BACK AGAIN AND LOTS OF CHANGES AFOOT!

Hi all, Happy New Year and all that

I know its late but lots has been happening. I am back from 4 weeks in Portugal again and at long last, the moment I have been waiting for, Naturally Made Soaps and Puro Soaps are going to merge.......

We have been working hard to get to this point and finally we are here, lots to do to achieve it but it will happen.  Naturally Made Soaps will become Puro.  All European orders will be taken care of via Shelley In Portugal while I will keep going with the UK sales and website sales here in England.  It should work, with a little tweaking of the range here or there.

Puro Soaps was launched in November 2011 in Lagares da Beira, Portugal - to great acclaim.  Puro aims to use as many local, fresh Portuguese ingredients as possible including the olive oil, beeswax and creamy goats milk (a lot of which are already picked, cured and soon to be milked by ourselves), the range is designed to reflect the beauty of the country and the fantastic ingredients to be found - I am really sure that you will all approve.

Myself and Paul Barnes (Shelleys husband) picking olives for our harvest 2012

Those of you following this blog for a while will know my passion for Portugal and how I have always tried to bring the country and its bounty and beauty into my soapmaking, well now it is a reality!  Our entire range will be made in both countries by myself and Shelley, ready for shipping anywhere and there will be no difference in quality or service - in fact it will be better.

What will this mean to you as a customer?  Hopefully you will not really notice many changes.  There will be a few soaps in the old range leaving us but they will be replaced by some simply wonderful new soaps including our very special 'PURO' range which are pure olive oil soaps, very special, luxurious and indulgent.

We will be closing the Naturally Made Soaps website temporarily so we can make the big change over and we will let you know as soon as the new site is up and running.  Please do follow our progress by logging into this blog or follow us on facebook at the Puro Soaps Page.  If you would like a sneak preview of the new soap range go to the temporary Puro website Puro Soaps to have a look.

Please note, there will still be a UK only ordering facility on our website for a couple of our soaps that we don't think will market well in Europe but are firm favorites and best sellers in England such as

And of course the ever popular, unbelievably good and effective DIRTY DOG SOAP!!

There may well be others too.  If you are a UK customer and have a favorite you just cant do without, please let us know, we will do our best to reassure you with a sample of our new Puro substitute, which in fact, is EVEN BETTER!!

thanks for your loyalty and understanding during this period of change.  We promise you a website that is even more exciting,  inspiring and, most importantly, full of wonderful soap.

Let us know what you think, please leave comments below.  We really want to know what you would hate to loose and what you would love to see in terms of new soap ideas......

HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS AND A VERY, VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

And WHAT A HOPELESS BLOGGER I have been recently - I am so sorry but I have never been as busy before in my whole life!  I came back from my last trip to Portugal where we successfully launched 'PURO' and my feet just did not touch the ground.

I feel like I have been stuck in a permanent whirlwind, not in a bad way, dont get me wrong, it is great to be busy but really, it has been intense.

firstly coming up with new soaps for my Christmas ranges, then making, making, making.  I actually made about 3 times more soap than I have ever done before for Christmas, thinking this might be enough.  Not a bit of it, I sold out of all the Christmas soaps end of last week, Follow the Star being the most popular, then Snowberry and Christmas Spice.  The Gingerbread cupcakes went immediately (and I made hundreds!), Wild Berry soon followed and the Mince pies have just gone mad!!  People started asking for them back in October so I knew I just had to make them again.  I love them.  Put them in a big basket on the stall, about 100, and just watch people, looking, then looking again, then they come up and read the info.  A huge smile usually follows, they never fail to make people smile.

My Christmas Fairs and activities have been mixed, always great fun but not always worthwhile in terms of sales, but that is not always everything is it?  The Craft Hub event at Topsham "Twinkling Firs" was wonderful, the first complete sell out of mince pies!

Totnes Late Night Shopping Christmas Festival has not been great so far, but Aimee (my wonderful daughter) and her fiance Dave have been doing the last one tonight for me (so we can pack for our mega trip to Portugal tomorrow) and so far, it looks good.  They have very little to sell, but, hey, what there is left is still great soap!!

