by Marie | Mar 22, 2018 | Bar Soap
I had so much fun crafting up these creamy, sweet-smelling, sparkly bars of tea latte inspired soap. The batter is silky smooth and has great play time, so the whole mixing-pouring-swirling experience is calm and easy and fun (no pudding panic here, ha!). A dusty brown base is accented with milky white swirls reminiscent of the swirls on top of a latte, with the brown hue coming from the essential oil blend. The tops of the bars are sculpted up and decorated with sprinkles of tea leaves and a bit of something sparkly for a little something special. I think these bars of Cream of Earl Grey Soap are pretty darn lovely!
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by Marie | Feb 1, 2018 | Bar Soap, Recipes with Videos
I don’t remember when I first fell in love with the lavender/spruce scent combo, but it’s been a long standing favourite of mine for a while now. The woodsy, calming sweetness of lavender blends beautifully with the bright, fresh, camphoraceous notes of spruce and it’s just downright lovely. And, thanks to both of these essential oils being relatively inexpensive, they lend themselves quite well to soap making! This Lavender Spruce Soap is the second recipe in my lavender spruce series; it features lovely purple and green swirls in a creamy white base, and is wonderfully fun to make.
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by Marie | Dec 21, 2017 | Bar Soap, Recipes with Videos
I had so much fun making this pretty soap. Coloured with powdered indigo and some pretty purple and green micas, I wanted to channel Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights—and the winter solstice seemed like a great time for it. I had a lot of fun thinking through how to create a soap that would channel such an incredible natural wonder, and while I don’t think I quite nailed it, I do think these pretty bars are a fitting tribute.
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by Marie | Dec 14, 2017 | Body & Massage Oils
When giving a massage you want an oil that adds slip for an extended period of time, but isn’t unpleasantly greasy. It’s also nice if it’s easily malleable in the hands (I’ve seen pure coconut oil used for this purpose, but never liked how you have to scoop a hunk of it out of the tub before using it) and has a satiny finish on the skin, leaving it soft and hydrated and happy (though really, how could anything not be happy post-massage?!). This massage oil came about as a result of my experiments with olive wax, after noticing how much play time many of the various experiments had on the skin, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.
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by Marie | Sep 25, 2017 | Bar Soap, Other 2017 Favourites, Recipes with Videos
Soaps starring cedarwood and mint seem to be perennially popular; I think I see a few at every farmer’s market and craft fair I attend. And honestly, it’s not hard to see why! The scent combination is fantastic—soft, sweet cedarwood pairs beautifully with bright, punchy peppermint for a wonderful olfactory experience that’s pretty darn universal. I decided to veer a bit off the beaten cedarwood-mint path with my styling, though. Many of the bars I see using this scent combo really embrace dark browns and forest greens, but I was feeling a bit… perkier. Let’s make some Minty Forest Soap!
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by Marie | Sep 4, 2017 | Bar Soap, Recipes with Videos
I’m not sure what it is about this hobby (or maybe it’s just me), but people always assume I have a green thumb (people who have never seen my yard, at least). With the utmost faith in my ability to nurture and create they assume I have an abundant vegetable garden and overflowing planters of cheery blossoms. Unfortunately for me, they are very wrong. Now, some of this is for lack of trying—I’ve never actually tried a vegetable garden, and I’m completely satisfied to let whatever perennials pop up in my flowerbeds be my entire flower collection. Herbs, however, are a thing I have tried. In particular, basil. I cannot keep the stuff alive in Calgary. When I lived in Toronto I easily kept a basil plant alive in a water bottle on my windowsill, but here—not a chance, and it breaks my heart. Basil is my all-time favourite fresh herb, but it wilts quickly when bought at the market and dies with rather disheartening determination whenever I try to grow it. I’m always so envious of people who lament having “too much” basil—as if there was such a thing! This is where a fantastic bit of technology has saved my basil loving ways—the Click and Grow.
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