Hexies from Canada

These are from my swap partner, Coralie Wallace in British Columbia Canada. They are perfect for my hexie quilt. I love them! I sent my first hexies in the inchy swap to London.

My hexie addiction

I have fallen in love with making 1 inch hexagons. I hand stitch them with needle and thread, and when I am done, I have something beautiful to enjoy.

My Morning Facial Routine

I have found a very simple facial routine that really works for me! After years of trying dozens of name brands, moisturizers, clarifiers, cleansers, soaps, both over the counter, and prescribed, this is the best my skin has felt ever. All I need is my favorite homemade soap and my favorite homemade body butter, and my face is itch free, blemish free, and moisturized. It feels great, is inexpensive, and easy. Recipe is found here,

Exfoliating Almond Meal soap

We sold out of this soap at the Winter Woolen. I'm sure the yummy smell had something to do with it.

This soap contains almond meal, that I ground from raw almonds. The vitamins alone are worth the extra effort, but it is a wonderful way to gently exfoliate as well. I scented it with the obvious almond honey fragrance oil. I like this soap for my eczema days, as it removes the scaley skin that accumulates.

Shampoo Bar a big success

These are the finished shampoo bars. I used one on my hair and loved, loved it. The suds and lather were better than my expensive shampoo. I had scented it lightly with Berries and cream, and that was refreshing. My hair looked great, and my perm didn't frizz as much as it dried. We sold several at the winter woolen this weekend. One customer was excited to carry it in her luggage for vacation. It would work better in an airport as well. I added silk to the bar during the water, lye reaction.

This soap is available at my Etsy store.

Fun Soap

I was just browsing for inspiration and loved this bar of soap.

 here is a link to her etsy site.
I generally don't dress up my soap. But I sure get a giggle when I see artistic soaps.  I was in love with a soap that looked just like a goldfish in a bag that you would win at a fair. I hunted for the goldfish, purchased glycerin melt and pour, and bags. I hated making it, and I was really dissapointed with the outcome. sigh...

 So, you might say I am a little chicken to try anything fancy, but maybe banana pudding would work....
I do have yellow color left from vanilla sugar soap....

Welcome to my laboratory

I am participating in a woolen fair this month, and I need to make some fresh bars of soap. So I cracked out the goodies, and began a recipe I designed as a shampoo bar.

I am always amazed at how many supplies I need for  each bar of soap I make. And my kitchen is not the same again for several days. Here is my sampling of fragrances and essential oils. I decided to do a berry and cream from Crafter's Choice. I buy them from Wholesale Supplies Plus. I must tell you that the cabinet I keep them in, smells wonderful. I generally go very light on fragrances, because I have sensitivities to fragrances. I use the fragrance calculator on Majestic Mountain Sage, and then back it down a bit.

I'm in a lather

Just a wee bit of snow.....

And Joann Fabric store was closed! Seriously? What else to do in a blizzard but sew?  And what about those of us who start machine quilting a quilt, a small one, mind you, who run out of thread? Oh sigh. And my dutiful husband, out for a couple of hours,  shoveling our driveway, so I can go to Joann's and purchase a non- descript spool of thread?  Goodwill was open, my favorite Chinese restaurant was open, Walmart had the decency to be open, why not Joann?

Using my cricut

I discovered that my local library has cricut cartridges available for check out. I am excited to try cartridges that I would not buy and see what they are like. This cartridge was called destinations.
I'm sure I will never visit enough destinations to warrant the purchase of this cartridge, but I did enjoy playing with it.

I have a son who lives in the windy city, and one who served a two year mission in Rio, and I really hope to see the statue of liberty before I die. And I have one son who was married in the Salt Lake temple. I have borrowed Boys will be boys cartridge next.

My New Toy

I

I just added this great tool to my work room. I will most likely use this to scrapbook, but I also plan to to make signs and tags for my soap. I replaced this tool

which I am selling on ebay. I just wanted to have a bigger roll of adhesive to work with before I have to change it. The new ATG gun works very smoothly, and is a dream to operate. I feel like I have more control over where the adhesive begins and ends.

Oh Baby!

I have just made a new soap that I designed as baby soap. I infused the Olive oil with calendula for its microbial properties, and scented it with Lavendar Essential oil for its calming properties. It is rich and sweet. I tried a new mold, that I am not going to use again. I had a hard time removing the soap, so it is not as smooth as I had hoped. It is available in my Etsy shop Country Closet.