Get Your FREE GoPlanetEarth Logo Luggage Tag

Besides being known for our FREE Fragrance oils samples that we include in orders starting at $30 or more, we occasionally include other FREE items. This happens to be a "just for fun" freebie that is ideal for anyone who travels. If you are traveling to one of the many soaping conferences held throughout the US, this sassy luggage identification tag will make it easy to spot your bag on any airline luggage carousel.

Front side of tag displays our GoPlanetEarth logo and the flip side reads "OMG! Stop grabbing me! Order $60 or more in product starting October 1 and receive one for FREE. Limited quantities, so order early to ensure one is included with your order.

Beyond Soap Making: Happy Birthday to Me!

It's been a whirlwind day. Between responding to the many wonderful birthday texts, FB posts, emails and deliveries.... I am ending my birthday with a big AHHH! It's so nice to be remembered. Pictured in this post is the cake and beautiful bouquet from my morning workers (Kristy, Chelsea, and Missy.... thank you!!!!!!!!)

My grandkids sent another lovely floral arrangement and many cards came by mail. It's been a crazy, busy day filled with so many grand surprises.

Melt & Pour Soap Making: BFF Weekend Soap Gifts

My daugther has linked up with her BFF college friends for the last 12 years. There are 10 BFF girls. They meet every year at some way cool lodge, house or resort for an extended weekend. My job is to come up with gifts for my daughter to present to each of her BFF gals.

After spending a weekend in Chicago and seeing all the Fall & Autumn displays, I found the perfect gift. An Autumn soap using our new Water Dissolving Paper.

I presented the idea to my daughter (we have some cool Winter ideas in the works as well) and she loved it. These soap leaves were printed on our GPE Water Dissolving Soap Paper. The template is sold on our web site. We used a color laser printer. You will want to be sure that the laser printer is cool before printing. If you want to print mulitple sheets, wait at least 10 minutes before inserting and printing the next sheet. You can also use an ink-jet printer, but you risk issues of colors bleeding. To help prevent this color bleed, you may need to spray with a fixative. Hairspray works well, but you will need to let the printed/sprayed paper sit for a few days. The laser printer does not require this step.

Cut around the edges of the printed leafs.

Melt clear soap base in the microwave. You will only need to melt enough soap base to dip each leaf. DO NOT OVERHEAT. Dip the leaves in clear melt & pour soap base keeping the temp to around 125 to 130 degrees. You can scent the soap base if you wish. For my daughter's event, I used Apple Autumn fragrance since my daughter will be purchasing an apple or apple cinnamon candle to compliment the soap leaves.

It took 3 of us to test these soap leaves. We took turns washing our hands until the soap dissolved. Our guess... you can use each leaf for about 3 hand washings before it totally dissappears. My staff had fun with this design and I must say, at the end of the day we all had very clean hands.

My daughter will be packaging these soap leaves in one of our glassine envelopes and creating a hand-made greeting card (with some kind of clever message) to present to her alumni friends. Once I've helped her create the packaging, I will post on my blog for inspiration.

Suiting up for the Season: We want to offer you the best!

It's that time of year in Michigan.... Autumn. I'm having fun decorating my yard for the season. I know many of you are gearing up craft shows, retails sales, or holiday gift-giving. Times are tough and each of us are trying to put our best foot forward and be sure that the money we have invested in supplies reaps some kind of benefit. That could be in $$$ or in a simple thank you from someone that receives your handmade gift.

This armoured knight is displayed outside my front door. It reminds me that I need to guard against complacency and treat my customers as if they deserve wine and flowers for every order they place. After all, my customers ARE MY BUSINESS!

And the yellow clogs outside my front door? A reminder that I'm wearing the same shoes as my competitors so I need to always find ways to make my company different. I don't want to be the brown shoes... I want our company to be the yellow shoes and stand out in the crowd.

My First Bee Sting!!

