Preparing for Holiday Success as a Handmade Business

Imagine it’s Thanksgiving week, and you’re busy with family gatherings and personal holiday planning, when you realize you’ve already sold out of all your customer’s favorite handmade Christmas Products. Now your email and social media are getting hit daily with “when will you have more?”.

You go to your supplier’s site to place an order and they are out of half the items you need for at least another week. There is only one weekend between now and Christmas that isn’t already packed with markets or family gatherings.

Some folks might pivot entirely, creating something new that may or may not sell. Others will take custom or pre-orders and work themselves completely ragged in the two weeks right before Christmas. Others will simply watch their momentum die off and lose out on sales revenue because they just don’t have time to do anything more.

What if it could be different though? What if Christmas in July wasn’t just a Marketing Phrase, but a system that lets you go into your holiday season better prepared. How much better would Fourth Quarter be with a sales plan, plenty of supplies on hand, and enough inventory to prevent yourself from working like crazy when you want to be spending time with family?

Here are the four steps you need to take right now to be ready for the holidays.

Review your Data

The first thing you need to do is review the products you sold last year, and maybe even the year before. Which ones sold best? When did you start selling them, and when did you stop? Try to look at actual sales data if you can. Do you have an inventory management system in place through a store front or website? Pull actual reports to see what you sold. Look back through your calendar, and even your social media, to see when you began to market different products and when they stopped selling. Was it because you ran out of stock? Or did sales for certain items simply drop off at a certain point? Don’t forget to pay attention not only to seasonal items, but your standard items as well! Once you’ve got all that information in front of you, ask yourself if you are happy with your sales volume from last year. Do you want to see an increase this year? What is your overall sales goal for this coming holiday season?

Plan your Sales Map

With the numbers you pulled from last year, you know when your sales started to pick up as you entered the Forth Quarter. Could you have sold more in October if you started selling sooner? Would more frequent restocks or product announcements grow your sales in November? Do you need one last market or sales push early in December?

Create a Sales Calendar that gives a visual representation of what you want to sell, when you want to sell it, and how/where you want to sell it. Assign actual sales goals to these items. Figure out how many items you have to sell to meet those goals in those specific time frames.

Build Inventory in Order

Now you’re ready to start adding the inventory creation into your weekly to-do lists. Make sure that the items you sell best early in the season are the ones you create first. Map out your inventory creation goals for each week from now until October 15th. Be sure to take into consideration any other items on your calendar and allow yourself time. Would it pay off for you to bring in some part-time help? Even just for supply prep? Keep an eye on that list, and if you fall behind, be sure to decrease across the board so that you don’t end up cutting one profitable product entirely for the sake of finishing another set of products that may not pay out as well.

Organize & Photograph Early

Spend time in September getting good product photos and writing descriptions for product listings, social media promotions and any of the ways you get the word out about what you are selling. Once you get caught up in the frenzy of a high sales season, pausing for pictures and captions could slow down your ability to actually fill orders and make sales. So create a folder with photos and word documents for captions, product descriptions and email blasts. Your future self will be so very grateful for everything you did to help them out!

Glimmering all over the place...

I was standing taller, smiling so much more, noticing things that I hadn’t taken the time to notice in a very long time and it all started with putting ribbons in my hair!

It started back in April. I’d read an article about “Glimmers” a term coined by licensed clinical social worker Deb Dana. Glimmers are the opposite of Triggers. Where Triggers are places, circumstances or people that can bring on a negative or unwanted reaction - usually due to a trauma in someone’s past - a Glimmer is something that produces a micro dose of joy. It might be snuggling with your pet, It may be seeing a butterfly, or cardinal that reminds you of a loved one. It could be certain colors that elicit a joyful emotion for you.

This prompted a series of choices for me this Spring that ended with a daily decision to chase after joy. I wrote a full length article about this experience for the Summer Volume of The Turquoise Iris Journal!

Ultimately though, my new collection of Hair Glimmers was born out of this experience. the past few months I’ve been releasing these fun hair accessories in a variety of colorways using the artisan ribbons and fibers from my work with fiber art, as well as the stones and wire wrapping I use in my jewelry work! I absolutely love creating this color collections, but I want to do more with them. I don’t only want to sell an accessory, I want to help other chase after joy everyday! So I’ve created a subscription box that is built around this idea.

Each month subscribers will not only recieve a Deluxe Hair Glimmer in that month’s colorway along with an exclusive add-on accessory only available to subscribers, but they will also recieve a curated collection of other small products, journal prompts, playlists and more to help them create an environemnt for themselves that allows them to find joy every single day, no matter the circumstances they find themselves in!

I hope these boxes will serve to help us remember that we can choose joy everyday, and in doing so we can become a bright spot - a glimmer - for other people!

To grab your own glimmer Box Subscription just click the button below. Let’s chase after joy and #beaglimmer!

Undertows

Have you ever gotten pulled down by an undertow? When I was in Jr. High there was a school trip to the coast and we got to get in the ocean (I have a feeling the liability of that scenario speaks to my age).

I remember getting pulled under and literally rolled end over end for what felt like an eternity before I pulled myself out of it and stumbled out of the shallows.

I was terrified. I can still remember what it felt like for that brief second to think that I might not come up for air.

What was most bizarre to me was the fact that no one else kicking around in the waves or hanging out on the shore seemed to notice. I mean, my hair was a mess but otherwise I looked like anyone else who’d been swimming around in the ocean.

