Blue House Soaps Blog

Blog Spotlight: Living Healthy in the Modern World

2009-04-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

Customer Tanya Augsburger writes about her quest to find natural products, especially those that won't aggravate sensitive skin and allergies. This post specifically mentions her use of Blue House Soaps products:

My Low-Allergen Personal Care Products

Take a few minutes to read through her blog posts - there is a lot of great information. I am bookmarking this blog for future reference as well.

Thanks Tanya!

It's that time again - BOGO at Blue House Soaps!

2009-04-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

For a VERY limited time, we are offering our BOGO promotion to our loyal customers.
These items are eligible for our BOGO promotion:
* all full size soap bars
* all full size shampoo & shaving bars
* all full size facial care bars
* all full size wool wash bars
* The following 8 ounce bottled products: Happy Bum Spray, Hydra Mist, Detangler, Linen Spray, Cloth Care, Mr. Mellow Aftershave, Skin Saver Splash, Lavender Geranium Toner, Chamomile Peppermint Toner, Green Tea Soothing Spritz, Cootie Catcher Detangler, Garden Herbal Detangler.

(Please note - if you purchase one of the above 8 ounce products with a sprayer, you will receive the REFILL as your BOGO - ie, no second free sprayer).

Here is what you need to do in order to qualify for BOGO items:

*Minimum purchase of FIVE (5) of the above items. They can be all of the same item, or mix and match.

* Type in the promo code BOGO at checkout. Please note, this will NOT be reflected in your cart - it will just show one of each product. When you type BOGO it lets us know when we pack your order to include a duplicate of all qualifying products. *NOTE - no other codes or discounts may be used in conjunction with this amazing offer.

When you purchase 5 qualifying items and type in BOGO at checkout, you will receive a second FREE item of each qualifying item, exactly as ordered. If you order 5 Skin Saver bars, you will receive 10 Skin Saver bars. If you order 5 Happy Bum Sprays and a Skin Saver bar, you will receive 10 Happy Bum Sprays and 2 Skin Saver bars.

You can add non qualifying orders to your order to save on shipping, but they will not be doubled.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. This offer is good for a VERY limited time, and will NOT be repeated this calendar year.

Click HERE to shop now!

Happy BOGO!

April Scent of the Month

2009-04-06T18:04:00.001-07:00

Sweet, pink, scrubbie Plumeria soap ~ now featured at Blue House Soaps as Scent of the Month.

Check out our
Scent of the Month page to view all of our SOTM deals, including our Pink Grapefruit shampoo & shaving bar. Paired with Plumeria soap, they make a sweet treat in the shower!

Coconut Free Products

2009-03-29T21:54:00.001-07:00

A complete listing of our Coconut Free Products, as of 3/30/2009:

All Natural Detangler/Leave in Conditioner
Crunchy Mama Botanical Shampoo for Normal Hair
Crunchy Mama Botanical Shampoo for Dry & Damaged Hair
Crunchy Mama Botanical Shampoo for Oily Hair
Anti Bacterial Soap (Natural Formula)
Sugar Body Polish
Soothing Bath Soak
Crunchy Mama All-In-One
Natural Eye Makeup Remover
Skin Saver Facial Wash
Sweet Cheeks Facial Wash
Lavender Geranium Toner
Chamomile Peppermint Toner
Skin Saver Splash
Mr. Mellow Aftershave
Green Tea Soothing Spritz
Cloth Care
Home & Linen Spray
Liquid Wool Wash
Happy Bum Spray
Lanolin Butter
All Pure Essential Oils
Accessories
Cootie Catcher Paste
Cootie Catcher Shampoo
Cootie Catcher Detangler
Cootie Catcher Kit

What have you been up to?

2009-03-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here is what I have been up to:

Debuting tonight as part of our Garden Collection - Tomato Basil Everywhere Soap:

Baby Face soap, with hand picked calendula petals and lavender essential oils:

Debuting tonight as part of our Beach House Collection, Salt Scrub Bar:

Spa Salt Scrub, featured in our new Beach House fragrance:

Other new products available tonight @Universal Mama on Hyena Cart: Sugar Body Polish in Cucumber Mint, and our *NEW* Natural Detangler/Leave in Conditioner in Garden Collection Herbal essential oil blend.

