Crafts - 3/34 - The Idea Room

Homemade Lavender Soap

Did you know that this coming Sunday, Feb. 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day? Well, it is. And I am joining with Michael’s and participating in their week long “Craft It Forward Random Acts of Kindness Week! I was lucky enough to be able to get to know many of the Crafty Geniuses who work at the Michael’s headquarters this past summer. And so I was really excited to work with them again on this fun campaign.

I decided that I wanted to make some Homemade Lavender Soap that I could then give away to friends and family as my “Craft it Forward” project. I also wanted to do something that my girls could also help with. I wanted them to be able to make their own soaps that they too could share with their friends!

Now, can you believe that with all my crafting projects that I have NEVER made or played with soap? I know! I have always LOVED pretty “handmade” soaps and I guess I thought it was a lot more involved than they really were. I know there are some people who make handmade soaps completely from scratch and in another life, I would love to be able to try that.

But, for now, I took the super easy road. And I can’t believe how easy this simple method was. I talked with my local Michael’s and got some really great tips and advice and learned how to make some really simple but beautiful soap. Today I will share with you the basics so that you can make some for yourself. Now…I am no expert, but this is how I made these Homemade Lavender Soaps.

You will need the following:

A premade soap base (I chose Goat’s Milk Soap)

Scent (I went with my doTerra Lavendar oil but Michael’s has several yummy scents)

A Soap Colorant (I did not use any in this particular soap but did in other soaps I will share later this week)

Rubbing Alcohol

Spray Bottle for the alcohol

Soap Mold

Bowl for melted soap

Spoon

Directions:

Break up your soap base into smaller chunks and place into bowl.

Melt in your microwave on 40 second intervals until the soap is fully melted.

Add your soap colorant and scent and stir well.

Pour your soap into your mold. I used molds that I found at Michaels that were soft and flexible so I did not need to do anything special to the mold. If you are using a bread pan or a non-flexible mold you may want to spray a little bit of cooking spray to help the soap ease out of the mold when it has hardened.

Spritz the top of the soap with your Rubbing Alcohol to remove any air bubbles from your soap.

If you are adding different soap layers, (like I do in some soaps I am sharing later) you can let the first layer harden and then spritz it again and pour an additional layer of soap on top. Depending on the number of layers, you can repeat this process over and over. Allowing sufficient drying time depending on how solid you want your soap layers to be.

Remove from molds and wrap up pretty.

*If your soap becomes too thick to pour nicely into your mold you can quickly re-melt it again in your microwave.

I was surprised at how easy it was to whip up a batch of yummy smelling soap. And the fun part was using that same basic method and coming up with a lot of fun varieties of soap.

And, with some simple wrapping and embellishment you can come up with a very nice and inexpensive gift that someone would love to receive. Don’t you think?

I simply took some burlap, which I also found at Michael’s, that I trimmed down to wrap around each bar of Lavender Soap.

Then added a couple of dried sprigs of Lavender. You can also find Lavender at Michaels.

I had so much fun making Lavender soap, that I began experimenting. The girls also joined in and made some of their own soaps. Be sure to come back in a couple of days and I will share those with you and also pictures of my girls crafting them forward.

Michaels is participating in Random Acts of Kindness Week, Feb. 11-17, by asking customers to share their own random acts of kindness on the Michaels Facebook page and to use the hashtag #RAOKDIY when sharing on Twitter and Instagram.

In celebration of the holiday on Sunday, Feb. 17, Michaels hopes to inspire customers to participate by giving away more than $100,000 in gift cards at its nearly 1,100 U.S. and Canada stores. Gift card recipients will be encouraged to “craft it forward” and exhibit their own random act of kindness towards another person.

Customers who want to “craft it forward” can find inspiration for Random Acts of Kindness projects to give to others on the Michaels Random Acts of Crafting Pinterest board.

February 11, 2013 · Filed under: Crafts, DIY Tutorials, Gifts, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day Tagged with homemade soap, how to make soap, Lavender soap, make your own soap, Michaels, Random Acts of Kindness Week

Sugar Scrub Cubes Recipe

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2013 is not getting off to a very good start around here. When it rains…it pours…right? So not only am I in the midst of a huge elimination diet due to some newly discovered food allergies/intolerances, but my sweet Mom suffered a stroke on Tuesday morning. She spent two days at the hospital and we found that she has had some past strokes from her MRI. She is just fine now with just a few lingering effects and hopefully she should recover fully in time.

Unfortunately, we have been down this road before with my Dad who has also suffered several strokes. After one particularly large stroke, we discovered my Dad had a hole in his heart. He had heart surgery to repair the hole about 8 years ago.

Anyways, needless to say I wasn’t around much last week. Things are getting back to normal and I am trying to get caught up with my life. I have had this post sitting here half finished, but there were plenty of more important things I needed to attend too.

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I wanted to come up with a gift idea you can give to your girlfriends or yourself. The sugar scrubs I have shared recently have been a big hit. So I decided to switch things up and go with a Sugar Scrub Cube.

Sugar Scrub Cubes are fun because they are single serving cubes that have all the same qualities of an awesome sugar scrub in a fun this square.

I looked all over to see if I could find a great recipe, but I couldn’t find anything that didn’t require some special soap base, which I didn’t have. So I did a little experimenting and came up with a little recipe that I really like.

