This melt and pour project is full of contrasting layers, texture and refreshing essential oils. With natural colorants such as activated charcoal, green zeolite clay and spirulina powder, this is a great project for soapers who prefer to use natural ingredients. The combination of peppermint and rosemary essential oils is incredibly refreshing and invigorating.The poppy seeds add a subtle amount of scrub, leaving the skin feeling smooth. Both activated charcoal and green zeolite clay are known for their oil absorption properties, making this bar a skin-loving powerhouse!
Update: PO Box Label Petition
In November of 2012, I blogged about the Citizen Petition filed with the FDA by the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild (now known as the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild). The blog was about the current regulation of requiring a home address on the label of cosmetic products. The petition requested that the FDA allow a PO Box address on the label, in place of a physical home address. Many small business owners run their business in their home and some are concerned that placing a home address on the label of a product introduces personal risk. Replacing the business address with a PO Box would eliminate this risk.
UPDATE 9/19/2017: The FTC has updated regulations concerning business name and address. The NEW regulation says the street address may be omitted if it is listed in a readily accessible, widely published, and publicly available resource. Read more here.
Since November of 2012, the HSMG filed an Amendment of Citizen Petition with the FDA on November 6, 2014. You can find the amendment here. This document briefly recaps the past events, including the response on February 1st, in which the Acting Director of the Office of Cosmetics and Colors stated they were unable to reach a decision. The amendment also presents new information, including the decision to change the name of the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild, to the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild.
Two years later, the Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild received a final response to the petition. The FDA denied the petition. You can read the final response from the FDA here. Bottom line, the FDA did not agree that a PO Box address would be a suitable alternative to a street address. The response reads:
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Soapy Social Media Roundup
With the new year in full swing, it’s safe to say I have hit the ground running! The past few days have been spent planning and making goals for 2015 for business, personal and family. If you’re curious, you can read more about my personal goals for the next few months here. After a whirlwind of a week, we’ve got an action-packed weekend planned with multiple play dates and crafts galore. We’ll enjoy lots of time at home with a crafty projects and lots of toy trucks.
Above, Jamisen hauls sweets in his toys. Marshmallows and monster trucks, what more could a kid want? If you have any great ideas for toddler inside games, I would love to hear them! The weather this week is surprisingly clear, but the rain is sure to return. My “Toddler Fun,” Pinterest board is full of ideas, but I’m always on the lookout for more. Speaking of Pinterest, check out my favorite pins, tweets and ‘grams from this week below.
Pins:
From left to right, clockwise:
- This stunning butterfly swirl soap made by Handmade in Florida is stunning. The butterfly swirl is one I still need to perfect…practice makes perfect!
- Dainty and delicate, the Crepe Paper Cherry Blossom Branches created by Lia Griffith are a great way to always have fresh looking flowers in the house.
- Made with quinoa, red cabbage, carrots and edamame, this Asian Quinoa Salad looks incredibly fresh and tasty.
- Made with Epsom salt, Champagne Fragrance Oil and La Bomb Colorants, this Mimosa Salt Scrub by Otion Soap Bar
Below are just some of the soapy projects the team and I made in 2014. I can’t wait to see what fun projects 2015 brings!
On the left, Lily cuddles up to her daddy. These two have been inseparable lately, and it’s so cute. On the right, this Rose and Primrose rebatch project is a a great way to make cold-process soap without having to handle sodium hydroxide. If you subscribe to our newsletter, you’ve already received the tutorial in your inbox. If not, it will be on the blog later this month!
- This year, both UPS and FedEx are changing how they charge customers for lightweight shipments in large boxes. Read more about that here.
- You’ve probably heard the rumor that cellphones give you cancer…but is it true?
- During your free time, how do you spend it? These graphs looking at an average day of unemployed men and women are surprising and interesting.
- Sometimes multi-tasking is completely necessary, but it can also kill productivity. Here are 5 tools to combat multitasking and get your focus back.
- Does a watermark actually prevent image theft? Kenna from Modern Soapmaking argues “no.”
To keep up with the latest soapy social media throughout the week, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine and YouTube.
Facebook Photo of the Week (Jan. 3rd ~ Jan. 9th)
Tutorials were definitely the focus for the week. With everything from lotion to salad, hopefully you have some crafty inspiration for 2015! Skin-loving clays can be used in a wide variety of tutorials. They add a gorgeous natural color to your soap or some gentle exfoliation to scrubs. For more information and several tutorials using the ingredient, click through the Clay Recipe Roundup.
