Goat Milk Soap By Nicole

I have always loved soap.  I recently decided I should try to make some.  (I guess I wasn't busy enough?  I don't know.)  Anyway-- I am pleased with the results and thought I should dedicate today's blog post to the process.  I did very little research about making soap.  Pinterest was helpful.  The only major decision I had to make was whether or not to create a Lye soap or a simple melt and pour.  I read a couple of warnings about the Lye chemical and decided that I'd rather not burn my eyes with fumes.  

Goat milk soap base is a much safer choice!  I purchased this from Amazon, and you can get some HERE.  I liked that this is a suspension formula, which means that any additives will not sink to the bottom!  Now that you have a soap base, the possibilities are endless!

Cut it up and place it into a microwave safe bowl or double broiler on the stove.  Microwave for 40 seconds and then 15 second intervals, stirring in between.   I went the microwave route, and it took forever.  I will double broiler it next time to keep the heat consistent.

Once melted, it cools off very fast and will begin to clump.  I had to keep popping it back into the microwave.  Again, a double broiler next time.  I followed a simple recipe on Pinterest.  Add a small pile of oats for exfoliating, a couple of tablespoons of honey, and some sweet almond essential oil.  I just poured a little bit in.  The goat milk soap is already a very soft soap, it reminds me of a lotion bar.  I am researching that, next!  At this point you can add any scented oil if you want to.  My next batch will be scented.

I ordered the oil from Amazon, too.  It is also good for massage and just rubbing it on your dry hands and feet.

I used a silicone soap mold.  This is a fool proof vehicle for soap.  The soap popped right out, effortlessly.

Now, pouring the soap is what caused me the most trouble!  Anyone have a smart way of doing this?  My soap cooled so fast that I only managed to pour one, maybe two bars before I had to remelt it in the microwave.

I was flinging it everywhere!!

It was messy.

It came right off of my tupperware bowl, though.

I made a big blobby ball with the scraped remains.  If this had taken any longer, I would have given up and thrown it away.  I guess that is how my kind behave.  (My relatives will understand this completely.)

The bars completely cooled after a couple of hours.  I waited a few days until I was ready to package it all up.  The silicone mold was easy to release the soap.

I am happy with the product.  The three things I will change?  

1. Next time I will use a smaller exfoliant.  Maybe poppy seeds.  

2.  Add scent.  Something fresh like cucumber.

3. Double broil it.

To package each bar individually, I wrapped a piece of parchment paper around it.  I used a fine tip Sharpie marker to write the description.  Parchment paper will not take any other writing tool that I had available.  I wrapped a piece of hemp twine around it a couple of times and knotted it on the front.  I like to keep things simple.  Natural.  These are not for sale, but for anyone who would like one.  Come on by and take one just for fun.

We should always sign our art, right? 

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Gingerbread Village

 This is a project that I have to hold onto and wait to complete until I have few enough kids.  There is a kit that includes five small gingerbread houses to build and decorate, and I usually find it at Target.  The size of these is wonderful for small hands!  

The kit contained royal icing, ready to use.  I remember way back when I was a cake decorator for Albertsons, I often had to whip up large batches of royal icing in order to create what we called "dummy wedding cakes".  Royal icing dries like cement-- it is perfect for decorating a gingerbread house.  I am always happy when a kit contains the royal icing.   Have I mentioned that I have finally "retired" from creating wedding cakes?  My last one was two years ago, I think.

I used the paint trays to hold candy. 

They told me where they wanted some frosting, and I would squirt it onto the house for them.  They could then freely decorate away!

 I didn't even have to get out my own decorating tubes.

"Miss Cole, look at mine!"

I added some icicles for them.  

What a beautiful village to display!  Sweets for my sweets.

On the flannel board, the kids have been playing with the snowmen, trees and stars that were created over the summer.  I was glad to have these prepared in advance.  Things are just so busy in December.

Say a prayer, will you?  Search and Rescue is diving at our Blackmans Lake this morning in a search for a fisherman who went missing Saturday.  It feels pretty solemn walking through here to and from the bus stop today.

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥

Hand Print Reindeer AGAIN

Yes, we create this every year.  I don't ever get tired of it, I hope the parents don't mind.  Hand print art is special!  I love to look back at some of the art I have saved from our own kids.  

These worksheets were what I had originally planned-- I took one look at them and my stomach turned.  BORING.  I suppose they were planned to drive those concepts home, but I just wasn't feeling it. 

"Let's create reindeer instead!"

The kids painted some snow onto their papers.  Everyone had their hand painted to create a reindeer body.  

To drive home the triangle shape, we created some stacked triangle trees.  

It didn't matter how the triangles were glued on, it always looked great!  

The final touches were added, and we felt pretty happy with our creations.

They all abandoned ship in the blink of an eye!  It was outside time.

The kids are continuing to help with the nap time mats every day.  

I'm thrilled with the progress they have made!

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Seven

We are working on the number seven.  The kids were given two strips of paper and it was their job to glue the two pieces together so that they would form the number 7.

I wish I had planned something a little more in depth, and my brain wasn't coming up with anything.  Ever have a road block in your mind?  I was drawing a blank and no pinterest idea was going to save me.  We carried on!  They colored the number 7.

Why...so....serious? (Joker reference..)

Each child counted out seven gingerbread stickers and stuck them onto their papers.  I spent some one on one time with each child and we counted them.  Off they went outside!  It was a pretty simple project.  

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Frozen Noses

We have really been cold at the morning bus stop!  Brrrr!  To keep the kids distracted from that, we do some calisthenics to get our blood pumping and that helps pass time.  

Something very exciting has happened for two days in a row- the trees shown above have been filled with beautiful red robins.  They swoop and fly above us!  They look like they are playing, and the sunshine lights up their red feathers beautifully!  There were 14 of them yesterday, and we didn't count this morning.

I love to bird watch.  The kids have been enjoying it, too!

Because it has been so cold, the snow is still here!  The kids enjoyed running around in it and crunching the icy surface.

☼We have been very thankful for the sunshine!☼

In preschool, we are working on the letter Gg and the color green.  The kids can now recognize their names- and most of them can spell their name without my help!  

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Wonderful Weekend

Did everyone have a wonderful weekend?  We sure did!  We enjoyed a hearty Thanksgiving meal and watched the Seahawks whoop the 49ers.  We were blessed with SNOW!  This is a treat for us, usually we don't see snow until around February, if any at all.  It has been really cold here, too.  That means we get to enjoy the snow for a few days!  My kids headed off to a great hill over the weekend.  There wasn't a lot of snow, but it was so frozen that they were zooming down the hill. 

I love to see our home in the snow.  It's a welcome sight.

I made some scotch shortbread cookies. 

1 pound of butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

5 cups of flour

The trick is to get this crumbly dough to roll out smoothly for cookie cutters.  I pour some dough out onto parchment paper.

I then cover it all up with wax paper and pound it into a solid lump.  Roll it in between the sheets to keep it smooth and in one piece.  

Place onto a cookie sheet.  I add maraschino cherries, red hot cinnamon candy or colored sugar sprinkles. Bake for 25 minutes at 250 degrees.  Enjoy!

Christmas has arrived at Henle House!  We purchased some new furniture over the long weekend.  

It's nice to have a comfy chair. 

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