Keep in mind, our warehouse is working around the clock to you get our quality products, and so I highly encourage ordering early to get your supplies on time to make holiday gifts (aka right now!). The best crafter is a prepared crafter, so plan ahead: create a budget, evaluate your inventory and allow a few extras days of lead time as we catch up after the Givember rush. Transit times during the busy holiday season can delay orders even after they’ve left our warehouse, so be sure to account for that too! Whether you’re a hobby crafter creating products to give as gifts or a high-volume soaper gearing up for craft fairs and shows, we want you to be successful this holiday season.

All of our Givember projects are scattered around planet Soapy Social Media, so we’ve assembled them all below so you can quickly access them. Happy giving!

Beauty Ensemble:

Sugar Plum Nail Polish
Holiday Crimson Lip Stain
Shimmer Body Powder
Apricot Blush
Sweet Clementine Eye Shadow

Kid Ensemble:

Seasonal Stocking
Soapy Candy Canes
Jelly Roll Soap
Givember Bath Fizzies
Hidden Surprise Melt & Pour
Gingerbread Men Melt and Pour

Romance Ensemble:

Massage Oil
Soothing Bath Salts
Whipped Shea Butter
Winter Woods Candle
Pink Sea Salt and Aloe Scrub

Happy Holidays Ensemble:

Homemade Holiday Snow Globe
Holly Soap Clay Embeds
Freshly Fallen Snow Lotion
Solid Sugar Scrub
Givember Laundry Soap
Winter Clementine Lip Balm
Massaging Loofah Soap
Yuletide Swirl
Starry Melt and Pour Embeds

Happy Givember! Thank you for your participation, orders, support and cheer-leading. We can’t do it without you.

The post Goodbye Givember- 24 DIY Project Links appeared first on Soap Queen.

What You’ll Need:

1/4 yard cream felt Fabric

1/4 yard forest green felt fabric

1/2 yard Rickrack

1/2 yard trim

1/4 yard felt fabric for boot cuff

Fabric paint

Free PDF stocking pattern

ONE: Take your fabric and fold it in half and line up the top of the pattern with the opening of the fold. Then loosely pin the free PDF stocking pattern to your fabric. We used pinking shears to give the stocking some texture, but you can also use regular fabric scissors.

TWO: Pull the pins out of the stocking and sew a strip of fabric and a small loop of fabric to the back side of one boot. This will be your boot cuff and hanger loop. Sew a strip of green fabric to the outside of that same boot to form the cuff. Sew another strip of green fabric to the top of the other boot.

THREE: Pin both sides back together and then sew around the edges (don’t accidentally sew the top closed!).

FOUR: Hot glue on embellishments! We used gold rickrack and some teal trim to add a little pop of color.

FIVE: Using fabric paint, hand write the name on the stocking. Allow the paint to dry for 30 to 60 minutes and then your stocking is ready to hang!

This stocking is part of our Kid-Friendly ensemble of gifts we’ve posted all around the web. Here’s a list of where you can find inspiration and learn to make these projects:

• Soapy Candy Canes — These clever soapy candy canes are easy for children to make, and the results are adorable! Give three or four of them bundled as a gift, or hang them around your house for a festive feel.
• Jelly Roll Soap –Reminiscent of holiday candies, this melt and pour project is a great way to refine your soapy skills.
• Givember Bath Fizzies — You may recognize these fizzies from their hot tub misadventure.  We followed this SoapQueen TV tutorial to make the fizzies, but we tweaked it a bit using our Guest Snowman & Gingerbread mold, Teal and Key West Lime La Bomb and fragranced with Cranberry Chutney.
• Hidden Surprise MP — We twisted the Secret Message Soap tutorial from several years ago and Givember-fied it! This fun soapy gift is great because the more you wash with it, the closer you get to the prize inside.
• Gingerbread Men –These mischievous Gingerbread Men are our newest employees who have come to help us through the holiday rush. So far they’ve been through training and helped out in the office. Check Vine on Friday to see where they end up next! We made these Gingerbread Men based on this Soap Queen TV video and switched up the colors and fragrance. We colored these guys with Aqua Peal Mica, Super Pearly White, Hydrated Chrome Green and Electric Bubble Gum in our White Melt and Pour Base.

