Do you love the bath bombs?  I do too!  But dang, they are expensive!  Save the money and make them yourself.  I recently fell in love with Fragrant Jewels, a company that makes bath bombs which include gorgeous rings, so after you take your luxurious bath, you have a new piece of jewelry.  I don’t know about you, but I think this is an amazing business idea.

After thinking about the Fragrant Jewel rings, I realized there are all sorts of fun objects that can be put into a bath bombs.  Shells.  Jewelry. Gems. I started my crafting obsession with soaps and bath bombs.  I came across CEO of Brambleberry, Anne-Marie Faiola website “Soap Queen” and briefly sold soap through another shop idea I had called “The Paper Crane Soap Company”. Looking back, the first item I ever sold on etsy was actually a trio of soaps.  If you are looking to start your own etsy business, soap is an excellent place to start.  With the amazing success of the handmade retail store LUSH, one can easily see this a great market.

In terms of presents & favors, my friends and family have always raved about the bath bombs I make.  With this bath bomb recipe, you can probably make about 4-6 bath bombs.  🙂  Perfect amount for your besties or bridesmaids.

Do you like the foiled tags from the video?  They are available through Amazon Prime.  If you have your event soon, you can get the tags to your door in 2-days.  Most of the ingredients for this are easy to find at local stores.  Citric acid is a little hard to find.  I usually buy mine from Brambleberry.  I have also been able to find these at hobby home brewing stores in town, they use it in the fermentation process.  But if you need them as fast as you need the foiled tags, I have also seen this good citric acid product available on Amazon Prime.

Another component of this recipe is that I actually use food coloring instead of a classic “LaBomb color”.  There are official bath bomb colors you can purchase from Brambleberry, which are great and work good.  However, I have found if you are in a bind, food coloring works just as good.  Plus, I love the color it leaves.  When I put these baths bombs in water, they gave the water a tropical ocean blue color to it.  (Sigghhhh.  Makes me want to take a bath now!)  They don’t dye the tub either.  Just drain the tub and it’s good as new.

So there you have it!  Let your friends know they are the bomb!  See the ingredients, video, and written description below.  Thank you for reading my blog! ❤

Ingredients:

1 cup citric acid

2 cups baking soda

Food coloring

Essential Oils

Witch Hazel (available in the aisles of Walmart, just be sure to fill it in an empty spray bottle.  You are going to want to spray it a bit, and then check the consistency, and then spray it again.)

Silicone Mold (I prefer silicone because it really is a perfect copy.  I’ve made some very intricate bath bomb designs, and when you use a silicone mold you can get an exact precision to the mold, so I highly recommend silicone molds when doing your bath bombs).

Shells (Any sort of fun item that won’t be damaged from a bath bomb and water is great to embed into your bath bombs.  Who doesn’t love a surprise?)

 

1.  Place 1 cup citric acid into a bowl.  Mix and sift until you can get all the clumps out.
2. Mix 2 cups of the baking soda with citric acid.  Sift and mix with hands again to get all the clumps out.
3. Mix the citric acid and baking soda until well incorporated.
4. Put in some drops of the food coloring.
5. Put in some drops of essential oils.
6. Mix until oils and food coloring are well incorporated.  Keep mixing the bath bomb mix until the food colorant starts to come through and change the whole color of the mix.
7.   Fill an empty spray bottle with witch hazel.  Spray mix with witch hazels.  In between sprays, mix and squeeze the bath bomb mix until you get a solid consistency to place into the molds.
8.  Once your bath bomb mix has reached a clumpy consistency, pack them into your silicone molds.
9. Let dry for 48 hours.
10. Package up and give to your besties!

Thank you for reading my post!  Please comment if you have any questions!  I monitor my blog frequently and would love to help you make your bath bombs. 🙂

 

S’more Alternatives

Want to have s’mores at your big day, but don’t have a venue that allows fires?  These s’more pops are incredibly easy to make and look great displayed on a Styrofoam stand covered in any sort of colored tissue paper you may want (I used pink tissue paper. 🙂 )

Almond bark is every baker’s best friend.  (I still get confused as to why they call it Almond Bark, it is chocolate, right?  Can anyone help me with this? lol)  I only recently discovered it after doing some Pioneer Woman recipes. (I am kind of in love with Ree. ❤ )  I learned this marshmallow pop recipe from her, and you can check out her original recipe here.  These marshmallow pops can really be decorated in any way you may want, maybe with mini m&ms, Oreo crumbs, or whatever additions that tickle your fancy.  Almond bark also comes in white & regular chocolate, so the color options are endless, something that comes in handy if you are a DIY bride looking for color options and fun favors.

Almond bark is so easy to use too.  You just put in the microwave, melt it in intervals of 30-60 seconds, stirring along the way to see that it doesn’t get burnt.  Once the almond bark is melted, the possibilities are endless.  After finishing these marshmallow pops, I used the rest of the chocolate to make chocolate dipped strawberries and graham crackers.  Yum.  These didn’t last long in  my house.  😀  They probably won’t last long at your wedding either.  😉

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

\Having so much fun getting orders together as we enter peak wedding season. Use coupon code 35OFFALLORDERS to get 35% off of your whole order until June 15th!  Customers have been loving the beer totes & the paper tags.  We’ve also introduced some custom matchboxes too.

Want to celebrate state love?  Check out my online shop, https://papercranewishes.patternbyetsy.com/  and if you find a product you like just click “ask a question” and I can send over some potential proofs for your big day.  🙂

Cash in on your wedding savings today until 6/15!