In the Pot Swirl Cold Process on Soap Queen TV
In this throwback Thursday episode of Soap Queen TV, I’m joined by Christy from KB Shimmer to create a brightly-colored in-the-pot swirl cold process project. This stunning technique produces beautiful results, and every bar looks unique. Made with vibrant LabColors and scented with Energy Fragrance Oil, this soap screams of a tropical vacation!
Burnt Sugar Shimmer Lotion
When the weather is cold and the sun is scarce, hydrating skin products are a must. This Burnt Sugar Shimmer Lotion soothes dry skin, while adding a soft sparkle that works for a wide variety of skin tones. The warm and inviting Burnt Sugar Fragrance Oil lightly scents the skin with notes of coffee, smoked cedar, brown sugar and amber. As a bonus, Burnt Sugar Fragrance Oil is 20% off this month! Looking for a bronzing lotion with a little more color? Check out the Beautiful Bronzing Lotion tutorial.
Easy to make, this is a great project for beginning crafters. Simply heat the lotion base, and add fragrance and colorant. Mixing the micas with the fragrance oil helps break up any clumps, and allows the colorant to blend into the lotion smoothly. If you’d like to learn to make your own lotion base from scratch, check out this Soap Queen TV episode!
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Clay Recipe Roundup
With a wide selection and skin-loving properties, clays make a great addition to bath and beauty projects. Clays can add color to a project and oil-absorbing properties, making it a versatile additive. Brazilian clays are a popular variety, and come in multiple colors, including pink, purple, dark red, yellow and natural. Other popular choices include sea clay, rose clay, kaolin clay and bentonite clay.
The Brazilian Clay Sampler pack is a great way to try out a variety of clays!
In cold process soap, clays are a fantastic natural colorant option. In the Waves of the Sea Cold Process, sea clay adds a smoky green layer that looks great against the deep blue. Dark red Brazilian clay is used in both the Honey Bee Cold Process and the Natural Colorant Taiwan Swirl, resulting in various shades of pink.
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If at First You Don’t Succeed, Soap Soap Again!
Dreaming up soapy designs and projects is incredibly fun…there are so many possibilities! When it’s time to make the image in your head come to life, sometimes it can be tricky. In the Soap Lab, the team and I are constantly testing new designs and recipes. Often, these projects turn out great after the first attempt…but not always. Sometimes, a project on Soap Queen has been made several times in order to get the design or recipe just right. That way, you’ll have the most success when you recreate it.
One great example of a project that required several attempts is the Layered Lilac Loofah Cold Process. A fairly simple design, it took a few tries to get the colors and layers just right. To be exact, I made this soap three times in order to feel 100% happy with the final product. The first three attempts resulted in perfectly lovely bars of soap. In fact, I gave them away to delighted friends and family for Christmas. But, they were not exactly what I pictured in my head.
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Soap Queen Cuisine: Brussels Sprout & Spaghetti Squash Pesto Salad
I’m willing to bet that like me, several of you want to get healthier in 2015! While I’m usually good about staying away from refined sugar and carbs, the holidays are full of temptation and I had to partake in the goodies a few times =). To help get back on track, this Brussels Sprout & Spaghetti Squash Pesto Salad is full of healthy greens and zesty flavors. It’s a great alternative to salads made of leafy greens, such as kale or romaine.
If you have never made spaghetti squash before, it’s a lot of fun. Once roasted, the flesh becomes a stringy, spaghetti-like texture that can be easily scraped out. With the appearance of noodles, spaghetti squash is often used as a gluten-free alternative in many pasta recipes. In this salad, brussels sprouts are added to give a nice crunch and texture. If you are a lover of pesto (like me!), this dish will be right up your alley.
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Soapy Social Media Roundup
Happy first weekend of 2015! I hope you had a fun and safe New Years Eve. My night was rather quiet; the family played some board games and enjoyed a low key dinner. New Years day was spent visiting a children museum. Jamisen and Lily had a blast, we will definitely be visiting the museum again soon. The 2015 cutie below is my sweet niece, Alise. She is growing so fast!
In soapy news, the team and I have been busy creating some fun recipes with using clays. Keep your eyes on the blog for those projects, and be sure to sign up for our Newsletter to find out about upcoming sales and promotions (hint hint!). If you enjoy sneak peeks, check out the Instagram shots below to see what we have been working on, along with my other favorite pins and tweets from the week!
