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A little bit of work

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

It was storming heavily last night, so I didn’t have the lure of Netflix or the computer since I unplugged them to be safe. I am feeling a little better, so I figured I’d slowly get some products made.

I filled my Mom’s order for stocking stuffer 1 ounce lotions. I was getting ready to pour some holiday scent 4 ounce lotions, but after making the 1 ounce ones for Mom I really liked the idea of having some sample or travel size lotions to offer. Plus it’s a great size to put in baskets. So I made 1 ounce lotions instead and since I had warmed a nice amount of lotion base to make several 4 ounce ones, I was able to make a whole lot of lotions. I ended up with spiced gumdrops, hot apple pie, spa, south pacific waters, and gingersnap cookies. All but one spa were for Mom’s order, but I made eight of almost everything. I have several options to go into the Christmas sampler now!

I also made several oils. I made a wintergreen EO oil that smells amazing and gave a really neat feeling to my skin when I tried it. You know what feeling I mean? That really fun and tingly mint feeling? Of course, my body reads skin sensations somewhat differently than the average person due to the Fibro. I also made a mint cocoa that I love to huff. *grin* I blended chocolate mousse and peppermint EO. I’m looking forward to using this blend during the winter. I love burning a candle with that scent profile, so when I’m really in the mood to indulge and pamper, I have a new go-to. I made pumpkin buttercream lotion in September and finally got around to making the oil version, which smells heavenly!

I need to make some labels and price tags for the new stuff, plus decide on a few names. I don’t know if I’ll leave as spices gumdrops and stuff like that. I also need to make some Christmas scented room and linen sprays to include in the baskets and as individual options for buyers. One extra spray that I hope to do while I have the multipurpose spray mixed up (it is a concentrate with a formula for combining with purified water). I really like the idea of a sleepy time spray. It’s a blend of EOs that are thought to help with relaxation and combat insomnia. I think that should (yeah, I know that I throw around should a whole lot lol) be a good seller.

I have a few items left, but am feeling pretty good about what I’ll have available at Saturday’s event. It’s a great start on the event in a few weeks in CA that I’m shipping my stuff to, also. (A friend is going to be selling quilts and cross stitches, and offered to sell my products for me at it, too.) Realistically I know that there will be plenty of leftovers even if my stuff is wildly popular. *smile* I’m still not positive if I’ll send much to the CA event, but I figure this weekend should give a good idea if it’s a good opportunity. I have to take into account how much it’s going to cost for shipping, especially if not much sells and has to be shipped back to me.

Anyway, I won’t get much done today or tomorrow, but I’m in the final stretch. Now I can start consulting my lists and gather the stuff I’m taking. My prime priority is to get my website updated and type up the update spreadsheets to take with me. (I know, I know. Me and my spreadsheets. *grin*) Time to start getting excited! By the way, any ideas on how to hang my banner at the booth? I still haven’t figured out how to. Lol. Anyway, have a great day and I’ll keep updating as things progress.

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Posted in Bath Products (non-soap), The Holidays and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Flying high on success

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

After my success at a double batch of awesome “acne bee gone” honey facial soap and the finishing touches on the dessert cake soaps I sat down with my worksheets.

I make my product recipes (even if I find a recipe somewhere I can’t resist deviating to add something more beneficial or that I just love lol) on scratch paper first, then figure up the costs on it, and type it later to go into my business binder. I have a habit of piling up my first draft recipes for quite a bit before setting down.

Ironically I dislike the math despite the fact that both of my businesses had a strong foundation on math. *wry smile* I’ve always loved numbers and excelled in school, but I tell you that Fibro fog has taken away all confidence in my equations. Lol.

So while I gave in to a guilty television pleasure (project runway and then followed with a cooking show) I did the pricing on all of my new recipes. I rechecked them twice and actually didn’t have any mistakes. *happy dance*

I then created item codes for using on my spreadsheets and in quickbooks. Then my totally kicking butt self updated my inventory worksheet, updated my Mom’s order worksheet (every few days she adds or changes something to the order lol), and even updated my individual ingredient costs spreadsheet that I use for figuring up the costs in my recipes. You’d be amazed how quickly that spreadsheet becomes outdated! I swear that the wholesaler and stores change their prices every week. *rolling eyes* I then added a few ideas to my product names list (only three have actually been picked and used yet lol) AND added some reminders to my event prep list. *making rock on sign* I freaking rock tonight. *big smile*

