The Official Blog of Sailor Mouth Soaps

Or should I say "aaaaaa-liiiive" *grins* Here's all the details: Sale starts today at approximately 5pm, Saturday 29th December 2012 EST All orders will receive 25% off anything in their shopping cart, not including shipping Enter code ONTHEMOVE in the discount code section before you click "checkout" Sale will end at 11:59pm EST Monday 14th January 2013 unless already sold out To make the site easier to navigate, only in stock items will appear Sale valid at  www.sailormouthsoaps.com.au  only If you've outside Australia, sorry you will need to contact me for an exact shipping quote And please be mindful that the point of this sale is to help clear some space and make moving house a little easier for me. I don't wish to take part in the devaluing of artisan work just because the calendar moved past the 25th December. Thanks for understanding! Ps. You've probably guessed, this isn't my new house. But you can't blame a gi...

Hi everyone! Happy Holidays :) So I thought I should give you a little update on the whole moving house thing. Sadly the contract has had to be pushed back because of delays with financiers, solicitors, agents etc so it looks like we won't be moving until the end of January now. It's a blessing and a curse, I didn't really fancy moving so soon after the craziness of Christmas but I also don't want to wait until the hottest month of the year! But there isn't anything we can do now but wait on the last few pieces to fall into place and then we can start the final packing. Needless to say, my secret board on  Pinterest  has been getting a work out with all the cool things I want to do to the new house. I'd make it public but I'm weirdly superstitious about jinxing it! What I though might be nice is to offer an "in stock" sale. Firstly because I'm feeling generous and secondly, because I would like to have less to move, LOL. So what I...

That's right, I know I've been saying that Aussie order cut off is from the 11th December but now I've had to push it back to Saturday the 8th as we've bought a new house and need to start packing asap. What a crazy time of year to do it but we found the perfect house so it is what it is :D At this stage I'm not sure when I'll be back in January, there sure is a lot to do when buying & moving into a new house so I'm not going to lock myself into a time frame I can't keep up with. Thanks for understanding! And remember, please submit any final orders by Saturday 8th December or you will miss out. Thanks!!!!

Christmas has been busy busy busy for me this year with loads of new stockists signing up to sell Sailor Mouth Soap goodies. New this week is *drumroll please* Your One Stop Pin Up Shop  at 771 Gympie Road, Chermside on the Northside of Brisbane. Bex (the store owner, you might know her from  Bexterity ) has ordered a super cute custom range of Conversation Heart and Cupcake Soaps, in a beautiful collection of pastel colours and delicious scents. Also new to the fold (and I'm SUPER extra excited about this) is  Animals Australia I'm a huge supporter of Animals Australia. I became a financial member this year and give my support (incl additional financial support whenever I'm able) for each campaign. Their work is making an important, real world impact on animal cruelty and I'm thrilled to know that my vegan and cruelty free products are helping raise money for their tireless work. Animals Australia  are stocking a selection of lip balms and should be on ...

If you have a Facebook account for your small business you might be scratching your head and wondering why barely any fans (about 13%) are seeing your posts anymore. A helpful blog post was tweeted about recently so if you're having problems with your own fan page or are curious why pages you have "liked" aren't appearing in your feed anymore, here is the answer. Tips & tricks to get the most out of Facebook in the era of promoted posts There are a few work-arounds suggested and since it's quite a helpful article, I wanted to share. I'm sure there are many of us in the same boat! My own strategy is the blog more often and not to rely on Facebook for communicating important information. So far, that hasn't worked too well as this time of year is crazy busy for me and I can post on Facebook without too much fuss using my smart phone. Sadly the blogger app is really crappy so I haven't bothered since the the last time it ate a massive post o...

