Soap Queen

Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more

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Baby Massage Oil Video

Filed Under: Soaks & Scrubs

Really, this could be called ‘Human Massage Oil’ since it’s not just good for babies but boy oh boy, little babies do love it. =) In this Soap Queen Short, I show how to make a baby massage oil and then try it out on Lily. She loved it. If you don’t have a baby, this recipe is also a wonderful massage oil for anyone, especially those with sensitive skin. By the way, Lily nailed her part in this video on the first take – she’s a natural.

Note: The Bulgarian Lavender Essential Oil has been discontinued. The kit now includes Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil. 

To make this recipe you will need:

To make the infused Calendula oil follow the instructions in this video or in this e-book and use:

   Get everything you need to make this project added to your Bramble Berry shopping cart by clicking here.

 

2013 DIY Gift Giving Guide

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Gift-giving season is here and we want you to be all stoked up with a variety of soapy, DIY presents.  This gift guide has everything from gifts for the family and projects for the beginner and the advanced soaper. You don’t just have to make the gift yourself. If you have a crafty friend or family member, a DIY kit might be the perfect gift.

Why yes, this is Soap Queen wrapping paper. Purchase it here.

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Sunday Night Spotlight: Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

If you’re a dark chocolate fanatic like I am, you know that it’s almost impossible to avoid it over the holidays (or for that matter, anytime). With our Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil, you can indulge as much as you want without any of the calories!

This sweet scent is as realistic as they come. In a review of the fragrance, one soaper’s teenage son thought she was actually baking a chocolate cake! Sugary top notes with deep mocha and cocoa bottom notes give this fragrance excellent staying power in cold process soap. Because it’s such a luscious fragrance, it does discolor to a deep ebony brown.

Edit: We asked for it and you delivered! You suggested so many blends with this wonderful fragrance that we’re listing them below. You can read through the original thread on Facebook here.

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Facebook Photo of the Week (November 15th ~ November 22nd)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Last Saturday we wrapped up our two-week-long Givember celebration with 24 DIY bath & body projects, and we hope you got a chance to participate in our specials and coupons. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter here so you can be notified of our next big promotion! This week we had a guest post tutorial on making beer soap from Swettis Beauty Blog and an adorable Jolly Jubliee melt & pour tutorial to get you in the holiday spirit. To finish up the week, we had a fabulous interview with Tanya, one of our favorite soapers from Baby Duck Soap Co. Be sure to check out her interview here.

Are you ready to see this week’s feature? It’s a soap pretty enough for the front of a Christmas card!

This week’s Facebook Photo comes to us from Jamie of the Okie Soap Shop. Her Country Christmas soap caught my eye because of its fun and festive glitter. I also love when soapers have an eye for photography and set-up design, and Jamie clearly does in this shot! Are you looking to learn more about photographing your soaps? Check out this blog post to learn more.  Thank you Jamie for being a part of our soapmaking community, and we can’t wait to see what else you have in store.

Jamie’s Facebook Page: Okie Soap Shop
Jamie’s Blog: Soap Blog

 Post pictures of your soap 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.

Charcoal and Rose Clay Spa Bar

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I’ve been so absorbed with cold process recipes because of the Soap Crafting book I thought it would be nice to change things up and get back to melt & pour soap. In this episode of Soap Queen TV, I make an incredibly luxurious soap which I named the Spa Bar. For the base I used our Shea melt & pour soap and then I used Activated Charcoal and Rose Clay for their purifying and cleansing properties – plus they look gorgeous together. To scent the bars I used Sandalwood, Rose Absolute, and Red Brazilian Mandarin Essential Oils for a natural finish to this tiny spa in a bar of soap project.

To make this soap you will need:

Click Here to add everything you need to make spa bars to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

 

 

Talking with Tanya of Baby Duck Soap Co.

Filed Under: Business Musings

Ever since Tanya Rasley included some adorable samples of her lip balm in her April Soap Swap package, we’ve been hooked on her beautiful soaps and high-quality products. Tanya owns and operates Baby Duck Soap Co., and she offers a wide variety of cold process soaps, body butters, lip balms and sugar scrubs. Since then, I found her on Instagram and love to see her happy soap and family photos frequently. Read on to learn more about one inspirational small businesswoman.

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Jolly Jubilee Embeds Soap Tutorial

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

If you plan on giving soapy presents for the holidays, we highly recommend ordering all your supplies now to ensure you get everything on time! To help you brainstorm fun holiday crafts, we gave our Valentine’s Day Embedded Hearts tutorial a jolly little twist. The technique is similar, but for this project we’re giving you a free PDF template so you can create your own tree and snowflake embeds from scratch. Not only that, this project uses two fantastic fragrances — Woodland Elves and Sleigh Ride – for a quintessential holiday scent.