Visit us tonight as these new products debut, along with NEW vendors, collaborations, FFS lotteries, and more:

Universal Mama

Not just for color

2009-03-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

We use a variety of botanicals in our soaps at Blue House Soaps. You won't find a dye or colorant that doesn't have a specific purpose among our products.

Our Red Beard soap for him contains turmeric, a botanical of the ginger family that is cultivated primarily in India. Turmeric contains antibacterial and antifungal properties, and acts as an antioxidant. Turmeric can be used to heal minor skin damage that has been caused by acne, eczema, psoriasis, and minor skin rashes.

We combine our original cold process soap recipe with a generous portion of turmeric, poppy seed to gently exfoliate, and a spicy bay rum fragrance. This soap lathers with golden yellow bubbles and rinses clean, leaving skin soothed, smoothed, and refreshed.

For the first time ever, we are offering this luxury soap as our Soap of the Month selection. Pair this with our Shampoo Bar of the month, our Beer Shampoo & Shaving Bar for the ultimate pairing. Visit our Scent of the Month page to view our Red Beard soap, offered at a discounted price for March.

~Melissa

Supporting WAHPs and small business

2009-02-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

As a family operated business, we like to encourage and offer support to other small businesses and work at home parents. Our goal this year is to provide our customers with resources that we hope you will find useful via our blog, while at the same time offer our support to other work at home parents.

Please take a moment to visit Womb to Breast. This business offers birth and post partum doula services
along with breastfeeding education and lactation counseling
to moms and babies in the Northwest Florida panhandle. The service is operated by Anne Hinze, a BHS customer, and Autumn Golden. Regardless of your geographic location, this site is a wealth of resources.

What's new at BHS - February

2009-02-02T07:32:00.001-08:00

Our Scent of the Month for February is Strawberry. We've offered this scent as a combo with banana (Bananarama), but for the first time we have obtained a fabulous strawberry scent that stands alone as a fragrance option. This strawberry is sweet and mild, and smells lovely in our detangler, sugar polish, and lotions. We are offering our Strawberry Daiquiri soap at a special price this month, along with our Sweetheart Shampoo & Shaving bar. Check out our Scent of the Month page for details.

We are also offering two varieties of Antibacterial soap - both a natural variety and a super sudsing variety. Both soaps are infused with our own blend of 5 essential oils, including tea tree oil. This makes an excellent hand soap!

For a limited time you can save 20% off select Hair Care products, such as our Natural Detangler and liquid Botanical Shampoos, and selected Shampoo Bars.

Unscented

2009-01-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

This weekend only - all unscented soaps are being offered at 20% off their regular retail price. Available soaps:

* Baby Bear kids' soap
* Honey Bear
* Honey Bear with Goat Milk
* Basic Bar
* Calendula Baby
* Basic Facial Bar
* Sweet Cheeks facial bar
* Buttercup facial bar
* Crunchy Buttercup facial bar
* Unscented Shampoo & Shaving bar
* Beer Shampoo & Shaving bar
* Unscented Wool Wash bar

In addition, our 4 ounce and 8 ounce jars of Sugar Body Polish are on sale this month for 20% off their regular retail price. You may select any BHS essential oil, EO blend, or fragrance oil option.

We are offering a FREE oversized handcrafted pine soap deck for orders that total $50 or more this weekend only.

Black Friday - One Day Only

2008-11-28T00:08:00.000-08:00

Blue House Soaps is offering a special gift set giveaway for one day only, Black Friday. Every purchase of $25 or more will receive a FREE 2 ounce Holiday Peppermint gift set. This set includes:

* 2 ounce bar of Pure Peppermint 100% natural soap, wrapped in holiday fabric.

* 2 ounce bottle of Pure Peppermint Creamy Lotion. This lotion is paraben-free, scented with peppermint essential oil, and packaged in a cobalt blue bottle.

* NEW single bar soap deck. This NEW soap deck design is perfect for one bar of soap or sample soaps. This new design is also now available for purchase in the Accessories section.

* A cello bag and gift tag to complete the set!