So, we are mostly sold out at the moment but I can promise I will come back from Portugal on 22nd January fired up and ready to go, also I should have some great new soaps to show you as well as the old favorites, so don't go anywhere!

LASTLY - I would like to wish you all a fabulous Christmas, may it bring you everything you want, and, in these hard times, it is probably more important than ever to remember those dear to you, spend as much time with friends and family as possible and laugh as much as you can.

Lots of love and Christmas wishes
Ishbel
aka Soapchick
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PORTUGAL, PURO SOAPS, LABELS , LABELS, LABELS!!

WOW how fast do things come round?  Im back in Portugal again, this time to launch 'PURO' our fantastic new soap business, and open our first ever exhibition.

And you are all welcome!

Exposacao de

Sabonetes Artesanais

PURO - SHELLEY BARNES & ISHBEL RAMSAY

Biblioteca Ludoteca de Lagares da Beira

(Oliviera do Hospital)

PORTUGAL

02 a 30 Novembro 2011

Private View 7.30pm Friday 4 Novembro

We have been packing and labeling like mad and finally managed to beat our way through the rain to get the first of the soaps and info there and start to set up.

All packed up and ready to go

Newly wrapped Puro bars

Display starting to take shape

So there we are, the beginnings of a very exiting new business, started by two good friends living a fair few miles appart but both with a passion for soap making and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.  Keep watching as we have lots and lots of fantastic new things happening in the next 3 weeks and all will be documented here!

Lastly....................  How lovely to be a dog?  end of a very, very busy day, chill out time courtesy of Weasel - what a cutie!

I'M OFF TO PORTUGAL AGAIN

Yes, yes yes.... I really can't believe it myself, it seems that it was only yesterday I was there making and creating the most amazing soaps with Mrs Barnes aka Shelley

Well, I am back again tomorrow for another fun filled, busy, busy 3 weeks where we launch PURO Soaps and really go for it!

We have already made a lot of soap ready for our first selling experiences but, most importantly, we will be hosting an exhibition of artisan soap making at the

Biblioteca/Library- Lagares da Beira Largo Dr. Agostinho Antunes Lagares da Beira, Portugal   Our Local lovely library - So masses of work to get this sorted before our launch night when the website goes live and PURO really lives!   The soaps we have created are the best that both of us have ever made, our special PURO range of Olive Oil soaps are really something and our lovely 'fun' soaps will make Christmas bubble with a lovely scented, spicy selection of slightly mad, crazy and amazing soaps.     Keep following this blog for the next three weeks of fantastic adventure and excitement.  I can't wait!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Yes and my new soaps are all up on the website now, click on the link to the right of this blog to go and have a look.  All of the soaps from last year have been altered and some look quite different, I also have two new cupcakes on offer and one new soap that I am very, very proud of.......

'FOLLOW THE STAR' - My first art landscape soap and my interpretation of the story of the three wise men and their journey to take their gifts to the new baby Jesus.  Scented with frankincense and myrrh and studded with gold chunks it both looks and smells great, a real unisex soap and very luxurious too.

SNOWBERRY - slightly altered from last year, a little stronger scent and ice blue balls as well as white ones, drenched in fine crystal glitter it is very, very pretty.

CHRISTMAS SPICE CAKE - A real favorite and my best selling Christmas soap, again, totally re-vamped with beautiful hand cut and decorated tops using holly leaves and berries, it smells really great, just like an old fashioned Christmas.

CHRISTMAS TREE CUPCAKES - Really lovely and very different from last year, more spice added to the scent, darker blue/green swirls that go on forever, I have also added pretty metallic multicolored balls to mimic real Christmas Tree decorations, all topped off with a gold star.

NEW GINGERBREAD MEN CUPCAKES - I had to make this one, I got a cute new tiny gingerbread man cutter and this cupcake just happened!  Scented with a wonderful ginger cake fragrance with added decorations it will be a real winner with the kids.

