April of Indulgent Creations has amazing, luxurious bath and body products that would make great gifts for your friends and family, or yourself! Read all about how she runs her business and her family.My name is April Whittington, I live in central Illinois with my husband, 13 year old son, 3 dogs and 4 cats. We live on a couple acres in the country. I run two full time businesses, by day I'm a cosmetologist and work in my own salon and every other free moment of my day goes into my bath & body business. My family jump in and help me wrap soaps, go along with me to my weekly farmers market and craft shows and are my pack mules for hauling those heavy totes of soap back and forth! I have been making soap for almost 3 years now and always enjoy creating new things.
Apart from creating things, what do you do?
My son is involved in many school activities: band, basketball, baseball, yearbook so during the school year I run from event to event. April thru September is racing season and I work at our local dirt stock car track as a scorekeeper. It's a family affair, we all work there! In addition to that the 3 of us race go karts. I also set up at my local Farmers Market on Saturday mornings April thru Oct.
What first made you want to become an artist?
I was looking for a more natural approach to bath & body products. Once I started doing my research I realized that it would be fun to make my own soap and allow me to control what I put onto my skin. It snowballed from there! Once I began making soap, giving it to family and friends, I started getting requests from people wanting to buy them. Then came the requests for lotions, bath salts, lip balms and more. I love making new items and adding to my ever changing line up. I just recently added bubble bars and soy candles and coming soon...laundry stain stick, lotion bars and a sore muscle rub!
What advice would you give to artists who are new to selling their handmade products?
Research, research, research! With any craft this is important but in B&B it is a corner that cannot be cut. It takes a lot of time and money to create a great product but once you do, it's a great feeling.
How do you promote your work?
I do my local Farmers Market during the spring/summer, craft shows in the fall/winter. I try to spend a little time every day on Etsy and working on my personal website www.indulgentcreations.com and I talk soap to everyone I meet! I hand out busniess cards every chance I get and always include samples of another scent or a different item with every order.
Anything else you would like to add?
If you want to make a business out of your craft, set yourself a goal. Decide from the beginning where you want to see yourself go with your business. My goal from the beginning has been that one day I want to have a store front open to the back so people can shop and watch me work all at the same time!
So click on over to April's store and start pampering yourself!
