Reflection, Thanks and a Gift

Wow, it has been awhile hasn't it. It hasn't been for lack of topics or want that has kept me away but busyness and discoveries and derailments. That's a somewhat poetic way of saying I kept forgetting to post when it was convenient and conveniently remembering when it wasn't.

How I Got Started: Allergies

Today we start a new series. This one is all about what led me to starting Scarlet Moon Creations. It will be 4 parts so look out for the other posts in the upcoming weeks. Today we'll talk about my allergies.

Image By Evan-Amos via Wikipedia Facial Tissue

 I am a walking allergic reaction waiting to happen, or at least I feel that way. I grew up always having allergies to what seems like everything. Luckily, I've only found one thing to be deadly and its been easily avoidable since that very close call. However, if you watch allergy medication commercials they'll have you thinking that people only get allergies during certain seasons or that you can only have one category of allergies. For me that has never been the case. I have indoor allergies, outdoor allergies, allergies during pollen season, allergies during weed season, even allergies during the summer and winter. I have a couple of food allergies and I'm allergic to dogs, cats, dust, mold, some insects, many cleaning supplies, and synthetic fragrances which are in our soaps, shampoos, lotions, deodorants and cosmetics. Add to that my nose is very sensitive so things like cigarette smoke and too much perfume in an enclosed space set me off as well. Even just walking past Sephora is overwhelming.

The outcomes of all this is usually sneezing, running eyes and nose but can lead to a sore throat, headache, dizziness and the absolute worst is a sinus infection which has flue-like symptoms. I get allergies 10 times more often than I've ever gotten a cold. The trade off for these mostly mild, yet annoying (and often gross), symptoms is I hardly ever get really sick. I think I get the flu once every couple of years or so and that's about it.

Which is good, but try heading to a job interview sniffling and dripping all over the place because you stood upwind from someone too liberal with their cologne on the way there? Or failing a finals test because everyone wanted the windows open to let in some "fresh air"? Or having people wonder why you have a bag full of restaurant napkins and tissues because YOU NEVER KNOW? Or being unable to breathe because you tried that glass of wine? Or taking a shower to clean up and coming out covered in hives (sneezing in the shower is not fun by the way)? Or almost dying because your event host forgot to tell you that "oops, we put walnuts in the brownies"? Or questions people's food before you eat it because you don't want to die? Or how about not remember a good time with family and friends because you were too busy blowing your brains out? Yeah, its not fun. 

A couple of years ago I had an opportunity to learn about herbs and oils (I'll go into more details about that in another post). I had up until this point just tried my best to avoid the things I could and just carried allergy medication and a ton of tissues for those I couldn't (hard to avoid the air outside when you still need to breathe). But after this one class on herbalism I talked to a few people and started doing some research on certain herbs online and that led me to finding out about all natural movement online and the fact that I can make a lot of the stuff I use at home with natural products myself. 

The internet is a rabbit hole but in this instance it was very beneficial. I had up to this point never gone to a spa for fear of having a reaction that would embarrass me and them. I had only bought one set of skin care products for my face which I only used twice, shame on me since I broke out both times using it. But now I could try making a "fancy" bath soak or a moisturizing body scrub using decadent scents that might not annoy me. I did tons of research down in that rabbit hole. I bought a few basic ingredients that I could use for other things as well if they didn't get along with my skin or nose. 

Image By NIAID via Flickr

Essential oils turned out to be a godsend. I love scent and this is something that my allergies have taken from me up until this point. But now I can use them to clean and/or scent a room as well as care for my skin and even help relieve my allergic reactions. I cannot tell you how many times I have run home to sniff some tea tree oil since I discovered its existence.

And herbs, spices, roots and resins; these items that come from trees and other plants, I have in my kitchen as well as my work room. They add great color, scent and flavor to my meals as well as my homemade bath and body products. They help heal as well as reduce inflammation. A good chamomile compress relaxes my sinus headaches while other herbs reduce the look of the dark circles I get from rubbing my eyes. What I also love is that the scents never get overwhelming like a lot of chemical fragrances. No headaches or dizziness. 

How could I not share this with others? I couldn't, so I didn't. Read more about this in next weeks post; How I Got Started: Gifts.

NYC Small Business Initiatives Part III - NYC Business Solutions.

Hey ho! I am back. I seem to have lost the month of July somewhere. I'll probably find it behind the bed someday when I m no longer looking for it.

Today's post is in continuation of NYC Small Business Initiatives series. This series is about my personal experiences with several of the Federal, State, City and local initiatives and programs for the small business owner and for those who want to be a small business owner in NYC. So this is Part III and it can be read alone.Click to read parts I and II.

