The last SNS of the YEAR!

SNS – Saturday Night Special and 1 Year Etsy-versary SALE!

http://RachelRene.etsy.com

Save 25% on all Soaps, Bath Bombs, Olive Oils Soaps, Lip Butters, Shaving Soap Bars, and Candles tonight only! Excludes items in the Samples & Gifts section.

Prices already reduced!!! No need to wait for revised invoice or refund!!!

Sale not valid on Shipping Charges however I always refund and shipping over $1.00 of the actual shipping charges and I will combine the shipping charges on anything purchased from my shop! A lot can go into a Flat Rate Box for $10, or $13 for the larger size Flat Rate Box!

What a week!!

I apologize for not being around the past week! My internet service went down 7 days ago due to ice build up on my satelitte dish. I never knew how disturbingly dependent I was on my internet until I didn't have it anymore! Can you say obsessed? :0)

It's back now, we've had temps in the 50's yesterday and today and now all the snow and ice is practically gone so I'm in full swing again! YAY ME!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

THEY'RE COMING BACK!!!

Nearly 2 months ago I cut several products from my line. Now that the terrible and dry winter weather is setting in I am being flooded with requests to bring back Body Mousse and Lotion Bars!

Now what kind of customer service rep would I be if I did not listen to what my customers wanted? SO, for a limited time only I will carry 2 oz. ($5.00) and 4 oz. ($7.50) Body mousse regularly in my shop and 16 oz. jars ($25.00) will be available by request!

Lotion Bars will also return for a short while, which are 1 oz. and come in an adorable tin that is great to carry in your purse and are only $4.00 each!

I've decided that I will manufactor these products through the end of Feburary and then pull them from my shop sometime in March or early April. So you'll be able to enjoy them all through the winter!!

If you have any questions or need anything, please feel free to let me know!

Thanks!
Christine

Shaving Soap Bars are in!!!

SHAVING SOAP BARS ARE HERE!

The wait is finally over! They are here and they are amazing! I'll be adding new scents all week long! Since the winning vote on my blog was for a circle shaped soap I originally made these using a flat circle mold but I found it hard to use and uncomfortable to hold, then my husband suggested a muffin tin as a mold! Viola!!!

These are much easier to hold and feel very comfortable in my hand (I have smaller hands)!

Check them out in my shop now! http://rachelrene.etsy.com/ or go directly to the Shaving Soap Bar section by clicking here!!!

Thank you for all your help during this creative process!

The Holiday are almost here!

What happened? I can't believe that Christmas is only 17 days away! I am so not ready! Are you?

I sat down this weekend and finally started decorating the house, put up the tree (those damn lights!!!!) and put up the stockings! Last night I sat down and made a list of people I need to purchase gifts for. Usually I'm way more prepared than this but this year has just slipped away rapidly! I have 18 people to buy for, 11 more gifts to make/bake for teachers, bus drivers, neighbors, etc., a Christmas dinner to plan for my in-laws which will take place a week from Saturday, 2 school parties to make stuff for, and to top that off, my daughter who turns 7 on December 30th, would like to have a sleep over this year as her birthday party which I agreed to in October!

It just seems things are going by way to fast these days and even though my nerves are frayed and I worry about not getting everything done in time, I know that the world will NOT come to an end if I forget something or take a day to watch movies with my kids or play in the snow because at the end of the day, isn't that what's most important and what the holidays are all about? Spending time with your family?!

Last night about an hour before bedtime, my kids went and helped each other get all their snow gear on then came out and said they wanted to play in the snow. It was dark and extremely cold out and even though I didn't want to go out I could not tell them no. Not after they helped each other get on snow pants, coats, hats, gloves, boots, and scarves. So Daddy and I also got all of our snow gear on and took turns pulling them on the sled over and around the drifts in the yard! We all had a blast! Then we all came in and had hot cocoa to warm up. They got to bed later than normal but who cares, the world didn't end and we created a wonderful memory.

And that my friends is what I think the holidays are all about. So now I feel like I am one step ahead instead of 4 behind!

