Bittersweet and the little soap company

Holiday Soiree

I always wrap myself in a warm blanket of gratitude this time of year. The fast paced world of manufacturing and shop managing, and tending to this, taking care of that, can sometimes take center stage, but I'm often reminded of my blessings with a kind word from a patron or a Christmas smile from a child. 

The Holiday Soaps are plentiful and blooming at our store! We've been crafting packaging designs and placing fresh sprigs of evergreen and pinecones into almost all of our winter packages. 

Handmade wool hats fill our clothing department shelves, and our denim section of the store is bursting at the seams with flairs and cuffs.

Atop my market list was fresh cranberries, oranges, and cranberry juice. We make a special Christmas punch for our Holiday Soiree's. It's actually super simple to put together, and the bright red colors of the juice and berries along with fresh orange slices help to make the punch festive looking. 

1 large bottle of cranberry juice, not concentrate. 

1/2 bottle of lemon lime soda.

Pour into a punch bowl or pitcher and toss in a few clean cranberries and orange slices. That's it! 

We're planning our Christmas Eve menu. Last year I made this for desert, and everyone loved it! I'm going to make it again for my family. The vanilla custard cream sauce really adds the perfect touch to the bread pudding.  

We're excited to host our annual holiday soiree, again. It's exciting to bring back some of our favorite events! 

The cookies and punch recipes are plucked from my recipe file, and Christmas will soon be here!

Keep smiling.

xo Jill 

 

the days of golden...

 

The holidays are upon us! The turkey is thawing and the sweet potatoes will soon be cooked and embellished. We're craving pumpkin pie with mounds of fresh cream at our house! By the way, here's a little pumpkin pie recipe that I've used for years that is simple but amazing!

I've mentioned many times how the pace picks up this time of year for Bittersweet. I'll be burning the midnight oil for many nights to come. The shop is open twelve more days with our Thursday - Saturday hours! That just doesn't seem possible! 

Small Business Saturday will pick up the pace as holiday shoppers carefully choose their favorite Bittersweets to share with family and friends. Before that, Black Friday, which I hate that name! Can we name it something else! How about, Small business Friday! The two days have a lot in common, and honestly, Small Business deserves more than one day!

The Twelve Days of Christmas Soaps started arriving last week! We released no. one and two, and just like that they disappeared as quickly as they came! This weeks release, no three, and four are two of my favorites. Imagine notes of Cranberry and Chocolate, and then Sweet Orange, Cinnamon, Clove and Vanilla. Honestly, the scents are perfect and wrapped in cheerful wrappings. They won't be around for very long!

I brought back a product from a few years back. Shower Spray is one of the most requested, and when the requests pile up, I bring it back!

We've also welcomed the return of the Felted Wool Soap. We're limited on this unique essential. It's a process to felt and wrap the soaps. 

Peppermint Foot Crème, Sari Gift Bags, Soap Dish embellished with a aromatic bar of seasonal delight! That's are jam!

The Soap + Lip Balm Crates = Happiness & Joy, Soft Skin and Healed Lips.

Headache Sticks are flying, and I hope that you don't need it, but they work!

The other day I was pondering about how Bittersweets creativity is always in motion. Both behind the scenes and at our store. So much time goes into managing a design. I sometimes feel as though it's my child as I nurture and cultivate the prototypes. Kind of crazy sounding, but it's true! 

Less is more...

I've found myself disliking decked out Christmas trees! I'm not sure how it came about, but my feelings are strong. For years I'd fill every inch of the tree with ornaments and tinsel. Now, the tree, lights, and a star on top. Perfect! Maybe a few presents under the tree, and Christmas twenty-one might have started a new tradition of less is more. It feels good!

No matter how you celebrate the holidays let it be perfect to you. 

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving!

xo Jill 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thankful

The glorious season of thankfulness approaches. What are you thankful for? I try and find something to be thankful for each day. Believe me, there is always something to be thankful for! 

Today I'm thankful that the axe that fell and hit my head didn't do me in! 

I've been cleaning around home, and while sorting out under the porch the heavy killer axe fell from its nail above and hit me hard. I'm thankful that I have a hard head! 

I'm also thankful for strong arms and healthy body. Without it, I would not be able to perform the labor intense process of making soap. Everything starts fifty pounds!

As the weather cools and the north wind starts to blow, I become more thankful of my warm and cozy home. It's by far perfect to most, but absolutely perfect to me! 

Feeling thankful...

For so many things. Count them up! You will be surprised just how many thankful thoughts are roaming around in your head. 

