How to "make" soap!

Ok folks, here is the soap post as promised! Making your own soap is so easy and is such a fun gift. Here's how to do it:

1. Buy the soap. You can find various kinds such as goat's milk, cucumber & aloe, glycerin, and shea butter at Michael's or most craft supply stores. The ones I used were 2lb bricks and cost $10 each. I used my 40% off coupon at Michael's so they were $6. I estimate that you could make around 8-10 medium sized soap cakes from one brick.

  

2. Cut the soap into smaller pieces and melt in microwave at 30 second intervals until completely melted. Stir every 30 seconds.

3. Add essential oils or exfolliants while the soap is still liquid. (This example is goat's milk soap, glycerin soap, lavender essential oil, and dried lavender blooms.)

4. Spray the mold with a light coating of cooking spray. (You can use old yogurt cups, sour cream containers, or just about any container with a nice shape for a mold.)

5. Pour the liquid soap into the mold, let sit for 2 hours and pop out. Presto, you're done!

(The soap pictured on the right is glycerin with lavender blooms.)

 *Soap is extremely forgiving, so it can be melted after it hardens if you want to start over.

*Get creative with your variations. Throw in some oatmeal, shredded loofah, or dried blooms for an exfolliant. Add spices, essential oil, dried herbs, or citrus zest for scent. Take your inspiration from some of your favorite scents or create new ones!