Fundraising!

My dear friend Melissa's dad has been stricken with leukemia and their family struggle began back in October. He is now gearing up for a series of bone marrow transplants and stem cell transplants at Mayo which will include a 3 month stay at a transplant house in Rochester. Melissa has undertaken a massive fundraising campaign to help cover the incidental costs of these procedures and she and Deedee have made scores of bath bombs to sell. Last night she and I got together to make over 10 lbs. of scented glycerin soaps.
We used a very user friendly soap base and melted, colored, scented and molded over 40 bars last night. I've made glycerin soaps before but this particular brand was just a pleasure to work with! It cooled quickly and didn't bubble up like other brands I've used. We made a variety of colors and fragrances and fooled around with adding glitter.

I can't say enough how easy this project is. I've said it before, if you can make ICE, you can make glycerin soaps! We also enjoyed fooling around with my new panini grill I got at Aldis! I have ALWAYS wanted one of those ever since I bought a panini on the street in Paris back in 2001! I baked fresh pita breads and we had fun stuffing them with ham and cheddar, chicken-basil-mozzarella-marinara, etc. and then flattening/grilling/heating them on this fabulous new appliance! It was a tasty mid-craft meal :) For our next Crafty Fun Night, we'll have to try using it with slices of rustic bread and we'll take pictures!

We were able to experiment with the colorings and glitter and in the end, with our 10 lbs. of soap base, we made 40 viable bars of soap and a few experiment bars (that I'm TOTALLY going to shower with today!!!). I'd already had a few different varieties of molds and we made good use of them. I love smelly soap and I hope they sell. Deedee and Melissa and I sat around my table 2 weeks ago and had a very successful 'board meeting' and brainstormed all kinds of ideas of things to make and businesses to contact, etc. Melissa will also be having a church-wide bake sale at her family church in Waterloo. I know I don't have scores of blog readers but if anyone has more ideas or is interested in purchasing any baking or soaps or bath bombs, please contact me. We will also be selling hand-sewn Valentine felt candle mats, hand-made Valentine 100% cotton tea towels, rice filled reusable heating pads, hand-made coaster sets, hand-knit 100% cotton dishrags, market bags and dish towels that button over drawer handles, orange Leukemia awareness ribbons/bracelets/magnets and other awareness items, and tons and tons of delicious home baking. She has gotten the word out and their entire congregation has gotten involved in pledging to donate baked goods. It is wonderful to see how this whole undertaking has snowballed! Please contact me if you're interested in supporting this very good cause! :)