After spending almost a decade in the event decorating industry I have repetatively heard "I can do that". Instead of being dismissed by creative minded people, I want to show you how I do "that" so you can be sucessful in recreating that inspiration image. I just might have a few tricks that you haven't seen yet!
The one thing about approaching holidays is that you really get smacked in the face with everything that needs to be done.
Whether you’re decorating sideboards for an Easter get together or just looking for something quick that fits in a space as small as a window sill to add a little color before spring finally unfurls. This quick craft is for you.
What you need:
1 Stemless Wine Glass
1 Bag of stones 18 oz/794 g
1 Faux Succulent
Any other accent piece that you would like to add (I chose a glittery bird)
Glue Gun
Accent Glitter
5 Minute Version
If you just want to toss something together, all you need is the glass, rocks, and succulent.
The succulent that I chose had a very thick stem. Because it was sturdy, I could pour the rocks in the glass and push the succulent stem into the rocks and moved on. (If the rocks have resistance, give the succulent stem a little swirl and it will sink right in.)
For whatever reason if the succulent just does not want to go into the rocks, never fear. Pour out the rocks with the exception of some in the bottom (or the level that you can easily push in the succulent). Then lift up the leaves on one side (and then the other) to add the stones in, around the stem.
Want to use real succulents?
You can do this using a real succulent of your choice. Make sure you verify if the succulent you want to use can life in rocks or if it needs cactus potting soil.
If your succulent needs soil, but you prefer the look of the rocks showing through the glass, you will need to take a little extra time layering the rocks outside and putting the soil in the center
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Ten Minute Version
Follow the directions for the 5 minute version to get the glass filled and succulent set. The remaining time is dressing up accent piece that you are adding.
For example, the glitter bird that I’m using came from the dollar store and I wasn’t 100% satisfied with it. If I had feathers in my crafting room, I would have added feathers for the wings as well as the way it was set up with feathers on the tail. Unfortunately, I don’t keep feathers. So I needed to pull off the pink ones that came with the bird. The black eyes also seemed to stick out awkwardly. To remedy this, I grabbed my glue gun and black glitter and added glitter detail work to add dimension and character to the bird.
Thanks for spending a few minutes with me today. If you’re anything like me, you have a list as long as your arm to get done in less than 48 hours. My kiddos always look forward to a newly designed shirt. I haven’t got a fully developed idea for that yet. But I do have a spring edition ready to go dressing up some sock bottoms. They enjoyed the ones that I made for them for christmas. So I thought I would make a few more for them. You can check out sock designs here:
I have to love my husband who loves to give practical gifts. Usually he stays away from gifting flowers because they last for a few days before they’re composted. However, there are so many uses for not just roses but other flowers as well. While I’m going to be talking about roses here, there are so many other flowers that can be used in the exact same way!
For those who are unaware, roses are edible. (Before you do eat rose petals, make sure that they haven’t been sprayed with chemicals, pesticides, insecticides, or anything else that is harmful to you.) Roses contain vitamins A & C, Niacin, Potassium, Iron, Calcium, and Phosphorus. Some places where you’ll find fresh petals are on a dessert/cake or in beverages such as teas.
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It’s not just the petals that are usable to our bodies. Rose hips (the bulb at the bottom of bud, harvested at the end of the rose season from the rose bush) is used in the beauty industry and baby products for the benefits it has to the skin.
The benefits to the skin is the primary reason why I decided from this last bouquet of roses that was given to me that I was going to use the petals for my next batch of soap.
I started making soap because I’m not okay with all the chemicals that are being used in soaps in the commercial market. Other than using soap dyes (which I’ve had my tub and skin discolored from bath bombs and other products) the mission I’m on is finding natural dyes to color my soap. For pink soap, I’ve seen soap makers use dyes or French clay.
Now Calendula is a well known floral natural food grade colorant. For red/pink colorant, Beets can be used in food. But anyone who’s worked with beets knows that your skin and clothes can be discolored. So I wanted to find a different red/pink colorant for my soap that I can grow in my garden. So I came to roses.
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How to Process Roses
There’s two easy ways of doing this.
The first is to hang the roses upside down to slowly dry them out. The benefit of this method is that all the vitamins and natural compounds that our bodies benefit from are at a higher concentration when they are dried at a low temperature and slowly.
