Feature Fridays! Introducing Jessica from Butters and Bubbles

Happy Friday everyone! I got such a good response from last week’s Feature Fridays post that I decided to continue going with it. I’ve got a lot of wonderful shops to feature in the future, but you are going to absolutely love the one I’ve chosen for today’s feature. Her stuff is so cute! Onward! 😀

To the right is Jessica from Butters and Bubbles. I was actually introduced to her shop through a conversation on Etsy, and immediately fell in love with her items. They almost look too good to be soap; they really look good enough to eat! Anyway, onto the interview!

What is your name and your shop’s name?
Jessica: Jessica Bunderson. I would call myself a Soap Artisan. What I do with soap is very unique and custom to each order. All of my soap creations are made by me, in small batches to ensure freshness and detail. My very unique style and designs are exclusive pieces that you won’t find anywhere else. I enjoy challenges and am honored to be given so many opportunities to create custom and unique soaps that people enjoy again and again.

[My shop is named] Butters and Bubbles. I am a Massage Therapist and I started creating my own massage bars as the best lubricant for a massage. The Butters (of Butters and Bubbles) was my first love. Coming up with great formulations for massage bars has been a delight for me and my husband! The Bubbles (of Butters and Bubbles) started out being something fun to do with my kids. If cleaning is fun, they will want to get clean more often, right? Well, with that we started embedding rubber duckies into bars of soap and it was a hit. I thought, If other kids love these ducky soaps as much as mine do, we really have something.

What types of items do you sell?
Jessica: Soap- Custom Cut Creations, Character Soaps and Molded Soaps. Custom Cut Creations are truly one of a kind. The possibilities are endless when creating soaps like this. I have made designer patterns, sports teams, personalized messages, and much more. These beautiful bars are custom cut pieces of soap carefully embedded into different layers, to create a multidimensional bar of soap with so much character. This unique style of layering makes it each soap “Good Till the Last Scrub.”

Character Soaps have miniature toys embedded in them: Disney Princess, Pixar Cars, Toy Story Characters, Tinkerbelle, Angry Birds, Star Wars Lego, Lalaloopsy and other custom pieces. Kids love the excitement of having a toy in the soap. It’s like a cereal box or a Cracker Jack box, the fun is in the toy. With soap however, they have to use the soap to get the toy. What a great habit for kids to get back into…good old soap and water. Taking a bath is a treat. They will want to wash their hands without even being reminded. If all kids could do this we would have cleaner hands and healthier homes 🙂 Wouldn’t every mom love that?

Molded Soaps are great for so many occasions. [My] molded soap creations are so realistic and fun. Jell-O, Fortune Cookies, Cheese, and Deserts of all kinds are just a few of the many possibilities when it comes to molded soap. They make the perfect favors for Weddings, Showers, and Birthday Parties. They are wonderful Teacher gifts, Stocking stuffers, Gift toppers, Valentines, Easter Basket fillers, Diaper cake toppers, and so much more!

All of my soaps are Vegan-friendly, luxuriously pampering soap, made from the following high-quality ingredients: Sorbitol, Propylene Glycol, Water, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Myristate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Glycerin, Triethanolamine, Color, and Frangrance Oil.

How long have you been selling on Etsy?
Jessica: My Etsy shop is fairly new (started in December of 2011).

How did you get started with your craft?
Jessica: Getting started was a “Piece of Cake”. I come from an entrepreneurial family. Starting a business like this was about as natural to me as breathing is to a new baby. When I was younger, my parents started a bakery in the basement of our house. Baking cakes for my mom and occasionally being asked to help decorate cakes was just how it was around the house. Every house has a distinct aroma; friends always said that our smelled of cake and frosting. I have seven brothers and sisters. We all learned from a young age how to bake, decorate and assemble cakes. With Cake Boss so popular these days, people are able to see how much thought, creativity and skill goes into custom cakes. My husband’s mother is a chocolate-ire. She has been making homemade candies and chocolates as long as Dale (my husband) can remember. I learned early on in our marriage the techniques and skills of chocolate making. My mother and mother in law taught me how to create edible pieces of artwork. With as much skill, talent, attention to detail, and creativity as it takes to create edible pieces of artwork, I create usable artwork with soap!

