Bittersweet and the little soap company

summer is blooming!

I'm beyond excited! Everyone is loving the new collections, and I'll just say that you're keeping me busy replenishing inventory. Thank you, and I'm thrilled that you love it!

My gardens haven't peaked yet, but they're getting close. The Bittersweet garden habitat contains flowers that aren't just pretty, they also have stories. For instance, my grandmother Lola grew sweet peas alongside her garden shed and I remember as a small child she'd grab her scissors and her granddaughter to cut fresh bouquets. It's funny how you remember certain things and how those memories stay glued to you for the rest of your life. I know that you have memories like that too. It's always been a thing around here to not just have flowers and soaps, and apothecary, but that each blossom, wrapping, or formulation is wrapped in memories. As I design and formulate new essentials this is always front and center on my mind. Whether that be Grandma Lucy's Zero Waste collection or an Alice bracelet each item is soulfully curated and planned. Sometimes you're familiar with the stories behind Bittersweet and sometimes you're not. The story really helps to enhance the product no matter what that may be. As a maker, it builds confidence and pride. Not in an arrogant way, but in a thankful and proud way. 

You know what they say, It's all in a name. At least I've heard it said. Not so much anymore, but you used to hear this phrase all of the time. Did you know that Bittersweet names each and every product that we make? I'm often asked how we come up with the names. This is how I do it. I love old words! Flower words are my favorite, and that is why most summer soap names reflect that idea.  My mom used to wear a perfume called Bluegrass. I never remember anyone else ever wearing this scent so I always felt like it was her signature scent. The soap does have a hint of amber, so you have it, Amber Bluegrass! Winter is also a fun time to create names for soaps and apothecary. Sometimes the name simply reflects what's in the soap. Lemongrass + Grapefruit. The mere combination of these two essentials captures my attention, and it's also one of your favorites. 

You may also not know that oftentimes a customer will suggest or request a new product. It used to be I'd take their idea and sit it on the back shelf, but I have learned that just like the saying, the customer is always right holds true in more ways than one! The Lavender Stick is a perfect example of this theory. 

I've mentioned many times how I love glass bottles with corks. We received a large shipment of an assortment of corked bottles last week. The shapes and sizes are intriguing and aesthetically nice to the eye. We will be filling the bottles with bath salt. 

Our store is blooming! 

If you haven't been in for a while, you're going to love our latest offerings and styles. 

Happy Summer!

Jill 

 

a great example

There are many things this man has graciously taught me through the years which in turn have guided me to make good decisions. I can't imagine my life without my dad, this dad! His wisdom comes from experience and his goodness shines through his smile. His spirit shines with God's love and grace.  I'm forever grateful to God for choosing such an amazing dad! It's interesting how now that I'm at an age that I'd once considered to be old when I was young,  I feel closer in age to my dad. When you're young your parents seem much older, but as you age, you learn to realize that they're closer to their children's age than you imagined when you're young. It's somewhat of a miracle if you ask me how God designed this life system. I read something that touched me the other day. It said, "aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been."  I find this to be true. 

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

xo Jill 

 

 

summer for sure!

The Ruby Slipper Hydrangea starts out snow-white but transforms into a scarlet once the days cool. The blooms smell like honey! I love this new bush! We planted them last fall.  Lavender sprigs popped out on the sides. Love that too! Little things...

I mentioned how summer is one of our busiest seasons at Bittersweet in my last post and this week has proven to prove that. Firstly, the re-style of our brick and mortar took center stage this past week, and I'm happy to say that the final look-over makes me smile. It's a process to change the design of a shop. We take advantage of the clear space by doing a thorough cleaning and then we slowly start bringing in the pieces we want to style with. Some pieces we keep, and others we don't. We love changing our look and vibe and do it often. 

Our new line "Back to Basics" has started to hit the store shelves! When I think of summer, I can't help but ponder the scents of lemon and lavender, and cool aromatic refresher sprays that well, refresh. Then there is the magnificent Bulgarian Rose! Typically, I'm not a rose fan. However, one of the reasons that I'm not is simply because the rose fragrance that is available is almost always synthetic. A chemist designs a scent that he, or she, believes resembles a rose. Most of the time the knock-off is either over the top or far between, but the real, $2800 per pound rose, well that's different! Now you know why most soap companies don't formulate real rose in their products. Except for Bittersweet! We are offering a Bulgarian Rose Refresher! Every time I walk by the tester I spritz it all over my body. I love the scent! This summer line is being curated, and we have a lot to add to the limited edition, but it's on the way. It seemed like yesterday that every time I'd blend a bath salt and get it out on the counter someone would grab it. I'm also fond of Lavender and Pink Grapefruit. The two essential oils work magic when they're blended! I consider it a go-to scent for summer. It would be lovely in a dry oil. What's a dry oil? The most amazing moisturizer that has ever been created! Bittersweet offers a scent bar at our shop. The sky really is the limit on the fragrances that we offer. Summer is a wonderful time to build a custom scent!

