Saki takes over the label making...

ha! yeah right even she can't get them to line up and print out even:) What a process I thought the idea of these companies making templates for there labels was so it was easy to line up and print. Ugh! long evening of not getting them done, hopefully we have better luck tomorrow.

On a more positive note, our soap making lab is coming along fabulously! I'm designing it while I work in there so It's as practical as possible. This is what we've got so far. Great lighting in this room due to the tons of windows. LOVE! I've still got too much on the floor though.

Business Cards are HERE!!

Just got the business cards in the mail this afternoon! It only took a week... thanks www.OvernightPrints.com you guys rock! They did a fabulous job. Super vibrant colors, clear clean print overall and great cutting job. So happy we'll have them to pass out at the flea market this Saturday at Fox Skylight Antiques in Milwaukee.

Flea Market Sales!!

We'll be selling our soaps May 1st at the Fox Skylight flea market, 112 E. Mineral St. in Milwaukee from 9AM until 5PM or until we sell out! I came up with a great idea for a sign at our booth too, it will say:
ANTIQUES MAKING YOU FEEL DIRTY? CLEAN UP WITH PENINSULA SOAP!

How cute and catchy is that;)
So exciting but I've got a ton to do this week because once we start selling in person we will be directing people to the website too because it's on all the soap labels so we need to have the ordering process set up just in case. I also only have like 10 bars of each soap perfected and made so we need to get to work:)

On the schedule today... get the website up and running for orders and get lots more molds cut down and ready.

Tomorrow... we'll be making at least 2 batches of Door County Cherry soap and 2 batches of Olive Bar soap it will be a long day!!

Pop Ups Out...

instead of pop-ups when you click on an individual soaps page for more info and to add to your cart were going to do a whole normal web page for it instead. Today we updated web pages and added the "view cart" to each page in the same spot by the other icons (twitter & blogger). We had a lot of fun the other night coming up with the descriptions and wording for each soap. I also created a "add to cart" icon that will be on every individual soaps product page in the same spot.

I don't know which version I like better... I'm thinking the one with more photos though even if the type in the description and "add to cart" have to be smaller. I emailed these versions to a couple people we'll see what they say.

Espresso Buzz perfected in trial #3

Cut down our 1st perfected batch of Espresso Buzz! Were loving the creamy color and swirls of Espresso grounds:) We're still loosing about 1/2 the batch due to air bubbles. Small imperfections are fine and expected because it's handmade and that's what makes it unique and reminds you that a person made this soap not a machine in a factory. We can't waste that much though... I think we could solve the problem if we cut our molds in half because the air pockets usually occur in the middle and right now the molds are around a foot long. We're going to try that with the next batch of Wino I make and see if it fixes the problem.

Currently all 4 soaps are now perfected for selling, just one more to go. Wino needs to be perfected and today I'm going to get a new round of grapes to squeeze, dehydrate, grind and brew for a batch tomorrow.

Product Shots & Lab Organization...

all getting organized today. We got some great light coming through this afternoon so I took the opportunity with the recent printing of the labels for Olive Bar to get product shots done for the website. I also spent most of the afternoon setting up my lab:) We needed a stop to make the soap so that I could have soap saponifying at any time and the kitchen wouldn't have to be off limits to food. It looks like it's going to be a great way to use our sunroom which is probably the least used room in the house and until recently just had plants in it. After hanging some shelves we should be able to make the soap, dry, label & package it for shipping all in one place instead of having everything scattered in every room.

Business Cards ORDERED!!

We ordered our business cards from www.overnightprints.com today. We're excited to get them in 5-7 business days:) They have such a sweet deal of 500 cards for free it only cost us $7.75 for shipping.

The website also went live over the weekend with paypal so we can now sell Olive Bar online! Were making some finishing touches to it now and we'll be taking better pics tomorrow when it's sunny.

Label Satisfaction!

Thanks ULINE your labels were perfect! We got the templates working and the first label printed last week. I've been a little slow about postings since our New Orleans trip but were back to work now and ready to get product out there! Next are the business cards and brochure cards.

Rose Water Experiment

So I have a lot of scrap soap from the Bay View Sunset batch that I want to try adding a scent to. Right now it looks like Mac & Cheese but after it melts down I'm going to add Rose Water mix it together and pour it into molds to cure again.

In the book it suggested 2.5oz on average for adding essential oils (that's for a full recipe) I'm going to see what 2.5oz looks like but I'll most likely use that much with this first trial because essential oils are so much stronger... I'll need more rose water to make the finished bar of soap smell. So I think, so far success comes in two's:)

We checked out high quality organic essential oils at Future Green today and also took a look at their soaps ($7.50 for 4oz!) to get some ideas. We smelled and tested them but none seemed to have scents that would go with our "flavors" of soap. So we'll have to see how this rose water trial goes there is also orange blossom and lavender water we could use if this goes well that way we can stay away from the essential oils.

New Soap Cutter DONE!

So this is our 2nd attempt at making a soap cutter and it works beautifully!! So fun to cut soap now!! The wooden box I bought from Jo Anne's Craft's and then cut a inch slit through it. Then used some craft wood to secure the sides where the cut was made. The metal thinging was given to us a while back as some sort of chopping/scooping kitchen tool we never used and it fits perfectly. So far things are successful on the 2nd try... and we're good with that.

Also this is our newest product shot of the Wine-O soap made with grapes. Pretty color... and the 2nd try will only be better!