DIY Bath Bombs using Websun Stainless Steel Molds- product review and recipe.

Yesterday my girl and i made bath bombs! First recipe we used was a total fail, but we tried again and i used way less food coloring, essential oil and water....and they turned out perfect!  These are so easy to make and use ingredients you probably already have in your cupboard! The only thing we were missing were molds, but we received some to review from #Websun  and they worked great!

We used  these stainless steel molds by Websun. These come in 3 sizes. They are 100% food grade 304 stainless steel & are dishwasher safe.  They work so well! The bath bombs popped right out and were shaped perfect.

 So much fun! We made some a while ago, and they were total fail. They started off looking great, but then they started slowly expanding and swelling.  i think the key is as little liquid as possible, just until they hold together. i also read that in areas of high humidity, you can bake them at 200 degrees until they are completely dried out. i'll probably do that with our next batch just to make sure they are completely dry and don't suck the moisture out of the air.

Homemade Bath Bombs

Dry ingredients

1/2 cup baking soda

1/4 cup Epsom salt

1/4 cup citric acid

1/4 cup corn starch.

 Wet ingredients

3 tsp Olive oil or Castor oil 

1 tsp essential oil

a few drops of food color. 

water

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisking to combine. 

Then in a small bowl mix wet ingredients (except water) together then slowly add to dry mixture, while constantly whisking. 

Now add water very slowly 1 tsp at a time, just until mix packs together. i think we used about 2 tsp, but the recipe called for 3. i would not use any more than that.  You want to add it slowly, while whisking quickly to avoid it setting off the chemical reaction. Using a spray bottle for the water would probably work well. Again you just need a tiny amount. 

Pack the mixture into both sides of your mold, press the two sides together and let dry about 5 hours. Be sure and store them in an air tight container!

These Bath bomb  molds really do work great! They come in a pretty handmade paper box. You can find them on amazon, free shipping with Prime. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071DJ41ZL 

*i received the product at no cost in exchange for my honest opinion. i was not compensated, my opinions are my own.

Homemade lip balm with Deluxe Botanicals 100% pure organic beeswax.

My daughter has recently taken an interest in making her own beauty products.  A few weeks ago we make bath bombs and bath salts.  For her birthday she got a lip balm making kit, but i was pretty disappointed in it.  The lip balm base was petroleum jelly. It came with flavor gel to mix in, but it really wasn't what i was expecting.

So when i recently had the opportunity to try out some Cosmetic grade beeswax, i jumped at the chance!  Back in the day i use to make all kinds of homemade bath and beauty products.  Lip balms and healing balms are always a favorite.

We made our homemade lip balm using ‪#‎deluxebotanicals‬ 100% pure organic beeswax!
Super basic, easy recipe. i plan to make more when i get some other flavor oils and tubs to use.  

This recipe is 1 part coconut oil, 1 part olive oil, 2 parts beeswax, vitamin E (optional) and a drop or two of essential oil (we used peppermint).  

For making just one tub i used a 1/2 tsp to measure. So my amounts were 1/2 tsp coconut oil, 1/2 tsp olive oil and 1 tsp beeswax. It made the perfect amount to fill our tub.

Melt beeswax, olive oil and coconut oil in a double boiler or small glass bowl over a small pot of boiling water, stirring constantly until melted. Add  a couple drops of Vitamin E and your essential oil ( a drop or two) and pour into your lipbalm tubs. 

It's sets up quickly. Then we decorated our container with a few stickers. :)

i found the lipbalm tubs on ebay very reasonably priced. You can also get the roll up tubes if you prefer those.

i couldn't resist using my Doctor Who silicon molds to make a tardis and dalek. Both Kenan and i use beeswax in our work, i use it as a thread conditioner when beading, he uses it with his glass work although i'm not entirely sure how.  The wax works really well with the molds and would make excellent candles.

i'm very happy with the Deluxe Botanicals‬ organic beeswax.  It smells wonderful, is 100% pure, organic and non GMO. It melts so smooth and works wonderful for cosmetics, candles and more.

i received this product for free or discount for my honest and unbiased review. i only review products that i actually use and recommend, i was not compensated for this review.

Homemade bath bombs with Avenir Oils.

My daughter and i decided to make bath bombs last weekend. They are really fun and easy to make! They use basic ingredients that we already had.

Ingredients and Supplies:

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup citric acid
• 1/2 cup Epsom salts
• 1 tsp. water
• 2 tsp. essential oil (we used Avenir lavender oil)
• 3 tsp. oil (olive oil)
• food coloring (any color you want)
• bowl
• whisk
• jar or small bowl
• assortment molds

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk, make sure you remove any lumps.

