A Little Bee Lovey

For the new baby I would like to decorate her room with brown and yellow bees.  When I decorate I don't go crazy.  I usually use the same curtains and rug and the color brown and add a painting, some wall hangings, a peg board with a name on it, and a pillow or two.  The crib remains neutral except for some loveys to go with the theme.

We've had a safari theme, a monkey theme, a lamb theme, and now we will have a bee theme.

So I have been looking online for brown and yellow bees.  I usually make most of what goes into the theme's decor, but I've never made a lovey before.  I couldn't find one I liked, so I decided to make one.

I wish this could be a great tutorial, but the truth is I didn't know what I was doing the whole time.  I pretty much just went with it and eventually came up with a cute little amateur product.  Perhaps I will try this again in the future, but at another time.

I started by taking another lovey and getting an idea of how to go about things from examining this little monkey (which interestingly was not actually a part of the aforementioned monkey theme).

Then I started cutting and sewing.  I sewed most of it with the machine, but the face I embroidered by hand, and I also embroidered the edges of the antennae.  

I sewed the head on by hand, and I would like to research more next time because I am sure there is an easier way.  

I used bias tape for the white and thinner brown stripes.  Amazingly I already had all of the supplies I needed for this.  This was a free project!

And here is the final product.  

So now the search for a little brown and yellow bee lovey is over.  I hope she loves it!  

Have you made a lovey like this?  I would love to see how you did it.  Please share in the comments or contact me directly.

Homemade Christmas: Hard Lotion Bars and Lip Balms

So Homemade Christmas was a success throughout our gift list, thankfully.  In fact, I'm going to do it again this year (Thankfully I wrote down what I gave to each person, so I don't repeat).

Repeating might not be a bad idea with these though.  I made several batches of homemade hard lotion bars.  They are called hard because they are actually solid instead of gooey.  The lotion melts on as you massage the bar onto your skin.  It's delightful.

I originally found out about these through MadeOn: Skin Care Products.  There you will find recipes for several homemade goodies and even videos included to help with the process!   Go here to check out her video on YouTube (embedding was disabled, so you have to click on the link).

I also made lip balms with the same recipe!  This lip balm is my new favorite.  It works so well, and I made it myself for very little money.

Taking equal parts of coconut oil *, beeswax *, and Shea butter * (although you can add a little more Shea butter or a little more beeswax to get your desired consistency - like if you live in a more hot and humid climate adding more of these will help them not melt a little).  I started by using just 1/2 cup each to see how much it would make based on the muffin tins I was using to mold them.

I melted them using my homemade double boiler method (maybe one day I will actually buy some double boiler pots).

I removed the pot carefully from the stove (without getting water into it), and dropped in about 20 drops of essential oils.  I use the oils from Young Living +, and I made batches with peppermint, PanAway, Thieves, lavender, and frankincense.  Then I gently stirred the oils into the mixture to distribute evenly.

I poured the liquid into the molds and used a dropper to get them into the lip balm tubes * (the video really helps with tips on that).

I used regular muffin tins and mini muffin tins.  You can use any container really, as long as it can stand the hot liquid going in.

Then I waited for them to cool and firm up, put them into the freezer (while still in tins) for about an hour.  When they came out of the freezer they were really easy to pop out of the tins.  After that I placed them into the containers I would gift them in.  For the little ones, I used clean baby food jars and decorated the lids.  For the larger ones, I put them in plastic wrap and into a cloth bag or a Christmas gift box.

Before this project I had no idea about the benefits of all of the ingredients.  We use coconut oil a lot, so I knew how beneficial that is for the body, and I know the oils are wonderful for health and wellness, but the Shea butter and the beeswax were wonderful to learn about.

In fact, I made some for our family, and I have really loved it for my face, neck, hands, and lips.  My skin looks so balanced, and there are even fewer wrinkles.  I kid you not.  This stuff is great.  Not to mention the lip balm has helped prevent chapped lips like nobody's business.

I have a feeling these will become a staple at our house, and a regular gifting item.  I want to look at more recipes for other products to try from MadeOn, too!  And by the way, Renee from MadeOn has many recipes, ebooks, and kits available, too.

This is a fun way to give a helpful and practical gift to others.  Enjoy!


* I have included affiliate links to Amazon for these products.  I found the best prices there for these items.
+ I have a good friend who is a distributor for Young Living, and I can give you the contact information if you are interested.  I highly recommend their essential oils and essential oil blends.

The Lion of Judah

I finally did it.  That big, blank canvas in our dining room that I mentioned a while ago has now been painted!  It took me so long to decide what I wanted to do on it.  I toyed with so many ideas, but one day I thought of a regal, kingly lion, and that seemed right.

So here it is!

I had originally envisioned the lion to be much more regal and less cheerful, but this is what came out of me.  The more I look at that cheerfulness the more I like it.

I looked at a lot of photos and drawings and paintings of lions, and then I sketched it out on the canvas.  For me that was the easier part.  I was most nervous about actually painting it, but I had fun doing it.

Feels good to get a project done.  I'm thankful for this lion.

What projects have you been wanting to complete lately?