Category Archives: Special Projects

DIY Hair Mask made with 3 natural ingredients…

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The Happier Homemaker Hair Mask

Photo courtesy of the Happier Homemaker

As I mentioned a few weeks ago one of the projects I want to tackle this summer was trying some natural recipes that M. GRACE and I find interesting and hopefully you do as well.  The first tutorial we posted about was the DIY Eyelash Growing Serum from Whipped Green Girl.  Today we are intrigued with the 3 Ingredient Moisturizing DIY Hair Mask from The Happier Homemaker.

I love the personal reason Melissa from The Happier Homemaker mentions for her need to develop this recipe because I too love my hot iron.  Plus she’s right about the wonders and benefits of coconut oil.  This recipe is fantastic because it needs only 3 ingredients and I like things to be as simple as possible.Pure GRACE Soap Hair Mask

M. GRACE (8) and I made this recipe per the directions.  Actually she did all the mixing including cracking the egg.  She added the coconut oil to the bowl first, then the avocado and mashed them together.  Finally she added the egg and mixed again.  I began to work the mask into M. GRACE’s hair.  Melissa mentioned the coconut oil will warm up in your hands and traditionally this does happen for me but since the egg and avocado were both straight out of the fridge I was having trouble getting the oil to warm and mix into the rest of it.  M. GRACE has pretty short hair for a girl so I worked plenty of mask into her hair and sent her to go look at herself in the mirror.  I wanted to try the mask as well and there was plenty left but first I warmed it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and it was long enough to begin the melting of the coconut oil.  I was able to smooth out the oil and really incorporate it into the mask mixture better than before and it made the process much easier for me.  I had enough mask left to do my whole head of above the shoulder but thick hair.

M. GRACE and I enjoyed wearing this mask for about 15 minutes and then rinsed it out.  She was most thrilled that the water came out green.  Our hair felt great and looked shiny, fuller and softer.  We will probably try this treatment again possibly once every 2 weeks like The Happier Homemaker recommends.  We would definitely recommend this mask to our readers.

If you end up trying this recipe we would love to hear about your experience in the comments.

PINK of Terre Haute Fashion Show…

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Pink of Terre Haute Fashion Show

Photo courtesy of Modern Charm

Who hasn’t been touched by cancer?  I think most of us have been whether it was us, or someone in our immediate family, friends circle or just someone we see once in awhile.  If you haven’t been touched in one way or another by this terrible disease you are very lucky.  Personally, we have had too many friends and family members fighting hard against various forms of this monster.  We pray for them, we fight for them and we rejoice in their victories, small and large.

When we heard about a fashion show in our town of Terre Haute, IN that supported breast cancer we knew we wanted to be part of it.  PINK is a non-profit organization born out of the unmet needs of patients, families, and caregivers of Wabash Valley residents touched by breast cancer.  They hold only a few events each yearPink April 2015 and the fashion show is one of the best ones.  Held in the gorgeous Indiana Theatre this fashion show is top notch.  I could go on about the clothes, food, drinks and VIP treatment but my favorite part of the evening was the models.  They were all woman who were going through current treatment or survivors, and boy were they gorgeous, inside and out!

There was so much love and support surrounding this event and we were thrilled to take part in it.  We enjoyed talking to lots of lovely ladies about our products and giving advice to them for skin issues they are having due to treatment.  We wish them all of the best and look forward to seeing them again next year.  Keep up the good work PINK!

Evening of Art and Wine…and Soap in the Bathrooms…

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Evening of Art and Wine

Photo courtesy of Terre Haute Women’s Club

We were delighted when the Terre Haute Women’s Club asked us to participate in the annual “Evening of Art and Wine” event benefiting the Shoe Bus.  The event, originally established in 1972, was born out of a need to distribute shoes to Vigo County School Corporation students in financial need.  During that same year a local auto dealer donated a van to the Club and it became known as the “Shoe Bus”.

The event is April 18, 2015 and open to the public; tickets are available online.  The event, held at Hulman Center, continues to grow in size and includes local wines and appetizers for the evening.  Support a fantastic charity while visiting with friends, viewing and purchasing some of the local artwork.

While you are there make sure to stop by the bathrooms to freshen up!  You will find an assortment of our soaps in both the men’s and woman’s restrooms for your use.  We are happy to help this organization in any way possible.