NEW WILDBERRY CUPCAKES - Another beautiful new cupcake that I think is set to become a classic.  It is scented with wonderful zingy cranberry, wild berry and a touch of citrus with amazingly realistic, hand made soap berries scattered all over the top.

LASTLY.....

THE NOW FAMOUS NATURALLY MADE SOAPS MINCE PIE SOAPS - They are back, not ready for dispatch until the beginning of November but kept at the same price as last year they made the best, funniest, wonderfully inventive and totally original stocking fillers.

Tell all your friends, most of these soaps are limited editions and will not stay around for long.

RIP STEVE JOBS

I know I am very late but I wanted to share this wonderful video link with you.  I learned to use computers on a Mackintosh, and have loved Macs and everything Apple ever since.  As a Mac user of 26 years I am in awe of the man who created these wonderful, easy to use, beautifully designed machines that have changed all our lives.

This video at Stamford University, USA is incredible, so inspiring.  Steve Jobs was an innovator who changed the world just listen as he talks about how nearly dying taught him to live.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
- Steve Jobs

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle." -Steve Jobs

 R.I.P. Steve Jobs-1955-2011

 "You've got to find what you love" 

 

 One of the comments from You Tube

Ten years ago, we had Johnny Cash, David Hope, and Steve Jobs.
Now we have no Cash, no Hope, and no Jobs.

(not totally true I believe, but funny all the same)

NEW CHRISTMAS SOAPS - PREVIEW

Yes, busy, busy, busy little Soapchick has been making like crazy.  I have some lovely new ideas for Christmas soaps, some already made and some in the making.  I want to share them with you today, some are on the curing racks already and will be ready for order really soon.

Re-vamped Christmas Spice Cake for 2011
Christmas Spice Cake is an annual favourite, each year I redesign it and try to make it better and better.  This year I have gone for the holly and berry look on top, swirls of lovely creamy soap laden with cinamon, nutmeg, cranberry and clove scents.  It is a real winner and I think that this years version is the best ever!

Christmas Berry cupcakes
Now these really are lovely, the base is scented with a mixture of wild berry and tangy cranberry, very Christmassy, the tops are decorated with mixed berries, and lovely indigo glitter. Another one that I don't have a name for yet, so if you can help I would love to know what you think?

Gingerbread Cupcakes
I recently fell in love with a new, tiny gingerbread man cutter and I had to get it.  So..... naturally this means a new cupcake is born!  this one has a fantastic ginger cake fragrance, so spicy and lovely.  Some of the cupcakes have a candy cane on the opposite side, some a gold star, everything made out of soap of course! I need a name for this little beauty, can you help?

"Follow The Star" Limited edition
I am so excited by this soap, the idea came while I was sleeping - I know it sounds crazy but I dreamed this soap!

I wanted to make a real scene in soap, my interpretation of the Christmas message.  The fragrance started me off, frankincense and Myrrh, a beautiful, warm, rich scent, and what else did the wise men bring?  Gold of course, I wanted a star and glitter too.  This is the result, a desert night (it will get darker, the sky I mean, as the fragrance ages to a much darker colour), the sand dunes peeling off into the distance, a wild, glittery, magical sky and a huge, pure white star to follow.  The soap looks equally good straight out of the mold or cut up into bars (as above) I think, I really wanted the scene to show up well and tell the story of Christmas in soap, I think it does and I hope you do too, please let me know.

Before the final cut, straight out of the mold as an extra large bar and before the gold 'chunks' were coloured up.

Christmas Tree Cupcakes
and finally, another re-vamp of a favorite from last year.  I have make these cupcakes again as I have already had lots of orders in, but, as always, I have made them slightly different this year.  I hope you wont be disappointed.  The scent is the same lovely mixture of Christmas spices as the cake at the top of this blog, cinnamon, clove, cranberry and nutmeg.

Remember you will always see and hear about my new soaps first on this blog and by following my facebook page, Please do let me know what you think, I love comments!!!