New Year at my Home

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season...mine was great!

 

 

I got a beautiful baby sister just in time for Christmas!

Born December 19, 2012 and weighing 10 lbs 11oz...

She is the 10th child and the 6th sister of my family...

...and her name is EVERLY GRACE

FIRST PICTURE of "6 SISTERS"

(L to R ~ "Riri", Emma holding "Evie", IlaMay (Yamali girl), "P.J", and Kelly)

 

 

FIRST SIMLE PICTURE

 

 

THINGS THAT KEEP ME BUSY

~Working on Yamali Product Development

~high (home)school....um, why do I need algebra again?!

~Spending time with my adorable little sisters

~Researching herbs, essential oils and veggie oils for soapmaking

~Sledriding in this deep WestPA January snow with my brothers

~Keeping up with Etsy.com shop

(BY THE WAY...a beautiful bar of Yamali soap made it's way to the United Kingdom this week...and also a few to Montana...oh and Oregon - it is really exciting! )

~Practicing homemaking - cooking, baking, cleaning, organizing, etc.

~Babysitting the sib-i-lings

~Finishing the complete touches of my business branding (see the art below? Find the story and the origin of this artwork  HERE )

~writing and reading and thinking about various subjects

~Planning for soapmaking on the weekend....I might make a few new kinds

~Learning more about Christ Jesus, life, love and people :)

 

 

I will start blogging about the nitty gritty soapmaking soon, when I get back to soapmaking. A new sister and Etsy sales have given me a chance to take a nice 2-month vacation from soapmaking, but don't worry... I feel I might need to make up for it very soon. :)

 

Thanks for reading!

Emma

 

 

 



Happy December Everyone!!

HI, Happy December to everyone from Yamali Naturals.  This is not the Master Soapmaker....it's her creative buddy filling in.  You see, it's the 1st Saturday of hunting season and Emma's dad and siblings stole her away for a walk in the woods...with a gun....at 6 a.m.....Very cool.  Very cool of her I mean.  If you have ever met Emma you'll understand.  You see, Emma is a champ.  She is one of the most dedicated friends one can ever have.  Our family is very blessed to have such a gem.  Emma is a super hard worker, tireless and focused.  She is a great sister, patient, funny and dependable.  Emma is smart as whip.  However, her life right now is very full.  Full of work, school, little sisters, cooking, cleaning, and hunting.  Full.  Emma however is full too....full of ideas, bursting and rich in beauty.  Whether it is soap, herbs, marketing or research, her mind and heart are abuzz with new, bigger, better ideas.  What began as an experiment and curiosity has bloomed into a full time business for her and we stand amazed at her success, ability and resolve.  Life can be difficult, even when you're 16.  Tiring, chaotic and swirling.  God is good.  Having a vision is good.  Emma has both.  I stand amazed at what He does through her, and the strength He blesses her with.  The energy to go hunting with her best friends, make one more batch of soap, read one more story to a little one, and still grab her bible for a late night study.  What, you may ask, does this have to do with Yamali or soap??  Everything.  You see, as much a Emma pours into her life, she pours into her business.  Every bar of soap, every scent, and every salve is the sum total of her energy, focus and love.  Yes, love.  Emma loves what she does and her business reflects it.  This is hard because being related to her seems like a rather biased opinion. Eh, maybe.  However, I must say, I have tried a lot of soaps, a lot.  Never have I LOVED a soap.  Never have I made it through winter in our woodburning house without lotion. Never have I considered handwashing a satisfying and pleasurable event.  Never before.  Yamali has changed all that.  (since we're on this subject of me for a moment.....My absolute favorite "to die for" list:  SOLSTICE-unbelievable, warm and rich, CLOVE SHAVE-spicy and comforting, not necessarily for shaving, GINGER CLEAN-for the B.O. yuckies, amazing, OATMEAL!!Every face needs it!!!  SALVATION ORIGINAL-use for everything, be careful, heals very quickly!  SALVATION BREATHE better than vick's vapor rub and good for little ones.  I'm sorry, I digress)  Where were we, oh yes, Emma.  The heart and soul of Yamali Naturals.  Beautiful, natural, high quality and valuable.
Thanks Emma.  And thank you, our customers, may you have a blessed December. 


Oh! And PLEASE go visit the etsy shop.  It is fabulous and easy to order! Thanks!
 

ETSY SHOP OPENING!!!

We just opened our new Etsy shop this week! Check it out!

