Organised Chaos!

Look how untidy my soap room is

at the moment....

Pretty messy huh? It's because I have had A LOT of orders since I re opened my site on Monday and I've been a busy bee trying to get everything done! The big white tub you can see on the right is the soap base! I scoop that out with an ice cream scoop, melt it then add colour and fragrances!

On the left at the very front of the photo is the freezer with the microwave on top! Two very important parts of soap making!! The bin is overflowing.. The table is covered in melted soap splats, fragrance bottles.. junk. I need to tidy this place up this weekend!!

I've got lots of parcels to send off tomorrow! Note how I strategically placed a soap in front of the address on the card..! I love wrapped the parcels up and putting the stickers on.. Is that a bit sad of me? The people in the post office recognise me now and always sniff the parcels!

Back in business!

A week or so ago I decided to close my website for a while as I wasn't feeling very well and had a lot of orders to catch up on. I'm feeling much better now so re opened it last night and have had 3 orders already!

Whilst the website was closed I have made two new soapies!

I absolutely love these! They turned out better than I expected. These are mini slices of cake with lovely piped icing detail. I haven't measured them but I think they're around 2" long and 1" wide. My Mum dug out some old china for me to take photos of them with, I like they look cute cute cute! I'll be selling 2 of these in a pack for £3.00.

Here are some pretty little snowflakes! They are the perfect size for hand soaps and you'll get 4 in a pack for £3.00. The detail on them is fab and

I'll be doing them in fresh fragrances only e.g clean cotton or peppermint. This is to keep the white bright and also if snow had a smell I imagine it'd b fresh and crisp!

I think these will be great to have in your guest bathroom or even on display as little xmas decorations dotted around the house!

I'm busy preparing for my stall at the Clutter City Christmas Market in Norwich which is on the 4th of Dec. I hope lots of people come along and buy my soapies! I'm really enjoying getting the xmas soaps sorted, I've got red and green ribbon and little bells to tie the bags with!

So take a look at my site Sophie's Soap and see if there is anything that takes your fancy. I think any of my soaps would make great stocking fillers!

Price Change

Long time no..blog? I've been pretty busy making orders this past week, plus I wasn't feeling too great so didn't have much to blog about RE soap wise!

Other than Cherry Cherry now stocking my soaps nothing majorly exciting has happened since then. I'm in the process of setting up a deal with another shop in Wymondham which I'll keep you posted about!

I get a lot of nice feeback from all my customers but I've been noticing quite a few of them are saying my prices are too cheap! Almost everyone who sees my soaps or goes on my site tells me I'm under charging and selling myself short etc etc. I've been debating upping my prices for over a month now and I think now is the time to do it. As I'm getting alot of whole sale interest I think I do need to raise the prices slightly seeing as whole salers do tend to ask for big discounts. If I discount my already cheap soaps then I'm not really making much profit!

So go check out my site and tell me what you think about the altered prices... They haven't changed drastically, just 50p here, £1 there. I do not want to scare people off by being over priced, but then you do have to think about the work that goes into these soaps, the fact they are unique and they are handmade by little old me on my own!

Hopefully once I've finished these large orders I have at the moment I will put together some Christmas Gift Sets and list them on the site and show you guys some pics etc.

I've just re stocked on some of my popular fragrances like Green Apple and Love Spell. Also ordered Baby Powder which is lovely and Gingerbread Man for the gingerbread men soaps, rather than the Ginger Souffle which I don't think is sweet enough!

YouTube

I've recently gotten quite into watching videos on youutube, and not just cute animal videos, but review and haul videos!

I decided to make a channel and give it a go... I'm still shy and getting comfortable talking to the camera, but go take a look at some of my soap related videos here http://www.youtube.com/user/cutecutecuteist?feature=mhum

If there is anything you'd like me to talk about RE soap then let me know an I'll do a video about it! I'm going to do a fragrance description one soon, and also one showing how well the soaps lather...

I am extremely busy at the moment, I'm getting orders every day and have lots to make!

EXCITING NEWS!

