Look How Fun!

Earlier in the week I decided that I couldn't go any longer without trying a bar of Luscious Apple Soap from my good soaper friend Kim of
Nature's Art. Right after I placed my order, I had posted on Facebook that I really must try pumice. Kim, being the absolute sweetie that she is, repacked my box with some pumice to try, as well as some other goodies. It was like Christmas opening my package! Thank you, dear Kim, for being so incredibly sweet and generous! As soon as I find a spot for that soap, I'm going to give it a try. I also happened to mention that I should have ordered some of her new Rosemary Facial Cleanser and as it turns out, she'd packed in a sample of that as well.


Could that soap be any prettier? Gorgeous! The scent is fantastic and really does smell like I'm standing next to the apples at the grocery store!

Here are some of the other goodies she sent me:


The other package I received over the weekend comes from a soaper friend in NZ. She was one of my very first soaping friends and is always there to help and give advice and brainstorm. She sent me a yummy package of goodies for me to try and give feedback on. I'm so spoiled! All I have to do is use the stuff and let her know what I think. That's an easy and exciting job! Here are all the goodies that I can't wait to dig into!



Aren't they packaged beautifully? They smell fantastic!

It's Not For Me

So.....I tried making creams and scrubs yesterday....it didn't go well. I am downright disgusted with the whole thing. I didn't like the process and I'm not happy with the results. In addition, during the bleaching/sanitizing process, I had a severe allergic reaction on my hands. I don't know if it was from the bleaching or a little FO as one of the lids unscrewed as I was wiping it down. I might have gotten some straight FO on my hands. I had my husband help me put on gloves to finish the process appropriately. The problem is that the gloves made the allergic reaction worse. So here are the individual results:

Gabe's Cream: Hemp and tamanu oils stink! I think it was the hemp oil that turned the cream green. I whipped too much air into it and it resulted in lots of squishy foam. It's greasy. The main thing is that IT STINKS! I was going for the skin benefits of the hemp and tamanu oils but that didn't exactly work out for me.

Emulsified Scrub: This actually went together alright and feels great. I know it to be a proven and well-loved recipe. However, I must not have measured something right, as in the FO's, because I used it one time and ended up with an allergic reaction.

Facial Cleansing Cream Scrub: This is also a well-loved recipe and it came together alright and is downright pretty. It's white with light pink, green, and yellow jojoba beads. I needed more jojoba beads as it wasn't very scrubby and the tea tree oil/lavender eo combo I used....STINKS!

My conclusion: I'm perfectly happy paying for quality items from my cream and scrub making friends!

Spoonfudge and more!

My package from Spoonfudge arrived yesterday and I must say I'm very impressed! The main attraction was two jars of Spoonfudge itself. I ordered Chocolate Caramellow and Razzle Dazzle. They couldn't be packaged any cuter. I haven't had any yet as I'm waiting until I can share with my guy. I know it's going to be good. How can it not?



The little goodie bag of samples was the cherry on top. How fun!


Fluffy Stuff Foaming Sugar Scrub in Strawberry Anarchy by Grumpy Girl


White Tea and Ginger soap made by Indigo Bee



She's My Cherry Pie Single Shooter by Whiff and Sniff Candles



I have already had the wonderful opportunity to use the sugar scrub. The strawberry scent is perfect! I love strawberries and I know it is difficult to find a non-medicine smelling fragrance oil.

I've also used the soap sample and I was very happy with the lather and silky feel of the soap. The scent is also very nice! I have White Tea and Ginger fragrance oil but have not soaped it yet. I do believe a batch will be coming soon in that scent!

I'll be digging out my tart burner soon as the cherry scent on the single shooter is amazing!

Now to just get to that fudge. Aren't the spoons adorable?

Ta-Da!

The big reveal!

Acai Berries & Satin: It's different than I expected. It's more layered than swirled. I really like how it turned out though!


Ginger Lime Coconut Salt Bars: I couldn't be happier with the color. They are so nice and solid!


Yogurt Berry Facial Bars:


Lemon Egg Shampoo Bars:

Pushing My Luck

I got a wild hair this morning to make another batch of soap but I do believe I began to push my luck!

This my first attempt at a salt bar. The batter was at super-thick trace before I added the salt so I just squished and shook it into the molds. The coloring did not go so well again. I think I got a bad mixture as the "Lemon-Lime" coloring was brown and it wasn't even coloring the soap! I quick mixed some green apple pop mica and that made it slightly green.

Ginger Lime Coconut Salt Bars - coconut, shea, and castor oils with coconut milk


This is some leftover that shows the color better against the red.



Acai Berries & Satin just hanging out. The pink is so pretty!


Yogurt Berry Facial soap and Lemon Egg Shampoo bars:


The sugar scrubs...they were supposed to be pink!


Here are some extra pictures just for fun!

I love the colors...


