Soap and company...

 A few weeks back, a facebook friend from MN (her name is Paula and I hadn't met her before, but some of my family had) posted pictures of some soap she had recently made. After writing back and forth about it a bit, Paula mentioned she'd be willing to show Mom and I how to make soap (the melt and pour way) when she and her family were visiting ND after Christmas. And, so she did. :)

We had a lot of fun experimenting together yesterday and this is what we came up with:

 

 The animal molds turned out pretty cute...

 Paula M. with chocolate/mint soap that we put in her mold...

 

After all of the molds were filled, we went out to the shop to play ping-pong with the guys for a while. Paula did really well after a little practice. :)

 The guys hauled our Foosball table out to the shop for our new years eve party, so of course we had to make sure that it still works...

Later, Paula's husband, Kevin and 2 sons came over and brought chili and chips for supper. They stayed into the evening and taught our guys how to play a new strategy game, which they all seemed to be enjoying. Paula gave my mom and I two books that she's written and told us about getting them published...

 Yes, soap-making (this way) is fun!!!

 We made chocolate mint, lemon poppy seed, and coffee soap yesterday. 

 I made another batch of soap today. More animals and insects..

 ...and these, (and no, that's not soap)...

 Paula left her mold here for a couple days so we could use it, so I made a 3 layer soap this time with that. In some of the other molds, I made a pink Himalayan salt soap with geranium and rose oil, and a hazelnut vanilla coffee one that smells good enough to eat, literally!

Tomorrow will be another busy day of preparing for the party on Wednesday.

 

And so, I should probably get some sleep, now that the kitchen is clean and in order again.