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My name is Amanda Griffin and I am a soap maker living in Grand Prairie, TX. My passion is sharing, talking and teaching the craft of soap making in the classroom, on my blog (www.lovinsoap.com) and in my eZine, Lovin’ Soap.

One of the best things about soap making is being a part of the soaping community. Whether it’s on a forum, at a meet-up, at a conference or at a local supply shop; soap makers are some of the most passionate, creative and caring people I have ever met. I’m truly grateful to be a part of this amazing community of crafters.

Chai Latte Soap!

I’ve been on a chai kick lately. I managed to wean myself off of Starbucks Peppermint Mochas only to discover the greatness of their Chai Lattes. Those things are addicting. So look-y what I ordered to soap!

I ordered Bramble Berry’s Chai Tea Cybilla. It smells wonderful! I was going to blend it with some coffee but I looked through my FO stash and couldn’t find any. O’well.

I found these little 3 fl. oz. white cups at the grocery store awhile ago and knew that I wanted them for my Chai soap.

This was going to be a test batch so I came up with a small recipe. When you’re doing a recipe this size be sure to measure in grams and be as exact as you can.

The recipe:

Palm oil – 90 g

Coconut oil – 90 g

Olive oil – 90 g

Cocoa butter – 30 g

Castor oil – 30 g

Lye – 46 g

Water – 100 g

*A note on this recipe + BB’s Chai Tea. I knew the fragrance oil would probably accelerate a bit because it does contain spice. I didn’t even use a stick blender; I just mixed with a spoon and it thickened quickly and also got very hot. Also note that my recipe is a pretty quick tracing recipe because of the palm and the cocoa butter. So if you want to slow things down when using fragrance oils like this…use a recipe that contains higher amounts of olive. If you’re okay with lard, lard is slower to trace than palm so works great also. Keep your temps down as soaping cooler tends to slow trace. Adding the fragrance oil to your melted oils helps also if you have a fast moving FO.*

For this soap, I’m going to make this recipe twice. Once for the bottoms and again for the tops. So make your soap as usual and bring to trace. Pour it into the individual cups.

That was easy enough! Now we’re going to make the tops. Since these are hot drinks I wanted a layer of cream on top that molded to the top instead of a whipped top like they put on the cold drinks. I’m going to make our same recipe and do sort of a partial whipped. I used a cold lye solution but melted the oils like I usually do and let them cool a bit. Since I used cocoa butter I couldn’t let them cool too much or it would start to re-solidify. I wanted the topping to be more white so I added some Titanium Dioxide dissolved in water.

Once you have your lye solution cold (put it covered and labeled in the fridge) pour your lye into the melted oils. I wanted to whip some air into this mixture so I used a beater instead of my stick blender. I didn’t add any fragrance oil because I wanted it to stay nice and white.

You can see after I’ve whipped it for a bit it gets more white in color.

I beat it for about 10 minutes. Longer than I thought it would take! You want to look for it to become whiter and a bit frothy/slightly whipped. My goal is to pour it over the tops of the drink bottoms and have it spread on its own. So you don’t want something that you have to spread with a knife. We’re ready to pour the tops on.

I scraped off the tops of the cups to make them more even. I would actually recommend leaving a bit more head room in your drinks than I did so you have room for the cream topping (so spoon out a bit). I’ll add more cream topping for the next batch – lesson learned.

Gently spoon the topping on. If you do it slow enough and a bit at a time it will form a nice dome without running over the sides.

Depending on what drink you’re making, you can sprinkle of some topping. I added a bit of cinnamon to these. If I were doing a peppermint mocha I would shave a bit of brown soap to look like chocolate shavings on top.

These cups are super easy to unmold. Let them sit like this for about 24 hours, pop in the freezer for 10 minutes or so and gently push from the bottom while squeezing the sides gently. They pop right out.

On Bramble Berry’s website they do state that this fragrance oil discolors to brown. This is exactly what I want so I didn’t add any colorant. If I wanted a darker brown I could have added some brown mica or even some cocoa powder.

Here are the chai soaps labeled. You could leave them naked, put a label around the naked soap or my favorite (see below)…put them back in cups and put the label on the cups. They ended up being about 3.5 ounces (so if you download my label template, make sure to check the size of your batch).

Download the label template here.

-Amanda

Want more from Amanda at Lovin’ Soap? Check out her Lovin’ Soap E-Zine.

Only 8 Spots Left! HURRY!

