Autumn - Greens and Ambers

You know I have a thing about green, but I also love oranges and amber, too.  It really has gotten to be that time of the year that green and amber go together on this side of the planet.  Sadly, I am in Florida, where the change of season really isn't that drastic.  The only leaves that fall are from my plumeria trees so they are left standing with their outstretched branches reaching for the sky.  They actually look heavenly bare, too.  Also, here it goes from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to about 75 or 80 in the winter.  But we are NOT there yet.  Yesterday was 90F.

This goes out to all the folks that can not enjoy the Autumn changing of the leaves.

Hubba Hubba by Kiss Designer Soaps

"cranberry spice  (which I think smells like hubba bubba bubble gum)"

Jabón de aguacate (Avocado soap) by Jabones Ramy

taken from The Soap Bar Flickr Group

Green Bamboo by Mountain Farms Soap

"wonderful clean fresh scent"

soap-31 by Lumb.ru

Dirt Soap by The Pig and The Peacock Handmade Gifts

"smells like a handful of fresh earth, aka dirt. It's perfect for fishermen and 

hunters who want to camouflage their scent."

Chocolate Mint Soap by Naiad Soap Arts

"decadent soaps scented like rich dark chocolate and mint!"

Citrus Sage by Soap For Your Soul

"Lemon, Lime, Orange, Sage handmade Cold Process Handmade 

Vegan Soap- Earthy Fresh"

Rocky Top Soap Shop + Carrot

Tony might just be the nicest guy I've met on the internet yet.  He is generous, humble and wants to learn.  The man has talent.  Tony set off to live in Maine where it's simple and pure.  Just like the soap he creates.  No frills, no perfumes.  I thought at first, "how many soaps can you make if you don't add scent?"  And then, I thought about skin types and ingredients and realized how never ending the possibilities were and then I went to his shop.  Sure enough, he has a selection of soaps filled with incredible ingredients.  Made me really think how much wasn't in my soap.

Some soaps listed in his Etsy shop:

Black Tea, made with (duh) black tea.
Cambrian Blue, made with Cambrian blue clay.
Cucumber Yogurt, made with cucumber puree and yogurt.
Totally Pumpkin (which I am eyeballing right now), which is made with pumpkin seed oil, pumpkin butter and organic pumpkin puree.

Tony and I have been emailing recently.  I couldn't believe when he told me my blog was an inspiration.  I have to say that Tony's soaps have completely inspired me.  Now I don't care so much about making plain soap.  I want ingredients that will DO extra good things.  Purposeful soap.  All of my new soap creations "post-Tony" have had additional treats put into them that will benefit skin, and so, I take my hat off to the Maine Man for the inspiration.  To you, Tony, for coming up with a line of unscented soaps and kicking ASS on Etsy in such a short period of time.  I need a lesson or two from you, sir.  Not the other way around.

Ok, on to telling you about Carrot.  The soap that was sent to me as a gift (thank you!).




This is what Tony sent me.  Yes, he sent me samples of so many little soaps with labels and everything!  I have to tell you... I love Carrot so much.  I have been showering with it for two weeks, and every time I get in the shower, it's the only bar I reach for (I have about 5 in the shower right now).  No smell of carrots, although there is something earthy about the scent.  A beautiful mild scent.  Not like dirt-earthy.  Anyway, the lather, is gorgeous and bubbly with a creaminess too it.  I can tell it has shea butter and castor oil in it.  The fact that it has avocado oil in it doesn't surprise me because avocado oil makes for a luxurious lather and feel on the skin.  I used to soap with it all the time.  Remind me why I stopped?


Showering with Carrot is pure pleasure.  Rocky Top Soap Shop

Thank you, Tony, for breaking off a piece of your Kit Kat bar and allowing me to have some.  -Jo

Blue Greens + Summer's End

Blue green and the many shades of it is beautiful and reminds me of the empty beach and its peacefulness. Driftwood, sand, beach grass, breezes... overcast.

Rustic Pine by Besem Natural Scents

"We combine sweet, fruity top notes with deep greens of the

forest--pine, cedarwood, fir balsam and treemoss"

Blue Agave Nectar by Product Body

"... a unique fragrance that has a mildly sweet nectar smell but really smells like the beach wind.

Sandy dunes, ocean breeze.....we're not talking coconut, or fruit or tanning oils.

We're talking a desert plant with an ocean dune. Catch THAT in your net!"

