Do you know your essential oils?

I try to use a mix of essential oils and fragrance oils in my products. I know that a lot of people prefer the natural essential oils over synthetic fragrance oils but sometimes essential oils aren't always the best choice. I list warnings on all my essential oil products but here are a few things you should know:


-Citrus essential oils are photosensitizers. These increase your skin's reaction to sunlight, making it more likely to burn. These include oils such as orange, grapefruit, lime, and lemon.


-Certain essential oils are not considered safe during pregnancy. Some of these are: Rosemary, Peppermint, Lavender, Clary Sage, Jasmine.


-Rosemary and Eucalyptus (among others) should not be used if you have high blood pressure or epilepsy.


This is not meant to scare anyone away from using essential oils. They *are* wonderful. This is just a reminder to research what you are using to make sure it won't cause you any harm. A good soap maker should be able to answer your questions and help you choose a product that is right for you.

April is Autism Awareness Month

For the 3rd year in a row I will be donating 50% of all Puzzle Soap purchases to the Autism Society of America. Please help support this great cause!

Name My Newest Perfume!

I made a wonderful new solid perfume that is similar to Pink Sugar by Aquolina. The problem? I can't call it Pink Sugar because it's a trademarked name. Here's where I need a little help. I had some great suggestions given to me in the Etsy forums but I need help choosing one:

Sugar Dust
Sweet Memories
Pink Frost
Caramel Musk
Frosted Sugar
Pretty in Pink

The scent is described as:

"a journey through the pleasures and flavors of childhood with a playful blend of vanilla and caramel. Notes include Bergamot, Sicilian Orange, Raspberry, Fig Leaves, Lily of the Valley, Licorice, Strawberry, Red Fruit, Cotton Candy, Tonka (Vanilla), Caramel, Musk, Sandalwood, Powder."

I'm trying to appeal to women in their 20s and 30s. Please leave a comment with your favorite. Feel free to add to the list if you come up with something better!

New Products!

Finally!

Single Use Sugar Scrubs:

Solid Perfumes:

Tips for Getting Traffic to Your Etsy Site

Many, many times I've heard the question "How do I get people to come to my Etsy website?". Well, I decided to put together a list of some ideas.

1) Spend some time in the forums but NOT just promoting. Answer questions. Ask questions. make friends. Most promotions go ignored but helping others gives you a good name.

2) Comment in the Storque and in treasuries. And by comment I mean relevant comments. No spamming!

3) Join a team. There's a whole list of teams on Etsy. Find one that you think would be a good fit for you and email the leader asking to join. (I'll do another post later on the benefits of teams)

4) Add a link to your website as your email signature.

5) Start a blog. Talk about your new products, current sales, post some tutorials, etc.

6) Wear/carry your product everywhere you go. I can't wear my soap but I do carry my Soap-To-Go and Lip Balm in my purse at all times!

7) Carry business cards and tell people about your site! Place some business cards on public bulletin boards.

8) Try sending samples to some sampler boxes. These are a great way to get your products in the hands of customers. Try to find a sampler that has the same target market as you to make the most of it.

Good luck!

New Year, Newly Organized Workroom

In order to be more efficient this year, I decided to clean out my entire workroom. I went through EVERYTHING. That included opening ALL boxes, getting rid of what I don't need anymore, and organizing what I still use.

Here are a few pics of how nice it looks now:

Now I'd better get to work making some soap. See how empty those shelves are? Eek!

Black Friday - Cyber Monday Sale!

Get ready to stock up on your holiday gifts! Angie's Suds 'N Such is having a Black Friday - Cyber Monday sale!

Sneak Peek at one of the deals:
My 8 bar listing will have FREE worldwide shipping!

Be sure to check out my whole shop for great deals that weekend!

Shows, New Products, and the Cherry Blossom Festival

It's show season! The last one I did went fairly well and I'm hoping the rest do the same. If you're in the area I'd love for you to stop by and say 'hi' at one of my shows! Here are the locations of my next 2:

November 14 - Centreville United Methodist Church - 6400 Old Centreville Rd, Centreville, VA

December 12 - Gar-Field High School - 14000 Smoketown Rd, Woodbridge, VA

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Products!

I've been busy here in my 'lab' experimenting with new recipes. My two newest products will be lip balms and lotion sticks! I'll be listing them in my shop sometime this week.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cherry Blossom Festival

So, what's given me the push to create those new products? The Cherry Blossom Festival committee! I submitted a cherry blossom soap for consideration for their online boutique and they loved it! BUT...they wanted more items to make it a gift set. I'll be including a few more items other than the lip balm and lotion sticks as soon as the recipes are perfected. I have to send the set in for a final consideration and as long as they like it all, I'm in!

Parents Magazine!

Some of you know, some of you don't, that Parents magazine recently did an article on bartering and interviewed me! Well, here it is! They featured it in the October 2009 issue. Page 99 to be exact:)

Making Room for New Soaps!

New seasons are coming which means new soap scents! Not only do I have new scents coming but I have new packaging! Before I can list these new soaps I need to get rid of the old ones! Help me out! I've reduced all my cold process soaps by 30% to help make room for the new ones. All prices have already been marked down. Please take some time to stop by my Etsy shop and check it out!