homemade lipgloss

This week I tried my hand at making beeswax lip gloss. Beeswax is completely nontoxic & is known for it's healing properties. Bees have to fly 150,000 miles to produce 1 lb of beeswax!

The ingredients to make the lip gloss are:
- olive oil
- grated beeswax
- honey
- small containers with lids

It took me awhile to find beeswax. It's sold at Hobby Lobby for $15 for a lb. But it smells like regular wax. It's really nothing special. I Called a few beekeepers in Pensacola for their prices on their beeswax. One guy I met at the Palofox farmers market told me $10 a lb...which I was excited about since it was cheaper than hobby lobby & would be local beeswax. When I talked to them on the phone about the price & picking some up they said it would be $12 a lb. So I contacted Kittrells Dream. They have a bee farm and harvest honey, make beeswax soap and sell it at the Palofox farmers market. They would sell me beeswax for $8 a lb. But poured it into 2.75 lb bricks...so it would $20. I was stoked! So I talked to them online & arranged to pick up my brick of beeswax this past Saturday at the farmers market.

When we got home from the farmers market Charlotte & I tried our hand at making lip gloss. I heated the olive oil & the beeswax on the stove, until all the beeswax was melted. Once melted I poured the honey in slowly and continued to stir it. I poured the mixture into the small containers. I'm supposed to leave them at room temperature for 48 hours so it gets to the right consistency. The next day I noticed that the honey settled to the bottom of the containers. The lip gloss was a bit too firm to actually to use it. I'm wondering if I need to use more olive oil next time, and maybe let the honey heat up longer on the stove into the beeswax mixture.

Although I don't have it perfect yet. The lip gloss smelled AMAZING. And I really love the idea of knowing exactly what I'm putting on my body. There are so many chemicals in regular household items we purchase. I've just come to this point in my life where I firmly believe if you know better....you do better. I want to do the very best with what God has given me. I want to take care of my children the very best I can. I don't think I will be able to make everything at home, but it's fun to try some of these items:)

"None of your Beeswax"

Have you ever said that ('none of your beeswax') in elementary school when someone was getting too much in your business? Well besides saying it in elementary school i really haven't talked much about beeswax until now. Now all of sudden it's a topic of interest to me. I'm really wanting to make the beeswax lip balm & beeswax candles. The beeswax candles are supposed to take FOREVER to burn. I found a beekeeper yesterday at the Farmer's market who will sell me some beeswax. I'll probably see if Juan will call him and pick up some beeswax. The guy sells it from his house. I def don't want to go alone.

This honey (above) is from the kittrells. they're located in Alabama. It's delicious & their soap is amazing!

I'm really excited about some local honey i purchased. I looked up the benefits of honey. "The vitamins present in honey are B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid and certain amino acids. The minerals found in honey include calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc.This natural sweetener has antioxidants -- , is fat free and cholesterol free! It was $7 for the jar, but it came from cantonment. Can't get more local than that!

somewhat overwhelmed...

This exciting GREEN journey I'm on is just that; EXCITING. At times I find myself getting overwhelmed. It happens a lot. I get excited about the healthier choices I'm making, and then all of a sudden I get "knowledge happy". I research, and research until I get so discouraged. I realize that almost EVERYTHING I'm using is unsafe... All the products in my home, all the food I'm eating...etc.  Has anyone ever felt like that?  Luckily I have a great friend (nat) who calms me down and says "One thing at a time". So....after a couple days of being overwhelmed I'm back to living the GREEN life. Well...my version of the GREEN life.

Okay...when shopping at the grocery store they usually ask "Paper or plastic". I always say "plastic" when I'm at a regular grocery store. The cold items I purchase always get the paper bags wet and then they fall apart. So plastic it is. When at Everman...the natural food store, they ask "paper or plastic" I always get so nervous. Which is the lesser of two evils, paper or plastic? Especially at the natural food store?  The first time I shopped there I asked for plastic bags & I got all these condescending looks. I know that plastic has a hard time breaking down and it isn't the best for the environment. So the next time I shopped there I asked for a paper bag...yet I still got the same bad looks. I know using a paper bag isn't good for the environment either. A tree had to be cut down for my bag.

So the last time I shopped at Everman I bought a reusable shopping bag that's made out of a burlap type sack. Today when I checked out they asked me "paper or plastic"...and I proudly held up my reusable shopping bag with a big smile on my face like "HA! HA! I beat the system..."  Well that's how I felt. Plus it's good for the environment;)

Tonight Charlotte & I made a Streak free Window & Glass cleaner
- 1/3 cup vinegar
- 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
- 3 1/2 cups of water
- 1 clean 32 ounce spray bottle

We tried it out on the bathroom mirror & it worked great! I dont' know if Juan's going to switch from buying his window cleaner full of chemicals to this one to do while he's detailing cars. Perhaps he'll try it out on my car first.

We also made a Citrus Disinfectant. the book promises that if you like pricey commercial orange cleaners, you'll love this fresh citrus-scented vinegar spray that is easy to make & costs less than a dollar. So here's the recipe:
- peel from 1 orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime
- 3 cups white vinegar
- 1 clean quart jar with lid
- 1 clean 32 ounce spray bottle
1. Combine the peels & vinegar in a jar. Fasten lid & leave for 2 weeks
2. Remove peel form jar, strain vinegar & return to jar
3. pour 1 cup of citrus vinegar in bottle & fill with water


So......here's what I did....I didn't want to wait 2 weeks. So.....I bought Orange extract. It was organic! (I thought I'd share that it's organic like that's going to make it sound better).  I put 1 cup of vinegar in the spray bottle, filled the rest up with water & then put a few dashes of orange extract. I tried spraying the cleaning solution on the counters & tried cleaning it up. Unfortunately it didn't smell like oranges. It smelled like vinegar....not a great smell. On the bright side Charlotte thought it smelled like Salt & vinegar chips and that made her hungry. So I'm glad someone liked it. ha ha. You'd think I had learned my lesson after the bath gel incident earlier this week. Oh well.

