I'M OFF TO PORTUGAL AGAIN

Yes, yes yes.... I really can't believe it myself, it seems that it was only yesterday I was there making and creating the most amazing soaps with Mrs Barnes aka Shelley

Well, I am back again tomorrow for another fun filled, busy, busy 3 weeks where we launch PURO Soaps and really go for it!

We have already made a lot of soap ready for our first selling experiences but, most importantly, we will be hosting an exhibition of artisan soap making at the

Biblioteca/Library- Lagares da Beira Largo Dr. Agostinho Antunes Lagares da Beira, Portugal   Our Local lovely library - So masses of work to get this sorted before our launch night when the website goes live and PURO really lives!   The soaps we have created are the best that both of us have ever made, our special PURO range of Olive Oil soaps are really something and our lovely 'fun' soaps will make Christmas bubble with a lovely scented, spicy selection of slightly mad, crazy and amazing soaps.     Keep following this blog for the next three weeks of fantastic adventure and excitement.  I can't wait!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Yes and my new soaps are all up on the website now, click on the link to the right of this blog to go and have a look.  All of the soaps from last year have been altered and some look quite different, I also have two new cupcakes on offer and one new soap that I am very, very proud of.......

'FOLLOW THE STAR' - My first art landscape soap and my interpretation of the story of the three wise men and their journey to take their gifts to the new baby Jesus.  Scented with frankincense and myrrh and studded with gold chunks it both looks and smells great, a real unisex soap and very luxurious too.

SNOWBERRY - slightly altered from last year, a little stronger scent and ice blue balls as well as white ones, drenched in fine crystal glitter it is very, very pretty.

CHRISTMAS SPICE CAKE - A real favorite and my best selling Christmas soap, again, totally re-vamped with beautiful hand cut and decorated tops using holly leaves and berries, it smells really great, just like an old fashioned Christmas.

CHRISTMAS TREE CUPCAKES - Really lovely and very different from last year, more spice added to the scent, darker blue/green swirls that go on forever, I have also added pretty metallic multicolored balls to mimic real Christmas Tree decorations, all topped off with a gold star.

NEW GINGERBREAD MEN CUPCAKES - I had to make this one, I got a cute new tiny gingerbread man cutter and this cupcake just happened!  Scented with a wonderful ginger cake fragrance with added decorations it will be a real winner with the kids.

NEW WILDBERRY CUPCAKES - Another beautiful new cupcake that I think is set to become a classic.  It is scented with wonderful zingy cranberry, wild berry and a touch of citrus with amazingly realistic, hand made soap berries scattered all over the top.

LASTLY.....

THE NOW FAMOUS NATURALLY MADE SOAPS MINCE PIE SOAPS - They are back, not ready for dispatch until the beginning of November but kept at the same price as last year they made the best, funniest, wonderfully inventive and totally original stocking fillers.

Tell all your friends, most of these soaps are limited editions and will not stay around for long.

RIP STEVE JOBS

I know I am very late but I wanted to share this wonderful video link with you.  I learned to use computers on a Mackintosh, and have loved Macs and everything Apple ever since.  As a Mac user of 26 years I am in awe of the man who created these wonderful, easy to use, beautifully designed machines that have changed all our lives.

This video at Stamford University, USA is incredible, so inspiring.  Steve Jobs was an innovator who changed the world just listen as he talks about how nearly dying taught him to live.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
- Steve Jobs

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle." -Steve Jobs

 R.I.P. Steve Jobs-1955-2011

 "You've got to find what you love" 

 

 One of the comments from You Tube

Ten years ago, we had Johnny Cash, David Hope, and Steve Jobs.
Now we have no Cash, no Hope, and no Jobs.

(not totally true I believe, but funny all the same)

NEW CHRISTMAS SOAPS - PREVIEW

Yes, busy, busy, busy little Soapchick has been making like crazy.  I have some lovely new ideas for Christmas soaps, some already made and some in the making.  I want to share them with you today, some are on the curing racks already and will be ready for order really soon.

Re-vamped Christmas Spice Cake for 2011
Christmas Spice Cake is an annual favourite, each year I redesign it and try to make it better and better.  This year I have gone for the holly and berry look on top, swirls of lovely creamy soap laden with cinamon, nutmeg, cranberry and clove scents.  It is a real winner and I think that this years version is the best ever!

Christmas Berry cupcakes
Now these really are lovely, the base is scented with a mixture of wild berry and tangy cranberry, very Christmassy, the tops are decorated with mixed berries, and lovely indigo glitter. Another one that I don't have a name for yet, so if you can help I would love to know what you think?

Gingerbread Cupcakes
I recently fell in love with a new, tiny gingerbread man cutter and I had to get it.  So..... naturally this means a new cupcake is born!  this one has a fantastic ginger cake fragrance, so spicy and lovely.  Some of the cupcakes have a candy cane on the opposite side, some a gold star, everything made out of soap of course! I need a name for this little beauty, can you help?

"Follow The Star" Limited edition
I am so excited by this soap, the idea came while I was sleeping - I know it sounds crazy but I dreamed this soap!

I wanted to make a real scene in soap, my interpretation of the Christmas message.  The fragrance started me off, frankincense and Myrrh, a beautiful, warm, rich scent, and what else did the wise men bring?  Gold of course, I wanted a star and glitter too.  This is the result, a desert night (it will get darker, the sky I mean, as the fragrance ages to a much darker colour), the sand dunes peeling off into the distance, a wild, glittery, magical sky and a huge, pure white star to follow.  The soap looks equally good straight out of the mold or cut up into bars (as above) I think, I really wanted the scene to show up well and tell the story of Christmas in soap, I think it does and I hope you do too, please let me know.

Before the final cut, straight out of the mold as an extra large bar and before the gold 'chunks' were coloured up.

Christmas Tree Cupcakes
and finally, another re-vamp of a favorite from last year.  I have make these cupcakes again as I have already had lots of orders in, but, as always, I have made them slightly different this year.  I hope you wont be disappointed.  The scent is the same lovely mixture of Christmas spices as the cake at the top of this blog, cinnamon, clove, cranberry and nutmeg.

Remember you will always see and hear about my new soaps first on this blog and by following my facebook page, Please do let me know what you think, I love comments!!!