Homemade Lotion Bar Tutorial

I have posted before about making homemade lotion bars, and I would like to give you detailed steps so you can make them yourself.

I recently posted a question on some Blog Frog Forums asking what to do about extremely dry skin.

This winter weather and the dryness of the heater constantly running is doing very ugly things to my skin! It is itchy, scaly, and extreeeeemely dry.

I got a few responses, mostly about different lotions I have already tried. That's when I remembered that I had a few of these lotion bars leftover from giving them as Christmas gifts to Bible class and piano teachers.



I knew they felt good on my hands, but on a whim I rubbed one directly onto my legs, and aaaahhhhhhhh! Relief!

The shea butter, avacado oil, vitamin E oil, and beeswax make it luxuriously rich, thick and soothing!

These are super simple to make.  The kids even got involved and enjoyed making them for their teachers.


Homemade Lotion Bar Recipe
(I ordered the supplies I needed from Bramble Berry.)

1 part shea butter
1 part avocado oil
1 part beeswax
vitamin E oil

• Use a double boiler (one small pot floating in a bigger pot of water) to slowly melt the shea butter and beeswax. 
• Stir in the avocado oil and vitamin E. I used about a teaspoon of vitamin E for every cup of the other ingredients.
• Pour into some pretty molds.
• At this step, I added a few drops of vanilla extract to some for a delicious scent. I really like the ones that didn't have it, too, though. They smell of honey because of the beeswax!
• Allow to cool.
• Pop out carefully and enjoy!

I ordered this lovely mold from a soap making site on Ebay.

Here is a lotion bar I have been using, so it is a bit worn down.

Is it just me, or does it look like my grandmother's hand has taken over my arm? Ah, well. No matter. Just look at how moisturized I am!
 
*This post is linked to A Soft Place to Land and Works For Me Wednesday.

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Handmade Christmas Gifts

My super smart 14 year old daughter decided to make handmade Christmas gifts for her brother and sisters this year. Here are a few of them.

Here is a very happy sister with her felt, stuffed puppy dog.

This sister has been wanting a rag doll for years. She was so proud to finally get one, handmade by her sister!

Here are two personalized felt books for little girls.

Counting buttons

A zipper pocket with all the letters of the alphabet inside

This page is the baby's favorite. The teddy bear is attached to a ribbon so it won't get lost. She loves taking it out of the pocket and tucking it back in again.

Another zipper pocket with seashells from our beach vacation inside.

Seashell coasters

Seashell locket necklace

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Smockity's Christmas Tour

*Be sure to check out my Tour of Christmas Crafts. You'll find chocolate cherry mice, gingerbread houses, and my nifty Christmas tree skirt there.

If you are here for the first time, welcome to my home! The old timers already know me, but allow me to introduce myself.

I am a homeschooling mom of seven and a half who believes in allowing children to be self reliant. This has created a "Meh... It'll do" attitude in me, and may I just say that the more children you have the more your "Meh..." attitude will bloom.

I allow the children to do the Christmas decorating mostly themselves and I love to see the pride they take in their work! I must admit this takes quite a bit of turning a blind eye to their, shall we say, creative design.

*None of the following photos were staged. All were taken as is.

Here we have the front door wreath. It welcomes visitors with a "Children live here!" message.

This is Delbert. The children take turns hiding him in various places for the others to find each morning. Legend has it that he returns to the North Pole each night while everyone is sleeping to report to Santa all the deeds of good and naughty children.

Here we have a decoration hand made and placed by one of the children. We like to keep things simple around here.

Our tree and stockings all hung by the chimney with care.  Each child has a different needlepoint stocking and special stocking holder of their own. They love to unpack these and hang them each Christmas. Let's just imagine the angel at the top is leaning because she is watching over the dear little ones, shall we?

A closer look at the tree reveals some interesting spacing issues.  This is where the restraint on my part comes in.

The obligatory styrofoam and felt ornament.

More bunching.

And this is what happens when the Mom o' Many is still working on the Christmas tree skirt in mid December.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoyed the tour and will come back soon.

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Handmade Christmas Gifts

These simple handmade Christmas gifts have always been the ones my children get most excited about each year. Every year since I had only 2 small toddlers, I have been making matching Christmas pajamas that are to be unwrapped and worn to bed on Christmas Eve.

(Christmas '07)

(Christmas '08)

I had wondered if my 13 year old son might be getting a little too "mature" for such a simple gift, but just the other day he said, "Don't you think you had better get started on our Christmas pajamas if they are going to be done in time?"

I take that to mean he still likes them and I had better get busy!

Here is another handmade gift that I enjoyed making last year. I made these super simple and simply scrumptious lotion bars for gifts AND found these perfect little tins to put them in!


Handmade Christmas gifts are always fun for the giver and appreciated by the receiver. Why not try some this year?

Be sure to check out some of my other Christmas craft projects!

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Frugal Handmade Party Invitations

We recently made some frugal handmade party invitations for a "Celebrate Fall" party I am planning.  Before I show them to you, though, I need all you scrapbooker types to leave the room.

Just trust me on this one.

Are they gone?  Okay, here's what we did.

I used some brown packing paper that came in a package I got in the mail.  It was a little wrinkled, but that just added to the look I was going for.

I collected some leaves and showed the kids how to do leaf rubbings. Everyone got to help out and they all really enjoyed the process.

We cut them out, keeping the leaf shape, and glued them to the front of the invitations. (It looks like someone snuck in some of the contraband orange construction paper.)

On the inside, which I can't show you because I don't want a couple hundred of you showing up to the party, and it's not because I don't like you, really it's not, but that would mean I'd have to buy a WHOLE lot more candy than I was planning on and remember how this whole idea is frugal?