 

DIY Bird’s Nest Pendants are a great gift during the spring season.  Put it on a jump ring and string it on the favorite necklace of your choice. Subscribers to HandCrate get the materials to make the pendant in this month’s box.  🙂

I’ve changed the approach to the box as I’ve wanted to increase the value of the box without having to charge more.  I am now going to making a lot of fun craft projects and whatnot out of my own studio here, Paper Crane Wishes.  I am always to include other artists who may interested in marketing their product with tiny samples.  If you are interested always feel free to message me at handcrate@handcrate.com.

Here’s the video tutorial for the bird’s nest pendant, very excited to do more tutorials.  I am thinking a paper flower bouquet for mom next month.  🙂  Plus some special soap gems I will instagram later, because you know “mom rocks”.  🙂 🙂

PS, excuse my misspelling of “gauge”, just trying to get these YouTube videos and made this little typ0 after I uploaded

I get a lot of HandCrate subscribers asking what they can do with the washi tape that comes in every month’s box.    I thought it would be fun to do a weekly blog post about all the amazing projects a person can do with washi tape because there are a bundle.

I will keep posting ideas weekly to keep the creative juices flowing for my fellow craftys.

Thank you so much for reading this blog!  If you would like a seasonal washi tape sent to you monthly, along with all sorts of other fun handcrafted goodies made by the Paper Crane Wishes studio, sign up for HandCrate!   ❤ Amy

After some updates on our process for the glass bottle totes, we have relaunched our beer totes on etsy (sorry Amazon).  In the photo above, my trusty lumberjack (& husband, Paul) is making a wine tote in our garage.  He loves making them too.

We put this tote together over the weekend.  It looks so COOL!  We like how big the lettering looks on the totes, really gives it that fun “WOW” reaction.  Other fun ideas could be “BEST DAD EVER” or any fun inside joke really.

Before we took a break from making beer totes for six months, we also had come up with another product that works great for weddings, gifts, vineyard birthday parties, anything wine-related really.  At the moment, I only have this design available for the wine totes, but soon we will be offering more custom options (just have to experiment with the vinyl a bit).   But table numbers would be so much fun!  Plus, yours truly could make some amazing custom wine bottle labels.

A lot of woodworking this weekend!  Interested in a custom tote? Message us on etsy and we will make it happen!

Thanks for following the blog!

❤

Amy

My little one just turned three years old, so we have been celebrating mermaid-style.

This little cake topper was great, I put in the top of my cupcake stand.  🙂  Made from glitter cardstock.  It’s times like this that I am happy I subscribe to the Cricut image library.  I only use public-domain fonts/images for my shop work, and so it’s fun to finally dive into these exciting designs during big events.

You can see the cake topper a bit there – – everything was mermaid themed: cupcakes, wrapping paper, food.  Even all the presents.  It was just a small gathering with Grandma & Grandpa, but what a festivity! (and Willie too, my doggie, he did a great photo-bomb in the back 😀 <3)

Here’s an image of a garland from the Cricut image library.  So intricate.  I love all the 3d effects the designs have, with different layers of paper.

They even had a design for this cute little crown.  My mermaid princess proudly wore her seashell tiara.  I also made some foiled signs.  This one says “fish food”, which is just a bowl of chocolate/pretzel goldfish.

I also put out a teapot filled with “ocean water”.  This one was just water dyed blue, but if I had enough time, I would recommend going and getting blue Kool-Aid or another blue liquid.  But still very fun!

So there’s how we celebrated mermaid-style?  What sort of birthday events have your organized for your families?  Love to hear all the wonderful ideas!

thanks for reading!

❤

Amy

Happy New Year!!

2017 is finally here!  A new year, new you! I’ve been crafting up a storm here at the studio (my craft room).  New future brides are coming out from the winter season after accepting proposals from the men of their dreams during the holidays (a great time to propose, by the way.)

As I have launched my subscription box, HandCrate, I’ve had a lot of fun celebrating the new year with amazing products from independent craft companies.  This amazing crown is from ConfettiMomma.

I just feel so blessed.  HandCrate is already over 25 subscribers, and the box just keeps growing.  I love being able to share my passion & skill with others, and also find some amazing etsy shops to promote.  There are incredible businesses on etsy & Amazon Handmade.

The seasonal lines I will be coming up for the boxes will be available in limited quantities on Amazon Prime shop, PaperCraneWishes.  Each HandCrate will include seasonal garlands, confetti, & cupcake toppers made by PaperCraneWishes.

One new years resolution I have is to make more cupcakes this year.  😀  While it may not support my other resolution to run a 5k, there is something about cupcakes… enough said!  (Look how amazing that buttercream looks, it has taken me several attempts to get it to the perfect consistency.  Finally have it down, the Pioneer Woman would be proud.)

As the year comes to a close, just want to say THANK YOU to all of those who have purchased from me and supported my shop/subscription box. I’ve been so lucky, and it is the business & love & support from all you wonderful customers & friends & family that has made it happen. Much love! & happy new year!! ❤ ❤ Amy

As December zooms towards us, the holiday preparations have started!  I’ve been trying to print and cut every seasonal design on the Cricut site to deck my halls; I have also been trying to keep up with this little munchkin.  The spirit of Christmas is strong with this one.  😀 ❤

Orders have been coming in for the Christmas ornaments.  My craft room has become a little Christmas toy shop in some ways.  I have a large batch of ornaments going out to Amazon Prime today, so if you are interested in getting one of the “Merry Christmas” or “Let it Snow” ornaments through Prime, check out the Amazon shop in the next few days.

Don’t forget I also do custom crossword ornaments too!  Message me through etsy to get started with your custom ornament.

The party is slowing amping up here, that is for sure.  I created these cute little straws by gluing some confetti on them.  Pretty excited to make some hot chocolate with these in the distant and near future.  🙂

How are you preparing?  Put up the tree yet?  Any fun DIY things you are doing this holiday season?

❤

Amy