Last week I received
a Lip Balm Kit from Nature's Garden. Deb is considering offering bath and body kits to her site and wanted a selected few to try out the kits. I received the Crazy For Coconuts Lip Balm Kit. This is not available on their website right now, but I hope they add it soon!
Here is what the cute kit looked like (this is after I pulled everything out to see and smell...lol). It came in a cute, reusable vinyl pouch. Perfect for gift giving!
The kit came with full instructions and ingredients:
Coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, beeswax, coconut flavor, vitamin e capsule, lip tint, stevia (for sweetening), 25 white lip balm tubes, and 4 pipettes.
Before I started, I sanitized my area, pulled back my hair, put on a face mask (which can be bought at any pharmacy) and put on my disposable gloves.
I placed my glass measuring cup on the scale and set it on grams and tared the weight.
The instructions were to add all the materials (except fragrance and tint and sweetener) and melt in a double boiler. I followed the instructions but melted mine in a different order. I have found that beeswax takes a really long time to melt, so I melted my beeswax first.
When the beeswax melted half way, I added my cocoa butter and continued to melt this mixture. After they were both melted, I add my coconut oil, and shea butter. The heat from the other oils usually melts the shea butter, although sometimes I have to put the lip balm base back on the heat to warm up. I find that the shea butter does not turn "grainy" when it is melted gently.
I then added my 20 drops of coconut flavor. I didn't add the stevia since I do not like sweetened lip balm.
This is my first time using tint in a lip balm! I only added a few drops.
Look at the beautiful color!
I mixed the color in and used the available pipette to fill in the lip balm tubes.
After filling, and letting the lip balm cool, I used a clean paper towel and spritzed it with rubbing alcohol. I used the paper towel to rub off any residue that was on the outside of the tubes. I dribbled a little on the outside and cleaning off the tubes was a breeze!
Ta da! here is what they looked like after I filled the tubes.
Here is a close up.
I made a label using the program on
Onlinelabels. They have a very simple program that is free to use when you order their labels. I have found Onlinelabels the easiest to work with and purchase all my labels from them.
What do you think? I think they turned out great, and I hope Nature's Garden decides to sell their kits!
The kit came with full instructions and ingredients:
With less than two weeks before our soft opening, we have been busy getting Fusion by Show Me Handmade ready. After many late, late, nights, it's all coming together! Above is a picture taken late Friday night. We are filling in the colors for the leaves, which is our logo.
The same logo, although smaller, is behind the cash wrap. The cash wrap, along with most of our displays came from another shop in the mall that had closed. We "obtained" all the displays, slat walls, and anything and everything else nailed down. I love the cash wrap and especially the stainless steel top!
Here we are using an overhead projector to line up the logo over the cash wrap. In the background, you can see the slat wall progression.
Not a great picture because of all the displays pushed together, but you can see the new wall colors.
Another view of the cash wrap and the slat walls to the right.
Finished logo....almost finished...!
Just a sneak peek into our new shop! We are opening up a shop in Chesterfield Mall, located in St. Louis, MO. We just received our keys and will be very busy painting, painting, painting!
Here's a picture showing what the shop looks like standing at the front door. We will be hanging wood slat walls on the walls.
Here you can see the front door. The display window is behind the red curtain.
I thought I would share some of my new lip balms with all of you. Above is a group picture of Orange Sorbet, Lavender Mint, Vanilla Bean, Banana Coconut, and Marshmallow Fluff.
Banana Coconut
Vanilla Bean
Marshmallow Fluff....my favorite!
Paperwork is getting done, and we are meeting again tonight..I'm so excited! Hopefully we can get in and start to measure our space and plan our displays. The lease will be signed soon and we plan on opening the beginning of Feb!
Stay tuned for our Grand Opening! Show Me Handmade
My sister wanted some English Rose Body Butter, so I ordered some fragrance oils from Bramble Berry. The scent was so heavenly that I decided to make some soap with it! I wish I did not have to wait 4 weeks before I use it. I'm pleased with how they all came out. I crushed Rose Petals all over the top. I know some people do not like dried flowers in their soap, and these will wash off after one or two uses.
Come join our ShowMeEtsy Street Team's, Crazy Autumn Art and Craft Show!! We will be at SqWire's Restaurant Oct. 16th from 5- 9 pm! Come and view our wonderful handmade items! We will have handmade soaps, gift cards, scarves, art, and jewelry. We are also serving wine and cheese, so come grab a glass of wine and shop for the upcoming holidays!
I used beer from a local brewery to make this soap! It's called Goat's Breath and it's made at the O'Fallon Brewery in O'Fallon, Missouri.
I added a little Happy Man scent to the beer just to jazz it up a bit. It's very slightly scented.
Wouldn't this make a great gift for any man?
It just looks so "manly"
Gather all your equipment. I have my gloves, goggles, scale, lye, beer (making beer soap), and various containers.
Getting ready to pour the beer into the pitcher.
Measuring out the beer. All materials are measured by weight and not volume.
Measuring out the Lye. You can see that I have covered my counter tops with newspapers. It keeps my counters free of soap and makes cleaning up much easier. I just gather the paper and throw it in the recycling bin.
Adding my lye to the beer. I always do this in the sink since it's safer and easier to clean up.
Mixing the lye into the beer.
Watching and stirring in horror as my beer reacts to the lye and foams up and spills all over the sink...see why I mix in the sink!! This is the first time this has happened with any of my batches! It was flat (or so I thought) and has been open (and poured) for two days. Sigh....
Starting over with water this time. LOL!
Measuring out the Lye...
Pouring the lye into the water.....again....
Stirring the solution...again.....! I always wear rubber gloves and (knock on wood) have never been burned from the lye. I also wear goggles at all times.
Here I have my coconut oil measured in the pitcher.
Added the Palm Oil.
Added Palm Kernel Flakes.
Added the Shea Butter. This is 8% of the batch.
All melted and ready to go! At this time I usually leave everything and go about my day for a few hours. My kids are not home, and hubby is away at work. What I didn't show were pictures of adding the other oils in the recipe. These are added to the melted oil and help cool off the oils.
All set to go! I have measured the oils. I'm using lemongrass and black tea.
JUST stirred the lye mixture into the oils. I stir by hand for a bit to see how everything reacts.
I use the stick blender to finish up the batch. You can see it coming to "trace" right here. See how the blender is leaving a "wake" in the mixture....all set to pour!
All poured! Now I cover the mold with a piece of cardboard and then place a few blankets on top. I don't uncover until the next morning.