As you may have read in one of my previous blogs, I've been making some samples to take into a shop in the city called Cherry Cherry. A few weeks ago the owner asked me to go in on the 12th with some samples to see if she liked them. I put together around 15 samples, all packaged nicely and carried them in a lovely big basket. My Mum and I went up the city and I was so nervous, had a few wobbly moments on the way there but managed not to cry! When we walked round the corner I found out the shop was shut!! I couldn't believe it! There was a sign on the door saying there had been a till malfunction and would re open tomorrow. I was so gutted and thought that this must be a bad omen and a sign that my soaps weren't good enough for the shop.

When I got home I sent the owner a message asking when they were definitely going to be open again and she told me to pop in Thursday (two days later)

So once again, Mum and I went up the city and this time Cherry Cherry was open! I was so incredibly nervousmy knees were literally knocking together and I found it hard to speak and was so self concious. There were a few customers in the shop, the owner Katy was behind the till and another member of staff was near by too. My Mum browsed round the shop whilst I introduced myself and my soaps! The first thing Katy and the other lady said was how good they smelt!! She loved everything, except the Halloween ones as she said she wouldn't be selling anything Halloween related. They both sniffed everything and said how lovely everything was. She's placed an order for all of the cupcakes, chocolate bars, crayons and cookies! She only wants 3 of each to start off with to see how things go, but fingers crossed they'll sell well and she'll want more. She said the xmas ones would be great nearer the time, and everything would make really good stocking fillers!
So I've now got to make the soaps for her and take them in at the end of this week and then Sophie's Soap will be on sale in a real shop, in a VERY trendy part of Norwich City! I cannot express how happy and proud I am of myself. I have no qualifications at all as I left school very early due to ill health, and now my health is still preventing me from working, but my soaps are my job now!

Cherry Cherry is a seriously cool little boutique shop that sells kitchy handmade items from etsy and folksy, so it's the perfect place for my soaps! They also have a website, go check it out and you'll see what kind of stuff they have on sale there! www.cherrycherryshop.com

To celebrate me and my Mum went for a hot chocolate in Cafe Rouge!

Apart from making Cherry Cherry's soaps I've been busy making whole sale orders and other orders from folksy today. Very busy. I now have a freezer in my soap room which is brilliant as it speeds the process up loads!! I have got some black and white lino flooring that needs to be laid when my Dad has the time.

I ordered some postcards last night to hand out to people and have at craft fairs, I'll upoad a pic of them when they arrive.

How do I do it?!

Quite a few people ask me how do I make my soaps, especially once they've seen them in real life.. So I thought I'd do a little bloggy about how I got into soap making and the soap making process!

At the moment I am too unwell to work as I have an anxiety disorder and as you may guess I do get very bored home alone all the time. One evening a few months ago I was just browsing online and typed in cupcake candles on youtube or google and a video came up of this american lady showing you how to make a cupcake soap! I was amazed.. I then ordered 1 kilo of soap and 3 fragrances and 3 colourants and couldn't wait to get started.

A few days later they arrived and I got cracking! It was all a bit trial and error at first.. I tried whipping the soap to make the "icing" for the cupcakes but it was a disaster! The soap would set too quickly and got hard and get stuck in the piper... I tried whipping it for a shorter while but then it was too running and slided off the cupcake :( Very annoying!

I then done some research online on how to make cupcake soaps and discovered an American site selling soaping materials with different moulds etc. Since then it's all gone up hill really... I took photos of what I'd made at put them on my facebook and loads of people were interested and I soon started selling them! At first I only had the odd order here and there, but now I get at least one every other day. Sometimes I'll got about 3 days with no orders, and then on the 4th day I'll get loads! I get a lot of emails from people asking for quotes on larger orders for wedding favours or whole sale, I'm kept busy replying to questions a lot!

So how do I make the soaps? I use a process called Melt and Pour - there are two soap methods, Melt and Pour or Cold Process. Cold Process is a lot more taxing and involves using chemicals and then waiting 6-8 weeks for the soap to "cure" after you've made it so it's safe to use. Well me being me and very impatient I decided to go for the melt and pour method.

I'll do a step by step guide of how I make my soaps:
1. I use an ice cream scoop to scoop out some soap base from my big tub. The Soap base is just white with no fragrances or oils added.

2.I then cut it into small pieces and put it in the microwave for 30 second bursts so I don't over heat the soap. I've done this before and it all boils up and sort of disapears - not good!

