Unique Los Angeles 2009 Recap

I was extra prepared for Unique Los Angeles. This was my first year at Unique LA and after seeing the booth photos of Rock Scissor Paper from last year, I was inspired to kick it up a notch for my booth display. And wouldn't you believe it, when I arrived at Unique LA, I was right across from Rock Scissor Paper!



The only other thing I wanted to complete my booth was a floor covering but overall I was happy with how it turned out. I even splurged on a few extra things to give my booth those extra touches I wanted to. I bought a cake stand, a bubble machine, and used my banner.


As a very extra special treat, a friend of mine made the most awesome complement to my booth that one can imagine – a diorama!



Isn’t this the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen!?! Other than my cupcake soaps, this was my favorite thing in the whole booth and everyone who visited my booth noticed it as well!

I met a lot of cool people and even had repeat customers! One of my customers wrote a very interesting blog post that I will share with you all in future post. With every show I do, there are always moments that I will never forget. There was a little girl about two years of age who came to visit my booth with her dad and he bought a mini cupcake soap for her. About a hour later, I saw the same mini cupcake soap gliding by my booth in a little hand. Then I noticed that it was the bright-eyed little girl holding the mini cupcake soap in her hand as her mother pushed her past my booth in the stroller. I smiled and giggled because it was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. She was the cutest mobile advertising I’ve ever had! Her mother exclaimed, “She just loves her cupcake soap!”

Later, a lady came by with 4 little girls and a baby. As we were talking, she informed me that one of the little girls had $5 to spend at the show because she won the Good Girl of the Week prize. The little girl loved the Mini Mint Chocolate Cupcake Soap but she said that she wanted to visit all of the vendors first before she made her decision. And can you imagine my surprise, when she came back to my booth to spend her $5. We had over 275 vendors so I was SO honored!

I love selling my cupcake soaps and it’s moments like that which makes what I do even more rewarding.

Last but not least, I had to stop by the Oh Snap photo booth!



There are additional photos, in my flickr album.

Tickled Pink with The Pink Parlour Festival 2009

I had the most AMAZING time at The Pink Parlour Festival this past Sunday! Some of the most amazing women were all gathered under one roof so I was in great company. I started the morning filled with anxiety because as I was leaving Santa Barbara, it was raining so hard, I couldn't see the road. But eventually the rain stopped and I was allowed to arrive safely at the Santa Anita Park.

My booth was positioned at the festival's entrance which was also next to the entrance for seating for the race track so I had a pretty good view. My first visitor during setup was Alison from Whatakaracter Creative Group who came to check out the competition only to find out that I wasn't competition at all because mine were cupcake soaps and not the edible yummy cupcakes she was selling. I got her Super Hero Cupcake Kit which was SUPER delicious and the proceeds are for a good cause.

As the day went on my cupcake soaps continued to deceive the hungry but also became a fan favorite at the festival! Men and women, boys and girls were all impressed with my cupcake soaps! Some even became repeat customers.

The entire day was AMAZING but here are a few moments that made that day so FANTASTIC:

• Getting to share my inspiration behind my cupcake soaps with customers
• Having a good laugh with those who thought they were food
• Seeing my Neapolitan Cupcake Soap make the back of the event program
  
• Hearing who was getting my cupcake soaps as gifts and who wanted to treat themselves
• Seeing the smiles on people's faces
• Having people come to my booth because someone else at the event had bragged about my cupcakes
• Having a customer tell me that she was interviewed on camera inquiring about whether she had made a purchase at the festival and she said that she had not yet but if she did it would be one of my cupcake soaps
• Seeing familiar faces and meeting new people
• And of course, taking pictures with fans!

I couldn't have asked for a better day! I can't wait until next year! Until then, enjoy photos from this year's Pink Parlour Festival and catch me at our next event.

Wake up and smell the cupcakes
Originally uploaded by foodcore

Cupcake Tats
Originally uploaded by foodcore

The Pink Parlour Event Program
Originally uploaded by serahsonline

Miss Lisa Love & Ruby Champagne
Originally uploaded by serahsonline

Schamp!

