Hooray for Perola!!!

Congrats to my friend, Monika, for opening up her online jewelry shop! Her designs are incredible, truly unique and very well made. Check out her site at:


http://perola-nyc.com/

Happy Thanksgiving

Just want to wish everyone a healthy and happy Thanksgiving.  Gobble, gobble.

Newest Creations

Funny story... This soap, started out with a duckie "floating" on top of the "pond" ended up tipping all over the place. I then forced it down, to create an imbed, however the duckie is filled with air, so it kept on bobbing up. A sweet and playful scent, I hoping something like this would give kids incentive to use the soap, to get to the glow in the dark quackie.

This soap has become my favorite to date: Champagne! It's effervescent scent tickles my nostrils... I can't believe it smells like the real thing. Anyway, was really pleased with this one!

Pumpkin Spice - Limited Edition

I made this soap using the oven hot process method. It's by far my favorite method to date. This soap is made with Olive, Palm Coconut and Castor oils and it is a delicious treat in the shower. It produces a lovely, moisturizing lather and doesn't seem to melt away as quickly as some of the other homemade batches.

Only a small batch was produced. They are up for sale at $4.50 each. Feel free to email me directly.

Platypus Dreams

Such lovely, LOVELY looking soaps. I love how colorful and creative they are.  This is an Australian based soap company that makes all of their bases from scratch.  Everything is done in house, right down to the label making. I'm a HUGE fan of the "do it yourself" policy and totally tip my hat off to them.   You can purchase their beautiful soaps here.

Soap Rocks

These soaps are great!  The details on them are so exquisite, I find myself holding and inspecting them in the shower.  How do they do it?  The textures, the colors? Wow, so smooth!  I've used mine so much, my little soap rock is now a polished gem.  Get them at here.

Soap Winners

The two Ugly Soap Contest winners are Mae Star of the sea and Mia. Congrats and thank you everyone for participating!!!

Stocking Stuffers

The snowflakes below make a great stocking stuffer when combined in threes. This set is only $7.50 and comes with three 2oz soaps and a cute organza bag!

Gearing up for the holidays

I made these totally thinking about the holidays. They are scented with Fresh Snow. According to the Bramble Berry website this fragrance is designed to mimic the feeling of peace and tranquility after a fresh snowfall. It is a very ozone-y fragrance, reminiscent of clean laundry or fresh cotton. The actual notes however are intriguing; this fragrance has a crisp heliotrope top with supporting notes of sprint water, juniper berry, vetiver and sandalwood.

As you can see, the flash blinded out the designs on the moon. It's the only one of it's kind right now and is going for $3.50 (normally $6) because the stars missed out on the white.


Below is my newest creation. Made from scratch using olive and coconut oils, this soap is scented with lavender and jasmine. This soap creates very creamy lather, and creates small, lathery bubbles (as opposed to big poufy ones) due to the high olive oil content. This will not be ready until 11/30/08.


These horse soaps were inspired by simplicity. I wanted to make a horse soap that was not fussy, although the process of making was not easy. These babies are scented with my newest scent: Dark Chocolate. It's by far, the best smelling chocolate fragrance I have ever encountered. The coloring on the edges of these are slightly imperfect,giving it a genuine handmade look.

Here is another one of my cupcakes. Also scented with chocolate. Decided to go simple on these babies as well.

Trying to start production for the holidays. I feel a little bit stuck on ideas. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Pet Sculptures

I bought these sculptures from the talented, Renovia Marro. These cute statues def. made my heart melt (especially the b&w cat, for you all know my Gator is precious to me).
These are the ones I recived in the mail. You can't see it well, but the black and white kitty has a red heart on his chest. I tried photographing these babies a couple of times, but couldn't really do it any justice. Check out Renovia's etsy shop for some better pics: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5225991

Sushi Staplers

These mini staplers were so cool, I HAD to buy two! You can get them here for about $6 each.

Yesterday 8pm - 1:30am

Yesterday, I had a really productive night. Made some CP soap (forgot how messy it is) and after that (finished about 11am, when I got all of my stuff together, and cleaned up) decided that I could squeeze in an mp session as well. Went to bed around 1:30, only to get up extra early to attend a cupcake Meetup.

Ah, feels good to be productive. Here's a sneak peak of yesterdays creations:

Top (starting left): Cranberry, Chocolate, Cranberry

Cranberry, Oatmeal, Milk & Honey, Cranberry.

These were left overs that I made into hearts. What I find amazing w these is that the bottom cranberries were made with Labcolors dye. I have to say that I am now officially in love with Labcolor. The actual heart looks like a gummy candy. So tempted to just "pop" in my mouth!