I need to update my site (and make a mobile version of it), package and label some products, type up the recipes, and update quickbooks, but I have all other paperwork caught up! Oh yeah! I may be stuck laying on the couch, but I can still have impressive moments. Lol. Anyway, I just had to share my little happy moment. *grin* If insomnia keeps me up much longer (seriously? 4AM all ready and wide eyed?) I’ll work on putting together some combos. I might treat myself to some Rob Pattinson (I know I ought to be ashamed since he’s young, but I figure that I’m showing my appreciation of God’s work on such a nice creation. I mean, an accent with that body is definitely something I should show my appreciation of *sassy grin*) and make some Twilight combo packs. I have a few more bookmarks and sticker packs to include as a limited time bonus with the three pack of lotions. Mmm, the more I think about it, I definitely think I need to play his YouTube clips of him singing and playing his guitar to give me some inspiration. *wink* Have a great day and fabulous weekend!! I’m going to go appreciate. Lol.

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Oh crap

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I was killing time today, waiting for my doctor to come into the room (45 mins on a hard chair – so thankful for the cane). I get all nervous about moving around while waiting (I’m not exactly graceful unless I’m dancing and always have these embarrassing scenarios play out in my mind), so I sat and took a break from my thoughts to look around the room. I ended up staring at the calendar in awe. I don’t have a whole lot going on in a daily fashion, so I tend to lose track of the day. So when I looked at the calendar it dawned on me that the craft event is next weekend!! Oh crap, oh crap. Not exactly the best phrase to keep racing through your mind as the doctor comes in. *grin* I know I looked guilty for thinking it, as if he would know or care. Probably wondered if I stole a magazine or some tongue depressors lol. Anyway, it actually sunk in that it’s right around the corner.

An odd thing about my illness is that one day seems to be forever long, since I sometimes don’t sleep or sleep only a little, I never sleep very soundly, and pain often will wake me and keep me up until I can ease it enough to ignore it. On the flip side, a week flies by. It’s the weirdest thing ever. So what was a month of prep time before the event is now suddenly a week.

So after getting four prescriptions filled I hit Wally World to get the little things that I wanted to do right before the event. We had bought another 4 ft table and a rolling tote earlier in the day, so I am set to start packing up for the event. (Hey, with chronic fatigue it takes a week to do what used to be a few hours worth of work lol, so I’ve learned to start early.) I found some nice tablecloths in a sharp red and green plaid (do you all ready know that I’m obsessed with Scotland and love plaid?), got some garland to lay around some of the products when I set up the tables, and some ribbons and bows. I have recently gotten a wild hair to put a little effort into presentation for the event following reading a neat library book. (You can roll your eyes now. I understand. *grin*) I picked up a few coffee mugs for the coffee combo and got some wet wipes. Odd to put them in the same sentence, but what the heck. Lol. I decided after the cancer stroll that I would have wipes and a small trash can for people that don’t like the smell or texture. You’d be amazed, or at least I was, at how many people slather on a lotion and then sniff their arms to see if they like the smell. I am well aware of natural chemistry changing a scent, but it won’t change it enough to be radically different from sniffing it in the bottle usually. Cucumber melon brings to mind cat pee when I use it, but when I sniff it in a container, I all ready know there’s gonna be some funk, so I’m not going to dive on in. Buh! Here’s your sign village idiots…anywho….*grin*

I’m not letting myself get overwhelmed on trying to accomplish all of my goals before the event. I really have a whole lot of options. The only things I really need to do is set up the cash box, massively update my website, and pack stuff. The rest just makes the cake look pretty, so to speak. It’s still a pretty awesome cake all ready ; ) So I will put the “frosting” on my little cake soaps (by the way, I decided on scooping a little refrigerated bath whip for the ice cream. It has a great consistency when refrigerated that will work great with the melon baller and won’t get really firm like the scrub or soap would.), package and price what I have on my project table, and package the remaining “coal” once my Oriental Trading order gets delivered, since I ran out of bags. I want to make a few Twilight combos and the “sweet treats” baskets, which I can always disassemble if they don’t sell.