Yamali Naturals on Etsy.com

We are so excited to finally open. Not all of our products are listed quite yet...some soap is curing and not ready to sell...but we'll be listing more as we go.

To celebrate our shop opening, we will offer a 20% OFF discount when you order $30 or more. This sale starts NOVEMBER 9 and ends NOVEMBER 16. Use the following coupon code at checkout:

YAMALISOAP20

Thanks for reading!!!
Emma
 

End of August...already! (FAFF follow up)

Time sure does fly! It has almost been a month since Yamali was featured on the front page of the Leader Times! (THANK YOU DIANNE!) The article came out on Wednesday, and then Thursday through Sunday was the big Fort Armstrong Folk Festival. (I am sorry that I didn't do a quick follow up on that like I did last year, but better late than ever???)

 

We had a different booth set up this year (I'm always changing something!), and, personally, I think it turned out really nice. Below is what our booth looked like on the first three days. My mom took this photo on Thursday...I was absent due to sickness the very first night! I am so greatful for my family, who took over everything YAMALI -related while I was at home as sick as a dog. My mom did everything...from putting up the tent to setting out every bar of soap. I love my mom. I love my dad too! Thank you!

 

On Friday morning, I felt AMAZING! Feeling so much better and energized, I was able to run the booth for the rest of the weekend. I had so much fun. We had nice vendor-neighbors that we talked to a lot. Crafters seem to come from all over Pennsylvania, and even the USA to this festival. It's kinda cool. My family was there with me the whole time. It's fun to have my family at the booth..even if we all can't fit in the tent at once. :)

We had a great year with beautiful weather (note: honey bees love Yamali soap and Salve-ation salve!). This is a photo of the booth display that I had on Sunday. We had to simplify our booth on Sunday because it rained in the morning and we wanted to be able to pack up in no time if the big storm (that was supposed to come) hit us. The storm ended up missing us almost completely and for the remainder of the day we had nice cool weather and the soap sales continued. I liked this set-up too. It was nice and simple.

 

I wish I had gotten more photos of the festival (again, like I did last year), but honestly I didn't have ANY free time to do so. I was so busy making sales and talking to people that I didn't get the chance. On Sunday, though, I took these photos before packing up (it was very dark out).

 

This shows our side table that held all the shampoo bars, gifts, soap favors and mini salves.

Left to right: Bay Rum, Apothecary, Exotic Orange, Trophy Bar, Lakeside, Solstice and Sublime

 

I wanted to thank everybody for coming to the festival. It was so nice to see (and meet) you! I hope that you enjoy the soap (and/or scrubs, salves and such!) and I look forward to hearing from you again. (I also appreciate any feedback that you may have!) Again...THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL SOAPMAKER!

 

END NOTE:

I told everybody that I would be opening an ETSY shop in September, which is true, but I don't know exactly when in September. I am new to Etsy, so bear with me here! :)  I am probably going to start the shop up very basic with short and simple (it's temporary) listings and photos for each soap or product, and then design, edit and add details as I go. It is also hard to start an Etsy shop when my soap stock is very low. I almost sold out this month. I have some soap available, but it will not last long. Don't worry...I will be making more soap this week so I will have stock ready just when I run out...hopefully! :)

 

Thanks for reading!

Emma

 

 

Back to blogging

Yes! I am back! (Not that I ever left, but I have to admit to the long delay.) I thank my faithful readers for their patience. I also see that I have gained a few followers -thank you! Wow, I never thought I'd make it to ten...I mean....10! Here are a few of the exciting things I have been doing on my blogging break.


New colored soaps-left to right
Apothecary-Almond Scrub-Clove Shave-Citurs Spice
Toasted Vanilla - Tootsie Love - LeAra Lavender - Oasis
Oatmeal - Lakeside - Java Swirl - Chatarunga Carrot
Trophy - Agrarian Companion - Exotic Orange - Honey Oat

YAMALI-RELATED:
~creating new kinds of soap -too many to count almost,
~practicing soapmaking techniques that give the soaps an artisian appeal,
~learning a lot about herbs, oils and, well, more herbs,
~preparing for the Fort Armstrong Folk Festival - I have been officially accepted to be an exhibitor,
~working on what I like to call "Yamali Product Development",
~working on an Etsy shop for Yamali Naturals -I AM SO EXCITED!!!
~looking into more local markets, festivals, and shows to attend - any suggestions?

