedTail

WildAnimus - aka Tanya here on Blogger.

ToadstoolsnTreestump - aka Toadstools here on Blogger

and

CREATEaTHOUGHT

Thank you to everyone who entered for your entry and for inspiring others in your work and your life!

The last of the Etsy Inspirations soaps will be up as soon as we can get them...We have been a little busy around here, and are facing a slight backlog in production, so we'll keep you posted :) when we get them in the shop!

...

Speaking of Etsy inspirations soaps... We have already had 2 major orders that included 2 of them.

Our Heartsabustin Soap will soon be on its way to a beautiful consignment shop and just last night the Jupita Soap was included as part of a large wholesale order for a gift boutique in Lynchburg Virginia!

:-)

FREE SHIPPING!

2009-04-07T14:16:00.004-04:00

Yes, we love you. And because of that, we are giving you free shipping on everything in our shop http://heathenshearth.etsy.com (for US and Canadian destinations)!

Whether you spend $2.00 or $200.00 (c'mon, you know you wanna spend $200), you won't pay anything to have your fantabulous smell goods shipped directly to your door!

Been eyeing some goat's milk soap or glycerin soap? Been scoping out the sugar scrubs? Licking your lips in anticipation of our lip balms? Brooding over the Body Oils? Panting over the new perfume oils? Now's the time to get it all!

Take advantage of it now...the length of the sale is yet to be determined!

All shipping charges will be refunded immediately via paypal.

Don't forget to check out our other shop http://littleheathens.etsy.com for more free shipping!

I had a Dream....

2009-04-07T08:42:00.002-04:00

It was a lovely dream. I dreamed that I woke up and rolled over and looked at the clock and it was 828am.

Then I woke up, and because that lovely feeling of "omg I slept past 8am" was still with me, I lay in bed for another 20 minutes without moving while I woke up completely.

And then I rolled over and looked at the clock... and it was only 8:02.

Damnit!

To make matters worse... I have a metallica song stuck in my head and its making me crazy because I can't find any of the music that I know I have hidden in my back up drive somewhere.

Oh well. Going to work on my now much smaller to do list of doom today (sales dropped off rather hard yesterday after a brilliantly busy week last week) and then work on a portion of the consignment order I have pending... and then I'm going to make wax tarts! :) yay.

Reverse Insomnia? Diary of a Dream Junkie

2009-04-06T08:55:00.003-04:00

Is there such a thing? I think there must be, because I have it.

Throughout my entire life, I have been a heavy sleeper, just ask my husband - he's tried any number of times to wake me up, and I just can't until my brain is good and well ready to let me be awake. I have been one of those people whose body required 12-13 hours of sleep a night in order to feel well rested and not be a sour, cranky brat in the morning (more if I was stressed or depressed). When I was about 10 or 11, I scared my mother half to death by coming home from school one Friday and falling asleep immediately after dinner... I didn't get up again except for half-awake trips to the bathroom until Monday morning.

Sleep has been many things for me, and I used to call it "my favorite past-time". In some ways it still is, I enjoy my sleep. Despite odd and sometimes downright strange dreams which plague it - as a child I learned to escape into my dreams and was able to have lucid dreams regularly. I had a sleep study done about 3 years ago (they thought I might have apnea due to enlarged tonsils), and they found the reason that I slept for so long.

Briefly, for those of you who don't know, there are 5 stages of sleep, differentiated by how deeply you are asleep and how active or inactive your brain is (time the average person stays in the phase is in parenthesis)

1 - drowsiness - known more commonly as dozing. That period where you're almost but not quite asleep, but can still be aware of what is going on around you. (10-15 minutes)
2 - light sleep - about the same as drowsing, but with no awareness of whats going on around you, body temp drops and your brain slows to prepare to enter deep sleep (10-15 minutes)
3 & 4 - deep sleep. You're not dreaming, your body is relaxed almost completely, and you enter into "delta pattern" sleep. The only difference is how deeply you are sleeping, which they can tell by how long your brainwave patterns are. (10-15 minutes)
5 - REM sleep - you're asleep and dreaming. This is considered the period which you must obtain in order to feel "rested and refreshed"...if you don't dream all kinds of things go wrong with your sleep pattern. (10 minutes to 1 hour depending on how long you've been asleep)

Apparently, unlike a normal person who takes approximately 90 minutes to go through all of the phases leading up to REM (the pattern goes 1-2-3-4-3-2-REM) and then stays in REM sleep for approximately 10 minutes before repeating the cycle, I stayed in phase 1 for about 45 minutes, and then would immediately drop in to stages 3 and 4. I would then alternate between stage 3 & 4 for about 2 hours, before finally hitting REM sleep, where I would stay for only 5 minutes during the first cycle.

