About Glynne's Soaps Staff

The collaborative efforts of the Glynne's Soaps owners, Gayle Tabor and Jenn Beddoe (occasionally with the help of Wrigley & Marshall). Learn more about them at http://glynnesoaps.com/the-company

Theme Parties with Glynne’s Soaps

Glynne's Soaps Staff April 25, 2012
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We are ready to get started

Sunday was a first for Glynne’s Soaps.  A few weeks ago we were contacted by a local mom who was interested in a theme party for her daughter’s birthday.  She wanted someone to make soap with the kids. It was an interesting prospect but because we make an all natural from scratch product and not a melt and pour soap, it wasn’t something we could accommodate.  However, we suggested an alternative – Lip Balm! It’s still an all natural product we make from scratch, but after some research and working out some logistics, it was all set.

The kids were able to each make three lip balms, choosing from four different flavors; orange, mint, vanilla or raspberry.  Then they got to design and color their own custom labels.  I think everyone had a great time, I know I did.  Even some moms got in on the action and made a lip balm for themselves.

It was a great activity and in the process we were able to talk to the kids about the importance of all natural products and staying away from the chemicals that are in many soaps, lip balms and other products.  And they got some fun stuff to take home that they designed themselves.

After such a successful outing, we will be adding parties to Glynne’s Soaps list of services.  It’s perfect for almost any age, and we can do many different products including lotions, bath salts, sugar scrubs, candles and, of course, lip balm.

If you or someone you know is interested in discussing details for your next party, just give us a call.  We are happy to help you figure out what would work best for you and your group.

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How To Tuesday: Natural Weed Killer

Glynne's Soaps Staff April 3, 2012
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It’s that time of year – things are blooming all over the place.  Most of the time you are happy to see the blooms, they are beautiful, a sign that warmer days are coming.  Like a lot of people we started to plant a few herb and such to celebrate the arrival of spring! Last week while planting said herbs, we made a short jaunt to Home Depot for some potting soil (we prefer to buy locally but we needed the soil and Home Depot is less than a mile from us). We were SHOCKED at the number of carts full of pesticides and weed killers!  We used to be ‘those people’. There are some blooms that you don’t want to see.  They crop up in the cracks in your driveway, up against the house and other unwanted places.

So, you do like most people and head to Home Depot for some weed killer.  And you read the instructions on the back, don your gloves, face mask and other protective equipment and get started. You might worry a little (or a lot) about what you’ve just sprayed where your kids and pets play or perhaps you even give a fleeting thought to the ground water (we have a well so we were always concerned about contaminating our well), but you have to get rid of the weeds, don’t you?

pesticide-free Weed Killer

pesticide-free Weed Killer

Well, we have discovered a better way!  One that will kill the weeds, but not harm you,  your family, your pets or the ground water.  And, I’m pretty sure you don’t even have to go to the store to get supplies.

What is this wonder cure?  Boiling salt water.  All you need to do is bring some water to a boil, add salt and pour over the offending plants.  One word of caution however, this will kill everything it comes in contact with, so don’t pour it on things you want to keep.  But it is a very effect way to get rid of those things that are growing in the wrong places, without using harmful pesticides.

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The Veggie Wagon – Fresh North Carolina Products

Glynne's Soaps Staff March 28, 2012
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The Veggie Wagon is located in Carolina Beach on Lake Park Blvd., and will celebrate it’s first anniversary in April.  The Veggie Wagon is committed to bringing it’s customers the best in natural North Carolina fruits, vegetables and other products, including Glynne’s Soaps.  They also will deliver fresh, in-season vegetables right to your door.

The Veggie Wagon has many events during the week to give you a chance to try some of what they have to offer.  Tuesday evenings from 5-7 you can taste a selection of wines and on Thursday evenings you can participate in a beer tasting.

They also offer products made on site that include granola, mozzarella cheese (which we lovingly refer to as “crack cheese”, it’s that addicting), and various cookies, muffins and other baked goods.  There are even a growing number of gluten free choices.

The Veggie Wagon is a great place to get fresh, in-season fruits and vegetables and a host of other North Carolina products.  Be sure to add them to your weekly shopping list.

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How To Tuesday: Remove Rust Stains in the Bathroom

Glynne's Soaps Staff March 27, 2012
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We have very hard water.  And aside from being impossible to drink, it wrecks havoc on anything white; clothes, porcelain, you name it.  We had horrible rust stains in our sink, bathtub and toilet.  At first, the only thing we found that would take care of it was a toilet bowl cleaner with hydrochloric acid (also called muriatic acid) as the main ingredient.  It was so toxic, that I couldn’t even use it when Gayle was in the house, it hurt her longs so badly.  We hated using it, and needed something else, something natural and safe.

