All Natural Homemade Lip Balm & Koozie

This Christmas season, I made my own homemade all-natural lip balm, a little crochet Koozie to hold it, and it was a hit! It can clip in your purse or on a backpack so you don’t lose it. It’s a great stocking stuffer, and it costs about $0.50 to make one lip balm and the Koozie! That makes it great to sell at a craft show or to give as a gift to multiple people. They are cute, practical, and cost effective!

This one was my son's favorite–with a poop emoji button!

After experimenting with a few different lip balm recipes (https://happymoneysaver.com/burts-bees-lip-balm-recipe/, https://hearthandvine.com/tinted-lip-balm/), I came up with my own version. It goes on smoothly, and it really helps chapped lips. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make my own! My husband and I honestly feel that it's as good as Burt's Bees which costs $2-$4 a tube, and you can get just about everything you need to make your own on Amazon.

Here is what you will need to make your own lip balm (one batch makes about 15 tubes):

These are affiliate links, which means I do get a small commission if you use these links to buy, but at no cost to you. These are the same products I used to make it myself.

• Empty lip balm tubes – it is always cheaper to buy in bulk. These are $0.21 a tube. Trust me, you'll use them!

• Lip balm sticker (optional) – the stickers below were cheaper than I could print myself ($.10 per sticker), and the they were already the right size for the tube and looked very professional. They also don't smear when you touch them like they do when printed on my printer. I thought it was worth it!

• 3 Tbsp. Beeswax

• 2 tbsp. Coconut oil  (unrefined–not fractionated)

• 8 drops Vitamin E oil – this oil is diluted in a carrier oil, but it's what I used and it works great!

• 1/4 cup Grapeseed oil

• Mica Pigment Powder (optional) – if you want to try tinted lip balm, this is what you use. I just sprinkled some in until I liked the color of the lip balm. 

• 20 drops Wild Orange Essential oil – you can use any scent or combination you like, but wild orange is my favorite for lip balm. It's subtle but smells great. The following link is where I buy my essential oils. It's a reasonable price for a good quality of true essential oils. 

Click here to shop now

Directions:

(Optional) Put lip balm stickers on empty lip balm tubes. 

1. Melt 3 tbsp. beeswax in a glass container in the microwave 30 seconds at a time until melted.
2. Melt 2 tbsp. coconut oil in a glass container in the microwave 30 seconds at a time until melted.
3. Mix together melted beeswax and coconut oil with 1/4 cup grape seed oil, and 8 - 10 drops of vitamin E oil.
4. (Optional) If making tinted lip balm, add mica pigment powder to mixture. I just sprinkle it in until I like the color.
5. Next add 20 drops of wild orange essential oil, stir, and pour into chapstick tubes. This can be a little messy! You may want to try a dropper to fill it up.

I used this Ravelry pattern to make the lip balm koozie.  The pattern calls for a button with a shank back, but I felt limited by that, so I played around with different kinds of buttons and they all worked for me. I was able to get really creative once I used a lot of cute buttons!

Have fun creating your own! Please share pictures of your creations with me here!

 

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Christmas in July: Wool Dryer Balls

Have you ever used wool dryer balls instead of fabric softener? They really do work! Putting 4 - 5 wool dryer balls in your dryer with a load of clothes saves energy by cutting down your drying time, it reduces static cling and wrinkles, and you can use them over and over. You can also add essential oils to make your clothes smell great!

You can buy wool dryer balls, but it's so easy to make your own, and they make great homemade, practical gifts. It's really simple to do. Here's what you'll need:

• 100% wool yarn

• Essential oil (I like lavender)

• Panty hose or tights

Here are the instructions that I used for DIY Wool Dryer Balls from the Frugal Girls which includes a picture tutorial, but it's really easy:

1. Wind the yarn into a baseball-sized ball and tuck in the end so it won't unwind.

2. Cut off the leg of some panty hose. Stick a wool ball into the toe of panty hose and tie it to keep the ball of wool inside. You can tie several balls of yarn into the same leg of panty hose. Just tie a knot after each ball of wool is put inside.

3. Put the panty hose chain of wool balls into the dryer on the highest heat setting a few times so you can "felt" the wool. (That basically means it won't unwind because it becomes sort of matted together).

4. Untie the pantyhose and take the wool balls out. Then add 3 - 5 drops of essential oil to each ball and put 4 wool balls in with your next load of laundry.

That's it!

