Soap It!

Facebook Soap Pic Of The Week

2012-11-11T08:13:00.001-05:00

.Relaxing

So excited and honored! This picture was chosen as the photo of the week on the Soap Queen Blog. It feels incredible to be recognized by someone who you respect. I have never met Anne -Marie, but she has been a long distance mentor for me - and she doesn't even know this!! I have been making soap for about eight years and still learn tips, tricks, and get inspired by Soap Queen aka Anne-Marie. Her attitude is uplifting and inspiring. For those who think Bramble Berry was an over night success should really read her story HERE. After reading her story it gave me hope and some realization that you have to keep on keeping on. Even though I love what I do, this doesn't mean it will come any easier to me. I love making soap and selling it for a modest profit. Interacting with my customers brings me so much joy. Everything about the process from creating a skin loving soaping formulation to designing the label's and packaging is "JOY" for me.

A big thank you to Bramble Berry for there amazing products. The soap that pictured above I used Bramble Berry "Relaxing" fragrance oil and Labcolors for high pH products.

Don't forget you can win four bars of my soap - details HERE .

Let's Give Some Soap Away!!

2012-11-05T09:23:00.001-05:00

SOAP GIVE AWAY

In the spirit of the holiday season a soap give-a-way is in order!! Here are the details:

Give away will run until Dec. 7th 2012 9:00 pm EST. Soap will be mailed out by Dec. 12th 2012.

**One person will receive four bars of my cold process soap**

What do you have to do to enter?

*Comment on this blog and make sure I have a way of getting
back to you. = 1 entry

You can STOP here - a comment on THIS blog post enters you in the give-a-way.

If you would like additional entries into this give-a-way:

*Tweet this give-away and be sure to include @herbestapple so I can see. = 3 entries

and/OR

*Share on facebook and be sure to tag my page www.facebook.com/herbestapple = 3 entries

and/OR

*Share this give away on your blog - with a link back to my blog. Please put in comment section of this blog post that you did this with link. = 6 entries

and/OR

*Subscribe to my blog = 2 entries

and/OR

*Like my Facebook page here and be sure to leave a comment about the soap give away. = 3 entries

If a person does all the above, their name will be entered 18 times in a random draw.

Good Luck!!

Brooke :)

www.herbestapple.etsy.com

Book Of Days 2012

2011-12-21T20:02:00.000-05:00

"Book of Days"

I would like to share what I will be taking part of for the new year -
"Book of Days 2012" with Effy Wild. She is offering this free of charge, which is too kind!! She has already put much time into this year long process.

This year was, well..... difficult. I really believe taking part in Book of Days will give me perspective, make me THINK and get to know myself. I will be blogging about my experience once in a while here. I know, this has nothing to do with soap, but this blog is about my life as well :)

If you would like to sign-up for this or ask questions you can go here .

Soap and Etsy Sale

2011-12-15T22:38:00.000-05:00

It's been almost six months since I wrote a real entry. Seems like life gets in the way of the things we really want to do! Or I just suck with time management.

Since I last wrote I have been making soap like a crazy woman and actually having fantastic sells at my Etsy Shop. I am beyond grateful for all the sells and the awesome feedback all of you took the time to leave, thank you!!

Below are some of the soaps I made this year that have been awesome sellers!!

Himalayan Pink Salt (Peach & Honey) Gingerbread Man
Peppermint EO Gingerbread Man
Pumpkin Spice Gingerbread Man

Peppermint Essential Oil

Herbal and Floral Infusion

"Honey Peach" Pink Himalayan Salt Bar

Pumpkin Spice

Activated Charcoal

Lemongrass Essential Oil

ENERGY

One of my latest soaps I made huckleberry unfortunately doesn't have a look that appeals to many (IMO), but if you could scratch and sniff your computer screen, I swear you would look beyond the funky design.

If anyone would like to try my soap now is a great time - I am having a "Clear Out My Etsy Store To Make Room For New" sale. Everything is 40% off if you use coupon code 40off at check out.

Thanks for reading!