New Branding with Labels…

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New labels frontIt seems like we have been working on our new branding and product labels forever, but its really been only a couple of months.  When we first launched Pure GRACE Soap we quickly developed a brand and look we liked, it worked well for us for a year until we were ready to add a more professional appearance.  We are lucky to live and work in a college town where there is  no shortage of talented artists.  We quickly found a wonderful local graphic artist who is about to graduate college with her degree and was more than happy to help us with our project.  We like to support local and small business just as you support us!!Orange Almond 1

Initially we knew what type of function we needed for the product labels and had some ideas of what we liked and what we wanted to keep from the old label but did not have a true design in mind.  Our graphic artist was able to present a few different ideas which we have massaged and worked over until we arrived at where we are now.

New labels backIt has been great seeing the design evolve.  M. GRACE and I both really like the new, clean, simple look and we hope our clients will too.  We have been releasing “sneak peek” looks at the labels as they are being finished on our Facebook page.

The new labels include stickers for the lip chaps, lotions, bath bombs, sugar scrubs, laundry detergents and deodorants.  All of the soaps will have a new round double sided paper label attached with pretty colored butchers twine.  The bags which are now available in two sizes have had a makeover and we have new little “enjoy” stickers which will be included on our shipped orders.  Even our wool dryer balls have a new look with special business cards which explain how to use them.  Perhaps our most exciting design element, however, is going to be part of the men’s line.  Watch for a new more masculine bird to roost on all of the men’s line products.  Look for the entire line of products to get their new labels in May.  Until then let us know what you think by leaving us a comment below.

The beginning of the Strawberry and Green Tea Facial Sugar Scrubs….

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DSCN1790Our soaps and other products are all made with custom recipes.  We do a lot of testing to finally get the recipe just right.  Many of our ideas come from our clients.  They will ask for something in particular to help with their skin or a scent they like and we take it from there which is exactly how our new facial sugar scrubs were born.

Earlier in the year we had developed and released a Strawberry Body Sugar Scrub.  It was released in both our online store and our local Farmers Market.  At the time of release we were announcing it on our Facebook page detailing the benefits of strawberries to the skin.  Strawberries are extremely beneficial for the skin for many reasons including being an excellent skin cleaner, improving complexion, helping to tone skin and providing protection from UV light. They also exhibit fantastic anti aging properties, they help with the treatment of acne, diminish under-eye puffiness and help to repair damaged skin.DSCN1778

A customer contact us via our online store and he wanted to know would it be possible to use this body scrub on his face.  We recommended we would not since the texture of the organic sugar was too rough for the somewhat sensitive and fragile facial tissue and skin.  He told us he really wanted to take advantage of the benefits the strawberries had to offer but on his face.  We offered to create a custom scrub for him that was made with a finer texture of sugar and after some testing with friends and clients shipped it out to him.  He loved it!  While this was going on a couple of clients heard about the facial version of this scrub and started making purchases immediately, they wanted the benefits too!  We are happy to announce the Strawberry Facial Sugar Scrub is now a permanent scrub in our product line.

DSCN1786We already had an idea in our head to create a Green Tea Facial Sugar Scrub and it seemed to pair well with our new Strawberry Facial Sugar Scrub.  Green Tea has some wonderful skin benefits also including excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is thought to very likely slow down the signs of aging. Research studies think it is possible that green tea provides protection from skin cancer and can help reduce sun damage. We include both organic green tea from tea bags and organic matcha green tea powder which is a premium green tea powder from Japan used for drinking in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies for hundreds of years in our scrubs.

Sugar scrub is the most natural way to soften, exfoliate and to freshen up the skin. Sugars fine texture gently exfoliates the skin without leaving harmful residue that can clog the pores. Skin loving oils provide the moisturizing properties that prevents the skin from drying. Our custom recipes use only organic cane sugar and are our recommendation for the driest of skin.  If you haven’t had a chance to try out our new line of facial sugar scrubs look for us at an upcoming Farmers Market or Area Craftshow, where we will be demo’ing them.  If you have an idea for a product you would like to try drop us a line at info@puregracesoap.com.

Tablescapes fundraising event…

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DSCN1809We worked for several months designing this table in conjunction with a fundraising event for Arts Illiana which is a local organization which helps to fund art programs in the Wabash Valley.  The title of our table was “Pure NATURE by Pure GRACE Soap”.  We incorporated moss, greens, dried flowers, vines, pine cones and flowers in our table design.  We also built from scratch the centerpiece which symbolizes our Pure GRACE Soap birds in a metal birdcage up high and on display.  If you look closely you can see their purple tail feather peeking out of the cage.  DSCN1844

We accessorized the table with three tablecloths.  The bottom was a full length white cloth, which we added a sheer tan cloth with beautiful embellishment to and topped the table off with a cream color tablecloth that had a silver sheen to it.  We layered them in a manner so you could see them all and they looked rustic and natural.

programThe dinner plates were cream with a raised design and emphasized with burlap chargers.  We found wonderful steak knives with bone handles.  The napkins were handmade and featured through wire napkin rings.  The wine glasses were some from our personal collection and we included a bar of spa soap on each place setting.  We finished the look with dark brown wood chiavari chairs which we draped and tied in tan colored scarves.DSCN1824

We had so much fun working on this design and concept.  We did a dry run the week before and finalized the design the day before the event opened to the public.  We also added two set of tiny battery powered lights to the ensemble, one in the birdcage and one for the rest of the table.

