Product Line 2012

We are in the midst of the holiday season and things have been picking up slowly but surely.  Last year about this time we were up until the wee hours of the morning filling orders and restocking products. This year is different, largely due to us being better prepared, but also due to folks not shopping like they have in the past.  Even though we are currently experiencing a 30% decrease in sales, we are still blessed and fortunate to have sales rolling in on a daily basis. So this gives us hope that things will eventually turn around for the good of ALL.

We wanted to make you aware of what our thoughts are for our product line in 2012.  We have been at this since 2005 and have offered a large array of products to see what our niche was. Thankfully, our favorite product, handmade soap, is the staple for our business. They are the reason we are able to stay afloat.  With that said, we will be expanding our soap line to include an additional 5 scents that will be part of our regular rotation.  We will continue to offer limited edition soaps that cater to the season and/or holiday. 

Moisturizers will remain the same, we think. We have really been contemplating on bringing back our Olive & Honey lotion. If we decide to bring it back it will come in the 3^rd quarter of 2012. 

Our Hair Care line will expand. We have been testing and tweaking formulas for a Leave in Conditioner/Hair Lotion and a Liquid Shampoo.  The shampoo has been tested forever and is ready to be made in larger batches.  Now the Leave in Conditioner/Hair Lotion is perfect the way it is as far as defining curls, adding sheen and conditioning.  The only problem that we have with it is it is too thin to go in spray bottles and squirt out instead of stream out and too thin for bottles with a pump where it comes out nice and creamy.  So we are still tweaking to get it just right. The most important thing is the combination of ingredients is PERFECT.  We have been thinking about a water-based hair butter too, but to me that is more so on the same lines as a hair lotion….still pondering. Not sure if we will do the hair butter or not, but the other products will be available the 2^nd quarter of the New Year.

Foot Care will expand also. We will be reintroducing our foot soak, foot scrub and nite-time repair cream, but with a twist. We plan to have these products available the first quarter of the New Year, which will be just in time to start getting your tootsies right for sandal season.

That is all for now, until next time

Be Blessed and Safe

Rochell

What We've Been Up To

Whew! It seems like it has been ages since I last blogged. Too much to do and not enough time in the day to get it all done.  I am sure many can relate to the act of putting priorities FIRST and everything else sort of falls in where they fit it - that is how it is for me with blogging. It is one of my least favorite tasks and often times I don’t have much to talk about. Well, let me say, not much that I think others would like to read about, but since it is my blog, I will babble about what I please. With that being said, I will share how things have been for Karess Krafters.

We are now in the Holiday Gift Giving season and things have really been busy for us. Our website has had more sales than it has ever had and I am so grateful for that.  Customers who have purchased from us on different online venues that we sell on are now purchasing directly from our site. Our Facebook fanpage has really seen much needed growth in the last 4 months. We have grown to 849 fans, which is a huge jump for us. So we thank everyone who has bee spreading the word.  Word-of-mouth has been key ingredient to the success of Karess Krafters. Thank you, Jesus!

Also, we’ve added our hair care favorites back to our catalog. Our Hemp Hairdressing, Babassu Shampoo Bar, Fruit Nectar hair and body oil and Honey-Hemp Conditioner are BACK and are here to STAY. We had so many requests for the shampoo bar and conditioner that we just had to bring it back and the line would not have been complete without the hairdressing and fruit nectar hair and body oil formerly known as Tropical Fusion. 

One more thing, we have picked up two more wholesale accounts, which is always a blessing.  We are hoping for a continued business relationship with the two new account holders and much success for their businesses.  

Finally, we will be adding more new products to our line in the first quarter of 2012.
Karess Krafters will soon be your one-stop shop for ALL things that pamper from head-to-toe.  Remember that ALL of our products are created by me, Rochell Selvey, NO BASES, NO KITS, just research, create, test, critique, research and test again – and if necessary the process starts all over. So know that you’re getting a quality, true handmade product that has gone through many stages before it is available to the public.

~

Rochell

Limited Edition Soaps are HERE

Just finished taking photos of our Limited Edition Soaps for the Fall 2011 season.  Our main soap line are ALL vegan friendly and some are even enhanced with Coconut Milk. Since we had received numerous request for some of our soaps that contained Goats Milk, we decided to do a limited edition line of soaps that are enhanced with Goats Milk. These soaps will only be around until they are GONE. We have a decent supply now but things can change quickly.  Our advice is to get your bars while they are still available.

