Pumpkin Soap for the month of October ENJOY

I've wrote a little bit about this bar already in the previous blog, but Now sine it is ready to be sold, here it is, 'PUMPKIN SOAP'! Yep you guessed it! Now I have noticed most everyone who makes soaps now has a 'pumpkin bar' for sale, but can any of them say, it's made from pumpkin not just a fake pumpkin fragrance? Well, I can! Here it is, a gift of pure joy, from the earth, nothing fake in this bar, no fragrance oils of any kind, no essential oils of any kind, just pure skin replenishing REAL PUMPKIN! Pumpkin is known to slough off those dead skin cells to help bring out the real brighter skined you! Pumpkin also contain lots of anti-oxidant vitamins A and C, as well as zinc and alpha-hydroxy-acids which helps to reduce the signs of aging. To this nearly perfect soap we added one more skin nourishing ingredient, Goats Milk, yes you heard me, this bar is pure skin nourishment all the way around! You'd expect this bar to be in some fancy Spa for some high dollar amount, but no, I offer it to you at a reasonable price because Natural does not mean 'expensive'! That is what Earth's Essence is all about, I bring you the best that nature has to offer you, made using the best ingredients combined in the perfect way to bring you an all around well being unserpassible and inferrior to any other product. That is my promise to you, and I back it through my company money back guarentee! Please check with my Etsy shop for more details about this amazing bar of soap, and my other amazing products! Thank you, Michele Owner, Earth's Essence LLC http://www.earthsessencellc.etsy.com http://www.EarthsEssence.ShopHandmade.com

A whole new line of soaps!

