Homemade Vapor Rub

I just finished making Shower Vapor Discs & my house smells lovely from all the essential oils :)

I wanted to make vapor rub for my kiddos (I read new safety issues with using some of these oils on kids! - I will no longer use this on them!) but all the recipes I found on Pinterest includes beeswax which I don't have :(

I decided to omit the beeswax because the coconut oil is "waxy" anyway and should work. 

I knew I saved my face cream jar for a reason! It was the perfect size for the rub. 

INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES:

3 Tablespoon Coconut Oil, Melted

25 Drops Eucalyptus Oil

5 Drops Rosemary Oil

2 Drops Lavender Oil
5 Drops Peppermint Oil (added after I already made it - much better!)

Empty Jar

It's the cold and flu season so the weather is a little cooler which means the coconut oil is hard. I melted 3 tablespoons of oil (which fit perfectly into my jar). 

Then I added the essential oils. Mix it up. 

I stuck it in the freezer hoping to harden it so I can use it soon. it only took about 10 minutes! It was a workout rubbing it on my 4 year old because he is ticklish! 

This is for my personal use and not in any way medical advice :)

DIY Vapor Shower Discs

It's the cold and flu season and I'm so tired of being sick. Once one person gets sick, everyone will eventually... especially if you have little ones who touch everything!

I'm nursing and there's a lot of unsafe things that can be passed onto the baby (3 months old) and he's also congested and miserable. You can't really give little ones any medication. So I purchased a vaporizer for Essential Oils. I read tons of reviews and eventually I bought one that was both affordable and had good reviews.

While researching everything related to essential oils, I came across these DIY Vic's Vapor Shower Discs. I've never used the Vic's brand before although I have been tempted to. Now, I get to try it for almost free since I already have all the ingredients at home!

I'm no doctor but I'd love to try this so here it goes!

SUPPLIES (Makes 16 Discs): 

2 Cups Baking Soda
2 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1 Teaspoon Salt
2/3 Cups water, Plus 4 Tablespoons Water (I'm sure there's an easier way to convert this but I just doubled the original recipe lol)

Essential Oils: Eucalyptus*, Peppermint*, Rosemary* & Lavender.

Muffin Baking Pan
Liners

*I read that there is safety issues with using eucalyptus, peppermint & Rosemary oils in young children. 

Love Eucalyptus!

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine the baking soda, cornstarch & salt. Slowly mix in the water. This will become a thick paste.

Line the pan & scoop about a tablespoon of the mixture into the liners. I ended up with 16.

Bake for 30 minutes at 300° (Or leave overnight - I don't have the patience).

Add Essential Oils:

Eucalyptus 10 Drops
Rosemary 9 Drops
Peppermint 4 Drops (I read somewhere it may burn so I used less)
Lavender 3 Drops (My first batch so testing out how much I'd like in it)

(UPDATE 12/30/14: After having used this... I would use more oils for myself since I felt like it wasn't enough)

I waited a couple of hours before peeling off the liners and I placed them in Mason Jars. As you can see I had issues getting the liners off. I read on another blog that you should peel it off before the pan cools down completely or use silicone. I don't have silicone pans and I forgot about peeling it off. Trial and error, right? :)

DIY Christmas Tree Cone

You can use so many things to decorate a Christmas Tree Cone. For this tutorial, I chose to use yarn for these cones.

SUPPLIES:

Poster paper ($1 at Dollar Tree)
Glue
Yarn
Scissors

DIRECTIONS:

You can choose to google "Christmas Tree Cone Template" but when I did that, it seemed like it was too much work. So I basically made a cone shape & glued it. I actually used clothes pin to hold it together for a few minutes (depends on what type of glue you're using).

Then cut the base so that it stands flat.

Start applying glue and wrapping yarn around the cone.

Once you get to the bottom, wrap it back up at different angles (kinda criss-crossing it). I just think this makes it prettier.

This is optional but I picked this up at the Dollar Tree and cut off pieces to decorate the tree. 

Stick it in!

I made 2 different sizes

For the red and silver one, I applied Elmer's glue to sections of the cone and sprinkled red & silver glitter (bigger glitter) on the cone.

Felt Poinsettia Napkin Ring

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and I'm thinking Christmas already. In fact, I've been thinking Christmas since before Halloween *sigh*.

I plan to make all sorts of different napkin rings but I wanted to start with something simple. When I think of Christmas, I think snowflakes, snowmen, etc... but one look of a Poinsettia flower and it feels like Christmas. :)

SUPPLIES:

Felt (Green & Red)
Beads (3)
Toilet Paper Roll
Scissors
Glue

 DIRECTIONS:

Cut the paper roll. I cut mine into 4 pieces. If you want 4 bigger pieces, try using a paper towel roll.

Cut enough felt long enough to cover the roll and wide enough to fold over on the inside. 

Glue the felt to the paper roll.

Now, I've tried this different ways....

First, I tried using craft glue (Martha Stewart). It was more wet than I wanted and needed to be held down for a few seconds for it to stay.

Next I tried the glue gun. I liked this better but I also kept gluing my fingers (ouch!). For the remaining pieces, I used the glue gun.

