I’m still lurking on the website here today trying to get it fixed again. We managed to get the pictures loaded again for those of you who had missed the chance to see the Little Stinkers. Hope they make you laugh a little this weekend. I had forgotten to mention in that post that those gift sets are actually for a good cause too! We are donating $1.50 for every gift bag sold to Cypress Assistance Ministries (CAM) for this year’s holiday donation. This applies to all gift bags sold between November 1st thru December 20th, 2012. We like to help those in need in our local community during the year and we have worked with CAM previously. CAM is a local group who runs a food pantry in addition to providing resume help, job searching, and financial counseling assistance to those in need. You can learn more about this non-profit at their website http://cypressassistanceministries.com/
I will be continuing to work on the site as you are visiting this weekend. I just got an update that now the colors seem to be possessed so I must be off to fix them. Hope your weekend is well and I will post again soon with next installment of our recent projects. No, it’s not as goofy as Little Stinkers, I swear.
Whew! Hope your holiday went well and everyone who was brave enough to head out into the stores found what they wanted. We are still adding on and tweaking this site so we again thank you for your patience. Also, thanks to those of you who are letting me know what’s broken! For a good giggle and to keep my Facebook promise, I wanted to tell you about a new gag gift we made. I will admit now that some of you will not be as amused by our recent project as all of the guys around here were. We created a gag gift set of guest soaps for that person who can be a “bit of a stinker” but luckily these are a lot more fun to play with. It all started with an idea from a friend of mine last year….
Her son’s Cub Scout den was working on their Whittling Chip. For those who don’t know, this is when the older boys learn how to properly use and care for pocket knives. They must go through the safety rules and show they can properly handle the knives, and as part of that his group needed to carve soap. I had donated some bars of coffee soap for their project and her scout saved almost all of the scraps from the carvings to make his own soap ball. His mom told me that after a short time how much it looked like a big brown ball of not-quite-mud sitting on her bathroom counter and that I really should try to make some soaps that looked like poop- on purpose! Of course, with my sense of humor, I kept the idea on the list. What guy wouldn’t find it funny to hand his buddy something gross like that, I was told. I had to see.
A Handful of Little Stinkers
We started with just a little bit of coffee in the water to get the right color and molded the fresh soap into balls. It was originally planned to make them round as our friend had suggested but hubby accidentally squished one as they cooled. The new shape actually improved the look! We immediately remolded them all to create a gift no one will forget. Yes, they look like they should be floating in a round bowl somewhere. I know one of the first concerns people have is, “But how does it smell?” Actually, like flowers. Really- they smell like lavender, jasmine, and honeysuckle. We thought it would be perfect to be able to give someone a chance to say their stuff really did smell like flowers. They will also love the bubbles as they wash with these little gems. It has been a huge hit in testing with all ages with great reviews on cleaning and fun. Each gift set has about 2.5oz of individual “bars”, which range from 5-6 bars per bag depending on their weight. Since these bars were hand molded and shaped, their individual weights will vary. We even have an optional poem available for your gift giving needs. There are 12 of these “Little Stinker” bags still currently available and we are already taking preorders for the next round by email until the shopping cart allows it again.
Little Stinkers soaps
If you are trying to order these (or anything else) and the site crashes it again, please email me at dorothy@texaspioneercreations.com I will continue to try to get this fixed over this weekend. I am still fighting to get the pictures loaded to our site for adding these to our shopping cart. I apologize for not having it online today but have spent all day working out the kinks & migrating parts of this system. I will be working on the site this weekend and updating the blog with other projects we’ve completed lately. Pictures to come of the pumpkin, teakwood, beer, and kid’s soap also. Thanks for your patience and humor as we’ve grown and tried to expand into the online universe a bit more. I hope to complete our online expansion within this week!
Texas Pioneer Kids CHA Donation- “It’s a Jungle In There” was created with my child for local fundraiser auction. She designed and I followed her orders. Fun times!
I have had a few questions about our “kids” line and decided to add our explanation to our blog to make it easier. At this current posting time, we do not have a line of products that are designed for kids only. All of our soaps, unless specifically marked on the package, are safe for all use on ages. That means that as long as you only use it externally (on your skin only, please don’t eat my soaps) the entire family may use any soaps. We will occasionally pour some soaps up into fun shapes or themes but we’re not ready yet for a kid’s only line.
What then IS the Texas Pioneer “Kids” label for? Soaps created with my children for local donations, in short. The nature of cold process soap making is not child friendly but my kids seem to love helping my mad scientist tendencies. The soaping bug has bitten them also, I’m afraid. They get to occasionally design their own soaps from start to finish and those become the “Kids” projects. They will pick a melt and pour base, scents, colors, additives, and any mold they desire. We work together on their projects but it is pretty much their soap. I can only claim supervisor role as I try to make sure everyone follows safety procedures while cooking and the results are safe for use. There are some fun and interesting results when the kids get in the kitchen!
We try in our family to teach our children to appreciate what they have and to give back to their community. We have tied this to letting them have a creative expression in their soapmaking and then sharing it with others. The “Kids” soap line is almost entirely donated to local charitable groups. We enjoy spending time together in the kitchen, mixing up something fun, and making memories they can pass on to their future kids. They select a bar or two to keep out of the batch as a keepsake and then the rest are made into gift sets for charitable fundraisers or we deliver the bars to a local charity or worthy organization. I am working on finding a local nursing home or other ideas of places who might enjoy these. Do you have any ideas? I would love to hear them as the kids have summer soaping plans!
I hope this has helped clear the confusion and not created more. I must now get back to the soap pot. Another busy week is ahead!
