Soapy Valentines for Kids

Hearts, Roses & Shells

I started looking at prices on valentines and realized very quickly that I would do better to make soap.  I also wanted to go with something besides over processed candy.   I picked up some heart candy molds at Hobby Lobby to go along with the rose candy molds that I already had from making lotion bars.  I also planned to make some larger hearts for the teachers.

My two colors 2nd time around

I started with working up my recipe on SoapCalc.com.  This is my usual program for working up recipes and I have been really happy with the results.

I started by measuring out my water and lye and mixing them together.  I set this aside while I measures my oils.  This was my first batch made in my new space and let me just say that the cold makes a huge difference in how your mind works.  I finally got all of the oils measured out and blended up.  The oils were so cold that it looked like I was making a smoothy not soap.  I added the lye water to my congealed oils.  Now it really looked like a smoothy.  I almost didn't have to use the stick blender at all to achieve trace.

Molds all filled and you can see the
effects of putting them in the oven
on the one in the front corner

I separated it into 2 equal parts one to color white the other pink.  I added my colorant then realized that I had forgotten to add my fragrance oil.  I scraped all of the white back into the main bowl.  I mixed the fragrance oil in by hand - Blackberry & Southern Peach from Brambleberry.  Then I separated it back into 2 and tried to color the second part with a little more madder oil.  I poured the lighter color back in for an in the pot swirl.

Once I got it all together, I started to spoon the soap into the molds.  I started by filling the heart molds.  Next I moved to the Roses, the shells and the large heart mold.  After put all of the molds I had used all of the soap, I had to carry all of the molds into the house.  The cold will drastically slow down saponification.  I tried to put all of the molds in the oven at 170*.  I quickly discovered that candy molds DON'T like the heat.  My oven didn't even finish pre-heating before the connecting part of the molds started to shrivel.  Fortunately, the soap was still cold enough that none of the cavities warped.  I immediately pulled out the candy molds.

I forgot to take my camera out so I could take pictures.  I have to make another batch though so I will use the pictures from that one.

My clean up set up since I don't have
running water in my new space

The second batch went much more smoothly.  For one thing I put my fragrance oils into the oils before adding the lye.  For another I took my batch to a thicker trace and used a piping bag with just the very tip cut off to fill my molds.  In order to achieve any swirl with this method I layered the colors in my bag while filling.  As I filled my molds I got a light to medium swirl.  I actually think that I may use this for filling small molds more often.

As always you have to remember the cleanup aspect of soap.  I do let my soapy dishes sit for a day or two just so that all of the remnants of soap finish saponification.  This makes them much easier to clean and means that I don't need the quantity of detergent that I would need to clean them right away.  However I do wash all of my lye water dishes right away.  Since my new space has no running water I have come up with this solution.  I bring hot water from the house and this way I can wash my dishes without freezing my fingers off or having to worry about any germs,  It is actually a very nice solution and I like to think that I am also using a little bit less water as well.

Coming Monday - Printable and packaging for soapy valentines

I am linking with the following blogs:

http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com                                http://www.bystephanielynn.com
http://blackfoxhomestead.com/                                          http://www.iamannekehn.blogspot.com
http://www.hopeineveryseason.com                                  http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com
http://littlehomesteadonthehill.blogspot.com/                      http://www.sewcando.com/
http://www.campwander.com/                                          http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/
http://coloradolady.blogspot.com                                      www.aboverubies.net
http://abidingwoman.com/                                               http://www.besimplybetter.com/
http://www.deeprootsathome.com/                                   http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/
http://raisinghomemakers.com                                          http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/
http://www.52mantels.com/                                             http://www.the36thavenue.com/
http://www.create-with-joy.com                                       http://teachingwhatisgood.com/
http://www.the36thavenue.com/                                       http://seevanessacraft.com/
http://katherinescorner.com/                                           http://cupcake-n-bake.blogspot.com             http://alifeinbalance.net                                                    http://www.hopestudios.blogspot.com
http://thediydreamer.com                                                 http://www.the-chicken-chick.com
http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com                       http://www.flusterbuster.com
http://www.time-warp-wife.blogspot.com                        http://www.adelightsomelife.com/
http://www.growinghomeblog.com                                 http://nourishingjoy.com
http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/              http://trayerwilderness.com/