Believe it or not, considering my age, it's incredible that I have never been stung by a bee. Today was my day of reckoning with the bee. I stopped by a locally owned farm to pick up mums and some vegetables. In the midst of my purchase, a bee stung me on my finger. OUCH!!!

Oddly enough, my Mom had recently sent information on what to do if a bee stings you. I remember seeing this on the Net a while back, but gave it no credence. However, seeing my finger immediately swell, I decided to give it a try.

Supposedly, you are to tape a copper penny over the bite for 15 minutes. I did this using a band-aid to keep the penny in place. A number of individuals swear that the next day, you will find no signs of the bite. I can't confirm at this time. Howevver, I will say that after taping the penny to my finger, I find that the swelling has diminished. We'll see what happens in the morning.


EDIT TO THIS POST: Yes, it works! Can't tell you why or how, but the penny did draw out the bee serum and the swelling is completly gone. Incredible! I would never have been a believer.

Celebrating Grandparent's Day

It was a beautiful Fall day here in Michigan. Ideal temperature, sunny and an afternoon with grand kids, daughter and Mom. What better way to spend Grandparent's Day. Four generations of family! Our day included shopping and a stop at Michael's to pick out crafts projects for the kids and Fall floral items for myself. I'm doing a couple of floral arrangements for gift-giving and was like a kid in the candy store picking out containers and floral items. My mind was whirling with ideas of what I could do with this and that... and of course, 50% off floral items put me in a spending frenzie!

When we returned home, these were the lovely paintings that my two oldest grand kids presented to me in honor of Grandparent's Day. Miss O's painting is above and Carson's painting is pictured below. It was a wonderful day! Now... back to work for me. I'm trying to get a jump-start on Monday while working from home.

I just posted our two newest products, so be sure to take a peek.

Water Dissolving Paper and All-in-One Round Soap Molds.

I'll have pics and a brief tutorial on how to use the dissolving paper posted soon. How fun would it be to use artwork of kids (or grandkids) on the face of a soap? I just might have to give that a try with this new paper!

Costumes: Good Anytime of the Year

My grand kids are in love with costumes. They play dress up year round. However, this weekend was special. The Halloween costumes that I ordered online arrived yesterday. I always order them early to ensure they don't sell out and are available in their sizes (yes, I know that's anal, but that's how I am!)

They have been playing in these costumes all day, and if I had to guess... they'll be sleeping in them as well. Oh to be a kid again!

Miss O is Cinderella and was all about the tiara and wand. Oh... and let's not forget the blue neck choker. My little Fish wants to be a cowboy so the whole Woody attire was perfect. He loves the cowboy hat and the (goofy, but cute) spongy type boots that accessorize his ensemble.

And then there is Carson. As the 2nd grade big brother, he was all about something scary. His mommy and daddy are very careful about the kind of "scary" costumes he can wear. This one worked just dandy and didn't scare little brother or sister. So, that's how I spent my Friday night and Saturday morning. There was one exception. I treated myself and daughter to a pedi and mani this AM while the costume clad grand kids chased Poppy around the house. He was a real trooper.

Hope you are enjoying the weekend.

A Special Note of Thanks

A while back I posted about Kids Saving the Rainforest which is a wonderful organization that I firmly believe is worthy of attention. Well, as promised in my post, GPE did ship the free soap supplies plus some. Here is the email I received over the weekend:


Dear Denise!
Thanks so much for sending the soap making materials! We just got them when we got to Miami! They are absolutely wonderful! It felt like Christmas morning opening them. We are all so grateful and excited, we can't wait to get back to Costa Rica to start making them.

We will keep you posted as to how it goes and we can't wait to order more from you and pay for them!!! We are very grateful to you!

Thanks so much,
Jennifer and KSTR

To Jennifer, I say this. Your gratefulness is noted and it is refreshing to have someone take time to express it by sending a note of thanks. I hope Jennifer keeps all of us posted about the soap making endeavors of Kids Saving The Rainforest.

Emails like this (and many other wonderful emails we recieve from customers) is what motivates our company to offer the best possible service.

