Enter to Win

I propose a lovely little contest. I’ll offer a combination of goodies, you post a comment in this blog and I will draw a name at random and post the winner's name. The you’ll have the chance to reply with your mailing address and I’ll send this gift package out to you or whoever you'd like me to send it to. Deal? I'll draw a name Friday, September 5th, so make sure you comment now and tell your friends!

Want to know what the prize is? Two bags of my brand new herbal spa soak, Lavender and Lemongrass. Plus five of my favorite guest soaps: Lavender Vanilla, Lemongrass Sage, Robin's Egg, Honeysuckle, and Sweet Almond. See my website for more information on each of those kinds if you'd like.

This Spa Soak is BRAND NEW - I haven't even added it to the website yet, but it's amazing! It comes with a little organza bag so the herbs don't end up in your drain. And I have four flavors at the moment: Lavender, Rose, Chamomile and Lemongrass (with Calendula petals.)

Introductions

I added three new soaps to the line today and here they are:

First, “Rose of Sharon” inspired by Song of Solomon 2 is a delicate blend of old world fragrances, rosebud with a touch of lily of the valley. It is a pink soap with yellow and pink inclusions.

“Café Angelica” is a hazelnut coffee fragrance that is yummy in layers of creamy taupe and browns.

I reworked Tangerine Splash is the simple addition of exfoliating orange rind.


“New Wine” is a light bubbly scent combining fig, white grape and the green scent of vineyard in Olive oil soap with added fresh raw local honey.

The New Gourmet Soaps and a Studio Announcement!

I am delighted to announce that we've added a new person to the crew here at Carmen Rose Studio. Welcome Jeni! Your help has already been a huge blessing!

Here is the new Mint Chocolate Torte that is a combination of Chocolate, Peppermint and Creme de Mint and I think it smells as good as it looks. This one has been pretty quick off the shelf already.
The Wildberry Torte is time consuming to make, but just looks so pretty when it's finished. First the torte is made, then each of the berries are made and arranged in the torte, then the glaze fills it all in.

I love the new Lemon Meringue, it looks richer and creamier than ever.
Key Lime Pie, always a favorite around here for the look, but especially for the smell!

This blueberry Cheesecake turned out nicely with a wildberry glaze running down the sides. I'd just like to try a bite of this one.
I had a little crust leftover from the Lemon Meringue and breathed a quick prayer on what to do with it. This is the idea that was instantly in my mind and I am very happy with how they turned out! So this is the New York Style Cheesecake ~ yum, Yum, YUMMM!

And it's all SOAP!

More information on the complete line of gourmet soaps can be found here.
And we've just made it possible to purchase these online!

Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes today and was really happy with how they turned out. They smell wonderful! People really have interesting reactions when they discover that it is soap and not real cake! Chocolate/Caramel, Chocolate/Mocha, Chocolate/ Butter cream, White Cake/cherry, White/wild berry, White/butter cream. They look good enough to eat!

Yay, new soap coming out of the studio today!

I wanted to share some new work with you. I’ve made a collection of soaps inspired by natural stones. It seemed reasonable since I’m a jewelry designer to cross the lines between the disciplines and I’m really happy with the results! I happened to take some photographs today that I’m happy with.





Here are some of the new kinds emerging from the creative process today:


Sugar Cookie (the one with pink sugar in it)
Key Lime Pie (oh YUM!)
Vanilla Bean
Manderian Spice
And the pink one I have not named yet. We were at friends house for an impromptu meal and their French foreign exchange student mixed up a bowl of strawberries, mint, black pepper with just a little sugar. It was amazing. This pink soap is that fragrance. Incredible!


Yummy Vanilla, it won't stay that white but it looks like icecream with the tiny little vanilla bean flecks. Makes me hungry!



The Key Lime Pie, Sugar Cookie and Vanilla Bean finish out my set of five food inspired bars. The other two are Chocolate Cream Pie and Mint Truffle (like an Andes Mint. It's a good thing people don't eat out of their soap dish!



The Strawberry-whatzit plus the Mandarin Spice will be a lovely addition to this collection of Lime Basil, Turquoise Spice, and Jasmine Clementine. These make up the Summer collection.

What can I say, I love my job!

Inspiration for fragrance work

I’m in the studio today working on a few new fragrances for the soap line. I already have 20 soaps in the line but I’ve had the inspiration for these and so I continue to bring out new ones. I’ve put considerable research into “his” and “hers” fragrance blends based on the story of Solomon and the Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon of the Bible. The fragrances I mixed this afternoon are earthy, unexpected and I am overjoyed at how they turned out. I have “his” on my right wrist and “hers” on my left, and I’m not certain which I like better. They are both unique and marvelous to me!

I’m also working on a “Rose of Sharon” (From Song of Solomon 2:1) that I’m happy with as well. It has hints of the Orient, Amber and floral notes that are marvelous.

There is yet another that I have not named yet that is based in these verses from Song of Solomon 2:
10 “My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. 11 See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. 12 Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me."

I have put experiments with spikenard and hyssop off for a while. These oils are so expensive that it would put the price of a bar of soap in the stratosphere. At $324 a gallon, hyssop essential oil is tame compared to Spikenard essential oil which comes in at a cool $520.00 a gallon. Wow, glad I don't have to put THAT in the tank of my car!

Time to Celebrate!

I looked back over a few blog posts this evening and had to laugh a little at the diversity of my work this month. From roofing to a king sized quilt, and hundreds of bars of soap… That’s what I love about my work, never can tell what’s coming next!

One of this week’s special projects was a wedding cake I made for friends. I was really happy with how this one turned out. The cake had four tiers and two more tiers in the kitchen. Two were white cake with a white chocolate almond filling. Two were chocolate cake with crème de mint filling and two were banana cake. All three flavors turned out very nice and there were no end to the compliments. It is a little hard to see the swirl design in the photos but I was happy with how it turned out.
Tom and Rachel are a beautiful couple. More than that, they both possess a soft hearted compassion that is really something special. Their wedding was a beautiful treat!

As people gathered around them to cut the cake, the bride was looking over her shoulder at the cake. Then she found me in the crowd and mouthed “thank you SO much!” What a sweet sweet girl! And isn't her dress beautiful?! She had it made when she was recently traveling in Cambodia with her Missionary father. She looked incredible!