Thankful Thursdays

I am such a slacker...no new blog posts since last Thursday! Yikes. I guess it's time for me to step up to the plate and get some worthy reading up! On the LJ community I am part of, each week we do a post called Thankful Thursdays. I'm going to bring that over here today :)

Today I am thankful for:

• My 6 year old little heathen, even if he does try my patience and throw head-spinning, pea soup spitting fits. Wait...isn't that most 6 year olds?

• I have a nice house to move into at the end of August when I go home to Michigan that will have plenty of space for my supplies.

• Heathen's Hearth surpassed 1,400 sales this week!

• Coffee!!!!!!!

Speaking of coffee (you know it's one of my favorite things in the entire world, rating somewhere between my son and my honey on the"I love" scale and between breathing and sleeping on the "must-have" scale), so it's no wonder we have an array of these deliciously tempting, "too much blood in my caffeine system items!"


Orange Mocha Soap
With added cocoa and shea butter, we blended double brewed coffee, coffee grounds for light exfoliation, sweet orange essential oil and chocolate fragrance oil for a mouth-watering aroma that you will be hard-pressed (coffee pun fully intended) to resist!
















Cafe Latte Lip Balm
The delicious taste of a smooth Cafe Late in a smooth, moisturizing balm for your lips.




















The Jupita Caramel Macchiato Soap
The aroma of fresh-brewed cappuccino, filled with heavy cream, and sweetened with sugary caramel over ice! Sweet, smooth and cool...just like it's namesake.




















Cafe Mocha Goat's Milk Soap
Just like your favorite coffee shop mocha, this soap is perfect a way to start your day. Made with real coffee bean for a burst of caffeine for your skin! Caffeine isn't just for your morning pick-me-up any more. Its also been shown to have excellent restorative affects on your skin as well!





















Cafe Mocha Sugar Scrub
Our Cafe Mocha Sugar Scrub contains real coffee grounds for extra exfoliation. It also contains caffeine which has been shown to have excellent restorative affects on your skin as well!















Orange Vanilla Latte Soap
The heavenly scent of robust coffee blended with creamy vanilla and orange, with added coffee ground for light exfoliation...makes absolutely dreamy bathing experience!
















We've also introduced some new products in our shop that are summer must-haves!

Pest Repellent Spray
A unique blend of natural essential oils in a base of witch hazel and organic aloe juice. This is a synergistic blend of mother nature's best defense against little biting pests!



















Pest Repellent Soap
This soap contains a unique blend of therapeutic grade essential oils that have been shown to be repellent to a number of bugs and pests including: mosquitoes, flies, gnats, ticks and fleas. Each essential oil was chosen both for its bug repellent qualities *and* for the clean and uplifting scents they leave behind.
















Soothing After Sun Spray
Aloe juice will soothe and help to moisturize your skin while our blend of essential oils are known to help speed the healing of sunburned and dry skin...and the added peppermint will leave you feeling cool and refreshed.





















We are always adding new Cold & Hot Process Soaps and make sure you check out our Facial Care Section for some great soaps and masks....and be on the lookout for Facial Toners soon!

Take a stroll down our aisle

We've rented a booth at Handmade Crafts for the month...stop by and check us out! You can find us at Booth B-11 or under the Bath & Body category!

What an honor!

Many thanks go out to Debbie May and Jill Speegle from Wholesale Supplies Plus for featuring my Tuscan Vineyard Soap on the company blog today! I can't tell you how happy that made me!











Check it out here!

And since we're talking about it, here are some of my other CP soaps that will soon be listed in our shop....just as soon as they are done curing. I should have the Sangria, Honeydew Melon and Black Canyon listed within the next week.

Orange Mocha











Sangria












Black Canyon










Honeydew Melon

Virginity Lost!

I had been thinking about it for awhile. While willing, I was apprehensive, nervous and to be perfectly honest, rather scared. From what I had been told, it's very addictive...once you do it, you want to do it all the time. And it can be dangerous! Worry not, though...I was sure to go to the pharmacy and get what I needed to be safe.

The first time took a lot longer than I expected. I thought it would happen much more quickly than it did and wow, was I sore afterward! But the outcome was so worth the pain.

That's right, folks. I popped my cherry...I made my first batch of Cold Process (CP) soap!

I took some photos of the process...please keep in mind that they are a bit blurry and some are dark. It's not easy taking photos one-handed while wearing rubber gloves, safety glasses and a mask, lol.

I set up all of my equipment and ingredients.....












...and then I weighed out the oils and added them to my stainless steel pot.












I measured my water and then weighed my sodium hydroxide (lye) and VERY carefully mixed the lye into my water (while wearing all of my protective gear!). The lye-water mixture get very hot....so while that was cooling down I slowly melted my oils over low heat. Once both mixtures were around 98-100 degrees, I bundled myself back up in gloves, mask and safety glasses and slowly poured the lye mixture into my oils.

I stirred and stirred with my wooden spoon for all that I was worth...once the lye and oils mix together, you need to stir until the mixture reaches what is called "trace." Trace is when your lye mixture and your oils finally combine together and the entire mixture becomes thicker, like pudding, and you can "trace" on the top if it with your spoon.

This photo is of me stirring and stirring, before the trace stage. Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of the trace stage (well, I do, but it's so blurry it doesn't matter, lol).











Once your mixture reaches trace, that is when you add your essential oils, fragrance oils, colors and/or any additives. For this batch, I added Honeydew Melon fragrance...and then I poured out a cup or two of the soap and added green color to it.












I then poured the mixture into my soap mold, then swirled the green colored soap into it.












I wrapped it with a towel and let it sit for about 24 hours or so, then I unmolded and cut my soap!!












Ta-da!!! I has soap! LOL....in fact, I loved doing it so much, I made another batch the very next day. I made one minor adjustment, though. Screw the 2 hours of stirring to reach trace...I invested in a stick blender, and let me tell you what...that was the best $25 investment I've ever made! I reached trace in literally under a minute!

Here are some photos of my 2nd batch...this one is Sangria!