What I've been up to the last few days

So I usually don't get a chance to soap or do much of anything on Sundays and Mondays because my husband is off work those days so we usually end up doing family things. Sometimes he does guy stuff with his friends (video games, golfing.. boring boring boring) and so then I get to soap or do soapy stuff. Anyway so on Tuesday I got my soap beveler in the mail that I have been eagerly anticipating.

I got this one and while I do have to say that their customer service leaves a bit to be desired, the beveler is great! As soon as I saw the package on my porch (sometimes the UPS or FedEx delivery person won't ring the doorbell...) I ran in and ripped the box open and squealed with delight. I was beginning to think it would never get here! As soon as I opened the box I smelled peppermint. I had a little grab bag gift in there that included a sample of peppermint leaves, eucalyptus leaves, and tussah silk. That was nice! So I ran into my cure room with the beveler and used it right away on a bar of soap I just picked at random and much to my delight it works wonderfully! I grabbed up all of my soap (took a few trips) and went out into my living room, set up my table with the beveler and an extra box (for the scraps) and set upon my soaps with the beveler. I'm still not done but I've cleaned up about 95% of them, which I've been dying to do! I'm curious if they'll stay as nice and smooth on the sides or if they'll revert back to that slightly crusty feel.. I haven't checked today but I will tomorrow. So there was that awesome surprise.

I bought one of those handheld steamer deals that's supposed to be for steaming wrinkles out of your clothes. I will be using it to get ash off my soap. The steam method works pretty well but I can't get a steady stream of steam to get it all off so I'm hoping it'll work better with this thing. I should be getting that in tomorrow (love Amazon!).

And today I finally soaped a batch. I got my order in last week from Nature's Garden (first time order from them for me) and I got some Peppermint EO, Black Raspberry Vanilla FO, Pineapple Upside-down Cake, Rain Barrel, and some Vanilla Stabilizer. I've been absolutely dying to soap that Black Raspberry Vanilla but I've been waiting for these custom berry molds to come in so I could do embeds along the top. Well I got them in the mail today, woot woot! I knew I was soaping anyway today because I needed to do my Mica Swirl challenge for Great Cakes Soapworks challenge this week. I just couldn't decide which fragrance I was going to soap so I could pick out the mica colors to swirl with.

I'd already mixed my lye when I went and checked the mail and found those molds. Of course I'm like a kid at Christmas anytime I get an order in, no matter what it is lol. I ran in and set up to make my embeds. I just made some reddish pink berries and some purple berries (Melt & Pour) and got ready to soap!

Here is my in-the-mold finished creation. The video of the making is up on my YouTube channel and I should be cutting it either tomorrow night or Friday morning. I can't wait to see what it looks like on the inside. I ended up swirling purple and silver on the top... the silver is so stunning, I will DEFINITELY be doing that again!

Well, until next time... Happy Soaping!