Save Over $111 on a FULL SET of Monogram Soap Molds

Unheard of savings. 55% OFF full monogram script mold sets. That's over $111 off!!!! There's only a limited number of sets available at this price. First quality, no seconds, no flaws. Snatch up a set ASAP. Monogram soaps make great gifts for the upcoming Christmas season. These are top notch plastic molds good for both MP and CP soapmaking.

Each sheet contains two cavities of the same letter and measure 3 7/8" x 2 5/8" x 1" deep (4 ounces per bar). Letters are deeply scripted and suitable for soap paints or dusting with mica powder. Any of our liquid gel soap colorants can also be used as soap paints. Finished soaps fit box size BO-7.

Happy Labor Day Soaping Friends!!

Whether you're taking a break from soaping, or finally have a day to do those fun soaping projects, I hope you ENJOY THE DAY!

I'm sitting in my home office writing this post and there is a distinct smell of Fall in the air. My husband is out back burning tree branches and the smokey smell reminds me of burning leaves evoking many childhood memories. Especially memories of my Dad. It's nearly two years since his passing and September is a month that stirs up memories. I'm not sure why Fall evokes such vivid mental pictures from my past. Maybe, it's the sound of high school football, the kids returning to school, hearing the marching band practice from the nearby campus, the turning of the leaves, the crisp smell of an Autumn morning, the excitement of carving pumpkins, cutting corn stalks, or raking leaves..... it's a mystery.

Fall will always be one of my favorite seasons and Autumn in Michigan is what helps me bear the miserable, cold Winters. Labor Day marks the last hurrah of Summer for us Michiganders. My husband spent the weekend working on an outdoor fire pit. I can't wait to use it and neither can our grand kids. They are fired up (no pun intended) about camping out in the backyard, roasting marshmallows and telling camp stories. We should get plenty of use out of the fire pit through this Autumn season.


Normal business hours will resume tomorrow. If you've placed an order over the weekend, bear in mind that we are going to be slightly behind due to the extended holiday weekend.

Using Mold Market's Tray Soap Mold

I happened up on Little Sparrow Soap Company Esty shop this morning. Once again, I see another unique way that someone is using Mold Market's 8-bar Rectangle soap mold (Items #79) to produce some awesome soaps. This retro soap design was created by Libby. Great job!

My Friday Fix: Dragon Dictation App for iPhone

The folks at Dragon have developed their own iPhone app that lets you dictate to your iPhone—and it works really well.

The app is a breeze to use. Just fire it up and press the Record button to start dictating. When you're finished, Dragon will put together its best estimation of what you said (I was surprised at its accuracy). If it's not quite right, you can edit the text with a keyboard or tap on individual words for alternate suggestions. When the text is just how you want it, Dragon can copy the text to your clipboard and optionally launch a new email or text message. If you're not a fan of the iPhone's soft keyboard, Dragon Dictation might be right up your alley.

Dragon Dictation is currently a free download, requires iPhone 3.1 OS or later.

For the record, one of my workers brought their niece to work today (she's going into 5th grade). She was the one that found and loaded this app on my iPhone. She's a whiz (aren't all kids these days) with iPhone and iTouch apps. She made my day. No more trying to get my fingers on all the right keys when texting. This app will save me SO MUCH TIME!!!

Sidebar: My husband wanted to know what this app would do with "naughty" swear words, so we had to try it out. I'm sorry, but our curiousity got the best of us. It puts a "*" to bleep out parts of the word. Pretty cool.

Hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend. We are closed Friday - Monday to enjoy the Labor Day weekend. It's last last hurrah here in Michigan before the Fall season. It already feels and smells like Fall.

Finally, the tutorial on how to use Mold Market's new 3-D soap molds. This tutorial shows you how to use the Popsicle and Oval Leaf molds. I'm in love with the Oval Leaf mold. It produces a classic soap that has a hand-milled look. PLUS... you can insert a soap rope in the pouring channel to make "soap on the rope".

