It’s a fabulous Friday again and that can only mean one thing — Facebook Photo of the Week. There were so many creative bath and body creations that were shared on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page this week that it was hard to choose a favorite. I loved seeing all the different interpretations of the Leopard Print soaps and if you missed the quick Vine Videos I did, you can check them out here and here. Are you ready for the winner for this week? Check out the beautiful soap below!
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Handmade Soap for the Gardener
AKA: Everything but the kitchen sink soap! When we were shooting the photos for my upcoming book Soap Crafting, the artistic director for Storey Publishing wanted a great shot of some soap batter with multiple additives. Of course I obliged, splitting a batch into 5 oddly-sized parts and adding anything I happened to have on hand. The result was a crazy herbed-up super exfoliating soap worthy of cleaning the Hulk himself, but not being one to keep a recipe to myself I just had to share. I was too happy with the scrubby results not to!
Non-Bleeding Colors from Bramble Berry
Color plays an important role in the design of your soaps, and can even make or break a sale for many soapers! This is why it is so important that you choose a colorant that works for your project, and does what it is advertised. A few years ago, I wrote a blog post on non-bleeding colorants and since then Bramble Berry has added even more to our inventory.
Wax Tart Melts 3 Ways Tutorial
If you’re like me, you know it’s not a good idea to have candles burning with toddlers running around. With another little one on the way, I sure don’t want to take any chances! To get all the benefits of burning candles without the fire hazard, I decided to try making a few wax tarts. Not only are they super easy to make, you can really dress them up by experimenting with different colors and finding a cute wax tart warmer.
Facebook Photo of the Week (April 19 ~ April 26)
After a gorgeous week of weather up here in the Pacific Northwest, celebrating Jamisen’s 2nd birthday (I can’t believe my baby boy is two years old!) and being absolutely exhausted after moving while 8.5 months pregnant, I was happy to take a small little break to look over all the Facebook photos and pick the winner of this weeks Facebook Photo of the Week. Are you ready to check out this fabulous gem I found on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page? Follow along and you can ooh and ahh over the fabulous soap with me!
Sunday Night Spotlight: Hungarian Lavender Essential Oil
It’s time for another Sunday Night Spotlight to discuss a product in detail, including fun recipes and in this case, blends. If you have any suggestions for a Sunday Night Spotlight, let me know in the comments below! To read about last weeks spotlight, click here, and learn all about a fun and easy botanical to use in your CP and M&P soaps. Are you ready for this weeks? Read on to learn all about Hungarian Lavender Essential Oil.
Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Mantra Swirl Soap
This soap is perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth. With a delectable combination of one of our favorite fragrances Oatmeal, Milk and Honey, paired with Chocolate Espresso Cybilla, this soap is reminiscent of a delightfully sweet mocha. We used a mantra swirl technique to give the finished soap an elegant look, and I think it may even look a bit like fluffy foam or whipped cream (can you tell I’m craving coffee?).
Natural Baby Oil
This recipe brilliant in its simplicity. The skin-loving combination of just three oils makes for a wonderfully-textured and amazingly not-too-greasy option for baby’s skin, plus the use of Oat extract takes the sensitivity of young skin into consideration. Try this oil on dry patches after a bath for maximum benefit.
How to Recycle Your Recyclables
Happy Earth Day! After a loooonng day of moving (seriously, what crazy hormonal person thought it was a good idea to move at 8.5 months pregnant?!), I thought I’d pop in with three great eco-friendly soaping ideas in honor of the day. Using clean food packaging is a great way to ensure that your products are getting their maximum amount of use before they are headed to the recycling bin; plus many of them make for a super economical mold option for testing out new soap ingredients (so your production/fancy molds aren’t taken up for testing) or an economical trial for a beginner soaper! Just to make the project as easy as it is fun, I’ve used additives and colorants that are easily found in most kitchen cupboards. Plus, you can check out this episode of SoapQueen TV for even more eco-chic ideas!
Facebook Photo of the Week (April 12 ~ April 19)
What a fun week it has been for me here at the Soap Queen blog. Earlier this week, I introduced a brand new weekly blog feature — our Sunday Night Spotlight. This new weekly feature will pick one Bramble Berry product and I’ll go over why I love it so much and a few different recipes that I’ve used it in. Have a suggestion for a spotlight? Leave it in the comments below! There was also the free giveaway from The Saponifier. Did you miss it? It’s here. We also released a new SoapyLove e-zine kit (colorants included). Learn more about it here. After that thrilling recap, I’m betting you are ready for this weeks winner? It was one of my favorites that was posted to Bramble Berry’s Facebook page this last week, and you’ll see why!
Intergalactic Planetary Melt and Pour Soap Tutorial
A great project for kids of all ages (and I’m totally counting myself in this ‘kid’ category), this theme will particularly appeal to those who enjoy their time with a sci-fi edge. Swirling multiple colors of melt and pour base into sphere molds creates a planetary feel while shimmery black mica paired with silver glitter sends the planets on an adventure through a star-filled sky.
Feelin’ the Love
Brand new and hot off the press, Debbie Chialtas’ newest Let’s Get Soapy e-zine is now available! This 24-page full color PDF is packed with tutorials for making soaps with water-soluble paper, achieving ombre coloring and working with neon colors for bright soaps that are ready for summer.
Facebook Photo of the Week (April 5 ~ April 12)
It’s the beginning of the week (Happy Monday!) and that means it’s time for a recap of the most awesome week ever! (Psst: Earlier this week, we wrapped up the Fair Ivy contest by getting the rest of our entries and posting a mashup. Stay tuned next week when the finalists will be announced. We also had a fun and engaging guest post from Jean at SoapArtOnline on how to cut one of those 25 lb. monster soap blocks and posted a much anticipated Soap Queen TV episode that has been a year in the making. Are you ready for the winner of last weeks Facebook Photo of the Week? Check it out below.
Sunday Night Spotlight: Lavender
Bramble Berry’s Grade 1 Lavender Buds have a rich and deep color of periwinkle and that traditional calming Lavender smell that will have you going back for more. Did you know that these particular buds have actually been hand harvested? We are told that they are picked before noon on the day of harvest to help prevent fast drying which gives them their extra vibrant color. A great property of Lavender is its known anti-inflammatory properties, which would be great for a skin-soothing oil infusion or a bath tea. My favorite use for lavender buds is to sprinkle them on top of cold process soap as a finishing touch.
