Money Wi$e Winner!

Thank you to all who entered the Money Wi$e blog contest. I loved reading all of your in depth money saving tips, tricks and resources. Check out the post and read all of the fabulous money saving tips here, if you haven't already.

Random.org picked a number between 1 and 94: Comment number 55 was the big winner! Woo hoo! Congratulations, Megan (From Metropolis Soap Co.) and thanks for your money saving tip! Email me at info(at)brambleberry(dot)com with your shipping address and I'll get The Money Therapist out the door!

Megan's Money Saving Tip: "My best money saving tip would be the Snowball philosophy...Start with a list of your debt in order from smallest to biggest. Make minimum payments on all of the debts except your smallest one, continue sending in bigger payments until you knock it out! Then move onto the next debt. It's really helped me and I can't believe I couldn't think to do it before!"

New Video Release: Emulsified Scrub

How to Make Emulsified Scrub Online Video: Only $5.95

Scrub, Lotion, Soap all in ONE!

This online video tutorial is all about how to make an emulsified scrub. Clocking in at over 7 minutes, this is a longer, more detailed version of SoapQueen.TV than you’ve seen before. In this video, Anne-Marie shows how to make a unique scrub using our fine grain dead sea salt although you could easily use sugar as a substitute.

What's an Emulsified scrub? It's like a lotion, liquid soap, and body scrub all in one! No more oily scrubs that leak in transit and leave a film in your tub when you make this innovative recipe. In addition, you will receive a PDF of the label designs you see pictured with the full INCI listing printed out. One page for salt and a separate page for sugar, so you can choose whichever exfoliant you prefer. Just download, print on label stock, trim down to size, and apply to our 4 ounce plastic jars.

When you purchase this video and your payment is processed (usually takes 24 hours) you will receive an email with a link to the PDF of the label design and a password to unlock the online video tutorial.

Neroli Gone Wild

Neroli
Originally uploaded by Starzyia

Neroli Fragrance Oil is our choice for a fantastic orange, citrus scent that's not too sweet but not too bitter. It's just right. Vickie L. just posted on our Facebook Fan page today that Neroli "smells just like orange blossoms *swoon*"

Neroli Essential Oil is highly prized for its therapeutic properties including sedative, calmative and a natural sleep aid. However, this wonderful oil is very expensive in the all natural essential oil and doesn't last very long in cold process soap. So, we created a fragrance blend that smells as close the natural thing as we could find.

This exclusive Bramble Berry fragrance blend which contains some Neroli essential oil and is strengthened with notes of Cinnamon, Dill weed, Eucalyptus and orange fragrance. The Neroli blend is green on top and its heart is a fruity citrus accord. This fragrance lasts and lasts in cold process soap and better yet, it's more cost effective than essential oil! 

Try my top five favorite blends using this fabulous fragrance oil!

3 parts Neroli, 2 parts Indian Sandalwood Cybilla

2 parts Neroli, 2 parts Baby Rose, 2 parts Nile Queen Cybilla

2 parts Neroli, 2 parts Cucumber, 2 Parts Green Tea

2 parts Neroli, 2 parts Bergamot Essential Oil, 1 part Tangerine Essential Oil

2 parts Neroli, 2 parts Sleeping Angles, 2 parts Vanilla Bean

Soap Weekend Intensive Project Preview

We're so excited to announce Erin Pikor's second melt and pour project she'll be teaching at this years Soap Weekend Intensive: Apple Pie! How cute is that? We're throwing around the idea of making it into a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for summer. What do you think? Check out the other project Erin will be teaching at SWI 2010, here.

Dates are set for August 13th, 14th and 15th in Bellingham, Washington. Space is limited so sign up today and read more about your teachers HERE.

Dyeing for that Marbled Look

Easter is this Sunday. Have you dyed your eggs yet? Check out how you can use your soapmaking LabColors to dye your eggs, too! I got the marbled idea from the fabulous and creative Martha Stewart (I heart her). What are your great egg dying techniques?