February 2, 2011 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

You’re invited to the 4th annual Soap Weekend Intensive. This year is going to be bigger and better than ever (and not just because our little Bramble Baby will be making frequent guest appearances). We have a new location that can fit 19 students and more projects. We’ve also confirmed the last guest teaching spot: SWI veteran Paula Kates from PJ Soaps! Learn more and sign up HERE and meet all of your teachers HERE.

Beautiful soaps of PJ Soaps

Paula Kates is owner, artist and CEO of PJ Soaps. With an extensive background in Linguistic Philosophy, Paula left behind 11 years in the administrative world of the performing arts, first at Milwaukee’s Florentiine Opera, then with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and eventually cutting out on her own and turning her love of art towards soap making.

Paula has been making Melt and Pour soap since 2003 most recently winning “Best Soap” at the 2007 ISOCAN soapmaker’s convention in the Chicago area and “Best Soap” at the 2008 First Annual Georgia Spring Fling Soapmaker’s Convention in Conyers GA (outside of Atlanta) and has been aiming for mastery of the art form ever since. Paula is teaching two technique classes at Otion SWI: one on soap painting (really, you can paint just like her!) and utilizing the Melt and Pour Tool Kit to make incredible soaps (it’s easier than you think!)

SWI students hard at work

This year, Paula will be teaching her famous soap painting technique. She’ll also share her tricks on using the injection tool for the finest deatils! Check out the fun we had the last three years:

(SWI 2008, SWI 2009 and SWI 2010) and sign up today while spots are still available!

Hearts, Love and Rainbows!

February 1, 2011 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Valentine’s Day Mash-UpNot sure what to make for that special day? We’ve got you covered!

Color Fade Hearts

3D Valentine MP Project

Chocolate Lip Balm with Cocoa Powder

Romantic Reeds

Cute as a Button Hearts

Valentine Cold Process

Champagne Bubble Bath

Champagne Face Mask

Massage Candles

Ombre Heart Soaps

Soap Queen Cuisine

Epic Epicurean Eats

Vegan Treats

Honeycomb Treats

Key Lime Pudding Filled Cupcakes
Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake

Salted Caramel Coco-Beer Cupcakes

And check out the Valentine Themed Page at Bramble Berry for molds, fragrances and colorants!

Camouflaging the Bump with Cupcakes?

January 31, 2011 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

We shot a couple of more episodes of Soap Queen TV this weekend. We’re trying to store a few up so I can take some time off when the baby makes his appearance. That black apron + table does a pretty job of hiding my bump. But, believe me, it’s there.

To dress the set we use cute soap from recent projects, like these from last weeks CP gradation tutorial

I really wanted to wear this adorable cupcake apron but Amber (I like to call her the ‘SQTV producer‘ though during the regular week she’s our Marketing Guru) said it would be too busy and detract from the soap projects.

We did two really fun melt and pour projects. Here’s the sneak peak of both of them:

Bringing Soap Ropes back in a big way!

Loofah Fun!

Soapylove Technique Post – 3 Color Fade

January 29, 2011 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Rainbows and hearts… I can’t seem to get enough! One of my favorite looks lately is graduated color. Several years ago I taught at Otion’s Soap Weekend Intensive and was thrilled to attend a class by Paula of PJ Soaps (she’ll be teaching again this summer!). She showed how to make her beautiful moon soap (click here for tutorial), where she tilts the mold to get a lovely fade between the moon and midnight sky.

I have used this several times with a single tilted color, but realized if you use one on each side and then fill the center, that you can get a 3 color fade!

Here’s what you’ll need:
Coral Mica
Yellow Mica
Liquid Blue
Striped Heart Mold
NOTE: The mold in this tutorial has been discontinued. The kit now contains the Swirled Heart Mold.
Clear M&P soap base
White M&P soap base

Or click here and get everything you need all at once.

Here’s how to do it:

Prop your mold up on one side or corner. I used the Soapylove Striped Heart Mold. Next, melt and color a small amount of clear soap using non-bleeding red or coral mica. Spray your mold with alcohol, then pour a small amount of soap into one side, allowing it to only cover 1/3 of your mold surface.

It’s okay if your color doesn’t line up perfectly with the stripes. Allow to harden. Now turn around your mold so the opposite side is propped up. Melt and pour some blue soap into the opposite side, again only covering 1/3 of the mold face. Allow to harden.

Move your mold to be flat on the table. Color your third batch of soap yellow, spray mold with alcohol, and pour in soap so it fills the center area and covers a bit of each side color. Allow to harden. Spray with alcohol and top off with fragranced white soap. Voila!

