Soap Making Weekend

As everyone here on the East Coast was preparing for Hurricane Sandy this weekend, I had other priorities....making 3 batches of soap!!  I started on Friday night and finished on Sunday afternoon.  As the holidays are soon approaching, I have been trying to stock up on my soaps and other products.  Since it takes at least 4 weeks for the soaps to cure, you have to make them well in advance. 

Almost 6 months ago, I made a Pink Grapefruit Patchouli soap that turned out horrible!  I loved the scent but the coloring and the soap itself didn't turn out right.  I was so disappointed that I had practically given up on blending these scents and creating this soap.  Well, I finally decided to rework the recipe with a few more softer oils such as Olive Oil so it would give me more time to work with the fragrance and colors.  I was so nervous about making this soap because the Patchouli fragrance oil made the soap trace quickly for some reason but to my surprise, it turned out beautiful and smells amazing!!  I am so proud of this batch.

Pink Grapefruit Patchouli Soap 

 

 

This soap will be ready and on the website on December 1st.  There are only 18 bars and I expect them to go quickly! 


My second batch of the weekend was a remake Kaleidoscope.  I made this soap earlier in the year as a request from a friend that loves Eucalyptus.  I decided to blend a few essential oils together and and see if I could come up with a scent that incorporated the Eucalyptus but didn't smell so strong.  This soap has Rosemary, Mint, Lavender, Lemon and Eucalyptus and it does smell nice.  I actually sold out of this soap last weekend but was pleasantly surprised at how many people like it!  So, I am thanking my friend Carrie Green for coming up with this idea.

Kaleidoscope Soap

 



This soap will be ready and on the website on December 1st.  There are 18 bars of this soap but I currently have 5 bars reserved for a special order booked on Sunday! 

Finally, I was able to rework my recipe for Lemon Verbena with Oatmeal this weekend.  This is a kitchen/gardening soap.  It has soothing Organic oatmeal incorporated into the batch to help exfoliate and soothe tired hands.  The lemon essential oil helps to eliminate odors from your hands when cooking and working with foods.  Of course, I didn't get to take a picture of it in the mold but here is a picture of it cut and on the curing rack.

 

Lemon Verbena w/Oatmeal

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing fancy about this soap but it works!!  This soap will be ready and on the website on December 1st

 

 

So, as you can see, I had a pretty busy weekend making soap batches.  Here is a picture of the Kaleidoscope and Pink Grapefruit Patchouli out of the mold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was also able to get the gift baskets on the website this weekend as well.  This year, you are able to select from drop down menus the items that you would like to include in your baskets.  If you are looking for custom orders, please send an email to orders@spatreasuresonline.com and let me know and I will work up a price for you.  You can find the gift baskets (small and large) under the "Accessories" tab on the website.

 

Whew, that's it for me.  I hope everyone has a productive week and stays safe from Hurricane Sandy

 

 

Ingrid





Clean the World

Believe it or not, the holidays and craft fair season will be here soon!  I have been replenishing my stock and creating some new scents for the fall.  I think I have made 5 batches of soap in the past three weekends....that's alot of soap!  

Green Tea Juniper Berry

Ripe Fig

Tutti Fruitti

I have also made Coconut Lime Verbena and Milk and Honey (no pics).  All of these soaps will be ready and on the website the first week of October. 

I have gotten a few requests for irregular soaps lately.  Unfortunately, I do not really sell my irregular soap because I use them here at home for me and the family and the rest I send to a wonderful organization in Orlando, Florida named Clean the World.  This is a wonderful organization that many soapers use to discard scraps, leftovers and irregular soaps and shampoos. Clean the World takes that soaps and shampoos and rebatches them through their recycle process and sends the soap all over the world to families and countries in need.  

Not only are we discarding our materials in a environmentally friendly way, we are helping other that are less fortunate....can't get any better than that! 

Boxes for Clean the World

If you are looking for a mask to compliment your natural skin regimen, we have just what you need.  Our Cucumber Clay Mask is now tested and available for purchase on the website. This mask $12.00 for an 4 oz jar.  This mask is designed for all skin types and can be used up to 3 times per week. 

Cucumber Clay Mask

If you would like to be kept up to date on sales, new scents or products, please join our mailing list via our Facebook page by clicking on the Email Signup box. Twice a year, I have a sale for only our email subscribers and trust me, you don't want to miss out on this sale!

Have a wonderful week...back to soap making I go!!

Ingrid

On the Curing Rack: Green Tea Juniper Berry

Just when I thought I was all stocked up on my Green Tea Juniper Berry soap, one of my local customers drops by and buys 16 bars!!  Created specifically for those with eczema or sensitive skin, this soap is one of my best sellers so far.  