Holiday Collabs

2008-11-03T10:38:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity to do a collaboration with June of Rising Sun Earthworks. She crafted these great little soap dishes that will appear at tonight's 10pm stocking at Universal Mama.

This soap dish can double as a spoon rest. It is glazed in vivid red and would make a cheerful holiday accent in the bathroom or the kitchen. It is microwavable, dishwasher and oven safe.

Visit UM tonight to see 2 other BHS/RSE collaborations - and lots of other great WAHM wares!

~Melissa

Enjoying Fall

2008-10-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Three days of rain later, the sun is finally peeking out at us in Kansas! Bill and I have spent the last few days making soap, ordering supplies to prepare for holiday shoppers, and shipping orders. The last several days we have carried 2 bins of mail to the post office. We're approaching a really busy time - although the last several months have been very busy already.

We're preparing for the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt as well as making changes and updates to our website. A newsletter will announce new products and other changes at Blue House Soaps this weekend.

Last night I took a little break to watch the debates and make the kids some fall treats. My kids love apples, and we go through a bag in just a few days. Last night we dressed them up a bit, rolling them in white chocolate and nuts. The kids loved it!

Happy Fall!

~Melissa

Shampoo Bar review

2008-10-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

A new review we came across. This one is written by our friend Tiffany of Nature Moms. This is a great blog with lots of pertinent info for the green family:

Nature Moms Blog

As a reminder, any good quality, handcrafted bar of soap will last much longer if allowed to dry properly in between uses. Don't forget to add a pine soap deck to your next order. You'll find them in the ACCESSORIES category:

~M.

Last Sale of the Summer - save 25%

2008-09-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

Our BOGO promotion earlier this summer was a huge success. During the 5-day sale, 1,312 bars of soap were sold. Each bar was hand cut, hand wrapped, and packed for shipment by Bill and myself. We appreciate our customer's patience as we filled orders for this huge promotion!

Scent of the month for September is Orchard - a combination of crisp apples, clove, and cinnamon spices. We have paired this soap with Cinnamon Vanilla Shampoo & Shaving Bar. Both are available in a special 2 ounce size and price for the month of September. You can view these at our Scent of the Month page.

To celebrate the last days of summer, please use your newsletter discount code to save 25% off all orders of $25 or more. You can sign up for our FREE newsletter at our website. This sale will be the LAST sale of 2008 - so stock up now!

~Melissa

BHS Bowl

2008-06-25T19:55:00.001-07:00

I found a very sweet seller on Etsy, Leesa Brinkley, owner of Handgrown Pottery.

She made me this beautiful bowl as a custom:

Gardening and Calendula

2008-05-28T16:06:00.001-07:00

We've had thunderstorms in Kansas for several days. The downside is that our kids have been going stir crazy in the house, unable to play outside.
On a good note, our garden is sprouting! I snapped these pictures last night:

and the full view, with our pathetic bucket man scarecrow:

This is the entire back fence, covered in honeysuckle. My entire yard smells like honeysuckle and the girls love it:

And our newest soap, which should be added to the site any day now. Calendula Baby incorporates hand picked calendula petals into our olive oil, coconut and palm soap recipe. This bar is fragrance and dye free. The use of calendula for it's moisturizing benefits dates back to ancient times. I love the way this bar turned out. The yellow is so beautiful!

~Melissa

WAHM/D obstacles

2008-05-21T10:59:00.001-07:00

It seems that whenever we get a big rush of orders or obligations that our equipment chooses not to cooperate with us.
This past week Bill's table saw decided to die. The saw had been a Father's Day gift several years ago, and served us well. Bill used it regularly to make our Oversized Pine Soap Decks, as well as numerous household projects. Though he was sad that his saw died, I saw the twinkle in his eye when we decided that it was time to buy a new table saw. I had the pleasure of "helping" him pick out this new saw - my choices centered around which ones would fit best on our back deck.
Bill finally made his decision and put this together a few nights ago:

And the fruits of his labor - his first project:

Not really soap relevant...

2008-05-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

Our youngest child, David graduated from kindergarten today!

A Word about Our Natural Liquid Soap...