3.Once it's melted I give it a stir and add a few drops of colourant. I then use a pipette and add the fragrance. Depending on the fragrance I then add something called Vanilla Stabilizer. Any fragrance that has vanilla in eventually turns the soap brown unless the stabilizer is added. If it turns brown it doesn't effect the soap in anyway, it's still safe to use and smells yummy but doesn't look as pretty! So I add eaqual amounts of stabilizer as fragrance to the base. I give it a stir so it's all mixed in, if it's not mixed in well enough the fragrance oil seperates and floats to the top of the soap which isn't good!

4.I then add glitter if desired and pour it into a mould. Depending on the soap depends on the next steps.. If I'm making a cupcake I pour in the cherry topping first...wait for that to set, then add the icing colours, wait for that to set..then add the base. If I'm doing a layered bar or ice lolly I pour each colour alternatively and wait for each layer to set before I add the next. I've been impatient in the past and poured the second layer before the first has set and as the soap is very hot, it melts the skin of the first layer and the colours all combine and go funny! Patience is a virtue!

5.Once I've poured all the layers I put the mould in a safe place where it's not going to get knocked over and leave it to set. These can vary from 10 mins to an hour. In this time I usually wash up my jugs and spoons and write out the labels.

6. When the soaps are set I pop them out of their moulds. I love this part! No two soap are exactly the same and I love seeing the cupcakes when they're finished.

7. I then sprinkle some glitter on top if needed and place them in their bags or boxes, tie with ribbon and add the fragrance labels. If I'm sending them in the post I wrap each one in tissue paper and bubble wrap and pack them up in a box ready to go! I also add in a little thank you note and business card too. I really enjoy wrapping everything up.. I think it's nice to take the time to make things look nice and like a lovely gift. I think it's little things like that that make all the difference! I often get feedback from customers saying how nicely everything was wrapped.

So, now you know! I love making soaps, it keeps me very busy and any money I earn is a bonus! I've made quite a few friends online through selling my soaps too :)

Cupcake Gift Sets

NEW: Cupcake Gift Sets... This little beauty consists of 4 "Bakery Style Cupcakes" in a variety of colours and fragrances packaged in an adorable cupcake box. Price £12. On their own the "Bakery Style Cupcakes" are £4 each so you are saving money by buying them in this set.


I just love it so much, the box is so cool and I think this is a really fab, unique gift idea.
I'll be adding it to my folksy store shortly.

Shop Samples

I have been very busy today making orders and lots of samples for the shop Cherry Cherry which is in Norwich. It's a very cute shop which sells products made by people on Etsy and Folksy. I've been asked to pop in on Tuesday with some samples and hopefully the owner will like my soaps and agree to sell them in her shop!
I haven't taken any photos yet but the ones I've made to take in are the cookies, choc bar, flat backed cupcake, pumpkins, bakery style cupcake, rose cupcake, mini cupcakes, ice lollies, crown, skull, crayons, the bakewell type cupcake and gingerbread man.. So quite a few!! Fingers crossed things go well.

Kelsey's review video is up on youtube now so go check that out, she's very sweet and I love her descriptions of the scents! You can watch the video HERE

I've also been making a few videos for my youtube channel.. I was really shy at first and felt silly talking to the camera but I'm slowly getting more confident. Go have a look at the videos to see little old me and my soaps, it's easier to judge the sizes of them on video rather than on a photo.
Please subscribe to my channel HERE

Tomorrow I'm picking up a freezer from my boyfriend's work which I desperately need for my soap room. Before I had my own little room to make the soaps in I made them downstairs and used our freezer to speed up the setting process... So now I'm going to have one in my room is fantastic as I can make more soaps quicker!

Sarah's Video Review

Sarah messaged me today to say her first video about my soaps was up on youtube! I absolutely loved what she said about my soaps, as you can see, she really loves the smell of them! It's so funny seeing my soaps online and someone else talking about them... It's really lovely to hear such positive feedback. I may have sent her these for free but I told her to be honest with her opinions and definitely did not tell her what to say!

Check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E_Oube09gg

Also have a look at her blog, she done a written review too.. www.foundonfilm.com

Thanks Sarah!!

Halloween and Christmas time & a suprise for me!

