A Hint of Lavender!

The holidays are quickly approaching and I more than excited about the package I received today!

That's a whole pound of lavender and 2 new scents! These will be available in 2 weeks. These homemade bars make the perfect stocking stuffers or the small gift for distant relatives or coworkers! I'm also making my first special order this week and hoping for more!

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!


S*S*Soaps

A new scent on the way!

The Holiday MOPS Shop went so well! It wasn't as crowded as I'd hoped and we didn't get quite as many vendors participating as I'd hoped. But for an area that had a pretty good storm the weekend before I think we did awesome.

I was actually able to sell 15 bars of soap with a future order of 8 and a request for a special order! This has encouraged me to increase productivity and look into a new fragrance too!

I'm also going to be shipping some of the leftover bars to my MIL in PA to sell at a craft show in Mars! So many opportunities! I feel that God is truly blessing us!

I'll be announcing the new soap in a few weeks! Keep your eyes open!

Happy early holidays!

S*S*Soaps

The Holiday MOPS Shop

Well I've had many wonderful opportunities the last several weeks to showcase my soap! I'm also very excited about a big opportunity in a few weeks to participate in a vendor event at my church.

You see I'm part of a mom's group at our church called Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) and this year I'm the event coordinator. What that means is I put together all the fundraisers, mom's nights out and play dates for the group. So I was excited about the suggestion of doing a bazaar or holiday vendor event. Thus the Holiday MOPS Shop was born!

This is a wonderful event where local vendors and consultants (think Pampered Chef or Thirty-One) rent a space and the public comes in to do some early holiday shopping. So I'm excited to have this opportunity to display (and hopefully sell!) my soap!

S*S*Soaps

In a Store Near You...well maybe

So it's official! I dropped off a small bundle of my recent batches at a local store in the mall near us.

I'm hoping that they'll run out much faster than they think they will and will need more!

I've also opened my Etsy store back up and am starting some research into some new scents and coloring options! I'm so excited about this holiday season! I have a feeling this year will bring many good things for us!

S*S*Soaps

Kick-Start this Party!

It's been a while since I have updated you all about what's new. There have been a lot of things, big and small, happening over the last several months. One of the first things is I received an e-mail the other day from the store I put my soap asking for more bars for the holidays (yay!). The other is some research into new soaping equipment. Both of these have kick-started me back into making soap again.

I also have several events coming up in which I will be able to showcase my soap to a broader crowd than I have before. Don't get me wrong, I love Etsy! But have you tried searching for soap on there recently? 92,000+ items! I enjoy making soap and I hope that I'll be able to be a competitor in the world of Etsy soon, but as for now I'm going to try and appeal to my local crowd here on the beach.

Did I mention that I had the fortune of having some professional photos done? Of the soap, not me...haha. I was very excited and they turned out wonderful! Check out the full photo shoot here as well as Danielle's other works!

So thank you for your continued support. I hope to bring some new soaps your way soon!



S*S*Soaps

To wholesale or not to wholesale....

I'm so very excited to say that I finally got the courage up to ask a shop owner whether she'd be interested in selling my soap at her store. Rather my husband asked while I thought about asking...either way the question was asked. She said that she'd love to as long as the soap fit with the theme of her store! Now I don't know if it will, but I feel this is progress none the less!

With that in mind, we hurried home to make my fourth kind of soap that has being weighing on my mind, but not on the scale, for several months. I also made sure that all my sites were updated with the most recent pictures of my products. The idea that I could be wholesaling soon is astounding to me, but very exciting!

I now have 4 kinds of soap to sell, with 3 currently available via my etsy store. The fourth will be ready in a few weeks. I've also been putting myself out there as a childcare provide, pet care provider and tutor as a way of earning some extra income and I've already been messaged several times for each! I'm so thankful for a God that answers prayers! Now I have a way to help with our school loans and stay home with my baby! YAY!

Buried Treasure-for the pirates in your life 

The family for Benjamin's 1-year photos

Thanks for stopping by!
S*S*Soaps

We Have Lift Off!

