Brambleberry Soap Swap

I participated in a soap swap with Brambleberry. There were 100 participants. 10 soaps were randomly chosen in Ann Marie's box. Mine was one of them!!!!!!! It's the Honey Bee Love Soap!

https://www.soapqueen.com/…/anne-maries-spring-soap-swap-…/…

http://www.soapqueen.com/

The Artisan Life is featuring me in their podcast this week!

Reeny's Butterflies, Blooms & Bees is featured on this week's podcast for The Artisan Life... I'm very excited! Click this link to check it out!

http://wp.me/p4LxzH-Pr 

 

 

How could it have Been A Year Since I updated my Blog

I have wanted to update my blog for over a year, but there never seems to be enough hours in a day.   So much has happened in a year it is hard to believe.  Let’s start from a personal perspective.  I am going to be a grandmother times 3 children.  Katie my daughter and Tyler have been married for over a year now and are expecting in May of this year.  They are having a little girl.  My son Sean and his fiancé Lyndsay are also expecting a girl in July and finally Kevin and Jenny are getting married April 2^nd and expecting a little boy in August.  I am truly blessed.  My son Drew graduated from Boston Conservatory in May and is working as a professional actor and following in his father’s footsteps.  Life is good!!

 

Sean & Lyndsay baby girl    

 

Katie & Tyler baby girl 

 

  

Kevin & Jenny baby Boy

My soaping business, Reeny’s Butterflies Blooms and Bees is doing well, growing and gives me great pleasure and I am striving to someday open my own small retail store.  Until then I will continue to grow my business and continue to share my joy of beekeeping and gardening.  I was interviewed yesterday by Amy Hager of the Artisan Life for a podcast that will air sometime in April.  We started following each other on Instagram recently when I liked a picture of her where she was body painted as a Queen Bee by another artisan.  It is an absolutely beautiful painting.  As a fellow beekeeper I fell in love with the art work! I am sure it was an amazing experience!  When Amy asked me to do the interview I was excited and thrilled, and a little nervous because I do not truly represent the artisan lifestyle.  I am still working for corporate America as a sales representative with deadlines, and sales expectations.  I love my job as it has given me financial stability, and many benefits that make me appreciate life.  But the Artisan life keeps calling me.  It really has most of my life.  When I was younger I was busy raising 4 wonderful children but always had some artistic or creative outlet.  Back then it was music.  My children are very creative and musical.  As I grew older and my children have grown, my responsibility for caring for them lessened and I found that I was constantly seeking to fulfill my creative nature, whether it was needlepoint, scrapbooking, knitting, gardening, beekeeping or soap making.  Doing this interview made me realize that I am truly an artisan, and even though I have responsibilities to my current job I am fulfilled by this creative nature that I possess.  I look forward to posting a link on my Facebook page for all to listen to.  

   

My yard continues to be in constant change.  The one thing that is slightly constant is that I do not have as much time to keep it as manicured as it used to be.  That is mostly because of the bees.  As you all know from my past blog posts it is extremely difficult to garden like I use to without the bees trying to eventually sting me.  It is very hot in Miami to garden, in a full bee suit.  Secondly, my old yard guys would not mow or upkeep the backyard.  As a result it became so out of control that it was impossible for me to tackle alone.  I have an acquaintance, Cindy David, who I have known for many years.  Our children went to early school together.  I learned a lot of what I know about Butterfly gardening from her.  Through the years our lives have crossed paths on numerous occasions.  She has owned her own landscaping business for many years and spends a great deal of her time giving lectures and doing landscapes for butterfly and pollinator gardens.  Our lives recently crossed paths again and she now is maintaining a few residential yards.  Her yard men happen to be beekeepers so they are not intimidated by my bees.  So I am thrilled!!  My yard is slowly starting to take shape again.  On Friday we are checking out the irrigation system and starting to plant a few pollinator plants.  I am so excited!  My yard use to give me such joy and I am thrilled for the possibilities again.  Yesterday when I was talking on the podcast interview it had been some time since I talked about butterfly gardening and I almost forget some of the plants and books that were the foundation to my garden.  I have been so busy over the last five years beekeeping and making soap that I haven’t spent enough time focusing on my garden.  Hopefully that is going to change.  The interview yesterday prompted me to write this update.  Coincidentally today Cindy called me and said she had some plants that she will be able to plant on Friday. 

