Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Happy Earth Day – One Planet, Many Soaps

April 22, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Celebrate this Earth Day with Eco-Chic Soap (with one easy kit)! This kit is designed to be as eco friendly as possible. Reuse your own yogurt, tofu or cleaned out food containers to make an earth friendly soap that is made with 100% organic vegetable oils and essential oils. In keeping with the eco friendliness, no paper instructions will be included with this kit so grab your step by step paper-free instructions HERE.

Each Eco-Chic Kit Contains:

2 lbs Organic Melt and Pour Base

1 oz. Spirulina

1 oz. Cranberry Seeds

0.5 oz Orange Essential Oil

0.5 oz Lavender Essential Oil

You can provide additives like coffee grounds, oatmeal, clays or food-grade charcoal (just make sure that it’s skin safe). You’ll also provide a recycled “soap mold” like a yogurt container, tofu container, soy milk container, coffee cup, etc. You’re not limited to anything here (well, except glass containers which don’t release soap very easily) so feel free to get creative!

Bramble Berry also offers a variety of natural and organic products like natural soap bases, organic essential oils and so much more. Click HERE for more information. If you’re a Cold Process soapmaker, not to fear, you are not left out – try clays, herbs, other exfolliants and essential oils to stay naturally clean and planet-friendly. Remember, natural homemade soap is biodegradable.We’re just one Planet with many, many soaps to make.

Take 100% Responsibility

April 21, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

I recently attended a 1 day Jack Canfield seminar. Jack Canfield is the author of countless books (including the Chicken Soup for the Soul series) but my favorite book he has written is ‘The Success Principles’. Reading and doing all the exercises from that book is like a crash course MBA. When he came to Seattle, my entire Mastermind Business Group signed up for a table and spent a full day learning from Jack. He is an excellent speaker – humble, enigmatic and thought-provoking all in one – so spending from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in a hotel conference room was not a hardship.

Erin Baker from Baker’s Breakfast Cookies with Jack

The first lesson he drilled into our heads was that we must take 100% responsibility for our lives. This means that when something goes wrong, instead of immediately blaming (“It’s Mary’s fault! If she had just finished writing up the description for Monkey Love on Friday, we could have had that fragrance up in time for the weekend!”), we should stop, take a deep breath and ask “What was my part in this? How could I have changed things?“

Jack taught us the following formula:

E + R = O

where E is Event, R is Response and O is Outcome.

Event + Response = Outcome

Simply put, every outcome we have in our life can be controlled by our response to the initial event.

Event: You present your products to a store, only to be turned down.
Response: You say “Thanks” and walk away.
Outcome: You have no wholesale account.
Event: You present your products to a store, only to be turned down.
Response: You say “Thank you. Under what circumstances would you consider adding my line?”
Outcome: The manager tells you “Well, you don’t have any fragrances I like. If you had fragrances I liked, I’d add the line.” You rework your fragrances and add an account.

Quoting directly from Jack Canfield:

The truth is…when confronted with a negative event, successful people look for ways to transform that negative into an opportunity for achievement and greater success.

They simply respond differently.

Think about almost every negative thing in your life. What is your part in the situation? How can you change your internal dialog to constantly say “I accept responsibility for this situation. What action steps can I take now to prevent this same outcome in the future?” After all, don’t we all want to lead lives of distinction with boundless joy, unbridled optimism and endless resources? Taking responsibility and recognizing that we can change each and every situation is the first step.

Must Try Fragrances, Molds and More!

April 20, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

It was Christmas morning here at Bramble Berry. We just got in three new fragrances that are must haves. I’m excited to introduce Zanzibar Spice, Mint Chocolate Chip and Monkey Love (a.k.a. ‘Banana’). We also just received our 18 Bar Baltic Birch Molds (a.k.a. ‘The Greatest Mold in the World’). They’re on the site and ready to order. And last but not least, our new soap stamps are here. Phew. It’s been a great (busy busy busy) day at Bramble Berry!

