Christmas 2016

[powderpink]

I got at least 4 scents for soap bars.

woodland elves
sleigh ride
butter mint
Yuzu.


I really like woodland elves and sleighride.
Butter mint smells good...but I'm not sure about this type of scent in soap.
And Yuzu was downright disappointing to me OOB, so I hope I'll end up being pleasantly surprised once I start soaping with it this week.

 

[dixiedragon]

GAH! I'm behind! Gotta make Christmas soap this week!

I'd like to propose we add a banner around the middle of November that says "It is too late to make CP or HP for Christmas. Try MP or lip balm!"

 

[lenarenee]

For all you hobbyists who make a lot of Christmas soaps - how fancy do you get? Do you make your best elaborate swirls to gift? Or, if faced with making 300 bars...do you simplify? (i.e. am I lazy because I want to stick with drop swirls and single color soaps?)

 

[powderpink]

For all you hobbyists who make a lot of Christmas soaps - how fancy do you get? Do you make your best elaborate swirls to gift? Or, if faced with making 300 bars...do you simplify? (i.e. am I lazy because I want to stick with drop swirls and single color soaps?)

the most I've done is 60-ish bars (6 scents times 10 or 9 bars, depending on the mold).
all scents from brambleberry except the last,

kumquat - was a peacock swirl or at least similar complexity, 5? colours
moroccan mint - inspired by handmade in florida
some pine scent - spin swirl of 5 colours with little mica'd ball embeds on top
lavender chamomille huggies - peacock swirl with 5? colours
Vanilla Forrest - a thin layer of light blue, topped with white
Frosted tree- a swirl but in the end plop attempt of 2 colours and gold mica on top

so I did 2 complex ones and kept the rest fairly simple.

This year I will most likely keep them more simple, some drop/few colour hanger swirls and some variants on the Vanilla Forrest design ( because the prettier I make them the more I want to keep them all to myself )

I just opened the box with leftover bars and it smells so GOOD!

 

[dixiedragon]

For all you hobbyists who make a lot of Christmas soaps - how fancy do you get? Do you make your best elaborate swirls to gift? Or, if faced with making 300 bars...do you simplify? (i.e. am I lazy because I want to stick with drop swirls and single color soaps?)

I have a mix. I give out goodie bags with 7-8 bars of soap as a way to purge my stash. So I like to have at least 1 "showcase" bar - a soap that's really lovely. I have several "good bars" and several "ugly" bars. I like to have the ugly bars b/c my theory as those will get used first b/c they're not as pretty to look at...then people will love the soap and use the other bars!

 

[earlene]

I have a mix. I give out goodie bags with 7-8 bars of soap as a way to purge my stash. So I like to have at least 1 "showcase" bar - a soap that's really lovely. I have several "good bars" and several "ugly" bars. I like to have the ugly bars b/c my theory as those will get used first b/c they're not as pretty to look at...then people will love the soap and use the other bars!

For me this makes the most sense. I have so much soap already, I don't really need to make more just for Christmas.

I also do not go for Christmas fragrances. By the time the soap is used Christmas is already over, so why bother with those fragrances?

I did use some peppermint FO in a soap I made a couple of months ago and it does smell like candy canes. But I left the soap for my granddaughter to use, because I do not like the scent myself. Plus it's in MP soap, which melts away much faster than my lye soaps so my guess is it'll all be gone before the New Year anyway.

I think Christmas fragrances are more appropriate in candle or wax tarts and such, as they lend themselves well to a seasonal theme and enhance the household decor. But then, as gifts, I still think they are more appropriately given and opened a couple of weeks before the holiday in question. But that's just me.

I've just never been one to go overboard with the seasonal and holiday decor, not since I had lots of small siblings and small children of my own. So maybe I'm just a big old lady Scrooge! (I'm a bit out of place in the midwestern United States, where decorating for the seasons seems to be the norm. I didn't see a lot of it where I grew up in California.) Maybe if I had guests for the holidays it would be different, but we don't even do that anymore.

