It was such a close call! Almost Paradise was ahead from the beginning, and stayed that way most of the time the poll was open. There were a couple of times that it was tied with Moonlit Woods, and ended up just barely ahead! I really believe that any of the names would work well [...]
I’m talking about laundry soap! I made a batch of homemade laundry soap, and I’ve been using it on our laundry for the past several weeks. Here is my recipe: 1 bar Great Cakes Soapworks Orange Essence Lye Soap, grated with a cheese grater. 1 c Borax – 20 Mule Team (get it from Walmart [...]
Our insect repelling arsenal is fully loaded! Bye Bye Bugs products come in three different applications, made with the same effective essential oil blend. If you are looking for a natural alternative to DEET, this is it! Not stinky either like some natural insect repellents can be! I love this story from Fiddledeedee (from last [...]
After hearing about Autumn’s experience with using my Old-Fashioned Lye Soap in her homemade laundry detergent, I decide to tweak the recipe a bit and add some fresh-smelling orange essential oil. If you’d like to try making your own laundry detergent similar to Autumn’s, I found a great recipe at the Modern Cottage blog. Simply [...]
That’s what Autumn of Autumn Asks Why set out to discover. I sent her three bars of my Old-Fashioned Lye Soap several weeks ago for her experiment. Autumn’s recipe is a combination of washing soda, borax, oxygen booster, and grated bar soap. She has tried four different types of bar soap for in her quest [...]
Once again, I am happy to announce that the Dead Sea Mud Facial Masks are back in stock! The benefits of the minerals are extraordinary. After just one or two applications, it is not uncommon for the skin to appear firmer and toner. The mask will also lightly exfoliate and reveal a much smoother, healthier [...]
I got a message from a friend via Facebook last night when she saw what was happening with the shea butter and that I was down to just one Vanilla Hazelnut left: “ARGH!?!??! lol I was just getting ready to order the large plain Shea Butter??” Her daughter has bad excema and allergies and she [...]
Just when I thought I had the shea butter all figured out, I read this on a trusted supplier’s website: Please note: Recently we have become aware that other vendors are suggesting you heat shea butter to 170 degrees F for a period of 45 minutes to prevent graininess. This can be very damaging to [...]
I just estimated that I have sold nearly 400 Patchouli Beer Bars since I first started making them in 2005. People who don’t use handmade soap have probably never thought about using beer soap. Why would you want to? It’s a pretty logical question, actually. When I heard about other soapmakers using it, I thought [...]
Well, I told you I would put it to a vote to decide the new name of the Bug Off products, but it didn’t work out that way! After making a list of all the suggestions that were made, I removed the ones that wouldn’t work for all three types of products: soap, stick and [...]
