Girls Weekend Away

I had a lovely weekend stay with Jenny Jones down in Mandurah south of Perth last weekend. We actually stayed in Dawesville near the peel inlet. For those of you that don't know the area there is a huge estuary that houses tons of crabs in the summer months and that's the favourite place to go "crabbing". Mandurah also hosts a crab fest once a year, but I have never had the opportunity to go - maybe next year.

Jen and I stayed in this cosy 2 bed "shack" she calls it, but it was really comfortable and had everything we needed to make it a fantastic retreat.

During our stay we walked along the foreshore of the estuary, lots of girl talk, made lots and lots of soap, lotion, serum and Jen made16 shimmer bars for gifts. I am not counting but I think we managed to make about 70 bars of cold pressed soap. How relaxing, nothing to do but do what we liked. The big open fireplace was a delight as I have a firebug personality! Love to burn... and it made such a cosy room as the weather in Perth has been quite unseasonal. Three days were rainy and windy, but what the heck we didn't care. We didn't cook either so we were happy to just veg out and relax in front of the fire.

Here is Jenny's creation of Frankincense and Myrrh, with three layers (you need 2 sets of hands here for the mixing). Smells divine and looks fabulous! I love that Jenny included French Green Clay and some peppermint tea leaves for exfoliation.

So, thanks Jen for a top weekend and inviting me to the "shack". I hope you have enough soap to last you for the next few weeks! LOL!

Here are two batches of Honey Toffee & Patchouli and Musk. It was fun doing the layer and swirl work, but tricky! Thanks for looking.

PS we drove back on part of the new Forrest Freeway from Pinjarra Road and it took about 40mins to get home - sweet!

More Soap!

This morning I turned out this lovely soap that I have been wanting to make for ages. I saw one like it on Birch Bark soaps (she makes beautiful soap!), so I nicked the idea to make a Star Anise, Lavender & Orange Essential Oil Bar. This soap reminds me of Bali, Indonesia as it has a very fragrant scent full of cloves, patchouli and sandalwood. I can't wait to try it out in the shower. Star Anise is like licorice and I am not sure of the smell in the shower but it's been fun to make so let's hope it's fun to use. I have combined the lovely oils of olive, coconut, palm and shea butter, to this bar, like all my soap that I make.

Here is it is before it comes out of the log mould and once I remove it the soap is soft and it is the best time to slice it up. It turned out really creamy and buttercup colour. I would have liked it whiter but I am happy with the way it looks. With curing it may go a shade darker. The line through the centre is decorative and is made up of ground clove and cinnamon, might be a tiny bit exfoliating! Thanks for looking!

Soap de jour!

This is my latest soap popping out of the mould this morning its Peppermint & Rosemary with French Kaolin White Clay. (the fragrance is all essential oil and it has shea butter in it!) The specs are peppermint tea leaves only in the upper portion.. for a little bit of exfoliation. Yummy and creamy this one. It will be curing tho for 3 -4 weeks on my soap rack. I have made over the last couple of months at least 30kg of soap getting ready for Christmas gifts. I like the soap to cure for a long time as it makes the bar last longer. I get a lot of joy making soap and you only have to wait overnight to see how it turns out! Off to do some housework and errands!

New Soap

Not a lot has been really happening here in Perth for me... I have been making lots and lots of soap. My latest creation on the curing rack today is: "White Tea & Ginger". It's smells absolutely divine! I have also curing on the rack lots of Honey & Oatmeal, zesty lime citrus, blue gum eucalyptus, tea rose, lemon scented gum, lavender, peppermint & rosemary, honey toffee (like lush's Honey I washed the kids!), Orange & Sandalwood with poppy seeds, and a HUGE LOG for bonbonarie that is going to be 28 soaps. I have yet to make another batch of tea rose of 32 bars.

I have been catching up with Gabbie via the net, she lives in Melbourne and does amazing things with soap. Not only that she is the best web designer on the planet! check out her blog and look at her site for soap!

I guess that's about 25kg of soap I have made, so I will be offering that soon to my friends and family here in Perth. You can imagine what my lounge area smells like, well I keep my curing racks in there as the heater does help to dry out the soap.

On another note getting ready to plant out the vege patch with seedling etc, too bad the weather is a bit rough at the moment but all the earth is prepared with chicken poop! It will be the last time I can use that lovely space here in the rental as this time next year I will be moving to a new house. I am in the pre start stage at the moment but it will still take a year to build, just gotta be patient.

The twins and friends are back from their New Zealand trip a couple of weeks ago. They had the best time driving around discovering the south island. Skiing, climbing glacier, jet boating, motorbike riding. It was their birthday pressy and Christmas pressy combined!

Joined with 3 other girlfriends they drove around themselves in a 4 wheel drive. Lauren was still on her P plates and still did a bit of driving, what was she thinking! Moreover mum though it was a bit much!

The glacier climb was the toughest day with a 7-8km return walk with plenty of steps and crack and crevasses to climb through. I know I would have been scared if I did it.

Apparently they were ski legends and managed the intermediate ski slope straight off, having never skied before. Must be all that horse work and leg strength that helped them stay upright. Glad my babies are back home safe and sound!

Hope ya have a great weekend and thanks for looking! Julie