Holiday Soaps and Scented Wax Melts

It is just about time for the big Holiday release! I am so very excited to share these products with you. The store will open at 6pm central time on today, November 17th! The first 25 orders of $40 and up (not including shipping) will receive a fun gift bag! Included will be deluxe sizes of soap and scented wax melts in scents that I have never offered before!

The Holiday Soaps:

The Scented Wax Melts with a few non-Holiday options:

Thank you all for your support through this year. My focus for the last several months has been on the Fall and now Holiday release. I have enjoyed it greatly but I cannot wait to resume my normal schedule. Look for your favorites to return in early 2014!

Already???

If you're a soaper or other craft maker like me, you know that holiday preparations begin way early for us. It's hard to believe that we begin working on our holiday soaps and other products before it even turns Fall in most cases! As soon as I finished my Fall soaps, I moved right into the holiday ones. I am not one to muddle up the holiday seasons but sometimes we just have no choice. I will soon be listing my holiday soaps and waxes and so I thought it time to give the good ol' blog a festive look.

I am still working on my waxes so I don't have any pictures of those yet. Here are the holiday soaps I will be offering in the store this year:

Winter Kaleidoscope Soap -Evergreen resins, amid an infusion of sparkling tart fruit and subtle woodsy clove, add to the hearty middle notes of pine and fir needle. An extremely smooth yet lively conifer fragrance with tart nuances of citrus and sparkling fruit, spiked with a base of musk and green moss.

Holiday Candy - I've blended several different to come up with a mouth-watering scent blend of candied apple and candied sugar crystals, with rock candy and sweet vanilla cream. Oh boy, this one is a keeper!

Cranberry Ice - Juicy, red cranberries and sparkling Asian Yuzu combine with icy peppermint for this frosty holiday scent.

Merry & Bright - A bright and complex fragrance combination of base notes of bamboo and teakwood, with middle notes of tayberries, blackberries, mulberries, cloudberries, and peaches, with subtle hints of red clover and sweetgrass.

Holly Jolly - This will be my last year with this particular scent. The fragrance has been discontinued. :-( A beautiful, festive scent blending notes of clean, fresh winter air with earthy, leafy greens, ylang-ylang, and black tea, on a solid base of musk, sandalwood and fir.

Montana Memories - I love, love, LOVE this one! If you like Christmas Wreath from Yankee then you'll love this scent too! This gorgeous scent with notes of fir, pine needles and orange, reminds me of winters in Montana; sledding in the mountains and the pine trees topped with the fluffiest, sparkliest, white snow.

It doesn't seem like much is going on with me but I'm working steadily to prepare to list these soaps and the coming waxes sometime in November. Stay tuned for the date!

Came and Went!

Ok, well, I could have blogged at some point during the fall selling season. I wasn't selling at this time last year and so this has been a new experience for me. It was crazy hectic but I liked it too. It is so fun that so many people like my soap! Thank you to everyone that bought from my Fall line-up. There is just a smidgen left if you're wondering. ;-)

I made this collage of the products I was listing and I think it would be easiest to just post that instead of twenty-some photos. The soaps in this year's line-up were Maples Leaves, Autumn Berry, Toffee Apple, Berry Brew, Warm Apple Pie, Twigs & Berries, Sweet Pumpkin, Oak Barrel Apple Cider, and Country Cabin. I made some various scented waxes in Autumn Berry, Toffee Apple Pie, Candy Corn, etc..

While the chaos of packing so many orders was great, I am so happy to have my desk and room all cleaned up and ready to make my final holiday soaps. I'm a bit behind and I need to get the last two made. Stay tuned for a holiday soap post!

Shout Out

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say WELL DONE to all the soapmakers that accomplished the Holly Swirl in the recent Soap Challenge Club. There are so many blogs and so little time. :-) I would love to read and comment on them all but there are a lot! Anyway...good job! :-)

This is the one that started it all!

Moving Along With Fall Scents

Hi everyone! Fall production has started! I have made several so far and I'm about half done. I'm hoping to get the rest made within the next week or two. Here are the ones I have made so far! :-)

Montana Huckleberry - Huckleberries are very similar to a blueberries and this fragrance also has notes of grapes, raspberries, and peaches. It is a comforting scent for me as I grew up in Montana and huckleberries are big business in Montana. Comfort = Fall for me. I know not everyone will think of huckleberry as a fall scent but I definitely do. This is actually my second batch as the first batch I used full water and the fragrance actually reversed trace and so it's quite soft. It might be ready by Fall 2014. ;-)

Country Cabin - reminiscent of a cozy evening by the fire, crackling evergreen and pine, essence of cinnamon, clove, and patchouli, and the faint sweetness of dripping beeswax candles.

