Pumpkin Spice Soap

I grossly overestimated how much soap I needed to fill this mold.  The bars came out ridiculously over sized. The heaviest one weighed in at 7.8 ounces when I cut them.  I cut the tops down some and these are much better.  They're still huge but, still, much much better. 

This was also my first attempt with the Cocoa Powder black line.

Pumpkin Spice

Available in 4-6 weeks

Sliced Cider Barrel Saop

Not too bad for my first time.  The base of the soap was originally suppose to be red (for apples) but I guess the Brown Sugar fragrance oil must have had some vanilla in it because it's turning dark.  I think it still works though.  This is suppose to smell like apple cider with a little twist.  I was serious when I said that I had to keep the kids away.  I just caught one trying to lick it, lol.  I don't think I've had a soap of mine smell this realistic and edible before.  It really, really, really smells good.  Did I emphasize that enough? It really smells good!!

I'm not sure if the picture shows all of the detail, but there is a thin line between the colors made with Mocha mica and I've also sprinkles some on top.

Soap Curls and Chunk Embeds-First Attempt

This is my first time attempting to add this type of stuff to my soap.  It always looked a bit too much in my opinion, but I'm kinda of bored with the whole swirling thing and wanted to try something new.  The crazy part is that I just got my Slab Birch Mold from Brambleberrya few days days ago and the only soap I can think to put in it right now is Castile.  I've been longing for that mold for months and now I finally have it and...well let's just say Brandon wouldn't be very happy right now after spending money on it, lol.

So, back to what I was saying.  I'm over the swirls right now and I decided to give these decorative soaps a try.  Now, I'll admit, I cheated a bit.  It's not my fault though.  I have a serious problem with impatience.  I decided to make my curls and chunks with melt & pour soap.  I have the low sweat CP like base from BB.  I think most soapers make their embeds ahead of time using CP soap colored and unscented.  Most of my ideas come to me when I'm laying in bed too wound up mentally to fall asleep.  All these ideas just start running through my head and I jump up ready to try one.  Needless to say, that doesn't leave much time for planning ahead.

At any rate here are the results.  I'm tentatively calling it "Cider Barrel" It's a combination of scents that include apples, brown sugar and spices.  You may also pick up some notes of caramel and pecan.  It smells really, really good.  I'm having trouble keeping  the kids away from it :0)

"Rock Star" 5 Swirl Soap

I just received my Birch Mold from Brambleberry about 2 weeks ago.  Until this point, I've had 2 unsuccessful attempts at soaping in it.  However, I've gotten over that learning curve that comes with new things sometimes and now my new mold and I are getting on quite well.  This soap is scented to smell just like the "Rock Star" soap from LU$H (Great store. I've been there to visit, but the prices are kind of...WOW!).  I only used 5 colors but it was still really fun to make.  I'm hoping to move up to a 15-20 color swirl next time :0) 

This is what the soap looks like on the inside.  It's pretty cool when the swirls are throughout the whole bar because it's like a piece of art that changes everytime you use the soap.

Delicious Green Smoothie for Breakfast

This is how I like to start  and end my day.  A nice tall glass of Green Smoothie.  I'm sure you may be looking at this and trying not to gag, but this drink is absolutely delicious.  I first heard about Green Smoothies about 2 years ago when I decided to become a Rawist (eat raw food) for awhile to detox my body.  It wasn't an extremely difficult transition for me since I've been a vegetarian my entire life.  Unfortunately, I'm also anemic and never really had a lot of protein in my diet (I have "0" muscle tone). 

Green leafy vegetables are extremely  low in calories and loaded with antioxidants, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium (I don't drink milk, ugh), Iron (yay!) and of course fiber (double yay!).  I like to make my smoothie like a frozen desert.  I start with some bananas, then add strawberries, a generous scoop of whey protein and a several handfuls of spinach.  Spinach is really cool because, raw, it doesn't have a whole lot of flavor so it tends to take on the flavor of whatever fruit you add to it.  Dump in some ice sometimes a spoonful or two of honey and there you have it!  A nice healthy, totally delicious drink.

Chai Tea Soap

This is really a super yummy scent from Brambleberry. I didn't have to add any color to this batch.   Right now it's they're this pretty beige color but, I don' t think that it's going to last.  This fragrance oil is suppose to discolor brown.

These little fancy spots that pop up every now and again are so cool.  I couldn't duplicate it even if I tried.

Lavender Breeze Soap

This was my second attempt making soap with this fragrance. The first time, I used Alkanet root powder to color it, but that didn't work out too well.  But, I'd say that this time things went much better.  These probably won't make it to my Etsy shop though.  My in-laws LOVE pretty much anything Lavender... and that's about it.  So, most likely these soaps will be taking a little trip north up to Maryland.

Our New YouTube Channel

I'm so excited!! I've been quite busy this week. Creating new products (I'll post them over the next few days) and tweaking some of the old ones. Brandon, my fabulous husband, has once again become active in helping me to expand my humble little company. For me that's really great news. He's taking over more of the business side of things, which leaves me more time to concentrate on creating.

His first official act as the Business Brains of this operation was to get my Twitter account activity going again. Check us out: https://twitter.com/beaconcreations.

Next, he helped me start a YouTube channel. I know that I am VERY late to the party but they do say, "better late than never" right? I'm way behind the times when it comes to utilizing social media, but I'm starting to catch on :0)

We've even had our very first Haul Review (I just heard about one of those for the first time 4 days ago)

Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/beaconcreations