Labels - one of my many tasks!

Running a small business means you have to basically do everything from designing and producing product to answering the phone and emails, taking orders, shipping, packaging, sales, marketing, and one of my favorites, label design!

I usually start with my logo and a rough color pallet. For the most part I like to keep it simple and let the products shine through, especially when I am doing a clear packaging so you can see the product without too much distraction. An exception are my bar soap labels which are a little fancier since I mostly use recycled paper boxes that hide the soap.

Here is the new square label for the Cardamom Vanilla Marshmallow Cream Soap! (And the old for comparison.) I added some more color to it as you can see - I am on a teal thing lately! All of the information is much larger and clearer. These didn't take too long since I had the old label to work from but my new lip balm labels for instance took 2+ hours to design! Usually the first label in a series of products takes the longest, then it is just a matter of changing color and tweaking text.

new

 

old

The ingredients and my company info will go on a smaller label on the backside. Soap labeling must have the company name, the word "soap", and the weight on the front. The company address can go on the back and I always include my ingredient list.

You may have purchased soap that did not have ingredients and this is perfectly legal but I like to include it so my customers know exactly what the are purchasing. The rule is only for soap -  I won't get into the details, but as soon as you say that your soap is good for anything other than cleaning, like that it is moisturizing for instance,  it is then considered a cosmetic and must be labeled differently. A lot of my soap falls under this category. The FDA defines soap as:

• the bulk of the nonvolatile matter in the product consists of an alkali salt of fatty acids and the product's detergent properties are due to the alkali-fatty acid compounds, and
• the product is labeled, sold, and represented solely as soap

Next is the Chocolate Marshmallow Cream Soap labels and then I can take pictures and get these listed! Look for them June 13th at naiadsoaparts.com!

The 2 hour lip balm label! I'm slow! :)

Infused Liquors Part One: Recipes & Method

 Grapefruit Lavender Gin,

Blueberry Lemon & Rosemary Vodka and Chai Whisky

A couple of years a go my friend Nikole gave me a jar of vanilla beans with instructions on how to make your own vanilla extract. I was thinking about her and remembered the gift which was the inspiration for these infused liquor recipes! I am thinking I will give them as gifts to my friends who drink alcohol and are looking for something adventurous to try!

In Part One I will show you how to make the infusions and in the second part I will show you some packaging ideas and recipes!

Materials:
32 oz widemouth Glass containers with lids
Small Food Processor
Mortar & Pestle
Herbs, dried fruit, spices and citrus peels

Method:
Prepare ingredients by dry toasting and grinding herbs with Mortar & Pestle, chop or food process dried fruit and bruise fresh herbs and citrus peels. Add the ingredients to your glass jar and fill with liquor. Tightly seal and label. Store in a warm dark place and shake twice a day for 24 hours to one week depending on the strength of the herbs. Strain liquor with a coffee filter and fill glass storage containers.

Grapefruit Lavender Gin
Ingredients:
Peel of one Grapefruit
1/4 cup of Organic Dried Lavender
30 fl. oz. of Gin

1) Peel the Grapefruit rind being careful to avoid the white bitter parts and add to your jar along with the Lavender Buds. 2) Add the Gin. Let sit in a warm dark place for 1 week. Shake the jar twice per day.

Blueberry, Lemon and Rosemary Vodka
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Dried Wild Blueberries (Trader Joes)
Peel of one Lemon
sprig of fresh Rosemary bruised or 1 Tablespoon dried and chopped
30 fl. oz. of Vodka

1) Peel the Lemon rind being careful to avoid the white bitter parts and add to the jar. 2) In a food processor pulse the blueberries and a few ounces of the vodka until the blueberries start to break down. You do not want to form a paste, just break them up a bit. 3) Add the Blueberries and vodka to the jar along with the rosemary and remaining vodka. Let sit in a warm dark place for 1 week. Shake the jar twice per day.

Chai Whisky (or Bourbon)
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Cardamom Pods
1 Tablespoon White Peppercorns
2 Cinnamon Sticks broken up into about 1 inch pieces
1 Tablespoon fresh Ginger chopped (dried pieces are ok or 1 Teaspoon ground)
1/2 Teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/4 Teaspoon ground Cloves
2 Vanilla Beans washed and broken into 1 inch pieces
30 fl oz Whisky or Bourbon

1) Toast the Cardamom, Peppercorns and Cinnamon until the spices start to pop. BE CAREFUL - the Peppercorns with go up like popcorn if they get too hot! 2) Transfer to a Mortar and Pestle and grind to a coarse consistency just to release the oils. You will have a lot of large pieces of Cinnamon. 3) Chop the Ginger if necessary and add all of the ingredients to your jar and fill with Whisky or Bourbon. Let sit in a warm dark place for 24-48 hours. Shake the jar twice per day.

Stay tuned in a week or so for packaging tips!

For Organic Herbs and Spices:
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/

FINALLY! Geeeze! Presenting Sugar Whipped Soaps (again)

New Sugar Whipped soaps have arrived! (Just in time to still have them up March 15th, at least PST, so I don't look like such a slacker!
Just $11.00 for a 10oz tub! Look for them in the Body Scrub section of my Shop!

Six Yummy Scents, Bubbly Lather, Saturated with fine Sugar for a gentle scrub! Run Down:

~ Key Lime Pie ~ Buttery sweet graham cracker crust filled with sweet, citrusy Key Lime custard and sugared meringue!

 ~ Cardamom Vanilla ~  Warm buttery vanilla custard and fresh ground spicy green cardamom! 

~ Lemon Poppy Cake ~ Mouth watering Lemon butter cake drizzled with buttercreme icing!

~ Orange Sherbet ~ Cold and tangy orange sherbet filled with vanilla bean ice cream - just like an orange creamsicle! You will want to lick it! (but don't!)

~ Very Berry ~ Luscious, tart Acai Berry, Raspberry and Black Currant mingle into a perfect juicy sweet scent!

~ Brown Sugar Pumpkin Crunch ~ Sweet baked Pumpkin with golden crisp brown sugar and butter crumb topping!