In case you didn’t get the Bramble Berry newsletter, here’s my favorite photo of the sushi soap. It still needs to be improved upon a little bit before we film SoapQueenTV next weekend but it’s getting close.
Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
In case you didn’t get the Bramble Berry newsletter, here’s my favorite photo of the sushi soap. It still needs to be improved upon a little bit before we film SoapQueenTV next weekend but it’s getting close.
Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
It’s such a beautiful day today in Bellingham and I’m feeling a little saucy! I think I’m going to pick 3 winners today that will receive 5 fabulous bars of homemade soap from the Bramble Berry Cold Process Pre-Made Soap Line. Ahem, quiet in the audience please…
The winners are (drum roll)…
Merryh from Body By M
Supergrover2 from Mothershare and Mosaic Soaps
Little Shadow Creations from Little Shadow Creations and Etsy
CONGRATULATIONS!
*Winners, please email us at info(at)brambleberry(dot)com with your physical addresses and we’ll get these soapy prizes out the door to you ASAP.
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
Sign up for the Bramble Berry newsletter. We’re sending it out tomorrow with lots of tips and tricks on how to make perfect sushi soap.
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
Congratulations!
Check back in tomorrow for the grand prize drawing…it just might be YOU!
Molly S.- Email us at info(at)brambleberry(dot)com with your physical address and we’ll get these goodies out the door for you. Yay!
Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap
Our most ambitious project of the Soap Queen series to date is a project developed by Paula of PJ Soaps. She taught this project at last year’s Soap Weekend Intensive and everyones’ soap came out beautifully – even those that had never made soap before.
Soap Queen TV Episode 5: Clam Shell Soap from Soap Queen on Vimeo.
We did a blog post on the project and got feedback that photos may be worth a 1000 words but a video would be better. Given the complexity of the project, I agree.
Filed Under: Business Musings
A couple of years ago, my sister in law gave me a $100 Visa Gift Card as a present. She purchased the card at Fred Meyers. The nice thing (in theory) about Visa gift cards is that you can use them anywhere and are not stuck using them at just one store.
While cleaning my desk tonight, I found the Visa Gift Card, issued by Green Dot Online. I was pretty sure there was a few dollars left on the card. I’d hate to leave money on the table so I called Green Dot Online to check and see if there was a remaining balance. After all, even $1 is a nice chunk downpayment on a warm and luxurious latte.
The automated attendant told me it was $.75 to check my balance. I hung up. But, then got to thinking, “Nah, that has to be a mistake. Who charges to let you access their automated phone system?”
So, I called back. Yep. They do charge $.75 to access your remaining balance. Okaaaaay … I went ahead and pressed 1 to hear my balance. Shocker of shocker when I found out my gift card was overdrawn by $9.70! What? How is that possible? It’s a gift card. How could I have overdrawn a gift card? And, I’m pretty sure I didn’t spend more than $84 on it. My careful notes on the front of the card in sharpie pen said I hadn’t.
I pressed “0” to speak to an attendant. It turns out that this “Gift Card” charges $4.95 PER MONTH as a maintenance fee on my account and has been charging that for about 7 months now.
7 months (or so) ago, I had $16.05 left on the card. Now, I apparently owe them $9.70 just for the privilege of being given this gift card. To add insult to injury, my sister in law had to “activate” the gift card for $9.95 to start with. So, her $100 gift to me actually got me $84 in product but cost an additional $35.70 ($25.75 from me in bogus “servicing fees” plus $9.95 from her to “activate” the card). So, the net-net of this $100 gift card ended up being $64.30
What a racket. And, sadly, it’s a racket that preys on people that don’t have good credit or bank balances (since it pretends to be a credit or debit card). In this case, the gift was still very appreciated and the original sentiment is still valid but what a disappointing rip-off. I wonder if Fred Meyer’s knows how unethical Green Dot Online gift card is? I think I’ll tell them. Their “Customer Feedback Page” is right here.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Looking to sell this cute jewelry in your shop? Joanna says that wholesale inquiries are welcome.
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
I’m super excited; our 10Fold Orange Essential Oil just arrived to the warehouse.
What’s 10Fold? And, why would you pay more for it? Because it’s super concentrated and best of anything, lasts in cold process soap. 10X Orange is a form of concentrating the oil and removing much of the lower boiling components. The higher the number, the more times it’s been folded, or concentrated. Our 10X Orange is folded via fractional distillation. The still filters out the unnecessary components (or in this case, lower boiling point components) and concentrates all the “good smelling” components that really stick in your cold process soap. Unlike tradition citrus essential oils, this orange will actually smell good in your cold process soap after you’ve made it. We use it at .7 to 1 ounce per pound of soap and it smells juicy, ripe and delicious.