Here’s a tip: color your soap with a light hand – if your colors are too dark then the background color won’t show through. When I do this project again, I’ll use a little less blue so the green tone will be more noticeable.

Enjoy!
-Debbie
Soapylove

Let it Bleed: Cold Process Soap Color Gradation Tutorial

January 27, 2011 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

I’ve long been fascinated with how to make Labcolor’s inherent bleeding qualities work in a bar of soap. It does a great tie-dye look and the swirls are romantic and ephemeral. But, the idea of a sunset or a rainbow really drew me in. I started with a simple but sophisticated color graduation. It’s a very easy concept in theory but in practice, takes precision and weighing … and patience.

My husband and I are using this bar in our shower at home right now at home and it has fantastic lather and a great balance of bubbles with moisture and creaminess. Coupled with the absolutely exquisite scent and sophisticated color, it’s one of my favorite recipes I’ve made in a while. Read through all the instructions; it requires prep and precision.

Ingredients

29.6 oz Olive Oil

14.8 oz. Coconut Oil

8.89 oz. Palm Oil

5.92 oz Palm Kernel Oil

2.96 oz Sweet Almond Oil

2.96 oz Mango Butter

9.34 oz Lye

21.5 oz DistilledWater

4 oz Fresh Snow (the star of the show!)

Magenta Labcolor (20 ml diluted in 8 oz. of distilled hot water, Germaben II preservative added at 1%)

Fine Iridescent Glitter

5 containers that will hold 18 ounces each

5 lb Mold With Sliding Bottom

Get everything you need with the click of a button.

(Note: If you’re looking at this recipe and thinking “Why, oh why, are you weighing to .96 on any of these? Anne-Marie, you are on crack!” It’s okay to round up to whole numbers on the Palm Oil, Sweet Almond Oil and Mango Butter and not change the lye. You’ll end up with slightly more superfat but not enough to change your recipe. So not to worry you don’t need to buy a brand new scale!)

Step One: Stop. Check. Do you have all of your safety gear on hand? Are kids out of the house? Animals locked outside? Do you have an hour to focus? Do you need to review the Lye Safety Video? How about scaring yourself half to death with this scary blog post I did on lye? Done? Check? Great. Eye protection ON!

Step Two: Weigh out all of your oils. Melt the Palm, Coconut and Palm Kernel Oil. Add the Mango Butter to the warm oils and stick blend the Mango Butter in. Add the Sweet Almond Oil and Olive Oil to this mixture. Set this aside.

Step Three: Weigh out your water (I don’t do volume because I like the precision factor of weighing it). Weigh out your lye in a separate container. Add the lye slowly, slowly, slowly to the water, stirring the entire time, taking pains NOT to breathe in the fumes. Work only in a well-ventilated area. If you are ultra sensitive, wear a mask.

Step Four: We’re working with a hotter mixture this time so check the temps of your oils. If they’re not up to 140, heat them up until they are. Check the temp of your lye; has it dropped to 140-150? Is it clear? If so, it’s ready to add into the oils, slowly. Careful! No splashes.

Step Five: Use your stick blender to achieve light trace.

Step Six: Separate out the soap into 5 containers. WEIGH the soap out into containers. Weigh out 18 ounces of soap per container. There is no fragrance added yet.

Step Seven: We are working from lightest to darkest. For each layer, you will add fragrance and color and *then* stick blend to a very thick trace.

Layer 1: No color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

Layer 2: 7 drops of color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

Layer 3: 14 drops of color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

Layer 4: 28 drops of color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

Layer 5: 43 drops of color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

For each layer, you’ll strive to achieve a THICK trace. Then, pour carefully over a low-placed spatula. This helps the soap not break through to the next layer. You’re looking for very straight lines. Do not hurry the pour. You have time.

I did a light dusting of fine glitter over the top just for a little Fairy Queen look.

This soap does best with a warm gel phase; the colors pop! more with a strong gel phase.

Man, You’re Soaping Me Blue!

January 26, 2011 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Guest post by Kat from Otion

What better way to celebrate the end of the week than to see some of our newest fragrances arrive at Otion!

Blue Man is Bramble Berry’s strongly inspired version of of the popular men’s cologne, Aquolina Blue Sugar. The base note of Black Patchouli blends perfectly with Orange Peel, Sparkling Mandarin, Coriander Leaves, Star Anise and Venezuela Tonka. It’s surprisingly sweet and majorly masculine. Discolors to a light brown and does great in cold process.