In my young teenage brain I wanted to scream, “I almost died!” But of course I didn’t die, and I eventually went back in the water but 24 years later it’s still a traumatic memory.

I still remember the sand and shells stuck to my scalp for days afterwards. I remember finally breaking the surface for air, gasping & sputtering. I remember how bad the salt water stung my nostrils & the chills that consumed me as I sat on the sand waiting to feel like I could walk again.

Tomorrow is James’s sixth birthday. He spent 8 1/2 months in my belly & 47 minutes on this earth. Six years later all of those memories are still so vivid. I remember the joy, the love, the agonizing heartbreak, the painful hope & finally the overwhelming numbness and grief.

Of course I survived. I’m essentially back on the shore with crazy hair, but anyone walking by would just see a scatterbrained woman walking around like she lost her keys or something. My insides are screaming, “I lost my baby!” How can the world just keep moving forward like nothing happened…

I remember the hospital smells, the weird taste in my mouth from the epidural and the insane cold temperatures in our room. I remember being so, so exhausted but fighting to stay awake because this was all the time I would get to spend with my son. I remember being so glad we got to share those hours with family and also kind of wishing everyone would go away and leave us alone with our boy.

That undertow is pulling me u see and rolling me end over end this week. So if you’re around me when I’m being short tempered, please be patient with me (and maybe don’t point it out). I tend to smile when I’m talking about painful things and I work hard trying to make sure other people aren’t uncomfortable around me, but not this weekend, not tomorrow.

Tomorrow is James’s Birthday and I want you to know. Remember that he was here & be angry with me that he didn’t get to stay. We can smile through the painful things again next week.

Creating Tutorials and Digital Products as a Handmade Business

You might’ve caught my interview with Courtney Foster-Donahue on the Makers Chat Podcast a few weeks ago, if not I definitely recommend checking that out!

Watch the Interview on YouTube

I want to tell you a little more about why I started to learn how to make courses & tutorials as a handmade business owner.

When I left my full time job in 2017 to pursue a more creative career path I learned quickly that there is a natural ebb and flow to product sales, and societal and regional circumstances can impact your ability to sell physical products from time to time (and that was before we even knew what it was like to live in a pandemic).

I learned that for me, the lulls in product sales were best filled with sales for in-person classes and events. Like most endeavors though, it is a lot of work to promote and market an in-person class and then there is the actual time in the classroom.

I love my in-person classes and I will never stop teaching them, but creating online classes and tutorials - while often a lot of work on the front end - allows me to scale the number of students I can reach beyond my local community. It also allows be to take back some of my weekends, because once the tutorials are recorded, I don’t have to redo them with every online offering.

If you are a Maker and you like to teach classes but you need the ability to break the tether of the in-person classroom, using Pocket Products™ to package up your workshops is an excellent way to increase your income, especially during those “off” retail months.

Check out Pocket Products™ today and see how online course offerings and tutorials can benefit your handmade business!

Pocket Products™ is online course that teaches you how to take what you know and bottle it up as a way to create an additional revenue stream in your business.

Pocket Products™ is the creation of Courtney Foster-Donahue

This post contains affiliate links.

What does it actually cost to run a vendor booth?

As the owner of a brick and mortar business that operates under a vendor booth model, I talk to creatives all of the time who are considering taking the next step towards opening a retail location and the first question is always, “what is the cost?”

The truth is, it costs you time.

The prices that are worked out by any given store to rent space generally have a basis in what the store believes you would be able to make if you work your business for sales. So whatever costs they quote you, wherever you are in the country, are probably appropriate.

There are set-up costs associated that you will need to consider. Most establishments will ask for first and last month’s rent upfront. You’ll also want attractive display pieces if you are selling small items and possibly a rug or lighting for the space depending on the store itself. The biggest up front cost to you, however, will be gathering enough inventory to have the space well-stocked.

You must remember too that once the space is well stocked your goal is to sell those items, so be prepared to replenish the space regularly.

I’ve actually compiled a guide to help you determine if you are ready to take that leap! Simply click the link below and see what other questions you’ll want to consider when making a decision about opening a vendor booth.

My Broken, Bleeding Heart

Life is muddy isn’t it? You agree with this person, and you agree with that person, but they hate each other. They don’t know each other, but they hate each other. People want you to check a box, but you don’t live in boxes. I don’t either.

We are constantly being faced with division on social media, the internet, news outlets. Of course we are spending less time together in an effort to keep each other and ourselves safe during this pandemic, so it’s easy to forget that there are loads of people out there, just like us, who simply want what’s best for all of us.

I think that because all we are seeing right now is messages of US and THEM, we forget that we are ALL human. Perhaps it’s these rose colored glasses but I believe that given the opportunity for meaningful conversation we would discover that 90% of the people agree on 75% of the things. The 25% we can’t agree on is usually about HOW things should be done. The 10% of the people, well…

I believe that solutions, lasting solutions, only come when people are willing to actually listen to others with an open mind. Listening to someone while mentally preparing your argument is not actually listening.

Hate is never the answer. Hate is always the problem.

We need to stop having conversations as labels and start having conversations as human beings.

I’ve been called lots of things over the years. One of the ones that has stuck with me is “bleeding heart liberal”. The person who used it didn’t know me. They didn’t know that I’m actually a bleeding heart moderate 😜. They also intended it as an insult, but it didn’t hurt my feelings.