Those are my Green moments. Tomorrow I'm heading to the Farmers Market with Natalie. Tomorrow is supposed to be National Bee Keeping Day. They're supposed to have some fun bee keeping events there. I'm hoping to buy some more beeswax soap and perhaps a candle. I'm really looking for someone to sell me some beeswax so I can make some lip balm.  We'll see what the Farmers Market has!

the whole truth...

Sooooo........

the other day I shared about the home made items I started making. The one story I didn't share was a wonderful bath gel I made for Charlotte's bath. I suppose, it just slipped my mind...well or maybe I didn't want to share my unsuccessful story. haha. Well here it goes.

The ingredients are:
- 1/2 cup bottled water
- 1 packet UNFLAVORED gelatin
- 1/2 cup baby shampoo

I definitely had water & baby shampoo...but who has UNFLAVORED gelatin in their house? I had green and I had cherry. After making so many successful recipes I wanted to try another on....So I asked Charlotte "what kind of bath gel do you want? Green or Red?" She said "red" so red it was. I figured the best kids bath stuff smells good and it is usually brightly colored. So we followed the instructions...except for the kind of gelatin. We mixed it all together on the stove, let it cool & put it in a container in the fridge. It looked & smelled great!

When bath time rolled around I grabbed the home made bath gel & put a scoop in her bath. It didn't seem to do anything to the bath, so I added two more scoops into the bath. I asked Charlotte what she thought & if she could pick it up and play with it. As she did, all of a sudden her hand was turning red, and then it was changing the water red. I shrieked and tried to scoop all the scoops out of the tub, and told her to stay to the other side of the tub (where the water was still somewhat clear).  I quickly washed her hair & got her out of there in record time.  What a mess.

Let's just say this is probably why I'm not the best cook....I swap one ingredient for another and still expect the same results.

Oh well...lesson learned.  you win some, you loose some.

Living Green

It’s been a couple weeks since my first post. I have added meat back to my diet slowly. We’re buying organic meat when shopping at the grocery store. When we eat out, I do sometimes order food that has meat that isn’t organic. My dear friend Natalie says…if you do what you can, it’s better than doing nothing at all. So we’re doing what we can.

This is my latest in ‘organic living’ :   A couple weeks ago my friend Jessica posted on facebook that she was going to start making her own cleaners for her home. This is something I saw the Duggars do when making their laundry detergent. I was definitely interested when watching the Duggars, and especially after seeing one of my momma friends trying it.  I thought it would be really awesome if I could make every day products we use at home for a couple of reasons.

1. I would know EXACTLY what was in the products we have at home…so they’d be safe for my children & pets to be near.

2. I would be saving our family a ton of money

3. It would lessen my carbon footprint. By making products at home there would be less waste, there wouldn’t be any harmful chemicals or preservatives. I feel like it’s our responsibility as Christians to take care of the earth. We should take care of what God has given us. I’ve just come to this turning point in my life where…I want to do better. The more I’m learning, the better I want to become. I heard this once…  “When you know better, you do better.”

I found a book online called Homemade - ‘702 ways to save money & the earth’.

So today I made my own shaving Gel for women on page 254. I found it easy to make. It only required: conditioner, shampoo, baby oil & hand cream. Let’s just say I used some tonight & it did the job, but wasn’t as wonderful as the store-bought shaving cream. I could’ve just used some of my shampoo and it probably would’ve worked just fine. Perhaps I’ll look for another ‘recipe’ for homemade shaving cream.

Next I tried making Liquid Hand Soap on page 259. You grate 2 cups of bar soaps, add ½ a gallon water, 2 tablespoons of glycerin, few drops of lavender essential oil & a couple drops of purple food coloring. Place all on stove in a large pot till the grated soap flakes have dissolved.  The soaps I used were extras I had from hotel visits. The food coloring I had at home already. The Lavender ($10) & Glycerin ($3.39) I purchased at Everman Grocery, and I have SO much of them both left.

I made the children some bubble bath on page 258. Bubble bath can get expensive…especially since I love the Johnson’s sleepytime bubble bath (it smells like lavender). So I followed their instructions: ½ cup of shampoo, ¾ cup of water, ¼ of table salt & then I added a few drops of lavender essential oil. I’m so excited! We now have my favorite baby bubble bath for the kiddos! The best part is I know exactly what’s in it & I won’t have to buy more containers of bubble bath. Kind of neat.

Soon I will try making:

-          laundry detergent

-          glass cleaner

-          household cleaner

-          honey lip balm…

I wanted to make the lip balm today, but Everman doesn’t sell Beeswax. Where do I find beeswax? Online they recommended finding my local beekeeper.  But hello?!?!?! Who knows the local bee keeper? Haha. I googled: ‘pensacola beekeeper’ & there is one listed. But I’m not sure how much I should be paying for beeswax…but next after lip balm I would love to try my hand at Beeswax candles like my wonderful ‘GREEN’ friend Erin.

Thanks for reading. Please share your thoughts & ideas. I love encouraging each other on this journey to being our best selves.