Archives for June 2013

Happy Father’s Day Messy Fun

June 16, 2013 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Happy Father’s Day to you and yours. Regular readers of this blog will know that I am the luckiest girl in the world with my family. I would choose my Dad over and over again if I had to build our family from the ground up. Many of the traits that have served me well in life, I received and learned (by example) from him. So Dad, I love you! Of course, there’s not just my Dad for Father’s Day now; my sweet husband Chris is an amazing Father. I’m so lucky that he wanted to marry me (!) and have little ones together. I feel blessed and loved every day because of the choice we made: to create a family together.

We hosted a Father’s Day Weekend at our house with a revolving door of guests. We were also celebrating my Mom’s release from the hospital. She was admitted early this week with an antibiotic-resistant strain of … something(!). The Doctors never were able to fully culture it so it’s a mystery but either way, we were so happy to have her out of the hospital and home.

Thanks to Pinterest, I had quite a few good ideas for how to keep our little toddler busy this weekend. I have 215 pins (!!) on my Toddler Fun Pinterest board right now. You can check ’em out or follow the board here.

This Water Blob tutorial was genius. The kids **loved** it; loved it! They were soooooo happy. And, besides a few small tears as the afternoon wore on, the water blob held up remarkably well and is still in tact today. PS – No, that’s not Lily all grown up already. That’s Miss Ava, Jamisen’s first love. They’ve held hands so we’re already planning their nuptials.

We had a hot dog (and for the vegetarians, faux dogs) and a marshmallow roast. It was Jamisen’s first marshmallow and he was quite enamored with all the sugar and gooey and warm.

We also made the Faiola Family Tradition cake (we really should pick easier traditions that don’t take so many hours to make) – Butterscotch Butterscotch Cake. You can find the full recipe here. It’s clearly a sign that we adore my Dad because we keep making this cake, over and over, for him. Sister in Law, Cheriss, was the hero this time. She made 80% of the cake and just let me swoop in for the final caramelizing (butterscotching!) the pecans and of course, the eating. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Kiss that special man in your life or send a thanks to heaven for those Fathers and Grandfathers that have already departed.

Facebook Photo of the Week (June 7th ~ June 14th)

June 15, 2013 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

The official first day of summer is just around the corner! With all this summer sunshine comes bright pops of color which inspire my soapmaking, and looking through Bramble Berry’s Facebook page this last week I could tell that the warmer summer weather has definitely been inspiring yours as well. Are you ready to see who this winner of our Facebook Photo of the Week is? Check this gorgeous soap out below…

This week’s charming photo came to us from Elaine at Lainie’s Menagerie. Her use of LabColors really made her soap stand out and give it a retro tie-dye look (for more information on how to use Bramble Berry’s LabColors, check out the following blog posts here, here and here). Elaine told us she wanted a design that reflected her work as an artist and she was so happy with this ‘watercolor’ look! Thank you so much to all our readers for being a part of the soapmaking community on Facebook. I look forward every week when I get to see all the creative and imaginative bath & body products and it’s great for passing the time during Lily’s midde of the night feedings. =)

Elaine’s Facebook Page: Lainie’s Menagerie Bath & Body

Elaine’s Website: Lainie’s Menagerie

Be sure to post pictures of your soap creations on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page for a chance to win the Facebook Photo of the Week, as well as keeping up-to-date on the soapy news coming from Soap Queen and Bramble Berry.

Painting Soap with Mica Powder Video

June 13, 2013 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

This technique is quick, easy and gives a beautiful result. So I thought it would be perfect for a Soap Queen short video! Dry brushing mica onto finished soap is a fast way to highlight the detail of a soap mold design. Although it will wash off in the first or second use, you’ll still have a pretty bar of soap – just a little plainer looking.

To make the soap in this video you will need:

Get everything you need to make this soap with the click of a button!

Finding your Niche

June 12, 2013 Filed Under: Business Musings

Hi there! This is Jeanee from Dirty Laundry. You might remember me from Soap Queen TV making cupcake bath fizzie frosting and petit four soap. Today I want to talk about defining and expending your niche for your business.