And then, we discovered baking soda and vinegar.  Very safe, not much smell, and effective!  It takes a little elbow grease, but it’s worth it.  The procedure we follow involves making a paste with the baking soda and water and using it to scrub the stains.  After some scrubbing,  pour the vinegar over the baking soda, the bubbling action helps loosen the stains, then, if it’s needed, do some more scrubbing.

For incredibly tough stains, you can also use citric acid.  Again, make a paste with the citric acid and water and leave on the stains overnight.  You can purchase citric acid at a wine shop or in the canning aisle of the grocery store.

If you struggle with hard water stains or rust stains, try these all natural alternatives.  I think you will be surprised with how well they work.

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Happy Birthday to our Soapmaker

Glynne's Soaps Staff March 26, 2012
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Today is Jenn’s birthday.

Happy Birthday from the Staff

Birthdays are big days around Glynne’s Soaps. It is not unusual for us to celebrate for a week or more.  While there are those for whom a birthday just means getting older, we believe birthdays are just one more reason to have fun!

We debated taking the day off today, but decided we had just too much that needed doing. So while we aren’t taking the full day off, this afternoon we will take some time and plant the herbs we purchased at the Herb and Garden Fair over the weekend.  We’re going to make a nice reading / sitting area on our sunport (or a carport we converted to a screened porch).

This evening, we will be attending “Fire on the Dock”, NorthCarolina’s version of Iron Chef.  Two chefs will create 3 dishes each centered on a local ingredient that remains a secret until the competition begins.  Then we, as part of the audience, will get to vote on our favorite dishes. Needless to say, Jenn is super excited about this opportunity.  It should be a great time.

Later this week we have dinner plans to one of Jenn’s favorite restaurants with our bestest buddy then she and Jenn are going to see The Hunger Games (they both read the books Gayle didn’t). Next weekend we are going to ride the Zipline at ZipQuest. The zipline is mostly to celebrate Gayle’s full recovery from her December surgery but it is also a celebration of life (and what are birthdays but a celebration of life?).

So if you have a minute, wish Jenn a Happy Birthday!

 

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Introducing ‘How To Tuesday’

Glynne's Soaps Staff March 6, 2012
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If you are a business owner you probably won’t be surprised to learn that we frequently discuss business over lunch (or dinner).  Often our best ideas come when we are not ‘working’. We think this may be one of those occasions! After some conversation over lunch yesterday about how we can spruce up our blog posts, we have come up with a few fun ideas that will be rolling out this week.  One thing we came up with is “How To Tuesday”, which will pretty much be exactly what the name implies.

We even Created a How To Tuesday Graphic

Each Tuesday we will be sharing a do it yourself tip for around the house or a recipe we like or something else fun, informative and practical.  (Expect our theme to revolve around our corporate policy of all natural ingredients, ideas, etc).  It will all be stuff that we enjoy and find helpful, we hope that you will as well.  Tuesday was picked as “How To” day because Jenn liked the tutu aspect of the name.  (Don’t question it, just smile and shake your head like we all do.)

So, be on the lookout for “How To Tuesday” every Tuesday from Glynne’s Soaps. As a teaser, we will tell you that next Tuesday we will share how we make our own laundry soap.

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Searching for a way to use your lips

Glynne's Soaps Staff February 29, 2012
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Google Analytics is an amazing thing.  It provides so much information, and I’m sure I don’t understand even half of it, but I do like to check on how many people have been to our website. I like to see where they are from, and especially what they were searching for that brought them to us.  Frequently, it’s not what I expect.

One search term that brings quite a bit of traffic to Glynne’s Soaps is lip balm.  We also get a few inquiries about “brewed coffee” and “llama soap”.  I think I’ll save washing your llama as a post for another time.  It might even be a series of posts.  (=

Spearmint & Tea Tree Lip Balm

Back to the lip balm. We currently make 12 different flavors of lip balm, everything from Spearmint & Tea Tree to Front Street Brewery Scottish Ale.  They are all made with 100% natural ingredients and petroleum free. As with all our products they are made with only the best ingredients. Our customers tell us our lip balms keep their lips soft without a waxy or oily feeling. We agree!

You use your lips every day! From a smile to a kiss!

Lips are exposed to the elements day after day, and there is no time of year when they are safe from the weather.  Cold, wind, heat – they all have potential to dry out your lips.  And we all know that dry cracked lips are unattractive and unhealthy (not to mention unkissable).

