Sunflowers

Yesterday, I received a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers to cheer me up. They have brought a smile to my face, and are just the sort of thing that Taz would have loved to nibble.

Goodbye

Yesterday, my lovely, funny, gentle, and rather silly teddy bear of a cat, Taz, died. He was 11 and had gone from being a terribly scrawny kitten to a chunky boy who loved nothing more than a cuddle, or having his tummy tickled.

I miss him taking over the bed leaving me perched on the edge, I miss him shouting at me for food and I will miss him crawling under the duvet and lying against my stomach next winter.

The other three watched him die, and are really stressed and clingy as a result. They have hardly eaten this evening, and there is nothing I can do to make them feel better.

New Tag

I am trying to get a more co-ordinated look with my packaging. The ribbon and fabric I like, but thought that the tag needed a tweak. I have gone for a bit more than a tweak, and now that I have seen the result, need to get them done for all my products.

First Fair

I have just had my application accepted for the Liverpool Craft and Design Fair on 5th September. I am really excited to be preparing for my first Craft Fair. I am going to have to spend the next few weeks furiously soaping, wrapping, planning and tearing my hear out. I am sure it will be worth all the work though.

My main problem at the moment is designing my stand. I think I know what I am going to use as a table cloth, and I do have some other ideas to make it pretty too. But, and it is a big but, I have to source what I need. I did find some lovely reasonably priced baskets, but the shipping was horrendous so I am going to have to look elsewhere. I have absolutely no idea how much of everything I need to take.

I am currently tweaking my soap packaging. I am not keen on the tags I am using, so I have sent for some. If I like them then I will get them for the rest of my soap. I also need to work on my food balm. It would be good if I have it for the Fair.

Crisis Just About Averted

Had a bit of a crisis a little while ago. The price of Babassu Oil has rocketed in price and it is in my soap. I had visions of either having to get a brand new safety assessment, or putting the price of the soap up so much no-one would buy.

A few frantic emails to my supplier and my safety assessor later, I heaved a huge sigh of relief when my lovely assessor Scott, said that he would amend the assessment for me without charge. So, while I have been waiting for the new assessment I have not been able to make any soap, and I am a little behind.

Am I the only person who does not have enough hours in the day? I need to catch up on the soap making, do a considerable amount of marketing and try to work my way through the growing list of things I have to do. If anyone could manage to slot another day into the week, I would be grateful.

Lazy Days

I am sitting in the garden when I should be working, but it has been a long time since we had a real summer. At least it seems like it. It is nice to feel the sun on my bones, and to top up on my vitamin D.

I am having a light eating day. The dreaded D word (diet in case you are not sure) is not allowed through my front door. It is not a word I use, because as soon as I do, I reach for a cream cake. No, I have to play mind games with my stomach if I want to lose some weight. I do not deny myself chocolate, or a cream cake or any of the food groups you hear people say they can't have because they are fattening. Instead, if I have a chocolate craving, and what girl doesn't, then I have a piece. I make sure that it is really good quality chocolate and then I don't eat the whole bar, although I can if I try. Today, I will eat plenty of fruit, with just a small drizzle of cream so that my brain is fooled into thinking that I am doing something really naughty, when I am not. Dinner will be a huge salad, with some sort of carbs - I do not prescribe to the no carb theory, and find that if I don't have some then I could eat an Everest sized pile of salad and still be hungry.

I believe that there is some sort of football game on shortly, can't think what, but I keep hearing a vuvuzela somewhere locally, and it is going to drive me demented if it does not stop. I am so glad that I am not in South Africa where there are hundreds of the blasted things (pun intended). I am not going to watch because I think that it is likely to be a train wreck, and if I am honest I am not terribly patriotic when it comes to football. If the cats allow me the comfy chair, I am going to settle myself with Freya Stark's "Southern Gates of Arabia" and head east to more exotic climes.

Summer has arrived

I have had a great week this week, I have been off from the day job and for a change, the weather has been kind to me.

On Monday, I went to Anglesey with a box of soap to see if I could sell any. The gallery took the whole box. That gave me a bit of a fright, especially as they want the body butter as well. I just have to wait for the labels which will be something like this...

I am getting a little low on soap. I think one of the hardest things when you start out, is knowing how much to keep in stock. On the one hand you don't really want to make mountains of soap to find that you can't sell it. On the other, running out is not a good thing. Luckily, I make HP soap so can ship fairly quickly after making it.  The body butter is easy, and can be made to order.

Back to work tomorrow, and I am not looking forward to it. I have been really relaxed this week, and that feeling is rapidly disappearing!

Had a great day in London on Friday. I thoroughly recommend the Magnificent Maps exhibition at the British Library. It is a fascinating exhibition, especially for someone like me who like to look at maps anyway.