Yes, it's actually soap...

You cannot believe how many times I have found myself saying that to people looking at my felted soaps. Since there seems to be so much confusion, awe and wonder when it comes to these "handmade felted soaps"... let me fill you in on whats really going on there:

1. I make the soap. I'm too scared to actually work with the lye myself (I have had a couple containers of it for about 3 years now... still too scared). So instead, I go to Hobby Lobby and buy the glycerin soap base. Perfect. Painful Fight Club incident successfully diverted :-)

This is everything that goes into the soap itself-

We have all of the oils that our skin needs and wants so badly!

 We also have our fragrances! I use some of these fragrance oils, but sometimes also use essential oils such as tea tree, peppermint, and lavender to scent the soaps. 

And here is a picture of the pre-melted glycerin, all chopped up and ready to be melted and mixed with the oils and scents!

I used to melt the glycerin and everything my microwaving, but Now I prefer to do it on the stovetop in an old sauce pan.

After everything is melted together, I let it cool a bit and then pour the soap into the molds....

(also... If I'm making Guinness soap, I add flat Guinness to the soap along with the oils and fragrances) I usually let the soap harden over night in the molds and then pop em out so that I can get felting!

Ok- this is the part that I don't have pictures for unfortunately. :-( Alllthougghhh.... This video shows you pretty much exactly what I do!

And there you have it! Handmade felted soap! I'm totally smitten with them- I love the process and idea of a washcloth and soap in one! So yes, it really is soap! And yes, you really can use it! And yes, it really is that awesome!

Re-Purposed Old Metal Trays

I did something new this week :-)

I was at a second hand store the other day and found a ton of old metal trays and decided to go all crafty on them.

I had seen on a blog that I follow as well as on Pinterest some cool uses for re-purposed metal trays, so I decided to try my hand at some of my own interpretations!

 I think my favorite projects were these little mini trays that I found in a pack of 6. I have all the other ones pained in different colors, but have yet to take pictures yet due to the fact that I am still in the pimping out process with these  little guys.

What do you think? So, basically all I did was this:

- Paint the tray with desired color (I used acrilic pains that I had.... but I would just spray pain in the future)
- Spray a gloss over the painted parts of the tray
- Brush on the chalkboard paint over the desired area of the tray. (After the paint has dried.. do a couple other coats of the chalkboard paint)

And that's it people! As I said, I'm still in the process of pimping all the trays out... so stay tuned to see whats all in store for these little guys!

Much love and Happy St. Patty's Day yall! xoxo elyse

March

Why I am super excited about this beautiful month of March--


1. Fun spring and St. Patrick's Day crafts for my kiddos at the daycare:

From Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/pin/279856564314509622/

From Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/pin/279856564314581966/

2. We are hoping to be able to see our favorite band Gungor play live this month! We saw then last November while they were here in Springfield, and really enjoyed being able to worship with them and meet they whole band! We even had a few beers with most of the band members after the show :-) One of the best evenings of my life. The main guy of the band, Michael Gungor, has a brother who also has a fantastic band called The Brilliance who is on tour with Gungor right now- hoping to see both bands!!

Ryan and I with Michael and Josh from Gungor

Me with the ever sweet, talented and lovely Lisa Gungor

Please check out Gungor's blog to read some of Micheal's posts and to find a show near you!
Also- follow them on Twitter (@gungormusic) and "like" them on Facebook! They were nominated for TWO Grammy's last month! They're awesome :-)


3. HUNGER GAMES!!!!!! The movie to the first book comes out this month!!! I've been waiting patiently for almost a year!!!! We have tickets to the first midnight showing the Thursday night that it comes out. We cannot wait!!! I may or not be dressed up as a certain "girl on fire" hehehehe. nerd- yes, I know I am :-)

4. St. Patrick's Day shenanigans with some of our dearest bestest friends in our little "monthly get together" group that we have with 3 other married couples. Love these people so. much.

We are missing Abby and Tim in this picture :-( Hope you can make it this month!!!

5. And fiinnalllyyyy..... We leave for GERMANY the last day of March!! We're only going to be there for a very short while (something like a week) for KontaktMission's annual retreat for all of the missionaries and workers within the organization. We had the pleasure of being able to attend last years retreat as well- amazing!! We are sooo excited to be able to go again this year! It's always so refreshing, exciting, encouraging and uplifting to be able to spend almost a whole week with other people who share the same passions, hardships and worldview as you. And there are so many people there with sooooo much experience to learn from! I'm so excited for the conversations yet to be had, tears yet to be shed and the stories to be told at this years retreat! Here are some pictures from last years event-

Group hike

Fun times catching up with dear old friends! This is Heather- another American missionary to Germany. We met in 2007 on a KontaktMission short term mission trip! We were roommates!

The worship band for the retreat! Can you see Ryan back there on the drums?!?! He'll be playing again this year for the band :-) I love singing worship songs in German! Cant wait!

How we spend a lot of our time during the retreat. It's quite exhausting really :-) All of the headphones that you see are how the people who dont know German are able to understand the speaker :-) Lots of different translations going on! It's crazy!!!

Here is a picture of last years speaker :-) He was awesome.

So anyway- Thats about it as far as March goes. I'm so excited to go through this awesome month!!! Do any of you have fun plans for this month!?!

ps- If you would like more info on our trip to Germany at the end of this month (or any information on our journey toward becoming full-time church planters in Germany in general) please email me at heartfelt.accessories@gmail.com   We are currently looking for churches and/or individuals who would be able and willing to partner with us both prayerfully and financially so that we are able to make this trip a reality! Please let me know if you are interested!

Blessings to you all!

xoxo elyse