Soap Queen

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Archives for December 2012

New Year, New Fragrance (tutorial)

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials

Have any plans for this evening? Here’s what I’m up to (yes, yes, you guessed it: difficult to get a baby sitter on New Year’s Eve). Recently I made a wonderful spray perfume for my mom that smelled amazing using a blend of different fragrance oils. However, it’s not always necessary to blend fragrance oils. A quick and easy way to get a perfectly lovely scent is to use a fragrance oil that is already a bit complex on it’s own. All the blending is done for you, and you can get on with your fancy New Year’s Eve parties and champagne toasts at midnight!

Sweet and Easy Perfume

Recipe: 

10 mL Cyclomethicone

9 mL DPG (Dipropylene Glycol)

10 mL 91% Isopropyl (Rubbing) Alcohol

1-2 mL Fragrance Oil

3 Mini Spray Bottles

Droppers with Suction Bulb

Small Funnel (optional)

Click here to add everything you need for this project (including the three fragrance oils I tried) to your Bramble Berry shopping cart! [Read more…]

Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Quinoa Cookies

Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine

Ever wanted some delicious and mouth-watering cookies but didn’t want to feel unhealthy for eating half a dozen (or dread the inevitable sugar crash)? It’s no secret that I love (love!) quinoa, so when trolling around on Healthy Blender Recipes I had to try the Chocolate Quinoa Cookies. These yummy little guys are stock full of delicious and healthy ingredients that are great for a late-afternoon power-snack, with just enough sweet goodness to place them square in the “treat” category. Plus, they’re vegan and gluten free and work for a wide range of dietary lifestyles.

Gluten Free and Vegan Chocolate Quinoa Cookies [Read more…]

Facebook Photo of the Week 12/24 – 12/28

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and were able to spend some quality time with your friends and family this year. This Christmas, Jamisen got a visit from Santa, as well as being the cutest darn Christmas elf I’ve ever seen. We were able to spend time with both sides of the family and I can hardly believe that next time this year, I’ll have two little Bramble Bumps in the house! Eeeek!!! We find out in less than two weeks what we are having and I cannot wait. I haven’t even thought about names yet until I know if we’re having a boy or a girl.  On to Facebook and the fun photo of the week:

She Dragon Body Products [Read more…]

Tiger Stripe “Hanger” Swirl Tutorial

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Have you checked out Bramble Berry’s brand new Brazilian clays yet? These natural colorants work excellently in cold process soap and are available in an amazing range of colors. They’re even available in a sample pack so you can test them out before purchasing a larger size!  To keep with the natural elements of the clays, I used a delightfully herbal essential oil blend for fragrance.

To create a two-color tiger stripe effect, I modified Bramble Berry’s 2 pound Wood Loaf mold. If you have some cardboard lying around from holiday packaging, here’s your chance to reuse it for some soapy goodness. We’re keeping it green on Soap Queen!

Tiger Stripe Hanger Swirl [Read more…]

Santa Visits and Bubbles Appear

Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

We were so pleased that Santa had a few extra minutes to stop by our house on Christmas Eve. Jamisen initially wasn’t the biggest fan but with Daddy by his side, he walked over to the book bin, grabbed a book and brought it back to Santa to read to him. It was rather adorable. Jamisen’s big present from Santa was a workbench. He promptly dismantled it, turned it upside down and tried to use it as a sitting stool. Funny little guy.

Christmas 2012 [Read more…]

Bramble Berry Cookie Swap

Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine

There are so many things that make the Christmas season my favorite – the new tradition of the Elf on the Shelf, playing Settler of Catan for hours, laughing with family, Santa Claus making an appearance (while Grandpa mysteriously disappears), the Salvation Army shopping trip for Bramble Berry and the big Faiola-Renoud family dinner. There’s another one that I don’t want to forget though: the annual Bramble Berry cookie swap. Any excuse to get the team together for a bit of good cheer coupled with delicious, sugar and butter laden treats is a win-win in my book. Bonus points for leaving with a big box of cookies of all shapes and sizes!

Holiday Cookie Swap

My contribution to this year’s swap was Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies with a Mint Chocolate Glaze, pulling from two different recipes. I’ve included the recipes at the end of this post, so check ’em out after these highlights from the day! [Read more…]

Jamisen the Christmas Elf

Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

This week, we had a little pint-sized elf visit the Bramble Berry warehouse to help spread Christmas cheer. It turns out that he accepted a little Christmas cheer first. Thank you Norman (our operations ninja) for the fantastic fishing game. Jamisen caught onto it quickly and I can see that we’ll have hours of fun ahead, ‘fishing’.

