Welcoming Fall

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of the year.  I love the colors and those beautiful Indian Summer days.  It makes me think of Hot Apple Cider and Pumkin Pie :D  This is a soap I recently made that was inspired by the coming season.

Pumpkin Spice Soap

Here are some really cool Autumn  inspired items  from a few of my fellow etsy sellers.

Set of 6 Miniature Cards - Autumn Thank You

by: HandMadeByGrace

This set of 6 miniature thank-you cards features a rich pumpkin card base with orange paisley accents.

Little Pumpkin Felted Merino Baby Ankle Booties

by: PrettyLittle

These baby booties are crocheted with soft, natural, 100% wool yarn.

A Whimsical Woodland Comb

by: TheHoneyComb

Just in time for an autumn party or wedding!

Breakfast for my little champions...

I'm a little old school.  I pretty much feel that children are to eat what they are served.  I don't force them to eat too many things though (except green vegetables, sorry).   I keep meal request in mind but I do not take daily meal orders.  You either eat the House Special or you don't eat at all.

The younger two are usually good about eating what I give them.  My 8 yr, old, however,  is Mr. Picky.  Everything for him has to be plain.  No blueberries in the waffles or raisins on the pancakes for him.  He sniffs his food!  If the pancakes don't smell exactly like they smelled yesterday, he is NOT touching them.  If I add salt or butter to the grits, he know's it right away.  Papaya in the fruit salad?  No thank you.   I do try to keep that in mind when I prepare meals though and simply take his portion out before adding the extras. 

Cream of Wheat, Cream of Wheat, Cream of Wheat.  For the past week  my boys have been asking for Cream of Wheat for breakfast.   No matter what I prepare for breakfast they (all 3) come to the kitchen asking "Mommy can we have Cream of Wheat today, pleeease". No one wants fresh fruit salad, peacan rolls or even cold cereal and I'll loose my mind if I hear "Oh, it's just pancakes" again.

Anyway, I get up Friday morning and prepare what else but Cream of Wheat.  I set the bowls on the breakfast bar to cool and wait for the boys to come out.  I'm expecting big smiles and "Thank you, mommy!"  Instead I hear "Cream of wheeeat?  Can't we have pancakes?", from the older 2 and a request for "hot dogs and baked beans pweeze mummy", from my 2 year old, lol.   What's up with that? 

Coconut Lemongrass Soap

I have been purching my fragrance oils from a supply company called Bramble Berry for the last 6 months or so and I haven't been disappointed with one yet.  This one was no exception.
This soap is made with calendula infused olive oil and generous amounts of cocoa butter and smells soooo good.

Coconut Lemongrass Soap

Anyone care to join me for a "Sleigh Ride"?

I'm so, so, so excited!  I used my new Nizzy Mould today.  I've been wanting to try my hand at some of the fancy color swirls that I've seen many soapers do.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get the look that I wanted by using my loaf soap molds. 

There are alot of really great slab molds out there.  I've fallen in  love with Terry Nisbet a.k.a. Nizzy and his products.  I would encourage anyone to check him out.  Nizzy is truly a soap artist.  He is super sweet & kind and his moulds cost less (even with shipping cost from Australia!) than any of the slab molds I've found online in the states.

Anyway, I'm actually quite satisfied with the way the soap turned out.  Not bad for my first time, IMO...

When I unmolded this soap, the room was full of "oooh's" and "aah's" as everyone came over to smell it.  It really does smell good.  I'm still trying to settle on a name for it though.  The fragrance oil is called Sleigh Ride but I'm leaning more towards "Home for the Holidays".  That's what it makes me think of.  It's a very warm and comforting scent.  The bars still have to cure for about  4-6 weeks, so  I guess we'll have plenty of time to debate over a name, lol.

Achilles Bay Soap

My Mom has lived on the beautiful island of Bermuda and I live in North Carolina, so I don't get to see her often and I miss her so much. I started trying coming up with some beachy-type fragrances that make me think of the beautiful azure waters and pink sands of Bermuda and, of course, my Mom.

I named this soap Achilles Bay after a beautiful beach in Bermuda.  It's an upscale, spa like aquatic fragrance that really captures the essence of the sea, salty air and gently rolling waves.

Achilles Bay Soap

Scrumptious Oatmeal, Milk & Honey Soap

I made this batch of soap using a new recipe. I used Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and Cocoa Butter as my base ingredients. Olive Oil is always a great base to use because it's mild. Coconut Oil increases lather and bubbles but can be very drying, which is why I normally don't use as much as I did in this batch. However, to offset the increased amount of Coconut Oil, I added even more Cocoa Butter for it's great moisturizing properties. Cocoa Butter also will help make the bar hard which will ultimately help soap last longer.

 

I then added Palm Oil (hardness & lather), Unrefined Shea Butter (more moisture!) and Castor Oil (for even more bubbles). Also new to my recipe is Tussah Noil Silk Fibre*. Silk Fibre adds a rich and silky feel to the lather which is suppose to feel really, really good in your skin.

The Result

I am extremely happy with the way these bars turned out. The high liquid oil content really gives the bars a nice smooth texture and they seem to have a slight sheen to them. Here's the best part: THEY SMELL GREAT!! The longer these bars cure, the better they smell. The scent of some fragrance oils morph in Cold Process soaps. In my opinion, this is one of them. But, in this case, that's a really good thing because I love this soap.

*The Tussah Noil Silk that we use in our soaps is made by wild Tussah Silk Worms when forming their cacoons and is hand harvested AFTER the Antheraea Pernyisilk Moth has emerged.

2 YUMMY New Soaps

These are pictures of the soaps I recently made. They're all sliced and beveled now. They both smell sooo good! I can't wait to try them.

Ginger Pear Soap

Pink Grapefruit Soap

Welcome to my new blog!

I have to say, I'm pretty excited about my new Blogger account.  This is such a HUGE change from Typepad.  I think Blogger is more user friendly.  Posting and editing is a breeze and I've been having alot of fun checking out the different features offered.

Hopefully this will be a smooth transition :D