Chateau Badeau

Winners and Bombs!!!!

WOW....Is it the 15th already?

This last month has seen me being too busy to blog as I have just moved into a beautiful new home with my crew and have been working feverishly to get it all organized. After living in a 100 square foot house for almost a year (complete with outhouse, trailer a short walk away for cooking and shoveling snow in the winter to make coffee when my pipes froze) I am thrilled to be in a large open space where I can commit more time to the things I love...namely knitting, cooking up a storm and living sustainably within the confines of being realistic :0)

However my dear friends....You're not here for that today! You're here to find out who the winners of the March contest are!!!!

Congratulations to Carmen who has won the beautiful book Feltique, and to Jamnut who has won the $20 gift certificate from Stitches Supplies for the Fibre Artist! I will be in contact with both of you by the end of the day! A BIG thank you to all of you who entered!

I would like very much to have another contest next month but, this time, I would like YOU to tell me what you would like to win! Let me know in your comments!

Now....did I mention bombs???

Now that I have a real kitchen to work with again....and a REAL BATH TUB..."gush"....the first order of business was to have a decadent, scenty, melty, beautiful BATH! It's bath bomb time!

My personal favorite bath bombs are chocolate chip vanilla made with real chocolate chips!

They are incredibly EASY to make!!!

Here's what you need:

16 oz of baking soda
8 oz of corn starch
8 oz of Epson salt
8 oz of citric acid (I get mine from Wicks and Wax)
1.25 cups of dark chocolate chips, chopped
3 tbsp of Witch Hazel (most pharmacies)
3 tsp of Vanilla essential oil (or to scent preference...I used Escents Tahitian Vanilla)
5 tbsp of grapeseed oil
Some sort of mold. I use plastic fillable Christmas ornaments that I got from Michael's and have been known to use silicone molds. Ice cream scoops work really well too!

Here's what you do:

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl using a wire whisk to make sure everything is well blended.
Mix all of the wet ingredients into a bottle and shake until they are emulsified.
SLOWLY, and I mean slowly, pour the wet ingredients into the dry continually mixing with a wooden spoon as you go. You do not have to use all of the liquid.
When the mixture looks like wet sand do a test mold: pack the mixture into a mold and tap it out into your hand. If it falls apart when you place it on your surface to dry then the mixture needs more liquid.
Once you have the right consistency just have at 'er and set your bombs out to dry for a day. Then put them in an airtight container. A pretty one if you have it :0)

At first your bath bombs will feel fragile, and they are! Give them a full day to dry and they will get nice and hard!

On your first try you may find, as your bath bombs dry, that they kind of melt into one big puddle. That means that you added too much liquid. Not to worry! Let them dry completely anyway and the next day break them up into chunks and put them in a container to use later. They will still fizz, although not as much as usual, and they will make your water soft, fragrant and lovely!