Bring Back My Bar Tester Sets!!

"Just the smell of summer

can make me fall in love."

~Anonymous 

In my Scentsy business we have a semi-annual event that is very exciting to consultants and customers alike!  It's called Bring Back My Bar, (or BBMB) and it is where 20 of the most voted on retired scents come back for one month only!  This happens twice a year in which previous favorite scents come back for a one-month only appearance!  Long time customers and consultants alike will take the opportunity to purchase some beloved scents.  

In order to help my customers and spread the BBMB love around, I am making tester sets to go into pouch parties and for home parties.  Also taking the time to meet customers who don't have tine for a party but still want to smell and shop.  Believe it or not this is pretty simple to do!

If you have a team my suggestion is to plan a night where you can all get together, chat, have fun and make up tester sets together!  What a great team building time!

So let's get down to it ... what all do you actually need to do this?

• Paint Pots - I purchased mine from my local craft store: they come in packages of 18 pots each.
• Labels/Stickers - I have a deep love for my label maker and use it for almost all aspects of my business.  I have of course used mine here.  Some consultants will use circle labels and print via the computer or just write in the names.  Either way you choose you need some way to label what each scent is.  Get creative!!
• Knife - To cut cubes down to size to fit into the pots.
• Microwave - This is how we actually melt the wax in the pots to get a good tester.  *please see directions in this step below.
• 1 cube of each BBMB scent - I am able to make 4 sets of 20 testers from 1 cube of each scent.  You can see the minimum and maximum number of tester sets you can make from a bar of each scent.  (minimum 4 sets / maximum 28 sets)

Starting with our paint pots.  I picked mine up at my local craft store.  I took a pair of scissors and cut the divider between each pot so no edges sticking out and so they are now individual testers rather in the long strip of 6 attached.

Next we take 1 cube of a BBMB scent.

Cut in half.

Cut each half in half.  Now you have 4 equal pieces of one cube.  Now we want to take a knife/cutter and cut each 1/4 cube into small pieces that will fit into one pot.

If you do this just right you will fit the 1/4 cube into one pot nicely.  

Now is the time sensitive part.  I mean this with all sincerity.  I don't normally warm any wax for any amount of time in the microwave, but for this project I just don't have any other way.  By timing this just right you can melt without loosing any part of the scent.  

Place the filled pots in the microwave and I do this in 10 second intervals.  10 seconds: check, if not yet melted - 10 more seconds.  And so on until each pot is melted.  For me this takes about 30 seconds (give or take) in my microwave.  Remember: not all microwaves are created equal.  Do not walk away from your testers when doing this step.  Keep a close eye and short intervals and you will be fine.

Here we are, fresh out of the microwave.  Melted perfectly.  You can also see that by just using 1/4 of a cube you have almost filled one pot.  

Normally when I do molds I will pop in the freezer.  These I wanted to cool and harden by just allowing to sit on the counter for about 10 minutes until set.  

Here you can see one batch that has completely hardened.  Perfect testers.

We are almost done!!

Next, take your choice of labels and place on each pot.  Again, you can use circle labels for the top either handwritten or printed - you can even use on the bottom of each container - make it a fun guessing game for the "Name This Scent" game!

I love my label maker so I simply printed out each scent name and affixed to the front of each tester.  

You can see you can do a lot with only 1 cube of each scent!!  Cost effective way to send out in pouch/tote/basket parties, take to events or home parties - even fundraisers!!  Remember, you don't have to just use this project for the BBMB time of year.  Missing a tester or need some for a fundraiser?  Make up a cheap set of testers all your own or in a pinch when you just can't seem to find a certain scent because your toddler ran off with it.  Oh, wait a minute ... that's just me.  ;)

Here is an example of one of my BBMB Pouch Parties.  It's a simple $.97 pencil pouch with a zipper.  Inside are some business cards, Host/Join brochures, catalog, product lists, order forms and monthly special fliers.  I will book hosts for my Pouch Parties so they are out and circulating.

Most importantly ... it's all about preference on how to do your own BBMB testers ... this is just mine.  I hope you have maybe found some inspiration!  Have fun and remember to share the love!!

Crafting Level: Intermediate
Time Spent: Approx 30 minutes

~Jacqui

Table Decor!

"Welcome!

May all who enter as guests

leave as friends."

~Anonymous

 

What a fun, fun way to re-use and still make things pretty!

I will admit: I have a healthy addiction to having my home smell nice.  It's my home.  Where I relax, where memories are made, where I spend the quality time with those I love.  So it's important to me that not only is my home inviting, but it smells amazing.

I love changing out my scents and having new smells to go with the mood or with the weather.  My only issue is the small feeling of guilt of just throwing away the empty containers afterwards.  There had to be something I could do with them, right?!

Why not make a cute table display??

This craft took me about 10 minutes total and I already had everything on hand.  Total cost: $3.00.  Not too shabby.

For this you will need some empty scent containers, hot glue gun, glue sticks, skewers, (or wooden Popsicle sticks), a small bucket or flower pot and some foam.

My husband had some thick foam from another project so I thought I would utilize that, although if you had some flower arrangement green Styrofoam that would work just fine. 

Start out by cutting your foam to size.  I used about two layers in my little bucket.  I picked up this cute little bucket up at my local Target for only $1, so of course I had to buy 1/2 dozen of them.  You just never know when you will need a small bucket.

Pile your foam in and then to secure it I took some hot glue and secured it nicely to the sides of my bucket.This way it will stay in place.

Next you are just going to use the grooves in the empty scent container and glue the top of your skewers, (not the sharp point) to the container.  This glue will dry fast so you can hold in place for about a minute and then you are good to go.

You can see on this one I went a little farther up the container, this way they will sit at varying heights in my pail to make for a nice arrangement look.

To personalize it a little more I cut a skewer down so it was much shorter than the rest so I could use a business card to add in.  You could use a sticker here, other advertizing material, anything at all.

Next you just stick in your skewers and arrange them like you would a flower bouquet.  I had some scrapbooking hearts on hand so I simply did a quick glue dollop and added three to my front sticks to add a little embellishment.

As a final touch I kept thinking of a sweet smelling flower bouquet and thought that some spritz of room spray would make this arrangement smell as sweet as it looks.  Now I can 'refresh' my scent any time I like!

And there you have it.  Easy, quick and a great use to use things you have on hand!  Why throw away when you can re-use??

Enjoy what you do and have FUN with it!!

Craft level: Novice

Time Spent: 10 minutes

Total cost: approx $3.00

~Jacqui