Well, I made some new goodies today. I have a bunch more to do when Im not making soap and lotions and what not. I soooo miss designing and scrapping. I took some adorable pictures of Neena today I am dying to scrap, so.... I will work on that today after I get my lotion orders filled. I have like 4 to fill today.
Anyhoo..... What do I have in my goodie bag today???
Well I put together some new papers, and some word art for those goofy spring and summer pics that will be coming up of our kids and friends getting into the mood of the fun seasons....
I have some paper butterflies I will be post after I get some more designs together. But there is the sneak Peak.......

Don't you just hate it when you have a good point or say something witty and someone else copies it and claims it for their own?? Copyright infringment is Copyright infringment..... Get your own opinion, and if you share one, find a way to express it in your own way, right? I've been a blogger for years, and I've found things I've written in other places. It ticked me off.....

read this.....

http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/09/27/the-bitacle-battle-of-blogs/

Coming Soon at Soaps 'N Suds , our official Soaps 'N Suds Tshirt. Free with every $50.00 order, or available in the store for an introductory price of $8.99 regularly $16.99 for the first two weeks of listing.
Expected Availability is March 15th. Keep posted on the blog for the Actual Arrival date. Local Customers caught wearing our Tshirts in public will recieve a free gift from Soaps 'N Suds.

10% Discount to the first ten customers to order at Soaps 'N Suds and enter the Promotional Code below. Promotional Codes are case sensative and must be entered exactly.

Feel Free to share this coupon with family friends. You are welcome to snag it and attach it to your outgoing emails. ;)

My muscle man, "Nate the Muscle Man Savage". He's always hamming around, but this time he had some balloons he was stuffing in his shirt to look like muscles. That was funny, but when I turned my back, he decided to turn up the humor a notch.....



and shove them in his drawers, giving him a really big butt. ha ha. It's never a dull moment around here with him! If he's not pulling pranks and trying to make us laugh, he is forever taping things up with black tape and making new comic books.

Soap Makin' Moma,
Rachel

I have the new webring banners listed to share on your blogs and webpages. They are all listed to the right under "Link Me".

I would love to share your blog and pages on my website, and would greatly appreciate the same. Just copy the link in the scroll bar and paste it to your blog links or on your webpage, email me with your web address or blog and I'll return the favor.

Webrings are fun and free advertising for everyone! If you link me on your page and leave it there, I'll send you a special email discount coupon for the store. ;) My show of gratitude for helping me get my little business going. My efforts to work hard at this business where I can work at home has benefited me and my children where I can be around them more, and not have to work two and three jobs.... any help in advertising you bring us would help and be appreciated . ;)

The first Link is the FIGHT CLUB like for my soaps n suds blog. Here, you will find updates on my new products including my favorite past time - Digital Scrapbooking, Digital scrap freebies, sales coupons for the store, my Skin Deep articles about natural skin care, and updates on me and the kiddos. :)

The Other three links are banners linking to my official Soaps 'N Suds website, so you can find my store and products easily in the future and share Soaps 'N Suds with your friends.

I appreciate you keeping posted and passing my blog and website on to others.

Sincerely,
Soap Makin' Moma -
Rachel

Dear Friends and Family -

As you all know I am always reading and researching ways to improve my organic skin care line to provide the best usage for our skin. Long ago we realized that certian perfumes, lotions and even soaps bothered my mom who is a migraine sufferer. Not completely sure what was actually causing them to trigger headaches for her and sneezing and itching for me and other people, I kind of felt like alot of fragrances got the bum-wrap because they smell nice but they caused problems!

Most of the synthetic fragrance oils I use in my organics have not bothered my mom or myself at all. She uses everything I make and hasn't had any negative reactions to the fragrances or ingredients. Is this because it's all naturally made products? Well, to a degree yes, but there is still that small percentage of synthetic fragrance I use to make my organic products smell nice. People love fragrance and are more likely to use something that smells good over something with no fragrance at all. Nicely scented products makes bathing and skin care alot more fun.

I did some reading on these products that give mom a headache and make me sneeze and itch and they all have a common factor, an ingredient called phthalates.

