Hello, Pumpkin!

I've been cranking out soap by the truck loads. The craft~ fair~holiday~party~favor season has me working hard and having a ball. It really is a gift to be able to do what you love.

I find myself sniffing this bar of Perfect Pumpkin almost hourly. The fragrance is Pumpkin Spice from Brambleberry. It's a rich, warming blend of pumpkin, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. The recipe is simple~ rice bran oil, palm & coconut blended with a bit of organic shea butter. It's colored with turmeric, paprika & a swirl of ground cinnamon. See why I call it perfect?

Pick up a bar or three from Twin Birch on etsy and enjoy these first few days of Autumn in Vermont wherever you are!

It's All About YUZU!

I am in love with this bar of Yuzu Soap. It smells soo fresh, sunny, warm, sparkly, exciting.... The fragrance is Yuzu from Brambleberry. So amazing! And I'm really happy with my cold process formulation. It offers the perfect balance of sudsy fun & serious skin~loving moisturizers. My bars have great staying power in the shower. If they are left to dry in between uses, they will last for weeks.

Not only do I love it in this batch of soap, I also love it in bath bombs. So do the locals! The bombs have been selling out at The Randolph Farm Stand, a four season shop that features local farmers, artisans & products. I love having my products there. Scott and Tammy are two of the most genuinely nice people I know. And their store is beautiful.

Yuzu will be available February 1st. Drop me a comment if you'd like me to save you some. I promise it will bring sunshine & warmth to wherever you are!

Time in Monet's Garden

This was such a fun batch of soap to make. It's full of softening olive oil, coconut oil & palm kernel oil. It's a nice hard bar that's full of lather! I went way out on the swirly limb and used three colors to mimic Monet's Water Garden. Swirling was a treat! I had one of those soaper's adrenaline rushes while I was pulling it all together. The fragrance is Brambleberry's Sweet Pea, which was great in the batch. Six weeks later, it's still sharing it's yummy scent. It's sweet, fresh & a tiny bit musky. I love it.

Of course, it's available on Etsy! ;)

Counting My Blessings

Last night was Bubble Class #2 with the Blessings Craft Club. This group is perfectly named! Each one of the five ladies is sweet, funny, kind and uber~crafty! Last night's class was a mixture of fun and hard work as we kicked through 3 projects. We made melt & pour projects, re~usable dryer sachets & (my favorite) shea & sugar scrub.

It's so fun to get to know someone based on their sensuality. I'm not teetering on nasty talk, I mean getting to know which fragrances, colors and textures appeal to one's senses. I'm not as good at guessing as I'd like to be. The Blessings Girls cover the spectrum. The best, BEST thing is watching someone's face when they get it just the way the like it! It's a magic moment. Just look at their beautiful work! Fragrances like Oatmeal, Milk & Honey, Bonsai, Creme Brulee and
a really yummy China Rain, Vanilla & Rose blend (courtesy of Brambleberry) filled the air!
Life is so good!

Thanks again to all of you girls! I may "teach" the class, but you all make it so fun! These are evenings that I really look forward to!! :)

Teacher! Teacher!

Does anyone remember that song from .38 Special? Well, I get to play teacher tomorrow night and I'm so excited!! There's a craft club of 5 or 6 women here in Randolph. It's the coolest idea. From what I understand, they get together regularly and do different crafty things. Doesn't that sound like a blast? Anyway, one of the ladies, Sadie, asked me a little while ago if I was interested in teaching them how to make soap. Who wouldn't be?

Initially, I thought they'd want to do a little melt and pour soaping. You know, it's quick, instant gratification. That shows what I know! These girls are hard core! They opted for the CP class, complete with goggles and gloves! Well, we are going to each make a 1 lb batch so my students :) can take home their soap right away and stare at it while it cures.

So today I did my last practice run to make sure that my recipe would behave itself. Can you believe I've never made less than a 4 lb batch of soap? I am so happy with the one pound recipe I used. It's in Alicia Grosso's Everything Soapmaking Book. See here to read about how much I love her! It's simple and manageable. I'm only worried about how to get everyone emulsified.
I have 2 stick blenders, so we'll probably just take turns.

