The thought of making little works of art that were actually useful was a great inspiration to me. I purchased a couple of glycerin bars with little shapes and swirls in them at a pricey boutique and thought to myself, "Hey, that looks neat! Maybe I can do that?" I ran to my local bookstore and bought a little book on melt and pour soap. I made about 100 melt and pour glycerin bars after receiving my Bramble Berry shipment and couldn't stop. I was hooked.

So, I had to figure out a way to unload 100 bars of soap, quickly. My first selling encounter was a local swap meet. We got up at 5 am, did the entire tent setup with baskets and a lovely little soap display. It was very exciting. I sat at my table eager to wrap little gift bags of soap. It was slow and I made about $20. Very dissappointing. But, I didn't give up.

I added bath salts, lotion, shower gel, bath bombs, spritz, lip balm and a line of all-natural dog soaps. My line grew to 14 scents as new ones were added along the way as I found a new favorite. I continued selling at boutiques, via my website and ebay and noticed a steady incline. I coupled my products with my friend's candles and room sprays and made great little gift baskets.

I was in school trying to get my animation and film degree but found myself sketching little soap labels and coming up with new scents in class. My teachers thought I was nuts. Maybe they were right.

After graduation, the job market was a little slow and I had to do something to pay off the school loans. I had a pretty hefty mailing list so with help from my Mom we opened a little gift shop called "Violets are Blue". This was quite the "dream come true" for us. We carried my bath products, hand-made jewelry, my mom's handmade cards and floral arrangements as well as vintage items, home decor and fun gifty stuff.

We just finished our first year in business and we are expanding into the next building which will double our space! This entire experience started with a soap-making obsession and will continue to grow every time a new scent comes wafting my way.