I just love their thoughts on crafting and agree. It’s an inexpensive and entertaining activity for the kiddos (as well as a fun and sugar-free Halloween activity).
Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
I just love their thoughts on crafting and agree. It’s an inexpensive and entertaining activity for the kiddos (as well as a fun and sugar-free Halloween activity).
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
From SpoonSisters.com for $12.50 They say: 100% cotton made with eco-friendly dyes. Handmade by a co-operative of woman Fair Trade Artisans in Peru.
There’s no better way to get your little one headed in the right dessert direction than by starting her early with these adorable rattles.
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
Pssst – want to plan ahead for next year? The Milky Way Halloween Mold is here on the Bramble Berry site.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
I’ve written five cards this week so that means, I get to replace those cards (yippeee!). After much shopping around, I settled on these adorable Cupcake Letterpressed Cards from Tara Hogan.
Filed Under: Soaks & Scrubs
What you’ll need:
4 oz. Fresh Pumpkin Seeds
1/2 ounce Tamanu Oil
1/2 ounce Jojoba Oil
.25 ounce Vitamin E
.2 ounces Rhassoul Clay
.1 ounce Carrot Seed Essential Oil
.1 ounce Lavender Essential Oil
Food Processor
Jar(s)
I hate to waste anything. I loathe throwing out anything that might have a dual purpose. And, while I know you can toast the Pumpkin Seeds, it seems criminal to eat something that is so good for your skin. Pumpkin Seed Oil is made from pressing pumpkin seeds. It is rumored to help with fine lines and help keep skin supple and moist.
So, I designed the most luxurious exfoliating facial mask I could think of with my leftover pumpkin seeds.
First, I used an ice cream scoop to pull out the seeds in my soon-to-be jack-o-lantern. I pulled out some of the pulp too. The natural occurrence of Vitamins A and C and zinc in the pumpkin pulp are nourishing for skin.
Next, I added the creme de la creme of ingredients: Rhassoul Clay, Tamanu Oil, Carrot Seed Essential Oil, Lavender Essential Oil, Vitamin E and Jojoba Oil.
Then, I blended everything together in a food processor. It smelled quite earthy because of the Carrot Seed Oil but the smell didn’t bother me because I knew how good the concoction was for my dry skin.
On the face, it feels gritty. I used it as an exfoliating mask, rubbing it on my face in a circular motion for 1 minute and then leaving it on my skin for a full 10 minutes before rinsing off. My face felt smooth and moist and there was a lot of scrub to share. Since this fresh food scrub is not preserved, it needs to be used within 7 days and kept in the refrigerator between uses.
This is the pumpkin that I carved after making the luxurious exfoliating mask. I think I had more success with the mask than the pumpkin carving.
Filed Under: Tips & Tricks
I can hardly wait for the Holiday season to start. All the parties me a great excuse to get dressed up and try interesting make up options that I normally don’t wear.
So, we spent this weekend creating 3 new eyeshadow recipes that should be perfect for Holiday celebrations. We’ve named them “Deep Moss,” “Champagne Blush,” and “Pumpkin Shimmer.”
Along with the simple recipes, I’ll also show you an idea for how to apply the eyeshadow to make dramatic looks as easy as making the eye shadows.
The first recipe and technique is a smoky eye look using the Deep Moss blend.
Recipe:
2 mini scoops Cappuccino Mica
3 mini scoops Patina Sheen Mica
1 mini scoop Blue Green Mica
2 mini scoops Green Chrome oxide
We used our mini .15cc scoops when creating this recipe – but you can use any measurement you want. Just keep the proportions the same.
Directions: It is so simple and easy to make this eyeshadow. Just place all of your measured mica into a container (we like to use our classy black lip balm pots) and mix it together. And it’s ready to use! If you missed the YouTube video of me making eye shadow on Better TV, click here to watch it.
step one – I like to put a little foundation and face powder on my eyelids (while I’m doing the rest of my face) before starting for a nice base. This helps with a smooth application and also to make the eyeshadow last and last.
step two – Using the Pearly Silver eyeshadow (recipe found in our Mineral Makeup Guide), apply to the entire upper lid and about half way up to the eyebrow. Use a nice soft fluffy brush to blend this in well.
step three – Apply the deep moss color to the upper eyelid and along the lower lash line. Be sure to not miss the inner corner of the eye as well. The key to this look is soft and smoky so be sure to blend the edges so you don’t have any harsh lines.
step four – Apply a dark brown or black eyeliner to the top and bottom lid. Finish with mascara and you are ready to hit the town!