 

[dixiedragon]

I disagree with Earlene regarding the scents, b/c to me Christmas scents are also winter scents. I don't feel like somebody is going to not want their peppermint soap just b/c Christmas is over. I'm a huge candle lover (the Yankee people at my local mall know me by name) and I do have Christmas type candles that I burn, but all winter long. I save them to make sure I have enough cinnamon and Basalm and Fir (my fav Yankee pine scent) to burn at Christmas events and on Christmas day - and then all through January and February I use them up.

 

[powderpink]

That's how I feel too. I dont really think a "christmas soap" should be limited to just christmas. You could still use it afterward and maybe the scent will remind you of a nice day you had during the holiday season etc.

The way I try to do it, when making bars from scratch is to pick
- one scent that seriously screams CHRISTMAS!!! (like a christmas tree inspired scent),

- and then 1 or 2 typical winter scents ( to me that's sprucy type scents, juniper, mint. And then for a more cozy vibe cloves, cinnamon, orange peel).

- and finally some more spring type scents. Or at least something bright and happy... so if you start to feel gloomy during the winter season you can grab one of these bars and pretend it's spring/summer again

I'm currently debating which christmas soap to start soaping first...
it's currently a tie between Yuzu and Butter Mint. They're starting to grow on me

Aside from that, not soap related, I'm getting some simple, little wooden dolls ( basically a cone with a head on it) to paint my own little christmas angels...
And I'll be getting some wool felt fabric to make christmas ornaments (for a tree that will never fit in this livingroom )

It's going to be so cute!

 

[dixiedragon]

@ Powder -
We LOVE ornaments in my family. My mom is a December baby and unlike many December babies, she LOVES Christmas and getting Christmas ornaments for her birthday. So we have have something like 10 Large tubs of ornaments. We have a 3 year ornament rotation. We got some wreaths and we have "themed" wreaths and put some of the most beautiful ornaments on the wreaths. We have a wreath that is all angels, etc. it's a good way to use up more ornaments!

 

[Relle]

10 weeks to go.

 

[penelopejane]

10 weeks to go.

Nooooooooo!

Why is it that the closer Christmas gets the faster the time goes?

 

[mx5inpenn]

I am only doing one true Christmas scent, NG Mistletoe and Ivy. I watched a you tube video that used a hanger tool to make a Christmas tree soap and really want to try that, so figured it should be a fairly wintery scent at least. I did a blend of Cinders and Satsuma Orange, both from NS. Also on the to do list are NG Dragon Blood, Sweet Grass and NS Supernova. I am trying to keep to more unisex scents this year so I don't have to make as many batches. I have always done a mix of baked goods, fudge and one meal (last year it was canned homemade turkey noodle soup and a loaf of bread) for my family (which is quite large, 13 households). I do something for all the kids in a house together, a sundae gift set with homemade fudge and caramel sauce, for example. Last year I added a few bars of soap to each basket and everyone wanted more. So this year I am doing 5 or 6, time provided, in each basket.

 

[Relle]

9 weeks now.

 

[Relle]

We are now at 54 days to go .

 

[Saponista]

Don't tell me that! Panic is setting in! I have so much soap to wrap it's unreal. Every night I have to sit in front of the tv wrapping!

 

[powderpink]

sooo it's already November and... I STILL HAVE THREE SOAPS TO GO ARGH how did I let this happen?
I was supposed to be done by now!


Next year............. Next year I will succeed with proper planning and sticking to it!

 

[dixiedragon]

I KNOW! I still want to make a batch of Fruit Loop scented (for kids) and a batch of Snow Witch. And then the LOTION OMG SO MUCH LOTION!

BUT I bought myself some sealing bags, a heat gun and a sealer so that should speed up wrapping!

I actually wrap a lot of my lip balms at work.

 

[debra062013]

How in the world do you make fruit loop soap?

I KNOW! I still want to make a batch of Fruit Loop scented (for kids) and a batch of Snow Witch. And then the LOTION OMG SO MUCH LOTION!

BUT I bought myself some sealing bags, a heat gun and a sealer so that should speed up wrapping!

I actually wrap a lot of my lip balms at work.

 

[dixiedragon]

I have an FO that is Fruit Loop scented. I haven't soaped it yet. OOB it smells JUST like a freshly-opened box. Fruity and tangy with a toasty cereal note. The site doesn't say the vanillin content, but WSP's has vanillin so I'm assuming this one does too.

 

[Relle]

Down to 6 weeks.