Making Candy Edition

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

      Letter from the Editor

Okay, we thought we were cool when we learned how to make bath bombs and soap.  We were even more cool when we hit lip balm. Now I have come up with a book that discusses how to mix and match home made toiletries into "theme's."  As the holiday season approaches (only 190 more days to go) I am expected to come out with better and more clever books.  I aim to keep it simple.  We have some great food and recipe type books coming up for the fall, (dry mixes in jars and such) but this toiletry idea is something you can get started early with.  Toiletry Formula's 2003 by Mabel White:  How about chocolate scented bath oil with chocolate truffle bath bombs to match?  Or Wild Flowers buttermilk bath with matching Wild Flowers room spray?    Fruit Slices bath bombs, with Fruit Slices bath salts and matching room spray!  (Fruit Slices happens to be our biggest fragrance oil seller by the way.)   My favorite theme set in this new book is:  Vanilla Cinnamon Oatmeal Bath with a Matching Vanilla Soy Candle and Vanilla Macadamia Nut Lip Balm.  The new e-Book is in the Subscriber Forum Year 2003 and is $8.95 to non-Subscribers click here to order.

 

Mosquito Patrol:  Making Large Citronella Candles, Room Sprays and More!

For lighting and mosquito control, SoyWax™ is cheap and you can make big and beautiful outside candles in galvanized tin buckets (from the horse feed store) for nothing compared to what the stores charge and citronella does not have to be yellow!

Let's start with what mosquitoes do not like.  They do not like people who eats lots garlic and/or Vitamin B-1. do not sweat and wear light colored clothes.  They do not like Basil, Catnip Oil, Cedar,  Chamomile, Citronella, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Lavender, Lemon, Lemon Grass, Marigold, Orange, Peppermint, Rosemary, Tea Tree, Thyme and believe it or not the real clear Vanilla Fragrance Oil. Not an extract as it is mostly alcohol.  They do not like Dragon Flies and that is one reason the electronic "buzzer" seems to help.  They will not go anywhere near where they think a dragon fly is.  For skin products you can use any carrier oil, such as Olive, Avocado, but they seem to dislike Grape Seed Oil the most.  Master grill chefs throw basil on the coals of a grill as they claim skeeters hate that smell too.

Once you figure out the formula you prefer, you can add it to already made lotion, make a room or body spray, and most certainly make soy candles!  The candles do not have to be the classic "Citronella Yellow."  We fill up a gallon galvanized tin bucket (from the feed store) with the 5 Pounds of melted SoyWax™ that has 4 ounces of Mabel's Porch Fragrance Oil, or your own blend, and a little oil based color if desired.  Do not use Mabel's Porch for anything but soy candles to repel pests.  It is mainly sweet orange oil and citronella which can be very caustic to the skin.  Using Mabel's Porch you will get a soft pastel orange color.  We made the 8 ounce size very affordable compared to the other multiuse fragrance oils-by doing buy one get one free for this item only.  You can also do four quart sized galvanized metal buckets with the same amounts above!  Make different pastel colors!   We did this for ourselves and to save you from running out an having to buy expensive essential oils.  Click here to buy Mabel's Porch.  *You can also use Mabel's porch to clean up wax and gum since it is pure citrus oil.

How to Make Large SoyWax Candles?  We melt the SoyWax™ in the microwave and mix the fragrance and any oil based colors very well before pouring.  Also before pouring into the bucket, we secure four long wicks and make sure they are really anchored at the bottom.  We cheat and use a glue gun to anchor.   If we cannot get long wicks we will just tie three together.  We hold the wicks straight and tall with bamboo sticks long enough to go across the top of the bucket.  We wait until the soy is a little cool so it is creamy as it pours.  Soy is so cheap you could just run wild with it as an out door candle and lighting tool.  

Other facts about skeeters: they like the smell of perfume, people who eat bananas, and people who sweat allot. They also like dark clothes more than light colored clothes and they seem to like men more than women.

 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe

Making Body Lotion...

This is a very important article for those who cannot find fragrance free lotion.  These simple instructions give you a Bath and Body Works type lotion.

Mastering lotion making is probably the most rewarding in all of the toiletry products.  One reason it is, beyond soap, one of the most used. Making lotion has also been one of the few areas I consistently failed at until I read a simple article one night.  

Click here to see our newest and best revised article on making your own lotions, crèmes and cleaning milks!

 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe

Chocolate Parfume: Can the scent increase sales, sex drive and success in weight loss?