UNRELATED:
~enjoying my summer, free of school (and cool weather as the locals know it!),
~practicing my driving - trying to fill required hours and time before testing for junior's license
~working with my Dad in construction. I LOVE MY DAD!
~enjoying July celebrations, including the fourth,
~swimming on weekends with my 8 siblings and parents,
~photography - capturing the special little moments,
~living and loving life and learning along the way,

THIS IS THE DAY WHICH THE LORD HATH MADE;
WE WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT - PSALMS 118:24

Have a great week! I hope to be blogging again soon, but I don't know when. After all, it's a weekend. I am very busy with the above UNRELATED category on the weekends. :)

Blessings in Christ,
Emma

New Yamali Soap Favors

Lately, I have been working on some Yamali soap favor ideas. About two weeks ago, I made the cutest little soap favors that were wrapped up in custom-labeled paper wrappers. I had two sizes made, whole soaps and half-bar soaps. They are nice and simple favors, nothing too fancy or expensive. I think these favors came out really nice, but would also like to know what my readers think of them. I would appreciate any comments.

Regular 5oz bar soap favor and small 2.5 oz bar soap favor. Example couple name: John & Maria, the names resembling two of my siblings' names, John & Marie. May I note that these favors can be labeled to the buyer's specifications. Name, font, colors, quotes, notes, dates, etc. The examples below are half bar (2.5oz) soaps. (Quarter-bar 1oz soaps are soon to be added to the favor size selections) 

LUCKY KATE'S BRIDAL SHOWER JULY 21, 2012 with bride clip art
SARAH'S SHOWER JULY 7, 2012 with crib clip art
IT'S A GIRL SHOWER JUNE 16, 2012 CONGRATULATIONS with pink stroller clip art

JOHN & MARIA JUNE 16, 2012 in different fonts and colors

Soon after making these little half-bar favors, Ila May (or the Q.O.E.) found them on the table and stole them. She confessed later and said, "I never had baby soaps before, so I took them. I sorry."

Regular sized favors in wedding style.

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear from you!

~Emma

SALVE-A-TION Healing Herbal Salve

I am soooooooooooo excited about this....I have finally added an herbal healing salve to the YN products! (It's about time, too!) Below is a pictorial of the salve-making process, and, at the end, the final product!  

First, I had to make some herb-infused oil. (More on that at a later date.) I used some of the herbs that I had grown and harvested last year, which was a big achievement, for me. I wanted this to be a basic salve until I get more herbs. (I'll be getting them from the Bulk Herb Store. Check it out, it's a great place to get herbs among other things. :) )

INGREDIENTS:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - A nourishing carrier oil we used to infuse the herbs

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil - Moisturizes and softens skin

Beeswax - Used to turn liquid herb oil into a solid salve

Grapefruit Seed Extract - A natural preservative that is anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-microbial.

Lavender and Tea Tree Essential oils - These oils have antibacterial, anti-viral and anti-septic properties.

HERBS: 

Calendula - Helps sooth irritated and damaged skin and is anti-inflammatory

Plantain - Nothing short of amazing! See our blog posts on plantain here. It especially helps pull out toxins (or insect venom) because of it's astringent properties.

Comfrey Leaf and root - Helps heal up damaged tissue, such as abrasions, bruises, and cuts, but should not be used on deep wounds. It heals so fast, that if you put it on a deep cut, for example, it has a chance to heal over any bacteria within the wound and cause infection. Wow, the power of herbs! 

 My little brother, Johnny Brian, wanted to help.

John strained the herb oil through a strainer and cheesecloth while I snapped this picture.

Melting beeswax and adding herb oils (the bright white stuff is some virgin coconut oil). 

This is the warm salve, cooling down in their 4 ounce jars.

This is the salve all cooled down and ready to be lidded.

Well, there you have it!

Yamali's SALVE-A-TION HERBAL SALVE

My family has been using this "green goo" all week long...and ...it works! We use the salve for many things...cuts, scrapes, burns, bruises, stings, bug bites, infected skin, sore spots, blisters and more! 

A personal testimony:

     When working in the garden, I got a bunch of nettle stings on my fingers. OUCH! They were hurting badly, so it was then that I decided to "test" my new salve. Within minutes of applying the salve, the slight swelling I had went away and I could not feel a thing! It was GONE! I tried to locate the stingers, but could not. The relief lasted until I washed my hands, when the salve rinsed off. The pain then started to come back, and I could feel the stingers again. So I simply re-applied the smallest amount of salve (it doesn't take much to slather up a knuckle), and covered it with a bandage. PAIN GONE! 