I have been for a long time now, wanting to break completely away from Fragrance oils in soaps. I have been wanting to build a clientele and do my original dream, make nothing but real handmade 100% all natural soaps! So about a month ago, I started talking to some of my soap buddies in 'the soap makers forum' and after a few hints and some new inspirations I started to wind my products down to, mostly soaps and candles. That is when the real inspirations started to surface, I started looking in the freezer section at the store, looking at my neighbors gardens like I was some new wildly crazed person. All in all it paid off, I started to come up with some new ideas and focusing on strictly soaps and candles, well, that just REALLY helped my work load! I started tinkering around with a new formula that I had stumbled across in 'the soap makers forum'. In the spirit of keeping my soaps completely all natural, means the use of essential oils, for fragrance, true aromatherapy at work, we all gotta love that! But it also meant I was going to have to start really applying myself to the basic fundimentls of soap making, stop being such a ridged soap maker and start spreading my wings and having some fun with the whole experience. Fun is what I started to do! My first venture was to the store, to buy me some goats milk, yeah I know not too adventerous there, people make goats milk soap all the time..... Well, hold on I'm not done explainig yet! Along with the goats milk, I purchased a huge tub of Whole Fat Plain Yogurt! Yep you heard me! I wanted to start to make me some Yogurt soaps! Now I have read that using yogurt as a mask on your face is an excellent way to get rid of that old skin since the nzymes in yogurt eat away at the old dead skin on our face. WHELLA! A new soap was born! Goats Milk and Yogurt soap, what an experience that was to make, it ws fun! the soaps fel good, I mean silky smooth good!, these bars are rock hard long lasting bars of soap that are so silky smooth going on your skin and even silkier after you rinse them off, I have never felt so good after taking a bath! These bars are so nice, no milky smell, just plain smooth skin, no dyes, no fake fragrance to hamper that wonderful skin feel, pure soap that is incredibly smooth and soothing to my skin! Well, do yu think I could stop there? Heck no! I went onto to making a batch of soap out of pumpkin puree and goats milk, I started looking all around my kitchen for things to make soap out of, FINALLY THE JOY OF SOAP MAKING HAD COME BACK! I got real courgous one afternoon and took a cucumber, yep a cucumber fresh from the garden! peeled it, hold on I'm not done...... finely ground some organic oats and made soap out of a pureed fresh cucumber, then while I still could I took it one step further and added the finally ground oats to the whole mix. What I got back I honestly never expected! This bar is SO SKIN SOOTHING! You know how good your eyes feel after you have had the opportunity to slice a few cucumbers up and place them over your eyes....... now take that feeling and spread it ALL OVER YOUR WHOLE BODY! Yeah!!!!!! This bar has no hear me NO FRAGRANCE OILS OR ESSENTINIAL OILS OF ANY TYPE IN IT! Why did I not fragrance it? Simple, why alter an already perfect bar of soap? This soap ANYONE can use! It is that mild! My pumpkin soap is incredible also, turned out amazing! So soft and soothing feeling on my skin, pumpkin is excellent for aged and sun damamged skin, packed full of betacarotine, and lots of vitamin A, this is one bar your face will be begging you for. You can rest assured that there is no yeah that's right NO FRAGRANCE OR ESSENTIAL OILS IN THIS BAR EITHER, one smell and your nose will tell you, 'IT'S THE REAL DEAL', smells just like REAL pumpkin pie, I added some of the pumpkin pie spices to the mix to help. My son nearly ate the bar, yeah he is a die hard pumpkin fan! This abe is going to be your favorite this winter, and our skin is going to thank you for this bar also! Totally new venture to my soap making venue, 'GRANDPA'S OLD FASHIONED SOAP'! Now you are probably thinking, yeah yeah, handmade soaps are the 'old fashioned soaps' but this one ws created because I wanted to remind my grandfather and grandmother of their childhood. I used lard in these, yeah I know what your going to say here, ewwwwwwwwwww..... But did you know that lard is the oldest way of making soap! Not to mention Lard is very good for your skin! Now I know most all of you are going to say ew! still, and that is okay! But most of you like the way Goats milk feels on your skin, and a lot of you are going to like the way yogurt feels on your skin in a bar soap, why not lard too? Is it because you only use vegan? If you use goats milk or yogurt in soap your not using a 'vegan' soap anyhow, it is still animal fat based, oh and that is the kicker, the animal fat is what makes all of these soaps so incredible feeling on you skin, it is what leaves your skin feeling 'Oh, So Soft!' All I have to say is, next week I am making a batch of Banana Split Soap, 3 layers..... one layer of chocolate & cocoa butter soap, the next layer of strawberry pureed soap, then a layer of pureed banana's soap to top it off...... come and look for it the second week of November, just in time for the Holidays!

For a good Cause, a Benefit for the local 'Women's Horizon'

This benefit is for the local Woman's Horizon in Kenosha Wisconsin, they help battered and abused women and children to get their lives back together through many means necessary. counseling, legal help, and housing. I have most recently been asked to donate a few items, whatever I had to this cause, in order to help them raise money to further fund this incredible organization. I was able to donate 4 candles to the funding, which to me wasn't very much to donate for such a worthy cause. I wish I could have donated more to it! There are some very beautiful and wonderful people in this community who are willing to go that extra mile for another person. To those people I open my heart and tip my hat to, you are truly a blessing in disgguise, and an inspiration to us all! Here are a few simple pictures of the candles I made for this benefit, I truly hope they bring the new meaning of life to someone in need!