SNS - Saturday Night Special for 12/06/08

SNS – Saturday Night Special

http://RachelRene.etsy.com

Save 15% on all Soaps, Bath Bombs, Olive Oils Soaps, Lip Butters, Crystal Air Fresheners, and Candles tonight only! Excludes items in the Samples & Gifts section.

PLUS, every order gets a FREE Lip Butter of your choice!! Just put your flavor choice in the Notes to Seller during checkout!

Type SNS in the Notes to Seller along with your choice of Free Lip Butter and either wait for a revised invoice or pay using Paypal and I will issue you a refund asap!

Sale not valid on Shipping Charges however I always refund and shipping over $1.00 of the actual shipping charges and I will combine the shipping charges on anything purchased from my shop! A lot can go into a Flat Rate Box for $10, or $13 for the larger size Flat Rate Box!

Black Friday through Cyber Monday SALE!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

I'm having a HUGE sale in my shop which will end on December 1st at 12:00PM (CST) so hurry in and pick up some wonderful savings!

Soaps have been reduced 40%
Lip Butters and Bath Bombs have been reduced 30%
Candles and Air Fresheners have been reduced 20%

Check out all my products at http://rachelrene.etsy.com/

Plus I combine shipping charges for mulitiple items and will refund any overages to you ASAP!

See my shop announcement for full details! I'm anticipating a wonderful turnout this weekend so make sure you get your favorite products while they are available!! Once I run out, it may take up to a week or more to restock depending on when my supplies arrive and by then this sale will be over!

This is my largest and longest sale of the year and won't happen again until the next BLACK FRIDAY!

Thanks everyone - have a wonderful shopping weekend!!!

Christine

12 HOURS ONLY!!!

Today, November 19th, for 12 Hours buy any 3 bars of soap from my shop and get a 4th bar of soap (your choice) free!

Just type in the "Notes to Seller" what you'd like your 4th free soap bar to be!

This promo ends at 10:00 pm Central Standard Time tonight!

http://RachelRene.etsy.com

Special Veteran's Day Sale!

First of all I'd like to say Thank You to all those that have served or are serving this country!

I cannot put into words how truly thankful I am for the courage you shown and the sacrifices you've made to keep this nation and my family free! THANK YOU!

In honor of Veteran's Day, I will be having a 10% Off sale in my shop through Midnight (CST) tonight. I will send a revised invoice or a refund through Paypal asap.

Need your help!

I would like to add a line of Shaving Soaps to my etsy shop and I'd like your opinion! I'd like to know what shape you would prefer to use when you shave.

Please take my poll at the right hand side of my blog so I can begin developing these amazing soaps soon!

Thank you so much for participating!!

SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL!!!! 11/8/08

SNS – Saturday Night Special

http://RachelRene.etsy.com

Save 15% on all Soaps, Bath Bombs, Olive Oils Soaps, Lip Butters, Crystal Air Fresheners, and Candles tonight only! Excludes items in the Samples & Gifts section.

PLUS, every order gets a FREE Lip Butter of your choice!! Just put your flavor choice in the Notes to Seller during checkout!

Type SNS in the Notes to Seller along with your choice of Free Lip Butter and either wait for a revised invoice or pay using Paypal and I will issue you a refund asap!

Sale not valid on Shipping Charges however I always refund and shipping over $1.00 of the actual shipping charges and I will combine the shipping charges on anything purchased from my shop! A lot can go into a Flat Rate Box for $10, or $13 for the larger size Flat Rate Box!

Production in full swing now!

Thank you so much for giving my discontinued items a new home!! The sale was a complete success! All remaining items have been removed from my shop to make room for the new products that I've been making.

I recently added Olive Oil Soaps to my selection and am amazed at these wonderful bars! They are wonderful! You get a wonderful lather and the scents are to die for! You need to check out these ASAP!

I'm looking into adding shaving bars and whipped soaps this December so keep checking back!

I also brought in some brand spanking new fragrances that are sure to bring some warmth into your shower this fall/winter season! With the chilly days and cold nights coming across many of us lately it's great to have a warm and wonderful scented soap to use in that hot shower or bath!!

