March 2010
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Kiva loans

I have microlent to:

Emiline Feliciano


Emiline Feliciano
Location:Philippines, Teresa, Rizal
Activity:General Store

Rokia Cissé


Rokia Cissé
Location:Mali, Koutiala
Activity:Cloth & Dressmaking Supplies

Sa Pule


Sa Pule
Location:Samoa, Gagaifo
Activity:Farming

Giving Soap Donations to Haiti

We were able to gather 10 lbs of soap to send to “Clean the World”. Very happy about that!

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Dear soap maker,

A 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides much-needed soap to the third world, “Clean the World,” has asked me to mobilize the handmade soap community. The need for soap in Haiti is great.

Without hand washing, the broken sewers, plumbing, and toilets in Haiti will lead to diarrhea-related bacterial infections, which sadly effect children the most and lead to 5 million deaths annually. You can help!

Send your cold process, hot process, or melt-and-pour soap to:

Update New Address:

Clean The World
Attn. Steve Cooper
4625 Old Winter Garden Rd. #B7
Orlando, Florida 32811

Clean the World
c/o Threads of Compassion
4625 Old Winter Garden Rd, Unit B7
Orlando, FL 32811

The soaps do not need to be labeled in any kind of way (ingredients, type of soap, etc.). Please include a brief note with your contact information explaining that you’ve donated handmade soap and whether you’d like a receipt for your taxes.

Our contact at Clean the World is co-founder and managing director Paul Till. He can be contacted at info@cleantheworld.org (although he is very swamped at the moment!)

PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO OTHER SOAP MAKERS! Thank you.

For more information (including a “Donate Soap to Haiti/Clean the World” image and HTML code for your website), please Click Here.

For the Clean the World Much-Needed Soap Donations for Haiti Press Release Click Here.

To read the HSMG Partners with Clean the World Announcement Click Here.

To go directly to Clean Your World website Click Here.

Thank you Kayla Fiorvanti for passing the word onto me!

Happy New Year!

I was already very excited for 2010 to arrive back in November. I just felt so positive about the new year and the new decade. 6 days into the new year and the excitement still buzzes very high. I had let go of energies that did not sustain me towards the last half of 2009 and laid down a new foundation that I know will grow and thrive in 2010. There’s plenty of forward movement.

A few things that I want to materialize this year:

1. Do more with international microlending with Kiva, create a program where a percentage of my soap sales will go towards supporting a woman owned business abroad. I will soon be creating a page in this blog to talk more about this project.

2. Make more soap! Take more soapmaking classes. Yes, soap to give away and soap to sell! Learn how to make my own bath & body products.

3. For work, taking my graphic design skills to the next level. I’ve been just milling around in this side of the world and it’s time for me to take it up a couple of notches.

4. Hike, bike, hike, bike. I want to spend more time outdoors this year hiking, biking and meditating outdoors to feed my spirit.

5. Continue to deepen my spiritual practice through Reiki and where ever this road takes me this year.

6. Read more, more books! more blogs! Soapmaking books! Graphic design books!

7. Take lots of photos this year! I want to get back into photography. Soapmaking has took up a majority of my time but I need to squeeze in an hour or two of photography a week back into my life.

What an exciting year of expansion and abundance for all!!! I look forward to experiencing this with those in my life and with the rest of the world.

Happy New Year!!!

FDA Consumer Update (12/18)

FDA urges consumers to be on guard against fraudulent products claiming to treat, prevent, or cure a wide variety of medical conditions, including the H1N1 flu virus. In this Consumer Update video…….(read more on youtube).

Talented artisans from Distant Village

Beautiful, eco-friendly, handcrafted packaging! I am very excited to have discovered handmade packaging using sustainable materials by Distant Village. I found them while I was perusing the Nashville Wraps website. They support talented artisans that handcraft gorgeous packaging from gift boxes, organzas, bags, cards to ribbons and more. What I love about this is the program searches far for talented artisans in developing communities to remote villages in countries like Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Ecuador, Indonesia & The Philippines. They empower artisans by creating stable and safe jobs thus helping support their families. And sensitive to our earth, they use sustainable natural materials and reclaimed waste. I am very happy to support Distant Village!!! I recently bought some of the Sinamay Organza bags made in the Philippines to package my soap in. Looking forward to getting them from Nashville Wraps.

My very first soap sale!

I brought about 5 lbs of soap with me to Portland, most of which I was planning on giving away as little Christmas gifts. I had given away 90% of the bars and surprisingly I sold the last 11 bars to some friends this past weekend. My very first sale was to Lonnie & Gretchen, who bought 5 bars from me, then Kool Mel D, bought 2 bars and John & Amanda, bought 4 bars. I was completely not prepared so I sold it to them without packaging. But hey that just means they get a better deal. :-) Thank you dear friends for your support!!! XoXo

Selling my first bars of soap almost makes me feel like a kid again. So happy, giggly and makes me want to jump up & down in excitement. I haven’t sold anything in years (I used to sell software through eBay back in college)….and I certainly have never sold anything that I made. I’ve never made anything that can be sold until I learned how to make soap. It’s empowering. It’s just so much fun. So after I come back from Portland, it’s time to sit down and come up with my 2010 plan for soap. I am planning to sell through Etsy and Artfire.

Thanks to all my Portland friends for their support and I truly hope you enjoy the soap! Send me any feedback!!!! :-)