Some ideas about Craft Shows to improve your Sales

I've recently had the privilege to be at the Round Lake Sports Area for their Fall Harvest Craft and Expo Show. The even was very nice, the venders were extremely helpful and wonderful to talk too. This event for me was an opportunity to expand and explore new ventures and ideas, I was able to network through the wonderful people I have met there. I decided to talk about and add this into my blog, because I know there are a lot of you crafters who are wondering what helps to make a good craft show. Well, I will start off by telling you I am in NO WAY and EXPERT on this subject. However, by going to different craft show over the last few years, I have learned a thing or two about how it works, what people are looking for and what you can do to improve your chanses at a craft show. First off I will have to say, you need to invest some money into dressing your area up! Find out the square footage of the area you will be having, and start laying things out, either in a real area the same size or on paper. If you need tables, GET THEM! buy some decorations depending on the season your in, dress it up. It is a known fact that the human eye s attracted to colors and cleanlyness! Cover your table or tables with cheap inexpensive flat sheets from Wal-mart, Kmart, Shopko, or Target, although Walmart is the cheapest, I've checked.... Make sure your table clothes are long enough to cover all the way to the floor, you don't want the bottom of the table showing, becuase that is where your going to store your boxes and such for packing up your items/products. Take the time purchase some flower, leaf, or pine garlands to weave in and around thigs on your table, make it look nice! Secondly, you want to elevate your items, people don't like bending over to look for things, they like it all at eye level. Price your items clearly, another thing I hear that people don't like is when they have to ask for a price on something, most times if they have to ask you, you just lost a sale. Cover whatever you are elevating your things on with a nice sheet, I suggest using an alternate color that highlites the packaging and one that is the opposite of the base table covering. Third and most important, get out there wear a big smile, dress professionally, and greet people. Start conversing with others, talk, but don't over talk, answer questions willingling and with ease. Don't seem over anxious, or jumpy, take a deep breath and let the information about YOU and YOUR ITEMS flow. Dressing nice and professionally is a big one, when you go to a store and the sales person who is approaching you has a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt with a goofy saying on it walks up to you, what is your first impression? Now reverse that! So dress to impress, remember you most times have one shot at making a possitive first impression, especially at a craft show, or expo, you only get about 1 minute to impress someone's eyes. Always be polite, and curtious to your customers, offer them a tester (if you make things they can try) offer to go that extra mile fr them..... It pays off in the end! When people are walking past, don't be scared to get out there and say, 'Hello, how has your day been so far?' or 'Good Morning' 'Good afternoon' "Hello how are you today" these are all excellent ways to 'break the ice' with your customer. It helps you to get 'noticed' stand out in the croud of others who are just sitting there doing their knitting not looking at a single person. Start creating connections between you and your customer. If you can do these three simple things, believe you me, your shows will start to look, feel, and reward you better!

New soaps on the cure rack!

I've got some awesome new soaps on the 'cure racks' that will be ready to go here in a few weeks! Here is a list of new fragrances you can start to look forward to seeing on etsy from Earth's Essence... Pomegranate & Sandalwood - An incredibly exotic fragrance filled with sweet tangy pomegranates, followed by the lofty and sexy fragrance of Sandalwood. A very seductive blend of fragrances. This bar is not only sensual to smell, one look at it and you will notice its sensual to look at a fluid bar of pink and tan swirls, made up of kaolin clay and powdered Sandalwood. This bar screams SEXY! Pink Grapefruit & Wintergreen - This one is incredibly invigorating. The crisp clean scent of Pink Grapefruit combines well with the sweet mentholated fragrance of cool wintergreen. These two scent together are remarkable, I would have never of known how well they do actually combine until I combined them> A very invigorating blend of scents, slightly intoxicating, but always fresh and clean! These are wonderfully blended and swirled with pretty pink kaolin clay to help soothe sensitive skin types! Lemongrass, Basil & Rosemary - A wonderful medley of herbs. Slightly mentholated but always pure exilleration when you smell this bar it's sure to whisk you away to a land of fresh herbs. A 'green' fragrance at best, refreshing and invigorating, basil being a middle note that helps to 'ground' this scent. This bar is made up of pure essential oils, making this a completely 100% all natural bar! We added to this already herbal green bar 'fullers earth clay' to help make this bar an incredible 'cleaning bar' cutting through tough grease and dirt, leaving your skin feeling very soft. This would make an incredible kitchen bar, helping to eliminate offensive scents, and/or helping on those days when you get a little 'dirtier than normal' from the garden, garage, or kitchen catastrophes! Carrot Seed & Palmarosa Facial Bar - This bar has been designed to help reduce the signs of aging from mature skin and sun damaged skin. We formulated a soap made up of the following oil: Hemp seed, rice bran and soy... We then added the essential oils of carrot seed and palmarosa known to help aged and problem skin types. As if this wasn't perfect already we also included the clays of kaolin and french green clay to help pull toxins from the skin while cleaning pores, removing dead skin and gently cleaning the skin mantle to produce a brighter and tighter complexion. CASTILE SOAPS: Violets & Lime - A medley of lofty and highly fragrant violets together with the tart fragrance of lime. In a very mellow bar that is great for sensitive skin types and purely made completely from Olive oil! A true keeper, Swirled with beautiful purple pigments to help make this bar such an eye appealing bar. This scent is truly a unique and incredibly sensual blend of fragrances. Wake me UP! - I named this bar after blending the fragrances and then pouring them into the soap. A unique blend only known to Earth's Essence: Essential oils of Eucalyptus, Spearmint & Tea Tree, we also added poppy seeds to this bar. We thought it best to not only awaken your senses first thing in the morning, but also awaken your body with the gentle exfoliating action of poppy seed. This one is going to be a quick favorite! Our Castile soaps are expected to be finished in 8-10 weeks. Because they are made up of Olive oils alone, they are a softer bar of soap, there for requiring more time to cure. These bars are going fast, and wont last for long, reserve your bar(s) NOW! Please feel free to contact me for further questions and prices. i can be emailed at: hawk3104@yahoo.com or you can come and visit my little shop on etsy at: earthsessencellc.etsy.com Come by check out what other neat and wonderful skin soothing and soul stimulating products we have! Grab your cup of tea, sit back and feel free to shop!