Toffee Apple - a decadent scent of tart granny smith apples, drenched in creamy caramel, and rolled in toffee bits. This soap has darkened up a bit since I took the picture but not a lot.

Maple Leaves - an earthy but gorgeous scent of dried leaves, maple wood, new dawn blossoms, laurel, sweet clove, balsam, patchouli, and sandalwood.

These three are new as of last night!

I made a couple non-Fall soaps as well.

Sweet Pea

The other is Old Spice Type but I don't have a picture of it yet. It is just a plain cream-colored bar. Nothing too fancy for the men. :-)

I'm hoping to make a couple more batches today if I get the chance. As always, you can find the making and cutting of most of these soaps on my YouTube Channel. Thank you for stopping by!

Scented Wax Melts

I am having so much fun making scented wax melts. I get asked so many times what they are exactly. They are for home fragrance and like a tart that you melt in a wax melter/wax warmer. I do not call mine tarts as I'm pretty sure Yankee Candle has that term copyrighted. Anyhoo...here are some that I have made and recently listed in my store.

Country Berry Pancakes

Blackberry Pie

Apple Mango Tango

Old Fashioned Iced Tea

Monkey Bread

Pink Sugar

I'm still testing out the packaging that I like and I'm really excited about what I'm doing this week. The really awesome part of making wax products is that now I can freely use the scents that I would normally avoid for soaping because they turn soap brown. It doesn't affect wax in the same way. It's so fun to design and create. The testing is super duper fun!

Holly

All Those Soaps - CUT!

I finally found some time yesterday to take some quick pictures. I've turned my focus for just a short bit to making wax products and have certainly enjoyed the designing and testing. But more on that another day!

Chocolate Oatmeal Cream Unscented Soap - made with a double dose of cocoa butter and cream, brown sugar, cocoa, and oatmeal.

Licorice Soap - a new one for my nearly natural line, made with anise essential oil and charcoal for a black swirl.

Apple Mango Tango Soap - (on left) - a delightful and fruity blend of apples, mango, and soft florals. Compare to Gain's Apple Mango Tango fabric softener scent.

Summer Love Soap - (on right) - gorgeous scent combining notes of raspberries, peaches, magnolias, and lilies.

Black Raspberry Vanilla Soap - a crazy popular scent of black raspberries, decadent cream, and soft vanilla.

Sunshine & Rainbows - a tart and juicy blend of peaches, pears, acai berries, grapefruit, lemons, and strawberries, with a touch of lily and rose.

(The coloring in this next picture does not do these two justice. I'm still trying to find the right camera, location, and timing. It's the one thing I can't quite figure out yet.)

Lilac Soap - I absolutely love lilacs and this adaption is the most authentic I have found. I love it!

Confetti Blossom - this floral scented soap is a combination of peonies, hydrangeas, hyacinths, tulips, violet, gardenia, jasmine, and a touch of lilac.It is amazingly soft and a customer favorite. I adore the look of the confetti in the white base.

Sierra Soap - this soap is a blend of several cologne scents with an extra splash of fir needle. I still can't believe I came up with a blend that smells just like Sierra by Stetson! The men love it, the women love their men to use this soap, and some women just want it all to themselves! :-)

Green Clover & Aloe Soap - a fresh spa-like scent combining notes of green clover and aloe. Nothing too complicated here, just super fresh and clean.

Patchouli Rain Soap - Fresh rain and earthy patchouli combine with notes of lily of the valley, fresh ozone, earthen moss, and sweet citrus to form a truly unique and unisex scent. Everyone loves this one! Don't let the patchouli scare you off! I made tall bars this time and love the results!

I somehow managed to forget to get a picture of the Banana Coconut Candy Soap. It is a solid yellow color topped with yellow glitter. :-)

I have been asked many times to show how I make my wax brittle so I uploaded a video yesterday. You can view it and many (ok, A LOT!) soapmaking videos on my YouTube channel.

Thank you for stopping by my blog and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Holly