Anne-Marie Faiola, Author at Soap Queen

Soapylove Tutorial: Fluffy Frosted Soapy …

October 24, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I’ve always wanted to make soap cupcakes but stopped at the frosting. Due to my own laziness, I didn’t want to use many special ingredients, and I find pastry bags totally intimidating! So I decided to do a little experimenting and have come up with an extremely simple and fun recipe that requires 2 ingredients and no fancy frosting tips. I hope you’ll give it a try!

Supplies:

1 lb Naturally Clear melt and pour soap

Sweet Treats colorant set

Delectable Desserts fragrance oil set

Liquid soap base

Soapylove round scallo p mold

Whisk or hand mixer

Directions: 1. Cut up soap base and reserve 4 oz for frosting. Melt the rest of the soap and color any way you like. I used Buttercream Yellow for the vanilla cupcakes, and Bakery Beige for the chocolate ones. Experiment with a few drops of White Icing color to lighten the shade if you like. Choose any of the yummy scents for your soaps.

2. Fill each mold and allow to harden. Unmold.

3. To make the frosting, melt the 4 oz of clear soap base in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons of liquid soap, a few drops of pink colorant, and any fragrance oil you like . Using a whisk or hand mixer, beat mixture until it forms soft peaks. Add 1 teaspoon of the Rainbow Sprinkles from the Sweet Treats kit. Mix until incorporated.

4. Spoon frosting onto soaps (turn soaps upside down so you’re frosting the backs), piling up as much as possible. Allow to air dry. It’s totally touchable and won’t crack! The frosting has a range of textures that you can achieve, from very soft peaks to dry, stiff peaks. It’s kind of like shaving cream. If you have added frosting to your soaps and you don’t like it, you can scrape it off, put it back in your bowl, and warm it up in the microwave again for 15 seconds. Mix again until you get a good texture. Try again and again – the frosting keeps re-fluffing! Sprinkle on extra sprinkles for added cuteness! Have fun! -Debbie, Soapylove

Yes, It Has Metric & Works on iTouch

October 23, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Thank you for your enthusiasm about our iPhone Soapmaking App. To answer the most commonly asked question, yes, the iPhone does metric. Just go to the ‘Settings’ button and scroll down until you see the ‘Soap’ app. Select it. There are two settings you can change – the Welcome Screen (you can turn it off) and the ‘Units.’ Select that setting and just check ‘Metric.’ All of your recipes and units will be converted to metric.

You don’t need an iPhone to utilize this App – it works on the iTouch too!

Get your copy here or just search for the word ‘Soap’ in the Application Store or on your iPhone.

It’s that easy to switch your App into Metric. Get yours here and start making soap on the fly, anytime and anywhere – no computer or long math needed!

Soap Queen TV: Holiday Soap Stamp Project

October 22, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

This video demonstrates a technique I shared with Mario Bosquez on Living today (a Martha Stewart Sirius radio program) . The whole crew loved it so much I thought I should share it with my Soap Queen TV viewers too!

I love this innovative and economical project. It’s a great way to make reusable seasonal designs out of plain soap molds – allowing you to change your designs without purchasing new molds.

Soap Queen TV: Holiday Stamp Soap from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Here’s what you’ll need:
16 oz. Clear melt & pour soap
4 oz White melt & pour soap
Unmounted rubber stamps (the clear ones seem to work best)
Red-blue mica
Merlot mica
Liquid green oxide
Cranberry Fig fragrance
Melt & Pour tool kit
Basic Rectangle Mold

Love Our CP Soap

October 21, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I was so enchanted by the comment left on the ‘What’s New at Bramble Berry‘ post that I just had to share (and can I just say that I wholeheartedly agree with Ayesha’s husband’s assessment?). Want to know what you’re missing? Pick out your bar here.

Anne-Marie,

I have been meaning to msg you about the ready-made CP soaps. I won 5 a few months back and I just started using the sandalwood one. I have to tell you, it was funny b/c my husband hunted me down at home and was like, ok we have to talk about the soap in the shower! it’s awesome and where did you get it from? and he went on about the hardness and lather (both terms he learned from yours truly 😉 ). So there you have, soap so good it makes a man stop dead in his tracks!!