Ideally, the most benefit would come from using the petals fresh. And while it is possible to use fresh ingredients in soap making (I make orange colored soap using pumpkin puree), there’s no way of breaking down the petals for a smooth and consistent colorant unless you want to use a blender and puree it with the water content of your soap. While it’s not a bad idea, unless you grow roses year round (which I don’t) you have a limited supply due to the window of fresh flowers available. (This is the reason why dried petals are best for me.)
This drying method is slow and takes time. Also any white component will yellow as it dries out. This can affect your over all final color depending on which rose you use. With the red rose, not so much. But the other two, the tinge will be noticible.
So there’s the second method, using a dehydrator.
The benefit from using a dehydrator is that petals are finished drying in about 24 hours (at 90°F, the lowest setting on my dehydrator) and their colors are only affected by growing darker.
As you can see here, the white component on the pink flowers have not discolored too much. This is great because when I turn these petals to powders, I’ll retain a pink like quality.
Before I move on to finishing these petals, I want to mention that if you want to make a natural confetti for cake decorations or throwing for a party/wedding celebration, all that you need to do is crush your dried petals by hand and store them in an air tight container (like a lidded glass jar) to prevent them from rehydrating due to humidity in the air.
As you can guess, with the fact that there were lavender inner petals on the second rose (the one with the variegated pink and white outer flowers), this is the reason why I blended in the red petals with the pink ones, to keep the pink and stop the transitiontoward purple (although I’m not opposed to purple soap.)
To make Rose Powder, all you need to do is put the crushed petals into a coffee or herb grinder and run it until you get the consistency that you are looking for. Because I’m looking to make a colorant for my soap and don’t want to have flower chunks in it, I took the powder down to a very fine grind.
The fun part about Rose Powder is that you’re not limited to use it as a natural dye or colorant. You could dust this on the icing of a confectionary dessert. If you want to make pink pasta, use this powder as part of your dry ingredients. Mix the powder with a sugar or salt and you have a pink sugar or salt rim to your favorite beverage.
No matter what celebration you have coming up, keep this idea in mind. If you want to dress put your Easter cup you can make a sugar rim using all sorts of different colored edible flowers. Calendula gives you yellow/orange, Violets blue/purple, Hibiscus yellow/orange/pink/blue/purple, there are so many other flowers. If you want to see a quick list of different edible flowers, here’s a jumping of point here.
What unique way do you use flowers?
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Depending on the space you’re looking to decorate for spring and Easter, you might find that you want a little sparkle in a small place. Maybe it’s a window ledge, a office desk corner, a mantel piece, or just a side table. This is something quick that you can put together and adds as much or little color as you like. The best part is that with the exception of glue drying time, you can have this project done in under an hour!
Materials Needed:
Clear Glass Salad Plate
Clear Glass Cylinder Container (with lid)
Glitter (color of choice)
Glitter Glue (complementary color)
Elmer’s Glue
Paint Brush
Paper and Wire Decor Eggs
Tall Candles (colors of choice)
Fairy Lights (optional)
Polycyclic or Clear Acrylic Spray Paint (optional)
Vinyl Decals/Stickers (optional)
Silk Flowers (optional)
Everything you see here I sourced at my local dollar store, with the exception of my Elmer’s glue and polycyclic. Hello mom of young children here! I found that I’m least likely to cry with accidents when I buy things from the dollar store. And accidents happen.
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Let’s Make It
Jar Stand
This one is a multifunctional component. I’m showing you how this holds a decor item, the paper and wire eggs. Instead of the eggs, you can use the plate for treats. Or you can set the plate aside and use the jar as a plate holder for part of your Easter Brunch.
Inside the glass jar paint in your glue in the bottom portion of the jar. I used a yellow glitter glue to complement the green glitter. When using glitter glue, it’s important to pat the glue on your project and not paint it on. This type of glue does not have the holding power that Elmer’s glue has. I chose to stop the glue a little over halfway up the jar and stroke upwards to create a grass like effect. If you want to use Elmer’s glue you’ll have a little better control over the glue and a quicker dry time. Just make sure to add a little secondary color of glitter into your original glitter choice. This will give dimension to your color and keep it from becoming flat looking.
