“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.”
— The Talmud
Running with Pens
“Mothers for miles around worried about Zuckerman’s swing. They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hang onto things tighter than their parents think they will.”
-E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
Rainbow Mold and Island Style (Tutorial)
I’m addicted to the SoapyLove line of products! The adorable Rainbow Mold and the super cute colors of the Island Style kit work so well together, so I’ve made up a quick tutorial to show you an easy way of using both products. Because the Island Style kit comes with both colorants and a brand new fragrance oil (Guava Shaved Ice – delish!) all you’ll need is some Melt and Pour Base and the kit and you’re good to go!
Fourth of July Melt and Pour Soap
Happy weekend! I was inspired by this awesome 4th of July Fudge (pinned onto my 100 Days of Summer Pinterest page, naturally) to create a tutorial using our brand spankin’ new 4-sphere silicone mold, along with the 9-cube silicone mold that I’m still obsessing over. I built sand bottle-like layers in the cubes by manipulating the melt and pour as it dried. In the spheres, I used some of the ideas from this Soap Queen TV episode to create marbled swirls. The color scheme is as American as apple pie, so what better to use than Bramble Berry’s Red Apple Fragrance Oil? Either of these intermediate techniques can easily be modified for a beginner by creating basic layers in the cubes and spheres, and can be varied by using different thicknesses in the layers. If you don’t have these molds, it’s okay, this technique works for all kinds of molds (the thicker the mold, the better).
Neon Ambrosia Soap on Soap Queen TV
Quite possibly the cutest episode of Soap Queen TV… ever (although the piggies were REALLY cute). I had a great time making this video and creating these two projects. And, as you’ll see from the outtakes at the end, I had a really fun (slash dorky) time with the soap I made.
Sliding Down Head First
Woo Hoo! It has been a busy weekend. We started by hosting a dinner party for 10 (I cooked Penne alla Vodka from Epicurious) on Friday night and the weekend kept going at full tilt until just this second. Between daily walks to the park, runs along the water, giving a halibut en papillote (my favorite thing to cook when fish is fresh) demonstration at dinner Saturday night with friends, and a very (yawn) early morning drive to Seattle today to watch a dear friend graduate from her Masters Program in Organizational Systems Renewal, it doesn’t feel like there was much of a traditional, restful weekend in there. But, even if there wasn’t a lot of downtime, there was a lot of fun and joy. This blog post has three videos so if you’re an email subscriber, you’ll need to click through to the blog to see the videos.
New Soapylove Tropical Kit
Bramble Berry is thrilled to announce the latest and greatest Soapylove Kit featuring tropical colors and a fragrance oil that will send your mind to an island getaway! Debbie Chialtas, the founder of Soapylove, designed this exclusive kit just for Bramble Berry customers. See more of Soapylove products on the Bramble Berry website. Debbie also has done quite a few innovative and inspirational tutorials for the Soap Queen blog. You can find them all here.
Island Style Soap Colorant Kit: Transport yourself to the tropical islands with the Soapylove Island Style Kit! Inspired by vibrant tones found in flowers, foliage, and the wonderful sunshine. Mix and match to create your own color fantasy! For even more of a getaway enjoy the delicious fragrance of Guava Shave Ice, included in this deluxe kit. Click HERE to get your Island Style Soap Colorant Kit (before they fly off the shelves for summer)!
The tropical colors scheme just screamed to be used in the Soapylove Rainbow Mold! They’re super cute in solid colors or you can get creative and lightly color each individual rainbow stripe. The island inspired soap colorants are dyes that are specifically designed to be bright, happy and easy to use in melt and pour soap. Enjoy blending Aloha Yellow, Purple Paradise and Orchid Pink in your tropical creations. Now, I know what you’re thinking, dyes usually bleed in melt and pour soap. You are correct. In the soap above, we used such a tiny amount of the colorant that it didn’t bleed (and still hasn’t bled after two weeks- score!) . Keep your eyes peeled for a tutorial to come on the delightful rainbow soap above!
Check out the entire SoapyLove Line HERE!
LaBomb Colorants!
Welcome back to Talk It Out Tuesday! Today we’ll be answering some frequently asked questions about Bramble Berry’s LaBomb colorants which are specifically made to color your bath bombs with ease and flare.
What is a bath bomb?
A bath bomb, also known as a bath fizzy, is basically a mixture of baking soda and citric acid. You can also add fragrance oil, witch hazel and other fun additives like fixed oils, clays and SLS to add bubbles. When the bath bomb is dropped into the tub it fizzes and spins to release fragrance and skin-softening goodness. Bath bombs are easy to make in all sorts of shapes and scents, and you can even make them into realistic-looking cupcakes! Best of all, bath bombs are family-friendly, fun to make and even more fun to use. [Read more…]
Ten Pins for the Kids
The other weekend, Team Bramble Berry headed out to the local bowling alley to participate in an extra special event. Every year, Big Brothers, Big Sisters has a nation-wide fundraising event called Bowl for Kid’s Sake, and the Bramble Bowlers jumped at the chance to help out.
