Homemade Peppermint Yogurt Soap

Dear Sis,

This recipe was originally written in 2015 as three individual posts because the process is done over a span of several days. You pointed out that it would be easier for our visitors to have all the information in one place, so here goes:)

PART ONE

Supplies

  • Scale
  • Ice Cube Tray
  • Glass Liquid Measuring Cups
  • 2 High Side Stainless Bowls or Pots
  • 2 Long Handle Stainless or Plastic Spoons, preferable slotted
  • Digital Insta-Read Waterproof Thermometer
  • Immersion Blender
  • Rubber Spatula
  • Square Silicone Pan or Soaps Molds
  • Plastic Dishpan & Vinegar
  • pH testing strips

Ingredients

  • 4.5 oz distilled water
  • 4.5 oz whole milk yogurt
  • 9 oz coconut oil
  • 21 oz olive oil
  • 4.1 oz bead lye (sodium hydroxide)
  • 2 t peppermint oil

Safety

  • Hair Tied Back
  • Onion Googles
  • Long Sleeve Top
  • Rubber Gloves
  • Long Pants or Skirt
  • Apron
  • Socks & Closed Toe Shoes

Yogurt Soap Preparation

  1. Measure distilled water and whole milk yogurt.
  2. Whisk together water and yogurt.
  3. Pour into ice cube tray.
  4. Freeze.

Frozen




PART TWO

Step One – Measure Fats

Measure Fats

Place the 21 oz olive oil in the largest of the 2 High Sided Stainless bowls or pots. 

Measure 9 oz coconut oil in a microwave safe dish. Microwave until melted.

Step Two – Work Spaces

Lye Station

Lye Station

Place frozen yogurt/water cubes in the smaller of the 2 High Sided Stainless bowls or pots. Set out a thermometer, spoon, contained lye, and the googles, gloves, and apron. 

Blending Station

Blending Station

Set out measured fats, immersion blender, spatula, and mold.

Neutralizing Station

Nutralizing Station

Fill dishpan with warm water. Add a few splashes of vinegar.

Vinegar water solution neutralized lye. Use this water solution to wipe down surface and tool that may have come in contact with lye. 

Step Three – Measure Lye

Take care to pull back hair, dress in long sleeves, pants or a long skirt, with socks and closed-toe shoes, and put on apron, googles, and gloves.

Measure Lye

Gently spoon bead lye into dish to measure 4.1 oz.

Step Four – Dissolve Lye

Dissolve Lye

In a well ventilated area, pour lye into frozen yogurt cubes.

Stir continuously. Begin measuring temperature when cubes are nearly thawed.

Dissolve Lye

Continue stirring continuously, until temperature plateaus. It may take up to five minutes. Don’t jump the gun on this step, for as long as the temperature is rising, the lye is still dissolving. If you proceed too soon, there will be undissolved lye in your soap! You’re pH test will flop for sure. My batch plateaued at 70.3 degrees for a full minute and a half before I went on to the next step.

Step Five – Saponification

Saponification is the chemical process which occurs between the lye (base) and fats (acids), that results in soap.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to get photos for this step. I ran out of hands:( …but I’ll give more written details to compensate.

Combining Fats & Dissolved Lye

Pour melted coconut oil into olive oil. (All fats should now be in the larger of the 2 High Sided Stainless bowls or pots.) Pour dissolve lye into fats. Stir by hand a bit. Then add 2 t peppermint oil, if using.

Blending

Trade spoon for an immersion blender. Place the thermometer in the mixture again. As you blend the oil will loose its translucent quality. You may notice an ammonia like odor as you work. This odor is normal and harmless as long as you are working in a well ventilated area. The mixture will thicken, lighten in color, and become opaque. A low powered immersion blender’s motor will even change pitch as the mixture thickens. The thermometer will show another temperature spike as these changes occur, four degrees or so.

Pour into Mold

Mold

Pour saponified mixture into mold(s). Using a spatula to scrape the bowl or pot clean.

Place the molds in the refrigerator for 3 hours. Then remove to room temperature. The soap should be solid in about 12 hours.

Step Six – Clean up

Leave the goggles, gloves, and upon on until clean up is complete.

  1. All items that have lye or soap mixture on them, should be rubbed down with dish soap directly before rinsing well with hot water.
  2. Wipe down all work surfaces with vinegar solution.
  3. Wash gloves in hot soapy water, dip in vinegar solution, and towel dry hands before removing safely gear. 




STEP THREE

pH Testing

pH test

Moisten soaps surface with distilled water. Rub a pH test strip into the damp paste.

Safe soap is in the range of 7 to 10.

For a pH of 11 or 12, let soap sit a few more days and test again.

For readings above 12, only handle soap with gloves. Although pH will decrease over time, a pH of 12 or higher should be discarded.

Cutting

Cutting

I prefer a chefs knife, but a large pizza cutter or a cheese wire are also tools practical for cutting soap into bars. I cut my square mold 3×3, for a total of 9 bars.

Bars

Bars II

Curing

Curing

Curing means simply allowing the soap to dry out a spell. Place on a rack to increase air circulation in a location free of excessive humidity. Stand 1 month before using.