I made a little melt-and-pour project for our display at Otion by cutting out little guys out of opaque soap with an exacto knife and embedding them in clear base with brilliant blue labcolor. The man in the middle sitting down worked the best because he’s actually blue from pouring a blue layer down first before setting him in there.

When the heat from the clear base hit the man cut-out, it created this really whimsical swirl in the soap while it set up!

Below are the little guys waiting to get blue. Even after chopping a bit off his legs, I still couldn’t get the little hat on the third one to fit in my mold.

This was really fun and opens the door to all sorts of cut-out ideas. Have fun and remember that you can easily cut any design you’d like with an exacto knife, a thin layer of soap and some patience. Oh, and some cardboard underneath to protect your table.

How to Deal with Haters

January 25, 2011 Filed Under: Business Musings

photo by Michael Lorenzo

Bramble Berry is growing (rapidly!). We’ve hired six people in the last two weeks. One of those people was an assistant to our Chief Marketing Officer (though for a small business, having the title ‘Chief Marketing Officer’ might be reaching but hey, aspirational titles are good too, right?). We put the ad out on Craigslist for $9.75/hour. Since the job was for an assistant who would help with graphic design, we proudly gave the URL of our website so applicants could see the quality of work we currently put out and would expect of them. Within 4 hours, the first tweet came: “$9.75/hour? Doesn’t that seem low to you?”

Minimum wage in Washington state is $8.57/hour. Federally, it’s $7.25/hour. Paying $2.50 over federal minimum wage for an entry level, part-time position doesn’t seem low to me. That’s the going rate for an assistant. So, I tweeted back and said something to the effect of “No, it doesn’t seem low. And everyone at BB, even our COO starts low.” That’s true. We don’t hire people who have money as their number one motivation. For one thing, we’ll never be able to keep them. Our company, though profitable and growing, does put the “Small” in “Small Business.” Unless you advance in the company with responsibilities and job title, your position pays the going market rate. And advancement does happen – our Chief Operating Officer started at $7/hour pulling orders and our Chief Marketing Officer started as my part-time assistant and took a $5/hour pay cut to come work for us.

The Tweets got progressively meaner:

And, as local Tweeple started RT’ing (re-tweeting) our job (because yes, yes we are a rockin’ place to work with very low turnover for our core team), one person on Twitter started harrassing the people who RT’ed the job:

Even as I look at the Tweet screenshots above, I can feel my blood pressure start to rise and my heart start to beat quickly. I want to get snotty and ask what sort of business degrees that person has, what sort of small business they’ve run and how in the world they think they know what our company makes. But, this type of thing happens when you start to have a higher profile and start to be more successful. So, coming up with a better coping mechanism than defensive sarcasm is a more mature response.

How to Deal With Haters (or, in texting lingo: “H8trs”)

Step One: Examine the premise. Is the criticism true? Is it valid? How much of it is valid? What could you do differently in the future? What should you have done differently? In this case, I’m happy with my actions and my company’s actions.

Step Two: Examine the source. Who is delivering the message? What medium are they delivering it to you in? For example, in person delivery is significantly more valid than anonymous sniping on Twitter by someone with 22 followers. If you do know the person, what kind of person are they? Do they consistently tear people down or do you find them to be a thoughtful, rational person? Are they speaking from experience?

Step Three: Identify your feelings. How are you feeling? No matter how you’re feeling (sad, wounded, defensive, angry), your feelings are valid. The hater’s perceived reality may or may not be valid. Whatever you’re feeling is okay. Extra credit: Journal about the situation for 20 minutes, writing without stopping.

Step Four: Step 4: Recognize that to ‘Assume’ makes an ‘A$$’ out of U and Me. What assumptions are being made by you here? What assumptions are being made by the hater? In this case, the assumption that Bramble Berry is ‘raking it in’ and is deliberately undercutting the market were being made. However, judging from the flood of resumes that came in, that market rate was appropriate for the job.

Step Five: Circle the Wagons. Let the healing begin by reaching out to those who love, admire and respect you. In this case, my husband who spent a good 30 minutes calming me down and my CMO and COO all got text messages at 10 p.m. at night. Every single one of them responded quickly and reassuringly. I went out to lunch with my friend @BobPritchett who is a CEO I greatly admire and an awesome VC fund guru Robin Halliday and told them the story to get their take on it. I told another CEO, @PCValentine the situation. I got their feedback. And they all gave me the same response: “You’re employing people and creating jobs. Don’t apologize for creating a job that wasn’t there to begin with, even if it’s lower than you wish you could pay.” It was nice to be validated and feel supported.

