Polo

Just been to my first polo match, which was great until the rain and wind unleashed themselves.
Should have taken soap along for all those matcho guys to get the mud off with.  Years ago I had some real leather shoes and used saddle soap which they use, but not for washing.  Was thinking and decided to have a go at making coffee soap and more deep smelling for the men as most soaps are aimed towards the ladies.

Blogs/Folksy

My kids are computer whizz not me, I grew up before calculators, when we had adding machines.  If you wanted to talk you waited until after 6 or the weekend, if you had a phone if not you went armed with a hankie full of sinfectant to the local call box on the road.  I always got muddled about which button you pressed when they answered, cut my mum off often.  Now I am so excited, I chat to all sorts of people all over the world, and today some lovely person included me in her folksy blog and said how much she loved my ice cream soap - they look more like cup cakes now and sell so fast.  The iced bath bombs are catching on and for Christmas I have lovely Snowmen fabric to wrap them in and also snowmen soaps to make.  Wow I am excited about Christmas and it is still August.

Rain

Well I wanted rain for fresh water for the soaps and also for the chickens, but now I am thinking I will have to make wellie boots for the chickens.  I can't let the bantams out as the feathers around their feet get so wet and muddy, they definitely will need boots, then I will have to sit and knit woolly jumpers for the winter for them.  Next thing is perhaps chicken soap - wonder what they would like? 

Honey, lavender and goats milk.

Honey plus lavender plus goats milk, what a wonderful combination.  The honey is theraputic and healing on the skin, the lavender is relaxing and also good for the skin and goats milk is the nearest ph to our own skin and very good, make a lovely soap for those with sensitive skin.  This soap will be ready on the shop in two weeks time along with Patchouli and Basil, this has a lovely deep almost woody smell, but very senuous.

Soaps

Just made more dogs soap which has neem oil and is wonderful for coats and keeping lice, nits, ticks, fleas at bay.  Our animals have had no problems this year with any fleas, long may it continue.  Ask what my son would like and he said a citrus burst so just made a soap with sweet orange, lemongrass and grapefruit, smelt wonderful.

Pleated muffin cases

Anyone out there help, I am looking for the pleated souffle/muffin cases.  I can get brown or white but want other colours.  Also anyone know any good sites for christmas boxes, packaging in the uk.

Chocolate teasers.

Looking at real edible cup cakes gave me the idea for my soap cup cakes.
Round chocolate soap balls on top like malteasers, then drizzled with real chocolate, how
indulgent, sumptious and self indulgent without the weight problem.

Wet & Windy

Wet and windy it might have been yesterday but our gazeboo was the envy of most, it has buttons to push and it goes up automatically, so while we sat in the dry others were trying to work out wich plastic pole went where. We survived the rain, no bath bomb fizzed off and the gazeboo did not fly off. We had a good day and sold a lot of soap and bath bombs. As they had a doggy show the dog soap was a great hit.

Winter

Winter - Christmas, hate to remind everyone, however the weather is certainly leading us that way. The Weathermen say no Indian summer which will make the winter long, so, to help you get through the winter why not book a party. We will offer a hand and neck massage or you can have demonstration of icing bath bombs and you can have a go and take your bath bomb home with you. The hostess gets a gift and we will even bring a bottle of wine along with us. Sounds a real treat for a dark evening and a way to relax with friends after a long day. We are booking through September up to the end of November. We find the later dates go very quickly so please book early not to be dissaponted.

How to make Bath Bombs

I make and sell my bath bombs and the more original the better.
Bath bombs are simple to make, they just take citric acid, bicarbonate of soda and then you add colour, perfume/essential oil and mix very very well together. To get them to bind you spritz with witch hazel, slowly, mixing all the time until it is like damp sand, then put into your mould. If they start to bubble either the mix was to damp or the weather is damp, excess moisture in the atmosphere does affect them.
Then put somewhere warm to dry. If you wish you can then decorate them with Royal Icing as on my bath bombs.

Sunshine

The sun makes you feel so good, hopefully none of those black clouds will appear today. I want it to dry up for my day on Saturday in a field at Ashington under
a gazeboo, if it is still damp the soaps may react and the bath bombs could go off.
Off to make Rose and Honeysuckle soap today and if it stays dry more bath bombs.
Have a great day.

