Drumroll please…*grin* Hi there! I just wanted to make a quick note that in honor of Cyber Monday I will be offering 10% off all orders (excluding shipping fees and gift certificates) on December 1st. Why fight the crowds when you can shop in your pajamas? 🙂
Tag Archives: body
Big Changes
I’m excited to announce some big changes to my little bath and body business. If you haven’t noticed from my header I’ve changed from Georgia’s Bath Products to Georgia’s Pampering. I also have a new website address! It is now www.georgiaspampering.com and is now hosted together with this blog. I am so tickled to have the two hosted together finally. I didn’t plan on changing names, but I believe a fresh reopening is a great idea.
My original website expired in August, and I wanted to bring the website over to WordPress, but I needed to wait until the end of September for my domain to expire. Sadly the website host renewed the name themselves and I didn’t want to be involved with them anymore, yet didn’t want to keep waiting to see if they would relinquish the domain, so I decided to change everything up.
Although the name change is going to mean a little extra work and, worst of all, some extra costs since I have to do new business cards and banners, I think it worked out for the best. I like that it fits my theme (pampering with natural benefits) and is a little more accurate, since I ventured more into body products after the first few months.
I haven’t decided if I’m going to get another email address to reflect the new name and have the old one redirected. I’m honestly not so sure it’s that big of a deal. The website is an easy to remember name, so people can always go through that to contact me. If anyone would like to put in their two cents I appreciate the input!
I’ll be tweaking the new site for some time to come and will put new products up within a month, hopefully. I’ve had some new medical challenges and injuries to deal with, let alone the pressure I put on myself to get my new site live (not to mention the incredible pressure of picking a new name!), so I’ve only made a few of my standard lotions lately. I’ve been writing up some ideas though, so cross your fingers that I can start working on them, please! *grin* I’m eager to try some new twists.
I hope you like the new site. If you have any troubles with it or would even like to provide feedback, please don’t hesitate to do so. It’s near and dear to me, but I want this to be a much easier site to navigate (although I can’t afford to have an online cart sadly). In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful week and happy pampering. 🙂
Inspiration
If you have looked at my recent Pinterest activity (if you didn’t know I was on there, then it’s easy to find me by searching for Georgia Cornelison for the pinner), then you know that I’ve been playing with ideas for some themed combos/baskets. One that I love thinking about is a monster themed basket. Most of the items can be standard products with little twists, much like the Redneck options, but with a decidedly more…morbid twist. *grin*
One such item that keeps rattling around in my mind is a bubble bath – er, blood bath. *laugh* I saw a pin for a container of red bubble bath that resembled a bag of blood/plasma. I can’t tell you how excited the Poe-loving side of me is over that idea. With this rattling around while I looked over the end of year sale my wholesaler had yesterday I ended up buying a set of zipper bags. They hold around 2 ounces and even stand on their own! How cool is that?! Anyway, most mention using it for samples of bath salts, which I will definitely be trying too, but I want to see if a little “blood bath” will work in the bag. Check this out:
Although I’m trying to decide which zombie and Frankenstein items to narrow in on (so many ideas!!), I decided to also splurge and get the really nice mold for Popsicle soaps. Look at this little guy:
It was a bit more than I usually want to spend on materials I can’t really justify as necessities, but it’s silicone and guaranteed to work for soaps. I loved the failed Popsicle soaps I made before the holidays and knew I really wanted some good Popsicle soaps all year around. I saw some really wicked (oh man, I almost went to the “wicked cool”, so you know I’m getting all wound up about this) Popsicle soaps that were in Halloween colors and they embedded toy spiders in the ends. Wow!! How awesome would a play on that look in that Monster combo?! I’ve thought of doing some Frank colored ones or some toxic yellow ones. *grin* There are SO many options!
As you can tell, I’m having a lot of fun looking at the brilliance and creativity of others, and in thinking of what possibilities would work for me. I am so excited. *smile* I’m still looking into trademark issues for other theme ideas, but I am pretty set on a few things. I want a zombie repellent soap, a blood bath, and a demented Popsicle soap, bare minimum. Isn’t it fun to think of all of the options?