A floppy cotton hat for morning market trips and summer beach jaunts. Who doesn't love a cool cotton hat?

We're going to have almost triple-digit temps next week! It's way too early for that! I'm going to be spritzing those refreshers!

Stay strong and keep the faith. 

Jill 

 

Pulling it together

I feel like it's been a blur of a weekend! Friday as we were starting the porch sale our entire checkout system crashed! It took me a while to get it resolved. We finally got one machine working but our main register was out and we couldn't get any cash out of our drawer. Finally, after a couple of hours, I closed the shop and Debbie watched over the sale and I managed to fix the problem on my pc at home. Never in the world of Bittersweet has anything like this ever happened. As I was driving home it hit me how trivial it was, however, I'd also fixed the issue, so my mood had a lot to do with fixing it. Let me please announce how phenomenal our guests were on Friday during our crash! You guys were above amazing! Thank you for being you! Shit happens! I'm learning as I get older how everything that comes my way especially when it's something bad shouldn't influence my character or mood. It's not easy, and undoubtedly bad things will continue to happen, so I might as well make plans to mold my emotions around those unfortunate events in a way that doesn't ruin my day or make me wish that I'd done things differently. I don't like regrets. If not for your healthy and positive dispositions, I might not look at Friday's mishap with such a positive outlook. Thanks again!   Without a doubt, my customers are the salt of the earth! I am and will forever be thankful for each one of you that has ever walked through those Bittersweet doors!

The busy summer season is almost here! A lot of times retail shops see a decline in business during the summer months we are at our busiest. In July we start our holiday soap manufacturing, and in between, we're working on new collections and styling our store. I'm getting ready to dig heavy into styling our shop. We're expanding our Scent Your Own, and launching a few new lines as well. I feel like our store gets stale if we don't make upgrades and nicks and tucks every now and then. We don't have a huge space but it takes a considerable amount of work to maintain, clean, and style it in a way that stands out and emphasizes our uniqueness. 

At the shop, I gravitate towards neutral styling and prefer the look over any other. A few black pieces for grounding. Black is used in decorating as a grounding color. You should always have at least one black piece in a room. At least this is what I was taught years ago.  Nowadays you see a lot of black in decorating. I'm a fan of black and white too. If you're not sure what colors you'd like to have in your home simply open your closet door and see which color you have more of. This is the color you should have in your home. This method is a never-fail method and it's easy to choose wall colors and furniture colors by using this closet method. I have tons of white. In fact, I have a small bedroom transformed into a closet in our 1921 home, and most of the garments if not all are white. Yes, my closet is also filled with white, and I have quite a bit of black. 

Years ago we styled our store with jars filled with dried botanicals and I've never really grown tired of the old-fashioned way of styling. We're going to bring back some of that and incorporate the idea into our store once again simply because we've always loved it. 

Our apothecary cabinets are filled with curing soaps. Years ago I purchased old glass door apothecary cabinets to use for curing racks. Since Bittersweet has to cure for four to six weeks you need a designated spot to store all of those soap bars. The cabinets have always worked perfectly. One of the cabinets was in an old hotel. At least that's what the guy told me when I purchased it all those years ago. Our old wooden rack that houses wrapped bars at the shop came from a boarding house. It was used for mail. Back in the day, there were boarding houses in every town and city. Usually, a huge old house welcomed a stranger to stay for as long as they needed. You'd have a bedroom and when it was time for dinner you'd head to the kitchen to dining with other guests that were currently staying in the home. You would share a bathroom, and your mail was left in something that looks like the piece that sits in our shop. I remember my great aunt Enid talking about how she had borders in her home to make extra money. She was a single woman and lived in a beautiful old home with a huge wrap-around porch very close to Volker Park in Kansas City. 

A guest commented about our Jack in the Beanstalk Fiddle Leaf the other day. I think it's time for their annual trim as they are touching the ceiling at the shop. After we get a handle on all of our projects and styling we'll propagate a few for the taking.  It takes around four to six weeks before they start to root. We like for the starters to have good strong roots before we share them. That way all you have to do is to stick it in dirt and watch it grow. 

Blessings.

Jill