Zanzibar Spice: This fragrance is a hint on the masculine side but women will love using it too. You’re nose will first pick up on the Mandarin Leaf, Agave Nectar and African Lotis; then you’ll notice they’re perfectly paired with spices like cardamom, Nutmeg and Black Peppercorn. The dry base notes of Safari Sandalwood, Patchouli and Tonka Bean hold it all together for the perfect combination of “sugar and spice and everything nice”. This fragrance will discolor to a beige/brown. This fragrance has not yet been tested in cold process. We’ll keep you updated with the results.

Mint Chocolate Chip: Dish yourself up a bowl of Chocolate Chip Mint Ice cream and relax. Enjoy the scent of Pure Cane Sugar, Whipped Cream, Chocolate Truffle, Crème de Menthe, Peppermint Candy and Vanilla Brulee. It’s all rounded out with Tonka Bean, Musk and a hint of Butterscotch. Close your eyes and enjoy the sweet chocolate and energizing mint! This fragrance will discolor to a beige/ brown and has not yet been tested in cold process. We’ll keep you updated with our results.

Monkey Love: You’ll go “bananas” over our new banana fragrance oil. It smells just like banana candy (think banana Runts). This is by far the best banana fragrance that we’ve come across out of the bottle. You won’t be able to resist Ripe Banana notes combined with Brown Sugar, Churned Butter, Sugar Cane and Whipped Cream. Chopped Walnuts, ground Cinnamon and Clove Bud add the perfect addition to the monkey business. This fragrance will discolor to a beige/brown and has not yet been tested in Cold Process. We’ll keep you updated with the results.

18 Bar Baltic Birch Molds: Bramble Berry adoringly calls this “The Best Soap Mold in the World!” This 18 bar mold is made out of top grade Russian Birch Plywood and Mahogany and holds approximately 6 lbs of soap. Each mold is custom made and locally hand crafted here in Bellingham, Washington. All of the joints are glued and screwed together for excellent durability and the finish is a sanding sealer with several coats of lacquer on top giving it that beautiful glossed look.

Celebration Stamp Set: Celebrate every holiday of the year with our clear stamp set. These rubber backed stamps are a great way to make reusable seasonal soap designs out of plain soap molds- allowing you to change your designs with out purchasing new molds. Learn how to stamp your melt and pour soap with Soap Queen TV: Holiday Soap Stamp Video OR see the Soap Queen Blog tutorial: Rubber Stamping for Martha.

From Sierra Leone, with Love

April 18, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

One of my favorite parts of being in charge of Bramble Berry ‘SoapNation’ is the one-on-one instruction opportunities at Otion. From time to time, soapers and toiletry makers come to Otion for private instruction on how to make everything and anything that their heart desires. The days (and weekends) are all custom designed to meet the interests of our students. Selena came to us from Africa by way of London. And poor dear, because of the Icelandic volcanic eruptions, she is in Bellingham for a bit longer than she intended.

We designed a jam packed two days for Selena. Cold Process soap – swirled with the Bramble Berry ‘World’s Best Divider Molds’ and a couple double layer loaves (with a sprinkled mica vein in the middle of each layer, above). The above soap is the dark color because of the honey. It gets hot and burns in the soap, causing it to turn brown.

Most of our cold process soaps included a generous serving (up to 10%) Sierra Leone honey, fresh off the plane (and brought in at some trouble for poor Selena who was stopped by customs so long that she missed her flight to Bellingham!).

We made four different types of scrubs. The two pictured below are both emulsified scrubs (similar to the ones I teach in this video here).

We made many types of whipped body butters.

And sadly, we had a bit of a mishap with the Honey soap.

It superheated up, the honey crystallized and created a heat tunnel and all of the honey leaked out. Whoops.

Not to worry though – we hot processed the entire batch out and made some luscious soap (above) despite the initial horrifying leaky honey results. And then we redesigned the batch – less honey, lower temperatures, no insulation and presto! successful batch.

It was a joy to spend two days with Selena. She’s headed back to Africa with three massive boxes bulging with goodies. I’m excited to watch her company progress in the next few years. Thanks for spending the day with me Selena!

Fashionable Soapmaking Gloves

April 17, 2010 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Happy weekend everyone! I’m spending part of the weekend with Selena who flew over to Bellingham from London to take private classes at Otion (Kat did a great write up on the classes she taught Selena here). We’re going to hit the farmer’s market today (hellooooo, cupcakes!) and engage in some retail therapy locally. If you’d like to engage in some retail therapy with us virtually, I may have found the thing just for you – the latest and greatest, fashion forward gloves for you cold process soapmakers out there. He he. Are these a must have or what? Gotta love The Spoon Sisters!

