Hi Everyone! Summer is almost here. For the most part it has been cooler here in CA. I am NOT complaining! I hope it stays that way. It has been awhile since I have written. I am working full time and raising a family. All takes lots of time as you well know which prompted my move to Etsy. Read below!

Business News

As you all know by now I am only selling on Etsy. It has been a positive change for me. I am able to keep up with the orders and control inventory by pre-making all of my items and then shipping them to customers. I still can make all the great dessert fragrances I used to make but now I can make them custom just for you. Right now we are at about 7 days TAT. I plan to make scrubs and offer a whipped bath cream in the coming months. Our best seller is still Let Them Eat Cake. :o) Please sign up for my newsletter here above! My old website and address will be taken down and permanently parked.

If there are scents you would like to see let me know.

Since I can be found most days on Etsy these are a few things I have had my eye on:

Check this out! What could be better? How about this cute little shop? I bought 3 of these babies recently! Darling..for my kids of course...not me! LOL..

On Sephora, I have had my eye on this. This also looks great for the summer. If I could afford it I would get this. Maybe I can try a sample somewhere? LOL! :b

I will write again soon.

Colleen :o)

Hello and Happy 4th of July!

I have been hard at work trying to get The Body Dessert Shop back up to speed after a lengthy closing. We are now selling only premade products for now. In the future, if we can manage the order load, we will sell custom products with a longer turn around time. If I can't manage to ship out premade products in 8-10 business days or less we will close our doors for good. I realize it is not fair for our customers to wait months on end for orders. I hope everyone is having a safe and happy weekend. I am happy to have 3 days off from my 9-5 job so I can focus on cleaning my house and working on products for The Body Dessert Shop. My husband is hard at work in our closet putting up shelves because about 1 week ago our closet shelves fell down in the middle of the night! We thought it was an earthquake. :b

A few things have gone on since I closed. I graduated with honors on May 18th. I walked down the aisle to get my diploma in over 100 degree heat. I was completely melted in a pool of my own sweat! It was awful! I now have a Master's degree in Psychology with an emphasis on marriage and family counseling. My mother came to the graduation with my brother Nathan. After that we all went to Disneyland! We had a ball. it was nice to see my Mom laugh and have fun after the death of my step dad in October. If you want to know more about this please read the October 2007 posts from this blog. I feel like our family has had this huge hole in it since he died. Every holiday including Father's Day has been very difficult for all of us but especially my Mom and my brother. I have felt flattened by the grief and have thought of little else except for my Mom and her suffering. We are all starting to feel a little better with the time that has passed and I hope we all continue to heal as time goes by.

Business News

We opened our doors for business on June 26th and I was surprised at all the orders I did get. I did not get stressed however because I had all the products made! The same will go for the Dessert Bars and our Gourmet tarts. It is very easy to ship quickly when you have everything ready to go.

Our 4 year anniversary of The Body Dessert Shop is coming up on August 1st. It is hard to believe. I started out making dessert fragrances because it was what I liked the most. I remember when I told my husband what I wanted to do he said "Oh, like that will ever sell". Hmmm.....countless jars of heavenly scented cream later, here we are! I have perfected my dessert scents and many of the custom fragrances we blend are like recipes. It has been so fun for me to create these fragrances. I never have gotten tired of making them. Let me know if you have come up with a good scent you would like replicated..maybe a favorite dessert perhaps! I would be happy to make one for you when we start making our custom products. A great example of this is Lemon Divinity! A customer came up with this scent and now it has been our best seller since we re-opened. It must say it is heavenly!

A few of my favorite things:

Love this! It is more like a heavy cream than a lotion. It comes in a pump and that is why I think it looks like a lotion. It does smell a bit like maple..I am not sure why but if maple is not your thing I suggest you test it first. Every time I wear it I get lots of compliments. I just wear it because it moisturizes so well.

I want this! But I don't dare...every bronzer except Bonne Bell turns orange on me. It is cheap too so I should just stick with it.

I tried this recently and loved it but of course the shade I tried (Italian Rose) they were out of. It was the most perfect shade! It is their best seller as well. I may order it online or go back to the mall. I never go to the mall but I just may have to make a trip for this. It felt like a lip balm on the lips and have great staying power.

I wanted to try this because of some breakouts and I am just waiting for more breakouts! I was told that BHA helps..I sure hope so. Since starting Lybrel my face is a mess and I am too old for such nonsense. :o)

And last but not least, I really want to get this! There is now a fragrance oil duplicate so I can make products in this but I have not tried it yet. I have a few fellow etailer friends who are waiting on it. I am hoping it will be product worthy. Of course, I will have add a little something to make mine smell even better. :b

Have a good weekend and I will post again as time permits!