I’ve been ‘taken for a ride’ plenty of times over the years. I’ve chosen not to make waves because I could understand someone’s point of view, even when I didn’t agree with something. I’ve experienced manipulation by people I considered friends and I know that it is likely to happen again in the future.

I know that when I get to heaven I will discover I have been wrong about many, many things. (You will too, in case you are under some other impression.)So, how do you reconcile making the best choice you can, with knowing that you are inevitably going to be wrong sometimes?

Love is always the answer. Compassion is always the answer. Empathy is always the answer.

If I’m wrong because I give people the benefit of the doubt…

If I’m wrong for not holding people to a standard I’m unsure of…

If I’m wrong because I’m too easy on people…

If I’m wrong because I let people take advantage of me…

If I’m wrong for allowing my heart to “bleed” for people who are hurting, for people who are less fortunate, for people who don’t have the love I’m blessed to have…

Then I’m wrong, and I can accept that. I will continue to be a bleeding heart.

Right now though, my bleeding heart is broken. All of the hate out in the world has been weighing heavy on me and for fear or being misunderstood or saying the wrong thing, I’ve been holding a lot back.

This canvas really helped me process all of that frustration & sadness. It also brought me hope and joy.

It actually started as another painting entirely. It was a group of diverse women in every shape color and size. I was going to name it ‘Together’. In my frustration I decided that was not a realistic image. In fact it probably wasn’t even something to aspire too. After all, there are too many difficult issues to overcome to pretend we can just lock arms and sing kumbaya.

I started to scrape over the faces with black paint. Then I added large swashes of red and blue everywhere, muddying with one another and the black beneath.

Then, I began to add points of white. I added some brighter variations of red and blue. Then we had teal and pinks. I even added shades of purple. That’s when my intuitive process stalled for a few days.

I stared at the canvas and at first I simply saw chaos. So, I added some light. I brought entire sections of the piece together with a golden patina technique I learned from The Turquoise Iris.

Finally, I grabbed my favorite shade of purple. The purple that I’ve always felt best represented my own standing in the political spectrum. I knew the message I wanted this piece to send. I knew that even in chaos, this was beautiful.

Y’all.

Let’s just love each other.

Why Pricing Matters

This one is for the Makers and Artists.

Because of my position at Vintage Warehouse of Spartanburg, I have to opportunity to talk to lots of handmade business owners, and the questions I hear most often revolve around pricing. How do I know if I’m charging too much? What’s the problem with pricing too low? Isn’t it better to sell low if I can sell more?

In my new course I talk about the pricing formula I use to price my handmade products and address three big mistakes that most creatives make when it comes to pricing.

But the first thing we need to talk about is why pricing matters so much.

Why can’t we just arbitrarily assign a price to our products? After all if someone is buying then it’s not too high, right? And if it’s too low but I sell a lot of product then it’s worth it, right?

Pricing Matters for Three Reasons.

Consistency

When we are pricing our products correctly there is a consistency in our business that customers will recognize and respect. After all if one week I’m pricing a necklace for $30 and the next week it is $40 for no apparent reason. Why shouldn’t a customer wait until I’m pricing lower again? But when we are using a proper formula we know the value of our products which allows us to be more consistent in our pricing, and more confident in our work.

Confidence

Which brings me to the next reason having a pricing formula is so important. As creatives we need to have confidence in the value of our work and the work of our peers so that we can explain that value to our customers. When we use a formula we can easily answer pricing questions based on the quality of the materials we use, or the difficulty of the process we are using. Ultimately it benefits the entire handmade community when we know the value of our work.

Creating Time

Finally, when we use a formula it takes the emotion out of pricing and saves us time. Rather than browsing the internet and comparing ourselves to other makers, we are basing the decision on facts and numbers. This saves us so much time in the long run, and frees us up to do the creative work that we love doing.

If you’re a Maker or Artist who is ready to have confidence when it comes to pricing and spend more time creating than stressing over prices, then this is for you.

The Perfect Price Prescription is available now. Don’t wait though, it won’t be available forever!

In its time...

In the fall of 2017 I spilled a container of beads. Sounds simple, but it ended up being pretty significant to me. You can read the original blog post I wrote HERE if you would like. The gist though, is that I had a large container that held all of my separate “seasons” for the Tree of Life jewelry I make and during a Holiday Fair I managed to drop the contents all over the floor. There was no separating things. All of the beads were gathered into one large bag in the clean up and when it was over I couldn’t help but notice how pretty the mixture was!

Inspired by Ecclesiasties chapter three I create a new tree design and named it every season. I wear those earrings like 75% of the time. I really love them and it’s always been a great symbol for me, of how no matter how bad things get, they can be really great too. It’s the cycle of all of it that makes life meaningful and wonderful.

Now its 2020 and when I reread that blog post last week I laughed out loud and thinking to myself, “I’m so glad that the grieving woman who wrote that didn’t know what the future held.” She would have been so discouraged to know that after two and a half years she would have two more babies in heaven and would still be waiting for so many things.

I wasn’t laughing out of bitterness (at least not entirely) but because how do you explain that while it’s been disheartening, it’s also been full of significance. The lessons I’ve learned, the moments of clarity God has given me, and the hard things I’ve done since then have all been so meaningful. Even this pandemic that we are currently living through has taught me more than I could’ve imagined.

