a mommy first...

As much as i love love love making/selling/sniffing/using/dreamingupnewsoap- i love my babies more. by 'babies' i mean my daughters. i have two. and in 3 weeks, our youngest will be moving away for 2 (or more) years! where is she going, you ask? she is leaving all her friends and family, all that she has known, loved and found comfort in, to live in San Francisco- in the Tenderloin District- doing missionary work with YWAM- Youth With A Mission. You see, she hooked-up with YWAM back in September of '08- serving 5 months- 2 of which were spent overseas in Vietnam and Thailand. She loves the street people of San Francisco, however, and upon her return, she applied for a staff position- and was accepted! Her heart is so geared toward loving these 'unlovable' people that she sold her car, quit her job (after working as long as she could, saving her earnings) and is moving up there. This is not a paid position! She needs to be fully funded to do the Lords work- being the hands and feet of God- something that most of us would not want to do, sadly enough, me included! We are so proud of her. If you have a heart for helping people but cannot leave it all behind to go live where the need is- perhaps you will consider helping another way? Carrianne has a blog set up- please go visit her there- on the blog you will find info on ways to support her. Also you can view what she did during her last missionary excursion- both in the city of SF and South East Asia. Most importantly, she will need prayer support! This is not the best of locations to send our precious daughter! Yet it is where her Heavenly Father is calling her to go- where the neediest of souls reside! If you are unfamiliar with the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, I strongly suggest you perform a google search, you will see what I'm talking about! Go to the blog, sign up for email updates and watch as God moves in her life, and in the lives of those she touches. Watch the next few weeks- new activity will be posted- and please pray for our baby girl!

Thank you!!! In Jesus' name, Christine

soap favors, the next stage...

_____________
well i finally finished making, cutting and curing all the guest-sized soaps for wedding favors. today i began the task of labeling and packaging- 100, out of the 200 i need to have completed by june 5th. these particular soaps will be coupled with a business-card size refrigerator magnet- instead of the usual printed ribbon. i wanted the favors to be special, since the young woman getting married is so very special to me- so i had Vista Print print up some magnets that i designed right on their website- as a keepsake! along with the soap, which will eventually (and hopefully) get used up, they compliment each other nicely. they are all tucked into an ivory-colored organza drawstring bag. later, we will tie a small twig of manzanita branch and they will be ready to give!

here's 100 bars laid out, before & after labeling...


here's 60 in their bags, boxed up.
_____

more BAMBOO & HEMP, but with a twist...

i chunked up some of my green-swirled bamboo/hemp soap that were cut too small for favors, and made a big fresh batch to add them to. i think they turned out really pretty, don't you?
______________

another batch of wedding favor soap...

This is a lovely Black-Raspberry Vanilla scented soap with a purple swirl. Wild raspberry tea added for a scrubby effect- and extra glycerin to moisturize. Each bar weighs in at approx. 1.85 oz- that's a good-sized sample that will last for several showers. Smells heavenly! Can't wait to label and wrap all these bars up in their beautiful cream-colored organza bags!
______________

New soap... HEMP & BAMBOO WITH MINT...

I made 4 lbs of soap yesterday for wedding favors for our daughters best friends upcoming wedding. This is a hemp oil, bamboo (fresh, clean scent) bar. I swirled a fresh green color, and added Moroccan Mint Herbal tea throughout for a gentle scrubby effect. I am very happy with it. It's the first batch of 5 total batches for this event.

And now for something completely different...

I love shopping on Etsy. Have you heard of Etsy? It's a wonderful online experience for shoppers and sellers- and the best part is, it's all handmade goodies! It's really an amazing place, so much so that time seems to simply vanish whenever I go there. You can search for things a variety of ways, including location, color & categories (more than you can imagine, probably). Jewelry, clothing, housewares, furniture, fun and whimsical stuff- the talent here is astounding.
Oh, and I would like to personally recommend a few of my favorites from time to time- starting with a little shop of gorgeously-made crocheted hats, scarves and such, called Creative Hook. Here's a sampling of her amazing work- and she custom-made it for me in less than a week! Please go on over and have a look- you won't be disappointed in Creative Hook!

