ShelleyBean

Me personally, I make to order. I have one I have made up that's for display purposes to show people what they will end up like, but otherwise I dont dip them until they are ordered. I always keep plenty of bears (and other critters) and FO in stock. Not sure how everyone else does though.

I use the very same tool! lol Somehow I have ended up with 3 of them, so now one is dedicated to my candle messes.

While I dearly love Peaks and their FO, I have to agree about missing out if you stick with one supplier. I get mine from many different places and very glad I do because I would have missed out on some awesome stuff that Peaks doesnt carry. When I try a new supplier, I do buy 1oz sizes to see how much I will like them, then if I am pleased, I order the bigger sizes.

I got orders usually 3 at a time. I had one lady come and order some for gift exchanges, teachers, and even had one lady come and get some to take to a nursing home she volunteered at. I have one guy that ordered a few for his mom and sister, and when his girlfriend saw them she wanted some for herself, so he's ordering but for after the holiday. I'm telling you, those lil cuties are great gifts.

http://www.candletech.com/waxdippedanimals/ There is a tutorial on how to make them, and let me just say, my whole holiday season so far was spent making the little suckers and I couldnt make them fast enough. Any scent I have tried so far has been great on them, and the people getting them are in love with them. The scent lasts a long time, and when it fades a little, a warm hair dryer can perk them right back up.

I'm very glad you posted this idea and pic. I use the plastic cross ones for my 8oz JJ but I have some wedding favors to make in the 1.5 mini hexs and I was thinking now how in the world and I going to keep the wick straight. I was going to use the old standby clothespins but I think I will try this trick :highfive:

This is one of my favorite FOs, never had a fuel smell but I do 1 per 1. I renamed it after my late mom, I call it Nanny's Kitchen

I get jars from different places, CandleScience being one of them. I am still in the process of testing different jars, I started with melts and tins. Anyway, just wanted to wave hello from down I70 :wave:

I order from Specialty Bottle as well, always comes boxed no matter how many I order. They are helpful as well, I had ordered some alum. bottles from them but they were out of that size, they called me within an hour of my order and gave me a different bottle for the same price.

The links posted above this one are good ones to read up on. Paypal and Google checkout both are very easy to integrate with Mals, it's just a matter of clicking the appropriate link within the admin/set up cart area at Mals, assuming you already have a paypal and/or google checkout account. I have the advantage of knowing html, but it truly wasnt that necessary if you use something like Frontpage or another wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) type program to build your website with. If you do go this route and need any help, I would be more than happy to help you as I'm sure many others would be willing to do as well

Wow! That is awesome! I love seeing stories like this, gives me hope for the day coming when I venture out into the show world

Add another vote for Mal's. You can use it with Paypal as well as the google checkout to get paid. That's the two I use, but there are other options as well.

One of my newest favorites is Sunwashed Linen My pot this weekend is the last of drowning the poor lil bears, I would almost feel sorry for the lil critters but darnit they do make me money lol. Injecting a couple of stuffed monkeys in, yeah you guessed it, Monkey Farts which is a Christmas present for my sister. Other than that I think it will just be stuff for me to burn for the rest of the holiday.

I just wanted to say how much I love your site and it's concept. Oh and the copyright makes me laugh every time lol

Lately I have sold a lot of Love Spell, Heavenly, Pink Sugar, Home Sweet Home, Storm Watch, well you get the idea, the dupes lol.

Nice job! I would be very happy with that amount. And just think, everyone who came will tell someone I'm sure, and word of mouth is a very good advertiser

I use soy and have used white, tan and brown and I dont dye the wax at all. If you comb it good, it shouldnt be too bad. If the FO has a color to it, it can make the white ones look a little off white however. I have made so many of these things this holiday I swear I dont want to see another bear after all this lol

Thanks for your reply. I really do have awesome friends, and like I mentioned, since they vary in taste it makes it easier to get all sides of the coin covered. I think my problem is, I have used BCN's bakers dozen a lot to try out new scents and would love to just keep them all, I honestly haven't found one scent I dont like. I have also gone to other sites for FO and same thing, love them all. Are there addiction classes for being a FO addict?

That's pretty much what I have been doing, with paper and pen handy. I wish I could just have them all, wouldnt life be much more simple then? lol

Thanks for the response. 25-30 is doable for me for sure. I have a little of everything on hand right now, above and beyond the 1oz sample size stuff that fits into each catagory. You are very right about being able to cater to everyone. My friends have been awesome, they are honest to a fault which is great for me and them being my testers, and luckily, they dont all have the same tastes so I get to run with all catagories with them. Right now for me, these bears are going like hotcakes which makes it good for me to be able to build up stock on FO. I didnt think these lil things would be so popular, but not complaining since I can make them quickly and have help from my teen daughter lol. Thank you for your input, now my problem will be figuring out which ones of the samples I have tried to keep and what to not order a big amount of. Decisions decisions lol. Oh almost forgot, as for catagories, I'm still with paper and pen on that one, I know for sure bakery and floral and I'm not sure what to call them other than dupes, but the VS and B&BW stuff is grabbed up quickly by all ages, especially teenagers (since I have two teens, I get a lot of sales from their friends). Also a seasonal catagory. Any tips or ideas on the catagory issue? Like I mentioned, I am open to all advice and suggestions. Thanks again

Is there a way you can point us in the direction of a picture of one of these you are talking about?

Ok my new years resolution is to quit buying 1oz of everything that I think I want to smell and then making clamshells and tins from them (which is going to be hard for me, I love new things lol) and start keeping a set number of fragarance oils for the whole year, with a few seasonal scents to have during those set times. I have gone through this whole year experimenting with different containers, both unwicked and wicked, waxes, scents etc and I have finally decided what I want to concentrate on as far as what to offer on my website. I am going to be sticking with clamshell melts, smaller (like 6oz) Tureen jars and tins. Now after all that, my question.....how do you determine how many different scents to keep on hand? Also, how do you determine what types, as in bakery scents, floral, etc. I do realize of course sales play a big role, but for me, mine were all over the place and only 4 or 5 have really sold a lot better than the others, which of course I want to keep on hand. I would love to say cost isnt an issue, but that would be a lie. Is 15 year around scents (not including seasonal) too little? Sorry, after reading this back to myself, I'm sure I may have confused many, but I hope someone has a secret decoder ring and can understand my questions lol. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. :smiley2:

That's what I made and it smells very good

Very pretty! I bet they smell awesome too.

I agree about Natures Garden. My son's girlfriend wears this and I made some candles and dipped her a bear as well and she it all smells so much like it she wouldnt have known it wasnt the real thing.