Flowers in/on soap and CPOP

I think this is such a cute idea and I've seen so many creative bars with flowers, oatmeal, coffee, etc... that I had to try it!

The yellow flowers on top are Calendula which is apparently a fancy name for a type of Marigold, lol.. who knew?

I used yellow and green as my color scheme, I think I'll have to do more pictures tomorrow because most of the bars have more green in them so this really isn't the best representation. (or maybe I need to take a photography class and learn how to take a good picture, lol)

These were made with Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Almond Oil, Shea Butter, Castor Oil, Jojoba Oil and the scent is Yuzu which is an East Asian citrus fruit that just smells fabulous. Very clean and refreshing.

I made a new soap batch tonight, I'm trying to come up with a nice facial bar. I put honey and oatmeal in it and I'm anxious to see if they came out. I think they may have started to go through gel phase while I was still stirring so I stuck them in the oven to see if I could help it out a bit. This apparently has it's own fancy name.. CPOP, Cold Process Oven Process.. apparently the heat helps the bars go through gel phase. I had originally heard this cuts down on the curing time but I've been researching forums & websites and I'm not seeing anything that can confirm this so I'm not going to count on it.

New Mold!

I got this today :)

It's the 18-bar mold from Brambleberry.com and I can't wait to use it!

I think I'm going to test it with another batch of the Lavender Bars... I'm a little nervous cause it'll be the largest batch I've done yet, I think I'll be able to have more versatility with designs like swirls though... how exciting!

Test Success!

We've tested the Shaving Soap, Ocean Bars and Lavender Bars and they are all fabulous!

The shaving bars produce a great lather and leave the skin feeling smooth and moisturized, The Ocean & Lavender bars also have great lather and leave your skin feeling moisturized and smelling great!

I'm going to put the shave bars up for sale soon but I'm going to wait a bit on the Ocean & Lavender bars since they're still a bit soft.

Oh! I also created new labels for the Lip Balms, I like them more than the original packaging... they're a lot less "girly" as my boyfriend puts it, lol.

I'd love to know what you all think of them!

New Lip Balm flavors coming soon!

Very soon I will be adding Latte, Vanilla, Chocolate Orange Truffle and Mint Julep to my lip balm line.

Keep your eyes & ears open for these brand new additions!

I personally can't wait to try out the Latte :)

Need to sidetrack just for a moment...

and say Happy Birthday to my mom.

She is one of the most amazing, giving, strong, "insert all the good words here" person that I know... I can only hope that a bit of her rubbed off on me.

Thank you for always being there, being supportive and believing in me.

I love you mom

-M

Lavender Bars

These turned out better than I thought they would! Completely not what I was expecting them to look like. I thought the colors were going to mix together and they'd be mostly lavender but as you can see I was wrong by a long shot. I really like how it's simple and subtle.

The buds don't look like mouse droppings! I mean, they do if you really examine them but just by looking at the bar of soap they give it a nice textured look to it... I'll have to see how they feel when I'm able to test them.

Last but not least, the smell is so soothing... it's lavender with just a hint of vanilla to it.. very calming and relaxing...

If these pass the use test I'd definitely recommend buying them when they go up for sale!

Lavender Buds

My mom grows lavender in her yard and I absolutely love the scent so I figured I'd try to make some bars with lavender buds even though everything I've read says they don't keep their color, they actually turn brown and sometimes look like mouse droppings, lol

I made them night before last so i'll probably take them out of the mold later tonight & take pics tomorrow... I tried to do them with a lavender swirl but I added color at a really light trace so I'm afraid the color may have blended together and they'll just be a solid lavender.. either way they'll probably still be pretty as far as color goes... we'll see about those buds :)

Made these the other night

I think they turned out really pretty. They smell fabulous... it's kind of hard to describe, a combination of Ocean & fresh laundry I suppose, lol... I'll have to come up with my own custom name for the fragrance

I have one of the bars sitting on my desk & I keep smelling it :)

My first items are up for sale!

I put all four flavors of lip balm up for sale on Etsy today!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/tranquilelements

I'd love some feedback on the listing.. if you think it sounds good or if something else would sound more "catchy"

How exciting!

Lip Balm Labels

I came up with these labels for the lip balms made with lavender butter. In the picture they look blue but they're actually lavender in color. I'm not 100% sure I like them yet so any feedback is appreciated!

Shaving Soap

I decided to try my hand at shave soap... wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about your can running out right in the middle of shaving?? Plus you'd lessen you're environmental impact!

I made these guys with Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Bentonite Clay, Sweet Almond Oil and Vitamin E. I didn't add any color or fragrance to them.. I believe the greenish hue is from the bentonite clay.

I think the hardest part about the whole soapmaking business is the initial waiting period. It takes about 4-6 weeks before a bar is cured enough to be tested. I still need to test my recipes to see if they need changing or if they're good as they are before I go crazy and make a ton of product.

tick tock

Lip Balm with Lavender Butter

I'd really been wanting to try a recipe with the Lavender Butter I have, so I put together a recipe with Sweet Almond Oil, Beeswax, Lavender Butter, Cocoa Butter and Vitamin E... I kept half plain and added Honey Flavor Oil to the other half and I just have to say these are fantastic!

I haven't tried the plain, just the honey so I don't know if the plain ones taste or smell of lavender or not.

I love both the consistency and the flavor of this batch though, I will definitely be making more!

I'm still having a challenge with making labels for the lip balms but as soon as I do I'm going to place them up for sale in my Etsy shop. There's nothing up for sale in it now but if you'd like to save the link for when there is, the url is:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/tranquilelements

Lip Balm Sucess!

I love it!

