Christmas 2012 Elf Idea #3 Revisited

Remember those personalized pillow cases from a former blog post? Well here they are filled with the grand kids holidays outfits (shoes and coats included). Elf passports and a letter from Santa are part of the package. The elves will need passports to re-enter the North
Pole when Santa picks them up on Christmas Eve.

Santa's letter was about the same as last year with a few edits making it relative to the past year. Of course, elf protocol rules were mentioned in Santa's letter.

We (NeeNee and Poppy) are taking the grand kids and family to a special Christmas event Saturday night. While having dinner a pre-show dinner, the grandkids' Mommy will place the elves in the van.

My daughter phoned this morning to tell me the kids are so excited that their elves will be arriving soon.

Photos With a Message

My daughter's home is filled with family pictures and she loves changing them around now and then. For Christmas, I printed a photo of each grand kid along with a special verse or quote. The above photo is of my little Fischer taking a hike in my back yard and carrying the walking stick Poppy made for him.

I mounted the photos on pre-cut mat boards that fit an 8 x 10 frame. The kids are excited to give their mommy and daddy their special photo.

Each photo gift cost less than $4.00 and can be made in a matter of minutes. Michael's usually runs some great sales this time of year and you can pick up pre-cut mat boards relatively cheap. Most photo editing programs allow you to add text, re-size and recolor a picture. I opted for black & white.

Christmas Elf Countdown 2012: Idea #5

A jar of elf kisses is one way to announce your elf's arrival (or in my case, elves). Here are a few of scenarios to consider.

• Leave a trail of the elf candy kisses from the front door to the elf. Place the elf next to the jar.
• Position elves around the jar with some unwrapped kisses. Kids will enjoy picking out a chocolate treat during the Christmas countdown.
• Place the empty jar in the middle of the floor and scatter the elf kisses for the kids to find. You might want to take a count of how many kisses you have hidden. The kids can hunt for the kisses and place them in the jar.

I purchased the jar at either Hobby Lobby or Big Lots. To dress the jar, you will need ribbon, Christmas print for cap insert, gift tag and fabric.

I found a left-over bracelet from my granddaughter's birthday party (purchased at Oriental Trading) and stretched it around the jar.

There are a host of colorful Christmas kisses at this time of year. I opted to add a few 3/4" labels to bottom of some of the kisses. Thank you, Amanda at Parties To Go for the free downloadable labels.

A 3/4" punch is perfect for cutting the labels to size. Hot glue is the fastest and easiest way to apply the labels to the candies.

A soup bowl was used as the fabric template. I printed a green and white stripe pattern for the lid insert and cut to size. Hot glue a coordinating ribbon around the rim of the outer lid. Have fun with the idea and make it your own!



Melt & Pour Soapmaking: Christmas Chill Pill

With all the holiday madness, it's important to have a pant-load of Chill Pill soaps ready to dispense as needed. I'm making mine in assorted colors and suited for various occasions. I've come up with a few suggestions for use.

• When a road rage driver runs you off the road. Throw a soap at them. Just the act of throwing something will help you chill-out.
   
• You are patiently waiting in a parking isle for someone to load up their bags to nab their parking spot. Your blinker is on, and you are ready to claim your spot. Just as the car pulls out, someone snags your spot from the other direction. Dang, that ticks you off. Have no fear, the Chill Pill works wonderfully on car windows and is easily removed with water....if you get my drift...
•  The chill pill is great for gifting cashiers with bad attitudes. Leave a chill pill at the checkout as you are leaving. It will speak volumes without ever saying a word.
•  When workers in the office, including the boss, are operating in crisis mode. Secretly place a chill-pill on their desk.
• Pop a chill pill in the shower when the kids are driving you crazy and you're on the verge of losing control.
• Be sure to have a chill pill in hand when opening the holiday credit card statement. You might two pills depending on the amount owed.

There are so many uses for the chill-pill. I'm putting some in stockings and anonymously gifting to .... oops, I can't say.

This is one of Mold Market's newest soap molds and already a favorite.



Christmas Elf Countdown 2012: Idea #4

Ready, aim, FIRE! The elves are under attach for their naughty behavior. They've tried to camouflage themselves but it seems they might be out-numbered.

This will be one of the elf displays this Christmas. This photo is only a prelude to the battle that will ensue down the hallway at NeeNee and Poppy's house next week. Hopefully, it will spark ideas of your own. How about a cardboard fort for the elves, or paper hats printed in camouflage colors?

