Today I wanted to introduce you to one of my favorite etsy shops – GudonyaToo. Many of you have received their fun Loopy Bath Kiss in a recent Sock Club (or “Don’t Be Blue”) kit. Some of you tried to eat it because it smelled and looked so good! I have loved their products for quite awhile, and they have been wonderful to work with for our kits. I thought you might like learning a little more about Tina and Brian, the couple behind the shop, today.
Loopy: We’re big fans of your wonderful products over here at Loopy. Everyone loved the Loopy Bath Kisses you did for us! Can you tell us how you got into the business and how long you’ve been doing it?
GudonyaToo: We had such a great opportunity back in July of 2007 when we were glancing through the etsy forums and saw a great B&B shop was for sale. I believe that was on a Friday, and by the next day we were making a 12 hour car trip to buy our new baby. We opened our shop, GudonyaToo, in August, and the rest is history!
Loopy: What a fun business to buy into. What is your favorite product and scent?
GudonyaToo: Oh my gosh!!! Make me choose. My shower would tell you the whole story! But if I had to narrow it down it would be my Cotton Candy Salty Dawg Shapoo. Then of course I have to use my Cotton Candy Whipped Clean, and my Cotton Candy sMOOchie (the new and improved Loopy Kiss product) ….
Loopy: So the “kiss” now comes in the new sMOOchie Bar? We like the looks of those, too. Of course The Loopy Lady’s personal favorite is your Whipped Clean. She says that one fingertip of the stuff on a scrubby makes enough suds for the whole shower. So how do you come up with new products?
GudonyaToo: Customer requests and market demands. Plus Brian comes up with some great stuff for me. That’s how Salty Dawg came to be. We had a big mishap with a shampoo bar, and let’s just say I had the best oil treatment ever for my hair. But I couldn’t get it clean! It was horrible. I used my shampoo twice, Dawn Dish Soap twice, and I still looked like I hadn’t washed my hair in a week! LOL! So Brian came up with the Dawg in hopes that I could one day leave the house again. Thank goodness it worked. 🙂
Loopy: I don’t think us ewes can use “Dawg” shampoo, but The Loopy Lady might need to try that. What are some challenges you have had in building your business?
GudonyaToo: Not having enough time in the day. We usually work 12-16 hours a day, shipping, producing, customer service, and sometimes to experiment with the new guudies! I always joke and say it’s a good thing we don’t have toddlers because I’m afraid they wouldn’t get fed.
Loopy: Never enough time in the day to get everything done. Boy, we can relate to that! What is your favorite thing about the business?
GudonyaToo: Being my own boss and setting my own hours. It is so cool to also dream about how far we can take GudonyaToo.
Loopy: Do you have help, or is it just the two of you? And is this a full-time job, or do you also do other things?
GudonyaToo: Just the two of us. And it is my full time job and it’s Brian’s second job. He is an electronic engineer by day, and a B&B guru by night.
Loopy: Of course we need to know if you knit?? 🙂 Or do you have other fun things that you like to do to relax?
GudonyaToo: I chose to learn how to crochet, due to the simple fact that I’m SCARED to death of knitting needles! There is something about long pointy sharp sticks that gives me the heebie jeebies!
Loopy: Awww. They’re fairly harmless. I think you’d like it! We’re always looking for good book and movie recommendations to knit (or crochet) to – do you have any for us?
GudonyaToo: I would love to recommend something, but we don’t have much time for that. I did see Alvin and the Chipmunks on Christmas Day and I loved it! I guess we never really grow up.
Loopy: Will we ever see GudonyaToo in stores near us?
GudonyaToo: Hopefully in the future, if we dream big enough!
Loopy: Well we’ll watch for that. In the meantime, we’ll catch you in your etsy shop. Anything else you’d like to add today?
GudonyaToo: Don’t ever be afraid to live your dreams. Like my sister likes to say, “Life isn’t a dress rehearsal, you only get one chance to live it.”