The event was a fundraising opportunity for the organization.  They offered tickets to a Tea on Thursday, Cocktail Party on Friday and Full Dinner on Saturday.  We had such a nice time creating our table and presence at this event and look forward to doing it again next year.

Business Update – Online Shopping Via the Website…

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Online OrderingSo if you have been following us very long you know we have been working hard to get our products online.  We are happy to announce most of them are finally available for purchase online via our website, PureGRACESoap.com.  In addition to getting the products online we have also done a major update of the website.  We hope you will take a few minutes to look around.  Maybe even leave us a comment if you feel so inclined.  We have tried to add features you will enjoy like the blog.  We now have an updated list of art and craft shows you can find us at for the year as well as our current retail locations.  We are taking on more custom work and will be expanding into wedding favors and the like later this year.

We love to talk to our clients and customers and ALWAYS appreciate all the love and support you have shown us.  We want to continue to grow and make you proud.  Let us know how we are doing and we hope you like the look of the new website and shopping experience!

Custom Orders for Custom Clients….

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Bridal show with soap and flowerWe love working on custom orders and are always happy to speak to a client who has an idea in their head for a product.  We have spent a lot of one on one time working with one local company, AAV Travel, to determine exactly the best product for their clients.

The first challenge we partnered with Stefanie, the owner of AAV Travel, on was for a bridal show she was attending as a vendor.  She wanted to give all the brides who visited her table a take home bar of soap made with a custom scent, color and packaging.  She had an estimate of how many brides she thought would come to the show along with a budget to work within.  We were thrilled to be able to produce for her a half size custom bar scented with a very tropical fragrance.  We infused organic olive oil with annatto seed oil to create the bright orange color and added poppy seeds for decoration and scrub.  We branded each package with her company logo and wrapped with her signature blue color tissue paper and pretty blue and white twine.  Her brides loved them!aav nov 2014

The next project she called on us for was a large scale thank you gift for her best clients.  Since she works with clients from all of the world one of our top priorities was to make sure whatever we came up with that it would ship well.  She knew she wanted 5 different soap bars, each to represent a portion of the world that she plans vacations and honeymoons for.  Working back and forth over several months we determined the regions that would be represented.  We sent her several fragrance profiles to review.  From there she picked the smell she thought best represented each of the 5 regions and we began to talk about appearance of the bars.

Top angel Sian Ka'an AAVWe finalized and finished the set of 5 bars several months after we began the project and she was very pleased.  We provided her with a custom shipping box and lots of kraft shredded paper for safe soap traveling.  We branded all of the bars with her logo and website and she choose names for each bar.  We packaged them 5 to a box and delivered them to her in time for holiday shipping.

We’d love to work with you on your custom needs.  Add that something special to your wedding, shower, event, party, holiday, reunion or work outing with a custom product/s.  We routinely customize soaps, scrubs, lotions, lip chaps, detergents, etc and in addition to your signature scent and look we can add your special date, photo, location, name, etc.  Contact us to discuss more.

Contact Stefanie at AAV Travel for all of our your destination vacation and honeymoon needs.  Stefanie is located in Terre Haute, Indiana and services the world. 

Holiday scents, we are so excited…and our first GIVEAWAY…

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apple ciderSo we have been working on the holiday scents for several months.  We started in the beginning of summer thinking about what scents meant fall, winter and holiday to M. GRACE and myself.  We made lists and checked them twice.  We ultimately decided on seven different scents which we felt were most important to not only us, but that we thought you would like too.

So here goes…..
The first holiday soap is an Apple Cider soap and this might be my (Julie) favorite of all of them.  It literally smells like apple cider, in bar form.  This soap contains French Red Clay throughout which gives it a caramel color and dried apple peel on top.  We test all of the new soaps but I have to tell you, once I got to this one I kinda got stuck and haven’t yet moved on to some of the others – I like it that much.  I hope you do too.  This soap will be in stock all fall/winter season long.pumpkin spice 1

