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Floral Soaps

Three new floral scents for your pleasure: Midnight Jasmine, Fresh Cut Roses, and English Tea Rose.
Three new floral scents for your pleasure: Midnight Jasmine, Fresh Cut Roses, and English Tea Rose.
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Now, most people who know me personally would tell you that pretty floral scents aren’t my usual train of thought. I’m not what you’d call a girly girl and my preferences are to avoid overly sweet smells. I absolutely love our flowers out in the garden, have been inspired by many beautiful blooms, eventually took on that requested honeysuckle scent, and we have added many, many more real flowers to our green thumb experience. But to find me humming happily up to my elbows in all those long-awaited floral scents? Only if it’s something like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” or hubby would be checking my temperature again. But that was before a really cool and creative lady lit a fire under me lately….

Honeysuckle has been a running favorite for us for quite a while but I kept receiving requests for other fun floral scents. They were added to our idea list for me to play with when I got some down time or enough requests for that one scent for there to be a real demand. And yes, we got some seriously off the wall ideas from customers in addition to the more normal thoughts. Roses have always been popular but creating the “perfect” rose scent is a true challenge. There are so many components that make up a rose scent and everyone perceives smell a little differently. I also had to decide between keeping it completely natural, trying to work with only essential or fragrance oils, or whether we wanted to completely create our own from scratch scent. This made the floral soaps a little daunting until the perfect project came along that allowed me to go wild with that floral wish list. I owe so many thanks to our little pink haired friend who keeps that fire lit under me!

English Tea Rose and Fresh Cut Roses soaps
English Tea Rose and Fresh Cut Roses soaps

After much researching, trial and error, laughter and frustration, we have started bringing out the results to share with everyone. Please welcome to the website the first three of the additions to our shop: English Tea Rose, Fresh Cut Roses, and Midnight Jasmine. Each of these whisks me away to the garden when I sniff them- the soap room smells like a wonderful wild garden in full bloom! These two rose fragrance oils were voted the most true-to-life in our researching and I’m still in love with how this version of them looks (pink circle and rustic cut white one above.) The Midnight Jasmine has a hint of dew winding thru the background of a not too sweet jasmine and lily fragrance blend. The off white round shape was fun for this one but I really wanted to add some color when I remade this so the next batch was a little different. I will have an updated picture for your viewing pleasure very soon in the catalog. What do you think of the newbies? We would love to hear your feedback and if you have more ideas for our list. These are being added to our catalog as I type but this first release is very limited. Please be patient if you miss these here on the site as I will have them restocked here and in the booth in time for Fenske’s Market September 7th. Preorders will reserve your bars as usual and you are not billed for them until they are ready to ship.

I must now get back to the soap room and get to work again. Please stay tuned for more pictures and updates as I play catch up here on the website!

Happy Washing!
Dorothy

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And the winner of the drawing is…

All the names have been placed into the soap pot and stirred around until at least a light trace has been achieved… Sorry, soap humor there.  We are happy to announce that winner of the giveaway weekend is Angela Greer!  Congratulations on your three bar gift bag and hope that it puts a smile on your face.  Please check your email for details and respond to us soon!  For those who did not win, please don’t fret! I had fun with this and fully plan to hold another one at a later date.  I also owe a huge thank you to Jenny Henderson, my Pampered Chef buddy, who took the time around her moving to make sure my goodies were out at the market.  She helped set up the drawing out at the market and recommends the chocolate soap too!  Here’s a pic of one of the displays she made for both us.

Jenny's Display

Thanks again Jenny.  If anyone needs great kitchen items, just let her know.  She can be found at www.pamperedchef.biz/jennyhenderson and my recommendation list could go on for a while….

What is cooking around here this week?  Spring is in the air and my kitchen smells sweet.  The breeze that blows in smells of our orange blossoms in the yard, honeysuckle wafts from the curing racks, and the sage and citrus scrub teases my nose.  All of the pretty green shoots in the garden make me smile and I play with ideas of green soap.  Beautiful blue skies inspire another run with the soap colors.  Maybe try again with the flames in the bars?  Can I match the color of some of these flowers here in the garden?  Anything ready to be harvested yet that I can play with?  I’ve had inspiration strike again while daydreaming in the sun- back to the soap pots!

Happy Washing!

Dorothy

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Soap garden growing

So this beautiful weather has been great for the soap garden in addition to my spirits.  We’ve been busy here helping those little green sprouts pop up and attempting to keep them weed free.  Well, as much as possible.  The cilantro, sage, and some of the flowers have really taken off now.  With any luck, and no record-breaking drought here in Texas this year, these little guys might actually make it into the soaps!  I’m really hoping to get to work with them soon.

What on earth would possess me to add some of the garden bounty to my soap?  Why not?  There are many items we use in soap making for aromatherapy in addition to their coloring abilities.  Vanilla is a prime example of an additive that both changes the smell and will most definitely darken your soap.  Calendula flowers will create a pretty color while lavender ones can make a great texture change to the soap.  I wanted to use some of the fresh herbs and flowers in soap making while being able to honestly say whether or not they were grown pesticide free.  Growing my own lets me control exactly how they are treated.  If I want pesticide free flowers or truly fresh-cut herbs in my next batch, I just step out back and a cut off what I need.  No guessing or hoping about what might have been added to my botanicals.  Although I do have to guess about the weather for growing them and Texas weather tends to keep all of us guessing!

The sun is rising here now and I must get back to the soap pot.  Hope your weekend is a pretty out there as mine looks to be.  Donna’s Market is going on this weekend and you can find some of my info there at her booth.  She will be taking any orders you may have for me Saturday while there.  I will be in my regular weekly spots until CHA’s Family Fun Day in May where you will find me again!

Happy Washing!

Dorothy