Once the molds are prepped, they are good for many soap pours. All you need to do is align them, secure the two halves and pour. Each sheet mold produces one 3-D soap. You can purchase the molds at GoPlanetEarth.com. You'll find the Oval Leaf listed here and the Popsicle here. We're offering a limited 15% off introductory special on them right now; so, this would be a good time to make your purchase.
One tip when using these molds: Keep your pouring temp to around 135 to 139 degrees (Fahrenheit). A lower pouring temp will keep the soap from seeping out between the joined halves. I had no noticeable issues with soap seepage when pouring at a lower temp.

A new fragrance oil is coming arriving on Wednesday: BLUE TWILIGHT. Think cool, crisp, with a hint of mist that ever so lightly arouses the senses. A uni-sex scent perfect for soaps, lotions and shower gels. Oh, and did I mention you can use it in candles, too? You're gonna love this one! It has a big thumbs up from me on the soaping end.

An Evolution of Self: Live Your Dreams

This weekend I had “An Evolution of Self” moment. It’s one of those “ah-ha” moments when you step back and

1) Assess how you got to where you are today

2) Decide if you are happy with where you are

3) Make choices about future paths

Ever have one of those moments? It can be both enlightening and frightening, especially if you’re taking stock of how you have evolved in your business path or career field. I actually made a list of how I got to where I am today and realized what an amazing journey it has been. There have been highs and there have been some really, really bad lows. But, through it all, it’s been a ride that has taught me that anything is possible if you set your heart to follow your dreams.

Many years ago, I was a single mom wanting to earn an income for my family. Like many other single moms, I worked full time but tried to supplement my earning with additional work. I had always been the crafty type and decided that I would start a mail-order catalog business. Keep in mind this was way before computers, the Internet, and all the other electronic devices we have today. This was back in those “ancient” days when you advertised your catalogs in the back pages of Women’s Day or Good House Keeping magazines. I can remember cutting and pasting pictures and text from a typewriter (yep, a typewriter!) and then assembling each catalog by hand.

My catalog sold doll making supplies since it was during the rage of the Cabbage Patch dolls. Everyone wanted to make doll clothes or purchase supplies to make soft-sculptured dolls. I designed my own patterns for sculpting fabric dolls. My version was called the “Magic Magpins”. I made hundreds of these dolls and sold them at craft shows and through my catalog. I even wrote a story about the dolls and their magical powers and included the story with each doll sale. It was soooo much work. But, when I look back on it, it was fun! I loved what I was doing so it never seemed like work.

Let’s see…. from the mail order days, I went to gift baskets. From there it evolved into making my own bath products for the gift baskets. Then, there was a period where I made all-natural herbal products that included Lavender Dryer Bags which I sold to a “green” company; private label products... wedding favors… pre-made decorative loaf soaps… and the list goes on. While I was exploring all of these creative avenues, I continued to work full time at a major health care facility.

In the end, I finally left the health care field and ventured off into the soaping world. I’ve never looked back. It became a passion. Today, as the owner of GoPlanetEarth and a major soap mold manufacturing company, I am happy with my choices. In the early days, I never dreamed that the Internet could afford someone the opportunity to run a successful online company, nor did I dream that I would one day make my living in the soaping business. As for the future? One never knows. Success is about following your dreams, seeking out opportunities, and knowing that when one door closes another door will open.

I hope that you follow your dreams. Life is full of twists and turns. Trying to determine your path can be hard, but, if you follow your heart you may be surprised where you find yourself. The hard work and sacrifices you make can pay-off. If you are new to this soaping business and feeling frustrated and wondering if it’s worth the headaches, then think again. You won’t know until you try. If you need help or encouragement, just email. I’ll be happy to offer uplifting words to help you live your dreams!

Donating for a Cause: The Advocacy Fund - Protect your Soapmaking Business

For those of you who may not be familiar with the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild’s (HSMG): It is an established and functioning non-profit trade association whose mission is to promote the handcrafted soap industry; to act as a center of communication among soapmakers, and to circulate information beneficial to soapmakers.