Ingredients
Soapylove Jewelry Box Colorant Set
(LabColors or food coloring will work too)
12 eggs
Sweet Almond Oil
Vinegar
Skewers, spoons and forks
Small mixing bowls
Plenty of paper towels (trust me)

One: Hard boil your eggs anyway you like. I put my eggs in a pot, cover them with cold water and turn the heat to high. Once the water starts to a boil, I let the eggs cook for about 10 minutes. Then I immediately submerge the cooked eggs into cold water to stop the cooking. Set your eggs aside while you make your dye.

Two: In a small bowl, use your Soapylove Jewelry Box Colorant set to make your egg dyes. In 8 ounces of water add your Jewelry Box Colorants and 1 tablespoon of Vinegar. Mix well and pop your egg(s) into the dye for 1-2 minutes, until you get a nice solid base color.

Three: After all of your eggs are colored, it’s time to create the marbled look. Add 1 tablespoon of Sweet Almond Oil to the remaining colors and give it a whisk with a fork. Carefully drop your egg in the mixture and use your skewer to roll the egg around in the bowl (the egg will only need to be in the colorant for about 10-15 seconds).

Four: Remove the egg from the dye with a spoon and let it dry on a paper towel (or in your old egg carton). Pat it dry with a paper towel.

Tip: Remember to pick colors are going to pair well together. I love how my pink and orange combination turned out. The white and blue looks great too because it's such a dramatic contrast.


"Eggcellent" Colorant Recipes

Yellow
25 ml Sunshine Yellow
8 ounce of water
1 Tablespoon of Vinegar

Orange
9 ml Sunshine Yellow
2 drops of Ruby Red
8 ounce of water
1 Tablespoon of Vinegar

Purple
4 ml Fiery Fuchsia
5 drops of Turquoise Blue
8 ounce of water
1 Tablespoon of Vinegar

Neon Green
3 ml of Sunshine Yellow
1 drop of Turquoise Blue
8 ounce of water
1 Tablespoon of Vinegar

Red
4 ml of Ruby Red
8 ounce of water
1 Tablespoon of Vinegar

Blue
5 ml of Turquoise Blue
8 ounce of water
1 Tablespoon of Vinegar

Money Wi$e Women + a Contest Too!

Last Saturday, I spoke at the Money Wi$e Women Conference in my hometown of Bellingham, WA. It was so empowering. My speech was well-received and it was awe-inspiring to hear the other speakers at the conference. Everyone was great. My blog post about the day is here.

I think we all know (at this point) that our current economical situation isn't going to change overnight. So I need to be the one that makes a change to create my "new normal" (see blog post here on my "new normal"). It was an honor to hear Marcia Brixey, author of The Money Therapi$t, speak at the conference too. Motivating, to say the least and, of course, I picked up a couple copies of her book.

The Money Therapi$t:  A Woman's Guide to Creating a Healthy Financial Life offers women of every financial strata the advice, tips, and solutions they need to get out of debt, create a budget, spend wisely, and save money. Marcia's empowering, you-can-do-it attitude and helpful tools and resources encourage and inspire women to achieve financial fitness. With information on organizing financial records, getting out of credit card debt, safeguarding against identity theft, and taking advantage of interest through automatic deductions, The Money Therapist is the first step to achieving financial peace of mind.

You can purchase the book here or WIN THE BOOK! Whoo hoo! Just post a comment below and tell what your best money saving tip is! I am so excited to read all of your comments. I'll randomly pick a lucky winner on Wednesday, March 31st.

Interested in attending a future Money Wi$e Conference? Sign up HERE.

Tweeting, Blogging, Posting & Poking

I just finished my talk to the Social Media Conference NW attendees on practical strategies for fitting social media into your life if you’re a busy parent, entrepreneur or student. It all boils down to having a plan. These are my SACRED rules for social media engagement (based on the school of hard knocks and learning from some great teachers along the way):

Strategy – This is the most important rule. Before jumping into social media, it’s important to look at all the social media options out there and decide where to best focus your attention and energy. At Bramble Berry, our five pillars for social media are our YouTube channel, our TeachSoap instructional forum, our blog, Twitter and our Facebook Fan page. While we have a small presence on several other social media outlets, we put the bulk of our efforts into our top five prospects because that’s where we’ve determined more of our customers and potential customers are most likely to interact with us on.

