Letter from the Editor:       Easter Thoughts and Mother's Day Planning

Making chocolate Easter bunnies and such is the one thing my kids really expect of me Easter of each year.  As most readers know, I am very anti-Paraffin (petrol, mineral oil) and so on.  That wax is used to harden a lot of commercial chocolate.  Then they have to nerve to make it "hallow."   Believe it or not, the best commercial chocolate is the Nestle chips.  Coming in white, dark and milk--this is the best chocolate for your dollar.  Melt in the microwave in 1/2 speed as not to scorch. If you can find a good old fashioned rabbit mold, that will be a family heirloom used over the years.   You can even dip peeps in chocolate!  Have a "Peeps" chocolate dipping party.  Use a crock pot at "warm setting."  Dip in white chocolate, dark chocolate and our milk chocolate.  Food color can decorate the white chocolate for cute designs in bright colors.  Since chocolate is oil based, you can also use any of our flavor oils.  Suggested flavor oils?  Raspberry, tangerine, lemon drops, lime, and marshmallow.   This is true for lip balm also, we love mixing tangerine with marshmallow.  It is so good, we end up eating the balm.

Ready to roast "peeps" over your gas stove flame?  We already did!  We use metal skewers meant for the grill or bamboo sticks.  So beyond lots of eggs, buy some rock salt to make bath salts (salt is salt is salt,) because you are going to want some relaxation for the "after math."  Bath salts and lotion are so inexpensive to make, I am making some to "match" the Easter theme over here and give to friends.  I am also making bath fizzy seltzers. Make some mint green bath salts and lotion to hand out for St. Patrick's Day too!  Mine colors will be lavender and mint green for the most part.  Speaking of "Lavender" click my photo at the top of this newsletter for a surprise! If you missed my "Working Class Diet" it is here in the last issue.  I have lost 20 pounds since January 10th, and fairly safely.   Happy Easter everybody!

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Easter Cup Cakes &  Egg Decorating Ideas

	Here we bought ready made cup cakes and lots of green frosting to make grass.  The grass does take some time!  While the grass was "drying" we decorated other candies, such as Jordan almonds with more cake decorative icing-in colors such as orange, fuchsia, turquoise and yellow.  Then we topped the grass with a few of our "gems" as well as a few already made decorations we bought from a cake store.  (Some of the icing decorations went over to the bath fizzy making department.)
Mixing vibrant colors is the first most important thing.  A teaspoon of vinegar in each color helps it "take."  Below is a color making chart I designed a few years ago to make color with food dyes handy to most households.  For design you can tie rubber bands around them and dip.  Little kids can use stickers. Advanced kids can roll away in colored sugar. (You can make your colored sugar too!  Toss sugar with color in zip locks and allow to dry on a tray.)  Those who want to "play it safe" can make polka dots.    We did beautiful colors and then rolled in plain sugar for a "morning dew" look. Then get ready to eat a lot of funny colored egg salad!

Color Made Easy: Using Water Based Food Color by D.R. Dolen

This article really covers many spectrums that kids can appreciate as well as adults. With Easter on its way this is even more interesting.  This started out as a vanilla cookie color wheel project developed by a teacher five years ago.  We added an answer key and the actual drops of food color necessary to achieve colors.  This chart was based on the use of 8 ounces of clear or opaque liquid.  It can be used for the cookie color wheel project or hung in your craft area to color shampoos, conditioners, bath bombs, bath salts and body wash to name a few.  Unfortunately, these food color dyes cannot be used in any oil based products such as balm.  Please click here to save the full chart and answer key on your hard drive.  Click the thumbnail of the photo to get a better look.  The same coloration system can be used for bath salts, and bath bombs.

Shabby Chick Easter Eggs: To the left we bought candy coated Jordan almonds and then dyed our eggs to match those. 

Castile Soap:  Slice it, Stamp it, Shred it, Sculpt it!