Ecclesiaties 3:11 says “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

I still have hope for a family of my own, for living children here on earth, so that my husband and I can have the joy of being parents this side of heaven. While I often get very discouraged that we are still waiting after all this time, I know that when it happens - it’s going to be so much more beautiful that I can fathom.

I don’t know what you’re waiting on, but please don’t lose hope.

In its time.

I’ve added a new bracelet to my Every Season Collection inspired by Ecclesiates 3:11. You can find it here in my shop.

Make it stop!

Have you ever been around a young child when they get upset over something and start begging their mom or dad to “make it stop”? It’s pitiful isn’t it? It’ll break your heart sometimes.

The truth is I get that way A LOT. I’ll get emotionally overwhelmed and I look at Jason and say “we have to stop talking about this, I literally can’t think about it anymore.” And now there’e this pandemic! It’s like the hits just keep coming and we don’t even have time to stand up in between. Do you get that way sometimes? Feeling like you just can’t catch a break?

I think as Christians it’s important to remember that Christ, while perfect, was also human. God isn’t a puppet master. He sent his son (parents let that sink in) to die for us. He listened to him beg for another way. The night before his crucifixion Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Oh My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me". He knew fear. When he walked out and found his closest friends couldn’t even stay awake to support Him, He said, “couldn’t you stay awake with me for one hour?” He knew frustration. Jesus knew isolation and loneliness more than we can ever comprehend.

I have spent a lot of time begging God to please, please not make me go through this. THIS - being any number of difficult things that I’ve dealt with in the past, and I know that I will continue to beg Him to “let this cup pass from me”.

But after Jesus vented his frustration and spent more time in prayer, He accepted what He had to do, because then He said, "if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, Your will be done."

Obviously we are NOT Jesus, not even close. I still think it helps to understand that He knows exactly what we are going through. He has felt it, experienced it, and gave us a model of the best way to work through these hard things that we have to do in life. Vent to trusted friends, pray to our God & regroup with focus on doing what is right and necessary to get through the next thing.

It’s Palm Sunday this weekend and we are entering Holy Week isolated from one another. It’s ok to be sad. It’s ok to be frustrated and scared with all that is happening in the world. Find a trusted friend and vent it out. Write it down or scream it at your steering wheel if that’s what it takes. Then head to your Gethsemane. Find a quiet place to be with God and let him help you refocus.

It’s not always easy to figure out what the next best step is, and sometimes when we figure it out we aren’t going to like it. But ya’ll - we can get through it.

---

SO, YEAH. I wrote this Thursday (4/2) planning to share it on Friday(4/3). Then the Governor extended the closing of non-essential businesses to include mine and I got a little frantic. I vented to my husband. I said a prayer, and I’ve regrouped. Who knew I would need my own advice so soon! After today our store will be 100% online until the governor gives us permission to reopen. It’s a new reality for most of us, but my business isn’t the only one. During this time if you are still financially able to support your favorite local businesses please look to see how you can do that online. They are probably announcing all of their changes on Facebook and their websites for you and they need you now more than ever! As always thanks for your support and remember to be nice! Try to make someone’s day today.

Peace be with you...

Did you know that peace technically cannot exist without grief or conflict? It’s true. In the same way that darkness does not exist without light. The very definition of peace is ‘freedom from disturbance’.

Last fall I was having a really hard time emotionally. Spiritually I was throwing my hands up at God and screaming “What is it that you want me to do?” I couldn’t figure out what the next step was for Jason and I in our efforts to have a family. I love owning my own business and especially the business that I have. I am surrounded with creative energy - It’s fantastic! Still - I left the steady paycheck and actual vacation time for flexibility. Flexibility that I wanted because I was going to be raising a child.

I remember there was this week that I kept finding myself saying it out loud; “I just want to know what it is that I’m supposed to be doing.” It was during that time, over a period of about a week that I felt in my bones that God was telling me I was already doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I felt His peace. I knew everything was going to be ok. I still wasn't sure exactly what I was doing but I was confident that as long as I kept listening to His urgings He was going to work everything out eventually.

On December 28th my husband and I came home from a beach trip and I’d been horribly carsick the entire ride home. Just to rule it out, I took a pregnancy test. It was positive. Now as someone who’s already been pregnant 4 times without a baby at home, I was remarkably calm. I remembered what I heard God saying in the fall and I just knew that this baby was the promise I’d been waiting on.

In January when I was choosing my ‘focus word’ - as so many of us do - I was feeling such a sense of peace and I knew it was coming directly from God. So that was my word. I wrote it in my journal, I stamped it on a bracelet and mid-january I even bought a batch of peace stone jasper to create a special necklace design.

I went into my 8 week appointment full of hope and excitement. As soon as I had that ultrasound photo I was going to tell my whole family. So when the technician told me the baby was measuring small I was devastated. For many women that wouldn’t be a big deal - probably just had the dates wrong, right? But I knew I was 8 weeks pregnant, not 6. A week later we went for another scan and sure enough the baby had grown a full week’s worth, so I started to think that it was all going to be ok. That is the only ultrasound photo I have of Flicker. We started calling him/her Flicker because when it’s too early to hear a heartbeat, cardiac activity is just flickers on the ultrasound. The next week when I was going back for what we thought would be the appointment where I became a normal pregnant woman, I’d started spotting. That was February 10th. I lost the baby at home three days before Valentine’s Day.

I took an entire week off work then told myself I just had to jump back on the horse. After all, I had a pretty successful business to work on. This was going to be our best year yet…..