Miss Ash won’t be able to come to the event and is really disappointed, so I think I need a test run. *grin* Set up both tables with the tablecloths, so she gets to decorate when she comes in from school. It’ll be a fun surprise for her and give me a chance to decide how I want the lay out at the event. I’m hoping to pack most things actually in their baskets, so set up is a breeze. Knowing how I want the baskets arranged isn’t quite as easy. Plus, I think that my needing her input on how to lay it out will give her a nice boost after having a cruddy time at school lately. I think it’ll be kind of smart to find out what lay out will help catch the eye of preteens too.

The part of me that sees the small mound on my project table and keeps counting the days continues to panic a bit. I’m keeping a relatively level head about it, for me at least, although the spreadsheets and lists help the most. It helps me feel like it’s all under control. Oh, by the way, if you’re laughing about my spreadsheets (yeah, I know who is), I don’t mind. *grin* It’s a quirk that shows that it’s really me writing this. Lol. Sweet dreams and a peaceful tomorrow. I’m gonna go start a list if my lists. *teasing wink*

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Progress

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I pushed myself and made some progress Tuesday while Larry was installing some insulation in the attic. I don’t typically work on products on his day off, but I pushed myself to take advantage of having some alone time to hit a few more goals. I made 6 bottles of lotion. I realized while doing inventory the other night that I didn’t have enough lotions to make the Twilight lotion combos for the event, so I made up a few of Edward’s Kiss. After that I decided that I really wanted a Cherry on Top lotion. Wow! It turned out absolutely fantastic! I’m tickled. *grin* The maximum amount of the cherry FO under the guidelines, which I technically don’t have to fully follow yet try to, is .3 ML per every 2 ounces of lotion, so I was really nervous that I wouldn’t be able to get the scent that I wanted. However, I did the math and added up to just below the max, and balanced the chocolate mousse and maraschino cherry FOs wonderfully. *happy sigh* I unmolded the soaps I made yesterday and actually remembered to update my inventory spreadsheet too. Rock on!

The little dessert cake soaps came out kind of cute in their first stage. I got a dark devil’s food cake color with the clear soap base, so I managed to avoid the unwanted pastel that I accidentally made during my first effort. Lol. I’ve been debating between making a complimentary scented sugar scrub and using my mini melon baller to scoop a tiny bit on top of the cakes to look like a la mode, then drizzle the soap glaze down the whole bit. I’ve been mentally running pros and cons of scrub or doing a small pour of soap and making the ice cream out of it after it does the first set up. I am leaning toward scrub since it is more forgiving than soap. With some force scrub can be manipulated rather well. I might spend some time making shapes with the scrub when in the shower. I’m not saying that I do, but I might. *cheesy grin*

I was preparing to make another batch of acne soap when I heard a crash in the living room. Larry came through the ceiling part way and my couch was covered in the nasty, crumbling, old insulation and chunks of the sheetrock. I ended up cleaning that up instead of finishing the soap. Man was there some impressive timing. I hadn’t heated or poured the soap, so no loss and I can jump right into the batch tomorrow or Thursday. Plus, if I hadn’t pushed myself to work on soap I would have been buried under the fallen ceiling and insulation. I recognize the blessings. Larry is banged up, but I’m fairly well experienced with pain management, so it won’t be too bad. Things could have gone a lot worse. I also now am thankful that I’m preparing for the event. Lol.

One last part before I post and head to bed. I made a coffee and cocoa face mask today. It requires milk to be added to it, to make a paste. I have been going through stocking stuffer-like product options and have been itching to start some coffee products. I mixed up the powdered ingredients and put into cute little plastic bags with a holiday print on them, then twist tied them (metallic red twist ties to stay in theme of course *grin*), and will print out instructions to attach to the bags. I personally would be irritated to get just one treatment in my stocking. I really that it sounds bratty, but it’s more of a desire to make sure I can duplicate the good results before I buy the replacement and stick with the line. It may not sound logical to people, but it’s my logic and I’m cool with that. *grin* In light of my own preferences I put a double batch in each bag. The customer just pours half out into a bowl, stirs in some milk to make the paste, and applies to cleansed skin. I’m going to put a little side bar on the instruction sheet. I personally couldn’t stand having it sit on my skin for a full fifteen minutes (supposedly that’s how long it takes for the ingredients to firm, tone, and soothe the skin, but seriously? That’s rather subjective in my opinion and I’m not going to listen to the governmental person that decided to tell crafters how long their customers should leave stuff on for. Buh.). I used it more as a thick scrub and decided to finish cleaning up, and then rinsed it off while I was all ready in the water. I’m going to mention that option. I did one side and not the other, and there was a true difference that could be felt. Not to mention that I loved smelling what is basically a mocha. Ohhhhh yeahhh. Okay, I’m done cheesing. Anyway, I was talking with my mom and she’s absolutely delighted to hear about this new product. She wants me to start with at least 6 bags at the event. Whatever doesn’t sell she’s going to buy for Christmas gifts. *grin* If they all sell, then I have to make another batch pronto. Lol. I absolutely love when people are excited about stuff that I make! It brings back that elation that I use to get from doing poetry readings and competitions, or when I did my artwork. It’s small, but you touch someone’s life, and have a good impact. That’s such an awesome gift for both people. I’m all ready blessed to know that you will be reading this and interested in my little adventures. *smile* On that note, I hope that you have such a blessing today!