Today, I am going to talk about NYC Business Solutions. So far, I have had the best experience with this initiative run by the city. But again that is my personal experience. NYC Business Solutions is an initiative that offers free assistance with starting your business, growing your business and running your business. They offer free online and in-person business courses on topics ranging from Business Plan Basics to Selling to the Government. Their other services include recruitment assistance, management and mentorship, Financial and legal assistance, M/WBE certification and much more.

I myself have taken quite a few classes to help me get a more concrete picture of what my goals are as far as my businesses are concerned. Thanks to NYC Business Solutions I have been able to write a great business plan and meet so many new friends and contacts. Everyone I have met at the various locations are knowledgeable, professional and friendly. I have shared my dreams with no better people than those that have worked for NYC Business Solutions. They have given me practical yet positive advice and solutions. These people know what they are doing and I, for one, am grateful for NYC Business Solutions. I plan to work with them more in the future to help grow my business and become a successful M/WBE certified Event Planner.

At this point, I am not sure what other government-run business initiatives I will work with. This is NYC so there are plenty more but there are also so many non-government initiatives and programs out there that I would like to try working with. This is not just for the sake of sampling but to learn and grow as a business woman. I do know that I will be keeping tabs on WE to see how that can benefit me in the future. So expect an update on them as well. But I think I will turn to writing about more private organizations soon.

My Favorite Time of the Year is Coming Soon!

In honor of my favorite Witches Holiday, Litha, also known as Midsummer and the Summer Solstice, I want to pimp my ever growing Pinterest board for it. Isn't it lovely? Everything that this holiday means to me goes on this board. It also helped me create the ritual oil and incense for my Etsy shop. The oil is currently on sale with the loose incense will be available this week. Get them in time for the holiday on June 21st!!

In the meantime follow my pinterest board and see all the pretty pictures. Happy Monday guys!!!

Follow Scarlet Moon Creations's board Litha/Midsummer/Summer Solstice on Pinterest.

NYC Small Business Initiatives Part I - SCORE

Hello world! I wanted to share my experiences so far with several small business initiatives available here in New York City (NYC). I plan to stretch this out into several posts; at least three but maybe more.

As a New Yorker, I have several options and many overlap; there's the US Small Business Administration (SBA), then there is the NYS Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and lastly, NYC Small Business Services. These are the main government programs at the federal, state and city levels available to small businesses. They each have many branches and several partnerships with private companies and I have been specifically looking into those geared towards pre-startup and startup small business assistance. It can get a little confusing at first but they all seem to work together is some way, shape or form since NYC encourages small business ownership and entrepreneurship.

Up until several months ago I did my business research strictly online; I had a job that kept me very busy during the day and my commute was 1.5 hours each way mostly on the subway, so this was the only way that I knew of. Also, I am known for my internet research skills and am good at separating the wheat from the chaff and it seems my findings online held up in the real world. However, becoming a business owner on my own leaves for some lonely times and times when doubts can become pervasive. So, to verify my sources (and make myself feel better), I decided it was time to go out and talk to people in person. Find out what the people at these various initiatives have to say. I was definitely looking for mentoring. Someone with experience letting me know whether or not I am on the right track.

My first foray was to sign up for SCORE mentoring. SCORE is an SBA resource partner. Its "...a national network of more than 12,000 entrepreneurs, business leaders and executives who volunteer as mentors to America’s small businesses." It is basically a national small business mentoring program. They have local chapters for face-to-face mentoring, online mentoring, as well as workshops for both. This seemed perfect for me. So, I looked up my local SCORE office, which was not far from my home and went down there. Located in the Bronx County courthouse they share an office with some other initiatives. Not surprising since that's just part of living and working in this city; sharing space. I went down and made an appointment to see a mentor and was supremely disappointed. I had not looked at their website beforehand since my goal was to move my research out of the virtual world. If I had, I would have saved myself some frustration.

I was not paired up with a mentor specific to my needs, though I didn't expect that right off the bat. I thought there would be some sort of intake interview first. But the gentleman I got as my "mentor" was sort of flippant and very general in most of his answers to my questions. I admit to not asking as many questions about how SCORE works because I was thrown off by his attitude. He was also somewhat dismissive of my financing concerns. I was told "you could pay for most of that with one of your credit cards." Just FYI, I don't have any credit cards, so no I can't; he just assumed I did. While he did confirm most of what I'd learned online and did give me a couple of nuggets of new online resources, for the most part he was not at all mentor-like and after being dismissive of how much previous work experience I have had in this field, I didn't want to share my hopes and dreams with him. I was looking for someone to trust and he wasn't it. At the end of out 15-20 minute talk, he then told me the SCORE mentors only work out of this office on Thursdays and they rotate so you may get a different person each time. That led me to thinking that this was not as well run an operation as I had thought. I left feeling that I wasted my time. I have since gone to the SCORE.org website and filled out a mentoring intake form so that I can be matched up with a mentor. Hopefully, things will work out better that way.

