Crafting for Christmas 2010, lets begin again......

craftdaft

Thanks everyone for replies re soaps, etc.

Poppy, thanks for link, there's loads of great recipes on that site.

Kevin, as I'm planning to give the soap, etc away to family why would I need to get in touch with trading standards? I'm not meaning that in a rude way, am just a bit confused!

Nikki, I would be interested in your body butter recipe if possible, the ingredients sound good!

As requested, here is soap recipe from Kirstie Allsop's Christmas program. Full details (including pictures) on channel 4 website.

INGREDIENTS
900ml water
295g caustic soda (needs to be pure sodium hydroxide)
615g coconut oil (or vegetable fat)
800ml sunflower oil
800ml olive oil
Essential oils (for fragrance)
Other additives might include dried herbs, petals and fruit
For decoration might want to use pastry cutters, ribbons and bows

YOU WILL ALSO NEED:

• Large plastic bucket or stainless steel pot (not cast iron or aluminium)
• Moulds (eg. simple plastic tubs from kitchen, can use any plastic containers)
• Protective clothing (apron, rubber gloves and goggles)

Work in a well ventilated room
Add the caustic soda to water NOT water to caustic soda.

METHOD

• Put water into bucket, carefully whisk caustic soda into the water and watch as chemical reactions cause it to heat up.
• Put the coconut oil into a large pan on a low heat. Add sunflower and olive oil.
• Once all the oil has melted together pour into the bucket with caustic soda and water.
• Stir the mixture for 40 minutes (!), looking for a change of colour and texture in your mixture.
• Add other ingredients. Kirstie Allsop made 3 flavours so divided the mixture into 3 bowls and added:

i. A handful of parsley and 20ml of lime essence
ii. A handful of oats, glug of honey and some lemongrass essence
iii. Cinnamon and orange essence and fresh orange zest.

• Transfer to moulds to set. (once in moulds Kirstie added real (thin) orange slices to cinnamon and orange soap)
• Wrap the tubs in a blanket for 24 hours to slowly cool down and set.
• Once cooled and set take out of moulds and leave to dry in a cupboard for 6 weeks so caustic soda dissolves and the soap won’t have any harmful effects on skin.
• After 6 weeks cut up and decorate. To make pretty shaped soaps use pastry cutters.

Gina_of_course!

I made this one for myself but have since made a smaller one for my sister for Christmas, she then asked for two more.. for either side of the main one..

Take :-
one large £9.99 canvas board (The works)
one metre of material £1.99 (Moystons)
handful of flower sequin things ( out of a mixed packet from the ELC)

ten minutes with latest toy..... staple gun! ten more mins with some fabric glue and there you go... personal wall art retailing on the net for upwards of £50.

** sorry for the size of the photo**

Kevie192

craftdaft wrote: »

Kevin, as I'm planning to give the soap, etc away to family why would I need to get in touch with trading standards? I'm not meaning that in a rude way, am just a bit confused!

The EU Cosmetics Directive states that any cosmetics that are made and sold OR given away should be assessed by a suitably qualified person and should be labeled to conform to those regulations.

Every trading standards office interprets this regulation differently and since they are the regulators I would recommend you contact them with your recipe, telling them exactly how many people you want to give the finished item to. They will then be able to tell you whether or not you need to get your recipe assessed and what you need to include on your labels.

Soap is a VERY dangerous thing to make if not made correctly and can have very bad effects. Lye (caustic soda/water) is an extremely strong chemical and even a small amount left in the finished bar will be enough to burn the skin of the user. A better option might be for you use use a pre-manufactured 'Melt and Pour' base - I've supplied mine to customers pre-fragranced/coloured and with additives such that they can then melt it down and mould it to their requirements. This is a perfectly legal option and, more importantly, it is 100% safe.

Having said all of that, I know that there are MANY people who make soap and SELL IT and don't even bother to conform to the regulations. I've seen many a stallholder at craft fairs who choose to be completely ignorant to the law concerning this.

Not trying to scare anyone here, just informing you of the law!