I will be posting the new salve on one of our products page soon, well, as soon as I get that area of the blog organized. :)

Thanks for reading!

~Emma

Introducing...The Exception Line

It's here! Introducing...The EXCEPTION Line!

Due to growing customer demand, we have launched a new line of Yamali soaps that have been scented with high-quality fragrance oils that are phthalate-free. Using fragrance oils enables us to provide special scents in soap that we are otherwise unable to produce when using pure essential oils. Some of these include coconut, almond, vanilla, musk and apple, to name a few. Why EXCEPTION? Well, all of our products here at Yamali have been scented with pure essential oils, with the exception of our fragrance scented bars. There you have it, The EXCEPTION Line.    

EXCEPTION LINE SOAPS
ALMOND SCRUB, SEA SAGE KELP SWIRL
MARISOL, COCONUT LIME

ALMOND SCRUB

This scrumptious scrubbing soap is chock full of soothing oats and ground almonds with a tad bit of moisturizing honey, and finally topped of with a sweet almond scent. This sweet soap smells, feels and looks so good your skin will eat it up! 

SEA SAGE KELP SWIRL

Already a favorite! This unique soap has been scented with a delightful fragrance with notes of sage and lemongrass, and has been beautifully swirled with kelp powder. Some would consider it to be a beach-y fragrance, but for others, it it the perfect soap for the kitchen or guest bathroom. ENJOY!

MARISOL

Feel the sand, sun and suds on your skin all at once with this sweet smelling beach-y soap. Hints of vetivert, lime and bay produce a summer-y fragrance, not strong and powerful, but light and clean.    



COCONUT LIME

Creamy and delightful. Our coconut lime soap has been enriched with creamy coconut milk, which adds a noticable milkiness in the sweet smelling suds. This soap has a heavenly coconut scent with a hint of lime.

Well, these four bars are our first set of exception line soaps, but we have many more kinds yet to be made. If there's a fragrance soap you would like to suggest to us that you would like to see in this new exception line, please feel free to let us know in the comments section! We are open to all and any suggestions that you may have!

Thank you for reading!

New Blog Look & The Story Behind the Name Yamali Naturals

As you can see, I have changed the look of the blog. It's not that I didn't like the other look, I just needed my blog to match my new packaging. (It's just apart of my new branding scheme.)
After 2 years of blogging...I have finally gotten around to telling you where the name Yamali Naturals came from. I apoligize for not doing this sooner, but now I think you might be interested in knowing the story behind the name. 

When I first started making soap in January of 2010, my supportive mother helped me come up with a business name, a basic start at product branding and soap packaging.

Why Yamali Naturals?
About a month after I started making soap in January of 2010, I still had no idea what I wanted to name my business. I HAD NO IDEA WHATSOEVER!!! My mom would give me some ideas, but none of them felt right. Then one day, my mom was doodling on a piece of paper, writing down the names of everyone in my family, backwards. (Try it! It's actually pretty neat!) She then came up with Yamali. It is my sister's name (Q.O.E.) spelled backwards! Her name is Ila May and she would have been around 14 months old at the time. The name stuck. We added 'Naturals' to Yamali, and well, that's how the name came into being. My sister, Ila May has been my inspiration since the very start of my entrepreneurial endeavor. I am glad that my soap business has been named after her, well, sort of. She knows that Emma makes 'Ila May' soap, and I can't wait until the day when she asks me what Yamali means. I love you girl! Here's some more posts Ila May (Q.O.E.) stars in.

  
  

How did I get the bright yellow flower?After giving me the idea of the name YAMALI, my mother hand-sketched a golden yellow calendula flower on a piece of notebook paper, and by doing this, she gave me a vision of what I wanted Yamali to be. I decide then that I wanted my business and my handmade products to reflect nature, simplicity and creativity. To this day, I work toward maintaining that goal. I am constantly altering and improving things in my business. From business branding to soap making, cutting and packaging, I am always working towards my goal.

This is the original notebook paper sketch my mom made, but I added the Yamali Naturals watermark. PLEASE do not copy my flower, it means a lot to me. :)

I scanned it to my computer, touched it up with a computer Paint tool, and now use it as my new logo/symbol. It is on the new packaging and, obviously, can be seen all over the blog now.

I am excited to finally have a logo/symbol to build my branding off of. I really liked the old calendula flower, but ...
#1. It is a photo, and does not come out clearly on paper.
#2. My awesome mom did not draw it by hand.
#3. It wasn't really mine to begin with; I only borrowed it from some website, for 2 years. 
#4. It did not, in my opinion, reflect simplicity or creativity when compared to the new one.  