Authenticity – Social media platforms are all about engagement and to engage, you’ve got to be yourself. It’s like when you go to a business meeting. You dress up. You put your best foot forward but your personality will eventually shine through, no matter who slicked back your hair is and how buttoned up your outfit. After you’ve figured out what your strategy is around social media, say it with your voice, your personality. Be authentic. People can smell fakes a mile away. People crave authentic connection so be real, be yourself, and don’t be fake.

Content – This dovetails with strategy. I developed a simple formula for Bramble Berry for how I wanted my blog and twitter stream to work. For example, my blog is 50% soap and project related, 25% Bramble Berry news, 10% personal and 15% business advice. Once you figure out what mediums to engage in, the next step is determine what you are going to say. And different mediums have different levels of engagement and messages. For example, I can tweet 12 times a day easily but if I updated my Facebook account that much, I’d be overwhelming people for sure.

Routine – Like raising children, consistency is everything with social media platforms. It doesn’t matter if you’re going to tweet 1 time per day and blog 1 time per week. Do it faithfully, week in and week out. Small amounts of consistent effort produce regular readers, fans and customers.

Etiquette – This is the internet. It lives forever. Don’t tweet about inside jokes. Don’t use slang. Refrain from LOL language. You want every single person, no matter how ‘in the know’, to read your streams and understand them No swearing. No drunk tweeting. Don’t get in fights over the internet. It’s not worth it.

Dialogue – Remember, this is a conversation. This is you enjoying talking to people, sharing what you’re an expert in and hoping that they want to talk to you in return. It’s you monitoring the conversation through TweetDeck and Google Alerts and responding back as well as you proactively seeking out customer’s blogs and other industry blogs to read and comment on.

Whatever you’re doing, at whatever stage, just add one more tweet, blog or an additional medium to your social media repertoire. Keep it consistent and you’ll be amazed at how your traffic and traction grows over the next year.

Mondo Bath Bombs

We've had so many requests in the last couple of weeks to do a tutorial using our stainless steel bath bomb molds. So I put my apron on, went to the soap lab and busted out some luscious bath bombs! Below is a basic recipe. Once you get the basics down there are endless possibilities in the world of bath bombs. Try multiple colors, herbs and stamps. You're baths will never be the same.

Mondo Bath Bomb Recipe  

Stainless Steel Bath Bomb Mold
16 oz Citric Acid

32 oz  Baking Soda

.75 oz Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil

Witch Hazel

Red Mica

ONE: Combine the 16 oz of citric acid and 32 oz baking soda in a large bowl and mix well. Use your fingers to break up any clumps.

TWO: Once the mixture is smooth, add a heaping scoop of the red mica and mix well until you have a soft pink color. Again, you can use your hands if you prefer.

THREE: Once the color is mixed in, add your fragrance oil.

Tip: Make sure there are no clumps in your mixture. Clumps can result in wart like protrusions on your bath fizzy. Not attractive.

FOUR: Spritz with witch hazel until the mixture seems like it is staying together when you squeeze a handful in the palm of your hands (about 5 or 6 spritzes). Is it saying together? Then you're ready for the mold.

FIVE: Fill each half of the mondo mold and pack the mixture as tight as you can. Then sprinkle on a little extra and place the second half of the mold on top. Squeeze the two halves together as hard as you can. If they are not packed hard enough, they could crack when drying. Trust me, it's very disappointing.

SIX: Let the mixture rest in the mold for about 30 seconds then carefully slide it out of the mold onto a flat surface. Let it dry, undisturbed. You'll be tempted to poke it, hold it or move it. Please don't mess with it until it's fully hardened, you'll thank me later. This recipe yields 5 bath bombs.

Tips: Have you ever had your bath bombs crack? I'm raising my hand. Most cracking is caused by too much or too little moisture so try to find that happy medium, where it sticks together nicely in the palm of your hand. Check out my Bath Bomb Cupcake tutorial to see an example of a too dry and a just right mixture. Other times, cracking can mean that the bath bomb wasn't packed tightly enough so use those muscles and pack it as tight as you can! Or try adding clays to your bath fizzy to improve the structural integrity of your bath fizzy and make it stronger.

