Bath Salts Tutorial--Impatient Craftaholic Series

It's time to move my bath salts tutorial to this blog since my soap shop will be on an extended hiatus until I can catch up with life, kids, and shops :)

My Bath Salts Tutorial has been fairly popular though, so I want it to still be available to you all! Please let me know if this link does not work in any way.

BATH SALTS TUTORIAL


Thanks all, happy salting!
~~mama

It's Almost SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone sing it with me now...School's Out for Summer!! School's Out For EVER!
Ahhhh. Freedom is almost so close I can taste it. Easing back into the working world at Harrisons' school has been a tad hard for me. I enjoy the job very much even if there is that one person who tries to make your life hell (isn't there ALWAYS that one no matter where you go?) But no matter where you go or what you do, returning the work force after 4 years off to raise babies is hard! But for the most part I've enjoyed it, made friends with some awesome people, and would go back if my position comes back (not sure on that part...hopefully will know next week...)

But as much as I do enjoy the job (ok and the money)...I do miss my life at home! I miss being with Eli all day, and having my time to sew and craft! My handmade business had gotten to a comfortable steady selling point when I had to go back to work. So I'm looking forward to my summer! I hope it's filled with crafting, swimming boys, ice cream and snowballs!

Naturally I have big plans this summer...and little time to do them in! I will probably barely make a dent in my fabric pile!! (especially if I keep BUYING IT!) But here are some things on my to do list:

1. Make more red heel sock monkeys, using up all my red heel socks. 

2. Make more stuffed rocket loveys in various shapes because I have lots of cool prints for them, waiting!

3. Make a HUGE pile of swiffer pads because those are my best sellers and I need a nice stockpile done to last me awhile!

4. Sew a cute smocked dress for me!! (this is supposed to be done by May 28th, our work party but um yeah...)

5. Make Saints soap to be ready for football season reopening of my soap shop, Amelia Amos

6. Play around with the cricut, stamping and paper--just for fun!

7. Make more fabric yo yos and buttons...of course...because I can't stop!

What are your summer plans? I probably won't get to half of this list but it's nice to dream!!

~~Amy

Time for a Soapy Vacation........

Life sure has a way of throwing you for a loop sometimes, doesn't it!? In case you didn't know, I started working full time back in February at my son's school, with the same company I formerly taught for. This time my position is more of a social services role and I do like it. I enjoy being with the families and the children (but not in the classroom ALL day! LOL) My position is at the moment a temporary one until June 1st, but there seems to be a good chance I will return in the fall either in this position or a similar one.

My longwinded point is.....since I started working, I've not had as much time for crafting!! Yes, this hurts...it pains me to not craft every day! I had no idea how much I loved until I couldn't do it everyday! I find myself making fabric buttons at night just because I haven't had time to sew anything and I MUST TOUCH FABRIC.

It is this time crunch reason that for now I am putting the soap shop, Amelia Amos on sale and soon vacation! I will hopefully be off for the summer and just before football season begins, I hope to have a nice little assortment of Saints inspired soaps back. I will likely be unable to take many custom soap orders but I def cannot NOT make Saints soaps!! That would just be Who Dat Blasphemy!!

Sooooo, in the meantime, Amelia Amos has a HUGE HALF PRICE SALE!! When it's gone, it's gone, and I will put the shop on vacation/zero listings and come back in the fall with Saints soaps. I miss soaping for FUN and for ME, so I plan to do that a tad this summer. I also will always make custom orders for friends and family! So if you want something, just let me know!! :)

So check out Amelia Amos and grab what you can while it's there!! :)

See ya'll soon!
~~Amy

Jonesing for Spring

Even though I live where it's relatively warm, I'm still beginning to be done with winter, and ready for SPRING!

February Giveaway...Saint's King Cake Soap!

Time for the February Giveaway! This month, in honor of our New Orleans Saints I will giveaway one slice of my Saints inspired King Cake soap from my soap shop, Amelia Amos:

 

Here's some details on the soap:

1 SLICE of my Black and Gold King Cake SLS free soap scented in a blend of creamy pecan praline, almond pastries and carrot cake which smells like yummy king cake! Each slice weighs APPROX. 3 ounces.

The 'sugar' on the soap is a blend of epsom salts, kosher salt and and gold mica powder coloring. The salts will wash away within a few uses.

All my soaps are SLS Free. What is SLS? SLS stands for Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, a nasty little chemical often used in bath and body products to make it lather. But handmade soap doesn't need that extra chemical...it lathers just fine and is more pure and better for your skin.

Soap also made with Phthalate free fragrance oil.

Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Safflower Oil, Glycerine (kosher, of vegetable origin), Purified Water, Sodium Hydroxide (saponifying agent), Sorbitol (moisturizer), Sorbitan Oleate (emulsifier), and Soybean Protein (conditioner).body safe colorant and fragrance (colors and fragrance from synthetic and natural sources-not guaranteed to be natural), epsom salts, kosher salt

~*~*~**~*~

How to win?

Leave a comment on this blog post answering this question:

Where were you when the Saints won the Superbowl?

(It's okay if you were NOT watching the game! I still like you...don't understand you but I like you...)

Extra Entry:

Tell me one random Saints' fact or fan fact, a story about your life as a Saints fan...someone you know who's a fan, etc.

You have until Feb. 28th, 2010 to enter!!

WHO DAT!

~~Amy

My Faves: Red

Some lovely things in RED...
I could go on and on with these, I could make one a day practically! Hmmmm...

Tutorial--Basic Melt and Pour Soap

In keeping with trying to keep free tutorials and how-to's on this blog, here is my attempt at a tutorial on Melt and Pour soap.

Please keep in mind, everyone probably makes soap just a little different, this is how I do it!

Gather Supplies: (I'll provide a few links at the end for supplies)

Melt and Pour Soap Base 

Body Safe Colorant (NOT food coloring)

Fragrance Oils 

Mold

Rubbing Alcohol in a small spray bottle

Latex Gloves

Wax Paper/Protective Surface

Pipettes for Fragrance Oils (or other dropper)

Microwave

Knife

Glass Heat Safe Measuring Cup

Candy thermometer

~~~~

1. Cut your soap base into small chunks and put in the measuring glass cup, such as Pyrex. I generally make a ton of soap at once, so I just fill it up and go for it... measure, schmeasure.

This is a mix of white opaque soap base and goat's milk.

2. Gather your colorants. For this soap we're making a one color soap, so I don't need to use my more costly non bleeding colorants. When making layered soap you need non bleeding colorants (I prefer them from www.goplanetearth.com). When making solid soap you can just use the less expensive soap colorants from hobby stores and soap making supply sites. 

3. Gather your fragrance oil and pipette (dropper). For this one we're using a lavender from Peak's Candle Company. I like Peak's because they are phthalate free.

4. Melt your soap in the pyrex container for 30 seconds at a time. (based on a FULL 2 cup container...heat for less time if melting less soap). ALWAYS err on the side of caution and melt for shorter time periods. If you heat the soap too long you'll cause speckling of the color in the soap. Ask me how I know this.

Stir the melted soap with a spoon or stirrer of some kind. A few unmelted tiny chunks are fine, they will melt as you slowly stir. Generally M&P soap should not be heated more than 140 degrees and you can test this with your candy thermometer.

Some bubbles are fine in the melted soap, we will spritz them away later.

5. Add your fragrance oil with your dropper or pipette. Always add your fragrance first because some FO's discolor the soap, particularly vanilla's. Peak suggests for soap: "we recommend 3-4% fragrance oil by weight. 2% is equivalent to about 1/3 of an ounce per pound. And 3% is about half an ounce per pound".  I generally go by my nose, until it just about 'sniffs right'. Generally you can trust your nose. 

6. Add your colors. Since I was out of regular (bleeding) purple, and I did not want to use my more costly non bleeding purple in a solid soap, I simply mixed together red and blue until I got a purple I wanted!

As with melting and fragrance, go slow on the colors, start with just a drop or two of your color. It's FAR easier to ADD MORE color than to take away! Also if you add too much color it can be too strong in the soap and cause the bubbles (lather) to be colored when they should be clear...therefore staining your tub, etc. Since most soap safe colorants do wash away, that's not really a horrible problem if the soap is for yourself, but not something you want to give away or sell! Less is more!

Isn't that pretty?

Slowly swirled together to create purple!

7. Now you have a purple, lavender scented goat's milk/opaque melted soap! See those bubbles? We'll just spritz them away with a shot or two of rubbing alcohol from your spray bottle.

Squirt, squirt.

8. Now we can pour our soap into the mold! Pour slowly so you get an even pour (this is good practice for when you're ready to do layered soaps!) and you don't get those annoying bubbles.

If you have any bubbles just give the soap a few more squirts of rubbing alcohol...and there you go!

9. Now you have a smooth, pretty, even soap. Let it set several hours, until it is completely hardened. Depending on the weight of your soap it may take longer to harden. Once completely hardened, turn the mold over on some wax paper or parchment paper, (a clean smooth surface) and gently unmold from the mold. The easiest way to get soap out of a mold is to get a little bit of air into the mold by pulling the mold away form the soap just a smidge, then slowly--PATIENTLY--- allowing the air to go all through the mold (you'll see it go over the soap as you're holding the mold upside down on to the wax paper). Then gently ease your soap out of the mold onto your paper, and cut into the shapes you need (if it's a slab or tray mold.) If the mold was a single cavity mold, then just unmold, and package as you wish! :)

Here's our lavender soap after I added some goat's milk cubed embeds to it! :)

Wrapped in organza bags and ready to go! :)

Helpful Links:

www.brambleberry.com

www.teachsoap.com

www.goplanetearth.com (be sure to read Denise's Blog from there!)

www.southernsoapers.com (they have a Yahoo group also)

www.papermart.com for bags and wraps

You can pretty much find anything you need to know on soaping from Google! There are also some great soaping books on the market. 

Happy Soaping!

~~Amy

My Faves: Violet

Purple is one of my fave colors...I sense I'll be making more spotlights featuring purple!

Get ready for some cool gifts!

Alas, despite the summer heat down here, it is indeed approaching the biggest shopping season of the year! Now, personally, I do not actually celebrate Christmas but am more than happy to provide lots of shopping for everyone else :) I also love to stalk the sales and see what's up for grabs during the holiday season!

Times are tough, money is tight. So perhaps it is more your idea this year to find one, good, meaningful, unique gift for your special someones? If that's you, keep reading because you can find lots of unique gifts on Artfire.com from thousands of talented artisans. The coolest thing is you can search from various gift guides to fit your needs! And because searches are random, you'll likely find something new each time you search!!

Here are some of MY faves!

Funky, unique magnets by PicardCreative.













Fantastic Baby Items in awesome colors and prints from a Louisiana resident,
KaroiColor











Fabulous cupcake soaps--do not eat, Norma is not responsible for your butt bubbles!!














Or maybe you want to get ready for fall now with this awesome handmade leaf bowl from Harmon Art!


No matter what you're looking for, search the Artfire Gift Guides for all your gifts in ANY season!! :)

Of course, if you'd like to purchase from MY Lovely shops I can be found in a few gift guides myself :)

~Amy

Internet Diet Weekend Round Two

Soooo. Again I have come to the conclusion that the fact that I hear the plurk ding and the tweetdeck chirp in my sleep means I should probably take an internet break! I am hearing pleas of "Mommy will you PLEASE play with me" that trump any desire or need to be on the computer! So, again, I am implementing internet weekend break. Upon bedtime tonite, I am not getting on the darn internet until Sunday evening other than to check personal emails! No plurking, tweeting, etc. If you see me doing such things, please promptly beat me with a 10 lb bag of nails!

I do have work to do this weekend but hopefully it will not entail time online, just labeling soaps, cleaning up said soap mess and sewing for TWO, count em, TWO upcoming baby showers.

I hope ya'll have a fabulous, sweat free weekend, hug your kids, kiss your mate, and do what puts a smile on your face!

And please don't forget about 48ForLarry, a charity radiothon that you really must checkout!
Charity Ouchie Pouchies for Andrew are also still in my Artfire shop under Charity/PIF.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Science (and love) of Handmade Soap

Soap. We need it to clean our bodies, homes, cars, pets and sometimes naughty little children's mouths. But what IS soap?

From Wikipedia (because I'm too tired to crack an actual encyclopedia):

"Soap is an anionic surfactant used in conjunction with water for washing and cleaning, which historically comes either in solid bars or in the form of a viscous liquid. Soap consists of sodium or potassium salts of fatty acids and is obtained by reacting common oils or fats with a strong alkaline solution (the base, popularly referred to as lye) in a process known as saponification. The fats are hydrolyzed by the base, yielding alkali salts of fatty acids (crude soap) and glycerol. Today, soap is often replaced by other cleaning agents, such as synthetic detergents."

This is the part that intrigues me. So, by nature, soap is a fairly simple (chemical) process and something that has been done for years and years. So why are their synthetic DETERGENTS in something we rub all over our naked bodies? All over our delicate little babies skin?

I am new to the handmade soap world, a soap making virgin if you will. Thankfully I have access to many lovely friends who have shared their wisdom, trial and errors and success. Plus, I'm addicted to soap. Even if I never use it. It's just downright beautiful to look at! At this point in my handmade life, I only make melt and pour soap. Now, I suppose some would say that is not TRULY making soap. In defense of M&P soapmakers every where..I say it is!! Although we are not actually mixing the lye and fats ourselves, we do take care to purchase high quality bases and carefully select our colorings, molds and scents. Cold Process soap is very much on my list of to-do's as soon as I have the physical area to concoct it in!

I personally, take great care to only purchase SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) free soap bases from reputable companies. SLS free soap is far more gentle to the skin and doesn't cant SLS, a nasty little detergent that is commonly used in garage floor cleaners. Really? Thanks, that sounds GREAT for my skin.

So, you may ask, WHY in the world am I lecturing you about soap? Well, it seems I may have the opportunity to teach a local home school group how to make their own melt and pour soaps! So of course, any soapmaker (even us M&P'rs) will tell you that all soap making requires some skill and basic knowledge of simple chemistry and science! No, we can't build a bomb, (Ok maybe some can) but we do need to know enough not to melt our fingers off our burn our eyes with fragrance oils! So what wisdom can I impart on these young minds?

• Handmade Soap SHOULD be natural and very much can be.
• Handmade soap is FUN! Immensely fun! The molds, colors, fragrances, embeddable items, oh the possibilities are endless!
• Handmade Soap is eco-friendly, particularly when you use SLS free versions so nasty little chemicals are not going down our drains.
• Handmade Soap supports local businesses if you take care to order from local suppliers and if you cannot order from local suppliers, at the very least you are likely supporting a small business!

So I am not sure how the classes I teach will go, but I am confident we will have fun, get messy, and make some kick arse soap!

Soaps I love:

Surviving a Field Trip to the zoo....

So, life has been kinda crazy lately, and today was a field trip with my son to the zoo. My family will always be more important than my business, jobs, and anything else! So while it was crazy running around the zoo with 3 and 4 yr olds, it was fun (okay, well my son's petrified screaming at the stinging caterpillars on the ground was not so fun.) So we had fun and the zoo is always beautiful!

So tonite I buckle down, get some work done and get orders out! Tonite is soaping night dangnabit!! I have ducky's to make and can't wait to get my new fragrances out! :)

Sooooooooap...I'm coming to you soapy goodness!

~Amy

So You Know You're A Soaper When...

Your arrival of 50 ounces of fragrance oil arrives and you about pee your pants. And you take pictures..(not of the pee, but of aforementioned oils...)

Who needs Christmas? Want presents? Order soap supplies!!

Special Thanks to my Witchy for telling me about the coupon that enabled me to get the oils!

So without further ado....

my oils...
I love them each and every one...

Oh the suspense was killing me...









And of course, you know, when your supplies arrive you SAVE all the popcorn, boxes and wrapping it comes in to reuse later!

My pile of unwrapped bottles of oil.










Good little bottles of fragrance oils all ready to freshen up soon to be made soap. Perchance I purchased just a wee bit too many? Ehhh who cares, they smell good!




Can NOT wait to get to soaping!

Fabric addiction....what fabric addiction?

So...I've been told I have a problem....

whadda ya think?

at least it's all neat!

Drooool on sewers....drool on....

oh and the entire top left pile....
DESIGNER fabric..

Ok so yup I have a problem...

We shant speak of the soap closet either....

I feel tired, oh so tired, but accomplished! :)

I'm tired. Crawl into bed, snuggle up and pass out before Seinfeld tired (that's 10pm Central!). BUT, I feel accomplished! My first ever craft show appearance is next Sunday, and it's been a long road. Man, I hope the customers come! :) I sewed today from 10am-6pm. I am beat! But I made some awesome things for the show, including my own chalk cloth sign for my booth! (Being chalk cloth, I can write whatever I want on it!)

So, if I get a little extra time this week I'll finish up one set of flannel baby bib/wipe sets, and maybe one minky bear (amazingly a teddy bear doesn't take me too long.)
But more importantly to do:

• All the tags, labels, prices for completed inventory..including ingredient label on soaps and bath salts.
• Cut swatch samples for fabric available for custom pants, teddy bears and more! (basically a swatch of all my fabrics!) Organize and label accordingly.
• Print out the 'catalog of ducks' available for ducky soaps, as well as a catalog of ducks I can easily order.
• List of scents available for soaps/salts.
• Prices signs, info signs, etc. Biz cars, CPSIA info all ready to go.
  
• Blockhead Radio print out!
• Price listing sheet...because I won't be there on Saturday (church), my selling partner will be working on Saturday, so I need to leave her a complete list of my items with prices so she can mark off as she sells and I can accurately figure out taxes, etc.
  
• Buy various office supplies/table supplies for set up.
• Drink a large appletini and eat massive amounts of chocolate.
• Sell like I've never sold before.....

That about sums it up....countdown is ON.

Ready for another giveaway!??? Get in here and WIN!

Here is our latest giveaway!!

$25.00 gift certificate from Blue Wings AND a free soap from Purities!!

This is a fantastic giveaway! Winning is EASY PEASEY!

Just visit EITHER shop, and come back here, leave a comment on THIS blog post with the URL of the item you like and why! You have one week to complete this task, should you choose to accept it... (and why wouldn't you?)

REMEMBER to leave a contact email for you in your comment so I can find you to let you know you've won!!!

When the week is over, I'll use my super scientific number generator (my husband) and pick a winner! No, no matter how much chocolate you bribe me with, I let him pick the random number! :)

So get on over to her shops and pick your fave!
Blog about this giveaway and get an extra entry! (Must provide blog POST URL in your comment!)

Blog about the Blockhead Radio Tutu Challenge found HERE, and get an extra entry! (Must provide blog POST URL in your comment.)

Here's a sampling of the great goodies you could win!





Happy Browsing!!!

Find her Blog at bluewingsshop.blogspot.com

Online Party and Giveaway!

Don't forget guys!!

Our online CPSIA party (a thank you for all our hard work and a way to kick back!) will be going on Sunday, Feb 22 at 8 pm on www.blockheadradiolive.com

You can read more about it HERE.

AND,

Do NOT forget the current giveaway...going on HERE!

Enter to win now!!

My Faves: Bath and Body Edition

Hello gang...if you haven't heard I have recently taken up soaping...oh my. Why didn't someone tell me it's so darn addictive?? I'm a goner. I have no room left for ANYTHING, fabric and soap supplies have taken up my home...the kids must sleep outside I guess?

So here are some of my favorite bath and body items!

I did not order this one last time because I feared I may eat it...being a chocoholic and all...












Aliens Rock:



Avocados..I don't eat 'em but they look yummy to bathe with..
Laundry Soap counts as Soap, remember! Save money, Go Green!!

So pretty... So clean...



Soapy Fun from Louisiana:


This isn't soap, it's art! And from Daytona Beach, my second hometown!

Don't Eat the Soap!!

And you have to have something to PUT these awesome soaps on!

And to help use every last drop of your cool soaps!

This is just the tip of the iceberg!! Check out www.etsy.com and just search 'soap' or any of these great teams:
Cafemom Team
Lartisans
Pluggers United

and many more!

----Amy