Dump a good portion of glitter into the bottom of your jar and swirl it around on top of the glue. For the sides of the jar, I turned and tilted the glitter from the bottom of the jar down toward the mouth. I also hit the sides as I turned the jar, so that with it came to knock out all the excess glitter, there was very little that came out.
Allow to thoroughly dry.
You may find that you need a dry loose bristle brush to brush out some stray glitterthat likes to stick to the clear glass.
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Egg/Treat Plate
In order to keep this plate safe for treats, make sure to apply the glitter to the underside of the plate. This makes the face hand washable.
Apply a thin layer of Elmer’s glue to the area of the plate that you want to add the glitter. For me, I love the silver coloring of my jar’s lid and want that to shine up through the bottom of the plate. So I only applied glue to the lip of the plate.
Sprinkle glitter over the wet glue. The more thorough you are on the shaking off of excess glitter makes the final step easier to apply without lifting the glitter.
Once the Elmer’s glue is dry, seal in the glitter with polyclinicsealant or clear acrylic spray. This is an important step if you want to make sure that you won’t leave glitter trails when handling the plate. If you choose to use polycyclic, you want to tap the sealant on instead of brushing. Brushing actually ends up stripping glitter off of the glass. If you tap it on, the only glitter that comes off is whatever is loose to start with. If you’re like me and want to minimize the amount of glitter loss, clear acrylic spray is perfect. There is no loss. Plus the acrylic spray has the additional bonus of retaining the sparkle of the glitter more.
Allow to thoroughly dry.
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Assemble the Accessories
For my display I chose to go with the multi colored paper and wire eggs and different pastel colors of tall candles. This is where even more personalization can happen. If you have rattan balls, you can use those here and keep with white candles to keep a clean minimalistic look. (In this instance a white frosted paint or white glitter might be your choice of decorating the jar and plate.)
For the candles, if you choose to go the color route, you can mute the colors by frosting the outside of the glass.
Or perhaps you have ribbon from other decor you already have up. You can hot glue a band of that ribbon around the candle.
For this set, I’m going to apply vinyl decals onto the glass. Also I’ll apply a decal on the jar.
Coming back to the jar, you might choose to further decorate the inside. Perhaps you want to add battery powered tea or short pillar lights. Maybe you love fairy lights. (For this one I would recommend hot gluing the switch the bottom side of the lid. This allows you to turn on the light just by lifting the lid and not having to fish for the switch on the bottom of the jar.) You could be a flower person. You could arrange your favorite silk flowers inside. Combined with fairy lights could be very dreamy looking. I think I’m going to have to find where I stashed my silk butterflies. The wing span is about 6″ and I could arrange 1 or 2 butterflies on the inside and have a little whimsy on the inside of my jar.
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Put It All Together
Even with all the different ways of personalizing this project, it’s all going to take on a different life depending on how you will set this up. Will you use a colorful table runner? Or maybe you’ll display this set with absolutely no further modification. I can totally see the white frost, rattan balls, white candles set on a reclaimed wood side table.
I’m coming up on the end of my first season coaching basketball and I couldn’t let this moment pass without sharing some of what I’ve learned. And also share the thoughts that I wished I could have talked with my dad about.
Before I can share what I’ve learned I have to go further back. (And we get there, I’m sharing the photos of the craft that I made for my basketball boys. Directions to make this, or an alternate, are below.)
My dad was my first coach, my most favorite one. But he didn’t become a good coach on his own. He learned from one of the best, Coach Carter. He wasn’t one of the really blessed to play directly under the amazing wisdom of Coach Carter, but he was able to attend some of the basketball clinics that Coach put on for other young men. There were only select memories that my dad shared with me from his youth, but this season of his life he was very proud to pass on.
Even without the stories, I would have seen the fingerprint of Coach Carter on my dad. It wasn’t just playing Basketball in its purest form. More importantly, Coach Carter taught my dad how to value even the weakest and overlooked player on the team. For Coach Carter and my dad, there were no bench warmers. If you were on the team, you had a role to play on the court.
The most profound thing about this way of thinking is to watch over the years about how this shaped young men’s lives.
