I am aghast that I haven’t made time to get down to some serious Christmas time soap making. This past week has been a whirlwind of driving in crappy weather and all that fun stuff that seems to always land right before Christmas.
Maybe this week I’ll get down to it (crossing fingers!)
I thought that you might like to see this recipe from last year. I gave this soap out as gifts and used it myself for quite awhile and never got tired of it, not once.
If you make it, send me your pictures! I’d love to post them.
So here it is -
HOLIDAY WOODLANDS SOAP RECIPE.
Essential Oil Blend…
I made this soap using the Angels Wings essential oil blend.
I used
4 parts fir needle
2 parts white grapefruit
1 part frankincense
That blend had smelled quite light and pretty to me as it was.
After I made the soap, I found that it became quite woodsy, it reminded me a little of opening up an old cedar chest, probably the combination of fir and frankincense. The frankincense really comes through although there is quite a bit of a smaller amount.
This makes a really nice man’s soap, but I like it too :0)
I also used the same recipe, but had to make a few changes, of course.
Here is the recipe that I used to make a 1lb batch.
HOLIDAY WOODLANDS SOAP TAKE 1
Castor Oil .5oz
Cocoa Butter 4oz
Coconut Oil 5oz
Canola Oil 4oz
Shea Butter 2oz
Aloe/Sunflower Oil .5oz
5 oz water
2.25oz lye
I used .5oz essential oils.
THE RESULTS
I love this soap!
I decided to mix a bit of green and red mica in.
I mixed up a small bit of each separately and drizzled it in using layers.
I poured a layer of the white base, then drizzled some red across the top, then some green.
Then I did another layer, finishing with a layer of the red and green.
I cooked it in the over at about 170* for 2 hours, shutting the oven off and leaving the soap in until a little after noon the next day.
A LITTLE WHITER
My daughter pointed out that the soaps would have been nicer if the base was a little whiter.
I tried to keep it white but I will have to try harder.
As it dries, it seems to be turning more and more beige.
Next time I’m going to try some vegetable shortening to replace some of the canola and see what happens.
I’ll keep you posted!
Easy Christmas Shopping.
That is my number one wish for Christmas – besides having all of the kids around and being able to see my sister and nephews/nieces and the rest of the family. So far so good on that one, they aren’t old enough to escape yet.
So I was really happy when the good old Regal catalogue was revived.
I’ve always been a big fan of Regal Greetings and Gifts and have bought and sold from their catalogue for almost as long as I can remember since I’ve had a family.
They are a Canadian company that closed for awhile and now have come back better than ever. I especially like their new web capabilities, you can order and ship directly from your computer! That’s my kind of shopping!
I’ve set up my web store, all you need to do is go there, select what you want and choose direct ship. I will let you know if there is anything on backorder and Regal will ship it directly to your address.
That’s the way I like to do my Christmas shopping, let me tell you!
I love REGAL because they are reasonably priced and have really unique items. I still have so many kitchen gadgets that I actually use from years ago in my kitchen, I was truly happy when they reopened and came back even better.
Here’s the link if you want to make Christmas a snap this year. Go to the ’shop’ link to find product details and direct order links. You can see ship info at the ‘my story’ link.
http://www.janferrante.shopregal.ca
SOAP MAKING STUFF TOO!
I’ve ordered a few things also that I’m looking forward to use in making soap – they have a double boiler pot that is a one piece unit – I am looking forward to that because I don’t like the condensation that often collects in my old double boiler system – a metal mixing bowl over a pot :0)
I’ve also ordered an oven mat that I am going to cut to make some reusable soap mold liners and various Christmas tags (some of these will make nice little thank you cards for your soap customers) and stickers to use on my Christmas soaps.
I’ll keep you posted on those when they come in, meantime check them out for yourself if you are looking for something nice, economical and a little different.
Just to let you know, here are the shipping dates over the holidays.
I'm doing it a little differently so that I can spend a week after the holidays with no one home to do some paper work catch up and re organizing of products and the new cart. For some reason, I find it hard to focus when everyone is here for 2 weeks solid!
I apologize for any inconvenience the closing may cause, but it will enable me to improve your shopping experience over the coming year.
SHIPPING WILL BE CLOSED FROM
Thursday Dec 18 until Sunday Dec 28.
I'll reopen Monday Dec 29, 30 and 31 to ship any parcel orders that have come in during that time.
Over the New Year, shipping will be closed from Jan 1 through Jan 10.
Please make note of these dates if you would like to have an order arrive during these times.
A NOTE ON 2009 PRICING
I also wanted to give you a heads up that when I put the new cart up, some of the pricing will also be going up.
It's been a few years or more (I'm not even sure when I last did a cart update on the prices unless it was an item that was costing me substantially more due to availability etc), so I am due for an update to reflect my current costs and expenses.
I'm not forseeing anything major, a few dollars here and there, but of course you want to get the best deals, so you may want to order before the new cart is in effect, sometime early in the new year.
MORE SALES
On the upside, I had a lot of fun with the Cyber Monday sales, so I will be posting a new sale weekly and have something in the works to be able to offer everyone who orders special pricing on a different item every month.
LAST WEEK OF CYBER MONDAY X 3
If you've been wanting to experiment with some of the thickeners, now's a good time.
Cellulose Gum, Vegithix and Ultramaize 3 Pack Special
1 oz of all 3 for 10.99 – Reg price separately 15.00
More info here
Gels, Gums and Thickeners
Kaolin Clay
I bought a huge bag of this so I have lots.
So how about a 2 for 1. Buy one of any size on the cart and get another one free.
A great time to stock up.
KAOLIN CLAY INFORMATION
HOW TO COLLECTION
If you've been wanting to purchase the Soap Naturally book or the How to Make Body Butter Guide or the Make It Special Guides, now is a great time to save.
Order the Soap Naturally Book using the regular order link, and until next Sunday, I'll send you both guides as a free bonus.
I've had nothing but good feedback for both of them, just think of all the fun that you'll have over the holidays!
Makes a great gift for your soaping buddy. If you want the book wrapped, just let me know.
Great time to hit up the hubby for your special Christmas present too!
Here's your link.
Soap Naturally Book
NOTE: that is the regular order page. I will contact your email with your additional free guides. I am going to be out for the rest of this weekend so please don't worry if you don't get your downloads until Monday or maybe Tuesday depending on how many I need to send. I will send them asap.
If you don't receive yours by Wed, please let me know at jan.ferrante (at) gmail.com
You can have a look at both of the guide contents here.
All About Making Body Butters
Make It Special Christmas Guides
AND A CHRISTMAS FREEBIE
This isn't skin care but I am happy to be able to tell you about a free list that I have put together to help anyone get organized for Christmas.
I put it together after waking up at 3am one morning totally stressed about what I had to do, and realizing that I didn't even know what I had to do. Since then, it's been going great.
It included my own 'Big Christmas List' of things to do before Christmas as well as a bunch of free recipe booklets for things like Christmas dinners and making Christmas Candies and treats for the holiday (and maybe even before!)
You can check it out and sign up completely free here.
The Big Christmas List.
I hope that you are all enjoying the season and are looking for a great year in 2009.
I am!