Anyway, I don’t want to keep you reading if you’re still suffering the after effects of a late night. I hope you’re enjoying your New Year and have a wonderful rest of the week!
Blessed
Remember that slice mold I used for the “Slice of Peppermint Pie” and “Slice of Roadkill Remains”? I’m still obsessed with it. *grin* This time I went a little more traditional and did a version of a fudge ripple cake. You can’t tell that I’m in the mood for the delicious baked goods of the season, right? *laugh* I thought that a fudge ripple would look awesome and would break up the colors a bit, while letting me avoid trying to find more than an hour’s worth of patience. I admit that I’ve been pretty restless lately, so I’ve been sticking with quick gratification, and this was perfect for it. What do you think?
I planned to frost the slices Monday since I knew that Miss Ash would be here to help, but there were a few complications. *begins to bite my lip while trying to find a way to make it sound a little better than it really ended up being…* Things started out pretty well. I had all of the ingredients gathered and was measuring the FO when she came in. While she filled me in on school and the other fun details of young teen life I started to heat the soap. With her here I figured a half batch of bath frosting would be a wise decision, so we could have some fun together, yet still get to the bigger project that I really needed an extra set of hands for. I wanted to get Ash used to using the scale and how to tare it, so I had her measure out the bath whip. I should have known when the spatula bent as she tried to scoop some out that this wasn’t going to go well. (Our woodstove is still being repaired, so the house is still pretty chilly, but I had been active and quickly overheat, so I didn’t notice this. I’ve thought through all of this for hours and finally realized that this was the first domino that fell. It’s only right to fill you in on my realization. *laugh*) Well, with a metal spoon and a butter knife we were able to get the whip out, although, yet again, warning bells should have gone off, but I didn’t notice that the spoon got impressively bent during this task. *face palm* Miss Ash is very deliberate and cautious, so things took a bit longer and the melted soap began to set up slightly. (Yeah, those dag on warning bells again…*sigh*) I showed her how to get the mixer set up and started mixing the whip with some glycerin I noticed that it didn’t have the consistency that I remembered from when I made the cookie wash soaps last year. I held out hope and gave her the melted soap to add to the mixture. As she did this I added some stabilized FO (so that it won’t discolor later from the massive amount of vanilla that is in Christmas Eve Cookies, the FO I used throughout all of the soap layers). While I was putting a few things away I heard some weird noises coming from the mixer. (You’re welcome to shake your head at this point. We both know this is just going to get worse. Lol.) I turned off the mixer and poked at the mixture with a spatula, and realized that the soap had solidified between taking too long during prep and it being too cold in the room. Hey, bath and body products require a lot of quick problem solving and that was basically my career before I became disabled, so I did a little quick thinking and put the bowl in a sink full of hot water, and had Miss Ash keep rotating the bowl around, so the soap would melt off of the sides of the bowl. I figured the whip attachment would also help (realistically I should have used it in the beginning, but it was the least of the problems really). After things were pliable again we whipped the mixture for a few minutes and I started to add more glycerin. This mixture had started to look really weird, so I figured maybe a little more moisture would stabilize it. Nope. *laugh* I turned it off after a few minutes and packaged it in an empty jar to deal with later, so I could salvage the rest of the night. I’ll spare you any pictures, because it looks like curdled milk at this point, and somehow the smell got a bit distorted. I can still detect the vanilla, although there is definitely some funk going on, while Larry insists (with a very puzzled look of “Why in the world are you topping the soap with…”) that it smells like burnt buttered popcorn. Yum. Nothing like curdled milk and burnt buttered popcorn to make you feel pampered, right? *grin*
Thankfully the big project went well. I needed to make a huge batch of heavy duty sugar scrub for Larry and then a little to have on hand. With the movements and shaking I have some trouble with keeping the jar lip clean when making scrub now, so I figured young hands would be perfect for this. It took a little longer than I had intended, since we took time for explanations and demonstrations of things that she was unfamiliar with, but we ended up with something like 70 ounces worth of scrub. *happy dance* Thankfully I use repurposed empty supply jars for his items and jarring went pretty well. I have to admit that I felt like a superhero by the end, because Miss Ash had learned so much in the two hours together, and she totally had that awesome “mind blown” look going on. *grin* She learned how to use and read a pipette, why sugar is used in scrub, how can sugar be safe for your skin if your dentist doesn’t want you to eat it, what pumice powder is and how it works, what poppy seeds are (let me tell you that the seeds are incredible for heavy duty exfoliating!), what humectants are and how they work in soap, and how to convert measurements. She’s going to be SO far ahead of her classmates now.
