A Solid Thumbs Up!

A big hurray for Manolo Brides! They courageously tried our Bridal Soap Favor Kit ... and the soaps came out beautiful! Despite having no microwave, they persevered and melted their soap in the oven (channeling the Pioneer ingenuity of old).

They blogged about the entire experience here, along with photos. Check out their very successful final soaps - they look great!


I especially loved their little asides, like this one:

Note to other soap makers: They provide you with A LOT of fragrance–don’t use it all unless you’re olfactory challenged. Seriously.

THE VERDICT: I’ve never poured soap before, but it was definitely easy. All told, I probably spent about two hours on the whole project. At $31.55 (plus the cost of a little organza for wrapping) for forty favors, the price is right. You could, however, buy the bits individually to customize your soap. There’s hemp soap and goatsmilk soap and all manner of nice adds. In conclusion, I could see this being a fun weekend DIY fest for a bride and her ‘maids.

I give it a solid thumbs up.

Read the entire post here.

Review of National Stationary Show

Dear goodness, an entire site reviewing the National Stationary show. I am in delighted squealing heaven.


Thank you Poppytalk!

Natural Red Testing

I thought I had found the holy grail of reds - an all natural colorant that would stay gloriously magenta in cold process soap.
Alas, my hopes were dashed within 45 minutes as the entire color morphed into a lovely color of decaying potatoes.


Back to the drawing board ...

Pich Posh Green Mean Machine

I love buying insane amounts of bath products to use. It's a great education - checking out what formulations and colors people use in their products and comparing it against what worked well and what didn't work so well.


In this case, I tried the Pich Posh Green Mean Machine, or at least that's what we're calling it here. Pisch Posh calls it their Kiwi Frappe, solid bath oil.



It comes in an exceedingly well packaged little tube o' Frappes, with the classic Pisch Posh great graphic design. I was hopeful that it would be an explosion of fizz, flair and moisture. One out of three ain't bad (email subscribers: there's a video on the blog)

This Frappe was a delightful scent, a luscious bathing experience and my skin was touchably smooth and soft after getting out of the tub. For those of us with more mature skin in need of daily moisture drinks, this is an excellent option for keeping your skin moist and supple and smelling sweet.

If you want to make something like this yourself, I'd start with a recipe that looked like:

2 oz. (parts) Baking Soda
1 oz. (parts) Citric Acid
1/2 oz. melted Mango Butter
.1 oz. fragrance oil
La Bomb Color Key West Lime

Or you can buy them pre-made (3 for $7.25) from Pisch Posh here.

Sushi Cupcakes

This is what the crafty artist says about this cupcake design on the Craftster Forum:

3 days, 3 pounds of white sprinkles, 3 pounds of butter, 1 pound flour, 2 pounds powdered sugar, 1 pound sugar, 110 green cupcake foils, 10 bento (lunch) boxes, 10 chopsticks later, 1 bag gummy worms, and 1 bag gummy fish later

Cool! How is this Made?

If you missed the "Why does this soap cost so much" question, click here to read the answers and discussion on this important craft show question.

Make sure that you have your own personal answer to this question so that it rolls easily off your tongue when asked. And, please add your own thoughts and answers in the comments. This is just a starter answer to get you thinking.

Cool! How is this stuff made!?

(smile)

Thanks for noticing that a lot of time and care went into my XYZ product. It actually takes a significant amount of time to make this XYZ and I learned how to make it by teaching myself the basic techniques through a combination of books and the internet. Then, I spent XYZ (6 months, 2 weeks, 1 day) designing the recipes to be unique to me and my company. For example, this XYZ product uses XYZ ingredient which I chose because it’s so (moisturizing, luxurious, anti-inflammatory, delightful).

Generic Soap Answer: I actually figure out a perfectly balanced recipe and make this from scratch, the way the pioneers used to make it. Only now days, we have so many more options available to us for ingredients and the actual artistry of the soap has gotten better. I really think my soap and the color choices I use is an expression of my personal taste and I hope you like it as well. You’ll find that it leaves your skin feeling clean but not dry and you’ll probably be able to be lotion-optional since your skin will be nice and moist after your shower or bath.

Generic Lotion Answer: Making lotion is this super cool process that involves mixing oils and water together. Using real oils is the reason my lotion is so good and luxurious for your skin. Unlike big store brands that try and sell you waxy water, I actually put real oil like XYZ and XYZ into my lotion. The oil provides your skin with a barrier against environmental stressors as well as helping to rejuvenate your skin to a moist and supple state.

A Real Cupcake

Thank you to an astute Soap Queen reader for telling me about Sugar Bliss, the cutest cupcakes I've seen for a while (at least a week!).

Feast your eyes ... and if you're lucky enough to live in Chicago, get delivery!