Linky Party Features

Happy Sunday everyone!  I hope all of you have had a fabulous week!  I wanted to share with you some of my favorites from my first linky party.  Please be sure to grab a button if you are featured. 

This process was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  I really do enjoy being inspired by others in so many areas.  Thank you for participating.  Here we go:

Her-Ballistic Garden

Wendy shows us how to take one pillow and transform its looks to fit the season. 

Homespun with Love

I am a sucker for decorated mantles.  This is done beautifully and on a budget.

The Messy Roost

I admit that out of every craft project I have ever done, I have yet to decoarte a glass block.  This one certainly has me motivated to do my own.

Thanks again to everyone who participated.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you have been up to this week!

Yummiest Lotion Bar Ever!

For those of you that don't know me, I make ALOT of my own beauty products along with household cleaners.  I feel soo much better about using them when I know exactly what is in them.  While I have made lotion bars before, they just seemed either too heavy or flat out too hard to mess with as an every day moisturizer.  I kind of gave up on making them rather quickly because of this.  Well, after doing a little more research, I think I finally came up with my own recipe that I am really happy with and that smells SUPER!  The essential oil I used is called litsea cubeba.  This oil is refreshing and uplifting with a citrusy smell, close to lemongrass only sweeter.  I love citrus but I don't want to smell like furniture polish!  The sweetness in this fragrance stops all of that.  You can read more on this essential oil here. The recipe follows:

1 part beeswax
1 part coconut oil
1 part grapeseed, apricot or almond oil (I chose grapeseed)
1/4 part shea, mango, or cocoa butter (I used shea)
1 tsp. of essential oil per pound of product
1 tsp. Vitamin E oil per pound.


I chose to make a small batch and used 1/4 cup each of the oils and 1 Tbs. of the shea.  I used a 1/2 tsp. of both the EO and the Vit. E oil. 


Basically you take your top 4 ingredients and melt in a double boiler or microwave.  If you choose to use the microwave, check after one minute and stir contents.  You do not want the oils to boil and burn.  If it still needs more time, choose 30 second intervals or less.  Once they are all melted and combined you can add your EO and the Vit. E oil.  Stir them gently together again.  Place the melted oils in molds.  I used these two little massage bar molds that I found on etsy and they were the perfect size.  Wait for the oils to harden and then remove.  The lotion bars should pop out really easy.  Once they pop out, place them in a container or on a plate.  You do not want to handle them for long lengths of time as the point of them is to melt when coming in contact with body heat (unless, of course, you are wanting to put lotion on right away).  Then, voila!  You are finished.

You can find the ingredients for these bars in many places.  I've listed some links below to get you started. 

32oz. African FILTERED CREAMY Shea Butter from Ghana
Sundown Pure Vitamin E Oil 70,000 IU, 2.5 oz
Now Foods Grape Seed Oil, 16 Ounce
Nature's Way Organic Coconut Oil, 16 Ounce
BEESWAX PELLETS YELLOW 1-LB
Litsea Cubeba 100% Pure Essential Oil - 1oz

Bath Fizzy Pizza Gift Boxes

I am always looking for new and creative gift packaging ideas for all of my homemade goodies.  I get bored easily and enjoy challenging myself with new designs.  So, when I made a batch of heart shaped bath fizzies to give to my friends this valentines day, I wanted something that was the perfect size to contain them.  If you are looking for a bath bomb/fizzie recipe, you can go to my post here.  Aside from changing up the essential oils and choosing a smaller mold, the recipe is the same.

I wanted something small and flat, like those little mini chocolate boxes.  I found this tutorial on one of my favorite 'papercraft' idea sites and ran with it.  Here is the finished product:

They were super quick and easy.  I know I will make a few more.  Enjoy!

Rag Quilts Revisited

A couple months ago I published this post on rag quilts and how easy they are to make, even for a non-sewer like myself.  Rag quilts are sooo forgiving and, once I made my first one, I am now addicted to them.  I have since made two more with slightly different patterns/measurements to them.  You really can do whatever you want with them so long as you sew all of your fabrics right side out and to the front.  1/2 inch seems were used for both.  1 inch would work as well.

For this one, I cut 12 inch squares to work with and used fleece for the backing.  One of my daughters was given a quilt kit over a year ago that has just sat around in pieces.  I made good use of the cotton fabrics and really had no pattern with the colors, just random.

For the pink one, I cut 6 inch squares and used solely flannel fabrics.  You really do want to stick with softer fabrics.  This is a blanket/throw after all.  While this was a little more time consuming due to cutting 4 times the amount of squares, the finish is a little more fuller because of the extra frayed seams. 

My next adventure will be for my own bed.  I dont even want to think of how time consuming cutting squares will be for a queen blanket when these two are merely throws.  I may meet in the middle and shoot for 8 inch squares instead.

Being shared with:

New Linky Party Monday!

Yes, you read that right.  I will be starting my own linky party on Monday. While I have had my own 'make it yourself' series, this one is for you.  I can't wait to get it started and be inspired by your creations.  I am still working on a feature button but will have everything set up on Monday.  I will feature my top 3 every weekend.  Stay tuned.......