DIY Salve with Plantain

For many reasons, I feel like I come alive in the summer. One part of the season that I do not enjoy, and I know I'm not alone in this regard, is bug bites. Not only do I dislike the itch and sting, but it is compounded by the fact that my daughters hate them and often refuse to go outside because of them. There are many products on the store shelves for bug bites, but in my quest to make my own and avoid unnecessary packaging and potentially harmful ingredients, this summer I have made my own skin salve, with the key ingredient being plantain. I also fits in nicely with my one little word for the year, make.

Plantain is a very hardy plant and grows almost anywhere, especially in lawns along concrete path and driveways. Most people think it as a weed and pull it up, but it is edible and can be used as a topical application for skin irritations like bug bites, stings, rashes and cuts. I have some growing in my raised garden beds and as long as it doesn't take over, I leave it.

Sometimes when I'm watering my garden in the morning I get mosquito bites, so I just grab a leaf of the plantain, crumple it (some people suggest chewing it) to release the moisture inside and directly apply to the itchy spot. Within 5-10 minutes the itch and sting is gone. 

I like to have salve with me when I go out with my daughters, and I want to have some when the growing season is over, so I made some plantain salve. I'm happy to report that it works as well as directly applying the leaf. 

I apologize for the approximations in my recipe below. I just played around different recipes  until I had the consistency I liked. Because I use coconut oil that can be very soft to liquid in warm temperatures, I added a little more beeswax to help keep the salve in more solid form during warm summer weather.

Ingredients and Materials:

• approximately 1 to 1 1/2 cups dry plantain leaves, chopped 
• approximately 1 1/2 cups oil (I like coconut oil for skin care)
• approximately 1-2 tablespoons beeswax 
• essential oil of choice (I like tea tree oil for it's curing properties)
• glass jar (I use mason jars)
• fine strainer or cheese cloth
• containers for the completed salve
• double boiler or pot and stainless steel bowl or crock pot

Method:

• Harvest the plantain leaves. If you must wash them, make sure they are dry so that the salve will last longer. Chop them into small pieces.

• Place oil on the plantain leaves in a glass jar. Completely mix together.

• Place the jar in a pot or crock pot with enough water to come almost to the top of the oil. Gently heat the mixture on very low heat for about 12 hours. I wasn't home long enough to do this in one go so I split the heating over two days. 

I added a cloth under my mason jar in the crock pot
so the glass wouldn't have direct heat on it.

• Strain the plantain leaves from the oil and allow the oil to cool completely. 

• Using a double boiler or pot of water and stainless steel bowl, melt the beeswax and add the plantain oil. Thoroughly mix. Add a few drops of essential oil of choice. 

• Pour into small glass jars or stainless steel jars. Leave it to cool completely and store for future use. 

The salve is cooled and ready for use, which I have already
done with the salve in the mason jar. You can see how
hard my mixture is (had to use my finger to scape it) but
if you like it softer just use less beeswax. 

DIY Faux Batik

I'm always on the lookout for crafts and DIY presents that upcycle materials we have around the house. Never mind that I am a horrible packrat when it comes to recyclables and I have multiple stashes around the house "just in case" I need them for a fabulous craft idea. I have a whole closet dedicated to toilet paper rolls, egg cartons and glass jars.

When I saw this post about creating Elmer's Glue Gel Batik at All Our Days I knew I had finally found the perfect craft for some old worn and ripped sheets I have been saving for a few years. It was on my summer bucket list and in keeping with my one little word for 2014, "make".

I am making bunting flags for my garden and I knew I wanted to try this technique for some of the flags.

I didn't, however, have the glue gel. I decided to try it with regular white craft glue, and the results are in.... it worked perfectly.

At All Our Days they suggest using this technique to make cloth napkins, which I could see working if enough of the paint is rubbed out of the fabric so that it is soft enough. I didn't worry about that because I am making flags and want the colour to be more intense and the fabric is slightly stiff from the paint, although ironing the fabric at the end made them softer. I imagine that after repeated washings the fabric would soften up as well.