Distillation Method: Cold Pressed
Country of Origin: Canada
Part: Peel
Botanical Name: Citrus sinensis
Warnings: Can be irritating to eyes
Edible: Yes (kosher)
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Good Luck and Happy Swirling!
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
My husband and I did something entirely and totally new this weekend – we took an Improv class! As some of my tweeple mentioned, taking an improve ‘class‘ is sort of an oxymoron but as we learned, being spontaneously funny takes work! Improv is the art of acting, singing, talking or reacting in the moment in response to some stimuli in the environment around you. You may have seen it in practice on the show ‘Whose Line is it Anyways?‘
Our teachers (the fabulous Oona and Morgan from Upfront) do improv classes for corporate and team training. After a simple one hour intro class, I can see why. We all came away from the class with a definite bond (after that much laughter, it’s hard not to!) and an appreciation of how to act and react ‘in the present.’ We also worked on the ability to access creativity in the moment, think clearly under pressure and the art of proactive listening.
The class was hilarious and creative (no, I have no idea what I’m doing in the photo above). I will definitely look for another opportunity to take one again.
Filed Under: Business Musings
For those of you who don’t know my Dad, some previous favorite Dad posts are here, here and here. He has quite an hilarious sense of humor.
I got this email from my Dad last week, presumably in reaction to a couple of scintillating tweets I sent to my tweeple from The Soap Guild show. He was alerting me to a pertinent article on the dangers of oversharing (what me? overshare? never!). His email:
————————–
Good article. Especially for my beloved daughter who woke me at 6:00 am this morning via her mother’s phone announcing yet another mindless Broadcast Twit – I believe that the Soap Queen was about to ………..hold breath………..drum roll…………can you bear the suspense?…………….
Beginning a …….. WALK. A Walk!!! Can you believe it? The amazing courage, intellectual challenge, novel creative adventuring!!! Later, at breakfast (actually during a moment of brief Grace, before the meal), we learned that said Queen had COMPLETED her walk!!! Can you fathom that? One begins a walk and one even RETURNS from a walk. What will they think of next?
————————
The customer service heroes at Bramble Berry claim they were laughing so hard at this email that they were actually crying. As for me, I will think twice about tweeting every single walk I take and protein shake I make.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Filed Under: Business Musings
As you move forward on your journey from where you are to where you want to be, you are going to have to confront some of your fears. Fear is a just a natural part of living.
Whenever you start a new project, take on a new venture, or put yourself out there, there’s usually some fear involved. Unfortunately, most people let fear stop them from taking the necessary steps to achieve their dreams.
Confronting your fears is a very necessary step in achieving success.
There is simply no other way.
Fear can be a helpful emotion, as it tells you when you need to be extra careful, keenly aware, and cautious. Fear is not an emotion that is telling you to stop. In fact, it’s telling you just the opposite!
Acknowledging your feelings of fear helps you know when you are stepping out of your comfort zone. It points your awareness to areas where you could improve and grow.
Successful people also feel fear. Yet they don’t let it get in the way of anything they want to do–or have to do. They understand that fear is something to be acknowledged, experienced, and taken along for the ride. They have learned, as author Susan Jeffers suggests in her must-read book, to “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway®.”
Fear is more of a signal that we should stay alert and cautious. We can feel fear, but we can still move forward anyway.
Think of fear as a 2-year-old child who doesn’t want to go grocery shopping with you. Because you must buy groceries, you’ll just have to take the two year old with you. Fear is no different. In other words, acknowledge that fear exists but don’t let it keep you from doing important tasks.
Also realize that so many of our fears are self-created. We might frighten ourselves by fantasizing negative outcomes to any activity we might peruse or experience. Luckily, because we are the ones doing the fantasizing, we are also the ones who can stop the fear and bring ourselves into a state of clarity and peace by facing the actual facts, rather than giving in to our imaginations.
If a fear is too great for you to overcome, try breaking it down into smaller challenges.
Try starting out by doing the parts of the project that don’t scare you so much. You need to give a speech in front of a large group? Try giving your speech in front of a small group of people who care for you. Work your way up until you are able to feel the fear but still move forward. As you do you will build your confidence and eventually you won’t feel fear surrounding those issues because you’ll have done them enough to count it as a skill.
As you move toward your goal, don’t attach yourself so much to the outcomes.
Keep moving toward your dream doing everything you can to create what you want, then let it go and see what shows up. Sometimes the universe will have a better idea in mind for you and present a better opportunity when you were expecting something completely different. Don’t let fear keep you from moving forward. Even if the horrible outcome that you imagined happens, the universe will always provide for you another way to succeed. So be on the look out!
Trust that no matter what occurs, you are smart enough and strong enough to keep looking for, and attracting, opportunities.
If you are willing to try new experiences in spite of your fears, then more new experiences will present themselves for you to try. And the more you try, the more you are likely to succeed!
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com