By Judea Bentley It is a scientific fact that just the smell of chocolate is a male aphrodisiac and causes arousal! (According to neurologist Alan Hirsch of the Smell And Taste Treatment And Research Foundation in Chicago).  Want to know why you sometimes crave chocolate? According to the journal, Good Medicine, chocolate contains chemicals similar to those in marijuana! Anandamide. N-oleoylethanolamine and N-lineoeoylethanolamine are natural cannabinoids found in chocolate. Chocolate also contains caffeine and phenyeathylamine, which have a mild amphetamine-like effect. And you thought chocolate just tasted good!

It is the only perfume that may actually help make you thin! Recent research indicates that just the smell of chocolate may actually fool your brain and satisfy your craving and appetite as if you'd actually eaten some chocolate! It's the perfect diet aid. (Your Health Magazine, March 8, 1994 p.21-22) Indulge in the pleasures of chocolate with none of the high fat guilt.

Customize greeting cards and personal letters with the aroma of chocolate, the second most popular romantic expression of love. (Flowers are first)

This parfume/lip gloss roll on may be the world's most seductive form of chocolate.  

Its' the perfect special occasion or holiday gift instead of or in addition to expensive chocolate candy. The aroma of chocolate perfume lasts 100 times longer than the taste of chocolate candy!

Add one drop to your bath, hot tub or sauna and get ready for a new sensual dimension to relaxation.

Instead of potpourri, use chocolate perfume wherever the aroma of luscious chocolate is desired. One drop on a light bulb will "flavor" the whole room. One drop inside a vacuum cleaner bag will chocolatize the whole house!

Candy stores, ice cream stores, real estate agents... The list is endless... can use chocolate perfume to stimulate sales when sprayed into the air.

Chocolate perfume is a great novelty gift item for all ages - kids to adults - men and women - all love the smell of chocolate

The Mabel White Company now offers chocolate flavor oil for lip gloss or balm, and fragrance oil for bath, as well as candle making.  Lusciously sensual and sophisticated, our chocolate fragrance oil is a hand crafted chocolate scent for men and women. Our version incorporates the finest cocoa beans from Venezuela and Madagascar with subtle notes of exquisite Tahitian vanilla. The base is then blended with pure and natural essences of sandalwood.

 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe

Fresh Produce is the promotional name of our new summer line of fragrance oils.  We not only added refreshing scents such as cucumber and leafy greens, we added a new line of Mabel's Signature Series Fragrance oils.  We have been working on original scents for quite some time.  Names include:  Black Opal with notes of sandalwood and vanilla, Broken Coconut, Darjeeling Chai, Feng Shui a well balanced scent with notes of green tea, jasmine, orange blossom, vanilla and cloves, Fresh Cut Lilacs, Fruit Slices, Fortune Cookie, Mabel's Porch (for candle use only) Mountain Home, with notes of rose and grass, Pink Hibiscus (a fun fragrance with plumeria and vanilla notes)  Software by Mabel (a soft sexy scent Mabel wears) Watermelon Truck and White Picket Fence (which smells like her favorite McIntosh Apple and Grass mix.)  The fall/winter announcements of the Mabel Fragrance line are just as exciting.  Click here to see all of the new scents.

 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe

Sachet Your Self on In!

LinenSachet.jpg (72139 bytes)What can you do with a linen sachet?  Better yet, what can't you do!  The first thing that comes to our mind is to fill them with fragranced potpourris to use in our closets and dresser drawers.  You can make dream pillows that really do work (1/2 cup of lavender, 1/2 cup of rose buds, 1/4 cup of hops, 1/4 cup of Mugwort, 1/4 cup of peppermint)  or use as a wrap for bath soap, powders or salts.  Other ideas include dropping the whole sachet in the bath tub for a sensuous bath tea.  Click photo on left to see how truly pretty these are.  Subscribers will get five of these on the house. For bath teas consider:

*Astringent: lemon grass, sage, yarrow, nettle, comfrey root.
*Oily skin cleansing bath: lemongrass, geranium leaves, yarrow.
*Another oily skin bath: lemon grass, mint, yarrow, witch hazel.
**Or: rosemary, lemon verbena, geranium leaves, lemon grass, lovage.
*Moisturizing bath: equal parts chamomile and rose petals.
*Skin softening bath: linden (lime flowers), rose petals, elder flowers, honeysuckle.
*Skin toning bath: lavender, yarrow, mint, thyme.
*Aphrodisiac Bath for Girls: equal quantities rose buds, acacia flowers, *orange buds, jasmine flowers, bay leaf, rosemary, myrtle, thyme.  Taken from The Bathroom Chemist, a Mabel White book.