Cute Aqua Koi Fish Water Garden PondMargarita Shea Butter Soap (vegan)

by Kawaii Cosmetics

"...has a fun and fruity margarita scent!"

Pacific Blue by Frontier Angel Soap

"This soap was inspired by my precious memories growing up by the beautiful Pacific coast. In shades of blue and green with real kelp powder sprinkled throughout. The scent is a blend of rosemary, lavender, spearmint and lemongrass"

Mint Yogurt Soap by Renata at xrenka.blogspot.com

This soap is made from 9 oils and butters and greek yogurt.

Scented with mix of essential oils where peppermint dominates.

LE Blue Bamboo Soap by SV Soaps

"Top notes of Bamboo, crisp Aloe, and Jasmine, with hints of Citrus. Bottom notes of sandalwood, cedar, amber and musk. This bar is layers of green, and blue with jojoba beads, and Rhassoul Clay, sprinkled through out for light exfoliation. The top is covered with raw sugar, soap spheres, swirls, and dusted with Rhassoul Clay"

Cupcake Soap by Duffin Soap

This is on a blog in a "how to make cupcake soap" blog post.

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Word Cloud Of This Blog For August

you can click for a bigger image

Thanks to Celine of Soaperstar for this great idea. She mentioned on facebook that she created a really cool word cloud on Wordle.net. They create word clouds of your blog.

"The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes"

.... so you can see, we talk soap here! ;)

That was fun!

Now, off to my radio interview for Product Body. O______O

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Random Beauty In Soap

I love good lighting in soap photography. Natural lighting is what catches my eye, so I found some today that I share for no other reason than the sheer beauty...

of the bar

.

.

.

Cinnamon Almond Soap by Amber's Ambry

Amber Reddinger makes beautiful soap, knitting projects, creates garbage into

household and garden art, gardens, plays banjo and is the ultimate house magic mama.

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And then I found this gorgeous soap.... holy moly:

Gentleman's Salt by Alisavon (Anke)

So very whimsical. Check out her blog; The soaps are very beautiful...

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Blowing Bubbles by Beacon Creations

"A fruity berry combination of strawberry, blackberry and wild huckleberries touched with a hint of pineapple and soft rose on a sweet caramel bottom. This scent is a mouthwatering treat with berry notes that explode into the sweet realm of fun! "

This looks amazingly sweet, bright and fun! I've been an admirer of Beacon Creations for about a year since I discovered her shop. I'll have to purchase a soap when I get through the ones I have! :)

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Sheep's Milk & Lavender (actually on sale!) by Briny Bar Soap

"Macadamia nut butter, sweet almond oil and avocado butter deeply moisturize the skin while calendula infused olive oil and raw sheep's milk acts to calm and sooth. Lavender essential oil has been used to moisturize skin as well as aid in the healing of scar tissue. The sheep's milk was hand milked (by me) on a small farm in central Minnesota."

I love Dennise's photography!

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Bubbly Grape Soap by Anita's La La Land

"This candy scent reminisces of sweet and juicy grape soda. The dark purple color comes

from alkanet root, a traditional natural herbal dye"

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Vanilla Dream by Sacred Water Soap Co.

"Enjoy the sweet comfort of rich vanilla..Instantly it evokes a sense of tranquility."

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Hunting Camp Deep Exfolating Soap by Portland General Store

"made with pumice, sandalwood exfoliating powder, frankincense powder, spikenard powder and moisturizing natural oils. Just right for the sink at your North Woods cabin—but looks and works great at home too. HUNTING CAMP has a deep sandalwood fragrance and is slate black in color, from the addition of activated charcoal, which naturally lifts toxins from the skin"

Into The Woods

Woodland Handmade Soap Bar by Elegant Rose Boutique

"These bars are reminiscent of a walk in the woods on a bright sunny day, the smell of

pine blended with cedarwood creates a wonderful scent."

Riverlands by Elysian Organics

"Sudsy, creamy, soap that leaves you freshly cleansed and invigorated, and

gives you the sense you just bathed in a river tucked in a spicy forest"

Evergreen Woodland Soap by Aquarian Bath

"This is a mild soap for lovers of woody scents. It was made with pure essential oils of Black Spruce, Fir and Pine. These are hard, long lasting bars with a gentle lather. It was colored naturally with french

green clay and cocoa powder."

