Homestead Crafting: All-Natural Moisturizing Face Cream

As the season turns to the cooler months and the bite in the wind is nipping at my skin, my face finds itself in need of a little TLC. I'm not much of a primper on my best day and spending a lot on facial creams that are loaded with chemicals and preservative is not my idea of a good time, so what's a wind-chapped girl to do? Make her own all natural, 100% edible (chemical and preservative-free) facial cream, of course!


What you'll need:
1/2 cup of all natural oil (almond, olive, grape seed, jojoba, etc.)
find a list of carrier oil properties here
1/4 cup of coconut oil or Shea butter
1/4 cup of beeswax
Saucepan/boiler
Canning jar & several rims or other high temperature safe bowl
Small jar for the finished product (I reused a honey jar)

Optional items:
1 tsp vitamin E oil; Essential Oils or Extracts; Honey





What I chose:
3 TBS Almond Oil; 3 TBS Grape Seed Oil & 2 TBS Jojoba Oil to equal 1/2 cup of natural oils
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1 tsp Vitamin E oil
1 tsp honey
a little less than 1/4 cup of beeswax
I added the following essential oils: Rosemary (10 drops); Tea Tree (5 drops) and - not pictured - Lavender (15 drops)


Step 1:
Gather your materials

Step 2:
Measure and place all ingredients except the essential oils into the canning jar or bowl

Step 3:
Fill saucepan/boiler with a little water. Place canning rims in bottom or pan and place the canning jar or bowl on top of the rims.  The rims keep the bowl off of the bottom of the pan.  The water level should come about 2/3 up the side of the bowl or jar but not to the top.

Step 4:
Melt the contents of the jar/bowl until the wax is smoothly incorporated, stirring occasionally.  Do not boil!

Step 5:
Remove from pan and add the essential oils

Step 6:
Pour into a bowl (I used my KitchenAid bowl but any bowl that you can mix in will do) and place in the freezer to firm up a bit - do not freeze

Step 7:
Remove from freezer and mix with a stand or hand mixer until smooth and creamy and the consistency of cake batter.  Test the "feel" on the back of your hand.  If you prefer, add a little corn starch to cut down on any greasy/oily feeling and whip a minute or two more.

Step 8:
Spoon the cream into your storage jar, wipe any spills with a napkin and close.  Store on your counter top or if you prefer in your refrigerator.  The cool cream can help with puffiness.

That's it!  You have all natural - so good for you - facial cream which can be used for up to 6 months.
If the cream starts smelling odd discard it and make another batch.



this post may have been shared at one (or all) of these wonderful blog hops!

Homestead Crafts: Knitted Doll Pattern

Since we are creeping on toward the holiday season I decided to share one of my crafted gift ideas with you.  A couple years ago I decided to hand-make the Christmas presents for my little nieces.  I believe that something that's been made with love and thoughtfulness makes a wonderful gift for those we love and is something that can be passed down with time.

My thoughts ran through my limited skill set and I landed on making knitted dolls for them.  Now, I'm anything but the worlds best knitter so I needed something that a relatively inexperienced knitter could tackle in a short amount of time (I needed to make two after all) and that wouldn't make me pull my hair out before the project was done; I found a great pattern by Vivian Hoxbro at www.viv.dk for her Danish Christmas "Nisse" dolls.  At first I was a bit intimidated by the instructions, but once I figured out how to read them the directions were very simple.

What I used for this project:
1 skein Red Heart Super Saver yarn in "Buff"
remnant of purple and soft pink yarn (for dress)
remnant of soft pink and purple yarn for scarf, contrast stitching in dress and belt
remnant of chunky brown yarn for hair
white sewing thread
sewing needle
2 small black buttons with posts (for eyes)
cotton batting for stuffing
1 set of size 8 double point needles
1 crochet hook

Instead of knitting the Christmas dolls in the original version, I decided to change the coloring so that the dolls would resemble my nieces and would have a dress in each of their favorite colors (pink and purple). Otherwise I followed the directions for the construction of the dolls.  Once the dolls were completed and the dresses had been finished, I made the hair out of chunky brown yarn by inserting a crochet needle through a stitch on the dolls head and out the other side, then I doubled the yarn and hooked it before pulling it back through the stitch.  I made sure to hold one end of the yarn firmly so that only the other end would be pulled through.  Once that was done I simply knotted the yarn on the head and proceeded from there until the head was covered to my liking.

I also did not knit the shoes in a contrasting color opting instead to leave the entire leg and feet in buff.

I hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I did, I can see endless possibilities for this, possibly a teddy bear or something similar in the future.  Just knit some ears and sew them on the head instead of the hair.



this post may have been shared at one (or all) of these wonderful blog hops!

The Homestead Project: Braided Rag Rug

Braided Rag Rug

 

 

 

I finally finished my braided rag rug project this weekend.  I say finally, but really it was just my procrastination that made it take so long to complete.  This simple project came together quickly without any special tools or equipment.  I followed the tutorial by Moda Bake Shop here.

 

What you'll need:

1 honey bun of your choice

(I used a jelly roll instead since I couldn't find any honey buns in my local crafts supply shop)
4 yards of white fabric

Sewing needle

Cotton thread

Scissors

 

You'll start by cutting/ripping your white fabric into strips (width of fabric wise) to match the width of your honey bun or jelly roll fabric.  Once you have all of your strips of fabric you can begin.

 

preparing to join the strips

Begin by laying 1 white, 1 patterned (roll or bun) and 1 white strip next to each other.

Overlap the top ends and secure by stitching across then pin this in place using a safety pin so that it is secure when beginning your braid (see example in tutorial).  I secured mine to a pillow which I could keep on my lap and keep flipping to wind the braid as it progressed.  The tutorial shows the exact manner to connect the next strip to the end of the braiding strips.  Basically you will fold over the bottom end of the braiding strip, then you will make a small snip with scissors perpendicular to the fold.  Do the same to the top end of the next strip to be attached. 

Next you will line up the slits over each other with the new strip being on the top surface.  Take hold of the tail end/bottom of the new strip to be joined and bring the end up to the back of the previous strip of fabric.  Pull the end of the new strip through both slits and out the front.  Holding onto both strips by the slits continue to pull until you have the new strip almost completely through, then release the slits and gently pull until you have a small know (like that of a men's tie) joining both strips together. Continue in this manner until all strips have been braided.  IMPORTANT: Make sure to braid loosely.  If you braid tightly it will cause your rug to pucker and roll up when you begin sewing it together.

 

Once you have completed braiding all of your strips into one continuous braid, secure the end by stitching across it as you did at the beginning. (You can do this with a machine but it doesn't take very long by hand).

 

Here comes the exciting part: you're ready to start sewing it into a rug.  This is where I finally felt that the rug was beginning to take shape.

  

Take one end of the braid and begin by scrolling it into a flat cinnamon bun style roll.  Thread your needle and get to stitching!

 

I used a simple loop stitch through each side of the braid as I worked and it practically disappeared without a noticeable seam. Again there are really great pictures of this step in the tutorial.  Just follow its simple directions and you shouldn't have any trouble at all.

 

And here it is, the finished product!  What do you think?  Have you made one of these rugs before?  If so, I'd love to hear about your experience.
 

This post was shared at the following "hops":  Homestead Barn Hop, The HomeAcre Hop; Deborah Jean's May Sewing Party

Hop on over and join the fun!