Five on Friday & Scraptastic Saturday: Essential Oils

Happy Friday my Friends! 

I had some busy and fun adventures today at an art studio where my daughter has been going to art camp this week. Since today was the last day they had a little gallery show and pizza party. Lots of fun! But now I'm finally home and can get this post in before my day is done.  Today for my 5 I thought I'd share some of the essential oils I've been loving and some uses for them.

ONE

I love adding a few drops to my big water bottle. Just a very little gives a lot of flavor to boring old water. I like lemon, lime, or grapefruit...although lately my favorite has been just a few drops of orange oil.

TWO

I love lavender essential oil for using in a spray for the bed sheets. It's such a soothing smell and it's very calming and great for bed time. It's also a natural antiseptic and great to help treat minor scrapes or burns - so also handy to keep in the kitchen. Further you can read here how it can improve circulation on your scalp and be good for stopping hair loss and promoting hair growth. All that in one tiny bottle and you only need a few drops.

THREE

I love thieves essential oil! This oil is so versatile and smells so good! With it's clove, lemon and cinnamon base it smells like the holidays to me.  You can read more about it here, but it basically got its name based on a legend about thieves in the 15th century that used it on themselves to cover the smell when robbing those dead from the plague...and they never got sick, as it's supposed to help the immune system. I love to use it for a safe cleaner. Just put about one drop for every 1/2 ounce to ounce of water in a spray bottle and it's healthy and non-toxic, yet effective. Also, as you can see above - it helps numb things for the mouth if you have a toothache or gum pain. I guess clove oil was used for many years in dentistry as a common ingredient to help with tooth pain. My daughter had a tooth coming in recently that bothered her and she used this and it worked great to numb the pain. 

FOUR

As I have mentioned several times before, I love to use essential oils in the diffuser. I'm diffusing oils into the room with positive healthy properties to it....as well as making my home smell great. I'm still really into lavender and lemon together and often will add some orange too. In the Fall I love using thieves instead.

FIVE

Another fun use for essential oils is to make your own natural soaps and lotions. I recently picked up these goodies at the craft store and I'm going to use them to make some little bottle of lotions - great to keep or give as gifts! It will be fun to experiment with different smells. I think for summer lime would make a yummy citrus smelling lotion and of course I'll have to make a lavender one, as its one of my favorite oil scents for this time of year.   I didn't take a photo but I also use peppermint essential oil for headaches as needed. I have a little bottle that has a roller on the top and I keep it in my purse. A little bit at my temples or the back of my neck and I can truly get rid of headaches that way!

These are just some of the ways I've been using essential oils lately. I'm not selling oils or getting anything for talking about them. Nor am I any kind of expert; I'm still learning a lot but I love that everything is natural. I love the idea of not using things with chemicals in them...plus most oils actually have wonderful health benefits! I know a gal that makes her own cough drops and even has capsules she can fill with oils to make her own vitamins for health benefits. If you want to learn even more you can look at my pinterest board about essential oils here and read how they can help belly aches, acid reflux, allergies, help with skin and beauty and many more ideas. I just keep learning and I can honestly say that with the ones I've been using - they WORK! 

I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

I'm also linking with Scrapality for Scraptastic Saturday.

Five on Friday: Lately...

Hello my Friends! Happy TGIF to you. ;)  

I thought since I'm kind of late to 5 on Friday today, I'd just share some quick tidbits about what's been going on around here lately.  

ONE

I recently decided to pick up some fun little stamps and ink for future artsy projects. Plus, I've been making more cards & they're an easy way to add some fun messages. But then of course you need to have some cute containers to keep them in, right?

TWO

Speaking of artsy time, I keep getting side tracked with my watercolor pencils. Not that I don't have several more legitimate projects (some I'm even making as gifts) I should be focused on...but then my brain just needs a switch and there I am blending colors and watercoloring away. ::sigh:: If I only knew how to stay focused - I'd accomplish so much more! Lol

THREE

I've been loving the longer days and signs of Spring!! Twilight/sunset time comes a little later every night it seems. And I've been seeing all kinds of robins everywhere. As well as many geese having been flying back now and often honking over our bay. It won't be long until the bay is fully open and they'll be swimming there...just past my backyard. 

FOUR

Speaking of signs of Spring...it's looking like our forecast ahead is finally going to reflect what season it actually is now! The recent snow we received finally (mostly) melted and the forecast is showing 50's and even upper 50 degree days ahead. Woo hoo!! So I'm thinking about getting our grill out for the season. I've been having fun researching some recipes from my pinterest boards, to use for the future. You can find the Mediterranean grilled chicken with dill greek yogurt sauce and the brown sugar grilled pineapple recipes here and here.

FIVE

I just ordered more essential oils in many different kinds. I'm planning to use them for many good things including some homemade: fabric softener sheets, multi-purpose cleaning spray, granite spray cleaner, carpet refresher, linen spray, drink enhancers and more! I'll be doing some fun essential oils posts here in the future to share the fun. I love the natural properties they provide and that I can feel good using them around my home or even in/on my body. 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

 

Five on Friday: This & That

I was out and about for most of today, but thought I'd still link up for Five on Friday - so I'm just going to share a bit of this and that. 

ONE

My diffuser even has a nightlight - nice for night time, especially if I put it in my daughter's room for a while.

I know that essential oils have been big in the past few years, and I'm a little late to the party, but I've been loving them lately! A couple of friends of mine (& they are fellow hockey mom's) have been very into them lately and sharing lots of fun info and products with me. I finally bought some of my own and have been having fun learning about them! One thing I'm doing regularly is running my diffuser.  It's been nice for adding extra moisture to the dry air, but also for picking out what oils I want to use for different properties. I've lately been into lavender for relaxation. Today I have a lavender and lemon oil mix going. So soothing. I've also been adding some essential oils to my water or tea. Peppermint oil has been great for headaches! Just dab some on the temples. I'm looking into making my own soaps, lotion, lip balm, -even deodorant! Love the idea of being so much more natural.

TWO

I've been slowly going through my office/craft room again and getting things organized. I have several projects I want to work on - but difficult without adequate room due to clutter! Plus, it's so fun to find the treasures I run into because of forgetting what I have sometimes! Lol!!

THREE

Ruby continues to be such a bright spot in my day. Tug-of-war is her favorite game by the way. ;)  But not only is she fun for me, but my MIL just adores her and Ruby is some of the best therapy she can get! 

FOUR

Annie had fun brushing and braiding my hair the other night. Is there anything more blissful than someone brushing and playing with your hair? ::sigh:: Pure heaven!  I've been looking at different styles on pinterest and thinking about giving my hair a bit of a chop this Spring!! I haven't had my hair shorter in quite a while - so I'm not positive yet. Here's a few styles I've pinned:

I don't know - it will be a BIG change if I go for it. We'll see!

FIVE

I've been thinking on some new Valentine's Day treats and crafts for fun. Here's a few things from my blog last year. You can find the post for the valentine's bars here.  And the post for the valentine bunting here.

Have a wonderful weekend! I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.