“Now you can look chic and sophisticated while…washing the dishes (Soap Queen Insert: Or making soap)! Yes, these decorative rubber gloves allow you to turn a simple household chore, into a fashion statement. A fabulous hostess gift. Hand-embellished with faux jewels and faux leopard cuffs.”

Get your designer gloves here at The Spoon Sisters or at Fancy Pants (much larger selection) here.

Mother’s Day Bath Tea

April 15, 2010 Filed Under: Bath Fizzies

Mother’s Day is coming up (and coming up quick!). This is an easy project for you to make with kids too (eh hem, Dads…). Let mom relax this mother’s day with herbal infused bath time. I have two fabulous recipes to pick from that are both relaxing and moisturizing. Your mom deserves it (I know my mom does)!

RECIPE ONE: Healing Orange Bath Tea

1/4 cup Chamomile Herb

1/4 cup Calendula Herb

8 mini scoops of Orange Peel Powder

3 ml Vitamin E Oil

6 ml Orange ValenciaEssential Oil

1 Large Sealable Tea Bag

Small mixing bowl

Droppers

Mini Scoops

Iron

ONE: In your small mixing bowl, combine the Chamomile, Calendula, Orange Peel Powder, Vitamin E Oil and Orange Valencia Essential Oil.

TWO: Mix ingredients together so the oil is evenly distributed. Use your fingers to fill the tea bag with the herbs.

THREE: Seal the open ends of the tea bag with a hot iron.

RECIPE TWO: Relaxing Rose and Lavender Bath Tea

1/4 cup Lavender Grade One

1/4 cup Pink Moroccan Rosebuds

4 ml Hungarian Lavender Essential Oil

2 ml Vitamin E Oil

Large Sealable Tea Bag

Small mixing bowl

Droppers

Mini Scoop

Iron

ONE: In your small mixing bowl, combine the Lavender, Rose Petals, Vitamin E Oil and Hungarian Lavender Essential oil.

TWO: Mix ingredients together and fill the tea bag with the herbs.

THREE: Seal the open ends of the tea bag with a hot iron.

*Note: It’s normal for the oil to soak through the tea bag just a little. It’s the price we must pay for a fabulously scented and moisturizing bath. Leave the oil out of the recipe if you do not want the oil marks on the tea bag.

Soapy Cupcakes by Riverlea Soap

April 14, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

Odette Handly is the owner of Riverlea Soap and makes these realistic and adorable cupcake soaps. I love ’em to pieces!

Three quick fire questions for Odette:

Anne-Marie: How long have you been making soap?
Odette: I am self taught but have only been making for about 3 years. I studied Fashion design and worked as a fashion buyer and then worked for myself making wedding dresses and ball gowns. But I broke my vertebra in my lower back and was told by the surgeon that I would be unable to sit for long periods of time. The recovery time for a back operation is LONG. This is a problem if you sew. I then needed a backup plan to make money after the operation. Something I could do standing up – I found a book that my sister had bought me on making soap and that was the beginning. I have not looked back. Every day brings something new with exciting ideas.

Anne-Marie: Your cupcake soap is incredible! What’s your top selling flavor of cupcake soap?
Odette: Pink floral outsells anything else by far with Lavender a close second.

Anne-Marie: What is your number one business goal for the remainder of 2010?
Odette: To improve sales/exposure in Johannesburg and Cape Town – the two biggest cities in South Africa. I have just recently started selling there and I need to concentrate more on those areas.

Anne-Marie: Thanks Odette and keep up the good work!

Check out Odette’s blog HERE and buy some of her Soaps HERE.

Puppy Time at Bramble Berry

April 13, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Meet Toby, my new nephew puppy!

He’s a Boston Terrier that enjoys long naps with his checkered blanket, wrestling with his hedgehog stuffed animal and looking cute (he’s obviously really good at that).

See Sammy (niece dog #1) and Toby bonding over dinner on my brother Erik’s blog, The Soap King. They’re going to be best friends!

