Mold Market Soap Mold: Simple Design=Creative Possibilites

This simple soap mold design offers so many creative pouring possibilities. We've only shown you pics of various color pours. But...consider adding glitter to the different layers, or...ground oatmeal, botanicals, and loofah. Use various color themes for the seasons. Fall colors, Christmas holiday colors, Spring colors, or just fun colors as Sophie Soap Chick has shown.

Socceer Ball Soap Mold

Thanks to one of my staffers, Missy, for taking this photo of Mold Market's new soccer ball soap mold. EZ to pour in two colors and a generous 4 plus ounces. You can purchase this mold here.

Soap Molds: We want to Wish You A Merry Christmas

Mold Market's new Christmas Tree mold is awesome. It's a plain tree that allows you to dress it up any way you want. Our Sophie Soap Chick gives you a few ideas. A plain Christmas Tree mold is shown on the right. Then Sophie kicks it up a notch and does some snazzy soap work using stars and drizzled soap (left). The top Christmas tree uses cut out circles for the bulbs. The decorating ideas are endless. Love, love, love this mold.

Mold Market Sponsors 2011 Soap Guild Conference

Each year, Mold Market helps in sponsoring the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild. This year, Mold Market provided water bottles for each attendee. Each time you purchase a Mold Market brand mold, you are helping to sponsor future Soap Guild events. For the record, GoPlanetEarth carries the entire line of Mold Market molds.

Mold Market's center page ad at the conference is just another reminder of why you want to purchase these quality molds. The annual Soap Guild conference is a huge event and if you've not yet attended or are not familiar with this grand event, I encourage you to visit the HSMG web site.

Diary of a Blimpy Girl: Taco Thursday

Tonight's dinner was a bean taco. Took about 10 minutes to prepare. I added a small side of baby spinach leaves and a juicy tomato slice along with an extra dollop of refried beans. This entire meal, as pictured, just a mere 225 calories.

My Blimpy Girl recipes have earned me a 28 pound weight loss. I've continued to maintain this weight loss since early February. If you're struggling to lose weight, message me via my business FB page. I will gladly share some of the recipes I've used in my weight loss journey.

Melt & Pour Soap Molds: Olive Branch Bar

Just my personal opinion, but I think this olive branch mold from Mold Market rocks...big time. It's a generous size bar at 5 ounces. Easy to pour in mulitple colors.

Diary of a Blimpy Girl: Pear Ala Mode

In my weight loss journey, I am learning how to create yummy low fat desserts. This is one of them and I'm very proud that it was my OWN creation. I was trying to use up food that was purchased before leaving for my extended weekend vacation in Disney. I had a pear on hand and thought...hmmm....why not do a pear ala mode. Here's the recipe and I must admit it was awesome with a capital "A".

If you add a generous scoop of fat free vanilla ice cream the total cal intake will be 280. If you substitute a generous scoop of frozen vanilla (fat-free) yogurt, you're looking at 250 calories. Not bad for a scrumptious dessert.

You will need:

1 medium pear
1 teaspoon Splenda sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup Fiber One cereal coarsely chopped
1/4 cup raisins or cranberries
1/8 cup white wine
3/8 cup apple juice (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon sugar free maple syrup

Cut pear in half and scoop out the center of each half to form a hollow area.

Place pear halves in a glass microwavable shallow dish. Add 1/8 cup apple juice and 1/8 cup white wine and pour in and around the pears. Mix Splenda sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkel over tops of halved pears.

Coarsely crush 1/4 cup Fiber One ceral and add 1/4 cup raisins. Place this mixture into the hollow of each pear half.

Cover dish with wax paper and cook pears in microwave for 6 minutes. Don't worry if some of the filling falls out of the pear. You can scoop it up later and place back into the pear hollow. Let cooked pears set for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a serving dish. Pour off any remaining juices from the glass cooking dish into a small saucepan. Add 1/4 cup apple, brown sugar and maple syrup. Cook over medium heat until reduced to a sauce like consistency.

Drizzle sauce over pear halves and serve with a scoop of fat free ice cream. Reserve some of the pear sauce for the ice cream :))

2 servings

Melt & Pour Soap Making: Hand Carved Gem Stone Soaps

Woo Hoo...look at these little gems. Hand carved from blocks of colored soap. Our Sophie Soap Chick does it again. She took an idea and ran with it! Antique copper and turquoise liquid gel colors were used for these soaps. I'll have more details next week on the "how to" part. Soaps averaged between 1.7 to 2.2 ounces.

Our silicone or Mold Market square loaf was used to pour the big block for the carved soaps. The big block was then cut into smaller blocks to carve. Make sure you save all the extra soap scraps left from carving. You can use them for other soaping projects.

Meet Sophie Soap Chick & My Assistant, Kristy

Our "Sophie Soap Chick" is home from University for the summer. She is working on some soaping projects this week. Today she is pouring up some samples soaps using our latest molds from Mold Market. Excited to see what she does. The above pic is of our Sophie (left) and my assistant, Kristy (right).

Kristy fell off a golf cart this weekend and is suffering from a fractured tailbone injury. She's been off a few days and Sophie has been filling in. Kristy is back to work today, but not without pain. She has herself propped up with pillows on a nice cushie chair. We couldn't convince her to stay home.

So...we are trying to work around all this "life happens" stuff and get your orders out ASAP. Remember, I am leaving for a brief Disney trip with my grand kids Saturday-Tuesday. Things should run as usual, but any international shipments received after Friday of this week will not go out until my return.

Blimpy Girl: Eating to Lose Tip #1

Tip #1:
Set a table that makes you want to linger. If you plate your food for portion control and set a pretty table, you will eat slower and take time to savor the meal. It's like eating out at a fine restaurant. Flowers can help set the eating atmosphere.

