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Vanilla Wedding Bubbles

July 1, 2010 Filed Under: Home Crafts

I’ve already been to 2 weddings this summer which means it’s officially wedding season! Yay! Oh the romance, the first kiss, the first dance, the googly eyes and then, cut to tradition. Bubbles are a sweet alternative to the ‘throwing rice’ wedding tradition when the bride and groom are officially a “Mr. and Mrs.” I’ve seen it in action several times but have you ever seen (or smelled) scented wedding bubbles? (If you have seen scented bubbles before, humor me, I’ve never seen them).

Ingredients

8 oz Liquid Soap Concentrate

1 oz Liquid Glycerin

.5 oz Vanilla Select Fragrance Oil

20 oz Distilled Water

2 oz Bottles (15)OR you can buy everything you need by clicking the icon.

Tools

Mixing Bowl

Spoon

Craft Wire

The Bubbles: Mix all of the liquid ingredients into a bowl and mix well. For the best bubbles, let the mixture sit for about 5 hours (overnight would even be better). I’m not sure what the science behind this is but it works, trust me.

The Wand:There are several things you can use to create your bubble wand. I read about wire hangers, pipe cleaners, yogurt lids, twisty ties and yarn. I wanted something that could easily fit into my 2 ounce containers so I used some thin wire that I found at the craft store. Start by cutting a 9-10 inch piece of wire and start twisting. Just create a circle (or heart if you’re good; mine wasn’t so hot) on one end.

Putting it Together: For the finishing touch, use a ribbon to tie the wand to the side of the 2 oz bottle.

Variations: If you want to blow bigger bubbles that are a little stronger than your average, add a little more liquid glycerin. If you want quantity over quality, add a touch more water to the recipe.

There so many recipes and different recipes out there to mix up some bubbly fun.

I would love to hear your tips and tricks!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

July 1, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

The new Soapylove eZine hits stands today (well…you can download it today)!

Get your issue of Let’s Get Soapy, Summer 2010 and learn how to make these happy and campy soaps from a glycerin soap pro, Soapylove! Here’s a sneak peek of some of the projects (shhh…don’t tell).

Your Number One Job

June 30, 2010 Filed Under: Business Musings

Online Stock Trades – Sell or Buy
Originally uploaded by lastnychero

Are you self employed? Your number one job for your company is sales – creating revenue. Sales is a full time job and when you’re the owner, the buck always stops with you. Even if you have sales people, your number one goal and job is creating cash for your company.

I think the number one quality that make a small business owner successful at prospecting and sales is PERSISTENCE. You can’t take the first ‘no’ for an answer. You just say, “Golly gee, that’s more information than I had before and every no leads me closer to the yes.” Then, you move on to the next prospect and keep working your way through your list.

The next quality that is important is FOLLOW-THROUGH. That first prospect that said “No”? Make sure you contact them again in 6 weeks – not with a sales pitch necessarily, just with a simple message of “Hi, hello, here’s something I found interesting” and make that ‘interesting’ thing something they really would find interesting. If it’s a blog post, an industry magazine article or even a new product debut in a category you’re not in – just something that keeps you top of mind in their head AND gets them to identify you as helpful (not always pitching and wanting something).

The final quality for making sales as an entrepreneur is CURIOSITY. Why didn’t you get that sale? You genuinely want to know (and not in a salesy-sales way – you really really are curious). The phrase “Under what circumstances would you put my soap in your shop?” must become your friend. There is no way around it – you’ve got to ask the tough questions, “Why didn’t I get the sale? How can I improve? And, under what circumstances would you consider giving me the sale?”

What’s holding YOU back from creating the company of your dreams, with revenue flowing in from multiple stores and sources? Get honest with yourself and make a plan to overcome your fear of selling. Your company can’t succeed without YOU out there selling every single day.

You Are Awesome

June 29, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

You are awesome, originally uploaded by valentinadesign.

