Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
It was a rainy week here in Washington state, but lucky for us we were still in Rome! Well, in spirit anyway. The Roman Holiday series of tutorials featuring Neroli and Shea Blossom Fragrance Oil wrapped up, with projects ranging from the simple Neroli & Shea Solid Perfume to the intricate Tile Inlay Cold Process Tutorial.
This week was the beginning of the Roman Holiday series of tutorials inspired by the art, history, and architecture of Rome. First up is the easy to make Olive Oil and Dead Sea Salt Scrub. The combination of Pure Olive Oil and Fine Grained Dead Sea Salt creates a luxurious body scrub that’s great for your legs and body.
Many of the ingredients used, including Neroli & Shea Blossom Fragrance Oil, are now 25% off until July 25th at noon, PDT. Use the code ROMEDAY25 during checkout. To see the full list of sale items, click here.
Welcome to mid July, everyone! The sun is out, the surf’s up and this week there was a collection of tutorials to get your skin looking its bronzey best. From the Bronze Lip Tint to the Magical Bronze Shimmer stick, these projects featured lots of nourishing oils and sparkling Gold Mica. Check out the round up post for a full list of projects, and don’t forget that many of the items in the tutorials are 20% off part of this month’s Web Specials!
Find this patriotic DIY project here.
Happy Independence Day! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday. This week, we rounded up our Summer Hair Series and featured a wide variety of guest posts. Then, Jodi of Empire Rose Soap Co. shared her takeaways from a HSCG 2014 session, regarding formulating scrubs and body butters. Dawn from Horsing Around Soap also shared her HSCG experience with tips and tricks for turning your hobby into a business.
This week, we shared a collection of recipes designed to keep your hair silky and smooth. The Argan Oil Shampoo Tutorial uses hair loving ingredients like Nettle and Carrot Extract to nourish hair during hot summer months. To complete the routine, the Leave-In Argan Oil Conditioner Tutorial is incredibly moisturizing and great for de-tangling.
If going to the beach everyday this summer is not a possibility, you can easily recreate the texture of beach-hair with the Pink Sea Salt Beach Spray. Simply spray dry hair and “scrunch” to help define curls, and make your hair more manageable when creating up-dos. If you’re tired of the traditional pony-tail, included in this post is a simple hair tutorial that’s great for beating summer heat.
The warm weather has certainly inspired use of bright color palettes and fruity scents. The soap created for an upcoming Soap Queen TV short is a perfect example! On the other hand, our Facebook Photo of the Week from Shana of Bathvs features a classic color combination of black and white, resulting in a soap that is perfect for all seasons.
This week, several more guest bloggers shared their take aways from this year’s Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild Conference. First, Jodi from Empire Rose Soap Co. walked us through the process of creating your own nail polish. If you’d like to learn more about customizing your own nail color, the How to Customize Nail Polish Video is here to help.
Jean from SoapArt summarized a Soap & Cosmetic Guild Conference session about how to use a wide variety of exfoliants in soapy projects. If you can’t decide on a scrubby additive, the Exfoliant Sampler pack is a great way to try a wide variety. With this pack, you’re on your way to creating everything from Gardening Cold Process Soap, to a gentle Oatmeal Facial Scrub Mask.
With summer in full swing , we were inspired to celebrate Independence Day with a soapy project. Full of red, white and blue spirit, the 4th of July Fireworks Cold Process Tutorial features a soapy swirl with Gold Sparkle Mica painting. If you are looking for more Independence Day inspiration, the Easy 4th of July Star Tutorial and the 4th of July Mashup are sure to give you some ideas!
Creating soap for holidays and events is a lot of fun, but when soap making can support a cause, that’s even better. Created by Kerry of Sensually Soaps, this beautiful cold process was created as a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Research.
This week we shared five tutorials tutorials to get your feet sandal-ready for summer. Included in this series was an Invigorating Foot Soak, Cranberry Seed Foot Scrub, Rose Clay Foot Mask and a Moisturizing Heel Balm. To make these projects easy to give or sell, make sure to download the free pedicure labels and pedicure how-to guide.
This week, three guest bloggers shared their experiences at the 2014 Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild conference. Gates from Burly Stone Soap Co. shared his overall impression of the guild as a first time attendee. Dawn from Horsing Around Soap shared tips she learned regarding how to price your products. Next, Jean from SoapArt shared what she learned about testing natural colorants in cold process. If you are looking for more business tips, check out the Business Musings category.
