July Winner of the $20 Coupon Code

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Amy Warden

Each month I draw a name from the product reviews that have been submitted that month at Greatcakessoapworks.com. One person wins a $20 coupon code every month!

coupon code winner July Winner of the $20 Coupon Code

Winner of the $20 coupon code for July

Congratulations to July’s winner: Jennifer Wolff! As she was recently placing her order for more lip butter and other goodies, she gave the lip butter five stars and wrote,

“i just ran out of my non-scented lip butter! oh no!! Great smooth & juicy balm!”

As you can see, despite my generous offer I still only had six entries for the entire month of July. That makes some really great odds for those who write reviews. If you would like to write a review, simply sign in to (or create) your account at Greatcakessoapworks.com, find the product you would like to review, and click the link at the bottom of the page. Whatever you choose as your user name will be the name that shows up with the published review. You may submit up to 5 reviews each month. Simple as that.

We’ve Been Reviewed!

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Amy Warden

International handmade soap blogger Cocobong has posted her interview with me and review of the Great Cakes Soapworks Patchouli Beer Bar on her blog. Cocobong has reviewed multiple soap companies from around the world based on a point system that she’s come up with. It’s a great review, and I am grateful for her kind words and honest opinion.

Patchouli Beer Bar by Great Cakes Soapworks

It’s Family Time!

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Amy Warden

Just an FYI: I’m going to be spending some time with family for a few days, so I’m taking time off from blogging. I will not be processing orders either, so anything ordered between now and June 26th will be processed starting on Monday, June 27th.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

The Usual

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Amy Warden

That’s what I’m up to lately. Nothing feels particularly blog-worthy, so I haven’t posted for a few days.

Tonight I’m doing a 30-minute presentation for a small PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization) group of ladies (one of my customers invited me to speak), so I made a small batch of soap yesterday so I could bring it along with me and cut it in front of them. Thirty minutes seems like a long time to talk about soap, but I’m sure it will go by fairly quickly. Also planning to bring other visual aids to make things more interesting. Here’s the soap I made:

Plumeria Pear Soap - looks like it overheated a bit

If nothing else, I can demonstrate what happens when you use a floral fragrance – it can overheat and create cracks in the soap and cause liquid to seep out (which should re-absorb into the soap as it cures). I can also tell that the fragrance may be a bit discoloring, even though the supplier claims it isn’t, since the pink is now more of a peach color. There are other colors underneath which shall be revealed in due time!

While I was making a batch of soap for the presentation, I decided to go ahead and test the Honey Almond essential oil blend from WSP in a batch of goat’s milk soap. After reading reviews that the scent likes to disappear in the soap, I decided to use 1 oz per pound of soap and see how it goes. Still smells pretty strong as of today, but it’s still in the mold. We’ll see what happens once it has a chance to cure.

Honey Almond Goat's Milk Soap

I also made a custom soap ball order that I make every year for a customer in Pennsylvania. She orders ten Citrus Basil soap balls that are about the size of a tennis ball. I use my hot process method in the microwave for these. They will look like this once they are packaged up:

Citrus Basil Soap Balls

This week I was also asked to participate in another giveaway on Facebook. Remember the one I told you about at KDNovelties? They are at 1993 fans, and the giveaway closes when they reach 2000, so it’s nearly over! It’s been a great way to network for me – I’ve gained at least 50 fans from it (I forgot to check how many I had when it started!). If you act quick, you can still enter to win the Gardener’s Dream Skin Care Set I’m giving away here.

Gardener's Dream Skin Care

The other giveaway I was asked to participate in is hosted by The Reynolds Mom. She is going to run a similar giveaway on her page, only hers begins when she reaches 1500 fans. Still trying to decide what I’ll give away for that one.

Today I made another batch of Hand & Body Lotion so I can scent some with the Honey Almond blend. I need to come up with at least one more all-natural scent blend for lotion, so if you have any stellar ideas, please let me know! I already have Stress Relief (mint/eucalyptus), Lavender Meadows, and Grapefruit Parfait (grapefruit/vanilla). I sold one of the Grapefruit Parfait lotions to the guy who came over to estimate a new roof for our house! Once he heard that I made soaps, he asked about lotions which he wanted for his super-dry hands.

Ok, now I feel better about not posting. I guess I’ve been busy! What are you up to this week?

Wrapping Soap and Other Necessary Procedures

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Amy Warden

It’s getting down to the wire, folks! Just two more weeks until the Olathe Farmer’s Market opens on the 23rd! I am busy making and wrapping and labeling, leaving less time for blogging. My friend Kathy came over and helped me bag and seal about 200 soaps this morning:

Wrapped Soap

I still have to shrink and label them, but they are getting closer! Yes, this is the smell through shrink wrap that I sell on my website, in case you are interested.

