Soapy Sue's Soap Shoppe Blog

Bergamot & Mandarin Hemp Oil Soap - $3.83 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap & Soapy Sues Handcrafted Soap.

2011-09-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

New! Bergamot & Mandarin Hemp Oil Soap - $3.83 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap & Soapy Sues Handcrafted Soap. All Soap On Sale the rest of September!

Soap Log 20 inch 20 inch Handmade Soap Log [] - $32.00 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap & Soapy Sues Handcrafted Soap.

2011-09-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Soap Log 20 inch 20 inch Handmade Soap Log [] - $32.00 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap & Soapy Sues Handcrafted Soap.

Nutmeg & Cedar Hemp Oil Soap - $3.38 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap & Handmade Bath Products.

2011-07-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

Nutmeg & Cedar Hemp Oil Soap - $3.38 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap & Handmade Bath Products. This all natural soap is enriched with unrefined Hemp Oil. Hempseed oil is rich in omega 3, 6 and 9, and contains important minerals, vitamins A & E and antioxidants. Hemp oil is a very effective ingredient in anti-inflammatory skin care products.

Hempseed Oil is excellent for providing essential fatty acids to your skin. This wonderful soap will leave your skin nourished and clean.

Scented with a wonderful Nutmeg & Cedar Fragrance. Each bar approx 4-5 oz.

Dead Sea Mud Spa Soap with Shea Butter - $3.38 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap & Handmade Bath Products.

2011-07-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Dead Sea Mud Spa Soap with Shea Butter - $3.38 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap & Handmade Bath Products.
New Product! This all natural soap contains Dead Sea Mud which is rich in minerals. It cleanses your skin and infuses it with minerals essential to keeping your skin hydrated and moisturized. We have also added shea butter to soothe, heal and provide extra moisturizing. Dead Sea Mud Soap is scented with a clean crisp mediterranean fragrance. Each bar is approx 5 oz. Must Try!

Huge soap sale

2011-07-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

Check our website at www.soapysue.com . For the next 2 months there will be huge savings on soap as we make room for our fall collection!

Handmade soap & products giveaway!

2011-07-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

We are implementing a monthly giveaway to our current, new and hopeful customers! Each month we will select a winner to receive a wonderful product or products. These giveaways are for full size products.

Below is the giveaway information or go to our website at http://www.soapysue.com for more information.

How to enter our monthly giveaway.

There are 4 ways to enter our monthly giveaway:

*Purchases on our website automatically enters you for the monthly giveway.

*Like us on FACEBOOK -Post comment on our wall "giveaway".

*Follow our BLOG add a comment, be sure to put "giveaway" in the text.

*Follow us on TWITTER -make sure to enter "Giveaway" in the comments box.

Twitter and Blog entries must send us an email address via our Contact Form. Please include email and forum entered, ie, Blog or Twitter.

A name will be drawn on the the 28th of each month. The winner will be notified via email or message(Facebook). The winner has 3 days to reply, after 3 days a new winner will be selected. If notified of win, please include name and address in an returned email or message. Your prize will be shipped upon receipt of your information.

Good Luck!

The First Craft Show of the summer...

2011-05-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

With the economy the way it is, I was surprised that my first craft show of the year was a success. By success, I mean, the sales exceeded my costs (booth rent, gas, etc) and made enough to take the family to a steak dinner and get groceries! I'm hopeful that the rest of the summer will be as good.

I don't know if its just my site, but sales have really dipped the last couple months. I did expect this, as it happens every year, but this year has been especially bad. I'm hoping that it will pick up online...because frankly, I don't care to do craft shows. Although it allows me to make contacts and meet new customers, it is time consuming and most of the time, boring. This show wasn't too bad as far as being slow.

I had my husband with me for this show. After we were all set up we sat back and watch the real craft show people set up their displays. Mind you we do 1 or 2 shows a year, these folks live to show..seriously. If you have ever seen the movie Best In Show, the spoof about dog shows, it was kind of like that. Mind you, the only display I have was 2 folding tables with tablecloths, these people have tables, cabinets, shelves, walls, racks..... They all know each other, get snappy if someone is 1/2 inch over the booth line, talk smack about the "other" show people and if there is a competitor there....they will case your booth then go back to theirs and adjust prices. It is really hilarious.

So, I am desperately hoping that business will pick up so that I can enjoy a little bit of the summer. Otherwise, I guess I'll be joining the craft show version of the traveling circus. Please let business boom!

We have beer soap!

2011-05-05T17:31:00.000-07:00

I have completed and add 3 new beer soaps to our soap line! Check them out.

Mahogany Spice Guinness Beer Soap - $3.75 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap, Handmade Soap & Bath Products.

2011-05-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

Mahogany Spice Guinness Beer Soap - $3.75 : Handmade Soap, Natural Soap, Handmade Soap & Bath Products.

Soapy Sue's Soap Shoppe has a new look!

2011-01-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

I have been spending my last week giving my website www.soapysue.com a much needed facelift. All my work seem to be paying off. I love the new look of the web store. It is softer and more feminine that the old shop which I think will certainly appeal to more customers.

Over the course of the last week, I have learned many new and exciting things. I have learned...to create transparent pictures!!! I have been trying to do that for years and I actually did it on accident. So now I'm in the throws of cropping and and trying to making all of my product pictures look amazing. This is no small job. I have about 60 pictures left to do.

Oh well, no pain, no gain right? Check out the new site!

Internet Ads

2010-05-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

I hate the big search engines. It takes forever to get a decent rank on the natural searches. So what does that mean for someone like me? MONEY, and lots of it. I have been relying on the coupons I have found or have been sent for ads like google's adwords, overture, yahoo and the like. This pay per click ads will quickly kill a small soap business. The average pay per click bid for a first or second page ads is more than $0.85 each. So if you don't set your total daily budget you could spend more than $25 a day for your ads.

I have been running ads for Soapy Sue's Soap Shoppe for over 2 months now. Although at present they do now really cost me anything. Now to put it in perspective, I have had a total of $250 in free ads with adwords, I set my daily budget to $5.00 a day to make it stretch. I use all the click in a couple hours or less and maybe, usually not, I will get a sale. At that rate, if I paid for the ads, I would actually be in the hole! The average handmade soap sale is generally between $30-$50, materials and packaging is approx $10-$20, and the sales through the ads for me have been average 1 every 3-4 days maybe.

So now I am searching for ways to optimize my handmade soap business website and link, link, link to directories and the like. I have also been exploring other advertising options. The road to a good natural search result for your site is time. Time, time, time. Being impatient by nature it is seriously killing me! Anyone have suggestions?

What about my day job?

2010-05-31T06:39:00.000-07:00

I am forever on the run it seems. I work outside the home 30+ hours a week, have a super hyper 4 year old and run my soap business. I sometime wish that I could just put everything down and just chill with me, myself and I. The three of us would probably have a good time for a while. Unfortunately I am the type of person that would feel guilty after an hour or two and off I'd be catering to family, work or business.

My solution has been to join the gym. I know you are probably thinking, "What? Didn't she just say she wanted to chill?", I know, I know. However, the gym has given me some me time and has allowed me to focus. I feel as though I am back on track with my plans for my soaping business. Hopefully within the next year I can cut out the day job and only have the business to focus on. Ahh.... that would be the life!

Lilac Shea Butter Soap

2010-05-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

2010-05-03T06:55:00.001-07:00

This is the new Honeysuckle Orange Handmade Soap.

New Spring/Summer Scents

2010-05-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the warmer weather is coming. I am in a serious bind for unusual, great smelling scents or scent combos to add to my spring/summer soap line. I have the usual soap scents as you can see here http://soapysue.com/handcrafted-soap and here for the glycerin line http://soapysue.com/glycerin-soap. Aside from fruits, sea scents and florals, what else is there? I did combine orange and honeysuckle and it turned out great. However, I am not an expert on florals for sure. I don't use flowery scents for myself very often. I am more of a earthy, warm scent kinda gal.

Please I am begging for your help! Any help would be appreciated.