A look at a 2014 Soap Guild session. The conference rooms were packed for the 3 day conference, which was held May 20 – 22 in Tucson, Arizona.
We also shared a tutorial featuring a sweet mold. Featuring the new Doughnut Half Mold, these adorable Strawberry and Vanilla Melt and Pour Doughnuts are a great project for those who love treats. Scented with Vanilla Select and Strawberry Fragrance Oil, these doughnuts look and smell realistic.
If you love the look of these doughnut soaps, you have the opportunity to win the new Doughnut Half Mold, along with four new fragrance oils and the 13# Stainless Steel Scale. To enter, leave a comment on the Resolution Check In post by Tuesday, June 10, 2014, and let us know about your New Year’s resolution progress.
Many of your New Year’s resolutions involved exercising more, and eating more fruits and vegetables. Our Facebook Photo of the Week from Hilary of Slice of Delight was clearly inspired by summery fruits. Made with poppy seeds and scented with a fresh strawberry scent, Hilary’s melt & pour Strawberry Kiwi Poppyseed Soap is full of color and texture.
This week we looked to nature for soapy inspiration. If you are a candle maker, the Garden Candle Tutorial is a great project to expand your skills. If you prefer a simple, more natural candle, the Eco Chic Candle Tutorial is a fast and functional way to recycle jars.
We also shared the beautiful Juicy Orange and Sweet Rose Cold Process Tutorial. Made with 10x Orange Essential Oil and colored with Paprika, this cold process tutorial looks as fresh and juicy as it smells! Paprika is a fantastic way to naturally color your soap, as seen in the Indigo Spoon Plop Cold Process Tutorial. If you’d like to learn more about natural colorants, the Sunday Night Spotlight: Natural Colorants is full of info.
Speaking of natural color and additives, our Facebook Photo of the Week from Katie of Thumbprint Handcrafted Soap utilizes products from nature to give her soap lots of personality. Made with walnut shells, honey and cocoa powder, this Honey Walnut Hand and Foot Scrub Soap gently exfoliates the skin, leaving it silky smooth.
This week was full of fun soapy tutorials for both melt and pour and cold process soapers. If you are experienced with melt and pour and want to learn a new technique, the Melt and Pour Soap Ribbons Tutorial is the perfect project to expand your skills. The trick is adding extra glycerin, which allows the melt and pour to be easily sculpted.
If cold process is more your style, the Espresso Shot Cold Process Tutorial uses the new Espresso Fragrance Oil to create a bar of soap that’s perfect for any coffee-lover. The layers of color are easily created with the Multi-Pour Sectioning Tool, and coffee grounds add gentle exfoliation. If you love the multi-colored sections, the Natural Colorant Taiwan Swirl Tutorial features four layers of color created with natural colorants.
Speaking of color, our Facebook Photo of the week created by Amy of The Suds Cafe, is full of bright, summery hues! Scented with the Tropical Punch Fragrance Oil and swirled with Yellow Mica, Fired Up Fuschia Colorant, Tangerine Wow! Colorant, this soap conjures images of sandy beaches, fruity drinks and lots of sunshine.
With the piped soap on top and a dusting of yellow mica, Amy’s creation is full of color and summer spirit! If you are curious about piping cold process soap, this Rose Garden Cold Process Tutorial will show you how. If you are looking for an easier way to create frosting, this Foaming Bath Whip Frosting Tutorial creates fluffy icing in a snap.
Shown above (from top, clockwise) is Amy’s Mother’s Day Strawberry Frappucino Soap, Peppermint Chocolate Frappucino Soap, Peppermint Chocolate Bar Soap, and the Cucumber Melon Smoothie Soap. If these chocolatey soaps have inspired your sweet tooth, the Chocolate Lip Balm Tutorial and Almond, Chocolate and Lavender Cold Process Tutorial are sure to satisfy.
Find The Suds Cafe:
On Etsy
Post pictures of your crafty creations on the Facebook page each week for a chance to be featured on the Soap Queen blog and receive a sweet soapy package from Bramble Berry. Photos are chosen based on consensus from the Bramble Berry staff, so the best way to increase your chances of winning is to show us lots of photos!
