RamsdenDesigns

So Sweet

Lotta just wrote the nicest things about me on her blog yesterday. I wish I could say it’s all true but really I just passed on an idea someone gave to me and all the hard work is down to Lotta.

Thankyou Lotta. You are so inspiring to me. You work, look after your two sons, make exceptional jewellery that is being sold everywhere and always look so damn stylish. Actually my friendship with you is purely for selfish reasons, I use you as a gage of how hard I could be working and how much I can achieve.

Day 65 - 67

I’ve had one of those exciting days, the kind that feels like EVERYTHING is perfect. Today I met with a marketing and consulting company who I’ll be working with to get my products out into the retail world. The meeting was with one of the owners, Fiona, who I liked immediately and feel that she totally gets my products and design philosophy.

We discussed marketing, distribution, pricing and where I want the business to go among other things. In my mind I’ve got a fairly clear idea of where I want to take the business, but absolutely no idea on how to get there and where to begin. My 110 Days Action Plan has changed slightly, I’m dropping the Lavish Collection to 9 soaps, for better display purposes, bath bombs and bubble bars will be cut in number as well. I’ll just stock the fragrances of those two that are the best sellers. I want to start just a bit smaller and build up as I go. Not because I don’t have the time but because by Christmas I’d like to have 12 products available and each product will have between 5 and 9 choices, so it’ll start to build up into a considerable collection just as an initial introduction to the products.

Fiona and I discussed how the business can move forward breaking the next 6 months into smaller goals that we both agree are achievable.

I’m going to have to sit down and cost the next few months so I know what I’m in for as well. And so I can get an idea of how long it will take me to pay the initial outlay back. We have no wealthy relatives who have nothing better to do than invest in my business so poor Big B will be paying for it all.

Also my semi final packaging design is finished for the Lavish Collection. I’m thrilled with how the soaps look together and am also happy with the names. Naming products is more difficult for me than thinking up new recipes and I struggle a lot with it.

The soaps hopefully have whimsical, naughty, modern names. That was the goal anyway. My Delight Collection soaps will be named after what they smell like, as well as having very different packaging to keep the collections separate.

So as I move into the last third of my plan I can see how it’s all coming together and how immediately afterward I’ll be moving into the next stage and the next list of goals I’ll want to reach.

Day 64

I’m not ready to talk much about what my two year old did to some of my soaps today. I guess all I need to write is…pen,  fresh soaps, stabbing motion.

There are actual exciting things in the pipeline but I’m not ready to write about those either.

So I guess I’ll leave you with a newly updated Calendar page with four markets that are happening in the next four weeks.

Treasury Fever

The lovely Smith & Bird put me in a Treasury she created showcasing West Australian Artists/crafters.

In Other News

I finished painting the feature wall in the kids playroom today. And apart from the splashes of green paint on the cornices and all over myself it was a total success. No picks yet…I need to clean up first.

Also got my first Etsy Treasury today. It was so exciting.

I dedicated it to my favourite thing in the world. Chocolate. The people who know me know me well enough to know that if the family and a block of chocolate were going down with a sinking ship I’d save the chocolate first before the kids. And I’d only save them so they could help me rescue more chocolate.

Day 62 - 63

Slightly disappointing day today. My gorgeous Strawberry soap has almost no scent, which would have been fine if I wanted it to be plain but I actually was hoping it would smell of sweet divine strawberries.

It’s very disappointing because I was thrilled with how it turned out, just not so happy with the lack of smell. After a bit of research I discovered that brand of strawberry fragrance oil is very fleeting in soap. So Strawberry soap is off the list and I won’t be making it again. I will still make strawberry bath bombs and bubble bars because the scent was such a resounding success at markets and because I still have 400mls of the stuff left.

The Unscented soap of course smells as it should…just like soap. I’m looking forward to trying it out for myself.

I’d have got more done today but my brother came over and made me redesign his business pamphlet and letterhead for him, then spent the rest of the day watching YouTube with me.

As you do.

Playroom Renovation

The great playroom renovation has begun. Big B has generously given me complete control to create the room of the girls dreams. Today we did the fun bit…knocking down walls.

