DIY Tutorial Time: Using Flowers from your Garden to Soften your Skin

Tutorial by Nancy of Nancy Blokland Pottery

I planted Calendula once, and now they are a permanent part of the garden. With their sunny yellow faces I am good with this. Here is a recipe to use this abundant "come-back-again-and-again" flower. It is edible too. I can share other recipes for that on another day.

GOLDEN CALENDULA LOTION OR CREAM

You will first need to make up a calendula infused oil. I do this each season when the calendulas are flowering in the garden. They self seed so you won't have to plant them each year and they are so useful. To do this, pick fresh calendula petals, as much as possible, (NOT MARIGOLDS) preferably straight from the garden. Place in a pyrex bowl & cover halfway with olive oil. Boil this mixture until the oil has made the petals crisp like chips. It works fine on the stove, using a stainless steel saucepan, but takes longer than a microwave. When cool, place in a sterilized glass screw top glass jar. It will keep unrefrigerated for ages!

Step 1

· 3/4 cup purified water or rosewater or other floral water, e.g. lavender, chamomile, orangeflower (also called hydrosols)

· 2 teaspoons glycerin 

Heat water or floral water to 60°C, then add glycerin, stir thoroughly & heat again to 70°C. (I don't measure the temp, I just go by feel, the temp is not critical).

 Step 2

· 16g emulsifying wax for a lotion or 30g for a cream

· 2 tablespoons of calendula infused oil (see above for directions)

Heat the oils to 70°C, then pour the hot water in a slow stream onto the oil, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the temp drops to 45°C when you add the next step.

Step 3

· 20 drops carrot essential oil

· 15 drops essential oil according to skin type, can be a mixture of ones you like & are suitable (see above).

Add the essential oils & mix thoroughly. If the cream is too thick, add a trickle of floral water, beating & adding until you get the consistency you like. Pot into sterilized glass jars. Voila!!!

Feature Friday: Say I Do Unique Boutique

Today's feature Friday focuses on Kim of Say I Do Unique Boutique.

Pomander kissing ball purple silver grey sage Ring of Roses

About me and my craft

I recently married and was a total DIYer and loved making all my wedding decorations and was kinda at a loss when the wedding was over and I had no more nights of crafting.  So I decided to keep on making wedding decor! I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do and pride myself in doing things a little differently than what is out there. I like being unique in my crafting!

SAMPLE SALE Shades of blue and ivory Unique Fabric Pomanders

 
My favorite item in my shop

My favorite item in my shop is the “Ring of Roses” design pomander.  I didn’t want to just glue fake flowers to a ball and tissue paper balls wouldn’t hold up in an outdoor setting very well.  I had a lot of fabric from my quilting days, so I decided to do my pomander designs using fabric and I love the hand rolled roses look so I incorporated them into the “Ring of Roses” pomander.  For this design I used a polyester satin fabric that was fraying a lot so I candled the edges to seal them and that added a very pretty curling effect as well.  I am currently working on a “Random Roses” design that will have the hand rolled fabric roses randomly placed around the ball with the fabric squares surrounding them.

Buffet table tent card game personalized and custom made for your wedding

Why I chose Etsy

I chose Etsy to host my shop because from most of the wedding sites that I belonged to while planning my wedding, a lot of people were commenting on how much they loved shopping for their weddings on Etsy!  I checked Etsy out when I decided I wanted to continue wedding décor crafting and saw that no one was making pomanders the way I did (good or bad, haven’t found out yet!) so I felt confident that what I was doing was unique.

What does a day of crafting look like for me

I am definitely not a full-time crafter.  I have a 2 ½ year old little one and my crafting takes place after he goes to bed at night.  I work full-time during the day so I don’t get to do too many late nights.  I guess when wedding season comes into full swing, I’ll see how many orders I (hopefully) get and will let you know then how tired I am!

Pomander flower girl kissing ball

 
Long term aspirations for my shop

I hope to make enough sales (come wedding season!) to keep myself busy in the evenings and make a little extra money to save for the honeymoon we never got to take.  Maybe in five (or ten?!?) years, we can renew our vows on a tropical beach somewhere.  Our at-home, outdoor wedding was rained out and moved indoors (which was not my “dream wedding plan”), so I am hoping another ceremony under the stars is in my future (I’ll make sure we don’t plan it for monsoon season!).

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Check out Say I Do Unique Boutique on Etsy

Hello from Hearts of Glass!

Hello! We've just joined the Winnipeg Etsy Street Team and wanted to introduce ourselves. :) Hearts of Glass is Andrea Steinwand and Heather Stewart (me). We sell at local shows and at heartsofglass.etsy.com and have an active blog at hogtalismans.blogspot.com.

We melt glass in our studio torch and shape it into colourful and intricate lampworked beads. We offer our beads loose to designers and also finished into beautiful bracelets, pins, necklaces and pendants.
My own favorite obsession is the encased floral bead, where I build flowers out of tiny glass dots and trap them between wraps of clear glass. We also love to make sculpted pendants in natural forms such as leaves, stars, and calla lilies, abstract pendants featuring fun oxide colour reactions and effects, body jewellery, and these fun cuff bracelets using our glass toggle closures and recycled leather belts.
















Our next big show will be at the fabulous and wonderful Winnipeg Folk Fest! See you there, if we don't meet earlier at a WEST event! We're very excited to be part of the team.