Now I am just one of many small business owners looking down the barrel of COVID-19 and doing everything I can to keep my business (which includes the business of nearly 60 others) running until we come out on the other side of this. Talk about feeling a weight on your shoulders!

So last week I was putting things away at my jewelry desk and came across the bag of peace stone jasper. I laughed out loud. I still trust that God has got this, and I know that even if I’m not blessed with children in this lifetime I have a houseful waiting for me in heaven that I get to love for eternity. But ya’ll - peace? I’ve been struggling with that one.

Of course, I’m sure that’s exactly why it was my focus word.

Because the english word peace means freedom from disturbance, but I’m realizing that the word God was giving me was ‘Shalom’ - the Hebrew word for peace that denotes a sense of well-being and security that has nothing to do with circumstances and everything to do with the God who created us and holds us in the palm of his hand.

I’m writing this because I just need to get it out. It helps me focus. My grief isn’t special, it’s just mine. I have many other friends and sisters in faith who have lost their babies this year. Many of them are suffering more pain than I can even imagine over their losses. And I know that my business is still open and we will make it, which is more than many can say right now.

We are all restless, but we can have God’s peace if we just stay open to it. Let’s find ways to empathize with one another. Your kindness could be the thing that makes someone else’s day more bearable. Everyone is just doing the best they can. Showing compassion might be the very thing that gives you peace right now. It’s not important to be right, it’s important to experience love and kindness.

Peace be with you,

Danielle

Furniture Painting

I have been a furniture painting machine lately. Of course, it hasn't been my furniture, but whatevs...

Within the las 6 or seven months, my parents and 2 of my sisters have moved into new house. Moving brings with it the desire for new things! Of course, that can cost a pretty penny. The solution was to simple paint items that they already had or were able to obtain for cheap (or free!)

I love a good creative project, so when they started asking me about helping them out with the painting my answer was a resounding YES!

I feel the need to preface these photos with - I'm no paint expert! Nearly everything I know I learned from my friends Jim & Nancy with 292 Sparcon at Home. They carry the Fusion Mineral Paints line as well as General Finishes and I've fallen in love with using them. If you are interested in doing some painting of your own and have questions, give them a shout! I know they'd be happy to explain the products and provide some guidance.

One thing that I can say with some authority is - You simply have to stop being afraid. It's just paint. Research your furniture to make sure you aren't depreciating the value of an antique. Other than that, your mistakes can be fixed. If not by you, then by a professional. 

All that being said, here are the before & afters of our recent projects!

This past weekend I drove down to Summerville to visit my sister Megan & we painted that first dresser. It was such a neat piece of furniture. The texture of the pieces had so much character, it was easy to put her personality into it.

Next you can see the furniture I painted for my mom's new office! Her move from the midlands to the upstate meant that she would now be working from home. So she went looking for some fun office furniture. Her desk is a gorgeous table she ordered online & we gave this dresser & TV Console a makeover so she could use them for storage and display! I'm working from most recent to least recent and you can see that the before/after quality shows I didn't initially realize I was going to blog about it!

This last group is my sister Jodi's Bedroom furniture. We did some stencil detailing on the tops of the chest and nightstands. These were some really inexpensive pieces she got a while back that just needed some TLC and a color refresh to match her new bedroom.

Jodi picked out some chalk paint from Lowe's, but I purchased Fusion Paint for my Mom & Megan's pieces. I really like working with it. I even had a disastrous spill once I was finished with that TV Console and I was able to clean it up with soap & water! 

I'm ready to paint my bedroom suit next! I've already purchased the paint, now I just have to clean the room out real good and find a weekend to do it! 

How about you? Inspired to take on any furniture make-over projects? Tell me about it in the comments! 

DIY Shave Scrub

Over past few months I've been learning a lot more about how to use essential oils to replace the chemicals and not-so-great products in our home. There are sooo many benefits to using essential oils in your diet, skin care regimen & household cleaning products! Today I want to share one of my new favorite bath and body products with you!

I'll start by saying that I initially made two products, a body scrub & a shave cream, to use together. After going through the first batch I discovered that I much prefer just using the one product, a shave scrub.

This is a simple scrub recipe, but I've decided that using this scrub & simply rinsing the emollient away leaves the perfect amount of oil on your skin to give you a smooth, close shave. I use it on my legs and underarms regularly!

Here's what you need:

1/2 cup of Himalayan Pink Salt

1/4 Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

3 drops of Vitamin E Oil (Optional)

20 drops of your favorite essential oils

Simply mix these ingredients in this order & voila! You're done! It's a pretty basic scrub so you can use it for anything, but the Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is thicker than many of the oils you could use and that, I believe, is what makes it better for shaving without any additional products.

Of course many people have their own essential oils they like to use, I use Young Living Oils. In my most recent batch I used 10 drops of their "Joy" oil blend with 10 drops of Grapefruit Oil.

Some other good oils would be Lavender, Lemongrass, or Tea Tree.

If you have a standard tub/shower then I think using a small air-tight glass container on the side of your tub is best. However, I you have a smaller shower like I do, with narrow ledges, you can buy these reusable silicone tubes on Amazon and they fit great. If the nozzle doesn't want to give me the quantity I want easily, I simply remove the screw on top to get more out at once. 

I hope you enjoy the recipe! Let me know if you try it out! I'd also love to know if you have your own essential oil blends that you like to use in Bath & Body DIYS! Let me know in the comments!

