Monday, May 29, 2006

Happy Memorial Day !! & Blog Only Special Offer


First let me say Thank You!! to all those that have given their lives in service for our country. We honor you today and everyday!
And we remember all our loved ones that have gone on before us today. I hope that today you and your families are celebrating in a special way that pays tribute to all your loved ones. May your day be a great one filled with love and family.




Blog Only Memorial Day Special Offer
Only 3 days left to purchase our Get Scrubbed! Gardener's Scrub at the low introductory price of $9.00. This is the Hot Selling Scrub that was given a thumbs up by the Rodale Test Gardeners at Organic Gardening Magazine. Sale price ends on May 31st. Want an extra 5% Off that price?? You got it!! Just mention The Valhalla Voice in the comment box when you check out and I will manually discount your order an extra 5%. Order our Gardener's Choice Hand Therapy at the same time, and receive another 5% OFF your total. This Special Deal is good for Today Only, and is only advertised HERE.
NOTICE: We have received such a great responce from all of you that we are extending this sale through May 31st. Thank You !!

* Offer good May 29 - 31, 2006 ONLY (expires at midnight 5/31/06 PST). To receive the full 10% off, order MUST include Get Scrubbed! Gardener's Hand Scrub AND Gardener's Choice Hand Therapy AND the words "The Valhalla Voice" MUST be typed in the comments box upon check-out.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Bath Bombs, Rain, and Wrapping

Today was supposed to be Bath Bomb day. I was up at 6 am ready to conquer the world of fizz! However, the universe had different plans in mind because before my second cup of coffee was gone, the rain was coming done in buckets! Days of heavy rain or humidity are NOT good Bath Bomb making days. You will end up with fizzing, warty globules. Sounds like something the cat dragged in.
So, regroup and shift gears. Today turned into label day for a while. I spent a few hours designing several different labels for our Get Scrubbed! Gardeners Scrub. We've changed the packaging to a low profile wide mouth jar. Very nice with a silver leak proof lid. So, we needed to change labels to fit these. I'll be taking all the different designs to my sisters for lunch tomorrow to get her opinion. We shall see if she likes the one that Matt chose, which incidentally was not the one I chose. By the time I was done the buckets of rain had changed to barrels and I was wandering the new house looking for leaks. Call me paranoid, but it was raining so hard it sounded like th roof was going to cave in.
Tired of sitting at the computer, I went out to the soap studio and started wrapping soap. Boy the time can pass you by when you are sipping Scent by Spirit Tea, listening (and singing along) to old 70's music, inhaling wonderful scents and wrapping soap in pretty paper. Next thing I knew the sun was out, the birds were singing and it was time to start supper. Here is just a small sampling of some of the bars that got wrapped today. Carrot, Oatmeal, Chai, Valhalla Shores, Pikaki Lani Shea Butter Bar & Gardeners Choice Dirt Buster Soap.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Visitors to the Soap Studio

The as yet unfinished Soap Studio had visitors today. My friend Jen's mother was in town and she had been getting an ear-full about our soaps from Jen. So, Paulette and Jen paid us a visit today and went on a soap smelling spree. They were both quite high on soap scents, with glassy eyes, and bags loaded with soap "dope" by the time they went out of here. All in all about 20 bars went to good homes today. I can trust that they will be loved and hugged, and lathered "to death", lol.
It was a very nice visit as well. I'm not used to having folks come to me, for products. I usually bring it to them. I learned that Paulette Karlin is a wonderful seamstress & doll maker. She spent some of her spare time during her visit sewing up the most darling little soap bags for us. Some with holiday themes, and some that are just very, very pretty. Watch for them as special giveaways in your orders . She is also a creator of Little People her business card says. They are called Caboose Kids. And as you can imagine by the name, they are an adorable assortment of ragtag, smudge cheeked kids with oversized coats and strips of calico for shoelaces. Cute as can be. She lovingly creates these kids by hand in her own little studio (a converted garage that daughter Jenny convinced Dad to raised floor in to save on the heat bill and make mom's feet toasty in the winter) in Buena Vista, Colorado. So, if you are ever around there, look her up and check out her kids. Adopt one for yourself, because I know once you see one of them you will want to take 'em home. And if you are in Denver, her dolls will be on display in the Capital building later this month.

Monday, May 15, 2006

We've Moved! TWICE!!!

MOVE #1
To 10 gorgeous acres bordering a pond in Newport, Washington. It's only about 20 miles from the house we sold in Idaho. Wildlife abounds here, with turkey and pheasants in our front yard. And deer and moose in the back acreage near and in the pond. It is glorious!

Aside from the fact that the house is bigger and has loads of wonderful storage space. Who can't use more storage? It also has a wonderful extra little building attached to the carport. It's about 200 sq. ft., insulated, drywalled, has power in, and has two nice sized windows and a concrete floor. Are you following were I'm going with this yet? I thought so. Yes! This will be the new Soap Studio. We have already installed a wonderful 6 ft. stainless steel counter top on one wall. And the folks who lived here before us had a 33 year union plumber in the family that is going to install a sink for me, no charge! There is already a refidgerator for the more delicate oils. So all that is left appliance wise is the stove, which we are shopping for. The house was recently recarpeted, so the remaining carpet was left behind. There is enough to carpet the entire Studio. But, I'm thinking we might carpet only half and tile the kitchen portion. Cleaning spilt hot soap out of carpet is no fun! Been there, done that. All that leaves is painting, and curtains.

MOVE #2
Website Host's - RedLime did such a fantastic job designing and maintaining our site, that we finally made the move and they are now hosting out our site. Yea!! At the same time, we also purchased a new domain; www.valhallasoap.com . Similar to the old one, we just dropped off the word 'company' from the url. From now on if anyone goes to the old url; www.valhallasoapcompany.com they will be redirected to the new one. It is much shorter and easier to remember. We like easier :) Watch for a "Moving In" Celebration Sale coming in June.

Friday, May 12, 2006

The Time Arrived

For us to start a blog site. Here you will find the daily musings, happenings, and general goings on at the Valhalla Soap Shop. We may be packing orders, making soap, thinking up odd and unusual soap recipes, or concocting some other body soothing something. Whatever we are doing, you can read all about it here.