DIY: Tea Soaps

Good Morning! Did you all have a wonderful weekend? Josh and I enjoyed the beautiful weather, took long walks with the pup and got to see family! On Saturday night, I was able to have dinner with my Dad and Stepmom, and give her the birthday present I made for her. Spoiler Alert: She loved it! And so, I wanted to share this fun project with you today.

I first got this idea when I was looking through some old Pinterest ideas and came across this tutorial from Cucumbersome. Phyllis loves tea and so I thought that tea soap would be the perfect gift. To make this, I headed out to Michael's and picked up some soap base and fragrance. Then, I used other materials I already had on hand. For the teas, I used honey chamomile and chocolate - giving my two different soaps a little bit of a different edge.


Then, I broke up my soap base using a knife.

               
Using my double boiler, I melted the base down.


Then, I lined my 9x9 pan with wax paper, and got out my 3 smaller molds. I used a spoon to fill the smaller molds and added the chocolate tea to them.


Then, I added the honey chamomile tea to the remaining soap, mixed it with a skewer, and then poured it into my wax-lined pan.


Then, I added a few drops of the vanilla and pomegranate fragrance to the larger mold.


I let the soap set for about 45 minutes, a bit longer than the recommended 30 minutes just to be safe, and then I removed all of the soap from the molds.


Then, I grabbed this amazing container I picked up from Pier 1, and used it to put together the soaps in gift form.


First, I grabbed tissue paper, scissors and tape.


Then, I slowly wrapped each piece as though it was a mini-present. After I was done wrapping them all, I placed them into the jewelry box.


It couldn't be wrapped, but I did place it in a large gift bag, with lots of tissue paper on top, so that Phyllis could open it like that. She absolutely loved the gift and I'm so glad that I was able to make something that she liked!

Have you made any gifts for people lately? Ever tried to make soap? If so, have you used the melt and pour or really made it from scratch? I'd love to hear about it!