Materials:

• pieces of fabric, hemmed or edged on a sewing machine so that it won't fray (I used upcycled sheets). I only sewed around the edges on three sides for mine because I will be folding over and sewing the top edge to create my bunting. 
• white craft glue
• acrylic paint
• paint brushes (I used the wedge sponge type)
• hot water in a shallow dish, and more hot water to rinse

Method:

• "Draw" the pattern or shape onto the fabric using the glue. I practiced what I wanted to do on paper first to be sure that the design would fit. 

• Lay the fabric in a sunny location to help set the glue on the surface. Luckily I did this on a hot day so this part of the drying process only took about an hour. The glue shouldn't be fully dry throughout or else it won't wash off in the hot water. To test if it is ready, run a dry brush lightly over the surface. The glue shouldn't smear and should still be white. The longer the glue is left to dry the harder it is to get out of the fabric later, but I would rather err on the side of leaving it too long than trying to paint over the glue and having it smear.

• When the glue is sufficiently set, paint the fabric using the acrylic paint. I decided to water my paint down quite a bit and slightly layer the colours. 

• Lay the fabric out to dry. Wait until the paint is completely dry. Again, because I did this on a very hot day it only took about an hour.

• Pour hot tap water in a shallow dish in the sink and leave the fabric to soak until the glue rubs off easily. I had to add hot water a few times and rub with my fingers to completely remove the glue and paint. This took away some of the intensity of the colour but I was pleased with the final result so this didn't bother me. 

• Lay the fabric to dry in the sun again.

I tried this process minus the glue for a few pieces of fabric
and they look great. The colour is more intense on those ones
because I used more concentrated colour and a fine paint brush.
I should have put something underneath the fabric while
it was drying because it stained my table and now I have
to figure out how to get it out.

• Iron the fabric if so desired. 

I ironed mine because I wanted them to lay flat. Turn it
over and iron the wrong side. I also trimmed the fraying edges
up close to the sewing edge that I did.

• Voila!

I really like the blending of the colours in the batik versions, and the imperfections in the paint that give them a
one of a kind appearance. My daughter designed the veggie flags and I did the chakra flags. 

Felted Sweater Bag

This year I am focused on dedicating more time to making things in my life, and I hope to share at least one project that I have made each month. Last month I shared cards that I enjoy making. This month I would like to share a felted sweater bag that I recently made.

I have been seeing some very cute project bags for my knitting, like this one on Etsy (because I'm a nerd), but I have held myself back from clicking purchase because I can't justify buying what I know I can make myself. Then inspiration hit me when I was rooting around my closet for some birthday presents that I bought for my daughter (months ago and then hid so well I couldn't find them - anyone else do that?) and found a pile of old wool sweaters that I had felted to make a sweater bag like this one.

A few years ago I made fingerless gloves from the sleeves of one of the felted wool sweaters, so I decided to use the rest of the same sweater to make my first felted bag.


Felted Sweater Bag Steps:

• Felt the wool sweater before using it. To do this, wash using warm water, then dry in the dryer. Some people repeat this process but I found once was enough. As I usually wash my clothes using cold water, I had to wait until I needed to do a warm wash before I could do this, and I didn't want to wait for another warm wash to do this again. After doing this once the sweater was significantly smaller with a nice matted felt. 

The sleeves have already been removed to make
fingerless gloves.

• Mark what will become the handles from the shoulder to below the arm pit and around the neckline, and cut. Keep the sleeves for another project, such as the fingerless gloves that I made. 

• Fold the cut piece in half in the opposite direction, so that the holes where the arms would be are now visible as the handles of the bag.

• Turn the bag inside out and sew along the bottom of the sweater. To be fancy and create clean edges, sew across the seam about one inch from the edge to create a triangle shape, then cut off the edge and turn the bag right side out. 

• You now have a new project bag. Enjoy!

Card Making Fun

True to my nature as an all or nothing sort of person, I have been a bad blogger recently because life and other activities have been taking my focus away. My obsession over the past couple of weeks, in between getting over a lingering cold that decided to set up shop in my chest and throat, has been making cards. I have been making cards for at least ten years now, thanks to some friends and fellow teachers who got me hooked. One of those friends is now a Stamping Up rep and she keeps us well stocked and up on the latest card trends.

This year my one little word is make because I value homemade things. I hope to do a post per month on the latest things I'm making and enjoying, so for January I thought I would post a selection of cards that I've made recently. 

