Welcome to May 2023! As you can see by these gorgeous tulips we found down by the Vedder River on our favourite biking trail, April showers have indeed brought May flowers! Spring is finally here with cherry blossoms and plum blossoms and magnolia trees all filled with blooms. It is really spectacular!
April was a whirlwind month! I found out I didn’t have any signs of cancer a mere hour after testing positive for COVID and fighting that for two weeks. So yay and boo to April 3! I’m doing okay – the arm spasms are even getting better – but still feeling like my energy is still lagging a bit.
What am I working on this month?
The good news is that my brain has been racing and I’ve been writing up a storm! I’m feeling a bit scattered in that I want to dive down so many rabbit holes, so I have to take some time to get organized and figure out what’s up next. I seriously need some workshop time this month, we’re running out of everything again, and I have so many new ingredients that I want share with you. Oh, and I have a viscometer that I’m definitely setting up again so I can do some fun experiments!
I have a serious backlog of formulas I need to share with you, but each one needs a photo or two as well as an ingredient profile for something I’ve used, which can take a while.
I think I might just share them with a brief profile of the ingredient so you can see what I’ve been doing over the last year. (I like to watch and wait before sharing products with you so I can ensure they’re stable.)
Doesn’t this blueberry, carob, yucca & cornsilk conditioning shampoo look enticing? It’s almost written up and to be share here!
I have the e-book for the month planned out – Combining emollients, part two – with all kinds of updates, new formulas, worksheets, and more! I’m super excited about sharing this with you, and hope it’ll be out earlier in the month than normal as I’m well into the writing process for it and part three, which’ll be out in June.
Find part one of the Combining emollients e-book in the shop! If you were an active subscriber in the month of April 2023, there’s a coupon for you so you get it free as part of your subscription! (Click here for the coupon if you were a subscriber in April 2023.)
As we do every month on the blog…
If you’re in need of supplies, $10 subscribers to the month have four discount coupons this month for Lotioncrafter, Voyageur Soap & Candle, and Windy Point Soap Making Supplies. Thank you for this lovely gift out of the goodness of your hearts, lovely suppliers!
They’ll be updated as we receive them. If you don’t see them today, please check back tomorrow or the next day, they will be there eventually.
If you’re a $3 subscriber or higher, click here to see the duplication request post!
Please note that requests for duplication are only considered if they’re posted in the duplication section as this is part of the $3 and up subscribers benefits and not if they’re emailed, direct messaged, or suggested in comments on social media. I cannot possibly re-create every single formula suggested as this blog would be nothing but duplicated products — and how boring would that be? – so I can only choose a few a year to create. I go into detail about my process for choosing formulas in both the duplication request post and in this post. Thank you for continuing to share them in that post. I have been getting loads of ideas from it the last few months, and there will be more to come soon, I hope.
And don’t forget that you have access to the formula directory! The formula directory is constantly being updated to include even more formulas from around the blog, so if you’re looking for a formula, you’ll find it in the formula directory! (That word has lost all meaning now…)
Also check out the latest addition to the monthly posts – Ingredient substitution ideas post ($3 and up)! Because it’s getting harder to find supplies thanks to shortages and shipping issues, if you have an ingredient you’re trying to find or need help substituting for in a formula, please share your thoughts over there!
I can’t suggest enough that you check out this post. If you’re in need of suggestions for one of my formulas, link to it and let me know which ingredients you don’t have. If you need a formula rejiggering, ask away! If you just don’t like something, share your thoughts!
If you’re a $5 subscriber or higher, click here to see the month’s Q&A post! I check this post every day, and it’s my priority to answer your questions or help with your formulas – it’s the best way to get in touch with me and guarantee an answer!
Right now, this is the only way I can answer questions or analyze formulas because I have such limited time, so please make that your first stop if you have something you simply have to know! 😁
And don’t forget about the monthly Super happy fun member-to-member post for May 2023!, which is available to all levels of subscriptions. It’s more important than ever that we connect with other people during this ongoing pandemic, so please feel free to share your thoughts on this post or others on the blog!
You can always find the links to these monthly posts in the pinned post section, which is found to the right of just about every page on the blog on desktop and most mobile, or the bottom of every page for the odd mobile device. Or do a search for “Q&A” or “duplication” to find them. I’m afraid I don’t have time to do searches for you if you write to me as I’m swamped and my arms and hands are still in minor spasm, so doing one of those two things will find you those posts very quickly.
If you’re a $10 subscriber or higher, you’ll get the e-book for the month – which is generally issued on the 28th or later. I’m never sure what the topic will be until I start reviewing outlines, notes, formulas and everything else, but there are – as always – a few different ones on the go.
Last month – April 2023 – $10 subscribers received part one of a three part series – Combining emollients to make friends and influence people, part one.
If you were a $10 subscriber in April 2023, please click here to see the coupon page to get that code! This coupon only works for those who were active subscribers in the month of April.
Click here to see the 80+ e-books in the shop here on the site!
Thank you all so much for joining me here in May as we celebrate spring and – we hope – enjoy more bikes! You inspire me, delight me, challenge me, and make me think – for all of that I am so grateful! What are you up to this month? What are your plans for formulating, researching, marketing, selling, and everything else related to this amazing craft!