Vacation! Work? Vacation!!! What an exciting week!

 

I’m on vacation right now! And I laugh, because two of the BIGGEST items on my TO-DO list happened this week. LIKE SUPER HUGE things. LIKE, I’m SO excited… I can’t wait any longer to tell you WHY we had to hit pause on our vacation.

www.hilltopdesignshd.com

WE HAVE A BRAND NEW .COM!

We have a wonderful and AMAZING new WEBSITE!

It’s ALL OURS AND YOU CAN SHOP on it too!!!!

Etsy has served us well, but it is NOT exactly set up for the way we sell.

Hilltop has grown and to support that growth not only have we opened our own

BRAND NEW ONLINE HILLTOP SHOP @ www.hilltopdesignshd.com (go and bookmark that right now)

But we are now also able to offer our amazing consultant’s their very own shop links and workstations.

As a Hilltop Consultant you will have access to your sales, customer lists, items sold and more. This allows you to see a running tally of your sales throughout the month. NOT just at the end of the month with your commission check, like it used to be.

OH! Commission! YES!! You can see that too! Did you know that Hilltop Consultants make 50% commission on sales???? Well, now you can watch that ticker climb up and up!  It is simply wonderful!

Our Consultants will be able to post their links and have their customers shop directly from them.

So about ETSY. The shop will remain open on ETSY as it is a great place for a store as ours. Etsy is a great niche’ market place and I would never want to lose that. SO, If you would like to continue to shop on Etsy your wonderful consultants will still get credit for your purchases!

Hilltop is headed for BIGGER and BETTER with these two amazing platforms to purchase our quality skin care line from!

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL…..

Not only are we launching our VERY OWN e-commerce site. We are opening our very OWN STORE.

This has NOT been easy. But really. It never is.

July 26^th. I had a vendor show in the town where I live and I was sooooo excited about this little space we were going to move into. IT was awesome! I was so excited to move into our little town. Only 10 days or so until I got the keys.

Then Monday came. Called to arrange pick for keys, no answer. Text. Nothing. Email….well you get the picture. And then I got that gut feeling, that gut instinct that won’t go away but you know. That plan I had… It’s about to change.

UGH!!!

I hate that feeling! So immediately I prayed. A prayer that included three things that Hilltop could use to better our upcoming holiday sales season.

The three things that I have been praying for are: 1.) MORE SPACE <<- this is the BIGGEST NEED. 2nd this space needs to be within my budget AND 3rd I want it LOCAL to the communities I’m involved in.

So I start to call around. Still hoping in the back of my head I’m wrong about that feeling in my gut.

I write two MORE letters to the different business in the town I live. Trying to see if their spaces are available. But door after door is closing. And I still know nothing in regards to my Martin space.

There are 2 potential spaces in neighboring towns that are cute but the prices are too high for my budget.

And then one afternoon, I notice a hand written sign on a building in Hopkins that has been empty for a while. So I call on it. Get the information and it is HUGE. THAT terrifies me. Because WOW…what am I going to do with all that space. So I call it a day, because really WHAT in heaven’s name am I going to do with all that space. And it’s kinda ugly. Soap needs cute.

So I pray, and I pray and pray and I weigh the pros and cons, and MAYBE I do need to check out the huge space in Hopkins. It fulfills ALL three of the requirements I was praying for. Not only by answering what I thought I needed…but by exceeding the requests.

This place is amazing folks. The potential for cute is beyond belief. And there is even a window we will be putting back in so you can SEE in and we can see out.

My cousin Jillian did a great rendering on Photoshop it even shows the new window…with a VIEW!!!

We will be packaging there, shipping there, and receiving there! Eventually creating there. Our offices will be there and YES! We will have a third platform for purchases, beause you can SHOP THERE!!!!

We found our HOME!

And IT’S HUGE and I feel like that is God saying “Here you go! Here is your space, I did you one better on the price! Now, fill ‘er up!”

That gut feeling God gives you…I was right on. The other building sold, and we ended up needed a new location just as I suspected!

SO!!!!!

I’ll let you know when we are open in Hopkins! I hope you ALL come and visit us for Arts and Eats. We are excited about opening up Hilltop Designs in Hopkins, Mi.

Until Next time, Happy creating from Vacation

Christine

Behind the Scenes at Hilltop Designs HD

Ever wonder what it looks like behind the scenes?  All of the Hilltop Designs HD products you buy are handmade!  Did you know that?  I still make them right in my own house.  I’ve left my family’s kitchen. Entered a new space. EVERYTHING is still made, right here.  In my house, around my kids schedules, and in our small little world of chaos.

Its great fun and so I wanted to show you all what I do!

This is a small sampling of products that are about to be packaged.  One of my favorite products to make are the bath bombs.  You can see several in this picture that are drying.  It takes a few days to completely dry out and then we wrap them in the cute little Chinese food containers.

The bulk of my time is making the famous #hilltopsquarebar.  These bars here are the Lavender Square Bars.  Each bar is poured in to big slabs and then I hand cut those slabs in to bars.  No two bars are ever the same.

I use ball canning jars for more than just packaging.  I like to make my products in small batches. Because I use natural ingredients I like to make sure they maintain the highest degree of quality. I feel that can get lost in big batches. It’s also helpful to work in small batches because they blend up faster!  When I was testing the Mango Shea, I blew through 3 blenders in like 3 weeks.  I also lost a lot of other small appliances.  I was like the small appliance grave yard for a while.

