Baby Soap, Whipped Gingerbread and Pumpkin Pie...it's been an eventful week!

I found these adorable little bear molds a few weeks ago and thought they would be perfect for making baby soaps:

I used a gentle recipe with olive oil, carrots and buttermilk…no fragrance, this would make a nice facial soap too:

I forgot how quick it is to make soap with no colors, swirls or fragrances….it goes so much faster and the clean-up is so much easier:

I also had to deal with the unpleasant situation of someone using my photos without my permission on their website. I had made a few attempts to contact the person privately, to no avail. After reluctantly bringing it public, the picture was finally replaced, which I am grateful for. However, that now means that I will have to take the time to watermark each and every photo I post, which is time consuming, and frankly, it makes you question whether the information you are sharing is worth the risk.

A good way to check if someone is using your photos is by running your images through Google Image Search. Here is a great tutorial on how to do this: http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/how-to-see-if-your-photos-are-being-used-on-another-site.html

(Just a quick note - if you are using Google Chrome, you would right-click on your picture and choose “Copy Image URL” and then run it through Google Image Search)

Dana from New England Soaps made some good points on my Facebook page regarding how to disable hotlinking and why this search might not catch all of your images that are being used. I did a run a few more of my pictures and found other sites that are using my images too :( 

Please use basic internet etiquette...if you would like to use someone else’s picture, ask for permission. The majority of people won’t mind, and will be very thankful for your courtesy. Alternatively, at least give credit for the picture and a link back (I think most of us soap bloggers have done that at some point, and I think it’s perfectly reasonable). Otherwise, it’s a small internet world and if you are using someone else’s picture, you will get caught.

Anyway, enough lecturing and back to soap!

This week, I also made some whipped gingerbread soap:

And tried piping on top of some soap:

I hope you are all having a great weekend, thanks so much for reading!