Friday, June 7, 2013

Handmixed Home and Body Products


by Lindsay:

Have you ever noticed that a lot of the cleaning and body product companies claiming to be more "natural" use people names in their brand name? I guess the marketing groups at Tom's of Maine and Jason Naturals decided that the consumer would imagine an actual person intimately involved in mixing these products. Well, I'm about to get a whole lot more intimate with my own products because I'm going to mix them all myself. 

All of my children struggle with skin reactions, rashes and irritations. Nothing as extreme or painful as the Google images I find while self-diagnosing our conditions but enough to make me stop and think "What is irritating their skin and how can I help them"? Recently, my 1 year old baby Emmett, who we thought was going to escape my "bad skin" gene broke out in head to toe eczema. I am using medication to get it under control but this flare up has also renewed my interest in natural ingredient home and body products.

I have already switched to using vinegar for most of my cleaning work but I still have too many chemicals in the house like laundry and dishwasher detergents and stain removers. I would also like to replace all body products with fragrance free easy to read ingredient versions. I am seeing a whole lot more of these options on store shelves which is awesome but I have a really hard time paying $6 for toothpaste when the main ingredient is baking soda. 


After doing a quick search I decided to buy the following ingredients:
- Castile Soap ($17.99/944ml) Ouch!
- Rubbing alcohol ($2.49/500ml)
- Washing Soda ($5.97/3kg)
- White Vinegar (I already had this but I guess $5.00/4L)
- Baking Soda ($3.28/2kg)
- Vegetable Glycerine Bars ($1.99 each)
- Peppermint Oil ($2.09/3.7ml)
- Tea Tree Oil (I already had this but I guess $10/10ml bottle)

Total $48.81 (will make lots and lots of stuff)

Hopefully these items will get me well on my way. Just so I don't get too overwhelmed, I'm going to replace things as they run out and share the recipes as I go along. I would really love any recipes or suggestions that you have. Maybe you have a tip for getting food stains of kid's clothes or maybe you just want to warn me that making your own deodorant just isn't worth it. Either way, I'd love to hear from you!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Emmett's Handmade Sensory Book

by: Lindsay

I've challenged myself to make or buy handmade gifts this year. Recently, my baby Emmett turned one and I made him his very own sensory book. Here it is.
Emmett's Sensory Book
I have to admit Wyatt and Emmett already had one. Their older sister Hailey made them a very special book last Christmas. It is pretty awesome. She embroidered their names on it and made different pages for counting and shapes. She even made a mailbox page and included a handful of postcards inside. It does belong to both boys however Wyatt has kind of laid claim to it and keeps it in his room. That is why I though their was a place for a second book just for Emmett.

Hailey's Sensory Book
I used Hailey's book as inspiration (can you believe she was only twelve when she made this book?) and got many great ideas on Pinterest from here and here and here.

What did you do with your old sentimental baby clothes? Did you pass them on to a new baby, use them for crafting or make cleaning rags? I did all three but my favourites ended up in this book.