 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe

Making Gourmet Lollipops

Master how to make your own gourmet lollipops over the summer.  Lollipops look like big crystals, but the fact is that sugar crystals are the enemy of successful lollipops. We’ll show you how to keep those pesky crystals at bay.  Flavors to consider include: Cherry, Cantaloupe, Candy Apple, Cotton Candy, Mango, Pina Colada, Root Beer, Tangerine and Watermelon.   Mabel White sells these flavors and more!   If oyu are weak at heart and want something more simple, just melt chocolate for a few seconds in the microwave and make lollipops you can decorate later out of the chocolate.  If you are going to do the chocolate route, you may as well make chocolate dipped spoons to stir coffee with.  We carry a TON of cool flavor oils for our lip balm, also great for making hard candy.  Flavors include Kiwi, Passion Fruit, Strawberry, Cherry, Chocolate, Peppermint, Mango, Papaya and so much more!  Click here for flavors.   

We are trying to figure out how to make the gourmet lollipops discussed herein creamy if we like and not just translucent.  If anyone knows the trick please write us!  Meantime if we can ever figure out a way to put vitamins in them we will let you know!.  Click here to download the PDF recipe.

"Hi there -- I just read your newsletter and wanted to pass this along. I use FDA cosmetic grade oil dispersible Titanium Dioxide powder when I tint my lip balms (to give the tints more "oomph") - it also comes in a water dispersible powder. It's used to give a creamy look for just about everything, including candy. It's very inexpensive - I pay less than $5 for 8 ounces. I've not tried it myself in the lollypops, but I have a feeling it'll work."

Regards,

Melissa

 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe

Father's Day in Advance

Stuck on idea's for the old man?  If he likes to cook, he may like the herb garden suggested in the last issue for Mother's Day.   He may like home made chocolates too!

Just about every father shaves.  We would choose to make shaving soap out of simple melt and pour soap base and find a pretty mug to put it in.   A Badger brush would be helpful to go along with it.  Our recipe for two kinds of men's shaving soap (Almond or Bay Rum) is as follows:

Shaving Soap Recipe

A homemade soap designed to give you a dense foam for use in shaving. The added glycerin softens the skin, the witch hazel tones and the healing Vitamin E helps with any nicks and razor irritation on sensitive skins. The bracing scent helps to refresh your morning. Makes four round bars. 

Materials Needed:
White Melt and Pour Soap Base: 10 ounces.
20 drops of Almond or Bay Rum Fragrance Oil (orange & clove)
Colorant: Optional
Standard Bar Soap Shapes 

6 Vitamin E capsules, cut open and squeeze out the oil.
1 Tablespoon glycerin
2 Cup Pyrex measuring cup
Directions

Slice soap into thin 1/8" strips for quick, easy melting. Place sliced soap into the Pyrex measuring cup and microwave for approximately 45 seconds to 1 minute on high. The melting time will vary depending on the amount of soap. Remove and stir lightly.  Add fragrance oils, vitamin e and glycerin just before pouring into mug or mold.
 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe

Selling Tips for Up Coming Season

By Harvest Scents & Traders, LLC.

You can never have enough of your best selling product on hand.  Usually one item results in 80% of your sales.  Excellent marketing can sell average product, but excellent product can not sell itself."  Think about that for a moment as it defies conventional wisdom.  Conventional wisdom tells you that "product is everything."  "After all, without the right product, you can't be successful in business."  Conventional wisdom unfortunately is not always accurate and definitely does not lead to success. 

Marketing ideas- A very effective and cost efficient source of advertising your gift business is through gift/craft shows.  Beginning with as little as $50 you can set up a display at a local church, county fair, school or women's club.  You want to participate in only those shows that have been around for awhile and have a proven track record on getting large amounts of traffic.  Put your best foot forward- take your best product and set your booth up like a mini gift shop.  The founders of Harvest Scents & Traders began their gift career in retail and used craft shows to build their company.  It was not uncommon for them to have sales of $1,500-$27,000 per show.  The great thing about these gift/craft shows is you can make money while giving out flyers promoting your store!

Many retail businesses use ValPak and similar coupon advertising sources.  In another former business purchased and sold 3 years later, the owners of Harvest Scents & Traders were able to double the sales in one year in large part due to the power of ValPak.  Everyone loves coupons and many consumers today will not buy unless they have a coupon.  In essence a coupon is nothing more than the incentive/reason for the consumer to come into your business.  Although coupon advertising is not the most targeted form of advertising, in many cases it will hit enough of your typical buyers to allow you to get back the cost of the ad and allow you to make a profit.  The real power here is that you are driving new customers into your store, capturing their name, address, phone and email at your counter so you can follow up with them in the future. Remember, on average, statistics reveal that direct mail advertising will have a success ratio of 1-3% versus 30%+ for your own customer list.