To make the evening end on an even better note she told me that she always loves coming over to work with me. Not only does she get to do “cool things”, but it always smells so “awesome” in my house. Then Miss Ash’s mom came over to pick Ash up and bought a Redneck Gift Basket. Yay!
Although the frosting was a disgusting failure I am pretty happy overall with our time. The actual cake soap still looks fantastic and I was smart enough to not try the frosting on ay of the soap, so I can still try again. Larry’s stocked up on his scrub. Miss Ash lit up like a Christmas Tree when I surprised her with a few of the glitter bar soaps that she had made at her last visit, so she can give them as gifts or show them off. Best of all, we both learned a lot. The youthful way of just shrugging off failures and just look to what’s next instead is something I have always struggled with, but with her literally turning and asking “what’s next?” I was finally able to. I’m still smacking my forehead, but I’m doing a lot better with just shrugging it off and laughing. And Miss Ash learned a lot of little tidbits that should help with school, and hopefully even a few skills to help her with life.
This Christmas I think the best gift will be this. Knowing that a young girl can see me as a kind of rock star and not see the things that I can no longer do. That I was able to have a good impact and that I got to see that thirst for information light up in her eyes. No matter if the pies burn, the turkey turns out dry, or I have a fall and can’t walk between now and Christmas, I’m blessed. And all because I believe we should all get pampered sometimes. I couldn’t ask for much more.
I wish the same for you this holiday. Whatever your beliefs and your traditions, I wish you happiness, personal development, and the feeling that no matter how different you are, or how your life has changed, that you are still a rock star in somebody’s eyes.
My first sale!
I’ve done a few events in the two years I’ve been building my little business, but this is my first full site sale. In honor of Cyber Monday I decided to offer 20% off all items. I pushed hard to get the big combos/baskets done in time and am so proud of that.
One thing I’ve been a little sad that I couldn’t accomplish was getting two kid combos available for this sale. Unfortunately I ran out of vanilla stabilizer, which keeps soap from turning brown due to the vanilla content in the scents (which all holiday scents I’ve hoarded have apparently lol). I put in an order for more at the beginning of last week, but apparently because I had a small order I wasn’t quite as high of a priority, and my order is still awaiting processing once they return from the extended down time. I’m glad that they got to have an extended time to enjoy their family and the season, so I definitely don’t hold it against them, and it was my fault for not noticing I was going to run out during the most critical time. I just really hope they get it sent out in the morning!
I have been itching to make the new soaps for the holiday. I found some cute little flexible centipede toys that I want to embed.
Aren’t they cute?! They’re not “worms in dirt”, but I think they will work perfectly in the Dirt FO as a stocking stuffer. *grin* I also found some cute holiday erasers to embed. I might have mentioned them before, but I don’t think I shared a picture. I think guest rounds with one or two of these would be pretty adorable.
To top things off I am writing this post from my brand new laptop. Larry was incredibly awesome and got me my first laptop on Black Friday. I’ve wanted one for so many years and most of my interests have required gaming computers, so I was super lucky that they had a massive sale on a gaming laptop. *cheesy grin* Just in time to have my business recipes on hand when I really need them.
Cross your fingers, please, that the sale is a success. In the meantime, I’m going to go re-watch last season’s finale of Doctor Who. Bo has felt a bit neglected that my lap has been full, so I haven’t given enough snuggles to “the poor puppy” lately. *grin* I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrated it and that you have found some great deals if you’re into Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 🙂
Put the Lime in the Coconut
Oh. My. I have been testing some fractionated coconut oil and although I expected it to make a nice body and massage oil, I was surprised by just how well it has done. The quick and easy explanation of fractionated is that it’s a process to make the oil have a better an longer shelf life. Aside from that, coconut oil itself is used in lots of applications.