The Petit Four Soap Kit

What is your niche?

A niche is a distinct segment of a market.

The independent handmade market has been saturated with lots of craft businesses—many offering the same type of product or service. How are you going to stand out among the sea of soap makers, DIY-ers and bloggers?

Well, you’re selling a product or service because you are really good at it. Let’s think about what expertise you have to offer.

Ways to stand out in your niche

— Where are the gaps in your category? Do you recognize a service that isn’t being provided or a need not fulfilled?

— How can you make it better/do it better than anyone else?

— Is your voice different?

— Is your style different?

— How can you offer you to your target audience, as defined in the branding section?

Even if your unique difference is small, it can be a refined niche to make you stand out.

Whether you are making a product or blogging you need to make sure you’re passionate about your niche. It’ll be difficult to come up with material if you’re not enthusiastic and knowledgeable about your subject. Your ideas should flow easily.

For example, I don’t blog too much about my personal home decor because that’s not something I place a lot of emphasis on in my daily life. I could blog about that topic, but the posts would be few and far between. Another example is that when I was making aprons and cupcake bath fizzies I found it painstaking to sew an apron, especially when I was so much more excited to make new cupcake bath fizzie scents. My passion for cupcake bath fizzies seemed to influence my customers’ preferences for my fizzies over my aprons as well. So instead of pulling my hair out every time I had to sew an apron, I decided to focus and make my niche cupcake bath fizzies.

A Dirty Laundry Tutti Fruity Bath Fizzy

Are there products or blog topics that you are struggling with? Ditch them and take a step closer to your niche.

We can argue that your niche needs to be popular and appeal to the masses. But if your niche is too popular the competition will make it difficult to stand out, and if your niche is too small and specific maybe no one will like it.

Your niche will let you focus on a smaller portion of a market or expand into new territory in a way that no one else has done before. A niche doesn’t mean that you have to stick with one product or skill. Leave room for your business to grow in new directions but with a focus.

You can’t make or blog about everything and make an extensive line of products to fit everyone. Let Susie Q be the fashionista and John Doe be the home decor wiz. You do YOU! We are all unique individuals, and we all have something special to bring to the table. When you claim your space, you’ll be surprised that there is an audience for what you have to offer.

Want to learn more from Jeanee? Check out her book, How to be a Craft Show Genius!

Under Your Spell – Melt and Pour Clay Tutorial

June 11, 2013 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Have you used Bramble Berry’s new Brazilian Clays yet? Otion did and they came up with this fabulous Paisley Melt and Pour Soap that was done exceedingly well. Read on to be inspired and learn how they made it.~A-M PS – This injector tool is the secret weapon of many talented melt and pour artists.

We’re head over heels for these lovely clays, and they’re a perfect for those romantic and sultry colors. We used the Paisley Tray Mold and a Syringe Injector to do the detail work with the purple, yellow, dark red Brazilian clays and heavy metal gold for some sparkly touches.

Ingredients:

Yellow Brazilian Clay

Purple Brazilian Clay

Dark Red Brazilian Clay

Heavy Metal Gold Mica

Lovespell Fragrance Oil

1 lb Shea Melt and Pour Base

1 lb Aloe Vera Melt and Pour Base

Paisley Tray Mold

Droppers

Injector Tool

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

ONE: Cut up and divide your aloe base into 4 mugs. We’ll work with the colors one at a time, so melt one mug and add 1/4 tsp of your first color clay and 3 ml of Lovespell fragrance. Mix well! Use the injector tool to fill in the areas you like, remembering that you’ve got 3 other colors to work with, so don’t fill in everything! You can always go back and change your mind later, so don’t worry too much.

Tip: To see your details better, put your mold on top of a white piece of paper!

Repeat with the rest of your colors until all the detail cavities are filled. Wait for them to cool, and spray liberally with alcohol.

You should have quite a bit of colored soap left over; don’t worry, we’ll use it up!

TWO: Melt 4 oz of shea soap base carefully. We don’t want it too hot, or it’ll melt all that detail work! It should not be steaming, but rather should be cool enough to have formed a thin skin (just like pudding!) on the top of the container. Stir in the skin to melt it, and spray you detail work with alcohol. Pour the shea soap over your details. Allow to harden fully, and spray with rubbing alcohol before the next step.

