Last Minute Gifts 101: Candy Cane Soaps

I want to start off by saying this idea is not originally mine.  I saw it on the blog Gluesticks a few weeks back and thought it was so cleverly festive yet simple to do.  I've been making soap for years, yet never thought of this!   If you haven't made melt & pour soap, you're missing out.  It's fun, easy on the budget and practical too.

It's an ideal gift for just about anyone because everyone uses soap (at least everyone you'd want within 3ft of your nose).  So it's great for your mom, your in-laws, the kiddies, second cousins once removed, dogwalker's hairdresser, you get the idea.  And when you use fun molds, scents or designs like this it really makes it look special.

I had all the ingredients on hand so it was a quick project, but even if you don't it's pretty simple to do.  Using melt & pour glycerin clear soap base, bar-shaped molds and peppermint essential oil you make small batches at a time by melting the base in the microwave and then adding a few drops of fragrance.  Then alternate adding red coloring and either white soap base or add titanium dioxide (like I did) to make the clear base opaque to get the striped layers.  The trick to getting the nice smooth lines is to let each layer harden for about an hour and spray it with rubbing alcohol before pouring the next one.  Then immediately after pouring the top layer, sprinkle on crushed candy canes and let it sit for a couple of hours.

I used freezer paper trimmed with scrapbooking scissors to wrap up each pair and then tied them up with curling ribbon.

Due to the realities of wrangling kids, my design work & all the other commitments that take up time, I'd given up on the thought of doing homemade gifts this year.  But then I remembered this idea (thanks to Brandy at Gluesticks) and thought "Genius!" because it meant everyone could get a handmade gift AND they could all be done at once.  Handcrafted gifts and I still have most of my sanity left.  If only the rest of the gifts could wrap themselves I'd be all set!

Happy Holidays Everyone & Have a Wonderful Weekend!!


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