Who is Earth's Essence?

Earth's Essence is a small little company started October of 2005, the brain-child of Michele Collins, a wife and mother who was on a mission to get rid of so many chemicals in her families lives. "Having 7 children in my home, having chemicals in my house and using them leaving a chemical residue throughout my home, well I knew I had to make changes and create a more healthy and 'Natural' lifestyle for them, they're lives depended on it" Ten years ago Michele Collins went to school to receive a degree in 'Naturology' little to her surprise, her dreams of over becoming an 'Alternative Dr.' or a 'Dr. of Naturology' was crushed when she discovered all the limitations of living her dream. Michele went on to continue to study herbalism, Aromatherapy, and finish her Naturology degree. A mother of 7 and a wife, she took on a whole new role within home, on a mission to create a more livable environment for her children, her husband, and herself, Michele found a medium that she could utilize, one that every person across America and the World used, one that she could still further her education and put it to good use. Michele started to study Soap, every book that was published on the subject Michele bought and read, studying it like there was a test on Monday! "it was torture to wash my face, not knowing if tomorrow my eyes were going to be swelled shut, or if I would be covered in hives the following day after trying a new product." It was then 7 years ago Michele started to make her own soaps, her first batch a simple batch of Melt and Pour soaps, she added ground oats, dried milk, and soothing Chamomile. After that Michele wanted something a little more in depth, she wanted more control over what she was making, more control over the ingredients and a little more 'natural' of a product. Well, one trial after another, and 4 years later Earth's Essence was born, on October 15th of 2005. "Why deal with all the hassles of hives, and skin irritations when an easier alternative was as simple as a few hours in the kitchen, relief was simple and very inexpensive." Earth's Essence has come a long way since October of 2005, added products, new ventures, and better soaps! Michele still sits down with every batch of soap, and formulates each ingredient with her calculator, writing every step down and keeping perfect tract of each ingredient that goes into her products. Every new product goes through a rigorous trial and test period, by her and her family. Michele has very sensitive skin, and there for was tired of the normal problems with todays conventional 'Beauty Products' on the market. Earth's Essence is not your 'normal' line of bath and body care products, they are a whole new way of life, a personal 'SPA in a bag so to speak'. Once you've tried natural you won't want to go back to those other kinds of products.