My supply shelf:


My crafting zone...the soap shelf is on the wall opposite:


The sad thing is that it is time to clean up again. :( I *might* still attempt some lotion/cream this afternoon.

Soap Day-YAY!

It felt so good to go down to my soaping area and get some serious soapmaking done! I love making soap and I also love marking soap ideas off my list!

This one is Acai Berries and Satin. The scent is very sweet and yummy. This was supposed to be a soap by a different name but the colors turned on me so it will remain Acai Berries and Satin. I think the violet/gray, pink, and pale green go well with the scent. Unlike my Loopy Fruit soap, the soap is swirled by the three colors only. No white/cream in this batch! I used my well-loved recipe of olive, palm, coconut, castor, and avocado. It's a great combo.




This next batch I am calling Yogurt Berry Facial soap. I followed a recipe given to me by Tanya, my good(and generous!)soaping/forum friend. It has pureed strawberries and greek yogurt. I scented the batch with fresh raspberry fragrance. This soap is made up of many luxurious oils and I'm incredibly eager to use it.


This last batch is a lemon and egg shampoo bar. I used the same recipe as my last shampoo bars except that I changed up the additives a bit. I dropped the lavender essential oil, peppermint essential oil, and parsley powder and added an egg yolk and lemon essential oil. I left the rosemary essential oil and tea tree oil in the recipe.


Here are all three batches hanging out together.


I also made some raspberry-scented sugar scrub hearts but I haven't unmolded them yet. Once I unmold them and package them up, I will add pictures of those.

Although fullfilling, soap making generates quite the mess!

So much to do, so little time.

I have so many projects swimming around in my head and just not near enough time to accomplish them. I have pages and pages of documents on my laptop detailing soap and other bath and body recipes and formulations that I have typed out and want to try.

See, here's my problem: I'm a stay-at-home mom of three young children and we have our house up for sale. I just haven't had the time and getting sick sure didn't help any. (I'm feeling much better by the way!) This past weekend we cleaned and did some serious shopping and so I'm hoping (HOPING!) that this coming weekend will be productive for me.

I picked up this little guy on our shopping excursion over the weekend. It is a battery-operated milk frother. It was recommended to me for use with making lotions and creams.


I want to make a cream using hemp oil and tamanu oil. I'm hoping it will help with my son's eczema/skin allergies. I have been given a few well-proven lotion recipes and I'm eager to try them but for my first attempt at it I want to go very simple.

I want to try this recipe first from The Sage: Tummy and Toe Jam

What kid wouldn't want to use something called Tummy and Toe Jam?!? I have more luxurious plans for lotion in the future.

This is another little contraption that I have gotten recently from Brambleberry. Interesting tidbit about me, when I get in a box, I don't tend to open it right away. Many times I open a box on a need-to-use-what-is-inside basis. So being that my latest box is still unopened, (we had a showing and just threw it in the back of the Suburban and there it has stayed...), I hope this bath bomb maker is inside that package!


We're not a bath family but more of a shower family so I'm not exactly sure what use we'll get out of a bath bomb but I want to try one anyway! :)

One of the first soap batches I need to make is a remake of the shampoo bar. It has worked wonderfully for my husband and I'm going to tweak it just a smidgen more. I want to replace one of the less significant essential oils that I used with lemon oil. I also want to add an egg yolk to the batch and see what happens. I'm dropping the parsley powder this time and want to go with more of a yellow bar.

The other soap batch that I want to make is the Sparklebrook Signature bar. I know how I'm going to color and scent it and I just can't wait to make it happen!

Lastly, I want to make some more single-use sugar scrubs.


I did not like them at first. Not at all. But once I figured out how to use them properly, we became good friends. They are such incredible moisturizers for those people who do not like to get out of the shower and slather lotion. (I would be one of those people.) I want to try using my heart ice cube trays as a mold for a few and see how that works out.

I do tweak my recipe a smidge but here is the original recipe for the sugar scrub cubes: Single-Use Sugar Scrubs

So all that being said, my lack of posting projects has nothing to do with a lack of desire and motivation to create but has everything to do with not enough time!

Using Loopy Fruit

For the lack of something better to post about... :)

I used my Loopy Fruit soap for the first time today and I'm totally in love. It smells so great and it's so pretty! It had quite a bit of ash on the bar but once I used it, the colors were so nice and crisp. The fragrance oil did turn the "white" parts of the soap a light yellow/tan color. I had used some titanium dixoide but not much.

I am just so pleased with this soap and I wanted to share. :)

Oops! I didn't mean it that way....

I had written this post trying to be funny and explain why I haven't had the chance to make soap or update the blog. I think it came across the wrong way. Oops! So we'll just forget what I wrote here the first time. :)

We have been busying with showings, being gone for several days, and we all came down with colds this week. I want to make some new soap and I hope to soon. Today, we're having a 5th birthday party for my middle child and tomorrow is his actual birthday. So if you wonder what I'm doing for the next couple of days...we're partying!