Sweets, stuff, and sweet stuff!

One great thing about my recent move to a bigger city and different region, or maybe not so great: all the convenient shopping! So much more to do and see, and so much more to buy. 

I've been admiring an adorable winter soap made by Nikki over at Bamboo Soap Company ever since she first posted the photo of its gorgeous frosty tops that looked so crisp and icy cold, and so today I had the urge to visit a cake and candy supply store here in town to see if I could add a few more sprinklies to my soaping collection. We found a cute little local shop through Google and mapped out a slightly scenic route through the mountains. The weather was such a nice and mild pre-fall temp for us to ride with our windows down and enjoy the breeze while we admired old houses and landscapes. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at The Sugar Shoppe to see they were celebrating their 20th year of business today with sweets they'd made. Trays and trays and trays full of sugar-frosted fruits, cream puffs, cookies, various other baked goods, and some pretty yummy bright green punch! I felt bad that I spent less than ten dollars in their store, because my honey and I probably nibbled and sipped on more goodies worth! 

Here are the cutesie sprinkles I picked from their huge selection. I had my faithful photography assistant (my honey) hold my hot pink desk lamp in at least a dozen different positions to try to capture the almost pink iridescence of the blue sugar crystals, but it seems that there is only so much awesome my poor little iphone camera can pick up.

Blue iridescent crystals, ivory pearls, white snowflakes, and fall leaves

And while we were in the neighborhood, we hit up a nice new Hobby Lobby to find a huge selection of their Christmas crafts at 40% off, which definitely appealed to this holiday soaping preparedness mood I am in. Lately I've been playing around with lots of different decorations for my soaps when I give them away as gifts, and the majority of the materials I use are scrap booking papers and ribbons. Since I don't really sell, I can change up my "packaging" on a whim and not really worry too much about continuity. That means I can waste a whole lot of time thumbing through papers and ribbons in any given craft store! Add in the excitement of shiny, sparkly, cheerful Christmas prints and trims, and I was one happy gal! With as much squee'ing and grabbing as I did, I couldn't believe I made it out of the store for a little over thirty bucks.

The adorable small rolls of ribbon were 60 cents (got three of each) and
the others $1.19 woohoo! The little green and red mugs instantly made
me think of the bottle of yummy delicious Eggnog FO I have waiting!

Mini tree cutters, glittery tulle ribbon, some clearanced ribbons and cloth
scraps, holiday stamps, and these awesome 2-piece plastic ornaments to
use for making bath fizzies! (Got a heart shaped one too)

Then we dashed across the street to the very first Joann Fabric & Crafts stores I'd ever been to, where I found an adorable fondant mat that I wanted for lining my wooden molds for the cute imprints along the bottom and sides of soap loaves. I was thinking aloud to my honey about putting it back on the shelf and waiting until another day to make the purchase when a sweet little old lady standing nearby handed us a "50% off any one item" coupon she'd gotten in the mail. How sweet was that!!! I don't think my honey was too thrilled with her generosity though, because now he has to trim the mat up to fit my two-pound wooden molds orrrrr build me a bigger mold. :)

With hearts, for Glad Heart Soaps :)

After over a three week break, I can't wait to get started soaping again this weekend, and get those soaps cured and prettied up! 

p.s. The owner of The Sugar Shoppe was kind enough to share a recipe of one of his yummy sweet treats with us today, and it really is so simple and shockingly delicious that I couldn't resist sharing it with you guys too!

1 cup Captain Crunch cereal

1 cup Rice Crispies cereal

1 pound melted white chocolate

Mix. Glop. Set. Enjoy!! 

Pro tip: if you overheat your chocolate like me, you can fix it easily by adding a little vegetable oil and a few more unmelted pieces of chocolate. 

I don't have kids, but I can definitely see this being a fun and easy recipe for kiddos, and fairly inexpensive with off-brand cereals too. I made a double batch to take to Taylor's five-year-old cousin's "No More Chemo" party this weekend, and I am pretty sure they'll all love it!

Burning the midnight oil

That's what I've been doing for the past two weeks it seems, figuratively and now literally! 

