Katie's Cupcake Soaps

Some time ago, I sent my 11 1/2 year old great-niece a box filled with soap making supplies. It was a big hit and pictured above is one of the soaps that she recently made using Mold Market's cupcake mold. Here is what Katie had to say about her soaping adventure.

"This was the first time I used the cupcake mold, and I found the tutorial extremely helpful. I used the Fruit Punch fragrance when I made my cupcakes. They look delicious. The whole process took me about 30 minutes. The longest part was waiting for the soaps to harden so I could take them out.

Thank you for the soap supplies. I had everything I needed."

The one thing Katie did mention to me was perhaps including a small spritzer bottle for the rubbing alcohol. She makes a valid point. These small 2 ounce bottles are often difficult to find, especially with a sprayer. GoPlanetEarth sells the small spritzer bottles on for those having a hard time locating one.

Thank you Katie for sharing your beautiful cup cake soaps with us.

The Shoes

What more can I say? THE SHOES. These size 8 toddler shoes were left in my laundry room this weekend because they no longer fit my youngest grandson. We took a trip to the local apple orchard to ride ponies and do all things related to an orchard, but he couldn't wear these shoes. They were too small.

My little guy had to run around the orchard in socks because his Mommy had let him pick out his own outfit that morning. Which not only included the wrong size shoe but pants that had to be folded up three times.

So why am I posting about these shoes? Because they signify change. We grow, move forward, and hopefully experience bigger things (in the case of my little guy, bigger shoes). That's life in a nutshell. That's business in a nutshell (or in this case, a shoe). We continually outgrow where we are and need to adapt to change. It's not always easy to make that change and we sometimes try and squeeze our foot into shoes that no longer fit. No doubt, I'm guilty. It's easy to walk in a place of comfort. No new calluses, no breaking in the leather shoes. We want to insert our feet with little effort into a familiar environment (shoe).

Recently, I have been stepping into new shoes and starting new projects. One of those projects is about weight loss. My BlimpyGirl.com blog site was launched earlier this month and will continue to be an ongoing project for me. Yes, it does take away from some of my soaping stuff... but, you know what? I need that. I am rapidly approaching retirement age and I am looking for projects, adventures, and avenues that will enhance those retirement years. I love soap making, but I love plenty of other things as well.

My new shoes are walking in unexplored territory. I will continue to move forward in the soaping industry, but with brand new shoes and blazing a new trail. As for the shoes pictured above, I will be washing them, spraying them with one of my handmade home fragrance sprays and stuffing them with new socks, photo memorabilia and other trinkets and gifting to my daughter for Christmas. In fact, I think I will do this with all the grand kids shoes for the next 5 or 6 years. It's a great reminder of how we outgrow things but in that process move on to bigger and better things.