Mini Bath Bomb Cupcakes

The original Bath Bomb Cupcakes in a smaller size. The benefit of small? It's a lower price point for sale (good idea) and because the full Bath Bomb or Bath Fizzy Cupcake might seem a little large to put into a tub.

Water Soluble Paper - Using a Silicone Baking Tray

I was going through my old photos, cleaning out my sadly overstuffed Flickr account, and found these photos. While this was one soap that didn't make the final taping for the Microsoft Small Business Summit (didn't see this series back in 2008? Check it out here), I wanted to share the technique with you. This is a good way to embed larger photos using Water Soluble Paper.

Step One: Pour a thin layer of Clear Melt and Pour Soap down. Don't spray alcohol. Alcohol makes the ink bleed. When the Clear Melt and Pour has slightly set up, gently set the photo down. The goal is to not allow the soap to get the water soluble paper wet. Wet paper = bleeding paper.

Optional Step: 24 hours before embedding your Water Soluble Paper page, lightly spray with a very fine drizzle of hairspray to help set the color on the paper.

Step Two: When the Clear Layer is fully set, gently pour cool temperature opaque soap on the back of the paper. Why cool temperature? The cooler the soap, the more viscous and thick the soap is. The thicker soap doesn't make the ink bleed as much as freshly poured, very wet soap. You don't have to keep the soap totally straight white either! You can lightly color the soap base to make a light pastel. Blue based tones look best. Warm tones seem to enhance the natural yellow of the clear soap base and yellow out the photo.

Step Three: When the soap has fully set up, gently peel away from the mold.

Step Four: Use a sharp large butcher knife to cut the soap into the shape you want.

The photo I was able to embed using the Jelly Roll Pan is double the size of a standard soap mold. It's just one more use for this amazing, versatile product.

Pumping up the Detail on your Soaps

This project was originally published on The Soap King blog (run by our retail store, Otion). Thank you Erik and Kat for a great technique post!

Rubbing in a little mica pigment on the surface of a soap will pop out that gorgeous detail that may normally go unnoticed. This trick is super easy and the results are very dramatic. For this project, I made my melt-and-pour soap like normal, used a clear soap base that I colored with a variety of mica pigments, and scented it with Woodland Elves fragrance oil. But instead of calling it done with the de-molding, I added a special touch to finish my soap. Remember, it's those extra little efforts that will catch the eye.

You will need:

Abstract wings flexible mold

Opalescent green mica

Heavy metal gold mica

Rubbing alcohol 

Step One: Pour a variety of colors and swirls for a basic bar. After de-molding your melt-and-pour soap, spray with rubbing alcohol to create a slick surface for rubbing in the pigment.

Step Two: Using a mini-scoop, tap a very small amount of opalescent green mica on a paper towel and then rub all over the surface of your soap. Repeat with the heavy gold mica. The deep parts of the detail in the soap will contrast beautifully against the higher surface that catches the pigment.

Before and After. Less is more! I like to apply the gold in patches on top of the opalescent green mica to create depth.

Try this technique with different colors. The darker your soap is to begin with, the more stunning the detail.

Be a More Effective Mind Changer

From DailyGood

Famed Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner, noted for his theory of multiple intelligences, recently published Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People’s Minds. The book outlines Gardner’s research and thinking on how best to convince others (or yourself) to adopt a different viewpoint in various settings, including business. In this interview Gardner talks about the difficulties inherent in the process of changing someone’s mind and the seven "levers" by which leaders can accomplish it. Check out the interview if you want to be more persuasive.

Sneak Peak: KBShimmer on Soap Queen TV!

To end the busy weekend with a bang, yesterday we finished filming 2 premium episodes of Soap Queen TV with speical guest, Christy Rose from KBShimmer (swirling expert extraordinaire).  I had a blast and the advanced soap recipes turned out gorgeous! Thank you SO MUCH for making the trip to Bellingham, Christy! You were a joy to work with!

Sunday's Photo Album

We just went over our scripts and are about to start filming!

Christy swirling the Lavender and Lemon soap.

This is the "In the Pot Swirl" soap

Cutting the Energy soap.
That's a wrap!

See more of KBShimmer here (website) and here (Etsy)! 