I've been a busy little beaver the past couple days making and creating and coming up with new and creative soaps for you! I hope you all enjoy them!!!

THANKS!!!!!!

Final Cut!

THE BAD NEWS......
So after careful review, I've decided to discontinue Sugar Scrubs, Body Mist, Body Mousse, and Lotion Bars from my product line. It was a hard decision to make and I had been pondering it for weeks before deciding that I needed to let them go.

THE GOOD NEWS.......
All remaining stock of the discontinued items will be listed in my Clearance and Sale section in my shop and has been marked down up to 50% OFF!

Sugar Scrubs were $18.00 now $9.00
Body Mists were $6.00 now $3.00
Body Mousse 2oz Jars were $5.00 now $3.00
Lotion Bars were $3.00 now $2.00

You can stock up on holiday gifts or splurge on yourself! No promo codes needed everything has already been marked down so all you have to do is add it to your shopping cart!

Thank you so much!!

Enter to win Bath Bombs and a bar of Soap!!!

One lucky winner will receive a bar of soap of their choice and FOUR bath bombs of their choice from my online shop!!

Check out http://bathbodycandle.blogspot.com/ to enter and for contest rules!

So Hard To Say Goodbye!!!

I've spent the morning reviewing the sales figures of my Sugar Scrubs and Body Mist and have decided that they are not doing very well so I will be removing them from my line.

I've listed some of them in my Sale and Clearance section so you'll be able to find them easily!

Sugar Scrubs have been marked down from $18.00 to $12.00 so you'll save $6.00!

Body Mists have been marked down from $6.00 to $4.00 so you'll save $2.00!

I'll list more of these as the days go by so keep checking back to see what's new!

I'll be reviewing my other product sales figures later today.

What's Happening?!?

Ok - so after my wonderful show at Boggio's I spent the week re-organizing my work shop/office to be extremely more efficient and I am just so proud of myself! I now have a production area, shipping area, packaging area, photography area, finished product area, and office area!

I also ordered more supplies which I are due to arrive by Tuesday and then, I have an entire list of new soaps I will make and put in my shop this whole week!!!

Yesterday I made Ginger Peach, Apples N Spice, and Orange Sherbert soaps! They came out beautifully and are listed in my Etsy shop for sale!

But, I thought I would let you know what I plan on making this week so you'll know what to look forward too!

New Soaps I'll be adding:
Sublte Seduction (Love Spell Type fragrance)
Fudge Brownie
Chocolate Mint
Raspberry Patchouli
Salt Bar
Black Tea
Pumpkin Spice

Old Favorites I'll be re-stocking:
Pomegranate
Green Tea & Cucumber
Pure Rain
Lilacs in Bloom
Black Raspberry Vanilla
Lumberjack
Chocolate Milk

I am really looking forward to creating new looks for some of my old favorites and also creating some new unique bars with new fragrances I've found!

Feel free to click on them and check them out and leave a comment!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Christine

THANK YOU!!!

I participated in a Craft Show last weekend at Boggio's Apple Orchard in Granville, IL which I did last year and I cannot thank all of you who came to my booth whether it was to make a purchase or to just chit chat about something! This is one show I look forward to doing every year!!! It is full of wonderfully talented vendors and gets bigger and better every year!!!!

I always have a wonderful time there and it is a beautiful place to visit! We take our whole family and go there in the fall to pick our pumpkins, get apple cider, apples, fudge (which is to die for) and all kinds of goodies!

They also have a lot for the kids to do - petting zoo, pony rides, hay rides, tunnels, corn maze and more!

If you're ever near the area or are looking for an orchard to visit, I highly recommend Boggio's!

The staff is wonderful too!!!

BACK TO SCHOOL SALE!!

My kids start school next week and I though it was a great reason to have a killer sale!!! Those school supplies are expensive! :0)

Now through Saturday everything has been reduced by 30%
**excludes Samples & Sets section**

Prices have already been reduced so there's no need to wait for a revised invoice or a refund.

Take advantage of my combined shipping offer as well and start your holiday shopping early!!!

Chocolate Milk anyone?!