WASHED HAIR

Yesterday was a Hair Conditioner making day.  I got up extra early on Sunday morning to make my fabulous Honey-Hemp Hair Conditioner.  It had been a while since I made a batch as well as used it on my hair (been going to the beauty salon too much).

Instead of going to my regular hair appointment I decided to save my husband and I some cash.  So I washed, conditioned and styled my own hair.  I washed my hair with Organix Tea Tree Shampoo.  I just love this brand.  I am not particularly fond of their Tea Tree Shampoo.  It’s okay. I mean it gets my hair clean, but it doesn’t leave it conditioned like the Coconut Milk one.  Now the Coconut Milk one has my hair feeling cleaned, soft and silky with a little sheen.

After washing my hair I applied my Honey-Hemp Deep Conditioner and slapped on a plastic cap.  I wore this cap for at least two hours I am sure because I did my household chores while the conditioner did its work.  Running the water through my hair to wash away the conditioner felt great, it felt even better once it was completely out. It is soft and healthy looking. It even appeared to be a shade or two darker in color (my hair is black, but not jet black).

Let me add that prior to washing my hair some areas felt hard on the ends because of me abusing my hair with the flat iron. After the conditioning treatment if felt like salon finished hair. 

Anyways, using my hair conditioner just reminded me of hour great my hair care line products are (and getting emails from customers wanting more adds to it too :-) )

Hair Care

It has been a while since I’ve entertained the thought of making hair care products mainly because it has come almost impossible to find Mowrah Butter.  Mowrah Butter was the staple ingredient in my Hemp Hairdressing.  It did the hair some good.  It wasn’t too heavy, the consistency was just right and the sheen it imparted was outstanding all while nourishing the hair with essential vitamins.  I mean what more can you ask for in the triple whammy product. You got sheen, moisture and conditioning.

Well due to the many request for us to bring back our Hemp Hairdressing as well as Honey-Hemp hair conditioner we’ve decided to get our feet wet again with hair care products.  We are aiming for the first of the year with a small possibility of it happening sooner. Thankfully the recipes have been perfected and will only require a few minor changes for the good of the products and the availability of ingredients.

The Honey-Hemp conditioner will not change much ingredient wise. However, I do plan to introduce Broccoli Seed Oil into the mix. Now the Hemp Hairdressing will have a few changes.  Due to the shortage of Mowrah Butter and me not wanting to pull my hair care line again due to its availability, I will be replacing it with a comparable Amazonian Butter and adding some Jamaican Black Castor Oil (still thinking on this one). I have also been entertaining the fact of replacing Candellila Wax with some type of floral wax, but am not sure what as of yet. Don’t want to run into an availability issue with floral wax nor do I want to have labels printed with ingredients on them and have to switch up in the middle of the game.

I will be doing some formulating and testing in the coming weeks. I am too excited to be bringing the line back to my catalog. Also, I plan to change the labels as well.  Not a drastic change, but a look that is consistent with our green theme but different enough to distinguish the skincare from hair care line.

Hopefully my next post will be filled with the results from the re-tweaking.

Until next time, Be Blessed

Soap Bar Sample Cutter

Okay, it has been long time since I last blogged. I have been really busy with the new little one (Wynter), wife duties, the boys (EJ & Bubbas), son (EJ) getting ready to leave for college, full time work outside the home and running Karess Krafters. It has been a whirlwind at my home and some days (time wise) are better than others. But nevertheless I decided to blog today about my new bar to sample cutter.


I purchased this beautiful piece of craftsmanship from Darlene also known as Flash on the Soap Dish forum because I was tired of inconsistent sample bar sizes. Besides sales have picked up like crazy for us which means we had to step our game up. The cutter as I mentioned is beautiful. I had a small learning curve with it in the beginning. I was not placing my bars on the cutter to the point they line up with the groves, therefore I was getting a very odd shaped soap sample. But after talking with Darlene and getting a few tips, I am not getting beautiful and consistent sample bars. Sorry I don’t have any pix of my cut bars to show, however here is a picture of the cutter.

Soap Sampler - $7.50 : Karess Krafters, bath & body inspired by nature

Soap Sampler - $7.50 : Karess Krafters, bath & body inspired by nature

FIRST BLOG GIVEAWAY - KARESS KRAFTERS

****WELCOME****


Hello Blog World and welcome to our FIRST bi-monthly giveaway. We are too excited about our new journey and hope that you’re just as happy.