Soap Factory

Sat wrapping soaps and bath bombs, the kids said it looked like a soap factory.
All ready hopefully for the hundreds to buy the soaps on Sat.

Wonderful Smells

People often say the house smells lovely, this morning got up and could smell the Rose Geranium soap I had been packing last night.

The 24 bath bombs I iced last night add to the smell, they look like giant iced gems, great to watch them fizzing away in the bath. I don't thinks there is anything more relaxing than a hot bath and watching a bath bomb it really takes your mind off the day. Off to make six cold press soaps today as they are going out the door faster than I realised.

Weather

We have been spoilt nine weeks no rain now it will probably rain till next April.
I hate the fine rain that stays all day, the chickens huddle together protesting about having to stay in their run, my neighbour laughed when I put the large umbrella up for them, I now put the cover from the trampoline over them. Doris is over her broody time and now laying again, as the whole neighbourhood could hear this morning. Noisy or what!!! Our plum tree has kindly given us about three to four plums each year, this year it nearly fell over with the weight, I have made six pounds of plum jam there are five plum crumbles in the freezer and some already eaten, plus all the ones we gave away to friends. This weekend we are attending a carnival and if it is raining we won't be there, although soap goes with water, it does not go with rain.
The last outing we had where it had rained we were in a marquee but all the packaging was feeling damp and I did not dare pull the bath bombs out, people look at me strange when I say I can't put the bath bombs out, but can you imagine having two dozen bath bombs on a table all fizzing at the same time, early fireworks. Made six lavender and six dewberry yesterday, now have to make the icing to ice them before the weekend. Sat the evening wrappping two dozen soaps need to make some more this week.

Bath Bomb Cup Cakes

Just made lovely smelling cup cake bath bombs, complete luxury to watch it floating and fizzing in the bath as the smell wafts around you, allowing you to completely unwind and relax. Great fun to make will be putting these on folksy with my other ones.

Glourious smells

Well the utility room smells divine. Made bath bombs yesterday and as they dry they smell delicious. The top of them is a new to me but having a go. It is realing icing however you cannot eat it once on top of the cup cake bath bomb but they look sooooo divine. Wondered what it would be like in the bath - royal icing - great fun, it just melts away and of course the bath bomb softens the water and our skin and egg white has been known for years for putting on the face in a face pack so good for the skin. What a real luxury. Brides, not only can you have white icing cake, but you can have it in the bath as well. Going to try to do a manly one, why do they have to be left out?
The only thing that stops me is when the imagination runs dry, so if you have any ideas let me know and I will see what I can come up with. The two little chicks are great, bullied by the bigger ones but they actually manage to go between the bigs ones legs and grab some food, so they are catching on fast.

Bath Bombs

Bath bombs have been around for years, but now people are not interested in just a bath bomb, so we have been using the skills of our ice-cream soaps and making bath bomb cup cakes, they will be up in the shop shortly, but what an indulgence. I am looking forward to slipping into a hot bath with one of these and think of the weight loss, all those goodies and no fat content.

The chickens are behaving we had to put Doris into the naughty room or solitary confinement for a couple of days as she would not let anyone else into bed at night. Sorted now, she did not like being away from the others. Sitting in the garden today I heard a noise like a cat purring had a look and it was two of chickens dust bathing and positively coo-ing like purring, obviously happy hens.

Not a happy soaper!!!

When it comes to web pages a lot of us are in the hands of others, we pay out a lot of money to set it up with all toing and froing to make sure it is right and lets face it what we want is not always what we get. Then we trust to the people that it works and does it@s job. I have nearly missed a order for 50 soaps if it had not been that the person e.mailed me to ask about them and then tried to buy them on line and could not. Having had the web shop for several months I wonder how many others have had trouble and given up. You just wonder how we can make these people accountable, we are paying their bill each month but without knowing they are not keeping up their end of the bargain. What makes it worse is when they tell you how well they are doing and treating their staff to a day racing!!!!! Rant over, but I will let you know if I get compensation.

Shampoo Bar

Shampoo bar was an outstanding success, it travelled Malaysia and Thailand, it washed the hair, it washed the body and it washed the clothes. The neem, peppermint, nettle, cinnamon, cloves and rosemary have certainly reduced the bites from unacceptable insects. Neem helps with healing as well as skin problems.