As you know I’m quite a fan of sweet almond oil (SAO) for my body oils since it moisturizes for so long, applies beautifully, and leaves the skin so silky. I decided to start with a 50/50 blend of SAO and the coconut oil (CO). Since I hadn’t used CO before I didn’t want to jump in fully. The blend dried much quicker and didn’t leave such a wet feeling like straight SAO does, which makes it better for when I need to dress quickly or I’m having one of those “Ew, if anything sits long I’ll feel icky”. (Yeah, I have some weird moments. *grin*) The really impressive part is how well it has worked on a few stubborn dry patches that are pretty much unaffected by all of my lotions, as well as the store bought ones I’ve tried. It literally worked on all of my patches for a solid week before they started to act up again. Wow!
I’ll experiment with a 25/75 blend next and will use it again on several skin zones. Admittedly the 50 blend would probably be incredibly effective when used daily, but I want to do the extreme tests first. Plus, you know me. I like to have, and give, lots of options, not to mention I love the challenge of experimentation. *grin*
I’m pretty excited to have new options to offer and this might be the perfect product for other skin ailments, especially for others who have failed with other traditional treatments. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to have an excuse to sing the “(Put the Lime in the) Coconut” song. 😉
Bring on the Sweets
I’ve been sniffing my new FOs for a couple of days now and almost put off this post, because I’m still on the fence on a few of them. I’m seriously tickled with the add ins I got for the baskets, at least.
Almost every one of the new FOs I decided to try out smell either like Vanilla/Buttercream or Butterscotch, it seems. *laugh* That’s why I keep sniffing them. I keep thinking that the next sniff I might suddenly smell a different set of notes that would make a few of these make sense, but no luck yet. *grin* First off, Marshmallow does not smell anything like I expected. Granted, I’m totally fine with the packaged little pillows of sugar, but in my experience the fresh ones are just a little more flavorful with stronger vanilla, but the FO is so different. There’s a strong buttercream note, but also butterscotch. Huh?! I was looking forward to making some interesting blends if it smelled like I had expected. The butterscotch is really throwing me off. *grin* Christmas Eve Cookies was a little different too, with the expected buttercream as the dominant note, but the spices were a lot mellowed than the description implied. It smells like a rich, crumbly, buttery, shortbread cookie at least. Hot Buttered Rum smells good, although it’s straight up butterscotch to me. *laugh* I think it’ll be nice as a massage oil or bath salt, but I don’t think I’ll be going with it for lotion. I am really happy with Madagascar Black Pepper, which has no surprises. It’s straight up peppery, which I think will give some umph to florals, the unisex cologne scents, and I want to try blending it with my old Jacob’s blend. Mmm mmm mmm.
I am so happy with the two bath sponges/poufs! The first is such a pretty color and the second is so different with strings at each end. Perfect for a man’s basket, I think.
First the spa pouf
Next is the more unique one
To add to the spa basket I also got some of those cool eye masks (not descriptive, they’re literally cool because you refrigerate them, I mean *grin*). Usually I get blue or teal ones, but I found these clear ones on surplus, so that’ll help cut a few dollars down to then spend on lotions and whatnot for people who are building their own baskets.
Finally, the item I’m most excited about. Ground luffa (loofah)! (Yeah, it’s kind of pathetic to get so excited over this, but I guess that’s what makes this the ramblings of someone mad, right? *sassy grin*) I admit that I thought it would seem more dense, but I think it’s going to be a perfect change to the Men’s Scrub still. Being lighter might work out a lot better in the shower than the heavy seeds, too, which will be a huge win. *crossing fingers* I really like the look of it for some reason.
I also got a little wild. I qualified for a free soap color sample and went waaaay out of my normal range. I haven’t decided what mold that would utilize this color well, but I’m really excited to give it a whirl. Apparently there’s still a glitter loving little girl underneath the sarcasm and slight morbid [no snickering you in the back!] tendencies. *grin* Check out this shimmery gold.
