Paper making!

In our days, we have not noticed how much paper we waste. We have become unaware of how much it actually takes for our world to recover from the devastation we expose it to.
Some years ago, a lovely friend of mine introduced me to the beauty of self made paper. I can still remember my shout of joy the first time I saw the frame come out of the water with a brand new recycled sheet of paper right on our dinning table. My friend and her husband stared at me as if I was making too much noise for such a thing. Little did they know that they had just given me one of my today's passion and a tool that has allow me to discover my own desire for beauty.


Anywhere I go, any season of the year provides me with new ideas to create more beauty.
I have experienced that everybody, anybody LOVES to receive a note in a self made paper. For that, you don't need to be a great writer, the simplicity and beauty of something done by yourself is astonishing enough.

Aloe-vera Milk and Honey soap (rebatched) "Sarinah"

One of the things I have very much been waiting for is to be able to make my first batch of homemade soap. I have read and studied about it for the last 4 years, but didn't risk to try ...
If it was not because of moving, then it was pregnancy, yeah! one pregnancy after another!!! Lord mercy!
The more I read, the more fascinated I was about it, so I decided to give it a try, finally!
There are different ways of working out soap at home without the lye, one can be melt and mold, unfortunately, I haven't had any art crafts store near by that would provide me with the base, so my only options was to re-batch. So I started to "enrich" my soap, and my creams, and my conditioner and on and on. I am hunting for friends on birthdays, anniversaries, guests or hosts, any occasion is a good excuse to create new and more "stuff"

In this case, I used a milk and honey base from a Dominican artisan. I read all labels and make sure to use the ones that have the least artificial things add to it. I was living in Curacao when I worked this batch, and to my surprise, this soap was the cheapest! cool!
I picked up a hand full of aloe, washed it well, cut off the side thorns, and chopped it finely.
Melted the soap in a double boiler and mixed in the aloe with some coconut oil I had on hand!.
I tried to add some fragrance but most soaps already have a fragrance so it becomes too strong and it is not nice. I used some old plastic square container to give the form to this soap. It takes some days to finally dry and it might crumble a little bit the first time you use it. If that is the case, just pack it back together and leave it to dry longer, afterward it will be fine! Enjoy!