Deb

Thank you everyone! I am still in awe over this!! I think what did it was the gift baskets and sets that I had made up. I had 5 different kinds of baskets made up, five price ranges, sets of votives with a votive holder in gift boxes, and sets with either a tart burner or candle warmer. People liked the idea of a "complete gift" all made up and ready to go! A lot of "Secret Santa's" are giving my candles as gifts this year...LOL! A co-worker of mine has

9 (!) sisters and they have a $30 limit for exchange gifts, so she bought 9 baskets and had all of her sister gifts covered.

As to what I invested my money in....Christmas! I have lots of kids and grandkids to buy for!

Scented...I didn't think about taking pictures until the last minute and they came out dark and hard to see. Next year I will be better prepared!!

I've recently become confident enough to really start selling my stuff and decided to have an Open House for Christmas, with pre-made product, rather than going nuts trying to fill lots of little orders.

I don't have a "large customer base" just a few faithful customers who really love my candles. I invited them and offered a free gift to anyone who brought a friend. The party lasted a little over 2 1/2 hours, and in that time I made over $600.00, another $110 from someone who came the next day, and got orders totaling another $265.00!! Needless to say, I was THRILLED!! I can't wait until next year now...LOL!! The BEST part of it is...I was able to help fly my son, who is in the service, home for Christmas.

When I started this "venture" a few years ago, it was with 10 lbs. of wax, some FO's and a few different wicks to try. I researched and filled notebooks for almost 6 months before I bought my first supplies. I started out slowly, perfecting one thing at a time before moving on to the next. For the first time ever, being poor had an advantage!! I was limited with how much I could spend on supplies, and determined not to waste anything, so I spent my time perfecting, rather than jumping on to something new. I think that's really paid off in the long run. I remember Mystical Angel telling me that I needed to buy in quantity to save money and me telling her that I would never be able to afford 50 lbs of wax or more than 1 oz. bottles of FO at a time. Now I need a second cabinet for the FO's and boxes of wax line my hallway!

I know this is kind of long winded, but I just wanted to say that testing, and patience really does pay off. I am proud of the candles I make, I know they are all tested and safe, and I can sell with confidence now. I know people don't always take the "test, test, test" advice seriously, but it's the BEST advice given on here.

I also want to thank a few people here, for helping me in this venture! My thanks to Mystical and Kimberly for their friendship and guidance, to Debbie J., who helped in so many ways and to Scented, because so many of the notes that I took came from her "words of wisdom" on here!

Anyway....Merry Christmas everyone! For the first time since my husband died, I am not worrying about how I will be able to afford the holiday. That, in itself, is a huge gift and my very own Christmas miracle!!

Mrs. Claus Cookie was my top seller last week! I wasn't impressed with it until I put it in wax, then wow...what a great scent! I lit one for my open house this weekend and everyone there ended up buying it. ( I used J223 and the throw is awesome. I took one to work, lit it, and it not only filled the office, but it drifted out to the warehouse. Every guy out there came in to see what it was. I ended up selling 14 of them that day.) It's not really what I would consider a "true" sugar cookie though. For a true Sugar Cookie, I use Peaks.

I sold some yesterday that were made a year ago ( for Christmas) and stored in a pro bag with a zipper. I had them in with some new ones that I recently made, and the old ones sold just as well as the new ones. Granted, it was a "heavier scent", Clean Cotton, but I was amazed that it was still as strong as it was after a year. The bag also held up well, no deterioration at all.

I have a big, old, two family home. I live upstairs, my daughter lives downstairs. I don't even clean up my candle mess anymore. When I cook (usually just on Sundays or for the holidays) I do it downstairs. On holidays...I provide the food and do the cooking, she provides the clean house for the cooking, eating and the family gathering!

Try a Google search! It's the best way to find a supplier near you.

There's so many strong ones! I have to say that I have never been disappointed in a Peaks FO. They have consistently met or exceeded my expectations!

My favorites:

Pink Sugar

Frosted Carrot Cake

Banana Nut Bread

Mac Apple

Spiced Cranberry

Capp. Hazelnut

White Tea and Ginger

Clean Cotton

Mango Papaya

Fruit Slices

Does anyone else have problems with JS scents throwing in J223?

So, what scent are they?? I like the colors!

Me too....please! deblynna at adelphia.net

Just Scents has a "Hot Buttered Rum" that is VERY strong!!

I thought it was the best dup of the original candle? That's how I voted.

Me too! I thought that's what we were looking for!

You can just upload the pictures....

A Quote from Robin:

You can also upload pictures here without having them hosted by someone else.

When you reply to the thread, look at the section below were the "submit reply" button is. You'll see a button called "manage attachments". You will get another window pop up that has options for you to browse to a pic on your computer.

There are size and dimension limits - make sure the pic isn't too big.

If you don't have a camera program or other image program, you can use Paint (comes with windows). Open the pic in Paint, and go to the menu Image -> Stretch/Skew. To make the picture 1/2 as big, enter 50% in BOTH the horizontal and vertical stretch fields. Figure out how big you want it, experiment with the % to shrink it by. Any number less than 100% will shrink it, not stretch it.

__________________

Robin

Finally dug into my sample of the J225. So far, so good! Interesting note though...I poured one tester into a "cold" jar and the other into a "warm" jar. The wax adhered immediately to the cold jar, and so far it's the most "perfect" candle I've ever seen! The warm jar has jump lines. ( I like the fact that I don't have to warm the jars as I do with the J223)! So far, no wet spots on either of them.

I also poured two jars using the J223...same conditions, same scent, dye amt., etc., and the difference in the looks of the two sets is pretty obvious. Wet spots galore on the 223.

My nose isn't the best anymore, but I don't notice a difference in the cold throw between the two waxes. My daughter, who has a much better nose than I do, is going to test the hot throw and the burn for me.

If the hot throw is as good as the rest of the candle is so far, then I think I've found a winner!

I believe that there WAS a bad batch out there. I've used this wax since I started and never had a problem. Then I started to get the tunneling from two cases in a row, both bought from the same supplier. The next case that I bought was fine.

My technique, pouring conditions, jar conditions, etc. didn't change, and I am now, and will always be convinced, that there was a bad batch out there and that I got some of it!

I think it's the "buttery notes" in Peaks that makes it unique. It's a HUGE seller for me this time of year.

I couldn't stand any of the Ocean scents until I tried Peaks! Can't go wrong with that one...

One of my favorite scents! Brings back memories of the past....

Beautiful Julie...as usual!!!

I think it's great!! Love the colors...

I'm not a pot expert but different kind of weed, sometimes smell different. I know because my brothers used to smoke the stuff back when and I admit I tried it, but didn't inhale.

I inhaled.

I found these at the Dollar Tree. I'll be testing them this weekend and will let you know how they work out!

Hi Pam,

I recently aquired a new account. They are the third largest manufacturer of candles for North America. I toured their plant (all of it!) and like you, was amazed at some of the things I saw there.

After the tour, I spoke with the owner of the company who asked what I thought. The first thing that popped out of my mouth was that I would never consider selling a candle with crooked wicks. Thank God, he laughed!!

Deb

That wax sounds really nice! Nooooooooo!!! I will not be tempted, I will not start testing another wax!!!

Trish, I was thinking the same thing, but I know I won't be able to resist. It's the nature of the beast, always seeking better!

I do containers, using J223 and zinc, and Peaks Fruit Slices is one of my most requested scents during the summer. I've never had anyone complain about a fuel smell. Can you give it to someone else to test and see what they think?

Peaks Cappucino Hazelnut is fantastic! I lit one at work, and got orders from everyone who came in!