I just made a 600 mile move from Louisiana to Georgia (northwest, Chattanooga, TN area), to finally close the distance on a three and half year long-distance relationship with my sweet honey. It was a hectic week of packing and sorting through all my stuff, packing probably less than half of it into my two-door car (don't worry, all the soapy supplies made it over!), saying some hard good-byes to family and friends, and hitting the road after a nice long last day of work at my now former job. We made it here to my new home literally in the pouring rain for the entire drive, at three o'clock in the morning this Tuesday, and it's been another hectic week of getting setup at my new job, cleaning, unpacking, and organizing two peoples' belongings together for the first time. And of course I was hit with the worst bout of cold/allergy/sinus/whatever I've had all year right smack dab in the middle of all of it. Argh!

But there was a silver lining to all those gloomy rain clouds--- my latest Bramble Berry order full of holiday fragrances and a new round vertical mold was waiting to welcome me to Georgia as soon as I walked in the door! 

Even though it was a crazy move and our living situation for the time being is less than ideal, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat....probably... for the Bramble Berry box!  At the very least I can say we survived the ordeal with lots of stories! Some funny, some not-so-funny, and some that might be funny later.... Like the tiny bottle of Toasted Marshmallow fragrance oil  (from Rustic Escentuals) I'd been carrying around in my purse for days for some crazy reason, and how it decided to spring a leak on the ride over. Needless to say, that definitely left my purse and car smelling pretty darn delicious....for the entire 10 hour trip! As a good soaping friend so sweetly pointed out, at least it was a fragrance we enjoyed! 

We decided right away that this was a scent we wouldn't mind filling up our living space on a regular basis.  Unfortunately, I left all the candle making supplies behind with my sweet mama. So we took a more direct route and just nabbed a cute little glazed ceramic oil/wax warmer from Wal-Mart for five bucks. What a steal, and I am sure we will get a lot of use out of it with all the favorite fragrances I have amassed lately. Ours is warmed by tea light candles, not light bulbs. 

This was my first experience using any of my soap fragrances in any type of warmer/burner, so we kind of started out in test mode. First we used BB's Sugar Plum Fairy undiluted. It's an amazing sweet candy fragrance, but was immediately way too strong for our open living area and "smoked" a lot. Lesson learned, we diluted the FO with some water, about a 1:1 ratio, I would say. This worked much much better and still managed to work it's way all over the house, which we were really impressed with. After that was all used up and washed away, we just about tripped over each other to get the infamous Toasted Marshmallow into the warmer!! 

Ahhhhh! We love it so much! So rich and sweet and strong, but without that buttery dessert aroma (I know, I know, most of you crazy soapers actually like the buttery stuff!). I don't think I have ever lived in a house that smells this good.... and I am sharing it with three dudes!! I cannot wait to soap this fragrance! I love it so much!! *drool* 

I totally can see myself buying a larger bottle of this fragrance for sure........after the FO purchasing ban placed on me by my honey has been lifted, of course....

But, honey, it's just one shelf!
And I have it on good authority that we could install another shelf in this space!

Hehe, pity me for the restraint I am going to have to somehow learn to show over the next few months. 

Since I haven't quite gotten organized enough to start soaping again just yet, this is my new favorite thing to obsess over at the moment! What tips do any of you have for using body safe fragrance oils in warmers? Do you prefer to dilute with water or carrier oils? Have you found that an adjustable electric warmer works better than a candle powered one? Any advice for getting maximum longevity from your fragrances? 

Thanks for reading, now I'm off to breathe in the scent of my man-cave house, mmmmmmm!

Sometimes it's better to receive!

Today I came home to find a tiny package sitting on my mouse pad at my desk (it's where my mom likes to stick my mail). Hmm, what could this be? I wasn't expecting any packages. A quick check of the return address actually made me squee!! out loud to see it was from Carrie, a dear sweet friend I've made through Teach Soap Forums (which I highly recommend for friend-making of the soapy kind!) 

Carrie and I first started our package swapping a couple months ago when she asked about a fragrance on the forums that several different suppliers carry, wondering about experiences any of us might have had with any of them. Luckily I had the FO in question (Fresh Bamboo) in the form of two sample size bottles and a larger size from two of those suppliers and offered my input on them, as well as shipping her the two small bottles for her to try out, along with a end piece of one of my soaps. And so began our swapping relationship! 