Bramble Berry’s Building Bridges

April 12, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Wow! Can you believe we’re already a quarter of the way into 2010? Like they say, “time flies when you’re having fun“! Last week, we had our Bramble Berry quarter one wrap up meeting. We set new goals for quarter two, passed out prizes for goals achieved and built popsicle stick bridges for fun and team building (oh, and a cash grand prize). We were split up into two teams and had 30 minutes to build a 19” long bridge out of 60 popsicle sticks and Elmer’s glue (gotta love team building exercises). We let the bridges dry over night and had the final weigh in the morning. I could hardly sleep that night. Me? Competitive? Nah.

Drawing for prizes.

Here we are making a game plan.

This is my team’s bridge that came in second place holding 25.8 lbs of soap.

This was the winning bridge holding 85 lbs. of soap and citric acid. Their bridge was so sturdy, we had to scramble to find more weight to put in the hanging bucket below. Well played, team!

Is This Because I Didn’t Sign Up?

April 12, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

One does wonder …

Is this because I didn’t sign up for Amazon Prime?

I was really hoping to have that pink knife in time for the next SoapQueen.TV shoot in May.

New Soap Queen TV series – CP Soap

April 8, 2010 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

You asked for it and I listened! There have been numerous requests for a video on how to make Cold Process Soap. But the Cold Process soapmaking process is too complicated to show in one 5 minute video. So I have broken down the basics into a 4 part series. Once you’ve seen all 4 videos you will be ready to make a safe and successful batch of CP! Of course, if you just can’t wait you can always buy the DVD I made a couple of years ago. 🙂

Without further ado I present you “How to Make Cold Process Soap: Lye Safety and Ingredients, Episode 1″

How to Make Cold Process Soap : Lye Safety & Ingredients, Episode 1 from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

In this episode, I show how to safely handle Lye or Sodium Hydroxide by wearing gloves, goggles, long sleeve shirt, and pants. I also give the poison control hot line number (which is 1-800-222-1222) with a reminder that you should always call 911 first in any emergency.

I briefly show the free Bramble Berry Lye Calculator for soap as well as our nifty iPhone app. I also talk about some of my favorite soapmaking books like The Everything Soapmaking Book and The Soapmaker’s Companion.

Next, I go over some of my favorite soapmaking oils like Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Jojoba Oil, Castor Oil, as well as butters like Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter, Sal Butter, Lanolin, and Avocado Butter.

Special guest Cold Process soap samples purchased from: Arcadia Aromatics, Ltd., Sherri’s Scents & Soys, Sagegold Soaps, SV soaps, Intentions soap, and KB Shimmer. Making this series was such a great excuse to go shopping and sample some new soapmakers as well as some old favorites. Everyone’s soaps arrived carefully packaged and looked as good if not better than the pictures on their websites.

Remember, this is a basic building block video so if you’re rarin’ to go and don’t want to wait for the last episode to put all of the knowledge together, you can buy the The Everything Soapmaking Book and The Soapmaker’s Companion or Basic Cold Process Soap DVD here.

Are you a blogger? Please feel free to embed this video on your blog. If you need any help just let us know! [email protected]

New! New! New!

April 7, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Bramble Berry just received two brand new fragrance oils that you’re going to LOVE: Papaya Coconut and Blue Man! I was squealing with excitement when I found out they were finally here. You’ll also want to check out the new Soapmaking Goggles, Surplus Blue Labcolor, Tractor Mold and Ice Cream Mold!

Papaya Coconut Fragrance Oil: Take a tropical vacation with a Papaya Smoothie and Caribbean Coconut. Get lost in the fruity notes of White Nectarine, Mango Juice, Mandarin Balm and Yellow Starfruit. Vanilla Bean adds a sweet note that you can’t resist. Discolors to a light brown and does great in cold process.

Blue Man Fragrance Oil: This is a duplication of the popular men’s cologne, Aquolina Blue Sugar. The base note of Black Patchouli blends perfectly with Orange Peel, Sparkling Mandarin, Coriander Leaves, Star Anise and Venezuela Tonka. It’s surprisingly sweet and majorly masculine. Discolors to a light brown and does great in cold process.

Pink Safety Goggles: These fashion forward safety goggles are a cold process soapmaking necessity. They seal completely around the eye for optimum protection and come in a handy carrying case.

