We just celebrated Lily’s birthday. Like all parents, I can’t believe that she is already two years old. It seems like just yesterday that she was a newborn, sleeping in her carrier next to my desk in the Bramble Berry offices. It has been ridiculously fun to watch her personality emerge. She is the sweetest, most happy baby and makes Chris and I smile every day with her charming temperament.
To celebrate the occasion, I made butterscotch, butterscotch, butterscotch cupcakes. Butterscotch is a family favorite thanks to my dad (you can read about his love for butterscotch here). The cupcakes were a combination cake mix and homemade ingredients. They were easy to make (though were multiple steps), and most importantly, tasted amazing!
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Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (May 23rd ~ 29th)
The spring-inspired tutorials continued this week with projects like the Butterfly Sparkle Surprise Bath Bomb. Along with fizzing in your tub, the bath bombs will release Iridescent Glitter and a butterfly eraser. They will also add a sweet smell to the tub from a mix of Crisp Apple Rose Fragrance Oil and Pure Honey Fragrance Oil. It’s a perfect project to make with kids.
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (April 18th ~ April 24th)
The past few weeks have been full of projects involving milk. This week featured cold process soap made with cow milk. The Creamy Cow Milk Cold Process Tutorial has a classic black and white color palette. The swirls inside are made by plopping different size spoonfuls of soap into the mold. The soap is scented with a fresh and earthy combination of Vanilla Rosewood and Grass Stain fragrance oils.
If you’re looking for a milky melt and pour project, you’ll love the Lemon Goat Milk Melt and Pour Bars. The Goat Milk Melt and Pour Base used in the tutorial is made with 10% fresh liquid goat milk. The project also features lemon peel and Lemon Essential Oil, which give the bars a fresh smell and creamy color.
Milk can also be used in other products, like face masks. The Silky Coconut Milk Face Mask uses coconut milk powder to give the recipe a silky feeling and subtle coconut scent. Vitamin E oil and Evening Primrose Extract are used to add moisturizing and soothing properties. For a little bit of exfoliation, colloidal oatmeal is added to the mask.
If you plan to sell your milk recipes, Instagram is a useful tool. Instagram allows you to share pictures of your products and connect with other crafters. Taking the time to edit your photos can really help them stand out. Setting the soap up nicely and using props can help as well. Find out more in the Instagram Tips and Tricks post.
Thoughtful editing can also be used for pictures of your culinary creations, like the Spinach and Blueberry Yogurt Popsicles. The simple recipe is made with blueberries and vanilla Greek yogurt. Because they’re sweet and healthy, they’re a great way to get your kids to eat their fruits and veggies.
While the popsicles are a cool treat, the Facebook Photo of the Week is full of fire. Kristie with Seven Seas Soaps scented her soap with smoky Dragon’s Blood Fragrance Oil.
The yellow and red colors in Kristie’s soap look stunning against the black base. It’s topped with whipped soap and a flame for a unique and beautiful look. If you’re looking for more fiery projects, click through to the Dragon’s Breath Cold Process Soap Tutorial. For a lava-inspired soap, click through the CP + MP = Magma Soap.
Above (clockwise, top) are Kristie’s swirled soap, chocolate soap, orange cream soap and sweet pea soap. For more flowery inspiration, click through the Purple Blackberry Flower Candle Tutorial. Flowers also look adorable on the Pikake Flower Bath Bombs.
Find Seven Seas Soap
On Facebook
This week’s Instagram Photo of the Week is full of bright color as well. The collection of soap by Hallowell Soap Works is full of color, texture and accents like rose petals. The wood provides an interesting and natural background for the soap. Check out more stunning photos on Hallowell Soap Works’ Instagram page.
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!
To participate in the Instagram contest, hashtag your pictures with #soapshare. Each Friday, I will pick a photo on Instagram to win a copy of the Soap Crafting book, and share on the Bramble Berry Instagram account.
Soapy Social Media Roundup
This week has been a complete whirlwind. The photo shoot for the upcoming book (coming in 2016) was both amazing and exhausting. Thirty-three cold process recipes were prepped and created in four days (39 if you count embeds!). That’s an average of 8 cold process recipes everyday. The team did a great job of prepping all the recipes beforehand; This enabled each recipe to be ready as soon as the previous was made. All the hard work paid off; each soap turned out amazing and I can’t wait to share the book with you!
