It’s hard to believe that the first week of August is already gone. This summer has flown by. The family and I have been taking advantage of the sunshine with plenty of boat rides, day trips to the beach and outdoor activities. Below, you can see that Lily has become a big fan of control! She loves to help her dad “drive” the boat around the lake, and, sit in the driver’s seat of my car. Her fierce drive to lead is apparent already.
Next week on the blog, get ready for a collection of tutorials inspired by the classic film, The Sound of Music. These projects will include lots of florals, Snowflake Sparkle Mica and fresh scents. I can’t wait to share them with you! The film is meaningful to me because it’s one of the only films my folks would let me watch as a kid so I have almost all the songs memorized. I love social media and connecting with you all on there; if you missed anything, check out my favorite pins, ‘grams and tweets from the past two weeks.
Left to right, clockwise:
- This idea for “Polka Dot Soup,” as an activity for sensory play looks so fun. I’m sure Lily would have a blast grabbing the various color chips!
- I love projects that take one object and make it into something completely new. This Tea Cup Candle Sconce Bird Feeder Tutorial is such a clever idea for recycling old cups.
- What could be better than cookie dough? Cookie dough fudge of course!
- I love the cold process design trend of a solid layer with a swirl top. This “Skipjack” Drop Swirl by Petals Bath Boutique is a great example of this technique.
I have been experimenting with the “Circling Taiwan Swirl,” and absolutely love the results! The soap below was made with Energy Fragrance Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Black Oxide, Fizzy Lemonade Colorant, Electric Bubble Gum Colorant and Super Pearly White Mica. I almost don’t want to cut it! =)
We have been busy planning new projects for several episodes of Soap Queen TV. On the left are shimmery champagne cold process cupcakes, made with Champagne Fragrance Oil. On the right are melt and pour gemstones inspired by rose quartz. Some comments on Instagram said these melt and pour gems reminded them of meat, so I may need to tweak the colors slightly, haha =)
Snapchat:
Find me on Snaphat via “bramble-berry” for behind the scenes peeks into soaping sessions, upcoming tutorials and random insights into my schedule. The video below is my Snapchat story from Wednesday, which includes a live demo of the beautiful 12 Color Linear Swirl Cold Process Soap. Be on the lookout next week for a full length episode of Soap Queen TV!
Twitter:
- Sugar is sneaky. Sometimes the food that seems to be the “healthier” choice, is not at all. A great example of this is at Dunkin Donuts, where a smoothie contains more sugar than a donut.
- These Avocado Shampoo Bars from the Nerdy Farm Wife look amazing! I love the rustic simplicity.
- If you have a huge weight lose goal (or even a small one), this article has some great insight. The author lost 100 pounds, and learned a lot about himself along the way.
- Do you drink too much caffeine? Check out this infographic to find out.
- Speaking of caffeine, here is what happens to your body after drinking a can of Coke. Scary stuff!
I hope you all have an fantastic 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 and Snapchat. To watch my ‘stories’, which include sneak peeks into future projects, add me. I’m Bramble-Berry on Snapchat.
Anne Marie PLEASE say you will do a tutorial on that Circling Taiwan Swirl- would LOVE to see that one! 🙂
Absolutely! One is in the works. Isn’t it stunnnnnnning? The soap really turns out amazing in each bar as well.
Hey glad you & your family have been enjoying your summer. 🙂 Your next tutorials sound interesting. Sound of music was great, it reminds me of this other awesome movie I saw(7 brides).
I have an idea I’d like to share with you. You would know some things & it might be useful. Especially if we could get this to work it would benefit us.
I was thinkng of glycerin as a preservative. I know it has to be 60-70% to work. I was thinking we could add a 35% anti-humectant like joboba oil or beeswax to it to cancle out the humectant properties of glycerin. If that would work. Or using something like solid rain(the thing farmers use to capture water) to collect glycerin out of a product when you want to use it. This would work with powders but depending how liquid glycerin is and if it mixes in lotions.
I was wondering if you were interested in this. If we could make it work it would be a truly natural, safe preservative.
Oh that’s an interesting idea. I don’t think it would work in a standard formulation though – if you have to use it at 60%, then there’s not really a way to make an effective lotion or conditioner or the traditional things that typically get preserved. I’m curious to hear more about your idea though. I’m thinking I must not be quite understanding it! =) There is nothing inherently antimicrobial about liquid glycerin so it would be a difficult formulation to make work in smaller amounts.
Yes, summer has been super busy and also, fun. I’m really looking forward to school starting because the summer schedule is definitely up in the air, all the time. Maybe I just need to embrace the spontaneity! =)