Then add all the liquids into a separate small bowl and mix well.  Slowly add this mixture to the dry ingredients. One spoonful at a time.  Use the whisk to mix it together really well. 

Once the mixture is evenly mixed, you can pack it into your molds.  We had one round bath bomb mold, and also used a tin heart tray mold. You could silicone molds, or even plastic easter eggs. Press the mixture in the molds well, then pop them out and let them air dry.

You want to store them in an airtight container. They smell so good!!  Add one or two bath bombs to your bath and watch them fizz! So fun!

The Avenir Lavender oil that we used i received in exchange for an honest review.  It smells absolutely amazing, and i'm really happy with it.  Avenir essential oils are 100% pure, natural, and therapeutic grade. All of their essential oils are grown in organic environments, free from harmful pesticides. When possible, they even try to obtain wildcrafted essential oils.  You can read more about them here and find information about the oils and their different uses.

If are you looking to add to your essential oils collection, be sure to check out the Avenir Oils website. 

i received this product for free or discount for my honest and unbiased review.

Chickens, Chicks and Chicken tractors.

New peeps!!  i'm so excited that one of game hens became broody earlier this spring. Game hens are known for hiding eggs and going broody often. She decided to set right in one of my main nesting boxes, so i was able to remove most of the eggs and then hand pick the eggs to stick under her. She had one of her own eggs, 6 olive egger eggs and a Mottled Java egg.  i mark the eggs with a sharpie, either putting the date that she begins setting or a big X on the egg. That way if other hens continue to lay in the nest, i know which ones are fresh and which are incubating.

On day 21, i was so thrilled to find this sweet little peep in the nest.  This little guy hatched out of the Java egg.  i began picking up the other eggs and tapping them, and found three olive eggs with pip marks.  i tapped one and it tapped back. Then i began to hear peeping from inside those 3 eggs.  i went back to check on them several times that day, but they hadn't hatched yet.

The next morning when i went out to check i found 4 new peeps. :) The first one is a Mottled Java cross. i'm not sure who the daddy is, but probably a BCM.  The other 3 are Olive egger cross. i believe the two black chicks are Olive egger/ BCM cross so they should grow up to lay dark olive eggs (if they are girls of course).  The chipmunk patterned chick was also an olive egg, so it's daddy is either the Cream Legbar rooster or my main rooster, which i believe is an easter egger. So who knows what color eggs it will lay. :)   i'm really thrilled that was able to hatch out some of the olive eggs. 

i have a second hen broody, and she is setting on another 4 olive eggs, 3 Black star (XL brown) and another Java egg. These are due to hatch the first week of May.  i believe the BCM (Black Copper Maran) is the daddy to most of these, so i'm really looking forward to the variety of egg colors i should be getting this fall. 

As much as i love having all of these animals, you end up rather tied down. It's difficult to find a reliable house sitter/pet sitter if we want to go away at all, and i hate asking friends because i know it's a huge inconvenience to ask them to come out every day and i don't want them to agree because they feel obligated. So we've been working to really improve our animal set up so that we can go away for a day or two without constant worry. Although i have two coops with fencing, my tiny peeps can not get in the main one because of the steep ramp.

Although they could get into the smaller coop, mama hen is very protective of her chicks and will attack the other birds that are in there.  So she really need a small safe area, for her and her chicks to hang out in when we are not here to help them into the main coop. So the husband made me this simple A-frame chicken tractor, which is the perfect size for mama and her peeps. The chicken wire is double layered and staggered, to hopefully keep snakes out. i also had him leave the extra chicken wire along the bottom so i can puts rocks on it or something to make it difficult for anything to squeeze under. 

Once kenan had it finished, my girl and i gave it a quick stain. Then we moved mama hen and her peeps into the new enclosure.  This is the first 'chicken tractor' kenan has built and i think he did a great job with the design. He was originally going to put the door in the back so you could access the little chicken house, but i suggested he move it to the front so it's easy to fill food and water containers. Now that it's complete, i realize that it should probably have a door on both ends. My daughter is dying to get her hands on those cute little peeps, but every time she gets near mama hen hides them in the little chicken house. :)

This is too small to keep chickens in full time, but is great for mamas and peeps and it's also good for breeding pairs. Once my BCM pullets begin laying, i'll be able to put them in here with the BCM roo an guarantee some BCM chicks, rather than barnyard mix which tends to happen when you have multiple roosters. 

Our next project is to replace our current chicken feeders with PVC tube feeders, so we can give them a ton of food at one time and not have to worry about it getting wet/molding/spilling etc. 

i'm really excited to see all the progress we are making this year. i'll continue to post progress updates as we finish each goal.  Gardens have been tilled, and a few things planted so i'll be updating on all of that soon.