This year was not a great year for my hives!  I lost several to wax worms.  I had 6 hives most of the year, had as many as 8 and then lost 4 after doing splits.  It is always difficult as a beekeeper to lose a hive.  I am hopeful that I will increase my hives back up to six again this year.  It will soon be Spring and with that my bee population will grow exponentially.  I will bet splitting my hives again will bring me 6 hives very soon.  

   

 

On a sad note it was not a great year for my animals.  We had to put Snickers down, our Dachshund of 13 years.  He had suffered with vertebrae and disc issues for years and finally was unable to walk or enjoy life.  I also lost all five of my chickens, who were not just chickens but my pets.  I wish I had blogged about them especially since they gave me such joy.  They all had names and were very spoiled “Girls”.  Every day they enjoyed fresh papaya from my yard and would coming running when I came home from work.  They occasionally would come in the house for treats.  Petunia would actually sit on my lap and loved sitting with us.  They were much more than just chickens to me.  I came home from work one day to find 3 chickens dead and two more had passed by the next day.  The necropsy was negative but I think they must have gotten into some poison or something.  It was very hard losing them.  I have almost gotten more chickens several times, but I’ve always been afraid a hawk or predator would get them.  Losing them again would be very difficult.  Also since I am fixing up the yard I’m not really sure if it’s a good idea to have chickens again, since they will probably destroy the landscaping very quickly.  I am very glad I got to experience raising backyard chickens.  Maybe someday I will have some again.  Who knows??

  

   

 

Well, that’s a brief synopsis of everything that has happened over the last year in my life.  I look forward to having grandchildren and pray that all are well and my children have easy and uneventful births.  I will continue to set goals to grow my business of beekeeping and soap making.  I will try to be faithful to my blog and continue to keep those that follow me updated on my adventures in my backyard and my artisan lifestyle.   

Dessert Soap Challenge

Well here I am blogging about making soap instead of my bees and chickens, who are doing great by the way.  One of these days I might actually blog about them but for now it is time for another soap challenge.  This month are soaps that look like desserts.  I love making soaps that look like food and desserts so I really enjoyed this challenge.  I kind of combined two birds with one stone on this challenge.  I was asked by Brambleberry to test their fragrances for 2015 SOAP Spring Fragrance Panelists. I used their fragrances for several of the soaps in this challenge. 

I actually sold out of one of the soaps that I made.  So I can’t include in the group picture.  It was actually my favorite fragrance.  Fragrance #1 smelled like Chocolate but with masculine undertones to me.  So I decided to use chocolate stout beer and make it look like a delicious chocolate soap, with chocolate bars and chocolate pieces on top.  

The next soap I created using the Brambleberry mystery fragrance was Fragrance #2 which to me smelled like the holidays.  It reminded me of the spices and baking around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So I made a Chai Tea dessert soap.  It smells yummy!  It discolored to a nice golden brown exactly like I thought it would.  

 

Next I created a Strawberry Chocolate Sundae Cupcake.  This was mystery fragrance #4.  This fragrance had me stumped.  It smelled so familiar but was difficult for me to place the fragrance.  It did smell like chocolate to me.  I even thought it smelled like a tootsie pop.  So I decided to do something with chocolate and came up with this Strawberry Chocolate Sundae.  

Last I created two different Cupcake Fizzies.  Technically these are kind of soaps the bottom is actually a bath fizzy. One is Oatmeal Milk and Honey and the other is Black Raspberry Vanilla.  I filled each nut cup with the fizzy and then piped whipped soap on top.  I made the Oatmeal Milk and Honey to look like it was dripping in honey with Oatmeal sprinkles, and the Raspberry to look like a Black Raspberry Cupcake.  

 

These are my entries for the Soap Challenge.  I hope you think they look good enough to eat.  I have to admit that sometimes I really need to remind myself that I am creating soap and not really a dessert.  I really enjoyed this challenge.  I hope you like my creations.   