Anyway...

MaddieLynn printed the details in alternating red, brown and orange paragraphs.

Very fall-like, huh?

Okay, now all the scrapbookers can come back, but please don't tell me that I could have added some ribbon or rick rack to frame the leaves because I already thought of that and since our Walmart up and decided to do away with its fabric section, I would have had to drive clear to the big city to buy that rick rack and have you priced gas lately?  That would have defeated the whole frugal portion of the project, now wouldn't it?

So there you go. They are what they are.  Handmade by kids.  Simple and frugal party invitations.

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Magnetic Photo Bookmarks

My mother has always been a creative soul.

I remember getting hand made doll clothes for Christmas one year, which I thought was the most fantastic gift I could imagine. Many years later, she told me that Christmas was particularly tight financially and she had made those doll clothes from some scrap fabric.

I also remember, circa 1973, her Mod Podging photos of us kids on a cute little wooden purse she carried. I remember the year because my mind is a steel trap. Sometimes the steel is a little rusty and I forget that I put all the towels in the washer and everyone has to drip dry from their baths, but that's not the point of this post.

The point is that Mom brought over some adorable handmade bookmarks for the kids a few days ago. She used tiny photos she had printed to personalize them, and with a little glue and some magnets, a darling idea was born!


Isn't she clever?


The paper has the stiffness of a file folder. Cutting up an old greeting card (on the fold) would do the trick or using a grosgrain ribbon, stitched across the fold to allow it to lie flat, would add a punch of color.

This DIY is linked at A Soft Place to Land.

Roses and Gingham Apron

I finally got caught up on my apron orders and was printing out the packing slip so I could run a little cutie like this one to the post office.



(Except with polkadot ties.)

That's when I noticed that my customer had ordered "Strawberries and Gingham" instead of "Roses and Gingham"!

Mama's half heimers strikes again!

The good news is, if anyone would like to order a "Roses and Gingham" oilcloth apron, I can have it in the mail TODAY.

Just be the first to order (on my sidebar) and you'll be cookin' pretty in no time.

Super Simple "Gingerbread" Houses

I have posted a couple of times about our "Gingerbread House Decorating Parties". And I use the term "gingerbread" loosely here, because, in fact they are graham crackers.

Here is how I create the magic. (And I use the term "create" loosely here. And "magic".)

I buy several boxes of graham crackers, and I assemble the houses the night before the party using *royal icing. (*See recipe below.)

I learned the hard way that the houses do not have sufficient time to harden if they are constructed the day of the party, and there is nothing sadder at Christmas time than a room full of bawling preschoolers looking at a broken pile of graham crackers.

Another thing I have learned is "the bigger they are, the EASIER they fall." I usually use 1/2 of the long cracker for each wall and each roof portion when preschoolers are involved. They are sturdier and can handle clumsy hands.

For the older kids, I use a whole cracker for each wall and 2 whole crackers for each side of the roof, bringing the cracker total to 8 for each house. (Click to enlarge the photo.)


Be generous with the icing. Apply it to each side of the joint, inside and out.If your icing is on the thick side, construction will be easier. See those drippy ones on the right? That was my second batch of icing and it was really too thin for my liking. It made construction more difficult. And drippier.

Construct the four walls of each house and let them harden about an hour before putting the roof on. This will ensure that the walls are sturdy enough not to slide apart from the weight of the roof.

The next day, make some more royal icing and give each child a glob and a bowl full of candy and LET THE FUN BEGIN!

*Royal Icing
3 egg whites
4 Cups powdered sugar (1lb.)
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Check out more photos of the "gingerbread" fun!
Smockity Gingerbread Houses 2007
Smockity Gingerbread Houses 2008

Be sure to go to Rocks In My Dryer for more "Works For Me" tips.

Christmas Crafts

Boo Mama is hosting her annual Christmas Tour of Homes and I thought I would join in this year and show you some Christmas crafts we enjoy.

We love to make these cute little treats at Christmas time. They are very simple to make and fun to eat!

Ingredients:
Hershey's Kisses
Almond slices
chocolate chips (for melting)
cherries (with stems)

Dip the cherries into the melted chocolate and stick a Hershey's Kiss on to form the head and body of the mouse. Before the chocolate has a chance to harden, put two almond slices in for the ears. Use decorator's icing for the eyes. Or leave them off if you prefer your mice blind.

Notice the matching Christmas pajamas? Another tradition. I make these and wrap them up for them to open on Christmas Eve. Then, in all of the Christmas morning photos when they are all sporting a raging case of bed head, at least their pajamas look good.


This is my Christmas tree skirt. I started it when I just had 2 small children. Every year I trace each child's hand onto a piece of felt. Then I stitch the name and year and sew it with a blanket stitch onto the skirt. One of these days I'll need to add another layer to the outside edge to have room for more hand prints. I love to look back at how each child has grown.



This is our annual gingerbread decorating party. (I'll be posting details about constructing the houses for this week's Works For Me Wednesday.)


I taped freezer paper to the table and drew a little neighborhood. Then, I scattered candies and markers on the table and gave everyone some icing on a piece of wax paper to use for attaching their candies.



We award honors to each house. The above house won Grand Prize. Notice the little bridge with licorice hand rails. The one below won Best Interior Design. It even had furniture!


Below is the winner for Best Landscaping. Do you see the swing set?



Make sure to see my post about this year's Gingerbread House Decorating Party. We had 15 participants and a rockin' good time!

For more Christmas cheer, click on the "Christmas Tour of Homes" button at the top of this post, and you will be directed onto the Boo Mama train that will lead you right straight to Whoville (after the Grinch repents, Silly!)