Basil Lavender

Hint: click on photo to enlarge


Basil Lavender, just cut. I added a little spice to the basil lavender blend with a little black pepper and lime. The green bottom layer is colored with French green clay and a touch of sage green oxide.

It smells delicious!


And a gratuitous cat picture.

Memorial Day Week Long Sale !

Beginning Tuesday, May 19th, right through until end of day Monday, May 25th, I am offering 15% off the purchase price of all items in Aunt Nancy's on Etsy! So take your time perusing my shop, pick your favorite soaps, and buy buy buy!!

And the winner is ......

The random number chosen for my soap giveaway is #22. Commenter #22, Scpocky, come on down! :)

I would like to thank everyone that entered my little giveaway. It was fun for me, and I hope it was fun for all the folks that left comments.

Nan

Energize Me - The Cut

I am really happy with the way this soap has turned out (see previous post) ... happy with the scent, happy with the look, happy with the feel.





Look at the design of the swirl in the next photo. Sometimes I see a pear, sometimes a smiling face.



Now I will whisk them away to the soap room, let them cure for a few weeks. Then will come the true test, how do I like it in the shower!

Energize Me!

This is the soap I made on Tuesday, I am going to call it "Energize Me". I love this scent! I used my olive oil and wheat germ oil recipe, substituting my usual canola oil with rice bran oil because I was out of canola oil. And I added a little goat milk because I felt that it deserved it. :)

The scent is a blend of spruce needle, black pepper, and orange. I also used a little litsea to help anchor the orange, and a little patchouli to round the whole thing out. MMMMMM MMMMMM MMMMMM !!!! It smells just wonderful!

I used some Rhassoul Clay to make the swirls.

A little bit about the essential oils I used:

Spruce Needle: Refreshing, invigorating, stimulating, strengthening. Very popular in an Aromatherapy bath to revive tired muscles. For centuries, spruce needle has been a favorite to use in saunas and steam baths.

Black Pepper: Just as you would imagine, black pepper essential oil is spicy and exotic smelling, without making you sneeze! It's very stimulating, and is useful for muscular aches and pains and muscular stiffness.

Sweet Orange: Nothing says refreshing as a splash of orange!

I'll be cutting this up later today. I can't wait! Then we'll all just have to wait out the 4 week curing period. ~sigh~

Blog Soap Giveaway May 18th - CLOSED

This giveaway is closed with 55 comments. Thank you to all that entered! :)

This is my first blog giveaway!

I am giving away one bar of soap (your choice!) to one lucky reader. To enter, just add a comment here with your email address (if you aren't registered with Blogger) and I will draw a lucky winner on May 18th using random.org to pick the number. Whichever comment number matches the number I draw will be the WINNER! :)

The winner will be announce Monday, May 18th.

Vacation is Over!

Ray and I had a very nice "at home" vacation. And now it's back to work for both of us!

Today after my morning walk with Mom, I will get myself organized. I will take inventory of my essential oils and fragrance oils so I can make a list of soaps to make. I will determine 1 or 2 ways of advertising online, since I am no longer doing the farmers market on Saturdays and I need to punch up my online sales. I will go through my product photos and determine which ones need to be redone.

There are two blogs I would like to point out, both of them photography blogs. The first one is Ray's. :) He is doing a photography project involving the area around us - the beautiful Sonoran Desert.

Sonoran Connection

And the second one is my nephew Eli's blog. Keep an eye on this, he'll be taking a trip to Denali National Park later this year, and I'll be he'll get some great photos!

Whimbrel Photography

Sarah and Andy Were Here!

My beautiful daughter and best son-in-law ever where here for a visit last weekend. They were only here for 4 nights, 3 full days. And we packed a LOT of activity into those three days!!

Mt. Lemmon


They stayed over at my Mom's house, because Sarah is allergic to my cat, and, since I started making soap, I don't have a guest room anymore! :-D

The first day we took a short hike in Tucson Mountain Park, which is just about right outside our door. And then we went to the Desert Museum. They were impressed with both ventures, and Sarah was especially happy to see the prairie dog exhibit at the museum. The mountain lions did a good job of posing for all the spectators. For supper we went to La Fuente's, a very nice Mexican restaurant with mariachi band. The meals were good, and the margaritas even better. :)

Sunday we took a drive up to the top of Mt Lemmon, which is over 8000 ft above sea level. Beautiful! That took us just about all day. For supper, we ate at Barrios on 6th Ave. Another big yum yum!

Mt Lemmon


Monday in the morning my mother took Andy golfing, while me, Ray, and Sarah went to the San Xavier Mission. In the afternoon we all went to Sabino Canyon, which Sarah declares she could spend a few days at least exploring. For supper, Chef Andrew prepared the MOST scrumptious meal I have had in a long time! He made us a salmon salad that was soooo good, I am completely unsatisfied with all the food I have been eating since because I want some more! Andy is executive chef at Square One Restaurant in Key West, and I'll bet that restaurant is full all the time because he is that good!

Sabino Canyon


Sarah and Gram, Sabino Canyon


And then Tuesday, they went back to Key West. :(