Look for Part II soon. Things start to look up as a join a forum for NYC's newest small business initiative WE NYC!

Lime n' Lavender Facial Scrub

Hola everybody, 

It has been awhile since I shared product making pictures and I love this new scrub that is going on sale this week so now is definitely the time to share. The Lime n' Lavender Facial Scrub is one I've been working on for about a year and half. The idea just randomly came to me when I was trying to think what new combo to make similar to the much loved Orange n' Rose Body Scrub. I like the combination of the citrus and floral scents which somehow comes together to give a decadent feeling to what is ultimately just scrubbing off dead skin cells. 

So, I was thinking what other citrus and floral combo would work. I picked Lime n' Lavender because I'm  silly and I liked the alliteration but I made it anyway just to see if it would work. Its been so long since I first made the Orange n' Rose body scrub that I had forgotten how the citrus scent tends to overpower the floral scent unless the measurements are done right. To get a little technical, both Sweet Orange and Lime essential Oils are top note scents each with high intensity; so you will smell them first. Rose and Lavender are middle note scents with Rose being lower on the scale than Lavender. When you use the Lime n' Lavender Facial Scrub you'll smell the lime first and then as it evaporates a bit the lavender scent will come through. Basically, I just kept making new batches of the scrub until it smelled right.

As you can see from the second picture, I also included lime zest and lavender buds to enhance the scrub. With sugar as the exfoliator, sweet almond as the base oil and honey to give it a bit of a facial mask feel as well as some more help moisturizing you get a great smelling and feeling facial scrub. 

I am so glad this Lime n' Lavender Facial Scrub turned out so well. I hope everyone will enjoy this new luxurious facial scrub that will leave you feeling calm and refreshed. 

Allow Me to Re-Introduce Myself

Ha! I got a song lyric title.

Anywho, today is the first day of Blogging 101 for me and the topic is: Introduce Yourself to the World. Hence, the song lyric title of this post.

Hi, my name is Lashette but here mi llamo Scarlet Moon. Why am I using spanish? Because its my second language (though I've lost a lot of it) and I tend to use it playfully when making and creating. I do like to create stuff and after gifting some of the things I have created in the past, a few people told me I should try selling some of what I make. I thought maybe that's a good idea. That way, I make a little extra money and don't become a hoarding recluse, surrounded only by the stuff I've made. No cats or dogs since I'm allergic to both. Alas.

If you've read my blog before, you know that I started this blog a little over two years ago (I used spanish there too). Looking back at that first, welcoming post, I realize that not too much has changed. That's not a bad thing but I had also forgotten that I originally wanted to turn this blog into a newsletter.  I don't know if that will still happen; its not completely off the table though. But what is the same is the content of this blog. I have spoken of new product ideas (just this morning, in fact), I have linked so many links, I do believe I have become the Queen of Links (put that on a tarot card!). Over the past year, I've been consciously trying to incorporate at least one picture in every post. And of course I have included my wordy thoughts all over.

The one thing I do want to get around to is including others recipes (mine are a secret. shhh) because there are tons of awesome creators on the internet and they give me lots of inspiration. I've been trying to build up a blog roll of sorts for places I love to visit for inspiration. Unfortunately, most of those reposts get sent to my Facebook page, which you should all check out. No, I have not given up on it. Yes, I know the algorithm has changed yet again and if you haven't you should read my facebook post.

The last thing I want to include more of is ingredient posts. I've been wanting to for awhile, but I learned something earlier this year that changed my goals for the Etsy business. There's a post about that coming next week so I won't spoil it now. Suffice it to say, I will be working on ingredients posts in the future. Also, in the future will be more Event Services posts. I will be focusing more on that in the future of this year and my life and business-wise I feel that starting an event services business is a blogging niche I can fill.

Essentially, this is a business blog. I am not one for being the traditional type, so this blog will show the emotional side of business ownership as well as .... well.... the business side of business ownership. Over the past two years of blogging my journey so far, I've found that sharing my creations with the world is what I really want to do. Not just as a backup or a little extra money. The foundation of all this is my need to create. I love to create with my mind; I love to create with my hands; I love to create electronically; and I love sharing my creations with others. Its my passion. Hence, Scarlet Moon Creations.