This posts contains links to my personal Young Living Site. I will earn a percentage of orders placed through these links.

Choosing a Candle

I want to give you a few tips on choosing the right candle for you & I have a FREE Candle Care Guide to help you extend the life and quality of any candle!

Did you know that there is more to choosing a candle than just deciding which fragrance is your favorite? I'll admit that I didn't; not until five years ago.

I have always been a candle junkie. It's not a stretch to say that I spent at least $250 every couple of months stocking up at my favorite store in the mall. It wasn't a cheap habit, but I have always wanted to be surrounded by pleasant smells. We won't even go into how much money I used to spend on bath and body products!

When I made my first batch of candles right before I got married in 2013, I chose soy wax because it was the easiest & most affordable option available to me at the time. I chose my fragrances because they came in a sample pack on Amazon! I didn't put much thought into what I was using because I only intended to make about a dozen candles and then I would be done.

A year later when I found myself deciding to make candles as a side business I started to do my research. Suffice it to say I was shocked at what I learned about the candles I had been burning all my life! All you have to do is google "the dangers of paraffin wax" to find out just how many chemicals and air pollutants I was willingly bringing into my home!

This post isn't about the scary stuff though. You can easily find all of that on your own. Through research I did develop some opinions about what I believe constitutes a quality candle & I'd like to share that with you today!

Stick with Soy or Beeswax

I have no trouble admitting that most of the research I've done shows that Beeswax is the best wax for the most eco-friendly, clean air candles. However, beeswax is difficult if not impossible to fragrance. The consistency of the wax makes it harder to work with, and the high burn temperature means that even if you do add a fragrance that works with the natural smell of the wax, it will burn off at a higher rate. If you are looking for a decorative pillar candle or candles sticks, then go with beeswax.

If, like me, you burn candles for their fragrance then choose a company that uses Natural Soy Wax. No Color Dyes or Paraffin Additives - those will negate the benefits of a clean burning soy candle. Soy Wax has a low burn temperature which not only reduces the amount of smoke emitted, it also provides for a longer lasting fragrance. Soy Wax will also hold more fragrance than many other non-paraffin alternatives. It is easy to clean in the event of a spill, and less likely to burn your skin if you get the hot wax on your skin.

Cotton or Wooden Wicks

Another concern with many mass-produced candles is the wick content. Many candle wicks are manufactured with lead and other components to slow the burning process (think sparkler cores). These can emit harmful chemicals into the air while burning. Prolonged use can contribute to a host of issues such as allergies, asthma & who knows. 

Cotton wicks burn very cleanly and do not emit nearly the same amount of smoke and carcinogenic as the cheaper alternatives. Wooden Wicks are also a much better alternative!

Fragrance Oils

As a lover of essential oils, I'd like to tell you that is the best option for candle fragrance, but it is not. If you want to use essential oils to fragrance your home, diffuse them. Essential Oils are extremely volatile compounds that evaporate easily, especially where heat is concerned. The cost of a candle scented with pure essential oils will be significant. If you find an 8oz candle that has a strong fragrance for less than $35, I don't care what the label says. It can't possibly be pure essential oil. Many synthetic fragrances do not disclose all of their ingredients for proprietary reasons. If you have questions about the oils used to fragrance a candle, e-mail the distributor or maker. I use Premium Fragrance Oils. These oils are phthalate free and infused with essential oils. It is the best quality I have found and is still affordable for use in large candles. 

Even still, I encourage you to do research and draw your own conclusions if you ever have any concern about the products you are bringing into your home!

Containers

This one hits a little closer to home for me. Obviously we are striving to reduce the glass in our landfills by recycling Wine Bottles as candle containers. Even if you are choosing a different candle though, consider the container itself. When you are finished with your candle what will you do with it? Is it a container you can reuse? Would it make a nice flower vase or maybe a cosmetic container? Is it a canning jar style that you can use for food storage?

Cleaning your containers take a few minutes, but I think it's worth it! In fact, I'll be doing a video soon in the MADE Community group about how to clean your candle containers easily for reuse!

I hope you found this article helpful! No matter what brand of candle you choose, there are some universally handy tips for extending the life and quality of your candles. Grab my FREE Candle Care Guide HERE. 

MADE

Have you ever sat in a room in your house and thought to yourself, 'This room just isn't working for me. It doesn't seem like anything fits.' But when you start trying to figure out what to move, you find you like it all?

This is exactly what was happening with me, only it wasn't a room in my house. For a while now I've been feeling like my business just wasn't working for me. I felt like I was pushing products that I loved, but that didn't fit together. I started to consider choosing one brand (jewelry or candles) but then decided that I loved them both too much to choose!

So after some soul searching and on the advice of some trusted mentors, I decided to get back to the heart of my business. MADE by Danielle is my new brand that encompasses all of my creative products & classes. Crafty Wino Candles aren't going anywhere & Wired Essentials jewelry is still everything you expect it to be. But my focus is coming back to the heart of the matter. All of these things are handmade by yours truly. I love to play with new ideas from time to time & I want to share that with you! 

I want to get back to blogging about the crafty products I take on (in my spare time 😆). I want to show you the awesome finds I come across and even share some of my friends' work with you from time to time.

The website and social media channels have a new look, but the handmade quality that you've come to expect from me isn't going to change. You'll notice over the next few weeks that I'm rolling out a couple of new things; FREE Workshops in the MADE Community Group on Facebook, MADE by You - more in-person classes and home parties and even more! 