Step Six: Respond with kindness and positivity. Do not respond with anger or hurt. Remember, the origianl message speaks more about the messenger than it does you. It costs you nothing to be kind. It costs you nothing to be gracious. How do you want to look back on this situation in 5 years? In 10 years? Always do the classy thing, even if you’re the only one watching.

Hearts, Flowers and…Gnomes?

January 24, 2011 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Hot off the presses (or mold machine in this case)! New goodies at Bramble Berry!

Retro Squares, Break Away Hearts, Radiant Heart

Guest Medieval Fleur de Lis Tray Mold, Mod Flower Soap, Gnome

Large Hibiscus, Modern Circles, Olive Oil Tray Mold

New Cold Process Ezine!

Lovin’ Soap Ezine, Vol. 1

Just a reminder – we are still at an extended processing time (and working hard to catch up!). Current order turnaround times are listed on our home page at www.BrambleBerry.com Thank you for all of your exciting and overwhelming amount of business this January. We’ve been hiring like crazy, working overtime and are making progress to get back to the speedy processing time you expect. =)

I’m New! Now What?!

January 21, 2011 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Recently my friend Debbie wrote me on Twitter and told me she loved the handmade (cold process) soap I had given her for Christmas and wanted to learn how to make her own. She asked, “How do I start?” Since that’s probably a longer answer than 140 characters on Twitter will give me, Debbie, this blog post is for you!

1. Read this article on the types of soapmaking. The type of soap you want to make is ‘Cold Process Soapmaking.

Rebatch Soap Cold Process Soap Melt and Pour Soap

2. Watch the 4 *free* videos at SoapQueen.TV on Cold Process Soapmaking.

Lye Safety
Basic Terms
Using Fragrances & Essential Oils
Using Colorants

After learning more about the process, are you still interested in moving ahead?

If yes, keep going.

If not, soapmaking is super fun! Consider a slightly less labor intense method of soapmaking – Melt and Pour soap or Rebatching soap. Kits for Melt and Pour and Rebatching are here.

3. Keep educating yourself. TeachSoap.com is a great resource. The TeachSoap forum is helpful. All of the posts here tagged with “Cold Process” add to your knowledge base and the SoapDishForum is a fantastic learning opprtounity.

4. Order a beginner kit. It has everything you need to make your first batch of soap except the Lye. Order the lye along with the beginner kit. Beginner kit A is here. Beginner Kit B is here; Lye is here.

5. Make sure you have all your safety equipment – gloves, goggles, apron etc…

6. Get yourself to Goodwill to get a stainless steel bowl or glass bowl, a couple spatulas, spoons and invest $20 in a good Stick Blender.

7. Wait for your kit. Keep reading. Let your excitement build.

8. When the kit arrives, safety up! Goggles on! Gloves on! Cover those counters with newspaper. Lock pets outside. Children under 14 should be away from your soaping area. Find one hour of uninterupted time.

Now, get ready? Set? Soap!

Victorian Swirl 3D Melt & Pour Soap Tutorial

January 20, 2011 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Ingredients

4 oz. Clear Melt & Pour soap base

3 oz. White Melt & Pour soap base

Heavy Metal Gold Mica

Liquid Black colorant

Apricot Freesia Fragrance Oil

Victorian Blossom 3D mold

(NOTE: The Victorian Blossom 3D mold has been discontinued. It has been substituted with the 12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold.)

Recipe Yields 1 Soap

Get everything you need to make 4 bars of stunning 3D soap with the click of a button!

ONE: Melt one ounce of the clear soap base and add four to five drops liquid black colorant. Pour the black soap into the design of the front side of the mold. Allow to set-up completely and clean-up any drips using a clean up tool. Spritz the soap with rubbing alcohol then assemble the 3D soap mold.

(NOTE: The Victorian Blossom 3D mold has been discontinued. It has been substituted with the 12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold. To achieve a Celtic design, simply paint on the design using gold mica.)

Tip: Make sure that the holes on each side of the mold are matched up (it’s easy to put one hole on the top and one on the bottom – whoops) and secure the top and the bottom of the mold with the thick rubber band.

TWO: Melt the rest of the clear soap and mix in Heavy Metal Gold mica and fragrance oil (.1 oz per bar or .5 – .7 oz. for the full two pounds). In a separate container, melt the white soap base and mix in the fragrance oil.

THREE: Alternate pouring the two colors and poking the soap skin with a skewer to swirl the soap. For a full tutorial on how to swirl melt and pour, see the video on SoapQueen.TV.