Teamwork

There is another new sort of partnership I started this year and it is going quite well. On Etsy, there is the team feature and actually I think it was in 2013 that I was invited to join a local team called Bronx Artisans of Etsy. It wasn't as advance then but this year, led by the wonderful Nellie Escalante, whose shop is Nelesc Designs, we've been doing more to help promote each other. We've now got a Facebook page as well as an Instagram account where we can share our promotions. There are lots of great Etsy shops and artists in the group, so this blog post is basically to shout out and pimp out my team members, enjoy:

Instagram
Facebook

Blog

Rebel Orisha:   Instagram
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 Website
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      Facebook
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      Facebook
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And many more.... Click the shop images to see their current inventory. And don't forget to find us and other Bronx Artisans of Etsy on Facebook and Instagram.

End of a Partnership

I've delayed writing about this for months. Literally, delayed writing,not just posting. I am only now putting words together. First, I was kind of lost and didn't know what to do. Then I didn't know how to explain what felt like a failure. Now, I only hesitate because I don't want to seem like I'm badmouthing anyone when my intention is only to update and share my experience.

Well from all of that you probably already know what I am about to say. My partnership with R is at an end. It was short but sweet. As a reminder, back in December I asked R to partner with me in the creation and running if an event planning business. They agreed and we excitedly embarked on this new venture. For the first few months if this year we met often, brainstorming and business building. 

Jason Eppink (Flickr)

Then we hit a bit of a snag on my end due to traveling for my day job (like Japan for a month, then LA and Pasadena for another month). Then I got sick and then they got sick and suddenly we haven't met, updated, or anything for months. I buckled down ans tried to get our rhythm back. Our first talk about funding seemed to make R wary. Neither of us are so financially stable enough to carry a new business but we had options to explore, being minority women looking to open our first small business.

Unfortunately from there things fell apart and after a month or two R told me it was probably bet that I go on with the business without her. I was left with a huge feeling of uncertainty since I had been unsure about going into business by myself before which was why I asked R to join me. Also, the way she worded her 'decision' left me unsure as to whether she was completely out of it or not. Lastly, we had spent quite a lot of time coming up with our business plan and other business ideas together. I didn't know if it was ethical to continue with those plans rather than starting from scratch with something that was completely my own.

So, I put it all in the back of my mind and let it percolate. I did talk to a few others to get their opinions and add that to the pot. This all happened back in July. And though I am still unsure about what rights I have to the plans we made, I know I can get a professional opinion about that, and I feel now that I can go on and start a business on my own.

Holiday Boot Camp

Hey guys,

Its been crazy in the crafting world and in the every day world too. This year I joined Etsy's Holiday Boot Camp and boy is it not what I thought. I thought I'd be getting emails once a week with goals or suggestions for how to prepare for the holiday shopping season. I get emails twice a week though and they are done already. Only eight emails though they came with great worksheets. I thought they would be paced out so you'd get a reminder as you gear up for and go through the holiday season. Kinda of like an e-personal trainer or drill sergeant. Guess I'll have to come up with my own way of doing that.

The first email was to set a goal for the season. My goal is too make $350 in profit by the end of the year. I picked this because I have only made two sales in as many years and I'd like to prove to myself that this can be profitable. I want to move towards the goal of having at least some money in my pocket when I finish my job in March next year. I also want to push myself to update and spruce up my shop and business practices.

There are things that I haven't done like finalize my logo and labels, update my product pictures and promote regularly on all social networks, that I should have done by now. My production and promotion processes should be streamlined by now but they are not. I needed the reason and the encouragement that this Holiday Boot Camp can give to focus more in this business and make it a success.

So, it has been 4 weeks now, I think, and a lot of what Etsy has suggested is on my list of things to do. After I thought out my goal, I wrote out (or typed up) a long list of things to do to get ready. Then I separated them into different categories like new listing, product pictures, social promotion and shipping. From there certain actions listed needed to be broken down into even smaller actions, so I did that as well. Now, I need to come up with a timeline and continue to go down that list. One of the things on that list is posting blogs more often about new products and about the Bronx Etsy Team members as well as other crafters and craft ideas I like and enjoy. Look out for those posts. I also plan to post a recap of this Holiday season; how it went and whether or not I reached me goal. See you on the other side.

Handmade Book Product Lines

Continuing with the book series of posts, this week I will talk about creating a line of products. I've got two areas in which to create: type and design; form and function if you will.

For now the form consists of 8 unique covers designs where I will have a few ready made while being able to take custom orders. The books already made will all have the same basic design format but I'll have an array of colors and paper designs. I've come up with names for as few already. Think of the ripped cover design I had on the book I posted about last week? That line I would call Ripped, for example (but no, really), and instead of blue and purple, I'll use red and orange book cloth and papers for the cover and end pages.

The function on the other hand will be what's inside the covers. Blank lined paper, sleeves for photos, drawing paper, specialty page designs, etc. The pages will impact what the book is used for; whether it be as a journal, BoS, photo album, scrapbook, sketchbook, or anything else. Down the road I'll add my own pre-designed pages to some of them but for now this is what I am trying to finalize before I offer the books in my store.

In the meantime you will be teased and tantalized.

My Post-Bound Book Making Process

I said I would do this in my last post. So here it is with pictures. This set of pictures is when I made a personalized Book of Shadows or journal.

Before we begin, here is the finished product. I also want you all to know that this is only the 2nd book I ever made. The first one I made for myself and its much bigger but I did not take any pictures at the time. This book I decided to make since the first one came out decent enough and I wanted to make a gift for a friend. I had lots of supplies left over and I had been collecting specialty book papers for the net bookmaking occasion.

When I took these pictures it was mostly for me to be able to look back on what I've done. So they are far from perfect; I used my the camera on my cell phone and this was back before megapixels was a big deal and my flash wasn't so great (believe it or not the overhead lights were on throughout this picture taking process). I chose to use this book and these pictures to showcase my process as more of a walk down memory lane rather than a sleek, fashionable post trying to get you to buy something (that'll come later ;) ).

First, I must start off with supplies which in this case, consists of book board, vellum paper, stamps, stick-on letters, book cloth and end papers. Other supplies not shown include, hole punch, screw punch, rulers, crafters glue, a cutting mat, x-acto knives, paintbrushes, and scissors. All used in the average bookmaking process.

Now, the first step is to cut down the book board to the cover size you want. I made this book roughly 6"x9" and the book board I had gotten was 12"x12". Book board, just so you know, is hard, pressed cardboard-like material. Just think of any hardcover book or textbook cover. Its comes in multiple thicknesses but it hard to damage and protects the precious pages within its borders. Again, at the time all I had to properly cut the book board were my x-acto knives. It was slow going. but it got there.

From there you want to do some more cutting, this time of various papers. It helps to have a plan in mind for what you want to book cover to look like. I did not really at this time. I knew the colors I wanted to use and the papers but how was I going to make it all work I did not know. So I cut down the interior paper to size, then I contemplated the cover papers I wanted to use. I had three; this lovely sky blue with polka dots, a glossy lilac and this dark purple Japanese book cloth and I decided to layer them across the cover.

                

First, I cut down and glued on the baby blue paper as shown above. Since I was going to layer the other parts over it there was no need to use paper enough to cover the entire front cover. Now here comes the interesting part. I planned a completely boring, in my opinion now, straight, vertical layer of the of the glassy lilac paper over the blue and in an effort to keep as much glue off of the sections you will see I did not brush glue over the entire back of the lilac paper. When I went to glue down the rest of it, I accidentally ripped the paper. Thinking that I would have to start the whole thing oer from scratch, I just finished the rip and pull of the excess. That resulted in this.

The glossy lilac ripped to interestingly, I left it on. I loved the matte finish that showed at the edges of the tear and it seemed to me that it gave this feeling of revelation. Like, ooh look what's under here. Like I said, the ripped layer stayed. Next came the last layer, which I wanted just for that library book look; the darker toned spine. Now, one thing to remember is that the books I make are post bound. This one in particular has no spine. But in order for the book covers to be able to open properly, they have to cut out separately from the section of book board that the posts will screw into and then connected with book cloth, book paper, etc.

As I leave the partially complete cover to dry under the many, many books that I own (much cheaper than a press), I went back to the book board and cut out the ends for the covers. They will be the same length as the covers but only about 1" wide. Once I have those cut out I must now drill holes in them with my screw punch. I chose to use 3 holes on this particular book. Then I brought back the now dried cover with the two other layers already on it. I measure and cut out the amount of book cloth I will need and lay it face down to brush glue over the back. Leaving a centimeter or two of space between the front cover and its corresponding spine, I place them on the glue and fold the end of the cloth over to connect the two pieces; making sure to leave the space in between so the book cover can be opened.

As you can see above there on the left hand side, there is a small indentation where there is nothing but book cloth. Here is where the book cover will bend when you open it. Now the back cover, I decided to keep simple by using just two layers; the glossy lilac and the purple book board to connect the back cover with its spine. You can see that below this time the crease is on the right-hand side.

You might think the covers are done but they are not. When was the last time you opened any book and saw the book board on the inside cover? I think its safe to say never for most of you. More often then not when it comes to hard cover books you'll see some type of fancy paper called end paper. End papers are usually a different type of paper than used anywhere else in the book and are folded in half with one end glued to the inside of the covers and the other end serves as the first page of the book. For the purposes of this book the end papers only line the inside of the covers. 

As you can see above, I used a very thin, almost tissue like paper with a subtle floral print in matching colors for the end papers. And just so you know, I have since learned that its more visually appealing to leave a bit of the cover papers showing around the edges of the end paper inside. I pasted these inside each cover with very little glue, careful to brush it on evenly since this paper was much more delicate than any of the others. Too much glue and it would bleed through the paper or worse rip it. 

After setting these aside once again between tons of books to dry flat, I got ready the hole puncher to punch through the book cloth and make the holes I screwed into the book board visible again. I also, took the vellum which I intended for use inside and punched holes in the same areas as those on the covers and I also creased the pages so that they would bend easily when turned. For these jobs I use a simple paper cutter with various settings. 

Once the covers are dry, I take them out and line them up for personalizing. There was only a bit more added to it including, on this particular book, adding the name to the front spine with simple stick on letters. They've been blurred out a bit in a previous picture above. Then I line up the pages and the covers by their holes and screw them all together with the screw posts. 

Et Voila!

Bookmaking

 For as long as I can remember I have always loved books. All kinds of books, not just reading books. Everything from Encyclopedias to planners is fascinating to me. And of course I absolutely love reading books; it's my favorite pastime; my addiction.

 Bookmaking however has only been a relatively recent fascination. I got interested in bookmaking in a sort of roundabout way. For those who do not know, my religion falls under the Pagan umbrella and back when I first started learning and studying, all the books and people practicing talked about having personal books to keep all my notes, thoughts and beliefs in. One online mentor gave me the intriguing idea of scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is something I always found interesting and had done a few times in the past so I thought why not. However after searching long and hard I could not find the type of book I wanted. Nothing spoke to me even in stores, plus it was hard to find a book that I knew was easy to add pages to later on.



 Then I came across a blog post online which explained with pictures how to make a post bound book. It took me awhile but I bought all the materials (fell in love with the specialty paper section at the local art supply and stationary stores) and built my first book. The scrapbooking continued from there every once in awhile but I thought I was done. Then a few years later a group of friends were graduating and I wanted to make something for them instead of buying it. It took me awhile but after I came up with the idea of making small, personalized books for them I kept going until I had all six done. They came out great if I do say so myself. Here are pictures of four of them.

 I have not made many books since then because it takes a lot of time and space and my personal life went through a lot of changes not too long after that. But I've learned other styles of bookbinding, like Japanese ribbon binding. And I've taken the last year to study how others are binding, designing, marketing, pricing and selling their hand-made books since I had planned to include books in my Etsy shop from
the beginning.

 The thing is, books take a lot longer to make than my bath and body products and its more labor intensive especially since I don't have any of the expensive equipment that makes it easier. But lately, I've been getting the urge to make new books to put up for sale. The idea machine in my head has stopped churning out new ideas for body scrubs and bath soaks. I still have quite a few to unveil in the shop but I think I'll be physically focused on bookmarking for the next few months. My post next week will probably be a picture heavy post showing you my bookmaking process. I hope you guys will look forward to that. I can't wait for you all to see another side of my creative process.

Spring Creations and Renewals

Taurus Bath Soak

Hi All,

Spring has sprung though its still snowing in some places. I saw a great meme this weekend that said, "You think its April but its actually the 96th day of January." Here in NYC the weather is doing its bipolar thing which is how I know its spring. Which means it is now time to share all the great Spring products available to you in my shop while I whip up new ones. The research itself is rewarding; enough so that I've been thinking about including blog posts summing up my findings for each zodiac sign and the herbs, spices and flowers associated with them. Would you guys be interested in that? Let me know in the comments below.

Along with the Zodiac bath soaks I've been happily renewing my Sabbat oils and adding their corresponding loose incense. The incense is the herbal base for the oils; what I pour into the carrier and essential oils for a few weeks before straining and selling the oils for each Sabbat. I thought why not offer these as well, they smell amazing? I've also been renewing many of the scented body scrubs and bath soaks such as the Eucalyptus n' Speaking Bath Soak during whichever season I feel they fit with. Soon to come will be the lemon package: Lemon Body scrub, Honey n' Lemon Facial scrub; as well as a few others.