I prefer to stamp though, or to make a mixture of squares and soap balls.  Stamping looks rustic and "real."   Sometimes I stamp the balls too!  Stamping is best when they are 1/2 hard, usually 2 weeks in the air.  This also gives you valuable time to save up for a few soap stamps or embossing pieces. They usually run under $10 each.   Soap stamps are something you can keep for life in a little box.  I like Fleur de Lyses, and a Royal Shell pattern.  The "Bee" is always a classic stamp too.  I dip the stamps into a plate of corn starch so it does not stick to the soap, and the cornstarch gives it an added rustic look bringing out the emboss you choice.  Some people dip in micas.  The more color the better your image will stand out.  You can even dip into gold mica, that makes for a beautiful emboss.  Here are the first balls and blocks I did...click photo to see enlarged detail.

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Spring Planting

I am starting Spring early and creating  a whole new herb garden.   Last years herbs tasted "funny" although protected on my lanai. It did not dawn on me until Ringo attended my last day of clipping and lifted his leg.  I totally had to block out how many meals I had with my great "herbs."   

On to a brighter note, what shall we grow?  Well, I use Basil a lot now, preparing pesto once a week. Basil grows like all get out, even in water.  Mints also do this--and can be a hydroponics thing in the kitchen.  Mints are great for fresh tea.  I aim to find a good chocolate mint.  If that don't work, I will "spray" my mint with chocolate extract.  You can bet I will!  I am not sure what that would do to the plant, but I will keep you posted!  Cilantro is my next favorite, it gets used a LOT in my Thai and Mexican dishes.  Chives are always useful and Rosemary and Oregano are runner ups--not used as much.  Mother's Day is coming up and making a big herb pot is always my highlight gift.  You can start now with small plants so the gift is really bushy when you give it.  Sink a big bow into it and hand over!  Make two--you will want to keep one. I may buy my starter herbs from the net because commercial plants get so picked over--and the net offers more variety.  I have not tried these companies, but here is an herb plant company in FL.  Park Seed are also very god customers of ours, so click here for Park Seed.  Speaking of planting, find a space for geraniums.  They seem to bloom year round and we will be doing projects this summer with them. 

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Making "Stuff"

Marshmallow & Tangerine Lip Balm with Shea and Lanolin Oil

Our All Purpose Balm Base is very hard because it is easier to add oil to soften (such as flavor oil) then to add ingredients to harden, and because summer months formulas do require less oil.  Knowing that, I am able to add up to 20% in shea and lanolin oil (mixed) and marshmallow/tangerine flavor oil (mixed) to make an awesome healing and supple lip salve.  This particular formula also did OK in twist tubes also, just hard enough to "take" to the threads. (Photo Below.)

Essential Oils for the Bath

Right now I am using a blend of 75% Bulgarian Lavender to 25% Rosemary Essential Oil in the bain.  These two really help with relaxation and fending off head aches.  I had such head aches all week (just after noon,) I kept Rosemary essential oil right by my PC to smell in.  It did help tremendously.  When I use the Lavender blend in the bath, I put 4 pipette fulls in the bath with lots of salts, or mix this same amount into salts--if I want to color the salts.  For "flu" type feeling I switch to a blend of 75% Eucalyptus 15% camphor and 10% lime essential oils.  Because these are stronger, I use 2 pipette fulls and create a real steamy bath.  It works GREAT.    So, I keep old glass apothecary bottle by the tub with these blends in them.  I use clear glass, colored is more of an old wives tale when it come to EOs.

Functional oils, I just got a hold of some Lanolin oil and I am ecstatic.  I really like lanolin but the sticky goop is hard to clean off after making products, so an oil version is a lot easier to work with.  In case your are curious, Shea oil is also still my favorite carrier oil.  It has all the properties of shea, does make skin as soft as an infants, and  is stable not crystallizing in final products, such as lip balm.  I use it straight up as a bath oil too!

Making bath bombs these days we do use a little Wilton cake decorating color to achieve more vibrant colors when household food dyes are not vibrant enough.  Wilton products are available at most craft centers. 