note - updated 12th December 2012 Queensland Queensland Museum South Bank www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au Cnr Grey and Melbourne Street, South Brisbane QLD 4110 The Green Edge www.greenedgeonline.com.au 3/191 Wardell St, Enoggera, QLD 4051 Animal Affair www.animalaffair.com.au 121 Brisbane Road, Mooloolaba QLD 4557 Freaks Like Us  www.freaks-likeus.blogspot.com.au 80 Howard Street, Nambour QLD 4560 Your One Stop Pin Up Shop www.youronestoppinupsho.photium.com 771 Gympie Road, Chermside QLD 4032 New South Wales Ramjet Assortments  www.ramjet.net.au 78 Darby St, Cooks Hill NSW 2300 Milk Thieves Art & Design  www.milkthieves.com.au Shop 9, 157 Crown Street, Wollongong NSW 2500 Victoria Gleaners Inc www.gleanersinc.blogspot.com 2 Ballarat Street, Brunswick VIC 3056 Tasmania Syzygy Syzygy  www.syzygystore.com.au 102 Elizabeth Street, Hobart TAS 7000 South Au...

Hello there! I've made up these special Mystery Grab Bags and they are only available for a short time. Each one contains: 1x Lip Balm 1x Soy Wax Melt 3x Handmade Soaps $30 value for only $15 - BARGAIN! Interested? Email me at sailormouthsoaps(at)gmail.com Want more soapy goodness? www.sailormouthsoaps.com.au

Just a quick one today (oh my :P) The Halloween newsletter was sent out last night, in case you aren't on the list, here's the link:- Limited Edition Halloween 2012 in store now If you aren't a subscriber, you can join using the tab above, or with this handy dandy link:- This way for regular LOVE! Have a great day! xx

Halloween 2012.... Ready Set GO!

Hello friends! Just a super quick post today to let you all know that I'm having a little sale to help me regain some storage space after the insanity that was  Greazefest . I made a lot  of stock. Easily 5x what I brought along with me last year. Egads! I had 2 staff, lots of freebies, wow. It was a fun, crazy busy day and so wonderful to meet some of my local customers. You'll send some pictures below but first, here is the link to the sale items:- "On Special" Soaps - discounted, yay! Ivy & anchors, the cuteness! Can you see the new liquid perfumes? Soon to be released, win! Oh my, are they candles? Run out of time making signage? Simply grab a couple of cork boards , some pins and you're golden. DOLL HEADS! See how happy they make me :D How do you like the decorations? PUG SOAPS! My...precious. Totally exclusive to Sailor Mouth Soaps :D Don't forget to check out the s...

I doubt I'm alone here but I still have to say it....I think I'm one of the easiestly distractible people on the planet BUT only when it comes to my own business. If you give me a task in any other area of my life, I'm on it and I follow through but when it comes to running a business, I find it extremely hard to stay focused. For example, I sat down 3 hours ago to prepare the newsletter for next week (it's a sale one, oooher!) and somehow that evolved into writing a blog post but before I even began writing, I was playing with the font, layout and general appearance of the blog. Something I'd been meaning to do for two months. Searching for a decent set of social media icons (especially ones that include  Pinterest ) somehow became part of that equation as well. When I realised my distraction, I then visited  Fishpond  and bought two books on running a craft business/setting yourself goals/staying on track etc. Apparently self awareness = throw money at it. A...

Hello my dear local lovelies. Who's excited for  Greazefest?  I know I am :D This year is shaping up to be the best yet. You're probably already familiar with the Sunday markets as they are, without a doubt, the best shopping in one place you'll go to all year . This year there will be over 150 market stalls. Can you believe it? We've snagged an excellent spot:- Our site is no. 14 in the Open Air Sites.  Right smack bang in the middle around the top edge of the oval, near the Goburra Street entrance. I have a tonne of signage this year so you won't miss me. Please note that I'm NOT at the Art Show Site like I have been the last two years as many people still don't know that area exists and there is little to no signage to point people in that direction. To help prepare for the day, I would LOVE to get some feedback from you about what you would like to have available to buy. Having well over 100 products, I'm sure you can appreciate tha...