Karess Krafters will be offering a blog giveaway every two months as a way of giving back as well as spreading the word about our wonderful handmade skin goodies. Our giveaways are a wonderful opportunity to get pampered or shower that special someone with quality handmade products inspired by nature with ingredients found around the globe.

****GIVEAWAY****

This month’s giveaway is a chance for one winner to win one full size bar of Fabulous Handmade Soap, a 2 oz jar of Luscious Whipped Cocoa Butter and a Moisturizing Hemp Lip Balm. This contest will end on July 28th, 2010 at midnight EST and is open to US residents only (don’t worry we will be expanding our giveaways internationally soon). Winner must be at least 18 years of age to participate and will be notified by email (please leave your email address in ALL comment entries). The winner, who is selected via random.org, will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.



MANDATORY ENTRIES:

1) YOU MUST FOLLOW OUR BLOG VIA GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT (right side bar) TO ENTER THIS CONTEST **be sure to leave a comment

2) Visit Karess Krafters and then tell us in a comment your favorite product from Karess Krafters

BONUS ENTRIES:

1) Heart CCrafter's Etsy shop, leave a comment with your Etsy name, telling us that you did so.

1 entry

2) Follow Karess Krafters on Twitter, leave a comment with your Twitter name, telling us that you did so.

1 entry

3) Fan Karess Krafters Facebook page, leave a comment with your FB name, telling us did so.

1 entry

4) E-Blast (email) your contact list informing them of this giveaway and cc karessrafters@yahoo.com. Leave a comment saying you did so.

3 entries (note you must leave 3 comments to count for 3 entries)

5) Subscribe to Karess Krafters newsletter (left side bar), leave a comment telling us you did so

2 entries (note you must leave 2 comments to count for 2 entries)

6) Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post. Leave comment with link to your blog post.

5 entries (note you must leave 5 comments to count for 5 entries)

7) Purchase from Karess Krafters, leave a comment telling us you did so.

10 entries (note you must leave 10 comments to count for 10 entries)


This giveaway will end July 28th with the lucky winner selected on July 29th and notified shortly thereafter. Please be sure your email address is valid. If the lucky winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected.

Whipped Cocoa Butter

Cocoa Butter - The Ultimate Moisturizer!

Cocoa Butter has been used for centuries to hydrate and tone the skin, diminish scars, heal wounds and keep the skin supple while giving it a healthy glow. Our Whipped Cocoa Butter is sure to supply your skin with the nutrients it deserves.

Whipped to a creamy perfection is quality cocoa butter with nourishing oils that will lock in moisture and soothe your skin from the harsh environmental elements. Our Whipped Cocoa Butter

• softens and lubricates skin
• protects dry, chapped, sensitive skin
• soothes irritated skin
• treats rough, dry skin
• smooths marks and scars (excellent for expecting mommies)
• evens tone and moisturizes

This luxury whipped butter begins with prime-pressed cocoa butter with drizzles of Coconut, Avocado, Jojoba and Rice Bran oils along with a dab of Mango Butter and Vitamin E. The silky smooth texture melts upon skin contact and protects the skin from environmental elements while keeping your skin soft and supple. Great for FEET and HAIR too!

For the month of June, we are offering FREE shipping on all orders. You must enter the code Hydrate in the voucher section on our webstore and in the comments section in our Etsy shop. Etsy shoppers will receive a refund for the shipping amount. Happy Saving.

Memorial Day Sale

SAVE!!!!

In honor of Memorial Day we are offering 20% off ALL products in our stores. You must enter code MEMWK10 to receive the savings.

To ALL of our Etsy shoppers, please enter the code in the message box at check out and we will refund the discounted amount to you. For those who shop on our site, you may enter the code in the Voucher field, click recalculate and the discount amount will populate.

Be sure to check out our Bargain Bin, we have slashed prices on many soaps, lip balms and perfume oils to make room for the new. With the discounted prices and additional 20% off, the savings is GREAT!

Ingredient of the Day: Dea Sea Mud

Ingredient of the Day: Dead Sea Mud

What is the big deal with putting mud all over your body?

Applying ordinary, yet extraordinary Dead Sea Mud on your body has many skin loving benefits.

The mud comes from the Dead Sea based in Jordan and Israel. It has attracted many visitors from around the world for thousands of years and is known as the world’s first health resort according to Wikipedia. Due to the layout of the Dead Sea, high concentrations of salts and minerals are produced that are excellent for the skin. Its most precious resource is the Dead Sea Mud.