Brooke

EtsyCouponCode - Your place to get Etsy Coupons before you Buy on Etsy.

2011-08-23T19:23:00.000-04:00

EtsyCouponCode - Your place to get Etsy Coupons before you Buy on Etsy.

Please Vote!

2011-06-30T07:49:00.000-04:00

Only takes a second to click on imgae below, log in with your FaceBook account and VOTE!

Column Swirl with Cold Process Soap

2011-06-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

Hope you enjoy my first video. I had such a blast with this technique.
I would like to thank Debbie from Soapy Love - it was her guest blog on Soap Queen blog that tied this techinque with cold process soap.

I would LOVE to read your feedback, please feel free to post! If you enjoy this video please give it a thumbs up on youtube.

Whip It Good!

2011-04-07T22:12:00.000-04:00

I ventured into new territory (for me) a couple of weekends back and had too much fun. As best as I could, I documented my experience with photos. I made cold process whipped soap. Cold process whipped soap is assembled and formulated differently then cold process soap. When formulating your recipe use 80% hard/solid oils and 20% liquid oils. Hard and solid oils are whipped until white fluffy peaks form, then liquid oils are added. I worked with my oils and lye solution at room temperature. First, I lined my soap mold, mixed my micas, and weighed my fragrant oil.

Weigh out hard and solid oils in a stainless steel bowl. Little side note here - make sure you use a bowl that is big enough to accommodate the hard oils, the air you are going to whip into the oils, the soft oils, and lye solution! I learned the hard way.

To whisk in enough air into your oils you need to use a cake beater or some type of whisk attachment. I switched off between a cake beater and used my whisk attachment on my hand held. The ideal tool to use, if you are lucky enough to have is a stand-alone mixer like Kitchenaid. If I had one I am sure I would have whisked / whipped my oils longer.

HARD / SOLID OILS BEING WHIPPED

I should have paid better attention how long it took to form soft peaks - I would estimate that I whipped the hard and solid oils about 50 minutes.

LIQUID OILS WEIGHED OUT - POUR SMALL AMOUNT AT A TIME

Add the measured liquid oils to the whipped hard and solid oils a little at a time whipping each time after. Your beautiful stark white peaks will deflate a tad, that is OK. Whip to incorporate.

HARD/SOLID OILS MIXED WITH LIQUID OILS

With gloves and goggles on, add about 1/8 of a cup of lye solution at one time to the whipped oils. Whip WELL each time you add a little of the lye solution. Make sure all is incorporated. Once all the lye is throughly whipped in add fragrance or essential oil. whip until a yogurt or soft cream cheese consistency.

If you plan on adding color now is the time to separate the raw soap and add your colors. Do not worry about your soap getting hard. I had plenty of time to color and play around molding my soap.

RAW SOAP SEPERATED FOR COLOR

MICA THAT I PREPARED BEFORE MIXING OILS AND LYE

I kept some soap in the bowl uncolored to have white.

MICA MIXED WITH RAW SOAP

The fun part for me was molding this soap! It does not pour like a thin trace cold process soap. I had to glop it into the mold - very simply to spread around. Side note, this soap hardens VERY hard and can be hard to cut without crumbling. If using a log mold you will probably need to use a wire-cutter. I am using a mold that has inserts so I will need to just pop the bars out. I would not use a fancy mold with designs (although if you can make it work, let me know!). This soap tends to REALLY adhere itself to the mold and even to the inserts! It was kind of a pain to release.

MOLD I LINED BEFORE MIXING OIL AND LYE

RAW SOAP PUT INTO MOLD

INSERTING DIVIDERS

UNMOLDED BARS!

In the pic below, not sure if you can see - the edge of the bar of soap broke as I was unmolding. GRRR!

Oh yeah........

THE SOAP FLOATS!

