Palm Free In-The-Pot Swirl CP Soap Recipe

The big trend in cold process soap making is making soap without using palm oil because of the issues in harvesting this ingredient.  In a recent post, The Soap Queen shared a Palm Free In-The-Pot Swirl CP Soap Recipe.  This is an intermediate level project which should take you 45 minutes to make (without curing time) and will result in 10-12 bars of soap.

Late Summer Aromatherapy Spray

This is the same blend as the Late Summer Perfume recipe from The Mountain Rose Blog, but in a convenient aromatherapy spray that can be spritzed around the home or used as a body mist to refresh and uplift the spirits.

• 20 drops citrus essential oil of choice or a blend of Sweet Orange, Grapefruit, Mandarin, and/or Tangerine
• 8 drops organic Lavender Essential Oil
• 5 drops organic Cinnamon leaf Essential Oil
• 4 drops organic Cedarwood Essential Oil
• 3 drops organic Ylang Ylang Essential Oil
• 3 oz water
• 1 oz Witch Hazel Extract

Pour water and Witch Hazel Extract into a 4 oz bottle with a mister top. Add essential oils and roll between palms to evenly mix. If you desire a stronger aromatherapy spray, simply increase the amount of essential oils used. The recipe can be easily doubled, or you can just add extra of whichever oils you like the best to create your own special blend!

Late Summer Perfume Recipe

In a recent entry on The Mountain Rose Blog included a lot of great recipes including this one for Late Summer Perfume. The author recommends dabbing this luscious blend onto pulse points after bathing. It has a wonderful aroma of flowers, citrus, and summertime sweetness that isespecially useful during times of stress, anxiety, irritability, or depression.

• 20 drops citrus essential oil of choice or a blend of Sweet Orange, Grapefruit, Mandarin, and/or Tangerine
• 8 drops organic Lavender Essential Oil
• 5 drops organic Cinnamon leaf Essential Oil
• 4 drops organic Cedarwood Essential Oil
• 3 drops organic Ylang Ylang Essential Oil
• 1 tsp organic Jojoba Oil

Drip all essential oils into a glass bottle and roll between palms to evenly mix the oils. Add Jojoba oil and roll again. Add additional essential oils if you desire a stronger perfume.

Lavender and Lemongrass Bubble Bath Recipe

In a recent newsletter that I received from The Mountain Rose Blog included a lot of great recipes including this one for Lavender and Lemongrass Bubble Bath. It is mentioned that homemade bubble bath is not as bubbly as commercial varieties and the suds don’t last very long, but it is completely natural and is so much gentler on the skin. Bathing in the aroma of Lemongrass and Lavender is refreshing and sure to lift the spirits! This blend is perfect for all ages.  I just got some Lemongrass EO in my goody bag from The Nova Studio anniversary party and I will have to try it in this recipe.  Make sure to check out Mountain Rose's blog.

• 1/2 cup liquid Castille Soap
• 1 TBSP liquid Vegetable Glycerin
• 1 TBSP Epsom salt
• 1 tsp. organic Jojoba oil
• 30 drops organic Lavender essential oil
• 10 drops organic Lemongrass essential oil

Mix all ingredients together and pour directly into running water.

Rocket Soap Pop Recipe

When I was a child, I remember the ice cream man selling a red, white and blue rocket pop.  When I saw this Rocket Soap Pop Recipe/Video melt and pour soap project on SoapyLove's Daily Ditties, my childhood memories came flooding back. One fabulous tip that Debbie gave was wrapping the finished soap in paper before inserting it into the plastic bag.  This helps with the soap not sticking to the plastic bag.

Simple Droplet Effect in Cold Process Soap

How would you like to learn how to make this beautiful droplet effect in your cold process soap?  In a 15 minute video from Soap and Restless shows your how to create this Simple Droplet Effect in Cold Process Soap.  It is a very simple technique to get this technique.  Now I must warn you that there is no sound to this video, but you will get the idea of how this technique is done. SO if you have a favorite cold process soap recipe that you would like to try this technique, I say go for it!

Sprouts is Now Open in Mountain View

Recently, a Sprouts opened in the old Tower Records location (630 San Antonio Rd) across from the San Antonio Shopping Center in Mountain View.  And today, I went in to check it out. 

Well, I have to say that is like a Trader Joe's only with more stuff.  They have a deli where they make sandwiches and meat counter. Plus they have You are wondering why I am telling you this.  To be honest, I discovered that they have a beauty aisle where they sell Aura Cacia essential oils.  And this may be important for those who have taken classes from me in the past.  All of the important essential oils are available including vanilla which Whole Foods Market, which happens to be down the street does not sell.  Sprouts does have some of the oils you can use for making lotions in the beauty department but remember they will charge you tax.  And like Whole Foods, they carry the Spectrum brand of oils too.  So if you cannot find what you want at Whole Foods, check out Sprouts.

Color Block Rainbow Soap Tutorial

Some where over the rainbow is another great melt and pour soap tutorial from The Soap Queen.  This Color Block Rainbow Soap Tutorial is fun and whimsical soap that is perfect for anyone who is unsure of working with powder colorants because you will be using color blocks.  What are color blocks? Color Blocks are pre-mixed, intensely colored little nuggets of soap.

SoapyLove Body Scrubs Recipe and Video

Do you love using body scrubs in the shower? SoapyLove's Debbie Chialtas has recently posted on her blog SoapyLove's Daily Ditties  a recipe for a Sugar and Salt Scrub. In this recipe you can choose to use sugar or salt and a choice of oils. All of the supplies can be purchased through Brambleberry or your local heath food store.  This is a very simple recipe and Debbie gives two really good tips. One is about the proportions of the sugar/salts and oils.  You can change the ratios to your liking and you will not make any mistakes.  And the second one is in regards to using the product.  It can make the shower floor slippery.  So what Debbie suggests squirting a little shampoo on the shower floor and swirl it around with your feet and wash off the excess oil.  Also I would like to mention if you want to see a demonstration of making this product make sure to click on the link to view the video on Kin Community.

Pumpkin Coconut Milk Salt Bars

Fall season is now here and what is the item that brings up images of this time of year? Too me it is harvest time especially pumpkins.  Amanda of Lovin' Soap thought she would kick pumpkin season off with a salt bar made with real pumpkin and coconut milk scented with Bramble Berry’s Pumpkin Lager.  So if you love pumpkin then you should try her recipe for Pumpkin Coconut Milk Salt Bars .  What I found most interesting was the combination of ingredients especially lye.  According to Amanda, the cool thing about salt bars is that they are ready to unmold in about four hours (depending on your recipe).  They heat up real quick and then as soon as they are cool…they are rock hard and ready to be unmolded. 

Fragrance Balm

Here is a great product that will fit in small purse, pockets, backpacks, etc.  This Fragrance Balm recipe from Wholesale Supplies Plus is an easy recipe to make and it does not take that long to whip out plenty of products to sell or give out as party favors. Even though the recipe calls for Viva La Juicy as the fragrance, you can really use any fragrance to customize to your liking or your customers

Apple Blossom Ombre Votive Candles

A while back I posted another Ombre Votive Candle Project from Wholesale Supplies Plus called Margarita Lime.  If you like this look, here is another called Apple Blossom.  This is an advanced project that should take an hour to make 16 votive candles.  These would be great gifts to make for anyone who loves candles.

Scents of Home - Fall Holidays

Are you looking for something to bring lovely aromas to your home? From Wholesale Supplies Plus is a recipe on how to make your own home fragrances.  This Scents of Home - Fall Holidays edition is a very easy project to make in a short period of time and you should be able to make plenty of gifts to give out to friends and family.  They will be able to scent their home for quite sometime.

MP Soap: School Books

School is now in session!  And Wholesale Supplies Plus recently posted new recipes on their website including this melt and pour project to make School Books.  For those who have kids in school, this would be the perfect teachers gift.  This is an advanced project that should take you under six hours to make 12 bars of soap.

Also check out, WSP recipe box for these additional cute melt and  pour soap - School Chalkboard Eraser and School Ruler & Eraser Soaps.

How to Make Cocoa Almond Whipped Body Butter

The Natural Beauty Workshop's  proudly announcing their first instructional video on How to make Cocoa Almond Whipped Body Butter on their new From Nature With Love YouTube Channel.  This body butter happens to be a moisturizing body butter made with Cocoa Butter, Sweet Almond Oil, and a touch of Almond Fragrance. IF you liked this video, make sure to visit their YouTube Channel to give the video a "Thumbs Up", leave a comment, or subscribe to the channel to be alerted when future videos are added. Hopefully, they will be adding more videos soon.

Festive Layered Lotion Bar

Even though the title of this recipe is Festive Layered Lotion Bar , from DIY Skincare, it is really more like a lotion stick. If by chance you do not like the colors used in this recipe, you can change them to fit your mood.

Cold Process Spider Webs Soap

The folks at Brambleberry created this spooky Halloween cold process soap project called spider web soap. This is an intermediate project that should take you 45 minutes to make (without curing time) and give you about 3 pounds of soap. It’s a very simple technique that adds that extra special (spooky) touch for Halloween. Give these away as a hostess gift or put them in your guest bathroom to impress your friends.

Rainbow Spheres (M&P Soap) Tutorial

There one point in my life when I was growing up I was into clouds and rainbows.  I really got hooked on these because of the cloud wallpaper in the boy's room in the movie of Kramer vs Kramer.  When I saw the Rainbow Spheres Soap Tutorial on The Soap Queen's website, a flood of my youth came rushing back. Since rainbows bring smiles, why not create this colorful sphere soap.  It is an intermediate project that takes 90 minutes to make eight soaps.

Foot Balm Recipe

Do you have cracked heels?  How would you like to create this Foot Balm Recipe by Marilyn that appears on the Gather site.  This recipe contains a lot of great ingredients such as Cocoa Butter, Jojoba Oil,  Sweet Almond Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Vegetable Glycerin and a combination of essential oils.  This is a easy recipe to make so you can make plenty for gifts.

Homemade Laundry Soap Tutorial From Sew Much Ado

If you are interested in making your own laundry soap, I found this Laundry Soap Tutorial  from Sew Much Ado.  There are many recipes out there, but if you have not found one you like, then you may want to try this one out for size.  If you have a recipe you like to share that maybe better than this one, then if you would share your experiences.

How to Make a Scented Beeswax Candle

Beeswax candles are beautiful, natural and relatively easy to make. The beeswax itself can be obtained from a craft store or local beekeeper. Keep in mind that beeswax candles have a naturally sweet, honeyed scent. Therefore, even those candles that are made without any added aromas will have a pleasant smell. If you must add your own fragrance, do so in moderation and keep in mind that it should complement and not clash with the natural scent of beeswax. Almond and vanilla are good choices that will create a delicious, sweet scent. So, if you would would like to learn more on How to Make Scented Beeswax Candles, check out this article by eHow contributor, Mandi Rodiger.  The holidays are just around the corner, so this article may inspire you to create gifts for family and friends.

Three Color Mantra Swirl

This mantra swirl is a gorgeous, delicate “dance” of a swirl that looks great no matter how many colors are used. For this technique, an additional splash of a contrasting color adds interest while a quick modify to the mold gives to soap an extra kick! Want to learn how to make this beautiful bar of soap?  Then check out this Three Color Mantra Swirl tutorial from The Soap Queen.  This is an intermediate cold process recipe that should take you an hour (without curing time) to get 16-20 bars of soap.

MP Soap: Layered Fluorescent Soap Loaf

As a melt and pour soap maker, you have always made single bars.  Now you would like to take the next step and make a soap loaf.  Well, here is an advanced project from Wholesale Supplies Plus called MP Soap: Layered Fluorescent Soap Loaf.  The estimated time to make this  project is under six hours and you should get eight 1" slices.

How to Make African Jelly Jelly Soap

Have you ever heard of African Jelly Soap?  According to ehow contributor, Kelly Sundstrom African jelly jelly soap, which is also referred to as African Black soap, is traditionally created with black potash lye, instead of refined lye. This causes the soap to turn black in color, and to have a softer texture that can be more gentle on dry skin. Although it can be difficult to locate African jelly jelly soap in stores, you can make your own at home using basic soap-making ingredients. If you are a cold process soap maker and would like to make this type of soap, then read Kelly's article titled, How to Make African Jelly Jelly Soap.  If you have made this type of soap before, please share your experience.

Ginger & Fennel Body Mask Recipe

Most of us have heard of a facial mask.  But maybe you have not heard of a body mask.  According to Emily Gabriel of The Natural Beauty Workshop, body masks are a great way to cleanse and detoxify the often neglected skin on your arms, legs, and torso. Just like a facial mask, deep cleansing ingredients are used to help mobilize toxins, draw out clogged pores, and increase skin's circlation. Ginger and Fennel are both great at helping get blood flowing, which can lead to reduced cellulite, and healthy, clear skin. Dead Sea Mud is packed with beneficial minerals, making it a great base for a body mask. If Dead Sea Mud is too intense for your skin, try using a gentle clay, like White Kaolin.

Are you interested in making the recipe for Ginger & Fennel Body Mask? This recipe will make a hefty portion of mask, enough to massage genlty all over your body.  It makes enough for 1 - 2 applications.  So it's best when used fresh, but you can store any extra in your refrigerator for two to three days.

Melt and Pour Jelly Roll Tutorial

If you are a melt and pour soapmaker, I found this Jelly Roll Tutorial from Riverlea Soap (The Soap Fanatic). Riverlea Soap first started as a cold process soapmaker and tried melt and pour - did not like it. But then tried it a year later and loves it. Why not give it a try? This project looks a lot easier than the Jelly Roll  Soap instructions that I got at Michaels many years ago.  If I can find those instructions, I will post them so you can see the difference.

How to make Aroma Beads from Bitter Creek

If you liked the recipe from Cajun's Candle and Soap Making Supply to make aroma beads then you may want to check out the recipe from Bitter Creek.  This Aroma Bead recipe from Bitter Creek is another way to bring a nice scent into a rather stale room.  It is very easy to make and you can tailor the scent to the season or your mood.

Handmade Bambo Candle Project from Martha Stewart

If you are having a tropical party or your home decor involves around that them, then why not create some ambiance with Bambo Candles. Bamboo candles, which have built-in shelves, are a pretty way to decorate the table the next time you're entertaining, both indoors and out. Here are step by step instructions from Martha Stewart on home to make these festive Bambo Candles:

Tools and Materials

Bamboo canes (4 to 6 inches in diameter)
Saw
Wax
Double boiler
Large wick with metal tab

Bamboo Candles How-To

1. Saw bamboo canes to varying lengths with level bottoms and 2 inches above each shelf for safety.

2. Melt wax in a double boiler; pour in enough to coat shelf surface.

3. Insert a large wick with a metal tab; let wax harden.

4. Fill almost to the top with wax.

5. Let cool for 4 hours before using, and trim wick to 1/4 inch.

Resource
This Good Thing was first published in Martha Stewart Living, June 2005.

Apple Cinnamon Masque Recipe

Can you believe Summer is practically over and Fall will soon be here?  I saw this recipe for an Apple Cinnamon Masque on the DIY Skincare blog and I had to share this because the combination of apples and cinnamon is big announcement that Fall is here.  This is a pretty simple and only requires a few ingredients.  It should be known that this recipe is  designed for chaotic skin. Cinnamon can be irritating to some skin types, so a patch test is prudent prior to using this recipe. 

Mottled Seasons: Candle Technique

If anyone out there has taken a candlemaking class in the past and is looking for a new candle technique you may want to try this Mottle Candle Technique which was recently posted by Erica of The Bonnie Bath Company on her blog Bath Alchemy - A Soap Blog and More.

What are mottled candles?  According to Erica, mottled candles have a snowflake style dimension on the surface. The candle will usually be smooth with a pretty design and can occur in both container and molded candles. The mottled effect is simple to create and is sometimes achieved accidentally. It occurs when oil is added to paraffin wax. Since some fragrance oils are heavier (more oily by nature) than others, they can sometimes create this effect against your will. But when you want this interesting design, adding some oil will do the trick.

There is one caveat about this project is that you will be using paraffin wax and adding mineral oil.  So for those who are strictly making eco-friendly candles with soy or beeswax this may not be the project for you. 

I recently took a class at The Nova Studio on how to make natural haircare products.  And one of the ingredients used was Argan Oil.  I have never heard of this type of oil, but what was discussed in class is that undoubtedly one of the rarest vegetable oils in the world, and consequently one of the most expensive due to its small and slow productivity rate. It has the appearance of a dense, golden liquid at room temperature and is extremely rich and diverse both in minerals and vitamins.

As I started my search to learn more about this ingredient, I found the following online article about this oil:

Argan Oil

Benefits Of Argan Oil

What is Argan Oil?

Argan Oil for Hairs

If anyone out there has used this oil in their products, I would like to hear about your experiences and where is the best place to purchase this oil. Also are there any other articles that you would like to add to this list?

The Living Dead Sea - Part 2 - Dead Sea Salt Recipes

Erica from The Bonnie Bath Company recently posted Part 2 Dead Sea Salt recipes on her blog Bath Alchemy - A Soap Blog and More. The salts of the Dead Sea are used primarily for drawing out toxins, dirt and oils from the skin. They are used to exfoliate and revitalize the health of the skin. They can be used in soaks and scrubs, but cannot be used in soap, as they cause the soap to sweat excessively.  There are four nice recipes for you to try: Breathe Easy Bath Salts, Ginger Orange Milk Salts,  Margarita Body Scrub and Minty Solid Salt Scrub, 

I think the first recipe I am going to try the Minty Solid Salt Scrub.  It seems very similiar to a solid sugar scrub recipe I learned how to make in a class I took at The Nova Studio.