I just bought a bunch of prints from this artist – all positive, happy sayings. I am going to frame them and put them up one by one in our hallway. They will look great in a row – and hopefully inspire everyone that walks by. If you have mental blocks you’d like to overcome (“I just can’t sell my products wholesale, I am too scared!”), replacing those negative thought patterns with a positive one (“I am easily walking into stores with samples and they love my products!“) takes frequent repetition, work and energy. These little sayings on my walls will help with my ‘repetition’ part.

Check out Valentina Ramos if you’re looking for affordable prints that inspire you every day.

Sizzlin’ Hot Summer Orders

June 29, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Sending and receiving products in the Summer Sun!

It was a Facebook post last week that inspired the issue. It’s summer time, people, which means many packages will be sitting in hot warehouses and metal trucks. How will this affect your handmade soaps and soapmaking supplies? Here are some tips to keep in mind…

2 Day Air shipping will keep your boxes from sitting in hot trucks for days.

If your order ships on a Thursday or a Friday, your box most likely be sitting in a hot warehouse or truck for 2 whole days over the weekend.

Even if your products arrive melted or soft, the products are still safe to use. Just get them inside and out of the sun as soon as possible.

Have your products delivered to your work so the package is not sitting out in the sun while you’re not home.

If you’re shipping your products USPS, you can have the post office stamp “perishable” on the box. It’s not a guarantee, but it might be handled with a little more care.

Write a note to the Mail Man: “Do not leave package in a metal mail box”, “Do not leave in the sun” or “Deliver to the front door”

Facebook fan, Soap Addicts, also suggested Cool Shield Bubble packaging.

What are your summer shipping tricks? Please share!

I think many will benefit from your suggestions!

Soapylove Tutorial – I Heart Soap

June 28, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Have you seen the new Soapylove molds? I’m so excited about them! There’s an adorable Rainbow and this one is the I Heart Soap.

Here’s a neat way to show off the mold’s raised details without much fussiness. In fact, the print makes the heart seem extra 3-D which is neat! It’s really simple. Here’s how it’s done…

Supplies (makes 2 bars of the flowery print design):
2 ounces Naturally Clear soap base
6 ounces Bright White soap base
Candy Jar fragrance oil set
I Heart Soap mold
Water Soluble Paper
Non-Bleeding Red liquid colorant

Instructions:

Have a cute design printed on the water soluble paper using a laser printer. I bought some pretty printable scrapbooking paper designs from Tracy Ann Digital Art on Etsy. Make a template by tracing the heart from the mold onto a scrap paper then cut out. Trace this onto your printed paper and cut.

Melt the clear soap base then fill just the heart area. Place your design face down into the clear soap and allow to harden.

Meanwhile, add a few drops of red colorant to the remaining soap base. Make sure the soap is nice and hot (130ish), spray the heart area with alcohol, and pour a thin layer into the mold so all the details are filled and you have a very thin layer otherwise. Allow to harden.

Melt the white soap base, add fragrance of your choice (1/2 – 1 teaspoon), and let cool to 120 degrees. Spray the red soap with alcohol and fill mold with white soap, making the stream of soap hit the back of the heart (this will hide any thin areas that might happen if you poured on a different spot). Allow to harden and unmold!

To make the pearly version, I just used pearly mica instead of red colorant and colored the white soap with a bit of the red colorant to make a pretty pink.

Have fun!

Red, White and Soap at Otion

June 26, 2010 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Last week, I was supremely lucky to spend almost two full days at Otion with a private soapmaking student. Diane visted us from Watsonville, California to learn more about soapmaking and how we run Otion. She and I spent one full day exploring Cold Process soap. First we designed three key recipes for her based on her personal preferences around what a ‘good’ soap makes. Then, it was time for a serious soaptopia at Otion.

We played with pigments and explored swirling in the Birch wood Molds.

