Alice...sweet sweet Alice

It's a simple story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole.

It was first told to three little girls (so legend has it) while on traveling five miles in a row boat...Silly little girl that Alice. She should have minded her maners!! She should pay more attention to what she should be doing...not the silly little rabbit. But alas, that pesky hole! What happens next you ask...

Well, the story has been interpreted by so many people, in so many mediums. Now we ask the SAFE team to show us thier interpretations...what is our medium...errrr, SOAP of course!!

Painting The Roses Red Soap Set by Bunny Bubbles Handmade Soaps

“Would you tell me, please,” said Alice, a little timidly, “why you are painting those roses?”

Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began, in a low voice, “Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose tree, and we put a white one in by mistake...”

Here are two of the white roses that should have been red. The poor cards never got to finish them, as the Queen of Hearts wanted their heads as soon as she realized their mistake!

Each 2.5 ounces white soap flower is scented in a lovely traditional rose scent. The red “paint” is scented with an earthy “Dragon’s Blood” fragrance. (They didn’t use actual dragon’s blood as paint… but in Wonderland, it’s always good to check.) Each is individually wrapped, and two flowers are included in each set.

Go Ask Alice....by The Skin You're In

My challenge entry was inspired by a picture on the website for the upcoming movie, Alice in Wonderland, due out in March of 2010. In the 1985 movie classic Alice has a conversation with talking flowers and then meets The Red Queen, who was taking the place of one of the pawns or children of the White Queen on the chess board. Alice plays a pawn and the Red Queen tells her that only if she becomes a queen may she go home.

I could only think that my soap had to include lots of brilliant color and my own rendition of the talking flowers. The first stage of this cold process soap was to make the flower faces and to me that was the easy part! The second stage consisted of another batch of cold process soap, swirled with four different colors and then the flower faces inserted into each bar.



Alice in Wonderland Challenge by Soap Scentsations

When Alice peeked through the keyhole into the beautiful garden, little did she know she would be entering a world of such curiosity. Where up is down and down is up and animals fade before her very eyes. My soap engenders the strange dreamlike state of wonderland with its seemingly lush landscape beyond the keyhole, its twisted pink and purple layer, and of course it is all ruled by non other than the Queen of Hearts herself. And what Wonderland would be complete without tea. I’ve scented it with the perfect scent for this challenge, black tea and roses.


The Cheshire Cat Soap By Sassy Soaps N Such

The Cheshire Cat is a whole lot like my life. I am here some days and other days I am not. A lot has to do with my audio immune issues and the meds I am on, but I can really relate to this Cat that is for sure. Sometimes my girls even say “Mom why are you grinning like a Cheshire Cat?”. Who knows... but one thing I do know is I love this cat. He can be there when he wants to and disappear when he has too. He was the only character in the book that was honest to Alice and lent her a helping hand…so to speak.Soon as I saw this theme I knew which character I wanted to create and what scent he just had to be.

This Cheshire Cat Soap is made up of 3 different soaps and took a few steps to create. This soap is created in layers inside of a large cookie cutter, so that you can see his wonderful big white smile and black and yellow eyes. In the background we choose to use the pink and purple colors he liked to turn. We used clear glycerin soap, coconut glycerin soap and goats milk soap.

Only the purple layer is scented. What scent you ask? Well since we truly believe that Mr Carroll himself took a few bong hits (or something stronger perhaps ) when he wrote Alice in Wonderland , this soap is a nice 70's hash brownie scent. Yes it has a wonderful dark chocolate brownie fragrance with a touch of Mary Jane (pot that is).

Each Cheshire Cat soap is unique to itself as they are each made by hand and one at a time…layer upon layer of soaping goodness. Special thanks to the team for this challenge my girls and I learned a new way to use Melt N Pour soaps! Who knew you could use cookie cutters with soaps... Each soap is 7 oz of unique, guaranteed to make YOU GRIN soap!

