Creation|Collaboration 3rd Women Wednesday Blog Hop!

Welcome to Creation|Collaboration's 3rd Women Wednesday blog hop, hosted by Beads & More by Lois, Soaperstar and Plans and Presents

Creation|Collaboration was set up by eight women, all existing friends, who run small businesses from their homes. We have started Women Wednesday blog roll to link up with other women in business, spread the word about Creation|Collaboration and basically just have fun visiting all of your interesting blogs!

We are also in discussions with regard to listing features companies (on a regular basis) as part of our promotional campaign so by joining in with the blog roll we can get to know you and your business and maybe you could be one of our first features.

Heres how you can join in with Collaboration Women Wednesday:

• Link up your blog name and URL to your Women Wednesday blog post using the McKLinky below (you only need to add on one blog to be seen on all of the McKLinky blog roll's) Please note that it's for blogs only and not links to your websites or shops.
• Follow our Creation|Collaboration blog and the hostesses listed in the first 3 slots.
• Grab our Women Wednesday button and feature it on your blog or Women Wednesday blog post.
• Follow and comment saying you're from Women Wednesday on as many blogs as you likes listed in the McKlinky box.
• Follow back any new followers from Women Wednesday!

It's that easy and a fun way to discover new and interesting blogs and us women at Creation|Collaboration get to meet other women in business!

Soaperstar Wins!

Well, I got home yesterday evening after a long hard day, and jumped online to check my emails ... and what did I find in my inbox? A fabulous email! Yes! But fabulous how? Fabulous because I'd just been told that I've won the Mr Site Website of the Month!! I was thrilled, such good news. 

And, even better news... they've also asked to use my site on their sample pages, to show people how a Mr Site website can look! I am really honoured about this ... when I started out, I didn't have any idea at all how to make a website, what information I'd need, or even what to do about those funny websitey languages?? But I did know I wanted to make it myself, I knew how I wanted it to look and I wanted to be able to update it myself, whenever I needed to. 

For those who don't know, Mr Site is a template driven site ... you choose a template that you like and you can input your own content on it; but you can also change almost every aspect of it to make it your own (because who wants a website that looks like everyone else's?!) and, if you learn a little HTML coding, you can certainly change a lot of the format of it.  The content is all down to you of course!!

Mr Site publish a monthly newsletter and Soaperstar will be featured in this - can't wait to see it!

Don't forget, if you like any of our fabulous Soaperstar products, check out our Soaperstar Online Store - we'll be delighted to see you!!!

Two new Summer Soaps from Soaperstar

I've not soaped in a while and I really wanted to get started on my Summer range - I also really wanted to use the new POP micas I have specially imported from the US, a great range of seven fabulous brightly coloured mica powders that I have been drooling over for quite some time (not literally of course, that'd be gross!)

Both soaps have a blend of the purest, highest quality goatsmilk and clear glycerine soaps (which are natural humectants - they attract moisture from the air into your skin) to which we've added our special additional skin hydrating element which provides your skin with increased hydration and provies excellent moisturisation.

Mango Island is wonderfully fragranced with the sweet exotic tropical fragrance of Mango - a beautifully perfumed, not too sweet fruity fragrance. Reflecting the natural yellow and orange fresh sweet Mangoes, we have coloured this luxury soap with tones of yellow & orange glycerine and white goatsmilk soaps - we've also added natural mica, specially imported from the US, to give a glittery sheen, reminding you of sweet delicious mango juice.

To make it even more luxurious, we've also added exotic Mango Butter (what else could we have used?!) which is rich in beta carotene and Vitamins A & E. Mango Butter is highly moisturising and has excellent softening and regenerative properties, with the added bonus that it is thought be protective against UV rays. It is claimed that it can help to reduce the degeneration of the skin’s cells and help to restore elasticity, so makes an excellent ingredient in products for mature skins.

Lazy Summer Sunday is wonderfully fragranced - a heart of jasmine, orange blossom, lilac & rose, supported by a woody base of cedarwood, patchouli, vanilla & musk. The floral elements appeal to women and the cedarwood/patchouli to men (or vice versa!) .. this is very clean, almost "soapy" fragrance (and it's my husband's current favourite!).

We wanted to use colours to represent the concept of a Lazy Summer Sunday, and choose deep tones of blues and purple natural mica, specially imported from the US, to create a luxury soap that is reminiscent of your favourite lazy Summer Sunday afternoons.

To make this an extraordinary luxury soap, we have incorporated the finest Organic Unrefined Nilotica Shea Butter which is considered a premium shea butter and is the creamiest, most luxurious version available. This butter is superb in helping to retain skin elasticity and is incredibly useful for treating very dry, cracked and sun damaged skin as well as psoriasis and eczema.

I hope you love these soaps ... I adore their vibrant colours and I have to admit, my kitchen smelt just fabulous after making them! If you're interested in purchasing either (or both) of these soaps, please don't hesitate to drop into our Soaperstar Online Store - we'd love to see you!

A new look for our blog

Well, you'll have noticed by now that we have a new look to our blog.  I had been pretty happy with the look of it up til now but I felt that it didn't really reflect Soaperstar and didn't really link in with the look of the Soaperstar website.  It was too bland, too dull really.  I spent a long time looking for something that would work for us - that'd link in with the look of the website and that would look more professional too.  I found the template we're using now and thought "that's it"... the "bubbles" in the background image are very similar to those used as the background image on our site and, well the fact that they look like bubbles makes you think of soap too! I just love the colours as well and I think the darker background gives it a more modern look. 

I'm hoping that you like it and enjoy reading the blog as much as I enjoy writing it.  I know some people think "what am I going to write about" when they start blogging first (or maybe most of the time?!) but I see it as a sort of diary that tracks not only the birth and growth of Soaperstar but also the things that happen around me that go to make me who I am which, ultimately, makes Soaperstar what it is.  The longer I use this, the more I find that it helps me focus on what I want for this business and what direction I want it to take.  But that's probably another day's post!

If you'd like to make any comments about the new look, feel free to send me a comment - I'm happy to hear all views!

New February Special Offer!

We've decided to continue with our New Year resolution of offering our valued customers a free gift with their orders! In January, we offered a mystery soap with every order for 4 or more soaps and it proved hugely successful!

This February we've decided to offer our customers a free, 100% cotton washcloth with every order of 2 or more soaps - no need to add them to your order, we'll pack them along with your soaps.  The cloths are made of the softest, white cotton and would be perfect to use in the shower with your Soaperstar soap! It will come tied in a beautiful purple bow!

Just a little "Thank You" to our valued customers - we hope you love this offer and we're working on ideas for continuing offers for the months to come.

Don't forget to order your Limited Edition Valentine soaps online soon! A perfect piece of practical art for the love of your life!

Check out all our products online at http://www.soaperstar.com/.  See you there!!!!

Random Acts of Kindness already at work!

Just a quick note about my post yesterday - it seems to have started other people's RAK's ... check out my friend Lois' blog here where she shows the lovely handcrafted products she's purchased for friends and family for Christmas - by doing this, she's raised the crafters/producers profiles and helped to advertise their incredible talents.  Excellent work Lois, I'm just loving that!!! And thanks for the link back too!