Colleen :o)

Hello all! I realize this information is long over due and I am sorry. I want to first let you know that I apologize for the extraordinarily (even for me) long wait. I know it is ridiculous and many of you have told me so! :o) I had a large BOGO sale and then the Candy Box which put me dreadfully behind. The orders I received for the BOGO alone should have made me pause...but no, I had to go and do the Candy Box because I thought it would be fun. I am not sure what I was thinking at that point because it was so NOT fun! LOL...I then needed to take an exam for my Master's degree and find a job in my field. This all took more time than I thought it would.

I am now working at North County Solutions for Change. You can view the website here. I love what I do very much. I just started within the last 3 weeks so it has taken a lot of my time and energy which resulted in a further delay of your orders. I am sorry for this. Many have asked for refunds and I have processed quite a few. Many products are already scented and ready to go and need to be shipped. I am hoping to get these finished over the weekend of the March 15. I want you all to know I am doing the best I can to get the rest of them done. I have not answered all the emails I received due to lack of time or a definitive answer about exactly when each and every order would be shipped. Please forgive me!
With all this said, I have given a lot of thought to the future of The Body Dessert Shop and how I will manage this business. I have thought of closing because I certainly can't have people angry at me all the time for my lack of customer service and slow turn around times. I have thought about making premade products and a custom product order option with a 3-4 week turnaround time. I am not sure what I will be doing at this time. I will keep you updated. Please keep in mind that these are not excuses but an explanation as to why your orders were delayed. Many customers told me they just wanted to know what was going on and so I thought I would update this blog and let you know.
If you want a refund I can certainly do this IF the products you ordered are not scented and ready to go already, which is the case for about 30 or so orders. This orders take time to process to get ready to ship. Please contact me and I will do my best to let you know the status of your order if I have not already. I will be home tomorrow afternoon from about 1-5. I work most Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Please contact me at thebodydessertshop@yahoo.com so I can check my email from work.
Thank you very much for your understanding and patience. I do appreciate all of you and your business!

Colleen :o)

Happy Valentine's Day from The Body Dessert Shop!

Business News

Valentine's Day is getting close and I am fast at work on The Candy Boxes! They will start going out very soon. Customers that have previous orders will have their Candy Boxes tucked inside their older orders. Thanks for your orders and patience.

I just wanted to address the turnaround time. I know..it has gotten very long. There are few a reasons...really! First, I have many customers who place multiple orders. When that happens I try and put all orders in one box to save the customer on shipping. This delays orders tremendously for that customer and others who are waiting for smaller orders. Secondly, I did not anticipate the amount of orders I recieved, Candy Boxes aside. I had one order that has over 100 products in it and that can take days to make.

All of my products are made to order except for tarts which are premade ahead of time. With that said, there are occasional fragrance oil mishaps (spills or running out of them) and supply problems that can plague any busy etailer. I have been in business since 2004 and my business has grown the most this past year and I can barely keep up! It is time to get some serious about getting some real help for my business. The Body Dessert Shop is having growing pains. :) Please take the poll on our front page of the website and help us figure out how best to serve you!

I posted this in my September newsletter and the information in it is worth repeating:

"When placing your order if you add on to your existing order or make a change in a scent or product this will delay your order considerably. Also once your order is placed there are no cancellations. If you place multiple orders during the same month I will try and save you on shipping by combining your orders. If your original order was packed and ready to go out, I will then need to repack it with the new items, sometimes in a Flat Rate Box and it has to be re-weighed etc. This can be very time consuming and it can get complicated as well. I don't mind doing this as long as you know your order will be delayed. I will no longer ship to Canada. It has become cost and time prohibitive for me. "

New Policy

What I plan to do for now is this. All orders that have been placed will be shipped as is. I will not combine orders unless it is requested and I will not combine more than 2 orders at a time. If you do request your orders be combined please know that your order will now be delayed. If you don't mind the delay I don't mind shipping them together to save you money. Fair enough? :)

I have 2 new perfumes to launch when I get caught up. Absolutely Vanilla with..yes you guessed it..it has vanilla absolute in it! Also Absolutely Chocolate with cocoa absolute will be available. The absolute in both formulas offer deep long lasting richness you cannot get with conventional fragrance oils. You will love them both. More information on both vanilla and cocoa absolute will be coming in either the next blog entry or in an upcoming newsletter.

Useless Information

School for me is now done! I graduate in May (with honors, yay me, don't ask me how I did this!) with a Master's Degree in Psychology with a focus on Marriage and Family Therapy. I never thought I would get this far in my education. My Mom is coming out in May to see me graduate and then we are going to Disneyland! I am looking forward to this fun trip. I will be closed the week prior to my commencement which will be May 18th. I cannot wait to throw my hat in the air!

