Awesome Leave In Conditioner

I've been planning to make some Leave In Conditioner for months now.  (Ever since the last of my Aveda Smooth Infusion Style Prep Smoother ran out and I've been too cheap to buy more.)  I finally did and boy am I glad I decided to try it - I love it!  I modified a recipe I found here.  If you want to make your own bath or beauty products, I would definitely recommend Susan's site Point of Interest.  She's got tons of good information and recipes!

Here is my version:

Leave in Conditioner

LEAVE
IN
CONDITIONER
2% Incroquat BTMS
4% glycerin
1% hydrolyzed protein (cromoist)
1% panthenol
2% dimethicone
1% essential oil (10 drops each of rosemary, cedarwood, clary sage and lemon)
1% preservative (optiphen)
water to 100%

Crayon Notepad Sets

After overbuying fabric for the beanbags back in November, I had lots leftover for the Crayon Notepad sets I decided would replace loot bags at my daughter's birthday party this weekend.

I used the tutorial here changing it as necessary for seam allowances etc since I was using quilting fabric rather than felt.  Another Skip to My Lou tutorial here also helped as I don't think I would have come up with folding the pocket piece in half rather than having an edge to hem myself.

Beanbag Extravaganza!

I wanted to do something different from the usual loot bag for my son's birthday back in November.  Loot bags are great fun, but typically a lot of stuff that ends up as clutter, in the landfill, or, in our case now, recycled as Geocaching SWAG.  I've had beanbags for the kids on my 'to sew' list for years now so I decided it would be a set of 3 beanbags for each child.

I used bright quilting cotton, so I did an inner liner for added durability.  My fill was rice.  I tried to research the best fill... but didn't find any conclusive info.  I had a lot of rice I wasn't using around, so rice it was.  I like the feel of the finished bags and as an added bonus, they can also be microwaved and used as hot packs.

Making 30+ beanbags took some time, but hopefully they will be enjoyed and played with for quite sometime.

Here are a few tutorials here and here if you want to make some beanbags of your own.

 

Lip Balm

I made some excellent lip balm a while back.  It is similar to Saje's Vanilla Spice Lip Balm.

Lip Balm

7.5mL     candelilla wax

5 mL      cocao butter (approx measure)

5 mL      almond oil

5 mL      hemp seed oil

1 mL      vitamin E

1 mL      jojoba oil

            essential oils (3 drops cinnamon, 2 drops vanilla)

 

yields approximately 3 tubes

Boinga and Moxie

Alien and Monster appliqués with matching stuffies for birthday gifts.

Grandma's Charm Bracelet

This was for my mom's birthday.  Made in sterling silver with the kid's photos and their birthstones in swarovski crystals.  The charm is hand stamped with the quote "There is no place like home except Grandma's".

Melt and Pour Soap

My daughter and I had fun making these melt and pour soaps for an end of the year thank you gift for her preschool teachers.  Super easy to do.