Don’t just take our word for it – try them for yourself!  Head straight to our website – no need to Google anything, we can get you there direct. Use coupon code ‘KISSME’ and we’ll cover the shipping cost (good through March 4th, 2012).

Oh, and if you want to bathe your llama, we can’t help. However we do make a llama soap (sort of) check it out!

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Why Every Small Business Owner Should Be Ready

Glynne's Soaps Staff February 24, 2012
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Last night we decided, on a whim, to go out to dinner.  As we were waiting for our table a man asked us if we owned a business and if we were at the farmers market in Carolina Beach.  We answered “Yes” to both questions and Gayle went on to add that our business was all natural soaps, lotions, lip balm and scrubs.  The woman that was with our new friend asked if our products were for people or dogs.  We naturally said, “Both” and  she mentioned that that is what her partner had said, but she didn’t believe him.

She then told us about her dog with a skin condition and we recommended Roxy Soap for her.  Gayle pulled out a business card and gave it to them, with the promise that we would happily bring them soap if they would give us a call.  As the conversation progressed, we discovered that we live not far from each other (probably less than 2 miles) and had a mutual friend.  It was a nice, spontaneous chat.

It also reminded me of a few things that, as small business owners, we should be aware of all the time.

  • We are always in the public eye.  Just because no one may mention that they have seen us at the farmers market or another festival doesn’t mean that they aren’t thinking it.  We are representing our business everywhere we go.
  • We should always be ready.  You never know when the opportunity to talk about your business might present itself.
  • Always carry business cards (at least).  There have been times when we are out and someone asks us for a card and we don’t have any available.  That is a lost opportunity.  We have gotten in the habit of always having some with us, just in case.

We are very fortunate to receive tons of positive feedback from our customers.  Just yesterday we received an order for Spearmint and Tea Tree Lip Balm followed by this tweet:

lauracogginsFeb 23, 11:26am via WebJust ordered another supply of @glynnesoaps lip balm. Their spearmint & tea tree oil is seriously the best, y’all.

We also received a call from a woman who swears by our Franklyn soap for her dog.  We met her in a church parking lot and delivered her some soap.

All this to say, we have the best customers in the world!  Thank you all for your support, we wouldn’t be where we are without it.  As another thank you we are offering a 15% customer appreciation discount.  Order from our website between now and the end of February and use coupon code THEGREATEST to receive your discount.

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What we do 56% of Days

Glynne's Soaps Staff January 24, 2012
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Bogging for our business may be the hardest thing we do. It seems so simple. Write about what we’re doing and share it with the world. Except there comes a time when you think you’ve written about EVERYTHING! Today is one of those days.

As you probably already know, we are crazy about our dogs. Our business started because of one of our dogs Franklyn. If you ask Gayle’s mom to tell you one thing about Gayle, she would say “she loves dogs”. So today I’m going to tell you about a project Gayle started with one of our dogs Wrigley on February 24, 2009.

We started Glynne’s Soaps in October 2008. Wrigley came to be a part of our lives at the end of November that same year. In the beginning of 2009, Gayle was searching for ways to promote Glynne’s Soaps. Via Facebook and Twitter as well as a attending a ton of local events and meet and mingles. One thing she did was start a twitter account for Wrigley and they (Gayle and Wrigley) began to take daily mugshots of Wrigley.

We haven’t always been as good as we could have been at keeping up Wrigley’s twitter account. But the mugshots have been a constant. Today Gayle and Wrigley will take their 600th mugshot! That’s 56% of the days since February 24, 2009.

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Mugs for Jugs giveaway and coupon

Glynne's Soaps Staff January 19, 2012
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As the Mugs for Jugs event at Front Street Brewery is fast approaching, the Glynne’s Soaps staff is gearing up for the event.  Some may even say we’ve gone a little crazy!

Please plan to attend this great fundraiser for the New Hanover Medical Center Foundation’s Pink Ribbon Project which provides free mammograms and also support to people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The event is this Saturday, January 21st at Front Street Brewery and promises to be a night full of fun with a photo booth, raffle, dunk tank and other great activities you don’t want to miss.

In anticipation of the fun, we are giving away one of our Second Base Balms.  In order to win, all you have to do is leave a comment with a caption for the picture at the top of this post.  The funniest caption wins!  The winner will have to be able to pick up their prize at Front Street Brewery on Saturday OR at the tweetup (also at the Brewery the following Friday evening.)

Also, use the coupon code “MUGS4JUGS” to get 15% off any order placed on our website between now and Saturday night.

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