Where does the time go?

Well. I am officially the most delinquent “blogger”.  In an attempt to use my child as a scape goat, I begin this blog post with a picture of my happy baby.  See, no one can resist a happy baby! No one.

In all seriousness though, We have had quite a bit on our plate over the last few months… Dan’s work has been super crazy, and he’s been working some extra hours.  I’ve been working extra hours.  In addition to the many christmas gifts we hand made for our family, we also had our regular home chores and preparation for a 10 day vacation/road trip over the holiday season.  Oh, and we had our (now) five month old to care for….Ah.  Life.

I will say, the christmas gifts we made this year were extra fun.  This was our second year at hand making all our christmas gifts.  Again, it was cheaper than store buying all our gifts, and, although a bit more stressful this year, it was just as fun trying new crafts and learning new ways to do things.  We made hand painted and monogrammed linen napkins and a tea towel, “home is where the heart is” pictures, personalized scrabble letter pictures, screen printed t-shirts, sets of etched wine glasses and beer steins, photo transfer canvases and tote bags, button letter pictures, personalized storage jars and labels for my sister’s homemade food goodies and an afghan.   And yes, I am that big of an idiot and didn’t take ANY pictures of anything… Again, a failure for a craft blogger.

However, I do have pictures and am going to finally get around to sharing the recipe for the  homemade lotion I use and love!  I found the recipe here via the wellness mama.  She has amazing recipes for all things hand/homemade. I followed her recipe to a tee.  I did use shea butter and my essential oils of choice were a blend called “anxiety release” and lavender.  I also used a block of beeswax, but I think purchasing the beeswax pellets would make the process A LOT easier.

I didn’t get any photos of the finished product, but you end up with a lovely jar of hardened (but not solid), luxurious lotion! I usually apply it at night, only because it can get a bit greasy and that way it gets soaked up by my skin overnight.  Leaving me with extremely soft skin in the morning.  I also find I have to apply it only every other day. (Finally, my secret comes to light.  I only shower every other day – and that’s if I’m really feeling motivated…. Yes, I’m disgusting. But I can live with it.) So, in other words, I find that I only have to apply it when I shower.  My skin stays really hydrated, even in the dry winter months, and Dan and I both have extremely sensitive skin, and we have found that this really is the only lotion (and we’ve tried pretty much all the store bought ones) that keep our skin hydrated without having to constantly reapply, and without irritating it.   I actually made this batch back in the middle of November and I still have some.  It has a shelf life of about six months, and I do think that, depending on your usage, it could last you for a full six months!

In my attempt at a new year’s resolution, I am going to start trying to do at least one new craft every week (really, I am), and I am going to get back in the habit of blogging at least once a week.  I find that I miss it a lot.   Our new thing that we want to try out – keeping in line with our home made lifestyle – is making soap.  I received a couple soap making books for Christmas and some soap molds.  Now to just use them!  I also want to make more hand painted linens and try a new technique for glass etching to help organize the kitchen and bathroom. So, let’s just see how good I am at keeping this new year’s resolution!

Until next time!

XO

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