THREE: Melt back down all your other colors and remnants, and the rest of your shea soap base (12 oz). Add an additional 1/2 oz of fragrance to the melted shea soap. Alternate pouring white with your colors before each layer has hardened fully for a swirled effect, or allow each layer to harden before pouring the next to get crisp layers. (I found I didn’t have enough soap left over to do complete layers).

If you only have a tiny amount of a color left over, like I did with my purple and gold, drizzle over a white background randomly for a lovely marbled effect. Whatever you do, you’ll have color all through your soap so it never gets boring once the design has washed off!

Tips and Tricks:

1. Have a cup of very hot water around to clean out your syringe. Clean it often with the hot water to prevent soap from clogging it up!

2. Patience, patience, patience! Don’t worry about coloring outside the lines, because you can always clean it up later with a tooth-pick or scraper tool. But don’t rush things! If your soap is too hot when you try to use it with the syringe, it will squirt out in big, hard to control puddles.

3. Have fun! This is your work of art, and it’s a great way to spend a rainy afternoon and practice your soap art skills.

On Babies and Business

June 10, 2013 Filed Under: Business Musings

Now that Anne-Marie has delivered her second child (congrats!), it’s the perfect time to share some of my best tips to help you successfully combine motherhood and business.

After 13 years in business, a husband and two children, I have learned a lot about this topic. I have done some things right and a lot of things wrong. I love coaching other moms to successfully integrate motherhood and business, without compromising either. Here are some tips to help you do that:

1. Get ready

OK, I’m going to hit hard on this first one, so get ready.

Like cancer, business is unforgiving. It does not care that you are a wife, a mother, a laid off worker, or a quadriplegic. Sure, you can leverage those things with your target customers. But generally, you don’t get a break one way or the other because you are any of those things. The business you run is either profitable or not, and your task is to make sure it is the former. You have to work at least as hard as everyone else. You don’t get a pass because you’re a mom. I’m not saying these things to startle you. I’m saying them because they are true, and I want you to be prepared. Get ready to work harder than you ever imagined. if you do, it will be one of the greatest experiences of your life.

2. Get help

You are not superwoman. (Darnit!) You may be good at this or that, but you are not good at everything — and even if you are, you don’t have time to do everything. Do the things you do best and in the least amount of time, and do them consistently. For everything else, get help.

It’s important to be honest with yourself here. If you hate washing clothes, and when you do, you make yourself and everyone around you miserable, then find someone else to wash clothes. From the teen down the street to the partner you live with, someone else can wash the clothes so you can do things you enjoy (or at least don’t hate as much), and which help you maintain the frame of mind you need to make your products and lead a profitable business.

3. Be honest with your children

Don’t sugar coat having to work. Let your children know that you work, and tell them why you work. Help them understand that you enjoy what you do, and you have a life outside of them. Encourage them to embrace the fact that you are helping to support your family.

Let’s face it, our children are not growing up in a world where traditional jobs will be plentiful. Use your business as an opportunity to teach them the tools they will need to own and manage a business so they don’t have to rely on a traditional job to sustain them.

4. Rally non-business support

Make sure you have friends in your life who know next to nothing about your business. These people will help you remain well-rounded, and take breaks from the stress of entrepreneurship.

5. Rally business support

Make sure you have friends in your life who know a lot about your business. These people will help you do things like wrapping soap for the holiday rush, and fleshing out your next product line idea. Choose people you can trust, from industries inside and outside of your own.

6. Partner wisely

Select your spouse or life partner wisely. This is serious business for entrepreneurial ladies. If your partner does not understand the kind of late night hours and distracted business dream stares he or she will have to endure, you are heading for a difficult time. Among the things to look for are: (1) someone who has a life of his or her own, so they are vocationally fulfilled apart from you; and (2) someone who is not threatened by your success — big or small — and by the fact that you are creating income from an asset that you own and control. If your partner is threatened or intimated by your success, as sometimes happens, both of you will have to overcome some significant challenges. Keep a check on this one from the beginning.