Dead Sea Mud contains a large range of minerals that
• improves circulation and natural skin generation
• cleanses the skin and removes any residue, impurities and toxins
• provides effective relief for skin disorders such as psoriasis, eczema and acne
• moisturizes the skin and keeps it hydrated
• gently removes dead skin cells to reveal more youthful, healthier skin

Dead Sea Mud exfoliates, cleanses and hydrates the skin all while infusing it with minerals. In addition, it helps improve the skin quality of various skin conditions thus making it a staple product for your household.

Check out our Spa Bar with Dead Sea Mud, it exfoliates, cleanses and hydrates.

New Look

What's New?!

We have been really busy in the Karess Krafters shop with creating new soaps and a new look for all of our products.

New soaps such as Avocado Mint with real avocados, Sandalwood & Vetiver with Coconut & Beer and Whipped Cream Lemon-Almond with Heavy Cream will impart extra moisture on your skin with its luxurious creamy lather. And the new packaging adds great eye appeal.

Our appearance has taken a 360 degree turn. You will find as you browse our site a more uniformed look through out. Our new labels were professionally designed and printed to give each of our products a vibrant and cohesive appeal through out our entire catalog. In addition, our soap packaging has gone GREEN. We now wrap all of our soaps with eco-friendly fiber paper with a recycled paper band and seal it with our NEW soap label. Our change in packaging took much consideration and we hope you like our changes as much as we do. **Please note, we are still working through some of our old inventory. Therefore any soaps that are clearance will be packaged in the old packaging.

Keep up with what is going on with Karess Krafters by becoming a fan of our fan page on Facebook. We advertise sales, promotions, new products, where we will be, etc. on our fan page and we want you to stay in the KNOW.

Be sure to check out our Bargain Bin. We have slashed prices on many of our soaps and lip balms to make room for the new. Once these products are gone they will not return. A few products that will be leaving are our Coconut & Lime, Patchouli and Sugar Cookie soaps along with Cappuccino, Caramel Crunch and Honey Bee lip balms.

Check us out on Etsy or at our webstore

Home Party

What’s up Blog World,

I am still in prep mode as I prepare to do my first home party this weekend. I think I am over my fear of speaking in front of folks and am ready to take this home party thing to another level. I have some plans in the works but need to confirm with a few friends/business partners before going forward. Anyway, here is what I plan to do on Saturday.

1. Inform the guest that I am a fast talker, so if I start to VRRROOOOOM!, to please ask me to slow it down
2. Introduce myself and thank the host for the opportunity
3. Give a brief history on how we got started and talk about the main ingredients we use.
4. Talk about our soaps what is in them and why
5. Elaborate on our moisturizers with the emphasis on Shea Monoi and the benefits of Shea
6. Share about our Hemp Lip Balms and why we use hemp for the main ingredient
7. Mention that we have a Foot Care Line, Sugar Scrubs and Shampoo Bars
8. Will inform guest about our deep hair conditioner coming out in the Fall
9. Have guest sample sugar scrubs and Shea Monoi
10. Hopefully take orders and schedule new parties
11. Mingle, thank the guest, pack up and go

Plan to do everything in an hour and half to two hours.

I plan to bring along the following items
• Of course a gift for the hostess
• Soaps
• Moisturizers (Shea Monoi and Whipped Cocoa Butter)
• Lip Balms (Top Sellers: Coconut Lemongrass, Mango and Raspberry Lemonade)
• Sugar Scrubs

Hopefully everything will go well and it will be a taste of all the good things to come with having home parties.

What is NEW with Karess Krafters

Good Day Everyone,

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been home nursing two broken toes. I went to the chiropractor on Friday and they put me in an aircast (thank goodness), a tight sock that looks like a stocking and said I needed to keep my feet elevated to get rid of the swelling. They also released me to go back to work on tomorrow, Monday, May 3rd.

Things are a lot better than I thought they would be. I am able to move about without the assistance of the crutches. Well let me say from time-to-time I do need the extra support from them, but not all the time. I am not fully back to myself and will not be until this aircast is GONE, but am to the point where I can do some work in the shop.

I spent all day yesterday in the shop. The new labels arrived for our Shea Monoi, Lemon-Mint Foot Balm, Soaps and Hemp Lip Balms. So of course I had to play to see how everything would look on the jars, tubes and the wrap for the soaps. The jars for our moisturizers and scrubs are the same, however the new label really makes them pop in my opinion and it does the same for the lip balms. The only packaging we changed completely was our soap packaging.

