I’m in the mood to celebrate the long weekend so I’m having 25% off until Monday night on all Modern Antiquity products.
Why Modern Antiquity? It’s one of my favourites. I love love love the warm musky scent and lashings of clay which make it so good to use.
Get it only on the Empire of Delight website.
Today I sat down and tried out a new idea I had for packaging my guest sized soaps. Figuring out ways to package them without it costing a fortune has been a problem…boxes are always the wrong size (meaning I’d have to have them custom made) and I’m balking at the thought of wrapping them up like a gift basket (too hard to store and would cost a fortune to mail).
So I tried an idea I had; wrapping them with cello and sitting them on a thick sturdy cardboard mat. The wrapping and board make for a nice sturdy pack, they don’t wobble around and sit flat…a major bonus. I like it but I’m not 100% convinced yet and feel it needs more work.
It’s back to the drawing board but I feel I’m a little closer to the finished product.
I spent the morning photographing soaps and bath bombs. I’ve got a whole host of new bombs which I haven’t photographed yet and today was the day.
I haven't yet figured out how to take pictures of my products that really shine. There doesn’t seem to be that perfect window in the house that has the best light and really makes everything look beautiful. Right now I'm taking snaps in the lounge room window as it’s fairly bright and has the added bonus of being rarely used.
This is my set up for today. Fake grass and a huge block of wood I borrowed from my business partner and still haven’t given back. And then a bit of paper over the window to diffuse the sunlight that was coming through this morning.
I’ve got a snazzy new tripod too and am pretty happy with it, it makes taking pics inside just that little bit easier.
The new bath bombs are looking great. The one above; Dazzling Citrus looks beautiful and I’m loving the crisp clean colours.
The soap is looking nice today too. I went for a really simple image and as I had the tripod could just take one after the other and each image had the same background. They’ve already been uploaded onto the websites and are looking mighty spiff, even if I do say so myself.
So today was a great day for getting new product shots and revamping the product lines to include the new bombs and soaps I’ve made. I’ve earned myself a quick break of hot chocolate and a mint bickie.
I feel a new calmness about me these last couple of days. The whole house feels cleaner, and brighter and fresher than it has for a while now. As if Mr Darcy had come through and saved the family from ruin and was about to say something incredibly exciting and thrillingly romantic.
My life isn’t suddenly filled with high tea and frilly bonnets (although macaroons were the main theme of the weekend) but if they were to abruptly appear it would all feel perfectly normal.
My days feel like:
Long walks in the almost, just about to, gosh I think it might, rain.
Those little things you notice which make you feel like an artist who see’s beauty where others see the ordinary.
And little girls who can smile again and forgive their sister for accidently whacking them in the head with a croquet bat, causing blood to go every where, a rush to the hospital and overly dramatic cries of “I don’t want to die”.
These pics were taken last week during the rains when life was crazy and hectic and it felt like a miracle that we could take just a few minutes away from the madness and mum could relax and not spend her days mumbling about caterers and makeup and lordy these things cost a lot of money.
I wish everyone that same calm feeling…right now…whether you like it or not!
It’s so nice to back in the land of the blogging. I’ve been just a tad swamped these last two months and there have been quite a few hiccups. But it is all ok now.
Today has been really relaxed and lovely. The first of May feels like the start of a whole new life.
Here’s a few pics of what today looked like for us.
Who’s with me girls? Come on, lets all be irresponsible together.
Or I’m just trying to make all you crafty people out there look bad…snort.
Either way, I’m on a role.
Because doing two markets this weekend isn’t enough I’ve signed up on short notice to do another one on the Sunday.
This one will be under a massive tent along with some of my favourite people and looks to be a nice, chatty, casual day. I’m looking forward to it, although I am dreading my stock levels after this weekend and what I’m going to have to do to get ready for Unwrapped the following weekend.
Have you signed up for my newsletter? Tell the truth because I actually know these things.
(Signing up for my newsletter is like giving a big kiss to hand made in Western Australia. And it’s good for the environment)
And did I mention there will be members only deals and specials available only via the newsletter?
Go here to sign up. It really is that easy.
Why am I so awesome? Apart from the obvious…
If you know me personally or read this blog often you may be a little “Oh she has ANOTHER bath bomb solution…blah blah blah! Good for her” but I swear I’m positive this one is going to be permanent.
90% sure anyway.
If you’ve never made bath bombs and then tried to package them in durable, attractive, professional, cost effective packaging that still lets you smell the fragrance then you may be unaware of just how gosh darn difficult that is. I have tried just about everything I can think of but have never been completely happy with it. It may look nice but be costly, time consuming or cover up the fragrance. And I was never really satisfied with leaving them unwrapped as the only option, fearing what humidity and air conditioning will do to them.
But I’m really happy with this packaging solution. Introducing:
I know right! Simple, yet brilliant.
It still needs a few more tweaks to get it perfect but I’m really happy with it.
The bombs are protected from the elements while still allowing the fragrance to come through and all product descriptions, logo and ingredients are easy to see.
So from this week I’ll be offering two different types of bath bombs; wrapped and unwrapped. This will apply for wholesale orders too and will enable people to decide how they would like their purchases. At the moment I’m visualising the wrapped bath bombs would be perfect for gifts, web orders and most retail outlets while the unwrapped bombs will probably fair better at markets as most customers are buying them for themselves and are happy to forgo a bit of wrapping.
Stay tuned folks, they’ll be up in the shop soon.
Have I mentioned I’m on Facebook? And that you can find and “Like” me here?
I know you like me, that’s why you read this blog. So lets stop pretending there isn’t something between us.
In other news I’m absolutely enjoying this long weekend and am spending far too much time doing very little and not enough time time doing very important things. I think it may be because my week was so hectic and stressful that I just need a couple of days to unwind before throwing myself back into it all.
So here’s to a few more hours of rest and relaxation before I throw myself back into the mad house.