Kevin x

princesspoppypop

Id love to hear how people get on with the soap making. Personally I would only use the melt and pour bases as caustic soda scares me as it is so dangerous if not used correctly.
There`s a fab soap cake in one of my tilda books - it has a pink base and a whipped cream effect top with soap roses. It looks gorgeous and a slice of that would make a lovely gift wrapped in cello, tied with raffia and a little scalloped tag.
Soap cake pic on this blog - scroll down to view.

Poppy x

rachelet

:rotfl:

mummy2mygirls wrote: »

spent ages just catching up after not reading for a couple of days!! You have all been busy
I love the snow bear and also the sound of the baileys truffles sound sooo yummy!!!
princesspoppy hope your feeling better and not so sick now!! I had that with dd3 it came back after a mth of in the middle - lucky this pregnancy i havent had any since the first 12 weeks. Sounds like there are lots of us with babies - i have a 9mth old and one due in april
Have spent today sorting out some of my crafty bits now just dont know where to start with my hugh list of what i want to do.

cant remember who posted it but i love the memo board...might have to do one of these for my mum....

I already have three kids, DD1 aged 7, DD2 aged 4 and DS aged 13 months and my fouth is due 4th May so I am nearly the same as you! Good to hear there is someone else who is expecting their 4th child and with a small gap between the youngest two! Do you know what you are having yet? I am having another girl, so my husband is now saying I need to have another baby to have another boy to try and even up the numbers a bit!!:rotfl:

Do you get much time to do crafts etc. My baby is really good so I can do stuff while the older two are at school, but not sure how much time I will have once the new baby arrives. I am trying to get everything sorte before baby arrives so I am ready for the rest of the year!

Right must get back to knitting the scarf.

princesspoppypop

mummy2mygirls wrote: »

spent ages just catching up after not reading for a couple of days!! You have all been busy
I love the snow bear and also the sound of the baileys truffles sound sooo yummy!!!
princesspoppy hope your feeling better and not so sick now!! I had that with dd3 it came back after a mth of in the middle - lucky this pregnancy i havent had any since the first 12 weeks. Sounds like there are lots of us with babies - i have a 9mth old and one due in april
Have spent today sorting out some of my crafty bits now just dont know where to start with my hugh list of what i want to do.

cant remember who posted it but i love the memo board...might have to do one of these for my mum....

I`m feeling much better now thanks mummy2mygirls - its awful being sick!
My little one is due in April too!:j

Poppy x

jamtart6

Gina- I love the colours on that card well done!!!

Got a really nice, easy craft for Christmas today:
http://handmadeheartfelted.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-cute-christmas-wrapping.html

I will definitely be making some of these as I think the would be cheap to do but look amazing!!

loopychriss

whoopidoo wrote: »

Can I ask the best way people are finding to jot down ideas? I am scribbling on bits of paper and bookmarking but the thread is getting so long I must admit to getting a wee bit lost now. Seen so many good ideas - do you jot down the basic idea and the web page in a book or just the idea and bookmark the page? Must dig out a notebook! I've put a tally of pressies made so far on the sidebar of my blog so can at least keep a check on that (not hard at the mo it's a big fat ZILCH! )

What I do is to bookmark the page where the idea is on my computer.... I also save it to a word file under "Handmade Gift Ideas" so that when I want to find something they are all on the computer under one heading.

loopychriss

I have a Toyota 2260 electric sewing machine that I need to dispose of. It is in good working order (serviced in April last year), and comes with various feet and bobbins etc. It has 19 different stitches on it. There is nothing wrong with it, it's just that my mum gave me hers last year, and I also got a new one for my birthday, and I really don't need 3!

So if anyone living near me (near Gravesend in Kent) would like it, and can come and collect it, it's yours for the taking!

If you'd like a picture please PM me with your email address so I can send you a picture.

If no-one on here has it I'm going to put it on Freecycle over the weekend.

Chris

qwiksave

jamtart6 wrote: »

Gina- I love the colours on that card well done!!!

jamtart, it's not a card, its a large canvas!