After going through all of my fragrances from my supplier they list which ones contain phthalates and which ones do not. Out of the 100's of FO's they offer, I have only found two that contain phthalates and they list it clearly. They have the same goal I do, to provide nice smelling skin care products with natural and organic ingredients and skin and allergy safe synthetics! So far, all of the fragrances I use are phthalate - free, which explains why even the strongest smelling products I've made have not given mom a headache, made me sneeze and itch and are a joy to use.

So what are these evil little phthalates that are floating around in manufatctured skin care? Read this article so you know what is in alot of perfumes and lotions, and what's NOT in my organic skin care. Once you read this article it will make you rethink what you're putting on your body. Remember our skin is our largest most absorbant organ and everything it comes in contact with, it will absorb like a sponge, and there are just somethings you do not want floating around your body, soaking into your skin or rubbing off on other people!

http://www.checnet.org/HealtheHouse/education/articles-detail.asp?Main_ID=509

Love,
Rachel
Soaps 'N Suds
Hobbs, New Mexico

I'm a poster girl with no poster,
I'm 32 flavors and then some,
And I'm beyond your peripheral vision
So you might want to turn your head.

Monday Morning:
Rise and shine to a luxorious Soaps 'N Suds Bubble Wash bath or shower or srub up with Soaps 'N Suds Handmade Organic soap with our wonderful Mesh soap Saver.
Wash and Pamper delicate facial skin with Soaps 'N Suds Foaming Facial Sugar Whip.
Moisturize with Rocky's Hemp and Butter Blend or Sweet Thang Dessert Body Souffle
Pamper your Pucker with Soaps 'N Suds Kisses organic Lip Butter
Roll on your Favorite Soaps 'N Suds Fragrance or Solid Perfume
Carry Along your Favorite Soaps 'N Suds Roll on Fragrance, Kisses Lip Butter and Sweet Thang Body Souffle.
Monday Evening:
Soak in a warm bath with a Soaps 'N Suds Bath Bon Bon ( don't forget to rince your tab for the next person... bon bons are slippery!)
Wash and pamper delicate facial skin with Soaps 'N Suds Foaming Facial Sugar Whip.
Moisturize with Sweet Thang Dessert Body Souffle or Rocky's Hemp and Butter Blend
Pamper your Pucker with Soaps 'N Suds Kisses Organic Lip Butter
Roll on your Favorite Soaps 'N Suds Fragrance or Solid Perfume
Spoil your tired Monday tooties to a massage with Soaps 'N Suds Ballerina Butter and Foot scrub. Pull on some comfy socks and watch WWE's Monday Night Raw!

Tuesday Morning:
Repeat Monday Morning!! :)
Tuesday evening:
Soak in a warm bath with a Soaps 'N Suds Bath Confetti
Wash and pamper delicate facial skin with Soaps 'N Suds Foaming Facial Sugar Whip.
Moisturize with Sweet Thang Dessert Body Souffle or Rocky's Hemp and Butter Blend
Pamper your Pucker with Soaps 'N Suds Kisses Organic Lip Butter
Roll on your Favorite Soaps 'N Suds Fragrance or Solid Perfume
Spoil your tired tuesday tooties to a massage with Soaps 'N Suds Ballerina Butter and Foot scrub!

Wednesday Morning:
Repeat Tuesday Morning!! ;)
Wednesday evening:
Soak in a warm bath with Soaps 'N Suds Da' Bomb Bath Bombs!
Wash and pamper delicate facial skin with Soaps 'N Suds Foaming Facial Sugar Whip.
Moisturize with Sweet Thang Dessert Body Souffle or Rocky's Hemp and Butter Blend
Pamper your Pucker with Soaps 'N Suds Kisses Organic Lip Butter
Roll on your Favorite Soaps 'N Suds Fragrance or Solid Perfume
Light a Soaps 'N Suds Tart/Oil Warmer with your Favorite Soaps 'N Suds Incense oil or Tart
Relax to Mozart or Beethoven

Thursday Morning:
Repeat Wednesday Morning!! :)
Repeat any night of the week with your favorite Soaps 'N Suds regimen.