This afternoon I was in my soap room taking some photos of my soaps when my Dad answered the door to a delivery man... I was expecting a parcel but not so soon.. I came downstairs to find a massive box from a lovely lady called Janet who has given up soap making and wanted to get rod of all her stuff... well I jumped at the chance to get hold of some more materials and we came to an arragement where I send her £20 a fortnight until I've paid the full amount of £200. Well, I've only sent her a few payments so far and I emailed her asking if it would be possible to send the colourants asap as I'm getting low on mine.. She sent me LOADS of stuff, not just the colourants! This is so nice of her and very trusting,bless her. It was like Christmas for me.. there were gorgeous handmade papers, bags, cello bags, shrink wrap, gift bags, boxes of all shapes and sizes, baskets, over 50 fragrance oils, essential oils, colourants, glitters, tissue paper... so much stuff!! You can see all the voils and pretty tissue papers on my stairs, the tubs on the floor are full of colours and fragrances and the box was full to the brim of goodies!


She said she's got two more boxes of stuff to send me too!! So exciting!


Yesterday my boyfriend and I went to Taverham Garden centre which has a massive craft shop, to look for anything that might come in handy with my soap making. We found lots of great things, he was very generous and bought me a couple of goodies too! I got a few cupcake boxes which are used in bakeries to put 4 cupcakes in.. the outside of the box has a really adorable cupcake print over.. That will be great to put the soaps in and sell at craft fairs. I also got some little trifle dishes to put a few mini soaps in with tissue paper as a set.. Some accetate boxes, some big tin buckets which I'm going to make a lovely set with using flannels and soaps in time for xmas... Oh and some really cute ribbons which were only 99p each for 4 metres!

I got some orange ribbon to use with the halloween soaps...
This lovely little set of two ghosties and pumpkin is £3. I think it's really cute.. I don't know how popular they'll be as the UK doesn't really "celebrate" halloween in the way the States do but I have had quite a lot of interest in these.

This little fella is only around 1" in size but I thought he was so cute I'd add him in with the pumpkin soaps.


Onto the Christmas soaps... I made these for the first time last night and was really pleased with how they turned out. I'm going to experiment with the snowman by adding colours to his eyes and hat etc.. I love his carrot nose!

The reindeer is so adorable too.. I'm a bit gutted his nose isn't very clear so will do a brighter red next time! Rudolf is fragranced with Brown Sugar and Fig which is a lot fresher than it sounds... And the snowman is peppermint! Priced these guys at £2.25 each... is that too cheap? I'm scared to over charge!

Here's the Christmas gang together... Gingie is £3 as he's a lot thicker than the other two. I think these will be very popular nearer xmas!

I've had 3 orders today which I will crack on with tomorrow and hopefully get sent out on Monday. I've also got those samples to make for the Cherry Cherry shop on Tuesday which I'd blummin' forgot about!

Youtube Video Review + seasonal soaps

I am so excited - today the lovely Jess sent me an email to say she'd posted her video reviewing my soaps! I watched it straight away and was so touched by her kind words about everything, it made me feel so chuffed! I showed me parents too and they thought it was great to see things I've made in someone elses hands saying how great they are! She included all the info about them being SLS free and kept saying how lovely they smelt.

You can watch the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0D0PVtTDus

Kelsey and Sarah are also going to be posting video reviews of my soaps soon - can't wait to see them!!

Today I found some pumpkin muffin moulds and thought they'd be great for soaps! I've made one so far, here's a pic
I'm making some little ghost ones for halloween too.
Also, I've got a snow man and reindeer soap setting atm..will see how they turn out tomorrow!!

Looking the part

I recently ordered some new business cards from moo.com and today they arrived! I am so pleased with them, they're great quality and I think they look really professional. 6 different pictures of my soaps are on the backs of them which is also a good way of showing off my different designs.

It was around £10 for 50 cards, so more expensive than vistaprint but the quality is better.

This week the little tins for the lip balms, here's a photo to show the sizes of the tins and the little pots.