I used water glasses as the elves protective barrier, but so many other household items can be used. Build a fence using empty toilet paper rolls, or books.

I'm thinking the elves could hold a sign that reads, "I promise, to be good!" or, "HELP, Santa, we're under attack by the Grinch's army."

My imagination could go bonkers with this idea and I can't wait to set up the whole army platoon and battlefield. The grand kids (at least, the boys) will be into the bad guy vs/ good guy scenario.

You can buy the army guys at the Dollar store. Corrugated cardboard wrap, burlap ribbon, straw from baby Jesus' manger, and snippets of pine from the backyard is a battlefield in the making. There are plenty of things around the house that can be used to create this same battle ground.

Have fun with this idea and take it to the next level. Happy elfing!

Brown Bag Holiday Gift Wrap Idea

I have 28 gifts to wrap for nieces and nephews this year. The item I am gifting (sorry, it's a secret) isn't an easy one to wrap. That's where my handy-dandy paper punch comes into play. You can make just about anything wrap look good with a paper-edge punch.

Brown lunch bags can be found in any grocery store isle and cost pennies per bag. For this gift packaging project, I stamped the edge of each bag with a decorative punch, cut two slits to insert the candy cane ears, glued wiggle eyes and a pom-pom nose to complete the look.

A quick, easy and inexpensive wrap for your child's classroom or small, hard-to-wrap gifts. Even as I write this post, my mind is whirling with other brown bag packaging ideas for this holiday. Stay posted!

Mr. & Mrs. Claus Make "PIT" Stops

The Hollywood version of Mr. and Mrs. Claus. The snowman blanket is their sleigh. They packed the jumbo stockings with gifts to deliver to all of the decorated Christmas trees at NeeNee's house, we have four plus one outside the entryway door.

Mrs. Claus shouted orders to Mr. Claus (what a surprise) and even snagged Santa's boots at one of the "pit-stops" (their term, not mine). There is no better way to enjoy the holidays than watching grandkids in pretend play and hearing little voices scream, "Stop it", "That was mine" and "Not fair!"

May you enter  the holidays with laughter, joy and coffee spiked with Baileys. Today officially starts our family countdown to Christmas with the grandkids. We've only had six time-outs this morning.

Melt & Pour Soap Making: Mr. Grinch Sleigh Soap

I made a second batch of "Grinch" soaps using the GPE Water Dissolving Soap Paper. These will be gifted to the grand kid's teachers. I wrapped the soap in plastic wrap, and assembled into a sleigh with bath salts as shown below.

Who better to guide the sleigh than Mr. Grinch, himself? The Grinch isn't into gift giving, so he opts to deliver a bag of North Pole snow (scented bath salts).

I plan to hot glue the reindeer feet to the green base so it doesn't tip and double-sided tape will keep the sled in place. My nine-year old grandson asked, "Will you add blades to the sides of the sleigh?" And, so I will. I'll cut them from white card stock spray with silver spray paint.

Once everything is secure, the gift will be wrapped in cello and dressed with colorful ribbon to present to each teacher. The gift tag around "Rudolph Reindeer's" neck will be signed by each grand kid.

Here's the low-down on how to complete this project:

REINDEER

• Empty toilet tissue rolls. Three rolls will make two reindeer.
• Wine cork and brown chenille stem for tail
• Small branches for feet and neck
• Silver spray paint
• Silver gift tag for neck (you can also spray the tag silver)
• White pom-pom ball for tail
• Green tissue paper for face of reindeer
• 2 wiggle eyes
• Small twigs for antlers
• Miniature jingle bells for antlers, nose (and sleigh / Grinch hat)

SLEIGH

• Printable Grinch (find it here for FREE!) on card stock
• 8 x 12" red felt
• 18" of twine
• 10-12" of holiday ribbon (for sleigh and reindeer)
• Finished soap (see below)
• Pom Pom for top of Grinch hat
• Miniature jingle bell for Grinch hat

MISC

• Cardboard wrapped in green tissue
• Double-sided tape
• Elmer's craft glue
• Hot glue gun
• Cellophane for gift wrapping
• Gift tags
• Silver spray paint

SOAP

• 4 ounces white melt and pour soap base per Grinch bar
• 1/2 ounce clear melt and pour soap base per Grinch bar
• 1 sheet of water dissolving soap paper
• Template for printing Grinch on above soap paper
• Soap fragrance, 2 teaspoons per pound of melted soap
• Clear Saran wrap and tape to package the soap

SALTS

• Approximately 3/4 cups spa-quality salts
• 1/4 teaspoon fragrance oil (mix into salts until evenly distributed)
• Plastic bag

Have FUN!! The minute my grand kids walked in the door they said, "WOW!! I love that!" Hopefully, the receiver will feel the same. No matter what, the grand kids are excited about their teacher gifts.

