Let the Good Times Roll!

I’ve been at it again, messing up my kitchen, filling my house with fragrances, and overflowing my dining room table with finished products!   I wouldn’t change a thing about it though — I am having so much fun!

This weekend I managed to make 5 things:  Telangyn Peptide Lotion, Gladback Collagen Facial Serum Spray, Oatmeal Milk & Honey Whipped Body Butter, Facial Clay Masks, and Body Balms.

I think I am done now with making everything for my sister’s birthday visit, but I keep thinking of more things to make.  Good thing there is only one more weekend left before I see her because I am running out of room!

Something a little bit different

This weekend was spent doing something different.   I have been making soaps and lotions for so long, that my sewing fell behind schedule.   I was able to catch it up this weekend, though, and I am just two projects short of being done.

To round out my gift to my sister and her girls when I go see them in a couple of weeks, I make them some cute pillowcases and cell phone wristlet purses.

I have made these for them many times before, but they so look forward every year to getting a new one.

The amount of fun you had is proportional to the size of the mess you made! A weekend wrap-up!

Wow, what a weekend I had!   I made 6 batches of bath bombs and two batches of soap!

I owe my sister a visit soon, and all the things I have been making for months are really stacking up!   My dining room and kitchen were a total mess, but the way I see it, if you didn’t make a mess, then you weren’t having fun!

It’s beginning to look a lot like “birthday”

Along with the two soaps I made this weekend, I also got 6 batches of mondo bath bombs done for my sister’s upcoming birthday.    Last weekend I made one more, so that is a total of 7 batches (at 7 to 8 bombs each) for a grand total of 51 bath bombs!   If that is not a happy birthday, then I don’t know what is!

To be fair though, she doesn’t get to keep all of them.  She has two daughters and three grand-daughters to share with.   She gets a lot of enjoyment, though, from being the one who is the “keeper of the bath bomb stash”.

Adventures in Soaping

Of the many things I made this weekend, I did get a chance to whip up two batches of palm-free soap (hooray!).  I named them “Terra Cotta” and “Eskimo Kisses”.

Alas, I didn’t have the greatest of success, but they may still cure out to be wonderful — only time will tell!

Five Outta Six Ain’t Bad

Have you ever had one of those weekends when everything you did just turned out 100% perfect, or even better than you imagined?   Well, I didn’t have one of those, but it was almost that!   I only had one thing that didn’t turn out to my liking.  All the rest of them met or exceeded my expectations!

I did a lot of things this weekend; three batches of soap, two lotions and bath bombs.   I was quite busy, but now that it’s over, and I put all my stuff away, I feel like I got some good recreation time in.

So let’s start out with what didn’t turn out like I expected and go from there (we’ll get that one out-of-the-way).  🙂

Four New Creations

I got a chance to make a soap this weekend, and it was another palm-free one!   This is my 3rd batch of palm-free soap and, although all of them are still curing (so I don’t know how they feel on the skin yet), I am really loving how nicely they are coming out of the mold after just 1 day!  No sticking at all, nice, crisp corners, and good texture!

I also made 3 new lotions, all of them successes!   I feel so accomplished!

 

Butterfly Dance Palm Free Soap

There is nothing “too fancy” in this recipe — just the usual suspects (Coconut, Babassu, Olive, Shea Butter, Castor, Rice Bran, and Avocado oils).   Those are nice oils though, and should make a lovely soap.

I managed to get the INS values to a decent rate, which I am finding quite a challenge with palm-free soaps.  In order to get them to be hard enough, you have to use harder oils and butters, but those tend to be less conditioning and more cleansing, so it is a tough balancing act to get decent numbers all-around.

• Hardness – 36
• Cleansing – 15
• Bubbly – 26
• Creamy – 32
• Conditioning – 60
• INS – 133

I used Hydrated Chrome Green Oxide, Yellow Vibrance Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Sunset Orange mica and Luster Black mica.  I first did an in the mold swirl and then a little hanger swirl.  I just plopped some dots of color on the top and added a little puddle of gold mica oil, then swirled the top layer with a skewer.  I scented it with Nurture Soaps “Rock Star” fragrance oil.   It smells like cotton candy to me — light and sweet.

It didn’t turn out exactly the way I envisioned, but I think it is still lovely.  It kind of looks like butterfly colors, thus the name — butterfly dance.

 

Summer Shimmer – After Sun Hydration Lotion

I am not a sun-tanner, but my sister is.  I turn twelve shades of “tomato” the minute I step into the sun, but my sister and her girls don’t have this problem.   So I decided to make them a lotion for replacing moisture after sun exposure.   I added just a little bit of gold sparkle mica so that it leaves a subtle shimmer on the skin (but without adding any color — just a few sparkles).

I used anti-inflammatory oils (Avocado, Borage and Shea Butter) and a ton of humectants (Glycerin, Sodium Lactate and Honeyquat) in this.  I also threw in some Hydrolyzed Oats, Aloe Extract, Aloe Liquid, and Allantoin to calm the skin.    I scented it with Brambleberry’s “Mango Mango” fragrance oil.

 

Frankin-Lav-On Foot Cream with Lanolin

I am a foot cream fanatic and now I am really in love with the scent of frankincense, lemon, and lavender.   I recently made a similar facial cream with this scent and I just love it.   So I decided to make thick, heavy, foot cream with this scent.

It has two butters – Shea and Cupuacu.   I added Jojoba, and Argan oils as well as Lanolin (to really seal in the moisture).  I also threw in some rice protein to help with moisture retention, three humectants, Allantoin, and aloe liquid.  I put in just a touch of Dimethicone to help it feel less greasy and eliminate any “soaping effect”.

Since I used Cetyl Alcohol and Cetyl Esters, this lotion feels smooth, creamy, and velvety.  There are no colorants, but it is a light lemon-yellow thanks to the golden jojoba oil and lemon essential oil.

I used it last night and it was wonderful.

 

Rock Star Lotion

I loved the scent of the soap I made this weekend, so I made a lotion to match.  🙂  It smells so soft and pretty!

This one has Avocado, Rice Bran and Sesame oils and Cocoa Butter.   I used all three humectants again (I love moisture), and some hydrolyzed oats.  This one was made with Polawax and Cetearyl Alcohol, so it is a little less “wet” feeling than the other lotion (Summer Shimmer), but it sinks in very quickly and feels protecting on the skin.

I added just a smidge of Kermit green Mica and Yellow Vibrance mica to give it a lime green color.  It looks darker in the picture than it really is.  It is more of a yellow-green – light lime green color.

Some time this week I am going to have to force myself to make some labels for all the lotions I have been making lately.  They are piling up and before I forget what they are, I need to get the labels done and affixed.   Labelling is my least favorite thing about making lotions — you have to really fit a LOT of ingredients on a tiny label.  Not easy!  Although it has taught me to appreciate making soap labels though — they are so much simpler!

I had a lot of fun this weekend making these little projects, and I really hope your weekend was just as great!