We enjoyed working with honey and focusing on temperatures to inhibit superheating (caused by the honey). Soap on right? Never got above 97 degrees. Soap on left? 145 for over 20 minutes. Same recipe. Same additives. Temperature was the only variant.

Then we made a basic layer soap. That’s Ultramarine Violet on the top and Super Pearly White Mica on the bottom layer.

Can you believe this is Goatsmilk soap? No tan color and no ammonia smell. It’s a technique I’ve been exploring for a new e-book on goatsmilk soapmaking. Colors are Black Oxide and Yellow Oxide.

We also made custom essential oil blends for all of Diane’s soaps, played with bath fizzies and did a great batch of layered rebatch. Diane also spent time with Erik, the Otion store manager, learning about the ins and outs of running a small shop (something she aspires too do)

Thank you Diane! We loved spending time with you. It was an honor.

Red White and Blue Massage Bars

June 25, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

My brother, Erik (from ELF Industrial, Otion and The Soap King blog), designed 2 massage soap molds: The Round Massage Mold and the Oval Massage Mold. They have been a huge hit so far so I thought I would do a last minute 4th of July project with them. This project literally took me 10 minutes, it couldn’t have been easier. Give it a try!

Ingredients for the soaps pictured above

12 oz. Clear Soap Base
1 oz. White Soap Base

Oval Massage Mold

.25 oz. Coconut Citrus Sorbet

Liquid Blue Colorant

Non-Bleeding Perfect Red Color Block
Droppers

Grab everything you need for this project by clicking HERE!

ONE: Melt 1 ounce of white melt and pour in the microwave and use a dropper to fill in the dots. Let cool for about 5 minutes.

TWO: Melt 11 ounces of clear soap base in the microwave and add .25 ounces of your favorite summertime fragrance oil (I used Coconut Citrus Sorbet). Mix well and separate the soap into two separate containers. Color one container of melted soap with Liquid Blue and the other with Perfect Red Color Block. Mix both colors well.

THREE: Once the melted blue soap has cooled to 125 degrees, spray the first layer of white soap with rubbing alcohol and fill up two cavities with the blue soap. Spritz with the rubbing alcohol to get rid of any air bubbles and repeat with the melted red soap. Let cool for 4-6 hours.

Try different variations using the Round Massage Mold with different layers and fragrances. And be sure to check out other Red, White and Blue Projects: Embedded Stars, Solid Bath Sugar Cubes, Pinwheels, American Flag Soap, President’s Day Soap.

Peace, Love and Soap

June 24, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

If only world peace were as easy as this happy, peace soap project.

Ingredients

2 oz Clear Soap Base

11 oz White Soap Base

Canary LabColor

.25 oz of Yuzu Fragrance Oil

Peace Soap Mold

Click HERE to buy all of the ingredients to make the yellow peace soap project. OR get creative and mix and match your colorants and fragrances.

ONE: Melt 1 ounce of soap base in the microwave and stir in some Canary LabColor until you have a nice and happy yellow. Once the color is mixed in, use a dropper or syringe to fill in the peace part of the cavity in the mold. Let cool.

TWO: Melt 11 ounces of white soap base in the microwave and add .25 ounces of your favorite fragrance oil (I used Yuzu) and Canary LabColor. Mix well and allow the soap to cool to 125 degrees.

THREE: Spritz the first layer of soap with rubbing alcohol and pour your second layer of soap. Spritz with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any bubbles. Let cool for 4-6 hours.

For more details on making layered melt & pour soap check out my video on Soap Queen TV.

New Exotic Butters at Bramble Berry

June 23, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Do you want to try something new in your soap, lotion and lip balm recipes? Spice things up and try some of Bramble Berry’s new exotic butters. They’re only here for a limited so get them while you can!

And a couple other new products as well…

Round Massage Mold

Oval Massage Mold

Blue Makeup Bags

I’ve had an *incredible* day. Check out my TwitPic stream here to see the three batches of soap I made with a special Otion visitor – Dianne from a little town near Santa Cruz, California. I will do a full post with photos over the weekend because I don’t want you to miss out on the fun we had.

