Happenings, Happenings

So... just because I've been quiet doesn't mean I haven't been busy.

I've been knitting my little heart out and adding some things to Fabric of my Mind, like these new washcloths.

This one is a basic washcloth (or dishcloth, if you prefer).

And this one's a cool basket weave with a seed stitch border.

I did both in an awesome gardenia yellow cotton bamboo yarn that is really soft and has a gorgeous sheen to it.  I understand that cotton bamboo is a great fiber in that it's got the strength of cotton and the absorbency of bamboo.  Not bad!  Of course, my very first washcloth, a duplicate of the basic one above, went to Eric for "quality control testing."  He uses it as a face cloth every day and loves it.  Of course, when he saw the basket weave, he wanted that one for "quality control" as well, but it made it into the shop.

I've also got 41" of Eric's cashmere scarf done.  Talk about soft!  It's insane how soft 100% cashmere is.  Insane.  I love knitting with it.

Meanwhile, I've been filling orders for Mother's Day gift baskets, of course, like this one.

The request was for "fresh" scents including soap and candle, so I stuffed in an Autumn Harvest candle, a couple Garden Party soaps, a Lemongrass & Sage soap, an Orange You Glad I'm Your Honey lip balm, and a When Life Hands you Lemons sugar scrub.

And then, since I can't seem to keep them in stock for more than a minute, I made another batch of Purity Makeup Brush Soap.

So there you have it!  Check back Sunday when I revisit a fellow artist for you.

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A Reminder for Valentine's Day

Our products make great gifts!

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This is How They're Saying "Thank You"

This holiday season, we've gotten a ton of gift basket orders, and it turns out that most of them are actually "thank you" gifts.  A guy who wanted to thank people who cared for him when he was laid up ordered - count 'em - five gift baskets as Christmas gifts.  He wanted one Men's Basket, and four for women.  He left it up to us, just asking that each was a bit different.  So we did a Mocha Basket:

It's got a Cafe Mocha sugar scrub, a Chocolate Decadence pillar candle, Honey Chocolate, Fudge Chunk, and Coffee soaps, and a Chocolate Chip Mint lip balm.

A Fruit Basket:

With a When Life Hands you Lemons sugar scrub, a Citrus Blast bath salt, a Garden Party soap, a Lemongrass & Sage soap, and an Autumn Harvest votive.

We did a Stop & Smell the Flowers Basket.

This one's got a Lavender bath salt, a Heaven Scent salt scrub, a Lilac Votive, a Smooth Operator shaving & bath soap, and a Lavender soap.

And a Skin Loving Basket:

We did this one with a Home for the Holidays pillar candle, a Totally Tasteless lip balm, an Almond Pastry facial scrub, and Oatmeal Honey & Purity Soaps, plus a Deadwood Spa Bar.

And then there was a woman who wants to thank her partner for their business' success left the basket up to our discretion, so we did a mixed bag of a basket, based on stuff she'd like:

This one's got a Heaven Scent salt scrub, a Chocolate Chip Mint lip balm, a Healing Tea soap, a Smooth Operator shaving & bath soap, an Almond Pastry facial scrub, and a Home for the Holidays votive.

Just some ideas of various baskets we can do... really, anything we make can be combined into a gift basket.  It's really fun, actually, to figure out good combinations of things!

No Halloween?

It seems like Halloween was everywhere, every blog on the Internet, every website, everywhere... but at Reef Botanicals.

Thing is, we didn't do a seasonal soap.  Nothing really fit.  But that doesn't mean we ignored Halloween!  Mind you, I'm a face painter!  So what was I up to this weekend?

Well, you can read about it fully here, but I will tell you that I face painted on Saturday before going to Forest of Fear with Eric at Sterling Forest, wherein we looked like this...

And yes, I did my own face, with the exception of the splatter, for which I needed Eric's assistance.

Believe it or not, with our Oatmeal Honey soap and Almond Pastry Facial Scrub, I got all of that mess off and was able to spend Halloween looking like this, with my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew.

Yup, I'm the clown.  More face paint, but no zombie!

Oh, and I also won two sets of these nifty Wilton Halloween sprinkles in test tubes, but not early enough to use them this year.  I did give one set to my sis.

Now that Halloween, my very favorite holiday of the year, is officially over, I can start looking forward to the "holiday season" otherwise known as shopping mania.  I personally have a lot of shopping to do this year, since I've got not only my normal gift list, but two nephews, on on each side of the family!  And the one in the photo above, my sister's son, will be turning one on December 22, right smack between Chanukah and Christmas.  That makes for a lot of gift buying!  And gift making, since I do plan to make some nifty things... and yes, I'll be blogging them, of course.

But I also have some suggestions for all of you for some easy holiday shopping.  I guess you know I'm talking about Reef Botanicals.  It's just that we've got some great gift ideas for you!

We can work with you to create a custom gift basket for anyone on your holiday shopping list, man or woman.  Our baskets are affordable, attractive, and chock full of great stuff that everyone loves, whether it's a Men's shaving gift basket or completely floral-themed.