No, not the business, just the sale! Had you there for a second didn't I? Muhaha. You might remember reading in my last blog post  that the end of financial year sale is finishing up tomorrow and although many things have sold out, there are still heaps  of awesome things to grab at 25% off the usual price. Code MAKEWAY will expire Saturday June 23rd at 11:59pm EST | Only available at  www.sailormouthsoaps.bigcartel.com  | Code must be entered at checkout for discount to apply

Ohh hai! I've been busy as a bee these last few weeks, my vacation actually = "workcation". But you get that :P Anyway, while I'm working on all of the new exciting things, I though it would be wise to clear a little inventory space and what better way then to have an end of financial year sale. Here's all the deets- Use code MAKEWAY in my Big Cartel webstore  http://sailormouthsoaps.bigcartel.com/  for 25% off all in-stock items. Expires 23rd June 2012 at 11:59pm. The discount code must be entered at checkout for discount to apply | All stock levels are correct | Discount off stock only, not shipping | First in best dressed | Toodles! x

Just a quick announcement; Sailor Mouth Soaps will be on a temporary and brief hiatus from today while I begin work on bringing new, exciting products and lines to my collection. While working a demanding full time day job and another virtually full time job running my own business at the same time is a challenging but do-able joy (seriously, not being sarcastic at all) it doesn't leave much time for product development and I spend almost all of my "spare time" filling orders. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do but looking over my notes and goals from the last year, I haven't achieved any of the things I set out to do and I have so many  projects half done and new products half developed, the only way to move forward is to do more work behind the scenes and focus on growth. In doing that, I can have a tonne of new goodies available for  GreazeFest  and moving forward into Christmas. YAY! Thanks for your understanding, please don't hesitate to contac...

I was brought up in a very DIY and eco friendly home. When I was younger, if there was anything we could do with our hands, we'd do it. Store bought orange juice? Are you mad? Let's juice the oranges from the tree. Pay for Shallots? Nuh uh, there's some in the garden. Need strawberries for a  Strawberry Shortcake?  We would just grab a basket and "go shopping", in the garden! Growing up like this gave me a deep appreciation for how generous nature is, and how little she asks for in return. Just a bit of water, mulch and not much else and you've got yourself a meal! Looking back, this is probably where my interest in natural skin care developed. I became obsessed with rare herbs (not the ones you're thinking about :P) and their benefit on the skin as well as the properties of fairly everyday fruits and vegetables. To me it was incredible to learn how many "modern" skincare ingredients were based on old-world remedies and how people instintively...

Hi everyone, I just wanted to give you an update on the Palm Oil situation. As you might remember reading in my last post, I had finally (after literally years of searching) found a Palm Oil free soap base I can use for my products. The good news is, it's passed my tests, meets my cruelty free and vegan criteria and I'm bringing it into production. Can I get a hurrah? Hurrah! I've already begun integrating it into my soaps but please allow me some time to update labels and go through what stock I already have. If you want to have your order made with the new Palm Oil Free base especially before it is all that is available, just let me know and I can accommodate you :) I have future plans for another line of products that will most likely include RSPO Certified Palm Oil. So why would I add Palm Oil back into the range after taking it out? Well with me being the ingredient nerd that I am, I've done a lot of research (surprise, surprise!) and I feel that the best wa...

Competition is now closed. Congratulations to lucky number 4 - Maddy Mohawak! We've hit 4500  Facebook Fans!  Hurrah :D It was a tough nut to crack & much love goes out to my loyal fans & fellow business owners that helped share my page around. To celebrate this milestone, I'm giving away a $30 gift voucher for one lucky fan to use in my Big Cartel  web-store . You might be wondering why I'm running a  Facebook  giveaway on my blog? Well, you see Facebook has a lot of rules about running giveaways so it is easier for everyone if I do it here :) It's super simple to enter. All you need to do is: 1. Visit my  Big Cartel ,  Etsy ,  Madeit  or  Hand-Made  sites (yes, I have a lot!) and pick out your three favourite products 2. Leave a comment on this blog post telling me your favourite three (no anonymous votes, I need to be able to contact the winner!) The giveaway will run from the time of posting to 7:...

