Today’s the day! To celebrate the release of my book, 101 Easy Homemade Products for Your Skin, Health & Home, I put together a little gift for you. I made a mini download that includes 5 brand new, bonus recipes that tie into the overarching theme of the book – things to make from the flowers and herbs that grow around you. Within…
Confused about using natural preservatives in homemade lotion? I was too, so I ran an experiment to see if I really needed them, and which ones really work. Have you ever felt confused and conflicted when you looked up information on preserving homemade lotions and creams? Me too. I want my products to be as…
Have you heard of the Soap Challenge Club? It’s a monthly challenge that you can join to learn new techniques and have fun with your soap making. (Plus, you can win some pretty great prizes!) I’ve been following Amy Warden’s Great Cakes Soapworks blog for a few months now and loved seeing how everyone interpreted the challenge…
This DIY Rose & Chamomile Gift Set would make the perfect handmade gift for the rose-lover in your life! It’s made up of: Rose & Chamomile Bath Salts Whipped Rose & Chamomile Hand Cream Rose & Chamomile Lip Balm The steps listed below are given in the most efficient order so that all three projects should only…
This luxurious face cream features jojoba oil infused with rose petals and helichrysum (immortelle) flowers, along with rosehip seed oil, shea butter and panax ginseng extract. It was designed especially for skin that’s mature and/or on the dry side. Ginseng Extract is a wonderful item that I discovered a few months ago, while browsing around Bramble…
Last January, I asked for your help in deciding which eBook topic I should write about next. The answer was pretty clear, as you can see by the screenshot below! In that very same month, an amazing thing happened. I received an email from a publishing company (Page Street Publishing) asking if I was interested in…
Every spring, I plant one or more pineapple sage plants in my garden. All summer long, I look forward to the flowers blooming since I have a million ideas for experimenting with them running through my head. In late late summer, they start blooming, I start trying out some ideas and then… cold weather and heavy frosts come along and my…
This pretty herbal soap features goldenrod infused oil and tea, plus a design imprint created by using a fondant mat. In September, I wrote a post on using goldenrod, and in it, I mentioned making goldenrod soap. So in this article, I’m going to show how I use two goldenrod infusions to make soap: a water…
This gentle unscented lotion is perfect for those with sensitive skin. I chose avocado oil and avocado butter for this recipe because of how useful they can be for smoothing rough skin. Avocado oil contains essential fatty acids and vitamins A and E, has been studied in a cream for psoriasis (source) and is also a great choice…
Lotion bars are of one of the best treatments around for repairing dry, calloused and sore hands! They also make great gifts for those who work or play hard with their hands. In our house, they’re invaluable for healing the damage that being a rock mason does to my husband’s hands. In this recipe, I combined 4…
This cooling creamy palm free cucumber soap recipe is naturally colored with powerful French green clay and is perfect for those with overheated, itchy, or sweaty skin! This cold process cucumber soap is a palm-free alternative to my original Cucumber Borage Soap. When creating this recipe, I started with my standard base of skin loving olive…
Learn how to make this skin soothing lotion – it’s perfect for smoothing over rough, dry, or flaky skin! Plantain (Plantago spp) is a beneficial green weed that commonly grows in yards and driveways. You can use the leaves to make a fantastic infused oil, that can be incorporated into salves, lotions, creams and soaps. It’s…
Goldenrod is an edible and medicinal plant with many benefits! Learn how to turn it into salve, tincture, tea, and more! It blooms right around the time ragweed pollen starts causing trouble, so is often unjustly blamed for causing allergies. The fact though is that goldenrod pollen is heavy and spread by insects, instead of the…
This recipe is a terrific way to use up extra homemade kombucha. (If you’re not sure what the heck “kombucha” is or how you’d go about making it, check out my friend Teri’s article to learn all about it.) Besides its possible health benefits, kombucha (a fermented tea drink) is reportedly great for your skin too….
This all-natural DIY elder leaf salve is easy to make and useful for treating bruises, strains, old injuries or wounds. The idea for this elder leaf salve came from one of my all-time favorite books, Making Plant Medicine, by Richo Cech. He states that oils and salves made from fresh elder leaves “make a useful…
I can’t wait to share this recipe with you today! I’m so in love with these little shampoo bars. Not only do they leave my hair soft and shiny, but they work perfectly for hands and body too. (Bonus: they’re also working great for bathing my dogs!) For this recipe, I started with my usual…
This luscious DIY anti-aging face cream recipe contains fresh basil leaves, nourishing hempseed oil, and skin softening mango (or shea) butter. A while back, I ran across a fascinating scientific study showing a test cream that contained basil extract demonstrated some pretty significant anti-aging effects when applied topically. The moment I finished reading through it,…
I often get questions on my milk soap making posts as to whether it’s possible to hot process soap with milk in it. The short answer is: Yes, with some care taken, you can hot process milk soap. For the longer answer, I’m going to take you step-by-step as I make this Milk and Honey…
Considered by some to be nothing more than a weed, the common violet actually has many health benefits to offer us. The edible flowers and leaves are: high in mucilage (a plant substance that cools and moistens) nourishing, and high in vitamins A & C excellent lymph movers a demulcent (something that forms a protective…
This homemade deodorant is specially designed for women. It contains herbs that are used to promote lymph flow and prevent or treat issues with inflamed or cystic breast tissue. Instead of applying a chemical laden, potentially toxic-to-your-breasts product under your arms each day, try this healthy herbal alternative instead! To make this deodorant, you’ll first…
