Soaps on Tour - Two Part Blog Post - Part 2 Platypus Dreams

Titch, Official Soapographer

As you might have read from Part 1 of this blog post, I was on holidays in West Cork on the South West coast of Ireland for the last two weeks.  Several months ago, I ordered some fabulous soaps from Sharon of Platypus Dreams based in Australia (yep, I'm so crazy about soap I ordered some from the other side of the world!).  She makes the most incredible soaps and the ones that caught my eye were enormous slices from a soap cake .. like a real cake, with fabulous icing, but made of soap.  They were beautiful.  She sent these along to me, as well as other samples and freebie.. I couldn't believe her genorousity! I promised her I'd take one of the cake slices on holidays with me and take pictures when I was there - it's an idea stolen from Dennise Cupp of Briny Bar Soap (she of the Part 1 of this blog post) and a brilliant idea at that ... I'd love others to take soap on tour with them.

Below are images taken, in the main, by my newly named official soapographer, my "honorary daughter", Titch - she has really gotten into photography lately so she was allowed free reign with this project. 

And so, without further ado, from Australia to the South Western tip of Ireland, I give you Banquet, Platypus Dreams' incredible soap slice.


Banquet at the Castle? Outside the Tower of an 18th Century Castle

Banquet outside the Castle Gates... can I come in?

Banquet sunning itself by the Sea at Crookhaven

Banquet on the rocks?

Banquet gazing out to the Atlantic

Banquet on high at Crookhaven

Banquet on Sheeps Head Penninsula - one of the most South Western points in Ireland

 I hope you like the soap images Sharon ... from Australia to Ireland and looking (and smelling!) as beautiful as ever! Your soap truly is a feast for the eyes!!!



Versatile Blogger Award

I have been given a Versatile Blogger Award by Ger Holland who writes the blog, It's My Jovi Life - thanks so much Ger!!

The concept behind the Versatile Blogger Award is to follow a few rules and then pass it on to whatever blog you think deserves it. The rules are:

1 - Make a post and link it back to the person who gave you the award (and include their website address)
2 - Share 7 random things about yourself
3 - Award 7 recently discovered bloggers with this award and contact them to let them know they have won

Pretty simple really I guess! So I'm going to post on Ger's blog to say thank you so much and then list the 7 utterly random things about me that you may not know already.

1 - I probably have a touch of OCD - I have a few little rules to live by and have a few phobias too, nothing too crazy or weird but somethings just set my teeth on edge... like sticky things for instance or the feel of newspaper... ugh!!!!

2 - I met my husband online, on a forum based on a US newspaper - it was a very generic forum which talked about things as deep as the meaning of life and as silly as what colour will I wear today.

3 - I've almost died 5 times, each time from meningitis (you might remember I did a blog post a while back about recognising the signs of this disease). Thankfully I came through fine after each episode and have no lasting issues

4 - I have an "Honorary Daughter" called Titch - we met online a few years ago and became the best of friends... so much so that she now lives with my husband and I as she's starting a Post Grad Diploma in Dublin this September

5 - I prefer to drive an automatic car - I can drive a manual no problem but I just prefer an automatic ... especially fast ones!

6 - I have an enormous sweet tooth and I'm trying to reign it in at all times so half of my life is spent on a diet ... the other half is spent eating chocolate!!!

7 - I used to knit and design knitwear professionally for a time - sadly it was so costly that I couldn't live on it wholly plus it was the root cause of a very bad case of carpel tunnel syndrome thats now calmed down since I stopped.

Hmmmm were they very interesting? Not so sure!!

