Happy Birthday!

The other day was my Mom’s birthday.

I blogged about cake.

You can revisit that post here.

Today is my Mother-in-Law’s birthday.

Mother-in-Law is not an appropriate title for her.

I heard someone use the term Mother-in-Love.

That’s so much more more fitting.

I hope you have a good birthday, Mom!

Soap Cupcakes

All the cupcakes pictured are soap cupcakes.

They look and smell great.

Just don't take a bite.

You might be disappointed.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Instead of soap, today I’m going to show you

an easy and fun cake that is great for

summer (or anytime for that matter).

It's especially good in the summer

because it's a cool, light dessert.

I made something similar years ago.

Years before blogs and Facebook and Pinterest.

When we traded recipes on hand written cards.

Ahem.  I digress. 

I saw this recipe on Pinterest. 

The source was this blog 

Want to follow my Pinterest posts? 

You can find me here.

Unfamiliar with Pinterest?

It's a website where you can organize your stuff.

It can be pretty addictive, but it's worth checking out.

If you want complete directions,

follow the ones on the blog post above.

I adapted the recipe a bit.

Here’s what I did. 

I used these ingredients: 

1 Angel Food Cake Mix

1 Package (3 oz. size) Lime Jello

1 Carton (8 oz) of Cool Whip

Steps I followed:

Prepare cake according to the package directions.

Bake in a 9x13” pan.

Mix the Jello with ¾ cup boiling water.

Stir well.

Add ½ cup cold water.

Stir some more.

Poke holes in the cake.

I used the handle of a wooden spoon.

Next time I would take the blogger’s suggestion.

Make smaller holes with a skewer or fork.

Slowly pour the Jello over the cake.

It needs a little time to soak in.

Poke more holes as needed.

Refrigerate for about 3 hours.

Frost with Cool Whip.

AKA Cool Whhhhhip.

Eat from the pan or cut and serve.

If you have leftovers,

Be sure to refrigerate them.

That's it!

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Here's a virtual cake for you.

Thank you all for reading!

Flying Frog Soaps

Making fun soaps with kids has inspired me to make some more kid friendly soaps.

Here's the latest.

The base is clear so the frog is easier to see.

The glitter adds sparkly fun.

The frog is a stretchy toy that will fly through the air.

Sort of like a rubber band.

How fun to have an acceptable way to

shoot a rubberband at your sibling.

Mom, "Go to your room.  You know better than to

shoot a rubberband at your brother/sister."

Child, "But Mom, it's not a rubberband.

It's a flying frog."

Mom, "You just doubled your time out."

Meanwhile, Dad is stifling his laughter and

amusement lest he end up in trouble as well. 

As Mom makes sure child is headed for said room,

Dad might even shoot the frog.

Just to see if he can get it to fly as far as his child did.

And because it looked like so much fun.

If he's really daring,

he might even shoot the frog at Mom.

Maybe by the time the child's time out is over,

Mom will shoot the frog at Dad.

I'm a Mom.

I know about these things.

Do I need to put a warning on the label like this:

SHOOTING THE RUBBER BAND FROG

TOWARD A PERSON (SUCH AS YOUR SIBLING)

MIGHT PUT SOMEBODY'S EYE OUT

Or it might land you in time out.

So shoot it when Mom's not looking.

And don't shoot it at Mom's backside.

You know she has eyes in the back of her head.

You don't want to go putting those out.

Then you'll really be in trouble.

For a while, anyway.

After that, maybe you can get away with lots of things

since she can't see behind her back anymore.

Maybe I'll include a warning about running with scissors too.

Just in case.

Do you have any fun stories about shooting rubberbands (or frogs)?

Come on.  I'll bet you've shot one - at least once.

If not, it's high time you gave it a try.

Just don't put any eyes out.

Thanks for reading!

Soap Demonstration

This past weekend I got to do a

cold process soap making demonstration at the

Plaid Peacock

located in a beautifully restored building

in downtown Waterloo, Iowa.

It's located just across from the Riverloop Public Market Co-op

and the Downtown Waterloo Farmers' Market

Plaid Peacock

See the window to the left with the shades pulled?

That's where the demo was held.

The Plaid Peacock has a nice setup for classes and demonstrations.

It's a beautiful setting, and they are always helpful and quick to

supply me with whatever I need.

Like power, a microwave, tablecloth and protective cover, etc.

Even when I forget to ask for it ahead of time :-)

Isn't the woodwork beautiful?

For the soap demonstration,

I made a batch of oatmeal, milk honey soap,

then poured it into the molds. 

There were about a dozen people there.

They asked lots of good questions. 

Some of the materials that went into the soap

The oatmeal, milk and honey soap is my best seller. 

People love the fragrance.

They also love the mild exfoliation quality of the oatmeal. 

Our skin loves oatmeal. 

Oatmeal has properties that soothe and soften our skin.

Freshly made soap

The soap needs to cure for about a month.

Curing lets extra water can evaporate.

This makes for a longer lasting bar.

It's so hard to wait for the soap to cure, but it's well worth it. 

Cold Process soap just gets better with age.

Bars of this soap will be for sale at Plaid Peacock in mid August.

The fragrance oil has vanilla in it.

Vanilla makes the soap darken a bit.

Just poured and still ivory

By the time these are ready to go, they'll be a lovely light tan color.

Crosscutting the bars lets the texture of the oatmeal show through.

Two days after pouring

These soaps smell wonderful!

Oh, and this soap is great at doing what soap is supposed to do -

gently cleaning and nourishing your skin.

How the bars will look after they are

cut and stamped

Oatmeal, Milk and Honey soap can also be purchased

at SoapArtOnline or

in SoapArt's Etsy shop

Thanks for reading!

Mustache Soap

A friend brought her niece and nephew over for some soapy fun. 

We had a great time!

They made several fun soaps, including robots and legos.

They also made soaps with bugs, butterflies and ninjas inside them.

And they used glitter.  You gotta love glitter.

Well, I guess YOU don't gotta.  But I do.

My favorite of the day was the mustache soap. 

Aren't they a couple of cute kids?

Maybe they'll come back the next time they're in town!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Birthday, America!

Here's a little something I made for the occasion.

It's a soap pop, soap on a stick, soapop, or whatever other name you want to give it.

What a fun way to wash up before that 4th of July cookout.

I hope you have a great day!

Thanks for reading!

Puppy Soap

Puppies are adorable. 

Other pets are, too.  I’m just partial to puppies.  

And kids.  They're adorable too.  

And what about babies? 

I can think of few things more adorable than a smiling, happy baby.  

But I digress.

My puppy is almost eight years old.

Not really a puppy, but to me she’s a puppy nonetheless.

This is my Grandpuppy, Rocky.
So cute!  He's grown a bit since this picture,
but he's still as cute, he's smart as a whip, and he's a good boy.
Am I a proud Gramma or what??

This is my friend Jax.

He is sweet and energetic.

And now his picture is on some soap.

This puppy looks kind of like my puppy friend Abby.  

One of these days I've got to get a picture of Abby 

so she can be the star of a soap bar.

But for now, this puppy on a chair will have to do.

Puppy soaps come in different sizes.

 I love that I can customize these soaps with any digital picture, puppy or otherwise.

 Here’s to adorably cute puppies. 

 Thanks for reading!