2008-04-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

All of the natural liquid soaps you see in our store are handcrafted by us. The process for making liquid soaps differs from making cold process bar soap and can be a bit trickier. To make a natural liquid soap, we begin with basic oils (olive and sunflower for our recipe) and an alkali, potassium hydroxide. This alkali will saponify the oils but will keep them liquid. When crafting bar soap we use sodium hydroxide, which saponifies the oils into a hard bar of soap.

A natural liquid soap will be a bit thinner than you would expect of a liquid soap, but don't let the consistency fool you. A good quality, PH balanced natural liquid soap will be extremely moisturizing and feel silky when running through your hands. Keep this in mind when ordering any natural liquid soap product from our store, including the Botanical Shampoos, Crunchy Mama All-in-One, and Natural Facial Cleansers.

We have chosen a combination of olive and sunflower oils for several reasons. Although coconut oil may result in a better lather, we feel that the light sunflower oil contains valuable moisturizing properties. Sunflower oil is rich in vitamins A, D, and E. It is easily absorbed into the skin, moisturizing without leaving a greasy feel. We have encountered a number of customers who have coconut allergies that leave them with very few alternatives for natural soap and shampoo products. We currently ship our natural liquid soap to many international destinations on a regular basis, to meet the demand for a coconut free product. The low lathering ability of these soaps will in no way affect their ability to provide a moisturizing clean to your hair, face, and body.

This is a good time to introduce two new products to our store. Our two most popular facial care bars have been the Skin Saver and Sweet Cheeks Natural Facial Bars. We've had several requests for comparable natural liquid facial washes, and they will now be available via our main website.

The Sweet Cheeks Natural Facial Wash is a blend of olive and sunflower oils with raw honey incorporated. This is an excellent alternative for those who don't require a regular exfoliation, or those who would like to alternate between an exfoliating wash and more gentle cleansing routine.

The Skin Saver Natural Facial Wash also begins with our natural olive and sunflower oil soap, and includes the NEEM oil and tea tree essential oil that gives the Skin Saver bar it's distinct scent.

Both of these facial washes are designed to both cleanse and moisturize without stripping the face of it's natural oils. We suggest that you include an appropriate moisturizing step with your facial care routine.

Blue House Soaps packaging and BPA

2008-04-27T21:28:00.001-07:00

Click on the link for Wikipedia's explanation of BPA and the concern of chemicals found in plastic materials that leach into products we use every day.

Information about BPA

And a great fact sheet:

Environmental Defence: Toxic Nation

All of the packaging materials we use at Blue House Soaps are BPA free. Our plastic bottles and jars are PETE plastic, which is more practical for recycling than other plastic applications.

~Melissa

Palm Oil and deforestation

2008-04-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

There have been numerous articles lately pertaining to the origin of palm oil. Many major companies obtain their palm oil from Southeast Asian locations, which contributes to the destruction of the rainforest and wildlife in these locations. The process used to obtain the palm oil is referred to as the "slash and burn" method, whereby hundreds of acres of rainforest are literally burned to the ground, along with their inhabitants.
We use palm oil in many of our soap bars. The palm oil that we use is obtained in Columbia by small local farmers. This organic oil is cultivated in an environmentally sustainable manner, which in no way contributes to deforestation. Our palm oil is organic and the raw cost to us is considerably higher than if we were to purchase southeast asian palm.
We will continue to use this high quality oil in our soaps. Please check the ingredient listing of your cosmetics, snacks, and soap products. If the ingedient listing includes palm oil, ASK the manufacturer where that oil is obtained. Every responsible soapmaker should be able to trace their raw ingredients back to the origins.

~Melissa

Wrap it up

2008-04-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Bill and I made almost 300 bars of soap.
I have hand wrapped over 500 bars of soap for outgoing orders in the last 3 weeks.
Bill and I have hand poured over 300 bottles of custom product for outgoing orders.

I am really, really tired today!

~Melissa

Skin Saver soap

2008-04-05T13:02:00.001-07:00

I had a question from a customer this morning regarding our Skin Saver facial soap. This soap is our best selling facial care soap. I thought this information may be of interest to others, so I am posting it here at our blog.

Q: Is the Skin Saver soap supposed to be a bit soft?

A: The Skin Saver soap may be a bit softer than a commercial soap that you are used to. There are a few things about it that make it unique.