The newest addition to my soap line is Goat's Milk soap! And what better way to start a line then with Chocolate Milk soap? My daughters favorite drink - she does not like regular milk so this soap was inspired by her!

Both layers of the soap are made with a Goat's Milk soap base that contains REAL liquid goat's milk as apposed to powdered or condensed milk! The Chocolate fragrance is in the bottom layer and the top white layer is left uncolored and unscented just to give the bar a little variety! Also this fragrance tends to discolor the soap to a brownish so I had to leave it unscented in order for it to stay white.

The lather of this soap base is so incredible! It's frothy and rich and just seems to never stop leaving your skin clean and oh so yummy!

More milk soaps coming soon which will include a "White Milk" soap - because my son hates Chocolate Milk and will only drink white milk - which is what he calls it. Also, an Oatmeal Milk soap with ground Oatmeal in it, and a couple others I'll keep secret until I unveil them!

Check them out in the Milk Soap Section of my shop!

FRONT PAGE!!!

I am so happy! I was fortunate enough to be in a treasury created by Diffraction and at around 1:30 CST yesterday it made the Front Page of Etsy!! I can't thank her enough for including me in her treasury!

Here's the screen shot of the front page:

The selected item was my Chocolate Bar soap!

I was so excited I called hubby up at work and made him look at it!!

A Give-a-Way!!!

I've been lucky enough to be featured on a fellow Etsian's blog. I'm giving away some marvelous products to one of her lucky readers so be sure to get over there and check it out!!!

http://ravenxxxx.blogspot.com/

Hurry!! Times a wastin'!

Be sure to take a peak at her Esty Shop as well! RavenX

Frosted Butter Cream! WOW!

Butter Cream is a light soft sweet scent that is so yummy! It's delicious!

I used a square shaped mold and left the bar white. When the fragrance was added it slightly colored the bar an off white which was perfect! Then I "frosted" it 3 times with a pure white soap.

It smells and looks fabulous! I'm in love with this scent!

Strawberry Champagne!

CHEERS!!!

This is the newest creation out of my soap pot! It's scented with Strawberry Champagne which I can only describe as AMAZING!!!! It's sweet but soft and just a really lovely scent. I had a hard time coming up with a look for this soap but I really like the way it turned out.

It was an experiment trying to get the base of the soap to be a dark yellow instead of a bright yellow but I got there in the end. I would have rather had a red drizzle but I'm having a hard time finding a dye that will color my soap a true red instead of a dark pink!!!

Something of a challenge for me I think. I'll be listing it soon in my Etsy Shop so keep yours eyes peeled!

Caramel Apple

Caramel Apple is a wonderful blend of fresh cut apples and sweet gooey caramel!

I used a clear base for the rectangle bar which I dyed red and then colored a white base brown to create a caramel color for the gooey 'topping'.

This one smells so yummy I almost wanted to eat it - but then I remembered it was soap! :0)

A wonderful new product!

I've been trying my hand at Melt and Pour soaps for a couple months now. I'd never made them before so it was a learning experience for me to say the least! I've only ever made Cold Process Soaps so the whole Melt and Pour thing sounded SO easy - well it's not!

First, I had to find the perfect base. I did not want a base that had any SLS or other lathering agents in it. After trying several bases from several different suppliers, I finally found the one I was looking for! It produces a rich and creamy lotion like lather that is just amazing and doesn't contain any lathering agents, SLS or other harsh additives!

So once I found the base, I had to test it with the fragrances and colors I wanted to use - WOW - this is the fun part! I measured and poured and stirred and smelled and adjusted and tweaked and leveled and molded and unmolded and THEN, did it all over again! :0)

Well let me tell you - I think I am in love now!! I love making Cold Process Soap but making Melt and Pour is a whole new experience that I didn't realize was so much fun! I like that I can be a little bit more creative with my soaps offer and even wider selection of eye cathching, nose pleasing, skin loving products for all my customers!

Stop on by my SHOP this whole week to see newly added Melt and Pour soaps such as Sun-Kissed Kiwi (pictured below) which I've already added.

Coming soon are Strawberry Champagne, Caramel Apple, Neroli Lime, Amber Romance, Cashmere & Silk, Eucalyptus & Spearmint and several more!!!!

