Dandelion Massage Oil

What is yellow and green

Grows all around, 

Can be eaten entirely

Provides healing goodness

 Looks pretty

and

is Determined to stay? 

Dandelion!

Those sweet little yellow furry heads have been popping up their sunshine faces up everywhere these past few days. I know many folks out there aren't to fond of dandelions... but as I see them dot our yards I welcome them as a sure sign of spring, not to mention we found a good use for them (among many)!

Dandelions are a wonderful blossom to use to make massage oil with. Dandelions blossoms are medicinally known for their ability to bring relaxation, relive aches and pains as well as treat skin irritations and inflammation. Seeing dandelions are in crazy abundance right now we decided to take advantage of nature's bounty! 

To create dandelion massage oil you will need:

oil (we used grape seed)

dandelions

a jar

sunshine

a drop or two of any essential oil (mmm... lavender?)

and a willing harvest helper 

To create:

Pluck the tops off dandelions that have been grown in a pesticide free space.

Place dandelion heads in a jar and pour oil in until it covers them. 

Seal and place in a sunny window for two to three weeks. 

I loved how it looked glowing in the sun.

So pretty.

Strain and pour into the vessel you want to keep it in (we used an empty massage oil jar)

Add a couple drops of your favorite relaxing essential oil.

Warm up those hands and spread the dandelion love on some who needs a good rub.

Perhaps after a good "dandelion rub" we can all make peace with it's generous ability to give and all be dandelion lovers ;)

Blessings of sunshine,

Butterfly Peg People

Okay…here's my confession…I enjoy my craft time as much with my kiddies as without…

today while they were gone I pulled out the peg dolls and decided to play!  

Inspired by Spring and the promise of butterflies, 

(and a prayer that there are more in our yard this year than last), 

here's a little something I whipped up…

To make your own you will need:

wooden peg blanks

paint & paintbrushes

(whatever colours you wish)

wool felt in matching colours to your paint

glue gun and glue sticks

white wire

small beads

healthy dose of imagination and wonder

Line up your pegs…talk to them…see the butterfly emerging from within!

(I buy all my pegs from STOCKADE…they're a Canadian company and have great prices)

To begin paint your peg bodies and hair…this is how I did mine…

Next paint on your eyes, (toothpicks are great for making little dots)…

then a bit of beeswax crayon for the cheeks…

you can decorate with paint however you wish here…

I strongly encourage imagination!

Cut out your wings…I recommend using wool felt…

(cheap felt is fine too, but wool felt lasts longer, is more durable and SO lovely to work with)

If you don't feel up to the task of making up your own template, google "butterfly wing templates"

there are loads already all done for you!

Using a glue gun, glue on your wings...

Then I made them some headbands and glued on some antennae…

the antennae is composed of white wire with beads glued to the end…

the headbands are skinny rectangles of wool felt…glue the antenna to the back

of your headband, then glue the headband onto the head.

The inspiration for the little headbands came from the marvellous 

Mrs Bloom at We Bloom Here.

She has a book all about making peg dolls

which can be purchased HERE

(her creations and imagination just inspire me to no end)

Nutshell Friends

Anyone in your home a pistachio lover? We have quite a few of them here. Which often leads to bowls of empty shells just hanging around. And you know how it can be when your are a "craftaholic"... odd things like nutshells just seem to be begging to to made into something else ;)

We had fun making these little nutshell friends and thought we'd share!

To create you will need:

pistachio shells

paints or markers

magnets 

glue

To make:

Eat up those delicious pistachios.

Rinse the shells and let them dry.

Paint them.

Paint or draw on the details.

Once these were done we realized we wanted a way to display them and put them to use!

We glued them to magnets and now these little friends hold up gifts that often fill our fridge.

Enjoy you new nutty friends! 

Plant A Rainbow

The time for gardening in our little neck of the woods is finally here! As we prepare our space for planting, we are also dreaming up the colors and faces of the flowers we hope to see sprout from the soil.

Not long ago my friend sent me over the etsy link for these rainbow seed bombs. I fell in love. I decided I needed to figure out how to make them! 

Aren't they lovely?! Here is the etsy link for those of you who would rather buy them all ready to go. I think they would make a great gift for a green thumb loved one.

If you want to give them a go, we did some playing around with recipes online and found a system that worked.

Here's how we made them.

To make you will need:

colored construction paper 

seeds (we used a wildflower pack so we could plant all the colors of the rainbow!)

food processor

cheese cloth

elastics

cups & bowls

To begin: 

Tear up your paper. One color in each bowl.

Therapeutic process I tell you. Something about the feeling of ripping up paper. A little addictive :)

Pour water over your paper bits until the paper is covered.

Let your paper soak for 15 to 20 minutes.

Taking one color at a time... add the bowl of water and the paper to a food processor and blend.

Cut out a square of cheese cloth, lay it over a cup and secure it with an elastic.

Pour half of your paper/water pulp into the cheese cloth to begin draining.

Sprinkle a small amount of seeds onto the pulp and then pour on the rest of your paper mixture on top.

Undo the elastic and give the cheesecloth a squeeze to drain out more of the moisture.

Roll them in your hands until they are nice and round.

Let your seed bombs dry.

There you go! 

Sink your beautiful little bombs in some soil... water them well... then wait as they eventually explode {in slow motion} and burst into a bright rainbow of fresh flowers!

You could also "bomb" areas in need of some beautifying. Throw them around and spread the rainbow love. 

Perhaps it's time for a rainbow revolution!

May your day be bursting bright with color and beauty.