Nutella-Swirl (sinful) Pound Cake

June 22, 2010 Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine

If you’re a fan of nutella, you must try this recipe from Food and Wine Magazine. I made it for a Bramble’versary and it was a total “show stopper”.

Ingredients
Makes one 9-by-5 Inch Loaf
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
One 13-ounce jar Nutella

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9-by-inch loaf pan, tapping out any excess flour. In a glass measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs with vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk the 1 ½ cups of flour with the baking powder and salt.

2. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, bear the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer at medium-low speed, gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating at low speed between additions until just incorporated. Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.

3. Spread on-third of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top. Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella. Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the Nutella into the batter with a butter knife. Do not overmix.
4. Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, turn it right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut the cake into slices and serve.

Make ahead: The pound cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

The nutella swirls stay creamy and gooey while the rest of the cake cooks. It’s quite a feat of delicious cake engineering.

Delivering Happiness WINNER!

June 21, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Woohoo! Congratulations to commenter 21, soapmade! You’ve just won the book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.Com. Email me at info(at)brambleberry(dot)com with your shipping address and I’ll get your new book out the door. I can’t wait for you to read it, let me know what you think!

Here’s how commenter, soapmade, made someone’s day: “Friends of mine lost a baby a while ago. This week she gave birth to a fresh healthy baby boy. I gave my first bar of embedded soap (Blue with he boy’s name embedded) to her and she was very happy with it. Another happiness give-away is cooking for a bachelor co-worker (who otherwise only eats pizza or other junkfood) Love the smile it brings on his face.”

I was so impressed with the happiness comments that I decided to pick a runner up for a prize. Congrats to Pjpipersmom! You’ve just won a $15 gift certificate to Bramble Berry. Email me at info(at)brambleberry(dot)com and I’ll send you your coupon code.

Here’s how Pjpipersmom delivered happiness: “We have a patient at the office that is 98….she’d been going without her hearing aid for several weeks because she had nobody to give her a ride to the office to get it fixed. So I took some things with me, stopped by her place and spent a little time visiting while I fixed her hearing aids.”

Thanks to all who commented. It made my day!

Happy Father’s Day!

June 20, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Happy Father Day, Dad!

What are you doing for your Dad this year? You may remember the epic family cooking day from last year? Well, that was a late Father’s Day present and that’s exactly what we’re doing for Dad this year. He loves gourmet food, he loves family time and he loves connecting. Where better to do that than over a gourmet meal cooked by your kids?

We do a little spin on the meal though. It goes like this: 1) We pick out 15 awesome, mouth-watering recipes. 2) We design a trivia game just for Dad. 3) For every answer he gets WRONG, he has to discard one of the recipes. Last year, he ended up with an 8 course meal because my Dad is one smart cookie!

Here are some older blog posts that mention my dear Father … I Love My Dad , Wisdom from my Dad, Butterscotch Butterscotch Cake (Dad’s favorite cake), Hiking with the Fam’, Happy Father’s Day, Dad!, Nutrition Advice from my Dad, Hiking at Mt.Baker. Make sure to read the comments on this post (Mmmm…Caramels) from my Dad (about a Fat Flush diet). He is too funny!

Five Days of Father’s Day: Last Minute Cards

June 18, 2010 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

Last Minute Father’s Day Card

Now that you’ve made the perfect Father’s Day Soapy Project, I’m betting you’d like to match it up with a perfect Father’s Day card. We designed these two cards in-house at Bramble Berry and they are our gift to you. Thanks for being an awesome Soap Queen reader and community member. Here’s a free PDF that you can download and print out to make the cute little cards pictured above. And if you do find time this weekend to whip a another special gift, here are the Five Days of Father’s Day ideas:

Vintage Baseball Soap