THANK YOU!!!

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful people that stopped by our booth yesterday at our first craft show of the year in Woodhaven Lakes!

I had so much fun and met some wonderful people! I hope you all enjoy all the goodies you bought and I hope to see you again Labor Day weekend at the next show!

Thank you!!!!

Christine

Join Me at our 1st Craft Show of the Season!

If you have a place at the Woodhaven Lakes Association in Sublette, Illinois - please stop by my booth on July 6th!

The craft show is being held in the Rec Plex Area from 10:00am - 3:00pm on July 6th! I'll be set up in booth number 36! It should be a fun time for all!

I've done this show in the past but not as Rachel Rene Bath & Body. We did this show last year as Country Fresh Scents - so if you remember us come by and say Hi!!!

I'll be bringing Soaps, Body Mousse, Samples, Body Mists, Soy Candles, Crystal Air Fresheners, Bath Bombs, and more!!

Hope to see you there!!

The Ducklings are here!!!

This Mama duck was the one that was nesting in the broken tree stump near our house. Saturday morning, we woke up to find that Mama duck had 3 babies. Sunday morning we woke up to find that Mama duck had 9 babies! That's right I said 9 babies!!!

They are absolutely precious and the cutest things I have ever seen but I am now living on a duck farm apparently! :0) We are now the proud owners of 13 ducks and we still have a duck nesting in our garage!

Mama duck took her babies down to our pond this morning and let them waddle through the small stream that runs off it. She is a good mother and will only allow me to get so close. Hence the far away picture. Yesterday she ran off our big black lab because he got too close to her and the babies.

Exciting isn't it?

Mmmmmmmmm Chocolate!

Is there nothing better than Chocolate? I mean seriously, chocolate is my cure all! So I made Chocolate scented soap! It smells like a deep, rich, dark, chocolate and the fragrance I used gave the bar a deep dark chocolate color too. I'm not a huge fan of brown soap, so I fancied it up a bit by adding a "white chocolate" drizzle which is actually unscented soap. But boy o boy does it look good enough to eat!!!

It will be making it's debute on my website and in my Etsy shop on June 20th! I'll also be adding the chocolate fragrance to all my other products that day as well! So now you'll be able to get your favorite products in a very YUMMY scent!!!!

I only have 14 bars available so if you'd like to preorder just shoot me an e-mail at Orders@ShopRachelRene.com and I'll set one aside for you!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Etsy's having a YART SALE!!!!

From June 11th - June 20th a large group of Esty sellers are having a "Yart Sale"! You can got to Etsy.com and search tags, titles, and descriptions for the work "Yart" to find a large variety of sellers who are participating in this sale!

Yep - I'm one of them!!! Here's my Yart Sale Section!!! I'll keep adding items to this section throughout the 20th so keep checking back to see what goes on sale!

My Body Mousse has a new look!!!

I had decided to switch my jars a from all white thick jars with white lids to clear thinner jars with black lids a few months ago. However I still had a large amount of white jars in stock.

Well they are all gone now and I think the new jars are absolutely beautiful and classy looking!

They hold the same amount as the white jars did but they are not as bulky so they fit better in your purse or in the drawer of your desk (which is where I keep mine)!

The change is only for the Body Mousse right now. All the Sugar Scrubs come in clear jars with White lids until further notice (I bought A LOT the last time I ordered them).

Some pics!

In my last post I promised pictures of some of the animals on our farm and the garden! So, here they are! I hope you enjoy them!

This is the beautiful Lilac bush that blooms white and purple every year! It smells heavenly! I've been digging up the chutes and planting them along our road as a screen!


This is the vegetable garden I have been working so hard to finish! It's huge but should have enough room for everything we want to grow in our garden!

This is the another duck nesting on our property. She built her nest in our mulch pile - which wasn't the best spot because I wasn't done mulching yet and by the time I realized she had a nest up there, she was already setting on it. She's also very agressive when you approach her! Aw well, I didn't really want to mulch anymore anyway! :0)


This is Cheyenne (left) and Puzzles (right). Cheyenne is a quarter horse that I got when she was just a yearling. Her and I have a long history! Puzzles is an old mare paint horse that we got several years ago and she's great for new riders (like my kids) - I've been giving my daughter riding lessons with her. She's the horse that rebuilt my confidence in riding after I got thrown off another horse one day!

