WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOAP SWAP??

Umm.... I got very behind in my blogging and although I had good intentions I kept getting further and further behind. Not to mention my goofy camera flaked on me. I recently borrowed a camera for the sole purpose of taking a picture of the soaps I received in a swap we had going on the original forum. Warning:

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CREATIVE MOMENTS TO COME

I'm happy to report, after my small trip to Florida, I'm feeling pretty darn good again and good = creative. My dear friend Donna and I will be selling at two Craft Shows this fall, I received the applications today. I'm really excited about it. I haven't felt like doing a craft show in ages so this gives me something to look forward to. In the past week I've ordered from about 4 different soap supply companies and I'm waiting patiently for all my goodies to arrive. All you soapmakers out there know what that feels like. I'll be experimenting with soaps and Donna will experiment with cards - figuring out what we like and what we'll want to sell. Fingers crossed for some "mind blowing" creations! :)

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OFF TO FLORIDA

Where? Anna Maria Island. I had never heard of it until one of my stamping friends, Sharon, told me about it. Actually, she shared a bunch of pictures on INKSTAINERS FORUM and it seemed like a perfect place to visit for the family. We'd been talking about a short trip to the beach and Sharon was so kind as to hook us up with her favorite vacation spot and now that is where we are headed. I cannot wait to walk on white sand and see the beautiful blue water. Our family is in desperate need of a vacation. Hopefully we all come back refreshed and ready for life :) and.... with a few pictures to share.

xxoo to all my blogging buddies.

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WHIPPED SHEA EXPERIMENT

Before I begin about the whipped shea first let me say this: DO NOT BUY A EXILM CASIO DIGITAL CAMERA - THEY ARE USELESS!

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GUESS WHAT ARRIVED ON MY DOORSTEP?

PRODUCT BODY thats what. I ordered some products from my blogging friend Joaanna over at THE SOAP BAR BLOG and I must say - if your reading this Joanna - I'm so pleased with the fact that your product arrived in world record time. That is some seriously fast shipping! I couldn't believe it when the package came to my door. I LOOOOOOOVE fast shipping!

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I MISS BLOGGING & BLOGGERS

Since the move into the new home I haven't really gotten back into the old routine. 90% of that is a really good thing but 10% is sorta sad. I miss blogging and I miss my blogging buddies. Now that we are finally settling in and actually beginning to make sense of the mess in our home I'll slowly be returning to blogging. I hope all my blogger friends are doing well and that their soaping or cardmaking ventures are going great! Hopefully I'll have some soap to share soon. Tonight I'm placing an order from Snowdrift Farm. They have a 10% sale going on until 11:59 p.m. YAHOOOOO!! Gotta get me some goodies :)

BTW/I have yet to blog about the soap swap and all the wonderful soaps I received. That will be my very next post. I have all the soaps together ready to be blogged about (except one because I used it - but I'll be mentioning how wonderful it is and I'll take a picture of the half used portion - Hee Hee!).

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ON THE MOVE!

Tonight my computer will go off and I will no longer have DSL until Thursday (if all goes well with the new company doing the install). Our closing on the new home is tomorrow and the closing for the new owners of our home is March 27. Busy week. Of course, it would have helped if I hadn't put off packing.

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SO WHAT IS THIS FELT SOAP?

JERABEKS CAFE

I've been hearing a lot about felt soap and reading about it here and there. I didn't give it much thought until the other day when I was visiting a cafe in my old neighborhood. There is a bohemian family I grew up with that has a family owned cafe since 1908, that everyone in the neighborhood loves to visit. Well,

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I DID IT!

As if being a soapmaker and selling the soap wasn't enough. I took the leap and have become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. I'm actually very excited about it. A friend and I have been going to other peoples stamping classes for a while now and like with soap, I love experiencing other peoples ideas and work but I really love the creative side of making cards and stamping as well. So, my friend Donna and I have decided to combine our cardmaking skills (she's a fantastic cardmaker) and all of our tools (we buy what one another doesn't have) and create some fun cardmaking classes of our own. I will still attend my host/friend Kelly's classes, because I enjoy her company and want to support her business also but I'm really going to enjoying tapping into my creative cardmaker side even more to share with other people. Please wish me luck, I'm going to need it! LOL!

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COLD PROCESSED SOAP/GLYCERIN MIX

I saw this technique in a book a while back and I thought I'd give it a try. Last week I had a small window of opportunity to make soap again so I jumped on it. LOL!!

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THE HOUSE SOLD!!

Maybe it is premature of me to be dancing a jig but I'm very excited. We have signed a purchase agreement and if all goes well with the buyers having our home inspected, then our home will officially be sold. I probably shouldn't be dancing a full jig yet so maybe I'll just do a half jig but I am very excited. At least I can say we are half way there =)

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pH STRIPS

The topic of pH levels in soap came up over on the forum and I thought, why not post about it here too.

I remember when I first started soaping I knew nothing abouth pH. I learned straight out of a Sandy Maine book (if you want to learn to make soap her books are perfect). I don't know where along the line I learned about pH but it wasn't very long after I started to make soap that I learned how important it was.

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LIFE IS NOT COMPLETE WITHOUT A BILLOW

Every girl in my family now has their very own special billow. My friend Carrie over at UNDER THE WILLOW GIFTS BLOG sent my baby girl a billow for her birthday and included a surprise billow for me as well. It was such a treat to open the box and find not one but two beautiful handmade billows. They are

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ONE STEP CLOSER TO REAL LIFE AGAIN

Tomorrow is the official day.... that we put our home on the MLS and try to sell it. It has been an exhausting 3 months. These past 11 months have been nothing short of a mini nightmare but thankfully a huge part of the stress is coming to an end (which is getting this darn house ready for the market). Someone please remind me why I decided to buy a new house and sell our home in the middle of winter and in such a crappy market???? 

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