Stupendous Saturday Continues

Hi Team,

The Stupendous (busy!) Saturday has almost come to a close and I am all the worse in energy levels for it (ha ha). Between working out, studying scripts for the premium SoapQueen.TV episode filming tomorrow on Swirling Cold Process Soap, entertaining our enchanting out-of-town SQTV star and speaking at the MoneyWi$e Women's conference, I am pretty delighted that my day is over (for the next 12 hours at least).

What a blessing the day was, though! The speakers at the MoneyWi$e Women's Conference were all top notch. I heard Debbie Lacy talk about taming money fears. My two take aways from her talk were: (1) Is it your fear or is it your partner's fear? If it's your partner's fear, drop it. There's no use fretting about their fear. (2) If it is your fear, acknowledge it, name it and then re-frame it in a way that is a positive, celebratory way. You don't need to keep owning negative fears around money.

Anny Havland, blog here

Next, I attended Anny Havland's (above) talk around creating long-term wealth through real estate. She had helpful tips around how to qualify for a home loan (good credit, not surprisingly, was key) as well as some common myths for home mortgages. Did you know that using one of those servicing companies to set up a bi-weekly mortgage payment can be done without a servicing company (and their fees?). What the bi-weekly companies do is just have you paying 13 months of payments per year (rather than 12). This is something you can do on your own, either by paying 1/12th extra per month to your mortgage principal or making one extra payment per year (with your servicing brokerage's help).  Learn more about this idea here and read Anny's financial blog here.

I spoke on the importance of determining your own destiny and taking charge of your finances through goal setting. While I can't say for certain what the take aways from the audience were, here are what I was hoping they would take away:

1. Baby steps equal greatness. Small incremental amounts of efforts over time creative mind-blowing results. Just put one foot in front of the other and do the same boring thing that's working, day in and day out, and you'll be happily shocked at where it takes you in 1, 3 or 10 years.

2. Plan, little mouse, plan! Having a hard time getting your friends and family to tell you that you have the best idea ever is more difficult if you don't have a plan. My favorite book for helping out with business plans (and determining mission and values) is The Rockerfeller Habits.

3. Start small and start now. Use 99Designs.com for fast, inexpensive graphic design and Elance.com for affordable copy writing and webdesign. Succeed on your terms and on what you can afford. Go for the awesome branding package and website design package when you're past start-up page.

With Marcia Brixey, the founder of MoneyWi$e

Tonight, my husband and I took our special SoapQueen.TV guest and her husband out for dinner. She came all the way to Bellingham,WA from Terra Haute, Indiana. We are honored to have her as a guest and I am excited to introduce her to you tomorrow. Until then, happy soaping!

Stupendous Saturday

Hi Team,

I have such an awesome weekend planned and I can't wait to share it with you. This morning, I put the finishing touches on the scripts for tomorrow's filming of SoapQueen.TV. We have a secret surprise guest in town to help me film the shows. The two premium content SoapQueen.TV episodes will cover cold process swirling secrets and I can hardly wait to share them with you.

Before that happens though, I am speaking at the MoneyWise Conference on how self-employment and controlling your own destiny is totally the way to go. I will definitely post my top take aways from the portion of the conference I am able to attend. I also have a super fun soapmaker interview for this week as well as my take aways from a Learning At Lunch I attended this week with the Alaska Airlines CEO. It's going to be a jam packed weekend (and week) and I wanted to post to let you know that I am working on some great content to share with you. Until then, happy soaping!

Soap Queen TV - Whipped Soap Cupcakes

They look like cupcakes, they smell like cupcakes, but don't be fooled, they're soaps! Learn how to make soap cupcakes with whipped frosting in this episode of Soap Queen TV. Using the same technique Debbie shared on the Soap Queen blog (in this tutorial), I make a soapy replica of the Lavender Vanilla Cupcake from Cupcake Royale.