First of all, it is "superfatted" with oils that are specificially used to combat skin trauma such as acne. The NEEM oil we use is very rich and we add it at trace, which means that it is not saponified in with the other oils, but rather is added at the end stage so that you reap the full benefit of this amazing oil. Don't let the word "superfat" fool you - when this oil is added at trace it does tend to make the bar a bit softer than a typical bar, BUT the oils will work against the skin issues you are fighting a bit better.

This bar also contains French Green Clay. This clay is important in this recipe because it helps to draw oils from the skin and provides a rich, creamy lather. At the same time it may make the bar a bit softer. If you provide a well-draining dish for the soap to rest in when not in use, it should last a long time. Allow it to dry out completely between uses and rinse any lather from it after you use it. In spite of it's initial softness, it will continue to harden as it rests.
When formulating our facial care bars we did keep in mind that many people prefer a softer soap when washing their face, and the round shape provides an easier lather in your hands.

I hope I've provided some useful information. If you have any other
questions please don't hesitate to ask!

~Melissa

April 1 update

2008-04-01T14:59:00.001-07:00

I poured spearmint lip potion today and wrapped some soap. Bill is working on inventory and tracking some MIA packages. I hope that our readers find it interesting to read the daily activities around here, and have some insight as to what happens "beind the scenes" at Blue House Soaps.
We have some exciting things in the works for the upcoming months this spring. I recently hired a graphic designer to work on some new labels for our product packaging. Bill and I decided to invest in some new labels for our products that will be more all inclusive with regards to ingredients, product use recommendations, etc. We hope to have them ready this month.
Based on customer requests, there will be several new products to make their debut in the upcoming months. In an effort to offer a complete bath care line to our customers, we plan to offer some new products that will complete your natural Blue House Soaps line. A few products are still in development, and a few are just pending testing and packaging development. It takes a lot for a product to make it's way onto our website, and we have to feel 100% confident in offering it to our customers before we actually add it to our line. There are several products that have never quite made it to our website, and we are finally closing in on those and should have them ready for purchase soon. We're very excited about these new products, as they have been items that many customers have been specifically requesting for quite a while. I'll post more information as they become available. Of course, our newsletter group will be the first to hear about these new items.
Tonight we will be making soap, and tomorrow Bill will be making a few dozen soap decks while I make some natural laundry soap.

~Melissa

Wool Wash Day

2008-03-25T16:40:00.003-07:00

Bill and I made Wool Wash bars today.
California Lemon Wool Wash, Plumeria Wool Wash, Oatmeal Honey Vanilla Wool Wash, and Vanilla Velvet Wool Wash bars are all lined up on my kitchen counter.

Here is the melted lanolin butter:

And the other oils melting together on my stovetop in the soap pot:

Tomorrow we should have some yummy wool wash bars to cut!
I have some liquid soap on the stove now, and tonight we will make some facial bars. This is a busy month!

~Melissa

Work at Home setbacks

2008-03-25T06:50:00.001-07:00

It seems as though we experience a lot of setbacks as a small business that is operated from home. Last week after a large soaping, our kitchen drain decided to just stop draining. Those photos posted a few days ago of our St. Patty's day soaping were followed by our kitchen drain backing up into the sink. I decided not to post pictures - it wasn't a pretty sight. Bill spent a good portion of the evening trying to clear the drain before deciding that he would need some more professional help. Of course this happened just before we had scheduled a quick spring break getaway with our children. So we loaded the kids in the van and left for Kansas City on Tuesday morning. The drain would have to wait.
We had a fun 2 day trip with the kids. We visited some new spots, such as the T Rex Cafe. The kids had fun on a mini dinosaur dig and mining for gems and fossils. Tuesday was our daughter's 9th birthday, and she enjoyed the sundae dessert and HAPPY BIRTHDAY song delivered to our table. We also spent Wednesday in Kansas City, visiting Union Station and the planetarium.
The kitchen drain was still waiting for us when we arrived home, and Bill decided that he would need to rent a commercial grade snake for this job. He spent most of the afternoon on Thursday fixing that problem, but by dinnertime the drain was fixed. We jumped back into work on Thursday evening.
On Friday we experienced some winds here in Kansas, and every time we have windy weather we also experience cable problems. Unfortunately our high speed internet access is delivered via our cable modem, so the result is that we lose internet access throughout the day. We have had the cable company out to the house on several occasions in the past to assess this problem, and they advised on their last visit that we should upgrade our modem. So Bill finally conceded and installed a new modem on Saturday morning. It allowed us to access the internet again, but our television won't work while we are working on the internet. So it turned into a temporary solution, and the cable company is scheduled to arrive today to (hopefully) offer a more permanent solution.
And as soon as this issue is corrected, I expect there to be another obstacle in our work schedule.
Fortunately we have still managed to have orders moving out of the office. This morning we shipped orders placed on the 15th, so we are still operating within our 7 business day turnaround time as stated on our website.