Opening a gift from Norman

Jamisen’s favorite part of visiting the office is always a toss-up between the giant ‘Vanna White’ wheel (seriously, we have a giant Wheel of Fortune wheel at work) and playing with my keyboard and my computer. He adores anything electronic or computer. Remotes, cell phones, computers … he’s all about it. [Read more…]

Gift Idea Roundup: Last Minute Quickies

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Somehow, despite all the perfect planning, did someone *maybe* slip off your gift list? No worries! Here are a few of my favorite quickie projects,  last-minute ideas that you can get done in just a few hours.

Last Minute Gift Ideas

Top Row: Painted Ornament Project, Soapy Candy Canes, Gingerbread Man Soap

Middle Row: Mistletoe Soap Project (Part One, Part Two, Part Three),  Christmas Tree Soap Centerpiece (Part 1 & Part 2), Pepperminty Bark Soap

Bottom Row:  Holiday Soap Stamp, Secret Message Soap, Lump of Coal Soap

Facebook Photo of the Week 12/17 – 12/21

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Christmas is only four days away and I just can’t wait (family, family, family!). This month has been full of fun projects like our Hot Process series: Crock Pot Camo, CPOP Swirls, and HPOP Layers; interesting contests like our Make it Monday: #Christmas Schwag; and even a couple Facebook photos of the week (see here and here). We also celebrated this month of giving by going out on our annual Salvation Army Shopping Trip and holding our Bramble Berry Cooke Exchange (more on that later, but check out last year’s swap here). But, on with the show. Here’s the winner of this week’s Facebook Photo of the Week:

Linda of The Enchanted Bath

This week’s photo comes to us from Linda of The Enchanted Bath. Linda shared a gorgeous cold process soap made with our Turkish Mocha Fragrance Oil that had me drooling all over my keyboard (since I know what that fragrance smells like and in a word, it is ah-maz-ing). Using just the fragrance oil to color the soap’s main body, Linda added a touch of Titanium Dioxide to the frosting to keep it nice and white. She says that the Turkish Mocha “Smells delicious and it’s flying off the shelves at my store. I highly recommend this fragrance!” Thanks for being a part of our soaping community on our Facebook page Linda, I’ve really enjoyed watching you grow in your craft and try new things with your soaping. There is a special little package headed your way. [Read more…]

Hot Process Series: Oven Process Layers

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Ever wondered what the difference is between CPOP, HPOP, and CPHP? I’m hoping to set the record straight when it comes to various methods of using heat to aid in the soapmaking process. Or, at the very least, I’ve set out to tell my own accounts of what happens when I soap with these different methods. I’ve already rocked out some CPOP and CPHP tutorials, and today we’ll be visiting HPOP.

HPOP: Hot Process Oven Process. This method of using hot process calls for heat being applied while the soap spends time in the oven. Like the oven’s purpose in CPOP, and the crock pot’s purpose in CPHP, the oven facilitates holding the temperature of the soap at or above 160 degrees, speeding up the saponification process. Remember from the CPOP post that according to Professor Kevin M. Dunn, author of Caveman Chemistry and Scientific Soapmaking, heat speeds along the saponification process. The major difference is that HPOP cooks the soap in oven before it goes into the mold instead of after, which gives the finished soap a more rustic look. Questions? Check out the FAQs at the end of the post!

Click here to tweet this tutorial!

Hot Process Oven Process Layers [Read more…]

Licorice Candy Soap

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I am obsessed with licorice. I’ve heard rumors that chocolate is also delicious but when forced to choose, give me the acquired taste of licorice. For the record, my favorite kind is Panda (though RJ‘s or Darrell Lea’s are never turned down) or the ultra-acquired taste of Salted Licorice (available at fine mail order stores or specialty candy stores). Even though I love straight-up licorice most of all, I’ll still eat delicious Licorice Allsorts. And, I think that this project would make such a fun gift or a since it ’tis the season, a stocking stuffer. This project is easy and suitable for a beginner (just watch those temperatures!).

Licorice Candy Melt and Pour

Recipe:

33.6 oz. White Melt and Pour Soap

22.4 oz. Clear Melt and Pour Soap

Black Oxide Color Block

Non-Bleeding Cherry Colorant

Non-Bleeding Teal Colorant

1.2 oz. Star Anise Essential Oil

9 Cube Silicone Mold

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

[Read more…]

#Christmas Schwag Eye Candy

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Thanks to everyone who threw their hats in the ring for the Make it Monday #Christmas Schwag Challenge! Check out the winners here. And before the holiday season sneaks away from us just as quickly as it approached, I thought you’d enjoy a peek at the over 200 (!) entries from the challenge. Everyone’s photos are also in the Facebook Photo Album for your enjoyment over the holiday break. We’ll be back next year with more fun Make it Monday Challenges, but until then feast your eyes upon this bounty:

Collage One [Read more…]