Once I went into Junior High (Middle School by today’s terminology) my dad was no longer my coach. He tried, but there were no openings. But he was able to get position as a boy’s team coach. Fortunately for me, the boys and girls teams played in different seasons. So even though I didn’t get to play on my dad’s teams, I gave up my free time to help my dad run his practices. Yes there were looks when I tried to help out boys my age during practice. That meant I ended up being a silent assistant.
While I did feel the sting of rejection about not having my knowledge accepted because I was a girl, I pivoted away from that and just learned more from my dad. I kept going to practices. I kept chasing balls and running drills. I wasn’t going to be shut out from something that was a part of me.
It took two seasons before I got to see the difference that a coaching style can make on the health of a team. The varsity coach was good, but he never had with his boys what my dad had with his junior varsity boys. On the varsity team the weakest player saw the least amount of playing time. Often times, those players were unsatisfied and felt rejected even by their own team member because they were the weakest link.
That wasn’t the case with my dad’s team. I watched the more skilled players still groan at the weakest links. But my dad refused to give up on them. He knew that he could make them better. And he did. The whole team had to work as a team, there was no exception. He gave more one on one attention to the weaker players. It was an investment. And it paid off.
There was one young man who wanted to quit the team because he knew he was the weakest link. But dad refused to give him an out. He helped him through his head space and built him up, until he could find self value. And once that young man found his self value, the team also valued him. To be fair, the team saw the potential in him before he saw it in himself.
What made that happen?
A coach who refused to give up on one of his boys. He kept calling out all the positive. Dad could see it deep down in him. After a little time, the rest of the team saw the skills deep down in him as well. They rallied behind him, encouraged, and cheered him on. With all this encouragement from his coach and team mates, the young man saw in himself what others saw in him. And he had a breakthrough that I hope has had lifelong results.
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There was one other memory, of my dad’s coaching, that has stuck with me all these years.
One of my dad’s strong players transferred to a new school and he earned a place on the varsity team! We were so excited for him. And even though he didn’t have to do it, daddy rallied the whole team together and we all went to watch this young man play in a varsity game. It meant the world to him. His basketball family was in the audience cheering him on.
The problem was that the coach had a different philosophy in coaching. I won’t go into the details of that game. But afterward, we rallied behind our family and dad spoke one more time into his life. I don’t remember the words that dad said. But I do remember watching a young man buried under the weight of shame and disappointment. When dad was finished he was able to once again smile and hold his head up.
This was my Coach.
This is the type of coach that I want to be.
Back in January I welcomed my first team, 1st and 2nd grade boys.
From my own teaching experience I know that kids always perform better when you aim for the moon and allow them the space to pick up as much skill as they can on their own. For one, there’s always at least one kid who has higher skills than the rest of the team/group. If they’re not challenged, they can cause problems or they give up. The kids with the least skill sometimes feel overwhelmed by everything presented to them, but they don’t know that they can’t learn any of this. With the right teacher, a kid can learn anything because the adult believe that they can.
My first day of coaching, I didn’t know what I wanted to teach because my knowledge is strategizing at the middle school and high school level. So I opted out with teaching basketball terms and positions. None of these things were on the list or rules for this age group. But I didn’t want to coach at this age group. I didn’t want to dummy down this beautiful sport. I wanted the boys to be challenged and love the game that I grew up loving.
What was interesting was watching the parents during that first practice. Normally parents sit on the sidelines and talk or get caught up on work or personal items on their phone. Instead, I had the parent’s attention as well. Afterward, my husband told me that the parents were commenting that they were exciting because their kids were going to actually learn something this year.
This season I exposed them to using both hands, layups, screening, positions and a few other things. The point was never to get them to be proficient. I knew they wouldn’t. My whole goal was to get them to train their bodies in what it feels like to do certain skills. And in several years time, when it’s time for them to join a team that they have to try out for, and it matters, the skills that will be demanded of them at that point will already have a seed planted in them now. I took this year to set them up for success for another coach in the future.
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But what I didn’t think I would have to encounter this early is the whole issue of the boys already picking out who were the skilled players and who should be treated as bench warmers. As a Parks and Rec team, everyone is supposed to have the same amount of play time–which is how I think it should be anyway. But the boys took it in their own hands, during games, to pass to the strong players only.