This week marks the arrival of our Twelve Days of Christmas Soap! It starts releasing on Thursday, November 18, and we will continue to bring in two new holiday soaps each week for six weeks. Then it's Christmas! 

After that Bittersweet closes our store for a long winters nap. We usually shut down the shop for at least three weeks. Typically, and if this year is anything like years past, we sell out of almost everything that we, I make!

I continue to manufacture items as we sell out until a few days before Christmas. We get our inventory down to almost nothing.

Then after Christmas I'll start all over again making while all along being thankful. 

Don't let the all of the worlds problems rob you from your thankfulness. 

Keep your chin held high, and put that huge thankfulness smile on!

Keep the faith. 

Jill xo

 

joy

 

The word Joy is one of my favorite words! The meaning is powerful and well beyond a a simple three letter word. 

1: a feeling of great happiness Their sorrow turned to joy. I can hardly express the joy I felt at seeing her again.

2: a source or cause of great happiness : something or someone that gives joy to someone The flowers are a joy to behold! What a joy it was to see her again.

How does one go about obtaining joy? It is definitely a different process for each of us. Personally, I find joy in each day regardless of whether I'm having a bad day or a good day. That's the secret to finding joy. Sometimes you are required to look for it!

It feels great to bring back our Holiday Soiree! Honestly the entire past year has been nothing but a blur, and I don't even remember what we did last holiday. Do you feel that way too?

Our holiday gathering always falls on the first Friday and Saturday in December. Over the years that date has stuck, and it feels close to the holidays, but yet not too close or far away. 

Never in the history of Bittersweet have I ever released early holiday soaps! What's that saying? There's a first time for everything. 

Introducing, JOY!

It's softly scented with lavender and chamomile which creates a spectacular holiday scent!

We'll follow up this soap with a few other specially wrapped holiday delights that we know you're going to love. If you're wanting to get a jump on holiday shopping, which by the way I'm encouraging you to do that with any Bittersweet item including our soaps. 

I'm also constructing our unique crates of soap and lip balm. I'll be sticking the early holiday soap inside. I never grow tired of the Soap and Lip Balm Crates! The small box really is ideal for giving as a teacher gift or hostess surprise.

 This season I'm also putting together some other nifty offerings that for certain will bring some Joy into a loved one or friends life. 

 

Keep Smiling.

Jill xo 

now that's more like it!

 

 

I can't tell you how happy it makes me that November is here! It always feels like once Halloween arrives the next day is Christmas! Well, maybe not quite but I believe you can relate. Each new season brings with her a variety of nouveau Bittersweets. The holidays shine bright here at Bittersweet. Not only do we enjoy sharing our artisan crafted soaps and essentials we also love sharing our packaging and style ideas. The holiday season is a short one compared to most so we try and make its arrival a bit early. Our winter inventory was chosen back during the summer months and the holiday soaps began their runway walk back in July! It always feels as though the holidays are here so quickly. I know that you can relate to that too. 

In comparison to past gift giving seasons I'm finding that some, not all, of the supply chains are being interrupted from their normal inventory to not being able to re-order many items because shipping is taking a crazy amount of time than usual. Keeping that in mind, I have ordered some of our favorite things, but will not be re-ordering once they're gone. So with that in mind, I'm encouraging customers to shop early especially if you have your eye on something now. 

The handmade wool hats are on that shop early list as are the sari scarves. I'm hoping to keep up with the demand of holiday soaps and items that Bittersweet makes, but it does get crazy and things fly out the door almost instantly this time of year. 

I stopped by my local hobby store last week and picked up a couple of birch twig trees. We placed them in the shop window and I love the warm glow that they share in the shop. I made it a point to drive by at night just so I could see them shine. I even had my dad and M.J. drive by at night so they could witness their simple beauty. 

Once again there are many home projects I'm tending to. Painting and getting ready to assemble a new wood bed frame. New lighting is sitting in my living room. I'll be calling the electrician in a few days, hopefully. I can't wait to put the room together! 

I'm also chopping at the bits to box up all of the fall pumpkins and replace them with holiday trimmings. Heck, I might even put my Christmas tree up in a couple of weeks! Why not! 

You may remember when I chatted about writing a book. Well, I'm happy to say that I've finally started! The book is not at all what I had planned to write about, but I feel spirit driven to write about something that I recently experienced. I feel that the words and the book will help others. Even if only one person gets something from it, I'm in! I'm not going to get into the subject of the book right now, I'm going to make you wait until it gets published!

Here's to November! Three cheers to you!

Keep smiling and most of all, keep the faith. 

Jill xo