Friday Morning:
Repeat Thursday Morning!! :)
Friday Night:
Induldge in a Soaps 'N Suds Bubble Bath for two!
Get comfy and put on some romantic music!
Light a Soaps 'N Suds Fragrant Soy Candle or two, or three , or MORE!
Enjoy a full body massage with a Soaps 'N Suds Massage Candle.....
Saturday and Sunday you're on your own !!! :)

Sweet Thang Dessert Body Souffle™ our best selling every day hand and body butter is now available online at Soaps 'N Suds . Sweet Thang Dessert Body Souffle™ is our dessert themed body butter and bath treat line and includes bath cupcakes, bath truffles, bath cookies and now dessert body souffle.

This rich creamy body butter features cocoa butter, shea butter, jojoba oil , goats milk and coconut milk. Cocoa butter is known for it's properties in helping to prevent and treat exsisting stretchmarks and has a spectacular reputation for moisturizing the skin. Shea and jojoba oil are both easily absorbed into the skin and are loaded with vitamens and moisturizing properties. Shea is wonderful for sensative skin.
Goats milk and coconut milk are more closely ph balanced to human skin than any other emollient and are wonderful helping in regenerating new skin cells and maintaning a healthy youthful complextion.

Available in the following fragrances :
cupcake
banana split
chocolate fantasy
Juicy Cherry
Banana Cream
Monkey Burps™

with many more coming soon.

Available in 9 oz. at this time for $12.00.

Exclusive to Soaps 'N Suds , Rocky's Hemp and Butter Blend Hand and Body Cream, is a special formula I designed for problemed skin. My cousin Rocky showed me his hands after church one sunday, and they were severely dry and cracked. He proclaims to have tried everything on the market and nothing worked for him. So I designed a cream just for him that has worked wonders on his hands. After a month his hands have returned to a healthy state and you can't tell they ever suffered the extent of damage they had.

By word of mouth, Rocky's cream had intregued people and arouse curiosity and I began to recieve special requests. Now, my most popular selling body butter and patent pending formula is available online at Soaps 'N Suds.

Available in the original Vanilla Fragrance, and now, some new fragrances coming soon after testing.

Rocky's contains a high concentration of Hemp Oil and various butters, such as Cocoa, Shea and Mango and many other organic oils to create this smooth, creamy healing lotion. Excellent for problemed skin like psoriasis, eczema, acne, rash, dry itching and cracking skin. Rocky's also has goats milk and coconut milk to maintane a healthy youthful complextion and is wonderful for normal healthy skin as well. Why give your skin an opportunity to be damaged when you can use Rocky's Hemp and Butter Blend for preventative maintance.

Currently only available in a 9 oz. bottle, with new sizes and trial sizes coming soon. only $13.50 for this fantastic and raved about organic body butter.

Our Tart/ Oil warmers will be available in the online store this week!! Our shipment is due to arrive this week and we have a variety of cute Pewter and polyresin tart / oil warmers to accompany the use of our fantastic soy wax tarts and handmade incense oils.

Also available in this shipment, Mystical Dragons and pewter fairies. Collect them all!
Only available at Soaps 'N Suds.

Alot of people don't use bath soaps these days because they have grown accustom to the store brands that leave your skin itchy, dry, flaky and filmy. I stopped using soap years ago because of it. In fact, alot of people resort to using body washes with added glycerine and manufactured moisturizers for this reason. I don't blame them, because I did too.

I found out the reasons behind the itchy skin drying store bought soap was because of the process of removing the valuable glycerine from the soap to use in other cosmetics and they use ANIMAL TALLOW. Animal tallow is a type of fat that will dry your skin....YUCK! Glycernine is created from the sopanification of fats and oils and creates a sweet syrupy concoction that key to fine soaps for their moisturizing properties. With the glycerine removed, how will the soap moisturize your skin? You will be clean, but you will be itchy because it strips your skin of the essential oils your need to maintane healthy moisturization. Glycerine also pulls moisture from the air and into the skin. So better soap has more glycerine.