In a normal person, each time they go through the cycle, REM sleep goes from 10 minutes up to an hour, each time they cycle through, the REM period extends. That means for the average person, the last hour they spend in sleep, they're dreaming, which is why people typically only remember their last dream...they have quite a lot of them during sleep. The average person, getting 8 hours of sleep a night, goes through the cycle an average of 5 times, having a total REM period of 2 hours of that 8 hour period.

In order to get the same amount of REM sleep, and thus feel as "rested" as an average person, I had to sleep for up to 2-3 hours longer. Since I stayed in stage 3 & 4 for up to 2 hours before hitting my first REM, and each cycle only shortened the Deep Sleep period by about 25 minutes, my typical night to feel rested required a minimum of 11 hours of sleep.

To make things even more fun, I have *never* been a morning person. Say what you will about it being a psychological thing, I have *always* been cranky during the morning even as a kid. My brain functions better at night, or after I've been awake for at least 3 hours - because I also have something called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. In a nutshell, DSPS means that I'm one of those people who, instead of being able to go to sleep at the same time every night, I tend to stay up later and later into the night, and subsequently get up later and later the following day...my circadian rhythm is off by about 2 hours... my body clock thinks there are 26 hours in a day, and I have a very hard time regulating it...thus never being a morning person.

So why all this talk about sleep? Because for the past 4 and a half months, my sleeping patterns have been altering radically. I thought nothing of it in January and February, because I was in St. Louis, and the apartment there has a french door and a huge window in the master bedroom that face southeast, thus waking up between 9 and 930am after going to sleep around 1am didn't seem all that strange. But here it is, almost the middle of April, and I'm back in Suffolk, sleeping in a bedroom that faces due West, with black out curtains in the windows and very little if any sunlight coming through the East facing (and very tiny) bathroom window...and I'm waking up between 8 and 830am EVERY DAY.

Why is this a problem? Because my body still thinks there are 26 hours in a day. I still don't fall asleep until between 1 or 2am. Last night I didn't fall asleep until 3am! This morning I was wide awake around 820am! The sun isn't even out. It is a rainy, dreary, grey day And here I sit at the kitchen table, 2 hours, 2 cups of coffee and my morning dose of Adderall (for ADD) later, and my brain is *still* barely functional, and my body is still rather jelly feeling, and yet when I layed in bed for 20 minutes after waking up, I was still unable to go back to sleep.

*sigh*... I need more sleep.

~Amy

Hey Everybody! Live from Virginia.. Its Saturday Night!

2009-04-04T18:07:00.000-04:00

yeah I know, corny! LOL

But i'm running our Saturday Night Special! And I almost forgot it...

Buy 1 item, get the second item 50% off (equal or lesser value - Excludes multi-purchase specials!)

Ends 8am Sunday!

New Perfume Oils for your enjoyment

2009-04-03T16:47:00.005-04:00

Last night we added 5 scents to our newest line of Perfume Oils.

The Morrigan - The Morrigan is a heady, dark blend of Patchouli and Clove that does it's namesake proud. Although The Morrigan is the Celtic Deity of Battle and Strife, a subtle hint of sweet vanilla reminds you that she was a Goddess.

Beowulf - All of the mythical wonder of hunting down the monsters of our nightmares are blended into this deep rich fragrance.Rich amber, deep musk, and dragons blood with just a touch of leather on the end.

Stormy Seas - Viking life wouldn't be complete without travel in rough waters, and Stormy Seas brings you all the scents of the ocean on a stormy night. The crackling ozone when lightning strikes, a hint of citrus, fresh ocean air. It is the calm before, the raging waters during, and the newly washed earth after the storm, all wrapped into one vibrant unisex scent, with undertones of patchouli and musk.

Eden - This beautiful blend will transport your senses back to the lush innocence of the Garden of Eden. Top notes of ripe crisp apple and subtle juicy peaches blend with exotic jasmine and heady magnolia blossoms, all supported on a deep base of rich, antique sandalwood.