I would like to nominate the following blogs to receive the Versatile Blogger Award also:

http://brinybarsoap.blogspot.com/ I love Dennise's blog, she writes so well and has such passion
http://www.greatcakessoapworks.com/handmade-soap-blog/ I love Amy's passion about soaping and the fact that she is so willing to share her ideas
http://www.lovinsoap.com/ I love Amanda's experiments and tutorials; she takes great pictures and I love her way of writing
http://jenorasoaps.blogspot.com/ Jennifer's journey into the soap business is fascinating and her blog is well worth checking out
http://scent-trail.blogspot.com/ Suzanne's blog is great and her growth in the soaping business is reflected in the blog
https://www.platypusdreams.com.au/blog/ I adore Sharon's soaps, they are simply stunning plus she uploads  some fabulous videos too
http://cocobongsoaps.blogspot.com/ Julia does the best reviews of soaps as well as making her own beautiful creations - this is one of my ALWAYS-read blogs ever!

Hmmm only 7 blogs to recommend? No fair, there are too many more to read!!! Oh well, it'll have to be 7 ... for now!!!

Thanks so much ladies for giving this soaper great inspiration and enjoyment and I hope you enjoy your Versatile Blogger Award! And if any of you are big Bon Jovi fans, make sure to check out Ger's blog at http://www.itsmyjovilife.blogspot.com/

Soaps on Tour - Two Part Blog Post - Part 1 Briny Bar Soap

Titch - Official Soapographer

On my recent holiday, I took two soaps with me "on tour".  One was a Chocolate Mint soap I won from Briny Bar Soaps recently and the other was Banquet, a soap cake slice from Platypus Dreams.  You might know that Dennise from Briny Bar took my Vanilla Anise soap on tour with her across the US and I shamelessly stole the idea from her! And Sharon, from Australia's Platypus Dreams, thought it was a great idea to take her soap slice to West Cork with me. 

My Honorary Daughter, Titch, turned official Soapographer for the holiday and a lot of the images are hers, but some are mine too.  I hope both Dennise and Sharon like the pictures!

Part 1 - Briny Bar Soaps on Tour in West Cork:

Dennise's soap travelled down with us and we took as many pictures as we could ... here they are

Briny Bar at Ahakista - fantastic spot which is actually in a memorial garden, pure calm

Briny Bar at Sheeps Head Pennisula - one of the furtherest points South West of Ireland

Briny Bar on the cottage windowsill looking out to our back garden

Briny Bar at Crookhaven (it was a stunning setting on a stunning day!)

Briny Bar at Crookhaven - against the Atlantic Ocean

Briny Bar looking out at the sea inlet at Crookhaven

Dennise - hope you liked the pictures; I can't wait to try out the soap itself now! Sharon - I'm uploading your images and will post them tomorrow.

Soap on the Road, I think this should be the start of a trend.  So who's going to do it next?!

I'm home!!! I think I want to be on holiday forever though!

I've been in West Cork for the last two weeks - it's our dream place, we simply adore it and I will admit I cried tears of mega sadness sitting there one last time this morning, staring out at the incredible view of the harbour, the sun glistening on the water and listening to the "putt, putt, putt" of the little fishing boat heading out to sea. 



Crookhaven, West Cork, 2009



Where we go, there's no access to the net or mobile phones unless you leave the village; this might scare some people to death (and it did scare me at the beginning) but, Oh My God, how good is it to have a complete break, away from everything.  I've decided I really could be on holidays all day every day! Sadly I didn't win the lottery when we were away so no chance of that .... yet!!! However, its part of hubs and mine long term plans that we do sell up and move to "our" village so it'll happen, in time. 

I've got a ton of pics I need to show you (if I don't bore you to death in the meantime) and pics of two soaps from Briny Bar Soaps and Platypus Dreams that we took with us ... there are a lot of pictures of them in scenic places! My honorary daughter, Miss Titch, was with us and she became official "soapographer" during the two weeks. 

I'm also dying to soap and received some fabulous fragrance oils before I went away that I'm DYING to soap with.. cannot wait!!!

So, keep an eye out for some new blog posts and images this week (the pic above was taken in 2009, just to give you a taste of the sort of pics to expect).