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Showing posts from 2011

Tis the time of year...for my computer to die

In the spirit of perfect timing, my poor computer has decided to self destruct and kill it's own hard drive. I'm reminded of the scene in  The Young Ones  where Neil tries to tell the kettle, who just had a break down (ie, it exploded) that if he was feeling the pressure, he could have talked about it, instead of killing itself :P I took it to the repair place yesterday so hopefully by Friday, I'll be back to normal and off this little laptop! Thankfully, all of the data was backed up (phew), almost a terabyte of it. Woah Nelly! I'm not expecting the computer problems to interfere too much with orders but please bare with me if my replies take a little longer than usual as I am still working a full time day job as well. Sailor Mouth Soaps isn't taking a Christmas break this year so regardless of when you place your order, I'll make it from scratch and post to you asap <3 That isn't to say it will definately arrive in time for Christmas, depending o

Holiday update

Hi everyone! Long time no speak <3 I'll keep this update brief as we're all busy as bees this time of year. Australia Post seem to be very hesitant to confirm shipping time estimates at the moment. Usually they give you set cut offs for mail to arrive before Christmas but they are being a bit cagey about it this year. Maybe it has something to do with the 70 million Christmas cards that get sent around Australia? I almost fell off my chair when I read that, wow. Add in all of the gifts being sent to friends, family and from businesses like my own, that's a hell of a lot of mail. The best estimates I've been able to get from them are:- Australia - QLD and all other States: 3 to 7 days transit except WA which is 5 to 10 (by road I imagine) International - all mail posted from Australia by the 12th December *should* arrive prior to Christmas (but how your country processes and delivers your parcel to you is out of their control) So what does that mean for you

Christmas ramblings & a fun new competition!

Eeeeeek. Somehow another month has passed since my last blog post *hand slap*. Ahhh the trials and tribulations of managing a small business around a full time job. Yep, you heard correctly, I'm now working full time. It's been virtually full time for the last few months but now it's official, at least for the holidays. Who knows what next year will bring? So what does this mean for you, my lovely customers? Well, potentially greater lead times as we get closer to Christmas. The number and size of orders has already begun to increase (thank you!) so basically whenever I'm not at my day job, I'm working on orders! That could also mean less time on the computer doing blog posts, updating  Facebook  and  Twitter  etc but rest assured, behind the scenes, I'm a busy little Elf :P Sadly most of the exciting ideas I've had floating around in my head and taking up multiple notebooks are going to have to wait until the new year. I don't want to rush them out

Christmas Gift Giving

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I'm not one for large crowds, period. Add shoppers Christmas fever into the mix and I'll run away screaming for the hills! Being an online shopper myself, I intend to do a large amount of my gift buying online to save time, money (and sanity). Since I like to buy local wherever possible, my first point of call is usually BrisStyle . I'm a member of this group which is for Etsy sellers in Brisbane and the surrounding areas. They put out regular gift guides that make it super easy to find something special for your friends and family. Buying from mico-businesses makes me happy, being one myself I understand how exciting it is to see an order come through! I'm also a sucker for adorable home wares & jewellery. Check out these super cute finds! Mini food storage containers Caravan door stop Tea/Coffee Tin Mini Apple Shelf Mama Pug Ceramic Figurine X-Ray Bunny Brooch Here's the links to the full shopfronts: Lark

Halloween 2011

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Even though we don't celebrate Halloween in Australia *cries* I can't resist whipping up some ghoulish soapy treats. Here's a sneak peak! Severed Fingers Soap Zombie Eyeball Soap Set Eyeball Cupcake Soaps Chompers - Zombie Teeth Soap Spider Skull Soap There's more in store, you can find the whole spooky collection  here .

1000 sales on Etsy - woah!

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I've just logged into my  Etsy  store and holey moley, I've reached 1000 sales! That's a pretty awesome goal to hit after only 18 months in business - thank you so much to all of my loyal customers <3 Even though I wasn't planning to do a sale this month, I've become overwhelmed with heart-swelly goodness, so all orders placed today in my  BigCartel  store using code 1000 can take advantage of 10% off all products in the  Halloween Spooky Soaps  category. Thank you again for your support, seriously, thank you!

Online shopping

Goooood morning! Well, I'm finally back in Australia after long delays with our flights. By the time we finally got home last night, I was far too knackered to hop on the computer and re-open the stores so I was up from 6am working this morning to get everything taken care of. I'm still working through updating listings so please bare with me for just a little longer <3 I just wanted to explain some changes I'm making to my online stores as it probably looks a little confusing from my customers perspective. As you might remember reading a few months ago, I opened up a new online store on Big Cartel  here at www.sailormouthsoaps.com . This was partly so I had a little more control over the design of the store and the information I could put onto the site. The largest reason was because it's becoming very expensive to sell on Etsy due to listing fees & commissions from each sale, plus the constant site and content changes that aren't being properly rolle

The final chapter

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Our trip is almost at an end, it'll be sad to go but we're dying to see our fur-babies again <3 This will be a big update, here we go! Brad went skiing again on Sunday but my bruises hadn't yet healed from the unforgiving ski boots, so I gave it a miss. Instead, I had breakfast in the park, feed the seagulls and indulged in a customised facial at  Body Sanctum  to help repair my dry & tortured cold weather skin. I treated myself to a fancy cleanser from  La Clinica  - it's really nice! Organic with no animal testing, gotta love that. Brad took a few tumbles while skiing so the next day, we went back to  Body Sanctum  for a float as they can help with minor injuries *and* an hour float is equal to 4hrs sleep. Have you heard of floatation tanks before? They're AWESOME! I had one years ago and it was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. I could hear myself blink, I heard my heart beating and the blood pumping in my veins in the pitc

Glenorchy, Heli Rafting & Forest Wanderings

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Hi everyone! We got up to a few things over the weekend. First was a drive out to Glenorchy, a tiny little town on the northern end of Lake Wakatipu (the lake is massive, 291km square & up to 420m deep!) We stopped for brunch and as we've come to expect in many of the small towns we've visited, the only non-meat food available was chips. I used to like chips but now I'm not sure I can look a potato in the eye ever again. This was an old boat shed by (what appeared to be) the one and only dock in the town. You can't tell by the half-smile, but I totally dig nature walks <3 Check out these weird dead trees all lined up.  The trees look amazing against the perfect sky. Bad weather had been forecast almost the entire holiday but aside from one rainy night, it hasn't affected us at all. Lucky huh! Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get out and explore like we have. This was taken on the dock. I wanted to get th

Guess what? It's COLD! Who would've thought?

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Just another quick update for today, we're about to head out for Brad to go Heli-Rafting! What's that you ask? Well, you take a helicopter up to the top of a mountain and then raft down. OMGs.... Anyhooo; Down by the lake, there are lots of cute sculptures. These are our friend's little ones, hugging each other while hugging a giant Kiwi. Cuuuute. How nice is the lake first thing in the morning? I love it. We took a ride on the Skyline Gondola. It goes straight up the mountain...amazing views. Up the top, it had been snowing! Looks like we just missed it, the picnic tables had fresh, powdery snow. It was about 0 degrees.  Everything is so scenic, I love the mountains. Lookit! SNOW! This is the view from the top of the Gondola lookout. On the way back down again, you get a feel for how high up you are. Eeek! Strangely enough, heights don't bother me too much. That has to be one of the few things I'm