My happy little ball of energy loves food, as long as it’s food that contains yogurt, bread or cheese. When he was a baby, I could shovel kale purees in his mouth with no problem. Now that he has an attitude and can communicate, he likes to signal ‘more, more more!’ for everything except vegetables. Today, he has managed to bypass every vegetable I’ve tried to put in his mouth. He’s napping now but I’m pretty sure he won’t be able to resist this doctored Applesauce when he wakes up.
Archives for September 2012
Fall Sweater Stripes Soap Tutorial
I’ve just added a new board to my Pinterest page: Color Inspiration! How did I go so long without this board? And have you seen the array of color palettes that are out there? Whoa. Inspiration overload. One of my favorite go-to sites for all things color is Design Seeds, and recently there was a color story posted that reminded me of a comfy and cozy fall sweater. Of course, my next train of thought was to turn it into soap, and what better way to use Bramble Berry’s newest fragrance, Cranberry Chutney?
Kim Faler and Invisible Cities at Mass MoCA
Recently Bramble Berry was contacted by artist Kim Faler with a unique request; she needed enough melt and pour soap base to create a literal wall of soap to be featured in the Mass MoCA exhibit “Invisible Cities“, where artists were called upon to re-imagine urban landscapes. Dream come true, right? We were happy to help out this first-time soap maker with her piece “Untitled (99 44/100% Pure)“, which featured Bramble Berry’s LCP White Melt and Pour Soap Base scented with White Tea and Ginger Fragrance Oil. We’re delighted that this innovative artist agreed to answer some questions and share some pictures of the final project. Psssst: the frame wall below? All soap.
Quinoa Feta Burgers
We’ve been having a bit of a burger-off in our household. It all started with my sister-in-law Cheriss making an amazing veggie burger. From there, the entire family became obsessed. And now, every time my folks visit, I whip up a big batch of burger mix on Friday and we feast on Saturday. So far, these burgers are tied with Cheriss’ for the number one recipe. They have a full 14 grams of high quality protein (thanks to the Kidney beans and Quinoa) and are chock full of delicious flavor. I adapted this recipe from Whole Living magazine.
Quinoa Feta Burgers
15 oz. can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 shallot, minced
1 carrot, grated finely
2 cups cooked quinoa (1 cup dry quinoa, 2 cups water for cooking)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
5 Tbs crumbled feta cheese
1 tsp coarse salt
3 egg whites, lightly whisked
2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil or Coconut Oil for grilling
#Unique Tops Winners!
There was such a great response to this #Unqiue Tops Challenge! So many of you came up with great soaps and there was plenty of drooling-over-soap time. There’s a ton of #uniquetops inspiration in our Facebook album if you’d like to check out all of the entries. It was definitely a tough choice (is looking at soap all day really that tough?) but here are our favorite entries:
Top Row:
NaYeon Kim from CastleLakeStudio SoapArt – Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night
Aissa from Nikory Bath Treats
Marcela from Art by Chela – Olive and Coconut Oil Soap Cupcake
Bottom Row:
Marion from Desperate Soapwife
Hrefna Waage – Scented with English Rose Fragrance Oil
Jennifer from Jennifer’s Handmade Soap – Soap Cake
Many thanks to everyone who participated in the #uniquetops challenge! If you missed this go round, not to worry. The next challenge ha #rebatch! Let’s see what you can do!
Make It Monday: #Rebatch
Guess what day it is?! Its Make it Monday! So far on this round of cold process challenges, we’ve seen hundreds of naturally colored soaps (check out this eye candy) and some absolutely phenomenal unique tops! (Psst…Check back later today to see the winners of the most recent #uniquetops challenge!). So are you ready for this week’s challenge?
Mission (if you choose to accept it)
- Create a unique soap that follows the theme for the challenge of the week. This week is all about rebatch.
- Post your pictures of your rebatch soap to Bramble Berry’s Facebook page during the entry period (September 24th -October 8th).
- Your entry must have the hashtag of the week in order to be entered into the contest. This week, your picture must have the hashtag “#Rebatch
- At the end of the two weeks, Team Bramble Berry will pick our favorite soaps. The winners of the challenge will be featured on the Soap Queen Blog. You have until Monday, October 8th to post your #Rebatch photos. Please submit your photos by 12 pm (pacific standard time).
- You can submit up to three different pictures. [Read more…]
From Washington to Washington
Wow, has it been a busy last 4 days. In the last 4 days, I’ve flown to Washington DC and back, made halvah from scratch and a from-scratch halvah cheesecake (yes, recipes will be posted! Until then, you can feast your eyes on this photo), spent a day with my family and participated in the annual Mastermind Business retreat. I am energized and tired, all at the same time!