Our handmade soap is the staple for our business. It is the product that we sell the most of and generally sell 6 or more bars at a time. Therefore, we spent a great deal of time researching and asking questions about what GREEN packaging would be best for our soaps. We wanted the packaging to be eco-friendly, easy to package as sales rise and BEAUTIFUL. Therefore, we are wrapping each bar of soap like a present with 100% recyclable Forest Green Mulberry paper with a 100% recyclable chocolate brown wrap and sealing the packaging with our new oval shape labels. We hope our changes are received well as we begin to give our company a more cohesive look. In addition, in the coming weeks you will see new photos on our site with our new packaging, so bare with us as we move forward.

Til next time, stay FOCUSED on your GOALS.

P.S. Here is a picture of our new packaging, tell us what you think

The Broken Toes

Good Day Blog World,

I have been home the last past two days with my foot propped up. Why? Because I slipped and fell at work and landed flat on the floor. How did this happen? I really don’t know because it happened so quickly, but what I do know is this.

I was walking from my boss’ office back to my desk. I was about 10 feet from reaching my destination when all of a sudden my upper body was moving but my feet were not. Now here is what I call a freak accident, my sneakers became stuck to the carpet. More like when you wear a new pair of sneakers (mine are really old by the way) and the friction from the sole of the shoe comes in contact with a clean surface and become stuck to the surface. Well my experience was much like this but my sneakers are very worn and the carpet is extremely worn.

Was there a lesson to be learned from it? Seems to me there is always a message in everything that happens, it is up to the individual to see it for what it is. This experience opened my eyes to a few things
(1) To avoid putting anyone on blasts, I will say this, you really see people for who they are in a time of need.
(2) I really needed the rest as I have been in overdrive for the last month and a half getting Karess Krafters new look on the rise.
(3) To always rebuke the enemy in Jesus Name (I already knew this). I say this because I am prepping to do my first house party on the Saturday before Mother’s Day. When the call came in to do the party I was very reluctant. Not because of the person who asked that I do it, but because of my fear of public speaking. I can sit and chat with someone one on one all day about nearly anything. But to stand before someone and have all eyes and attention on me is another story. This is an area I had been asking God to help me with and when the opportunity came I agreed to it and of course I am continuing to ask God for his strength.

Now my fall in my opinion was suppose the be the golden opportunity for me to back out of doing the party, but I refuse to let my broken toes hold me back. I will execute what I have been asking for and my Lord will see me through. Till next time, stay prayerful, strong and faithful. God Bless

Etsy Milestone

We have hit a milestone with our shop on Etsy and are proud to say that we have reached our goal of 500 sales by 12/31/10 in April. We’re not even half way into the year and we are celebrating our victory. We are too excited about this and would like to share with you the DO NOTs about Etsy.

First, don’t make the mistake we made. We opened our Etsy shop in 2006 and did noting and I do mean nothing with it. It just sat there hoping to be recognized. Unfortunately, the same ole same ole NOTHING happen in 2007 and part of 2008. It was not until late 2008 when we finally decided to do something with our Etsy shop after being asked countless times “Are you on Etsy?”.

Second, don’t just promote one avenue of shopping for your items online. We were extremely focused on promoting our webstore to the point that we ignored venues like Etsy. We have learned the more places such as Facebook you promote your products/services, the more likely you’ll be seen in Cyber world. .

Third, don’t forget to add your Etsy url to all your marketing items, brochures, catalogs, business cards, etc. Etsy is extremely popular and is becoming more recognized with each day. Therefore, you may have customers who shop Etsy exclusively and if you’re not informing your customers of all the avenues they can find your products then you may be missing out on sales, relationships, networking opportunities, etc. You never know who your customer(s) may refer your product to.

Fourth, don’t be intimidated by the Etsy forums. Get in there and make yourself known, join groups, street teams, network, work out trades, promote, have specials, etc. Remember I said Etsy is getting more and more popular by the day so you never know who is lurking around, it could be your lucky day.

Finally, don’t forget to have fun and to be respectful while doing so. Your business is a reflection of you and in today’s world we can find a great deal of information about a person with the click of a button. So please remember while taking part in online discussions not to forget you are representing your business.

I hope these don’ts will help someone in one way or another. It took us a while to catch on, but once we did we saw light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy Earth Day

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day according to Wikipedia is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment and this year marks its 40th Anniversary.

