We've A Lot Going On

It's been a while since we've posted, and we apologize for that. Things have been...interesting to say the least.

First, our internet connection became so unreliable that we had to start going to McDonald's or local restaurants that offered free wi-fi in order to do anything business related or work on our school work. As if that wasn't enough of a pain, we finally got a new internet connection set up and something else happened.

We came home one evening to find all the lights out at our house. Knowing we'd left the front room light on, we realized that the circuit breaker was off. We turned it back on, only to lose power again. The main breaker switch had gone out - but we didn't know that then. We thought it was a power outage (our neighbors' lights were off too), so we called the power company - who then disconnected our power completely!

It took us several days to find an electrician who could come out and check the fuse box - apparently they were all busy - and one of them called the city inspector because we had been out of the house for almost a week with no power - and this guy thought we were living in the house without power. *roll eyes* Then after it was fixed, we were told we couldn't move back in because the house was too messy. Not dirty - but too cluttered. Apparently they figured we were hoarders or at least someone in the house was, and told us we couldn't live there until it was cleared out, and the entire house re-inspected - water lines, power lines, everything.

We got most of the clutter cleaned up, but then decided maybe it wasn't worth it. The house was old - over 50 years old, and in a lot of dis-repair. So we found someone who buys old houses and sold it - and moved to our new place - a single-wide mobile home. It's a newer model (2006) and it's very nice. We like it.

Throw into this mix two (yes TWO) craft shows (Art in the Park & one here at the mobile home park), our school work, and one of us getting a "9-5 job." We've had a lot going on around here.

But - we've also got new items - new washcloths, bath poufs, 3 oz bars of soap, new bath salts. Plus, we'll be introducing some "gift tin" options shortly. Just check out our Etsy shop for more details.

Business is Picking Up

It would seem that business is finally starting to pick up a bit for us. In the past month (5/29 - 6/29) we've had four orders on Etsy and one on eBay. Other than right before Christmas, this is the busiest we have been! It is nice to think that we are finally beginning to take off.

Right now it would seem that our Wild Berry Vanilla scented bath salts are the major player in our shop. That seems to be the scent that most people order. At least four people have ordered that scent on Etsy and we sold a couple of them via eBay as well. People also seem to like the Pomegranate Vanilla as well - that is another scent that has sold three or four times on Etsy.

We have a couple of new items to introduce, but it has been too hot to go out and take photos of the new items, and I take our photos outdoors. However, I plan to have some new items ready to show off as soon as the weather cools down a little bit!

Also, we may soon have a new website. I am using a website for Candlelight Boutique as my final project for my web design class, so we should have that website up and running soon. Of course, the class is going slower than I would like, so I am trying to keep calm and wait for each step to be taken to be able to finally post the site to the internet.

Just wanted to touch base with everyone to let them know what has been going on in our end of the world.

4 oz Bath Salt Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to:

Mara S.

She won a 4 oz jar of Candlelight Boutique bath salts in her scent of choice! :) 

Check back in June for another giveaway!

More eBay Items

We have quite a few items for sale on eBay - please be advised that if you order the individual Bright Lime, Bright Blue, Sunshine Yellow, or Tropical Sea wash cloths there may be a small delay while they are made if the entire set was also ordered.

White Sakura 8 oz Bath Salts
Cotton Candy 8 oz Bath Salts
Yuletide Vanilla Cookie 8 oz Bath Salts
Grasshopper 8 oz Bath Salts
Lavender 8 oz Bath Salts
Set of 4 Washcloths - Beachy Keen
Bright Blue Washcloth
Bright Lime Washcloth
Sunshine Yellow Washcloth
Tropical Sea Washcloth
Daisy Washcloth
Westport Washcloth

The Mother's Day sale has ended. We got a couple of orders during the Mother's Day sale yet no one used the coupon code even though it was right there in the shop announcement. We're wondering now if we should list the coupon codes in the item descriptions because the individual items do not show the shop announcement and most of our business has come because of search results on Etsy.

Of course, this does entail actually editing over 40 items, so we are also thinking about getting an Etsy On Sale account to use for sales like this which will automatically discount the items so the customers get the sale price.

Do you have any preference? Would you prefer to use a coupon code or have the prices automatically be lowered for sales?

New Items in the Etsy Shop

We have some new items in the Etsy shop - three new washcloths and a washcloth set.

Beachy Keen Set of 4 Crocheted Cotton Washcloths

Bright Blue Crocheted Cotton Washcloth

Bright Lime Crocheted Cotton Washcloth

Sunshine Crocheted Cotton Washcloth

These washcloths are super soft, 100% cotton, and measure a generous 9.5" square. They sell for $3/1 washcloth (the bright blue, bright lime, or sunshine) and $12/set of 4.