And this was where I wish my dad were still here to tell me how he got his team to be unified as a team. This isn’t something that all coaches know how to navigate and do it well. But my dad did. My only clues are what I have in my memories, but it doesn’t share light on his thoughts or capitalize on what he tried that went wrong.
If anyone is wondering about the answer to this issue, so far my best results have come from just the simple foundation of having a relationship with the boys. The fact that they feel valued makes it easier for them to see the team weaknesses (we own it all together instead of singling someone out) and problem solve. And giving them the options to problem solve gives them ownership of the team.
I’m sad that I’m losing a few boys next year. But I’m excited to look forward to having the boys request to be on my team again next year.
There’s no guarantee that I’ll get them back next year. All that I have is this moment in time.
So as a parting gift, I’m passing on a tradition from my parents.
Whenever dad coached out teams, my mom always crafted something that everyone got to take home. (I grew up in a generation where trophies were given to celebrate a few players. And only everyone took a trophy home when the team had a winning season.) One year mom made a felt pennant with the team name on it. (I still have it in a memory box.)
For my boys, I made stickers through the season, marking new skills that the boys learned. On the front of the chalkboard wall hang, the boys can keep their stickers like boy scouts badges. On the back I’m leaving a final message for the boys that they can look back on and see that they have had a coach in their corner. My goal is that no matter who coaches the boys in the future, they continually have a voice in their head cheering them on.
The perfect thing about this project is that it isn’t something that is just sports related. I know some teachers who give their students and end of the year present. Also, as a parting word to their students as they move on past their class room.
If this is something you would like to make for a child in your life, here is what I did.
What you Need:
6″ x 6″ Square Chalk Board (I found these ones at the Dollar Store)
Decorative Duct Tape (I found this holographic red at the Dollar Store in the Automotive aisle)
Black Chalk Paint
Permanent Vinyl
White Acrylic Paint Pen
Transfer Tape
Scissors
Paintbrush
Paint the sides and back of the chalk board black (or any other color of choice).
Apply the Decorative Duct Tape. The width of the tape covers the front, top, and top half of the back boarder. You can apply another strip of tape that I did or paint all the way up the back of the board.
On the front of the chalk board place your decorative elements. (In this instance, I did the team name and season year.)
On the back you can write your encouraging message. ( I also added the boy’s name so that they knew it was a message specific for them and not shared with the rest of the team.)
There are so many ways to make alternates of this.
You can mod podge on photographs on the front or back.
Have young children make a mother’s day painting.
Attach miniature clothes pins.
Attach metal strip on the top, bottom, or side to make a partial magnetic feature
If you are privledged to have children under your influence so that you can pour life into them, I hope that you are inspired by this project. A gift with modest materials can be transformed to be uplifting for years to come!
If you are a basket ball coach and are looking for stickers that you can make and pass on to your players, check out these designs!
How was your Christmas? Were you able to spend time with those you love?
In my house the whole month of December is difficult. But that’s the life of having a handful of young children in the house. I use to think that starting to decorate at the beginning of December and putting out presents as soon as they were wrapped was adding to the incessant build up of excitement and driving mom bonkers.
Nope.
We did things differently and things didn’t improve. My gift making still happened at night. Or should I say lasting into the wee hours of the morning. Lets just say that coffee is my friend.
But….
This gift, especially the soap, was probably my favorite gift to give.
I didn’t know how many people were having skin issues this year. And most people don’t talk about what they quietly suffer with. Part of it is the “I’ve tried everything” and no product on the market works.
The truth is that the local grocery stores have aisles dedicated to soap. And when you’re in that aisle you grab what you’ve purchased in the past (which may have been the brand that you grew up using) or it’s a sale based off of the label and its marketing claims. And we think that these area our only options.
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You have another option
This is the video (three ingredients) that I watched that set me on the path of making my own soap, almost 3 years ago. It was an empowering feeling for me to make my first soap, Goat Milk Soap (4 ingredients), and stop buying the store bought soaps which have an ingredient list that looks something like this:
The comfrey soap in its mold.
Even though I took many chemistry courses in college, I can only tell you half of what is on product labels like this. If my children can’t sound out what the words on these kinds of labels have, that means that those ingredients are stuff made in the product labels of these soap corporations. Companies do this (take organic or natural items and change one chemical compound in the chain) they have made something they can patent and prevent other people from recreating (by pain of legal actions).