This is one of my favorite images.  I work with hot oils and I just love how you can see the wax and oil moving in this image.  I wish you could smell this image too.  The smell of freshly melted beeswax is golden. 😉

The wrapping, and oh how we wrap.

Because each bar is handmade you can bet each bar is hand-wrapped. I do have people who help me wrap because this is very time-consuming.  And I’m very particular.  BUT! On a good night I can cut and wrap about 90 bars.  I found out last holiday season even THAT was not enough.

If the bands not tight, it’s not right!  And the Mess!  You would not believe how messy my work is!

Making the deodorant is the worst!  LOL! But I love it. This image of arrowroot powder is just perfect in visually capturing the process.  And my shirt, in the picture above, reminds me I should probably invest in an apron. 😉

And seriously, if you’re not getting dirty, you’re not having fun.  Am I right?

Loving your job is what it is all about.

 I hope you have enjoyed your behind the scenes tour of HD.

It is one of my most favorite place in the world.

BUT,

My other favorite place would be outside with my family 😉 Playing with our Chicks.

Happy Creating,

Christine

L,L,L what begins with L? April’s Lovely New Products

L,L,L what begins with L?

Lotion Bar, Lemon Drops, Lime, Lemongrass and Lavender!

 That’s what begins with L!

April’s VIP club is LOADS of fun. We recently released our Baseline Lotions.  Our “TRUE” lotion feeling lotion.  I still wanted to find a “lotion” that could be in our FROM SCRATCH line.  While I was practicing with my Butter’s, I had prepared a few lotion bars.  I gave them to the consultants for Christmas and they were pretty well received. I was GLAD!  So I thought, let’s bring this to market!  Let’s have our HD fans try this Lotion bar!

Original Lotion Bar $5.00

The way you use a lotion bars is quite different from your traditional methods of lotion application.  Place the bar between your hands and warm it up.  The warmth of your hands will soften the beeswax and Butters and a lite “grease” for lack of a better term will form on your palms.  Use that and apply to your legs, arms, elbows to moisturize.  The feeling is AMAZING!  These lotion bars are made in a VERY LIMITED quantity, VERY!  They are made with pure natural moisturizing ingredients.  Olive oil, Coconut Oil, Mango Butter and Shea Butter with a light Citrus Scent.  This product comes is a GREAT little tin for only $5.00

Lime Smelly Salts $4.00

Our smelly salts have a life of their own!  A not so small following has started and they are demanding more, more, more!!!!!  So you know I have to deliver on a request! Did you know that most of us are deficient in magnesium?  Best way to improve that?  An Epsom Soak!  Proper magnesium levels can help with inflammation, muscle pain, circulation, and so many more aliments.  They say 1-2 cups of salts for 12 minutes 3 times a week is perfect to maintain proper magnesium levels in the body.  So BUY in Bulk if you like.  10 cups for $25!  Sold on ETSY.

 Lemon Drop Lip Balm 6.25 $3.25

A Drop of Lemon for your sun kissed lips. Made in our SUMMERTIME blend with lemon extract and sugar cane this sweet gloss is tempting to eat.    Because of the success of our SUMMERTIME Blend and needing to streamline what I’m doing, I have decide to make ALL of our LIP BALM TUBES in the SUMMERTIME blend.   I know you will ALL love our new and improved lip balms!  Watch for more NEW and Improved flavors to come!

 

Lemongrass Square Bar 4oz $4.00 or mix and match 3 for $10

Exactly like the name states a fresh Citrus herb smell.  Like clean-cut grass.  In fact for looks this bar has some cut wheatgrass in it.   Wheatgrass is amazing in digestive health and if you know anything about juicing, I’m sure you are already on board with this staple!  But the Lemongrass EO’s is what has this re-release coming back again.  Common properties found in Lemongrass EO are antibacterial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, insect repellent, and to revitalize!  They say Lemongrass scent keeps away negativity. I only found that works if you dab 30 drops on the person bothering you.  😉

Totally kidding.  Sort of.

What always interests me the most for its use, is the insect repellent properties. Because if there is one mosquito and a 1,000 people in the room, that one mosquito will find me!  If you would like to try you OWN DIY bug repellent the HD way use about 15 drops of Lemongrass EO, 5 of Lavender and 5 of Eucalyptus.  With bugs the stronger the scent the better!  Here’s to fun, bug free summer nights.

 Lavender Bath Bomb $6.00

Another Bomb!  Who can resist!  I know I just wrote earlier on the demand for the Smelly Salts.  I believe the Bomb may be neck and neck in sales.  I just love making these guys. The Lavender bomb will be the last bomb scent for a few months.  There will be ONE more around the holidays so make sure you are in the VIP club if you want FIRST ACCESS!  This DYE FREE bomb is to die for.  So calming and relaxing.  Add a bomb to the tub.  Remove when your tub has the desired amount of fizz and scent. Place back in the Chinese food container it will dry wonderfully on the bed of crinkle cut.  Then just drop back in when you are ready for bath # 2. OR you know what, just spoil yourself, you deserve it. Use it all up in one bath!  You will leave so relaxed, have had a perfect magnesium soak, and feel instantly moisturized.  You’ll want one at LEAST every week!

And IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!  You can hear me talk about all of these great new products on our YOUTUBE channel!

I hope you have a great week and Happy Creating,

Christine