Cedarwood Cypress Organic Soap by Mirasol Farm

"Whether or not you go to the northwoods to find solace, this soap will take

you there with its grounding woodsy essential oil blend"

Ponderosa Pine Vegan Soap by Mountain Girl Soap

"A wonderful replication of the woodsy grandeur of Ponderosa Pine reminiscent of a walk in the Southern Cascades. This is a very pleasant, unisex, upscale fragrance"

Happy Camper Soap by Pigeon River Soaps

"Happy Camper is a refreshing woodland escape. Close your eyes and you will

experience a forest of towering fir and cedar trees. A warm,

woody, fresh and spicy scent that is good for her or him"

Gypsy Woods by Blushie

"Mysterious and darkly sexy, Gypsy Woods is an

intoxicating blend of cedarwood, amber, vanilla, and just a titch of musk"

500 Acre Woods Soap by Blackbird Soap Company

A confectionery blend of delightful childhood memories buzzing in adventurous tales of silly bears, sticky jars of sweet hunny, and grumpy rabbits with scrumptious carrot gardens.

The Aroma: Lightheartedly scented with newly bloomed orange blossoms and freshly picked carrots folded in a pot of savory golden honey and a pinch of wondrous imagination.

The Experience: A playful lather of moisturizing avocado oils and shea butter sweetened with honey to help retain the moisture, and calendula flowers for a light scrub.

Aren't these gorgeous??

Like the new BIGGER picture layout?

ha!

Body Snatcher

I've had some sort of weird thing going on with my body for the last two days. Sudden onset of dizziness, exhaustion, muscle weakness, head pain and confusion. Almost went to the ER yesterday, but a phone call to a family doctor lead us to believe it could be overall exhaustion coupled with my migraine and my body just "gave out".

Two days in a row I slept from 3pm in the afternoon until 8 am, with an hour of wakefulness in the evening. Total exhaustion. I felt like someone put a heavy blanket on top of me so I could barely move and it was like someone clamped a big metal appendage on my head, because I felt pressure and weight like never before. Strange, right?

I feel okay now. Tired, achey, like I did yesterday morning. Hope the "heavy" doesn't return. Too much to do. I miss my kids, too.

I'll be back soon.

Grey is Not Just Faded Black

Pebble Soap - Lavender - Handmade Felted by Ecamacho

This soap has been wet felted with 100% pelsull wool and bombyx silk. Wool is a natural

anti-fungal and will maintain its freshness.

Australian Clay Olive Oil Soap by Savor

Rich, lovely earth tones -- the scent is like velvet, caressing your senses just as the rich, full lather of the bar caresses your skin. Contains washed Australian Blue Clay. This clay is perfect for oily or acne-prone skin.

Coyote Wild Bath Bar by Southern Crafter

scented with a rich robust base of the patchouli and musk powder coupled with woody notes of cedar and balsam.

Michele Lang does it again with the beautiful soap! Fleur de lis Soap by Tierra Verde Soaps. She's not currently offering it, but I had to share the Grey Ghost of Gorgeous.

Lady Grey by Moon Soaps

Notes of strong black tea play on top of the light citrus scent of bergamot while subtle

hints of sweet peppermint swirl in the air.

A Comical Horror Short Film

My husband came across this and the whole things made me laugh out loud, so I thought you might smile, too, even though it has NOTHING to do with soap. If you have your computer on silent (which I often do) you might want to turn it up so you can appreciate the music.

;)

* FIMBY *

I stumbled upon a blog tonight that I just have to share with you. It's called FIMBY (Fun In My Back Yard). Renee is the blog author, and she writes her blog with raw honesty and what seems like deep love for her family, all things pure, real and adventurous. She's not only a writer, but also a photographer, soapmaker, homeschooler to her two children and even harvests her own veggies.

I am in love with the soap photography, which is how I found the blog in the first place, of course. Not only does she make soap, she gives tutorials, offers recipes and supplies soap supplier names and locations, book resources and all kinds of things. I strongly suggest you wander over to FIMBY to see what's blooming - to there is something just for you. I found many things I will have to go back again and again for.

Now for the eye candy, or rather, soap porn. ;)

Summer Shoo-Fly Soap

Peppermint Patty Christmas Soap

Orange Clove Pomander Soap

Lavender Lemonade Soap

Autumn Spice Cake Soap

NOMS!

Doesn't that just make you want to go make some soap right now with nourishing ingredients? Thank you Renee for spending countless hours (I know... I do it here) writing your blog. We have taken notice and appreciate your efforts!

go see:

FIMBY Homemade Soap and Body Care