7. Create convenience

Surround yourself with things that make your life easier. For example, don’t grocery shop on a whim. Instead, shop once or twice a week, with a list. Plan meals in advance so you have everything you need to prepare them as quickly as possible. If you really want to go for convenience, hire a personal chef to prepare meals a few times a week. There are personal chefs in most areas these days, and their prices are often surprisingly reasonable.

8. Enjoy mini getaways

Take mini-breaks as often as you can. Mini-getaways can last anywhere from an afternoon to a day or two. Use them as times to refresh yourself and keep your creative juices flowing. Learn how to paint, take a cooking class, etc.

9. Enjoy major getaways

If you can, take some sort of vacation at least once a year, where you unplug as much as possible.

10. Build your platform

As you grow your business, remember that you can only see so far into the future. If you plan to have a business for most or all of your adult life, build a solid platform that will support you no matter what you decide to do in the future.

For example, my friend, Kayla Fioravanti, co-owned a cosmetics business with her husband for several years. Together, they grew it into a multi-million dollar empire. During this time, Kayla set up the company’s blog and used it as a way to promote the business as she explored her passion for writing. By the time they sold the business, Kayla had honed her writing skills so well that she was able to transfer seamlessly from the cosmetics business to a business as an author.

Are you a mom considering starting a business of your own? Are you a mom who already has a business? Either way, we’d love to hear from you! What tips can you share? What do you think of the ones here?

Sunday Night Spotlight: Calendula

June 9, 2013 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Long summer days mean more sunshine (I hope!), and to celebrate the summer sun I thought it might be fun to highlight a very sunny flower: calendula, more commonly known as marigold! Not only is calendula lovely to grow in your garden, it adds a number of wonderful properties to soap. The herb has a long history of being skin soothing, and is great for people who want gentle additives in their soap. Because of its folklore of anti-inflammatory and skin-soothing properties, it’s also used topically (as an infusion or an extract) in acne and diaper creme formulations. Calendula petals are particularly versatile too, and I’ve used it the Sunshine Soap Cold Process tutorial and in the Infused Lip Balm tutorial. It’s my go-to oil infusion for any massage oils or tender skin care products. You can learn how to make your own calendula oil infusion here.

If you’re looking for an extract, we’ve got you covered too! Using both the calendula petals and calendula extract, you can make a skin-soothing oil infusion or super gentle calendula lotion. You can make most anything under the sun using this happy little flower =)

Baby Lily’s First Two Weeks

June 8, 2013 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Hello from BabyLand! Baby Lily has proven herself to be a model baby. She eats constantly and sleeps the rest of the time. I’ve made it into work a few times (woo hoo!) and that’s been exciting. I do love me some soap lab time and I miss my Brambleberrians when I’m home. It all depends on how the evening goes on if I make it into the office (with Lily, of course). Nighttime ranges between really great (woo hoo! Feeding at 11, 2 and 5!) and horrible (boo hiss! feeding at 11, 12, 1, 3, and 5 or any combo in between).

Miss Lily has developed a minor diaper rash, no matter how many times we change her diaper and try to keep her dry. We’ve done Gloves in a Bottle to lay down a protective silicone skin protector, Desitin, naked time (for the record, every single naked time has ended up with pooping or peeing on Mommy or the protective blankets). This is a typical baby thing; they have such sensitive skin. But, it’s sad and stressful to see.

Her brother is in the middle of the ‘Terrific Twos’ (eh hem). I swear, he has a temper tantrum about something almost every day. He doesn’t want a band aid on his bleeding toe. He doesn’t want to say ‘Please.’ He is upset that we are not letting him pour green kale (staining!) juice all over the floor. You name it, he’s flailed on about it. It’s challenging on sleep-deprived Chris and I. We haven’t figured out the best reaction – come down hard and discipline? Try to be patient? Diversion? We have been trying almost every suggestion from this blog post and so far, the ‘Mama’s Helper’ idea has resonated the best with him.