http://timeforseason.blogspot.com

Soap Class

Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl

This last Saturday I had the pleasure of showing a group of girls and ladies how to make soap.  We have a group of girls that are learning all sorts of life skills.  They are learning to cook, sew on buttons, repair hems, crochet and other things that could help them be more self sufficient adults.

I started by giving them a base of terminology.  This way I didn't have quite as much to go over while we were in the middle of making a batch of soap.  I explained the basic terms and how to get started when making a batch of soap.

I had pre-measured all of the oils so that we wouldn't have to slow down for that.   We started by mixing our lye water and mixing our oils together.  We added the pumpkin to the oils as well as adding a little bit of cinnamon.  I started mixing the lye with the oil mixture showing them how it looked at each step and having them take a step back from the table in between.  After I got to a light trace, I added some fragrance oil.

Our Cupcakes - everyone got to take one home

After we got everything to a medium trace, I started filling cupcake papers with the soap.  We then put all of them in the oven at 170* for about 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, I put all of the cupcakes in the freezer.

After I got enough cupcakes for everybody that came, I wanted to show the girls how to do a swirl.  I reserved about a cup and a half of soap and added enough cinnamon to change the color.  I poured the pumpkin soap into a lined mold then I poured the soap that was colored with cinnamon into the mold on top of the other soap from about a foot and a half height.  Next I used a skewer to swirl the soap in the mold in a figure eight pattern.

 I really wanted the girls to have some soap to take home with them.  The oven made sure that the soap had completed saponification and the freezer helped to firm the soap back up.  I am a firm believer in the hands on approach.  I also think that trying something new is a very important thing for kids to do.


I am linking with the following blogs:
http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com
http://jillshomeremedies.blogspot.com
http://www.create-with-joy.com
http://teachingwhatisgood.com/
http://cupcake-n-bake.blogspot.com
http://alifeinbalance.net
http://thediydreamer.com
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com
http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com
http://www.flusterbuster.com
http://www.time-warp-wife.blogspot.com
http://www.bystephanielynn.com
http://blackfoxhomestead.com/
http://www.iamannekehn.blogspot.com

http://obsessiveandcreative.blogspot.com

Starting the Garden

Holes for tomatoes

 So we finally started planting the garden.  It has been unseasonably cool recently, so we hesitated to plant anything.  This is going to be our seed garden.  I will be hand pollinating at least some of the blooms so that we will have seeds that aren't cross pollinated.  We have over twelve varieties of tomato that are open pollinated or heirlooms.

I have also planted about a dozen corn seed.  It is very difficult to find heirloom sweet corn so we want to make sure that we have seed for next year.  I also planted scalloped squash, acorn squash, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and bell peppers.

Added Agricultural lime

Added Epsom Salts

Tomatoes are very sensitive to nutrient availability.  They need very particular nutrients in fairly large amounts.  After the holes are dug deeply enough to bury the roots up to the first set of leaves, I put about a cup of agricultural lime and a about 1/4 cup of Epsom salts in the hole.  I then mix the  lime and Epsom salts into the dirt a little bit.  This keeps there from being and pockets of agricultural lime that are unusable by the plant.  Then I put the plant in and refill the hole all the way up to the first set of leaves.

Mixed Epsom salts and lime with dirt and adding plants

The next step involves a lot of newspaper from my grandmother.  I wet the newspaper and spread it out on the garden around the plants.  Then I am putting leaves on top of the paper to keep the paper from blowing off of the garden.

I am also using old blind slats to label all of the tomatoes.  I cut pieces and hang them from the tomato cages.