The second holiday soap is M. GRACE’s favorite – Pumpkin Spice.  The thing that really gets me excited about this soap is the inclusion of organic squash.  Squash is really great for your skin and body.  Squash helps to maintain healthy skin and prevents skin aging (its the Vitamin C in there that really does it).  Along with the organic squash this bar also contains pumpkin pie spice.  Why you ask?  Well, because it’s fall and pumpkin season and that’s what you put in pie so why not in your pumpkin soap?  The bar has a pretty two color swirl comprised of the dark color from the spice and the orange color of the squash.  It smells just like fall, comfort and warmth. This soap will be in stock all fall/winter season long.

holiday vanillaThe third holiday soap is a pretty versatile one which you might just wish was available all year long, we call it Holiday Vanilla, you might call it heaven.  This is a two colored bar with the bottom layer being brown and the top layer of the bar a natural color with added coffee grounds which not only look attractive but also provide excellent skin exfoliation.  The scent is a very true vanilla, none of that fake stuff here and the color contrast is very pleasing.  This soap will be in stock all fall/winter season long.

Wondering why I am mentioning which soaps will be in stock all fall/winter long??  Well because we have created some limited editions and guess what – they won’t be in stock all fall/winter long.  When they are gone, they are gone folks.spiced cream

Number four on our holiday countdown list – Spiced Cream Soap.   This is our lightest scented bar, hosting a creamy spiced smell.  The bar itself is a tri color swirl comprised of a dark spice color and scent, a caramel color and a natural color.  This bar is very dreamy.  This bar is a limited edition and once it runs out we will not make more until next year.

figgy soapSoap number five is Figgy Soap.  We struggled with what to name this bar but Figgy Pie just kept coming back to me – I really have never smelt a Figgy Pie, is it even a thing?  But if it was, it would smell alot like this soap.  So hence, we committed to Figgy Soap.  I like the smell of figs.  I grew up eating them off a tree in our backyard.  I would eat them until I couldn’t eat anymore.  I enjoy buying them now for my family and even just planted a fig tree earlier this summer in our yard.  So Figgy Soap excites me. Plus the coloring on this soap is really pretty.  It is a two toned bar with French Green Clay and Brazilian Purple Clay swirl.  Both are natural colorants which offer the skin lots of detox and purification properties while still moisturizing.  We have added mulling spices to the top just for decoration and because I think it makes this little bar of soap a little piece of art.  This bar is a limited edition and once it runs out we will not make more until next year.lump of coal

The sixth soap is just plain fun!  Titled Lump of Coal Soap, this bar smells a lot like gingerbread.  We made it especially for those folks who have been a tad bit naughty this holiday season.  It has a lovely black and brown swirl look to it.  The black is from activated charcoal which will help to dry out any oily skin while still moisturizing.  I know some people on my Christmas list who might be receiving this in their stocking…but I won’t name names. This bar is a limited edition and once it runs out we will not make more until next year.

Bar number seven is one I have wanted to work on for a long time, before we started the soap endeavor, actually.  It is a Peppermint Wool Felted Soap.  This bar of soap is made from Peppermint Essential Oils and Red Brazilian Clay.  It is then hand wool felted and instantly becomes the most attractive gift for the holidays.  Each one is unique in color and design. This bar is a limited edition and once it runs out we will not make more until next year.

Peppermint Wool Hand Felted Soap

So there you have it – our seven new scents for the holidays.  They will be released this weekend at the Farmer’s Market (Saturday September 27) or they are available for pre-order now.  All bars except for the Peppermint Wool Felted Soap will be available for $5 each.  The Peppermint Wool Felted Soap is $10 each.  We will also be bringing out holiday inspired sugar scrubs and lotions in early October so stay tuned.

So I promised you a GIVEAWAY in the title of this post – and who am I to disappoint??  We will be giving away two sets of two bars each of the new holiday collection to two lucky winners.  M. GRACE will announce the winners who will be selected by random draw on September 26, 2014.  You may choose to pick up your winner’s bounty at the Farmer’s Market this weekend or we will ship it to you if you are not local.  Best of luck!!

Here is what you want to to do enter.  Leave us a comment/reply on our soap product page about WHICH SOAP is your favorite and WHY.  If you haven’t had a chance to try any of our soaps yet – no problem,  tell us in the comments which one of the holiday scents you really want to try and why.  Link is here: http://puregracesoap.com/products/soap/

After you have finished leaving your comment go back to our Facebook page and leave a comment on the giveaway post telling us you left a comment on the website.  Link is here: https://www.facebook.com/puregracesoap

Want more chances to enter??  Who doesn’t??
Leave separate comments for us on ANY or ALL of the Pure GRACE Soap products you have tried.  Remember to go back and let us know on the FB posting.

AND, if you haven’t already LIKED us on Facebook make sure to do that for an additional entry.  Feel free to share this giveaway with your friends.  It is the holiday season and they might just gift you with some soap as a thank you!