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I hope you had fun learning more about Tina and Brian and their shop. (Seriously – check out my personal favorite, Whipped Clean, and the new sMOOchie Bar. They have figured out a way to ship sMOOchie Bars in the hot summer temperatures. I wish we could do the same for Loopy Kisses….)
Sheri scarfphotosonWednesdayandfunstuffgoingupintheshopthisweek-woohoo!
I’ve been using their deodorant. I have to reapply at times but it smells good and doesn’t have an scary chemicals in it.
Loved the Loopy Bath Kiss; just bought some shampoo and conditioner in Tahitian Vanilla – yum!
Nice meeting you Tina and Brian! Sheri, thanks for introducing us to this talented couple through the Loopy Kiss and for allowing us to learn more about them.
What a fun interview!! What *is* that good-enough-to-eat looking bar of….? in the last photo? Mmmm. I haven’t been able to bring myself to use my Loopy Kiss from the sock club but now that I know where to go for more, it might be time to have a really luxurious bath experience 🙂 (and what great stocking stuffers for Christmas!).
Thank you, finally the name of the Etsy Shop. I read everyones’s comments about the smells good enough to eat shower products but could never find the site mentioned. Nice to meet you Tina. Now I am going to check out the etsy shop
Those products look yummy!
My., what a feeding frenzy on the t-shirts tonight!
That is one of my favorite etsy shops. The whipped Clean seems to last forever and the Blackberry scent is good enough to eat! Thanks for a great interview!
Happy Monday Sheri,
I haven’t used my bath kiss yet but love different bath products so I’m sure I’ll have to check out the whipped clean. There must have been a feeding frenzy on the Tempted Glam ’cause I was at knitting group and got home about an hour into sneak-up and all the colors I wanted were gone. Maybe next time…
I will tell you that I love my everyting balm and will be buying some of this projects for my friends’ Christmas bags. Gonna go check out Gudonya’s etsy shop. Have a good week.
Loved the bath kiss, when I first received it, I really thought if was a giant Hershey Kiss. Boy was I surprised . So glad to know where to order more. What a busy sneak-up, glad I got in on it. Will you be reordering the tee shirts again? Hope so. Welcome Home. Hugs
I’m such a sucker for bath products. I resisted the sneak up tonight, but bought a couple things from GudonyaToo! Oh well, I tried.
Thanks Loopy for a great interview (and enabling).
I couldn’t resist either…I think I almost bought 1 of each of their products. I love bath stuff almost as much as I do yarn, and its natural, gotta love that.
Terrific interview. Loved the balm received at the spring fling. Loved the kiss in the sock shipment. Am heading over to ETSY soon..hope there are things left. Great sneakup so glad the pattern tamers came back…
Well, my dog Jake Did eat my bath kiss! (half of it). But he’ll eat anything.
Looking forward to their re-stock of Tahitian vanilla stuff!
I’ve been using my delicious Loopy bath kiss oh so sparingly, but now that I know where to get more…!
Is Tempted becoming the new Wollmeise? By the time I got to the Sneak Up (groggily early in the morning for here) it was pretty much cleaned out; in fact, it took me a while to work out that some new colors had actually gone up (briefly)—oh well, there’s always next time!
You hooked me with the first bath kiss and I had to order more before they quit shipping for the summer. Bought some of the whipped clean, too. Good to see the new bars. I’ll be ordering some soon. My skin has never felt so great.
had to order shampoo and conditioner… whipped clean and one more treat…. i don’t remember what I must have been in shopping bliss;)
Tried their Whipped Clean soap and Salty Dawg shampoo, absolutely delicious!
The shampoo is seriously one of the best products I have ever tried on my hair ever. It cleans super well and doesn’t require a conditioner, even with my long hair.
As the whipped soap, it lathers great and does last a long time although I do not feel squeaky clean when I use it. It leaves a slippery residue, similarly to body wash. Not the same effect as using a regular bar of soap.
There’s tons of scents to chose from, I recommend their products to anyone who wants something a little different in their shower routine.