holiday Archives - Soap Queen

Happy Labor Day!

September 7, 2015 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Happy Labor Day! I hope you are all enjoying the day with relaxation, family and fun. Today I’ve spent some quality time at work and with family and am soon headed out to enjoy the great outdoors with a easy, relaxing hike. Also, in a random fit of FOMO, I signed up for two back-to-back half marathons – Bellingham Bay and Run Like a Girl, so have already logged 9 miles training this weekend. You can see a little glimpse into my day above. I’d love to hear how you’ve spent your Labor Day. =)

Tomorrow, it’s all about the soap! Get ready for a week full of fall inspired projects, including a pumpkin pie melt and pour project tomorrow.

Memorial Day

May 25, 2015 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Today, we are reminded of the great sacrifices that the men and women of our Armed Services make everyday to protect our way of life. Today is also a day to remember those who have lost their lives in time of war. I hope that today you are able to take a moment to give thanks, and spend time with friends and family. Personally, I’d like to thanks my dad and grandpa for their service.

Curious how to make this soap? Find out in this week’s newsletter, click here to sign up!

Bramble Berry will be closed today in honor of Memorial Day. Orders placed today will begin being processed tomorrow, May 26th. I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day!

12 Days of Christmas: Holiday Glam Nail Polish

November 15, 2014 Filed Under: Home Crafts

Red and green are classic and beautiful holiday colors. But every once and awhile, it’s nice to shake things up! Gold, silver and merlot hues are both glamorous and sophisticated, making them perfect for nail polish. These four festive colors make an adorable holiday gift set. They are also the perfect size for stocking stuffers!

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Christmas Tree Swirl Cold Process

September 18, 2014 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Handmade cold process soap makes a fantastic gift. Everybody loves the beautiful designs, fun colors and skin loving properties. Because many people have never experienced handmade soap before, it’s extra fun to give! This festive Christmas Tree Swirl Cold Process features a reverse hidden feather swirl, made popular by Handmade in Florida. Topped with Sparkle Gold Mica, this cold process project would be perfect under the tree.

Cold process soap requires a four to six week cure time, making now the optimal time to create soap for the holidays. If you are looking for more holiday project ideas, check out the Handmade Holiday Gift Inspiration post. From lip balm to melt and pour, there is a gift for everybody on your list.

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Handmade Holiday Gift Inspiration

September 10, 2014 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials

If you are planning on giving handmade gifts for the holidays, now is the time to plan ahead and start creating. Handmade gifts are not only more personalized and unique, they cut down on holiday spending. In 2012, the average American spent an estimated $854 on presents for family and friends…wowza! This year is the year to not only save money, but show your loved ones how much you care with handmade gifts. Not to mention…crafting is fun!

Because cold process soap requires 4-6 weeks to fully cure, soap that is ready to use for the holidays needs to be made now. If you are looking to make a festive and traditional cold process soap, the Holiday Cookie Bar and Holly Berry Cold Process features cheery red and green.

Top left, clockwise: Holiday Cookie Bar Cold Process, Espresso Shot Cold Process, Lemon Poppy Seed Cold Process, Holly Berry Cold Process, Indigo Spoon Plop Cold Process, Black White and Gold All Over Cold Process
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4th of July Fireworks Cold Process

June 17, 2014 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

With little ones running around, I like to keep our 4th of July fireworks display kid-friendly — lots of Pop-Its and maybe a heavily supervised sparkler. To imitate the big booms without actually having to set one off, I created this fun firework-inspired soap. This soap features droplets of gold mica painting and lots of swirly red, white and blue soap to imitate even the most dazzling of fireworks displays. If you make it now, it will be nearly cured just in time the the fourth!

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Soap Queen Cuisine: Brown Butter & Basil Shortbread

January 20, 2014 Filed Under: Soap Queen Cuisine

Back in December, the Bramble Berry Office celebrated the holidays with our annual cookie swap. Each person brought in a batch of cookies, and we filled small boxes with everybody’s cookies to take home. It was a fun, sugar-filled day. I crashed by about 2 p.m. after having cookies for breakfast and lunch. I finally had some “real food” around 3 that day and felt a little better! =)

While I’m as much a fan of fudge and gingerbread men as the next person (and for the record, hold the nuts in the fudge), I wanted to bake something a little different. The inclusion of basil in this Brown Butter & Basil Shortbread recipe from Joanne Eats Well With Others was ridiculously intriguing. I changed the recipe a teensy bit (brown sugar instead of traditional sugar) and the revised recipe did not disappoint; it was salty and not too sweet while still having the wonderfully dense mouth-feel of shortbread. Everybody at the cookie swap loved these buttery, basil-flavored cookies. They are not your average cookie and elevate simple shortbread to a foodie’s delight.

They’d be great to take to any upcoming Super Bowl parties! (Yes, the 12th Man lives here. Go Hawks!)

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Sunday Night Spotlight: Sparkling Fragrances

January 12, 2014 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

New Year’s Eve may be over, but there’s no reason to put away the sparkling beverages (or fragrances) quite yet. In fact, you may want these two effervescent fragrances on hand all year round! Ginger Ale and Champagne Fragrance Oils are both bright “sparkling” fragrances that enhance almost any other fruity or sweet scent.

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Shopaholics: Salvation Army Shopping Trip 2013

December 23, 2013 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

While there are many reasons to love the holiday season (cookies, Christmas music, fun decorations and spending time with family), my favorite thing about the holidays is giving back to others. Wednesday, December 11th marked the 7th year Bramble Berry teamed up with the Salvation Army in order to provide presents for more than 11 families including 21 children (you can see last year’s trip here). It was great being able to go all shopaholic for families in our community and provide them with presents for under their trees.

This years annual shopping extravaganza was our largest ever! Over 20 Bramble Berry employees, family and friends met at our local Fred Meyer with lists for each family in hand. Three hours and several thousand dollars later, items for all 11 families were checked off the list. Team Bramble Berry had a great time “playing Santa” while shopping through clothes, toys and electronics to provide families with the items they coveted.

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Surprise your Sweetie: Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

December 11, 2013 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

Even though we’re only halfway through December, it’s never too early to start planning for special handcrafted treats you have in mind for Valentine’s Day. This is especially true when making cold process soap, which takes up to 6 weeks to fully cure. The frigid weather can also delay packages and lengthen transit times. Plan ahead to ensure you receive your items with plenty of time to create your perfect gift. It’s cold outside so there is no better time to cozy up in front of the fireplace and plan how you will share the love for Valentine’s Day than right now!

Pictured above from left to right : Color Blocks for Melt and Pour in Non Bleeding Perfect Red, Shimmer Light Gold, Shimmer Super Pearly White, and Shimmer Merlot Sparkle. Fragrance Oils; English Rose, Hello Sweet Thang, and Vanilla Bean. In jars, Rose Petals and Buds and Rose Hips. In front, Rose Clay and Heart Lip Butter Pot. Molds in the back, Heart with Rose Mold and Simple Heart Mold.

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2013 DIY Gift Giving Guide

November 25, 2013 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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Jolly Jubilee Embeds Soap Tutorial

November 19, 2013 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.

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Goodbye Givember- 24 DIY Project Links

November 16, 2013 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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Sew Seasonal: A Givember Sewing Project

November 14, 2013 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!

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