-Ayesha
mosaicsoaps.com

Homemade Face Paint

October 21, 2009 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

This project is perfect for any time of the year but especially for Halloween! Dress up your little ghoulish goblins with homemade face paint.

Recipe:

1-tbsp. of Lip Balm Base

5-8 mini-scoops Pigment/Oxide of your choice

1 mini scoops of Titanium Dioxide

1 drop of Liquid Glycerin

1 drop of Cyclomethicone

Instructions:

Melt Lip Balm Base. You can do it all at once or a tbsp at a time. Because of the high beeswax content, it takes 3 to 5 minutes to melt. Stir every minute to ensure no major hot spots exist and there is no part of the heat-safe-glass that is getting too warm.

Mix in colorant. It looks like a lot but it’s not that much considering that you want the balm to really color well. Stir so that there are no stray clumps.

Add Liquid Glycerin & Cyclomethicone and stir in well. These two products help the face paint to spread evenly and easily on the face. If you skip the Cyclomethicone (trying to stay all natural), the product will just be a tinch more sticky and ‘grabby’ on the face.

Hints for working with the Face Paint:

Use a cotton swab or cotton ball to put of face for large, easy swipes. For more detailed looks (if you’re a better artist than we are!), a paint brush would work great.

The good news is that this is super easy to clean up. You just wipe it away with a dry, soft cloth. You don’t need (or want water) since this is an oil and wax based product.

Package these little guys in a lip balm pot (or a teensy jar; I like these clear non-stackableones so you can clearly see the color) and you’re all done.

Have fun!

Shop Nostalgia {Organic Soaps & Toiletries}

October 20, 2009 Filed Under: Business Musings

Back to the Nostalgia life. If you missed the first part of this interview get caught up HERE. Now, if you don’t mind, Elea and I are going to pick up where we left off…
Anne-Marie: Your packaging is adorable! How long did it take to perfect the look you were going for?

Elea: A long time! It took me well over two years to finish all the designs on the fabrics and papers that house the soap. From concept to completion, it generally takes about 2 months for me to design the packaging for each product. I have drawers full of sample bottles, jars, boxes, papers and just about every type of packaging you can think of – that I experiment with until I finally decided on the direction to take. But, I love designing and drawing and sketching out new ideas for the fabrics and prints – so that part never really feels like work. But, I’m my own worst critic so it does take me quite a long time. I also carefully consider packaging for its recycled or recyclable content or try to offer packaging that can be repurposed after the product is gone. So, it’s a slow, nail-biting process, but seeing the joy on people’s faces when they touch the little bows and giggle at the bluebirds – makes it all worthwhile.

Anne-Marie: Where do you find your inspiration? Elea: I draw inspiration from a lot of different sources, but most of it comes from my childhood and grandmother. I love the purity and wonder of childhood. And, somehow, for me, that directly correlates to offering wholesome, natural products. However, my grandmother is definitely the biggest source of my inspiration. She was just a really special lady that took time to consider even the tiniest detail – if she thought it would put a smile one someone’s face. For example, she would hand-embroider flowers and birds and things on my pillowcases because she knew I loved it. So in her spirit, I try to add happy little details like that in my collection. I’m also inspired by the color palettes and imagery from of my grandmother’s day.

Anne-Marie: Tell us a little bit about yourself on a personal level. What do you like to do when you’re not making soap? Elea: I love spending time with my family and discovering new things with my 2-year-old son. We have our daily outings together that I really cherish. We walk to the park, journey to the zoo or play silly games like hide and seek. I also love traveling, watching a good movie or trying new restaurants with my husband. If I’m not doing any of that – I’m probably crafting something.

Anne-Marie: What’s your favorite Bramble Berry product and why?

Elea: Bramble Berry has so many wonderful products – that’s a tough choice. But, I love their awesome selection of organic essential oils and botanical extracts.