There is no harm in using uncured soap, it just gets gummy and disappears very quickly. It is well worth the wait!

Happy Soap Making!

Love,

b




A New Coat of Paint

Dear Sis,

January marked the four year anniversary of the purchase of our home. Since that time, I’ve been planning to brighten up the master bedroom, but was always too busy with babies to bother.

The timing still wasn’t perfect, but with a new carpet install marked on the calendar, it seemed like a now or never kind of thing.

The kids and I spent the afternoon Thursday, moving the furniture into the center of the room, masking, patching, and sanding.

Our masking was so through we didn’t get any paint on the carpet, which makes me realize it is possible to paint the hallway, despite the new carpet. Good prep work goes a long way!

We brought paint Friday after swim lessons and got right to work. The difference in the two colors is striking!

I purchased single coat paint, hoping it would save me a day of painting, but alas it didn’t quite cover. Additionally, the transition form flat to satin finish revealed a whole new layer of defects that needed to be patched and sanded. That task was tackled on Saturday, along with completion of the accent wall.

Josh wasn’t home while we painted, but when he got home he asked me, “Did you know one of our walls in white?” He doesn’t love it as much as I do! In his defense, accent walls are usually the bold color and the neutral is usually for the remaining walls:) I made this design choice because I wanted a light aqua color in our room, but also knew it clashed with the colors in our wedding guest book wall art.


We purchased an additional gallon of paint Sunday morning, so we could do a second coat. It was nice that Home Depot reduced the price of our second gallon because the single coat didn’t workout, which was nice.

Late Sunday, I we removed all the masked and put everything back in its proper place.

The new carpet went in Wednesday and Thursday. The light color added additional brightness to the space. It’s the tropical oasis I was going for!


Completing this project made me thing of several more I’d like to tackle in the coming years!

  • Patch and repaint the light yellow walls in the living room.
  • Paint the hallways something light that isn’t orange!
  • Patch and repaint the master bath light yellow because it will go with the new bedroom color and the current decor much better. I even want paint the golden oak cabinet dark blue and add a shelf above the toilet like we did in the first floor half bath last year.
  • Repaint the kids bath and change the miss-match decor to a collection of butterfly decor I collected for Charlotte’s room before we decided to do a piggy/farm theme.
  • Paint all the closets white inside, repaint any doors and trim that need a fresh coat.

How is it that checking one project off a to-do list always seem to be followed by adding five more projects!?

Love,

b

 

 

 

For a Fish Loving Niece – Part 1

Dear Sis,

A few weeks ago I did a fabric haul at Hobby Lobby for Evelyn’s fish room.

Today William and Daddy were away at Monster Jam. Charlotte and I cleaned a bunch, made some freezer meals, and made Evelyn’s new duvet cover!

The Haul

  • Duvet fabric: 5 yards (42 wide) shimmer scale print
  • Duvet backing fabric: 2.5 yards (108 wide) white
  • Curtain fabric: 5 yards (42 wide) aqua
  • Curtain lining: 5 yards (54 wide) blackout drapery lining not pictured

This fabric is challenging to photograph because of the shimmer effect. 




Making a Duvet

Twin (68″ x 86″)

  • Center Panel: Our fabric was only 42 inches wide, so that was the width of our center panel. We tore the top edge to make sure it was straight, measured 88 inches and tore the bottom edge.
  • Side Panels: Two torn panels, 14.5 inches wide by 88 inches long.
  • Backing: Our fabric was 108 inches wide, but we tore it down to 70 inches by 88 inches.
  • Ties: We cut four, 12 inch lengths of twill tape. to stitch into the corners of the duvet cover.

  1. Making Duvet Top: sew side panels onto center panel. Press raw edges to one side and top stitch.
  2. Preparing Ties: roll hem raw ends to prevent unraveling.
  3. Preparing Bottom Edges: I used a 5 mm rolled hem foot to finish the bottom edge of each duvet panel. 
  4. Right Side Seam: Lay duvet top on the floor right side up. Lay backing over the duvet top hemmed side up. Sew right side seam. 
  5. Top Seam and Ties: Fold ties in half and lay between top and bottom duvet layers 1/4 inch beyond seam allowance. Tails should be out! Stitch in place respectively as you sew the top seam of the duvet. 
  6. Left Side Seam
  7. Bottom Corner Seams and Ties: Install ties in corners and stitch 2 inches beyond the side panel seam on each side leaving the center section open.
  8. Turn Right Side Out.
  9. Insert Duvet and Tie in Place.
  10. Admire your creation!

I still need to embroider pillowcases and make curtains:)

Happy Sewing!

Love,

b




Airplane Bathroom Reveal

Dear Sis,

Sometimes things get worse before they get better!

During a recent playdate, William and Carter were washing their hands together when we heard, “Carter broke the sink!” being shouted across the house! Mama Jenn investigated, was shocked, apologetic, and offering to help with a replacement, before I even saw what had happened. 

