Holiday Gold Nailpolish

Did you miss the tutorial on making your own nailpolish? Check out what we whipped up for holiday parties using our heavy metal gold mica. Here's the original tutorial on customizing clear nail polish to make it your own.Jazz up your polish in two easy steps...

One: Pick your favorite holiday red or maroon color to paint your nails.

Two: Add your clear top coat and sprinkle on the mica for a fabulous holiday accent.

Tip: Use an eye shadow brush to tap on the mica. This will give you an evenly sparkled look!

Inventory & SoapQueen TV

Soap from our Cold Process Line

My apologies for the short blog post today. It's been a fabulous day with lots of progress made on inventory (almost done with the counting! yay!) and we are loving the fun questions about projects you're making over your winter breaks. Judging from the phone calls today, a lot of you are making Cupcake Bath Fizzies.

Over our inventory break, we've continued working on the new season of SoapQueen TV in earnest and have the scripts done up for an episodes on Rebatch soap, Massage Candles and more. You will be able to watch those shows in early February (if not sooner!). If you're a fan of SQTV and like the projects, you might want to check out these extra long SQTV tutorials over at Bramble Berry. Two of them feature SoapyLove's exclusive projects that turn out great every single time.

I'm also planning a trip to Saudi Arabia with the Entrepreneur's Organization for business classes. I'm excited about the opportunity to learn from some of the top business minds in the world on subjects like Cross-Cultural Entrepreneurship and Women Entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. I'll be out of the country the 15th through the 25th of January, leaving the blog in Amber's capable hands on the days I am not able to post.

Again, apologies for the short post today; look for a blog post tomorrow on Copper Penny & Emerald Mica tests in CP soap. Until then, happy soaping!

Don't Miss the Newsletter!

Only our newsletter subscribers will receive the recipes for making this cold process version of our Wash Away 2009 soap project. Sign-up for the newsletter and confirm your email tonight to get this recipe & tutorial emailed to you.

If you're already signed up for the Bramble Berry newsletter, look for the newsletter tomorrow. It has a sneak peak at the upcoming SoapQueen.TV episodes, this month's specials and more.

Crafty Wonderland Field Trip - Guest Blog

Greetings! I'm Amber and I help out here at Bramble Berry with Soap Queen TV, the website, photography, and whatever else I can get my hands on. I would put a picture of myself on this post but there are none to be found because I'm always behind the camera.

And while Anne-Marie is in Saudi Arabia mid-January for business, I'm going to be helping out with the Blog, too!

I jumped the gun a little though with this post. I visited a regional craft show called 'The Super Colossal Crafty Wonderland Holiday Sale' and I had such a great time talking to other vendors and taking pictures that I wanted to share my experience. It was a great show filled with interested and excited customers and tons of high quality arts & crafts. I went to help my cousin, Heather, set-up and work her booth. We made many new friends and reconnected with old, we both had so much fun we can't wait for next year.

Crafty Wonderland used to be a monthly craft show, but it grew so big they now just do 2 colossal shows a year at the Convention Center in Portland, OR. It was so well attended, there were 2,000 people in line just to get into the show! Heather and I got there 3 hours before the show started and had plenty of time to wander around after getting set-up.


First I talked to Inger of MeMe Cosmetics.

Her primary interest is formulation, she loves coming up with the perfect recipe. She used to make products for Lush and now has an aversion to bath bombs, which made me laugh. In addition to the fabulous array of lotions, cremes, and body butters she makes the most adorable bubble bath cupcakes.


Next I visited with Margaret from Ma Nao Books.

I studied bookbinding in college and totally fell in love with her work. She uses gorgeous papers and book board to make unique home decor, albums and boxes. She is also a letterpress printer and has made quite a few book editions, needless to say I was in heaven as I pored over her creations.


Near the end of the show I talked to Laurie of Magpie Ethel.

Her booth was pretty much swarmed by a mob for most of the show. She makes the most adorable little ornaments and decorations from tinsel, glitter, and vintage finds. Her space was so bright and shiny you couldn't help but smile and pick-up a little something. Being an enthusiastic recycler myself, I was even more enamored of her work when she pointed out some of the cast away items she uses to assemble her pieces.