Soap Molds: Mold Market Leaves & Berries

This is one of newest Mold Market designs (Leaves & Berries Mold). I've been experimenting with colors to determine what shades I like best. My second test results of Kelly Green and tomato red liquid gels are shown in the above photo. The green and red displayed well against a white soap background.

My first attempt didn't fair well. The green color was too light (pictured above). A few more drops of green colorant deepened the shade and gave the desired result.

You will need to use GPE's injector soap tool with this mold. It was late at night when pouring these soaps. I now wish I would have paid more attention to the mold details. That's what happens when you're pouring soap after midnight. The simplicity of the overall design coupled with the leaf details is awesome. I give this mold a 10. It's a winner!

Melt & Pour: Follow-Up on Overcoloring Soap

In a prior post, I discussed issues with over coloring melt and pour soaps. This follow-up post shows the results of how the same pigment can give different color shades. GPE's Neon Bright Purple was used in this scenario.

The ice cream soap on the left was colored using white soap base. As you can see, the soap isn't even close to purple color. The opacity of the white soap base causes the purple pigment to soften to a pinkish, magenta color.

The center soap is closer to a lavender color. I used the Neon Bright Purple, but added a very small amount of Neon Bright Blue which yielded a soft lavender in white MP soap base.

Pictured right is clear soap with Neon Bright Purple colorant added. It's definitely not a true purple, but more of a mulberry color. To achieve a "true" purple color in clear MP base, you need to add a small amount of Neon Bright Blue.

If you take a close look at the far right soap, you will note that some of the white dots around the inside edge of the mold have faded away. This happened because the second soap layer was poured at too high of a temperature. It melted portions of the white dots causing them to migrate slightly into the purple/mulberry color.

My final test results showed that the Neon Bright Purple did not migrate or have bleeding issues when used relative portions. Adding extra color to deepen color intensity is going to create over-coloring issues. The soap pictured above sat for several days with no signs of color migration.

If you compare the two ice cream soaps, you will note that the second one is WAY over-colored. The Neon Bright Purple should resemble the lighter shade ice cream soap when used in white (opaque) soap base. If you want a "true" purple, use clear soap with equal parts of Neon Purple and Neon Blue colorant.

Melt & Pour Soap Making: Can you Overcolor?



I have been working with a customer on a coloring issue. It's one of our faithful non-bleeding liquid gel colors (Neon Purple), but for some reason there are apparent problems. The big question is was the soap base over colored or is there a problem with the color formula. That's the investigative part we are currently working to resolve.

As you can see in the above customer photo, the purple isn't fairing well. The color has migrated into the dove and the square chunks in the loaf slice. In my test run of the purple colorant, I tried to achieve the same shade of purple as shown above in white soap base. I was fairly certain this hue might possibly be a color overkill. Below is what I would expect the Neon Bright Purple color to look like when added to white MP soap base.

Although it may look similar in color, the purple dove background is actually much darker in color. It is close to the over-color we did with our oval Popsicle mold shown below. It was over-colored to the point we actually could use the soap bar as a crayon.


The purple already started bleeding (migrating) onto the white cone after 12 hours. For a soap maker, there is nothing more frustrating than wasting time and materials on soaps that don't return a profit.

This is why GPE takes it seriously when a customer reports a problem with one of our products. Usually it's an easy fix. However, in a case like this, it requires testing on our end and a one on one with our color lab.

What we did discover while working through this color issue, is over-coloring is perfect when making our soap crayons. They actually do yield color that can be used in the tub. My 9-year old grandson tried out the over-colored soaps and was delighted at how well they worked. We will be testing them in the shower over the weekend. Here is what he colored on paper.

A sure way to know you have added too much color to MP soap base it the above scenario; you can use it like a crayon. I'm still not convinced the color migration isn't due to over-coloring. GPE has stocked the Neon Bright Purple for years with no reports of color bleeding. I'll do a few more test batches and report my findings.

Gifting from the Heart



This holiday I am committed to making as many gifts as possible. I'm making soaps for the grand kids teachers (which I will be sharing after Thanksgiving), complied photo books for a number of family members and just completed these framed poems.

I lost my Daddy a few years ago to cancer. The poem is a remembrance of how much he is missed by family and friends. You'll need to read the gift card to understand the purpose of the sunglasses.