Here is what you will need:

Almond Oil or Coconut Oil (or oil of your choice)

White Granulated Sugar

Shredded Bar of Soap

An Essential Oil (I used DoTerra’s Citrus Bliss)

Mixing Bowl

Spoon

Microwave and possibly a double boiler

A mold or a scoop

This recipe calls for 1 part oil, 2 parts shredded soap, and 3 parts sugar.

Sugar Scrub Cubes:

1/4 cup Almond Oil

1/2 cup Shredded Soap

3-4 drops of Essential Oil

1 cup Sugar

1. Pour the oil into a bowl and add the shredded soap of your choice. Microwave this on high for 10 second intervals stirring in between each. If this does not work to slowly melt your soap into your oil you may have to melt the soap shaving in a double boiler. (If you don’t have a double boiler like me, simply place a small bowl over a saucepan filled with boiling water).

2. When the mixture is melted and and stirred together, add several drops of your Essential Oil. I used DoTerra’s Citrus Bliss. {If you have not used DoTerra’s oils, you are missing out! I love them. I get mine from my friend Julie Crowell. You can find more information by clicking on the link. I will be sharing a bit more about my love for doTerra oils in an upcoming post}.

3. Get your mold ready to go before adding the sugar. This is important because once the sugar is added the scrub will harden VERY quickly.

4. Pour in sugar and stir quickly. Take mixture and place it into your molds with your fingers. Or…if you don’t have a mold you can take a scoop and make rounded sugar “cubes”.

5. Let cubes harden by popping them into the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Then pop them out of the mold and cut them into fourths depending on the size you would like them to be.

Then simply throw them into a fun air tight container and add a cute label.

Sugar scrubs smell amazing and gently exfoliate your skin for a smooth feeling. The fun thing about these sugar scrub cubes is that they also have a fun “cleaning” element with the addition of the soap. And the citrus bliss smells amazing and has some relaxation and calming benefits which you can learn more about here.

And…you know I am going to be sharing the fun labels if you would like to make some for yourself. Click on the link below to gain access to the labels and to the use-age tag so that the gift recipient knows just how to use their fun and personal gift!

Citrus Sugar Scrub Cubes Labels

{click on previous downloads once you are taken to The Idea Room FB page}

What do you think? Have you ever tried Sugar Scrub Cubes?

Interested in some of our past Sugar Scrub Recipes? Check these out:

Peppermint Candy Cane Sugar Scrub (featured on the Ellen Show)

Lemon Sugar Scrub

Peppermint Foot Scrub

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub

Brown Sugar Scrub with Honey

Bath Salts Recipe

January 28, 2013 · Filed under: Crafts, Gifts, Moms, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day Tagged with citrus bliss doTerra, doTerra Oils, homemade valentines, how to make sugar scrub cubes, make sugar scrub. valentines day gift, sugar scrub, sugar scrub recipes

Valentine Specimen Art

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Do you guys remember the butterfly specimen art that I made for my daughter’s room a couple of years ago? Well, I thought it would be fun to make an Valentines Day Craft and decoration using the same concept.

This is really such a simple craft and décor idea. Anyone can do it. Plus, with all the snowy weather at my house…it is fun to sit by the fire and create something pretty! Seriously, it is snowing like crazy here. The kids are hoping that school gets cancelled tomorrow…but it takes some serious snow to get school cancelled around these parts. (*Update—School DID get cancelled…haha…and it is still snowing like crazy!)

Another great thing about this project is that you will most likely have everything you need around the house to make one for yourself.

Here is a list of supplies you will need:

an 8 x 10 picture frame without glass

red cardstock (I threw in 3 pink hearts too)

a heart punch (mine was about 3/4 inch)

mini glue dots (any glue should work though)

I then measured the inside of the frame area by width and height and figured out how to evenly space out the hearts. I ended up with 7 hearts across the width and 9 down the length for a total of 63 hearts. (60 red ones and 3 pink ones).

This would have been super easy with graph paper and since I didn’t have any on hand…I just drew it out with a ruler. Then I took a clean sheet of white cardstock and placed it over the top of the lined paper and made a mark where the dots fell so I knew where to place each heart.

Then I put a mini glue dot on each pencil dot. I used the glue dots to give the hearts a bit of a 3 dimensional feel because they allow the hearts to sit flush on the paper. Then I simply folded several of the hearts in half and put the hearts on the paper in a random fashion.

Is it hard for the rest of you to do a random pattern? My OCD really flares up and I have to have a little conversation in my head about not making a random pattern that is not really random. Does that make sense? I might be a little bit crazy! Do any of you do this too?

So simple and easy. I also like the little punch of color it adds to my entry way! Don’t you?

And by the way…I don’t think I ever shared my “new” entry way with you yet. Gasp! I know! This Home Décor blogging is hard! These projects take FOREVER and then you feel like you have to get it JUST right before you can share it. Well…we are almost finished in here…so I am allowing you a little sneak peek!

And I am currently in love with this wallpaper. I swore 9 years ago that I would never let another piece of wallpaper ever grace the walls of my home after spending an entire year removing wallpaper from EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM of this house when we moved in. Eighties Wallpaper…need I say more?

But…It had to be done. And I love it!

Hope you all have a great weekend. Here’s to hoping we can dig our way out of all this snow…or stay in and drink hot cocoa! I like the second part better…’cept for the fact that I can no longer drink hot cocoa. Darn!

Wondering how to make the little kissing and pomander balls in the wooden tray? You can find tutorials for the Tissue Paper Rosette Balls and the Pomander Balls by clicking on the blue links.