bells4shells

I'm looking to do some shakeable fresheners (carpet) and I am having a heck of a time finding something to use to shake the product out. I don't like the look of the plain white shakers that look like baby powder holders. Anyone have any ideas where I'd be able to find something like this? If this is not the right area, I'd hope admin moves it. Thanks in advance for any tips!

I'm bringing this up again as I've been looking into getting one. I've also seen that these tend to not work as described from opinion sites. Everyone that has gotten one hasn't had any problems? It's quite an investment to make especially when reading people can't even get it to work one time.

And I can't seem to find turkey fryers on Linens n Things. Does anyone know if they're still available there? The cheapest I've found so far is $119 for the black version from Amazon.

Working on getting my inventory ready for another craft fair in March. And trying out some of my new molds that I got on Thursday along with some promising new FO's! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend messing around!

:: UPDATE ::

Thanks for the advice everyone! I tried the oven method and it worked perfectly. I set it for 200 degrees and placed my mold inside a heat resistant bag (well, wouldn't melt at high degrees) and waited. I heard a thud and ran to my oven and found that the wax inside had fallen a bit and out of the mold it came! I was able to save the candle! It was for test purposes anyhow, so I didn't care if it didn't look like it was supposed to! haha! I was just happy the wax didn't go to waste.

I will try the freezer next time. I've put my molds in the freezer to get pesky votives out before and it works wonderful. Wasn't sure if it would with this type of wax, but hopefully I don't have to try again! haha

Thanks so much for the advice as well as the voicings that I'm not alone in this blunder.

Thanks you two! I appreciate the response. I figured I'd have to reheat it somehow, but the oven sounds like a great way to get it done with the least amount of mess.

Next time I'll lock up the container wax before I pull out my molds. der!

Oy vey! I just tried to take my candle out of my new mold I just got today and uhm... I'm almost afraid to say it, it's such a dumb mistake...

I put container wax in my metal mold. Hence, it will not come out as it's adhered to the inside walls of my mold. I'm going to cry! Does anyone have a way that I can still save this mold from the trash and possibly still salvage the candle inside?

oh fun! Isn't it great to do what you love AND get paid? Congrats on your promotion as well- a wonderful start indeed!

How long have you been using ProPay adillenal?

See, Michi --

Everything I've read that's negative about ProPay is when it comes to chargebacks which seem to require that you have the person's address on file with the transaction. And also someone had mentioned that they had to require proof of transaction for 3 items and were having a heck of a time getting things sorted BECAUSE they didn't have the address or the address they had was different than the card address. I remember reading that they dont' require it, but sure give you one hell of a time when it comes to consumers saying they didn't order, etc.

Anyone else?

Aww! What a wonderful SIL you are! Those are really pretty.

Another question in hopes I find some of you with some knowledge in this arena. Right now I'm making one of my packaging items strictly by hand and not only is it tedious, it's driving up the cost of my product because it takes so much manual labor just to make! It's really cute though and would love to find a way to keep it and make it for less.

I'm curious if any of you know or have experience with any packaging manufacturers that can use my template and cut them out of kraft. I've tried the co-op box co., but they do not do kraft. I'd appreciate any insight into this! Thanks!

Alrighty, I've tried this on other venues and just never get the responses I'm looking for. So, I know I can get it from all of you who've been so helpful in the past.

I'm looking for a credit card processor. One who can handle both my online sales as well as one that will allow me to process orders offline using an imprinter (i.e. - craft shows).

I know about ProPay which has a very reasonable joining fee, but I've heard some horrible experiences from others in regards to making sure you have your customers address that matches their credit card and it just sounds like a nightmare!

Anyone with experience with ProPay? How about other CC merchants/processors? I'd like to hear the good, bad and ugly please! Nothing is more important than getting an all-around opinion with experiences to help someone else make better informed decisions. I look forward to hearing what you've encountered and your recommendations!!