This week we celebrated another week of awesome sales and promotions. While the promotions are over, there is still time to enter our Make it Month Contest. It has been so fun to see all your creations made with the Sunny Herb Garden and Carnation Fragrance Oils…keep em’ coming! We’ll do a blog post featuring all the entries in early June.
If you are looking for more soapy projects inspired by the garden, this week was full of floral projects. The Rose Garden Cold Process Tutorial is an advanced project utilizing soap frosting, mica swirls and the hanger swirl technique. If you enjoy the hanger swirl technique, this Tiger Stripe Hanger Swirl Tutorial is right up your alley. If you are looking for an easier project, these Elegant Coffee Filter Flowers can be made in minutes. The Victorian Heart Melt and Pour Tutorial is another project perfect for the beginner crafter. If you have never made melt and pour soap before, the Free Beginner’s Guide to Melt and Pour is full of information and tips.
Bath fizzies are another fun and easy project, and our Facebook Photo of the Week from Holly of Lotion Bar Cafe is a great example of a bath fizzy done well.
This week we kicked off a series of sales and promotions that will continue into next week. Be sure to keep your eyes on the blog and the Bramble Berry Facebook page for the coupon codes. If you’d like to be the first to know about sales and specials in advance, sign up for the Newsletter. Newsletter subscribers were given advance notice of coupons and the schedule for coupon release.
Paired perfectly with the promotions is a collection of soothing, floral-themed projects. The Rose Water Lotion tutorial uses rose water to give the lotion a light, rosey scent. If you have never made lotion before, it’s a great recipe to get started. The recipe also includes Chamomile Extract, which helps to calm the skin and reduce redness. If you are curious about extracts, the Sunday Night Spotlight: Extracts explains what they are, their special properties and how to use them.
The Lavender and Chamomile Goat Milk Bath Tea is another great project for the beginning crafter, and it’s the perfect way to unwind after a long day. If you are looking for more bath time additives, the Soothing Bath Soak with Oat and Lavender is made with Aloe Extract and Colloidal Oatmeal, making it great for dry skin. If you are scrambling for a last minute gift for mom, our Mother’s Day Bath Tea can be made in no time!
This week the sun came out in full force, warming up cloudy Bellingham to 70 degrees! All this sunshine certainly inspired new projects and recipes, including a delicious twist on kale salad. Using roasting chickpeas instead of croutons, the Roasted Chickpea and Kale Cucumber Salad is the perfect lunch on a hot day.
Speaking of heat, the Jazzed about Gel Phase post is full of information regarding what happens when your soap heats up. Gel phase has great benefits, particularly when you gel with LabColors. If you’d like more information on LabColors, this post will get you up to speed.
Does soapy inspiration ever strike while you are away from your computer and enjoying the sun? The newly updated Soap App for Androids makes it easy to collect and formulate cold process recipes. You could even use it to formulate recipes for the Make it Monday Challenge! Simply share your project using the Carnation Fragrance Oil, or the Sunny Herb Garden Fragrance Oil with the hash tag #BBGarden for a chance to be featured on the blog. Projects can be shared on the Bramble Berry Facebook page, Twitter or on Instagram until May 30th.
The Facebook Photo of the Week was inspired by all this talk of hot summer days days and impending summer vacations. Called “Birds of Paradise,” it’s a bright colored soap reminiscent of exotic beaches.
Providing soapers with tips, tricks, resources and inspiration is rewarding and fun. This week we reached out to soapers all over the world with the Soaping all over the World: Resources for International Soapers guide. We also shared a SQTV Short about an easy trick for How to Clean Oily Containers that hopefully all DIY’ers will find helpful.
While tips and tricks are awesome, nothing beats soapy inspiration. Instead of focusing on colors and intricate patterns, simple and sophisticated was the name of the game in the Black, White & Gold All Over Tutorial. With a touch of gold mica on top and contrasting black and white layers, this soap really shines. It’s also a great tutorial for beginners!
If you love the look of gold mica, there are several ways to incorporate it into your soap. In the Shamrock Cold Process Tutorial, gold mica is stamped in the center and dusted on top. Mica can also be painted onto soap, as shown in this Soap Queen Tv Video. If you’re looking for bright color instead of sparkle, our Facebook Photo of the Week from Magical Star is right up your alley:
