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Lea Burnside
Lea Burnside is the owner of Almost Heaven Candle and Soap Stuff and is also a treasured
Soapnuts member. You may have "met" her
while participating in a swap, or you may already be a customer of
hers. Here's a chance to get to know her and her family
a bit better.
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Hello fellow SoapNuts!
I am Lea Burnside, owner of Almost Heaven Candle & Soap Stuff, also known as
just Candle & Soap Stuff.
We are a small but growing family-owned soap and candle supply business located
in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia!
Candle & Soap Stuff officially opened in January 2002. We have
experienced rapid growth during our 2 years in this business. We strive to
offer one-stop shopping for most crafters while still offering low, everyday
prices. We started out as home-based crafters ourselves and know what it
is like to want more buying power as the little guy!
Picture of some chunk soaps I made. Actually
sent some of them to one of the Soapnut swaps!
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One thing that makes us different from other suppliers is our size. We are
a smaller business than some of the larger, bulk/wholesale suppliers. But,
we offer quantities small enough for even the home-based crafter who is just
making a few of something to give as gifts.
We'd like to expand our line to include essential oils, floral waters/waxes, and
also add some additional candle items such as candle wax. Again, we aim
for one-stop shopping, so we sometimes allow our customer requests to guide us
as we add new items. We are always open to adding new items if it
helps someone to get everything in one place. Shipping is so very costly
that you have to find everything as close to home as possible and order as much
as you can all at the same time. And, we also offer a few things
that you don't find at many other sites. One example of this is our printed
fabric sachet bags... We offer between 80 and 100 different prints for
your
browsing pleasure! They are great for scent sachets or to bag up a soap or
lotion bar!
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This is me sewing the fabric bags...
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I have been making candles and soaps for almost 3 years now and enjoy trying new
projects just as much as most of our customers! My two daughters (Eliza,
age 15, and Mandy, age 12) help me with the day to day operations of the supply
business and love to make products on their own. They have even
participated in swaps with other soap and candle crafters!
| This is my daughter Eliza--one of my Junior Soapnuts!
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This is Mandy (my youngest, age 12) and
her dog Candy. My two girls (Eliza and Mandy) are my main
support in this business. They do everything from lug boxes and pack
orders to counting twist ties and helping sew the bags. They are
truly Junior Soapnuts and are
becoming Swapaholics too!
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We love playing
with the butters and oils we offer and coming up with new recipes for soaps,
lotions, balms and such. And, we enjoy coming up with quick and
simple stuff that make easy additions to your candle or soap lineup! As a
matter
of fact, here are a couple you might try if you are looking for something new to
add to your line or a simple item to add variety to a gift basket or set of
items!
Lip Balm
Lip balms are soooooo easy to make! A good basic recipe is:
1 part butter
1 part oil
1 part wax
1 part can be whatever you like--tablespoon, ounce, cup, pound... You name
it! The butter might be cocoa or mango or any other butter safe for use in
lip products. The oil could be castor, sweet almond, emu, again--your
choice! The wax could be beeswax, soy wax, etc. Very versatile
choices and quantities. All you do is put these 3 things in a pyrex dish
and melt them in the microwave using short blasts of time till all is melted.
You can also do it in a double boiler. Be sure not to overheat as you can
scorch your ingredients!!
Roller Perfumes
These are even simpler! Line your roller bottles up (however many
you want to make). Take a 3 ml pipette and fill it with fragrance oil.
Squeeze a pipette full of fragrance oil into each roller bottle. Then, top
each one
off with cyclomethicone. You can also add body safe color and even glitter
if you like! Put the rollers in the top and screw the caps on each bottle.
Then, give it a shake to blend the fragrance oil and cyclomethicone. These
blend well and don't separate, so there is no need to shake continually to
reblend!
We carry everything you'd need for these two projects from the oils to the
containers! Check our sitemap if you have trouble finding something!
The sitemap is at http://www.candleandsoapstuff.com/sitemap.html
I am a critter dipper! Waxed dipped critters that is! Here is
a picture of 3 Easter Bunnies from last year!
Those are actually dipped in wax!
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But, whatever you do and wherever your business takes you, remember to keep your
product line simple enough that your business is always fun!! Once it
starts to feel like work, it becomes work and can really put a cramp on your
creative juices!! Have fun and keep your mind open to trying new stuff!!
You can find us on the web at http://www.candleandsoapstuff.com/
Or, you can reach us by phone at (304)364-4002 or email us at owner@candleandsoapstuff.com
~ Lea Burnside
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