Sea Salt Soap, Quilting and Pizza!

SEA SALT SOAP ~

Last month I played hooky and made up a batch of Raspberry Lemonade Sea Salt Soap. I used coarse Dead Sea Salts and fine Pacific Sea Salt in this batch ~ along with colloidal oatmeal. The oils used were Sunflower, Castor, Jojoba, Palm & Coconut. Butters used were Shea, Cocoa and Mango. Then I swirled with ultramarine pink.

Well ~ it’s ready to be used and I put it up on my Etsy shop ~ RASPBERRY LEMONDADE SEA SALT SOAP.

SPLIT RAIL FENCE QUILT ~

Continued working on the Spilt Rail Fence quilt…it’s definitely alotta pink. LOL! Not something I would make for myself…not even sure why I had that material in my stash! Hmmm…wonder if I have fabric gremlins? Trading out my Civil War repos with hot pink?! I get up at 4:30 am now, so I don’t have a lot of time to stay up like I used to. For some odd reason I’m pooped out by 9:30 pm. LOL! It’s going to take a while to finish these quilts, me thinks! Here is what I did last night ~ four 12.5″ blocks then sewn together. I’m using 6 different 2.5″ fabric strips for this quilt.

PIZZA! ~

Ok…even though I’ve lost a lot of weight (63 pounds and more to go!)…I love pizza. And I’m able to indulge myself at BLACK ROCK PIZZA in Sparks, NV. It is THE BEST pizza I’ve ever had. Very original pizzas, and great customer service. Thanks Stephanie and Juan Carlos!

Black Rock is owned by Linda & Dave Winchester and they’re there every day (at least every day we are there…and we go at least once a week). ALL PIZZAS (30+) are thin crust with either Multi Grain or Sweet Italian…I love the multi grain crust. There are many sauces ~ Pesto, Olive Oil/Garlic, BBQ, Spicy Sicilian, Thai, Hot Wing, Ricotta White.

My favorites are the veggie Planet X (Ricotta White Sauce, Fresh Garlic, Spinch, Roma Tomatoes, Asiago Cheese) ~ Wild Wings (Buffalo Sauce, Buffalo Chicken, Celery, Jalapenos, Gorgonzola Cheese) ~ Sage Brush (Olive/Garlic Sauce, Turkey Sausage, Sage, Lemon Juice, Fresh Garlic, Romano cheese) ~ Stone Boy (Pesto Sauce, Basque Chorizo, Roasted Red Peppers, Sun dried tomatoes, red onions, gorgonzola cheese) ~ Carlin Trend (Pesto Sauce, Sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, asiago cheese and sliced almonds) ~ Razorback (BBQ’d smoked pulled pork shoulder and green onions) and the Poker Brown (Thai peanut sauce, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, smoked red onion, green onions, celery, red bell pepper topped with habanero jack cheese and oriental noodles!). I also love the Pale Face (Olive/Garlic sauce, fresh chopped garlic, pine nuts with gorgonzola and provolone cheese)…but I had gallstones and this one made my stones go crazy. Luckily that sucker was pulled last October so now I can eat it again. I’d stay away from this one if you do have gallstones! LOL!

The sandwiches are to die for too! Great salads ~ and I’m in love with the Gorgonzola Dressing. They should market that stuff! Starters are tasty ~ Rattlesteaks (Thin strips of Sirloin Steak, marinated in Buttermilk, Seasoned, cooked crisp, drizzled with Chipotle Sauce) ~ Sawtooth Knobs (Mushrooms filled with ham, fresh garlic, cream cheese, jalapeños, onions; all distinctively flavored in BRP’s smoker) ~ Tumbleweeds (Artichokes tumbled through seasoned breading, served with marinara, ranch, gorgonzola or balsamic vinaigrette).

Made you hungry yet? If you live here in Reno or Sparks ~ there is no excuse why you haven’t given them a try yet. You’ll be hooked on the first visit. If you’re coming into town ~ they are at 2855 N. McCarran Blvd, Sparks, NV 89431.

I Played Hooky Yesterday!