HARD AS STONE...

I am a wimp when it comes to being cold. I am not used to the chilly weather here on the
Central Coast of sunny California! Of course, it does get cold but usually not this cold. And I made a big boo-boo. Not anticipating this weather way-back in August, I moved my big 50 lb boxes of oils out to the detached garage. I had pre-filled several plastic pitchers with the appropriately-weighed amounts of each of my soaping oils- Coconut, Palm, Olive and Canola. Now I used up my last pitcher and have been dreading hauling everything outside, into the freezing-cold storage room. But I bundled up, loaded up and out I went. After carefully pulling out ALL the boxes, setting up my pitchers, weight chart, scale and large metal spoon & ladle, I opened the first box; coconut oil. Or should I say 'coconut brick'. This stuff was completely impenetrable. :( Oh how I wished I had poured it all into jugs way-back-when, in the warm summer months. I don't know what to do now. Any suggestions? Am I overlooking a completely logical way of removing very precise measures of my oils, now that they are in this frightful state? Help!!

Angels...

These little glycerin goats milk cherubs and angel hearts have gilded wings. Scented with maple sugar fragrance, the soaps are pretty to display, lovely to smell and give a wonderfully rich lather. Goats milk is skin-pampering and gentle to all skin types , too.

Christmas Vanilla Cupcake Soap!

VANILLA CUPCAKE SOAP

I finally made soap!! woohooo!!..

This is a new batch of Hot Process/Crock Pot soap. Superfatted with Castor Oil (for loads of lather), Glycerin (very moisturizing) and Shea Butter with Aloe (skin loving emollient), this is a sweet-smelling treat in the bath or shower. Would make a wonderful gift all by itself, these bars are a generous 5+ ounces each. Ready to use now, because the HP method eliminates cure time, but the bar will get harder- which prolongs the soaps life- as it sits another week or two. I added candy sprinkles to the top, but those will wash away with the first use... looks pretty though! The vanilla will eventually turn this creamy-colored soap brown, but that's the color of vanilla beans anyway, and I think it will still look lovely! :) Enjoy. For sale tomorrow on at the shop.

THERE'S A WINNER!!!

I have come to a decision. After careful consideration of all the entries (5, to be exact!), my first choice for my favorite new soap idea is....

Vanilla Cupcake Soap! Thanks for this great suggestion, Princess Nikki, I can't wait to make this and send you 3 big bars! Contact me to leave your mailing address, but it will be several weeks (for curing of the soap), but pics will be posted ASAP.

I also have a runner-up...
Angela with her suggestion of Swirly Chocolate -Peppermint Soap!
Please contact me to leave your mailing address, you will receive 2 bars when this is done! Thanks for giving me this great soap idea!

Ok, now since I started this to get new soap ideas in the first place, I wanted to let everyone that contributed ideas know that I loved all of your suggestions. I will be making all of them eventually, over the next few months and would love to send you a bar of 'your soap'... for free!

Thanks everyone. It's been great fun for me!
I will post each and every new soap as they are made. ~ Christine

WHO WILL THE WINNER BE? ...

Ok, it's been a while since this contest began, and I had 5 suggestions- all of which I loved. I will list them here and will let the winner know by Friday. Soap making begins on Saturday, so please check back.

#1- Liz said: Sandalwood-Vetivert-Patchouli & Baby Powder-Good & Plenty

#2- Starla said: "Snow"- Peppermint & Sugar

#3- Princess Nikki said: Sugary-Vanilla Cupcake Bar & Burning Wood (campfire, perhaps?)

#4- Angela said: Swirly Chocolate & Peppermint

#5- Janet said: Tropical Plumeria, Mango, Hibiscus

I also had two other suggestions for Eggnog & Rum and Chocolate Orange.