Anne-Marie: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Elea! Good luck with your business and keep us updated! We want to know the latest and greatest with Nostalgia!

If the packaging isn’t cute enough as is, the wrapper that comes around the soap is a set of instructions on how to reuse the bag. The instructions on my Sweet Orange Soap teaches me how to turn my cute bag into chicken shaped egg cozy. I haven’t attempted yet but I’ll let you know how it goes!

Nostalgia Bl og
Nostalgia Website
Wholesale Information
Nostalgialife on Twitter

What a Pick Me Up!

October 20, 2009 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

We got this note from a customer today and it was a perfect, wonderful afternoon surprise:

This company makes me extremely happy. And then I spend a lot of money. sigh… But I’m HAPPY about it! Thank you for your great service and selection. I tell all my students about you.

Shop Nostalgia {Organic Soaps & Toiletries}

October 19, 2009 Filed Under: Business Musings

“Nostalgia Life: The simple, natural pleasures. Taking time to laugh with our children, nurture friendships and watch a butterfly’s erratic flight. Enjoy a warm cup of honey tea and give thanks to all the beautiful things around us.”

Elea Lutz is the founder of one very cool soap company, Nostalgia (yes, that’s her adorable baby picture below). There are so many things that I absolutely LOVE about her company. Elea takes pride in using natural ingredients, a portion of her profits are donated and her designs are off the charts cute! So sit back, relax, and let’s get to know Elea…

Anne-Marie: I always have to know… how did you get started making soap and balms?

Elea: I started experimenting with handmade soaps and balms about 9 years ago – purely out of curiosity. I enjoyed mixing and testing ingredients and learning how they all worked together. I had a particular interest in natural essential oils and herbs and the benefits they provided so I also started taking classes and reading a lot of books on the subject. I worked full time in the corporate world until a few years ago when my son was born. So my ‘experiments’ were just a fun way to feed my creativity and interests. However, during my pregnancy, I started creating my own products, such as belly balm and aromatherapy spray for morning sickness, because I couldn’t find similar products or 100% natural versions in stores. Developing those products, paired with my love of design, really planted the seed for my future business.

Anne-Marie: Is Nostalgia Organics a full time or part time job?

Elea: Full time.

Anne-Marie: What’s your favorite product to make?

Elea:If I had to choose – hmm…I’d say the aromatherapy balms. I get to bring out some of my favorite essential oils, like ylang-ylang and neroli, to blend. The studio smells heavenly!

Anne-Marie: Do you have any other outlets (farmer’s market, retail shop)?

Elea: I have an online retail shop at www.nostalgiaorganics.com. I also recently started offering my collection at wholesale to other retailers and am excited to now have products in several boutiques and spas. I’ll also be participating in some upcoming local holiday shows.

Anne-Marie: What’s the best thing about running your own business?

Elea: Freedom and creativity are the first words that come to mind. I love the freedom to set my own schedule and work around time with my son and husband. It’s not unusual to find me checking emails or tweeting something (grin) at 3am when the house is quiet. I’m also very creative and enjoy developing a business that is design focused – from the fabrics and prints down to every tiny detail – I design everything and love the creative outlet.

Anne-Marie: You’re very philanthropic; how did you get get started with the Beautiful Survivor program?

Elea: The Beautiful Survivor is a grass-roots effort I began developing alongside Nostalgia Organics. Beautiful Survivor was inspired by my own loss of a grandmother to ovarian cancer and dear friend to leukemia. I volunteer and partner with non-profit programs and contribute a portion of my profits towards nurturing women and girls with cancer. For the past several years, I’ve participated with our local Light the Night Walk (lightthenight.org) to help raise funds towards battling blood cancers. This year I also began contributing to Face in the Mirror (faceinthemirror.org), a Phoenix-based outreach program that provides chemical-free skin care products, hand massages and wigs or scarves to women in local hospitals. The Beautiful Survivor program has always been paired with my vision for Nostalgia Organics. I wanted to create a business that gave back to its community when and where it could through some type of outreach – and this cause was a natural choice for me.

