Soap Cakes verses Cupcake Soaps

Lets face it, everyone is attracted to the cute, pretty, appetizing cupcake. Everyone loves cupcakes and they are made in all different kinds of materials. The cupcake soap above is Love Spell crowned with two real rosebuds. It's beautiful. Does someone really want it because they want to wash with it or because it's shaped like a cupcake and "it's so cute"?

I just made 2 of these Fairy Garden Soap cakes tonight. Soap cakes are fun to create and the soap maker can really let loose and make it an artistic creation. What about the soap cake? Does a customer really want to wash with a slice of soap cake?

Margarita cupcake soaps---they smell amazing! Topped with a small wedge of lime soap and sprinkled with large sugar crystals that sub for salt. Really? Is this a novelty item or is this practical?

Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Soap Cake. Come on-- yes I made it--it's actually a beautiful soap cake. It's infused with silk and made of wonderful ingredients. It smells wonderful. Would you wash with it? Would you buy it?

Here the soap cake is sliced and is curing. It is really an awesome soap cake.

I made a couple of these Margarita soap cake slices for an order for a bride who  is making up gift bags for her guests that will be staying at the hotel from out of town for the wedding. A Very thoughtful thing to do. Here I think the soap cake slices are a very unique and thoughtful gift. Will they be used by the guests? I hope so. They'd be missing out on some wonderful handmade soap that smells great, is moisturizing, and is infused with silk. You can't get that kind of soap at the grocery store.

Razzberry cupcake soaps are so pretty. Made with the same ingredients as the soap cakes. They'd make an awesome gift for someone. A great shower gift, birthday, etc.

Everything you buy is a personal preference. So many times I have been told " Oh, it's too pretty to use. I would never use it". That drives me nuts when someone says that. They love the cupcake. They love the soap cake. They are unique. They make a great gift. But-- every soap that I make is meant to be used. I don't infuse these soaps with silk and wonderful fragrances so that they are just looked at and collecting dust just to be thrown in the garbage later on. That person has cheated themselves out of a wonderful bathing experience with a soap that has been made from scratch and created to be used  and is actually a  real treat to use on your skin. Now to the preference of soap cake verses the cupcake. According to my sales, cupcakes rule!!! 

New Facebook store and new soaps

This is an awesome smelling soap cake scented in Mango Papaya

Now you can purchase my soaps (finally) on line through our
Hedgeway Cottage Soaps Face Book Page! Yay! I'm very
excited about it and got my first soap order within an hour of opening it.

Love Potion Cupcake soap (love spell dupe)

On the Hedgeway Cottage Facebook page, you can view videos
of me making or cutting the soaps. When I make a new soap, I
will post it on that page. I  will post where we'll be for craft shows, etc.
So, it is to your advantage to like our page for up dates and shopping. You'll also recieve
a discount on your purchase for liking our page.

LOVE IT!! Jasmine Grapefruit solid lotion bar with natural cocoa butter

You can buy everything on our facebook page. Easy, quick
and you can pay through paypal

Yeah for YUMMY soap cake smells amazing- a very large slice
You can purchase this soap on our facebook page.

For those of you who are local, we will be at the Warren Farmers Market  starting this Sunday.
Hope to see you there!!

Bernadette

Pigeon in the Parlour- Holly, MI

Love Affair (Love Spell dupe) Soap

Large slices of Mango Papaya soap cake

Sea Spray Soap

Smores soap for kids

cupcake soap with penguin finger puppet

Hi everyone!! It has been a while since my last blog. I have been working on some new soaps and adding some soaps for kids ( for 3 yrs. and up). The top picture is of  a store in Holly, MI  that has a beautiful display of our soaps. If you are local, you just have to check them out. Pigeon in the Parlour has gorgeous and unique products in their store. The owners are such wonderful people. They are right on the main road in Holly. On May 11th, Holly is having  Ladies Night out from 5pm-9pm. My cousin Marie and I will be at the Pigeon in the Parlour handing out some soap and solid lotion bar samples.
On the same night, my husband Duane will be selling our soaps at  Lakeside Assembly of God Church on Schoennher Rd, Shelby Twp. ( I believe it is from 6-9pm).  There will be plenty of wonderful soaps to purchase for Mother's Day!!