Grandma came up for an ENTIRE WEEK and saved my life. She did such an amazing job taking care of Jamisen, the garden, the house and ME. Jamisen asked for her several mornings after she left. He will be so happy when she arrives back next week to visit and help out for a few days. We are lucky to have her support (and all the Grandparents!).

Jamisen is rather hilarious about wanting to touch baby Lily. He loves to pet her, pat her head, touch her face, her hands, her feet. He has no idea how to be gentle with her so we don’t leave him alone with her. He has taken to trying to “help” her eat. If she doesn’t want to latch onto my breast for feeding, he will come by and shove her face into my breast, and command “Eat.” Sometimes, he even puts a stern “NOW!” after that. “Eat Now!”

He loves our reading time and graciously allows Lily to sit with us. He really has turned into a voracious reader and adores reading time. He plops up onto the bed, and grabs 15 or so books, piling them onto the bed one by one, and then we read a few books. He tries to get one more book, “Just one more! One more!” before having to go to bed every single night. We read every morning, before naptime and before bedtime.

I just ordered some truck books (He is obsessed with trucks!) and am considering making them prizes for peeing and pooping in the toilet (10 stickers = 1 book?). Maybe little toy cars at 5 stickers and then 10 stickers gets a book? I’m open to suggestions. Any great potty training ideas to help us out? He’s 25 months old so in theory, now is about the time we can start this process.

We’re looking forward to a great rest of the weekend. We traipsed to the Farmer’s Market this morning and have a play date today with his little friend Sasha. His Mommy, Heather, helped plant our garden (actual shot of the chard above) so we’re going to send her home with lots of these amazing veggies. We have more than we could ever use! And, we like to teach the valuable concept about sharing so it’s a win-in.

And, back to that potty training … got any ideas? Tell me (save me!). I’d love to hear them. It takes a village, or in this case, an entire blog to help me on this fun working mommy journey. =)

HSCG Conference Guest Post: Get Your Website Noticed

June 8, 2013 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

If you are anything like me you would much rather make soap than deal with the web related issues that go along with a business. Personally, I would rather be “pecked to death by baby ducks” than run the gauntlet of web optimization, however it is a pertinent part of running your small business. How will you ever get noticed if your website can’t be found?

Marie Gale is a soapmaker and long time supporter and honorary member of the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetics Guild. She is a author of Soap and Cosmetic Labeling (a must have in every soapmaker’s library) and Good Manufacturing Practices for Soap and Cosmetic Handcrafters. In addition, Marie is a web programmer and has been the HSCG webmaster since 2003. The following is a brief summary of the information covered in her session on SEO.

There are several key components that you should look at within the “website” itself. We’ll begin by taking a peek at the Google Webmaster Zone where we can tick off a list of factors that can influence the success of optimization.

In terms of your server, Google looks at page load speed (your page should ultimately load in 2 seconds or less), crawl errors that should be corrected, and a “static” ip address (your very own unique # that does not change) is preferred. Robots.txt should be correct and in place along with your sitemap; it’s important to note that there is the “human” sitemap as well as the xml sitemap that Google considers for page ranking. Google looks at certain “trust factors” also such as a privacy policy on your site along with a physical address. While Google does favor a physical address as a security honor element, it is not a “deal breaker” if this address is not present. Next, take a look at your html and css coding making sure it is valid and correct and fix any broken links within the site, incoming to your site etc.

Now, on to the actual “page” content. All content should be relative, natural and not contrived. Google has wised up to duplicate content and stuffing (adding text behind images and in the same color as the background etc.). Keywords for your pages should be in relevant places such as: name of the page, title tag, description meta tag, body of the text. Use pertinent terms; for instance, in regards to soap: handcrafted, handmade, artisan, artisanal.

In regards to pictures, utilize relevant key words in alt tags describing images. Google loves images. Also use keywords in the image file name. Optimally a page should contain at least 250-300 words of text on each page. Watch out for bound links – remove “powered by” or “designed by” links. Limit outbound links; only use within text where relevant. Remove blog rolls or lists with outbound links unless they are necessary.