Made with 75% Olive Oil, it is very light and moisturizing.  I brew Green Tea leaves and use Aloe Vera and Buttermilk for the water phase so this soap is very creamy and helps to soothe irritated skin. Some of the benefits of Olive Oil soap are:

• Natural anti bacterial properties
• Natural Anti -inflammatory properties which helps to soothe irritated skin
• Nourishing Vitamin E to help repair damaged skin
• Oleic Acid to help moisturize and soften skin

Since this soap has been such a fan favorite, I have made this recipe one of my standards for the majority of my soaps. While I have a several other recipes, I find myself using this one a lot because of the high Olive Oil content which is gives your skin such a silky feeling after using.   

All skin types will benefit from our Green Tea Juniper Berry soap as it has no synthetic fragrances (essential oil based fragrance) or harsh additives.  This batch will be ready for purchase on October 1st.  You can purchase this soap directly from our website at Spa Treasures Green Tea

Bath Fizzies Are Here

For the past 6 months, I have been going through my "bucket" list of things that I wanted to add to my line of products.  One of the things I have been experimenting with is Bath Fizzies.  I love to add bath salts and bombs to my bath water for the fragrance and the silky feeling that they give your bath water...I will not take a bath without them!

After some research and a few failed experiments, I have finally been able to create bath fizzies for my product line.  I sent a few of them out to a few "testers" and got positive feedback and a few orders for them.  They are now listed on the spatreasuresonline.com website.  Each package comes with 6 fizzies in a nice little gaunza bag and are priced at $4.00

Check them out

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  They are currently available in various scents so select the one you like and try them out...your skin will love you for it.

Ingrid

Making Whipped Shea Butter

Over the past weekend I received several orders for Whipped Shea Butters and of course, the scents ordered I didn't have already in stock so I had to make more!  I will say, I have Almond listed on my website as one of the many scents available and to my surprise someone ordered one.  To date, I have never had an order for Almond Shea Butter so I had totally forgot it was one of the scents available.  Needless to say, the Almond smelled so good I made a few of them (one I am keeping for myself to use).

Getting my supplies together

To cut down on the greasy feeling you sometimes get from Shea Butter, I use Corn Starch to help absorb some of the oil..and it helps it to glide on nicely.  I add Vitamin E oil to my Shea Butter (little green bottle in the picture) because it's known to help moisturize, nourish and regenerate skin ....basically, it's good for the skin!

After melting the Shea Butter and other oils carefully, I add them to my mixer (love my KitchenAid mixer), and then whip for about 15-20 minutes. 

After 15-20 minutes, I put the whole bowl in the refrigerator to allow it to chill and then whip some more!!  Eventually, it starts to look like cream and them you know you have Whipped Shea Butter.

I pipe my Whipped Shea Butter into my containers using a pastry bag and tap the container to make sure the air is out and then prepare the labels.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have decided to print and create my own labels in house in order to have more control and to save money......this is a small business and the cost associated with branding these days is outrageous!! (glad my hubby bought me a nice printer last year).

Well, there you have it, a quick little course on how I made my Whipped Shea Butter.  During the summer months, I ship the butters Priority Mail Overnight because of the heat and no one wants to get a melted Shea Butter in the mail :(  

Now, I am off to make Mango Green Tea soap and I am adding Mango puree in it, can't wait to see how this works out.  This will be my first time using puree and Coconut Milk.  Pictures to come soon!

Enjoy your week!

Spa Treasures

Welcome to my blog.  After nearly three years in business, I wanted to take my business to a different level and start blogging some of my soap and business adventures!  With this being said, I am the first to admit that I don't have any experience at this blogging thing, but heck, I didn't have any experience with making natural bath and body products either when I first started.


In 2012, I decided to switch web hosting sites so that I could better control the look and feel of my website as well as get the "hands on" help needed to move to the next level.  As a small business, it is sometimes hard to find the right fit when it comes to utilizing other companies.  Everyone says that are small business oriented but the prices and service levels are not exactly small business friendly.  My current service is Bizzy Mama Hosting and I absolutely love their service plans, customer service and their passion for helping their customers to better understand how to host a website.   If you are looking for a web hosting service, please check them out....you won't regret it.


Last year, I decided to change a few things and started printing and creating my labels in-house instead of using others.  One reason for this change was to cut down on the amount expenses associated with using an outside source and the other reason was to have more control over my branding.  When you are using other people's products, you are at their mercy for time and price.  By creating my own labels, I can create and test what works best for my business.  If I want to add new products or change the colors of the labels, I can do that for free now.....I love this!  As with any business, branding and marketing is extremely important and can some times be the small factor that can distinguish you from others.  


Oh well, enough for now, I will be attempting to post on my blog a few times a month and would love it if you would follow along on this adventure with me.


Ingrid Kindred
Spa Treasures