DIY Valentine Soap Craft and Printable Gift Tags

This year my girls and I decided that we wanted to try and make something different to give the Valentines in our life, so we thought we would try our hands at making some Valentine soap. This turned out to be really fun and easy. The hardest part about the whole thing was having the patience to wait for the soap to harden! Since we had never made soap before we did some learning as we went along, but all in all the finished project came out pretty well. Here is how to make your own Valentine soap…

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• Clear Glycerin Soap Cubes (These also come in an opaque variety, but if you want to float anything in your soap choose the clear kind.)
• Heart Shaped Silicone Muffin Pan (It’s important to use this type because it’s flexible and will allow you to pop your soap out easily)
• Rubbing Alcohol in a Spray Bottle
• Sharp Knife
• Cutting Board
• Pyrex Measuring Cup
• Stirrer (We used a bamboo skewer)
• Soap Fragrance
• Soap Colorant (or the tiniest bit of food coloring)
• Any Items You Would Like to Float in Your Soap. We used plastic hearts, heart shaped baking sprinkles, and conversation hearts. The sugar should melt in warm water as the soap gets used.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR VALENTINE SOAP:

1. Gather all your materials so that they are clean and ready. Make sure you wash out your silicone dish so that there is no dirt and residue which could transfer to the surface of your soap.
2. Cut your soap squares. (For six bars of heart soap we used 16 cubes of glycerin.)
3. Put your cubes into the Pyrex measuring cup and melt in the microwave. We melted about 8 cubes at a time (enough for 3 bars of soap) Microwave the glycerin for 30 seconds and then check it by stirring. We had to put ours back for about 20 seconds more, but you want to be sure not to overheat or boil the glycerin.
4. When the liquid glycerin comes out of the microwave, add any fragrance or colorant you choose. (Our fragrance said to use 5 drops per ounce of soap.)
5. Spray the inside of your silicone mold with the rubbing alcohol. This will make the surface of your soap come out smoother and with fewer bubbles.
6. If you are making a solid bar of soap, just add the liquid to your silicone cups. If you are adding any confetti or shapes to your soap, fill the cups halfway. Wait for a minute so that the soap hardens up a tiny bit. Then place your additions into the soap. Spray the surface with rubbing alcohol once more to eliminate bubbles and help the additional soap adhere better.
7. 

   Download these free printable tags for your Valentine soaps!

   Pour the rest of your liquid soap on top to fill the cup. (If the soap in your measuring cup has hardened up at all while you were waiting, put it back into the microwave for 10 seconds and stir it back up.)

8. Spray the top of your soap one more time with rubbing alcohol so that the surface dries smoothly.
9. Wait for at least 1 hour for the soap to completely harden. Then simply pull the silicone mold away to pop out your finished product. (I have heard that putting the soap in the freezer can speed up the wait time, but we didn’t try this so I don’t know for sure.

When our soap was ready, we wrapped each bar individually in cello wrap and tied them with red ribbon, adding these gift cards to finish them off. We made up some free printable Valentine gift cards for your soap that you can print and use on your own project. Happy Valentine’s Day!