KristinesShower

I've used the following with much success: lemongrass cocoa absolute/peppermint patchouli/lavender/orange sandalwood lavender I barely used 1tsp per 20 bathbombs and they really turned out nice. The longer they sat, the better they smelled too - which surprised me!

NEVER HIRE YOUR INLAWS! 'nuff said.

One of my friends is looking to get candles poured for her shop since GC is demanding they take all their stock out of their store. She is getting rid of them and wants to have some poured for her business. What she really wants is the birthday cake scent from GC (she owns a sweet shop). Anyone have any good leads *exact dupe* for this scent?

I used to deal with them until they changed their website. It seemed like after they revamped and "made things alot better" their customer service went down the toilet. I called to ask them a question about something & they were very rude. That was the last time I bought anything from them & I used to buy all my wicks, wick plates, wick stickers and some FO's from thatm at least twice a month. I like www.northstar3c.com - they are by far the best supplier I have ever dealt with.

She's not the shipper though, so she wouldn't get anything. I'm sorry, but BCN is to blame for this. They just dismissed her like it wasn't a big deal THEN told her she couldn't order from them anymore. Who DOES that?? Steps that should have been taken: Call BCN - ask what happened to package BCN finds tracking number and tracks package - if package is not found, file claim BCN gives customer new order & waits for claim to go through. Claim goes through and BCN gets their money back plus some I'm sure PERIOD That is why UPS, DHL, FEDEX all insure your packages up to $100.00 - need more insurance? Pay for it - it's cheap. I have ordered from BCN twice and both times they have disappointed me. I am not surprised you had problems with them. Sometimes companies get a little too big for their britches and forget about the little man who put them where they are today.

Hey Carmen - where is Niles? I know you aren't too far from me, but the Dish went down and I can't tell if you seen my post about getting some jars & meeting for lunch? Since I would be closer, then you wouldn't have to drive that far - oh yeah, then we can meet for LUNCH lol Let me know - I am really looking forward to checking them out next time I go to Peoria.

I was just there today He had me bring: phone bill (jan-dec) electric bill (jan-dec) mortgage interest report property taxes insurance inventory end of year receipts for all business transactions (materials, shelving, computer paper, etc) mileage books (I have one for everyone - if they do an errand, it goes on the taxes) ½ of my production is still at home, that is why I brought the house stuff. Best thing to do is call your accountant though & get someone that will sit down with you and really help you save a ton of money. I love my accountant - he is very helpful and gets me deductions EVERYWHERE!

Seconding WSP's shower gel

50¢ an ounce is what I charge. No discounts - no exceptions.

Do you have another source for the colored plates and those tart burners? I really thought that $1.00 was a good deal, but I am up for saving MORE money!!

BUT I can't keep these to myself!!! http://www.acandleco.com/index.cfm/fa/items.main/parentcat/1908/subcatid/0/id/133249 They also have the cutest plates for pillars that I use to make bathbomb towers & soap stacks: Sorry the soap pic is so little LOL If you want to see the bigger pic, you can click on this link: http://www.inkristinesshower.bizhosting.com/images/3stack.jpg They are really nice plates and cheap too. Has anyone done any business with this company at all? I have only ordered once, but I can definitely say I was impressed with the quality!

Some companies don't answer emails on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I bet if you wait until Monday you will get a reply.

For bathbombs, I prefer the finer to the coarse as I have less trouble with cracking.

Yes I use all those scents in my candles. I use 100% soy wax from NG & I always make sure the candles cure for 2 weeks or more. It's a personal preference and I think they just smell alot stronger when I cure them first.

Sorry it took me so long to get back here and answer you! We take the frosting that we make and manually spoon it into the jars so it looks like it's all swirly. I have always loved that look and we sell tons of it at the retail because of the pretty colors too. Get 'em in with the look and keep 'em with the quality

I also use ewax in my sugar scrub. It really helps with the grease factor and rinsing clean. When I use it in the shower I don't have to worry about slipping and falling on my butt

Mine dry in about 15 minutes, but I like for them to air dry for at least 6 hours before packaging.

