Caffeine Fix

Our espresso machine is not working at the moment which is not a good thing. I know, First World problem, I wouldn't survive if I had to haul my own water to my house every day. I don't usually have coffee during the weekdays, but I do like my cup of java on the weekends. Hubby has been trying to make coffee by other means, including using the Bodum which I broke (doesn't filter too well) to just using a cheesecloth over a mason jar which leaves a mess to clean up.

One of the great things about the espresso machine is that the used coffee came out in little pucks, easy to toss into the compost, garden or what have you. I found they also dried out a lot faster if you wanted to use them in other ways, which I did.

I wanted to make a coffee soap. I liked the idea of re-using ingredients (and the coffee really doesn't taste so good being used a second time, but it does make for a nice, gentle exfoliant) and would also get rid of any fishy or other noxious smells on your hands.

I started by making a big bar for my own use, just to see how it'd turn out. I followed (sort of) the recipe from About.com on how to make coffee soap. The soap turned out great, nothing fancy, but I scented it with hot cocoa fudge, so it smells fantastic and the coffee does give a very gentle scrub. It's working great in the kitchen.

MakeItVancouver, one of the craft shows I'm attending this year, is a sponsor of #dinnerpartyYVR. MakeIt asked for giveaways to give to the house chefs, so I thought, what would be better for foodies than something food related? This time though, I thought I'd go small and cute. Making these coffee soaps with a clear base gave it a darker, richer colour. The ones with a white base soap allowed the coffee to show through. This time, I scented the soaps with peppermint cocoa FO and it smells fabulous! There are 3 hearts per set, I hope the cooks will like them.

Do you like exfoliants in your soap, if so, what's the best type of exfoliant for you?

I'm Grateful

Well it's Thanksgiving on Monday here in Canada, and normally I'd be rejoicing at an extra day off, this year it's just another day since I'm not working a regular 9 to 5 job.

That doesn't mean however, I'm not thankful for many things, so let me list them off in as them come to mind:

1. all of you for reading my blog and laughing at my corny jokes
2. the soaping community in general, for great advice and wonderful support 
3. friends and family who support my endeavours to make this soaping hobby into a business
4. still being able to keep those voices in my head from talking out loud, too often

And because it's fall, I had to make some fall type soaps right? Remember last week when I had made the moon from leftover soap? Well I had actually started by making leaves with that leftover soap. I thought I'd be clever and try and layer the leaves to create a more 3-D effect and rather than putting the leaves in neatly, I'd just kinda scatter them to the wind, so to speak, and then cut along the marked edges of where the soaps are supposed to be cut. These are some of the results.

These are scented with a chai tea FO, which is quite warm and pretty scent.

So to my Canadian friends, how are you celebrating Thanksgiving? And to my American friends, is the thought of Thanksgiving making you panic yet? ;)

Good Night (Alondra) Moon

I'm sure if there were any Trekkies (and heaven forbid Trekkers) reading this post, they'd be yelling "Alondra has no moon, and certainly nothing that looks like that!" Well excuse me while I take some wide artistic license to make my moonscape soap.

In cleaning up and getting ready for upcoming fairs, I decided I really didn't like some of my soaps I'd made. So I chopped up one that was made of goat's milk coloured in green, and clear soap coloured pink, separated them out and mixed up the pink with some leftover brown-y coloured soap. Should be a strange combination right? I wanted them to mix, but not mix, so I sort of followed the instructions for swirling on Soapqueen, but rather than pour the colours on top of each other, I poured them side by side.

After I did that I had no freakin' idea what to do with it. I thought I'd cut out embeds, which I did, but they don't show the full swirly effects of the soaps. So I used a circle cutter and made a crescent shape with some of the leftovers. Have I mentioned I'm a leftover fanatic? I love leftovers when it comes to food, but I don't like having a lot of leftover soaps. So I took some leftover blue for the sky, and then put the crescent shape over top for a moon and sprinkled the whole thing with gold glitter for a starry effect. Oh and it's scented with creamsicle cybilla, so guess what you're getting Teresa? ;)

Another project that I found during cleanup is what I call my happy accident. I made alphabet soaps a while back using goat's milk and some lab colours and some of the colours from Soapylove's jewel set. The soaps have developed glycerin dew, which will have to be cleaned up (that's not the happy part) but the colours also melded into each other, creating a much prettier palette than I had originally done.

Hope everyone's had a great week and a wonderful weekend.