FOUR: Once the soap is completely set up (4-6 hours), remove from the mold and trim the edges using a clean up tool or a non-serrated knife.

FIVE: Highlight the design by dry brushing the Heavy Metal Gold mica over the raised areas of the design. See this tutorial on the Soap Queen Blog for how to dry brush your soap.

Victorian Swirl 3D Melt & Pour Soap Tutorial

Author: Soap Queen

Recipe type: melt and pour

Serves: one soap

Ingredients

4 oz. Clear Melt & Pour soap base
3 oz. White Melt & Pour soap base
Heavy Metal Gold Mica
Liquid Black colorant
Apricot Freesia Fragrance Oil
12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold

Instructions

Melt one ounce of the clear soap base and add four to five drops liquid black colorant. Pour the black soap into the design of the front side of the mold. Allow to set-up completely and clean-up any drips using a clean up tool. Spritz the soap with rubbing alcohol then assemble the 3D soap mold. Make sure that the holes on each side of the mold are matched up (it’s easy to put one hole on the top and one on the bottom – whoops) and secure the top and the bottom of the mold with the thick rubber band. (NOTE: The Victorian Blossom 3D Mold is discontinued. It has been substituted with the 12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold. To achieve a Celtic design, simply paint on the design using gold mica.)
Melt the rest of the clear soap and mix in Heavy Metal Gold mica and fragrance oil (.1 oz per bar or .5 – .7 oz. for the full two pounds). In a separate container, melt the white soap base and mix in the fragrance oil.
Alternate pouring the two colors and poking the soap skin with a skewer to swirl the soap. For a full tutorial on how to swirl melt and pour, see the video on SoapQueen.TV.
Once the soap is completely set up (4-6 hours), remove from the mold and trim the edges using a clean up tool or a non-serrated knife.
Highlight the design by dry brushing the Heavy Metal Gold mica over the raised areas of the design. See this tutorial on the Soap Queen Blog for how to dry brush your soap.

Energy Fragrance Oil Blends

January 19, 2011 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

photo by Michael Lorenzo

Energy is a fabulous fragrance that we designed ten years ago because we were inspired by an energetic scent we smelled in a well-known bath and body line. It’s comprised heavily of citrus notes with some fun notes like Blackberry, Pineapple and Champagne thrown in to sweeten it up. Energy provides a great blending palette as well. I hope you like the blends we came up with below. If you like the fragrance as-is, you’re in good company. I just ran the fragrance numbers for last year and Energy was our #2 best seller.

Click here to buy all the fragrances in one easy swoop for the blends (remember, you can delete any individual items from your cart even when using this handy “Buy It Now” button). It’s enough to make full blends of everything so long as your “part” is 1/2 ounce. Not sure what a part is? Jump to the bottom of the post & I’ll explain.

Sweet ‘n’ Citrus

2 parts Energy

2 parts Hello Sweet Thang

1 part Vanilla Select

Tart Fruity Delight

2 parts Energy

2 parts Moonlight Pomegrante

1 part Cream Cheese Frosting

Blended Big Red

2 parts Energy

2 parts Red Apple

1 part Cranberry Sweet

Tropical Beach Party

2.5 parts Energy

2.5 parts Coconut Cybilla

The Big Purple

2 parts Energy

2 parts Blackberry Cybilla

1 part Sugar Plum Fairy

Green Mean Machine

3 parts Energy

1 part Lettuce

1 part Cucumber Melon Cybilla

PS – We also sell straight Energy as a pre-made CP loaf or individual bar. Click here to check them out.

PPS – Are you wondering what a ‘part’ is? A ‘part’ is simply a unit of measure – any unit of measure, a drop, an ounce, a cup. So 3 parts of Energy and 1 part Lemon could be 3 drops Energy and 1 drop Lemon or 3 ounces Energy and 1 ounce Lemon or even 6 ounces Energy and 2 ounces Lemon. Get it? I knew you would!

It’s a Tea Time Kind of Day

January 18, 2011 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

I had the best time last week buying presents for two special friends of mine. I decided to build the gifts around one present: hand blended Tea from Bellingham that sells at our Farmer’s Market (Sip-T’s site here) With that tea as an anchor theme, I headed over to Etsy to keep with the theme. It wasn’t hard to find a billion tea-inspired gifts there. The most difficult part was picking out the perfect teatime assortment.

Tea for Two Noteset

Poka Dot Tea Cup Noteset

Ceramic Handmade Travel Mug

Earl Grey Lip Balm