New things I have tried.. Got this on Ebay. Love it! It is nice at bedtime and the scent lasts. I also got this and I do not like it at all! Yuck!!! It is horid..but maybe it is just me. :o)

What I am reading..no more text books, I can tell you that!

I just finshed the Other Boleyn Girl (awesome read and now it's a movie) and I am now reading Blond Ambition by Rita Cosby...about the life and death of Anna Nicole Smith. It is very fascinating how these people lived. Howard K. Stern is a real winner. What a parasite. :b

Please let me know if you have questions and concerns about your order. You can reach me at thebodydessertshop@cox.net

Until next time!

Colleen :o)

Happy New Year!

2008

My mother and my brother were in town for 1 week and we had a ball! I think it really helped for them to have a change of scenery after their loss. The weather was nice and we had a very nice holiday. My mom cleaned my shop! She organized and took inventory. Thanks Mom. Thanks to her and Nathan for all the great presents they got me and the kids!

Above is my annual Christmas photo of the kids. It came out cute this year plus the kids cooperated. Costco came to the rescue once again with their speedy service. My kids are growing up so fast! They wanted Nintendo DS Lites for Christmas and IPODS! When I asked them where I was going to get all the money for those expensive presents they said "Oh Mom..don't worry...we can ask Santa for them". Snort!

Business News

I still have a few Christmas orders left. Some orders had add ons from the Bargain Bin and we ran out of some fragrances. Please rest assured I am working on those remaining orders.

We will be having a sale. The newsletter will go out on January 1st. Check it out for all the details. All of our Fall and Christmas fragrances will be discontinued at the end of the month. If you have been eyeing a particular fragrance now is the time to get it. Our best sellers for the month of December were:

The World's Greatest Marshmallow

Sugar Star

Let Them Eat Cake

Red Sugar

Daisy Type

Virgin Island Water Type

Vanilla Nog in tarts and in body products &

Sugared Cocoa Bean Noel

Useless Info

I got a few things for Christmas and my birthday that I thought I would review!

My mom bought me this for my birthday! It is heaven in a box. I have only used the Chocolate Truffle so far. I will let you know about the others as I use them. The French Vanilla is to die for!

I also got this from my birthday from my man. Love all of them. The Glittery Gumdrop one smells like real gumdrops. He also got me the Dreamy Chocolate Mint and it is really good as well.

I think I have mentioned before that I use Bumble and Bumble hair products on my crazy curly hair. I tried a sample of this and it really tamed the mess! The sample I got was for $12.00 at a a salon near where I live. I got my Mom hooked on this. I have been using this for a year or so and I literally cannot live without it. Now she can't either! LOL...

I have been using this for about 4 months. I think it was right after I saw the Today Show report that it actually works. I am here to tell you it does! I love how smooth and clear it makes my skin feels. I was then told by my mom that I bought the wrong one. So she got me this one. My face broke out and was a total mess! But I kept using it..until I woke up and went back to other one. I have to have my mom buy this for me in Montana and ship it to me because my Target is always out. I think out of all the skin products I have ever tried this is the best and has made the most difference. That is a big statement coming from me only because of all the countless dollars I have spent on skin care. I am sure you can relate. :b

Got some stuff from LUSH. I got Celestial for me and Cosmetic Lad for my husband. These are repurchases. For my mom I got Candy Fluff dusting powder. I got a sliver of Snowcake and it made my skin itch and burn! I was so sad because it smells great! I really liked it. Oh well. :o)

Things I want to try!

This looks yummy! Maybe I can recreate this fragrance for the website. Anyone try this yet?

I may have to take a trip to Sephora...maybe tomorrow!

Love these colors on the Korres Lip Butter. I would love to try this from Philosophy or this one. I have had several of their 3 in 1's and have never been sorry.

I have had my eye in this too. That concludes my wishlist for this year. :o)

Until next time!

Colleen

Happy Holidays!

Business News

I hope everyone is getting their shopping done. I have a few last minute things to get. I am fast at work on all the orders. Many orders will go out tonight and tomorrow. If you have concerns about your order please email me at thebodydessertshop@cox.net OR at thebodydessertshop@yahoo.com. I will try and be as prompt as I can. :o)

I will post more as time permits!

Colleen

In Loving Memory

Jeffrey Spackman

1960-2007

Above is the program that was passed out to all the people who came to pay their respects. I thought I would share.

Poem read at the Memorial Service:

To An Athlete Dying Young By: A.E. Houseman

The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.
Today, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It wishers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honors out,
Runners whom reknown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before the echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
and fine unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.




Colleen