By the time 7 o'clock rolled around we were all tired and incredibly hungry! So, we met up with some of my old friends from the show including Jenn of Chet and Dot and Jenny of Robot Candy at the Screen Door restaurant where we devoured plates and plates of delicious fried things.

I want to thank all of the fabulous artisans who took time to talk to me and let me take their pictures. I hope I was able to share a little of the fun I had at the show with all of you. I'm looking forward to guest-blogging for a bit while Anne-Marie is away in January. Until then, I'm content to hang out behind the scenes.

-- Amber

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours. We are enjoying a snowy holiday at Whistler and have taken sleigh rides in the snow, walked the entire Whistler Village and eaten entirely too much food.

I hope you've had an equally enjoyable family-filled special day.

My Famous(?) Cottage Cheese Loaf

This has been my "go to" recipe for several years now. Growing up Seventh-Day Adventist, I didn't eat any meat (though some SDA's do eat fish, chicken and lamb). Since I didn't eat meat, I had to get protein in some way, shape or form. I call this my "Faux Loaf" and it's made by SDA's the world over in some sort of iteration. It's great for last minute dinner plans and is a crowd-pleaser, despite the sort of strange sounding name and ingredient list. Currently, my favorite current iteration is the recipe at at the Be A Bree blog. Protein packed, salty and delish - it's really quite tasty - I swear!

Ingredients
1/4 Cup Butter or Margarine
1 Clove of Garlic
1 Onion
2 Stalks of Celery
2 Tablespoons of an SDA-style Vegetarian Stock
1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce
3 Beaten Eggs
1/4 Cup of Milk
1 Cup of Cottage Cheese
3-5 Cups of a “Flakes” Cereal
1/4 Cup Pecan Meal, Ground Fine (Optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Heat the butter or margarine in a pan.

3. Sauté the garlic and onions until cooked.

4. Add the celery to the pan and sauté until soft.

5. Mix the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl.

6. Add the sautéed vegetables to the bowl. Combine everything well.

7. Let the cereal get a little soggy (about 5 minutes).

8. Place in a generously greased baking pan. It should be 1″-3″ deep. Do not pack. In fact, use a fork to make it fluffy.

9. Bake at the top rack for 1 - 1 1/2 hour(s) at 350.

10. Cut the loaf into 2 x 2 squares. Hint: I like mine sorta crispy so don't hesitate to overcook just a tinch.

I served protein-packed Cottage Cheese loaf, Mac 'n' Cheese, Butternut Squash Lasagna, Cabbage Au Gratin and Peppermint Cheesecake to my (vegetarian) family tonight for one of our Christmas gatherings. They were all a hit - especially the Butternut Squash Lasagna.

Holiday Schedule at Bramble Berry

Thank you to all of our Bramble Berry friends and fans who have been such a big support this year. We love working with you and for you and feel so delighted, thrilled and humbled to be surrounded by such great customers and inspiration.

We are taking a couple days off to relax and laugh with family and friends before coming back to the warehouse to do inventory.

Inventory is a laborious process that involves counting every single item in the warehouse; literally, hand-counting out all of the bottles of essential oil, weighing all the partial drums of fragrance, combing through the colorant racks to get an accurate count of everything and then crawling up and over mountains of bottles in the the 'bottles' room to count each and every bottle. The entire process usually takes the Bramble Berry team 2 days to count and then 1 day of recounts. Any initial count that is more than 10% off gets counted again. And again. And again by different people each time. Though we hope to be done with the inventory process by the 30th and shipping orders on that day, we don't want to over promise. When you go to our homepage, you'll see our handy dandy "If I order today, when can I expect my order?" shipping chart. This is how you can determine the worst-case scenario of when your order will arrive at your door. This chart is updated daily to give you the most information possible.

Right now, we are officially "closed" for shipping orders until inventory is finished (best case: December 30th; worst case: January 4th). If you have any questions, you can always email us at info (at) brambleberry (dot) com or phone us at 360.734.8278. We will be answering phones and emails during inventory to take orders, answer questions and chat soap. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call or email.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful, safe and happy holiday. Thank you again for your support and loyalty in 2009. It means so much to all of us.

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Bramble Berry