The Art of Handmade
What happens when you receive a gift that you love so much, it gives you that nudge of inspiration and lights your creative flame? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Susan, or Winter Wren, as we know her in the digital social world.
The Gift That Created The Spark
Some years ago, Winter Wren was given an all-natural soy oatmeal soap bar as a gift and she loved the soft, creamy feel it created. In fact, she loved it so much, she began the journey of making her own cold process soaps and in 2016, Winter Wren Handmade was launched.
For those that don’t know, cold-process soap is a natural emollient and retains natural glycerin that is very mild and soothing to the skin.
The Discovery
How I Found Winter Wren Handmade
I met Winter Wren in our Surfer Community on SantaSurfing.Locals.com. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed another Surfer chatting with her trying to find the link to her Etsy shop. I remembered I had highlighted her shop briefly in a past video and still had the link to her site, so I shared it. Then I thought, “Since it’s so close to Christmas and highlighting small businesses is what I do, why not help out a bit and share her link some more to maybe help boost sales for the holidays?” And so, I did… On three other social media platforms to be exact, and on my own Locals channel (RandomMayhem.Locals.com) as well.
After revisiting her site myself, I thought, “You know what…I can do a review video based on the great reviews she already has on her Etsy shop.” As I tend to do, once I get a thought in my head, it’s fast forward from there on out. Of course, while recording “The Random Review EP #2”, I was also virtual window shopping.
The Review
Customer Service
Once the video was finished and I started the upload process, I went back and placed an order for myself. It was late evening on Friday, December 2nd. One of the things I ordered was a facial bar. Not even an hour had gone by, and I got a message from Winter Wren apologizing, letting me know she had sold out of them and would send a refund. This correspondence alone verified how everyone was saying how great her response time and customer service is. Also, I received the refund that same night. There was no waiting game.
(Before I go further, I need to add, very few people know my actual name. I use my handles on social media, so I did not receive any special treatment when I placed my order using my real identity.)
Delivery & Packaging
The order was shipped out the next day, Saturday, December 3rd, and I received it early on Wednesday, December 7th. That’s only four days from a few states away which is great, and even if it would have been delayed, it wouldn’t have been because of her. I had my tracking number on Saturday.
Now let me just say, Winter Wren packages the orders in such a way, if you were planning to gift, you would only have to slap a tag on the box. She uses pretty tissue paper inside and wraps ribbon around the box and ties it off with a bow which makes everything ready to go!
Products
Lip Balm
One product I ordered a few variations of was the lip balms. I mean, seriously, for all of you coffee lovers out there, have you ever seen a coffee-flavored lip balm? Made with real coffee bean oil? Well, she makes it, and I wanted it, so I ordered it! Let me just say, the coffee scent is very noticeable, and you can taste a nice, mild coffee flavor. Also, the lip balms don’t leave that top layer that disappears so you have to apply it repeatedly. With all the natural oils used in the ingredients, it literally absorbs into the skin and heals as a balm should and you can still feel it hours later. I did buy two others as well. I haven’t tried the Orange yet and my son bogarted the Grapefruit, as I figured he might. However, he did say he liked it and he is particular, so there’s that.
Perfect Face Cream
Another item on my list was the Perfect Face Cream. I have to tell you, this stuff is fantastic! I have very dry skin in the winter and again, because of the natural ingredients used, it absorbs, heals, and makes your skin so soft. It isn’t like other products that feel like greasy layers. You literally can’t even feel it. The only thing noticeable is the softer feeling skin.
Shower Steamers
Last but certainly not least, are the shower steamers. I’ll be honest, I haven’t used one yet. That being said, there are nothing but rave reviews in the Winter Wren Handmade shop regarding this product.
Here is what a couple of happy customers had to say:
“Oh my gosh you guys! These are wonderful! They’ve been helping with my sinus congestion and all around feeling better! You’ve got to try them! They aren’t over whelming.. just right! They arrived almost overnight from when I ordered them! I love getting stuff from Winter Wren.. it feels like Christmas!”
“I have recently become addicted to shower steamers especially with my nasal issues. I decided to try and find a small shop on Etsy to support instead of buying them at the big chain. I had several misses with other shops where steamers barely had any scent at all or they melted very quickly despite not being in the water. But these are amazing and I will definitely continue to purchase! They are strongly scented and long lasting! Very prompt shipping as well and the packaging was so cute !!!”
Obviously, since 2016, many more products have been added to the Winter Wren Handmade line. According to her, she absolutely loves what she does. And isn’t that what supporting Small Businesses and embracing the Parallel Economy is all about?
Hey! If you would like to see more content like this and meet other patriots to collaborate with or find new inspiration, check out my Locals Community Random Mayhem Community (locals.com) or you can view my videos on Rumble Random Mayhem (rumble.com). Thanks!
-Random Mayhem