I happen to have plenty of cut flowers in my garden this time of year. The top photo displays cut peonies and hosta leaves from my garden. I always keep vases filled with marbles or pebbles. Cut the flowers, fill with water and presto. Instant arrangement. The marbles inside the vase really help to keep your flowers in place.

No garden? No fear. The second photo are artificial Gerber daisies that I keep on hand. Add some green leaves from a tree and you're good to go. There is something about flowers that add elegance to a table. There are so many fun things you can do with flower vases. How about adding goldfish? I like that!

I'll continue to post table arranging ideas via my Blimpy Girl tips. Have any ideas of your own? Would love to hear.

My Newest Passion: Cooking to Lose

If you follow my business FB page, you know that I have lost 27 pounds since mid-January of this year. An awesome accomplishment for anyone. I am continually asked, "How'd ya do it." The answer is found in the Diary of a Blimpy Girl Episodes which I am currently journaling. Besides a love for all things soap, I have acquired a new love to "Cook to Lose." My Blimpy Girl Episodes will eventually become part of this blog.

Trust me, I am NOT a cook, nor have I ever enjoyed cooking. This is a whole new arena for me and I look forward to sharing my journey with you. I know my blog is mostly about soap related things (and occasional posts about family). But this is a new chapter in my blogosphere. So many struggle with weight gain and if my Blimpy Girl Diary can help... I am there for you!

The photos shown in this post are from Diary of a Blimpy Girl: Episode 20 (Chicken China Town). This is an incredibly low calorie dish that is bursting with flavors. It has a little kick for those of you craving a hint of spiciness. This is actually my improvised version of a recipe I found in the HungryGirl.com recipe book. I found that recipe to be boring with no real flavors, so I added my own touch. I liked it so much, I am sharing.

This recipe makes 5 to 6 servings (1 cup per serving) at about 200 calories with the side salad shown. I must tell you that I could barely finish the full serving. I also added a small side salad and a glass of Pinot Grigio wine. Not a wine drinker? Pour yourself a glass of sparkling water in a wine glass.... zero calories!

Here's my Chicken China Town recipe:

Packet (about 1 ounce) dry fried rice seasoning mix

1 ounce rice noodles

Pinch or two of garlic powder
Pinch or two of ground ginger
1 Tablespoon lite soy sauce

2/3 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (not eggs whites, but the actual egg substitute)

2 cups diced carrots and peas

2 cups cooked brown rice

6 ounces chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

3 tablespoons tamari sauce (you can also use lite soy sauce)

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

6 tablespoons white wine (you can substitute sherry if you don't have white wine)

2 teaspoons Splenda sugar substitute

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 cup fat free pork broth

2 teaspoons corn starch

1/2 to 1 yellow bell pepper cut into bite size chunks (you can substitute 1 cup bean sprouts or mushrooms)

1 scallion chopped

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Scramble egg substitute in fry pan with non-fat spray oil and cut into bite size pieces. Set aside. Using same fry pan (lightly coated with non-stick spray oil) warm the peas & carrots. Remove from skillet and set aside in same dish as your egg bites.

Weigh the rice noodles to equal 1 ounce. Place noodles in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes. Drain water and chop noodles into 1-inch lengths. Set aside with veggie/egg bites.

Respray skillet and cook chicken bites until slightly crispy brown. Add brown rice and seasoning mixture and stir. Add veggies, rice noodles and egg bites thoroughly mixing into the rice mixture. OK, now time to prepare the yummy sauce...

Sauce

Combine white wine, rice vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, tamari sauce and sesame oil in a bowl. Stir well and pour over the skillet mixture. Allow this to cook for several minutes over medium heat. While cooking, add cornstarch to the pork broth. Whisk until blended. Pour broth over the skillet mixture and cook until thickened. Season with salt/pepper. Add diced scallions to each portion served.

That's it! Plate it up and enjoy.

Corrugated Paper Soap Dishes...Gonna Give it A Try

I am always looking for ways to reuse things. Not sure how this will all pan out, but, I have a plan for using this corrugated wrap from some dinnerware that arrived today. I'm thinking about soap dishes for the smaller squares and bowl shapes. For the larger squares (at the bottom of the stack) I want to help my grand kids make charger plates. Here is the concept....

I ordered some mod podge which won't be here until next week :((, but once it arrives I want to paint the corrugated wrap in fun colors. Once dried, I plan to spray with an acrylic fixative to seal the paint. Once sealed, I'll do a couple layers of mod podge. It will somewaht primitive looking, but that's OK by me. I am sooooo open to suggestions and ideas before I give this project a try. Please share.

I am also thinking that these bowl type wraps would make wonderful pots for the grand kids to plant flower seeds. Once the mod podge is dried, I could drill a hole in the bottom of the bowl shape (for water drainage). A little dirt....a few seeds... and new life is birthed. I'll have to get back to you on this idea as I wait for the delivery of the mod podge AND I have a very busy couple of weeks. Heading to Florida for an extended weekend with the grand kids at Disney (weekend of June 18) and this weekend hosting a wedding appetizer party for my nephew.

In the meantime, if you have any ideas about this forthcoming project, I would love to hear from you.

Hello, Mother Nature: Tornado Brings Power Outage

Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms blew through our area over the holiday weekend. We lost power/phone lines/cable. Power was finally restored on Wednesday. Sooooo... if you wonder why orders are delayed, guess what? Mother Nature was in charge of the shipping schedule.

We are back to normal but still catching up due to the power outage and holiday weekend. Please be patient, we are REALLY trying to get orders out timely.