How to make Soap Cupcakes with Whipped Frosting from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here's what you'll need for the cupcake base:
40 oz. White Melt & Pour Soap
1 1/2 oz. Vanilla Select Fragrance Oil
1 1/2 oz. Vanilla Color Stabilizer
6 ml Canary LabColor (diluted)
SoapyLove Scalloped Round Mold


Here's what you'll need for the soap frosting:
16 oz White Melt & Pour Soap
8 Tbsp Natural Castile Liquid Soap
9 ml Royal Purple LabColor (diluted)
1 oz Lavender Fragrance Oil
SoapyLove Jojoba Bead Mix

DIY Wine Aroma Kit

Next week I'm headed to the 2010 "Taste Washington" (a top food and wine show in the Pacific Northwest with classes, tastings and food) and I've been researching wine aromas and how to improve your wine palate. You can improve your wine sniffing abilities by training your nose to identify notes in different wines. There are kits out there to help you with this or ... I was thinking a little DIY Bramble Berry action might be in order!

Put together your own wine aroma kit for a fun evening or dinner party with your friends. If DIY isn't your style, this is the kit I've been drooling over on Amazon.com: Le NEz du Vin Red Wine Aromas

Common wine aromas that you can find at Bramble Berry

Fruits: Lemon, Grapefruit, Orange, Strawberry 

Florals: Lavender, Violet,

Vegetal: Thyme, Pine, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Clove, Licorice,

Animal: Leather, Musk

Grilled: Dark Rich Chocolate, Toasted Bread, Caramel

Using a wine aroma tasting kit is simple: you put your nose into a large bulbous glass with wine in it, identify three or four fragrances and then compare your nose to the tasting notes that the vinter will provide on their website or through a store. Using the wine aroma tasting kit, you can improve your sensory skills by implanting a sensory 'memory' each time you need to pinpoint a particular aroma. Or, make a game out of it at your next party - let your guests smell the fragrances on blotters and ask them to identify the notes. Turn learning into something fun and create what you love (with Bramble Berry) =))

Soap Weekend Intensive Sneak Peek

We have been busily working on the final details for the Otion Soap Intensive Weekend (August 13-15 in beautiful Bellingham, WA). Erin Pikor is a confirmed Melt and Pour teacher at this summer's Soap Weekend Intensive. We are absolutely, head over heels, thrilled that she'll be a part of the festivities. Check out Erin's Etsy Shop, Naiad Soap Arts website and blog.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the projects she'll be teaching.

 

Read more and sign up for SWI here!

Easter Mash Up

Wondering what to make for Easter this year? Check out our projects from Easters past. 

Soapy Bird Nests

Simple Easter Scrub 

Embedded Ducky Soap

Easter Soap Kit

Easter Grass Melt and Pour

Dying Easter Eggs with LabColors

Chicks, Cows and Bunnies

Wesson Oil and Fresca Easter Eggs 

Rabbits Mold 

Patience. It's a Soapmaking Virtue.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that the incomparable Amber accidentally ripped the divider off the side of the perfect swirl molds last week. This is what happens if you rip instead of slide.



When you're using the Divider Molds (soon to be released, I promise), just gently wiggle and slide the side bars up the side of the soap. Always remember to slide the dividers off. Slide. Slide. Slide.  

Women's Leadership Summit 2010

Six weeks ago, my friend and mentor Shandel Slaten called me up and said "You know, I have this idea. Tell me if you think it's crazy. I just won Coach of the Year. One of the bennies for winning that was that I could offer this awesome personality and values profile at a discount for just one month. I love helping people and I want to help as many people as possible. What do you think about the idea of me putting on a Women's Leadership Summit?" I was on board. Until she said her next line: "... in six weeks."

I've planned business retreats, ran a conference for 100 entrepreneurs on Rosario and been involved with other weekend events and planning on in 6 weeks seemed a little aggressive. But, if anyone could do it, it was Shandel. "I'm in!" I told her.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being in the audience with 130 other women as we explored what our natural personality types are and what motivates us to get up in the morning. I've taken these tests with True Life Coaching (Shandel's company) before and have brought her up to Bellingham to coach my entire team. The tests are incredibly interesting, valuable and helpful for living a life with purpose.

Molly Wilmot from Pinks Original Bakery spoke about starting Pinks (formerly Mostly Muffins) and about her biggest lessons growing a business. My take aways from her talk were:

1. Always tell the truth. If you speak from the heart and put honesty first, you don't need a PR company and you never need to spin anything.