If you aren't already in the Facebook Group I would love for you to join us! Head on over to community.danielleskaminski.com to join!

Overcoming Guilt

I don’t know if this is the case for everyone, but for me working from home has created a new layer of guilt.   

I posted this picture on Instagram yesterday. I was working from home on my living room sofa doing work in an online course with my puppy snuggled next to me, and I was overwhelmed with the sense that I should be doing more.  

 As a small business owner, the norm is to feel as though we are always hustling. There is always something we can be doing to grow our business. The goal is grow bigger and make more money, right? 

Wrong. 

When I left my accounting job last year it wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy the work, or because I didn’t love my clients & my co-workers. I pursued my own businesses full-time in order to create a more flexible schedule that would allow me to spend as much time as possible with any children that God blesses us with. One of the many things I learned carrying James was that any time we have with our children is a precious gift. Jason and I found ourselves in a place where we could make it happen, so I went for it.

Living on a tight budget isn’t glamourous. There are lots of days where I find myself thinking “I could do XYZ and that would be really profitable.” Of course XYZ requires time away from home. While that isn’t a problem right now, it isn’t the ultimate goal either.

Since we brought Lula home there have been many times when I have asked myself why I thought I had time for a puppy. I’m forced to shorten my days away from home. When I am home, inventory creation can only happen in managed chunks of time. When I’m working online I have to be efficient and take breaks to play tug with my energetic puppy.

It’s almost like having a toddler...

When I took that picture I realized that while having this sweet puppy is definitely slowing me down, she is also preparing me for the day when I am juggling my work with the children that I am desperately praying for. I don’t believe in coincidence. Does this mean God is preparing me because I’m going to get my miracle baby soon? I don’t know. I sure hope so.  

In the meantime, I’m going to spend some time on my sofa with a sleeping pup on my lap and learn not to let myself feel guilty that I may be “leaving money on the table”, because money isn’t everything. I’m playing the long game here & that doesn’t involved hustling until I drop. Winning for me will be days at home with little ones. The schedule I am cultivating now is going to make that possible one day.

What is making you feel guilty right now? Do you need to let go of what other people think you “should” be doing? Or maybe you need to remind yourself of the long game. What are you working towards  & why is what you are doing the right choice, even when it presses against typical expectations?

Casual Grace Boutique

So last November I took my bestie with me to Market & while we were there shopping some great plus size samples, we were lamenting over the fact that there just aren't many plus size clothing options in Spartanburg if you want to look cute without spending a ton of money. 

15 minutes later Casual Grace Boutique was born. Jennifer and I are so excited to bring this vision to life. Our focus is on style & comfort for plus size fashions. We will be hosting a sneak peak event at Vintage Warehouse of Spartanburg January 27th from 10a to 4p. Come see what we have to offer and bring a friend who is looking for more options in plus size design!

Of course we will also have great accessories & jewelry from Wired Essentials so even if you aren't shopping for plus size clothing there will still be something for you!

Fall

I'm a planner.

My schedule has a tendency to fill up weeks in advance and while often that is a result of running my own businesses, sometimes it is because I forget to set boundaries. So when I started to think about a word of the year for 2018, my initial thoughts were circulating around Balance. 

As 2018 got closer though, it just didn't feel right. I was becoming more and more aware that white-knuckling my schedule wasn't exactly how God wanted me living out my year. While I was working through a Bible Study entry I felt strongly that that God was pushing me to let go of my plans & try to focus more on the things He was putting in front of me.

I was chatting with a friend over coffee and she was talking about her martial arts practice. One of the first things they learn is how to fall without hurting themselves. I was overwhelmed with the feeling that this - Fall - was my focus word. It took a couple more weeks of reflection to understand exactly why.

View fullsize

The visual of letting go - falling - and trusting God to catch me is exactly what I want to keep in my focus this year. I'm pretty sure the more traditional word choice would be Trust, but it's so much more than that. It isn't just the concept of trust or the knowledge that God is looking out for me. It's the action of trusting Him that I'm striving for this year.

More than lip service. 

More than a word.

Choosing to let go. 

Fall.

Every Season

They say when it rains it pours and that was certainly been true for me this past month. A few weeks ago as I doubled over in pain from a kidney stone, I found myself explaining multiple times that 'no, it wasn't possible I was pregnant because I miscarried less than a week ago'. There were other small things going wrong around me as well and I truly felt as though I was being clubbed again and again. 

“For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.”

— Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

Ecclesiastes 3 has always been somewhat of a touchstone passage for me. When things seem to be crumbling around me, I try to remind myself that it is just a season and things will get better. It can be hard to stay positive when it seems like troubles keep coming one after another. In fact it becomes incredibly easy to start going backwards and listing out every thing that has gone wrong in the past year, two years, even five years. 

About six weeks ago I was at a Holiday Market Event with lots of family and friends. It was one of my bigger events this fall and it went really well. Towards the end of the day my 'graceful' tendencies showed out and I spilled a container full of gemstones all over the floor. It wasn't just any container. It was my container of gemstone chips; carefully curated and separated into "seasons" for my Tree of Life designs. We all worked together to gather the stones and put them in one large bag. As I put the bag away I noticed how beautiful the mixture of colors really was. In the moment I knew this was one of those things that would mean something later.

I pulled that bag of stones out almost a month ago now and decided they would look really nice set against some copper wire. As I wore my new favorite design, slowly & softly it started speaking to me. 

