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Health & Fitness

Getting Crafty- How to Make Herbal Hand Balm and Scented Linen Water

If you and your friends enjoy "getting crafty" check out my blog for an easy craft for spring.

I don’t know about you, but my friends and I love to have craft days.  We’ll do a little research about a project that looks like fun, do some shopping and then make a morning of it.

This particular day was especially great because our hostess, Ginny, prepared a fabulous breakfast before we got down to the business of getting crafty.  After inhaling a gourmet breakfast, we set up the workstation. 

Join us: we’re making scented linen water and herbal hand balm.  Both products are all organic and natural!  No preservatives or scary stuff!

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The first step is to do some shopping.  The list of ingredients is below.

SCENTED LINEN WATER:

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       Distilled water     (48 oz.)

       Vodka *                (4 oz.)

       Essential oils       (2 tsp.)

       Spray bottles       (4 oz. size)

*No need to pull out the Grey Goose Vodka, any brand is fine.  I found essential oils online on eBay.  They shipped quickly and I got 5 different fragrances for a song.  We found spray bottles at and .

You’ll also need a set of measuring cups and spoons, a pitcher, a funnel, and wooden spoon for mixing the liquids.

HERBAL HAND BALM

       Dried herbs *     (2 cups)

Light Olive oil    (4 cups)

       Essential oils     (40 to 80 drops)

       Grated beeswax (2 ½ cups)

*The dried herbs came from my garden.  I used a mix of Lavender and Rosemary.  We ordered the beeswax from a candle supply company.  I would assume that you could purchase the wax locally or on eBay as well.

You’ll need these tools:

Metal pot (a double boiler works best) for heating the wax, a larger pan for the warm water if you don’t have a double boiler, a strainer, a wooden spoon and measuring cups.  We lucked out as one of the girls has a metal pitcher for candle making.  If you don’t have that, a cheap saucepan works, too.  It is VERY IMPORTANT to purchase shredded beeswax.  It melts lightning fast and is a real timesaver!

OK…let the fun times begin!  We’ll start with the Scented Linen Water.

Since I had lots of essential oils, we mixed the linen water in a big pitcher, then let each person add whatever scent they liked.  It’s so simple:  Grab a large pitcher, add the mineral water and vodka into it.  We filled each spray bottle with 4 to 6 ounces of the mix and added about 10 to 12 drops of our favorite oil into each bottle.  Shake after you add the oil and you’re ready to go! 

You can use this as a sleep aid, spraying it on your pillow before you go to sleep.  The scent will make you drift off into “la-la land” and you’ll awake refreshed and ready for the day.  I use it for ironing, especially my pillowcases and cotton shirts.  Shake the bottle before you use it, especially if you haven’t  used it in a while.

Now, let’s have fun with beeswax and olive oil! 

The first step is to steep the olive oil and the dried herbs.  Try and adjust the heat so that the mixture is just about boiling.  You will be shocked at how much fragrance is picked up by allowing it to steep for 15 minutes.  You’re supposed to do this in a double boiler; we didn’t have one so we cooked the mixture in a metal pitcher that was placed in a large saucepan.  It worked just fine. 

Let the olive oil and herbs cook for 15 minutes.  After that, we strained the herbs, leaving the scented oil.  After placing the pitcher with the scented hot oil back in the saucepan, we slowly added the beeswax, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.  Keep the heat just below boiling. 

DO NOT buy solid beeswax.  We bought it in pellet form and it melted in about 3 or 4 minutes. 

Once the beeswax is melted, you need to let a small amount solidify on the spoon.  Allow the spoon to cool, off the heat, for about 5 minutes.  You should notice that it will “firm up” and begin to resemble a smooth balm.  If it’s too thin, add more beeswax.  If it’s too thick, add more olive oil.  As luck would have it, ours was perfect and didn’t need any fiddling with.  Success on the first try! 

We purchased some cute tins that hold about 3 ounces.  We added scented oil to the pitcher, stirred it in and began to fill the tins.  We ended up with about 25 tins of the best herbal hand balm you’ve ever tried! 

It’s all natural, made with loving hands.  The product turned out so well that we intend to make more this fall and sell it at the Holiday Boutique at in November.  If you don’t want to make your own, come visit us at the boutique!

I’ve got to say that all of us had such a great time making these two crafts.  If you’ve got a group of friends looking for a fun “craft night” project, give this a try.  It’s nearly impossible to mess it up and you’ll be making some fabulous memories to go with your linen water and hand balm!

Happy Crafting!

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