Making cards isn't particularly green, given that I buy new card stock paper, embellishments, inks, pens, glue and various adhesives. I could use more recycled paper and upcycled materials from around my home. However, I use as much of the paper and paper scraps as I can. I believe that making and giving my own cards has a personal touch, which is important to me. 

Most of these cards were inspired by ideas found on Pinterest, where I virtually hang out quite a bit. I get inspired by all of the creative people out there and it get my juices flowing to make. If you hang out on Pinterest you may have seen some of these ideas. A link to my card board is here.

I love the blended sunset colour of this silhouette card using
the bird builder punch from Stamping Up.

I love the owl punch, also from Stamping Up, because
of the multitude of ideas you can make with it.

This is for my middle daughter's birthday.

This minion card is made using the owl punch
(see above). I haven't added a sentiment yet.

This is for my youngest daughter's birthday.

It's always good to have girly cards ready in this house.

Another card using the owl punch (see above).

I'm obsessed with the Keep Calm memes, so this stamp set
was a must for my collection. 

I've knitted little heart thank you cards for people
who donate yarn to my knitting club. The pattern
can be found here.

I always forget to make cards for men so here are two
attempts at more masculine cards. 

One Little Word for 2014

Welcome to the January 2014 Carnival of Natural Parenting: The More Things Stay the Same
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have talked about the continuity and constancy in their lives. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
***

Every year I like to pick a word to help focus my attention and actions.

Last year I chose gratitude for my one little word because I wanted to change our habit of focusing on the negative and being frustrated with life. I wanted my family to be happier with what we have and how we live. The previous year I chose move, because I wanted to be make being more active a daily habit.

This year I have chosen make as my one little word. This isn’t a change in direction for me, and it isn’t going to cause big changes in my life. I have already made a commitment to make things by hand or from scratch. I enjoy crafting and learning how to make things myself. So if I already do this, why did I chose make as my one little word?

My latest batch of fire cider. The peppers were so hot
my hands were on fire. 

I spent very little time in stores and malls over the Christmas season this year, and when I did I continually noted all the things that I didn’t need because I could probably make them myself. I love the creative process, but somehow it ends up being on the bottom of my list, with three daughters, a job and activities.

Some of the presents I made for Christmas this year:
lip balm, lavender bath salts, cup cozies, hand towels.

I already grow my own food in my kitchen garden in the growing season. I make cards and presents for friends and family as much as possible. I enjoy knitting. I have been learning more about making my own personal care products. I make food from scratch as much as time permits.

I enjoy making cards.

This year I am committing to doing all of this as much as I can, as much as I enjoy it. I am learning which things are worth the effort of making by hand (and homemade goldfish crackers are not one of them, which I learned the hard way). I like knowing how things are made and what the ingredients are.

Delicious homemade crackers that took half a day to make.
Not sure they're worth the effort.

Some things I want to continue making this year:

Now that I make fresh pasta I can
never go back to store bought pasta.

• Pasta
• Bread
• Hand knit items for children, toys, small presents like cup cozies
• My garden
• Meals from my garden
• Shampoo
• Lip balm
• Plastic free food wraps
• Cards
• Presents for teachers (like handmade cards)
• Presents for family members, such as homemade photo canvases
• home cleaning supplies

Some things I hope to make this year:

• gluten free pasta and bread (so far I have only had abysmal failures with gluten free breads)
• A hand knit sweater for me
• Something on my sewing machine (this has been on my list for a number of years)
• Canned food from my garden
• Mascara and other makeup
• Kombucha tea
• Jewelry (for presents)
• yogurt
• cheese
• deodorant

I am not going to be disappointed if I don’t meet some internal standard that I have set for myself, however, because I am not setting a standard that I feel I have to meet. I know that life ebbs and flows, and there are times when I will need to walk into a store and just buy something for my own sanity. But there are times when I will have time to learn how to make new things. I am fortunate to have my summers off because I am a teacher, and this gives me great latitude to take on projects that require time and energy.

So I am hoping to play and create more this year. It may be my easiest and most fun one little word yet.

***
Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
(This list will be updated by afternoon January 14 with all the carnival links.)