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
We had quite an intense few days of orders at Bramble Berry – and we’re excited to see how many people are planning ahead for the upcoming gift giving season by making their own handmade gifts. At Bramble Berry, we’ve always believed the creativity creates powerful memories and experiences and it’s gratifying to see how many of you agree.
With the busy order flow, we’ve mis-poured a few things today so I snagged them for one lucky Soap Queen Commenter. I appreciate how many people actively participate in this blog through comments and discussions in post threads. It’s nice to have a conversation and I’d like to elicit more of them. To reward those who have given their opinions and honored me by reading my posts in the last month, I used a human randomizer to pick a comment to win the schwag. Courtney in Customer Service picked a random number, Norman in Operations picked a random number and I used those two numbers as a locator to pick our “We Love Our Commenters” winner!
Sha-Marie from My Adventures in Soap is the proud winner of:
* 14 ounces of Vitamin E mixed with 2 ounces of Grapefruit Seed Extract
* 8 ounces of Oakmoss fragrance (mislabeled “Not Dragonsblood”)
* 8 ounces of Lavender Surplus mixed with Strawberry Surplus (it’s delish)
* .7 ounces Rhassoul Clay
* 1 discolored Santa Embedding Mold
Thank you Sha-Marie for commenting and being an active participant at The Soap Queen. Email me at info (at) brambleberry (dot) com with your address and I’ll wing this prize to you via Fed Ex this week. I hope you enjoy your goodies!
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Thank you to Heather at Croq Zine, DollarStoreCrafts.com for taking the cool Tattoo Soap idea from this morning’s tutorial (wow! that’s fast work!) and showing everyone (even the non-soapmaker) how to make Tattoo Soaps for under $2.
Croq Zine is a blog is dedicated to bringing you crafts that feature materials purchased:
Check out their helpful step-by-step here. There are great photos and easy to follow instructions on making your own Tattooed Soaps.
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
When we dreamed up this fragrance, we were envisioning something that was like a Red Hot Cinnamon with a touch of sweet. The fragrance ended up being more edible than spicy and we’re in love with the result. Of course, because of the sugar content in this fragrance, it does discolor soap a bit so plan your color scheme around that. The warm ginger, cinnamon and cardamon notes provide a wonderful base for many fragrances making this an easy blending fragrance. I hope you like some of the versatile ways I came up with to use this scent.
To celebrate our debut of the fragrance, we’ll be sampling Cinnamon Sugar fragrance most of next week. This week is White Ginger & Amber (an equally alluring Fall-type fragrance).
Blends
1 part Cinnamon Sugar
1 part Red Apple
1 part Cinnamon Sugar
1 part Smoky Patchouli
1 part Carrot Cake
1 part Cinnamon Sugar
1 part Orange Mocha
1 part Cinnamon Sugar
1 part Rum Nut Cake
1 part Vanilla Select
Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap
Another ingenious idea from Johanna in the warehouse (check out her Etsy store here) to make even the most plain soap absolutely burst with personality.
Find the Skull Mold and the Milky Way Oval on Bramble Berry’s website.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
This artcard is made of pinholes. $45 here. The artist pokes each hole, individually, through the page to create this piece of art.
Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap
This simple soap project was created by Johanna in the warehouse. She is a powerhouse of fabulous ideas – just click here to be taken to a retrospective of her soap designs. This project starts with the same basic steps as Soapylove’s birthday cake soap with the layering concept. Check out that tutorial here if you missed it. Pouring layers using our loaf mold.
Unmold your soap and slice into inch thick slabs with a scraper/cutter or a large knife. Then, carefully cut a basic triangle shape with a sharp paring knife.
Finally, bevel the sides using the clean up tool for that authentic Candy Corn look. Johanna used our new Butter Cream And Snickerdoodle Fragrance Oil for a close approximation to the sugary sweet candy scent.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Thanks to Jones Soda for their super cool customized label program, I was able to get some custom soda pops for a fun prank to pull on my family. They come packed in this very cool custom made packaging solution, with little cut outs for each of the 12 bottles.
My Mom went gaga when she saw the soda pop casually hidden in our fridge and my Husband was delighted and surprised.
It’s about $3 per bottle and worth it for the cool personalization and professional look of the soda when it arrives. It wouldn’t look out of place on a grocery store shelf – the labels are that nice.