this & that

As previously mentioned our 100 organic lavender soaps are on the curing racks as we speak (or type) ;) and we've gone with a lovely sheer gold wrap with tassel to wrap the soap boxes in. I love it when it all comes together!



We've also decided to take our yummy products to the Premiere International Beauty Event in Orlando in June and are wanting to have a Susie Homemaker theme...with rolling pins, whisks, bowls, etc and we want to wear these adorable little aprons we found, but are going back and forth about which color. So I'm asking for your fabulous opinions! What say you? :)

peace~love~happiness,

more chocolate!

Wickedly Sinful Organic Chocolate Soap! One of our yummy retailers called us and requested a chocolate with ancho chile spice to it holiday goodies...and we thought.....we can do that! ;) And so, Wickedly Sinful Chocolate Soap was just made. We used all organic oils in this soap, some cocoa powder and indeed, a pinch or two of ancho chile powder. It smells, like deep rich chocolate with a touch of smokey spice. YUMMERS!

I've also been playing around with our cuppycake fizzies. I originally had a whipped soap on top of these fizzies, which is great if it's being sold locally, but shipping the cupcake was another story. The soap never dried hard, so it would get ruined by the time it made it across the country! Because of shipping we started using royal icing, but this just isn't the topping I wanted. It works well and allows you to ship anywhere, however, the icing tops notoriously pop off and it's not soap.

I've made the soap cupcake, made entirely of soap, but wanting to stick with the half fizzy half icing cupcake- I've been on a mission. I have tried many recipes with hard toppings even one with melt and pour but couldn't find the right consistency that kept that creamy icing look AND the top didn't pop off!

Many moons ago I stumbled upon Nizzy's whipped soap tutorial. Fantastic things he's doing down undah, in the outback! So, I contacted him with my questions about he was quick to respond with a full email of recommendations! :) Thanks Niz!

These are the test bunnies in the soap kitchen....made with no added colorant, as I simply wanted to test the texture and see if it would INDEED stick to the top of the fizzy. So far, so good...they are sticking!

Notice my warning note and the clever comeback from my witty daughter.







I'm also creating bath creamers...kinda a fusion of a bath fizzy and bath melt! Really loaded with organic cocoa butter...which I love~love~love! I'm going to post a tutorial at a future date for those of you who would also like to create these:



They are FUN and are lovely in the bath. These were made with a half of my bath bomb mold. I've ordered a round mold, that would create bath creamers about the size of golf balls. Wouldn't they be adorable in a little box with a clear top and a bow?

peace~love~happiness,

Time to be brutally honest....

If you're in the 'soap making' business or I should say, if it's more than a hobby....It can be very time consuming. We are gearing up for the holidays..and Jenny, Nichol and I have been seriously busting some bootay lately. I'm talking up at 9 or so and soaping it until 10pm. I use to cook and bake, until I started cooking and baking soap! Now both the pizza delivery and Chinese food delivery guys know me by name! Eeeeek!

I realized, this evening that I need a shower....I need to wash my hair...and shave my legs that look like they belong to Paul Bunion!

This is me...not literally, but you know what I mean...



So, when someone says that the product is handmade, someone spent a lot of time handcrafting it. It was not slammed out by a big machine going 90 mph.

I'm not bitchin' :) I love what I do.... and I'm thankful I get to do something I enjoy. I'm just sayin'......If you know the feeling....do tell :)

peace~love~and going to bed!

Carving pumpkins

The kids have been wanting to carve some pumpkins....so today was the day. My girls helped their little brother with the cutting and he used his hands to scoop out the messy seeds. Right up a little boys alley! ;)



They ended up with some cool pumpkins.

The "nice" pumpkin:



The "barfing" pumpkin:



and of course, when you carve pumpkins with your two older sisters....things are bound to happen...




In the end, we roasted the pumpkin seeds to snack on. YUM!




peace~love~happiness,

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming!

Ok, everyone knows this feeling........


when the holidays are rapidly approaching.....and the thoughts start to enter your mind..."what do I get everyone?!" We have been busting our badonka's in the soap kitchen preparing for the holidays with all sorts of yummy (no pun intended) goodies.

So when you are feeling like this....know that yes, somewhere out there, someone else is also feeling like this....



crazy~butt-bustin~busy,

something every young girl in the world should see

The Evolution Of Women



peace-love-and a dose of reality,
Ms. yummy

Halloween is in the air....

Muhahahahahahah!

And of course, etsy always proves to be the place to find all sorts of goodies. These are a few of my finds, the strange, the unique, the fascinating and the absolutely ghoulish!!!

The Nebulous Kingdom:



The Good Wife:



Sausage Dog:



Ghost Love Jewelry:



Cotton Candy Girl:



Beat Blacks:



Adorn Jewelry:



peace~love~and a little spookiness,

Yummy blog clean up

As you have noticed, we have spruced things up on the yummy blog. Not sure if I have ever mentioned this but Ms. yummy is a Gemini which means I tend to get bored and want to change things around a bit.

We are also in the process of completely revamping our website, yummysuds.com and in the next two weeks will roll out that little beauty.

