Wow, check out MollyCoddle from Colorado! Her soapy food creations are incredible. Her Etsy site can be found here.
Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Wow, check out MollyCoddle from Colorado! Her soapy food creations are incredible. Her Etsy site can be found here.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Doesn’t this soap by MollyCoddle look realistic?
It’s enough to make anyone hungry!
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Today was a relaxing Saturday. I was able to finish the new John Grisham book, “Playing for Pizza.” It’s a sweetly sentimental story about a so-so football player, struggling to find personal joy and fulfilment in life. He travels to Italy to find success. The story centers around his journey and travelling, Italy and food.
Then, while my hubby outfitted my new skis (a Christmas present from my generous brother), I went to Otion to help with the last of the inventory. Erik, Sarah and I had a jolly time counting droppers, bottles and stray candle colorants.
Finally, we ended the day in a bowling alley. Here’s Erik (generous brother and Otion store manager), getting ready to bowl with his brand new bowling ball (our Christmas gift to him). He chose a scented 14-pound ball (yes, it’s really scented – it smells like Lime) called “Tropical Storm.” He totally smoked the entire group, at one point getting 3 strikes in a row.
While lusting over new kitchen designs tonight, I came across some free label templates from Kitchen and Bath Ideas magazine. The label templates seem particularly cute for one-off toiletry products that just require a quick and easy handwritten label. Click here to go see them.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Positively inspired cupcakes by Zahirah Motala Sardar, a cupcake and photo artist originally inspired by Kylie Lambert’s cake creativity. Zalita runs a fun blog here called Cupcake D’Lights.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Seaweed, Salt and Lime Oil (blue soap)
Lemon (yellow soap)
Orange & Cinnamon (orange soap)
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
Otion was lucky enough to participate in the “Bah-Humbug Swap” this year. The swap is organized by Denise Washburn out of Pennsyvania and there were 21 participants.
A swap is a fun sharing activity. Each particant makes 21 bars of soap and sends them to the hostess. The hostess then sends each particpant each bar of unique soap. It’s a great way to learn about different soapmaking techniques and to see what other soapmakers are doing.
We also sent Champagne Cold Process soap. It is colored with Canary Yellow Labcolor, Blue Iron Oxide and Cornflower Blue Mica.
Don’t they look adorable, all lined up and ready to ship? Kudos to Erik at Otion for making these artistic, triple-swirled soaps.
Filed Under: Bramble Berry News
While going through inventory today, we came across some Birchwood Molds that had been returned to Bramble Berry. They have been used used once or twice but are definitely still useable.
Update: These are all spoken for now. Wow! You flooded the email box and I’m still sorting out the time/date stamps! =)
Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap
A few weeks ago, I made Holiday 3-D soaps for the Skincare Naturals Gift Guide. The soap in the top photo is colored with Opalescent Green Mica, Non Bleeding Red and a opaque soap and scented with Christmas Spice. In the bottom photo, the round is colored with Merlot Mica and Super Pearly White in clear soap.
I know it’s post-Christmas but the photos turned out so good that I wanted to share the cute final project.
If you missed the week of 3-D soap mold posts, here’s the final poston coloring and layering 3-D soap mold projects.
Filed Under: Business Musings
I recently fell in-like with Savor Soaps. Check out their Flikr Photostream here.
Who is Savor Soaps?: Lisa Salamida from California is the brains behind this brand
What: (Lisa says:) “I specialize in soap that resembles food, and especially desserts. I love to make whipped soap, like my Spun Sugar and Lime Chiffon.”
“I use only the best melt-and-pour base, purchased from a small shop in Berkeley, CA. I love to use dried botanicals, teas, and I really love to use sea salt for its scrubbiness! It really helps the dry patches on heels. I include shea butter in all my soap, and use vitamin E oil and olive oil in certain varieties depending on the effect I want to achieve.”
“I don’t use goat’s milk often, but I found a fantastic base and will begin using it regularly.”
How: “While I’ve been making soap for many years for friends and family, I only recently decided to open a shop and sell to the public.”
“My husband sells his art prints and he inspired me to take that leap. I opened in October 2007, and the shop has taken off — already a couple hundred orders, and even repeat buyers, in a very short time. I work full time as a computer tech, but with the way Savor has taken off, I’m also putting in 30-40 hours weekly making soap and processing orders.”
Where: “I sell on Etsy alone right now (or in person if I know you!). My shop there is located at savor.etsy.com — I recently bought my own domain and may consider selling directly on my site in the future. But it’s really hard to beat Etsy’s great interface, and lovely customer base that comes with it!”
Thanks for sharing, Lisa! Here’s to great success in 2008 to you and Savor!
Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine
When my Aunt (somewhat of an amazing gourmet chef herself) tasted this vegetarian recipe, she said: “If you brought this to a potluck at a Seventh-Day Adventist Church, they would deify you!”
If you make the recipe, let us know how it goes!
Ingredients:
5 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk, heated
4 cloves garlic (1 smashed, 3 finely chopped)
salt
1/2 pound lasagna noodles
2 large onions, chopped
Three 6-ounce packages portabello mushroom slices
1 bunch basil, stems discarded
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups grated parmesan cheese
Pepper
1. Melt 3 tablespoons butter over low heat. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in hot milk, smashed garlic clove and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to boil, while whisking, until thickened. Set aside.
2. Cook lasagna in salted water for 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a bowl of cold water.
3. Preheat oven at 375 degrees. In a large skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat. Add the onions and chopped garlic and cook until softened. Stir in mushrooms and cook until softened (about 7 minutes).
4. Puree the basil leaves with the cream. Set aside 1/2 cup basil cream. Stir the remaining basil cream and 1/2 cup parmesan into the mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper.
5. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and spread 1 cup reserved garlic sauce on the bottom. Drain the lasagna noodles and lay 3 in the baking dish. Top with half of the mushroom mixture, a layer of noodles, then the remaining mushroom mixture and noodles. Combine the remaining garlic sauce and basil cream; spoon over top. Sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup parmesan.
6. Bake until golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes. And, hopefully you’ll get this:
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
Hat tip to BellinghamBloggers.comfor posting this photo.
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
From left to right: Husband, Sharon (Aunt), Mike (Uncle), Wenche (Mom), Richard (Dad)
Anne-Marie, Sam (the niece dog), Erik (Brother & Otion Manager)
Filed Under: Personal Ramblings
This holiday cupcake is from local Seattle cupcake company, Trophy. Thank you to Cakespy.com for finding this frosting-laden Christmas confection.
Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine
We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, as a nod to my Mom’s Norwegian Heritage. For Christmas Eve dinner, we’re having a lot of things (Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Vegetarian Pot roast, salad, soup) but the main course is a delicious Portabella Lasagna with a Basil Cream Sauce.
Pouring the mixture over the noodles.
Right now, my Dad is baking fresh rolls for dinner at 5.