Blue Christmas

 

My blue Christmas decorating this year.  Each year I try to add a little more blue.  I used blue and green last year but thought I would drop the green this year and add more white for a frosty look.  I can't seem to get a look I can stick with for my home but I tend to lean toward French Farm House. I hope I don't tire of this look -LOL cause this can get expensive.  Once the holiday is over I want to paint my home in mostly neutral colors throughout with a French feel to it so maybe next year I will drop the blue on my tree and go more white.   I guess I'll see how next year goes over the Summer with my painting of the walls all neutral.

 

 

I just love the color blue for Christmas.  I wish I could figure out how to

Take better pictures that would show how pretty this tree really is. 

 

This wreath is made from coffee filters.  I am sure you have seen these on Pinterest but thought I would share my version.  I love how it turned out and it fits my blue theme nicely.

 

Peppermint Hot Cocoa All Natural Homemade Lip Balm

I came across this wonderful recipe for homemade Peppermint Hot Cocoa lip balm this week and thought I would try my hand at making some for my family. This is not a recipe I made up myself although I plan to experiment with some ingredients in the near future to create my own.  I found this recipe over at Amy's at:  http://www.ablossominglife.com/s=peppermint+Hot+Cocoa+Lip+Balm
Amy has a lot of homemade beauty products that you will love so hop on over for the recipe and see her other products.
My goal is to completely change the chemical laden products that our family uses to all natural ones free of all unhealthy ingredients.  We have also started to lean toward vegan eating as much as we can too. LOL, I know its a big change all at one time but if you are going to do it you may as well do it all at once, right!
I made this lip balm and gave it away to see what my family and friends thought.  I planned to make it as gifts this past Christmas but I just ran out of time.  Everyone, and I do mean everyone LOVED it.  It feels so soft and glides on so smooth.  It does not turn your lips brown as some thought it would.  I am already getting request for more, so you know it has to be great stuff.  Here are some pictures of how I made it:

These are the ingredients I used.

 

I melted the ingredients in a sauce pot.
 

I used "Young Living" essential oils because of their quality but you can use another brand if you like



I don't have a holder for my tubes so I used an egg carton for now.



Here is a pic of them all done except the label.  I just used stickers on them for my family and friends but I plan to make labels for the next batch.



Another great place to buy all natural products is at http://www.evansgarden.com/cart.html  She uses only the best ingredients.

If you are interested in making some natural, healthy skin care or green cleaning products, then I highly recommend the two eBooks listed below by Stacy over at "A Delightful Home".   I  personally have purchased from Stacy and LOVE her eBooks.  You can follow this link to check it out more:  http://adelightfulhome.com/my-books/





http://adelightfulhome.com/my-books/

This is another one she has that I personally have in my collection.



I put a link in my side bar for "A Delightful Home" for your convenience as well.

I Hope this post gets you excited to try your hand at making healthy skincare products and household cleaners.

Have a Healthy Day!!

Hugs!!

Pippi

This is a follow up to my "Special Gift" post.  This is a picture of the house I started with.

I hope to post the steps I took and how I transformed this into a replica of our neighbors house.  See my post "Special Gift" for pictures of the finished house and check the comments section under "Special Gift" for more information as well.  Thanks for stopping by have a wonderful day everyone.

Hugs!

Pippi

Valentine's Day

I know its a little early for Valentine's Day, but I went to Pat Catans to see what sales they had on the leftover Christmas stuff and to my surprise it was mostly gone and replaced with a row of Valentine's Day stuff.  I figured I better look at it before its gone too.  I don't usually decorate much for this holiday but they had a cute deco mesh wreath on display so I thought maybe I can make my own version of it.  I have only worked with deco mesh one other time and it was ok but not great like I have seen others make on Etsy.  This one looks better so maybe if I keep practicing I will get better and more creative.  Hope you enjoy.  If you have some experience with deco mesh and would like to share some tips and tricks please do so.

Items I used:  (1) 16" box wreath frame, (1+) bag red mesh tubing, chenille stems, (1) roll red mesh, (1) roll pink windowpane mesh, stuffed dog, ribbon of choice.

This is a picture of some of the supplies I used.


Thank you everyone for stopping by. 

Hugs!!

Pippi

Special Gift

This was my first attempt at making a glitter house.  For the past few years I have tried to come up with a unique gift for our friends and neighbor.  Each year they say there is no way I can top the last year's gift.  I just love giving homemade items for gifts.  They are so personal.  When we gave it to them she cried with joy and thanked and thanked me.  Her hubby was out back tinkering around in his garage so he was not there when she received it.  He came in and thought she had sent a picture of their house away and paid to have it made.  I really was not sure I could even recreate their house and make it look like theirs and I was out of ideas other than this for this year.  But this ended up being so much fun for our family as well because we got to watch it transform every evening as I worked on it and my hubby and I would drive by in our vehicle and snap pictures of their place and hope we didn't get caught.   I really had a hard time parting with it because it was my first one and I loved it.  It definitely was a fun Christmas for our family.

I will try to locate a picture of their actual house and post it here so you can compare for yourself. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Your visits are much appreciated.  I hope you had a fun Christmas as well.  Have a happy New Year and my God Bless Everyone of You.

Hugs!!

Pippi