The website is still under construction and there has been some problems that my wonderful cousin is trying to resolve but it should be up and ready to go very soon. If there is anything that you would like to order, please don't hesitate to email me at hedgewaycottagesoaps@yahoo.com or call me at 248-525-4863.
Check us out on facebook and twitter
I hope I can see you soon and I will be posting wherever we will be
Have a great week!!
Bernadette

Spring is in the air... almost

Pink Sugar scented cupcake soaps- a very soft, sexy fragrance

Lavender soap made with lavender essential oil- a must have for spring

Sea Spray has a very clean scent-I love the look of this soap

Lemon & Brown Sugar for the citrus lover

Celebrate with fudgy bubbles with a cherry on top!

Spring is almost here and we'll be at our second Spring craft show this Saturday at the Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan. It's supposed to be a great show with around 150 vendors. People want to spruce up, clean up, and decorate for spring. Dress up your bath with the clean, floral scents of a spring garden....

Lavender, lily of the valley, Lilac, Lemon...... Give your spirit a lift and bathe with the scents of spring!

Hope to see you at the show. It goes from 10am-4pm. . Come to the show and mention this blog and get a free lilac or lily of the valley soap on us. Bernadette

Craft Show For February

Shea Cashmere with Silk cupcake soap will be available at the Henry Ford Craft Show 

Pink Sugar with Silk cupcake soap will be there too!

Peach & Oatmeal and Sea Spray cupcake soaps will be there too!

I'll be bringing my new soaps to the Henry Ford II High School craft show in Sterling Hts. tomorrow from 10am-4pm. You'll also be able to purchase at a deep discount my holiday soaps and others that I need to clear out to make room for the new. So if you like sales, you don't want to miss it. See you tomorrow!!!
Bernadette

Playing around with my handmade lightbox

My husband built me a light box out of a cardboard box and tissue paper.
So, I have been playing around with the best way to take pictures in it.

At first, I took pictures with just the soaps and a plain white background.
I didn't like that. It was bland and boring. So now, I am trying out different
props to compliment my picture and the soap.

This one is OK but it could be better. So I'll re- take these with a different look or prop

He got caught in the net!!!

I like this picture.

I could do more with this one.

My favorite, so far.
It's not easy trying to take pictures of a product and to make it look as good as you know it is! You want the person that is viewing the picture to feel, smell and touch your product through  their eyes when they look at it. That is very hard to do. I'll keep working at it. Let me know if  you can smell these ok? lol

The Fragrance Monster is attacking my Soaps!!!

I piped these in alternating colors of pink and white. The next day they were mustard color.

These are the same cupcakes turned a dark brown. I  scented these in Pink Sugar and didn't  check to see if it had  vanilla that might darken them. I added titanium dioxide (to whiten the soap) but as you can see, didn't make a difference.

Except for the melt and pour cherry, these turned a dark brown. Scented in Rich Dark Chocolate. It just irritates me when I take the time to use different colors and they all disappear into dark brown. My fault though!

I was so happy with the way these came out. They had a buttery yellow color with light green. I scented these in Shea Cashmere.

Except for the pink roses that I piped unscented, the rest is turning dark!

If someone can give me some advice on how to use these fragrances without them changing colors, please contact me. Am I not using enough titanium dioxide? What do you do to keep your true colors? I absolutely love the scent of Pink Sugar. I hate to think that everytime I use it the soap will have to be dark brown. I look forward to your advice. Have a great day everyone!!!

Website under Construction

Hi everyone! The new year brings new changes and Hedgeway Cottage  is going through some good changes too. It's time to grow up and clean up. A better website, more professional looking pictures, a new logo, and of course more beautiful soaps made with new and revised recipes that will be so nice to use for your skin. My new recipes include using Silk tussah which will give your soap a silky luxurious feel.I'm rethinking my packaging too. I'm not sure what I'm doing yet for that. Also, with the upcoming changes, come an increase in pricing. Just starting out, I knew that my prices were lower.Now, in order for my company to thrive, I must increase my prices (not much though) to keep up with the increased prices of supplies, etc. Lavender essential oil is getting quite pricey for example.
We will also be looking to doing more craft shows this Spring and Summer. We are confirmed for the Henry Ford II High School Clearance Craft Show on Feb. 11-12th. So, please come and check us out because we will have quite a bit of soap on sale. We will also have some new soaps. I have some new fragrances that I just love. You'll have to smell them for yourself.
I have some shower orders that I'm working on that is keeping me busy right now. I am always very honored to be able to make shower favors for your special day. I always put my best effort into doing soap favors.
While we are under construction on the website, please contact me by email which is: hedgewaycottagesoaps@yahoo.com or by phone: 248-525-4863.
Have a great week! Talk with you soon!

