Adventures With The Sage

With summer here, I find myself in need of more quick gifts. I mean, there are impromptu BBQs, family reunions, holidays and more! I am also not the only one. I discovered my friends had the need for quick, easy, no sweat gifts too! To solve our collective problem, we got together before Memorial Day to mix up several jars of cream with our favorite scents. They even helped me make sample of Lemon Sugar Body Cream for shipping! Let me share how anyone can enjoy gift giving simplicity this summer!

1) Choose a base. I prefer our Body Cream Base because it is a wonderful cream that makes people with all skin types happy.

2) Choose a fragrance. I tend to fragrance lightly so so to offend people with sensitive noses.

3) Mix. Add any color if desired.

4) Package and label.

That is it! How easy!

Did you know we even have kits that you can get everything? They even come with labels! If you can think of a kit you would like, let us know. We will try to see what we can create. Note: We won’t be able to add any new kits to our catalog until July. However, your input is important to us. Tell us what you want!

Let the chaos be cleared!

Andee thinks she is leaving for a major excursion across China in mere days but this is the current state of the blog kitchen! Oh no! Please give Andee and Taylor some hints on how to clean this room and clean it fast. All comments on this blog will be entered into a drawing for some special prizes.

Don’t let the blog team go without making their space gorgeous! The rest of the MMS team is not wanting to clean up their projects so let’s encourage these two to clean up! I’ll post a photo of the blog kitchen on departure day. If it isn’t clean you can give them the Razzies!

Our vendor table at the HSMG Conference.

I’ve been trying to sort out all the information I learned at the HSMG 2012 Conference and I’m finally able to get my thoughts in order. I found this year’s conference to be informative and fun as the previous conferences I’ve attended. Thanks to Jerry, I’m able to provide notes for almost every presentation during the conference!

Come join me for a synopsis of our first day!

The first presentation of the day was the keynote given by Mary Lou Quinlan. Mary Lou is a woman of many hats and these hats include titles like author, friend, marketing expert/strategist, wife, entrepreneur, inspirational speaker and daughter.

I was very surprised and pleased to learn that each attendee got a free autographed copy of “What She’s Not Telling You: Why Women Hide the Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About It.” I’m so excited to sit down and read my copy from cover to cover. Mary Lou was an amazing speaker and I found myself hooked to every word! When her presentation began, Mary Lou told us to be on the lookout for the half truths told by women. A half truth is not a lie, it is simply the truth a woman is willing to admit to others and even herself. The whole truth is what she believes, does and buys. A great example of a half truth is “I try to be healthy.” The whole truth hiding behind this half truth is probably, “I exercise, when I feel like it,” or “I watch what I eat, sometimes. But those pancakes dripping with syrup and butter and topped off with whipped cream are just so good!”

Mary Lou even shared with us the acronym that she and her co-founders at Just Ask a Woman developed to help marketers reach and understand women better. The acronym is GAMES.

• Good Intentions – This is the tendency of women to proclaim big agendas and make promises without actually planning to complete or accomplish.
• Approval Seeking – Women want to be liked and will proclaim they love your products. We all want to be approved and accepted by not only marketers, but other women as well.
• Martyrdom – Women are busy multi-taskers who have to make sure you know how hard they are working. When in groups, women will actually try to exaggerate their schedules and stresses to appear more productive to other women.
• Ego Protection – Women use half truths to keep their inner selves safe from showing weakness. A great example of this is, “Real beauty is on the inside.” Yet, the whole truth inside is different. “Ugh! Look at my face/body/skin/hair! I could use some serious help with it!”
• Secret Keeping – Women will easily confess secrets to some women and yet keep those same secrets if she thinks you will frown upon that secret. These secrets are varied from person to person and can involve anything from problematic children, troubled finances, a worrisome career and many more.

Mary Lou also stressed that we should push ourselves to be INTENSE listeners. Don’t just listen to what people say, listen to what their bodies say and their mouths don’t say! I learned that if we are intense listeners, we can then use that information to change our product lines to meet what our customers really want.

After Mary Lou shared all this great information that made my brain feel stuffed, she shared her story about her mother and touched my heart. Her mother would take her stresses, worries, concerns and hopes, write them down on scraps of paper as prayers to God and tuck those papers into a box she called her God Box. She would listen to her friends, family and even strangers as they shared with her. Then she would take those emotional thoughts and change them to written prayers that were no longer something she could control as they had been passed to a higher power that would take care of those worries instead of her. After her mother died in 2006, Mary Lou found her mother’s God Box or boxes, there were 10 boxes with 20 years of written prayers for friends, family and strangers. Mary Lou also shared stories about the codes that she and her mom used to say “I love you.” This brought tears to my eyes during the presentation and again as I write this post.

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Remember the Sea Glass Inspired Soap Challenge? Friday was the deadline for entries to be submitted and today I’ll start sharing the entries for this challenge. Today’s guest post is from Judy. She had a perspective on sea glass soap that I hadn’t considered and I found myself loving her soap for the difference. I hope you enjoy her soap as much as I do.

Judy's Sea Glass soap.

I was really inspired by this challenge. I love sea glass and my “go to” necklace I wear nearly every day is made with it. I had recently done some experimental bars to test out some new micas and this was a perfect application for them.

First I used a cheese planer (my grandmother’s!) to cut strips to make the glass embeds. I also chopped up some purplish/mauve soap to make little pebbles. And I added some poppy seeds to represent sand:

Cutting the soap to make sea glass shaped embeds.

My sea glass shaped soaps, soap pebbles and poppy seeds.

I made my soap batter and divided it into two parts. About 70% I colored with black oxide and titanium dioxide to represent the beaches and the sand. The remainder I colored with blue and green micas and a titanium dioxide swirl to represent the surf. I worked at pretty thick trace to keep everything suspended. Here it is in the mold. I textured the top to look like waves:

Soap in the mold.

And here are some pictures of it unmolded. I wanted just a few pieces to show in each bar as sea glass is not too common. As the soap is used, more glass will be revealed.

Finished soap.

Another view of the finished soap.

The soap was scented with an EO blend of rosemary, lavender, lemongrass, eucalyptus radiata and cedar. I tried for an ocean/water type scent. I like the blend.

thanks!

Judy

In the next two and a half weeks I will be flying to China. This will a touristy vacation for me and I am so excited to go. I will be on vacation for an entire month! I am planning to visit the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. I also want to share my skills as a soap and cosmetics maker with all of the friends I will make while there. I will also write some blog posts while I am there. China is a 13 hour time difference from where our company is located in the States. You might see some blog posts released in the middle of the night for you because  it will be in the middle of the day for me! I won’t be able to take the kitchen with me so I want to know what are some essentials you would take with you? Remember these aren’t the essentials like underwear, a bra or a toothbrush. These are essentials for making soaps, lotions and lip balms.

What are some essentials you think I will need to take with me? Remember, they must be able to go through airport security and customs. This means leave the flavors, fragrance, essential oil and oils at home. Plus I should be able to find some fun and exotic oils that I may not be able to get back home! I can’t wait to see what China has to offer! These items also need to fit in a limited size space. Think of it as an emergency crafter’s kit.  What I can think of right now are A) containers and B) pipettes. What are your thoughts? Help me pack for this trip! Don’t forget, it is coming up fast!

My name is Taylor and I am taking Transfer Pipettes!

Wish me luck!