There are some things you need to watch out for, however,  to make sure it works for you:

• MAKE SURE YOU ARE USING 100% WOOL: I tried the 2 brands of wool listed above and they both work because they are 100% wool. Be sure to check the label. Lion Brand has some yarn called wool-ease, but it is only 20% wool. Even the Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool (listed above) is not 100% wool in certain colors, so be sure to check. I personally preferred the size, colors, and texture of the Paton's Classic Roving Wool, but it is a bit more expensive per yard. I could only get 3 balls out of 1 skein. 
• USE NO MORE THAN 5 DROPS OF ESSENTIAL OIL PER BALL OF WOOL: I am new to using essential oils, so I don't really know the rules. I didn't count how many drops I was using the first time I did it and I just shook a bunch of oil onto the balls. The smell was WAY too strong! I put the wool balls in with sheets, and the smell of the sheets was overpowering for a little while. You don't need a lot to make your laundry smell great! 

These wool dryer balls make great stocking stuffers! I modified this free crochet pattern from the Creative Jewish Mom and put the wool dryer balls that I made inside with the label above that I made using Canva. Click the picture above to print your own (4 labels to a page)! 

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Kid-Safe Bug Repellant Bracelets

Unfortunately, summer fun usually comes with pesky bug bites. I, especially, seem to be a magnet for bug bites! 

Most bug sprays like Off! are made with something called Deet. According to this article from Parents Magazine,  "The American Academy of Pediatrics says that insect repellents containing deet are safe for children as young as 2 months. . . Although deet is safe for use on children, many parents prefer to use bug repellents that are deet-free. Natural repellents are made with plant oils such as citronella, lemongrass, peppermint, and cedarwood." 

So it is safe to use Off!, but you can also use essential oils as a natural alternative (and it smells much better!). I was inspired to make these bug repellant bracelets by this post from One Crazy House. I made my bracelets a little differently, but the idea is the same. By soaking a bracelet in the right essential oils, you can wear a bracelet to keep the bugs at bay! 

You'll need:

• 100% cotton
• Pinking Sheers
• Size N crochet hook
• Nature Outdoor Blend Essential Oil

Using pinking sheers to keep the fabric from fraying, cut 2 one inch strips about 1 yard long. I put the 2 strips back to back so the wrong side of the fabric wouldn't show, and I single crocheted the fabric.

After measuring the wrist of my little guy, I tied the 2 ends together. 

When I made my first bracelet, I mixed different essential oils and witch hazel to create my own bug repellant, until I found this: Nature Outdoor Blend Essential Oil. It's already mixed and ready to use, and bonus–it's on sale until July 30th! Only $3.59 for a 5ml bottle and $6.84 for a 15ml bottle! That's cheaper than buying all the different oils and mixing it myself!

Just put some Nature Outdoor Blend Essential Oil in a bowl, soak the bracelet, let it dry, and it should help keep the bugs away for about 24 hours!

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Christmas in July: Kid-Safe Hand Sanitizer

Do you remember the scary stuff that was in the news a few years ago when schools started banning hand sanitizer? There were a bunch of reports that kids were being poisoned from the alcohol in hand sanitizer. This article from WebMD in 2015 gives a good summary: Hand Sanitizer Poisoning More Kids. Yikes! Since then, it has been recommended that you DO NOT use hand sanitizer with kids under 12. But we still need an on-the-go solution for washing hands, right?  If you're having a picnic at the park or kids are eating a snack in the car after riding in the grocery store basket, you want them to have clean hands.

I am super excited that I found this Three Ingredient DIY (non-toxic) Hand Sanitizer with Essential Oils from Eat, Craft, Parent. It totally works, and it's not hard to make at all! You just need:

• Aloe Vera gel

• Vitamin E oil 

• Thieves Essential Oil or Shield Protective Blend

• Distilled Water

The Thieves Oil (which can be up to $40 a bottle, so I replaced it with the cheaper version - Shield Protective Blend -- same oils, but different brand) is what makes it anti-bacterial. The Aloe Vera and vitamin E oil make it gentle and moisturizing on your hands instead of drying them out like alcohol tends to do. For directions on mixing your own bottle of hand sanitizer, see this article: Three Ingredient DIY (non-toxic) Hand Sanitizer with Essential Oils.

                              

I found 3 oz. travel bottles which work perfectly as hand sanitizer bottles. Inspired by this post from Micah Makes,  I made a crochet cover that would fit the bottles, added some accessories, and a clip so it can hook onto a child's backpack, a purse strap, etc. I have tried crocheting the strap that is in this pattern, but it doesn't last. 100% cotton stretches too much, so the little clips work much better.

You can adjust to fit any container!

Even a lotion bottle!

I made this label using Canva. Click here to download the labels.

These hand sanitizers make great, practical gifts for kids, teachers, and moms! You can use some of these cute free printable gift tags to go with it:

Spread Cheer Not Germs from Lil' Luna

Thank you for your helping hands from What the Teacher Wants

 Have fun making your own, or you can purchase from me!

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