This is Alley (left), Tarzan (center), and Toucson (right). Alley is my husbands horse that we bought super cheap and she has turned out to be an amazing animal! We saved her from going to the sale barn in Wisconsin and have not regretted it yet!! Tarzan and Toucson are horses owned by friends of ours. We board them here for them.


THIS is Princess, the black angus cow I told you about. She isn't very fond of getting her picture taken though.


These are some of our chickens. We have a bunch of different breeds! I love the chickens! They give the best eggs and keep the bugs down!


This is one of the 3 female ducks we have nesting on our property. She decided to build her nest and lay her eggs in an old tree stump in my rock garden. She's got about 15 eggs in there so we'll see if anything hatches.

Where does the time go????

I can't believe it is May 14th already! I have been so busy with a few new wholesale accounts, my website, the Etsy.com shop and just life in general that I woke up this morning and realized I haven't blogged in sooooooooooooo long!!!

The weather here has finally started to feel like spring and so I've been out in the garden weeding, planting, mulching, tilling, and sprucing up every spare second I can! It's really starting to look nice this year! I can't wait to transplant my veggies! As soon as I get it ready I'll post pictures!

Every year I say I am going to live off my garden through winter but it hasn't happened yet! Fall harvest doesn't mesh well with the fall craft show season! But I'll try again this year! I'm going to freeze and can whatever I can.

We got an addition to our farm this past month! Her name is Princess and she is a Black Angus cow! She is blind and was given to us by our wonderful neighbor who raises them yearly. She's pretty cute and my kids love the fact that we now have a cow on our farm! We are working on getting a goat soon too! Goat's milk is an amazing Bath & Body product in itself! I use it to give my daughter a bath which has just about cured her eczema so it just seemed practical to buy a goat and use the milk not only for drinking and cooking but for a new refreshing skin care line!

I'll be back real soon with some business related topics and pictures! Keep a watchful eye everyone!

Sugar Scrubs are SOOOOO Yummy!!!

After a whole lot of trial and error - I've finally come up with a Sugar Scrub that I adore!!

Literally I have reformulated my original recipe 10+ times in the past month trying to come up with a recipe that is gentle not harsh to use, creamy yet firm, leaves a light scent on your skin, and doesn't leave you feeling like a greasy mess! Well here it is!!!!!

The picture on the left is our Almond scented 4.5 oz. Jar of Sugar Scrub! Doesn't it look yummy!

They are made with yummy ingredients like Brown Sugar, Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Sunflower Oil, Olive Oil, and Vegetable Glycerin and boy oh boy do they feel nice!! They rinse off well and leave your skin feeling soft and smooth and wonderful! We've got them in a variety of fragrances and colors! I'm making them all two tones!

I'll be posting some on Etsy today but you can get them from the website anytime!!

Up and Running!!!

Well finally after deciding to change my business name from Country Fresh Scents to Rachel Rene Bath & Body we are fully operational again!!!

It was not an easy change and I hope that I didn't loose anyone in the process but everything is in full swing now! Our website is done, our mailing list is ready, we opened a new etsy.com shop under RachelRene.etsy.com, and all of our labels are updated.

I had been thinking of changing my business name for some time now and decided in December that we would start the new year with a fresh new look! So, the last week of December I started changing everything and launched the new website the first week in January. I had a wonderful person at etsy.com do up a new banner, logo, avatar and some other graphics for me that I just LOVE!!!

She did a great job and was extremely friendly to work with! Quick too! If you're looking for any banner or logo work I highly suggest amorgan - go ahead click the link and visit her shop!

I've got 2 new fragrances that I will be adding to my regular line very soon (February)! The first is Strawberry Champagne which I just LOVE - sweet and bubbly is how I describe this one! The second is Pearberry - a sweet blend of juicy Pears and Berries! They are both wonderful scents and I can't wait to put them up for sale!