Shows were a bust this year. I didn't make ½ as much as I did last year at them, but sales for the website are up up up! 65% to be exact as of today

I have been shopping there ever since I started my business. Jaymes & Kepa are real nice to deal with & have been there for my business. I get the following: black cherry coconut very vanilla lavender cotton blossom mango banana pink sugar lick me all over vanilla bean All regular concentrate.

I offer the 6oz tins and we do very well on them. They make up about 35% of our business sales, coming in a close second with the sorbet.

Sigh - I couldn't do anything on Monday because I didn't have enough courage, but today the courage was in full force!! I think it is because I had a crappy day, but I was able to get my point across today without being mean. Not sure if I did much, but I did let her know that it was my business & she was not allowed to make any decisions. I was very adamant about her making her calls when she is supposed to and to call me anytime she had any little questions about anything. Promised I wouldn't get mad if she had a problem & I really tried to be a nice person about the whole thing. I really am trying to use a soothing voice, but firm -MIL is just one of those people who take everything personally instead of constructively, so I guess we will go from here. I am crossing my fingers that she will understand my point, because not only do I love having her as an employee (because she knows alot about the craft), but I really like her good points too. She is a neat freak and all the inventory and goods are always organized perfectly. Everything is in its place and you never have to look for a thing. She is awesome at inventory and when we need something she tells me way ahead of schedule so I'm not surprised when we run out. I told her all this, so we will see where we go from here. Nothing would make me happier than to have her work for me full time again, but until things really iron out I don't see it happening right now. That doesn't mean it won't be like that again though. I just hope that I did the right thing.

She doesn't come back to work until Monday, so I have the whole weekend to decide what I am going to do. I know that she feels abandoned, but I don't want her to be my partner - you know what I mean? It is my business, my formulas, my creations, I just want her to make the stuff. I pay her an outrageous wage for what she does. She makes as much as my DH and my DH works 50 hours a week on a machine. I am going to tell her all this on Monday for sure. My sisters work for me too and they don't have this problem. I just feel like she doesn't have her own identity and she is trying to latch onto mine. The other day a news reporter called to do a story on our business and she took the call. SHE TOOK THE CALL! That makes me very mad because I don't think she should have done that, but what can I say? If one of the employees had taken that call I would have been pissed, but the other employees wouldn't do stuff like that. I don't know, it feels very good to come on here and talk about it though so don't be surprised if I talk about it all weekend lol