Off page you should utilize social media links in local listings such as Bing Local and Google Places. Encourage links to your site from relevant sites and remove links from link directories, link exchanges (or get them marked rel=’nofollow.’) Eliminate purchased links to your site. Do get listed in appropriate human- edited directories.

Marie’s session was very helpful, and even I understood a thing or two about how I can better optimize my website. I’m off to check out Google Webmaster Zone!

Facebook Photo of the Week (June 1st ~ June 8th)

June 7, 2013 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Happy June! I can’t believe the year is almost halfway done. If you need some inspiration for your summer bath and body products, be sure to like us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and subscribe to our blog posts here on the Soap Queen. Are you ready for this week’s winner? Check ’em out below!

This week’s photo comes to us from Challene at Meadow Creek Boutique. She told us that she used our Cambrian Blue Clay, a dusting of vanilla bean powder, glitter and our ever popular Energy Fragrance Oil. I just love how natural and soothing the Cambrian Blue Clay looks in her soap and can’t wait to see more pictures from her. =)

Thanks to everyone for being a part of our unique soapmaking community. You are all inspiring me.

Challene’s Facebook Page: Meadow Creek Boutique

Soapy Social Media Roundup

June 7, 2013 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

These past two weeks have been a blur with taking care of a tiny, beautiful baby girl (who eats nearly every hour!) and watching as Jamisen adjusts to not being an only child (which he is doing surprisingly well). I still (barely) found the time to round up some favorite Pins, Vines and Tweets for you all to enjoy.

Pins of the Week:

(Beginning in the top left corner): Craving a little chocolate? Not only do these fudgesicles look delicious, they’re dairy and soy free too! Yummm.

Emily from Suds by the Sea is part of the next generation of soapers. She has been making her own cold process soap for the past 5 years (she’s only 15!) and uses the ocean shores near her North Carolina home as the inspiration for her small business. Way to go, Emily!

Good ethics are a cornerstone of good business. Treat employees ethically, source products ethically and always act with integrity!

These soap roses were too cute not to share! Best of all, they’re super easy to make.

I love the colors in this face & body soap. Reminds me of a relaxing day at the beach!

Never underestimate the power of a reliable messenger bag. The thing I love about this Molly bag is that it would look just as good carrying around gym clothes as it would during a trip to the grocery store. Versatility is key! Best of all, the making of this bag gives jobs to women who are otherwise unable to work. Do good and look good!

Vines of the Week:
This beautiful Peacock Swirl technique is for Soap Challenge Club held by our friend Amy over at Great Cakes Soapworks. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite coloring techniques. We also used this opportunity to test a new soaping tool we’re developing — keep your eyes peeled for more info!

I was super excited to see how this looked once it was cut, and I love how it turned out! I had a very special guest help me with this one =)

Tweets of the Week:

It’s common for babies in Finland to sleep in a cardboard box given to mothers by the Finnish government. Read a little further though and you’ll find that the maternity box (coupled with a few other factors), has actually helped lower infant mortality rates since the program began!
Think twice before eating that McDonalds breakfast. High fat, high carb fast food meals can harm those friendly little microbes in our bellies, which may be more important than we think.
If you’re thinking of selling your handmade goodies at a craft show, check out this very helpful blog post.

It’s finally starting to feel like summer around here, so it might be time for Lily’s first trip to the beach. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Welcome to Summer: A Camp Bramble Berry Project

June 6, 2013 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

No summer is complete without a trip to summer camp. Sleeping under the stars, adventurous outdoor activities, pancake breakfasts and of course, the annual camp-wide talent show are all part of the fun, right? Well, we surely didn’t want to miss out!

So pack up your sleeping bags and don’t forget the bug spray, because we’re super excited to announce Camp Bramble Berry — our own soapy version of summer camp. For the next couple of weeks, we’ll deliver awesome, kid friendly projects that are not only fun to make, but fun to play with afterward too!

Today’s Soap Crayon project is just one example of the awesome tutorials you can expect when you sign-up for the Bramble Berry Newsletter.

