Ok, so my conscience couldn’t let me take his beer and make soap that day. Of course, I found other ways to satisfy the soaping urge. My lightbulb moment came when I remembered that I had some new colors still to play with and melt and pour soap base patiently waiting for attention. Lucky day!
I tried my mettle against a new salt scrub recipe- it won but I vowed a rematch on another day. I got a beautiful blue color out of that attempt and a new favorite rain scent, so it wasn’t a waste at all! I also played more with swirling and got a great flame look in the Indonesian Teakwood bars. Will post pictures as soon as my uploader cooperates again.
There is also a Texas Suds in the making for the guys. Should be ready in a few weeks and promise to keep you posted!
Last week, my children & I got the chance to enjoy a great evening put together by the teen librarians at our local library. Elsie Elise & Patsy had set up an event for their teens that included a great potluck dinner celebrating each participant’s family heritages. It was immediately followed by a session of soap making and handmade labeling- it was great fun! Their goal was to create soaps to donate as Christmas presents to a local children’s home and they did an outstanding job.
I heard about the event thru Donna (Neighborhood Holiday Market last month) and had agreed to both donate some of my store’s soaps and come help them at the teen event. I am so glad that I did! They had done a wonderful job cutting out a variety of decorations for the bags & gift tags for the kids to label and getting everyone to bring a great dish (except yours truly who had a brain fart and forgot to bring one- still sorry about that!!) My kids are still talking about me needing to make some of the dishes here at home for them too. The librarians were extremely nice and let me little ones join in the dinner and festivities even though they were way out of the age range. You made their night, guys! They had a wonderful time and still talk about how much they enjoyed it.
Melt and pour at the library
After a delicious meal, we all went into their kitchen and made a variety of beautiful melt & pour soaps. The library had provided everything they would need, from the base to the colors to the scents and molds. The kids had fun mixing and matching their own scents & colors. It was great to see some of the combinations they would imagine and how quickly they picked it up! There were layered soaps created, beautiful simple designs that smelt wonderful, and some that were just plain fun. All in all, I would say the teen librarians deserved a huge pat on the back putting together a wonderful evening. I’m including some of the pictures of the soaps in this post for all to enjoy.
Melt and pour at the library
But where was the worthwhile part? All but one soap per child were made to be donated to the Krause Children’s Center here in town. Donna had found out about the library’s plan to create these soaps for a donation to the center and spread the word, collecting donations for the kids and promoting the center. I was honored to both donate to and help others create presents for these kids; it was a wonderful opportunity for the kids also to take a moment, have a little fun, and make someone else happy. Thank you so much to the teen librarians at CyFair’s LoneStar College and Donna for bringing this center to my attention and for giving so much of yourselves for their cause. If you happen to be in my area and looking for a charity to support for the new year, please consider this one.
Happy Washing!
Dorothy
Updated on 1/5/2012 to correct the spelling of a name. -Dorothy
