Homemade Luxurious Moisturizing Cream for Your Face

I ran out of my homemade face cream a few weeks ago and I was limping along using an over-the-counter brand I had bought from an aesthetician.  It's a nice cream, but super expensive and I like when I can whip up my own.  While the investment in oils up front can seem pricey, once you have them, their uses seem pretty endless.

I finally found a few spare minutes today to whip up an easy moisturizing cream recipe.  This moisturizer is pretty customizable depending on what oils you want to put in it.  Start with the moisturizer base and then add the essential oils you want from there.

Takes a quick 30 minutes.  Yields approximately (2) 4oz jars.

Here's what you need:

Water ratio (30%)
6 tsp of Rose Water, Purified or Boiled water

Natural Emulsifier (10%)
2 1/2 tsp. organic beeswax pellets

Moisturizing Cream Oil Base (60%)
1/4 Cup Almond, Coconut or Jojoba Oil (moisturizing)
4 tsp Shea Butter
1/8 Cup Apricot (soothing, absorbes easily)
1 tsp. Argan oil (ultra moisturizing, deters acne)
1 tsp Vitamin E oil (anti-oxidant, fights against environmental damaging effects)

Essential Oils (Optional.  If you omit, increase your oils above by an additional 4 tsp. total.)

6 Drops Melaleuca Oil (also known as tea tree oil) (anti-fungal, helps prevent acne)
18 drops of these essential oils:
I prefer Frankincense, Orange, Lavender, Rose, Sandalwood in any combination that smells great.

Orange oil (uplifting), Frankincense (fights premature aging), Lavender (treats acne, calming), Rose (antimicrobial, increases skin's permeability), Sandalwood (astringent - tightens skin, soothing).  Google "essential oils and skin" for more benefits information.

Here's how you make it:

Start by sterilizing your glass jars by placing them in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Lay them out to dry on a clean towel.

In a 2 cup glass measuring bowl, add the beeswax and the first two ingredients of the cream oil base.  Heat (you can microwave to save time) until the beeswax is melted.  About 3-4 minutes, checking and stirring regularly.

Add the rest of your base ingredients, give a quick stir and pour in your sterilized jar containers. (You'll add your essential oils later.)

Once your melted cream mixture is in your jars, mix with an electric hand mixer on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.  (I like to use one beater and my hand mixer because the size is just right to get into my 4oz. jars.). Now add your essential oils.

Let your cream cool for about 15 minutes.

Then whip the cream again with the mixer on high for another 3-5 minutes.  The beeswax will emulsify turning your cream into delicious smelling heaven.

I place extra jars of moisturizer in the refrigerator until I need them, then take them out a day ahead to bring them to room temperature.

These little jars of cream make excellent Christmas gifts.  Go ahead. Get a head start.

Enjoy.

Charlene

Video Tutorial: My Quick DIY Heavenly Citrus Cleaning Scrub

Today I'm in my scrubs and I just have this itch to clean! I love a clean house and I love cleaning. And I usually love it even more on an overcast day.  Call me crazy.

While I'm working away, I thought I would just take a quick video to show you how I make my Quick Heavenly Citrus Cleaning Scrub.  This scrub is fresh, has a little bit of scrubbing power and makes everything sparkly clean.  I also plop it in the washing machine tub as it is filling just before I launder our sheets.

This is the only scrub that is used to clean my entire house.  From kitchen to baths, greasy stoves, refrigerators and tile floors to tile countertops.  

First, start with:

• White Distilled Vinegar
• Baking Soda
• Essential Oils (Citrus is preferred along with doTerra's Purity or On-Guard.

Here's why I like this paste:

• There's nothing harmful in it making it safe to use around children, pets and septic systems.
• Vinegar is tough on bacteria and mildew and has the ability to brighten and whiten.
• Baking Soda is a mild alkalei and helps to dissolves dirt and grease.  
• When mixed with a little bit of vinegar, baking soda is a gentle scrubbing agent that is tough on dirt, gentle on your home.
• Essential oils have dissinfectant, antifungal and antiviral properties.  They give the baking soda and vinegar scrub a huge boost and make it great smelling.

Here's the ratio I use to make the paste  (these are approximate - use a general estimation and you can't go wrong):

3/4 Cup Baking Soda

1/2 Cup of Vinegar

3-4 Drops of Citrus Essential Oil

Check out my video below.

(This video was waaaaay impromptu- apologies for the skinny video width!)