Experiment:
Not everyone will be able to do this unless they know a soap boiler or order my soap online, but if you have access to homemade soap, then try this out to prove my point. Take any bar of store bought soap and wash your arms with it, or even your legs and face. After you dry off wait a minute or two and you'll notice your skin will feel like it's tight and pulling, then comes the itching. The first thing you'll want to do is grab some lotion. The reason behind this, is as I stated above, it removes the strips the moisture from your skin, that's why you itch? Now, try your homemade soap from Soaps 'N Suds and after you've washed up and dried off you'll notice your skin will feel smooth, soft and moisturized. Why is this?

Not all soap is created equal. Soap manufactures use harsher fats from beef most commonly and they remove the glycerine to put into your lotions. Your store bought soap is cheaper, but it's also not as high a qaulity. Homemade soap, particular that made with Cold Processed Method like I use, retains all of the natural glycerine created in the sopanification process. Nothing is removed or stripped away!! I use natural plant fats rather than beef fats for my soap, such as, Shea butter, cocoa butter, avacado butter, mango butter, hemp oil, olive oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, macadamia oil, sweet almond oil etc. These nature made super fats and oils are healthy for your body when you cook with them and they do amazing things to your skin when you bathe with them. High in emollients, vitamens, minerals and natural moisturizes the best thing for your skin is botanicals. They are gentle and soothing and the nurture your skin.

Homemade soaps maybe a little more expensive ranging from $4.00 to $20.00 a bar ( as seen in Neman Marcus) but they are the best soap you'll ever treat your skin to.

All of the handmade soaps I create are my own recipes and are full of nutricious ingredients, including goats milk,honey and oatmeal.

I have new soaps coming up regularly, I invite you to take a look. My favorite bar is the goats milk and honey soap. It has a smooth creamy lather, and has amazing moisturizing properties. It's a must have. Currently in Honeysuckle blossom , Honey and Shea.

Soap makin' mama -
Rachel

The original website looked very pretty and elegant, was set up by the web designers building my site, BUT.... it just didn't fit my style much.

So, today I did a little tweaking with it and came up with some graphics I like and seems to be more "me".

I took pictures of my own products and tubed them and created some cute little bubbles and what not, I'm happy with the way it's turning out so far. Feels more like my website and not a computer generated website.

Been working out the bugs and glitches for grand opening. The other day I signed on and all of the key words the marketers generated showed up at the top of my home page and some of the key words were a strange mix that made no sence. Had to call and get that one straightened out. No biggie.

Some of my slide shows aren't behaving yet, but they are coming together.

I'm just really happy with the over all outlook of the whole site, and since I kinda took over and created my own graphics and started designing it my way, I feel more comfortable with it.

Only thing that bugs me, is I can't change the layout of the store on my own, I have to have some one do that for me. I know little CSS and NO SSI, what so ever, I am strictly on old school HTML and JAVA girl. So all of that is foreign language to me. I don't have any time to learn that extra stuff anyway.

I have three shelves FULL of soap and more to make as soon as I get more coconut oil. You simply cannot make a nice fluffy lathering bar of soap without coconut oil. You can but won't be as fluffy... just boring old lather.

I had a nice compliment on the Lotion I made for Roc. His hands were in horriable shape, and I created a lotion that overhauled his hands completely. They look 100% better and everyone else who has tried it fell in love. It's more expensive to make, but he said he has tried everything on the market and nothing worked. YAY! A new Signature product to add to my line.

Sales are good on ebay and etsy, it's what is keeping my money coming in for me and the kids right now. It's steady. So, I hope and pray that the site will take off better so perhaps I can eventually leave ebay all together and stay with my site and etsy only.

I like the idea of working at home and being my own boss, but I love the idea of being home with my kids more and having the opportunity to raise them and watch them go . I've really missed them the last few months. Working for someone else is alot of times the only way, but if I can do it for myself I will. With God's help, it will all work out.

