Thank you, Doolittle Mag!

Thank you so much to Doolittle Mag in France for their very sweet blog post featuring my Soapy Pops ("bain gouramand")!  This illustration is just to die for.  I wonder if I can buy a print?  I would love that!!  Check it out at Doolittle Mag.

Thank you, LMNOP!

Today is already a great day!  First I got the new issue of LMNOP in my inbox (which I must say is so beautiful it hurts) then I was surprised two times!  My Soapylove Peace, Love, and Soapiness was featured twice!

Thank you so much to Jenny Lacey for inviting me to be in your eZine.  I'm so glad I know about LMNOP now.  It will be the source of inspiration for many projects to come!

For those waiting for my eZine featuring those delicious S'More Soaps, it's in the final stages of publication right now and should be ready in a few hours!  Thanks for your patience!

Thank you, Etsy Finds!

Today I was suspicious about all of the new hearts I was getting in my Etsy shop, until a friend on Twitter let me know my Soapy Pop Party Pack was featured in Etsy Finds!  Yay!  Thanks so much to Emily Bidwell who put together this great collection for kids. Check it out here!

Woo hoo! Soapylove Wins the Gold!

 

Yay!! Thanks to your votes, my Typography Soap won the gold medal for Fave Innovative Design at the Rik Rak Studio.  I'm thrilled to be sharing the podium with such beautiful handmade items.  I think this exposure is great for the soapmaking community, too.  It's going to show so many folks just how great soap can be!

I can't wait to start shopping for my prizes which are being graciously offered by michele maule, papermode, and themefragrance.  I'm going to be totally decked out in indie fabulousness!!

I encourage you to head over and check out the winners of all eight events.  From kid's items to favorite bloggers, there are many indies that you should know about!  Thanks so much to Rik Rak Studio for holding this fun contest, where everyone is a winner!

(And if you'd like a Typography Soap of your own, I'm taking orders through Sunday only.  Then it will be a part of Olympic history!  You can find the link on my blog page.  If you're using a reader, click here to see it!)

Let the Games Begin! Soapylove Competing for Innovative Design.

The Olympics have arrived - the Handmade Olympics, that is.  Rik Rak Studio is hosting an awesome showdown of handmade wonderment.  There are 8 great events, celebrating innovation, blogging, fun design, and more.  The winners will be chosen by YOU! Each event has been narrowed down to 10 finalists, and I'm excited to say that my Typography Soap is in the running for Innovative Design.  Yay!

So head over by February 18 to vote, discover some new artists, and see the work of many you may know.  It's a great collection of handmade and handwritten work from all over the world. 

Paperlili + Soapylove = Great Give Away from Giftfully Simple!

 

Paperlili is a gorgeous blog that I just discovered the other day.  She writes about fashion, decorating, and more.  It's great for those of us with kids because she finds really cool stuff like this Heart Breaker T-shirt in the picture, modeled by her too-cute daughter!

Courtney, writer of Giftfully Simple and fellow Paperlil reader, loved the rainbow popsicle in the photo and wrote to Paperlili to see where she got it.  Well it turns out that wasn't a real popsicle, but a Soapylove "Peace, Love, and Soapiness" Soapy Pop!  So she found me and asked if I'd like offer her readers a  giveaway on her site.  I said, Sure!!  So you can enter to win 2 Soapy Pops of your choice.  Click here (enter by February 11!)

Thank you to Paperlili for letting me borrow her photo.  It's so great!!  Your pics are really awesome.  I'm a Paperlili follower now for sure!

Winter 09 Small Magazine

Back in the day, a friend and I started a children's clothing line called Mink & Ambrose. We had a collection of knit coordinates and we also made one-of-a-kind pieces from vintage fabrics (didn't know I could sew, huh?). At the time neither of us had children, but we genuinely loved the freedom and playfulness of children's fashion.

Although I have packed up my sewing machine and shop for my kids at Old Navy now, I still admire children's designers. Recently I discovered Small Magazine - an online zine for kids' fashion (or really the adults that love it). Many indie designers are featured, and the photo spreads are incredible! Definitely check it out here.

And if you have kids that love to color, each month Small commissions an artist to create a line drawing that you can download for free. Get the Winter page by Julia Pott here.

Hope you're having a cozy day!

Soapylove Spotted on Martha Stewart - sort of :)

I just got a call from my friend, Alison, who DVR's the Martha Stewart Show. She said, "Debbie! I just saw your soaps on Martha Stewart!!" I was like, OH MY GOD (channeling my inner valley girl, in true Soapylove fashion)!

So it turns out that Robert Mahar of Mahar Drygoods was recently a guest on Martha, showing how to make awesome Sock Skeletons (episode is available to view online, where I got the above image).