In the past three years there have been many threatening legislative proposals. The three most recent pieces of federal legislation have been the FDA Globalization Act 2009 (HR 759), Safe Baby Act 2009 (S 925) and The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 (HR 5786 – still pending).

Legislative Advocacy Committee

The HSMG Board of Directors has decided that the time has come to strengthen thier policy positions and take an even more pro-active stance in advocating for the handcrafted soap industry, especially since a large portion of the industry makes soap that falls under cosmetic regulations.

To this end, a Legislative Advocacy Committee has been formed and the Board has approved the official Legislative Advocacy Statement, including a clear delineation of advocacy policy and positions. HSMG is now in an active search for a suitable professional advocate (lobbyist) to work on our behalf in Washington.

Advocacy Fund

As the HSMG is supported solely by membership dues, they have established an Advocacy Fund and are seeking donations from both members and non-members to defray the costs associated with hiring a professional advocate and related expenses. All monies donated to the Advocacy Fund will be used solely and only for advocacy related activities.

GoPlanetEarth hopes that HSMG members, non-members, companies and consumers interested in preserving the industry will show their support by making donations. All monies collected will specifically fund the hiring of a professional advocate and related expenses. Make a donation today!

GoPlanetEarth has donated to this fund and we hope you will too! No matter the amount, when the funds are all pooled, it adds up. Here is where you can send your donation:

Legislative Advocacy Fund

Customer Appreciation Days August 24-28

Customer Appreciation Days August 24 - 28
Look what we have for you!

• FREE 1/2 ounce fragrance oil with every $15 of product purchased. Limit of six per order.
  
  
• FREE GoPlanetEarth logo zipper cosmetic bag to first 5 customers to place an order of $100 or more in product. We will notify you by email if you are one of the lucky five and include the bag in your shipment (along with some other goodies!)
  
  
• 20% off UPS GROUND shipping and 10% off international postal priority shipments. We will take the discount off your shipping total once the order is received. For international customers, we will email your shipping cost for approval (with shipping discount) before processing the order.
  
  
• We're giving away two loaf soap miter boxes and straight soap cutters sets- $31 value per set. To qualify for the drawing place an order with us during the customer appreciation days. Drawing will be held on August 29 at 10 am ET. Winners will be notified by email and the prize will ship to the address the winner specifies.
  
  
• Everyday we will annouce a SURPRISE DISCOUNT on our FaceBook page. To receive the discount, simply visit our FB page, "like" it, and then place your order. The daily discount code will be given on our FB post. The discount will apply to the item total (does not apply to shipping/handling, but you will still receive the shipping discount mentioned above). You must key the discount code to receive the discount.
  
  
• FREE 6-pack soap color set to the first customer placing an order between 12 pm and 1 pm (Eastern Time) on each day of our Customer Appreciation event. We will notify the winner by email. All orders on our servers are date and time stamped to ensure fairness. Up to a $35 value!
  
  
• We're giving away 50 goodie bags throughout Customer Appreciation Days. Ten per day. Orders will be randomly selected based on order numbers being processed for that given day. Even if you place your order at midnight or 3 AM in the morning, you will have a chance at the goodie bags ; )
  
  
• 15 TOP-SELLING Mold Market molds will be given away during Customer Appreciation Days. Three molds per day. Drawing for molds is based on order numbers being processed for the given day. Winners will be notified by email that a FREE mold will be included in their order.

And if that isn't enough... every order will include a random discount coupon for use on a future order. Think of it as a scratch-off. One lucky person will get a 50% off discount for use with a future order at GoPlanetEarth. Could it be you?

As the owner, of GoPlanetEarth, I want to thank you for your business. I know you have choices in your suppliers and I hope you continue to choose us for your soaping needs.