This season of life that I am in feels as though it is lasting forever. Moments like the one I had in the ER a couple of days before Thanksgiving are particularly hard to swallow when it seems there is no end in sight. A container of spilled gemstones reminded me though, that it's only when all of these "seasons" are blended together that we will see the beautiful picture God is painting with our lives. 

My story isn't over yet. This really hard, really difficult season is just a piece of it. Without this barren winter the finished product wouldn't be nearly as beautiful. I may not know what the end of my story looks like, but I do know that these years of seeming desperation will only make it that much more beautiful.

Shop Every Season Tree of Life Jewelry 

Rescuing Fashion Jewelry

It happens to the best of us. We find a cute piece of fashion jewelry that we love and we wear it every day for months. After a while we notice that it's starting to look a little rough, but vow to take better care of it. Before long though, we realize that we are losing the fight against the elements.

While prevention is always best - and I have a guide for that - there are going to be times when you just need to clean your jewelry. It's easy to find cleaners for fine jewelry, but that stuff will destroy your fashion jewelry! Most fashion jewelry companies just want you to toss the last piece and buy a replacement, so they aren't selling cleaners. Turns out, you probably have what you need in your house, or at least can get it easily at the nearest pharmacy.

For chains and metal pendants that are beginning to turn dark and dingy, use a small amount of wet toothpaste and a soft bristled toothbrush to clean your pieces. Simply rinse and pat dry.

For pieces that are a mix of chain/metal and gemstones or beads, take a dollop of baby shampoo and mix with a little water then use a soft bristled toothbrush to clean those. Again simply rinse and pat dry.

Ok, I'll admit. I got to this one before it got too terribly bad & my photography skills are lacking so the pictures don't do justice to the difference it made in person! To drive the point home though, I went into my jewelry box where the sentimental but never worn pieces live and found this necklace from my college society days. Look at the difference these treatments can really make!

View fullsize

View fullsize

Once dried leave hanging or lay flat on a paper towel to absorb any leftover moisture. Both of these methods will bring some life back into your favorite fashion pieces. Be sure to use a soft bristle toothbrush so as not to scratch any finishes or coatings from your beads or gemstones.

That guide I mentioned earlier? You can get yours HERE for some great tips on how to keep your jewelry safe from the elements!

Want more tips and tricks? Become an Insider and hop in the Facebook group! That's where the best conversations happen!

Bathsheba is my hero

Last week I sat in my living room with two of my closest friends and confided that I was feeling very unworthy of a task that I know God is pushing me towards right now. I may not have made public monumental mistakes, but I've screwed up a lot over the years and there are lots of moments in my life that I'm not proud of. Knowing that there are plenty of people who knew that part of me makes me incredibly hesitant to do anything that appears as though I somehow think I deserve to be a mouthpiece for God. Then last week in the bible study we are working through we got into the story of David. It was a familiar story, but rather than looking at David, I found myself identifying with Bathsheba, a grieving mother. Suddenly I saw something very different in this story.

Bathsheba is a young bride whose husband, Uriah, is away at war. People often talk about her brazenly bathing for anyone to see, but the scripture actually says it was the middle of the night! As I think this through, she is probably staying in a home with other family members while Uriah is away and has little privacy. She waits until everyone has gone to bed and goes to the only place she can think of to have a few moments to herself to take a bath - the roof. She has no idea that David has seen her and is asking around about her. In fact, when the king sends for her I imagine she was terrified. Maybe she thinks her husband was killed or that she's done something to land herself in a lot of trouble. It's likely that she had no idea David intended to sleep with her. Also, I imagine that even if she wanted to say no, she couldn't. After all, he was the king. What would happen to her if she refused him? Then she gets pregnant & I'm confident that David didn't consult her about plotting to kill her husband, Uriah, in the war. So now she's lost her husband & not only is she pregnant, but everyone around her must know what is going on. She's rushed to the palace to marry the king and her child is born much less than nine months later. That baby was probably the only bright spot in her life many days. Then her child gets sick. David knows it is because of his sin, but does Bathsheba? There is no indication if she does or doesn't know. Chances are she only knows that her child is sick & dying. This woman has been through a lot of heartache in a year's time.

Suddenly, I'm commiserating with Bathsheba. I didn't cheat on my husband & I don't think that God took my son away, but It's been a really hard couple of years. I would be lying if I didn't admit that in some of my darker moments I question if I'm somehow to blame for losing my son.

After that terrible year though, the bible says that David and Bathsheba had Solomon. Solomon, a man who when told he could have anything in the world asked only for wisdom and compassion. That had to be a proud mama moment.

Thinking about Bathsheba and Solomon I remembered that Solomon wrote all of Proverbs including chapter 31 which is the go to scripture for women who want to be godly wives & mothers.

I did a little research and there are two references in all of scripture regarding King Lemuel (the king whose mother is attributed with Proverbs 31), both are in the book of Proverbs. Lemuel is translated to mean "belonging to God" and traditionally most believe that Solomon was referring to himself. That would mean that the godly advice given in Proverbs 31:1-9 is coming directly from Bathsheba herself & that either she is speaking in verses 10-31 or her son is making those comments while reflecting on what his mother taught him. 

Either way, all of this makes me think that Bathsheba - a woman whose reputation was ruined and who has been widely regarded throughout history as a wanton adulteress - in fact became a godly woman and mother who is still giving us guidance today.

Wow.

Bathsheba is my hero.