Washington DC was an efficient, productive trip. Though there are no cosmetic-legislation bills that have made it out of committee this legislative session, it’s important to continue educating lawmakers and their staff on our handcrafted industry and urge small business exemptions for any future legislation. Lawmakers were receptive to the message that small business does not function like a large, mass-scale-production line and that it’s important to preserve over 200,000 jobs in the U.S. by including small business exemptions in any upcoming legislation. New to this issue? Lots of historical information at these blog posts here (going back over 4 years!). [Read more…]
Firsts.
On the eve of Jamisen’s first haircut…
“Every goodbye is the birth of a memory.” -Dutch Proverb
Sunset Over the Water by Lovin’ Soap
Check out this great cold process tutorial featuring Bramble Berry’s neon colorants layered to look like a gorgeous ocean sunset. Here’s Amanda with the how-to! -Anne-Marie
Sunset over the water
By Amanda Griffin
The recipe:
Sweet Almond Oil – 5 oz.
Avocado Oil – 5 oz.
Castor Oil – 4 oz.
Rice Bran Oil – 5 oz.
Olive Oil – 18 oz.
Shea Butter – 5 oz
Coconut Oil – 18 oz
Water – 12 oz (I did a discount since I have all of the soft oils)
Lye – 8.4 oz
Colorants: Fired up Fuchsia, Tangerine Wow!, Fizzy Lemonade, Blue Mix LabColor, Ultraviolet Blue, Cappuccino Mica, Super Pearly White Mica
Mold: Wood Mold with Silicone Liner
Fragrance: Energy and Moroccan Mint.
Buy everything you need for this project with the click of a button! [Read more…]
Behind the Scenes at the Bramble Berry Warehouse
Bramble Berry Orders: Behind the Scenes!
We often hear that coming home to a Bramble Berry box has the excitement of Christmas morning! So we thought you might like a glimpse of what the merry ‘elves’ here at Bramble Berry do to get you your order. Here’s the play by play from placing your order to receiving your order for an exclusive behind-the-scenes peek into the Bramble Berry warehouse!
The first step starts with you, our valued customers (we wouldn’t be here with out you!). Orders can be placed online on Bramble Berry’s website using our easy to use online shopping cart. If you prefer to place your orders over the phone give us a call at 1.877.627.7883.
(Meet the Customer Service Team) The BB customer service team loves talking all things soap related and taking orders!
Once your order has been placed, you will receive an email confirmation. Did you know that you can make changes to your order within one hour of placing it? Just send us an email to orderchange(at)brambleberry(dot)com within one hour of placing your order or notify us by writing a note on your order. [Read more…]
Naturally Colored Eye Candy
These soaps are all made using the cold process technique and colored with natural colorants (think Activated Charcoal, Alkanet, Annatto Seed, Calendula, Maddar Root, Paprika, Spirulina, etc). Can you believe some of these designs? I was totally blown away with the quality of entries in this particular Make it Monday contest. To see the name behind the soaps and some of the natural colorants used, check out the Make It Monday Facebook Album. And be sure to check out the winners of the contest here. Of course, everyone is a winner in my book! So cliche to say, I know, but it’s true! Some of these soaps are seriously jaw dropping.
Sun Print Soaps by Simona
Simona from Bramble Berry marketing did a darling melt and pour project that turned out way too cute to not share with everyone. Thanks Simona! And check out her other guest post on Cocoa Powder (yum). Enjoy! -Anne-Marie
This soap evokes childhood memories of summer art projects. One of my favorites, a treat, was using Sun Print paper. Depending on how much paper we had, we’d spend hours collecting and doing practice arrangements – you have to be quick with the set up to achieve the “best” print. We’d run around the house and yard to gather various plants, feathers, keys and other fun and funky shaped objects. A patch of driveway would be selected and we’d layout our sheet, arranging our found objects just so on the paper. After carefully setting the glass onto the arrangement we’d anxiously watch and wait for the blue to turn to white. Then we’d run to the hose to “process” our masterpiece, watching the white turn back to blue where our objects were not.
If you have never made a layered soap before, please watch the Basic Layers episode on Soap Queen TV to brush up on the basics before tackling this project.
What You’ll Need:
Organic Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base
Shea Melt & Pour Soap Base
Non-Bleeding Teal
Activated Charcoal
Liquid Glycerin
Tangerine Essential Oil
Ylang Ylang Essential Oil
Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil
Cedarwood Essential Oil
12 bar square silicone mold
Buy everything you need with the click of a button!
Butterscotch Pie Recipe
My Dad speaks fondly of the Butterscotch Pie that his Mom used to make him. I have tried to recreate many of his favorite childhood recipes (remember the Triple Decker Caramel cake? Recipe here) and this is another try to make his childhood memories come true. It turns out that this is a much more sophisticated version than his Mom made (he suspects she used a pudding mix for the filling!) and, as adults, is more rewarding. The browned butter gives this a deeper taste. The filling is not very sweet so on first bite, it doesn’t seem like a winner. Take the second bite. You’ll be surprised at how addicting this recipe is. [Read more…]
Wisdom
“Wisdom begins in wonder.” -Socrates