Home made soap

My children bought me a Kirstie Allsop soap making kit for Christmas, which I made a few weeks ago. It was really easy to do which is always a good thing - sometimes kits don't have good instructions with them. The one thing I would say is that the mould is a little flimsy, so I didn't get the soap mixture packed in as evenly as I would have liked, meaning that the end bars don't look quite so neat. However, I now have 11 bars of soap, all of which smell divine (lemongrass and lavender) and leave your skin feeling really soft and not at all dry. I also know there are no hidden chemicals in there. I would definitely make soap again and perhaps experiment with different aromas. They would have made fantastic teachers gifts, but as mine are all in Secondary now, they don't do gifts.
I have kept two bars for us and wrapped the others to give as gifts. To wrap them, I used handmade paper and ribbon. I looked at making my own paper as I remember doing it at school, but then I found a pack of 10 sheets for £1 in a charity shop. As I'm tearing each sheet in half, I've got more than enough! The ribbon is recycled from other wrapping, so no cost there either.

I think they look quite sweet, don't you? They certainly look artisan with their uneven shapes!

Mr D and I are off to visit his cousin this week, so I'm taking a button heart and a wrapped soap rather than flowers. It would have been 'coals to Newcastle' anyway, as she is a florist!

Ps. Talking of home made. I thought if let you know that I finished my first 'bottle' of home made laundry liquid yesterday. That's not bad seeing as I started using it on January 5 - there are 6 of us, so I do up to 10 washes a week with towels and bedding. I still have another 4 litre bottle to use before I need to make another batch. I have been very pleased with the results so far. I think possibly, over time, that the whites may need a boost, as obviously it doesn't contain any bleaching products like a commercial laundry product would, but other than that I am very satisfied with my 1p a wash, home made liquid!