I have actually brought this up many times before on the Dish, but never here - so I would like to know what you guys' opinions are, cause I am just at a loss anymore. First of all, some of you may or may not know that I have a few employees - one of which is my mother in law. Yeah, I know what the heck was I thinking right? Anyways, I thought I was doing her a favor by giving her a job and she really is very passionate about making soap, so it was a good match. Here's the story... She has been with me through 3 moves - 2 of which she almost did by herself. She uses her home as storage area when things overflow at my house. She used to work 5 days a week - 40 hours and I used to pay her very well. I think it was right around $11.00 per hour and our minimum wage here in Illinois is 6.50 right now. Well, when we were at home, we didn't bash heads too much because we worked almost on top of each other. We were kinda each others motivation - when we would wear out, the other would push - you know like a team. The first place we moved to was not my idea, actually a partner I had and got rid of & was her idea. This place was huge, she had her own kitchen, I had my own office and at that time we had 3 girls working for us. 2 to make bathbombs and the other was MIL's helper and she also did the shipping. All MIL had to do was make soap, sorbet, frosting, candles on a daily basis to make sure we kept up with orders. We also had a retail spot there, so we took turns waiting on them. I had to stay in the office because I had to do all the CC processing, emails, labels (at that time I was making my own), etc. That place was very expensive to heat/cool and I ended up having to lay off the girls I had working for me and then eventually we left to move into another more economical spot in Utica - where we are today. In Utica, we have a retail store, a gift area and a kitchen/product making area. It is long, but nice and spacious for what we need. There is not enough room for bathbomb production yet, we are working on purchasing the apartment that is directly behind for bathbombs, shipping, and an office. We will also have another kitchen that she will make soap in as well. When we moved over there, I made it very clear that she would be the ruler of the roost in her kitchen. I gave her free reign to make it her own and she has really made good use with the room she has. I made a nice list of what is expected of her every week along with a schedule for cleaning that is not done by her, but by a helper. Yep, she can make messes and doesn't have to clean up a one because we have someone to come in and clean up after her. 1st time I had problems with her was in the big place. We were constantly swamped and the stress level was very high from 9-4. We did alot of beat the clock with shipping orders out and everyone worked very hard. Because I spent most of my time in the office, she was alone with the helper and sometimes in with the girls when she made bathbombs. She would speak very badly about me, say things like - I don't know why SHE can't come out here and do this. She is so lazy. She sleeps til noon & doesn't do anything around here. (GAH, I hate to even type it, it really hurts my feelings) - This was her first offense and I wrote her up for it. We had a long meeting and I was very stern with her letting her know that she cannot do things like that because she will create an uncomfortable environment as well as turn my employees against me. After the day was over I took her into my office as my MIL and told her that she personally hurt my feelings too. I didn't want to tell her that during business hours, because I am really trying to keep things separate. 2nd time she did it we were at the new place. I had just hired a new girl and it was a hectic day (like every day) and she had alot on her plate to do. I had called a couple times to get status of a few orders and apparently it had made her really upset. She started in on the insults again, this time to the new employee (she is my sister's best friend, but MIL doesn't know this...), then she went next door and vented her anger to two of the business owners in our mall. Well, our mall is small and we are all very close, so no sooner did she talk to both of them - they were on the phone to me about it! I wrote her up again and explained the same things we went over the first time, but this time I suspended her 3 days without pay. This was devastating to her as I am her only income, but I do believe it was warranted as I told her if it happened again, she would get this suspension. The next pay period came and she called me letting me know that her check was wrong. I had completely forgotten about the suspension, but luckily my sister hadn't. (she is the bookkeeper) I told her about the 3 day suspension on there and from the employee that was working at the time, she told me that MIL slammed the phone down and walked out slamming the door. She then went in the back to smoke & didn't come back for 20 minutes. I have talked to her on several occasions about these things and I have also dropped her hours from 40 a week to 30 a week. She now works M, T and W - her choice - 10 hours a day. She is expected to do the list that I laid out for her every week, but has yet to even try and follow my directions. She does the orders, but when she finds the time and that has always been my #1 priority. She seems to find other things to do instead of what she is supposed to do. Last week she spent the three days she worked cleaning and organizing her kitchen because we pulled 10 scents from our line. That is just fine and I don't have a problem with it, but 3 orders did not get done & that is what I have a problem with. Now I KNOW what I should do here. I know I should fire her - I wish it was that easy. Little background... MIL and her mother moved her from another state. They lost their house and were in limbo where to go next. I invited them to stay with us until they could find a place & we helped them get a house. I gave her a job so she didn't have to find one - heck I needed the help and it was nice to have her around. Not only would she work for me, but DH's gramma would clean our house, help with meals and do errands for me. I decided to make her a full time employee because I could afford it and for the last 2 years I have been both of their sole source of income. What can I do to make this work? I have done everything I can think of - shortened her hours, made lists, I make her call me 4 times a day with progress reports, all the calls for the business get forwarded to my house so she doesn't have to be bothered with calls, I now talk to all my wholesale customers personally (she used to help here too since she makes over 75% of our products)... I am open to any suggestions at all - since the drop down to 3 days a week, she does have another job, however I had to work around it instead of it working around me. Something I wasn't too happy about, but dealt with.

I used plain old table salt one time and it thickened it up a bit - give that a try (on a sample, not the whole thing!)

I only made a batch of bathbombs with it, no candle as of yet - it was only a 1oz sample. I picked the Oceans & thank you Fern