The available flavours are strawberry, mint and chocolate. I have to say my favourite is chocolate, it smells so yummy! Prices are: Lil pot £1 Big pot £1.90

I've had lots of emails and queries this week asking for quotes on larger orders. I've got one order for 15 cookies! 1 wholesale order which was done through folksy. A lady holds craft fairs I think, or has a little shop and wanted a variety of 50 soaps - that'll keep me busy. I'm going to do gingerbread men, sheepm cupcakes and lollys I think! I also had an email on ebay from a lovely lady who runs a Girl Guides group and wanted to know how much it'd be for 100 lolly soaps. The Girl Guides are having a big party for all the groups in the country and she wanted a nice gift to go in the goodie bags! Hopefully that order will go ahead.

ALSO, a very cute shop in the city called Cherry Cherry got back to me after I'd emailed them about my soaps and wants me to go in to the shop in a few weeks with some samples! I am SO excited, it would be amazing to have my soaps on sale in a shop!!!

Lastly, I've put together a few packages for some youtubers who make videos reviewing beauty products. Hopefully they'll like my soaps and say kind things about them and that'll spread the word via the youtube community!!

That's it for now - oh no it isn't.. The Clutter City craft fair people sent me an email saying I was unsuccessful this time, but I'm not too gutted as there was very limitted availability and they're holding another one in Dec which I should hopefully get a stall for!
AND I've just been told about another xmas craft fair at the US Army Base near me called the Yuletide Bazaar which apparantly would be perfect for my soaps! I've sent an email applying for a place, fingers crossed I get accepted!

So, lots of things happening here and keeping me busy! X

Cute extras

A lovely friend of mine is rather talented when it comes to drawing and she had drawn some very cute graphics for my soaps! I think they are ADORABLE and very suitable, what do you think?

I'm going to put them on my facebook page, my website and maybe print them out and pop them in with each order?

During the week my boyfriend's friend's Mum asked for some of my soaps to take as samples to a Beauty Show where all the salons go to check out the newest products. I made about 15 of the different sized cupcakes in yummy fragrances. The feedback was great, apparently everyone loved them, infact one of her friends who owns a big company that distributes products to all the salons took the soaps with her and now has them on display in her shop!! If the customers like them she is going to order a load! So that is very promising and exciting!

I've applied for a stall at a local craft fair called Clutter City. It's not like a normal craft fair, it's for people who make unique and cute things! I think it'd be the perfect place to sell my soaps, I really hope I get accepted! I should find out this week, fingers crossed!!

A few new things..

I thought I'd start this post off with some of the new soaps I've been making.

This is the flat back cupcake soap, which is 3" tall and as it's flat backed it's nice and easy to use.

The photo doesn't really show how big it is.. I need to take one next to a 10p as a size comparison. I really like it, I think it'll sell well as it's cute but practical, where as some of the cupcake soaps as they're so pretty some people have said they don't want to actually use them but just have them on display!

I have got new packaging for the cookie and doughnut soaps-tin tie bags like the ones you would get from the supermarket! I'm really pleased with how they look. I've also got little stickers of cupcakes which say "Please don't eat me" to put on the foodie soaps, just incase!

The lady I was making the willy and boobie soaps for, who worked in the shop Sin Sins, got the sack so that was a bit of a waste of time.. But I have had interest from other people in them so they might sell...

Had quite a few orders this week, large orders too - not just one item. So that's kept me busy. I've also been asked to make a load of samples for a lady to take to a fashion/beauty roadshow to show to some salons who might be interested in them! Better get cracking with that soon!

I've also applied for a stall at a craft fair which is happening on the 30th of October in Norwich. It's called Clutter City and is for crafters who make kitschy,cute items - so perfect for my soaps! Hopefully I'll get accepted :)

Busy Bee!

I've been making soaps since the minute I woke up today, until now..midnight! I'd been waiting for my soap base to arrive and today it came.. all 20 kilos of it! The tub is so heavy my Dad had to carry it through to the kitchen for me!

I had to make 30 mini cupcakes style #4 to be used as wedding favours for a wedding this Saturday, the lady is picking them up tomorrow so they had to be done by tonight! She wanted a variety of colours and scents so I chose some of my favourites like Chocolate Cake, Brown Sugar & Fig and Angel Food Cake!

This is the finished result! 30 cupcakes wrapped and ready to go!

