Stoneview » Skin Care

Fire in the hole!

Julie — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:13:40 +0000

Yesterday’s adventure was my first attempt at making bath fizzies. We really like the bath bombs from Lush but they’re fairly pricey and I’m not crazy about the colored dyes in them. It looked simple enough on the web: 1 part citric acid, 2 parts baking soda, essential oil, witch hazel. You first mix the citric acid and baking soda very thoroughly, then add the essential oil and witch hazel. I’d neglected to write down the instruction to mist the mixture with witch hazel so I added too much and set off the fizzing. Daniel came down and declared that someday I will blow up the kitchen. The mixture did eventually dry and set up into cute little flower shaped bath fizzies. They are scented with Egyptian geranium, English Rose and Amber essential oils and sprinkled with lavender buds.

When I was looking for bath bomb recipes I ran across a recipe for bath melts. This recipe calls for 1 part shea butter to 2 parts cocoa butter with essential oils. These never did set up even after an hour in the fridge. I was afraid to leave them longer lest all my food start tasting of amber, geranium and rose. I retrieved them with a spoon and will just scoop a bit out of the jar. I’ll have to hunt for more recipes to try once this is gone.

Slice and dice

Julie — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 10:05:46 +0000

Way back when I first bought my soap molds, I noted the soap cutter and thought I’d like to eventually get one. It’s quite easy to cut the soap by hand with a butterknife but the bars vary between 3 and 5 ounces. The more we talk about selling the soap the more I think I need a smaller variation between bars. I finally broke down and bought the soap cutter. It’s slower to cut the bars this way but now my bars vary from 4.25 ounces to 4.5 ounces, a much more reasonable variation.

Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah…

Julie — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:23:36 +0000

Yesterday I had another go at making lotion (after *finally* finishing up the last batch). The last batch had a fair amount of water and too much beeswax so that it sort of separated over time. It’s too early to say yet but so far there is no separation.

and for those of you worried that Gabby is too cold, she’s discovered that wool makes a very cozy napping spot indeed.

Catnaps

Julie — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:01:25 +0000

We managed to finish decorating the tree this week- lights compliments of Daniel who helped more than usual. I finally managed to get a snap of Winnie sleeping on the sheepskin. She’s been doing it for weeks but she’s so camera shy that she would bolt each time I’d come in the room with the camera. I also have a new mold for lotion bars and the hearts might go out the window pretty as they are. The square lotion bars are about the same volume but they are so much easier to use, I think that’s a keeper!

Mad scientist

Julie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:16:55 +0000

Yesterday I had several recipes to try out in the lab err kitchen. I'd ordered some lanolin from Snowdrift Farms and some of the recipes were geared to use it. I made my own wool wash with lanolin, lavender essential oil and Castille soap. I tried a homemade shampoo with Castille soap and a bit of almond oil for conditioning. The main attraction though was a hand cream recipe using lanolin and almond oil as the main ingredients. It's definitely a bit of magic when you add a tiny bit of borax and it turns from clear to foamy white. I had to pour it out quickly as it really does set up fast. It's a wee bit tacky and it takes 5 or 10 minutes to really absorb but my hands feel nice and smooth. I think it would be wonderful for spinning or knitting with something really snaggy. It does smell like witch hazel when you first put it on but that dissipates in moments. Fun stuff!

Lemon Fresh

Julie — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:56:22 +0000

I may be turning into a menace with that P-touch label maker. I love that I can keep my recipe where it's most useful and won't get lost. I made some lemon scrub for the kitchen this week that is supposed to be ace for getting onion and garlic odors off your hands. I haven't had cause to use it yet so the jury is still out. If you try it let me know what you think!

I also made a new lunch bag for Jason out of some of that oilcloth I ordered a few weeks ago. Sewing doesn't hurt my hands so long as there isn't much pinning or use of small scissors. Daniel pronounced it too girly but Jason doesn't seem to mind. I tried out some invisi velcro just to see if I liked it and the handle is cotton webbing. This is nice and roomy and could possibly even fit lunch for 2.

High Praise Indeed

Julie — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:38:02 +0000

On yesterday's todo list was making a new batch of body butter to fill a special request. I'm not quite done tinkering with the recipe but it's been a great success so far and has been very helpful for my extremely dry skin. I also wanted to try out some new recipes I'd found for a lavender scented foot butter and some cuticle cream scented with Egyptian geranium (sort of a floral scent). The new recipes seem great so far but I need to find some bitsy containers to subdivide my batch.

Jason pretty much always claims to like whatever I have cooked and if there's ever been something he didn't like he wouldn't admit it. Last night's dinner, however, was a big hit. He said it could be served in a restaurant which is something I've heard on only a few occasions. I used this recipe to make my pumpernickel bread which turned out well though it really could have risen a bit longer.

Salmon Nicoise

salmon filets
arugula
1 preserved lemon
pitted nicoise olives
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons minced shallot
juice of a lemon
1 tablespoon good quality olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Season the salmon with salt and pepper and pan fry until just cooked through. Chop the preserved lemon discarding any seeds and stir together with olives, onions, shallot, lemon juice, olive oil and seasonings. Serve salmon atop arugula drizzled with the olive mixture.