Eden Lost - Eden Lost highlights the memories of what was, with the reality of what is. Starting with the memory of crisp green apples that fades out slowly to a fragrant woody blend of Sage, Sweetgrass, and Cedar.

Newest in our line of products

2009-04-02T08:23:00.004-04:00

Amy and I have always been a HUGE fan of Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs (BPAL)...and we willingly fork out $15 per 5 ml of oil. But we got to thinking...why can't we make this stuff? After some research and testing, we realized we CAN and have come up with 4 scents to start with that will knock your socks off while keeping your bank account happy.

Sang Noir - starts tart and dries down to a dark, sensual blend of Dragon's Blood with subtle undertones of ripe black cherry.

Fleur Noir - starts with the heady aroma of antique rose and dries down to the darker, earthy scent of amber with undertones of Musk.

Sandalwood - an earthy, strong and sensual fragrance that is true to the essential oil for which it is named.

Euphoria - delicate blend of Roses and exotic Jasmine with distinct undertones of heady Sandalwood.

Unlike standard perfumes which evaporate quickly and fade in short periods of time, having a perfume blended in oil allows the fragrance to last. There are an excellent fragrance option for people with sensitive skin as there is no drying or irritation that can occur with an alcohol base.

Each 15ml (1/2 ounce) Amber glass bottle comes with a safety sealed, tamper evident neck ring and removable orifice reducer (yes, I said orifice reducer, hehehe).

To use apply by the drop (seriously, it doesn't take much) to pulse points...behind your ears, the inside of your wrists, the back of your knees, in your cleavage, ladies (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) for a subtle yet long lasting scent that will linger on your skin all day long. Use more as desired for a stronger fragrance.

Heathen's Hearth

Say It Sunday - What do you do when you have the Flu

Thud Thursday!

Technical Tuesday! The Dilemma of Wholesale

Made It Monday with Wild Heather!

Made it Monday with GalleriaDiGiani

Say It Sunday - The 3000th Item Sold Edition!

Slacking Saturday!

Made It Monday with MAB Jewelry

Tuensday?

Made it Monday & A Call for Submissions

Say It Sunday - The good, the bad, & the sick.

Saturday Sales & Specials!

Friday - I'm in Love - Steampunk Fascination!

THUD! The Sleepless version

HALP!!!! New possible themes!

Manic Monday

Saturday Sales & Specials!

Wordy Wednesday! Murphy's Law of Business

Technical Tuesday - I'm "technically" late with posting lately

Wordy Wednesday! (Now with Pictures!)

This is why I do this - Say It Sunday!

Wordy Wednesday! (now with numbers!)

Testing!

THUD Thursday

The Many Mis-Adventures of Me - Introducing Wordy Wednesday

Its time for the white rabbit!

How much more expensive ...

Good morning! I took advantage of my extra 3 hours today!

I can't believe it! There are only 25 days left in the year!

Weee!

Tis the season!

It's Black Friday! What did you buy?

Happy Long Weekend!

Happy Birthday! A Game and A Gift

So many changes, where to begin?

hey everyone

Happy Labor Day

Hey Hey its Saturday!

What do you know?

Hey Hey its Saturday!

SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL!!!

We have a winner!

Happy Backward Birthday Give Away!

Free The Teen! - Free Shipping Sale!

Remember those adorable little kittens?

Because I almost peed my pants

Oh happy day!

Thankful Thursdays

A chance to win a bar of Heathen's Hearth Soap!

Awesome Reviews!

Come Sit a Spell

Take a stroll down our aisle

A new way to do a craft show!

We've been Featured!

Art + Yard Sale = Yart!

We have a winner!

Ohhh, the Treasuries...

What an honor!

Lemony Goodness Giveaway!

Introducing Body Frosting Soap!

Soap of the Day ~ Monday, May 18

Soap Making Tutorial

~~~~~~~~~~SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL~~~~~~~~~~

Soap of the Day ~ Lavender Natural Goat's Milk

Soap of the Day ~ Coconut Lime!!

They're Heeere!

Soap of the Day ~ Thursday, May 14

Virginity Lost!

Soap of the Day ~ Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Teakwood - Tuesday, May 12 Soap of the Day!

I'm a Handbag Whore

Soap of the Day - Monday, May 11, 2009

Soap of the Day ~ Saturday, May 9, 2009

Soap of the Day

And we have a winner!

The Creme de la Cream!

$50 to spend on Etsy?

Star Wars Day Sale!

We Did It!

SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL