New Soaps!

Ok, I've been a busy little bee this weekend. First, the soap above is ready for sale. This is a salt spa bar called Beachy and that's exactly what it smells like: clean, salty ocean waves and sand between your toes! To me, this is the perfect scent for a salt spa bar.

Now, my best friend's son loves to come hang out while I make soap, but cold process is not for children because of the dangers associated with sodium hydroxide. He stays out of the kitchen when I'm working with it. So, I decided to give him another option for soapmaking. He made the above soap using a great melt and pour base. This is Champagne & Honey and smells so bubbly and good. I think he did a fabulous job! Don't you?

I made two batches of new salt bars along with a batch of my Spa Rocks salt bars as well. The above bar is Pomegranate and smells delicious! It has notes of dark pomegranate, juicy apple slices, and slights hints of vanilla and musk. A perfect summer soap!


This final soap is also a great summertime fragrance. I call it Sorbet. A stimulating blend of Citrus, including Grapefruit, Lemon and Lime, with hints of fresh Cucumber and Jasmine, and a touch of Pineapple, Blackberry and Champagne. Very fresh!

Sorbet and Pomegranate will be available for sale on May 10th!

Alternative to Paypal

Here is a new online payment system similar to Paypal called Revolution Money Exchange. They have no fees for accepting payments. It looks very promising. This basically appears to be a bank account of sorts and the bank is First Bank and Trust in Brookings, South Dakota. It's FDIC insured as well. Since you are opening an account with them, they do request your Social Security number.

There is a forum post on Etsy showing all of the sellers who now accept RME.

From their website:

Collect online payments for free when your customers use MoneyExchange.

• It's free to collect online payments from buyers with MoneyExchange.
• Sending and receiving payments online between accountholders is free.
• Online transfers to and from your bank account are free.
• Get $10 for accounts you refer — up to $500.*
• Plus, your customers, can sign up for free, and they will get a $25 bonus** if they open an account before April 15, 2008.

You can click the link below to get more information or sign up for an account.

Wonderful Essential Oil Soap

I've been slacking the past few weeks on the soapmaking (and blogging) front so I wanted to give you all a bit of soap porn. This is a soap I recently purchased from a fellow Soaper Stars Team member, ajscountrycottage. She also has a website at www.ajscountrycottage.com. This is her Garden Mosaic Soap which is fragranced with a lovely blend of ylang ylang, patchouli, sweet orange, basil, clary sage, and black pepper essential oils. I just stepped out of the shower after using this bar and it is heavenly and sensuous. All in all, a beautiful soap!

This gal also makes some awesome candles and lip balms!

A little bit of Etsy shopping...

I have been doing a bit of shopping and window shopping on Etsy lately. My most recent purchase was from a fellow Soaper Stars Street Team member cleanbright. She is having a 50% off moving sale which means you'll get a fabulous deal on some beautiful products!

I purchased her Georgia Natural Perfume Oil.

Just listen to the heavenly scents in the perfume oil:

"The main notes are Kewda Attar, Jasmine Grandiflorum, Ylang Ylang and Tree Moss. These are supported by Ambrette Seed, Lime and Benzoin, with just a hint of Black Pepper, Vetiver and Neroli."

Yes, I will be in heaven once this arrives!

I also added the Mommy-in-Waiting Massage Oil to my cart. Yes, I will be hitting up my dear hubby for a massage very soon.


I cannot wait to receive these items! The members of our street team have so much talent and knowledge and I just love their products.

New Additions to my Etsy Shop

I've added 3 more soaps to my Etsy Shop! I have a few more items coming, including a new salt bar, some lip balms, and other great goodies.

Spun Sugar - A very yummy blend of cotton candy, caramel and vanilla!! All gently combined with berries, bergamot, and hints of spices and citrus.

Patchouli Soap - Earthy and true, patchouli lovers out there will be delighted with this soap made with patchouli essential oil.

Absinthe Soap - Our March "Green" challenge from The Etsy Soap Dish. Star anise, grapefruit, and lemongrass essential oils combined to create this delightful scent!

Two Featured Spots!

Wow! I get home today and have been featured on a blog as well as being featured on Talent Database!

The blog that featured me is Aria Images.

Preparing to Make Soap

This is just me playing around with making a small batch of soap. My oils are in the pot and I just need to get my goggles and gloves on so I can pour the lye solution with soy milk into the oils. Then I mix away.

Goggles are sexy, eh? They are definitely required though when making soap. You never want to splash raw soap in your eyes. It will burn like the dickens! Fortunately, I have not had any accidents yet. *knocks on wood*

And below, you'll find the end product:

Passionfruit Rose Lip Balm

My newest lip balm creation can be found in my Etsy shop.

Pamper yourself with this delicious lip balm in Passionfruit Rose flavor. It's an exotic fruity rose that is both cool and tropical. This is a unique and delicious fragrance!

I have carefully formulated this balm to have a nice glide while protecting and nourishing your lips. Castor oil and fractionated coconut oils help make this a non-sticky, non-waxy lip treat! Shea butter and high oleic sunflower oil offer high emollient and skin soothing properties.

Special Deal on Soaps!

Today, I posted a special deal for my soaps on Etsy. You can purchase 5 soaps for $22! If you purchased them separately, you'd pay a bit more. I hope this little package deal will be to everyone's liking. I thought of doing 3 soaps, but I can fit more in a USPS Priority Mail envelope and want to give my customers as much bang for their buck as I can.



Visit my Etsy Store to check it out!

A Treasury!

This morning, I discovered Treasury West on Etsy. I haven't learned what the difference is between Treasury West and a regular Treasury, but I'm working on finding it out right now.

My treasury is called Herbal Obsession and features B&B products that have a herbal scent or based on herbs. I hope you all will check it out and let me know what you think! There are some great products in it.

Update! Treasury West appears to be a "test treasury" so it's not advertised like the main treasury. I do like it because I can get my treasury fix, even if it's not a main treasury. ;)

Today's Soap

Messy mold, but a good smelling soap. I poured it pretty thick so the top had to be textured again. I haven't thought of a name for the soap yet, but the scent is a fruity floral with notes of Bartlett pear, apricot, white peach, plum blossom, and mimosa. Under the mica colored top is a soap colored with rose kaolin clay. I'm hoping for a nice mauve color. We'll see once it's revealed and cut tomorrow.

Lemon Zen

This is one of the bars I make that I could just sniff and sniff. It's lemon with a wonderful twist. Other fragrance notes in this bar are honey, a light woodsiness, and sweet fresh tea. In the end, it turns out to be a refreshing scent that's fabulous in the shower!

Etsy Store - RedCrowArts

Let me tell you, Etsy is about the best thing in my mind. There is an abundance of talent in all areas of things that can be made by hand. Recently, I received 5 ceramic pendants from RedCrowArts.

Handformed Stoneware Pendant

Teardrop Pottery (I love the simplicity of this piece)

Stoneware Clay Tree of Life
Handformed Stoneware Clay Stoneware Clay Leaf Design

Aren't they fabulous? The last two are my favorites. When I get some jewelry making practice in, I plan on putting these beauties on some necklaces.

Ok, it didn't quite work out like I expected.

But, I'm still kind of pleased with the results. Below is a photo of the salt bar disaster cooking in a crockpot. It is a lot smoother than normal cold process soap would be. In fact, though I do rebatch cold process, it can be a bear.

Once I got it in the mold, the top roughened up a bit because this soap starts to harden quickly. This is my first salt bar rebatch and I had to glop it in the mold and spread it out like regular CP. Then, I smoothed it out and put my dividers in.

The finished soap. While she's not beautiful like her sister Amazonia below, she's still a great bar. I washed my hands with her and was very pleased with the lather and feel. I really love salt bars! They are such a nice change from regular soap.

I'm not sure what to name her though. Any ideas? She has a clean scent with soft floral notes. Very spa like. Spa Rocks? ;) I'll have to think about it. Ideas are appreciated.

Amazonia out of the mold. A lady of the jungle whose fragrance reminds one of exotic herbs, rainwater, and floral gardens. She will be ready for sale around February 10.


A little more about salt bars... You'll find that they are very hard, like rocks literally. People assume they are rough and exfoliating, but this is not the case if fine salt is used. Salt bars start becoming like smooth pebbles after the first wash. Depending upon how they are made, they can have a light, thin, creamy lather or a fabulously, bubbly lather that turns more creamy as you wash. If you haven't tried a salt bar (also called spa bars) you should. I highly recommend them!

The Etsy Soap Dish Team!

I'm happy to say that I am a proud member of the Soap Dish's Etsy Team - The Etsy Soap Dish. I know all of my disher sisters are thrilled as well!

A link to The Etsy Soap Dish blog is here. Check out the talent of my fellow dishers! They are fabulous!