What a fun week it has been! We’ve been keeping super busy with all sorts of fun activities and promotions that are going on for both Bramble Berry and Soap Queen. The members of our Spring Spring S.O.A.P. team (you can see the list here) were picked, we started getting entries for our Spring Soap Swap, received a bunch of cute bath and body products for the Fair Ivy contest (the deadline to receive entries is this Monday!) and have a super fun April Showers Scavenger Hunt going on. I also made the second soap in the Great Cakes SoapWorks Soap Challenge – the Elemental Swirl (read all about it here). This is how my version of the Elemental Swirl turned out – very teardroppy and artistic.
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#OMHCybilla Winners!
Last month, we introduced our second Make it Month contest with our March sample of the month which conveniently happened to be one of my favorites fragrances, Oatmeal Milk & Honey Cybilla. The entries came pouring in and I got to see some really unique and fun designs and products. If you missed the contest, you can check out all the entries in our album on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page. Are you ready for the winners?
Sign Up for a Soapy Swap
Get ready, get set, SOAP! It’s time once again for a Bramble Berry Soap Swap! Our soap swaps are easy to participate in, and you may even meet a few fellow soapers or learn some new techniques yourself. Our last soap swap was a huge success, and we can’t wait to see what soapy surprises we get this year! Interested in swapping? Read on to find out how to get started!
Waves of the Sea Cold Process Tutorial
This soap reminds me of relaxing ocean waves gently lapping against a luscious, soft sand beach. Strategic use of uncolored soap along with cool blue and gray-green create an abstract scene. If you’re loving this soap, stay tuned next week to find out how to get a free gift with purchase containing ingredients to make this very project! Looks like April Showers are on the horizon…
Spring 2013 S.O.A.P. Team Search
It’s spring, and that means warmer weather, bright and happy colors, and most important, a brand new S.O.A.P. panel team! Don’t know what S.O.A.P. is? Check out this mash up post to learn more about it and check out last fall’s team here. We are looking for the newest fragrances to add the the Bramble Berry lineup and we want your help! For the next week, we are on the look out for eight soapy fans to help us pick which fragrances to add for our Summer 2013 fragrance oil line.
What are Water White Fragrance Oils?
Welcome to another Q&A session about everything soapy and soap related. Check out our previous information product posts all about Nail Polish, Lip Balm, All Things Lotion, Preservatives, Melt and Pour Soap or Colorants. This week’s post comes to us from a few questions we’ve received from customers about maintaining clarity in Clear Melt and Pour Soap. Read on to learn more about these awesome scents that you can use in your bath and body products.
Red Apple Cold Process Soap
Here’s a great way to dress up an otherwise unassuming bar of soap. It reminds me of the painted heart soap technique that we learned at Soap Weekend Intensive 2011 (fun memories!) but with a twist. Adorable little apples dot the surface of this soap made with our newest Quick Mix oil recipe. Red Apple fragrance oil pairs perfectly with the cute and kitschy apple design! Yum to the eleventh power.
Recipe:
33 oz Basic Quick Mix Oil
4.7 oz Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
10.9 oz Distilled Water
2 Condiment Bottles
Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!
PS – This technique, of course, works for all cold process soap recipes – not just ones with the Quick Mix Oils =) [Read more…]
Make it Month #OMHcybilla
If you loved last month’s Make it Month #babypowder, you’re in luck, because we’re bringing it back. This month’s featured sample is the delightful Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Cybilla Fragrance Oil. OMH Cybilla is a delicious fragrance with notes of warm milk and honey supported by the richness of oatmeal that is sure to be a hit in your products. Show off your skills on the Bramble Berry Facebook page by posting a picture of your bath and body product with the hashtag #OMHcybilla and at the end of the month, we’ll pick our faves. Your soap could be featured in a special Soap Queen blog post!
#Baby Powder Winners!
It’s another new month (already?!) and I’ve enjoyed creating and soaping the fun projects and blog posts that have been posted. Missed them? Check out our archives for last month here. Another highlight of last month was seeing the variety of projects that our customers created with our #Baby Powder contest and it inspired me for Bramble Girl themed projects. And now it’s time to announce the winners of our #Baby Powder Challenge; drum roll please!
Top Row: Maria from Kokolele Soaps & Oliver Acres Family Farm – Goat Milk Soap
Bottom Row: Do Me A Favor Designs & Sebastian de Kolly
Thank you to everyone who participated in our #Make it Month contest and you can view all entries here on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page. Sound like fun? Check out our sample contest for the month of March here.
Sunset Ombre Soap Tutorial
Here is the first of many, many recipes included with the brand spankin’ new Business in a Box Kit, exclusively from Bramble Berry. With the kit, you get this Ombre Soap advanced technique recipe along with another (soon to be revealed) technique option and a Business in a Box quick start guide all in a handy PDF. Read even more about all of the contents in the Business in a Box Kit here. Note that this recipe below uses the Quick Mix oils but this technique will work for any slow-moving recipe.
This soapmaking technique is for a super on-trend ombre look. Try out different color schemes with other LabColors from your Business in a Box kit for varied styles. Match colors to fragrance or essential oils, or create multiple colored soaps for a rainbow-esque display. Simply colored soap, when strategically layered, creates a light to dark fade that is sure to impress your customers. A seamless transition between colors will show off your expert sense of color and design.
RECIPE:
33 oz Lots of Lather Quick Mix
11 oz Distilled Water
4.7 oz Sodium Hydroxide
Diluted Canary LabColor
Diluted Orange Labcolor
2 oz Energy Fragrance Oil
If you’d love to try out this tutorial but aren’t ready for the full Business in a Box kit, click here to add ingredients for just this recipe to your Bramble Berry shopping cart! [Read more…]
Facebook Photo of the Week (Feb 1st ~ 8th)
Happy February! I’m so excited for Valentine’s Day and all the soapy projects that you have planned. Need a little inspiration? Check out this bath fizzy tutorial For the Love of Waterlily and our Embedded Hearts M&P Tutorial for some ideas. We’ve also introduced a brand new Make it Monday contest with a twist: it’s a Make it Month!
And now the winner of this week’s Facebook Photo of the Week!
Sparkle Power Bath Bomb Tutorial
Here’s a kid-friendly bath bomb tutorial guaranteed to make bath time tons of fun. It’s a spin off of the recent Hidden Color Bath Bomb tutorial, where a secret stash of super concentrated color appears once the bath bomb is activated in water. This time around, instead of color the secret stash is full of glitter! What a fun and unexpected treat for bath time adventures.
Recipe:
1 Cup Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)
1/2 Cup Citric Acid
1/2 Cup Corn Starch
1/2 Cup Epsom Salt
1.5 Tablespoons Avocado Oil
Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart! [Read more…]
Make it Month: #Baby Powder
It’s February already? Where has the time gone? If you were as busy as I was last month, you might have missed some blog posts. You can check out all of January’s blog posts here, including the announcement of our Bramble Girl and read all about the book I’m writing. This month, I have a brand new contest for you. It’s a little different then the past Make It Mondays because it’s a whole month long. Here’s the challenge: make something with your free fragrance oil sample and share it with us on Bramble Berry’s Facebook page. Are you ready? Let’s go!
Facebook Photo of the Week 1/18 – 1/25
I hope your week has been great! I had a big announcement this week that I was so excited to share with you all…if you haven’t heard the news, check it out here. And now onto our Facebook Photo of the Week winner…