From BBBS website: “Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Washington is the largest mentoring organization in Northwest Washington, serving over 400 children annually in Whatcom and Skagit counties.”
Unfortunately, Jamisen’s nap went late and I wasn’t able to make it. I had the perfect little outfit picked out for him and everything, darn it! But aside from missing an opportunity to hang out with my team and show off Jamisen’s outfit, I didn’t have a thing to worry about. Bramble Berry’s Bramble Bowlers rocked it frame to frame!
Elizabeth from customer service, DJ from picking, Katie from picking, and Mark from processing [Read more…]
Secret Message Soap Contest Winner!
Woo hoo, we’ve got ourselves a winner! Drum roll…..
(If you missed the original post, check out how to make these adorable soaps here!)
The winner of our secret message soap contest is Danni!
Danni’s Comment: “A couple of years back- I put my now sister in laws engagement ring in a bar of soap for my brother. The joke was they had been together so long (8 years) that he wanted her to wait a little longer. He didn’t tell her it was in there either. I did one layer with a pic of them together on the soap but the ring was in a white layer. She completely freaked butt naked in the shower and called me as soon as she saw it. LOL It was a cute idea at the time I thought. She still talks about it to this day. “
Congrats, Danni! To claim your prize, just email us at contest(at)brambleberry(dot)com.
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the contest. We had a blast reading all your stories and ideas! We loved chatting about them in the office and sharing our own too. What a great way to get to know your team even better!
Secret Message Soap + Contest
How can handmade soap get better when it already contains luxurious ingredients and a mouthwatering fragrance or essential oil? Hide a prize inside! It’s simple to do with this Message in Soap Kit from Bramble Berry. Ahem…do I see money hidden in that soap? If you have never made melt and pour soap before check out some basic techniques on Soap Queen TV.
Ingredients
.2 oz. Iridescent Glitter
1 oz. Pearberry Fragrance Oil
2 lbs. Clear Melt and Pour Base
5 Clear non-stackable lip butter pots
Yields: 8 bars of soap
Buy the kit in the click of a button! [Read more…]
Walkin’ on Sunshine, Yeah Ah!
Hello from the end of a wonderful weekend. We had a great two days with family and the sun came out (yeah-ah!). I made the epic “Oh She Glows” Kale Weekend Salad (my go-to salad for everything now – it even has Goji berries. I know! You’re sold, right?!) and Grandma and Grandpa Faiola contributed by making an insanely weird/cool Ricotta Carrot Quiche (trust me, it worked). I also made an (epic?) Browned Butter Butterscotch Pie that will get its own blog post. Grandma and Grandpa Faiola were, as usual, completely over the moon about their only Grandbaby and got up two mornings in a row at 6 a.m. so Chris and I could sleep in (heaven and thank you!). [Read more…]
Baby Dancing
It’s been an soaperific week thus far – do you want to see all the soap I’ve made? Our FB page has them all. I’ve been working on fun designs, interesting color schemes, testing out new products and projects.
We’ve also had a splendiferous week at home. Jamisen is just starting to really acknowledge that the gibberish coming out of his parents’ mouths has meaning. The video below is a twofer: he appears to understand English and he shakes his little baby booty.
Jamisen is also well past 10 months old now so I’ve been remiss in not sharing his 10 month photo shoot photos with you. Behold our rapidly growing little person. Yes, I recognize that his hair is getting long but seriously, how do you cut a baby’s hair?! No really. That seems like a disaster and/or missing ear waiting to happen.
He is just as happy as ever though has added a new facet to his personality: impatience. If we don’t feed him fast enough, we hear about it. If we don’t let him play with our cell phones, he tells us in no uncertain terms that he expects to play with cell phones and not those silly kids toys. Luckily, he recovers quickly and with a small distraction, he’s back to his normal, smiley self – cell phone or no cell phone! This month, I’m excited to start up family sit down evening meals again since Jamisen’s finger food abilities have improved so rapidly in the last 30 days. If you have any thoughts on hair cutting for babies, I’d love to hear them – it seems fraught with potential peril!
Aloha, Aloha Soap Kit
Today is the first day of Spring. Let’s all stand up and give Spring a big round of applause! In honor of the seasonal change, Washington has decided to give us more of the same liquid sunshine. But in the office, we’re honoring Spring by reintroducing the Aloha Soap Kit from Bramble Berry. The kit comes with a simple Plumeria soap mold and two colorants that will give you a wide range of coloring options. You’ll also receive Tropical Vacation and Island Coconut Fragrance Oils which will sweep you off your feet into a tropical day dream. This beginner kit comes with everything you need to make 2 pounds of handmade soap! Get creative. Have fun and welcome Spring!