I wish it photographed a little better, but at least the company picture did a much better job at capturing the sparkle than I could do. *laugh* Reviewing my attempts kept bringing to mind a few unfortunate viewings inside of diapers, so I was really glad that I could grab the pics from the wholesaler’s site. *grin*
I am crossing my fingers that I’ll have a very productive day in my near future and get to experiment a bit. There is some coconut oil and even primrose oil that I am itching to test. And apparently I’m unknowingly in the mood to test a few variations of vanilla and butterscotch. *raising an eyebrow while trying not to laugh* “Fifty Shades of Vanilla” might just be my next blend. 🙂
A Marshmallow World
I thought a little Dean would start this post off right. I know it’s a bit early to have Christmas on the brain, but the couple of months leading to the holidays are a big deal for crafters.
As I always do when I have insomnia I start mapping out ideas about products or researching things, and this week has been no different. I decided that this year I want a different holiday sugar scrub, so I figured it was about time to put in a supply order. *happy sigh* If you’ve been reading my posts, then you know I have a scent hoarding issue and can’t resist getting at least one new scent to try whenever I order supplies. My bank account cries, but I get all giddy, so the universe evens out. *grin*
Now here’s the tie in to the title. I am finally getting my hands on the Marshmallow FO that I’ve been wanting ever since I read about it. Most people love smelling something sweet and comforting, and marshmallows are great year round, so it’s not really too seasonal of a scent. S’mores, cherry chiffon, and hot cocoa…Marshmallow dominant foods really should be their own food group. *a goofy smile takes over as I daydream about the sugary pillows of delight* Oh yeah, I’m supposed to be writing something halfway intelligent about bath and body products. (You’re welcome to do Homer’s signature “doh” there. I’ll allow it this time. Maybe not next time, so I advise that you take advantage. *laugh*)
To add some depth to a few scents I splurged on the Madagascar Black Pepper FO, too. In regular situations pepper makes me sneeze and whatnot, but when it’s a lower note in a complex scent blend, boy howdy! Suddenly my eyebrow lifts, I get a little sassy smile, and see Gerard Butler smiling at me in my mind’s eye. (Got me why, but I just know he has a complex and masculine scent to go with that smile, those abs, and that bad boy vibe. Pepper and a hint of leather. I just can’t decide if he’s more of a crisp Black Tie FO or the woodsy notes of Twilight Woods for the dominant notes. I could totally suffer through either. You know, do my part and all. I’m a giving person like that.) Anywho! I’m excited to get to experiment with that and hopefully add an interesting note to some scents that haven’t really done the elusive “it” for me yet.
While trolling new seasonal scents I landed on Christmas Cookies and managed to justify ordering it since it was fifty cents off. Lol. Yeah, I can justify almost anything if I really want it. *grin* It’s supposed to have dominant notes of buttery shortbread with a bit of vanilla and spice. I’m really hoping that it smells as yummy as it looks, because this is what I hope to use for a “sweet treats” sugar scrub instead of gingersnaps.
To finish my splurging I added Hot Buttered Rum to the mix. Several users commented that it smelled like butterscotch, so I think it’ll make an interesting FO to play with. If I smell more of a rum note then it might just have to mingle with the Egg Nog FO I got on sale a little bit back. A spiked egg nog bubble bath might be pretty sigh inducing come holiday time. Well, especially if I have a glass of the real deal in hand while I’m relaxing.
I also got a few items to amp up the pampering power (suddenly I heard “puppy power” in my head when writing that. Ah, Scrappy, I’ve missed you.). I’m getting tired of rinsing poppy and flax seeds out of the bath tub from Larry using the Men’s Scrub every day, so I decided to experiment with powdered luffa in the scrub. The improved scrub has worked great for him and still gets most of the gunk from Goodyear off of him, but for the sake of less nagging about rinsing the bath out after a shower, I figure it’s worth experimenting with a replacement for the seeds. The luffa soaps never hold up long for him, but he likes them, so I thought maybe a miracle can happen. ‘Tis the season coming up and all that jazz. If it works, then he’s getting a few buckets of it in his Christmas stocking. *grin* If a product can hold up to his intense use without nagging, then it’s a winner. I also ordered two kinds of body puffs; one is regular, but the other is a long and less frilly one, so I think that might be good in a men’s Christmas basket. *crossing my fingers* I added some spa eye masks since I haven’t done a play on the original spa baskets yet, and then a few samples of new colors.