• Always an Artist — Some kids take longer than others to come into themselves, so you have to stick with them, as a parent, long after everyone else has given up, writes Douglas at Friendly Encounters.
• Not Losing Yourself as a First Time Mom — Katie at All Natural Katie continues to stay true to herself after becoming a new mom.
• Using Continuity to Help Change {Carnival of Natural Parenting} — Meegs from A New Day talks about how she is using continuity in certain areas of her life to help promote change and growth in others.
• Staying the Same : Security — Life changes all the time with growing children but Mother Goutte realised that there are other ways to 'stay the same' and feel secure, maybe a bit too much so!
• Harmony is What I'm After — Tribal Mama gushes about how constant change is really staying the same and staying the same brings powerful change.
• A Primal Need For Order and Predictability – And How I Let That Go — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares how she overcame her primal need for order and predictability once her awareness shifted, opening her eyes to the impact this had on her young daughter. Take a short journey with Jennifer and she bares her soul, exposes her weaknesses and celebrates her new outlook and approach to living life, even in the face of total chaos.
• Breastfeeding Before and After — Breastfeeding has come and gone, but Issa Waters at LoveLiveGrow finds that her relationship with her son is still just the same and just as good.
• A Real Job — Back in high school That Mama Gretchen had a simple, but worthwhile career aspiration and today she is living her dream … is it what you think?
• Comforting — sustainablemum never thought she would want things always being the same, but she explains why it is exactly what her family wants and needs.
• 'The Other Mums' and The Great Illusion — Marija Smits reflects on the 'great big magic show of life' and wonders if it will continue to remain a constant in our lives.
• Unschooling: Learning doesn't change when a child turns four — Charlotte at Winegums & Watermelons talks about the pressure of home education when everyone else's children are starting school.
• Finding Priorities in Changing Environments — Moving from Maine to a rural Alaskan island for her husband's military service, Amy at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work found that keeping consistent with her priorities in changing environments can take some work, but is vital to continuous health and happiness.
• Keeping it "Normal" — Kellie at Our Mindful Life has moved several times in the last two years, while doing her best to keep things stable for her kids.
• The Evolution Of Our Homeschool Journey — Angela at Earth Mama's World reflects on her homeschooling journey. Homeschooling is a constant in the life of her family but the way in which they learn has been an evolution.

• Sneaking in Snuggles: Using Nurturing Touch with Older Children — When Dionna at Code Name: Mama's son was a toddler and preschooler, he was the most loving, affectionate kiddo ever. But during the course of his 5th year, he drastically reduced how often he showed affection. Dionna shares how she is mindfully nurturing moments of affection with her son.
• Steady State — Zoie at TouchstoneZ writes a letter to her partner about his constancy through the rough sailing of parenting.
• A Love You Can Depend On — Over at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, Jennifer has a sweet little poem reminding us where unconditional love really lies, so it can remain a constant for us and our children.
• Same S#!*, Different Day — Struggling against the medical current can certainly get exhausting, especially as the hunt for answers drags on like it has for Jorje of Momma Jorje.
• New Year, Still Me — Mommy Bee at Little Green Giraffe writes about how a year of change helped her rediscover something inside herself that had been the same all along.
• One Little Word for 2014 — Christy at Eco Journey In The Burbs has decided to focus on making things this year, which is what she is loves, as long as she doesn't kill herself in the process.
• The Beauty of Using Montessori Principles of Freedom and Consistency — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares the continuity of her teaching, parenting, and grandparenting philosophy using a combination of freedom and consistency.
• My Husband's Mini — Crunchy Con Mom shares which of her sons looks more like her husband's baby pictures — and the answer might surprise you!
• Growth Happens When You Aren't Looking — Lori at TEACH through Love is treasuring these fleeting moments of her daughter's early adolescence by embracing the NOW.
• A New Reality Now - Poem — As Luschka from Diary of a First Child struggles to come to terms with the loss of her mother, she shares a simple poem, at a loss for more words to say.
• Making a family bedroom — Lauren at Hobo Mama has decided to be intentional about her family's default cosleeping arrangements and find a way to keep everyone comfortable.
• New Year, Same Constants — Ana at Panda & Ananaso takes a look at some of the things that will stay the same this year as a myriad of other changes come.
• I Support You: Breastfeeding and Society — Despite how many strides we've taken to promote "breast is best," Amy at Natural Parents Network talks about how far we still have to go to normalize breastfeeding in our society.