Today’s post is outside the scope of soap! Okay maybe that was a corny opening line. I admit it. I did a Google rhyming words search to find a word that rhymes with soap and I choose scope so that’s what happens when using Google goes wrong.

As some of you may already know, I’m an amateur photographer. If you’ve been in my Flickr album then you know nature is one of my favorite subjects for photographs.



I was delighted when the Managing Editor of Schmap contacted me to feature one of my rose photographs from the Exposition Rose Garden in the sixth edition of Schmap Los Angeles Guide! Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.


Here’s the link to my photo from the Exposition Park Rose Garden (photo is on the top right and credited with my name):
www.schmap.com/losangeles/sights_southcentral/p=8249/i=8249_4.jpg

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then this same link will take you directly to my photo in the iPhone version of the guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how my photo is displayed and credited in the iPhone version of our guide at:

Exposition Park Rose Garden
www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=losangeles&sid=sights_southcentral&p=8249&i=8249_4

Finally, if you have a blog, you might also like to check out the customizable widgets of the Schmap Los Angeles Guide .
http://www.schmap.com/widgets

Photography is a hobby I plan to continue pursuing because it is another avenue for exercising my creative muscle and features such as this one is just the icing on the cupcake!

My First Craft Show

February 8th finally arrived and I eagerly put my best foot forward along with my cupcake soaps which were a hit!  I kept a weather eye on the forecast literally for three weeks before the event because of the inconsistent rain predictions of southern California.  As the morning began at 8 am, there wasn't a drop of rain in sight and a few hours later, the sun peaked through the overcast clouds to offer hope for a beautiful sunny California day.  

I met a few of the other very talented crafty and vintage vendors and helped them set up a few things since setting up my display only took 30 minutes.  People started arriving as the show opened up at 9 am and I was ready to greet them all with a smiling face.  Fiora of Ghettogloss, co-coordinator of the Silverlake Art/Craft & Vintage show, stopped by my booth with her brother to smell the tester soaps I had on display and pay a lovely compliment to my cupcake soaps.

Several customers were able to stop by my booth and make their cupcake soap purchases before the rain started to pour down on us at 11:30 am.  Some customers were even able to sneak in a few cupcake soap purchases even after my display was mostly packed up and ready to be loaded into the vehicle.  The event coordinators called the show on account of the rain and around 12:30, all, if not most of us were packed and on our way.

Before the Rain

When it rains, it pours

Even though it poured, it did not rain on my parade.  I enjoyed my first craft show and I'm looking to many more in the future!  More craft show pictures are in my Flickr account.

If you have any ideas and/or suggestions for my booth display, I'd love to hear them.  Also, if you know of any upcoming craft shows, please let me know.  Subscribe to my RSS feed to stay current with future craft shows where Serah's cupcake soaps will make an appearance!

Santa Barbara Female Entrepreneurs

On the evening of December 17th, I had the pleasure of being in the company of the delightful members of the Santa Barbara Female Entrepreneurs at the beautiful Epiphany restaurant.

The evening began at 5pm and as I walked through the door, I immediately recognized a familiar face...the face of Lisa Braithwaite.  Lisa and I connected through MySpace and Twitter and she informed me of the group and its events and introduced me to the group's coordinator, Jennifer Bragg.

This was my first meeting with the group.  Business cards were exchanged and connections were made.  The bevy of female entreprenueurs included a realtor, a public speaking coach, a web & graphics designer, an image and design consultant, a PR specialist, & a skin therapist just to name a few.

During the course of the evening, I had very insightful conversations which included topics from business strategies on how to approach bios and company fact sheets, cultural business differences, social networking and advertising to a very in-depth conversation of dermis and epidermis.  It's amazing how one conversation leads to another but I definitely learned information that I will remember for a lifetime.

At the end of the evening, our goodbyes were expressed with hugs because as one woman so warmly  stated, "that's what we women do.  "

The Santa Barbara Female Entrepreneurs group posts their events on Facebook.

Heart Work

Heart Work
Originally uploaded by serahsonline

I love to travel and I love to capture all the little beautiful things in life that melt my heart. I'm not a photographer but I do my best.