S poking the squash seeds into the ground

All of my children helped in planting the garden. They almost fought over who got to push the seeds into the ground.  S was really cute as you can see.  He had a lot of fun helping to plant the squash seeds.

More garden updates coming up.

Thank you for all the kind support.

Caving Adventures

the entrance

We will start with some background.  My children have been doing school this year through Tennessee Virtual Academy.  TNVA is an online public school.  So last week we took a trip to Cumberland Caverns as a field trip for my kids.  They had never been to a cave before so it was an adventure.  This was our only field trip with TNVA.

Saltpeter room with donated still (non-operational)

S looking at the water

We met at 9:30 on the 17th of May.  When we arrived it was cloudy, but not raining.  We had some time before our tour started for the kids to play and introduce themselves to the other kids.  Of course, it started raining before we headed to the cave.  Fortunately it had tapered off a lot before we started out.  It was a 10 minute walk from the gift shop to the cave entrance.

the pool under "Moby Dick"

After we were all gathered inside our guide began to tell us some of the history of the cave system.  We started off in the saltpeter room.  This part of the cave, the Henshaw system, was initially relatively small and was used during the War of 1812 and the Civil War to mine saltpeter for making gunpowder.  We were told that 1 ton of earth produced approximately 2 pounds of saltpeter which would make enough gunpowder to fire a cannon twice.  The next room contains the water source for this cave.  It is formed by a constant waterfall that forms into two clear, pure pools of water.  The biggest formation in this room is the "Moby Dick" between the two pools.  It doesn't look like it, but our guide said that the deepest point in the pool in the picture is eight feet.  It didn't look like it would be more than about three feet.

Oasis room - small pool at the arrow
holds about a gallon & a half

From here we went through the "Meat-grinder" passage.  It is called this because the man that found and first traversed the passage between the two cave systems looked like he had been through a meat grinder when he came out the other end.  Now, however, the passage is wider and quite smooth.  This passage connects the Henshaw system to the Higgenbotham system.  The Higgenbotham section is much larger.  It is also much drier.  The only natural water in this section is in the Oasis Room.  Many of the natural formations in this room are broken, presumably by cavers racing for the water in a small pool in the corner of the room (marked by the arrow in the picture to the right).  This pool only holds a little over a gallon and takes about two days to refill when emptied.

Graffiti from first "field trip" in 1903 

The next room is called the Bone room, due to the number of broken formations found here.  There is also some graffiti to be found here, including this rock on which is documented one of the first "field trips" into the cave.  Our guide informed us that this particular group stayed in the cave exploring for three days.  Even after 110 years the names were remarkably clear.

The three chessmen in the room "Hall of the Mountain King"

From the Bone room we next went to the "Hall of the Mountain King".  There are stone stairs cut now that make the trek up the 100 feet in elevation across the length of the room easier.  There are several formations in this room including the three chess men.  From here we traveled down a stairway and through a narrow passage to the Ten Acre room.  In this room their overnight tours camp.  There is also a large assortment of graffiti in this room including the oldest known signature.

The chandelier in the volcano room

From this room we traveled trough a wide passageway to the volcano room with it's chandelier to eat the lunches we brought with us.  The chandelier is over 100 years old and was salvaged from a hotel in New York City.  This room is also where they do underground bluegrass concerts.  The acoustics in this room are amazing.

R and boys walking down a passage

After lunch we all went back up to the gift shop where each of the kids were given a bag of sand with semi-precious stones mixed in.  Then we all went out beside the gift shop to the sluices that line the sidewalk.  Most of the kids just picked out the big stones and left anything small.  B and I, however, had a lot of fun going thru the sand in the bottom of the sluice and picking out the little stones.  We found lots of little bitty stones that are really neat.  Of course, I love little bitty things so I was too busy looking for "treasures" to take any pictures of this part.  But my daughter and I did have a lot of fun finding the little ones that others had discarded.