Off with their heads! by Anhoki

Can the queen NOT be nicer? Sheesh. She's got everyone all in a tizzy ALL the time.The decks of cards constantly painting the roses RED.Everyone required to curtsy and say "YES your majesty". C'mon!That poor little white rabbit runs his legs off for her.I wanted to paint the queen in a bit of a different light. I see the queen as one who is misunderstood. One who REALLY just wants a hug and a good cup of tea now and then.When was the last time the King told her he loved her?Or that she looked beautiful in her over the top red dress...Has be complimented her hair...eyes...overly pouty lip? Probably not.See...she just wants to be loved and appreciated. Maybe she will appreciate my interpretation of her. You think?? Nahhhh....OFF with their heads!What is it scented with?? ROSES, OF COURSE!

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Vote for your favorite!!! Leave a comment with your pick to enter to win a bar of the soap with the most votes!!!! Voting is open till FRIDAY!!! Winner announced on Saturday!!

Stay tuned...there is only one challenge left! what will Anohki pull out of her hat next!?

Spooky... Creepy.. Oh So Fun ..Halloween Soaps YOU KNOW You NEED Some!

We Welcome You to Halloween.... The Safe Team way!

BOO Glow In The Dark Ghost Soap (Set of 4) by ThePigAndThePeacock

"From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night"

~An Olde Scottish Saying

Fall is in the air and that means Halloween can’t be far away. Halloween brings out the children in all of us. Whether you decorate your doors and windows or hand out candy dressed as a ghost, this is the perfect time to let your inter child out. One of the easiest ways to get ready for this wonderful time of the year is by decorating your bath and kitchens with handcrafted soaps and...

DO we have theSpooky Sammy Skeleton Soaps that wiggle and jiggle from SoapScentsations

m for you!
For the child at heart...

And Creepy Spider Halloween Soap by HeidisHandmades

For those who love to take showers SPOOKTACULAR - Shower Gel by bubbletub

Fall is definitely in the Air you can just smell it...Grannie's Pumpkin Cookies Soap Cake perfect for Fall and Halloween by sudsbysarah ..

These hand made from scratch soaps look like they smell so yummy...Man I sure wish someone would invent a scratch and sniff monitor!

Come by and visit all the Halloween Soaps from our SafeTeam on Etsy just click HERE

Melt & Pour: The Possibilities are Endless!

I have been a crafter for as long as I can remember. As I grew up, I graduated from Play-Doh finger puppets to sand castles on the beach to hand-made clothes for my dolls. As a young teen I learned how to make friendship pins and bracelets and how to jazz up my own clothes. As an adult, I focused on jewelry making and computer crafts. What all this pursuits had in common was the ability to take a specific medium, and transform it to my exact vision (or, at least, a reasonable facsimile thereof.) So when I found melt and pour soap-making, it was almost inevitable that I should fall madly in love.

The medium of melt and pour soap is extremely versatile. To begin, you must select a soap base. You can choose from white or clear, or a base enriched with goat’s milk or honey or shea butter or coconut milk, or many other additives. You can add herbs or spices or seeds or butters to your base. Then, you can use a plain loaf mold, or find one shaped like a duck or a kitty or a cupcake. Next, you can choose from a rainbow of colorants in various formats (or you can choose to leave the soap its natural hue). Then, you can scent your base with fragrance or essential oils or a combination of the two, or, if you prefer, leave it unscented.

One of the best parts of melt and pour soap is that you can make soap in extremely small batches. Traditional soapers generally make batches starting at about 16 ounces, because of the precise nature of the chemical reaction required to produce the soap (saponification). Melt and pour soap has already been saponified. In order to prepare it for accepting your fragrance, color and other additives, all that is required is a few seconds in the microwave to melt it. I’ve made “batches” of soap as small as half an ounce! So, with melt and pour soap, you can literally make one bar at a time, if you’d like. This is handy if you want to make a small bar for testing purposes, or, if you’re making a customized soap for someone.

For example, I have a friend who has a medieval-themed bathroom in three shades of blue. Probably not surprisingly, she was having some difficulty finding soap to fit her theme, so she asked if I could make her some. I found a dragon candy mold, which I used to make two-toned blue dragon soaps, in the lavender scent she’d requested. With melt and pour soap, if you can imagine it, it can probably be made!

