Coloring & Other Hobbies | Strategic Living

For the longest time, I have wanted to make soap but was intimidated by the process. I envisioned donning my pandemic-ready overalls, goggles, and three layers of gloves so that I could safely work with lye. I have since learned that with care, I do not have to go quite that far but still, I was just not ready to take that step.

About six months ago, I learned about something called melt and pour soap base. Melt and pour base is a block of premade soap with nothing added. All of the work to create soap from oils and lye has been done, leaving the fun part of adding color, fragrance, and molding into bars to you. The more I read, the more I was hooked so I purchased some supplies and got started.

There was no looking back. I have learned that making hand-crafted soap from melt and pour base is addictive and is both a highly creative process and superbly rewarding hobby. I just can’t stop making soap and love giving my precious bars away to friends for no reason at all. Just because.

One of those friends loved her soaps so much that she asked for more. And then she asked me to teach her how so she could make her own and give them away to her friends. So there I was, one day, teaching my friend Nancy to make soap and within an hour or two, she was an expert. Her husband told me I created a soap-making monster. Now I don’t know about that but with all of that experience behind me, I decided to memorialize a beginners guide to making soap.

Given that pursuing your passions, including hobbies, is part of living a strategic life, I share with you what I know so far about making no-lye soap, along with some tips and tricks that will pretty much guarantee success.

In 2010, prepping took over my life, all in a good way. Years later, I now believe I have the skills, supplies, and most of all, the mental fortitude to prevail during dire circumstances. Although I still prep, albeit less frantically, I have moved on in pursuit of new passions. One of those passions is grown up coloring.

When I first learned about adult coloring (also referred to as grown-up coloring), it was an emerging craze, fueled mostly by Johanna Basford and her Secret Garden coloring book. As someone who had a day job as well as a full-blown website, I was stressed to the max and wanted something that would allow for private, me-time. I was also fascinated by the prospect of stashing some low-cost coloring supplies for passing the time during grid-down emergencies.

I jumped in with both feet and now, years later, find that doing so led me to discover that I indeed had some creativity and in my DNA and more important, I could pursue a guilty pleasure without having to spend a ton of money. Win-win.

With that introduction, let me help you get started with adult coloring!