New Gift Sets

I often get asked if I do gift sets and in truth, I don't really. I never know what to put in them, how to package them, what price they should be etc, but I have a new market this Sunday so I thought I would have a play about with some boxes I had left over from years ago.

I love paper crafts too and I have oodles of scrapbook paper in the house, so I thought I would 'jazz up' the plain boxes (showing my age here, I think the trendy phrase is now 'bling them up' but I'm old school).

The two sets are the facial skincare boxes with the serum and the cleanser. The other is the bath and body box - a soap, a lip balm and a hand treatment. I only made a few sets of each to see how they sell, but hopefully they will be well received.

Finding good labels.

For today's post, I thought I would tell you about my labels and where I get them printed. As crafters, we do get obsessed with all aspects of our products and that includes the packaging. Handmade labels can look great and in many ways are suited to craft fairs, but some handmade labels are often not to well presented - I saw one woman charge a lot of money for hand creams which were labelled with avery address labels and were all smudgey. Of course, we know that it is the properties of the ingredients we use that is the important part of what we make, but when you are not there at a craft fair to explain to people what the oils and butters do and how they can help your customer, the packaging is the only real way of attracting someone to your product.

When I started taking my products to shops, the feedback I received was that they did not like my labels. One woman (who owned a very lovely shop) was horribly snooty about my packaging. I was very disappointed and hurt, and it set me back for a long time, but in a funny way she did me a favour. It made me focus on how the packaging looks to my customers who see only the creams and serums in a shop, without me there to explain the benefits of the cream.

So I opted for having my labels printed for me. My own printer was rubbish, so I went to a local printers. The stickers were ok but not oil proof. They also charged a lot of money and I had to cut the labels myself (they printed onto A4 sticker sheets). I went with a printing service from a well known supplier of other soapy things and they were worse than the ones I printed myself! So after searching the web for ages, I found a website called Discount Banner Printing. At first, to be on the safe side, I only ordered one set of labels. There was a small minimum order (which is monetary based rather than number of labels based) and they came really very quickly. I loved them, and so I ordered a set of labels for each of my products (other than the soap).

Then, I re-branded. And of course, rebranding meant that all my products needed new labels, so I went back again to Discount Banner Printing. They have the best labels, I feel, for people like myself, who need professional quality labels that look great and are oil proof not squinty (yes, I got squinty labels once too). Each label is individual, no cutting or trimming, just peel the label of the roll and hey presto, a pretty looking jar.

I know there are many many crafters out there who are looking for labels (I often get asked where I get mine done) so I thought I would share my source with you. Here is the link to Discount Banner Printing and here is a wee picture of my newest labels from them  - (nice labels, shame about the photos).

(P.S. I never did go back to the lovely shop with the horrible owner, I don't think we would work too well together xx)

At the Craft Fair

It's the summer season (or as summery as it gets in Scotland) and that means there are plenty of craft fairs to go to, both as a customer and as a vendor. I do love my craft fairs, I love selling, I love buying. But I don't like setting up my stall.

My favourite kind of stalls are the eclectic kind, lots to see, lots of baskets to have a nosey through but I cannot for the life of me get it right myself - when I try it looks messy and flung together, so I don't have that kind of stall. Instead, I've opted for the clean minimalist look. Some shelves from Ikea, a wire basket from TK Maxx and a cake stand. The stall is by no means finished - my lovely husband has bought the wood to make backboards so the stall looks enclosed and I NEED signage - who I am, better product signage etc, but for now, it's a start and it seems to work ok.

I also have my guild membership certificate clearly displayed. I was at a fair a few weeks ago and was trouble by how little a soap/cream seller knew that I wanted to reassure my customers that when they buy from me, they are buying from a qualified and registered soap maker.

New Soaps

As some of you know, I took a break, a long break. There were various reasons for this - loss of mojo, illness, family issues, but they are all sorted now and Miss Polly is ready to go again. In prep for this, I made some new soaps - they have the same essential oil blends as before but I've added colour to them. One thing I found in my customer base is that they like the pretty soaps, so the old soaps have got a new look.

Here's the oldies but goodies, though I have plans to change them in the next batch :)

I had so many lovely messages of well wishes while I was on a break, that I am offering at 20% discount across everything on my site. Simply enter the code RELAUNCH at the checkout and the discount is yours.

                                                       www.misspolly.co.uk

It's nice to be back and I will be catching up on blogs over the next few weeks xx

I got a little lost

I haven't made a soap in ages for many reasons, but they all amount to a lack of soaping enthusiasm. 2 batches developed DOS (and one was a big batch, with loads of geranium EO. Ouch), fewer sales than usual (folks here are not spending so much) and getting side-tracked with other interests.

We also had no car for the past 2 weeks which has meant cancelling my fairs (one of which was already paid for and it was a hefty market fee with no chance of a refund). All in all, I've been a bit down about the whole thing.

But,  I think, I might just have felt a teeny spark of enthusiasm somewhere deep down, I haven't made a new soap but I have been thinking about new soaps, I plan to make some changes, bigger styles, more designs with more colour, and minimal packaging, and that's as fas as I've got just now, but it's a good start. I 'might' have some new soaps to show off after xmas, hopefully.

And my side-track - jewellery. I'v got a whole heap of supplies to try and find a style I like and I'm still playing and practising, but it is a lot of fun. If you fancy following my adventures in jewellery, it would be lovely if you could follow my new blog here http://misspollydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

I wish everyone a happy and festive christmas and I hope to be back blogging and soaping really soon xxxxxx

Orange, Honey & Oats

It seems like an age since I last made a new soap for my range, so I finally settled on a honey soap. I've always wanted to try it, but worried about overheating. However, I did my research, took my time and after a few different EO blends, and attempts, I was finally happy with the result.

I've used organic Honey and organic oats, Sweet Orange essential oil and of course, my usual recipe that has loads of avocado oil (I love that oil) and here is the result. 

This will be my last Miss Polly soap for a while as I, like all us soapers, have the Christmas markets to prepare for, but I have plans for something new after the new year and there will be loads of news soaps then xx

Re-branded soap labels

Well, it's been a wee while since I posted about my new logo, but I am happy to say that the re-branding is complete. Yay. I changed the shape of my soaps to make them more traditional and I've put them in boxes. This is primarily for retailers - the box helps keep the soap clean (not just from dust but from those soap sniffers that think nothing of holding the soap right on their nose and sniffing up all  the scent, even when they have a cold!, you've met them at your markets I'm sure).

So, for me the new look is so much better - really clear, modern with a traditional twist and it has the natural element too.

I got myself a new soap stamp too to match the logo:

Next week is popping round the shops week to see if anyone wants to stock them, wish me luck xx