The post Sew Seasonal: A Givember Sewing Project appeared first on Soap Queen.

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.

What You’ll Need:

7 oz. Jojoba Oil

1 oz. Fractionated Coconut Oil

6 drops Santa’s Spruce Fragrance Oil

4 oz. Bottles with white disk caps

Dropper with Suction Bulb

Optional: 16 oz. Funnel

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

ONE: Pour about 3.5 oz of Jojoba Oil into one of the 4 oz. Plastic Bottles. You can free hand the pour, but we like using a funnel to avoid messy spills.

TWO: In  glass container, combine .5 oz of Fractionated Coconut Oil with 3 drops of Santa’s Spruce Fragrance Oil. Stir the mixture and then pour into the bottle. Repeat this process for the second bottle.

Your oil is ready to use right away, enjoy! If you like this project, you may want to try your hand at all the tutorials in the Romance Gift Set. Going clockwise, they include:

• Soothing Bath Salts — On Facebook we shared this recipe for homemade bath salts that are perfect for a relaxing home spa evening. Scented with fresh-smelling Santa’s Spruce Fragrance Oil and colored with our improved LabColors, this is a wonderfully pampering gift.
• Whipped Shea Butter — On our Tumblr blog you’ll find whipped shea butter. It’s a luxurious gift that can be (literally) whipped up in a matter of minutes! We added Argan Oil to this recipe for an extra special, skin-loving touch.
• Winter Woods Candle — Over on Instagram you can add a touch of holiday glow to any room with the Winter Woods Candle. We embellished one of our 14 oz. Glass Candle Jars by cutting a few of our 12″ Brown Reeds and then hot gluing them around the jar.
• Pink Sea Salt & Aloe Scrub — On Teachsoap your find the recipe for a Pink Sea Salt Scrub that is mild and gently exfoliating. It’s made with our Sugar and Salt Scrub Base and beautiful Small Pink Sea Salt, and we added a little Chamomile and Aloe extracts to make it even more soothing.

Try your hand at making these projects individually or give the entire set as a gift!

The post Givember Massage Oil appeared first on Soap Queen.

What You’ll Need:

Cellini Red Mica

Copper Sparkle Mica

Nourish Lip Balm Base

Clear Lip Balm Tubes

.15 CC Mini Scoop

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

ONE: Melt 1 oz. of Nourish Lip Balm Base in a heat-safe container in the microwave on 10 second bursts. It helps to break it down to the smallest chunks possible before heating it. Be sure your heat-safe container is able to withstand prolonged temperatures because you don’t want the container to explode in the microwave! If it’s glass, remove it from the microwave with a pot holder.

TWO: Once the base is fully melted, add 1 mini scoop of Cooper Sparkle Mica and stir.

THREE: Add 1.5 scoops of Cellini Red Mica and stir.

FOUR: Pour the melted base in the clear tubes. Be careful because the tubes fill up quickly and you don’t want to end up with lip balm all over your table!

Tip: We didn’t include a flavoring oil in our lip stain, but you can certainly add one. Check out the Flavoring Oils section on Bramble Berry. We suggest a usage rate of 2% of the total weight of your lip balm, but you can add as much as 5%.

Wait 1/2 – 1 hour for the lip balm to harden, and then it’s ready to use or give away!

Best of all, this lip stain is part of an entire set of gifts you can make and give away! Check out the Shimmer Body Powder, Apricot Blush, Sweet Clementine Eye Shadow and Sugar Plum Nail Polish.

The post Givember 2013: Holiday Crimson Lip Stain appeared first on Soap Queen.

