Our monthly Soap Challenge Club is off to a great start! We’ve had well over 100 members for the first and second months, and we will be starting up the third month on Monday. I am behind on announcing the winners of the Mantra Swirl challenge, so please accept my belated congratulations:

First place goes to Swanee Bonny from France:

Second place goes to Mariella Belknap from Washington State:

And third place goes to Shari Lewis of Blossom & Twig:

Normally, the first place winner takes home the grand prize, which in this case was a $100 gift certificate from Majestic Mountain Sage, and second and third place get free registration to the next month’s Soap Challenge Club. However, I received a very sweet email from Swanee stating that she makes soaps for fun for her own needs and enjoys the soap challenges because they push her to try new techniques, BUT she wanted Mariella to have the prize because “she is located in the US and will be able to place orders at MMS for her soap business.” Wow. So Mariella gets the grand prize, and Swanee is happy to get free registration to next month’s Soap Challenge Club along with Shari. Have I mentioned how much I love the soapmaking community? I’ve “met” so many wonderful soapmakers in this journey, and am looking forward to meeting many more!!

Want to see the rest of the beautiful Mantra Swirl Soaps? Visit our link-up!

For the next Soap Challenge Club, we will be doing the “Holly Swirl” technique, otherwise known as a “swirl in a swirl”! The credit goes to Holly of Missouri River Soap Co. for coming up with this technique. Isn’t it fabulous?

Registration will open on Monday, July 29, and remain open until August 5, 2013. Our sponsor this month is Brambleberry, and the prize is a signed copy of Anne-Marie’s new book Soapcrafting (releases August 13th), plus a full kit to make one of the soaps from the book – complete with all the ingredients and the mold! Don’t want to miss it? Sign up to receive our Soap Challenge Club notifications!