Special events at your store create excitement.  For example, "Christmas in July", open houses,  grand openings/re-openings, scratch & dent sales, clearance sales, Spring/Fall/Christmas previews...get you and your employees excited, but more importantly, give you a reason to invite/advertise.  Gift buyers love promotions and special events.   However, they rarely know about them because of a lack of
advertising.  Invite them and they will come!  How will they know about your special event?  Of course you want to build your own list as we have discussed.  Email (call those that don't have email) 2 weeks before.  Follow up with another reminder email 3-4 days before.   If you can plan these in advance, coupon mailers like ValPak can be a great traffic source. 

The earlier mentioned business where our owners doubled sales in 1 year, had a different marketing approach in the beginning.  Before they used ValPak, they ran off professional looking coupons on their computer and spent hours taking them around to apartment complexes (the demographic of the service being provided lived in apartments).  Every coupon was put by the door of the potential consumer.  The truth is that only 2 people responded to the ad.  That was a terrible return.  The coupon was also distributed during the absolute worst time of the year (tip: your advertising budget should be weighted more heavily in months where you know that demand is high for your product or service).  However, hundreds read the ad and became informed of the store name and services.  Although this would not be the preferred method of advertising, it was inexpensive and was better than none at all.

How much is your customer worth?  In the above example, one of the two people that brought in their coupon, became a repeat customer.  She purchased approx. 3-4 times after that initial visit.  Based on what she bought, she was worth approx. $120, 30% higher than the normal customer in that industry.  The point here is that you need to know how much your customers are worth.  The best marketers in the world know that the hardest thing to do and most expensive is to get a new customer.  However, because consumers buy from people they know, they will make subsequent purchases in the future.  This is called the "lifetime" value of a customer.  What is the lifetime value of your average customer?

How do you use this information?  Let say you are doing a ValPak ad to promote your Fall Open House.  You know that your ad will go out to 10,000 households.  The cost of the ad is $450.  That averages out to $.045 per household (you can`t mail anything that cheap).
  
We will assume that .05% of consumers will respond (the average for direct mail is 1-3%).  So 50 people will visit.  Of the 50 people, 25 buy.  On average they spend $20 (you should know how much your average customer buys by keeping track of it at the counter).  Your sales in this example are $1,000.  Assuming you work on a 50% mark up (the average for the gift industry) then your net profit is $500.  After you subtract the cost of the ad, you profit $50.  Doesn't sound like much does it?  But...read on.

Here are the facts.  You got 50 new people in your store.  You impress them with your displays and product selection.  They will tell their friends of which some will visit in the future and buy.  Of course you got the names, addresses, phone and email of all 50 visitors who you will forever communicate with.  Further, the lifetime value of the 25 buyers amounts conservatively to $60-$100.  25x$60==$1,500.  So the real value of that advertising is $1,000 (initial sales) plus $1,500 in future sales==$2,500.  Subtract your cost of goods and advertising and your net profit is now $850!

The point here is that "pretty" is not enough.  Pretty in business is just plain pretty.  Pretty doesn't drive sales which equals cash flow.  Cash flow keeps your doors open and affords you the opportunity to make a profit! 

If you want to be successful in business, spend time becoming a marketing expert!


 

 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe

Did You Know?

  • Did you know you can get permanent marker off a bottle with hair spray?  It comes off like a dream. Even if we get ink on our clothes we run for the hair spray.  If anything will lift ink, this stuff will.

  • Primrose oil is great for going through midlife changes, this is one reason we use it in our lip balm.

  • Pure orange oil gets wax and gum right off!

  • You can use candy molds for soap molds and vise versa.

  • Our friends are working on natural bug repellants.  This is due to the serious nature of the Nile mosquito bite and other things they carry.  From Nebraska, (Judea Bentley,) Florida and Mississippi, (Lynda Williams,) we determined bugs do not like Downy sheets, so we pin a sheet to a child playing out side and rub their arms and other exposed area's with the Downy sheet.  Mosquitoes also not like the smell of vanilla or peppermint.  The formula we come up with will be called "De-Nile."

 Visit us on  fr | | f | YT |  Subscribe Free | Top | Supplies | Archives | Members
 Share |

 

  Subscribe