3-D Leaf Soap Mold... Perfect for Soap on the Rope

Today I tested the new Mold Market 3-D Oval Leaf mold. It went very well. Cutting the two mold halves was easy to do with scissors. If you have a paper cutter on hand, that would work well too. The two halves don't even need to be evenly cut. What does need to be exact is the alignment of the two halves.


Once you've cut the two pieces from the sheet mold, align them and use binder clips to hold in place. I used medium size binder clips, but large clips would work equally well.

You will want the pouring temp of your melt and pour soap to be relatively cool when pouring 3-D molds. You don't want to have the soap seep outside the mold edges. I use my pinkie finger as the gauge. If I can comfortably dip my pinkie finger into the melted soap base, then it's generally safe to pour into the mold.

Once the soap sets up, remove the binder clips. Carefully release the soap from each mold half. The next step will be to remove the pouring channel. This is easily done with a sharp kitchen knife. You will also want to clean up the soap edges. A vegetable peeler or a sharp kitchen knife are your best tools. A little liquid glycerine around the edges of the soap (use your fingers), will give a nice finished eged to the joined pieces.

A Noteworthy Organization: Kids Saving the Rainforest

Yesterday our company received an order from a customer who was purchasing supplies to make soap for a worthy cause. She is going to be making and selling soap to help save the Rainforest in Costa Rica. All of the profits for this soap making adventure will be donated to Kids Saving The Rainforest organization.

What Jennifer doesn't know (but will very shortly) is that GoPlanetEarth will be donating all of the supplies ordered plus the cost of shipping to help with her soaping project. I think what really bent my heart to this organization was my grandson, Carson. He just completed first-grade and one of the project topics in his classroom was Rainforests. He was very intrigued about them and also was very concerned that they were in jeopardy. I am going to make sure that Carson knows his NeeNee made a donation to help save the rainforest in Costa Rica.

If any of you are looking for a way to get your kids involved in a worthy organization, I encourage you to visit KidsSavingTheRainforest.org. This organization offers so many ways to get kids involved so they can make a difference in helping to preserve our environment for generations to come.

Melt & Pour Soap Making Ooops: The Lady Bug & Pinwheel Soap Molds

Pictured above is one of the newest molds that GoPlanetEarth is stocking from the Mold Market line. I absolutely love this little ladybug. Simple and clean lines and, with a little practice, very easy to pour in multiple colors.

If you have been following my blog and Facebook posts this summer, you know that I've been having our college girl, Sophie, pour up some of our soap samples. I continue to do our tutorials and the more complicated soaps. However, there is a two fold reason for having a novice employee pour soaps.

1) It gives me a good idea of what issues my customers face when they are new to melt and pour soap making. Soap making is new to Sophie. So, whatever problems she is having, the chances are fairly good you will too.

2) It is good practice for Sophie. Everytime she messes up, she learns something. I am a firm believer that the best way to get good at anything is to practice. If you screw-up, then try again. Here are some of the issues that Sophie faced when pouring soap in our new Ladybug and Pinwheel molds.

Note that Sophie did not pour the dots on the back side or the eyes of the lady bug in an opposing color. This would have definitely made a difference in the final appearance of the soap. It looks like Sophie tried to pour one eye in black (the iris part) but it didn't work well. I would like to have seen the dots on the body poured in black and the eyes in white with a drop of black for the iris (or the opposite). I did like how Sophie poured the body of the lady bug in layers of black and red.

Now... this pinwheel pop soap had some issues going on. Quite honestly this is an easy mold to pour in dual color. Whenever you see a separation of colors like this, it's clearly an indication that you waited too long to pour that second color AND may not have used a liberal amount of rubbing alcohol between color layers. Using rubbing alcohol between layers really does make a difference. It helps that next color layer to adhere to your first. The picture below is a better indication of what you would hope to accomplish when using this soap mold.

If at first you don't get it right, try again. Ask questions, network with others in the biz or others just doing soaping for fun. And, as always, feel free to email us for help with any of our molds and products. We'll do our darndest to help yah!