Hello, everyone! I have good news and I have bad news…

Let’s start with the bad news! Due to the slow economy, Magic Senses® decided to put the Creative Soap Week project/event on hold and concentrate all the resources, time and energy into product development and marketing. Therefore, there will be no soap making contest this year in November, unless someone is willing to sponsor and put their time into organizing it. This was a very sad and hard decision to make but, hopefully, we’ll be able to resume soon.

Now, the good news! During the last year, I have made a lot of special friends, most of them soap makers, just like me. I have enjoyed interviewing and featuring them on this website. I know media coverage is very important and I like spreading the word about dedicated and talented soap makers… so, I decided to grow these relationships, make them long lasting and even start new friendships at CreativeSoap.org.

I have already transferred all the interviews and the Soap Makers Directory to our new website. I have also created a new Facebook page. I will continue to interview and share the stories of ingenious soap designers; if you haven’t been featured yet, just contact me and I’ll see what I can do.

I hope you will join me at CreativeSoap.org and on Facebook. Our next interview is with Leeana from LoveLeeSoaps. Stay tuned!

Love,

Betty

Today I am delighted to introduce you to Ann Stoermer, the soap maker behind Pitter Pattern Designs. Here is our interview:

Who came up with the name “Pitter Pattern Designs”?

My mom and I started this business selling baby gifts (blankets, burp cloths, baby clothes, etc) and we came up with our name and logo to fit the handmade baby blanket and sewing motif.  In 2010, my mom decided that she needed to focus elsewhere, and although I do sew, I much prefer to make soap. So I decided to take the business in another direction. Since our logo has feet (which are my youngest daughter’s baby feet) and our name reflects the “patterns” I make in soap, I thought it was still a nice fit.

When did you start and why?

[Read the full interview here]

I want to thank everyone who submitted an entry (or more) to our Directory Listing Giveaway.

Now, it’s time to announce the winners. Here we go:

Celine Blacow
Suzanne Jones
Jessica @ Old Wives’ Tale Soaps
Tracy Fritze
Lindalu Forseth
Ann Stoermer
Candi Scaiola
Denise Ryczek
Joy

Congratulations! You just won a FEATURED Listing for 6 months (valued at $25)! I will email each of you a link to the form where you can fill in all your details.

Your listing includes:
Company Name
Company Description
Company Website
Country
Up to 6 product images
Social Media Links (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube)
Link to your Blog
Link to your Newsletter Sign Up Page
Your listing will be featured in our Directory for 6 months.

Hope it helps your business!

Today, I’m delighted to introduce you to Ms. Victoria Barrett from “Escential Elements by Victoria”. Here is our short interview:

1. When did you decide to start soap making and why?

Being directly affected by the economic crisis, I became unemployed and displaced from my regular employment of 25 years in a niche specialized field. I then realized that I must work aggressively to pursue a new direction. I had always dreamed of making soap and natural herbal products. Then, I began to see that the initial misfortune was truly an opportunity to move forward and give myself a new start and soap making became my direction.

2. Could you please tell us more about you?

[Read the full interview here.]

We are working on a Soap Makers Directory and decided to give away 10 spots FREE!

The Giveaway

This giveaway is for soap related or soap supplier websites and blogs, all over the world!

Prize: 1 Directory Listing! Till December 31, 2011!
Winners: 10
How to enter (required): All you have to do is leave a comment that you are interested and include the link to your website. Only 1 link per comment, please. If you want to submit both your soap blog and soap store, for example, please leave a comment for each.

For additional entries (please leave a new comment for each additional entry):

- one additional entry if you join us on Facebook;
- one additional entry if you follow us on Twitter;
- one additional entry if you send a tweet about this giveaway, please post the link (once a day only);
- one additional entry if you blog about this Giveaway with a link back to CreativeSoapWeek.com
- one additional entry if you join our Flickr group.

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The giveaway ends on June 28, 2011 at the end of the day.

*Please make sure you leave a comment for each additional entry so you get credited.
*Also, please make sure you typed in the correct email address so we can contact you.
*The winners will be announced on our website and via e-mail and must respond within 2 days or other name(s) will be chosen.
*Incomplete entries will be disqualified and deleted.
*We reserve the right to delete any comments that are NOT relevant to this giveaway.

This a great opportunity to advertise your soap business, blog or soap store! Don’t miss it! Good luck, everyone!

