I’ve had seasonal allergies most of my life.Growing up I remember taking all sorts of different allergy medications – some worked, some did not.The summer months are probably my least favorite because I am usually sneezing, blowing my nose, and trying not to itch my eyes.The three years that I ate a strict raw food diet I had NO allergies – none.I loved being able to go outdoors and not have to stuff my pockets with tissues!I almost forgot that I ever had allergies, until I started to ease up on my strict diet and introduce some cooked food into my diet.Well this year I’ve had allergies, although they aren't as bad as they've been in the past. Some days are worse than others and those bad days have left me annoyed and frustrated.I don’t want to use an over the counter medication and the past weeks I’ve been experimenting with herbs and essential oils to find relief.As I’ve mentioned before, I love HerbMentor and on that website there is Village Herbalist course that teaches about colds, flus, hay fever and allergies.I finally decided to sit down and listen to it a couple weeks ago and was amazed at the wealth of information I received.I took notes and have been experimenting with the suggestions and recipes that were shared.
So I guess its better late then never to show what I made for Mother’s Day.I was a couple days late in delivering these gifts to our mothers and grandmothers because of our trip to Portland over the weekend.But I think they all understand!
I have been busy making the All-Purpose Healing Salve and the Hand Cream over the past week or so.I simply made labels with what was inside and a list of ingredients on the back.
The bag is full of bath salts that are perfect to adding to a bath at the end of a long day.I made the custom box to put it all in and topped it off with paper shreds and cellophane.
I don’t have a lot of time so I’m just going to post this recipe for the all-purpose cleaner I made last week.
All-Purpose Disinfecting Spray ¼ cup vinegar 2 tsp. borax ¼ cup castile soap (I used Dr. Bronners found at the health food store.I used rose scented because it was on sale) 2 cups hot water 1 drop of food coloring – optional Lemon Essential oil – as desired Put all ingredients in a spray bottle and shake until mixed. Spray and wipe your surface.
There are also some other green recipes on the doTerra blog that my friend Aubrey shared with me.You can check out that post here.Also, if you are interested in purchasing some essential oils and/or learning more about them, I am having a doTerra party this coming Wednesday, May 12th at 7pm in Orem.The first nine people who arrive get a FREE bottle of Wild Orange Essential Oil (can be used for anxiety, colds, colic, flu, fever, mouth ulcers, lowers high cholesterol, and more!!)Let me know if you are interested and I’ll give you directions to my house.If you want to learn more about doTerra click here.
I love essential oils and learning of new ways to use them.I recently heard that lemon essential oil can be used to remove sticky residue and it works!I’ve used lemon EO to remove the remains of a label on my microwave and to remove the sticky gunk off some jars I wanted save.The best way to use it is to put several drops on a cotton ball and rub on the sticky surface to remove.Depending on how big the sticky surface is, you may need to repeat this or use more lemon EO.If you are using a bigger surface you can just shake a few drops directly onto the surface and rub it into the sticky residue then use your cotton ball to rub it all away!
If you need some lemon essential oil, you need to check out doTerra and click here to view my friend Aubrey’s shop.doTerra is having a great promotion right now that you can view here if you are interested in getting wholesale pricing!
Let me know if you have any great ideas and success stories you've had with essential oils. I'd love to hear your ideas!
This was my first attempt to make any sort of skin care products and I’m happy to report that it was a success!I probably should have started with something a little simpler, like a salve, but I really needed to moisturize my hands and wanted to make my own hand cream.I always get dry hands and feet in the winter and then again in the spring and this year has been no exception. I've used all sorts of products and this last week I just wasn’t in the mood to purchase a cream or lotion at the store. I recently purchased this book and Rosemary has a "perfect hand cream" recipe that knew I wanted to make. I made this recipe just the other night and I am happy to report that the only improvement I’d make is adding more lavender essential oil. Check out the ingredients that I used and steps below:
Waters: 2/3 cup distilled water 1/3 cup aloe vera gel 2 drops essential oil of choice (I chose lavender, but would add a lot more than 2) Vitamin A and E as desired
Combine the water ingredients in a glass measuring cup then set aside. I had really had no clue on how much Vitamin A and E to add, so I went off the daily recommended dosage and then multiplied it by four - why four? I don't really know, but it works I suppose! I added 40 drops of the Vitamin E oil (10 drops is the daily allowance and then pricked 4 gel capsules of the Vitamin A and squeezed them into my water mixture.
Oils: ¾ cup apricot kernel oil 1/3 cup coconut oil ¼ tsp liquid lanolin ½ ounce beeswax I had 1 ounce bars of beeswax and so I just broke one in half - you can use up to an ounce though.
You want to then heat the oils over low heat in a double broiler until they are melted. I simply used a bigger pan of water and set a smaller saucepan inside. Once the oils are melted pour them into a blender and let them cool.
This step is super important!Let the mixture sit until it’s at room temperature.You can put in the refrigerator as I did to speed up the process, but keep checking on it to make sure it doesn’t get too hard.The mixture should look creamy and be a cream color.I kept dipping a knife into the mixture and testing the temperature to make sure it was cooled off.You also want to make sure that the water ingredients are at room temperature.
You then turn on the blender at the highest speed and with a slow drizzle, pour the water mixture into the center of the oil.If the blender starts over working, turn it off and add the remaining water by hand.I didn’t have a problem with my blender and was able to continue blending until all the water was poured in.If you have a beautiful creamy end result, then you did it right!Then pour into jars and store in a cool location. There you have it!I used some cream on my hands that night and am happy to announce that this cream is amazing!I am so happy with the results.I have a small enough container to keep in my purse and plenty for use at home!
Growing up I had several warts on my hands that I was self conscience of and totally despised. My parents used several kinds of over the counter products to get rid of them and when those didn’t work, they resorted to taking me to the doctor to freeze them off.The later was the absolute worst because the warts would blister, pop and then harden before it was finally able to be clipped off.It was painful, disgusting and took several days for this process.When my six-year-old son came to me with warts on his hands, I knew exactly what it was like and hoped I could spare him the embarrassment and difficulty of removing his warts.I heard that clove essential oil works great to remove warts so I thought I’d give it a try.I have a hard time in being consistent and remembering to daily put it on his warts, but about a month ago I put it on for about 3 or 4 days consistently and then forgot about it.When I put the oil on the warts I would first clip the wart with fingernail clippers to remove as much of the wart above the skin level as possible.Then I took a Q-tip soaked in clove essential oil and dabbed it on the wart then covered with a Band-Aid.I repeated this process 2-3 times a day for a few days and then a week or so later I noticed that the wart was turning black under the top layer of the wart.The following week or so my son came home from school saying that he wart fell off. Sure enough, after taking a closer look, the wart had come off completely and there was new skin underneath.In my experience this has been a great home remedy for wart removal and if you have any warts I suggest giving this remedy a try before resorting to a more invasive procedure!
Hi! I'm Christa, a dynamic woman and mother on my personal path of self discovery. I’m passionate about natural childbirth, green living, herbal remedies, vegan/raw food, crafts, woodworking, Down syndrome, spiritual healing, essential oils, owning my power and beauty as a woman and empowering other woman to live their truth.
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