The Beachy Keen set includes Tropical Sea (ombre), Bright Blue, Bright Lime, and Sunshine. We hope to have more washcloth sets available shortly. We have a few combination ideas, we just need to get the yarn and put them into action.

There are more individual washcloths that have not yet been photographed or posted to the shop, we hope to have those photographed, edited and posted to the shop by the end of the weekend.

Don't forget you can get 15% off your order if you order by Sunday using coupon code: MOTHERSDAY12

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

New Items!!!

These are not yet in the Etsy shop as I need to ensure that I am not raising the Etsy bill so high that I can't afford to pay it, but these new items have been added to the Made It Myself shop! :)

Last night LaShawn and I went into the kitchen and started playing with our shea butter! :) We haven't played with it yet because we weren't sure exactly what we wanted to do. I knew I wanted to make a whipped body butter using it, but I didn't know exactly how I wanted to do it. I put some coconut oil and some shea butter in a bowl, microwaved it for a few seconds so the mixer would actually do its job, and after about 8 minutes, we had an awesome whipped body butter!

Our whipped shea body butter in the package.

Buttercream Cupcake scented body butter

Lavender scented body butter

Lemon scented body butter

Lemon Sugar Cookie scented body butter

Peppermint scented body butter (great for the holidays!)

Sugar Cookie scented body butter (great for the holidays!)

I have to admit, my favorite so far is the  Buttercream Cupcake. It smells so good, I want to eat it! I keep having to remind myself that I can't! :)

Check out our shop on Made It Myself to purchase it - $5.00 per jar + $8.00 shipping and handling (combined shipping discount available)!

More Treasury Love

We told you about a few treasuries a couple of weeks ago in which we had our products featured. Well tonight we got double treasury love. We were featured twice in the same treasury! :)

Hostess gifts from local artisans features our Sweet Pea-Cucumber Melon bath salts & our Wild Berry-Vanilla sugar scrub.

Speaking of sugar scrubs, I'm planning on making some more tonight - most likely in Lemon and Sugar Cookie scents. I am also considering trying to make a whipped shea body butter, but I haven't decided if I'm up for that task tonight or not. ;)

Another Sold Post

We have sold another item - this time we got our first Etsy sale! Woo Hoo! :) A great lady from Iowa (our home state no less) bought our Sugar Cookie bath salts. That makes our grand total of sold bath salts up to five. :)

The breakdown on our sales so far is:

• 2 Sugar Cookie bath salts
• 1 Buttercream Cupcake bath salts
• 1 Sweet Pea Cucumber Melon bath salts
• 1 Wild Berry Vanilla bath salts.

It would seem so far that our most popular bath salts are Sugar Cookie. :) We're working on a sugar scrub that is sugar cookie scented as well, so be on the lookout for that to show up in the shop soon!

Don't forget today is Black Friday and you can use BLACKFRIDAY11 to get 15% off in the shop! :)

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, & Cyber Monday

While Eternal Stardust shops are not going to be having any sales for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, or  Cyber Monday, Candlelight Boutique is having a sale for all three!

Beginning at 12:00 A.M. CST on Friday, November 25, enter coupon code BLACKFRIDAY11 to receive 15% off your entire order!

Beginning at 12:00 A.M. CST on Saturday, November 26, enter coupon code SMALLSATURDAY11 to receive 20% off your entire order!

Beginning at 12:00 A.M. CST on Monday, November 28, enter coupon code CYBERMONDAY11 to receive 25% off your entire order!

Please be advised that these codes will not be made active until the above mentioned times and dates and will be deactivated 24 hours after they are activated.

While items such as bath salts are listed mostly as only one being available, we will re-list items as necessary to ensure that the scent you want is available. If you find the scent you wanted is no longer listed as available, simply send us a conversation and let us know what scent we want. If the scent you want is out of stock, we will let you know and let you know when you can expect the scent to be back in stock.

Happy Shopping!

New Sizes Coming Soon and Treasuries

Recently a potential customer contacted us to ask if we offered larger sizes of our bath salts. I answered that yes we did offer them in larger sizes - this particular person wanted to know if we could do 16 or 32 oz sizes. I said sure.

We procured a box of 12 canning jars in 32 oz (quart) size, as well as a box of 12 canning jars in 16 oz (pint) size. We plan to make a few batches of our current scents in these sizes - although I have to say that one bucket of salt will only make 7 of the 12 pint jars or 3.5 of the 12 quart jars before we need to buy more salt. :P Those jars a bit more expensive as you can imagine because we use a lot more salt than we would if we were just doing 4 or 8 oz jars. :)

Plus we've been featured in several treasuries over the weekend - at least three that we are aware of.