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Sample Fisherman’s Soap

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I wanted to make a small post (during my proofreading I’m really amused by this description) on recent work. I’m trying to meet my goals before the Nov 12th craft sale and one goal was to make a version of my Fisherman’s soap that is a little more buyer friendly. It’s an awesome soap, but a bar is a bit expensive, so I think that’s why it hasn’t been selling. It suddenly dawned on me while looking through my drawers of molds that I could use the “lump of coal” square silicone molds for sample Fisherman’s soaps. *happy dance* Some days I get to be somewhat intelligent and have strokes of genius again! Lol. Fibro fog has been a nasty challenge with creating bath products. *rolling eyes* I seriously celebrate the genius moments I get now. Lol. Anyway, 8 ounces of the soap makes about half of the tray of molds. Awesome! I need to figure up costs, but I’m betting it’ll drop the cost to $1-$2 each instead of 6+. Not to mention that they will be a great size for leaving in the tackle box. Anise oil is a natural human scent neutralizer. If a person washes their hands with it prior to handling their tackle, it usually helps to increase the amount of bites, etc. It has worked for a lot of people. An extra tip I give is to also dunk or rinse the line, lure, and whatever other tackle you use, in the soapy water. If you think about it human scent is all over your gear, so the soap would be more effective when used in combination. Otherwise you’re contaminating all over again. There is a lot of interest in the soap when I explain it, but I think price has been the deterrent. Cross your fingers that this new shape/size is the solution please!

I’ve been making little “Ginger girls” too. I accidentally failed in trying to make brown (seriously, every batch comes out different even if I do the same exact thing lol) and ended up with some pink and almost lavender little gingerbread men soaps. I was pondering over writing it off as a failure, packaging as little thank you gifts for orders, or what, when the light came on in my mind and said that girls probably won’t mind pastel ones. A lot of feminists have nattered on about that cookie shape being sexist, so having a girl version could be a lucrative line. I look forward to seeing my helper’s reaction Thursday.

I’ve also been making gingersnap cookie sugar scrub, licorice ornaments (still haven’t figured out a name yet), and updating my inventory spreadsheet. I’m trying to decide on the new basket(s) too. I keep grouping things in them and then changing them. Lol. I decided to name one basket “sweet treats”. It’ll be a small basket of dessert scented products, like cherry on top and pumpkin buttercream. It’s an uplifting and fun new combo that I’m really enjoying working on. *smile*

By the way, I detest the smell of lavender. *dramatic shudder* Blech. I know others like it and supposedly look forward to it (yep, I put on my big girl pants and made several bottles of lavender lotion a few days ago). I figure I’m allowed to dislike one item, yet suffer it for the benefit of others. Do I sound dramatic enough? A martyr for the homemade bath product cause? *teasing grin* Another by the way, my phone wallpaper thoroughly applies…My thoughts aren’t as random as they seem. Others just don’t think as fast as me. Lol. Have a great Tuesday!

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Bunny Farts

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I was laying on the couch in my usual state of insomnia in the wee hours a few days ago and I realized that I’m really tired of being boring. lol I’ve really enjoyed thinking about and discussing fun names for my products. Therefore, no more “buttercream lotion”, “lilac body and massage oil”, etc. I want to redo my product names at some point, but most importantly only use fun names for the new products that I’m working on. I think the “sex in the shower” FO is really what tickled my mind and started this, honestly. It caught my eye so well in a list of hundreds of FOs and that impressed me. I want the same for my items.