I'm a Cherry Chapstick addict so it was a big thing for me to try and switch to something else but the lip balm I made has pretty much the same consistency which is awesome! The only thing I need to change about it is more Cherry flavor in the next batch, other than that I've officially switched!

Next up... Honey Flavored and Root Beer Flavored lip balms!

I also think I'm going to buy different packaging, I got the plain white tubes but I think clear or "colored see through" would look a lot better...

Now to design labels...

My first batch of lip balm

I just poured them so it'll be a while before I'm able to test how they are. Half are no scent/flavor and the other half are cherry flavored.

It was pretty easy to do, I used a basic recipe of beeswax, coconut oil, cocoa butter, almond butter and vitamin e.

I'll see ow these turned out & tailor them from there...

I got a sunburn yesterday and my lips are chapped a bit and I've been putting aloe on them, I'm wondering if I can somehow incorporate aloe into a lip balm ingredient and if it would do any good or if there's something else out there that would be better to use for healing properties.

I also have lavender butter.. I wonder how that would be....

Got my table!!

Here's a before & after pic... it's still a work in progress :) We're gonna put up some shelves & something underneath to protect the floor from the oils... at least my house is finally starting to get cleaned up again though!

The first bars!!

I got impatient & wanted to see how they turned out so I popped them out of the mold!

They turned out kinda pretty :) They're still super soft and now have to dry out for 4-6 weeks before they can be tested but the smell heavenly... just like a tangerine :)

These were made from Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Cocoa Butter and Castor Oil

The whole process was so much fun, I'm ready to do more!

I did it!!

Made my first batch of soap tonight! Should know in a few days how it turns out! I'm kinda nervous but excited.. I chose black & purple as colors with a Tangerine scent...

I forgot to take pictures while crafting it up but I'll take pictures after it's out of the mold & sliced up...

cross your fingers!

Finally!

Everything is here!! My house is a mess! Hopefully my new table will be ready this weekend so I can get organized again, lol

In the meantime, I'm going to be busy for the next few days so soaping may have to wait until Monday but I'll see how it goes.

I'm currently researching what recipes I think would be the best to try. Seems I'm gonna have to get good with math & percentages. A lot of recipes are like 40% of something, 40% of something else, 10% of this & 10% of that, lol... I think a lot of fun will come from experimenting with different formulas to find what I like the best. Here's to hoping it doesn't get frustrating!

Oh, I'm kicking around the idea of using Tranquil Elements as a business name... any opinions on that?

It's like Christmas!

Well, it was yesterday but I forgot to post this!

Four boxes were delivered yesterday! Of course, the one with the lye won't be delivered until later today so I still have to wait a bit before I can start on the soap making, lol. I think I have all the stuff to start on the lip balms & lotions though... trying to settle on a recipe now... I'll let you know how it goes!

Melt & Pour

Here are some different soaps I did a while back using M&P.... So much fun just to get a feel for it. The animals are erasers I borrowed from the girls, lol

oh, the scents from left to right are: tangerine, oatmeal milk & honey, hot apple pie & honeysuckle

Soap Dishes!

We crafted up these guys over the weekend... they turned out pretty good :)

I'm thinking about selling them individually or one free with the purchase of five soaps...

boxes boxes!

My stuff has started to arrive!

I received a couple little things on Friday, some scents & such and the Shea & Cocoa Butter came today. Looks like the bulk of products I ordered will be here on Wednesday, I can't wait! My table isn't quite finished being built yet though so the house is gonna be in a small state of disaster probably until the weekend...

I'm starting to get a little nervous, lol....

and I still am stuck on coming up with a business name!

The best chocolate chip cookies ever...

It's pretty much the Original Nestle Toll House recipe with a couple of personal tweaks to it :)

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups flour
1tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1c (2 sticks) butter (fully melted in the microwave)
3/4c granulated sugar
3/4c light brown sugar (packed)
3tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 12oz bag semi-sweet choc. chips
1 6oz bag white chocolate chips (or approx half a 12oz bag)

Preheat oven to 375°

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl
Beat granulated sugar, light brown sugar, vanilla & butter in a bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate & white chips.

Refrigerate dough for 5-10min

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheets. (my drops are around the size of a ping-pong ball, you do what works for you)

Bake for 7-8min but no more than that...
They will probably still look raw in the center and if you try to eat them hot they'll fall apart (still super yummy!) but trust me, after they've cooled they'll be awesome.

Order Placed!

I placed an order, well, multiple orders for just about everything I'm gonna need to get started on soaps, lip balms & lotions... I think the only think I haven't placed an order for yet is for the lip balm & lotion containers, I'll do that sometime today...

I can't wait.... sometime in the next week to a week and a half I should be receiving boxes of stuff, it'll be like Christmas!

In the meantime, maybe I'll whip up some yummy recipes to post instead :)

I was a little worried about the whole lye bit...

but now I'm good...

We know a couple who also makes soap (where I got the idea from) and I went to their place today to see the process in action. I had been a little scared about using lye but it was so simple that I'm good now. Tomorrow I'm going to start ordering my lye, oils, butters and whatever else catches my eye so I can get this show on the road!

They do HP soap though... I'll probably dabble in it a little since it has a shorter curing time but I think I'm gonna lean more towards some CP product since I love the whole artistic aspect of it.

I can't wait to get this going!

Post One...

I'm really just posting this so I have an idea of what my layout is going to look like....

I've recently ventured into the world of soaping and handmade bath & beauty products and I'm kicking around the idea of blogging to go along with it... oh, sometimes I cook good stuff too so that might be fun to post about also :)

So, I guess we'll see how it goes...