This weekend I’m attending the HSCG Annual Conference in Indianapolis. So, if you’re here, come find me! I was so thrilled to run into Lela from Lucky Break Consulting, Ellie who has helped save 70 orphaned baby elephants with her soap, and Toushonta who spotted me in the airport after a long day of flying. I’ll be here tonight and tomorrow so if you’re at the show, please come say ‘Hi.’ I love talking soap!
Soap Guild Show Fun
Here on the blog, we have been sharing a collection of milk recipes including this Goat Milk & Oatmeal Cold Process Soap. This Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar on Soap Queen TV shows you how to create soap using fresh buttermilk and carrot puree. Want more soapy inspiration? Check out my favorite pins, ‘grams and tweets from this week!
Pinterest:
Left to right, clockwise:
- I love the simple yet sophisticated look of this Palm Free Lavender and Vanilla Cold Process Soap by Humblebee & Me. The mica painting looks fantastic!
- Speaking of beautiful purple soap, the color combination in the Flirt Gourmet Handmade Soap from River City Soapworks is so eye catching.
- Purple tones also look stunning in food. Want proof? This Earl Grey Lemon Cheesecake is topped with frozen blueberries, giving them a lavender hue.
- Mother’s Day is less than a month away. This Mother’s Day Matchstick Holder and Candle Gift is a clever and adorable way to show her love.
Instagram:
If you follow me on Instagram, you know I was busy soaping up a storm making soap for my new book. Below is one of my favorite recipes, a Dandelion Zebra Swirl soap made with real dandelion petals and an annatto seed infusion.
On the left, is a negative space embed recipe colored with natural colorants. On the right is a soap made with pale ale instead of water. I was so relieved that the swirl design turned out for the shoot…that technique requires a steady hand and I was a little shaky!
Twitter:
- The article, “Secrets of Woeman Running Billion-Dollar Companies,” is full of great advice and insights into the pros and cons of being a CEO. In particular, I related to how hard it is to have true “balance.”
- Being constantly creative is hard! If you need some tips on keeping your creativity flowing remember…no idea is too weird!
- Love shopping online? I do! These three apps are online-shopping game changers.
- The “experience economy,” is a term used to describe consumers growing love for experiences, rather than only services. Click through to learn more about wowing your customers with experiences. It’s what we try to do at Otion with our classes & crafters corner!
- Jerome Jarre has mastered Vine and SnapChat with 7.2 million followers. The going rate for one Vine video is $25,000! But it wasn’t always that way; click here to read his fascinating story.
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 (including all the soaping I’m doing this weekend), add me. I’m Bramble-Berry on Snapchat.
Interview with Kangaroo Apple Soap Studio
Kangaroo Apple Soap Studio creates colorful cold process soaps that showcase what an artform soapmaking is. Several months ago, the talented proprieter Lisa won the Facebook Photo of the Week contest with an intricate swirl cold process soap. After looking at her soap, I immediately wanted to know more. Lisa’s passion for soap shines with a masterful use of color and swirls. Read on to learn more about Kangaroo Apple Soap Studio, including how she came up with her unique business name and where she finds color inspiration. -A.M.
Lisa’s Misty Rainbow Soap created for the in-the-pot swirl Great Cakes Soap Challenge.
How long have you been soaping for and how did you get started?
I have been making soap for about 4 years. I have always had an artistic streak but few opportunities to put it into practice, and I was feeling a bit rebellious one year about the Christmas retail ‘machine,’ so I decided to do my own thing. As I was browsing online bookstores for candle-making guides, there was a suggestion that I may also like ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Making Natural Soaps’ by Sally Trew and Zonella Gould. Well, I bought the book, and I was promptly so enamoured with making soap that the candle idea went on the back-burner for quite a while (no pun intended).
[Read more…]
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (March 14th ~ March 20th)
As many of you know already, it was a hectic week for my family and I. We are currently working on cleaning up after a boiler in our house exploded. The great news is my family is safe and doing well. You can read more about that in the Soap Queen Has a Mess to Clean Up post.
One of my favorite ways to reduce stress is crafting, so I’ve been squeezing that in when possible. This weekend I will be speaking at the Central Soapers Workshop, so crafting is definitely on the agenda! One of my favorite recent projects is the Mermaid Tail Cold Process, which uses squeeze bottles and a spoon to create scales. It takes a bit of planning, but once you get going the technique is simple. It creates an interesting and unique look. The soap has some sparkle from Iridescent Glitter and smells fresh from Crisp Cotton Fragrance Oil.
