Great Cakes Soapworks » FYI

Quick Update

Amy Warden — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:39:14 +0000

In between trips to the pool, the library, and the movie theater, I really am working on soap business, but as little as possible. It’s been great to have time to spend with my girls this summer!

I have to say the farmer’s market was outstanding on Saturday! My older daughter decided she wanted to come with me. This was the first time she has stayed with me the entire time. I say that loosely. She’s a little social butterfly, so she was flitting about, talking to the vendors and petting all the customer’s dogs who came through. The vendors adore her. Dennis gave her a pint of blueberries and a green bell pepper. Nancy wanted to give her a cinnamon roll since she forgot to bring her breakfast with her, but I insisted on paying for it. The Cravings ladies gave her scones, apricot muffins, pecan espresso cookies, and sugar cookies that hadn’t sold at the end of the morning. I guess I need to start bringing her every week! Just kidding. Sort of.

I also sold a lot of soap at the market, and met a new customer who works in a cute vintage store called Dreamworld. They are located in an old house just a couple blocks from the market in downtown Olathe. She invited me to be a vendor at their grand opening celebration which will be coming soon. I stopped by the store on my way home to meet the owner and see the store. It’s a great place to go poking around for treasures! I’m going to have to stop by again when I have more time.

I also posted some new soaps on the website, but I just failed to mention it here! The following are now available:

Hazelnut Cappuccino Coffee Soap by Great Cakes Soapworks

Hazelnut Cappuccino Coffee Soap is great for the kitchen. Removes odors from your hands such as onion, garlic, fish, and even jalapeno!

Hibiscus Soap by Great Cakes Soapworks

The Hibiscus soap just smells yummy!

Sweet & Sassy Soap by Great Cakes Soapworks

Back by popular demand! Sweet & Sassy is not only beautiful, but it smells wonderful too! Sweetness comes from carmelized sugar and vanilla, sassiness comes from the complex combination of citrus, jasmine, violet, pink pepper and a bit of sandalwood.

Soaps are $5.95 each, or you can get any four for $20.

(Ok, so when you haven’t posted in almost a week, it’s nearly impossible to give a “quick” update. Hope you don’t mind!)

It’s Not About Soap

Amy Warden — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:26:41 +0000

Summer Break Out 2010

Fair warning. This post is NOT about soap or anything soap related. I just wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to this week. We are in the middle of our church’s VBS this week (only we call it SBO for Summer Break Out). Last year, I was in the kindergarten class helping with the volunteers’ kids. Even though I had a good time, kindergarteners are definitely NOT my favorite age group. I’m a lot more comfortable with the middle school and high school kids. In fact, youth ministry was one of my minors in college, and that’s what I did for three years after college. After I got married and moved around a bit, I still found myself volunteering in the youth ministry of whatever church we were in – which is still true to this day. So, this time I asked to be with one of the 6th grade classes for SBO so I can get to know the kids who are going to be in middle school this fall. It’s been great fun! Of course, my girls are also having a blast, and I was going to bring my camera today so I could show you the life-sized whale they built for the kids to walk through and experience what Jonah experienced. They had to find certain objects in the nasty goo of the stomach to get points for their team. Forgot my camera, but at least now you know what I’ve been up to this week. Two more days left…probably not a lot of blogging.

Hope you’re having a great summer so far!

Testing, Testing, 1…2…3….

Amy Warden — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:53:52 +0000

The live person behind the chat window!

I’ve added a fun little gadget on the sidebar of this blog. Live chat! I’m not sure how often I’ll be available, but I will test it out and see if anyone uses it. Customers with questions… Random people searching the internet who land on my blog… If nothing else, I know soapmakers can be chatty!

So, readers, what do you think? Do you ever utilize live chat windows? Have you found them to be helpful?

Tough Cookies Photos

Amy Warden — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:45:43 +0000

Lainey’s mom just sent me these photos, and I couldn’t resist showing them to you all. (In case you are just joining us, my daughter and I did a Walk for Crohn’s & Colitis on Saturday with my daughter’s friend Lainey who has Crohn’s.) You’re not even going to believe that I was there because I’m way in the back of the Tough Cookies Team photo!

The Tough Cookies Team

My daughter signing Lainey's shirt

Walking!! There had to be several thousand people there all together!

Lainey and my daughter after the race

Now you can see the back of the shirt: I'm on Lainey's team because she is one tough cookie!

Lainey won a goldfish too!

Unfortunately, my daughter’s goldfish has joined her sister’s in fishy heaven. We’ll have to try again soon – especially now that we have a tank!

(Soap photos coming soon!!)

Catching Up

Amy Warden — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:09:50 +0000

It was such a busy, fun weekend that I’m having a hard time catching up! Not to mention that my younger daughter had been running a fever since Thursday evening. I finally sent her back to school today.

I know you want to hear about the Walk for Crohn’s & Colitis on Saturday. We ended up raising $270 in our soap fundraiser which was $20 beyond our goal! Lainey’s entire team (Tough Cookies) raised $2715! My older daughter & I had a great time at the walk. Lainey was there with her family, of course, as well as a bunch of her friends and teachers from school. There was food and festivities after the short walk around the Liberty Memorial in downtown Kansas City. I wish I had taken more pictures, but all I had with me was my phone. This is the one I took of my daughter as we were leaving:

Back of her shirt: I'm on Lainey's team because she is one tough cookie

Yes, she has a goldfish!! We had to stop by Pet Smart on the way home to pick up a tank and another fish for her sister. Unfortunately, her sister’s fish never did eat and was already belly up by yesterday morning. I told her she could pick her own fish this time, and we would go to Walmart instead!