How exciting! That's great news!

Your setup is really nice! And I super shocked none of your pillars sold. I do see a lot of square shaped..did you also provide burning plates? I think people are apprehensive of the shape of the candle because they're thinking.. I don't have anything to put that on! haha Just an idea?

I had my first craft show yesterday and it was pretty stressful! I make palm candles as well and I got lots of compliments on how pretty they were. Many asked what wax it was and some even asked if I did soy. I really think us palm makers need to be more agressively pitching all the superior benefits of palm and why they should buy!!!

Those are absolutely beautiful Donita! I love how they show off the handmade qualities in that they are not exact duplicates of one another. So sorry about your loss(es) and today is a new day, you're right. Take care.

Gorgeous! I just ordered some container wax the other day and can't wait to see how I do with glass. haha So far have only done free-standing. Either way, those are really pretty and I love the right angles.

And that is what I kept in mind debscent. Testing along with a friends comments has these babies clocked at over 12 hours worth of burn time.

Definately longer than those small candles that are tealight size that Glade sells.

Did I read that right? You're pouring your fo into an unmeasured amount of wax? I've been working with palm for awhile now (don't claim to know it all, so keep that in mind - haha). As everyone else has mentioned.. heating your oil may have a hand in your decreased throw.

The quality of oil is going to matter as well. I am in my testing phase for fo's, but I love the sites that give a rating of how well the throw is for soy wax, like CS. All of the ones I got with the highest throw per their site, have been AWESOME in my palm.

btw, who's bert and does she have a site? linky please?

a link or website for this Kent Landsberg?

Okay, don't think me too nit-picky, but you asked for it!

On your homepage, all the bold text on there is a sore on the eyes. I would think about leaving that as simple as possible. If you like the bolding, maybe you could add more space between the lines (vertically) to give some more white space.

As for your pictures, I'm curious to know if you're going to use similar sizing for all of them to give a continuous feel to the whole site. All of the uneven and empty brown spacing around the images just looks awkward to me. Again, forgive me for being too nit-picky, but aesthetics play a role in how long I stay on a site...especially if I've never shopped with you before.

Also maybe thinking of adding a 'zoom' option to your images so you can keep the load time fast as you have now, but still give people the option to see more detail in your product should they choose to do so is a nice touch that a lot of sites are starting to utilize.

On your fragrance description page, a couple of the titles do not conform with the rest of them (baby powder and winter candy apple).

Now this last item is totally dependent on the preference of the site owner, but if you're like me and have a HUGE dislike for spam, I'd find an alternative to putting your email in the way you have on your contact us page. This is free grabs for bots to harvest your email and before you know it, you're wading through tons of spam and risk losing the important emails. Just a word of advice really. If you want suggestions, I'd just direct them to your feedback page with a link(which I assume uses some kind of back end program to again, keep your email safe from spambots).

Hope this was helpful and if you ever need any advice, etc. feel free to convo me.

Otherwise, this is a really nice start for your online business!

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but if you have a yahoo site, doesn't yahoo already have a built in shopping cart feature?

I helped a girl once with her yahoo site and from looking at the backend, it seemed drag and drop and pretty easy.

Otherwise, if you're looking for ease of use that doesn't hinder any of your design aspects, I'd go with what was mentioned and try Mals or paypal's cart. Google checkout might be an option as well. Good luck!

Why not put an option in your checkout process that lets your customer choose to have you deliver for a small fee? This would be cheaper than mail and you'll know right away if your customer wants that 'service'. I had to deal with this when I set up a friend's online shop. Something to think about!

If you know where this lady is and how to get a hold of her, I would definately send a cease and desist order. If you've got more than one person telling you they thought it was you and a customer even complaining about product thinking it was you... it has to stop. Protect yourself and your product.

Beautiful color choice(s)! This looks wonderful!

That looks terrific! I love the simplicity of raffia/cello bags--gives such a nice touch.