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (Feb. 14th ~ Feb. 20th)
This week was all about color inspiration, whether it’s monochromatic ombre or rainbow hues. The Rainbow Hearts Melt and Pour on Soap Queen TV has six colorful hearts inside, along with plenty of glitter. The colors are complemented by Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil, which gives the project a fruity and sparkly scent.
Facebook and Instagram Photo of the Week (Feb. 7th ~ Feb. 13th)
There are so many options when it comes to coloring your soap. This week, rainbow was the inspiration for a series of bath and beauty tutorials called Rainbow Reverie. In addition, a different fragrance oil and colorant are 25% off each day.
Green Chrome Oxide and Grass Stain Fragrance Oil add a bright color and fresh scent to the Green Meadow Melt and Pour Tutorial. The middle layer uses grated soap to create a confetti look, which adds interest to the solid green layers. A pink flower on top adds contrast and a feminine touch.
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.
Simple Citrus Furniture Polish
With the year coming to an end, it’s time to do a little tidying up around the house to give 2015 a fresh start. If you have some wood surfaces that need polishing, this Simple Citrus Furniture Polish is easy to make and leaves wood looking refreshed. Made with a combination of beeswax, olive oil and castor oil, this polish is firm yet spreadable. Castor oil gives the polish shiny properties, and yellow beeswax creates a solid texture.
With a small amount of Orange Valencia and Lemon essential oils, this polish smells bright, clean and spring-like. I used this polish on my cutting boards, and they look brand new. To use, apply wax onto a paper towel or rag, and apply to the wood. Massage the polish in and remove any excess. Check out the 9 Bar Birchwood Mold below, one half has been polished and the other has not. What a difference a little polish makes!
Facebook Photo of the Week (Dec. 6th ~ Dec. 12th)
It started raining early this week and hasn’t stopped yet, leaving Bellingham residents a little chilly. It was nice to warm up with the Roasted Rosemary Carrot Soup. With roasted carrots and onions, plenty of herbs and a little balsamic vinegar, this soup is creamy and full of flavor. It’s also paleo and Whole30 friendly, making it a guilt-free option during the decadent holiday season.
Jabbering with Jodi of Lakehurst Farms
Jodi from Lakehurst Farms creates both melt and pour and cold process soap that is full of color, creative embeds and beautiful swirls. Just one look at Jodi’s soap, and you can see Jodi has a keen eye for design. Jodi’s sister Renee also creates soap, specializing in melt and pour. Together, they are quite the dynamic soaping duo! Read on to hear Jodi’s great soaping advice, along with what inspires her to create such show-stopping soap.
How long have you been soaping for and how did you get started?
I’ve been soaping for almost two years. One day while perusing a goat supply catalogue I happened past the soaping section. I took one look at the molds and the bottles of FO and it was love at first sight.
[Read more…]
12 Days of Christmas Project Roundup
With Thanksgiving behind us, the countdown to Christmas has officially begun. If you’re feeling a little behind in holiday gift preparation, don’t fret. There is still some time to create unique, handmade gifts for your family and friends. But don’t wait, it’s time to get crafting!
The 12 Days of Christmas series featured twelve easy to make projects that would make fantastic gifts. From melt and pour and wax tarts to lip scrub and nail polish, you are sure to find a gift option for everybody on your list. Looking for packaging inspiration? Check out the Packaging Inspiration video on Soap Queen TV, along with the #Make it Monday: Packaging photo gallery on Facebook.
Sculpting Mustache Wax
Here in the Pacific Northwest, there are mustaches of every kind – some flipped up, some with a little curl added. If you’d like to add a little flair to your facial hair, this Sculpting Mustache Wax is the product for you! Made with whipped cera bellina wax, this wax is a great firm yet spreadable texture. The addition of castor oil and vitamin E oil create an incredibly sticky texture, making it easy to mold your mustache into various shapes.
You may have noticed more mustaches than usual because November is prostate cancer awareness month. In order to raise awareness and funds, men take part in No-Shave November and Movember by growing out their facial hair to spark conversation about the disease.
Currently, several men at Bramble Berry are growing out their facial hair to support the cause. In addition to $150 already donated, for each participant we are donating an additional $25 to the American Cancer Society. It’s been fun to see all the beards and mustaches around the office and warehouse!