Orange n' Rose Body Scrub

I had renewed the Orange n' Rose Body Scrub as part of the Romantic Package back in February for Valentine's Day but since then I've had the idea of a Lime n' Lavender Body Scrub so I've been trying that scent combination out to see if I like it. I love the alliteration of tthe name and it was interesting to come up with another floral-citrus combo. Its ready for testing so once that's done I'll unveil that as well.

What are some hot spring and summer scents you all are looking forward too?

Facebook Marketing

I have come to the somewhat sad conclusion that Facebook is not the place for me to build an original following for Scarlet Moon Creations. Facebook before it went public would have been great for my young business. Unfortunately, I did not create a business page until just before that. The effect going public had was that now Facebook had to prove that it could make money as a social networking site. It decided to do this in one way by changing its site wide algorithms ruling what content users see. Basically, the more you like a certain person's or page's posts the more they show up on your news feed. The drawback to that is if you don't click that like button often enough those 'less liked' people and pages will disappear from your news feed.

Now all of us who have used Facebook for purely personal reasons know that we don't click that button for everything we see on our news feeds but that does not mean we do not want to see it all. Now Facebook did try to adjust things by giving you the option to change your settings and let certain people and pages onto your news feed while blocking others. They then came up with the Pages Feed so that you could actually see what the businesses and groups are up to without them getting lost among your more personal contacts. You can even make lists for family, friends, co-workers, and any other specialized grouping so that they can essentially have a separate news feed that you can look at. But honestly, when it comes down to it who wants to do all that work to find out what's going on with the people, places and things you have already taken the time to find and like so you could follow them easier. It somewhat defeats the purpose.

After officially going public, Facebook took even more measures to show its backers it can make money by creating advertising and boost payment packages for pages. "Hey, not getting enough followers, why don't you pay for an ad that you create for your target market here." Not a bad idea; a good one actually. But on top of that Facebook's new algorithm says, "hey all those followers you got (and possible paid for ads to get) aren't really seeing your posts. Really it's only 6% of them so you should pay to boost your individual posts so that the people who already liked your page can actually see you on their news feeds." Many business pages went from having, as an example, 1,000 followers and roughly 600 likes and/or views for each post they publish down to roughly 60 likes and/or views per post. For those of us just starting out, you only get about 5-10 views or likes per post unless you pay to boost your posts. And that's hard on a new small business. Unfortunately, within the past few weeks Facebook has done another update that reduces views for posts to only 1-2% of your following.

Courtesy of Pixabay

One way to get around the views issue is for your followers to click yes for notifications from your page once they like your page. This means every time you post something they will get a notification. The drawbacks are if those people don't look at their notifications often, it makes no difference or if you post a lot all those notifications can become annoying. So with all of this, these past few months I've been very frustrated trying to crunch the numbers and coming to the conclusion that Facebook is not the place to build a new business following. I think it's best to be more established elsewhere first and then give those people the option to follow me on Facebook and to offer Facebook only specials.

What does this mean for Scarlet Moon Creations and Facebook? Well, I've reduced my presence there by not posting as much. I plan to be more active on this blog and on my personal blog on tumblr. I use Pinterest, Instagram and most recently Google+ as sort of behind-the-scenes looks into Scarlet Moon Creations inspirations, creation process, ingredients, and its owner. I hope to create a full picture from all angles so you can see the business grow without being redundant across multiple social networking sites.

So Facebook is not going away entirely just having a reduced presence. I know that means more work for me since one of the perks of Facebook was if I go on for personal reasons and see or think of something worth posting on Scarlet Moon Creations page I could do so easily. That and already having a follower base to work from. But if even my friends and family cannot see my business posts to like and share it short of defeats the purpose. I wanted to end this post on a positive note and not a bitter one. I've gone back and forth over this entire issue and how I feel about it and I think that this decision is best for now and that is why I feel I can write about it. Its not the end, its just the beginning.

Body Butter and Body Bars

The body butter is not coming out how I think it's supposed to so I tried the recipe three more times. Twice each with an increasing amount of jojoba oil instead of the coconut oil I had used the last time. I did this after doing some more research online and reading in one blogs comments how a liquid oil was necessary for that soft and fluffy whipped texture to stay and not harden the better later.