This is just a taste of the kinds of projects we’ll show you how to create for Givember 2013. From left to right: Surprise Embed Melt and Pour, Sugar Plum Nail Polish, Jelly Roll Melt and Pour, Copper Sparkle Eye Shadow, Loofah Massage Melt and Pour, Candied Gingerbread Man Melt and Pour, Santa’s Sugar Cubes and Sweet Winter Clementine Lip Balm

From November 4 through 15, we’ll show you 25 fantastically festive projects that make great gifts and stocking stuffers as part of Givember 2013. We’ll show you several tutorials per day through our various social media outlets, so check in often for the latest tutorial.

We’ve included a wide range of goodies, from how to make mineral make-up to lip balms and of course, lots of fun soaps! Along with the tutorials, look out for special Mid-Week Mayhem coupons with exclusive offers and deals. These coupons are good for just 24 hours, so keep a close eye on our Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts, the Bramble Berry homepage, and of course, the Soap Queen Blog.

Our newsletter subscribers will receive bonus tutorials and be the first to know about all the deals and coupons, so if you aren’t signed up already, head over to Bramble Berry and enter your email address on the right hand side. Don’t forget to click through the confirmation email to activate your subscription, and be sure to check your spam filter for emails from info(at)brambleberry(dot)com.

We’ve also chosen two very special fragrances that will be used throughout all 25 projects. The first is Santa’s Spruce Fragrance Oil, which is an intriguing twist on the traditional pine tree scent. It has complex sweet notes which softens this otherwise earthy scent, and it performs wonderfully in cold process soap and other bath & body products. The second fragrance, Cranberry Chutney Fragrance Oil, is sweet and fruity with base notes of warm vanilla spice. It performs well in bath and body products, and discolors to a light golden yellow in cold process.

  All this fun starts on November 4. Are you ready to give the gift of Givember?

The post Give the Gift of Givember appeared first on Soap Queen.

We’ve saved something special for last though. Do you recall seeing a bright pink slip of paper in your orders from September and October with a special coupon code on it? Well, we kept track of everyone that used those coupon codes, and each week we  chose a winner for a special treat! Four lucky soapers were picked to receive a $75 Bramble Berry Gift Certificate. And the winners are:

Kristen Zimmerman of Smelly Goods & Pretties

Rachel Obrien of Orange Thyme

Susan Stillwell of Susan’s Sumptuous Soaps

Candace Weingart of Saved Objects Soaps and Lotions

We also enlisted some of our favorite bloggers to rock out a special Givember blog post and give their readers a coupon code to enter an exclusive reader-only drawing. This drawing had two spectacular prizes! The winners are:

Karen Chambers – $50 Bramble Berry Gift Certificate

Rachel Chieppa – $250 Bramble Berry Gift Certificate

Congratulations to all the winners! And thanks to everyone for your amazing participation in Givember. Winners, keep an eye on your email. Those gift certificates will be sent out soon!

The post Givember Gift Certificate Winners appeared first on Soap Queen.

What to expect:

• For current newsletter subscribers, four newsletters during the month of November.
• Four exclusive, brand new projects! Each newsletter will have a new project to help get your creative juices flowing for the holiday craft season.
• Free coordinating label templates with each project.
• The first of the four newsletters will go out this Thursday. Check your inbox (sometimes your spam filter catches them too) and be sure to keep an eye out every week for the entire month of November.
• Free sample kit with Bramble Berry purchase (Amount varies but generally, $125 or more) – a different kit every week – while supplies last. Look for those announcements on our home page every week. If the freebie kit isn’t on the home page, it’s all gone for the week.

If you’re not currently, be sure to subscribe to the Bramble Berry Newsletter (you can do so by visiting the BB homepage and signing up on the right hand form) so you can be in on all the fun projects. If you subscribe by Wednesday, you’ll be sure not to miss a single newsletter. Get ready, get set…let’s make this a Givember to remember!

The post Announcing Givember appeared first on Soap Queen.