Today, I am delighted to introduce you to a very special soap maker from Israel: Mazzi Pelet, the artisan behind Latika Soap. Here is our short interview:

1. When did you start and why?
“As a kid, my mom always made beautiful things with us at home, so handmade work was around at all times. at some point she started making cold process soaps and i was just mesmerized by the process.
Two years ago I started playing with the design element of soap making and fell in love completely!
I think it was those cupcake m&p soaps that got me.”

2. In your opinion, what makes your soap different?

[Read the full interview here.]

Today’s story comes from Samantha Champion, the founder of The Soapy Cauldron. Here is what she has to say:

“I started soapmaking in 2005 as a hobby when my 3rd son was a tiny baby. He had problematic dry skin and all of the things given my doctors were at best not working, and at worst exacerbating the problem.

Then my (late) Nan told me about oatmeal and after one ‘porridge bath’ his skin massively improved. So I began researching and experimenting with natural skincare – and the Soapy Cauldron was born!

One of my biggest ambitions with soap making was to open an independant shop. I started my working life in retail and always wanted to be a stand alone retailer. Sadly my Nan passed away in 2007 but she left me enough in her will to open a little shop- and in May 2010 I finally realised my dream. Today I am a retailer and wholesaler of Soap, Bath Bombs and other bath and body products, and I specialise in Artisan soap.

[Read the full story here.]

As you know, we had a Text Link Giveaway a couple of weeks ago. Now it’s time to find out who the lucky winners are! Here we go…

… dim the lights please…

And the lucky winners are…

Comment no 2… comment no 7… and… comment no 4!

Congratulations, Bertie Em, Denise Ryczek and Suzanne Easton!! Each of you has won a text link on Creative Soap Week website for 3 months!! Your links will be posted by the end of the day.

Thank you all for participating! It’s been fun reading your comments.

Initially, we started this Text Link Giveaway on our Facebook page. However, it seems that it is against Facebook’s Terms and Policies to have a giveaway there. So we moved here! This way, ALL our fans can participate and we are in compliance with Facebook’s Terms! All entries from Facebook, are reposted here.

The Giveaway

This giveaway is for soap related or soap supplier websites, all over the world!

Prize: 1 text link on the sidebar! For 3 months! Value $25.00!
Winners: 3
How to enter: All you have to do is leave a comment that you are interested. If you want, you can include the link to your website, but it’s not mandatory. Only 1 link per comment, please. If you want to submit both your blog and store, for example, please leave a comment for each.

For additional entries (please leave a new comment for each additional entry):

- one additional entry if you join us on Facebook;
- one additional entry if you follow us on Twitter;
- one additional entry if you send a tweet about this giveaway, please post the link (once a day only);
- one additional entry if you blog about this Giveaway with a link back to CreativeSoapWeek.com
- one additional entry if you join our Flickr group.

#########

The giveaway ends on March 31, 2011 at the end of the day.

*Please make sure you leave a comment for each additional entry so you get credited.
*Also, please make sure you typed in the correct email address so we can contact you.
*The winners will be announced via e-mail and must respond within 2 days or other name(s) will be chosen.
*Incomplete entries will be disqualified and deleted.
*We reserve the right to delete any comments that are NOT relevant to this giveaway.

This a great opportunity to advertise your soap business, blog, store or Facebook page! Don’t miss it! Good luck, everyone!

photo courtesy of Scent Trail

As you know, we like to acknowledge all soapmakers. Even if they are not extremely creative. Here is a short introduction to Scent Trail, a small soap company founded by Suzanne Jones and based in the North West of England.

Suzanne started over a year ago; she never imagined how fast the soap, soap ingredients, oils, etc. would invade her house! In fact, none of us, soap makers, do! Here is what she had to say about her journey!

I started making soap for fun, and to foist on anyone I know. They liked it so much I decided to turn my hobby into a business. In February 2010 I became “legal” and Scent Trail was born.

I do not do the creative stuff like swirls and sparkles, but I still enjoy putting on my pointy hat and stirring my cauldron and ending up with a lovely bar of beautiful smelling soap.

I have recently started supplying the National Trust after being added to their local stockists list and I am working hard to try to build a successful business.

If you want to say hi to Suzanne, please visit her Blog, Twitter page or follow her on Facebook! Tell her that Betty at Creative Soap Week sent you!