BAR-twork: Pencil Lines

Sara WagnerTips, Tricks & Tutorials2 Comments

If you’ve ever used handcrafted soap, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen soap with a pencil line, or a thin line of mica or other colorant that separates the soap either in the middle, or even in a marbling pattern. What you may not know is that this is actually a very simple technique that can be used with … Read More

Common Scents: Sweet Orange

Sara WagnerTips, Tricks & TutorialsLeave a Comment

Welcome to our series, Common Scents! Common Scents is a series of articles exploring the history of commonly used essential oils, and how they became so popular in modern day soap and cosmetic crafting. In this edition of Common Scents, we will take a look at the uplifting history of sweet orange, often referred to simply as orange or orange … Read More

How To Represent Your Brand: Naming Your Products

Sara WagnerBusiness & FinanceLeave a Comment

There are so many moving parts when it comes to launching a business, it’s difficult to know where to start! One of the considerations you will have to face is the naming of your products. Whether you choose elaborate or simple terms, naming your product line gives you great creative influence over how your customer perceives what you have to … Read More

How-To: Lip Balm

Sara WagnerTips, Tricks & TutorialsLeave a Comment

Lip balms are a quick and easy to make beauty product that can be the perfect stocking stuffer or addition to your product line.  Besides knowing you made this simple yet silky masterpiece, the best part is how completely inexpensive it actually is to make lip balm. The first two things you will need to do are: choose your ingredients … Read More

Common Scents: Peppermint

Sara WagnerTips, Tricks & TutorialsLeave a Comment

Welcome back to our series, Common Scents! Common Scents is a collection of articles exploring the history of commonly used essential oils, and how they became so popular in modern day soap and cosmetic crafting. This week, we’ll talk about peppermint! Peppermint is one of the most recognizable scents in existence. Its strong, refreshing scent elicits thoughts of winter, chilly … Read More

Facebook Marketing

Executive DirectorBusiness & FinanceLeave a Comment

Marketing on Facebook is easy in the sense that it’s free (we’ll talk paid ads later) and you can do it as soon as you’ve created your page, but getting results is a bit more difficult. I want to highlight a few things that I think are relevant and intentional when it comes to self-promotion on Facebook.   Branding Consistency … Read More

Creating a Facebook Page for Your Business

Executive DirectorBusiness & FinanceLeave a Comment

So you have decided to start your own business, you’ve spent long hours choosing the perfect name, you’ve decided on the coolest logo and your business cards just arrived in the mail yesterday. You’re ready to hit the local craft shows, peddle your products to all the trendiest local boutiques and have told everyone you know (even the last person … Read More

Vendor Spotlight: Essential Depot

Executive DirectorMember SpotlightsLeave a Comment

Greener Life Diamond

Greener Life Diamond In anticipation of their exciting new announcement regarding The Greener Life Diamond™, we recently caught up with Derek Hodges President and CEO of Essential Depot, Inc. to ask a few questions about the conceptualization and need for The Greener Life Diamond. Q. How did you come up with the Greener Life Diamond concept? A. It was a … Read More

The What, Why, & Where of NAICS Codes

Executive DirectorBusiness & Finance1 Comment

As a small business owner, you’ve probably heard of NAICS codes before but may not know what they are, what they’re for, or how to find out which one is right for your business.  Here’s a quick overview of what you need to know!     // What is a NAICS code? // A NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) … Read More