Well it's been a while since I posted. Things are going really well. We've made a lot of progress with our soap recipes and have even sold 12 bars! This is very encouraging. Just months ago I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get this business off the ground! But thanks to some encouraging words from my husband and the willingness of friends and family I feel that we're moving forward!

We have successfully made 4 batches of soap that are for sale, but most of my sales have been in-person instead of through Etsy. I'm hoping traffic will pick up a little before Christmas. We're still working on some new color combinations and scents.

Thanks for your continued support! I'm willing to do pre-orders and custom orders too!


S*S*Soaps

The Precipice of Production

I'm excited to say that production has finally begun! It's been an eventful couple of weeks trying to get supplies in order and avoid a hurricane!

Sign for farmer's market

In case you hadn't heard, which I highly doubt, Virginia Beach (and most of the East Coast) was slammed with a hurricane just last week. It looks like there's also another one on the way!

I found myself some wonderful new soap molds that will allow me to pour multiple batches at once! I also finally received all of my fragrance oils, some of which had been sold out and had to be re-ordered.

Cooking up some soap

So far I have 2 out of the 4 batches poured and waiting to solidify and be cut. I'm hoping that I will have the next 2 poured out tomorrow evening. There is a 2-3 week curing period for these soaps so be looking out for listings on Etsy sometime near the week of September 18th.

Sneak Peak

I also had an idea suggested to me by my sis-in-law that I should offer to do customized colored soaps for different occassions. Any thoughts? Is that a product you would be interested in? Say for a wedding or school event? Let me know what you think!

Thanks for your patience!

 

S*S*Soaps

New Soaps!

Keep your eye out for these upcoming soaps!
Sandcastle
Shoreline
Buried Treasure
Coral Reef

Looking forward to feedback!

S*S*Soaps

Moving Forward

I have definitely gained momentum towards growing my soap "business". I have an etsy shop established (www.etsy.com/shop/SarahsSeasideSoaps) and even have my own page on Facebook! Johnathan and I are both really excited for this adventure to move forward.

I have been researching soaps for weeks now and am still currently looking for a reliable supplier but I'm hoping to begin serious processing within the next few weeks. Keep your eye on my store for the first listings!

My Etsy store banner!

My business card!

S*S*Soaps

The Beginning

Here we go everyone! I have officially begun my journey into the world of homemade soap. After much research and encouragement (harassment?) from my husband I have decided to really try and make this soap thing work.

Since some of you are probably wondering how this idea came to be, I'll do my best to describe it. After Benjamin was born I struggled with the idea of returning to work. I felt the need to use my chemistry degree I had just acquired, but I could not willingly leave my son in someone else's care. The solution? Find something that I could do from home.

My husband, Johnathan, had been determined to build a home lab in our house. I was less enthusiastic about this prospect and so I took a trip to the library to try and find something that was not as intense as a "home lab."

I sat down at the communal computer staring at the search catalog box with the blinking cursor wondering, "What do I want to do?" So I typed in 'crafts'. I get all sorts of crazy books for kids' crafts with popsicle sticks and brown paper bags. Nothing there. Let's try 'homemade'. Mostly recipe books and a few homesteading books. Interesting.... but not really what I wanted. Finally out of the blue I decide to try 'homemade soap'. And with that click of the "search" button my journey began.

As with all journeys (especially crafty and slightly hazardous ones) there were several failed attempts: soap leaking through cracks in boxes, oil separating into layers as the soap dries, block of soap from mold not fitting into the cutter box even though they came as a set (WHAT?! I PAID HOW MUCH FOR THIS SET?!). We've cracked a few jars and burned a few batches but we finally succeeded in producing a bar of soap!

Left: Block cutter   Right: Mold box with soap

First time using the Soap Cutter

I still haven't found my niche in the formerly unknown world of homemade soap. But I can say with confidence and excitement... this is the beginning of something good.

*SS Soaps*