Beanpod Soy Candle Recipe of the Day: Spring on the Mountain

One of the most fun things to do with Beanpod candles is to mix different scents together to create your own custom fragrance. You can do this a few different ways: you cam mix soy beads together in a soy bead melter, you can "season" a jar candle with beads in a complimentary scent, or you can skip the beads all together and simply burn different scented candles at the same time in the same space. The scent possibilities are endless this way and there is truly no scent you can imagine that can not be created. Your only limit is your own imagination.

Today's featured recipe is one of my all-time favorites. We call it "Spring on the Mountain." It features our most popular Beanpod Candle scent, Evergreen, burned in combination with Beanpod's Lilac and Lavender beads. It is a breath of fresh air straight from the mountains of New Hamphire to you!

New Fragrance of the Month - Lemon Citrus

Is it even possible that winter is still hanging on? Here in New Hampshire, we're still burried under feet of snow and it seems as though spring may never arrive! Green grass and budding flowers seem ages away, and houses have been closed up for months with out any open windows or fresh air to be enjoyed. Enter "Lemon Citrus." Maybe you're like us frozen New Englanders, or maybe you're enjoying the first few blissful days of Spring, but nothing makes a house smell fresher or cleaner than the scent of Beanpod's Lemon Citrus candle.

It is sunshine in a jar.

Even the bright yellow color makes you think of warm, happy days. Now you can enjoy it for 20% off our regular prices! Just head on over to soyfire.com this March and pick up a few jars. Trust us, you'll be glad you did!

Unscented Jars Now Available!

In our North Conway store, we've always carried unscented tapers, tealights and votives, but from time to time we've had requests for unscented jars. We'll, we've listened and now have Beanpod's 16 oz. unscented jar available for purchase instore and online! Now those of you who want the warming glow of a large jar candle, but don't want any scent, can enjoy the benefits of clean-burning, long-lasting Beanpod brand soy candles. As an added bonus, online shoppers now have access to our unscented tealights & votives, too!

Keeping Your Canvas Fine Art Clean

This beautiful contemporary art on canvas might be great hanging on an elegant bathroom wall, but if you burn a regular paraffin wax candle (petroleum) then your artwork will ave a build up of nasty black soot you don't want to try to clean.

When you wash the glass on a framed print. you can see and feel the soot. How do you clean canvas fine art?

Today's contemporary canvas art is often actually canvas transfers that can be cleaned with a soft damp cloth - good luck cleaning off the soot though - the best way to protect your art, furniture and other household treasures is to burn only Beanpod soy candles. This art print on canvas by the way is from our sister company the Naked Wall Art Gallery. This piece is called Bano III by Anna Scott.

Soy Candles Help Keep Your Home Clean

We get questions about the harm of burning sooty petroleum candles all the time. Of course soy candles burn cleaner, but how much does it really matter? Well, it a common story - so many people have filed insurance claims for damage to their home they thought were caused by their oil furnace, the insurance companies did some research - we can always count on insurance companies to research ways to not pay claims, right? Well it turns out that too often the soot damage on your walls comes from burning dirty petroleum candles, not from the furnace. You might be amazed by that notion - after all, it's not like you burn a hundred candles in your house at once! Well, it turns out the insurance company research proved that burning one dirty candle can produce as much soot as burning 100 clean candles. They will not pay for your sooty walls from burning sooty candles.

Just for fun, we have tested burning over 100 soy candles in our home at the same time for an entire evening. At our famous Christmas parties, in fact, at two in a row, we lit our house entirely with Beanpod soy candles. Yes, over 100 soy candles burning at once - it was a thing of great beauty! Plus, I realized I could have saved a lot of time cleaning - god, I love candle light! Anyway, not only did we not catch anyone on fire, the ceilings and walls were spotless and even our guests that normally have allergies and complain about the smell of candles, all had a great time and felt no problems being among all those candles. And yes, they were scented soy candles - Holiday Memories and Evergreen - two favorites at the Soyfire Candle store in North Conway.

The Great Yankee Swap

Our Manager, Jami (a/k/a Ryan's Mom), posing with our friend Erin, owner of the Met Coffeehouse who caters all the events at Soyfire.

Our best customers are former Yankee Candle customers, and we hear stories everyday about the soot they're so tired of. Now, we don't like to pick on just one competitor, in fact we think Yankee is one of the best petroleum candles available- but it's still petroleum. Truth is, we're New England based, and in these parts Yankee Candle set the standard... but we have the new standard.

Another great New England tradition at Christmas time is the Yankee Swap. It's a way to make gift giving at the office much easier and more fun. (Okay, that' the premise, but there is some debate as to whether that ever happens.) So, this year we conducted our version of a Yankee Swap.

Customers brought in their old, used (completely or partially burned) sooty candle jars and we would swap them for a brand new free, soy candle from Beanpod. No purchase was necessary, just come in and swap. If they made a purchase of at least $14, we would swap their new free candles again to upgrade to a larger jar candle at the register.

We did lots of swapping, and as you can tell from the picture, our completely burned, clean Beanpod candle jar is photographed in front of a table full of other sooty old candles. That pictures says it all for many of our customers.

"Hang a Bean" Air Fresheners - Finally!

After years of begging and pleading from customers, Beanpod has brought out a line of Air Fresheners called "Hang a Beans." True to Beanpod's philosophy, these air fresheners are very "green." They are all biodegradable, printed using vegetable inks and infused with essential oils. And let me tell you, they work! They are available in 10 popular fragrances: Lilac, Lavender, McIntosh Apple, Evergreen, Earthly Embrace, Orange Vanilla, Cinnamon Bun, Cinnamon Spice, Clarity, and Raspberry Lemonade. Currently, Earthly Embrace is hanging in my car. My husband is enjoying his Raspberry Lemonade (and so am I... his car was pretty stinky!)

The best thing about these little hang a beans is they aren't just for cars! They also make great fresheners for closets. They're pretty convenient to hang near diaper pails or pet beds (Boy, do I understand both of those!) Anywhere you've got some unpleasantness you'd rather not be smelling, these guys can help you out! They are currently all available for sale in our North Conway store and hopefully will be available to our website customers in the near future.

Beanpod's New Scents for 2009

They're Here!

Living in New Hampshire, there are many reasons to love winter, but my favorite (OK, I don't ski) is the new scents Beanpod releases each January! This year, they have a great crop available:

Aloe Vera: A very fresh, almost grassy smell which makes me long for Spring to arrive

Cheesecake: "What does Cheesecake smell like?," I bet you're asking. Well... this! As with many of our scents, you're not quite sure what type of smell you'd associate with a certain candle scent. But trust me, when you pop the lid on this you find yourself saying, "Wow! That's exactly what Cheesecake smells like!" You can even smell the graham cracker crust! Mmmmmmm...

Honeysuckle: This is a very pretty new floral scent which is just slightly sweet and not at all perfume-y.

Solitude: Already this off-white candle has become one of our more popular scents. It's got a mellow, clean scent like freshly laundered sheets.

Our New Employee

Ryan, my 20 month old, is a familiar face to many of our shoppers. She comes to work here 3-4 days a week and almost always has a smile and a warm greeting for our shoppers. Luckily, she's also highly trainable!

~ Jami