Month: October 2019

Peppermint bath salt

Peppermint bath salts

These are so pretty, and make a great present for Mom, Grandma, or your BFF. You can colour half the salt pink and the other half white, and do a layered effect, although this will work with pretty much any colour. You’ll need:
• A bowl to mix everything in
• 20 drops peppermint essential oil
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil (or baby oil, or any oil you like)
• A spoon to mix with
• 1/2 cup Epsom salt
• 1/2 cup salt
• A glass jar – the small Melrose bottle with label removed works great
• food colouring (optional)


Mix the oils together, then add the salt and Epsom salt. Add food colouring (if using) and mix well. Scoop your mixture into the jars you will be using. Put a pretty label and some ribbon on. Voila – your gift is done.


This is good for four baths – you use around a quarter of a cup per bath. If you want to make more, simply double or triple the recipe as required.

Peppermint bath salts

How to make a Herbal Tincture

 

We all know tinctures, even though we are not aware of it. Remember the Lennon’s drops we were all doctored with as kids? That is a tincture!

Essentially, herbs are placed in (usually) alcohol, and the medicinal properties of the herb are infused into the alcohol over a period of time. The drops are then used diluted in water for medicinal purposes.

To make a tincture, you will need:

  • A clean glass jar with lid
  • Consumable alcohol like vodka or rum- at least 40% alcohol per volume (or apple cider vinegar or food grade vegetable glycerine)
  • Herbs of choice – please ensure that the herbs are clean, and most importantly, edible! If you are not sure that the “herb” you have is actually a herb, DON’T use it. Better safe than sorry.

How to Make a Tincture

Also called an extract, alcohol tinctures are the most common type and the easiest to make.

First, pick which herbs you plan to use.

Fill the jar halfway with loosely packed dried herbs.

Pour boiling water to just moisten the herbs. (This step is not absolutely necessary, but helps to draw out the beneficial properties of the herbs)

Fill the jar with your alcohol and put the lid on. Store in a cool, dry place, shaking two or three times a day, for a minimum of three weeks. Strain the herbs out through a clean tea towel or something similar.

Store the tincture in a coloured (not clear!) bottle. The dropper bottles work well, as you only use a few drops at a time.

NOTE: You can use apple cider vinegar or glycerine to do this, but it won’t be as strong, and the shelf life is much shorter – around three months if stored in the fridge. Also, you have to be very careful with the glycerine based tincture, as it can go bad very easily.

 How to Use Herbal Tinctures

Adults can take ½ to one teaspoon up to three times a day, kids can be given a quarter to a third of the adult dose.

 For those who don’t want to, (or can’t) consume alcohol such as children, or pregnant women, the tincture can be poured into a hot liquid like tea to evaporate the alcohol before taking.

Easy DIY Kinetic sand

Given that Christmas is just around the corner (or so I’m told!), I thought it would be fun to do a series of DIY posts that could potentially result in some cool, money saving gifts.

My daughter went gaga for kinetic sand, and nagged endlessly for more and more of it. She loves anything she can mould or shape (probably why she is so keen to help me with cake decorating!). The major downside of her obsession is the cost – the kinetic sand was R 100 per bucket at the time (not sure what the cost is now, we bought the sand some years ago).

Problem solved – here is a recipe for you to make your very own:)

What you will need:

2 ½ cups fine sand – play sand works well, as does the coloured crafter’s sand

1 ½ cups cornflour (Maziena)

Half a cup oil – any oil that you have on hand will work: sunflower, canola; coconut etc

Method:

  1. Mix the sand and cornflour together thoroughly (if you want coloured sand, add a few drops of food colouring at this point)
  2. Now mix the oil in really well. When it has been completely mixed in, your sand is ready for playtime!

Homemade Golden Syrup

If you have ever run out of syrup in the middle of a baking session, I share your frustration. It looks like there’s enough syrup, and it turns out it’s not enough. You have two choices – put the baking on hold, or run out to the shops. Here’s a simple recipe that will solve the problem, and save you a buck while you’re at it!

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/4 cup boiling water
  • 2 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 lemon slice

Instructions

  1. Pour 3 tablespoons water and 1/2 cup sugar into a saucepan or pot. 
  2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. 
  3. When the mixture turns a caramel colour, slowly and VERY carefully add 1 1/4 cups boiling water.
  4. Add 2 1/2 cups sugar and bring to a low simmer. 
  5. Add a slice of lemon. The lemon will keep the syrup from crystallising as it simmers. Turn the heat down to low and let the syrup simmer for about 45 minutes.
  6. Remove the candied lemon slice. Let the syrup cool down for a few minutes before pouring it into a sterilised glass jar. The syrup will be thin, but will thicken up as it cools in the jar.
  7. Store in a cool, dry place. 

Homemade Baby Bum Cream

Lets’ face it, everything is expensive these days – food, electricity and especially petrol. If you have small children or babies, you know you are going to be paying through the nose for some things – nappies, bum cream, wet wipes etc. for quite some time.

The problem with many products on the market today for nappy rash is the amount of chemicals in them – many people are becoming more conscious about what ingredients are in the products they buy. The other problem is that not all bum creams work on all babies or children, and given the cost, it is quite expensive to try all available products until you find one that works.

Personally, I struggled with my oldest daughter – nothing seemed to work, and she got terrible rashes. A lady at the clinic saved my sanity, by telling me to use cornflour (Maziena) on the rash, either as a powder, or a paste. Well, I didn’t have cornflour, but I went home and tried with flour. I was amazed! I saw a difference from one nappy change to the next, and within days, the rash I had been struggling with for weeks disappeared. Naturally, with my second daughter, I used cornflour, and got great results – she never had a nappy rash, ever!

So, for those of you struggling with nappy rash (and the cost thereof!), why not give this bum cream a try? It may work for you, and if it doesn’t, it won’t break the bank.

Ingredients:

¾ cup coconut oil

¾ cup cornflour (Maziena)

Method:

Whip the coconut oil with a mixer or food processor. Add the cornflour and mix slowly until there is no powder flying around. Then mix on higher speed until everything is well combined. Place in containers and use as needed.

Variations:

  • You can add a few drops lavender oil to the coconut oil before adding the cornflour. Lavender oil is soothing and helps skin heal (I would suggest around 5 – 10  drops)
  • You can add some zinc oxide to the mix, just reduce the amount of cornflour by the amount of zinc you are using. One or two tablespoons should do the job.