~Melissa

Soap Review by Lori of Beneath the Rowan Tree

2008-03-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

We love to read product reviews written by customers. Here is a recent review written by a regular customer.

Soap Review

Thanks Lori!

St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T19:36:00.001-07:00

Bill and I celebrated by making soap. (ok, so we do that almost every day)
A lot of men's soaps...and some wool wash...and some Honey Bear...resting on a curing rack in our office:

New ad banners

2008-03-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

This banner was created for us by Lori of Beneath the Rowan Tree.

Check out her beautiful playsilks and more here:
Beneath the Rowan Tree

New Soaps

2008-03-16T15:59:00.001-07:00

Vanilla Mint - The unmistakable scent of warm, rich vanilla blended with cool peppermint essential oil. Peppermint leaf has been added to this soap for gentle exfoliation, with the unintended effect of creating a beautifully speckled bar.

Cold Relief - This soothing soap contains eucalyptus essential oils to relieve sinus congestion and pressure, lavender essential oils to soothe and hydrate your sensitive skin, and real flecks of peppermint leaf to invigorate the senses. This homeopathic essential oil remedy blend is available in many other products, including our Soothing Bath Soak.

California Lemon Wool Wash - We use the best quality of oils to create an all natural, gentle cleansing system for your precious wool. Pure saponified oils of olive, palm, and coconut are enhanced with a generous amount of natural anhydrous lanolin butter. These bars create a rich, thick lather. This scent is all natural with pure lemon essential oils.

A New Year and a new space

2008-03-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

The holiday season flew by and our home was a flurry of activity as we made BIG changes to Blue House Soaps.
We participated in a local arts and crafts fair here in our hometown. We were able to meet many new prospective customers and discuss skin care, allergies, and make recommendations. It was a long day, but we learned a lot about "point of sale" and being able to discuss product information on the spot. Talking with customers face to face is very different from answering email inquiries. It was a good learning experience, and a profitable day.
Our little business had finally outgrown the office space we had been occupying (ie a spare bedroom on the main floor, off the family room). Bill and I made the decision to relocate our business to the master bedroom we had just renovated last year. Moving ALL of our supplies, desks, equipment, etc - and then rewiring it all and installing a wireless router in our home was a BIG job. And then we had to move our bedroom furniture into the smaller bedroom downstairs. When all of the work was finished we were very excited with the outcome. We now have more than double the workspace and a much more efficient area. Our supplies are all well organized in cabinets and dressers to keep dust from them, and Bill installed new shelving to house all of the soaps, essential and fragrance oils, and soapmaking supplies. Best of all, our new office is across the foyer from our kitchen, where our soapmaking actually occurs. It was WELL worth the tradeoff to have a smaller bedroom. After all, we spend most of our time in our office, and now we have more space to work, and a comfortable work environment. This space also has a large picture window, so we can open the blinds and get natural sunlight during the day.
Our annual family vacation in February recharged us after a very busy holiday season. During this time we extended our shipping window to 7 business days from receipt of payment. We had anticipated a return to our 5 day window within a few weeks, but much to our surprise we have seen a steady increase in our incoming orders. Each month we are surprised (and grateful) to see that our orders are nearly doubling from last years' order count. There has been a steady stream of NEW customers to Blue House Soaps, and MORE demand for natural bath products in our line.
We recently offered a co op purchase to a large group and plan to be extremely busy over the next two weeks as we fill that order. It has brought many new customers to Blue House Soaps, and we are very grateful for the confidence of the co op host in placing such a large order with us.
We have another large group who has tentatively scheduled a co op next month, and then we will participate in the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt again in May.
This year is already proving to be a very successful year for our business. Thanks for checking back in. I plan to update our blog with new information on a more regular basis in 2008.