This batch has Brambleberry's Kumquat FO, Wholesale Supplies Plus Yellow Iron Oxide & water soluable titanium dioxide. I topped one with calendula, inspired by Joanna's Bath Bomb photo and the other has cranberry seeds just for fun. The Kumquat was perfect to work with. No acceleration that I could note and the scent (so far) is nice and bright! I think I'm in love!

I'm so excited about class! I'll let you know how it goes!

Swirly Girl

Back in April, I was lucky enough to attend a seminar taught by Lori Nova. She is one of the soaper rock stars that I'd learned about when I was doing my bubble research. Lori is out in California and she owns The Nova Studio, where she teaches the craft of soapmaking and other bath & body techniques. She is knowledgeable, nice & super sweet!

Her seminar was fantastic. She took all of us in the room (about 75 for the 2nd seminar) through the step-by-step process of creating CP soap. From oil temps to colorants & fragrance options all the way to the actual swirl, she was thorough and clear. She also answered a lot of questions. It was a great class! BTW, isn't her apron darling?

Armed with the packet that Lori handed out and a picture in my mind's eye, I decided to give it a go. I chose to go very basic with a Lavender bar. Have you all tried BB's Lavender de Provence? It's soo yummy. I've never been a Lavender lover, but this is just perfect. Anyway, here's a look at my first batch. Although I would use a darker color next time, I'm so psyched about the actual swirl. I wish I'd taken a picture of my novice batch from last winter. ick.

My Love You Lavender Swirl will be available on Etsy by June 20th. ;)

Even Sweeter in Person

I am so psyched about the HSMG Conference! It's bursting with information and tons of great people. I've met so many talented soapers and I've already had about 16 "AH-HA!" moments!

I had the chance to say hi to Anne-Marie Faiola from Brambleberry for a brief moment! It was so great to meet her and see her in person! She is an amazing and dynamic speaker! She's funny and natural. Plus, she shared fantastic information! The greatest part is that it's info that actually applies to my business and ideas that I walked away with to help Twin Birch grow! I'm such a happy girl!

Sadly, my phone's camera is LAME!, so the picture I snapped while she was speaking is pathetic!
And, I have to admit that I was slightly (ok a lot!) star struck when I talked to her! I mean, there she was! Live! In person! Anne-Marie the Soap Queen! *gasp*! All I can say is that she is even sweeter in person and I'm so happy to have met her!

Off to the showers and another day of super-fun learning!!

Green Thumb Gift Idea

Even though our growing season is fairly short, we here in Zone 5 do love digging in the dirt. And I know we're not alone! Now that the weather is turning the corner, all of my FWGT (Friends With Green Thumbs) are ready to grab their shovels and turn some soil.

This cute Spring Fling Gardener's Tote is listed on Etsy and packed with products to pamper after a day in the dirt! It features BubbleBlossoms (which are so fun in the guest bath!) Gardener's Soap~loaded with Fuller's Earth to help get the grime off of your hands, Shea Butter Hand Cream which will soak right in and leave you so soft, Gardener's Balm for the little cracks that hurt so much, a 4 oz Soy Candle in BB's Tomato Leaf (it's intoxicating!) & a cute honey bee guest soap.
Everything is packed with love in a cute tote with tools for getting your garden started!!

So, I'm just asking...is your Mom a gardener? :)

Somebody Get Me Some Sushi!

First of all, big hugs and lots of bubble love to Teresa for her blog about my SoapCakes! Click here to read it and then poke around! Her blog is great~ it's called "Life, Homesteading & Everything"
very fun! Thanks, Teresa! :)

I promised I'd stop talking about the weather. Thanks to all of you who put up with my rants!
Instead of weather, I'm talking about SPICY WASABI today! I made a batch of CP using BB Wasabi FO on Saturday. OMG! I am in LOVE with that fragrance! We had some peeps over for wine & darts on Saturday night and when they came to the Bubble Lab/Dart Room, they were sniffin' like mad fools! (I'm sure the Prosecco had nothing to do with it!) Anyway... here's the shot
Just four weeks away from some Spicy Shower Fun!