SpaceGirl

I think it's probably your percentage of mango butter... it's crystalizing on you? My lip balms usually stay very smooth and creamy, but I played with my last batch and really upped the amount of mango butter.... and now it's a little bit gritty as well, but it still melts on contact. You can try decreasing the mango and increasing the beeswax - that may work.

CareBear -- you're priceless!

Holiday Crumble Dessert Tray

Wow. Wow. Wow. I have lost all of my grownup vocabulary right now. I am in awe. Good luck!

Very, very nice! I'm in processing of building my own site, so am very impressed and appreciative of the hard work that you've invested. I have two comments that are very minor and are hopefully constructive... (just for more info I'm looking at the site with IE 7.0) The text on the About Us, Testimonials, etc... pages is kind of small. I don't have an override set with my browser... I know I could but without that override the text is small. Second... the links/buttons across the top.... I have to click on them twice to go to that page, and that's a little irritating. (like I said, minor comments). All in all excellent job!

They are standard size tealights. My finished candle cost ends up being right about what you quoted...$.20 give or take some cents. But when I factor in packaging it took the cost to closer to $.40 each. That may have changed a little - I haven't re-calculated in over a year.

I made a choice with my tealights..... I sell them for essentially cost. Why? Because I usually have "leftover" wax from a pour that I harvest that way. I buy wicks and plastic tealight containers in bulk so it's cheap. Folks who pick up my tealights (I sell in a pack of 4) always try more than one box and sometimes stick around long enough to pick up something else. Plus I have a couple of customers who go through tealights like nobody's business so I like to keep them supplied. That being said, I've only carried them at craft fairs. On my (new and under construction) website I will probably keep them in a "Special Offers" section and list only the stock that I have on hand. I'm not interested in keeping a stable stock of tealights, but offering what I have. After all that... I price them between $1.50 to $2.00 for a 4-pack. But like I said -- I'm selling them for essentially cost and basically consider them samples that people are paying for. Hope that helps. ETA: I do get most of my supplies locally from Peak. Wax, plastic containers and dye, FO are local pickup. The only thing in my tealights that are shipped to be are the wicks and those are dirt cheap.

That looks AWESOME!!

I'm just a weirdo. Castor never worked for me.... just sat on my skin and did nothing, even when blended with "lighter" oils. I was sooo disappointed because I wanted it to work. Recently I made up a new blend with hazelnut oil, grapeseed oil, rosewood essential oil, a little bit of neem and a drop or two of tea tree. This blend is working much, much better and still busts that makeup off. Then again my face produces oil like I'm trying to supplement the national petroleum industry, so those drying, astringent oils are perfect for me. Just wanted to point out that while the "traditional" blend of castor + something else works for quite a few, there are some people who require something a little different.

Oooooh that looks very creamy! Looks like you've got a winner there!

No. Type does not allow you to use a trademarked name. ETA: not to hijack the thread -- but are you posting with two different user names?

I don't know how you heated yours up..... but I melt my oils / butters in a double boiler. Once everything is melted, I keep the burner on LOW or OFF -- the residual heat from the water keeps evrything liquid enough that I don't get seizing. I really don't know how you'd go about salvaging the used lip balm. I supposed you could try a scrape - n - swirl technique?

Honey can work wonders, as well. I think Macadamia Nut Oil is supposed to be very gentle and good, too.

Southern Something Fruit-a-licious Southern Sunshine

Ditto what Di said. Depending on your city / county / state, the *type* of sales tax license you obtain may be different when you're doing online only. My business license indicates somewhere that I will be doing primarily online sales without a physical store location (still lets me sell at craft fairs once in awhile). Check with your city / county -- most will allow a Home Occupation license depending on what category of business it is -- crafting generally does not cause an issue. Good luck!

I really like those! (they happen to be some of my favorite colors )

I'd second that -- very dangerous, IMO. There's some really nice, crystal clear plastic jars that look very classy. Lotions I could see, maybe, if they were in a pump-style container. But not scrubs, ever. Good luck finding something that will work!

I use bases from Essentials By Catalina.... mix up a blend with 75% shower gel base and 25% liquid glycerin base and it is AWESOME! Bubbles wonderfully and is not drying. I use it on my daughter (she's 4 and requested Cotton Candy FO) and it has never bothered or dried out her skin.

CareBear, I use ECO's and CD's almost exclusively in my containers. To compensate for the curling I give them a slight twist but also offset them in the container to make up for it. I will say that I've been testing an HTP for the luxury candle swap and have been pleasantly surprised. Bad experiences with LX's. Zincs butns through everything, I swear. If they only didn't mushroom so badly.

I got a postcard a couple of weeks ago as well. Let me say WOW they are fast. My legal side (business paperwork) was only filed with fed/state/city within the past month. I was wondering where they got my snail mail address from -- now I know.

I saw a pteradactyl (sp?) in one of the red ones! As always, beautiful soapies.

Violet, Right now I'm jealous of the fact that you've got loads of stock already made! I'm looking at two craft show in December and know that I need to start buckling down hard. As for the display, there are different thoughts on the way to go about it. If you don't have any risers to give height to your display, then I would group by scent and create a kind of rainbow of color across your table. I did that at my last show and it was very visually appealing. About risers -- remember that a riser can be as simple as a 2 x 4 covered with a cloth / napkin. Keep your eyes open at Wal-Mart or Target, Kmart for spice racks, cabinet risers on sale. Some of those are nice enough that you don't even need to cover them. Also, you can find beautiful scrap cloth at JoAnn's -- just buy some stitch witchery or heat-activated adhesive strips and you can hem with your iron (it's a wonderful thing!). If you're that concerned about being seen, then a director's chair is a must, despite the cost! One point to make is that craft fairs are not quick $$$! It takes time and the right materials to get the best presentation, otherwise it is obvious that you (general you) are just trying to rake in some $$$ instead of providing your customers with a quality product. I say the above because I made that mistake in the beginning. I packed up myself, my stuff and a white tablecloth and proceeded to try and sell. That first year didn't go so hot... had about $70 of sales with a $10 booth fee. But it's gotten better every year and part of that is because I'm doing a better job showing off my products like they deserve! You've got the right idea by trying to get into another craft fair. Since this is your job right now, keep hitting the pavement and trying to find those shows! As you get in some return, think about getting more and more of those "tools" that will allow you to create an awesome display! Best of luck to you.

Looks very good there, ma'am. Are you offering any of this batch up for sale? I missed it when you had some up awhile ago and am interested in trying cream soap as a shaving soap.... (just when I wanted some no one way carrying it - ugh!)

I just wanted to share my great B&B week. I got 2 orders in and now have lots and lots and lots of shower gel base to play with, lots and lots of bottles, some sea salts, bath fizzy powder, colorants.... there's more but I'm babbling. AND I have zeroed in on a lotion / cream recipe that I love! It's light but moisturizing, goes on silky and absorbs in with no stickiness or dragging. *super banana* I just feel like a happy dance right now! Hope everyone else's week is going well, too!

Well said, Lindsay.