Anyway, I’ve always taken a few days to roll around the possible titles of my writing in my mind. Usually something just feels right, much like how a name can really suit a pet. I’ve been waiting for that with the latest sugar scrub. Since “Cherry on Top” (the A comes and goes lol) has remained dominant in my mind, that is probably what I’ll name it. I know that I want a fairly decent line in the scent, no matter what I name it.

Regardless, you probably wonder what in the world the name of this post has to do with anything! *grin* I have no idea why, but the name “bunny farts” has been in my mind ever since and I’m thinking it’ll be a fun one especially for Easter! Most likely I’m going to change the “jellybean” line to that. For years I’ve seen the little mechanical bunnies that drop jellybeans through themselves at the turn of the knob. It’s crude humor, but I sure remember it. Apparently my mind decided to bookmark that item and run with it while I was in the odd in between state of awareness. The words “bunny farts” just continually play in my mind and I know from writing that I have to use it.

My modem went down while writing this post on my computer and I have been unable to access to finish until now. In the meantime I have all ready posted a request for name ideas on FB. Hopefully my random request on FB now makes sense. I confess that due to the interesting new ways that my brain has worked since starting my relapse, I tend to have some wildly random comments and questions anyway, so maybe this is just amusing now. *grin*

Anyway, I have been writing a list of ideas, but few continually scroll through my mind as much as bunny farts. Lol. My beautiful helper will be here in about thirteen hours to help label and package the newest finished products and I plan to tap into the immediate creativity of the youthful mind. Plus, I know it’s kid approved all ready *cue mock evil laugh* I look forward to sharing the fun ideas as I take this journey.

On to a little side note – I got the registration forms for the craft sale event in Overbrook a month from now. We went and started looking at better event presentation today (technically yesterday, but for an insomniac the day lasts until I actually fall asleep lol). I will be getting the second table once they’re back in stock (seriously…why in the world were all of the folding tables sold out?! What memo did I miss that said we were all required to get them? I’m not as unique as I like to think!) and I think I’ll be getting a heavy duty rolling tote. It’s that kind made out of what looks like truck bed lining rofl. Has a handle, locks, and will make loading/ unloading a whole lot easier! Heavier, but realistically, I’ll never be lifting it anyway lol. There are still really good people out there that are very kind to lift out things or carry for a petite woman with a cane that looks like I’m trying out my zombie costume (remember the insomnia? It’s not pretty and that’s freaking annoying! I have limited resources here to work with, so I don’t need additional issues!). Worst case scenario is that I’ll be asking a guy to load it in Mom’s blazer since she will be taking me home that day, since Larry will have to be at work before I am packed after the event. I’ll be posting more about what we end up buying since we may see if we can figure something else out.

Okay, I’m going to go pour some coal soaps to add to Ash’s labeling project. Hope you’ve enjoyed my random conversation *grin* I promise to provide more at a later date! Lol I seriously should consider trying to sleep maybe…

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My helper’s first visit and Lumps of Coal

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

The beautiful Miss Ashlee came over after school (middle school) last Thursday to start helping me out on little business tasks.  I wasn’t really feeling up to making anything and wanted to utilize the chance to get as many opinions for kid options as possible, so we spent the 1 1/2 hours just talking and smelling FOs.  We went through things I had made and was in the process of making, through a mail order catalog with kid friendly items that I was considering ordering from to supplement my items in baskets for various age ranges. 

The first thing I figured out was that Ash must really be into penguins right now.  *grin*  Either that, or I really need to invest in all penguin based toys, because I’m gonna get rich!  lol  I noticed that she pointed out every penguin item in the catalog as being perfect for kids.  It helped me develop the idea of color themed baskets, like all black and white products and toys like penguins, but I really doubt that penguins are quite that popular.  lol  Also, I can totally see her identifying toy musical items like kazoos as an easy little basket stuffer, but I thought about it and will not be ordering those.  *grin*  I sat there while she looked through the trinket pages and decided to run through the scenario.  If I gave a basket to Ash’s little brother, or even her, with noisy items, their mom would probably want a lot less to do with me.  Therefore, I think the parents of any prospective basket recipients would thoroughly hate my little business.  *small laugh*  I learned that pretty much anything in the catalog would be perfect, so I think I’m on the right track of thinking.  When in doubt I will ask my friends that are mothers to see how they would react to the basket.

