December Newsletter | The Original Soap Dish™

My tree isn't up, and despite my best intentions back in October, I still don't have my Christmas shopping done. My brother and his family will be arriving from England in a little over three weeks, and I have a million and one things that need to be done to be ready for them. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Can you believe that the year is coming to a close, and another one is just around the corner?

At times like these, I find the need to step back, take a deep breath, and remind myself that it's the time that I will be spending with my family that's important, and not all of the preparations. Somehow, the tree will get decorated, the gifts will be given, and I'll give up the idea of buying new towels for the bathroom, and just use the old ones. I think my brother will forgive me for making him dry off with threadbare rubber duckie towels that I bought when my boys were toddlers. My two year old nephew will probably love them!

It's a crazy, busy time of year for all of us. I hope you'll step back with me, and take a deep breath. The soap will get made, the craft shows will be attended, and your handmade gifts will be ready. Take a moment to grab your spouse, your children, your cat, your dog, or whoever it is that you love, and give them a big hug. From all of us here at The Original Soap Dish®, we wish your a warm and happy holiday season!

Delivery By Christmas
To ensure delivery of orders prior to Christmas, we are advising our customers to place their orders by noon on Friday, December 14th. Orders placed after this cannot be guaranteed to arrive before Christmas.

Visit our Specials page during the month of December for extra savings on

Goat Milk Powder
Aloe Vera Oil
Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein
Oatmeal Milk & Honey Fragrance

The Original Soap Dish® will be closed from December 21, 2007 through January 6, 2008 for the holidays, and to conduct our end of year inventory.

We will close the shop at 3 PM on Thursday, December 20th. All orders placed by midnight on Wednesday, December 19th will be shipped before we close for the Christmas and New Year holiday. All sales and correspondence received during this closure will be processed in the order received when we reopen the shop on Monday, January 7.

Escali 44 lb Digital Scale - A high capacity scale, ideal for larger batches of soap.

Sandalwood & Amber Fragrance - An exotic harmony of warm, woodsy sandalwood and soft, sensuous amber. The rich notes of Sandalwood & Amber evoke the essence of mystery and romance. Blends beautifully with our Vanilla or Tea Rose fragrances. Test Notes: No ricing or acceleration. Discolors to light tan.

We are giving a gift to one lucky customer! For a chance to win one of our Sterling Silver Soap Charm earrings and necklace sets, send an email with a subject line of "Enter Me" to drawing @ thesoapdish.com (without the spaces between the @ symbol). We will hold the drawing on Monday morning, December 17th. This drawing is not open to the public, and is exclusive to our newsletter subscribers. No purchase is necessary. One entry per person.

Give It Your Own Name Soap
This particular soap formula is the result of an experimental mood I was in one Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago. I was testing some fragrance oils that we'll be adding to our product line in the coming year, and I wasn't in the mood to use the same old recipe that I always use to test oils. Ok, I realize that I was taking a bit of a risk testing fragrances in a recipe that I wasn't familiar with, but aren't you glad I did? The end result was a reasonably hard bar of soap with lots of fluffy, creamy lather that didn't dry my skin out in the shower. Isn't that what we're all after when we create a new recipe? Because I was testing fragrances, I soaped this recipe using the cold process method. The recipe resulted in hard, mild bars of soap after about 4 weeks of curing.

Oils
2.4 oz Avocado Oil 15%
0.8 oz Castor Oil 5%
4.0 oz Coconut Oil 25%
3.2 oz Mango Butter 20%
1.6 oz Olive Oil 10%
4.0 oz Palm Oil 25%

Lye Solution
6.0 oz Distilled Water
2.23 oz Sodium Hydroxide (6% superfat)

Additives
0.5 to 0.7 oz Fragrance (Personally, I'm in love with our new Sandalwood & Amber)

Until next year,

NOTE: Readers are advised to carefully read all instructions before attempting to undertake any project featured here. The Original Soap Dish® does not accept
any liability for the outcome of any project featured here, or on it's website. Readers that attempt to make projects featured here do so at their own risk.