Coconut oil is still considered a "solid" oil so I switched it with jojoba oil which is the closest to our skin's naturally produced oil. I didn't use enough the first time because I got the same results, so I tried again. This time seemed better but because I let the mixture harden too much before whipping, it was too difficult.

Since I was pressed for time at that point, I just let that mixture melt again and poured it into the soap molds I had bought just for that purpose. A few months ago I came across a recipe for body bars which is very similar to that for body butter. Obviously, no whipping is required.


When I came back later the bars had hardened nicely but they were still a bit too soft to come out of the molds properly. The recipe calls for coconut oil not jojoba oil. The bars certainly work wonderfully but to make them look pretty I'll use coconut oil or even mango butter as the third main ingredient next time.

So essentially its more liquid oils for the whipped body butter and more solid oils for the body bars. Though if I can find a happy medium that works for both I'll be happy.

New Etsy Shop Feature

After looking in on one of my personal favorite Etsy shops, I noticed something I had not seen before. They have a drop down menu so customers can choose among the different sized guest books they were offering. That in and if itself is not new to me. What caught my eyes was the fact that they had different prices listed next to each size and that when you make your choice, the total price you pay for the book changes. Somehow, I missed when this went into affect on Etsy.

When I first opened my shop I knew I would have different sizes for most of the items I would sell, but after checking around I found that while you can have different options (e.g. size, color) under one listing they all to be the same price. Now, that is obviously different. I am annoyed with myself for missing this but definitely happy and ready to take full advantage of this in my own shop.

For those of you who don't know, making just one Etsy listing, even a draft, takes at least 30 minutes. More if you include the time it takes you to get the right pictures, writing out a description and figuring out pricing, which you would do ahead of time, hopefully. Creating three listings, while not three times as long, is still longer. Plus, it seems obvious that customers would like it better if they didn't have to search for another listing of a different size and could just stay on the same page and choose the size they want with one click.
Just one more change I'd like to make to my shop. :-)

Working for the Holiday Season

You all have probably been wondering where I've been. Well around late October I realized that the holiday season would be starting soon and I needed to get my shop ready. That's on top of continuing my new product schedule. I've got several new products ready for unveiling; well in various stages of readiness. Also, tons of new, untested ideas to try my hand at and get others to try out before revealing them to the public.

It also happens to be that time of year personally, when every week is some sort of family gathering or celebration. Most of our birthdays are at this time of year, so they fill in the blanks around the holidays.

I've basically been driving myself crazy for the past 6 weeks or so. 

If you were paying attention, four new items went up in the Etsy shop during this time. That would be the Pumpkin n' Clove Body Scrub, the Pomegranate Body Scrub, the Pumpkin n' Clove Facial Scrub and the Yule Oil. And I have two more almost ready for the big reveal. My very first body butter called Chocolate Mint and a Vanilla n' Honey Body Scrub. I am going to be working on ginger, pine and cinnamon products for later in the winter as well.

In addition to all of this I had my first shop sales using Etsy coupons for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. In preparation and now in hindsight I've learned a lot from that, but I plan to share that in next week's post. I also wanted to try a new type of post; more off-the-cuff. Those will come up randomly. I already have one I wrote this morning that I'll post tomorrow. So see you then.

New Creation Space

Isn't it lovely. I finally have a dedicated space to work on/at. A space with space. A space without a chair, but I'm working on it. Mind you this is taking up roughly 1/3 of my room and most of that was the only remaining free space I had. So alas, no dancing about. But this does mean I can finally, finally roll out the book board and specialty papers can come out of their portfolios. That's right, books can now be made!!

It might seem like nothing but I have wanted to include handmade books for various purposes in my product selection since the beginning of this business. So much so that I considered making a separate Etsy shop just for them but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. This decision also affected my business name.

More on that in another post. My space is my old kitchen table and also a "portable" picnic table (it folds just weighs a ton). In my old kitchen there was no counter and no table so I got this to do both jobs. It of course also served as my main creation space. I plan to continue that tradition by using it to mix and match ingredients, fabric and papers for all my Scarlet Moon Creations. So look forward to future sightings of my creation space here on the blog.

hmm, I may have to make a special Pinterest board for such sightings. What do you think?

New for Winter

I was up in New Paltz this week for work and I got the opportunity to visit The Awareness Shop; Its a great place. I got two items that I had been looking to use in my winter products; pine resin and vanilla bean.

They smell amazing. Both will into my Yule oil and incense mixtures but I definitely want a vanilla only scented product and possibly a pine one as well. I already have other products with cinnamon and peppermint in mind as well. I hope you all are looking forward to the scents of the winter season.