Melt and Mold Soap Crafting, is written by C. Kaila Westerman and it is a great book for beginners, but also has things to offer for non-beginners. The recipes are rated by difficulty to guide you along.

Melt and pour soap crafting is basically the shorthand version of making soap from scratch because you “make” your soap by simply melting in your microwave (or stovetop) pre-made soap. It comes in a package at craft supply stores or you can purchase it on the Internet. So basically all you do to make your own customized soap bar is melt the pre-made soap, add scent and maybe some additives (like oatmeal for exfoliation), pour it into a mold, wait for the soap to harden and you’re done. Yep, it really is THAT simple!

There are some obvious advantages in getting your soap pre-made; the most obvious is it is easy and fast. So if you’ve always wanted to make your own soap, but didn’t want to deal with lye and the other challenges of making your own soap from scratch, this is perfect.
This was the first book I bought about melt and pour soap and it was a perfect book for beginners like me.

She goes into all the basics, not only of the basic process of making this kind of soap, but she also goes into the basics of color, additives and even has a troubleshooting guide that I found really helpful. The guide helped me understand even more what NOT to do, which was really helpful to know before trying my first project…which was an absolute success, by the way.J She even gives you ideas for how to make some money with your own soap creations!

There are so many wonderful recipes in the book that both instructed me and then inspired my own ideas for future projects. Because there are so many different techniques demonstrated in the book (like canes, jellyrolls, loaf soaps, layering, embedding) it gave me the basic knowledge so that I could start developing my own soap ideas and recipes.

Melt and pour soap making is so great because in addition to all the different techniques, scents, additives and colors available to customize your soap to your heart’s content, there are tons of FABULOUS soap molds out there to buy that are so fun to use, too. As you can see, the possibilities are really endless. That is why melt and pour soap is perfect for creating a customized gift. You really can make a bar of soap for anyone, any occasion…and just for fun.

So, to recap, I love melt and pour soap crafting because…
(1) it is super easy, fast and an affordable craft
(2) it makes great gifts and is easy to customize for your specific gift recipient or occasion
(3) even when you screw it up, it still works…it’s still soap!

If you have created a fabulous soap creation of your own…email me or post a comment, I’d love to hear about!

Happy crafting,

Artfully AJ

PS – To any of you QUILTERS out there, or friends of QUILTERS…there is a really cute soap recipe called “Quilter’s Bar” on page 38. The soap has a quilt design on it, which sounds like it might be difficult, but it isn’t. It would make a great craft gift!

PPS – This is also a great CRAFTS FOR KIDS…as long as there is parent supervision! Kids can put toys, pictures they have drawn, pictures of themselves, etc. into their own bars of soap. It’s a fun kids craft!

One of my favorite crafts is rubber stamping. And one of my favorite rubber stamping tools is the Stamp-a-ma-jig made by EK Success. Stamp-ama-jig is a T-shaped tool (upside-down “T” actually) you use to position your rubber stamps when you stamp an image, so the image is aligned exactly how you want it.

It is so easy to use! And, that is important to me!! I often times get excited while making a project and sometimes that translates into impatience. Do you ever get that way? That is why I love this tool so much. It allows you to do the potentially tedious task of lining up a rubber stamp image just the way you want it in a super easy, super fast way. And the tool sells for around $10-$15…so its super affordable, too.

For example, maybe you are trying to center an image on your blank card…

1. Simply line up the reusable plastic square sheet (that comes with the Stamp-a-ma-jig) in the corner of the Stamp-a-ma-jig, so that both sides of the plastic square sheet are touching both sides of the Stamp-a-ma-jig.
2. Ink your stamp.
3. Stamp your image on the plastic sheet, making sure your stamp is also touching both sides of the Stamp-a-ma-jig, just like the plastic sheet is doing.
4. Take the plastic sheet that has the image stamped, place it on top of your card, and line it up how you want it to look.
5. Leave the plastic sheet in place and position the Stamp-a-ma-jig in the corner of the sheet – just like how it was when you stamped the image.
6. While holding the Stamp-a-ma-jig in place, remove the plastic sheet and line up the stamp in the same corner where the plastic sheet was – with both side of the stamp touching the sides of the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

And, that’s it! A perfectly aligned image is now on your card.

You can use it to do all sort of things like:

• layer stamped images easily
• re-stamp an image that didn’t fully show up on your paper the first time
• stamp a border
• take a stamp that has two stacked lines of text, stamp the first line and then stamp the second line right after the first line, so the sentence is now on all one line
• stamp corner images easily
• and just make all stamping that needs to go in a certain place a whole lot easier!

Enjoy your hassle-free stamping!

Artfully AJ