VS 

Packaging: Then & Now
My packaging from 2010 to 2011 was basically the same in appearance, but I was always altering the label. It was a very involved way of packaging. First, I wrapped it in a brown paper wrap. Next, I placed a business card, printed out front and back as a label on top the bar. Then, I wrapped the whole soap and label with raffia and tied a bow. It looked nice as soon as you were finished wrapping it, but it never stayed nice. The raffia got twisted and untied, the brown paper collected moisture due to the natural soap 'sweating' in humidity or warm weather, and the pure white label stained easily. Plus...it took hours to wrap just a batch of soap, and there was a lot of paper waste involved with that.
 

Yamali OATMEAL soap in original paper packaging.
Photo from the first soap photo shoot in the history
of (Yamali) soapmaking. Taken around February 2010.

When I switched to the new packaging, I had less time involved wrapping and a lot less paper waste. It also looks quite attractive, and...it reflects nature (natural-colored paper) and creativity (Yamali branding and flower), but mostly, simplicity (not involved, with much less waste). I also feel like I can produce more soap at once or more freely, because I am not dreading a long time spent wrapping soap.

Anyways, I hope you are as excited about the new branding as much as I am.  

Remember, my goal when it comes to business branding is simply this:

I want my business and my handmade products to reflect nature, simplicity and creativity.

Enjoy the ride and thanks for reading!

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks!

Spring Weather At My Home

Hi everyone! Thought you'd like to hear about what's going on around here. I am trying to make a habit of blogging more frequently and consistantly, so please, bear with me.
We have been experiencing very warm and sunny weather here in Western Pennsylvania. The pictures below prove that. I enjoy photography. It's another growing passion of mine, as far as hobbies go.

I really like this photo. I took it from my front porch in the afternoon one day.

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalms 118:24

Here, Sissy and Q.O.E. (Queen of Everything) were

eating their lunch on our deck on windy day last week.

I took many photos of this tree with the sun effect one afternoon, but this one is my favorite.

I don't have a fancy camera, only a simple point and shoot. I don't change the look of my photos, what you see is what I snapped. I simply look for potential photo scene, many of which are otherwise overlooked.

A lighning strike seen from my bedroom window on March 15. The photo is a little bit fuzzy, but, at the same time, do you have any idea how hard it is to catch a lightning flash on a point and shoot camera that has a shutter delay!!!???   I've had so many failed attempts....

I had a grand total of 20 failed attemps. Blah.

Thanks for reading!

SWEET 16 TODAY!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MASTER SOAPMAKER!!!!!


The lovely and talented.......
.....Master Soapmaker.....
..........Super Chemical Freak......
....................Awesome Big Sister.........
..........................Beautiful and Loving Daughter.....
is....              SWEET 16 TODAY!!!!!

Happy Birthday to the "Master"!
May God truly bless your next wonderful year.
We love you Emma! 
May your mixes always be sweet and your traces on time :)
LOVE,  
Bossman, Mama, Sambo, KBNG, RiRi, Andyman,
Nate the Great, John THE Brian, IlaMay, and Peej

        

New Packaging!!!

I wrapped a batch of Exotic Orange soap today with my brother Andrew, one full batch being 65 bars, and it took us about an hour. Not bad. So I thought I would share some photos of the new packaging now that Exotic Orange is all wrapped up.

Oh, about the new packaging. I wanted to change the packaging of Yamali soap into something more, well, economical for the new year 2012, but were unprepared to do so in January, so here it is ready for Spring 2012!

Andy did such a great wrapping job today and I am proud of him!

Well, here it is!!! Each soap looks like this, only they are individualized by the soap name, font colors and bible verse. Yes! The bits of scripture on each wrap is new. Each verse is as different as the bars themselves. Some are encouraging verses and others are bits of wisdom. Not all bars have bible verses, though, the new Exception Line bars have quotes from well-known people like Mother Theresa, C.S.Lewis, Albert Einstein and Hans Christian Anderson, to name a few.

The paper on top of the bar shows an additional area where the name of the soap can be found, with a small description of the soap. As you can see in the below photos, the ingredients are neatly listed on the bottom.

I am trying to use natural light to photograph my soaps, but am not having much success with it because the only natural light area I can use is the kitchen windowsill above the sink.

While playing with the soaps (wrapping) earlier, I found that the soap had a look of translucence in the morning sun and shot these simple photos.

Thanks for reading!

Emma