In honor of Earth Day, we have decided to promote 3 items that were inspired by nature from the creation to the final packaging.

First up is our Cucumber & Aloe Soap by CCrafters





Soothe and heal your skin from the harsh environmental elements with our pure Cucumber & Aloe handmade soap. This 100% natural soap is true to the plant. It is made with organic cucumber puree grown here in the fertile soil of North Carolina, Organic Aloe Vera Juice, quality vegetable oils, exotic butters and premium plant-based essential oils. This bar is sure to give your skin all the attention it deserves and will do the body good! This bar is packaged in deli paper with a label made from recycled material.


Second Up Ginger Juice & Berries Hairdress by Lavida Given by Nature

This hair care product is defintely true to nature. It is formulated with many hair loving herbs, such as Alma and Brahmi along with vegetabls oils and waxes and plant-based essential oils. It is designed to coat and protect the hair all while nourishing and strenghting at the same time, now who doesn't need that. It is not heavy, doesn’t leave build-up and it smells nice and earthy. It comes packaged in a recyclabel clear jar with a nice silver label and matching lid.


Third Up Recycled Envelope Paper Necklace by Hippie Kingdom

According to Hippie Kingdom, the Eco Friendly necklace made of paper beads from Colorful Telephone Bill Envelopes was carefully handcrafted. The paper beads are strung on natural hemp and are connected in an interesting pattern to form a rectangular pendant. It will even arrive at your front door packaged in recycable mailing material. Now this is certainly a nice upcycled item. Very creative

Facebook Fans

We have become addicted to FACEBOOK. The more we chat, post, network, etc. on FACEBOOK the more addicted we become. We are so addicted to it that we have ordered new business cards with our FACEBOOK link on them.

Anyway, we are looking for more FACEBOOK fans and would like your help. Help spread the word about our fan page. We have a goal of getting 250 fans by mid-May and the 250th person will receive a FREE bar of our Pink Ginger Milk soap. We will also send our Hello Sunshine soap to the person who informs the most people about our FACEBOOK fan page. So start spreading the word. Happy Facebooking.

Revamp in progress......

Hello Blog World!

It has been a whirl wind at the Karess Krafters shop. We have been working hard to revamp our image (new website look, new catalogs, new label design, etc.) and we are sure you’ll like the new look.

Our first order of business was to streamline our product line to offer the goodies that ALL of you have come to love. This was a hard decision since we LOVE all of our products. We will only carry Handmade Soaps, Herbal Salve, Shea Monoi, Whipped Cocoa Butter, Hemp Lip Balms, Shampoo Bars and our Foot Care Line. We will be adding once ALL testing and FEEDBACK is taken into consideration our Honey-Hemp Deep Hair Conditioner.

Prices have been slashed on our Perfume Oils and many of our fragrant soaps. We will soon be adding more essential oil scented soaps once they leave the curing rack. We will be back tomorrow to show off our new catalog that was designed by RAS Artworks on Etsy.

Soap Packing dilemma again.....

Well we are still at a cross road with selecting the perfect “eco-friendly” soap packaging. Right now we use a band much like the Dan’s bands for our soaps with a recycled cigar band style label. This packaging has worked well for us. It allows the customer to see the beauty of the bar, breathe in its captivating aroma, protect the bar without slippage or getting soap residue on the packaging and we’re able to give details about the bar and how to get more on the label. In addition we can fit up to 8 bars in a flat rate envelope which saves on shipping.

Since we are trying to be as “green” as possible we have been experimenting with different ways to package our soaps. We did the wrapping with tissue paper and affixing a label and ribbon, but as the demand for our soaps go up this can be too time consuming. We even tried the corrugated wrap with band and weren’t pleased with this style either. We’ve also tried the small flat merchandise Kraft bags with label but it just didn’t cut it for us…too much wiggle room as was the same case with boxes. We also cut strips of card stock paper that coordinated in color with the soap and printed a cigar style band on clear vellum paper. This look was nice and certainly eco-friendly but we were still not satisfied. So at the present time we are back to our Dan’s style bands with recycled label. The only thing we’ve done differently is we had a graphic designer on Etsy design a label for us that we will use for all of our products. This way all of our labels are consistent and the branding process will begin.

Here is a picture of the way we packaged the soaps with the card stock and vellum label and a picture of how we packaged our soaps with the Dan’s band sans the new label.