Soaps are made out of three items and three items alone: water, lye, and fats.
Yes, even those soaps that people claim are made without lye are actually made with lye. There’s a product on the market, melt-able soap base, that people claim is lye free but that is not true. This soap base is where the emulsification of the lye and fats has already happened for you. The lye and fats have already gone through the process of combining and so the lye has become safe to touch and no longer corrosive like in its original form (whether you use a crystalline lye or wood ash).
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Here’s an example of a soap base. The first 5 ingredients are fats, followed by water, and then lye (sodium hydroxide). The end of the list is all the little extras that they added in to make their soap base unique from the others on the market.
In essence, this is an already made soap that a person at home can reshape and have the option of adding other things into for further personalization.
If you’re nervous about using lye, a soap base is going to be a good option for you. It’s not the best thing for your skin but definitely better than all the major brands on the store shelves.
Note: When making soap from scratch, with lye, you will need to cure your soap. This means that after you remove it from its mold (after it’s solidified for 24-48 hours), it will need to cure. This means that the soap sits for 4-6 weeks to dry out. While the soap dries, this allows the chemical transformation through emulsifying the lye and fats, to finish its work. When completed, they lye is no longer corrosive. The lye and fats molecular structures are completely joined and stable
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Ingredient list from the soaps I made for Christmas
The two soaps that I made this year were Pumpkin Oatmeal and Comfrey Tea Tree.
Both soaps have only 9 ingredients that anyone can understand, colors of the soap come from the natural ingredients, and I can tell you the purpose of each of these ingredients and why they are good for your skin. You don’t need the lab chemicals to create lather or bar hardness. You don’t need the lab fragrances to give you a pleasant scent to wash with.
Note: “Fragrance” listed on an ingredient list of a mass produced soap, approved by USA FDA regulations, is all that has to be noted on a label even though it can include up to 200 different “fragrances” to make the scent of your soap. This is allowed because it’s modified in the lab and falls under proprietary patent laws.
Some of the comfrey soap after I cut it and before I set it aside to cure.
I know that not everyone approves of lard use in soap, usually for religious beliefs, but this fat can be switched out for tallow (beef, goat, or deer) which can align with religious beliefs. Or these animal fats can be omitted completely for the wide world of plant oils.
The variety of fats, found naturally in the world, each have different properties for your skin health and how it functions in a bar of soap. For example, lard is a single ingredient that adds hardness to the soap bar, creates lather, and adds to the shine and conditioning/softening of skin and hair.
One book that I highly recommend for understanding how fats work in soap making and benefits to your skin and hair is Simple & Natural Soapmaking by Jan Berry
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Origin of the fats is also going to play a part in how it reacts with your skin.
Shea Butter is not all the same. In fact, this week I just learned that not only is there a difference in quality of Shea that comes from heat vs. cold pressed processed Shea, but also the region. If I remember the documentary correctly, Uganda Shea butter is absorbed quicker into the skin than the Shea produced from other regions. And I never would have thought it, but the beauty industry is already capitalizing on the difference of absorption rates of the Shea butter produced from eastern and western Africa. It’s not all the same.
So if you by chance tried Shea butter beauty products and felt like the fat just sat on the top of your skin instead of being absorbed as you were promised, the reason isn’t because Shea failed you. It’s because you used a product that had a lesser quality of Shea.
In this instance, if you can afford to purchase a higher quality of Shea butter, all evidence shows that this purchase for a higher quality is most definitely well worth it. I’m all for finding the deal, but moving forward I’m now going to purchase a better quality of Shea.
With animal fats, whether the animal grazed on foods naturally available to the animal vs. grain fed and various injections will all be passed on to you through your skin.
Why what you put on your skin matters
It took me going through my second quarter of Anatomy & Physiology to learn that your skin is your largest organ in your body. Your skin keeps all your insides in, but it also is a filter from the outside world trying to come inside you.
I really don’t know why I was so surprised by all this because growing up we all have the conversations about needing lotion for our skin. We already know that we can correct some conditions by adding lotion or medication, depending on what’s wrong with our skin. But we never think about what we are adding to our skin daily that’s potentially causing the problems to begin with.