The poem is printed on a background picture of my Daddy and his siblings in their youthful years. I'm gifting to my Daddy's three siblings.

The crazed holiday season is here and it's easy to get snagged into the madness of  racing from one store to the next in a buying frenzy.

 For me, gifting from the heart is making something with a particular person in mind. 

In past years, I've made monogrammed stationery sets, assembled coupon books for the grand kids to give to mommy, gifted fortune cookie soaps, filled concrete leaf soap or garden dishes with goodies... there are so many ways to give without spending a fortune.

Here are 10 ideas to get you started:

• Friendship or Mexican Bean soup in a jar mix (there are plenty to find if you do a Google search)
• Homemade granola
• Zucchini Refrigerator Pickles (I'll be posting on BlimpyGirl.com later today)
• Year-long Memory Jar- I did this for my mom after my Daddy passed away. I purchased a large glass jar with lid at the dollar store. I printed out 365 things for my mom to remember about my dad. She read one each day.
• Kid's Craft Basket- fill with craft goodies for those rainy days.
• Stay-at home movie gift basket in a popcorn tub
• Jar of simmering potpourri (make your own, or contact me for a recipe)
• Fabric covered boxes filled with gourmet coffee and teas
• Holiday coffee sleeves from Christmas socks
• Tile coaster set

Please feel free to share your own Gifting from the Heart holiday ideas!

On Your Mark, Get Set, SHOP BLACK FRIDAY

Pictured above is one of the new mold designs from Mold Market. The possibilities for coloring this soap is endless. It's just one of the designs we are offering on sale for GPE Black Friday. All Mold Market molds are 20% off. Use Discount Code: MM20BF at checkout.

Here are other great BF savings starting at 12:01 AM (ET), November 24 through 11:59 PM, November 25, 2012 (ET).

• 10% off one-ounce and four-ounce fragrance oils. No back-orders. Limited to stock on hand.
  Use Discount Code: BF10FO at checkout
• 10% off all DVD and books.
  Use Discount Code: BF10DVD at checkout
• First five orders received over $100 in product receive an additional 8% discount.
  Use Discount Code: 5BF100 at checkout
• 15% off 20-count mesh soap saver bags.
  Use Discount Code: BF15SSB at checkout
• 10% off two-ounce size Flower Child Soap Colors.
  Use Discount Code: BF10FC at checkout

**All discounts limited to stock on hand for dates noted. Coupons are stackable!

We are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, Nov 22-25th to enjoy time with family and friends. Hope you do the same.

Denise

2012 Magic Christmas Elf: Idea #3

In my first elf post for 2012, I mentioned the elves are arriving inside personalized pillow cases this year. The pillow case will also include a holiday outfit for each grand kid. Pictured are the finished pillow cases with the iron-on transfers purchased on Etsy.

I will use red and green cording to close the bag so it looks like a Santa sack. My daughter and I are brainstorming on where to put each pillow sack in the house.

I've been hiding upcoming elfcapade items under my bed. Unfortunately, I am finding that is not such a good idea. The grandson's like to play with action figures in NeeNee's bedroom and hiding bad guys under the bed is creating a security breach in my hiding location.

Stay tuned for my ongoing 2012 elfcapade ideas.

Melt & Pour Soap Making: Waffles & Strawberries Soap

I love, love, love Mold Market's new Waffles & Strawberries soap mold. Upon arrival, my staff could barely contain their excitement. Gabby was off to the pouring room to bring this mold to life. I think you will agree, she accomplished her mission! My grand kids eat waffles for breakfast when staying for an overnight. Can't wait to see their faces when I serve this up at breakfast. How fun!

Here is what you will need to make this realistic looking soap:

• 1 pound of clear melt and pour soap base (will make what is pictured above)
• 1 ounce white soap base (for the butter)
• Liquid gel soap colorants: Strawberries/combination of tomato red & ruby red, Waffle/combination of yellow oxide, sparkle gold and bronze, Butter/neon yellow, Syrup/combination of bronze and leaf brown.
• 1/4 cup of piped whipped body butter soap frosting
• Soap fragrance

Everything is poured in clear soap base (colorant added) except the pat of butter which is poured in colored white base. Drizzle melted clear soap to secure all the mold pieces. The syrup will also help keep everything in place.

So, how do you package this odd shaped soap? Good question and I will be getting back to you with some suggestions. Have do some experimenting. I have a number of ideas running around in my head and when I finalize one, I will post it.