In the meantime, I am so loving this fall weather. How about you? I'm on the East Coast of sunny FLA and boy can it get hot here. Today, nice and cool, 74 degrees and sunny....which is my favorite! I love to open the windows and suck in some ~fresh~ air (and an occasional gnat, but that's considered protein right?!) j/k :)

On to days menu is another go at the pumpkin pie soap. With soap, sometimes it's a winner and other times, well, soap flops or morphs, which in this case is exactly what happened. Don't ask why. Could be the alignment of the planets or just the evil soap fairy (which does exist!) actually this time, user error :'(

The last batch turned out lovely.....until......(que dreadful sounding music)......it all turned brown. Why you ask? Well, silly willy me put ground cinnamon into the mix and yes, it went from a lovely pumpkin color to a cinnamon color and the cinnamon completely gobbled up the pumpkin smell, so now it's basically a cinnamon soap. Great for fall, yes, but not what was originally intended. So today it's a gorgeous pumpkin pie soap topped with a huge dollop of whipped cream...or should I say, this is at least what is intended ;)

peace~love~and enjoying this lovely weather,

Yummy little fall finds!

Poking around Etsy, you'll find all sorts of wondrous handmade things....

Here are a few of my favorites!

Tiered Rose - Champagne - 7 inch - Silk lined Frame Clutch Bag $155 by Davieandchiyo



cream (leg warmers) $45 by Artish



Nuno Felted Shawl - Black Elegance $138 by Vart



The Juniper Hat- black wool jersey $50 by Piperandpaisley



Elegant Pretty $159 by RBJewels



cocoabean bathtub scrubbies $9/set of 4 by Cocoabeans



enjoy!

peace~love~happiness,

Mmmmmm PUMPKIN BREAD!

With the seasons changing...and the holidays coming up I always start to think about...well, what else? FOOD! Yes, I'm known to love my food and can seriously lick a plate clean if you know what I mean!

One of my favorite, most deeeelish things to make during the fall and winter months is pumpkin bread. And not just ANY pumpkin bread......a moist, scrumptious pumpkin bread that will have people stalking and BEGGING you for the recipe.

I'm sharing this with you because it was shared with me. A little old lady who made this bread and it is an old family recipe and I can see why. I have baked this bread dozens of times and it always turns out perfect.

They also make great gifts packaged in colored cello wrap and a wrapped with a bow :)

Enjoy!

peace~love~happiness,


Awesome Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 (15oz) can Libby’s Pumpkin
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
½ cup orange juice (not from concentrate)
1 cup fresh cranberries (or dried cranberries re-hydrated in water and drained)

PREHEAT oven to 350° degrees. Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans (metal pan is preferred)

COMBINE flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice in large mixer bowl, beat until blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, fold in just until moistened. Fold in cranberries; pour batter into prepared loaf pans.

BAKE for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For three 8x4 inch loaf pans. Prepare as shown above. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes.

For five or six 5x3 inch mini loaf pans, Prepare as shown above. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes.

just because laughing is healthy :)

LITTLE GIRL ON A PLANE

A stranger was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when the stranger turned to her and said, 'Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.'

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it very slowly and said to the stranger, 'What would you like to talk about?'

'Oh, I don't know,' said the stranger. 'How about nuclear power?' and he smiles.

'OK, ' she said. 'That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried
grass. Why do you suppose that is?'

The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, 'Hmmm, I have no idea.'

To which the little girl replies, 'Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know sh!t?'

I'm a bubbler....

pretty much every night I'm in the tub. Now, I know it's not for everyone....but for me, it's my thing. I finish with the family, put my son to bed and soak in a hot bath. This, of course, is the place for major product testing as well, so a lot of work goes on in this tub!

There are a few things though...that one should consider before taking a bubble- first, a beverage....
Usually I grab a water, but on some days......depending on how many things my 6 month old lab, Ty, decided to eat that day, I may be inclined to grab one of these..



next is what to put in the tub? I am typically a bath bomber, I like the fizzy and the softening of the skin,but I'm always on the hunt for something new, something great, something I simply MUST have.
The down side of bubbling is this....



Wahhhhhhh! Me no likey! So being the bath lover that I am, as God as my witness....... :) I will find an absolutely wonderful, no..........a freakishly AMAZING do-hickey, thing-a-ma-jigger that you put in the tub, will smell deeeeeelish, leave your skin as soft as a babies you know what....but WON'T.....I repeat....WON'T leave it's little left over skid mark there for you to clean up, in the bottom of your tub.

I'm on it people. I'm serious! Seriously serious :) and when I figure it out.......you'll be the first to know :)

peace~love~happiness,

Yummy little finds!

I was exploring etsy, checking out the cute things posted in the treasury and stumbled upon a few, VERY cute handmade things that would make great gifts and just had to pass them along to you fine folks.

Here are a few of my favorites!

I just love these prints! By dazeychic with Studio Mela. The prices range from about $15 - $20, which is such a deal! To view her Etsy page, click here

"So Very Happy"



"Give Good (in brown)"



"Lovely You"




Another is Funwallart- They have the most adorable trinket keepsake boxes! The prices for these boxes are $25 - $30 and such a bargain! You'll find their link, here

This was a "custom order" so that option is available if you have a specific color scheme :)



"Lecirque"



"Bombay Nights"



"And everything nice"



Another- because everyone knows someone who has battled or is battling breast cancer, Seja B has a handmade necklace that simply reads "fight like a girl". It's made of sterling silver and 50% of the proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen foundation.
You'll find the link here



Enjoy!

peace~love~happiness,
Ms. yummy

Random Stuff

ran across this on another blog and thought I would share....It has absolutely nothing to do with soap, but it's FUN :)
Enjoy! By the way.......the red button, left hand side, third one down is STOP Music :) Just so you know....


ButtonBeats.com

Cool Word Cloud

We simply couldn't resist! Create your own at wordle.net.