What I've been up to this week

It has been a busy week. First, hurricane Irene hit the state Sunday. We were without power for only a day, and we were able to clean up our flooded basement fairly easily.  All in all, we were lucky.  I know people who still do not have power! Fortunately, everyone is safe and no one was hurt.

Next, I started the fall semester this week. I am taking two difficult courses which I expect will be eating up a great deal of time until December. It will be interesting to juggle school, work, and soapmaking!

Last night, I made a rose water and French pink clay soap. It is still in the mold, and quite hot at the moment, but I have high hopes for the soap.  Not sure how much of the rose water scent will remain after interacting with the lye, but I have been wanting to make more natural soaps lately and this will fit the bill nicely.

Finally, I have ventured into making bath salts. Talk about instant gratification! Not like knitting, where completing a project could take months, or even like soap making, where you must wait for saponification and curing to occur.  Nope, bath salts are pretty much done in 5 minutes! :) I purchased some absolutely gorgeous pink Himalayan salt and mixed it with a blend of lavender and peppermint essential oils. Packaged them up in these adorable quilted 4 ounces jelly jars.  Love these!  And so easy!