If you want a smaller gift item, how about our new line of bath salts or the ever-loved sugar and salt scrubs?

Tell me a Home for the Holidays bath salt wouldn't be perfect for someone on your list!

For great stocking stuffers, there's our Almond Pastry facial scrub, lip balms, bath bombs, or someone's favorite scent of soap!

And we're still working on things, so there's more to come!  Keep checking here to get ideas!

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Relaunch, Baby!

We're back and better than ever - new web host, new shopping cart, new site design!

And we're so happy that we're celebrating with a sale:

15% off anything and everything

at

Reef Botanicals

through October 5

Now's the time to stock up on your favorites, try something new, or get a jump start on that holiday shopping!

Mother's Day Sale!

In honor of the moms, we're making gift buying easier for you.  How?  A sale, of course!  For one week from Friday, April 30, to Thursday, May 6...

First, all individual items at Reef Botanicals are buy 3 get one free!  Simply purchase any three items on the site, and then choose a 4th item of equal or lesser value to the other three, and that one's free!  To make things easy, you just purchase the three items as you normally would, and then in the "notes" during checkout with Paypal, let us know what you'd like as your free item.

Secondly, all gift baskets are 25% off!  You can have a ready-made gift for your mom, at a great discount.  Normally $40.00 each, they're now $30.00.  You can either email us first to discuss the variety of soaps, scrubs, bath bombs, lip balms, and candles you'd like included, and then purchase through the site, or you can purchase first and then we'll email you to work out the details.

The sample basket shown has two Lemongrass & Sage soaps, a When Life Hands You Lemons sugar scrub, a lemongrass & sage candle, an Awaken Fizzy Bath Bar, and an Orange You Glad I'm Your Honey lip balm - a $45.50 value, all piled into a pretty woven basket and then wrapped in cellophane and tied with raffia, for just $30.00.

Don't miss out on these great deals!

What a Weekend!

And what a week!  It was great, but I'm now awfully tired and sore.

Eric spent every evening this past week making candles for our craft show this past Saturday, and I helped on the evenings I wasn't rehearsing.  We got together a good stock of Lilac, Cedar, and Ocean Surf candles for the show.  No, these are not going up on the site at this point, but if you want information about them, feel free to contact us.

Our setup has much improved since our first vending experience.  You'll remember the tiny IHOP booth from December.  It looked like this:

Hey, we worked with what we had, right?  But we've moved up in the world.  Our booth at the Minerals Resort & Spa in Vernon, NJ looked like this:

And here are the closer views.  In this photo, from right to left one are our Ocean Surf, Cedar, Lilac, and Lemongrass & Sage candles, large and small baskets of loose soaps, and a sample gift basket.

On the left branch of the booth, we had soaps on a bamboo mat and more soaps and shampoos in the baskets.

And in the middle, we had more baskets of soap, the two-tiered shelf holding bath bombs and scrubs, and on the table were lip balms!  This time we had space for tester scrubs, so people could actually see, smell, and touch.  They really seemed to appreciate the opportunity and took full advantage.

All in all, it was a great show!  It was the first ever hosted by that resort, but they definitely plan to do it again.  I heard talk of another one in October, and one possibly in December, before the holidays I guess.  Plus, they want us back for their Bluegrass Festival on July 30!  Now that sounds like fun.  Music, partying, food, and vending.  We are so there!

One of the booths at the show was from a local small boutique in Vernon, and the owner seemed interested in discussing with us the possibility of carrying some of our products there too, which would be great.  Reef Botanicals has invaded Sussex County!  Ha!

That doesn't completely explain the exhaustion, though.

That night, I went to see a play with a friend, and then on Sunday I participated in the Manhattan MS Walk with a friend, my tenth year at the event.  Six miles through Manhattan and Brooklyn for a woman who doesn't exercise nearly enough is a tough haul, but it was really fun.  Always is.  I'm so glad one of our Deadwood Spa Bars is in the shower.  My aching muscles thanked me.

Last night, of course, more rehearsal.

All of that adds up to some serious tired.  But I'm still kickin', and off to rehearsal again in just a bit!  This is going to be a great show!

Weddings? Weddings!

A friend of mine who's also a fan of the Reef Botanicals Facebook fan page, has suggested a brilliant idea!  Weddings!

I should have thought of this - Eric and I just got married in March, after all.  Had we been making our soaps and things before the wedding, we'd have used soap as wedding favors!  Think of it - each guest (or couple, if you like) gets an all-natural handmade soap in a pretty organza bag, with a tag customized with your names and wedding date.  What a nice gift!  A useful gift!  So much better than Jordan almonds!  So much less likely to be left on the table at the end of the event.

Even bettter... bridesmaids gifts!  We do gift baskets, after all.  What better way to pamper a bridesmaid and show how much you love her than to get her a pretty basket full of all-natural handmade soaps, sugar scrub, and candles?

To some extent, we could work with wedding colors too, at least with packaging, candle colors, and things of that nature.

If anyone reading this is interested, knows someone who is interested, or knows someone who should be interested, head on over to our site or point them there and write to us using the contact form.  We'd be happy to work with you!

