The Official Blog of Sailor Mouth Soaps

Thank you for an amazing 2018 Phew! Now that all of the making craziness is over and all Xmas orders have been shipped, I wanted to take a moment and say a very big thank you to all of my customers that have supported me since relaunching in August this year. I’ve hit milestones I really didn’t expect to reach so soon and found my rhythm with making again; reminding myself how much I freaking LOVE soap. It’s pure joy to be able to do something I love so dearly as a business and I want to thank my amazing customers for this honour. Especially the ones that have been with me since the start, even sharing photos of their retro Sailor Mouth Soap stashes with me. You're legends! It gives me great joy to think of how many people are out there, giving gifts of Sailor Mouth Soaps for Xmas and how many more of you have jealously guarded them for yourself! I’m sure a lot of visiting family will have a good laugh (or freakout) when they see what’s sitting on your sink. So, what's next...

As an ethical business and consumer, I’m very cautious about the products I purchase; especially packaging. This blog post seeks to anticipate and answer some of your questions about the packaging I use, especially in preparation for some new product releases coming out this year and next. When I began soap making nearly 10 years ago, we were in much less enlightened times, especially about the plastic waste problem we have globally. It was pretty naïve, but I genuinely assumed that most people were like me - avoiding excessive packaging, carefully recycling and that our councils were actually recycling what was put in our recycling bin.  But as we’ve sadly found out, plastic waste is a massive global problem and our world leaders have no clue how to or any inclination on how to solve it. It’s only been in the last, say five years that eco-friendly packaging options have become available for small and micro businesses like mine so while I’m regretful about previous choices, ...

So, admittedly, web design isn't a strong skill of mine. Everything I do on the blog or any online store takes a lot of messing about, trial and error and even then, the effect isn't all that amazing. So instead of worrying about it, I'm going to minimise and streamline my shops and pages online so that I can focus on beating my head against a wall with less pages! Hah! Big Cartel have a new theme available and it's actually pretty awesome and more useful for me that a lot of pre-made themes that cost double or triple the amount of money Big Cartel want. So I am starting to make there move towards selling there permanently. Eventually, down the line (waaaay down the line) I'd love to have my own website with a shopping cart and credit card facilities but since Sailor Mouth Soaps is a small little business, that's a long time away. For now, I'll have to make do! Also worth mentioning, I'm seriously considering getting rid of my Etsy store. Th...

Hello everyone, I'm very sorry to start the day with bad news. Unfortunatley due to illness I won't be able to attend the Brizvegas Kustom Karnival tomorrow . It's a pretty big bummer and I've had to let a friend down because of it. I haaaaate doing that. I'm working to get my migraines under control so I can re-open my online store and get some Sailor Mouth Soap love back into the hot little hands of my customers. Please bare with me while I try to get my health sorted out. I've been letting it get progressively worse for many years now. It's time to get it sorted! Thanks for understanding. xx

It's been a crazy month so now that I'm getting back into the swing of things, let the blogging begin! First, some exciting news for Brisbane locals,  Moxie Lou  will be stocking a selection of Sailor Mouth Soaps at the upcoming Kustom Karnival on Sunday March 10th 2013 at the Acacia Ridge Hotel. Here's all the details: Date: Sunday March 10 Times: 11am to 6pm Venue: The Acacia Ridge Hotel, 1386 Beaudesert Road, Acacia Ridge This is a fun-filled afternoon to enjoy all our elements of Kustom Kulture - hot rods, rockabilly music, pin ups, low brow artists, hair stylists and markets. The event is all-ages, families are welcome and kids 15 and under are free. Very special guests for this event launch are: Los Straitjackets (USA) CC Jerome's Jetsetters (Netherlands) Pat Capocci Comb (NSW) Men Into Space (Qld) The Lincolns (SA) DJ Leapin' Lawrie (Qld) Check out more info here:  http://www.kustomkarnival.com/ The BrizVegas Kustom Karnival will feature: - Live Roc...

Hi everyone! I'll keep it brief because I'm too excited and manic to focus on any one thing for too long right now....our new house settles today and we can begin to move in! Hurrah! We've been at this for nearly 2 months, it's been the most exhausting and frustrating experience of my life. There were so many times I thought we would lose the house because of some issue with the banks and other people involved. One of my soap making friends went through a similar thing, only her journey into the perfect home took over a year. I would have died. Major props to Kylee Lane. That girl has staying power :D The severe weather warning with flash flooding issues isn't even concerning me right now. After all of the stress, a little water is the least of my worries. I'll keep you all posted on when I should be back and the stores open again. I really want to get into the soap room asap and start making some of the things I've had in the works since June but h...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...