Houseplant update

Hey guys! So my cactus that I had showed you was budding now has such beautiful flowers! I was so excited when my cactus flowered that I had to make an update video mostly for just that. But, I also include an update on my new air plants, some succulent cuttings, and a couple other plant updates. I hope you enjoy this video, and as always you can watch it directly on youtube by clicking this link HERE.

You can visit my youtube channel HERE.

Thank you for stopping by! If you like diy's, urban farm things, and healthy living then be sure to subscribe over on the side! --->

Glossy Pink Peppermint Lip Balm DIY

This diy was inspired by my favorite holiday ice-cream, Pink Peppermint. Mountain Rose Herbs has a great diy for tinted lip gloss that I had been wanting to try out. Since I was going for more of a balm instead of a gloss I added a little extra beeswax and I'm not really into geranium so I changed the essential oils that I used to suit my needs. I also have been really loving almond oil lately so I used that instead of macadamia nut oil.

This recipe is easier than it seams and is so great for the winter. It has a glossy finish with a rosy hue. You need to make the alkanet root infusion first but that is so simple. 

Its just 5 Tbsp of liquid oil (I use almond) and 1 Tbsp of alkanet root gently heated together in a double boiler until the oil takes on the color of the root. The longer you let it sit the more color will be extracted. strain out the root and you've got your infused oil to use in the lip balm recipe. Watch the video to see how it's done and you can use the directions below to make it easier. 

Pink Peppermint Lip Balm

1 Tbsp plus  1or 2 teaspoons of beeswax 

1 Tbsp of coco butter 

3 Tbsp of your almond oil alkanet infusion

5 drops of peppermint oil

10 drops of vanilla oleoresin 

In a double boiler, melt the beeswax, then the coco butter, then add in your oil and stir till its all combined. Once its all melted add in the essential oils. Poor into lib balm tubes or tins. let sit until hardened. 

This recipe can be changed up depending on what you prefer in a lip balm. If you don't want it to be as glossy and you want it to shield your lips from the winter, add an extra couple teaspoons of beeswax. if you want it to be more buttery add a half Tbsp more of coco butter. if you want it to be more of a straight up gloss play around with using a higher oil to wax/butter ratio. You could even exchange the coco butter for coconut oil and that will make it more of a gloss just definitely put that in a tin instead of a tube. And if you don't quite like how it turns out, melt it down and add a little more of something. I like to test mine out by putting a little bit in a tin and cooling it down in the fridge until it sets. This can be a bit deceiving so let it warm up slightly if you've let it sit in the fridge to long. 

I hope this inspires you to try something new this week. DIY's are so fun for holiday gifts and the extra thought goes a long way to make people feel special. 

Have A great week everyone!

Acid/Alkaline

Unfortunately I wasn't able to do the stretch mark cream diy that I had planned for this week, but it will be up by the end of next week, so keep an eye out for it. In the mean time I am posting a video by Markus Rothkranz that explains the alkaline diet myth. Which, the alkaline diet not working makes SO much sense! Especially if you payed attention in science class, but then again I am a bit of a nerd that way; haha! I found it very interesting that your saliva adjusts to the ph of food, even if you'r just thinking about it! So crazy! Thank's mom for showing this to me, xo!

Sharing time

I love watching educational videos on YouTube. I learn so much, and I think that it is important to continue to learn new things, so along with reading I watch a few neatoe channels on You Tube. We don't have a TV, so now Downton Abbey, BUT, it also saves a lot of wall space so that I can put up more picture. Also, we really don't have much of any need for one. If I watch say, 10 videos on YouTube  then that will suck up maybe an hour of my day, but if I watch an hour of TV, I will see maybe 2 shows tops, and they will make me (well, I guess the wont make me, but still!) sit through commercials and the show replaying bits that happened before. So it kinda wastes my time when I can get more information from ten minutes instead of 30.

Here are my favorites! I like lots of geeky things, but they all are very interesting, and definetly keep your attention. Those are first, then I have some of my more girly and diy stuff.