Easter Bath Baskets  I save the "Easter" grass every year, as a way to "recycle" and my friends do not mind.  They know every event when I give a gift, I grab the wrapping back sooner than they can open it!  Make  a "cubby" zone of you do not already have one, to be a neat little hoarder and blame it on "going green."  Being "organized" does not make you "look" like a pack rat with an OCD.

Anyhoooow, it takes under an hour to make a bunch on neat looking bath bombs.  Fill up a basket with grass and arrange the bombs. Put a big bow on top...everyone loves bath fizzzies!

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Spa Day

This is super easy and not as hard as hard as you may have thought.  GREAT as a Mother's Day activity.  Having some healthy tea and nourishment items may be the only area that needs pre-planning.  Buy some fresh flowers to lay around!  Drop rose petals all over the floor or one area room for the day.

I use to do this with my three daughters when they were little and it is a REAL family binder.  Twenty years later, I am about to do this with some friends and co-workers.  Alone?  Take the day off and do this yourself.  Make a little designated area in the house for your "Spa Day stash."  For me, it is my laboratory.  I often do not enjoy everything I have in there, and I am about to change that!  Hello "Spa Day."

Massage

If you want to go all out, hire a masseuse in for a few hours and they can bring their own table.  Massage therapist are beautiful people and usually will give you added ideas when they see what your doing.  You can negotiate, like $25 a person--they will like the volume since they have to drive to one place anyway.  Try to get a referral from a friend.  You can put them in a bedroom area as not to be in the way.  Beyond a masseuse, you may want to hire a cleaning lady to come in and follow behind everyone.  This would take clean up totally off your shoulders.

To Start?  Have everyone bring their own robe and slippers, putting them on when they arrive.  Have what ingredients you need near each site--bathroom sink, kitchen sink, and so on.  Music! Pick something cool--maybe get a CD meant for massage. 

Exfoliate Entire Body - or Just Work on Facial Exfoliation

The first thing you want to do is exfoliate your skin.  You can make a scrub in the palm of your hand with ground coffee, sugar or even salt.  To make the paste we use vegetable glycerin, at 1/3 the amount of dry material, but you can also use any carrier oil--such as safflower, almond, grape seed.  Vegetable glycerin will make you skin smooth and soft.  An example is 1/3 cup of vegetable glycerin to 1 cup of dry exfoliating material.   Take turns scrubbing in an empty bath tub, relax a few minutes to let the good stuff absorb, and then rinse.  Have a scrubby handy so they can rinse the tub well for the next person, and perhaps 90% or higher rubbing alcohol to sanitize the tub down.  I keep mine in a pretty vinegar bottle--but I let everyone know what it is.  Relax in Bath

Moisturize

When you are done exfoliating, use a quality lotion to moisturize-your skin is ready to drink it in!  Even if you are going off to a massage, slather lotion all over your skin.

Steam

You can set up a real steamer at a table, or use the stove.  My stove is on an island-so I can have four facial steam baths, aka (pots) going!  Some people can bring their own steamers to set up--they may have some at their homes.  Steaming loosens up dirt and grime.  Oil helps impurities float to the stop of the skin.    Give your people their choice of oil to slather on, while they are steaming.  Clean the skin at a sink and steam again.   Spices and essential oils to put in the steamers?

Mask

After cleaning the skin hourly and exfoliating, now is the time to do a face mask.  Rinse very well.  Spray with a lovely toner and moisturize.  Cold sliced cucumbers for the eyes.

Hands and Feet Oh this gets dreamy.  You can take turns massage everyone's hands and feet or have a masseuse do it.  You can also warm stones in a crock pot, slather oil on each other and rub the stones around. 

To Do a "Soy DipTM" Warm the SoySpaBathTM in a crock pot on Warm.  It will take up to 2 hours to melt--a higher temp will speed it up--but never dip above 120 degrees or 49 Celsius. 

Paint Shea Oil or Bee Pollen oil on each hand/foot before dipping.  It will truly produce baby soft hands for days. If you dip without oil or lotion, that will cause dry hands--the wax will draw moisture from your hands. 

See Spa Party video with Lisa Kasanicky

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