Soap is cool (and a giveaway preview--hint: Brave Girls!!)

Joining Stephanie at Ordinary Life Magic for Saturday's Artist :).

What happens when you take suburban city kids and show them how to make soap?  How about "Mom this is sooo coool!!" or "I wonder if rosemary and pink grapefruit go together!" Making soap is so easy, fun, and creative, and you end up with satisfied kids that can use something they made themselves.  I'm not much of tutorial person, but if you want details, please email me and I'll get them too you!

I first hunted for a used crock pot (thrift store--$5!!!) just for the soaps.  I didn't want to use lye, so learned about goat's milk melt and pour instead.  Lavender, a few essential oils, a natural yellow dye, and ground sandalwood as an exfoliate rounded out our ingredients.

We melted the goat's milk base, ground the lavender herb while we waited, let the base cool slightly, then we mixed everything together and poured...

We've made two batches already with what we had, but oh the possibilities! I wonder if they'll want to take more baths now.....doubt it :).

UPCOMING GIVEAWAY HINT: WANNA SOUL RESTORE WITH THE BRAVE GIRL'S CLUB IN APRIL?

PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR MORE DETAILS NEXT WEEK!!

Yarn Along ~ Lovin' handmade

Joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along:
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

I finished crocheting these awesome gloves and had to share. I admit getting the yarn tight enough was difficult for me, but lucky for me in FL, holey gloves aren't too much of an issue :). I love them nonetheless! Btw, the pattern is here!

And the book, Made From Scratch by Jenna Woginrich, what a wonderfully fun read!! A city girl goes rural and she takes us through her adventures and heartbreaks, with some tutorials along the way.  From chickens, bees, gardening, cooking, even dog training, and finally to having her own farm and homesteading, she does a great job of helping those who are (or want to be) on the same path get a feel for what to expect. 

On another note, I finally learned to knit!! We'll see if I can add another project to the list, though I am sticking to washcloths and towels at the moment :).
Happy Wednesday!