S's bag of treasures

As I said I love little things

A Dress Makeover

My daughter in her new dress

A piece of the original dress

Now this post is not about fashion.  It is about using things that are available.  I have been given some of my grandmothers dresses that are too large for me.  I had a thought that I might be able to cut them down and make dresses for my daughter.  I started with the pattern that she chose, then I matched it with the dress that I would be able to cut it from.

The pattern piece pinned to the dress section

The pattern that she chose was of course a princess cut.  There was only one dress that would work for this pattern.  Of course, I had taken the dress apart before I thought about  taking pictures.

It took me two sessions to get everything all cut out.  I cut out a size 10 knowing it would be a little big right now, but it probably won't be for long.  The work of a mother is truly never finished.  As I was cutting the front panel out I realized that I couldn't cut the pattern out as it was designed.  Because my grandmother's dress had a V neck with a dickey, I had to cut this dress out with a V neck.  Fortunately, my grandmother's collar and dickey were still usable   So I can just cut the collar down a little because it is too wide for a little girl's dress.  The collar and dickey were very nicely made with decorative stitching along the edge.

Cut to pattern piece

Back of the dress

I started by sewing the sides to the middle sections.  Then I sewed the middle seam up the back, using a wide basting stitch through the section where I will install the zipper.  After that I pinned and sewed the zipper down.  After the zipper was sewn I had to pick out the stitches that I had used to keep the zipper centered.  Then I sewed the collar pieces onto the appropriate front section with the facing.  After I got the collar pieces sewn down to the main piece, I sewed the two front sections together making sure that I matched the edges at the collar.  After I sewed the pieces together I sewed in the dickey.

Front of the dress

At this point the front and back are still separate.  I laid the back section down on a piece if scrap material and cut facing for the back.  After sewing in the facing on the back, I pinned and sewed the shoulder seams. I still had the sleeves to put in.  However, I was able to leave them hemmed from the original dress, so I didn't have to put hems on them.  After the shoulder seams were finished, I pinned, eased  and sewed the sleeves into the dress.

Now all I had left was the side seams and the hem.  I did add a small tie to the sides of the dress, because I knew it would be loose through the waist.   After I finished the side seams, I had my daughter try on the dress.  I wanted to make sure that the hem was the right length.  I pinned the hem and started sewing.  As I was finishing up the hem I was trying to figure out what I could do to make the dress a little more fun.  I thought of all of the white 1/4 inch satin ribbon I have and thought that it would do the job.  So I added one row to the sleeves and three rows at the hem.

I think that this dress turned out very nicely and am looking forward to the next one.  Oh, and my daughter really likes it also, always a plus.  ;)

New Flock Mates

Current home

So we have new chicks!  We have 7 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Bantys.  We has 3 banty but one of them didn't make it.  We have been keeping them inside except for short forays outside on warm days.  We actually need to get a tall box for them because they are starting to sprout some wing feathers and are trying to fly.



Sean and my youngest sister with chicks

Peter and the chicks

Sean, my youngest, is not so sure about getting close to the little creatures that move so fast.  And yes they do move very quickly.   My older two, Peter and BethAnn, however, are not so hesitant.  They both think the chicks are pretty cool.  Almost all of the grandkids are enthralled by the chicks.

They are starting to get their adult feathers.  Until they get all of them, they have to stay indoors at night.  We have already added a little perch to thier little enclosure.  It is only about an inch off of the floor, but it will get them used to perching somewhere.  I am hopeful that this will help keep them from trying to roost in the nest boxes when we eventually move them in with the rest of the flock.

I am including some gratuitous chick pictures, because they are just too stinkin' cute.  As you can see these little guys have absolutely no fear, and they are thrilled when they are invited to "help" in the garden while my mom weeds.  As you can see they are also getting their real feathers.

They literally walk all over her.  ;)

Enjoying the weeding, they love all of the little critters
that are unearthed in the process.