Another Location!

So not only do we have yet another great photo of our product, the Cafe Mocha sugar scrub...

Isn't that awesome?!


But it's now available in a second retail location!  My hair salon, Magic Cuts, at 308 Saint Nicholas Avenue in Haworth, NJ, is now selling a variety of our soaps and sugar scrubs.

Be sure to visit and shop!  In addition to our wares, they have an assortment of jewelry, styling supplies, and gift items.  Plus, the owner Billy is a wonderful stylist who actually listens to his customers.  On top of that, his stylist Doreen did a phenomenal job on my hair for my wedding!

Be sure to go check it out, and we'll  have some new products for you - in stores and online - soon!

Gone Pro

So if you've been reading this blog or have poked around the website, you've seen photos of our products.  They're not bad, if I do say so myself.  I took 'em, after all.  I'm using a Fujifilm Finepix Z that Eric got me for Chanukah last year, and I love it!

It's a point-n-shoot, but it's a good one.  Plus, it's that awesome shade of blue!  My favorite color.

I've tried to get the best lighting possible for our photos so you can see true colors and what the soaps and things really look like.  Of course, the optimal way to do this would be outdoors in the morning or early evening, when the light is soft... but we live in northern NJ, and it is cold out these days, especially at those times!  Sorry, I'm dedicated, but I'm not that dedicated, even for you.

Indoors, we've got incandescent lighting with funky light fixtures that throw off odd-colored glows.  Not the best lighting when you're looking for true colors.  So I've had to resort to flash photography.  That is why you've been seeing photos like this:

Remember that little blast from the past?  That's the coffee soap.  Eh.  The stuff may be terrific at absorbing scents, perfect for chefs, and help to reduce the appearance of cellulite (no, really!), but it doesn't look really pretty in that photo, I'll admit.  And it is a pretty soap, but since those of you who are online shoppers don't have the opportunity to see and handle it in person, how would you know that?  I'll show you how!

That's how.  We have invested in a lightbox and lights, you see.  Now you can see what things look like despite not being right there handling them.  That's not the only one.  Remember our Clean Cut shaving and bath soap with the nifty fir setting?

It's not really that pale.  It really looks more like this:

That When Life Hands You Lemons sugar scrub?  This is what that should really look like:

The site, therefore, will be changing soon.  You'll get a more accurate picture of things, and hopefully enjoy viewing them more.  And we'll be able to have more fun taking the photos!

By the way, the camera we're using?  My same Fujifilm Finepix Z!  Nope, not kidding.

So for those of you who have your own eCommerce websites, and who need to sell your products, I highly recommend investing in a lightbox setup.  You can see how how much it's worth.

Excitement!

Yesterday, we didn't develop any new soaps, shampoos, scrubs, or products at all.

Instead, we made new batches of Fudge Chunk soap and Honey Chocolate soap.  We needed to replenish our stock because those two have been so popular in sales, but also because we have placed some in an actual retail location!  You can now find and buy several of our all natural products (soap, shampoo, scrubs, gift baskets) at Bruce's Floral Design, 311 Hackensack Street, Carlstadt, NJ.

In addition to our "indulgences," Bruce, a really personable and nice man, carries hand painted glass and other gift items.  Of course, he's also a terrific florist, creating his own form of art with his medium of live and silk flowers.

Definitely stop in, say hi, and  have a look around!

Charlie Brown Never Knew This Kind of Peppermint Patty

These vegan-friendly Peppermint Pumice Patties, I mean.

They're a mini version of our new Peppermint Pumice Foot Rounds, and a great trial size, the same size as our hand soaps.

Made with a mix of oils, cocoa butter, peppermint essential oil, and ground pumice, these all-natural soaps will clean, enervate, massage, exfoliate, and moisturize the most overworked part of your body - your feet!  All day, we walk, we stand, we jog and run.  Even when we're sitting, we never take every ounce of weight off of our feet.  We wear shoes that pinch and push, and that don't breathe.  Now in the cold weather, our feet don't even get a break with the temperature - they're variable frozen and overheated, chilled and stifled.  It's about time to take care of them!

That's not all we've been doing, though.  We've replenished our stock of vegan-friendly Lemongrass & Sage soap, this time in a proper size to match our other bars.  Just like the originals, though, these are made with a mix of oils for a great lather, lemongrass essential oil for that terrific citrus scent, and real sage.

And this time, we had enough soap "batter" for some hand soaps too!

All of these items, as well as our new Clean Cut shaving and bath soaps...

 ... are already available online, but locals will be able to see and smell them in person at Clockwork II:  Steam Pirates Invade, where Eric and I will yet again be vending and selling our soaps, scrubs, and candles.  This is a related event to Halloween in December, so I can't wait to see what they come up with this time.  If you're free on the evening of January 5, come by and witness the lunacy, plus meet us and see what I've been jabbering about since November.  Hopefully seeing our products in person will make you fall in love with them, as you should.

There's more in the works, of course.  Watch this space for news of more new and different products, specials, events, and more.