In the Pot Swirl Challenge

Although my blog is supposed to be about my garden and bees, somehow my garden and bees have led me to my soaping. Thank you my bees for your honey and beeswax. Without them I would never have discovered how to make lip balms, mead etc., which then led me to soap making. I have been so extremely busy between work and soap making that I have had very little time to update my blog post. I have been saying for months that I need to write about my bees, which are doing great. I will have been beekeeping for 3 years this October. Hard to believe! The bees are doing great and I am up to 7 very strong hives. I am starting to realize that their greatest by-product is their beeswax which I use in many of my products. I also want to write a blog about my chickens which I recently added to my family in February. They are all laying now and are a great addition to my backyard homestead. Someday if life slows down a little bit I may be able to actually write a post about the chickens and my bees. But for now I need to be writing about my second soap challenge, with Amy Warden’s Great Cake Soap Works.

This is my second soap challenge that I am entering. This month it was all about the “In the Pot Swirl”. I made two different soaps for this challenge, a Black Raspberry Vanilla and Lovely Lilac. I have wanted to make these two soaps for awhile, and this challenge got my creative juices flowing so fast that I created both of these soaps for this challenge.

Lilacs are my favorite flower. Well I actually have many favorite flowers!! I am originally from the Northeast and loved spring up north when all the tulips and flowers were in bloom. My children have somehow ended up back up north while I remain in Florida. I love the winters here, but I miss many of the traditions that the Northeast brings with each season. Lilacs are one of them. So I decided that I needed to create a soap to reflect my love of Lilacs. As I am writing this blog I have the soap across from me on the kitchen counter and I can smell the beautiful floral aroma of the lilac soap. It makes me melancholy for the Northeast, my children, and the spring. I have a friend that I also created this soap for; we have talked about my making this Lilac soap for awhile. I can’t wait to give her a bar of this “Lovely Lilac” soap.

So how did I go about creating this soap? Amy suggested using a fragrance oil that would behave well. I knew for a fact that Lilac fragrance oil, since it is a floral, would accelerate trace. So to combat the effects of acceleration I decided to use my Goat’s Milk recipe, which behaves very well. I soaped at very cool temperatures. I made sure all my micas were mixed and the last thing I would add would be the fragrance oil, right before I did the “in the pot swirl”. I wanted this soap to remind me of a Lilac flower, so I chose dark purple mica, lighter purple mica, and I also combined two green micas to create my green for the leaves. I wanted to make sure that I decorated the top to look like a lilac flower. I enjoy piping and wanted the flowers to look realistic, so I tried to create the stem and leaves by using green piping to connect the flowers. I didn’t add any fragrance oil to the piping as I knew I would not be able to work with the batter. I did get a little bit of ricing, but not enough to effect the technique of the “in the pot swirl”. I didn’t take a lot of pictures while I was soaping because I really wasn’t able to, as I was trying to prevent acceleration. I was so focused on what I was doing that I totally forgot to take the pictures. I realize now that it might have been important for me to take a few more pictures. I enjoy these challenges as they push me to try techniques that I normally do not use. I haven’t done a lot of soaps with the “in the pot swirl.” I think that the swirls are always kind of muted. I tend to prefer a drop swirl, but this gave me some more experience practicing my technique with the “in the pot swirl.” I am not sure how my swirls look, but I definitely love my Lilac soap. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I absolutely love the creative process of making soap. Despite how busy I am with my real job right now, making soap and being creative somehow calms me, and I need it in my life!







My Black Raspberry Vanilla Soap I created the same way but this time I knew the fragrance oil would behave well. I used my normal soaping recipe, as I wasn’t as concerned about acceleration with this fragrance oil. For the creative process for this soap I wanted it to look like a realistic raspberry dessert. I created the raspberry embeds several days before and tried to make the berries look as realistic as possible. I chose micas that reminded me of colors associated with black raspberry; dark purple mica called Tempest, a purple/pink color, Squirt, Bazooka jo, a lighter pink color, and Purple Haze, a medium purple color. All these mica colors are by Mad Oils. I love their micas and have been using them in my soap as of recently. Mad Oils are located here in Florida, so when I order from them the turnaround time is quick. Plus I love their colors. I think my soap turned out really good. Again I loved the creative process of making the soap. I added some M&P to the top of the soap. It penetrated down a little bit into the soap, but I wanted the purple/raspberry layer. I am not sure how my actual “in the pot swirl” technique turned out, but I am very pleased with this soap. I love the Black Raspberry Vanilla fragrance oil.





I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge! I love the two soaps I created, but of course I’m biased. Entering these challenges isn’t so much about winning, but about the creative process, and continuing to stretch my techniques by learning something new, and make me a better soaper.