I’m hoping the new items will strike me with some inspiration and that I’ll be doing a little better by the time I receive them, so I can make even half of what is on the new master list. At least I’ll have some sweetness for my oil burners while I pop my earbuds in and secretly listen to Dean and Bing singing about the wonders of the holidays. If only that dreamy snow didn’t make huge drifts in the driveway and make the path to the wood pile seem a mile long. At least a girl can dream when she’s listening to the happy crooners. I hope you get to enjoy “A Marshmallow World” in your dreams tonight.
A Short Stack and a Stroll
It’s actually taken me a few days to finish everything up so that I could write about all of it. Thankfully my insomnia (never usually used together, but for once it was handy) helped me get quite a bit done in the wee hours.
One night I had the random weird thought that I could retry the pancake mold and do red velvet pancakes instead. I figured that it would let me experiment with the new brown dye and a red that I seldom ever use, plus try the new technique that I read about using a monoject for fine line soap decorating. The camera didn’t capture the color quite right, but it’s a medium brown soap with a hint of red to it. I ended up doing two thin pancakes for a short stack (three looked weird for some reason).
While those soaps were cooling I spotted that hot pink powder pigment that I was so excited about months ago, but never got around to trying. I have to clarify a possible misconception here. I like pink, sometimes a lot, and pampering myself, more than a lot, but I’m not a girly girl usually. I discovered about a year ago that hot pink for some reason makes me feel like a badass. Especially when it’s paired with black. There’s that little “Oh, I’m feminine” and then a bit of “And I’m obnoxiously in-your-face. Whatcha gonna do about it?!” I know, I have issues, but don’t judge. We all have our little badass quirks. Mine is oddly focused around a color. Lol. So… I got out the gorgeous packet and broke the seal with what was most likely an evil smile. Since it was 6AM by this point I decided I’d only do a few small star soaps and that Cotton Candy FO seemed to fit this soap. *Starts fidgeting now and whistling innocently* Now, keep in mind that I hadn’t slept in nearly 24 hours at this point. I wasn’t in a highly intelligent mode by then. But I was still as stubborn as ever and wanted to finish up. Figured it out yet? I totally screwed up when I added the pigment. I don’t usually ever use powder pigments and it honestly never hit my sluggish brain that it has to be incorporated differently than the regular stuff. I sprinkled the powder into the melted soap and watched as it chunked up like bad gravy clumps. Even whisking like I was possessed didn’t save the soap. However, I saw hot pink and my badass side whispered to just go for it even if it’s all wrong.
The stars are kind of cute with the concentrated spots and I plan to play it off as though I wanted this all along. The hint of glitter in there just adds to that feeling that it was all done on purpose. I was concerned about people actually turning hot pink though when coming into contact with those clumps, so one star sacrificed itself to some rigorous use. No body parts were harmed in this test and I remained as pasty as Casper, so I’m declaring it safe. See, my badass side is totally cool with imperfection. Too bad that one doesn’t control my OCDs, but oh well.
Still high on my hot pinkness a few days later I unmolded the super chocolaty smelling pancake soaps and opened my special monojects. Being able to do find detail soap would allow me to carry out a ton of ideas that have been set to mute for now, because they need that extra special detail work. I melted some white soap, left it unscented, and sucked some up in the monoject. I rushed over to the short stack and tried to eject the soap while I swished my hand back and forth to do that fancy squiggle chefs do with icing or sauces. I tried so hard to depress the plunger that my hand actually hit the soap when the plunger finally sent itself flying backward. (There’s a tiny smudge that I tried to cover with the next round of “cream cheese”, but hopefully it’s not super noticeable.) Apparently getting the soap extra hot didn’t overcome how quickly it can cool in a thin tip.
So, yeah, that happened. Air is not stronger than quickly congealed soap and the air will fight to come out the only other path that it has, so make sure you’re wearing goggles. Lol.
