Learning how to take pictures

I have wanted a new camera for several years now, and I finally received a new one for my Birthday! It has many bells and whistles, which is fun, but it means I have to learn how to use all the bells and whistles!
I tried my hand at taking pictures off the auto setting.

We went to the Americana Music Awards in Nashville last month. I took this picture inside. I obviously need more time on the camera!

This is a better picture!

I plan to use this camera for product pictures and videos for YouTube. Here are some pictures I have taken using the camera.

I love how clear the pictures are. Now I just need to work on lighting and staging!
I have been quite busy lately. I am placing my product in another St. Louis retail shop, and between filling this shop, and keeping my other retail locations stocked, along with my Etsy shop, I can't seem to catch up!
I made quite a few hot process soap batches so I could stock up on soap. When everything slows down, I will get back to making my favorite cold process soaps!

The top green soap is Eucalyptus Mint and the bottom soap is French Blend (lavender, tea tree, and clove). They don't look as pretty, but they sure smell good!

A mistake I was willing to make

Last month I had a couple contact me regarding a soap they would love to have. They asked me to make a blend of lemongrass and patchouli soap. The shop was slow, so I thought, "why not?". The contact was made on Facebook and the couple said they wanted quite a few bars, and a friend of theirs even piped in and said they wanted a few bars too.
So, I happly made the soap. I let them know they were made and I would post the listing in a week or so. The soaps were made using the hot process method, so they were available much sooner than my other soaps.
Two weeks later I posted the link to the soap. It has been two weeks now and they have not ordered the soap.
So why did the mistake (of making the soap before payment) turn out well?  The blend is amazing, and because I used the hot process method, I was able to superfat the soap with lots of extra cocoa butter! The soap smells amazing and I am going to add this blend to my soap line.
Now, I did make a mistake by making a product that was not paid for, which you should never do. But....I knew ahead of time that I may not sell the soap to the person who requested the soap, but I was willing to take the chance.
Sellers are often asked to make a product on Etsy. It happens all the time and most sellers are happy to purchase the materials, make the product, and then list the items for sale. But what if the buyer doesn't come back to purchase? Can you sell the item to someone else?
I always make sure I have the buyers money before I even start making the item.
I guess I don't always follow my own advice, but I do have a nice batch of lemongrass patchouli soap now!

Gardening Soap for my Garden Club

May 7th is our local garden club plant sale. The money collected from the sale is given to local schools to promote gardening skills through hands on gardening. If you are in the Webster Groves area, stop by! Every 1/2 a bar of soap will be given out to everyone shopping. I am donating 10 bars and the rest will be in my Etsy shop soon.

I think the packaging came out really cute, don't you?

Plant Sale

I wanted to show off the finished soap. I covered the bar with a brown paper bag and a cute red checked ribbon. Didn't they turn out well?

Hot Process Handmade Gingerbread Soap From Scratch

It was a cold and damp day, so I thought it would be a great day to make more soap. I'm running low on basic soap, but I also need some holiday soap....so I'm made Gingerbread Soap!
In the above picture you can see the hard oils melting. I have coconut, palm kernel, shea butter, and palm oil. Off to the side (which you can't see), I have my carefully measured lye/water solution and my soft oils. My soft oils are olive, rice bran, and castor.
While the oils are melting, I got my mold ready to go. I put oats on the bottom of the mold. This will actually be the top of the soap.
I also added ground oats and cocoa powder. The oats are great for your skin and the cocoa is for coloring the soap.
This is my favorite part...right after I poured the lye/water mix into the melted oils. In the above picture I just turned on the stick blender.
This is what it looks like one second after blending.
Here you can see a light trace. If I were making cold process soap, I would stop at this point, separate the mixture and add coloring. Since I'm hot processing, and I'm using cocoa for color, I'm skipping this step.
This is what it looked like after it came to a medium trace and I added the oats and cocoa.
Now the soap is "cooking". You can see the outside of the pot starting to gel.
About 20 min. later. It cooks from the outside in, and when the white spot in the middle is tiny, or disappears, it's finished!
This is a crummy picture, but this picture was taken after the soap had cooled to 170 degrees and I added the Gingerbread oils to the soap.
I added oats to the top (bottom of soap), but most of it fell off after taking it out of the mold. Hot process soap is ready to use as soon as it's finished with the "cook". It takes several hours for the soap to cool.
All set to go! See the oats? This was the bottom of the mold.
All cut and ready to go! I like to let my soap sit for a week or so before using. You don't have to, but the soap will last a lot longer if you do.

Now you know what it takes to makes soap!

Can You Picture The Scent?

I added candles to my Etsy shop awhile back. I have always wanted to make candles and after lots of testing (which was fun!) I listed my candles. I think bath products go well with candles and what better way to pamper yourself!

The problem I have this that I love so many scents, so I get carried away when ordering my oils! I also have a hard time narrowing down the size of candle. I decided to offer tea candles, round tin candles, and glass candles. Tea candles are nice to have around and are pretty inexpensive to ship. I am offering glass candles because they look really nice I am selling them in my shop...so no shipping costs!
One of my favorite scents is Tomato Leaf. It sounds like a strange scent, but it's really a nice FRESH scent! My son was home last weekend and after smelling this candle, he said, "wow, that really smells like a tomato vine". This coming from a young man that won't even walk into a bath and body shop! He even took one home with him. Now that's an endorsement!

Monday Finds With All Kinds Of Yummy Things To Eat!

HowlingWolfSauces's.Etsy.Com
I gave these to my husband and son for Christmas last year. I can honestly tell you that these are the BEST sauces in the world! We used them on chicken, port, and as a dipping sauce. Yum!!
DoubleDippedSweets's
Having tasted Double Dipped's dipped apples, I can'n tell you enough how GOOD these are! They are also HUGE, so be sure you have someone to share it with you!

frankiesfoods.Etsy.Com
This looks like I could just pop it into my mouth! Not only does this look delicious, but the photography is amazing! This shop is brand new, so make a new seller's day by purchasing from their new shop!

Now, I'm hungry!!