If you follow me on  Facebook  you might have seen the little post asking whether you would be prepared to pay a little bit more for Palm Oil Free & Organic products. I should probably explain. I would consider myself to be a very ethical person. I have been living (and loving) the hell out of my Vegan and totally cruelty free lifestyle for many years now. When I say that my products are "Vegan & Cruelty Free", you can bet your bottom dollar that it's not just an incidental fact or marketing hype, my business has been built from the ground up with those principals in mind. Being certified with  Choose Cruelty Free  and  PETA  is proof that I not only stand by these convictions but am willing to sign legal documents to state how my business sources the ingredients and have accountability for my purchases. It's worth pointing out that running a business with so many considerations is not without its complications. Many, many times I have come acros...

After an awful night's sleep, sick as a dog (I thought I had appendicitis but since my abdomen didn't explode, I'm guessing I'm ok :P) I woke up to this email from  https://www.hand-made.com.au/  and I'm pretty excited about it. Who doesn't want to win an iPad? Welcome to our latest giveaway! We wanted to enable one lucky hand-made buyer to shop hand-made anywhere, anytime. What better way to do that than with and ipad3? To score yourself a brand spanking new ipad3 Buy hand-made.  Purchase anything from  hand-made.com.au  between 3pm on the 6th April 2012 and Midnight, 29th June 2012. The Prize   Everyone who purchases from  hand-made.com.au  will go into the draw to win an ipad3 16GB with WiFi valued at $498 - every purchase begets an entry ie 8 purchases will get you 8 entries in the draw. Entries will be drawn Sunday 1st July 2012 via  random.org . *All times are in Australia Eastern Standard Times **Must be resident of Aus...

Phew! What a month. It's been my intention to write a blog post for hrrrm, lets see...the last 26 days and this is the first (all be it brief) chance I've had. Needless to say, my lovely customers have been taking advantage of the 2nd Birthday Celebrations sale I've been running. Thanks for keeping me so busy! There's only a few days left of the sale. This week's offer is free Australian shipping for any order over $40. It runs from today to the 31st March 2012 at 11:59pm EST. Simply enter code BIRTHDAYSALEAUSSIE when you check out your order in the shopping cart at  http://sailormouthsoaps.bigcartel.com/ Be sure to enter your code as the system is automated and I can't fix up any code errors if you forget to enter it. You might be asking - "Sale? What sale?" If so, then be sure to sign up for my newsletter  here  so you don't miss out in the future! Newsletters go out every two months or so (due to my slackness) and I'll never sell or s...

I know everyone says this but WOW, the time has flown. Sailor Mouth Soaps is celebrating our 2nd birthday this month and I have presents for YOU! I can always send you a link to my amazon wish list if you want to return the favour (jokes) but it's probably more fun to give you the presents <3 This birthday we are doing things a little differently. The month has been split up into 5 segments and each segment has a different special offer! Everything from free stuff with your order, to discounted purchases and even free shipping. Just enter the correct coupon code at the right time and WAH-BAM, free/cheap stuff will be coming your way. Newsletter subscribers, you would have received a newsletter with all of the details this morning. Those that aren't newsletter subscribers...well you're going to have to wait a little longer *whispers - I did tell you* muhahaha. Here's a picture of my Pug Herman at this own birthday party :P PS - how do you like my new banne...

If there was a competition for the world's worst blogger, I think I might be in the running for a prize. It's not that I don't have heaps I could blog about (in fact, if you know me in real life, I'm awfully hard to shut up), it's just that ideas pop into my head at the worst times. Like when I'm on my way to work or I'm drifting off to sleep. I actually love reading blogs! Especially since Dana at  Wonder Forest  mentioned  Bloglovin  and I've downloaded the iPhone app so I can read all of my favourite blogs easily in the one place. Check it out. Anyway, the reason for todays brief blog post is because next month, Sailor Mouth Soaps is celebrating our 2nd birthday! Huzzah! I've got some super exciting things planned, in fact they are threatening to BURST out of me but that would ruin the surprise. All I will say is that if you want first dibs, sign up for my newsletter   pronto. For now, here's a picture of some cupcakes I'd like to e...