Anne-Marie:Giving back is so important and admirable! On that positive note, let’s take a little intermission. Same place, same time. See you tomorrow!

The photos in this blog post are all part of the fabulous order that had all the girls (and me!) in customer service squealing with excitement.

Nostalgia Blog
Nostalgia Website
Wholesale Information
Nostalgialife on Twitter

Siberian Fir Needle Essential Oil

October 19, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Botanical Name: Abies Sibirica

Bramble Berry’s Fir Needle Essential Oil is natural and comes straight from Siberian Fir twigs and needles (native to Russia and Mongolia). The steam distillation method is applied to create a colorless to pale yellow oil. It has a smooth, fresh, evergreen aroma that is refreshing and harmonizing. This essential oil has top notes of pine, a sweet and fruity middle note with a woodsy finish.This winter fragrance is believed to be emotionally vitalizing (I keep a little bottle at my desk for an occasional pick me up). According to the ‘Natural Healing Guide’, it also naturally acts as an anti-inflammatory so it’s perfect for aches and sore muscles. Try our refreshing foot cream recipe with fir needle essential oil. It will have your feet feeling fabulous in no time!Grab your Fir Needle Essential Oil Here

Rebatching Can be Sweet – Redux

October 18, 2009 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

In case you missed the tutorial on how to rebatch soap, you can find it here.

I got the super bright colors in the loaf above with using the Bramble Berry Labcolors line for the Yellow and Purple and the Liquid Non Bleeding Blue Oxide for the blue color.

Save That Soap! Scrappy Soap Loaves

October 17, 2009 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

If you’re anything like me, and hate wasting soap, you’ll have plenty of soap scraps laying around the house from all of your melt and pour projects. I recently got a bee in my bonnet to embedded some of my old soap in one loaf mold (below) and chop up melt and pour scraps to integrate into a Cold Process loaf (above). I just love how they both turned out. The fragrance is even fabulous, though I will probably never be able to recreate it. Rats!

And another scrappy soap made with melt and pour odds and ends – each bar looks different and special.

Two more scrappy soaps I did are shown on TwitPic here and here.

Check out episode 4 of Soap Queen TV to see how I made the scrappy masterpiece above.

Marvelous Soap Marbles

October 15, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

These marbled soaps make the perfect gift or favor for any occasion. And if they’re not cute enough as is, you can fit 5 of these little guys into one of our new soap boxes. The best thing about this soap project is that you can pick any color combination for customization that fits your occasion. This project may look tricky but anyone can do it – even beginners!

Ingredients

White Soap Base (12 oz)
Fiery Fuchsia (Soapylove’s Jewelry Box)
White Tea and Ginger Fragrance Oil
Injector tool (PJ’s Tool Kit)
Soap Sphere Mold
Droppers
Swirling tool (toothpick or spoon will work)
3 rubber bands
Hot Water
Spritz bottle of rubbing alcoholThis tutorial demonstrates the swirling technique. You can see the same concept of this technique on Soap Queen TV. Check out the video here for some helpful tips and tricks on swirling if you haven’t seen it already.

Aligning your sphere mold: Super important tip –When you take your mold out of the package, make sure to mark each end (top and bottom) with a permanent marker so you will always know how to line it up. The mold is lined up correctly when it comes out of the package. If they are aligned incorrectly you will have wonky spheres.

ONE: Have all of your tools ready to use including a cup of hot water. We’ll be using the hot water to clean the injector tool when switching soap colors.

TWO: Melt 12 ounces of white soap base and separate evenly into 2 containers. I used clear, heat safe glass mugs from a thrift store. They worked perfectly for this project.

THREE: Add 1 ml of fragrance oil to each batch and mix well. I used the delicious and popular White Tea and Ginger but you can use any fragrance oil that you want. A non-yellowing fragrance oil would be preferable; we want our white soap to stay strikingly white!

FOUR: Add 6 drops of the Fiery Fuchsia to one of your containers of white soap. Mix well. The other container of soap will remain white.

