PhoenixFyre

Are you kidding? It looks great! I love the swirly planet surrounded by the solid colors. It's fabulous! If you're unhappy with it, just send them my way. I'll put 'em to good use!

Thank you for sending me off to sleep with sparkly, flowery prettiness. *contented sigh*

I can't take any more -- I'm in lovely soap overload!!! You all are so awesome!

1 hour ago, puma52 said:

Great to see you back PhoenixFyre! Your soaps are beautiful! So happy to hear that things in your life have turned around and looking much better now. So sorry to hear of loss of Grandpa....but SO happy for your sister on upcoming birth of her baby boy and glad to hear your hubby is mending.

Aww. Thanks, Puma! Getting back into the creative flow is always therapeutic.

I third that! The glitter on the top looks awesome with the color of the batter. Very cool!

You are my muse! Just looking at all that beautiful, colorful, creamy goodness makes me itch to go make something, anything, in the hopes it will come out just as lovely as yours.

So gorgeous!

@infertilemyrtle  You should check out the thread in this forum that TallTayl started about wax and wick testing. She is doing a burn test with C3 wax with different wicks, so it might be something you want to check out.

I don't use soy, but from what I've learned on this site, it does need a longer cure, not just for scent throw but also for a better burn. I understand the excitement that comes with burning your first candle, but letting them cure the needed time will make your testing more accurate.

2 minutes ago, Moonstar said:

Are those 2 separate scents ? Ive never heard of a coffee grapefruit scent ??? 

 

Ha-ha! That was my first reaction, too! Then it dawned on me that it must be two separate scents.

They look bee-u-tiful.

2 minutes ago, Moonstar said:

I thought of my daughter when I saw your Harry Potter books in the background lol !

That's funny because the Harry Potter fan in my house is...me! I loved the pic with the Harry Potter books best, lol!

Wow! You made me tired! Let's see....today I have done, um, nothing. Well, that's not true. I have browsed Craftserver and eaten the yummy pulled chicken I made yesterday, hee-hee.

Yesterday was my cleaning day while working with my kiddos on their school lessons (I do love home school!). Today is my day to kick back and read more about soaps and candles (in between a yell for "mom" or "honey" every five minutes, lol).

Congrats on having such a productive day! I love days like that.

Absolutely, Trappeur! I'm wearing my Hakuna Matata shirt and enjoying each day as it comes!

Besides my own trials, it was also so sad to lose precious Craftserver members/friends last year. I have been so appreciative of this site ever since I discovered it, and I don't know if I would have learned as much about candles and soaps without all the knowledge and encouragement from all of you. It's a comfort to find a group that not only shares wisdom but is willing to share in each others' lives as well.

Thank you so much for your well wishes and compliment!

Thanks, Candybee and Terry. It is awesome to feel free to create again, and I missed being able to fully enjoy all the beautiful creations and fun conversations y'all were having on the board. Glad to be part of it again.

1 hour ago, GoldieMN said:

Beautiful swirls!  I love that spot of deep blue in the top picture; at least that is what it looks like to me. 

Goldie

Yep...that's a shot of the top of one. That soap didn't move as fast on me as the other one, so I had a little time to swirl some of the leftover TD batter and blue mica on top, so I think that's the spot of blue you're seeing. 

8 hours ago, Sponiebr said:

Awesome! I mean, yanno, you creatively stirring the pot again... (Maybe I should start this over...)

(DO OVER!!!) 

THAT SUCKS!!!! 

I'm not conveying my well-meaning, well, today... 

Srsly, welcome back and nice swirling! 

Slainte, 

Sponiebr <------------ the real reason psychological evaluations were standardized. 
 

Thank you for the laugh, thank you for concurring on the suck-fest I had, and thank you for the welcome back. Oh...and thanks for the swirling compliment.

1 minute ago, kandlekrazy said:

Really pretty soap!  Welcome back

Thank you and thank you!

I cannot wait to get to the point where I'm piping on soap. The flowers and leaves...just beautiful. Love it!

Thanks to you both. It's definitely more fun going through all the posts I've missed now that the creative juices are flowing again.

Yowza! How fabulous is this! Just goes to show how much you miss when you're away from this board for a while. So terrific, TallTayl! What a great resource for us all. Loving this!

Well, 2016 certainly was a challenging year, so I decided to start 2017 right with getting back to being creative!

Lost my Papa (my grandpa) early last year. We knew it was coming, but it was still heartbreaking when it did. My sister and brother-in-law suffered a miscarriage after years of fertility treatments. Then to finish the year, my husband was in a car accident, so we've been dealing with his injuries, lawyers, and insurance companies for the last five months.

So, while I've popped in here from time to time to lurk, my heart just hasn't been in the creative spirit and my candles and soap were put on hold. Thankfully, times to mourn pass and times to laugh come back. My hubby is on the mend, and my sister announced that they are pregnant again and have made it to the second trimester. So I figured it's time to get my butt back into gear and made some soap to celebrate at her baby shower in a couple of months. She's having a boy, and the colors of the shower are blue and white. The white base with the blue swirls is a mix of mango, papaya, and grapefruit mangosteen, which riced on me a bit and then accelerated, so didn't have much time to play. The blue base with white swirls is blackberry sage.

So glad to be back among the creative and inspirational people here!

Hey there! Hope to see you around the board.

If you ever have questions about terminology, don't hesitate to jump in and ask. Most of the "lingo" is pretty easy to understand once you've spent time on this forum. I've been at this hobby for a year and a half now, and I still sometimes Google the number of a wax or wick that I see mentioned but am not familiar with just so I can learn about it.

As far as what to start with, that's really up to you. Depends on what type of wax, candle style, etc. that you're interested in making. A lot of people start out with kits, including myself. I found one pretty inexpensively on eBay that was from Candlewic. It gave me just enough supplies to make a few candles and get my feet wet with the process...helped to get me over the initial anxiety of making that first candle. Plus it came with a pour pot which I still use. It's not a cheap hobby by any means, but just start simple and take it one wax at a time, lol.

2 hours ago, Trappeur said:

I just sent them an email asking if they bought out Tennessee.

 

Trappeur

I'll be interested to see if they did too. I think that Brent and the owner of Maple Street used to be friends - or were at least acquainted - when Maple Street sold dye chips and before they sold fragrance oils.  I believe, though, that Maple Street started selling fragrance oil before Brent passed away. I could be wrong --- my brain gets fuzzier on dates the older I get, lol.

Don't second guess yourself. I've had the same thing happen with the HTP 83 and 93. I use paraffin, and with some scents the 93 burns hotter than the 83, and then with others the 83 has burned hotter. Just goes to show why we test, lol.

Yes, please -- to all of the above.

Whoo-hoo! Very cool!

2 hours ago, Scented said:

Would any of you mind if I read some of your posts at the celebration of her life on Saturday? I'd rather have your permission than to violate your feelings. 

Not sure which posts you were considering, but I wouldn't mind at all. Please, feel free.