Interestingly, Robert was my first ever wholesale customer. He found me on Etsy, and I had to come up with wholesale pricing FAST because I had never given it any thought before! He was a customer for a couple of years and has now sold out of most of my soaps. But luckily Martha got a screenshot of his site, with my soaps included, before that time! :)

If you'd like to read about his awesome experience as a guest on her show, click here. Either way, you should definitely know about his awesome store for your next truly special gift for the little person in your life!

Hear Soapylove on the Radio Waves!

RCA 40A Ribbon Microphone, originally uploaded by jschneid.

A few weeks ago Donna Maria, host of Indie Business Radio, had me on her show for an interview. We had a great time chatting about lots of things including:

How to make the transition from corporate life to full time indie
How to encourage significant others to help when you need them
How to know if/when you're ready to expand your business
...and lots more!

She just added the interview to her archives, so you can turn it on the next time you're working at your computer! Click here to be taken to the site where you can stream or download it. Also check out the impressive guests she has lined up who will share tips on how to stay motivated, run your business on a shoestring, and Tweet like a professional!

On October 7, I will be a guest on the Diva Craft Lounge Radio, the #1 crafting show on the internet! Tune in at 12:10pm Pacific Time. We'll be talking about my new book and lots of other crafty stuff. I hope you'll tune in!

Soapylove Feature on Indie Business Radio Coming Up!

August 31 is next Monday, and I'll be on Indie Business Radio with Donna Maria Coles Johnson! To see a little about her past guest and also what we'll be chatting about on Monday, check out this video Donna Maria just posted:
This short video shares an overview of this week's show and announced next week's guest, Indie Beauty's own Debbie Chialtas of Soapylove!

For full details on the link, time, etc, please click here. I hope you tune in! Thanks!

Congrats to Anne-Marie on Awesome Features!

Anne-Marie Faiola, the CEO of Bramble Berry Soap Supplies, is an inspiration to so many people. She is a self-made success who started out selling soaps at farmer's markets. Now Anne-Marie (The Soap Queen) not only offers top notch supplies for all b&b projects but also teaches how to make them on her blog and is producing great videos, too.

To add to that, she was featured on Cakespy and The Crafty Chica recently. So amazing! Definitely head over and read her interviews. They're great!

In the interview with Kathy Murillo (The Crafty Chica herself!), she was asked:

Q: We've all seen things embedded in soap, soap made to look like food, all natural soap - what is the next big cutting edge technique in your industry?

I think the next big cutting edge technique in our industry is using a flexible molding putty. Bramble Berry sells Flexy Fast to create custom, one-off soap molds and texture sheets. I just shot a soapqueen.tv episode (airing late august) showing people how to use flexible molding putty to create molds for whatever they want. On this photo of the sushi soap I whipped up, I actually made a mold using the Flexy Fast of a flat piece of nori seaweed so that the sushi soap roll would have the same look and texture of a real piece of seaweed.

I look forward to seeing her video! In the meantime, if you would like to know more about this method and some fun texture inspiration, check out the June issue of Let's Get Soapy, where this is the featured tutorial. Then keep your eyes out for the Soap Queen video in August!

Some Overdue Thanks!

I'd like to thank the following people for the Soapy Love they've been sending my way!

Donna Maria of IBN for her recent interview with me about Let's Get Soapy.

Romantic Homes Magazine for their double soapsicle feature in the June issue.

Anne-Marie for her Soapylove shout out in her guest blog post on Cakespy.

To Craft: on Twitter for their tweety love of my soapy Mini Cooper.

And last, but not least, thanks to Carol from Out of Eden Soaps for her Soapy Pride! She was showing off her Soapylove tee in North Carolina. Love those glam glasses!

Thank you so much! Your support is what keeps Soapylove going strong. xoxo!

BTW, I have more of those tees. I just haven't had the time to take pics of them. They're really awesome - in nice stretch cotton, with pink glittery ink, in white and pink. One of these days! :)

I'm Feeling the Love, Craftzine! Thank you!

I'm so excited that Let's Get Soapy and my humble video have been featured on Craft: zine's Blog today!! Thank you so much!

For any Craft: readers who are here because of the post, you can find the Summer issue of Let's Get Soapy here. I hope you like it! Glycerin soap crafting is so fun and best of all, it gets completely used up, so you have room for your other crafts, too! :)

Thank you, Average Jane Crafter, the author of the post!

I Found My Thrills on Garnet Hill!

I'm so excited to see my Soapylove Soapsicles on the Garnet Hill website! They are carrying Orange You Cute and Neapolitan Soapsicles. I have always loved their catalogs and they carry some brands I really admire (UglyDoll for example), so I'm sure flattered to be in there, too! Check out the full listing here or go to the Garnet Hill website and search for "soap."