I’ve also made Skin Glow facial moisturizer, Grapefruit & Peppermint foot scrubs, and Strawberry lip butter this week. Still need to make more Jojoba-Shea Lotion, but I’m thinking about re-naming it. I’ve found that too many people have no idea what jojoba is, let alone how to pronounce it. Most people know what shea is, but still aren’t exactly sure how to pronounce that either. I’m sure I’ll post more about the lotion after I get my thoughts together.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! We are planning some outdoor projects for tomorrow – it’s supposed to be 88 degrees!

Grand Opening!

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Amy Warden

Yippee!! We have a new web store! The best news: our Grand Opening Sale is now in effect! Get 10% off your entire order through the entire month of April! The shopping cart will automatically figure your discount.

Here are some of the other wonderful features of our new web store:

What’s missing:

So you see, the benefits are tremendous! I am very excited about this change, and hope you are too! Click on the header photo above or HERE to enter the new web store. If you have any problems, please let me know on the contact page.

Why I’m Not Responding Directly to Your Comments

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Amy Warden

I just upgraded to WordPress 3.1, and now I’m having an issue with the comments. Before, when I approved a comment, I would get an email from WordPress as though it was an email from the person who commented. This is the email I relied upon to reply directly to the person making the comment.

Poof! Ever since the upgrade, they aren’t coming to me anymore. I’m looking into the issue, but in the meantime, I wanted you all to know why I’m not personally responding to your comments like I used to. I will still try to respond in the comments section, but if you aren’t subscribed to the comments, you won’t see my response unless you come back to read them. And who does that? (Ok, so I do it once in awhile when I really want to know the answer to a question that I posted in a comment on someone’s blog.)

I probably shouldn’t complain after reading all the issues that some other people are having – like their entire site is crashing. Could be worse!

Sunflower Oil from the Sunflower State

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Amy Warden

In case you didn’t know, the state flower in Kansas is the sunflower! Sunflower oil is a great oil – high in vitamin E, but the shelf life is usually shorter than some other oils, so I had moved away from using it in my products. When I first started making soap (on a regular basis) in 2004, I found sunflower oil on the shelf at my local grocery store. Then they stopped carrying it, and I moved on to others like apricot kernel and rice bran oils.

Several months ago, I was contacted by Bainter Sunflower Oil in Hoxie, Kansas. The sales rep’s daughter had bought some of my soap, and she was calling to see if I was interested in using sunflower oil in my products. Not only is their oil fresher so it has a longer shelf life, but their wholesale prices are extremely reasonable. Plus, they have a delivery service in my area. Bonus!

I finally ordered a 35-lb jug and was planning to meet the driver at a local grocery store on Wednesday. I missed his call though and wasn’t sure how I was going to meet up with him! Wouldn’t you know, Thursday morning he pulled up to my house and delivered it to my door. Delivery charge: $3.60!! Plus, the sales rep called to make sure I received it. Now that’s what I call customer service!

I’m looking forward to trying out this wonderful oil in some soap this week. If you are interested in some great sunflower oil, I’m pretty sure they can ship as well. Soapmakers, you may have to call and ask for their wholesale price! Or, if you just want a healthy cooking oil, it’s great for that too. Besides having the highest vitamin E content of any other vegetable oil, sunflower oil is renowned for its very low levels of saturated fat and zero grams of trans fat per serving. I feel good about using a local product!

New Blog Theme Colors

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Amy Warden

I’ve just spent a couple hours changing the colors on this blog and updating the photo across the top. If you are reading this on Facebook or in a reader, please click over and check it out!

And of course, let me know what you think!

Five of my Favorite Blogs

Posted on January 24, 2011 by Amy Warden

I read a lot of soapmaker’s blogs as you might expect. But I also venture out into some other topics as well. Here’s just a taste of what I have in my Google Reader:

Muthering Heights

#5 – Muthering Heights – Jessie has a beautiful way of sharing her adventures as a full-time mother of four children – ages four and under. Their most recent adventure: moving from West Virginia to Texas!

darren rowse 150x150 Five of my Favorite Blogs

Problogger

#4 – Problogger – Darrell is one of the leading resources for those who are looking to make a living from their blogs. There is a wealth of information to pick through, and I find all sorts of nuggets that I can apply to my blog.

posie cakes SM 150x143 Five of my Favorite Blogs

Bake at 350

#3 – Bake at 350 – Bridget is a cookie decorating GENIUS. She makes all sorts of confections, and some of her icing techniques would probably translate well into soap.

willow house desk 150x150 Five of my Favorite Blogs

Tatortots & Jello

#2 – Tatertots & Jello – Jen has some really fun projects that she makes, and also features other crafty people’s creations. Lots of giveaways too!

Krazy Coupon Lady

#1 – The Krazy Coupon Lady – Heather and Joanie founded this blog where savvy women (& secure men) come to find ways to save huge sums of cash! I’ve been “couponing” for nearly six months now, and this blog is a great place to get started. (Update: There’s something strange going on with this link. I’ll keep checking on it!)

If you haven’t figured out how to set up Google Reader for yourself, I’ll be explaining the basics tomorrow! It’s just an easy way to keep up with your favorite blogs.

Great Cakes Soapworks

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