Probably the most important thing that I learned was to not worry about being a perfectionist with the kid products.  I showed her the lump of coal soaps, which she inspected and thoroughly delighted in the smell of, and asked her if received it would it look enough like coal to be believable.  She looked down at me (yeah, almost a third of my age and she’s taller…*sigh*) and said, “If your package says that it’s coal soap, kids will just believe that’s what it is.  Kids believe whatever things say they are.”  Cue the cartoon light bulb over my lab coat and glasses clad cartoon character.  One, they don’t really know what coal is these days, and two, they don’t care.  It smells good and isn’t the boring stuff Mom keeps in the dish, so I’m in the clear.  Oh yeah, I did a happy dance after her mom picked her up.  *grin* 

The most heartwarming moment was when her mom showed up and Ash asked her if Ash was free after school on Monday, so she could come back.  *cheesy smile and hunched shoulders*  When that didn’t work she started running the days of the week, so I jumped in and said that we’d coordinate schedules, which looks like maybe each Thursday for awhile.  It meant the world to me that she wanted to come back on her own (we are a group of friends who usually have full family get togethers as time permits, so this was totally new for a child to be at any of the other homes without the rest of the caboodle) and that I had inspired her.  I’ve tried through the years to always encourage her interests, most especially art in the past year.  My parents raised me with a real appreciation for art and literature (you can blame them for training me for being a nerd), and if I see that interest in a child, especially one that may not get as much individualized cultivation of that interest as I did, I do everything that I can to help.  Anyway, she now is also interested in science, so she is super interested in how bath products are created.  Part of it is this amazement that anyone can make daily products, not just some mysterious big manufacturer.  It’s sad that crafts that were such a daily activity for hundreds of years are now a novelty and so mind boggling, but I won’t climb on the proverbial soap box.  *wink*  I realized that my interest in naturally beneficial products is a great way for her to get some hands on understanding of chemistry, artistry, and nature.  It’s pretty awesome that I have someone to share in the awe and delight of my hobby. 

I had lots to think about and decided the next day to start making a lot of the lump of coal soaps.  I’m not really sure where I went wrong in multiplying the recipe (I have a newfound appreciation for mathmeticians since my condition has screwed up my abilities apparently), but the soaps turned out navy blue, but I didn’t know this until yesterday, since the wet soap was just really dark and I thought it was black.  I’ll cut, melt, dye, and repour all of them soon, but while they started to set I had another light bulb moment.  I was working with the happiness that the kids would not question if the soap looked like coal, but still wanted something a little better to sell.  It dawned on me that if I used a fork to push the dried “skin” into the soaps it would give some internal texture and ruin that glossy perfection on the backs of the soaps (the irony is that I seldom can ever get regular soaps that perfect lol).  I learned while experimenting that just running the fork through the soap blended the skin and helped to melt it in the warmer liquid centers.  So I totally went into Psycho mode and just stabbed multiple spots in each square with the fork.  *grin*  Hey, I might not be able to do a lot, so I make sure what I do is thoroughly interesting or amusing.  lol  When I unmolded the soaps it really had helped and I could see a major difference between the two techniques.  When I repour I will do the stabbing technique again once it resets, trying to get to what would be the tops of the soaps, so that it is textured and interesting through the entire soap.  I’m pretty tickled that I have a pretty easy remedy to please the perfectionist in me just enough while also taking full advantage of no longer worrying about it if it doesn’t turn out like I hope.  I’ll post at least one pic of the first successful batch (worded in such a way because I’m not totally confident that I’ll be able to get the color right during the repour lol).  I am so relieved and excited!!

By the way, the sugar scrub is still getting firmer.  *cracking up*  I used it again today, which was an incredibly gentle and awesome exfoliation, and as I tried to scoop some out it became more of a prying action.  I’m pretty happy with it still, but think there will be a second version in the works with more glycerin and definitely not additional sugar if the mixture seems thin!  I hope you all have a great one and aren’t too upset by the length of the recent posts.