FOUR: Using your injector tool, drop a pea sized drop of PINK soap into each cavity of the bottom half of the mold. Have your alcohol spray bottle handy and spritz any air bubbles that surface. Immediately clean the injector tool in hot water.

FIVE: Use the clean injector tool to drop a pea sized drop of WHITE soap on top of the pink soap. Then swirl the soap together using any object you can find (toothpick, small fork, pick, spoon, etc.).

SIX: Repeat steps 4, 5 and 6 until the bottom half of your mold is filled. Then let soap cool for 10-15 minutes. Remember to clean you injector tool when you’re done with each color. It’s not much fun to clean if the soap has hardened.

SEVEN: Once the soap has cooled, spritz the soap with rubbing alcohol to ensure the layers stick, and place the other half of the mold on top (remember to line up the mold using your two dots from step one). Then secure the mold using 3 rubber bands. Trust me – the rubber bands will make life much easier when filling up the rest of your mold.

EIGHT: Reheat your pink and white soap in the microwave and refresh your hot water for round two. It’s time to fill up the rest of our spheres.

NINE: Use your clean injector tool and fill up each top cavity with white soap about half way. The nozzle of the injector tool fits perfectly into the hole of the mold. Immediately clean your injector tool. Then fill up the mold the rest of the way with the pink soap. OR alternate pink and white soaps until the sphere cavity is completely full. Let loose and have fun with it!

Hint: Because this mold was created for ice cubes, you might see a sphere filling up with soap other than the sphere you are currently filling. Just keep plugging away. The great thing about this project is that is doesn’t have to be perfect. The uneven colors are what make these marbled soaps POP!
TEN: Once your soaps have cooled (about 4-6 hours). Pop them out of the molds. Yes, there is a little clean up required. Just scrape off the edging with your fingernail and smooth the soap with your finger. I haven’t figured out how to get rid of the bubbles on the bottom of the soap so let me know if you have any suggestions. I just smoothed them out with my fingers and they looked great!

Tip: If you have trouble popping the soaps out, put them the mold in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes. They should pop right out after that!

Variations…ONE: I used liquid black with sparkle gold mica in clear soap marbled with fiery fuchsia in white soap.TWO: The brighter pink color was Fiery Fuchsia in clear soap marbled with plain white soap.If you do this project with any cool and fun colors, let me know. I want to hear about all of your soapy successes!

New Items at Bramble Berry

October 14, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Cold Process Soaps for Christmas
Cranberry Fig CP Loaf
Cranberry Fig CP Bar
Christmas Forest CP Loaf
Christmas Forest CP BarSoap Boxes
Pink Pillow Box
Blue Pillow BoxMiscellaneous
Cyclomethicone
Glow in the Dark DuckiesSoapylove Molds
Stacked Star
Striped Heart

Wolves & Monthly Meetings

October 14, 2009 Filed Under: Business Musings

This afternoon is our 4 hour monthly management meeting (curious about what we talk about? It’s all here). Though none of us technically have ‘time’ for this meeting, it is imperative that we make time. It is our time to look back at the month to see what worked, what didn’t work and determine what our course is for the upcoming month. If you are self employed, have you taken your company’s pulse this month? Have you looked at how you did in the last month? Do you have an action plan for exactly what you need to do in the upcoming month to measurably move your business towards its ultimate goal? If you haven’t, I challenge you to find some quiet time and do just that.

In other news, did you know that Bramble Berry donates 5% of our total (gross) sales to non-profit groups?

We’ve done this for the last 12 years and have continued to do so, even during these difficult economic times. This month, we financially supported Conservation Northwest, a Pacific Northwest organization that helps to keep the wild … wild. In addition to donating financially to non-profits, we also donate time. I sit on the board of this organization. We have our Annual Planning Retreat this weekend where we’ll be working on the five year strategy for the organization. Between today’s 4 hour Bramble Berry meeting and an entire weekend of planning for Conservation Northwest, my brain should be suitably limber for the upcoming month’s challenges.