Linerless Molds

2010-03-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, any soapmaker out there dreams for mold that you don't have to do anything to. Make the soap, pour leave for awhile then unmold. That is the dream...the reality....hmm, it a bit different. I am a little upset over a couple purchase I have made in the last few months. Lets go back to the beginning...

I have always used wood mold my hubby or father has made, lined them with freezer paper, and poured my soap. Always perfect, all the time. Now why in the world would I change? Well I am a lazy gal sometimes. I don't know what it is about taking the time to line a mold but it is the equivalent of peeling off wallpaper to me. I hate it. So I thought, hey, I'm going to buy a couple of those linerless molds I've seen on Ebay.

So I buy 3 linerless molds total from 2 different individuals. One was a tray type mold the other 2 were regualr log type molds. For the 3 molds I spent roughly $150. I was so excited I could hardly stand it! I mean literally waiting by the door for my second favorite man (sorry hubby), the UPS guy. Finally they arrive. These molds are gorgeous! I whip up my trusted recipes and go to work.

The first one was made in the tray mold. I have dreamed of making these gorgeous swirls. Well the swirls were ok, but I recked half of them because they stuck to the bottom of the mold. The log molds didn't fair any better. When I was finally able to pry the sides off it took chunks of soap with them. A fluke? MAybe so I did it again with a different recipe, same thing. So now if I want to use these "linerless" molds, I need to line them........... So $150 later, I am back to using my wood molds ( I have like 10 of them!).

Bad Soap Batches

2010-03-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

One thing I hate more than anything is a soap batch gone bad. In fact I have had probably 5 batches gone wrong in the past month. There is nothing wrong with the soap other than it turned out totally ugly, or the scent went funky. I mean the totally ugly soaps are completely my fault. They are the result of my overmixing color and ending up with a baby poo brown insteand of the wonderful yeallow and red swirl I was aiming for. Other times, it can be because I get into the sloth mode and don't mix fast enough. Either way, it ends up in a box with all the other rejects.

Scent morphing , on the other hand, really makes me mad. The scents I use to make soap aren't by any means cheap so it is extra frustrating when it is the scent that goes wrong. I figure if I am buying a fragrance that is cold process soap safe, I sorta expect it to do what it is suppose to in my soap. I mean, they tested it for safety right? Thank goodness this doesn't happen often but when it does I am truly fuming! I also have a collection of these fine specimens in a box. Unlike the ugly ones, no one in my family wants to use them. Lol, who want to use a stinky soap?

My solution to these common problems? Well, my family never runs out of soap. There is generally 5 different varieties in my shower at any given time. If there was ever a world soap shortage, I could make a small fortune off the duds. The stinky soaps, I save for the dog. I figure she won't care, considering she is just a dog that smells half the time anyway. By my calculations, I have enough soap at present to wash my dog 3 times a week for the next 15 years or so, considering she is a little pug. The real solution is there is no solution. If I want to be creative and make new product, I have to take the good with the bad even if it gets under my skin.

Soap Sue Soap Shoppe Blog

2010-03-13T15:59:00.000-08:00

Soap Sue Soap Shoppe Blog

New Handmade Soap Blog

2010-03-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

Soap Sue's Soap Shoppe's new blog is here to help others, answer questions about handcrafted products, discuss new techiniques and even offer advice in the soapmaking business. I love helping others discover the joys of soapmaking.

If someone had suggested to me 15 years ago that people actually made soap by hand, I would have laughed at them. I mean really, why would someone want to do that? Well, I was seriously hooked after my first attempt. I like handmade soaps better than anything you could buy at the store hands down. I am completely in control of every aspect of the process. That is a pretty awesome concept to me!

Soapmaking allows one to be a scientist and an artist. That is a winning combo in my opinion! I am always trying new recipes and oil combos. I absolutely love making soap. I get excited from the moment I melt the oils until I put the wrapper on the soap.

I have experience in all aspects of soapmaking. I have been a soapmaker for many years and have been a soapmaking supplies supplier and a soap seller. I have made soap using several of the methods out there, cold process, hot process, crockpot, double boiler, HPOP, you name it. I also like making liquid soaps on occassion. Although I find them very time consuming.

Check us out at http://www.soapysue.com/ . I would love your input and suggestions.