Show Me Your Hobby – Diana Shares Her Handmade Soap Creations

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other people’s hobbies and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all find unique ways to spend our down time in creative and enriching ways.  Keep them coming!

Hi Mavis!

I love your blog and I’m so excited that you put out this call for more info on hobbies! I’m a total dabbler in hobbies (crochet, quilting, cross-stitch, gardening, etc.) but my most recent, and one that I’m trying to make some money off of is making handmade soap and other body products.

My old coworker used to totally tease me that she wanted to live on a commune with me because I was always learning new skills like making butter and cheese and sewing. I think soap making would fit right into that too! For years my husband and I have loved buying handmade soap at farmer’s markets because of how awesome it felt on our skin, but it always seems like this crazy hard process and I was totally intimidated by it.

Then a few years ago I re-visited the idea, found some online tutorials and got a little obsessed. However at the time I was pregnant and that didn’t seem like the right time to play with lye. Fast forward to baby being born, struggling with postpartum depression and then finding out a short four months later that I was pregnant AGAIN, and it still wasn’t time to play with lye. After my second daughter was born I was finally free to play with chemicals! 🙂

Making soap and body products has been a wonderful way for me to find something that was all mine again. When I’m making these items I’m not someone’s wife or Mom, I get to be Diana again, I get to be a mad scientist and artist and business woman all at once and I love it! And, after a loooong 6-8 weeks of curing I have wonderful products that I get to share with the world!

This fall I took the leap and actually started a little business on the side selling my products and I’m having so much fun learning, meeting other artisans, and getting to hear from my customers. You can find my Etsy shop here: etsy.com/shop/barncatcreations. You featured it a while back and I got two orders from your readers! It was such a wonderful experience!

Thanks so much again Mavis for giving us artisans a chance to share our craft with your readers, and I’m totally looking forward to seeing other people’s hobbies and what I need to start dabbling in. 🙂

~Diana
Barn Cat Creations

If you would like to have your Hobby featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

1. Your hobby has to be submitted as a well written post. A one sentence “I make homemade kites” will not do. Now, 4-5 paragraphs about how you got into kite making, how long you’ve been doing it and the different types of kites you make WILL DO. That’s what I’m looking for! How long have you been doing it? Do you make money off of it or is it just for fun? Can you teach me how to do it?
2. Be sure to include a little information about yourself, like your hobby’s backstory and how you got into it. Also, please include your first name and what state or country you are from.
3. Your submission MUST have 5 HIGH QUALITY photos attached. You do not have to be a professional photographer, but your photos do need to be clear and well lit or I won’t be able to use them.
4. All photos must be original, and they must have been taken by YOU. All photos you submit may be used on One Hundred Dollars A Month once submitted.
5. Sadly, I might not be able to use every submission if I am overwhelmed by responses. A $20 Amazon gift card will only be awarded if the submission is published.
6. If you have a blog and would like me to link back to it, please let me know, I’d be happy too.
7. Although you must submit at least 5 pictures per submission, you can always include more. The more the merrier just in case I do not select them all.
8. One submission per person.
9. Send submissions via email to onehundreddollarsamonth @ gmail.com {remove the spaces} and be sure and put Show Me Your Hobby in the subject line.

I can’t wait to see all of your fascinating hobbies! Might just encourage me to take up a few new ones.

Hobby on,
~Mavis