Recently Carrie mentioned she might be in the market for a soap beveler. I'd bought one from Bramble Berry a while back, tried it out on my own soaps only a handful of times, and then decided it wasn't an extra step I wanted to take on my soaps. We worked out a swap of some of her lovely soaps and some fragrances she'd bought and didn't care too much for, in exchange for my beveler. Of course, the box looked so empty with just the beveler, I had to send her some extra goodies too! 

Imagine my delight then, to find these two precious, thoughtful treasures tucked inside my tiny package today!

Carrie's lovely Frosted Cranberry and Turkish Mocha soaps, personalized just for me!!

Carrie was so sweet to send me these two soaps not only beveled but also laser engraved especially for me!! I was so touched, I really was!! I went straight for my pretty paper stash to snap a photo to share with the soapy interwebs.

And since I had my paper stash out, here's another shot of the first batch of soaps Carrie sent me a few weeks ago. She also included some of her handmade lotion, scrub and herbal salve (which is currently getting lots of use on a weird little flakey dry spot that's made an appearance on the side of my hand). They all smell so lovely, but I was so taken with her Beau Brummel soap that I had to order a bottle of the fragrance for myself.... because I want my man to smell like that all the time! (To which he responds, "But does it smell like coconut...?")

Unscented goat's milk, oats and honey, Beau Brummel, unscented 100% coconut oil
soap, Energy and Black Tea, cedarwood, Earth Musk and Patchouli soaps

But, wait, I'm not done posting pictures just yet! 

You might remember me mentioning before that I'd become totally obsessed with colorants from TKB Trading, and a part of that obsession involved stalking their Etsy shop to snatch up some really great deals on some of their discontinued colorants. What I might not have mentioned though, was that I had a partner in stalking-crime in another very special soaping friend (who I also met through TS Forums, get over there folks!!), the lovely Heather of Winberg Bathworks. As it turned out during our few glorious days of colorant shopping sprees, there were some times that I wasn't able to catch some of the listings at their shop before they were all snatched up, for work or whatever reason. Heather was kind enough to send me a generous sampling of some of the TEN POUNDS of colorants she was able to buy along with a hearty sampling of some of her gorgeous and heavenly soaps! 

Heather's oh-so-adorable Jasmine Breeze, Snowfall, Bamboo Teak and Raspberry
Lemonade soaps, along with some itty bitty soapy samples

How beautiful are those swirls and embeds!! Heather also sent me a bottle of her handmade lavender lotion, which I keep in my locker at work, since I wash my hands so many times every day. It's definitely been keeping me moisturized and smelling sweet to boot!

Don't get me wrong, giving makes me really happy too.... but lately I've received some pretty rad stuff from some awesomely awesome soapmaking friends! There will be more swapping stories with these came from I am sure, as several of us over at TS Forums are involved in an organized swap even as I type. You can head on over to this thread to watch as the photos are rolling in of all the goodies we're gettin'!

I really can't express how valuable of a tool Teach Soap Forums has been to me over this first year of my soaping journey. I have learned so so much from all the experienced members who've been so very helpful, and I love giving of my own knowledge where I can. I've made a lot of great friends through sharing everything from lye burn stories (am I supposed to say that??) to favorite fragrances and techniques. It really is one of the friendliest soap forums I've had the pleasure of participating in, and encourage anyone who hasn't already to bookmark it, visit often, and don't be afraid to post your thoughts and questions.


Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more soapy eye candy!

Finishing up S.O.A.P. fragrances

Last week I soaped the last two mystery fragrances for BB's S.O.A.P. team, numbers 9 and 10. They both behaved perfectly in cold process soap, but neither were favorites of mine. Number 9 I initially thought of as an old-school type cologne scent, with notes of vetiver and earthy scents, but I think I am picking up some evergreen in there also now that I have soaped it. I just can't get over the overwhelming buttery notes in number 10 though. I can't pick up on anything else at all. I am usually not a fan of those buttery notes that are usually present in dessert fragrances (which I have a feeling this is), so you might see me as being a little biased on that one, which I very well may be. Both turned out very strong at only 0.50 ounces PPO. 