Thanks, everyone for taking the time to participate. These were all great ideas! I'll keep ya posted... ~Christine

CONTEST!

I need new ideas!
Do you have an idea for a special soap? A favorite scent, design, special ingredient or quality you are looking for? Here's how the contest will go.... From now until October 15th*, leave your ideas in the reviews (comment) section of this posting only (below this post). Then, during the week of October 16 through October 22*, I will pick my favorite idea... or two, or three! If I pick your idea, I will make that soap, post about it with pictures and your name as the winner, and you will receive 2 big bars of that soap! Remember your comment has to be on this posting only.
Please include your name, email address (I will need to contact you if you win, right?) and the name of your suggested soap idea.

OK, let the contest begin! :)
_______________________________________________________________

* UPDATE!
Ok, I have noticed that not too many lookers (lurkers?) are entering my contest! :(
So! to make things a bit more interesting, I am giving the winner three (3) big bars of soap! But there's a catch... you've got to tell your fellow bloggers to enter in this contest! I will keep it going until the 31st of October, and will pick the winner during the first week of November.
Ok, now, here we go again... :)

** UPDATE #2!
another contest, unrelated to this one, except for it's at the shop of a fellow believer and fellow etsy artesian! check out the beautiful prints at her etsy shop, then go to her blog and comment there.

And remember, this is the last week for my soap contest... hint, hint ;)

what about new soap?...

i have been out of it. i feel so bad about not making any soap for so long, but i have been sick for 6 weeks and just haven't had the desire to do anything, much less make soap. recurring UTI's and upper respiratory infections aren't fun, but please don't give up on me, i love making soap and WILL return! :)

i will keep my commitment to the contest, however, even though i didn't get too many replies. the ones i did get are great enough, though and i am excited about choosing a winner and making soap once again! a few new ideas stirring, too. contest is still open, so please- no matter where you are, you can participate. it will be fun! i had someone suggest 'eggnog soap' which i thought was a terrific idea, but she didn't post it to the blog, so i can't include it in the contest. anyway, just wanted to update this in case anyone was wondering. im still breathin'!

FESTIVAL NEWS...

***************
Well, my first ever festival has come and gone. It really was quite an experience. I met so many wonderful people, learned so much about what people like (and don't like) and had lots of fun. I invited all my customers to come, but only got 3 shows! We planned on selling out... ha! so I brought over 360 bars of soap. I wound up selling about 140 bars, several soap dishes and gave away a few freebies too.
****
Lots of people stopped by to say how wonderful the booth smelled, and how beautiful it looked, so that was very encouraging. Also, I think people just like sniffing soaps much more than anything else, because I had lots of sniffers.
****
And about half were men, so this is certainly not just a female thing! Even kids. All in all, it was a fun day. It went super-fast... setup, tear-down. Just all a breeze.
****
I wanted to say THANKS A MILLION to Ginny and Catrina for their phenomenal help!
Boy, these girls stayed all day (one with a gorgeous baby!) and helped bring in some sales (Ginny's the hard-sell, not my strong point, but she sure has a knack!).
****
And Gary, my hunny-buns... he was a great help, loaded, unloaded, and everything else in between, all without complaining. And he stayed the distance too. Love that guy! And to my other great gal-pals for showing up (yes, even bought some soap), Marianne G with hubby D, Cherie', Jo'elle and Granny... your support means so much to me! And a very special thank you to Cheryl W for her work on my banner... it turned out great!

Thanks, Ladies! Love you guys! :)

*************

STRAWBERRY-ORANGE AMBROSIA GLYCERIN SOAP...

******
I made this batch earlier today, a small 2-pounder. Half is strawberry and the other half is sweet orange. It's made from goats milk and olive oil glycerin, which lathers richly and washes off clean. Each bar is beautiful in scent and color... opaque and translucent chunks thoughout, it will leave your skin soft and beautifully lightly scented!

For sale this weekend at the event, there's only 8 large, 5 ounce bars available.

Will make more upon request. $5.00 each.