Cherry Chocolate Valentine

Don’t you just love it when you imagine a creation, follow the steps in your mind, and it turns out perfectly?!  I’ve been imagining this Cherry Chocolate Valentine soap for about a month and the steps needed to make it come to fruition.  I started this project over two weeks ago by making cherry-scented hearts and chocolate-scented swirls using melt and pour glycerin soap.  The next day, I was ready to make my cherry-chocolate scented cold process soap only to discover I didn’t quite have enough sodium hydroxide!  Yikes!  I ordered some right away from Brambleberry, but their order volume has greatly increased so my order wasn’t going to ship for a week!  They’re working hard to get back to their 24 hour turn-around, but I seriously need to do better about keeping up with my inventory and ordering supplies BEFORE I’m down to my last few ounces.   So, I had to put my hearts and swirls on the shelf and do the waiting dance.  Finally, my sodium hydroxide arrived last week and I was able to finish my creation!  I am so pleased and excited about these cute soaps.  And they will be ready the week before Valentine’s Day!

First Soaps of 2011 and A Look Back at 2010

Two new soaps are in store at Catie Beth! 

A favorite: Oatmeal, Milk and Honey!  It features real Oatmeal, Shea Butter and Geranium-infused Olive Oil.  Geranium helps invigorate the skin while improving its elasticity.And a newbie: Put de Lime in de Coconut!  It features Mango Butter, Avocado Oil and Lemon Balm and Lemon Verbena-infused Olive Oil.  Lemon Balm helps control oily skin while Lemon Verbena helps soften skin.  Catie Beth Bath and Body is committed to helping unite orphans with their forever families.  I believe the most personal (and best) way we can do that is to donate a portion of our profits to a family that is in the adoption process.  The family that we are currently supporting is the Schoenling family, who are in the waiting stages of a domestic adoption.  Since the company started in April, 2010, we’ve donated $173 to the Schoenlings!!  We will continue to support this wonderful family until they bring home their baby. 

My up-and-coming fashion designer

My daughter has always loved anything to do with fashion.  I stopped picking out her clothes to wear about three years ago.  I remarked (for the last time) that perhaps she should change her shirt so it matched her pants better, and I was met with a fist in the air and the exclamation, “I WANT FREE FASHION!”.

Since then, I’ve left her to her own fashion experiments, as long as she selects modest clothing.  She’s designed and worn many a unique outfit and has now graduated to receiving her own sewing machine for Christmas (with a gift card for taking sewing lessons at Joann Fabrics).  Above, she is modeling her first creation: a fleece hat.  She did a great job and I love the fabric she selected!  She’s such a creative and talented girl!

Fun with Packaging

Oatmeal, Milk and Honey soap will be ready for sale in about a week, but in the meantime, I’ve been thinking (quite a lot, actually) about how I want the packaging to look.  I’m learning that customers who buy from the local shop where I sell my soaps are enticed to buy just as much, if not more, by the cute packaging.  So, I’ve been mulling this over for a while and here is what I’ve decided on for Oatmeal, Milk and Honey.  I’m quite pleased with both the simplicity and cuteness of it!  What do you think?

Happy, happy birthday and a Merry Christmas!

When most people hear that my birthday is on Christmas Eve, I get the response, “Oh, I’m sorry.”  Other than never getting to have a birthday pool party, I’ve always enjoyed having my birthday the day before Christmas.  Sure, I’ve gotten plenty of “combo” gifts, but I’ve also gotten to spend plenty of birthdays surrounded by loved ones; playing games and eating sweets.  It’s like one BIG celebration and I get to have my own, little special part in it.  Growing up, my Mom and Dad made sure to wrap my birthday presents in birthday paper, and no matter how many cookies, pies and sweets they had already made, they still made me a birthday cake.  Now that I have my own family, I spend much of my birthday preparing foods and presents for our Christmas.  And I don’t mind.  I want my family to enjoy some of the same Christmas traditions I looked forward to when I was growing up, and we’ve made some new ones of our own.  And even though we have pies and cookies and presents to come, my sweet husband always bakes me a cake (this year, cupcakes!) and wraps my birthday presents in birthday paper. 

This birthday, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about “hope”.  At this time last year, we were hoping to travel to Ethiopia soon to bring home our son.  For hundreds of years, God’s people hoped for a Savior; diligently keeping God’s laws and practices while they waited.  I’ve been thinking about how so many of those people who had hoped for the redeemer completely missed Him when He arrived because He didn’t come as they had expected. He didn’t save them the way they wanted, but the way they needed.  They hoped for something earthly and God gave them something divine, and so many of them missed it.

I hope you don’t miss Him this Christmas.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Merry Christmas!

Put de lime in de coconut…

Recently, I asked my Facebook fans for suggestions about what would go well with Coconut Fragrance Oil.  One suggestion I liked was for Coconut Lime.  Of course, the song “Coconut” by Harry Nilsson popped into my head and with it, the inspiration for how this soap would look.  Making this soap was a two-stage process.  First, I had to make a batch of green, lime-scented soap and then create “limes” out of it.Next, I made a batch of Coconut-scented soap and added the lime soaps as I poured.  The next morning, I sprinkled Apple Lime Sugar on the top. The best part was unmolding the soap and cutting the soap bars.  What fun to see the “limes” hidden in the coconut!So put de lime in the coconut and soap it all up!

First soap’s first

The first soap I selected to try from the Soap Swap was called “Hello, Sweet Thang!” by Plum Creek Soapworks.  I chose it to be first for two reasons: 1. It was the only soap I received that contains goat’s milk, and I was curious about how it would feel compared to my soaps (sans goat’s milk), AND 2. The smell reminds me of Fruit Stripe gum, which I LOVED when I was a kid.   So, far, I like this soap a lot.  It’s not super bubbly, but it is super moisturizing and feels really good on my skin.