Ecstatic -
Rachel

What is the difference between my handmade cold processed soap and store bought manufactured soaps? Quality, content and effectiveness.
Manufactured soaps are created from a hot process of combining an alkali mixture to a animal tallow mixture and boiling it for a long period of time to create soap. During this boiling process the natural glycerine produced seperates from the soap mixture and manufacturers sell the valuable glycerine for other skin care products. Manufactured soaps mainly contain animal tallow which can dry your skin and make it itchy or flaky and will leave a slight residue on your skin. They tend to use cheaper ingredients for cost effectiveness and add different chemical preservatives for a long shelf life. During the boiling process the tallows and oils will become rancid, therefore the preservatives are necessary for a longer shelf life. They use a hot process method to speed the sopanification process to make soap cheaper and quicker for shipment needs to grocery stores. This may be a cost effective way to produce and sell soap, but your skin will suffer from it.

My handmade soaps are made with the old fashioned cold processed method of heating natural botanical fats and oils to just melting point and adding a goat's milk and alkali or water and alkali mixture at room temperature. This method retains the glycerine created in the soap, which is needed for drawing moisture to your skin. The cold processed method of making soap does not require boiling, therefore does not require preservatives. I use natural oils and butters such as cocoa butter, mango butter, shea butter , sweet almond oil, shea oil, macadamia oil, hemp oil, olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, cottonseed oil and many others. This produces a natural organic bar of soap, that lasts longer and is nourishing to your skin as it gently cleanses. My process of adding goat's milk to the soap creates a quality bar of soap that is gentle to sensitive skin. This method is a bit more expensive to make and sell than manufactured soaps, but it is a higher qaulity, healthier for your skin and at a high demand. You will not find a bar of handcrafted cold processed soap at any market store, you must know a soap maker.
Our CP Soap can be purchased in high end department stores for $20.00 a bar, but we offer our fine soaps at an extremely competative price for only $4.99 a bar. Our bars are larger and richer in organic ingredients and glycerine and there isn't a high markup because you're purchasing directly from us. We personally test our soaps and bath products on ourselves so we know it will be gentle to your skin, and we use only the finest fragrance oils and essential oils and not the cheaper fragrances to save cost to us. You receive the best of the best!

Well, I've been working and working on the website and I still have alot of products to load, *GASP* but, I think I will be ready for the grand opening in about a week or two. Hopefully a week. I am really anxious to get going and not have to rely so much on ebay.
I like ebay, but selling on my own website will mean I won't have to pay all of those listing fees and what not.

So if you've been checking in regularly for when the store will open, have no fear, it's coming soon. There's just alot of work involved in this, but I am getting there, slowly but surely. I am just so excited!! And the site looks real elegant!!

what my site will feature is about what I do and why Cold Processed Old Fashion Soaps, Bath Bombs, Lotions, Lip balms, Candles and tons of other products I offer in my gift line.... is just....sooo great. :)

Then there is the store, which is the part I am working right now. So if you visit the website and go to the store it will say it's closed for maintance. I am not ready to process orders yet. I am loading products and then the stressful part.... Waiting for my tart warmers and other accessories to arrive. I ordered a week ago and it should arrive soon. Each wholesaler is differant.

So excited and anxious to start business....

Rachel
www.soaps-n-suds.com

There are alot of trendy handmade bath products on the market and one of them is the Bath Bomb Cupcake. I made some the other night just because they are just so darn cute, and they've been a hit with the family and friends. The kids love them and they wanted to take their bath without me hassling them.

They smell like a fresh iced cupcake with butter cream icing and come in Pink, Yellow, Red, Blue and Purple. They look real and smell real and make baths alot of fun. They are fantastic for gift giving.

The Bath Cupcake has the benefits of a sugar scrub for your feet or face and the moisturizing properties of a bath bomb! I make them with my usual bath bomb formula featuring shea butter or cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, hemp oil, macedamie oil, vitamen e, jojoba , and sea salts. So these adorable sweet smelling little bath treats have alot of health benefits for your skin.

I have them available in a set of 4 - 1 oz cupcakes or Indivudual larger cupcakes in 4 oz. Each cupcake ordered is made fresh when the order is recieved and cured for two days then packaged in shrink wrap.

They smell so yummy you'll want to take a bite, but they won't taste good, so pamper your skin with this calorie free bath treat.

Order at http://www.soaps-n-suds.com/, they're located in the bath bombs .