Pins:
Left to right, clockwise:
- I love how fresh this Roasted Beet, Pear and Quinoa Salad looks. Beets add such a nice pop of color to any dish, as evident in the Goat Cheese Beet Dip I made several months ago.
- These Marbled Clay Ring Dishes are stunning! The tutorial looks surprisingly easy as well.
- It may be too late to create these Tissue Tassels for a New Year celebration, but they would make adorable birthday party decor.
- With black, white and purple swirls, this soap created by Petals Bath Boutique really wows. The addition of glitter on top gives a touch of glam.
Instagram:
I have been working a lot with clays recently (look for these projects soon!). Below is cold process soap created with sea clay, hydrated chrome green and pink sea salt on top. The soft swirl was made using the in-the-pot swirl technique, a great swirling method for the beginning soaper.
So many fun soapy projects this year! Below is the bakers rack in the soap lab filled to the brim with soap and other handmade goodness. Soon we will be clearing off the rack by donating the soap to local charities.
Twitter:
- Have you ever wondered why there is no such thing as vanilla essential oil? This article offers a great explanation.
- Sometimes it feels there is simply not enough time in the day. By using these tips, you may find you have more time than you thought.
- Let’s make 2015 the year of happiness! This article gives a list of things proven to make us happier, including strong relationships and giving.
- Full of protein, antioxidants and vitamins, a new plant-based burger will be hitting select Whole Foods in January. Can’t wait to try these!
- Looking for a few good reads? Here are 10 reasons why you should pick up a classic.
I hope you’re all having a great weekend! To keep up with the latest soapy social media throughout the week, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine and YouTube.
Facebook Photo of the Week (Dec. 27th ~ Jan. 2nd)
This week was a nice mix of reflecting on 2014 and planning for 2015. Tutorials were a big part of 2014 at Bramble Berry, as seen in the Top Ten Tutorials of 2014 post. The list includes fun melt and pour projects, bright red lipstick and the cheery Lemon Poppy Seed Cold Process Soap. With bright colors and a fresh crisp scent, the project is sure to make you smile.
Celebrate. Plan. Succeed.
This is the time of year to reflect, to be grateful and to use your successes of 2014 to lift-off into 2015. It’s all too easy to live in the future, not be present and not celebrate how far you’ve come this year. Were there obstacles that tried to keep you down? Did you hit all of your goals from last year? Some of them? Take a moment to reflect on the year, be joyful about your successes and contemplative about areas that you didn’t succeed. What was the reason? Is there something you could have done differently or did the goal morph and change over the year?
Crisp Orange Cleaning Spray
With 2015 a couple days away, now is the optimal time to clean up from the holidays and give the new year a fresh start. This Crisp Orange Cleaning Spray is perfect for cleaning surfaces in your house that may need some extra TLC. Great for tile and glass, this spray is a multi-purpose cleaner for the bathroom and kitchen.
The combination of hydrogen peroxide, vinegar and alcohol help fight stains and make your counters sparkle. Natural Castile Liquid Soap Base adds some gentle cleansing properties to the spray. Scented with Peppermint Essential Oil, 1st Distill and Orange Valencia Essential Oil, the mixture will leave your bathroom and kitchen smelling crisp and fresh. I like to keep a bottle in my shower and give the shower walls a light scrub before getting out.
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Favorite Books of 2014 + Contest!
Like last year, I gave myself a goal of reading 53 books this year. I’m there – and an on track to even throw in a couple extra (fingers crossed!). As usual, there were so many amazing books and so little time so I’m positive I am missing some crucial books on this list (tell me about them in the comments, please!) =) I’m especially happy that I got this goal completed with the brand new app I downloaded that has been taking all my free time.
Have you heard of NextIssue? For a serious informationholic, it is like my illicit drug; I cannot look away. It has over 140 magazines (every month!) for $14.99 per month. Now, $15 per month sounds expensive until you see my magazine stack; I’m already spending that in monthly paper subscriptions so now, I get all the magazines (and more!) while saving paper. It’s a win-win. I still took in some serious book reading and these are my favorite fiction books of 2014:
Tell the Wolves I’m Home is an exploration of family, artistic integrity and how mixed up people can get when they blame and hold grudges. It’s told beautifully against the backdrop of when the AIDS epidemic first came to the forefront mixed with a poignant coming-of-age story. I stayed up past midnight multiple nights in a row trying to finish because the ending ties so many story lines and themes together in a powerfully riveting way. It’s hard to sum up the plot because it covers so much. When you pick up this book, be prepared for an emotional wallop that leaves you feeling and thinking long after you put the book down.