Sanfilippo Syndrom - One Click Can Help

2011-01-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

Pepsi is holding a project called Pepsi Refresh Project. Many great causes are being voted on each day to receive money for further research for disease, equipment needed, homeless and so on. One of the causes that I am asking YOU to vote for is personal to me because my 7 year old cousin suffers from this - Sanfilippo Syndrome. Below is a quick overview of this awful disease:

Sanfilippo syndrome is a genetic error of metabolism that affects children. It is a mucopolysaccharidoses, an MPS disorder, MPS-lll. Mucopolysaccharides are long chains of sugar molecules, used in building connective tissues. When the body is finished using these molecules, it breaks them down, with enzymes, and disposes of them. Children with MPS are missing or are deficient in the enzyme to break down the molecules. Instead, the body stores these molecules and this causes progressive damage.Thus, we plan to construct a vector plasmid for a self-complementary rAAV vector that creates the enzyme to break down the molecules. Once the vector is constructed, we will infect human MPS III skin fibroblasts cell cultures to determine the levels of expression and secretion of recombinant enzyme. After successfully replicating the vector, we will provide the GMP vector for preclinical studies and make this treatment available for all children impacted by this devastating disorder.

You can help this much needed money go to Sanfilippo Syndrom by voting each day via email, text, and through facebook. There is no cure and these children die young. Please, Please vote and help us get this much needed money so we can learn MORE about this disease and find a cure. VOTE NOW

Anyone Can Give

2010-12-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

I want to start this post by saying how truly blessed I am. I have a husband who loves me, is beyond kind to me, and respects me. I have two children (teens) who are productive and treat me with respect and love. I am not hungry, or cold, or wear tattered clothes. I consider myself fortunate. Sadly, many are hungry, cold or only have tattered clothes.

All year round everyone should be thinking of the less fortunate; however, during this time of year can be especially hard for those in need – in need of companionship, food, warmth, clothes, and of course money.

Obviously not all of us are in the position to give money, but that should not stop you from giving. There are so many ways to help someone in need – no one really has an excuse not to give something. It is important not to forget those who are homebound, those who are older, or those who may not have family or many friends.

I thought of some ways we can give. I am confident this list contains at least one act of kindness anyone can do.

Monetary donation to a trusted organization
Donate Services. Offer to baby-sit for a single parent so they can have some free time.
Cook a meal and enjoy it with someone homebound
Donate time. Volunteer at a hospital, nursing home, soup kitchen
Donate clothes, blankets, toys and/or toiletries to a local shelter
Give life. Donate Blood
A simple smile may not pay the bills, but can do WONDERS for someone.
Offer an ear and listen. Everyone needs to be heard and validated.

Let's keep this list going - so many more ways to give this time of year and all year round.

Stocking Stuffer Sale

2010-12-09T07:33:00.000-05:00

Stocking Stuffer Sale **FREE SHIPPING** to continental United States. Shipping charges will be refunded via paypal. Good on all items. http://www.mybestapple.etsy.com/ No promo code needed - shipping charges will be refunded on all items via paypal.

Hint for Contest

2010-12-03T08:57:00.000-05:00

I promised a hint to the contest 'Guess My Destination'. You can read about the contest here to win 5 bars of homemade soap. Ok, so here is the hint....

The destination place is located in the state of Missouri.

Post your guesses on my wall here.

Have a great day!

xoxo

Win 5 Bars Homemade Soap

2010-12-02T09:54:00.000-05:00

The Mr. and I went on vacation couple of weeks back. At the end of this post are pictures of the neat things we saw. Can you guess where we went? If so, you could win 5 bars of my homemade soap. Winner will be notified Jan 1st, 2011.

Details:

To be eligible all you need to do is "Like" my facebook page here. Leave your guesses (guess as many times as you would like) on my wall here. If you would like to gain more entries all you have to do is tweet this blog post, include @soapexperience in your RT so I can view.

I will be giving out hints from now until I pick a winner via blog, twitter, and facebook.

Huge christmas tree at night

Glass Blowing Demo Area

HUGE Christmas Tree

Candy Store
Yum! Tons of Taffy

blacksmith demo area

swinging bridge

Old fashiond flour mill

Candle store

one of many christmas trees

handmade soap demo area

handmade brooms demo area

Nothing like a couple years between posts!