An example of a soap label. Notice the difference in readability and ingredients compared to a bar of soap I made (my shampoo bar, currently curing, is the same ingredients that the bar of soaps listed above).
We’re told to wash our hands regularly, especially during cold and flu season (not to mention the marketing for this habit over the last three years). With this increase reminder to wash your hands, how long is that ingredient list? How many of those ingredients do you know how to say, let alone identify what they do in the soap? Is it your hand soap that is adding to your cracked hands during the winter?
For example, my hands crack and bleed every winter. There has never been a lotion that I could find to ease the pain, let alone prevent the cracking in the first place. Christmas was when my Comfrey soap finished curing and I could use this recipe for the first time. Just by the first use alone, the redness of my irritated skin cleared up. The cracks decreased in size by half and by the next day they were all healed. I still have dry knuckles because I stopped using the Comfrey soap (leaving it for my son who has more sensitive skin in need of good soap). The Pumpkin soap isn’t as healing, but it’s still preventing the cracks. The Comfrey soap has aloe vera in it (which the pumpkin does not), so I might have to change that recipe to add some aloe in.
But I think you can start to see just by how your ingredients work, the natural function of things found in your garden, you can easily make a soap for yourself, family or loved ones that meet your skin type needs and not have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on store products that just don’t work.
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There’s just so much to talk about with soap making. I will have to come back to this subject in upcoming posts. But I wanted to start the thought in your mind that you really can make your own soap. You don’t have to just survive and live with the condition(s) that you currently have. The first step is to start by cutting that ingredient list in half. The fewer the ingredients and shorter the syllables of the words mean that you understand what you are putting on the largest organ of your body. You can pinpoint what irritates your skin and you can pivot by switching out a fat or other ingredient that offers a vitamin or mineral that your skin actually needs.
Leave me a comment below if you’re looking for a solution to an issue.
In 2023 I’m looking forward to talking more about how herbs and garden ingredients can benefit your body. And all you have to do is add them as a seasoning to the foods you already cook, which benefits your body from the inside. And you can already start now with making soap to help your body from the outside. Skip the lab ingredients and start using luxurious soap that uses all natural ingredients which can eliminate all the extras that you need to “fix” what other products are doing to you.
For example, one lifestyle change for my family is that we are switching to homemade shampoo bars. My goal is to find the recipe that makes a shampoo bar where I don’t have to use 3 different conditions to combat the dryness that I’m convinced is caused by the long ingredient list on my shampoo bottles.
Happy New Year!!!
Products that were either mentioned in the post or items that you may find valuable in making your own soap.
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After watching videos and reading different books, this is my personal favorite resource for recipes, ingredient information, and general soap making information.
I prefer cutting my own bars of soap and this is the set that I wished I would have bought the first time. The cutting block takes the guesswork out of eyeballing a uniform and straight cut.
This is great for just getting started and you don’t want to think about portioning out bar sizes. The disadvantage is that the silicone is very flimsy under the weight of the soap. So make sure that you have cardboard or another hard surface to tansfer the molds to a different location while the soap solidifies.
My granny made lye soap, used it all her life, never had skin problems, i make basic lye soap myself, 3 lbs of greese, bacon preferably, but the drainings off cooked meat, 2 gallons of water, and one can lye, , i greate up some for clothes soap, i use it in place of aal types of soap, melt it and mix with water for dish soap, works better than cascade in the dish washer, the only problem is aquiring the lye, it extreamly hard to get in the stores because it is one of the main ingreidants in the manufacture of meth, and everytime i make soap i have to call the police and noify them, so i dont get charged with making meth, it smells the same, making meth or making soap,
There shouldn’t be any fear in purchasing lye. I’ve been purchasing it for a few years now and have never had to report to a registery. There are certain over the counter medications that I’m aware of that there is a registry because of of it being associated with drug manufacturing. And in the instance of that product registry, there is a notation of who is buying what and at what quantity. For the manufacturing of drugs there is a specific amount that law enforcement starts paying attention to. For the average person, making soap at home, they are not going to come close to hitting that limit. I mention all this to prevent unnecessary fear from being spread.
Thank you for sharing how you make your soap! And also sharing how you use it to also to clean clothes and dishes.
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