Custom Gifts

I love it when customers come up with great ways to showcase my soap!

I did two custom orders this week that were lots of fun. One gentleman sent me the awesome artwork that you see here. The expressive line drawing of his dad makes the perfect label for special fishing soaps that can be handed out to friends and family. I hope his dad likes them!

Another order was for a woman needing office gifts for the holidays. She liked the idea of giving a corporate gift with a memorable message. The company logo was used on the tins...along with the tag line at the bottom "Everyone Else Stinks". Perfect! I'm sure all of her co-workers will love them!

Ahhh soap...so much room for humor.

Meylah Intereview

A few weeks ago when I was doing the EtsyRain winter show, I met a lovely couple here in Seattle who have put together a terrific resource for artisans and small business people. Their website is called Meylah, and it contains all sorts of useful information about starting and maintaining an arts and craft business. If you don't already have it on your blogroll, you should. Plus, they thought that my soapmaking company and experience was worthy of an interview. So, now I'm famous...or at least, less un-famous.

Phinney Winter Festival

I will have a booth (with the help of my Mom...thanks Mom!) this weekend at the 29th annual Phinney Winter Festival at the Phinney Neighborhood Center in Seattle. The event runs from 10-5 on Saturday & Sunday (12/5 & 12/6). We will be located in the lower building in the Dragon room. I will also have a selection of awesome razors available from RetroRazor, a great company here in Seattle. Come on down and check it out!

SheGyver Tip #1

I came up with a word to describe a lady who is resourceful and uses a multitude of materials and methods (sometimes off-beat) to accomplish a task...SheGyver. Do you all remember watching McGyver on TV in the 80s? I do. I was always impressed with his ability to come up with a creative way to make things work.

My first SheGyver Tip: If you're away on vacation and staying in a condo or rental house that has a washer and dryer, and you need to do just ONE load of laundry, but can't (or don't want to) buy a whole box of laundry detergent, what can you do? Use a cheese grater to shred one of the little bars of guest soap! Before synthetic detergents, all laundry was done using soap. I use shredded soap all the time for our family's laundry because I have such a plentiful supply of soap pieces. It works great and is also biodegradable!

Do you have a SheGyver tip to share?