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Cherry on Top army

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

A blend of cherry, vanilla buttercream, and chocolate FOs

The final result of “A Cherry on Top”. A small invading army of jars that really need to get labels and officially named. lol

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A Cherry on Top

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I made a massive batch (massive for me, at least) of sugar body scrub the other night and thought I’d give a little inside view into the creation.  Don’t critique the pictures since I was having to work fast one-handed and try to snap a shot as I could.  *grin*  Another soapcrafter had posted the recipe for sugar scrub and it had a few super beneficial additives that I had never thought of, so I thought I’d adapt it to my interest and give it a whirl.  Lo and behold, my inner calculator while reading the recipe was incredibly broken!  I had no real clue that it would be so much until the liquid turned into the amazing fluff.  lol  With a sigh I realized that there was no turning back and grabbed my phone for some pictures to always remind me to not read product recipes when I have insomnia, since I apparently suck at math then.  *cheesy smile* 

All right, I had my dramatic sigh, so I’ll leave my pride for my next post, and will recount the rest without worrying about how clueless I was.  lol  I approach most bath recipes, and especially when creating my own product recipes, much as I do with a baking recipe.  Instead of food I get out what supplies I’ll need and will measure out the appropriate amounts of ingredients, if I know, to help minimize mistakes.  (Yeah, how I missed just how much 5 cups of sugar is while making this is still a mystery to me…)  I decided that I really wanted to try making the black forest cake scent blend that I’ve been pondering for quite a while and got those FOs out.  Oh yeah, I was prepared with a paper plate to hold the pipettes (awesome super tip a crafter wrote in a review on an FO that I bought was to rubber band a pipette to each bottle of FO and EO, fragrance and essential oil, and always use it just for that oil.  It cuts down on the waste and cost, since you’re not washing them out every single time you need a ML of another scent or tossing it in the trash when you’re done.  Also, no cross contamination, since no matter how careful you are at rinsing those pipettes or even measuring spoons, a little bit of that oil will find a way to hitchhike to the next oil, which doesn’t happen with this method!), measured out the glycerin into a beaker, diced and melted the soap, and then set the rest of the ingredients on the other counter, since they were variables.  At first I thought I would multitask like the recipe describes (I know, I know – stop laughing!), so I added the bath whip and glycerin to the mixer while the soap was melting.  Well, until my whip spatula (*raising an eyebrow* don’t even go there) decided that it didn’t want to get the last two ounces out of the container and I realized that the soap was going to get way too warm and frothy if I took much longer.  You guessed it…mixer going on low, spatula stuck in the jar (tipped over, of course, since if one thing is going to go wrong, it wants company), and stumbled over the sleeping dog at my feet to turn off the microwave.  Soap doesn’t have a real set time for it to melt…it’s more like a car started in the snow…it’ll be warm when it wants to be, so I set it for a set amount, then hit add 10 seconds or stop depending on how it is behaving (which also depends on if I’m wearing shoes and can see into the microwave, of course…otherwise it has to go another 10 if I had to pull it out to peek lol).  Of course the soap was fully melted at this point and I got it out just before it became frothy (it’s not a bad thing if it becomes frothy, per se, it just means there will be more bubbles in the pour, so it becomes a habit to think of bubbles as bad, even when it’s never going to be seen…soap can burn, but thankfully I’m too nervous to ever let it sit that long unattended).  I pour the soap into the mixing bowl,  then end up with elbows out, jar in every position possible, trying to get the remaining whip with a spoon as quickly as possible, since soap loves to set when you need a little more time.  Thankfully the spoon worked and the three ingredients transformed into this incredibly awesome fluff.  Do you ever get that moment when you’re warming the jar of marshmallow creme/fluff, it starts to bubble out of the jar, and your inner child starts to urge you to poke the cool looking cloud of marshmallow?  (I know it’s not just me *grin*)  Well, I was given an excuse to play in the fluff this time!  Cue evil laugh…Anyway, as I slowly started to add the sugar to the fluff I had to scrape down the sides, just like with a frosting (by the way, sugar isn’t that fond of bath whip I learned…the main portion of the mixture resisted the sugar as long as it could), and then I indulged the desire to stab it with the spatula a few times.  I may or may not have yelled en garde as well.  *shrug*  I started noticing after the third cup just how much scrub was in the mixture now and slowly added the rest as directed.  I then scooped out some scrub into two bowls to get mixed with some scent and color later (that’s one part I will not describe; oh man did it take forever to scoop that, since I have no big spoons that are sanitized for using with my products, because I’ve never needed one before).  Yet again I managed to screw up and eyeballed the amounts instead of measuring, since measuring always means that some portion of the mixture will be lost from sticking to everything used.  I ended up with half of the mixture in my mixing bowl and the other bowls being more like a quarter each, instead of dividing into three equally.  I added my new cherry FO and some color, and my fluff looked so beautiful!  I suddenly had a WTH moment and realized that I hadn’t thought out the whole three different colors and scents thing, since I only have one mixing bowl.  A massive Pampered Chef measuring bowl came to the rescue (I made 8 cups of cherry alone!  Duh) and I dump one of the remaining portions into the mixing bowl.  Since it would all be touching in the jars I didn’t wash it down and knew that it would help the scents to connect if there was a tiny bit of the residue from the first in the next, etc.  I was delighted with the wafting aroma of chocolate with a touch of cherry (I hadn’t realized at this time that I had been leaning over the empty bowl and had the little bit remaining all over myself) and started coloring.  It, uh, well, the colors decided they had their own agenda.  Instead of a chocolate color we decided that periwinkle would be an interesting shade (yeah, such a wth moment) and I realized that this wasn’t working out right, so I dumped the other remaining bowl into the mix and added the buttercream FO.  In for a pound now anyway.  Well, that’s apparently enough FO to give a thin texture to the scrub at this stage, so I, being a quick thinker (it’s okay, you can shake your head if you all ready figured out what happens), slowly added another cup of sugar, which thickened it well, but it was still runny compared to the airy beautiful bowl of cherry scrub waiting.  Another half cup of sugar helped the super sweet mixture a bit more, but it was never destined to be the star.  I called it good and got both bowls situated with spoons for scooping, and a line of ready glass jars.  (I was apparently still enjoying my sudden lack of intelligence, since at first I only lined up the five glass jars that I had bought for this, which would hold approximately 20-25 oz…I turned on my brain just in time to realize that 25 oz is nothing compared to 12 cups…*rolling eyes*)  I spooned the runny portion into the bottom of a jar waiting on the scale, then added the lovely airy cherry on top, and as I got to the end of the glass jars is when (duh?!) it hit me and I grabbed some of my smaller plastic jars to continue the packaging.  I reserved a nice amount to test as I started to debate on what to call this, since it really doesn’t smell like black forest cake.  lol  I’m not sure yet (which is why I have an army of unlabeled jars on my counter), but I think “A Cherry on Top” may just be my happy accident.