What else do you do when not working on your shop? Anything else would you like the blog readers to know about you?
Jessica: When not working, I am working on other things! I grew up in a very hard working family. Our vacations consisted of Extreme Home Makeover Projects. When my siblings would buy a new house, my parents would pick up a load of ‘seconds’ cabinets and while dad headed the demolition of the old kitchen my mom would be in the other room designing the new kitchen around the cabinets they bought. To me a vacation is simply a change in activity, not always a break from life’s activities. Between my husband and I, we run two companies and we both work full time jobs. Our children are wonderful and they keep us on our toes! We have a four year old who my husband says, will solve the world’s problems. She has the intellect of an adult (understands principles and concepts better than most adults), the memory of a computer, and her creativity is out of this world. I am really learning patience now, but I am going to be so proud of who she will become. Our son is a little ball of power! He wants to be a Super Hero and I believe he will be. We named him Wyatt for a reason. Growing up in the world today he will be our “Little Warrior”. Our youngest is something else. She is a character and I am excited to learn more about her as her characteristics continue to develop. Children are an amazing blessing. Although we are here to guide and direct them, they are here to teach us.

Although I have many interests and hobbies, my priorities have shifted in the past few years. Things that entertained me and kept me learning and growing are now the basis for teaching my children. My joys in life now aren’t in high adrenalin rushes from over exerting myself in sports; they are in doing jumping jacks with my kids as they try to learn coordination. No longer do I have the desire to have the game winning goal. I would rather watch my one year old dunk a mini basket ball into a hoop as tall as she is. We also have the blessing and opportunity to care for my 93 year old Grandmother. With very little time in the days, my meals aren’t fancy but the kids love to carry dishes in to Grammy one by one and hope that their hands are steady enough to keep all the food on the plate. These are the tender moments that fill my days. So while there is not much time for self interests and hobbies I still find much fulfillment and joy in my life!

Where do you get your inspiration? Both for your craft and life in general?
Jessica: I could probably fill a book with the inspiration I’ve received through out my life. Inspiration is all around us just waiting for us to take it in and start creating. In my mind, there is a science and an art to everything; and so this is also true with inspiration.

Someone once asked me, “What do you plan on doing?” I responded with “Sometimes I don’t plan things out, that way it leaves me open to inspiration!” This statement was stated in response to a very trivial matter, but I really do think that there is a lot of truth to it. Just as electricity needs an open and conductive element, if we want to receive inspiration then we must be open and conductive as well. The conductive aspect is the scientific aspect. In order to function properly we must follow the rules, be obedient. The open part means that we must not have preconceived notions that will hinder inspiration from entering. We have to be in the right place at the right time and be in the right mind set. If we are, the inspiration will be there!

My purpose and role in life are very clear to me. I have no doubts, questions or fears about the “important things in life”. Having this solid foundation enables me to be grounded enough to know that, come what may- everything will be ok! Drawing the analogy back to electricity- It is very important that an electrical wire be grounded. As there are those times in life when we “go with the flow”, it is also important that we remember to have a well balanced life and fulfill our responsibilities as well as indulge in our creativity.

When I listen to a story, I hear the message, not the facts. My husband hears the facts and it is very good to have someone like that to compliment someone like me who can’t even remember the name of the character. I think outside the box, read between the lines and dream the impossible. In creating, I feel it very important to have a perspective like this. When I look at a piece of soap, I see it’s potential!
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Well there you have it. What a beautiful shop! Go check her out at her shop, Butters and Bubbles, or at her Facebook page. I hope you all have enjoyed learning a bit more about Jessica as much as I have!

*If you are interested in being next week’s featured seller, please send me a message through my Etsy profile, or by email at megk8100@yahoo.com. Enjoy your Friday everyone!