I also made a new soap today.. a gingerbread man one! He's very cute and nice size, around 4". I only added the different colour to his tie and buttons but could add colour to his eyes I think in future. I'll price this soap at £3.

I also got some willy and boobie moulds in the post today to make some samples for a shop called Sin sins. One of the willy moulds is huge..I didn't realise it would be so big..and detailed! I'm not keen on it but I'll see what the shop owner says. There are some littler ones which are about 2.5" big and they're much nicer.

My website will be going live soon, at the moment it's just redirecting you to my folksy store. I'm working on the site every day and want to make sure it looks good and has all the important bits before I launch it online!

Foodie Soaps

I thought I'd share with you my newest creations... These soaps are of the foodie kind and look so realistic!

First up we have the chocolate bar soap... it's more of a mini bar-it's the size of one of those small milkybar bars so about 2.5" long. I've decided to do two in a pack for £2.50. I thought I got the colour spot on and they've been fragranced with "chocolate cake" which is delicious!!

Next up are the choc chip cookies.. Believe me when I say they look just like the real thing, I am so pleased with how these turned out! First of all I have to make the little chocolate chips then I add them to the cookie base.. These ones were also fragranced with "chocolate cake". Other chocolatie fragrances I have are Belgian Chocolate, Hot Cocoa and White Chocolate Caramel -one of my favs!! Prices for these are 3 for £3.75 or 5 for £5.

Then there's the large iced doughnut! This one is a beauty, he's 4" across and over 1" thick so pretty chunky! It weighs 150g. I add the sprinkles first and then add a little of the icing to stick them in place then add the rest..wait for that to set then it's time for the base. For this one I made the icing "Sugared Strawberries" fragranced and the bottom is "Vanilla Bean" so bloody yummy! I've priced this one at £4.50 - one of my most expensive soaps - basically because it uses so much soap. I recently done a plug on my facebook page for the first

person to comment gets this for £4.50 but FREE postage. Within a few minutes that had been sold!

I also made these cute Princess Crown soaps recently... They've proven very popular on my facebook page too. They're about 2" in size so perfect for little Princesses hands! The detail is fantastic. I'm going to be getting some flannels soon with "Princess" embroidered on and put them with 2 soaps as a gift set.

I've had an order for 30 cupcakes as wedding favours (the style #4 ones) which need to be made by Friday so I'll get cracking with those tomorrow!

I've got some naughty soaps in the pipeline too... willies, boobies and bums! A friend of mine works in a store called Sin Sins (you can guess what kind of shop that is..) and is looking for soaps and shower gels and has asked me to do a few samples for her to show to her boss. Even if that isn't successful I can still sell them for hen and stag parties I'm sure!

Let's start at the very beginning

I've set up this blog to talk about and show you my soapie goodies!

I've only been making soaps for a short while now, so am still learning - it's a bit trial and error at first! I thought I'd try making some cupcake soaps a

s I have an obsession with them (I even have a tattoo of a cupcake!) Also, cupcakes are all the rage at the moment, walk in any high street store and I guarantee you will find something cupcake related! The first cupcake soaps I made were

quite plain and simple, as you can see.

Once I'd learnt how to make the right consistency of soap and gathered a few more materials I started making more elaborate cupcakes like this

I then ventured on to other cute things, like mini ice lollies, pirate skulls and pastries.

I get most of my orders through ebay and the most popular ones are the mini cupcakes style #4. I've made several for people to have as their wedding favours which I think is fantastic and such a cute idea! And at only £2 for they're an affordable option for wedding favours as we all know how expensive weddings are these days! I've also had to make some as presents for gift bags at little girls birthday parties! One lady wanted me to make her 12 of ice lollies for her 8 year olds party. When she received them she sent me a lovely email with really positive feedback, I was so touched!

As of today I now own www.sophiessoap.co.uk !!! Check it out.. for now it will re direct you to my folksy store, which I think is very clever and much easier than telling people the full folksy address. My friend Mark, who is a computer and internet whiz sorted that for me as I'm not very clued up on html! My other half is in the process of making me a website too which is exciting.

Coming soon...

I've recently ordered some more materials from the states and am waiting for them to arrive... I'll then be able to make chocolate bar soap, large iced doughnuts, princess crowns and chocolate chip cookies! So excited!!