You can see in the picture below that number 10 (on the right) is already pretty dark only one week into cure, so I definitely see it turning out a dark brown in the end. No discoloring from number 9 (on the left), that's just cocoa powder used as a colorant on the bottom. 

You might also remember that I created a poll for readers to vote on the second medium for me to use in testing the mystery fragrances. I ended up with an astounding 84 votes total, I was super pleasantly surprised! In the end, melt and pour soap and candles tied with 26 votes each. I'd planned to test in both because of the tie, but I ended up with some unforeseen family stuff and some out-of-state job-related stuff (which I will tell you all about soon!) and a Kindle addiction that really cut into my testing time the last week, so I decided to just go with candles since fragrances don't tend to change or alter melt and pour soaps that much anyway. 

I'll admit I was also wanting to try out some new candle waxes, so that might have influenced my decision slightly! For the testing, I used some small glass canning jars I picked up at Wal-Mart for seven bucks for a case of twelve.  Each candle came to around three ounces each, and I used a combination of soy and paraffin  waxes at 70% soy 30% paraffin with a bit of coconut oil and fragranced each of them at 10%. Previously I've made only 100% soy, and definitely noticed a pretty short burn time on those. I talked with another soaping friend who also makes candles a while back about a suggested wax blend, and this is similar to what she said she used for her candles. 

I ended up mixing the wax with the fragrances directly in their containers to save on clean-up (honestly I don't think I had 10 mixing cups or bowls anyway!), which kind of made wick placement a huge pain. Nothing a little extra propping with pens and skewers couldn't fix though! With the paraffin wax added, I really noticed a difference in a longer burn time. I was very happy with the combo.

I gave them all at least a 24 hour setup time before starting to burn them, and have been giving each one at least a 2-3 hour burn (if not all the way through) to be sure I was getting the best "throw" (I am still new at all of this candle terminology!), so I haven't had a chance to burn ALL TEN candles just yet. I am halfway through them though! Of course I started with number 4 because it has been my favorite fragrance throughout. And so far--hopefully I am not saying this from bias!--I've been the most pleased with it's scent throw both cold and hot. Of the others I've burned so far, both numbers 1 and 5 also have really good cold and hot throws. In my opinion, fragrance number 10 also seems to "fit" better as a candle fragrance than it did in cold process soap. It seems sweeter and not so in-my-face buttery.  And number 6 is still putting off that coconuty suntan lotion aroma. 

Today was the deadline for submitting my survey back to Bramble Berry, so I did get that sent in yesterday without all of my candle testing results on it. I'll still keep you posted as I burn them though. 

In the end my favorite mystery fragrances (and the impressions I got from them), in order, were:

#4 -- fruity, creamy, sweet, sugary. Strong in CP with a creamy dark tan discoloring. Good cold and        hot throw in my candle testing.

#7 -- apple apple apple! Juicy and sweet, faded slightly in CP, with slight acceleration but no discoloring. So far, not a strong cold throw in candles but haven't burned yet.

#1 -- warm and sugary, vanilla and powdery musk. Lovely in CP, discolored at medium to dark brown. Good cold and hot throw in my candle testing.

#5 -- fresh, masculine, possibly even a little floral? Moderate acceleration, no discoloring, strong scent in CP. Good cold and hot throw in my candle testing.

#8 -- citrus, lemon, lime, some herb background notes.  No acceleration or discoloring, background herby notes seem to have faded in CP.  So far, not a strong cold throw in candles but haven't burned yet.

All in all, being a part of the S.O.A.P. team was a great honor and a lot of fun! I really enjoyed trying to guess at notes in each fragrance and building a color scheme around the impressions I got. (I will admit that I still remain stumped on fragrance number 2 though!) So if you've ever considered applying but held back out of fear or doubt, I definitely recommend giving it a go next season! It took me two seasons-worth of attempts to make the team, and I am so glad that I didn't let my own self-consciousness or any feelings of rejection hold me back from applying again. I am tickled pink that I was able to connect with so many awesome Bramble Berry customers and staff through this experience.

As always-- now more than ever-- thanks so much for reading!!