Easy Like Sunday Morning features our Sugar Cookie Bath Salts
Berry Fusion features our Wild Berry-Vanilla Sugar Scrub
Sneaky Treasury Challenge 11/12/11 features our Buttercream Cupcake Bath Salts

We've also had several of our items added to people's favorites, as well as a couple of "shop favorites" so far. I think the search ads may finally be working as far as getting views to our shops, but I'll have to stop them until we either get some sales or I get some extra revenue coming in somewhere to be able to pay for those ads. Even $5 a week adds up fast! :)

We also have a few possible new items coming soon, so stay tuned for those! :)

eBay May Drive Me Insane

One of the places I chose to attempt to sell our products is eBay. I've used eBay to sell other things, mostly some of my jewelry that I was having a hard time selling anyways. So I went ahead and used the eBay account I have for my jewelry business for this business because I didn't feel like dealing with two different eBay accounts.

Now the first thing that is driving me insane is the fact that at some point, eBay got a bee in their bonnet and set limits on my account. I am only permitted to sell 10 items per month or $500 worth of items, whichever comes first. I'm not sure how eBay expects me to make a successful business via eBay when I can only sell 10 items per month - but according to them, my customer service did not meet their standards. I'm not sure how that is, because I have nothing but positive feedback as both a seller and a buyer, but whatever. So until they decide my customer service meets their standards, the limits remain and there is nothing I can do about them except hope that someone will buy from me so I can prove myself and get those stupid limits raised.

The next thing that is driving me insane is this idiotic limitation they have on my PayPal account. eBay owns PayPal, so of course, they can do whatever they want with your PayPal account if they choose to and they do. You have to "prove yourself" on eBay before they will stop messing with your PayPal account.

Basically the limitation works like this - Jack buys a jar of bath salts from me on eBay. He pays me via PayPal. When I log into PayPal, I see that Jack paid me, but the money is "pending." I have to purchase shipping (conveniently I must print the label through eBay or else I can't use the money Jack paid me for shipping), ship the item, mark it shipped, and wait until delivery has been confirmed before I am allowed to have my money. Even then, it will take three days for PayPal to fully release the funds into my account once delivery is confirmed.

I understand this is to "protect the buyer" from eBay sellers who do not have a good reputation - those sellers who will take your money but never send you the item. However, if I can prove that I sent the item out via Delivery Confirmation and it never reaches the intended recipient, that is not my fault and I should not be punished for it. Alas, eBay doesn't see it that way, so if the item doesn't get to Jack, even if it is not my fault, then I have to give Jack's money back. This puts me as taking a loss because I am out both my product & the money paid to me for the product & shipping.

This is why I am making it a point, if I do sell anything via eBay, that delivery confirmation will be added to every single package. This way I have proof that yes, the package did go out in the mail, and yes the package was delivered to the customer. Because without that delivery confirmation - what would stop a person from buying something, claiming it was never delivered, and then getting their money back? Nothing.

eBay isn't my favorite way to sell and I'm not having much luck with it, but I'll give it a go for a while longer. You never know, business may pick up soon! :)

Remakes

So we have discovered that the metal tins we are using to store our bath salts are not doing a very good job of keeping them nice. Seriously - the salts have lost their color and scent both - the salts literally smell like the metal tins. 

We have two variables that we think might have had a hand in this - the first variable, of course, was the metal tin, as the salts now smell like the metal tins! The other variable we have thought of was the Grape Seed Oil we used in the salts. We are making the salts without the Grape Seed Oil for the time being and we have started packing the salts into glass Ball jars - adorable/pretty quilted "jelly jars" that look amazing with the salts in them!

We are going to see how the salts keep their color/scent with the glass jars & no Grape Seed Oil. We did make a batch of Lavender salts for a custom order that had the Grape Seed Oil in them, so we will ask the friend who ordered them a couple of weeks if the salts have lost color or scent. If they have, it is the Grape Seed Oil that is the culprit, as her salts were packed in a glass jar. 

A quick search for Grape Seed Oil in bath salts has turned up a number of recipes using Grape Seed Oil, so I have a hard time believing that the discoloration/loss of scent is due to the oil. I am more inclined to believe that it is the metal tins - as all the recipes including Grape Seed Oil have said to put the salts into a glass or PET container. 