The melt and pour soap artists on etsy have taken this concept to the extreme. You can find soaps in the shapes of animals, vegetables and minerals. A soap that looks like a root beer float? Soapy cupcakes, cookies and candies? Soapy sushi? A soap shaped like a pizza? Just do an search on etsy and you’ll see what I mean. Even though I sometimes feel that I’ve seen everything you could possibly do with melt and pour, at least once a week I see something that makes me stop and go “WOW! How did they come up with that?”

To me, melt and pour soap gives me the opportunity to be extremely creative, while making a product that is, in the end, totally usable. If you’re thinking of trying melt and pour, I recommend that you go for it. Give your imagination free reign. Maybe you’ll be the next person to amaze me with your technique. At the very least, you won’t be buying soap from the grocery store anytime soon!

AND THE WINNERS ARE!!!!!

Whooooohooooo!!!!! Entries are in, votes have been counted!

Thank you all for your interest and participation! and now on to the fun part!

The winner of the latest SAFEteam Challenge is......

with her amazingly creative take on Booze and Bonbons!!

and as all challenges go....she is so sweet (even sweeter than her bonbons) to send a FREE package to one lucky winner! Chosen by Random.org, so all is fair....

Congrats Red Bamboo!!! You will be contacted by our dear Bunny shortly! Enjoy your prize!

You can check out Red Bamboo's Blog at http://redbamboohandmadethings.blogspot.com/

Update: due to a tad of confusion...we have 2 winners this month!!! Congrats to Kim's Beads as well! Enjoy your bon bons! You can check out Kim's shop at www.kimsbeads.etsy.com

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The next blog challenge is underway....and boy is it a good one!!! Stay tuned for more info...maybe a teaser or two ;)

Thank you to all who contributed and all who voted, together you make our team more fun, informative, and stronger by the day! Stay tuned for updates from your favorite soapers!

FALL IS ALMOST HERE....

and today it feels like it is already here. We didn't have much of a summer in the northeast....and I am a little sad to see it go...but I am ready for apple pies, colorful leaves, sweaters! Oh, and did I mention SOAP!

Here are a couple of amazing fall soaps from the members of the SAFE team!!

A seasonal favorite by Willow Bay Bath & Body! This pumpkin pie soap smells good enough to eat! (But please don't!) This is so close to the real thing, you'll swear your grandmother baked it. There's no way you can say no to a pumpkin pie on a brisk fall evening. But with moisturizing goats milk this soap is a definate yes!

Start the season off right... and EARLY with Bambu Earth's Spiked Egg Nog with Peppermint Candy Sticks Soap. What a great stocking stuffer this will make! (Try not to keep it all to yourself!) This soap is made with heavy whipping cream, real egg yolks, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla bean, and RUM. It is completed with a peppermint foamy topping and candy sticks. My soap is completely NATURALLY scented. Yes, even this one. No artificial flavor, color, scents in here. Although it smells good enough to drink, please do not consume this sudsy bar of goodness!

You have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how much you would be missing out on if you didn't add this to your collection. Muspotwitharsan Cold Process Soap Ala Anhoki!! OMG! An amazing blend of Tuberose, Sandalwood and Musk. Sensual, soft and incredibly sexy. A bar for both men and woman it was named by the infamous Dr John and is a family favorite.

This Limited Edition Floral Bouquet soap from Soap Scentsation is a sweet floral blend of geranium, lavender, and palma rose. Enhanced with carrot juice and dried/ground chamomile petals, this is a true floral bouquet perfect for sink side. Pumpkin shaped for fall, would make a perfect addition to your autumnal decorating. And the blend makes for a wonderful facial bar!

Drive the men crazy with Pumpkin Lavender Oatmeal by a Breath of French Air! Sounds weird, but the combination of Pumpkin and Lavender drives men crazy in lust! As stated in Cosmo magazine: "Smell actually might be the most important sexual sense," explains Alan Hirsch, MD, neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. "There's a direct sensory pathway between the olfactory bulb above the nose and the arousal center of the brain," Dr. Hirsch says. In other words, just a whiff of something sexy can be all it takes to get your or your man's motor running. So what scents unconsciously rev his engine? Dr. Hirsch's research shows that guys are most aroused by, of all things, the smell of cinnamon buns, followed by lavender, vanilla, doughnuts, and pumpkin pie.