To get in on all the action, all you have to do is sign up for our email newsletter. Simply visit the Bramble Berry website and enter your email address on the right hand side. Don’t forget to click through the confirmation email you’ll receive to activate your subscription, and be sure to check your spam filter for emails from info(at)brambleberry(dot)com.

When Camp has ended, you’ll continue to receive our regular monthly newsletter which features coupons, an exclusive project and other special deals. It’s just one more way to stay update to date with the latest Bramble Berry news. Now, onto the crayons!

What You’ll Need:

13.5 oz. White Melt and Pour Base

Peach Lab Color

Periwinkle Lab Color

Green Apple Lab Color

Easter Purple Lab Color

Teal Lab Color

Creamsicle Fragrance Oil

Cucumber Melon Fragrance Oil

Strawberry Fragrance Oil

Pearberry Fragrance Oil

Blueberry Fragrance Oil

9 Ball Sphere Mold

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

ONE: Cut the White Melt and Pour soap base into similarly-sized chunks, each no bigger than about an inch. In a heat-safe container, melt the soap on short, 30 second bursts in the microwave and stir between each burst.

TWO: Divide the soap into five heat safe containers, with 3 oz. of soap in four containers and 1.5 oz. of soap in the fifth container.

THREE: Next, add one fragrance oil per cup. Be sure to keep track of which fragrance oil goes in which cup or else your fragrances and colors will be mismatched.

These are fragrance and color mates we used:

3 mL Peach with 1 mL Creamsicle Fragrance Oil

3 mL Green Apple with 1 mL Cucumber Melon Fragrance Oil

2 mL Easter Purple with 1 mL Strawberry Fragrance Oil

2 mL Teal with 1 mL Pearberry Fragrance Oil

2 mL Periwinkle with 1 mL Blueberry Fragrance Oil

FOUR: Add in your colorants. Undiluted Lab Colors can be difficult to mix into soap, so heat the colors (particularly the blues and greens) in the microwave on 5 second bursts. After heating, make sure the cap is on tight and shake vigorously. Add one colorant per cup to its corresponding fragrance.

Tip: Be especially careful with the Teal because it tends to clump. You may even want to stir the colorant with a mini mixer so you don’t end up with spots of concentrated color in your finished soaps.

FIVE: Now pour your soap into the mold. Each cavity will hold 1.5 oz. of soap, so you’ll get two soap crayons per color. One of your cups should only contain 1.5 oz of soap, so that will fill the remaining cavity. Spray with isopropyl alcohol to release surface tension and prevent bubbles. Allow the soaps to sit for at least 5 hours before unmolding.

SIX: Test the soap crayons in a discrete area on your tub before unleashing your child’s creativity. Rinse away with a washcloth and warm water.

And there you go! Looks like you’ve earned your first Camp BB project badge =) Jamisen definitely had a ton of fun with these soapy crayons creations.

Instagram Contest Winners

June 5, 2013 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I’m excited to announce the winners of our Instagram contest, and I hope that you enjoy these soaps as much as I did! It was a blast not only to see all of the fun and creative soaps, but also the photography skills employed by just the click of a phone camera. If you want to see all the entries in the contest, be sure to follow the #soapcrafting hashtag in the Instagram app on your phone, or you can search #soapcrafting on Statigram from your desktop computer. Are you ready to find out who won? Check these fabulous soaps out…

Top Row: @debbylove84 & @babyducksoap

Bottom Row: @willendorfsoap & @drealmoMo

Congratulations to the winners of this fun contest! Don’t forget to follow Brambleberry on Instagram to keep up-to-date on the latest soapy happenings at Bramble Berry and the Soap Queen blog.

Baby Sprinkle Series: Ombre Gift bags

June 4, 2013 Filed Under: Home Crafts

These fun ombre bags are the perfect thing to hold the mini flower bath fizzies and strawberry tart soaps from the Baby Sprinkle favor series. Ombre is all the rage right now, it’s like the sophisticated sister of traditional tie-dye. The idea is to distribute color in such a way that it “fades” from dark to light, and eventually to nothing. Making these bags takes just a few steps, and they’re a nice touch that can make even a small gift seem extra special. Don’t forget to download this free PDF to get a custom tag to complete the look!

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