Below is the cupcake mold that I've been holding off on getting. As you can see, tres cute! Smells yummy too (Creamcheese Frosting). I do have to say that this one was truly labor intensive, but well worth it in the end.

Last, but certainly not least, my cold process soap. This one is scented with Lavander and Jasmine. Really yummy. Sound be ready by end of November!

Well, ta-ta for now!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

Whimsical Scarves

How adorable are these scarves from twinkiechan.com

Her knit creations are absolutely adorable.  Although the scarves are no longer in stock.  Check out her pins and other cutsey creations!

Soapylove's Soaps

I have to say that these soaps were part of my inspiration to start soaping.  A few weeks ago, I bought a Clearly Lovely Soap Pop from soaplove.com and was really excited to receive them. These soaps are ADORABLE.  The colors are so vibrant and the scent is so fresh and yummy, it's the main reason why I'm late for work in the morning.  This pop is a fresh raspberry scent.

These colorful and fun soapsicles are about 3 oz each and are $8.  Get them at www.soapylove.com.

Pacifica Hawaiian Ruby Guava Solid Perfume

Love this stuff, I have it at my computer desk where I am constantly sniffing and applying.  Has a fruity, realistic guava scent.  Lovely!

I have to say that the packaging was the thing that caught my eye!

Gift Boxes

Hi Everyone,

This gift set was created for my friend.  Check it out below.

I have one more of these pretty boxes... The top has the same print with a fabric red bow on top.  If interested... email me directly. 

Horse Soap

My newest project before I start production for the holidays. Horse and snowflakes. Scented with a refreshing Christmas Pine scent! I will be making the horse soaps in other colors and scents. If you want a specific scent, and if I have it, I can custom make them for you.

Soapy Chic

These cute, Humpty-Dumpty-esque cats are tres cute. I recently got the mold from BB and I have to say that they are truly adorable. These are lightly scented with Chai Tea fragrance. They are a little on the large size, almost 4 oz and measure 5.5" inches in length.

These heart molds are becoming one of my favorites. The heart fits nicely in the palm of your hand and makes for a comfortable soaping experience. The slightly translucent ones are scented with White Tea & Ginger, and the opaque soaps are Sandalwood Vanilla.

This was a great mold given to me by one of my co-workers. The red ones are all Jasmine scented and the Purple one is Sandalwood Vanilla. Each vary slightly in weight, the largest one being slightly over 2 oz.

Today, I'm probably going to make cold process soap while my friend is here. Depends on the timing. I hesitate breaking out the lye if I'm pressured for time.

Project Gone Bad - Contest

So, last night, I decided to embark on this tedious, labor-intensive project. Unfortunately, it was not a great success, finding out that it's very hard to cut curves with an exacto knife using a paper template. The squares (upper left) were my idea. As you can see, not good, but they do have a lovely lemony scent to them (used Organic Lemon Oil). I think next time I'll use a cookie cutter!

Since they pretty darn ugly, but usable, I'm going to freebie them away in a contest.
Under this post, write about your favorite bath and body product. I'm looking for details, scents, memories, experiences. There will be two winners receieving two soaps each.

Sorry, can't reserve soaps, the designs will be chosen at random and will be mailed to the winners.

To enter, simply create a user name and password on Blogger.com and enter the URL for soapy endeavours: http://soapkitten.blogspot.com/

Contest ends 10/31/08. Winners will be contacted via email (so don't forget those email addys) and the names will be posted at a later date.

Forgot to mention. For those who post, please include your email address, or email your blogger username to janiceventura@hotmail.com , so I know who's who.

Thanks for reading. Good luck!

Paper Costs

I don't know if anyone outside of the magazine industry (or the paper industry) knows this, but the cost of paper is going up, WAY up. I don't mean stationary, notebooks and whatnot, but just in general. I first noticed it with my paper bills, some of them are actually thinner. I think it really hit me when I went to buy stamps at the post office. Instead of the waxed heavy paper backing, they are now literally paper thin and the stamps are even thinner! You can see right through them, and I don't know about anyone else, but they makes me want to pop them in my mouth and let them dissolve on my tongue.
Bought anything online lately? How about mailing a package? Even that's gone up, by a lot too. This recession is no joke, folks!

Scrubby Soap

Made my first batch today of Scrubby Almond Soap. Has real ground almonds, and a refreshing almond scent. The scent kinda reminds me of a tasty oatmeal.

Along with my scrubby soap, I've decided to test out my new Jasmine fragrance (red hearts).

