Make it Yourself Monday- Apricot [Blender] Moisturizer

For this recipe you will need;


6 dried apricots
2 cups of distilled water
1 ounce of beeswax
1 cup apricot oil
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup aloe vera gel
5 vitamin E caps broken open
*You can buy the oils, beeswax and aloe over the net from a lot of places, but I recommend Brambleberry.com 


Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan and add the dried apricots. Boil for about 20 minutes, then set aside to cool. Place the beeswax in the top of a double-boiler and begin to melt over simmering water. Add the apricot and coconut oils to the beeswax, stirring constantly for about ten minutes until all is melted and combined, then pour into a glass container and set aside. Place the apricots and water into into a blender and blend until smooth, then strain through cheesecloth, discarding the solids and reserving the liquid. Put the liquid back into the blender and add the aloe vera and the vitamin E oil from the capsules. Blend together on low speed for a moment or two, then remove the lid (while still blending on low) and slowly drizzle the beeswax mixture into the blender. Continue to blend (on low) and drizzle until the mixture has the consistency of frosting. Keep a good eye on the mixture as you are adding the beeswax, you may not need to use it all. Once you have a nice frosting like mixture, pour it  into jars and store it in a cool place. As it cools it will thicken up. Apply to hands after every washing and as needed.   

Crafting with Clay

Over the last day and a half, I was stuck on the interstate, broken down on the side of the road, and traveled about 900 miles to get back home to animals that think holding a grudge will make me stay home in the future, so I hope that you will forgive me for not getting the Monday post up in a timely manner.


I want to thank my guest blogger, Alyssa of Complex Beauty, for the great posts last week (Wednesday-Friday), and hope that she has a wonderful time on her vacation [in Texas] this week! I also hope that I can talk her into coming back and posting once in a while, as I really enjoyed her writing, and hope that you all did too! 


So let me back up and provide you all with a project, and then I will get some much needed sleep and try a more interesting subject tomorrow!


For a quick and easy craft project, one that will provide you with a few different finishing opportunities, try purchasing some modeling clay to make various animal decorations. Make sure to get the kind of clay that you bake to finish. You can find the white clay at a very reasonable price, in your local walley world, but if you want/need any colored blocks, you will need to shop your local hobby stores, but expect to pay a tad more, for a whole lot smaller block of clay.   


Try making a cute little sheep. It is easy and oh so adorable! To begin with, break off a small amount of the white and knead it until it is fairly pliable. Press it out until you have a nice oval shape for a body. Add a head, ears, nose and four legs in much the same way. Then make many small (very tiny works best) balls and press them into the body to create some "wool".  Before you bake it, make sure to decide how you want to finish the piece off. You can put a hole in it to allow for hanging (ornaments with an "ewes special" tag are always cute!) or you can glue  a magnet strip on the back for a fridge magnet. Then bake according to the package directions and finish by painting appropriately.

How about a cute pig? Use a toothpick to sort of give the hooves that cloven look.

Or a cow? This one's details are easily painted                  after its baked. I used white for all of these, and just painted the various colors needed. This made them less expensive to create and very easy to get the designs as I wanted.

So get busy creating, just let your imagination be your guide. You can create the whole barnyard if you want!