~Melissa

Blue House Soaps new website LAUNCHED today

2007-11-09T16:24:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website today! Our site has moved to a new host and features a more dynamic shopping experience for our customers. We'd like to point out some new features we now offer. The site will require less clicking and scrolling than our previous site. The product pages should load on the screen in their entirety for 95% of the products. When you select a product from the SHOP dropdown, you can view each item by hovering over the product name with your mouse. Our new site features a new shopping cart, which will be easily accessible from any screen. You can now view your cart with the shipping costs and discounts WHILE you shop. Please email us using the CONTACT form in the DETAILS section with any questions or concerns you may have. Our new site design and layout features the work of Daphne Hardy of Pink Parasol Designs. We hope it makes your shopping experience at Blue House Soaps more streamlined, efficient, and overall more pleasant. Click HERE to visit Blue House Soaps.

The newest addition to our line of Natural Facial Care Products is an item for the man in your life: Mr. Mellow Natural After Shave Spray. This soothing, cooling fine mist spray offers a unique blend of soothing oils, antiseptic properties, and a crisp scent of lime essential oil. Available in 3 sizes, this is a perfect follow up to a natural shave with our Shampoo & Shaving Bars. Click HERE to view Mr. Mellow After Shave Spray.

Our unique blend of lemon, lavender, bitter almond, and ginger essential oils is now available in most Blue House Soaps products as Honey Almond Essential Oil Blend. If you enjoy the sweet scent of our Libby's Honey Almond Facial Cream, you will enjoy this scent as a Hydra Mist, Detangler, Home & Linen Spray, and more. Click HERE to view all of the Scent options at Blue House Soaps.

To help us celebrate our new website, join our FREE newsletter to save 20% on all orders placed this weekend. Click HERE to join our newsletter from the website page.

~Melissa Gephart

Blue House Soaps Sponsors the Fall 2007 Great Cloth Diaper Hunt

2007-11-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Twice a year an online scavenger hunt is sponsored by work at home parents. Sponsors "hide" a diaper graphic somewhere on their site, and hunters who find the graphic can win prizes donated by the sponsors.
We have sponsored this scavenger hunt several times, and it always proves to be a fun time for us as well as those hunting. We have met customers from all over the world, and each hunt adds to our newsletter group and customer base. If you are a work at home parent with an online business, we encourage you to check it out for the spring 2008 hunt.
If you enjoy scavenger hunts, it isn't too late to register to play! The event is hosted by
Diaper Decisions. Regsitration is easy and FREE. Don't forget to use Blue House Soaps as your referral.

~Melissa

New Locations

2007-10-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

Blue House Soaps is now stocking at the Hyena Cart congo,
Universal Mama. This is a very talented group of artisans and we are pleased to offer our products at this venue. Stocking time is every Monday at 10 pm EST. Come visit Hyena Cart this week, where we will be offering several sample sets at a discounted price.

We have now also opened an Etsy store. This site offers a lot of unique, handcrafted items. We encourage you to visit and browse. We've already met some very talented people there!

~Melissa

Customs

2007-10-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

In the past we've had the privilege to create favors for baby showers, birthday parties, and conferences. This month we've been working on our first bridal shower and wedding combination. The mother of the bride wanted favors for the bridal shower, customized with the bride's theme and name, and wrapped in fabric that coordinated with her snowflake theme wedding. This wedding will welcome many out of town guests to the location, and we put together a nice package to greet them at their hotel. These 1 ounce bottles were custom ordered and contain a unisex Cinnamon Vanilla Gel Wash and Creamy Lotion set. We created custom labels for the bride to commemorate her special day.

Consider Blue House Soaps for custom orders. We are happy to work with you to create exactly what you need for your special event.

~Melissa

WAHM Samples

2007-10-10T01:32:00.001-07:00

We have found it very beneficial to our business to participate in WAHM sample swaps and promotions. We supply samples to other WAHMs to include with their orders, and we also join groups that promote our business by using samples of our products. We are participating in two major sample promotions this month.