Just wanted to share! :)

Soapylove Helps Explain Methane on Mars!

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to see "Soapylove" found in a Google alert (which is an automatic search function that tells you whenever your search criteria is found on the internet). Strangely, it came from Discover Magazine's blog. I clicked right over to check it out and found my little glow-in-the-dark alien soap picture on a portapotty!

As my husband can tell you, I'm the farthest thing from a scientist you can get. But I guess the scientist who wrote this article was trying to make a point about the existence of methane on Mars and needed a visual tool. Since I made all of my non-soapsicle photos available for use under Creative Commons, he was able to use my little alien for his funny picture. And he gave me credit which is so nice!

If you would like to see the original photo of this alien soap (which has cool glow-in-the-dark eyes), or learn how to make it, check out the original tutorial on The Soap Queen Blog. Have fun!

(For more super fun soap projects, make sure to check out Let's Get Soapy - the first eZine dedicated exclusively to melt and pour soap crafting!)

The World is Feeling the Love!

I was just checking my site hits on Statcounter and noticed an unusually high number of hits for a Sunday. So I checked to see if there was a new site that was linking to mine, but there isn't. I guess people are doing searches for Soapylove and finding me. Then I checked the fun map feature on Statcounter and saw how widespread the hits are.

This is another reason why I really love selling on the internet. Before the web, how would I (or any small business) get the word out all over the world? It would have been much harder!

Jim (my husband) and I were discussing how interesting the appeal of Soapylove Soapsicles is. I had no idea that popsicles had much resonance with people outside of the US. But apparently they make people smile in countries from Brazil, to the UK, to the Kingdom of Bahrain. That's just so awesome! Cheers to that!

Cameo Soap Tutorial for Halloween!

Ivy Long, of Edera Jewelry, put together this very cool, very goth, Halloween treasury. She let me know that she chose my Cameo Soap Tutorial as part of the collection! I love all of the different items she put together. Thanks, Ivy, for including Soapylove!

Have a great Halloween everyone! Don't get a tummy ache (and let your kids have some of their candy, too!).

Hello Soapy Fans in the Middle East!

Soapylove must have appeared in a publication in the Middle East, because I have been getting lots of great emails from new Soapy Fans looking for some Soapylove in their area! I still do not offer international shipping from my main site, but there is a boutique in the Kingdom of Bahrain that stocks my soaps called The Pink Diamond.

Farrah is the owner of the boutique. If you are in Bahrain, you can visit her shop at: Shop 18a, Road 1401, Riffa 914. Call her at 973 17 666636, or email her at pinkdiamondboutique@gmail.com. She will be happy to ship soaps to you anywhere in the Middle East.

Thanks so much everyone!

Olá, amigos no Brasil!

Provavelmente você me achou por causa de uma recente característica minha sabonetes recebido em uma revista aí. Obrigado por vir! Eu também tenho recebido muitos e-mails de brasileiros muito agradável se perguntando onde pode comprar meus sabonetes desde o meu site principal não oferece navegação internacional.

Você pode comprar o meu sabonetes e tê-los enviado, em qualquer parte do mundo da minha loja Etsy em http://www.soapylove.etsy.com/. Existem muitos estilos disponíveis lá. Se você tiver um pedido especial, por favor email mim em mailto:debbie@soapylove.com. Se você tem uma loja e gostaria de vender meus sabonetes, meu mínimo é de 24 sabonetes, em qualquer combinação de estilos. Ficaria feliz e-mail para você com um completo catálogo de preços por grosso e informações de pagamento.

De agradecer aos meus novos amigos no Brasil, tenho 4 especiais criados Soapsicles Bandeira brasileira! Eles são banana perfumada e têm handcut detalhes. Você pode encontrá-los na minha loja Etsy tão bem! Muito obrigado!


Hello, friends in Brazil!

You have probably found me because of a recent feature my soaps received in a magazine there. Thank you for coming! I have also received many very nice emails from Brazilians wondering where you can buy my soaps since my main site does not offer international shipping.

You can buy my soaps and have them shipped anywhere in the world from my Etsy shop at http://www.soapylove.etsy.com/. There are many styles available there. If you have a special request, please email me at debbie@soapylove.com. If you have a shop and would like to sell my soaps, my minimum is 24 soaps, in any combination of styles. I would be happy to email you a complete catalog with wholesale pricing and payment information.

To thank my new friends in Brazil, I have created 4 special Brazilian Flag Soapsicles! They are banana scented and have handcut details. You can find these in my Etsy shop as well! Thank you so much!