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Posted in Bath Products (non-soap), Happy Accidents and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

What is Santa bringing?

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Georgia's Pampering

I’m hoping that Santa will be bringing a little bag with a few lumps of coal soap *grin* Went very basic and I just got three pours of them finished, so I can start testing (and producing very soon hopefully!). While stocking up on supplies during a sale this silicone mold in the baking aisle gave me a slap my forehead moment. It’s a sheet of hmmm…yeah, not getting up again to check *grin*, but a whole lot of these miniature candy bar molds, each kind of like a bite size milky way. It hits me that complicated isn’t always better or successful. I had some grand ideas (let’s keep the epic failures between us) and this simple mold will fit the bill a whole lot better for the small lump of coal soaps that I so want to come out well. Okay, okay…I want them to sell well too for Christmas, especially since I think it’s such a neat idea. That’s beside the point of this post though! *sassy smile*

Anyway, when I had a problem with some bubble wash the other day I started experimenting on it. (Cue whichever monster theme song you prefer) Since I knew it wasn’t going to be sold I was willing to get weird. Along the way I found the blend of colors to make a nearly perfect black clear soap. It has a slight jewel tone to it, since it is clear glycerine, and when turned in the light I could pick different hues as dominant. If I can entertain myself looking at these for more than a few seconds, then it’s a keeper. I have such high hopes for these little soaps. I’m more anxious to unmold them and see how they look after curing than I remember being when I had a stocking stuffed by Santa lol. I have a young helper coming for awhile Thursday, so they need to get a thumbs up from her too. A youth’s opinion on a product made for kids? I’m so taking advantage of that (hence why I was making soap at 3:20 AM)!

Please cross your fingers that I’ve finally come across the best versions of lump of coal soaps that can be made. It’s the one thing for the holidays that I have a lot of emotional involvement in (yeah, emotional about some licorice scented soap…I went beyond nerdy to downright boring…ouch). I’ll let you know if getting coal for Christmas is a good thing in a few days. Plus, I have some other tidbits that I look forward to babbling about. Have a wonderful day!

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Posted in Soaps, The Holidays and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.
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