Hydrangeas

I have been admiring the beautiful hydrangeas all around our neighbourhood this week.  Unfortunately this is the only flower on all ten or so of our plants this year, possibly due to my over-enthusiasm with the secateurs! Live and learn.... Hopefully they'll come back better than ever next year.

My Creative Space

I bought these oak dining chairs a while ago, and have been waiting for inspiration to strike, or the right fabric to come along.  I have 10 chairs to spruce up and re-cover, all with different fabric (although the right fabric has yet to come along for the rest of them).  The one I re-covered is on the right.  Unfortunately the previous owner went to town with the staple gun when upholstering the chair last time so it was a bit of a mission to get the old fabric off.  1 down, 3 more of those to go.  I'm quite pleased with the result though... looking forward to getting started on the next one now.  Maybe an offcut of a Designers Guild fabric?

Check out these crafty folks over at My Creative Space.  Lots of inspiration to be had!

Lotions and Potions

I bought some ingredients a few months ago, thinking I might make some yummy homemade potions for Christmas presents but December flew by without me even opening the box.  In a fit of procrastination the other day, I  was inspired to try a few of the recipes in this fabulous magazine Action Pack Family Apothecary.  

Here are the few I tried:  Lavender lip balm, Rose and Geranium whipped body butter and a lavender solid body bar.  The lip balm is delish and super easy to make.  And it's quite nice to know that the only thing I'm smearing on my lips is olive oil, beeswax and lavender oil.  The body butter is a concoction of shea butter, coconut oil, almond oil and beeswax.  It's a lovely thick cream that feels a little oily when applied but soaks into the skin quite quickly and made a big difference to my dry summer feet.  I haven't tried the solid bar yet, but it feels quite nice when rubbed on the skin.  I also made a deodorant, from cornflour, bicarb soda, coconut oil and lavender oil.  It makes quite a thick paste that you rub on.  I wish I'd read the instructions right through to the end before I started (always my downfall) that says you can substitute shea butter for the coconut oil.  But, I have been wearing it all day and I don't think I smell like I've been at the beach.  Maybe I'll have to get a second opinion on that though.

You might think I'm a bit obsessed with lavender (true), but when I looked at my stash of essential oils it was full of things like tea tree, clove, peppermint, clary sage, rosemary and lemongrass oils, none of which I thought would be particularly nice in body products.  Think I might have to expand my store if I continue with this.  Always an excuse.... I heard this referred to as a shopportunity the other day.  Hmm...not sure I can bring myself to say that out loud.