Still sorting out packaging, although, I do have to say that I am proud of the gift basket I made for Sean's sister's bday (forgot to take piccie... :( )

Ok, so I'll leave you guys tonight with this cute piccie of my cats. They totally hate each other, but the other night, I caught this rare, heart-warming photograph. :)

A Saturday Night

My boyfriend got me a wooden 5lb mold for our anniversary, yay!



I have yet to use it, want to get my kitchen cleaned up first, before I set it out.

Also, found the miracle cure for my soap finishes! When I unmolded my soaps, I was leaving oiling fingerprints on the finish. A little bit of arrowroot powder and viola! No more prints. Also, I'm able to slide the soaps into my cello bags without leaving "skid marks".

And to close off the evening, I'll leave you with another product review.
As you all must suspect, I am a Lush product junkie. My newest purchase is a solid perfume called Silky Underwear. Delicious scent, a combination of jasmine (I looooove jasmine) and cocoa butter. One disappointment is that the scent isn't long lasting, but it definitely keeps you reaching into that little tin for more. .35oz tin is $12.35

Autumn

I have to say that Fall is my FAVORITE time of the year.  To celebrate the season, I've decided to make autumn-ey smelling soaps.Below is Red Apple.  Smells just like a fresh, crispy, a-pple.  If you look closely, it's speckley.

This next one is Woodland Pear.  It's a transparent bar, scented with a woodsy pear scent.  I just can't stop sniffing it!  Def. my fave scent to date.

Below is Woodland Pear, with a little more color (so it's not

 as transparent).  The heart shapes are great, fitting perfectly in the palm of your hand.  A great guest soap!

Alas, I leave the worst for last.  It's a beautiful bar of soap, but the Guava Leaf-Cucumber scent is awfully strong (I may have let my hand slip a little on the fragrance) and not very popular.  Been handing this out as "freebies".

Well, that's what I have been up to.  Basically, testing scents and colors.  Having trouble with getting the oxides to dissolve completely and also working on re-fining my line as well as packaging.  Stay tuned...

Newest Project

Presenting my new cake soap!



I know, not exactly a good name for it, but an unfortunate chain of events have left me completely exhausted to come up with a catchy cute name, but not too exhausted to post these yummy piccies up:





The scent is a cupcakey, (vanilla, buttercream, cream cheese frosting)with a hint of turkish coffee.




Name to be determined...

Past Projects

Hello again,

Just wanted to post some of my previous soaping projects to counteract the ugliness of my current experiments... LOL!

Crescent Moon Soaps (Lily of the Valley Scent):




Multi-Colored "Flan" Soap (Cherry Almond Scent):

Sunday Night Adventures

God, I'm sooo boring! But here they are, my newest experiments:


Extra Strength Peppermint Soap

Requested by three of my male co-workers, who attest to the peppermint tingly feeling, I decided to give this a shot. Smells pretty minty, so I suspect that it will keep its prized tingly effect. Will have co-workers test (since I have waaay too many soap scraps lying around my kitchen. I have a batch of handmade (below)peppermint soap curing, but I think a lot of the tingly and cool pepperminty feel, got lost in the saponification process. At least it smells like peppermint!


Practice Moon Soaps - Scented w V-Butter cream



I say practice, because I purposely made these incorrectly, couldn't wait for my clear base to come in. Now I see why. The moon detail doesn't stand out at all.

Practice Moon Soap with remelted Handmade V-Butter cream and Melt/Pour Peppermint.


I wanted to see what would happen if I melted the brown vbuttercream in the microwave (like I do w my regular melt/pour stuff). Needless to say I ended up with a burnt mess... (Hmmmm, I guess that's why rebatching actually calls for liquids!) I ended up remelting a new bar in a zip lock bag and dumped it in boiling water. Took forever, and the consistency was not smooth at all (more like lumpy mashed taters!) Anyway, since I had already poured in the moon, I just added this to it and poured some more white peppermint on top, which you can see on the right side and on the back (not picture). The result: An ugly, but peppermint patty smelling, thin moon soap patty.

Vanilla Butter Cream Chunk

Ok, so this is half a bar of my first batch of handmade soap (just cured about a week ago). Lovely lather, great scent. Anything Vanilla, however, greatly discolors the soap (still waiting what the m/p's to see if the change will occur). I wanted to leave this the beautiful beige color that it first started out to be, but when it hits oxygen, it turns into this chocolately brown color. Fortunately for me, they do make a vanilla color stabilizer, so I won't have problems in the future.

Ta ta, for now!