When I finally got to see it, I pulled out the shattered pieces, and explained that the sink was cracked when we bought the house. Our heavy glass soap dispenser fell in just the right way to blow it out. It was just dumb luck that it happened to Carter! 

We went sink shopping Thursday afternoon with Josh! He completed the installation just ten minutes before our book club guests arrived!!! 


Half Bath Reveal

I picked the shelves and brackets at Menards and Josh cut them down to size and hung them for me!

When I was painting and updating, I was dreaming about how I would decorate the space. On a whim, I asked William what he thought. “Airplanes!” he declared, and it stuck. A few days later, I found the red biplane at Hobby Lobby. It matched the hand towels we already owned and became the jumping point for our other decor choices.

I was looking for a free printable phonetic alphabet print. I did find one, but the colors weren’t right for the space, so naturally I made my own. The 5×7 frame is from Dollar Tree.

FREE 5×7 PHONETIC ALPHABET PRINTABLE

The vintage airplane prints were FREE and I found them here: The Birch Cottage. The frames are 4×6, and from Hobby Lobby. I picked them up during a sale, $2.00 each. 

The airplane hook was an Amazon find.

Our new Sink!

I still need to buy a lighter, acrylic soap dispenser,

so we don’t break this sink too!

I opted for a two handled tap, so the kids have more temperature control!

I love how it turned out!!!

I’m still working on the laundry room and sunroom.

Standby for two more reveals:)

Love,

b

Entry Decor

Dear Sis,

During Clutter Free January, I added bins to our entry shelves to contain the hats, gloves, mittens, and cloth face masks that seems to be spilling over! I also replaced the gallon bag that was holding all our sunscreen and bug spray with a nice basket! I was feeling inspired to take the space to the next level with it’s very own decor. 

The watercolor from Miss Patty and the deer from Great Granda were already up there, but they needed something to tie them all together!

I found this sign at Hobby Lobby, I hoped would be perfect for the space.

 

Better Together Wood Wall Decor

It ended up being too big, not quite the right shade of green, and I wanted the words to be at the top instead of the bottom! I also liked the idea of saving a bit of money, so I decided to D.I.Y. exacting what I wanted for the space.

All this decorating is making our home more cozy! Funny it took three years to get started:)

Love,

b

Dining Chair Covers

Dear Sis,

Over the past couple of days I’ve been draping and patterning covers for our white upholstered dining chairs. William is so big, we recently stopped using his Trip Trapp, so now he’s sitting on the regular chairs. Keeping them clean is a NIGHTMARE! I found some vinyl in the perfect shade on clearance for $3.00 when I was shopping for materials for the blackout curtains I made for Dad’s bedroom. Here’s how it looks so far!

Now I just need to find some trim that pulls the wood tone forward again and to fashion some sort of ties at the back of the chair to keep the cover in place better.

Love,

b

Clutter Free January: Kitchen

Dear Sis, 

Although, I decluttered the kitchen just a few months ago so that the instant pot and food processor could have accessible cabinet space, I have been finding little ways to improve kitchen function even more.

I’m not sure why, but our water cooler has always been in the living room. It makes more sense here in the kitchen/dining arena!

I recently saw this idea on one of the vlogs I follow on Youtube.

I’ve been thinking for some time, I need to overhaul the spice cabinet! Charlotte had broken many of the jar lids by repeatedly throwing them on the floor before I got a cabinet lock. The handwritten labels were hardly uniform! Many of the spices haven’t been used in nearly a decade! And still others, never received a custom jar and were still in store packing. 

I hope to find a few small baskets to place in the empty space for extracts and food coloring. 

Happy Organizing!

Love,

b

P.S. William has recently taken to threatening to run away when he doesn’t get his way. I’ve decided to go with it! So I helped him schedule a sleepover with Aunt Angel, since he is so big now!!!

Clutter Free January: Kids Art Corner

Dear Sis,

Our homeschool corner functions well, but the annex for the craft supplies wasn’t quite cutting it anymore. They plastic drawers were always getting stuck or falling out onto the floor. I’ve been thinking for a long time about how to make a kid friendly art corner!

Step one was relocating the piano from the corner to in front of the widows, which we actually did way back on the 3rd.

Another fringe benefit of moving the piano in front of the windows: protecting the blinds for our resident blind butcher, baby sister! 

We got a cheap walmart bookshelf for less than $30.00 and two more cube storage bins. Happily we were able to source the rest of the organizing containers from our home. Perhaps our best storage epiphany was using my old utensil holder for pipe cleaners! The kids helped along that way. Peeling label backs, moving wiggly eyes to a new container, etc. 

We placed a standing lamp in the corner for good light for our tiny artists! Historically, we’ve always kept our child sized table near our toy kitchen because it allows multiple kids to play in the space better. We’ve maintained that function plus brought it closer to our art supplies!

It came out perfect and $10 under the $50 budget I set for the project!

Papa Jeff stopped by on his way to work. The kids got to open their holiday gifts from him… ART SUPPLIES! They were easy to put away, but not before the kids tried out the finger paints.

William loves the squish of finger paints, poor Charlotte was trying them for the first time and was quite repulsed. I gave her a brush and she was much happier:)

Love,