Little walls that is, and not really a wall, more of a bar made of bricks. Here it is before the sledgehammer got to it, but after we took the wooden bench off.

Ugly…I know. And it just throws the whole room out and takes up so much room. Here it is after:

Little J had the most fun she’d had in ages. I took a picture of her in the rubble because it reminded me of this picture:

My sister and I at around the same age as Little J helping dad knock down a wall at our old house. That's me in the green. I love that she can look back when she’s older and see how things have changed and also stayed the same.

The house is all in a frenzy this month as well because Little J is having a birthday party. We just sent out the invites. This is a picture of them before Little J took them to school to hand out.

Yeah! I wrote that by hand…really. Didn’t use the computer at all!

In Case You Missed It

I’ve put in a Google Follow thingy in the left column. Someone follow me PLEASE! I feel so unloved right now.

Day 61

To make sure I was staying on task and not letting things slide I went through all my 100 Days Action Plan posts and wrote down the things I mentioned I was going to do or wanted to do and didn’t finish. There’s 31 things on the list, which shows I’ve been letting things go a bit and if I don’t sort it out now I may not finish my plan properly.

Today was a weird day. I got very little sleep last night and have spent most of the day in a bit of a daze. I am very pleased though with how my textures are going on my Lavish Collection soaps. I’m learning to read the soap and am beginning to know when to pour to get the smoothest texture and when to texture the top to get the finish that I want.

This is a perfect example of how my soaps are turning out at the moment. Pictured are the Strawberry and Unscented soaps and I’m very happy with them. The Strawberry soap has a layer of white and a layer of pink and I’m interested to see how the two look together. I’ll be judging whether the layers need a sharper separation or more of a mix-up, or if they are perfect just as they are. The Unscented? All white and just gorgeous.

I’m desperate to get a good nights sleep tonight. I’m eager to finish the designing of my Delight Collection labels and spend the day labelling soap, and make a dent on my list of unfinished tasks.

Day 59 – 60 A Day Late

I’m only 40 days away from the finish line and I think I’m going to make it too. To remind myself of where I want to be I revisited my 100 Days goals:

By the end of the 100 days I aim to:

• Develop and have ready to sell to shops – 10 Lavish Collection soaps, 7 bath bombs, 7 bubble bars and a collection of Delight soaps.
• Have web shops up and running and fully stocked.
• Create a professional looking market display.

My 10 Lavish Collection soaps:

1. Vanilla - made
2. Dazzling Citrus - made
3. Yuzu
4. Strawberry and Champagne salt bar - made
5. Chocolate - made
6. Red Clover and Tea - made
7. Amber and Oakmoss - made
8. Unscented - made
9. Strawberry - made
10. Japanese Cherry Blossom

7 bath bombs:

1. Strawberry
2. Dazzling Citrus
3. Banana Split
4. White Chocolate
5. Monkey Farts
6. Cucumber and Melon
7. Sugar Plum Fairy

7 Bubble bars

1. Strawberry
2. Dazzling Citrus
3. Banana Split
4. White Chocolate
5. Monkey Farts
6. Cucumber and Melon
7. Sugar Plum Fairy

Delight soaps

1. Oatmeal Milk and Honey
2. Baked Apple Pie - made
3. Coffee - made
4. Peppercorn
5. Cucumber and Melon salt bar
6. Gingersnap Cookies - made
7. Rose - made
8. Baby Powder
9. 100% Olive Oil
10. Patchouli

I don’t intent to have the whole 10 Delight soaps done by the end of the 100 Days but I’m confident I’ll get most done. The bath bombs and bubble bars I’ll start work on this week to get them done and finished, then I can concentrate on finishing the soaps.

There’s also the plan to get rid of all the soaps I made months ago and won’t be making again. So I’ll be offering them for sale at bargain basement prices to get money into the bank and to also sell them off. So from now on at markets, there will be a big collection of soaps for sale for $2.00 until all gone. They won’t be labelled but will still be excellent soaps, I just need them to move to make way for my two collections I want to focus on.