This Jolly Jubilee Embed Soap is the perfect gift and project for the holiday season! [Read more…]

Guest Tutorial: Marbled Beer Soap

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Anne-Marie note: Elham sent me a baby care package months ago with a wonderful bar of beer soap. I couldn’t get over how nice it was in the shower with luxurious, soft lather that felt silky on the skin and rinsed away cleanly. She has graciously agreed to do a tutorial on this wonderful soap. Thank you Elham!

Hi, I’m Elham from SkinChakra® and I am so excited to be here for a guest post.

I have been a cosmetic chemist for almost half of my life, and I’ve had my own line of hand-crafted soap and skin care products for the past two years (in addition to my consulting activities in the cosmetic industry). I live in Bavaria in Germany, and so I have had the opportunity to experiment with countless beer soap variations. I am surrounded by small, handcrafted breweries, and I consider myself a specialist in beer soap. Not surprisingly, beer soap is one of my best selling products!

 

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Goodbye Givember- 24 DIY Project Links

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Givember 2013 has come to a close (sob). Throughout the past two weeks, we offered six days of deals and coupons (include a surprise free shipping offer!) on our social media outposts, shown you 24 Christmas-related tutorials and (hopefully) managed to get you in the crafty spirit. This Givember has been a huge success, and it’s all thanks to YOU! I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your continued support of Bramble Berry, and I’m looking forward to many more Givembers. And for those of you that ordered at Bramble Berry, thank you (!); we are working through your orders as quickly as we can without sacrificing quality.

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Facebook Photo of the Week (November 8th ~ November 15th)

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

What a week! I hope you had a chance to take advantage of our #Givember sales and coupons.  In fact, thanks to you, Givember has been so successful that we’re working overtime to get your order to you in the high-quality manner you’ve come to expect from Bramble Berry. It may take us a few more days, but it’s worth the wait!

To give you even more ways to interact with us, this week we rolled out the brand new Bramble Berry Help Desk Feature. Have a question? You can now chat with a live customer service person to get your issue resolved immediately! To learn more about this new tool, check out the blog post.

Have you gotten your order yet? Every order this month will include a sample of the delightfully sweet Cranberry Chutney Fragrance Oil. We’re hosting another Make It Month featuring the fragrance, so be sure to check out this post for all the details!

For now, are you ready to get up close and personal with the photo of the week?

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Sew Seasonal: A Givember Sewing Project

Filed Under: Home Crafts

These past two weeks have been full of crazy Givember activity, and we hope that you were able to take advantage of our special deals, coupons and holiday-themed tutorials. The last ensemble is super kid friendly and includes tutorials on soapy candy canes, bath fizzies, fun-colored Gingerbread Men, some swirly melt and pour and of course, these adorable little stockings. Happy giving!

Go handmade this holiday with this group of fun soaps, bath fizzies and customized stocking.

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Finding your Inner Zen: Bramble Berry’s new Live Help Desk

Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

There’s no doubt that the holidays are stressful, and we’re doing all we can to bring a little Zen to your Bramble Berry experience. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been hard at work rolling out a brand new system to help and we’re finally ready to reveal it: say hello to the Bramble Help Desk! This new tool, accessible from the Bramble Berry homepage, offers you a way to live chat a fabulous customer care team member, as well as search through an ever-expanding list of frequently asked questions. With this new system, you’ll have yet another avenue to ask questions, find answers and resolve issues or concerns quickly and easily.

Using the Live Chat feature

One of the most exciting features of our new Help Desk is the ability to chat with a customer service team member. To live chat, begin by clicking the ‘Support’ tab on the left side of the Bramble Berry homepage.

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Givember Massage Oil

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials

We’re continuing the Givember madness today with this fabulous massage oil. Jojoba Oil is a bit of a misnomer because it’s actually a liquid wax, but it’s known for its ability to absorb into skin and moisturize. Jojoba oil also has an indefinite shelf life, which make this an excellent, long-lasting gift.

This massage oil is part of our Romance Gift Ensemble, which includes tutorials on how to make bath salts, whipped shea butter, a spruce-scented candle and a pink salt scrub. Scroll to the end of this tutorial to learn how to make all four! Our Midweek Mayhem continues this week too, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on various social media outlets to be the first to hear about all the deals.

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Cheery Cranberry Seed Melt & Pour Tutorial

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Fruity and sweet with a hint of tartness and spice, we love Cranberry Chutney Fragrance Oil in soap. It’s one of two fragrances we chose for all of our Givember projects, and throughout November, we’re featuring it as part of our Make it Month: #BrambleTart! Read on to see how you can use this wonderful fragrance to create an exfoliating bar of melt and pour soap.

This tutorial incorporates fun embeds and cranberry seeds to create a gentle, scrubby bar of soap. Made using our 4″ Silicone Loaf Mold, these bars are the perfect size for holiday party favors or stocking stuffers!

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