After all the fundraising and then selling at the farmer’s market Saturday morning, the soap inventory is getting rather low. Today I’m planning to make a double batch of coffee soap, and perhaps another fun batch – something new that I’ve never made before. Tomorrow will be Sandalwood and Sweet & Sassy. I’m sure there will be more later in the week as well.

Here’s my low soap inventory report:
2 – Citrus Garden Mint
4 – Red Rock Canyon
5 – Dead Sea Spa Bars – next batch is curing, but it will be at least two more weeks.
7 – Moroccan Spice Coffee Soaps
8 – Amber Fig

Our Goal Has Been Met!

Amy Warden — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:08:26 +0000

Hip, hip hooray!!! You have saved the day!!! We just met our goal of $250 for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. My 3rd grade daughter and I will be walking tomorrow with my daughter’s classmate, Lainey, who has Crohn’s in the Take Steps to Be Heard Walk and we’re gonna make some noise!!!

Bless you all for your efforts. It is quite the humbling experience to receive so much from people you’ve never even met in addition to those great friends you know you can count on.

T-Minus 8 Days

Amy Warden — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:36:46 +0000

The countdown has begun until I start selling at the Olathe Farmer’s Market again. Just one week from Saturday! This is my sixth year selling at the market, and I really love it! However, I’m starting to feel the pressure as I plan what needs to get done before then. So if my posts seem sporadic in the next week or so, that would be why!

I did make more unscented Whipped Shea Butter today. They are packaged, but not labeled yet. Hoping to get some labels done tomorrow and make them available at Greatcakessoapworks.com. I’m starting to get feedback from some of the ladies who volunteered to try it out, and it’s all good so far! I’ll post everyone’s remarks when I get them all in.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Clean the World Update

Amy Warden — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:05:35 +0000

I received my receipt for sending a box of soap for Haiti to Clean the World this week, and just wanted to share some of the letter they sent with it. I am so impressed with this organization! Apparently they sent over 200,000 bars of soap to Haiti in 2009, so they already had a presence there before the earthquake hit in January this year. Since the earthquake, they have already sent over 150 tons of supplies into Haiti – not just soap either! Medical supplies, hygiene kits, bottles of water, surgical kits, baby formula and canned food have all been donated and sent.

Their main source of personal hygiene supplies is from hotels who provide their soaps, shampoos, and lotions to recycle. Sounds like there have been more people stepping up recently, such as soap makers, water companies, the medical community, churches, schools, and individuals.

Their goal is very simple, yet so profound: 9,000 children die daily to diseases that can be prevented by up to 65% by properly washing with bar soap. What a privilege to be a part of such a great cause!

For more information about Clean the World and how you can donate, please visit my earlier post.

They’re Definitely Unique!

Amy Warden — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:45:57 +0000

I’ve never ventured into the realm of melt and pour soap. There is a whole ‘nother world of artistry that can be achieved with this medium. For example, here are some interesting soaps made to look like food:

Roasted Chicken Soap by Soapopotamus

While we’re talking about soap that’s made to look like meat:

Hot Dog Soap with Mustard & Relish by AJ Sweet Soap Shop

Lest you think I’m keeping the meat theme going, here’s a bowl of cereal:

Cheerios & Bananas Soap by AJ Sweet Soap Shop

Let’s stick with the breakfast theme:

Bacon & Egg Soap by LoveLeeSoaps

I’ll leave you with this one – because I sure could go for the real thing right about now:

Mini Chocolate Donuts Soap by Mollycoddle Soap

Do you imagine they all smell like the real thing? Apparently the roasted chicken soap actually smells like….roasted chicken. And the hot dog smells “delicious”. No disclosure as to what the bacon and egg soap smells like, although fragrance is listed in the ingredients list. I just hope the chocolate donuts smell like they are supposed to! They are all pretty amazing, huh?

Soapopotamus
AJ Sweet Soap Shop
LoveLeeSoaps
Mollycoddle Soap

Easter Weekend

Amy Warden — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:11:59 +0000

Here’s a quick re-cap of my weekend:

FRIDAY:

*Colored Easter eggs with the girls after school.

Their favorite eggs

*Went to a Good Friday service with friends. Awesome drama, worship, communion & message. Thought about how the Roman cross was a symbol of suffering and death until Jesus came along and changed everyone’s perspective.

SATURDAY:
*Spent the morning and part of the afternoon helping my girls DEEP CLEAN their rooms.

*Sent out a newsletter reminding my Preferred Customers that the Easter sale would be ending on Sunday.

*Took the girls to the Easter Carnival & Egg Hunt at our church.

About half the field of eggs at the Easter Egg Hunt at our church. They let the little kids go first, but it was picked clean in a matter of seconds after the big kids were let loose! photo by Bill McBride

*Stood in line for about an hour for face painting:

Butterfly & Bunny

*Groaned a bit when I started receiving emails while were at church from customers saying they couldn’t put items in the shopping cart at Greatcakessoapworks.com.

*Came home and discovered that the Mal’s server was down.

*Read the posts on the Mal’s forum about how to fix the problem.

*Sent out another message to Preferred Customers, letting them know the problem had been fixed.

SUNDAY:
*Got everyone all spiffed up and went to church. Pastor Tim talked about The Real Passion (which means suffering) and The Real Crucifixion. Amazes me every time I think about what Jesus went through on my behalf.

*Ate the yummy lunch that my hubby made.

*Hid plastic eggs filled with jelly beans around the yard for the girls to find.

*Relaxed.

TODAY:
*Filled orders I had received after the server was working again. I have the BEST customers!!

*Prayed that my life would not go back to “normal”.