When I first started making soap some years ago, I had a couple of friends in Austin, TX who asked, "Is your soap like Dr. Bronner's?" Well...while I did like putting text and stories on my soap labels...and while I did make peppermint soap...and liquid soap...I never made liquid peppermint soap like Dr. Bronner. He's been making interesting natural soaps for 60 years...and they are good. His story is a delightful read. Perhaps one of you readers will be as iconic a soap maker as Dr. Bronner.

I recently moved - and all of my usual molds and such are packed in various boxes. I wanted to make a small test batch of soap, and luckily I was able to find my home-made mitre-box log mold. It was a great low-cost soap mold solution from a fellow soap maker friend, Pat Tyson of Pitterpat Skin Care. She designed a really wonderful, easy-to-make, small log mold that's made with strips of wood and a mitre box - and passed on the design to us. All of the materials are available at any local hardware store for just a few dollars.

Photo: Pat Tyson

Through all the years, all the commercials and advertisements, all the scents, colors and styles - it still comes down to this: washing your hands with plain old natural soap is best. This article from the Environmental Working Group elaborates, stating that washing your hands with soap is excellent for helping to minimize the spread of infection. But it adds that hand washing is also good for reducing our (and our children's) exposure to toxic chemicals. The article also tells us to:

• Skip the anti-bacterial soap - it offers no benefits
• Choose safer soaps - they recommend regular, natural soap with no added ingredients (not even fragrance)

So go make yourself some soap (we'll debate the use of fragrance oils later) and get your hands nice and clean.

Photo: Steven Puetzer / Getty Images

Halloween is in just a week...which means there are pumpkins in all of the stores - including some really interesting white pumpkins. (Orange is evidently very "yesterday.") Which means Jack O'Lanterns and hanging pumpking lanterns. But what about the day after Halloween? One of my favorite post-Halloween projects is to make a batch of pumpkin soap - with real pumpkin puree. Pumpkin is high in vitamins A and C and zinc...which makes it good for your skin too! (But we know that all of our natural homemade soaps are good for our skin, even without the pumpkin!)

Halloween (October 31st) is the next major holiday here in the U.S. And if you've already made some pumpkin soap, the next thing to do is to make some Halloween candles. You can make some easy Halloween appliqué candles, or, for the more adventurous, a fun project that uses a Balloon Candle Shell as the base to make a Ghost Candle.

My favorite time of the year is that transition time when the weather turns chilly for the first time after a long hot spell. It's time for hot tea, warm sweaters and hot baths. We soap (and candle) makers know the benefits of moisturizing oils on your skin, and the power of fragrance and essential oils on the mood. What a better time to combine them than in a tub of piping hot water? But what about the oily ring? Or the slipperiness? Here's a great and simple trick to take care of that.

Ok...it may look good enough to eat...it may smell good enough to eat...but it's just a candle, please don't eat it. At my house, we always get a bag of candy corn every Halloween and put it in a big glass bowl on the coffee table. Here's a Halloween candle project that uses the techniques to make a layered pillar candle - that looks like Candy Corn.

The weather turned a bit chilly here this week, and leaves and pecans are falling from the trees. I love this time of year...and everyone is in a completely different spirit than they were just a month ago. Here's a project that will bring a touch of autumn into your home and make hand washing delightful (especially for kids). This easy melt and pour soap project uses "silk" leaves soaked in melt and pour soap. They're basically "single serve" soaps that not only smell lovely but look lovely too. Once you're done, just toss the used leaf/flower into the trash. Your kitchen and/or bathrooms will look and smell lovely! There's even a video version of the Dipped Leaves Soaps project too!

If you're not a soap maker, and aren't going to be making pumpkin soap, you may want to try a pumpkin-inspired candle. This candle project is based on a balloon candle shell. Just like the Jack O'Lanterns you make yourself out of pumpkins, no two of these candles will be quite alike!

The pumpkins have arrived at my local grocery store. I never remember pumpkins being so available in so many shapes and colors. Big ones, small ones, green, orange, white, beige, red. They've really become more than just the base for a jack o'lantern. They're a required autumn decorating accessory. In my project to make a Squash Tea Light Lantern I said "Who said that carved out squash were just for Halloween?" Well that goes for carved out squash as much as carved out pumpkins. This easy project uses mini-pumpkins and tea lights - though you could use slightly larger pumpkins and votives as well. In just a few minutes, you'll have a creative and lovely Autumn centerpiece.