Let The Christmas Crafting Continue!

The countdown is on! There are only 12 days until Christmas. For some reason that makes me want to bust out and sing the 12 days of Christmas. Well, anyhoo, I will spare you all of that. Today I have been working on finishing up some Christmas projects. Several years ago I made soap for gifts. I had some glycerin and a rather fantastic soap mold so, I thought why not make soap again this year?

So, I got out the mold and lined it with freezer paper:

I don't have a double boiler....ah, if only Jeff read this he would have the perfect Christmas gift idea for me...so I just made one out of some kitchen items I have. You can't go wrong with a big pot and a Pyrex bowl.

I chopped up some cocoa butter glycerin and avocado and cucumber glycerin that I had so it would melt easier and put it in the boiler.

I am a fan of lavender and usually have a ton of lavender buds and lavender essential oil laying around so that is what I went with for the scent of this soap.

My favorite part of making soap is poring it into the mold. I got this mold from Southern Belle Soap Company some years ago. I don't think think they are in business anymore which is disappointing.

My house smells so good, like an English garden. That will only last so long though, the dogs need a bath :-). Tomorrow the soap should be ready for me to cut into bars.

Cheers!

Winter Wonder Land?

Well, this is Texas folks....and it is snowing...in March. Normally Spring is starting to set in and it is nice and sunny. The naked lady bulbs in my garden were even beginning to bloom. The daffodils were already in full bloom. My lavender and aloe were also starting to bounce back from the winter. But, I can't say that I am surprised really. There is that saying we have here, "Don't like the weather, then just wait a minute". Okay so, on Monday it was like 75 degrees. Then on Tuesday we had snow...just a nice light snow, nothing big. Wednesday..in the 60's and sunny. Today...first we start with rain in the 40's and end up in the low 30's by mid afternoon (and the temperature just keeps dropping) with snow and huge sleet like I have never seen before. Then we ended up with snow the size of a quarter and that just does not happen here. It was nice because I got to leave work early and will probably go in late because the roads will be icy and slippery in the morning. Now, I am going to cozy up with some hot cocoa, watch the food network, and do a little embroidery.

These are, not so great shots, of the snow. This past weekend was so nice that I got birdseed for the birds but, as you can tell there is not a bird in sight. They are too cold!

Maybe I will make some chili tonight for dinner, that sounds warm and yummy!

Cheers and stay warm!!! :-)