2010-12-01T16:03:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been a LOooong time since I have written in my blog, shame on me! I am going to forgive myself and move on.

I am super excited I finally opened up my Etsy shop “My Best Apple” homemade soaps. You can view my shop here. Additionally I took the plunge and created my facebook page which you can view here, My Best Apple. Psst, if you want to “like” my new page and / or share it please do. For the wonderful, extraordinary peeps that have already liked my page a big FAT THANK YOU.

I started a contest on my facebook page in which you can win five bars of my homemade soap. I will shortly post another blog with the details. If you just cannot wait you can read the details in the ‘notes’ section here.

Thanks!

Brooke

Embedding Awesomeness

2009-08-29T23:33:00.000-04:00

These past couple of weeks has been super hectic! Getting ready for back-to-school for two teenagers is not for the faint of heart! Clothes and school supply shopping took a couple of days. My daughter received her driver’s license and started her senior year of high school. I have played taxi to my son, getting him back and forth to football practice each day. We are still trying to find a reliable used car for my daughter – it is amazing what some people are trying to sell as “reliable”. The most exciting news is that we finally bought a house. We are supposed to close September 14th; keeping fingers crossed there are no named storms in the Atlantic. Without homeowners insurance we are unable to close, and insurance companies will not write any policies with a named stormed present. Whew!

I was able to squeeze in some time to play with some melt and pour soap. My results are pictured to the left and right. I have to say that I am usually a cold process soap person and find CP much easier then melt and pour. I have much respect for those who are able to create works of art with melt and pour. Some time ago, I saw the coolest project on Soap Queen TV. I broke up this project into two days and have to say that I am very happy with the results. If you would like to create this super cool bar of soap, Anne-Marie (Soap Queen) gives great instruction below. Thank you for such a cool idea.

Need to Brand Part 1

2009-08-13T13:00:00.000-04:00

Branding is the bane of my existence. Ok, maybe I am being a little dramatic; however, after making and selling soaps (and other Bath and Beauty products) I have been all over the place. Consistency with color, material, texture, font, and logo is not a strong point with me. I have yet to find a “look” that satisfies.

Packaging for my CP soaps has seen many different looks. They have gone naked, cigar bans, shrink-wrap sleeves with cigar bands, shrink wrapped sleeves with labels, soapboxes with label, tied with fabric / tulle, and stuffed in organza bags. My newest “look” consists of a shrink-wrap sleeve with cigar band wrapped the long way.

Lotions, body butters, sugar scrubs, lip balms have all seen their share of change. Packaging for these products are usually dramatic changes. My lotions have seen bullet, rounds, cylinders, clear, natural, cobalt, and purple bottles…. Whew! Body butters went from tins to plastic jars. Lip balms from cobalt, natural, clear tubes. I think you get the picture.

So I am a bit inconsistent and lacking any sense of branding. I had one customer say, "You don't carry your Body Butter anymore?" The body butter was clearly sitting on the table, but I had changed the packaging and labeling.

I would not write this blog without having some sort of solution to my delimma. My first baby step will be to pick a pallet of three to four cordinating colors that I can choice when I create labels. Next step is to commit to a logo.

I have much brain storming ahead of me.

Farmers Market

2009-08-06T21:01:00.001-04:00

My son and I spent the day at the local Farmers Market selling my homemade soaps, meeting new people, and having wonderful conversation with the neighboring vendors. Due to the intense heat and humidity, the markets are not bringing out the copious amount of people that usually gather. Come late September this will change, and the crowds will gather once again, this is the norm for Florida; our off-season is summer.

Our local farmers market sells the greenest, crispest, flavorful produce. These vegetables are less expensive and fresher then you could find in any grocery store. The fruit is just as delicious: crisp red apples, blueberries galorethe biggest juiciest SWEET grapefruits you could hope.

