Archive of ‘Tutorial’ category

14
Mar
2014

It’s Like Buttah– DIY Body Butter!

Written by: Grace

Recently, I started making my own lotion.

The reason for this is twofold. First, I thought I could save some money since I like to slather on ridiculous amounts. And second, I’ve read a lot about all the junk that is in lotion, and it makes me nervous.

So, I did what any serious researcher does. I searched Pinterest. Obviously.

Now, I found a TON of recipes. I sifted through all of those recipes, nixed those that seemed too intensive and expensive, and combined the best recipes to come up with my own whipped body butter lotion.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 Cup of Raw, Unrefined Shea Butter (I bought mine at Wegman’s) (you could use Cocoa Butter, but the husband was at Wegman’s and I knew they had Shea Butter, so I went with Shea)

1/2 Cup of Unrefined Coconut Oil (I always have a LARGE tub of this— Costco usually has it)

1/2 Cup of a mild Olive Oil (a lot of recipes suggested Jojoba Oil, but again, I went with what I had)

OPTIONAL: An essential oil to make the body butter smell lovely. I did not use any essential oils, but if you do make sure you choose one that is suitable for skin contact…

UPDATE: I just recently purchased some awesome essential oils from Young Living Oils from an sweet friend. If you are interested in learning about essential oils she is super sweet, super knowledgeable, and super patient (if you know me, you know I’m indecisive, which can be a little tiring…), contact Kate. I am going to put a drop or two in my cream. I’ll update about my thoughts about essential oils, but I have heard great things so far.

Here’s What You’ll Do:

1. Put all the Shea Butter and Coconut Oil in a Double Boiler until it melts and is in liquid form (that was redundant wasn’t it?).

Here are the ingredients in the double boiler

Double Boiler: Pot with water in it with a glass bowl on top… make sure the water does not touch the glass bowl

2. Stir in the Olive Oil

3. Place the mixture in the refrigerator or outside if it’s cold.

Solidified.

4. Once the mixture has solidified, place in stand mixer, and WHIP IT. It will look delicious like icing, but it won’t taste like buttercream.

Totally looks like buttercream icing, right?

5. Place it in a jar and slather it on!

Tips and Notes:

The body butter is great. My husband uses it, my kids use it, and I use it. We usually use it at night because it is a little greasy and I don’t want to run the risk of it putting an oil mark on our clothes—PJs? who cares! I’ve haven’t noticed any stains, but our skin is quite soft!

The body butter is stable at room temperature. I keep it sitting on my dresser, and it has kept it’s whipped form. I would assume there is a shelf date on the body butter just like there are shelf dates on oil, but I’ve never had Olive Oil or Coconut Oil sitting around long enough to discover it has gone rancid…

09
Mar
2014

Easy Twine Wrapped Carrots

Written by: Grace

I made an easy update to my Burlap wreath with some easy twine wrapped carrots. Remember that Easy Burlap Bubble Wreath, I made for Valentine’s day? Go ahead. Check it out. I’ll wait here.

Okay, so I took out the hearts and the lovebirds, and decided to update this wreath with something more Spring appropriate.

This time, instead of going with glitter, I wanted my wreath’s accessory (Yup, my wreaths have accessories because they are fancy like that) to be rustic like the burlap.

I decided to make some easy twine wrapped carrots. Kind of like these yarn wrapped carrots.

I whipped up three carrots in no time. Another easy craft from Grace. Who’s keeping the tally for my easy crafts? Maybe I should start more challenging crafts…

What you’ll need:

-Jute like this

-Orange Craft Paint

-A foam brush

-Hot glue

-Greenery for the top of the carrot (I used Onion grass like this one)

-An old magazine

What you’ll do:

- Take a couple of pages from the magazine and roll it into a cone.

- Keep rolling pages until you have a carrot size that you like.

- Cut your greenery and shove it in the top and down the center of the magazine carrot

- Glue the beginning of the jute/twine to the magazine carrot and start wrapping it around the carrot form (tip: do not try to be perfect. Just wrap the twine haphazardly. I like to wrap all over the place. For two reasons. 1. I think it looks organic and 2. It’s easy, and you all know how I feel about ease).

Just wrapping the twine. Excuse the mess, I whipped up these three carrots, two moss bunnies during our last Craft Night, so there was a lot going on. When is there not a lot going on?

In case you needed another picture of me wrapping my carrots.

- Tuck the end of the jute/twine under what you have already wrapped. If you want, glue the tail end down.

- Paint your carrot with craft paint (tip: I added a little water to my paint, and just blotted the paint onto the carrot).

- Attach the carrots onto your burlap bubble wreath (I used green floral wire to attach my carrots) for a cute Spring update or wherever your heart desires.

You can barely see the floral wire.

An easy update to an easy wreath!

This extreme closeup reveals the blue poster gum I use on the back of my wreaths, so they don’t slide when opening and closing the door.

What updates do you have in store for your Burlap Bubble wreath? The possibilities are endless. Anyone securing a bird’s nest with Robbin’s eggs on theirs?

05
Mar
2014

Moss Covered Shamrock

Written by: Lisa

St. Patrick’s day has always been an ignored holiday in our house in terms of décor—I usually jump from winter straight into spring. People always assume I go all out for St. Patrick’s day because I’m the pastiest of white and have freckles. So, in the spirit of my wee sliver of Irish roots, I figured I had to try and get at least one shamrock or something going on.

If you couldn’t tell from my other posts, we don’t really feature loud colors or glittery accents at our house. We’re a bit more subdued and au naturel ‘round these parts. When I saw this on Etsy, I knew two things: one, that it would fit in perfectly with our style, and two, I could make that sucker on my own.

What you need:

1/4” plywood—I used leftover from my Berry T Wreath post
a print out of your shamrock –- I free styled a large version based off of a smaller print out
Jigsaw
Sandpaper
Spray Paint- optional
Moss—I used sheet moss found at any craft store
Glue Gun

Step 1:

Print out your shamrock so you can trace it onto your wood OR draw a shamrock freestyle on your wood.

Step 2:

Power up your jigsaw and get to cutting. Be patient while cutting, as it is more difficult to cut curves rather than straight lines. Is it wrong that I always want to say “get jiggy with it” whenever I mention a jigsaw in my projects? It’s one of my absolute favorite tools!

Step 3:

Give it a quick sand to ensure you don’t have any shards of wood that are exposed—we don’t want any splinters.

Step 4:

As with my Berry T Wreath, I chose to spray paint the wood before covering it. I did not want the natural wood color showing on the edges of the shamrock, so I gave one coat of spray paint to the sides and top of the shamrock.

Step 5:

Trace your shamrock onto the back of your moss sheet and cut it out.
(Does anyone else think of Joey from Full House whenever they hear this phrase, or am I the only weirdo?)

Step 6:

Using your glue gun, apply your moss. Be prepared for a bit of a mess—moss sheds!

Now, I know that some stores carry moss that has adhesive on the back– no such luck for this girl. If you find that type of moss, I would imagine that the adhesive on the back would be sufficient to adhere to the wood, no glue gun necessary– talk about easy!

What moss covered crafts have you made lately?!

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