Personalized Bar Soap Gift - It's Overflowing

Hello friends at Sugar Bee!

I'm Aimee from It's Overflowing.  It's such a treat to get to be here at Mandy's today!  Her creativity always inspires me!!!  In case you haven't ever been over to my blog, my hubby and I have three sweet B's and together we're totally remodeling our 1950s original rancher on a budget ~ just finished patching up a wall we knocked out and about to get going on the kitchen!  Because every day is an adventure, I like to stop in daily to fill you in on our DIY projects, favorite recipes, and home decorating ideas ~ I love my bloggy friends!  I'm also learning how to operate the manual settings on my SLR from my Photographer (hubby) and I'll be sharing those tips in simple verbage so together we can start putting our expensive cameras to work!   

Thanksgiving is coming soon and I thought it'd be fun to share with you a perfect hostess gift!  Making fancy soap bars is so simple and with this added touch, you're sure to impress!  All you need is a soap mold, pure glycerin soap, your favorite aroma scent, food coloring of your choice, a charm that makes you smile, a nail set and hammer.  I found the bath items at Hobby Lobby and with the constant 40% off coupon you can pull up on your phone, totally a deal! 

Grab a microwave-safe bowl and your cheese grater - no worries, you're working with soap.  It cleans up easily with hot water, much easier then cheese!  Grate two bars of the glycerin soap into the bowl.  When you get to the end of the bar, just toss the excess piece into the bowl, it'll melt just fine!

Next, decide on a color for your bar of soap.  There are tons of options or you can stick with a basic color!!!  1 green and 1 blue!?!  1 yellow and 1 orange?!?  Whichever combination you decide, you will need 1-3 drops of food coloring.  My food coloring preference is always the gel formula ~ less mess.  

I chose 2 drops of blue coloring.  Now use a butter knife to blend the coloring with the soap.  It doesn't have to be perfectly blended at this point.  

Next add a half a dropper of your favorite fragrance.  I chose Vanilla Pomegranate and highly recommend it!!!  I may have to place a soap bar in each room because the flavor is just so yummy!!!  Use your knife to mix the fragrant throughout.  

Place your bowl with colored soap into the microwave for 24 seconds (time may vary), until your soap is completely liquid.

Immediately, pour the liquid soap into your soap mold and prepare to wait patiently for the next 20 minutes.  The soap is ready to be removed when the temperature is warm and no longer hot.  Use a knife to cut around the top 1/8 inch, breaking the seal.  Then pull the mold back a bit to wiggle the soap out of the mold.

Next, place your soap upright and press your charm into the soap mold.  Take your nail set (I used the fatter end) and hammer and while holding the charm in place, hammer around the charm until an imprint has been made in the soap.

If you've been to It's Overflowing before, you are totally not surprised that I chose a feather charm!  Don't you think it's fitting for Thanksgiving!?!?  You know Indians...feathers...turkeys!?!?  Perfect, right!  

Once the soap is completely dry, place it in a sack with a bow.  If you want to add a fun touch and have some tree trimmings laying around, use a miter saw to cut a thin coaster for the soap.  Be sure to let the wood coaster dry completely 24-36 hours before using.  Cute, right!?  And just a little FYI, my Sweet B's loved making soap with me!  It's fun to let them contribute in when gift giving!

Hope to see you over at It's Overflowing where you can check out some other great tutorials like my Curbside Table turns Dazzling Kitchen Cart and my delicious Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Cupcakes! My place is all set for Thanksgiving and there's always room for one more, so come visit soon!!!