Made with Love Lip Balm

Orange Apricot Lip Balm

Trying to come up with something other than candy for my kids for Valentines Day, I searched fun things to make for them.  ( other than crocheted hair accessories.  LOL  They have enough of those!)  I found a recipe for homemade lip balm and it turned out delightful!  The biggest plus to this recipe is that it's 100% natural. 

I had all the ingredients at home already, so I whipped it up in no time this morning. 

The recipe is

1 tsp beeswax
1 tsp apricot kernel oil
1 tsp calendula oil ( I used almond oil) 
5 drops of orange essential oil

You heat the wax and oils together in a double boiler, remove from heat.  While still hot add essential oil and coloring.  Now, This is a small amount of wax and oils, so it cools fast.  And the coloring did not blend fast for me.  So I had to heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave until I had everything blended well.  I also do not own a double boiler, so I made a make shift one with a glass bowl over some boiling water.  Just make sure your bowl leaves room around the side for steam to escape, you don't want a pressure cooker instead of a double boiler! 

Pour the hot liquids into a lip balm container and wait for it to cool.  I boiled my lip balm containers before I started this and let them air dry while I completed the lip balm.  I got my containers at Wal-Mart.  They are actually little plastic pill holders that I found in the travel size toiletries aisle ( .97 cents for 2).  Then I just let them cool and added a little orange sticker to the lid. 

These smell HEAVENLY!  They are not very shiny though.  A lot more like chap stick than lip gloss.  Which I prefer, because my kids are 5 and 7 years old. 


For the original recipe click HERE. 





  

Homemade Bath Salts

I LOVE SMELLS!  Well at least good ones. HA!   I also love to pamper myself as much as possible and when I ran across this recipe on Pinterest, I had to try it!  It was ALSO extremely inexpensive to make because I already had the essential oils, the salts, and the coloring.  I just need containers and I headed to Dollar Tree and found these little gems, for ( you guessed it) a dollar a piece.  And they are GLASS AND HAVE A SCREW ON TOP!  WHOOP!  Love a bargain.   

For the original recipe click HERE. 

Bath Salts Recipe

3/4 cup Epsom salts
1/2 cup coarse sea salt
1/4 cup baking soda
8 drops essential oil
food coloring

 ( I didn't have the coarse kind, so I used the fine grain sea salt and it worked just fine) 

I mixed all the dry ingredients together first with a fork.  I tripled this recipe and divided it into 3 equal parts.  Using different essential oils and coloring for each jar, I added oils and mixed some more, and lastly, I added the coloring. 

I made one of Grapefruit.  Grapefruit Oil is a wonderfully energizing oil that isn't too strong or overpowering. Both white and pink grapefruit oils are available, with Pink Grapefruit Essential Oil generally being considered the sweeter of the two.  Aromatic Description: Citrus. Tangy like grapefruit, but sweet. It is reminiscent to the aroma of the grapefruit rind, but more concentrated. 

 One of Peppermint/Sweet Orange.  Sweet Orange Essential Oil is most often referred to simply as Orange Oil.  With its versatility, affordability and wonderfully uplifting aroma, Orange Oil is one of the most popular of essential oils.  Aromatic Description: Citrus, sweet, reminiscent of orange peels, but more concentrated.  Aromatic Description: Minty, reminiscent of peppermint candies, but more concentrated. More fragrant than spearmint.

And One of Eucalyptus and Tea Tree. Eucalyptus Oil Uses: Arthritis, bronchitis, catarrh, cold sores, colds, coughing, fever, flu, poor circulation, sinusitis.  Aromatic Description: Eucalyptus Oil is fresh, medicinal, woody, earthy.  Tea Tree Oil Uses: Acne, athlete's foot, candida, chicken pox, cold sores, colds, corns, cuts, flu, insect bites, itching, migraine, oily skin, ringworm, sinusitis, sores, spots, urethritis, warts, whooping cough.  Aromatic Description: Tea Tree Oil is medicinal, fresh, woody, earthy, herbaceous.

For more information on essential oils and their uses, along with recipes and o=a lot of other useful information please click HERE. 

Other places to use your essential oils:  Add a few drops of oil to your trash can, laundry wash, drain, vacuum bag filter, or on a tissue for placement in your drawers.

Now head to Dollar Tree and get you some of these great little jars and pamper yourself!  You know you deserve it!!  

Monkey Bread, Yum Yum

I have fond memories of eating monkey bread when I was kid, so I thought I would give my kids those sweet memories too.  They are 5 and 7 and hearty little eaters, so I knew when I thought of making this, it would be a hit. 

I am always looking for something a little different in the kitchen.  I get tired of the same ole, same ole.  I remembered eating this and hunted a recipe down and actually found one in a Kid's Paula Dean cookbook.  The name of the book is Paula Dean's My First Cook Book.  My kid's and I cook together from this book ALL the time.  It's a great way to teach them.  The book is EASY for kids to understand.  It has great pictures, and even tells them what tools they will need with pictures of the tools and ingredients. 

Anyway, back to the recipe.   I changed the method a bit, but the ingredients are the same. 

3 cans of biscuits ( 10 each per can)
1 cup of sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick of butter


I took a pair of scissors ( I use them instead of knives all the time.)  And I cut the biscuits into quarters.  I placed the cinnamon and sugar in a gallon size baggies with the quartered biscuits and shook it till they were all covered (Don't forget to seal the bag shut.  LOL) 

I then melted the butter and brown sugar in a sauce pan. 

I sprayed non stick spray in a pound cake pan and I added the coated biscuits and poured the brown sugar and butter melt on top.  I baked it in the oven for 45 minutes on 325 degrees.  The recipe calls for a bunt pan and to cook it for 35 minutes, but I don't have a bunt pan.  So I used what I had and adjusted the cooking time, because I wanted to make sure the center biscuits were cooked completely and I was using a more condensed pan. 

This turned out delicious.  My kids ATE and ATE!