Surplus Blue LabColor: Here for a limited time only! This unique mixture of some of our recent experiments with LabColor blends will give a charming, if slightly unexciting, medium blue color.

Tractor Mold

See the Tractor Soap tutorial here.

Ice Cream Cone Mold

See the Soapylove tutorial here.

Working Overtime: Christy Rose of KBShimmer

April 6, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

I recently finished filming 2 advanced cold process episodes of Soap Queen TV with special guest, Christy Rose of KBShimmer (see blog post here). These video tutorials are going to be amazing! She is such a talented soap artist and was a joy to work with. We had a blast on set. I’m so thrilled that Christy was recently interviewed for the Etsy blog. It’s a must read article if you’re in the mood for a little inspiration. Christy can do it all!

Christy Rose

Working Overtime: Christy Rose of KBShimmer
“Sometimes you’d like to quit your day job, but life gets in the way. We asked Christy of KBShimmer to share her story about her struggle to carve out creative time despite the realities of everyday. Christy is a member of three Teams on Etsy (SAFE Team, Crafting In Color Team and the IN Crowd Team) and says that the support of Teammates has been one of the reasons why she enjoys selling on Etsy. Currently working in real estate, below is the story of why she has chosen to balance both a full-time job outside the home, and running her company, KBShimmer.

I think deep down, most artists would like to quit their day job. Thoughts of leaving the daily grind behind and working for no one but yourself dance among dreams of the next painting, the next photo, the next batch of soap. Nonstop sales, steady earnings, supporting yourself on nothing but income from your art is positive proof that the world appreciates your skills and values your art.

I know those thoughts have danced in my head. Sometimes though, those dreams do have to wait.

KBShimmer began even before I realized it. When returning from a trip, my mother gave me a simple bar of soap. I loved the way it felt — creamy bubbles, soft scent, and when it was gone, I wanted more. Poring over books, I found a recipe, located supplies and made my first batch. Years later, long after that soap was gone and that batch forgotten, I walked into a bath and body store, and again fell in love. “You can make that,” said my husband, and I knew he was right. I could, and this time, I knew that it was more then a passing fancy, this was a passion; a passion I knew I wanted to turn into a business…”

Read the entire interview on Etsy HERE

This is one of the soap batches Christy made on the set of Soap Queen TV.
Although this episode won’t be ready until this summer, check in this Thursday for our first installment in our in-depth Cold Process Soapmaking Series.

Beautiful KBShimmer Soap piled high!

Chocolate, Scrubs & Soap

April 5, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

One of the best parts of my Bramble Berry life is teaching and interacting with customers who want to reach the next level in their business. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of working with Erin of CottonTreeChocolate.com on a special project that is near and dear to her heart. She has a chocolate company that manufactures chocolate in Belize. Her passion is in working with local farmers and providing jobs for women who might otherwise have an opportunity to work. Cotton Tree Chocolate works towards economic, environmental and social sustainability for both their own company and also the local community in Belize. She brought a friend, also named Erin, with her. I had fun calling Erin #2 “Friend Erin” all day.

In the chocolate manufacturing process, there are a variety of chocolate related products – from cocoa, to cocoa butter, to cocoa nibs, to chocolate. Erin has a passion for being environmentally sustainable in her entire supply chain and she came to Otion to design custom formulations to use all of this chocolate (yummy!) product in bath and body products.

We had a jam packed day making all kinds of goodies. We made solid scrubs and stamped them to give them a sophisticated and unique look.

We made emulsified scrubs and oil based scrubs.

We made two different types of soap. First up was Hot Process soap.

Our favorite was definitely the swirled cold process soap. We loved the natural chocolate coloring in the soap and used a heavily colored titanium dioxide white soap to provide contrast to the textured, dark soap.

Erin does chocolate tours to Belize (of amazing scuba diving renown). If you’ve ever wanted to know how chocolate is made (literally picking the beans yourself and making your bars of chocolate from scratch and wrapping it by the end of the week), she does 7 day tours that sound absolutely heavenly. If you’d like to learn more about the tours or her single batch, single origin bars, check out her website here or email her here.

Want to design your own DIY Toiletries Day at Otion? You can find more details here.