The New Soapylove Website and Winter eZine Have Arrived!

I am beyond excited to announce that my new, super fabulous* website is now live! You can now find everything in Soapyland under one roof, including all Let's Get Soapy eZines!

If you have a minute, please head over and check it out. It looks completely different! New features are:

• Entire collection of Soapy Pops, including the brand new Mint Chip and 2 holiday styles.
• An exclusive area for wholesalers so shop owners can now place orders online anytime.
• A registration option so you can save your payment option and make future orders super quick.
• All eZines can be purchased right on my site instead of at a secondary site.
• Entire area dedicated to soapmakers where you can find Soapylove class schedule, links to Soapylove supplies, and sites where you can buy the book.
• Finally, a whole page dedicated to all the social media where Soapylove appears.

It's all designed to make it easier and more fun for you to find just what you need! And right now I have TWO great specials to celebrate!

1. Get free shipping on all Soapy Pops through November 6. Just enter SOAPYLAUNCH during checkout to get the discount!
2. The new Winter issue of Let's Get Soapy is on Early Bird special for only $12 through this Friday, too. Don't miss it!

I would love to hear what you all think. Please comment here and let me know! Otherwise, I'll see you there! :)

*The super fabulousness is completely due to my sister, Cheryl Jackson, who took the amazing new photos for the site and the super talented website design team at Aeolidia. I could not have asked for a better experience from design concept to site implementation.

Skulls Lurking Underground a la MirandaRanda!

I am always really excited to see soap makers use the tutorials that I post, and recently Miranda of Alt-Soap/Miranda Randa contacted me to make sure it was okay to sell the projects she made from the "Bubbles from the Crypt" tutorial on the Soap Queen blog. Of course it's okay - it's strongly encouraged!

When I went to check out her soaps, I was really impressed! She not only made the full skeleton like I did, but she also has this cool skull version (pictured above). I spotted the soapy eyeballs, too, but with added red veins - super creepy and awesome!

Thank you so much Miranda for contacting me, and thanks for doing such an amazing job with the projects!

I love hearing from all of you when you try out a project from my book, my blog, or the Soap Queen. Please keep me posted!

Soapylove Spotted on Martha Stewart - sort of :)

I just got a call from my friend, Alison, who DVR's the Martha Stewart Show. She said, "Debbie! I just saw your soaps on Martha Stewart!!" I was like, OH MY GOD (channeling my inner valley girl, in true Soapylove fashion)!

So it turns out that Robert Mahar of Mahar Drygoods was recently a guest on Martha, showing how to make awesome Sock Skeletons (episode is available to view online, where I got the above image).

Interestingly, Robert was my first ever wholesale customer. He found me on Etsy, and I had to come up with wholesale pricing FAST because I had never given it any thought before! He was a customer for a couple of years and has now sold out of most of my soaps. But luckily Martha got a screenshot of his site, with my soaps included, before that time! :)

If you'd like to read about his awesome experience as a guest on her show, click here. Either way, you should definitely know about his awesome store for your next truly special gift for the little person in your life!

Very Exciting! New Soap Frosting Recipe!

Honestly, I haven't been this excited about a soap tutorial since the texture sheets. I've always been attracted to soap cupcakes but didn't want to get all sorts of special ingredients I would only use for one project. So I decided to tackle soap frosting myself.

First I tried mixing melt and pour with coconut oil, loads of glycerin, and I don't even remember what else. What I got was a ball of soap so rubbery I could have bounced it on my kitchen floor. Soap rubber would be a really fun project but since I added so much oil it had no lather. Bummer.

So I started over and tried just glycerin soap base and liquid soap (which is also very handy for the Soap Slime project!). To my delight it was the perfect marriage! Not only is it a super fast and simple process (click here for the full tutorial on the Soap Queen), but it's very forgiving since you can remelt it if it's overwhipped or starting to harden before you're ready.

I really hope you'll give it a try and let me know what you think. This project just goes to show that the potential of melt and pour soap base is so vast and that there's still an endless supply of fun things that we can do with it! Let's keep pushing the soapy envelope! :)

Romantic Soaps Tutorial, a la The Soap Queen

Today I watched the latest video over at the Soap Queen, using rubber stamps to make cool debossed designs in glycerin soap. I love how she used 3 colors to create a lot of dimension and make the design really stand out! Check out that great video here. Here is a project using the same general technique, but with just one pour.

Click on photo to enlarge.

First, find some cool little nick nacks with a flat back. I had a field day shopping for mine over at Snap Crafty. Check out the plastic charms section for loads of tantalizing goodies!

Then, take a basic mold with a flat face. I used the new Soapylove scalloped molds in rectangle and heart shapes*. Use a dot of rubber cement or a glue stick to glue down your trinkets with the design side up (these types of glue either come off or wash off easily so your mold is unharmed). Try to get the edges well seated so soap won't seep under.

Now, simply melt some white or clear soap. Color and scent any way you like! I used the Soapylove Naturally Clear soap base and the pink and cream colorants from the Sweet Treats colorant set (find all supplies here).

Fill your mold, allow to harden, and unmold. If the trinket comes out of the mold into your soap, just pick it out carefully with a toothpick or other fine item. Smooth edges with your finger. Voila!

Make sure to check out the Soap Queen tomorrow, since I'll be guest blogging! A brand new project will be posted that I'm super excited about. If you like cupcakes or anything with frosting (hint hint), you're going to love it!

*I had a special tester mold that had one of each shape on it. This exact mold is not available, but each design is offered a la carte.

Winter "Let's Get Soapy" is Coming Together!

I am feverishly working on the new tutorials and articles for the Winter issue of Let's Get Soapy! I'm finding lots of inspiration from white Christmas trees and colorful ornaments this year. The focus is on holiday gift giving and using sparkle and shine in your designs!

This issue will launch on November 1, and you'll find these great projects and articles inside:

• Polka Dot Party Soaps (on cover)
• Shimmery Snowflake Bars
• Candy Cane Loaf Soaps
• Feature article about soap glitters
• Easy ways to expand your soap design into a gift basket
• and a product review of TKB's Pop Micas!

As usual I will be offering an early bird special for the first week, so make sure you are signed up for the Soapyclub to get an email notification when it's ready!

Happy soaping!

More New Soapylove Molds from Bramble Berry!

There are 2 new additions to the Soapylove supply line from Bramble Berry! You'll find the Stacked Star (shown above) and the Striped Heart. These are both very 80's inspired but still have the great versatility of the scalloped molds also available.

When I was working on these designs, I wanted to have molds that helped make multi-colored soaps easy. So the star has 3 sizes of stars, stacked up, so you can fill each layer separately. The Striped Heart has diagonal grooves that you can fill with different colors (perhaps a rainbow, may I suggest?).


In the above photo I made a batch of green soap colored with the Jewelry Box colorant kit, then put aside an ounce of soap which I added a heavy dose of the Sparkle Dust glitter to*. I used this as my top star layer. Once that layer cooled I topped off the mold with the plain green. This simple detail really makes the stars stand out and catch the light! I did something similar with the blue version but used Super Pearly Mica for my top stars instead.

If any of you have tried supplies from the Soapylove line, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to comment here or email me at: hello@soapylove.com. Thanks so much!

*Little fact about the glitter: the Sparkle Dust in the Jewelry Box set is a super fine grade that suspends very easily and has a beautiful sparkly shimmer that isn't chunky at all. It's a special type only offered in my kit. I know you'll love it!