Oh well, this is going to be trial and error - all we have to do is remake the salts, put them in the glass containers (the lids are metal, but have a lining on them because they are canning lids), and see how that fairs.

In other news a few new scents to add to the shop soon include:

Baby Powder

Lavender

Lavender Vanilla

Lemon Cupcake

Lemon Sugar Cookie (as soon as the fragrance oil arrives for this one)

Peppermint Sugar Cookie (as soon as the fragrance oil arrives for this one)

Peppermint Vanilla

Pumpkin Spice Cupcake

Sugar Cookie (as soon as the fragrance oil arrives for this one)

The Baby Powder comes in either pink (although it's a bit more red than I wanted LOL) or blue - and can even be made in baggies for Baby Shower favors! :) 

The available scents/colors page has been updated as well, so be sure to check that out! :)

More Advertising

Most people will probably find this interesting, but I have actually done more to advertise Candlelight Boutique than I have for Eternal Stardust Designs. Sure, I used an AdWords credit to make an AdWords account for Eternal Stardust Baby, but I have never used any other means of advertising for ESD. However, I have used an AdWords credit to advertise Candlelight Boutique and I have done two weeks worth of Search Ads on Etsy. I think the problem with Etsy's search ads is more related to my not being willing to try more than $5 per week as a budget than anything. Then again, with my not having a steady day job to help pay for advertising, I'd rather play it safe for the time being. According to Google I still have about $47 of my credit remaining, but it says I can't use it because my campaign is limited by the budget. I am not yet sure if I am going to try and add more money to AdWords or not. It really depends on whether or not I am able to get more freelance work and whether or not the Holiday season brings me some sales. :P In other news, I have completed a custom order for 100 facial scrubbies. I am simply awaiting the customer's approval before I set up the listing for them. :) I also completed a request for 80 samples of bath salts. I chose a new scent - Lemon Cupcake - to send samples of. Now all the samples are bagged and labeled, I just have to get the address and mail them off. :) All in all, between advertising and working, I've been busy!

Labels

FDA labeling requirements have my head spinning. Apparently I have to give more than just the “common” name for certain ingredients, I have to also give the scientific name. For example, I use grape seed oil in my bath salts and sugar scrubs. I can’t just put grape seed oil, I have to put Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil in the ingredients list. :/

Now I am completely confused, as the colorants and fragrance oils I have do not have anything to indicate what they are – I’ve just been putting color and fragrance on the ingredients list because that’s what they are. I have no idea what I am going to do if anyone ever comes to me and says that I have to tell what kind of color (Red 40, Blue 5, etc) because I literally can’t. The companies I get my colorants from don’t list what they are other than red, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple, peach, lilac, turquoise, wine, and gold. None of my fragrance oils, not even the ones from Bramble Berry say what is in them, just that they are fragrance oil.

Hopefully I will get all this down. I think I have a pretty good handle on it right now – if it is a wax, butter, or oil, I need to tell what it is in both common and scientific language. (I’d love to know why though – most people don’t know the scientific names for things and don’t care!)

Products Available!

We have actually opened our shop a little over a week ahead of schedule! We weren't originally going to be open for business until 11/1/2011, but since we created a few products already we decided to go ahead and get them listed.

So far we have four bath salts, four sugar scrubs, 2 different wash cloths (one of them has 3 available), and 2 different sets of facial scrubbies (3 sets of one, 2 of the other).

Here are some photos of the products currently available in our shop:

Apple Pie alá Mode Bath Salts

Apple Pie alá Mode Sugar Scrub

Country Stripes Facial Scrubbies

Patriotic Wash Cloth

Pearberry Mint Bath Salts

Pearberry Mint Sugar Scrub

Sweet Pea Cucumber Melon Bath Salts

Sweet Pea Cucumber Melon Sugar Scrub

Strawberry Wash Cloth

Violet Veil Facial Scrubbies

Wild Berry Vanilla Bath Salts

Wild Berry Vanilla Sugar Scrub

We've also made Vanilla Bath Salts, Peppermint Bath Salts, Cucumber Melon Bath Salts, and Red Rose & Thyme Bath Salts. We're also awaiting the shipment of 2lbs of Shea Butter for making whipped body butter.  We've already had a request for a lemon scented body butter, so lemon scented fragrance oil is our next purchase. :)

If you have any scent ideas, please let us know! :)

So Many Ideas... So Little Start-up Money!

One of the worst things about starting a new business venture is that I am constantly finding new things I want to do, new things I want to try, and new product ideas. I've found base recipes that I just have to try, but yet, I don't have the money right now to buy the items necessary.

