Contest for a Cause!

Prize: One ounce of the following liquid colors; Violet, Brown, Toxic Waste, Pink, White, Blue, Non-Bleeding Red, Yellow Jelly, Black, Green, Orange, Red Oxide, Red Jelly and Liquid Yellow. PLUS two plastic (slightly less than perfect) loaf molds and three surprise (also slightly less than perfect) ELF molds!

$75 value prize!

Cause: Oppose the "Safe Cosmetics Act"

Contest: There are three ways you can enter the contest. Do all three and get three entries into the drawing!


ONE: Tweet a link to my blog post on the Safe Cosmetics Act: "Safe Cosmetic Act" Not So Safe For Small Biz.Make sure to @brambleberry me at the end of the tweet so I see it. =)


TWO: Post a lnk to the Safe Cosmetic Act blog post on your Facebook page. Be sure to tag the post with @brambleberry so we can count your entry.


THREE: CC or send me a copy of the letter you write (or have already written) to your representative stating your opposition to the act. Email letters to info(at)brambleberry(dot)com. Or just post the letter to your blog like Marmalade Hills did and comment to let me know the link.

Deadline: You have until Friday, August 6th to spread the word and write your representative. I'll draw a name out of the proverbial hat Friday morning. Good luck!

PS - If you've been following Elin Criswell's Kickstarter project - Soapmaking and Beyond - she has 6 hours left to raise $335 and meet her goal to publish a soapmaking book. You can click here to learn more.

Bronze Takes First Place

Want that sun soaked radiance - without the dangerous effects of UV? Make your own mineral makeup powder bronzer with this easy recipe. You'll have that sun-tanned, lustrous look in no time!

Ingredients

6 tsp. Sericite

2 tsp. Titanium Dioxide

1 tsp. Dry Flo

2 tsp. Honeyed Beige Mica

¾ tsp. Soft Beige Mica

1 ½ tsp. Cappuccino Mica

½ tsp. Brown Oxide

Tools and Packaging

4 oz Jar

Foundation Brush

Mini Whisk

Small Mixing Bowl

Blend: Add all of the ingredients to a small mixing bowl and blend well. Once the ingredients are fully mixed (no clumps), scoop the bronzer into a 4 oz jar. Tip: Mix in a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder for an ultra fine blend.

Apply: Dip the brush into the powder and tap off any loose powder. Then lightly and evenly, brush the foundation on your face in a circular motion. Make sure you get all areas; forehead, cheeks, under eyes, and jaw bone.

Thanks to Celeste in customer service for being my 

guinea pig and letting me test my bronzer on her. 

She was a good sport and it looked great on her!  

Want to try more mineral makeup recipes? Check out the Mineral Makeup Foundation Kit and the Mineral Makeup Guide Book for a variety of recipes. 

Or check out other blog posts on mineral makeup like Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Shimmer Eyeshadow, Foiling Tutorial, Smokey Eye with Deep Moss, Mineral Makeup on Better TV, 

Bramble Berry's New Loot!

Clean Up Tool

Mini Whisk

Princess Shaped Rubber Bands

Cat & Dog Rubber Bands

Sea Creatures Rubber Bands

Castile Rebatch Soap Base

Cupcake Mold

Limited Edition Wake Up Rosemary Blend

Your $138,000 Smile

(Note: I wrote this last week! I'm happily in Bellingham right now enjoying our two months of good weather)

I'm on a business trip right now. I travel a lot - enough so that it's not glamorous anymore. One of my favorite parts about traveling is that you just never know who you'll meet. I'm a big fan of the 'Never Eat Lunch Alone' concept. In a nutshell, it says that connections are your most important asset and you should go out of your way to make connections wherever you are. So, while I'm not obnoxious about it, I'm happy to chat anyone up when there's an opportunity.

Yesterday, I chose the wrong security line. Like the really really wrong security line. It was interminable and moved so so slowly. So naturally I started chatting with the guy next to me. He was on his way to Brazil (cool!). He was a forest specialist (cooler). He was designing a forest in Brazil to help offset carbon emissions (ding ding ding!). My husband works in fiberglass. He designed the world's largest scrubber to clean air from coal fired emission plants. Might there be a useful business connect there for him? Though it may not come to anything, by being friendly and open in an airport security line, I was able to get the two men connected.

When I went out to dinner last night, I was telling my friend the story of the neat coincidence in the airport security line and she turned to me and with all seriousness said "Oh, I totally believe that smiling is your best sales asset." And then, she proceeded to tell me a story that blew me away. She's a commission salesperson and she sells useful marketing concepts to businesses. When she was on a business trip last month, she took some downtime to hang out by the pool (no, Brambleberrians, there will be no pool time for me today). She smiled at someone, they started up a conversation and it turned out that he was from her home town (cool) and he had been thinking about utilizing the marketing services she sold (cooler). When she got home, she called him and sold him a six-figure contract (ding ding ding!), all because she was friendly and approachable. 

When you're in business, it's about putting yourself out there; not in an obnoxious way - in a friendly, helpful, approachable way. After all, you've got something that you know will help people - whether its awesome handmade soap or a killer marketing plan or a way to clean air - you've got something that solves someone's problem. So, smile at the next person you see in the grocery store line, compliment them on their outfit, chat them up about what's in their cart and start looking for opportunities to make new connections, wherever you are.  

Tickled Pink and Other Bright Colors

I had a big day of soaping last week using bright bright LabColors and fruity fragrances. When I was done with my project I had 5 different containers of colored soap left over. Then the light bulb went off- Swirl it! I used the swirling technique from this Soap Queen TV episode and had no idea how my impromptu soap was going to turn out (I was just trying to use up my left over, colored soap in a timely fashion). 

I unmolded my "masterpiece" and was tickled pink (and purple and blue and green) after cutting my first slice. It's bright, colorful, happy and smells of fresh and fruity goodness!

Here are the LabColors I used if you want to make your own Rainbow Loaf: Brilliant Blue, Fuchsia, Canary, Tropical Purple, Green Apple. I poured a thin layer of white between colors and used Bramble Berry's plastic Loaf Mold.The colors will most likely bleed over time and create more of a tie-dye effect but they'll still be fun and it's a great way to use up scraps.

Check out some other swirly melt and pour soaps for inspiration! 

'Safe Cosmetics Act' NOT So Safe For Small Biz

The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010' (H.R. 5786) was introduced this week by Democrat Representatives Scharkowsky (Illinois), Markey (Massachusetts) and Baldwin (Wisconsin). The full version of the draft bill for you to read is here. This draft has not yet been voted on. There is still time to have changes made. Now is the time to educate yourselves and write your lawmakers.

Bramble Berry opposes this draft legislation as written recommends that you write your Representative with a customized message opposing this legislation as it is currently written (not sure who your Rep is? Click here to find out!). Add your details; make it personal and let them know that if this bill passes as it is currently written, that your business will be affected. Here's one example of a letter that you could write:

Dear Representative,

I am writing to express my concerns about H.R. 5786, the 'Safe Cosmetics Act'. I make lip balms, soaps and lotions and sell them at the local Farmer's Market. My business makes less than $5000 per year. I sell to pay for my daughter's piano lessons and my son's soccer camps every year. What I make augments my family's income and helps our quality of life. I make my soaps and lotions with common ingredients that you can find in your kitchen. For example, I have a great bar of soap that I make out of four ingredients: Olive Oil, Water, Lye and skin safe fragrance. H.R. 5786 has a bunch of extra reporting requirements that would be virtually impossible for me to comply with. I'm just one woman in a kitchen. I don't have a huge staff to help me. Plus, I often change my formulations based on the season and what my customers are asking for. Being nimble is a huge advantage for me and if I have to submit a new safety and ingredient affidavit for every product, that will take away one of my key advantages. Please don't support this legislation. It is well-meaning but is written in such a way that I won't be able to stay in business because I won't be able to keep up. Estee Lauder started at her kitchen table. Please don't take that opportunity away from me. 

Sincerely,

Suzy Soaper

Suzy's Soaps

Bramble Berry is opposed to the bill for the following reasons:

1. It is unnecessary. The cosmetic industry is a safe industry with a wide variety of choice on the marketplace for consumers.It is already illegal to manufacture unsafe cosmetics and is already illegal to not fully label ingredients or contact information on products.

2. This bill would, handicap small manufacturing business. In a time of economic uncertainty and distress for millions of Americans, this is untenable. For some families, the income from the Farmer's Market may be what they are living on now. 

3. The reporting requirements are 'big brother.' They ask for your annual sales, number of employees and even the names and addresses of your vendors. They even require you to log your proprietary formulas. It's not clear what information might be kept confidential or not.

4. 'Detectable' trace elements must be included on labels. Since almost everything is detectable, labeling will be confusing to end consumers (even more than it is already). So, "Water" on a label would look like "Aqua, Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Nickel, Silver, Zinc" (and if you live in my town, you'd also have to include caffeine, oral contraceptives and antibiotics in your water labeling requirement).

5. Trace Ingredients that are considered carcinogenic when ingested (eaten) will be unable to be used in skin care products. Ingredients that are 'found to induce birth defect's when ingested or inhaled will be banned as well. You will be able to eat apples but not put them in skin care products. That's because apples contain small amounts of cyanide. Lucky for us our body can detoxify cyanide in small trace amounts. But under this law and the 'trace elements' portion of the proposed bill, you still wouldn't be able to put apples into your products even though you can safely eat apples. 

6. Safety Statements, ingredient listing and registration information must be listed for each and every cosmetic, soap, lotion and potion must be made up. With a small scale manufacturer who is making a few of this and a few of that, this is a paperwork nightmare. It does not allow for easy changing of recipes when formulating and trying new recipes.

7. There is no full exemption for small businesses. Small businesses often launched because of the notion that cosmetics could be made with a larger proportion of more desirable ingredients than have typically been used by traditional cosmetics manufacturers

I fully believe that the backers of the bill are well-meaning and trust that this bill will have more changes before it is voted on. But it's up to us to explain what changes need to be made to protect small business. Don't just take my word and interpretation of the bill as gospel, read the bill for yourself here and start the education and change process today.


Updated 8/1: There is a petition against the 'Safe Cosmetics Act' here. Read the petition and sign it if you agree with the statements. The official Oppose SCA site is here. Curious about how a bill becomes law? There's a fantastic post about it here as it pertains to the 'Safe Cosmetics Act' in particular.

Admit It: These Soaps Rock!

Ingredients

9 Bar Baltic Birch Mold, lined with plastic

Flexy Fast Molding Putty 

Liquid Green Colorant

Liquid Blue Colorant

Liquid Black Colorant

40 oz Aloe Melt and Pour

4 oz Shea Melt and Pour

1 oz Kentish Rain Fragrance Oil

Droppers

River Rocks

Vinyl Gloves

Mixing bowls and spoons

Rubbing alcohol

Get everything you need with one click!

Select the "Buy It Now" icon below.

PREP: Line your 9 bar Baltic Birch Mold with plastic. Your soap won’t actually be touching the plastic so it doesn't have to be perfect but we want it covered just in case. Place the border pieces in the mold to secure the plastic.

PLAN: I like to plan ahead when possible. Place the dividers into the mold and start adding your rocks into the separate cavities. Figure out what will fit and look best. Carefully take out the rocks and try to keep them in the same order so you can work quickly when it’s time to mold the rocks.

ONE: Put on your vinyl gloves and mix up enough Flexy Fast to cover the entire bottom of the 9 bar soap mold with at least an inch of thickness. I mixed a large grapefruit size of the white and a kumquat size of the pink. Mix well with your hands  just like taffy until you have a bubble gum pink color. 

TIP: If you have never used Flexy Fast, watch this episode of Soap Queen TV. It will break down the basics for you in a step by step video tutorial. And yes, you'll be able to use the Flexy Fast mold over and over again.

TWO: It’s time to work fast. Spread out the Flexy Fast on the bottom of your mold making sure to get it the corners. Place the dividers right into the putty. Then quickly press your river rocks into the putty in each individual cavity. Let the putty sit for 30 minutes to set up.

THREE: Once the putty has hardened, release the river rocks from the putty. I found it easier to take out the dividers too, just put them back in when you’re done.

FOUR: To make the rocks, melt down three different containers of melt and pour soap base so you have three different colors for your soap. I didn't fragrance the rocks, but you can if you want to.

Container one: 2 oz of Aloe Melt and Pour with Liquid Green and Liquid Black

Container two: 2 oz of Aloe Melt and Pour mixed with Liquid Blue and Liquid Black

Container three: 2 oz of Shea Melt and Pour mixed with Liquid Black

Then use droppers to fill up the rocky imprints in the Flexy Fast. Notice I did several colors per rock. If you’re doing layers, remember to spritz with rubbing alcohol so the layers adhere. Have fun with it and remember they don’t have to be perfect. They’re supposed to be rocks!

FIVE: While your rocks are cooling it’s time to get started on the base. I love how my color turned out. I melted 36 oz of Aloe Melt and Pour with 2 oz of Shea Melt and Pour. This gives a unique cloudy effect without being totally opaque. Then I added a couple of drops of diluted Brilliant Blue LabColor. Finally, add 1 ounce of Kentish Rain Fragrance Oil and mix well. Once the soap has cooled to 125 degrees, spritz the rocks with rubbing alcohol and pour the final layer.

SIX: To unmold the soap, gently turn the mold upside down. Lift the mold off of the soap and remove the plastic. Then carefully lift the Flexy Fast from the soap and pull the sides of the mold away from the soap. Then admit it...these soaps ROCK!

Do you like this project? Check out another melt and pour project using the Baltic Birch Mold HERE. If you have never made melt and pour soap before, check out some Soap Queen TV videos to get you started. I recommend the episodes on Fragrances and Colorants. Check out other Flexy Fast projects like Golf Balls, Pumpkins, Sushi and Tips for Success.

Salty Pricing

As requested on the Teach Soap Forum, I put together a generic price breakdown for my bath salts recipe. It will only cost you $4.66 to make 6 bags of fabulously scented, colored and perfectly packaged bath salts!  And you could save even more money by buying in larger, bulk sizes!

My Bath Salt Recipe

3 Cups Medium Dead Sea Salt

2 ml diluted Blue Mix Labcolor

10 ml of Yuzu Fragrance Oil
Yields 6 bags of bath Salts

Get everything you need to make this recipe
by clicking on the "Buy It Now" icon below.

Price Break Down

Medium Dead Sea Salt- $2.50 per lb (10 lb size)

LabColor- $0.01 per diluted ml (10 ml) 

Fragrance Oil- $1.57 per oz (1 lb size)

Cellophane Bags- $0.01 per bag (box of 1000 online)

Waterproof Labels- $0.10 per label (10 sheets, 10-12 labels per sheet)

Recipe Grand Total $4.66 

(that's just $0.77 per 1/2 cup bag of salt)

To make this entire recipe, it will only cost you $4.66 in materials. And remember that my recipe makes 6 bags of bath salts so divide the total by 6 and it's only costing you $0.77 per bag of scented, colored and packaged bath salts! Keep in mind that I'm not factoring in my time and effort. You'll have to decide that on your own. How long does it take you to make these and how much is your time worth? Do you have the equipment to whip out a huge batch? Or are you limited to smaller, individual batches? Answer these questions to add on the final costs to your products. After itemizing your recipe and finding out the exact amount it's costing you (down to the penny), you can make an informed decision about what price to charge, how much you can afford to spend on packaging and what sort of promotions you can run with this high margin item.

 

The Impetus for Intrepreneur Day

Intrepreneur: Is a person who has a entrepreneur skill set but works with in an organization, enterprise or venture. 

What will you make of sour lemons?

I went to Rite Aid on Saturday morning to run in and grab some sunscreen. I wanted to take a walk outside but had forgotten to put on sunscreen that morning. Being of Norwegian descent, it's prudent for me to wear sun protection when exposed to anything remotely resembling sun.

I found the sunscreen I wanted. It was on sale for $21.99 if I only signed up for a Rite Aid 'Wellness Card'. I filled out the form as the line to check out behind me grew. The sunscreen didn't come up at the right price. The line behind me grew. The clerk left her station to check the price. She instructed me to swipe my credit card and that the price would magically go right. It didn't. I stepped aside and let a nice man with chocolate milk and a candy bar (breakfast?) check out. The clerk went through a return process so that I could get the printed, advertised price. I left, went to my car to apply the sunscreen and alas, the pump was broken.

I went back into Rite Aid, found that I had purchased the last of that particular sunscreen, grabbed another on-sale $21.99 sunscreen and went to exchange it. Even though I was exchanging one $21.99 sunscreen for another, since I didn't have my 'Wellness Card' on me (left that in the car, natch), the special price for the exchange wasn't working. I asked for a manager to override the pricing difference. I had been there 3 minutes ago. They remembered me. They knew I had a 'Wellness Card.' And, the manager of the entire store came over and said, "Sorry, I don't have any override capabilities. You'll have to pay the $8 difference." "Um, but, they're both $21.99." "Right, and you can go out to your car and get your Wellness Card and stand in line again if you want." "Don't they give you any power at all? I can't believe that Rite Aid would rather have an irritated customer than give you the option to fix this here and now." "Sorry, I don't have that authority. But you're being really nice about the whole thing." And she's the store manager. My eyes widened in disbelief. It was like an episode of Seinfeld. Only instead of no soup for me, it was no sunscreen for me!

At that point, I chose to return the broken sunscreen and just go home to put sunscreen on. I left Rite Aid, after 25 total minutes, with no sunscreen in hand, irritated and curious how a store gets so big that they start to put policies in place that do not help the customer. How do you lose so much confidence in your staff that you don't give them any power? How do you dumb a job down so much that you can hire robots to do the job? Rite Aid appears to be working on the premise that even their store managers aren't even smart enough to think for themselves.

It makes me think about my business; what choices do I make that are helpful to me that are horrible for the customer? What decision making have I taken away from my front line (my packers and pullers and pourers) because I haven't trusted them enough. What can I do to change that?

We're instituting an Intrepreneur Day here at Bramble Berry. This is the chance for our staff to unleash their inner entrepreneur withIN Bramble Berry, to be the boss of their work area for the day. Is there something that's bugging them? Something they've always wanted to fix? This is the chance! We're giving everyone 1 to 3 days to research, write a mini business plan, present it to me and then implement the plan themselves. The goal is to empower our team to make positive choices for themselves and improve their work environment.

Rite Aid apparently doesn't trust their employees enough to make simple, $8 decisions. I'm glad I had such a negative experience with them because it was a reminder to me that if we expect people to be brainless automatons, they will be. If I expect my team of BrambleBerrians to do and be more, they will be.

Intrepreneur Day - here we come!

Bramble Berry Team Building...Literally.

We just had our second all-hands successful quarterly theme meeting of the year to go over our goals, win prizes and participate in team building exercises. If you want to see the post on our first meeting, check it out here. Building bridges is a year long theme and the bridges seem to be getting better (forget 'seem' - the winning bridge was a veritable masterpiece of Popsicle bridge building). This quarter's bridge held 92 pounds and it could have held even more. Since it had already won the competition we decided to hang it on the wall for inspiration (and some harmless, friendly taunting). It's fun to have the entire staff together in one place for good BBQ, prizes and competition.

The winning team starting on their bridge (sadly, not my team). 

I'm doing some final inspections of our design.

Many hands make light (sticky) work.

Can you see the writing on the popsicle sticks (it's small)? We have a popsicle stick jar for employees to write positive comments and 'thank yous' to their fellow Brambleberrians. It's super fun to read all of the comments. We have a pretty tight-knit group and there were many insider jokes written as well as heart-felt appreciations. Thursday was the weighing ceremony and pizza party courtesy of FedEx (thanks Ross - you ROCK)!

The winning bridge. Solid as a rock! Can you see the 'road' is paved with glue?! Brilliant!

Spoiled Watermelon

I thought it would be fun to share my first attempt at the watermelon soaps. With just a few minor adjustments, the soap turned out way cuter on my second try! I'm sure you agree. On the second batch, I made the rind a little bit smaller, my seeds even and square and switched up my technique a touch. They're still pretty darn cute, but unfortunately the soaps below took second place. It turns out that trying to cut the seeds in triangles were just not the most winning idea. See the first prize watermelon tutorial HERE if you missed it yesterday.

Bigger rind and uneven seeds.  

Here, I filled up the entire half round mold with white soap which made the white part of the rind a little too thick for my liking. My resourceful habits told me to reuse the some of the soap I had cut off the edges. It worked but it's not pretty. The first prize technique is much quicker and easier (see the juicy beauties below).

These were the winners. Check out the tutorial HERE.

Juicy Watermelons Slurping up Summer

Have you ever heard the statistic that watermelons are made up of 92% water? Well these watermelons are made up of 100% luxurious soap and mouthwatering watermelon fragrance oil. Put these juicy soaps on the edge of your sink for some extra cute flare.

Ingredients

21 oz Clear Soap Base

3 oz White Soap Base

Liquid Glycerin

Watermelon Fragrance Oil

Half Round Loaf Mold

Glossy Silicone Tray Mold

Liquid Green Colorant

Liquid Black Colorant

Non-Bleeding Red Colorant

Red Blue Mica

OR buy all of the ingredients you need just by clicking on the "Buy It Now" icon below.

ONE: Prep the watermelon "seeds" by melting 2 ounces of clear soap base and mixing in a couple drops of liquid black. Pour the soap into one side of the glossy tray mold and let cool. Once the soap has cooled, release the soap from the mold and use a ruler and an craft knife to cut thin strips of black. You'll need five long slivers.

TWO: Now it's time to make the "rind." Melt 7 ounce of clear soap base and  mix in .7 ounces of liquid glycerin and 6-7 drops of liquid green colorant. Mix well and pour the soap into the tray mold. Spritz with rubbing alcohol to eliminate air bubbles. Let cool.

Hint: The liquid glycerin adds some pliability to the soap so we can bend it with out breaking.

THREE: For the white layer of the rind, melt 3 ounces of white soap base and mix in .3 ounces of liquid glycerin. Let the white soap cool to 125-130 degrees, spritz the cooled green layer of soap and pour the white soap down the middle of your mold.

Tip: I wanted the white section of the rind to be super thin. Three ounces of soap isn't quite enough to cover the entire bottom of the mold so make sure you pour the soap down the middle of the mold. It's ok if the sides are not covered in white.

FOUR: It's show time. Release the green and white soap from the mold, bend it down the middle and place it into the half round log mold. Make sure that the white soap is even on both sides. Scoot the soap to one end of the mold and press it down firmly. Seal the other end with plastic wrap. You can wrap some of the plastic underneath the soap if needed.

Tip: See how my mold is tipping a little bit? You'll need to find something to prop up the mold. I used two small matching bowls.

FIVE: To make the sweet, inside of the watermelon, melt 12 ounces of clear soap base and mix in .5 ounces of watermelon fragrance oil. For the fantastic pink color, I combined non-bleeding red with red blue mica. Mix well and let the soap cool to about 130 degrees and have some plastic wrap on hand to cover the soap to keep it warm between pours.

SIX: Spritz 1 long black sliver of soap and the white soap layer in the mold. Then pour about 1/3 of the pink soap. Place the long black strip of soap into the wet soap. Spritz with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any air bubbles. Then cover the remaining pink soap with plastic wrap to keep it warm. Let this layer cool for about three minutes and repeat this step two more times. On the second pour add two of the black slivers (one on each side of the original) and on the third pour add the last two black slivers (again on the outsides of the previous pour).

SEVEN: Once the juicy soap has cooled, unmold the soap and carefully slice off the long, green edges with a knife (and put it in your scrap soap bin). Then slice the watermelon in to guest size wedges. 

The Highs and Lows of Mint Chocolate Chip

Here's a peek of my Mint Chocolate Chip swirls from yesterday. See the blog post HERE if you missed it. The soap is pretty soft at this point (Olive Oil, 5% superfat, no gel phase) but they were still easy to unmold from the 'World's Best' Baltic Birchwood Mold. These "sweet" soaps will be ready to use in 4-6 weeks!

On a painfully sad note, there was a casualty during the unmolding process. I was so giddy and excited about my swirls that the soap just bobbled out of my hand. I guess this will be the "tester" soap. Sigh...poor little guy. He didn't deserve this!

We're having the Bramble Berry Bridge Building Contest today + BBQ Fundsday! I can't wait to have a rematch and hopefully redeem myself (and my popsicle stick bridge building abilities).

A TestaMINT to Mint Chocolate Chip

Yesterday was a whirlwind afternoon. I tested 8 new fragrances for Spring 2011 and I tested the new Mint Chocolate Chip Fragrance Oil in a 5 pound batch of cold process. The results are in and I'm pleased to announce the Mint Chocolate Chip behaved beautifully! The scent holds up nicely and it didn't accelerate trace in the slightest. I used a swirling technique using ketchup and mustard squirt bottles to layer in some thin lines of green (mint) and brown (chocolate). Originally I was going for a chocolatey-minty-icecreamy swirl but ended up with a camouflaged army motif. Since there was such a high percentage of olive oil in my recipe, the base color turned out a little more yellow than I had planned. But the soap still turned out great. I'll be sure to keep you updated after the unmolding ceremony.

Below are the potential Spring 2011 fragrances that I'm testing. There are so many promising fragrances but they have a long way to go to get into the Bramble Berry line of fragrances. Only one fragrance seemed to separate a little bit but the rest are looking promising (holding  back an exited girly scream). I'm in LOVE with these scents and can't wait to release them!

Then some unexpected visitors. My brother, Erik, brought the "kids" over to say 'Hi' to their favorite auntie. Sammy on the left and Toby on the right...my little angels!

Oh and if you're looking for a super cute Mint Chocolate Chip melt and pour project and missed my re-post on Friday, learn how to make these sweet soaps (below) on  The Soap King blog.