On October 15th, WAHM sample boxes will be available at The Spotted Box. This store is located at Hyena Cart, and each box will contain samples from other WAHM vendors at Hyena Cart. Included in this box will be samples of soap, wipes, magnets, bookmarks, lotions, candy, pens, hair products, jewelry, tea, toys, wool products, and more. Blue House Soaps has contributed samples of our two new Wool Wash Bar scents - Vanilla Velvet and Plumeria. You can read more about the box and purchase one on October 15th here:
http://hyenacart.com/TheSpottedBox/

We will also participate in a sample box made available through Diaper Decisions. The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt is managed by Diaper Decisions, and this year the owner is putting together sample boxes that will be available for purchase prior to the Hunt. Each box will contain samples from WAHM stores that will sponsor the Hunt. (we will post more about this online scavenger hunt later). Our samples for this venture will include a nice cross sample of our product line. You will be able to purchase these boxes and register for the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt here:
http://www.diaperdecisions.com/

You may see our samples in a few other venues next month. We are lining up some new promotions prior to the holidays.

~Melissa

No Coconut ~ An Update

2007-09-28T00:14:00.000-07:00

Our first batch of coconut free bar soap is in the curing stage. We have completed some initial testing and have determined that this soap; although moisturizing, will not harden sufficiently to be mailable or long-lasting. Bill has completed some additional research and has re-formulated our recipe for a coconut-free, all-in-one bar soap.
I recall our initial soapmaking ventures, and how many batches actually ended up in the trash in those early days. I won't actually be tossing this batch - it still has some practical uses in our home. After all, 4 kids go through a lot of bar soap for hand washing! This will keep their washroom stocked with hand soap for a month.
We plan to make several batches of soap tomorrow - including our Pure Peppermint soap, a batch of Skin Saver (which we are now making every week, just to keep up with orders), and another batch of coconut-free bar soap. I will update once the new batch is on the drying rack.

~Melissa

Just say no to coconut.

2007-09-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

The demand for coconut free products has greatly increased. We have customers from all over the world emailing us to ask about our coconut free line. Our coconut free products currently include two varieties of botanical shampoos, along with an all-in-one liquid soap. We are currently in the testing stage with a bar of coconut free soap. We hope to have this product available soon in an unscented version for testing. Once we establish a recipe that we feel is comparable to our current bar soap recipe in performance, we plan to expand our coconut free line of products greatly.
Also in the works is a coconut free lotion or moisturizer. If you have an interest in testing a coconut free bar soap, please email me for information or with details regarding your allergies or concerns.

~Melissa

Retro Fun. Like, Groovy.

2007-09-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

I have an entire stash of essential oils that I reserve for my own personal use. I occasionally whip up a detangler, or a bottle of lotion for our own use - and have fun creating new scents with my oils. I have never been a big fan of patchouli, but a few months ago I was experimenting with some body balms and used the patchouli oil to create a new essential oil blend. The result was amazing. I've been using the balm for a few months now, mainly as a lip balm but also on my hands at night - and the scent is earthy, clean, and unique.
This weekend I listed some patchouli detangler, home & linen spray, and other blends at our Hyena Cart site. If there is enough interest in this essential oil, I may start carrying it at our main site and create a soap with it as well. I'm leaning toward the patchouli/rosemary blend, maybe with a hint of citrus. You can view our totally groovy stocking at Hyena Cart:
http://www.hyenacart.com/BlueHouseSoaps

Welcome

2007-09-06T18:22:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Blue House Soaps Blog. This is the place to read about our soapmaking, our testing process, and our business planning. Bill and I will be updating the blog on a more personal level than our newsletter, which we use to advise our customers about new products, sales, and promotions. You can check our blog at your convenience, or subscribe to be automatically updated when we create a new post.

There are some major changes to Blue House Soaps, and you can read about them in detail here at our blog spot. The biggest change is that all of our children are now in school full time. Bill and I have the run of the entire house during the day, which should allow us more time to devote to our business, including business planning and product development. We plan to add several new products to our Crunchy Mama line, streamline our soapmaking process, and debut a new look for Blue House Soaps in the very near future.

~Melissa