I found a couple of websites that I plan to utilize for the purchase of ingredients for my products. I can't wait to get started with this. I have been wanting to bring The Candlelight Boutique back for years now.  I have missed making the candles and bath products like I did when I lived in Texas. I loved doing it then and every time I go to Hobby Lobby or Michaels and see the candle and bath product making stuff, I miss it even more.

Right now I am trying to find a way to get everything reorganized so I have a place to put all the stuff I am going to need for this lovely boutique that I am  setting up. I also have to make sure that I have enough stock that I can do craft shows and the like as well. :) But first - I have to get this business going as far as being able to actually start setting up the shop and starting to get the shop name out there for people to see.

I have one buyer already. My friend Sarah, who I went to high school with, lived in Texas at the same time I did and she loved the bath salts and body sprays I used to give her to try out when I made them. She said that as soon as I started getting the items made, she wanted to know so she could start buying from me. I'm very pleased with that and I plan to start advertising a little bit now so that I can possibly have some other customers lined up for when I get the shop up and running on Etsy.

But the biggest hurdle so far is getting together the money to get this business up and running. But  I've got a few things up my sleeve - custom orders for Eternal Stardust and the like - that I will be using to get this business going. :)

Gathering Materials

Well, the first of the required materials has been gathered - I have sent off for my Iowa Sales Tax permit for The Candlelight Boutique. I am sincerely hoping that this doesn't nullify the Sales Tax permit for Eternal Stardust Designs, because it was not clear on the Iowa Department of Revenue website whether or not it would remove my Sales Tax permit for Eternal Stardust Designs.

I've also been gathering base recipes for the bath products I want to offer in the shop. By base recipes I mean recipes that people are offering for free that I can tweak to make my own. The biggest issue with these recipes is needing to find local suppliers for certain portions of the recipes. While I have no problem tweaking and seeing if other things will work, I do wish to actually be able to use the proper ingredients when possible. Such ask: finding citric acid for making bath fizzies.

I probably should make a list of "iffy" ingredients - meaning ingredients that may not be readily available locally - and do some store wandering. I have noticed that sometimes products I have seen at my local Walmart do not appear on the Walmart website. I have found a few of the "iffy" ingredients on Amazon.com, but I prefer to shop locally for these things if I can because I am finding that on Amazon I have to purchase a much larger quantity than I would like to.

However, I think the most obnoxious part of finding recipes to tweak and make my own is - well, writing them down. I'm using a spiral  notebook in which I copy down the base recipe and then will write down the proper "formulas" for each product I make. Meaning my "secret recipes" for how I make all my yummy smelling stuff!

Welcome to The Candlelight Boutique

Hello there! Welcome to the official blog for The Candlelight Boutique. If you happen to be glancing at the About Me over to the side, you might recognize me from my other blog - Eternal Stardust Designs. Don't worry, I haven't gotten rid of Eternal Stardust Designs. This is just my newest project and a separate business from "ESD" as I lovingly refer to Eternal Stardust Designs.

A bit of background for all of you - The Candlelight Boutique originally started back in 2004. The business was a partnership between my friend Nichole and myself - we made candles, bath salts, hand milled glycerin soaps, hand poured glycerin soaps, and had a few other plans for our shop as well. However, although we sold a few items to Nichole's co-workers, we never really got the business off the ground. Probably a good thing since we never bothered to get any of the required permits!

One thing led to another and The Candlelight Boutique fell apart in our hands. We still made our candles and bath products but we no longer sold them. When I moved from Texas to back to Iowa, Nichole asked if she could keep all the paraphernalia that went along with our business. I told her that was fine, that I would just get it again when I got to Iowa. After all, the place we had purchased all the equipment had a location where I was moving and there was also a second craft store from which to obtain these items as well.

In 2009 I tried to revive The Candlelight Boutique, but it didn't work out the way I had planned. I didn't have a place to really sell my items and I wasn't trying to use it as it had been - I was trying to sell crocheted items that had nothing to do with the original business plan. Fast forward to 2011 and here I am, trying again to revive The Candlelight Boutique.

Part of this was fueled by the fact that while there were many people at a local craft show doing jewelry and pottery and the like, there were no handmade candles or bath products. So that is my inspiration for getting this business started again. I've applied for my Iowa sales tax permit and will have it in 4-6 weeks. I am hoping to have some product made and be able to list some in the new Etsy shop around the same time.

Other items besides handmade bath products and candles will include spa items such as 100% cotton crocheted facial scrubbies (great for removing makeup, and better for the environment), 100% cotton crocheted wash cloths, bath puffs, and other items.

Please check back soon for another update on my new shop!