The Hat City Scissor Squad

Yes it certainly was a Bonanza of bountiful bath goodiness. 1 hour of eating, 2 hours of blabbling, about 6 hours of SERIOUS crafting and viola! Soap up the wazoo. Not to mention bath salts, bath teas, milk bath, face scrub, body scrub, lip balm. We had a grand old time. After a trip to the nearby middle eastern restaurant for some Baba and Filafel we were on our way! Anne was the woman with the plan, toting endless info, glycerin, molds, scents and some seriously appreciated lip balm tins. She made some really macho man soaps using very earthy scents and green clay. We tried to persuade her to make it into Man Soap on a rope, but she just wasn't having it. Mitch was the lady with the pad. Her house rocks! Two microwaves are essential to making 9 pounds of melt and pour soap in one night. She was also smart enough to provide bowls, spoons, ziplock bags, common sense, and a lot of wacky preggo hormones. Just call her scrub machine. She dried orange peels for weeks in order to create a faboo facial scrub and also made a great foot scrub that is all minty and eucalyptas-ey. It tingles!! (hmmm can it be used other places than feet??) Lauren was a trooper and showed up after a long day of hairdressing with some really impressive packaging ideas. She found a lot of great bottles on the cheap at Pier one and dressed them up with this really cool wire garland that she also found there. Lauren and Sarah were both kicking our asses with their bitchin bath salts. Lauren made this awesome Bath Salt we called Limey Coco a GoGo using Ginger Lime fragrance and coconut extract. Sarah, Queen of the soap molds made a Salt called MIdsummer Night's Bath using the perfect mix of floral extracts and then colored it to make it look like yummy blue and pink rock candy! Eva also poked her head in for some knitting and a brew. Mary made lime milleffori and upon sudden inspiration created some yummy soap cupcakes complete with candles and sprinkles! And the best part? We all saved a bunch of cash for Christmanaquanzakah!
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Bath Salts Hat City Scissor Squad Style:
2 cups Epsom Salts
1 cup sea salt (some coarse, some fine)
1 tablespoon baking soda to spread your scents evenly
1 tablespoon glycerin for sparkle!
1 tablespooon sweet almond or coconut oil for some moisturizing
MIx it all up in a bowl along with some liquid soap coloring and your choice of fragrances or essential oils.

Making melt and pour cupcake soap:

1. Take about a pound of white melt and pour soap and melt it
2. Add your scent when the soap gets a bit cool (if it's too hot it will burn of your smell) I used vanilla and coconut, but I bet there are better scent combos for it.
3. Pour the soap into cupcake cups in a muffin tin (just like real cupcakes)
4. Let that soap cool completely
5. Now melt about a half pound of white melt and pour soap
6. Add a few drops of red soap dye to make it a nice pink (or blue or purple etc, whatever gets your motor running)
7. Add some scent when it gets a bit cool
8. Now stir the soap until it starts to get gloppy
9. When it's gloppy you've got to work QUICK. Start plopping glops onto the cupcakes and shape them with your hands to make little hills on them. Don't worry they SHOULD look messy.
10. You may have to re-melt the soap a few times before you get all your cupcakes, you may run out of soap, my advice is to relax and go with the flow at this part of the process.
11. Once the tops are cool melt about a 1/4 pound of soap and try to dye it the same pink (it's tricky)
12. Now here's the secret to make them glossy... Add JUST a little dash of coconut oil to your soap.
13. Use a spoon to pour the hot soap over the tops (like a glaze)
14. Now add your sprinkles QUICK QUICK QUICK while the glaze is still hot
15. Now you CAN stop here, let them cool, impress your friends, but if you want to add candles just take the remainder of cooling gloppy soap from your galze and use it like play-doh to stick on your candles.
16. That's it! Your all done Baby!

I saw a link for this site on The Craftster Blog that makes super cute custom avatars. It's called Abi Station Potrait Illustratoin Maker. So now I can finally do my super cheesy bios for the squad members! Hooray!

Anne. Knits like a champ. Enjoys hermit crab racing, long walks on the beach with BF Ray and cards with dirty pictures. (Like dogs peeing in the snow) Anne is the nice one.

Eva. (prounounced Eee- Vuh) Our very own deer skinning, wood hiking wilderness guide. Eva likes her men like she likes her crafts, pleasing to the eye with a 90 percent chance of immediate satisfaction! RRRRow!!

Lauren. This knitting newbie knows her way to the hot dog stand. Just cover her with relish and she'll be ALL YOURS!!

Mary. Not to quick on the uptake but a real humdinger on the lowdown. This Sally's a Jack of all trades when it comes to crafties.

Michelle. A lover in the driveway a menace on the road. Don't cut this mad dog mommy off if ya knows whats good for ya. She's libel to chain your intestines with her crochet hook.

Sarah. Knows her shit when it comes to the knit. Knows all the names when it comes to the game. Sports and crafts collides when this Jet setting needle junky comes to town. LOCK UP YO YARN!!!

Michelle has become the proud Mama of an 8.8 pound baby boy!! Julian Benjamin!! And oh is he ever ever cute!! Not slimy, wrinkly, splotchy or ugly in any way. As Michelle described, he is PERFECT. All of us Hat CIty Scissor Squadder's salute you!! The first Momma of the bunch. So... Who's next?!?! Place your best now ladies! LOL. Anyway I have created a blog for Michelle to keep pictures of her little cutie and I've taken the liberty of throwing the first bunch on. You can see more cute pictures here. And there will be MANY more to come, as long as there's no run on batteries on the next few years. :) So let the baby oriented crafting begin!! I can't wait to see what everybody comes up with.