Once you have a few couple of oils in your stash, there is so much that you can do with them. Higher quality essential oils are purer and highly potent.  Higher quality means more effective. They go a lot further making them much more cost-effective in creating your own products than what you can buy at the store.

Where do you start?  I recommend starting with 3-4 basics:  Lemon, Lavendar, Peppermint and Clove are a few of my favorites.  With these in your home, you can make cleaning products, promote restful sleep, make beauty products and promote healthy dental hygiene.  Check out some of my other recipes here on the blog that use these oils.

To get more information on how to start with essential oils, you can email me.

Have a great rest of your week.

Charlene

Summer Fun and Homemade Granola

I've spent most of the summer away from home.  Between the Colorado house renovation and spending time with friends and family on some fun trips, the summer is winding down and I'm feeling like fall looks promising for a little slow time.  Notice I didn't say rest, because that would imply that I know how to do that.  Slower fastness, I can do.

Last week we spent time in Colorado working on mom's house.  When I am there, I feel so many emotions.  Sadness, joy, love, homesickness... all of it.  It's hard to explain really.  I feel close to mom and dad.  Even though I feel relief and am energized by the progress of the renovation, I get sad over things like the 3 kinds of carpet, dad's recliner and the old brown paneling.

Here's the kitchen as I've always known it.

 The photo above was taken just after the estate sale in May.

Here is the kitchen at the end of July.

And the kitchen when we left on Sunday.

Small progress, but getting there slowly....

The rest of the house is primarily finished.  The rebuild of the bathrooms and the updating of the kitchen was by far, the largest amount of work in the house. We're hoping to have the tiling of the kitchen counters finished by the end of next week.  We'll wrap up the interior renovation with all new flooring soon. Hopefully.

The renovation has been therapeutic for me.  The physical work that we haven't contracted out has been exhausting but rewarding.  The hammering, sawing and prying has allowed me to cry out some good tears when I've needed to, it's offered comfort when I needed it and given me confidence when I felt like rolling over into the "I don't want to be an adult anymore" fetal position.

In between the construction, there were a couple of days that Noah and I took a break and did some hiking. 

Getting to our hiking spots was familiar. I travelled this road a lot with my dad on our way to fish when I was little. Good memories.

I think I've always really liked the outdoors.  Dennis and I used to try to hike with our kids a lot when they were little. Noah still loves it.

The fresh air was sooo good.  Cleansing for my head. For my soul.

Here's a picture of us at Treasure Falls.  T/F is located at the south end of Wolf Creek pass not to far from Pagosa Springs.

One of the best things about Colorado is spending time with my sister.  She feels like home to me and she makes me good food!  Here's a recipe that we made - Alling House-Made Granola I'll call it.

For this healthy and yummy recipe, you'll need:

3 Cups of Oatmeal (like the Quaker Old Fashioned kind)
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2-3 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Cup Coconut
1/2 Cup Dried Fruit  (raisins, apricots, or any other of your choice)
1/4 Cup Canola Oil
1/4 Cup Honey (I prefer honey local to my area)
1 Tbsp Vanilla

Makes about 4 Cups of Granola.  Takes about 20 minutes to make.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Start with the oatmeal and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.  Stir.

Then add your raisins and coconut and brown sugar.  (My sister likes to mix fast. She's zippy that way. Sorry my pictures aren't quite step by step.)

Give another good stir.

Next add the canola oil.  The oil acts like a binder to get it all to stick.

Now add your honey, honey.

And lastly... but not leastly... the vanilla.  Give another stir.

Fold your granola mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes stirring halfway through baking.

[PRETEND WE HAVE A PICTURE HERE.  A PICTURE OF CHOPPED WALNUTS PILED ON THE GRANOLA.]

This is where Sally got ahead of me.  Again.  Take your baking sheet out of the oven and add the chopped nuts.  Stir it up (you know you like to) and pop the baking sheet back into the oven.  Bake for another 10 minutes, again stirring every 5 minutes.

Pull your granola out of the oven and smell it.  A big whiff.  It's that good.

TIP: Sally recommends you remove your granola from the hot pan pronto after baking to keep it from cooking on the baking sheet. It browns pretty quickly.

The granola is great as a snack on its own, but I like to throw it on top of low fat Greek yogurt with a smidge of honey and a whole lot of fresh fruit.

Pretend this is a smidge of honey.

Delish...

Have you ever fasted for any particular reason?  I'm considering it.  I'll tell you why in my next post.

Charlene