Variety is the spice of life, and our local Farmers Market does deliver variety. Local honey, homemade perogies, British meat pies, the best BBQ homemade sauce that has been in the family for over 40 years!, to die for homemade cookies, cakes, bread, approved Audubon Society hand-crafted bird houses, Amish Cheeses, fresh herbs, plants, orchids, homemade natural dog / cat treats… and the list goes on.

A few times a month there is live music and each week a cooking demonstration by some impressive culinary chefs with free sampling and a recipe card. The atmosphere is relaxing with plenty of sitting with umbrellas to enjoy the food, drink, people, and scenery. I have vended at this farmers market since the birth over a year ago. I have to remind myself that even though it is off-season this market has been good to me with repeat customers, a couple of wholesale accounts, and the most invaluable “word of mouth”.

Buying from your local farmers market benefits you with fresh fruits and vegetables, meeting interesting people, and supporting local farmers and crafters.

How many of you support your local farmers market?

P.S. A BIG thank you to my 14 year old son who took all but two of these AWESOME pictures for me!!

Missed Opportunities

2009-08-03T12:30:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I survived chaperoning my daughters’ 17th birthday party. We rented out a clubhouse for the 30+ guests and half way through the party, I realized this was a missed opportunity. It would have been so easy to put together a “promotional bag” regarding my homemade soaps, brand new blog, and upcoming launch of my websites, a special coupon, and a sample-sized bar of soap to give out to all the guests, including parents that stayed and enjoyed the night with us.

This made me reflect back on other opportunities I may have missed and how I can prepare myself not to miss another chance to promote myself. I decided that these promotional bags should be available for me to grab for any opportunity at any time. I have plans to make fifty or so bags to have on hand – this way I can just grab and go. I am confidante that this plan will help turn more missed opportunities into promotionally opportunities.

Soap Imitates My Life

2009-07-31T21:37:00.000-04:00

I love to make soap. I love to make soap that is beneficial to all. I spent over a year developing a formulation for my cold process soap that produces a hard bar, lathers well, cleanses, and does not strip away the skins natural oils. I love to make soap that smells divine. However, I am passionate and on a quest to make my soap a work of art.

I crave color and texture in my life and it only seems natural to incorporate these into my craft. Bright, bold, vivid colors give me goose bumps. Muted calm colors relax me. Pastels make me feel warm and fuzzy. I do not require symmetry in my life and this shines through my soaps. Give me uneven, jagged, bumpy, and irregular and I am fine.

How does your craft(s) imitate you and/or your life?

Celebrate Soap It! Give Away

2009-07-30T07:51:00.000-04:00

I feel like celebrating the "birth" of my new blog "Soap It!" and will be gifting two bars of my currently fav homemade soap "Coconut Verbena Lime". How can you win one of these bars of soap? Easy. All you have to do is post a comment to this posting and I will pick two random people who comment on the topic below:

What TOP three traits do you feel Entrepreneurs share?

This Give Away Ended Aug. 4, 2009.
Winners have been notified.

Welcome to Soap It!

2009-07-29T23:09:00.000-04:00

I am Brooke: wife, mother, friend, soap maker. I live in sunny Florida with my husband, two teenagers (have mercy on me), three dogs, and one crazy Siamese cat. More on the cat much later.

I love to create and usually have a handful of projects at my disposal simultaneously. For the past six plus years, my passion and labor of love is creating cold process soap. I make other bath and body products, but known in “my neck of the woods” as “The Soap Lady”. I participate at a couple of farmer markets weekly and many craft shows throughout the year. The vendor’s names are known by what they sell “The Cheese Lady, The BBQ Guy, The Orchid Lady”, and this is how I earned my name. I also have a handful of wholesale accounts. However, my journey is to open up my own little boutique. I have hurdles to overcome, but I will either jump over them or walk around them…. Either way I will move forward.

I hope through Soap It! I can share my experiences of soaping and selling with others, share my favorite online suppliers, blogs, tips, tricks and idea’s. I know I will learn from others through feedback their tips, tricks, idea’s in the soaping world. I encourage feedback and look forward to reading what you have to say.