I found that if you cut slits on the felt & glue it in sections, it works out better... it also made the inside neater and smoother.

Cut 10 pieces of felt in red. I folded my felt piece & cut them out in layers of 4...this will ensure that all pieces were the same size.

Glue 5 together (like a star) first.
Put some glue on the next 5 and pinch one end.

Glue these on top of the first set (star). Glue the 3 Beads on top.

Apply glue to the seam of the ring and glue the flower on top. 

Easy? Not too bad! Like the Cloth Napkins? You can do it yourself! Check it out here.

DIY Candy Corn Costume

I wanted to make something easy for my boys. I found this on So You Think You're Crafty. Looks easy enough. At least that's what I thought! I didn't buy the felt by the yard. I figured the rectangle craft pieces would be enough... it wasn't. At least not for my 4 year old.

If you are OCD like me, you might want to LOOK at a candy corn first. I followed the tutorial only to find out the colors orange and yellow are switched. It should be white, orange, then yellow. I realized this after I put on the crochet candy corn hat (which I crocheted while looking at an actual candy corn last year). I tried to look for more felt to redo it but it's October and all the craft stores were out of orange felt! So I left it alone... Plus, it's only a costume (trying to calm the OCD side of me). 

SUPPLIES:

Felt in white, orange & yellow
Scissors
Sewing Machine/Thread
Child's shirt/dress as a template



DIRECTIONS:

I sewed the 3 pieces together (white on top, Yellow then orange) like the candy corn. The orange should be in the middle. You need 2 pieces. 

Trace your child's clothing and pin. As you can see, these were too small for me to flare out the pieces like a dress.

I actually cut a slit in the back right up the middle so that it will fit better. I'll need bigger pieces for my 4 year old. This was big enough for a 20 month old.

For my 4 year old, I made it with 2 pieces of each color for the front AND back so I used a total of 4 pieces each color.  When I traced his shirt, I flared the bottom in order to make it easier to slip on. It looks like a dress but if you look at a candy corn, the bottom is wider too ;)

And here they are out on Halloween night! It was a little wet but at least not raining at that time! 

Sharpie Personalized Plate

I actually made this plate a couple of years ago for our 5th anniversary. I wanted to put it in my blog. There are lots of tutorials out there on how to make these but it's pretty simple. 

Write/Draw on your ceramic plate, cup...etc.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes

SUPPLIES:

Plate - Found some plain ceramic plates at the Dollar Tree

Sharpie Pen(s) - I used a red & black pen

 DIRECTIONS:

Go wild. Get creative! I decided that I would write the lyrics of our Bride & Groom dance song Me and You by Kenny Chesney. I wrote Me and You in red so it stands out. 

I wanted to draw the same exact picture from our shot glass favor. I was surprised I didn't screw that up!

 

I baked it for 30 minutes at 350° 

Men are a little less sentimental about personalized gifts (well, at least my hubs seems that way) than women. If he gave this to me, I would have gotten teary eyed. I love him anyway :)

DIY Door Jammer

I made a few door jammers when my first son was born over 4 years ago. Being a first time mom, we tip toed around him all the time. I don't know if he was just a "hard" baby or what but he didn't sleep well. In fact, he didn't sleep through the night until he was 1.5 years old. Every time we slowly closed the door, he would still wake with the tiniest noise! UGH! Anyway, luckily my 2nd son was an "easy" baby and slept very well. There was no need for door jammers. In fact, I have already lost them.

Now that I'm not sleeping again with a new baby boy, I desperatly need door jammers. Why? Well, he sleeps okay but my oldest (sounds like a trouble maker?) always barges into the room and scares the crap out of me. My heart is racing and ready to jump out of my chest. What time is it? It's 2 in the morning... "Go back to bed honey, come back when it's light out. It's almost morning" Yeah right, but he doesn't know that! "Close the door gently please" and BAM!!! It's like he's doing it on purpose! Haha

This morning I was on a mission to make a few door jammers for all of our doors. It's not only my son who slams the door. My husband closes it very loudly too (we won't say slam since he's an adult). It was a quick project. Probably quicker if I didn't stop to take photos. hehe

SUPPLIES:

• Fabric - 2 pieces cut into 4 x 5.5 inches
• Batting - Same size 4 x 5.5 inches
• Scissors/Rotary Cutter
• Chopsticks/Stick - To push corners out
• Elastic - I used hair bands
• Pins
• Sewing Machine/Thread

DIRECTIONS:

Place your 2 fabric pieces right side together with batting piece on bottom.

The batting will be on the bottom so it's easier to work with.

Place the elastic on the inside between the fabric. Pin the elastic in place.

When you turn it inside out, the elastic will be on the outside.

Pin around the fabric.

Leave space for turning inside out.

Sew around edges leaving a few inches to flip inside out.

I find that leaving the needle down makes it easier to turn corners.

Just enough space to turn inside out.

Cut off any batting or fabric from edges. Cut angles on all four corners.

Turn inside out and use chopstick/stick to push out corners.

Sew around edges to finish. 

Don't forget to back sew at the beginning and end to secure stitches.

I had to make one for all doors!