There are about 56 of these mini cupcakes which include the cream colored ones in the next picture. They are scented with cedarwood amber. If any one is looking for some shower favors, I will sell these for $70.00 for all of them. They are topped with a tiny butterfly bead in multiple colors. Just email me if you are interested.

My all natural moisturizing shampoo and vinegar & water  hair rinse. I'll be trying these today. The shampoo is not thick enough so next time I wont dilute the soap paste as much. I'm working on it so I can offer you a better alternative and a healthier one for your hair. I'll also be working on some laundry soap for you too.

Bernadette

SPECIALS

SAVEONCRAFTS is an awesome site for your shower, wedding or party. They have everything! SPECIALS:

'via Blog this'

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Duane & Bernadette at Hedgeway Cottage.

One more craft show

Thinking of Spring, this soap cake smells so beautiful-too bad I can't remember  how I created the scent.

I don't usually make melt and pour soaps but these were fun to make. 

More melt and pour, scented with Monkey Farts fragrance. These are for a little girls birthday party

We were done with craft shows for the year and I started cleaning my house and started to organize all the things that found a home on my counters, on top of dressers, any flat surface that you can lay something on. I got about  2 days into it and my Mom called to say some relatives were interested in buying soaps for holiday gifts. So I decided to have a soap sale in my living room for my family and friends. I really don't have that much room and pushed all the furniture over to set up the tables. Today I spent all day making cookies, brownies, dips, etc. for my guests who will be coming tomorrow. For me it's not about selling the soaps, it's about sitting with that cup of coffee or tea, eating a cookie and enjoying my Mom, sisters, and friends.Hopefully they wont notice that I'm not finished cleaning.
While I was cleaning the other day, a lady called and asked us if we would be interested in their craft show next Friday, the 16th. So of course we said yes and are looking forward to another last show of the year which will be at the Williamslake Church of the Nazarene in Waterford on Airport Rd. (you'll have to google it- I don't have the info in front of me). It will be from 6pm-9pm so if you're looking for that  unique gift to give that co-worker or teacher, come and get it at the last show of the year( for us).
Talk with you soon. Hopefully I can start my Christmas shopping before it's Christmas eve!
I need to hire some elves!lol

Not Your Mommas' Gingerbread

This soap cake is called "Not your Mommas' Gingerbread" soap. It smells of gingerbread with a little added spice.

You can't tell how pretty Santa Cake soap really is in this picture. Smells so  good!

I love the look of this soap. I haven't named it yet.

Christmas Tree soaps ready for their bows.

Relax me Lavender cupcake soaps-just what the stressed- out holiday shopper needs!

LOVE these little favor boxes (I got them on clearance) and am using them for my lotion bars.

Pure Luxury Solid Lotion Bar-so moisturizing on dry skin!

Small sized solid lotion bar.

Well, finally I have all my soaps wrapped and we're winding down for the last 2 shows! This first year of doing craft shows and selling has been both stressful and wonderful. Stressful in a good way (not knowing how much product to have ready so you don't run out). I always over make. I do it with food when I have family over and I am doing it with soaps. I'd rather have too much than too little.And it is so wonderful to make something that people love and appreciate.
I hope tomorrows' weather that is calling for snow will not keep the shoppers away for the Grosse Pointe Holiday Tree lighting and market. I hope you can make it tomorrow or for our last show on December 3rd at Parcells middle school in Grosse Pointe. If not, drop me an email, say HI- keep in touch. If there is something you'd like to order from us, please email me and we will deliver it to you by mail or in person.Thank you for being such great customers!!! Bernadette