It took several light burns and two days to get all traces of soap out. Seriously. Lol.
I ended up saving what soap I could and using a beaker with a spout to try and make the lines. Instead of looking like a fine chef did them it’s more like a kid using the frosting packet on those toaster strudel things. *cracking up* Here’s where I challenge the customer to just use their imagination a little. I tried. It’s still soap and won’t look like this anyway once you use it. It shrink wrapped up pretty perfectly too. Yay! Something went right!
I decided to add the red velvet short stack to my basket that I’m donating for the raffle for the Sunset Stroll next month in Overbrook, KS. Although the event is now fundraising for all forms of cancer instead of just breast cancer, I stuck with some of the pink theme and aimed for a young girl themed donation for the first time. Fruity Patootie Bubble Wash, Fruity Loopy Goat’s Milk V2 Lotion sample, some of the hot pink star soaps, the stack, a bottle of Monsters Away, and a princess rubber duck all tucked into a heart basket with pink Easter grass. I kind of like it actually, even though the cutesy stuff doesn’t usually work for me.
Along with the basket I’m donating fifty of those heat sealed lotion packets that I love and am terrified of ever trying to make again. *laugh* I kind of think it’s worth the burns for such a sharp little sample.
So, maybe I’ll put on the hot pink and black striped scarf I just crocheted and get the nerve to make some more packets. Well, not today. I want to try to sleep and there’s a heat advisory warning all ready at 3:48 in the morning. I’d probably give myself heat stroke working in the kitchen with hot stuff while wearing a huge scarf. Lol. *raising my finger (and probably an eyebrow – that sucker moves around on its own like a thin caterpillar some days)* I will get my hot pink badass on and make more heat seal packets one of these days.
What gives you a super jolt of confidence? A red power suit or lipstick? Sleek leather pants? Naughty drawers that you keep a secret? Dare to share? 🙂
I’m Feeling Hot, Hot…oh never mind
The coordinator for the Sunset Stroll, an annual cancer awareness event (previously the theme was breast cancer, but it has been expanded to raise awareness and funds for all cancers), got hold of me and confirmed that the event will be September 25th in Overbrook, KS. I decided it probably wasn’t smart to reserve booth space this time, so I’m sticking with samples for the swag bags for the first 100 people and then a gift basket for a raffle.
Now, I don’t know if you read the previous posts with the new sample packets that I found to use for this event. They look awesome and are such a cool idea. I mean, silver heat seal packets. That’s sharp! I managed to get in the kitchen and work on some of the samples.
While the lotion and emulsifying wax were getting hot and cozy I hit the reviews on the bags to see if anyone had some tips, since that opening is incredibly tiny and heated lotion is blistering hot. I’m seriously glad that I found a tip to use a flat iron instead of a standard iron (you know, that hunk of metal and plastic that’s hiding in the closet with buttons you’ve never figured out), but absolutely nobody had tips on actually getting the lotion in there. I had a stroke of “brilliance”, yeah, we’ll go with that word for now, and got out the monoject I had gotten for piping details on soap. It took some trial and error until I found a good amount of lotion while leaving space to seal the packets.
The monoject worked well for a bit and I figured out that I could carry the blistering hot packet in the beaker and iron it right in there, then just slide it out onto the counter.
(The pictures of ironing the end are rather odd looking, so only the photo streaming troll will ever see those weird shots. Use that awesome imagination that I’m sure you have. *grin*)
Back to that brilliant idea of the monoject…at about twenty-five completed packets it kind of exploded. Let me tell you that lotion smells nauseating when it splatters onto a burner and sizzles into a weird black patch. *wrinkling nose in disgust* We won’t talk about the pool of lotion that didn’t mop up overly well at first. Lol.
Thankfully I’m a creative problem solver and will persistent despite minor fingertip burns, and I got fifty samples all done up. They need labels, but I need my feet up and a root beer way more. *grin*
I think they look like there is a generous sample inside too, when in reality there’s less than a half ounce in each packet. I’m pretty happy with them, despite such a steep learning curve. Another upside to this, as I told my friend, if you need anything heat sealed after this I’m your huckleberry. 😉
Georgia's Pampering 