Didn’t even tell my husband…got up at the regular 4:30 am, got dressed…but then said I was going to eat breakfast at home instead of at work.  Then he left for work and I got back into my sweats and dug out my butters and oils to make a batch of soap!  Hee!    He had no clue…I hate when he knows I have a day off as I always end up running HIS errands and never get anything done that I took the day off for in the first place.

So!  I made cold processed Raspberry Lemonade Salt bars and I had an order for Oatmeal Milk and Honey solid lotions and two regular lotions ~ finished all by 8:30 am. 

Here is the Raspberry Lemonade salt soap bars (the box that my friend Sue mailed books in made an EXCELLENT soap mold!) before cutting them.  These have to be cut sooner than my regular soap as coconut oil and salt make for a harder bar.  I used coarse Dead Sea Salts and fine Pacific Sea Salt in this batch ~ along with colloidal oatmeal.  The oils used were Sunflower, Castor, Jojoba, Palm & Coconut.  Butters used were Shea, Cocoa and Mango.  Then I swirled with ultramarine pink.  Berry Berry Pretty if I say so myself!  Smells great too.   This will be ready in about 3 weeks…they cure faster then the regular soap.

Raspberry Lemonade Sea Salt Soap Bar

I made my first salt bar last year and used Pineapple fragrance oil…came out pretty good. Just couldn’t sell any of it ~ which is ok as I make all my soaps as if I’m the only one going to use it. That way if it doesn’t sell, I’m happy as can be using it. I love the salt bar in the shower…makes my skin nice and soft. Doing wonders on my face too…those “monthly” pimples are gone gone gone! I hate being 41 with pimples! Patooey!

After 1/2 hour on the elliptical I headed to the Sparks Library to check some silvermithing books that Sue of PERPETUALPLUM recommended for me to read…found those, plus another that looked really interesting.

Speaking of Sue…she sent me four books in trade for some of my soaps, lip balms and room sprays. Received those in Monday’s mail. I really like the metal crafts book…will probably pass on the Tinwork books.

Anyone still do puzzles?! They are so freakin’ addicting ~ like eating a whole bowl of popcorn. Started one Monday night and worked on it yesterday too. This one is a Charles Wysocki puzzle ~ Hellraisers on Halloween Night…my favorite time of the year! It was a .50 cent puzzle from Thrift Depot in Sparks.

Spent the rest of the afternoon out front in the lounge chair soaking up the sun reading JEWELLERY AND SILVERSMITHING TECHNIQUES by Carles Codina.

Sleepy Cat Hollow cold process soap

For many years now I’ve been making cold processed soaps…

Started out making melt and pour soaps, but soon lost interest in making them that way.  Invested some money into buying oils, butters and lye…a good soap making book…lots of time on the Internet and soap making groups.  Then picked out a recipe and started experimenting with making old-fashioned soap.

I was hooked!  Especially when my first batch turned out so well!  Since then I’ve branched into lotions, room & linen sprays, solid lotions, lip balms, soy candles, bath melts & salts.  I sell on my website, etsy, and at work.

I make small batches at a time ~ I have a two and four pound wooden mold that I made.  Sometimes in a pinch I use a box lined with parchment paper.   Love using essential oils and quality fragrance oils…which I get from Brambleberry in Washington, Bitter Creek South in Texas and Cierra Candles in Reno, Nevada.

I love using Shea(refined & unrefined) , Cocoa (refined & unrefined), Coffee, Mango & Avocado Butters the most…oils range on what I have on hand, but usually always keep avocado, palm, coconut, olive, jojoba, wheat germ, sweet almond and Castor in the pantry. Also love colloidal oatmeal, beeswax, clays, sea salt, spices (clove, ginger & cinnamon), coffee, goat’s milk, orange & lemon zest and pumice. I like using lavender from the lavender farm on West 4th Street in Reno…ground sage and mint from my garden.

Some of my soaps ~

Linen & Room Sprays ~ Lip Balms ~ Candles ~ Solid Lotions :

Some of my fun soy candles ~ Irish Coffee and Root-beer Float!