2. Believe in yourself. Molly never believed in the early years that she would fail. It didn't cross her mind. She just put one foot in front of the other and did what came naturally.

I was honored to speak at the event. I told the Bramble Berry story (starting out in my house with $15,000 on a credit card and no business experience) and went over some keys for Bramble Berry's successful business journey.

1. Goals matter. Set goals. Make a roadmap. Follow the roadmap. No excuses.

2. Surround yourself with a strong support network - family, friends, employees, life and business coaches, Mastermind Groups, Accountability Groups - to have a better chance at succeeding.

3. Continual learning. Devour books. Read and learn from the best business minds possible to grow yourself as a person and as a leader of integrity within your family and your company.

The event was incredibly rewarding and I was grateful to be a part of it. Thank you to True Life Coaching for facilitating it.

And, if you're interested in taking that next step in your personal life? Shandel is doing a Life 301 course (via phone) to help you determine your life's purpose and dig down and figure out what your values are. I've taken it and the course was incredible. It helped me define what my values were so I could start to design my life with those values in mind. Four years later, I'm still finding value in the phone training course I took from Shandel.

Purpose Filled Leader

Guest Post by Shandel Slaten - I spoke at Shandel's brainchild today, 2010 Women's Leadership Summit in Seattle and can't wait to share what I learned ... tomorrow. Tonight, I'm hanging with my family and feeling energized by all of my newfound knowledge. Until then, enjoy Shandel's Guest Post.

The continual pursuit of excellence in leadership fascinates and inspires me. In my simple way, I have observed there are flashy firework leaders and steadfast star leaders. The firework leaders are ones that come out with a bang, a spark, and a flash of brilliance that "ooooos" and "aaaaahs" the crowds as they are mesmerized by the exciting new light in the sky. All attention and admiration is completely focused on the show and the star-filled sky is forgotten and disregarded while the fireworks display their magic. However, the fireworks quickly die out and fade away after their burst of showmanship. Meanwhile, the stars still shine as they always have and provide consistent, steady, predictable beauty and guidance. Did you ever hear of someone navigating through stormy seas by fireworks? No, that's ridiculous. Neither do people depend on firework leaders when they really need guidance and effective direction. Similiar to the sailor, we look to the steadfast stars to bring us through the turbulent times in our own personal or corporate lives.  (read more after the jump by clicking the link below ....)

Soap Intensive Weekend - August 13-15

Otion's popular Soap Intensive Weekend is officially taking registrations. Located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with access to two airports (Seattle and Bellingham), getting here is a snap. With our Cold Process soap expert flying over from Australia (Jude Birch from Aussie Soap Supplies) and a brand new Melt and Pour expert completely with rockin' new ideas, this Soap Intensive Weekend will be sweet. Erin Pikor wrote two of the most popular Soap Queen blogs ever (frosted CP cupcakes & solid sugar scrub). Her projects are crowd pleasers with style.

Otion's jam-packed weekends usually book out at $1250 per weekend but the Soap Intensive Weekend is just $350. Want to join in the soapy sweet fun? Sign up here.

PS - Here are some of the blog posts from SWI's from previous years to read over and drool.

Don't be Fooled with Fools Gold Soap

It's time to start planning your April Fools Day pranks!



Ingredients

23 oz Clear Soap Base

Heavy Metal Gold Mica

Gardenia Fragrance Oil

Brownie Pan Tray Mold

Soap Cutter

Soapy Tools

Paint Brush (optional)

ONE: Melt 23 oz of clear soap base in the microwave on 30 second intervals. Mix in 1/2 oz of fragrance oil and 4-6 heaping scoops of Heavy Metal Gold Mica. Mix well and pour into your brownie pan tray mold. Let cool for 4-6 hours.

TWO: Once the soap has cooled, unmold the soap and and cut into bars (any size you want). We mixed it up and did several different sizes.

THREE: Use your soapy tool from PJ's tool kit to carve "Gold" into the soap bar. For an extra special (and shiny) touch, brush on some of the heavy metal gold mica. Just dip a small paint brush into some rubbing alcohol then into your mica and paint the top of the soap.

Place liberally around your home on April 1 to surprise the loved ones in your life.