A bee stung Tracie Wenski's son, Jake, a couple of years ago. Then another one stung him soon thereafter.

The 43-year-old mother of two took her son, now 11 years old, to the doctor and found out that in addition to being highly attractive to bees, he was severely allergic to them.

After arming him with the appropriate medication, Wenski researched to find a lotion she could put on his skin that would keep the bees away. She made by hand a couple of lotions, neither of which he was receptive to wearing—little boys still don't like lavender, apparently. In the process, she inadvertently founded a small business, Heaven Scent Bath & Body.

Operating out of the Wenskis' home in the Colbert area north of Spokane since April of 2011, Heaven Scent has developed nine primary products—lotion, shower gel, bar soap, and facial scrub, among others—that come in 60-some scents.

"What we try to do is give you a good product, then make it smell the way you want it to smell," says Wenski.

The products typically come either in four-ounce or eight-ounce containers and range in price from $6.50 to $19. Its five-ounce bar soap sells for $5.

Wenski became an aromatherapist prior to starting the business by taking an online certification course and continues to make all products by hand. Generally speaking, she says, the turnaround time to fulfill an order is three to five days. Products typically are good for eight months to a year after opened. Even so, Wenski says, "I don't like to do too big of a batch at once."

Just over a year into it, Wenski says she averages about 50 orders a week, though the number can vary dramatically from one week to the next. So far, the weeks leading up to Mother's Day have proven to be the busiest time of year for the business.

About 90 percent of Heaven Scent's business comes from direct sales to customers, about half of whom Wenski knew before starting the business and half of whom she has met since then. Some of the relationships are informal enough that customers text Wenski when they are running low on a particular product.

A base of 20 to 25 customers buy products regularly, including a mix of women in Spokane and a mix of them in the Tacoma area, where Wenski grew up.

Some of those customers served as testers of Heaven Scent's products in the early days—some continue to serve in that capacity when Wenski is trying out a new scent or ingredient in one of her products.

"One of the big things about our company is the individual smells," she says. "But to get that down, you have to smell it on the skin first."

She adds that she has given those testers free products occasionally for their input.

Six percent or 7 percent of the company's revenue comes from Internet orders placed on the website Heaven Scent launched last November.

She expects that percentage to grow as new customers find the business through the website, and some existing customers slowly gravitate toward placing orders online.

The remaining sales are wholesale. Currently, one downtown boutique shop carries Heaven Scent products—Ronan's Door, at 301 W. Second.

Wenski says she's considering adding more wholesale business and likely will do so by adding more small retail stores, similar in nature to Ronan's Door, but she wants to expand that portion of the business deliberately.

She operates the business while raising her son and daughter, 9-year-old Emma. Her husband, Joseph, routinely works out of town. Consequently, she says, "I want it to be managed growth."

The raw materials she uses are largely organic.

One of Wenski's favorite ingredients is local raw honey, which she contends has anti-aging properties thatwork well in exfoliating products.

"I buy honey in jugs," she says.

She also tends to use a lot of essential oils, which are liquids extracted from leaves, flowers, and other parts of a plant, as well as coconut oil, which is considered to have healing properties.

Lemongrass and lavender also are often used, she says.

Of lavender, she says, "I'm not a flower girl. I don't like the floral scent, but it has all these great properties."

The scents added to the company's products include a group of what it terms as classic scents, including almond and honey, chocolate, mango papaya, and French vanilla.

Others are categorized as fun scents, such as bubble gum, root beer float, and monkey farts—a mix of scents of foods that constitute a primate's diet.

Seasonal scents are switched out routinely. Current seasonal scents include Easter lily, jelly doughnut, and strawberry kiwi, among others.

Heaven Scent also primarily uses sustainable packaging materials.

Containers in which the product is packaged are made of recyclable plastics. When shipped, products are packaged in biodegradable peanuts.

The products themselves, however, don't have any sort of blanket organic certification because of the variety of scents used in them.

"I couldn't get an overall organic seal and give my clients exactly what they want," Wenski says.

Wenski says she also likes to make custom blends upon request, especially something intended to create a specific effect or to address a particular health issue.

"Those things, for me, are fun," she says. "I like to be able to find something to help people."

Also in the spirit of helping people, she says she has dedicated a portion of Heaven Scent's revenue to charitable endeavors.

Last year, she put some of the money toward sponsorship of a nephew's mission trip.

She also has helped the Because There's Hope nonprofit, which is based in the Spokane area and provides temporary housing options to cancer patients.