Mom loves beautiful, decorative soaps, doesnt she? Dont have much money? Thats okay. You wont need much - maybe you wont need any at all - depending upon the things you already have at home. That is, if you have a brand new bar of soap at your house, it wont cost you a dime to make Mom a special soap thats one-of-a-kind. Dont get your feelings hurt if she never uses the soap, though. Shell love it so much shell want to save it forever! Start with most any bar of soap. The color and size doesnt matter but soaps with raised letters arent ideal. If you have more than one new soap around the house you can make your mom a set of them. Do so by cutting pictures out of magazines or cards. Cut the images so that they are the general size of the soap. The picture can be somewhat smaller than the actual soap but not larger. Heavy paper will work much better than thin types. Choose wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, comics, magazine covers, or even a photo.
Decoupage glue works great for attaching the pictures to the soaps. Its sold in craft stores and is used for putting paper or cloth onto most any other surface. If you cant get the adhesive just use watered-down white glue. Use two parts glue and one part water to make the liquid adhesive. Use a paintbrush to apply the glue to the soap. Position the picture on the face of the soap and paint on another coat of the adhesive. Allow to dry. Speed drying by using a small fan.
After the glue has dried apply another coat. Continue allowing each coat to dry and apply another and another coat. After three coats you can stop whenever you want, but the more coats of glue you add, the longer the image will stay on the soap. If the glue looks cloudy dont worry. It will dry clear. If cloudiness remains after all drying is complete a small piece of low-gauge steel wool will help you buff it to a clean shine. Pictures of flowers, pets, oceans, lighthouses or other things your mom likes will make the perfect soaps for her. Find great images on old calendars, greeting cards, product boxes, leftover wallpaper, or just create a unique design with stickers. Spell out a tribute to your mom or just write "Mom" with the stickers. After youve glued the stickers on follow the above instructions for layering the glue over the picture. If you dont have stickers you can still spell out a tribute to Mom on the soaps. Just cut letters out of magazines, calendars and similar items. Combine pictures and letters to create something even more impressive. Arrange the letters you want then decorate around the word or phrase with tiny pictures of flowers or other images. There are some unusual types of paper that you can use to make extremely unique soaps. One such paper is a wrapper from a candy bar. These can be used to make "candy soaps" that Mom will love. One design is to use a Hersheys Cookies n Cream wrapper on a white bar of soap. If the soap is green try a Peppermint Pattie wrapper. These soaps are so different but so cute and easy to make! Youll have as much creating them as Mom will receiving them. Make a cute gift basket to present the soaps by starting with two or three small wooden or plastic picture frames. Whatever frames you use they should be identical and flat on the front. Remove glass and backing until all your left with is just the frames. Glue the frames on top of each other then glue a piece of cardboard to the bottom. Fill with shredded paper and arrange the soaps. The special soaps arent specifically for Mothers Day. Theyre great for Moms birthday, Christmas, or even Valentines Day. If the soaps are ever used the paper will disintegrate into tiny pieces over a period of time. The project isnt just for children, either. Women can make theme soaps for friends and family as gifts for various occasions. Get started right away; Mothers Day is right around the corner!
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