Homemade Baby Wipes

I was elated to hear from a friend that she came across a homemade baby wipe recipe that she thought I would love. She was beyond right……I LOVE it! Diapering and wiping a baby's tiny behind is by far the most expensive part of having baby. Well, maybe feeding is if your not breastfeeding your little one. But, either way, it is pretty pricey and to buy wipes. This recipe, along with some thrifting thinking, can cut out the expense of buying wipes entirely. This recipes is made up of all natural organic ingredients and receiving blankets….eco-friendly and non-toxic. Does it get any better than that?

I ordered my ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs but I am sure you find these things other places online or your local nature food store.

What you'll need to make one batch of wipes:

-Receiving blanket, old t-shirt cut into 8x8 square
-2 cups of boiled water (cooled but still warm)
-1 tablespoon Aloe Vera Gel
-1 tablespoon Which Hazel Extract
-2 tablespoon Castille Soap
-2 Vitamin E Caps
-1 tablespoon Olive oil
-6 drops of Orange Bitter Essential oil
-6 drops of Lavender Essential oil

How to make this magic happen:

-Find, cut, and fold wipes while waiting for water to boil. Once you have a good amount of wipes cut, you will be washing and using them over and over again. They might become stringy from being cut up. Just pull stings and throw the stings away.

 Receiving blankets cut into 8x8 squares

 Accordion fold them.  

Once water is boiled pour into a bowl and throw in the vitamin E caps so they can dissolve while water is still hot. Once water has cooled off a bit, add in all the remaining ingredients and give a good stir. 

Let mixture cool while stirring occasionally.

Pour the cool wipe mixture over the wipes in the container. Close top and flip over a few times to ensure the wipes are saturated with mixture.

This recipe can be made in batches. I made a gallon of it in a dispensing container and just dispense about 2 cups of it into my wipe container over freshly washed and folded wipes.

*I use an old wipe container for the dirty wipes. I empty them into a laundry bag like this one when it gets full and throw it in the wash with the rest of the baby clothes. I have two groups of wipes so that I'm never without wipes. One being used and one getting washed. It's been working beautifully for four months now.

Don't forget to enter my Goosewaddle blanket giveaway here

Homemade, Vegan Beauty Recipes {Guest Post}

I hope everyone is enjoying the weather as much as I am! It has been beautiful here and I am finally able to open the windows, spring clean, and start on our garden. Spring is such a wonderful time to make things beautiful again, don't you agree? Well, your in luck because today I have Marcela De Vivo who is going to give you some wonderful homemade vegan beauty recipes! I am so very excited about this because homemade beauty tricks never disappoint me. Without further ado, take it away Marcela....

Homemade, Vegan Beauty Recipes

Spring is here, so why not celebrate the return of Mother Nature with these astoundingly natural and amazingly easy to prepare vegan modes of skin and hair care? 

Even non-vegans may want to check out these wholesome natural options, as they often promise the same—or better—benefits without the often dubious chemical ingredients of their drugstore counterparts.

Shampoos and Conditioners

Out of all the alternatives to cruelty-free beauty care products, shampoos and other hair applications can sometimes leave newcomers wary. The prevalence of oils can instill fear of greasy after-effects, while the thinner textures are a wide departure from the creamy consistency of drugstore hair products.

However, vegan hair recipes generally only include enough oils to replenish dry hair, and their watery nature does not lessen their effectiveness.  Since some mass produced animal-friendly hair supplies may contain parabens, a type of preservative that may be linked to hormone imbalance and even breast cancer, this simple homemade shampoo is worth exploring:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup liquid castile soap
• 2 tsp jojoba or grapeseed oil
• 1/8 cup aloe vera gel
• 5 drops of essential oil of your choice

Simply combine in a shampoo-sized bottle and shake vigorously.  For people especially worried about overly oily hair, the jojoba and essential oils can be eliminated.

Scrubs

Exfoliating is essential for any beauty regimen, as it lets clogged pores breathe, cleans up blemishes, and gives skin a silky texture.  Vegan solutions, however, often boast the extra advantage of doubling as moisturizers, especially those that include essential oils.   

Depending on oils you use for these DIY delights, fragrances—and price ranges—can vary greatly, so have fun experimenting with substitutions.  First time users are sometimes put off by the use of salt as the granular element in most vegan scrubs, but salt is remarkable for flushing out toxins and infusing the skin with beneficial minerals.

Here are two favorite selections:

Brown Sugar Body Scrub

This staple is so simple you probably won’t need to make a trip to the grocery store for its basic ingredients:

• ½ cup sea salt (Himalayan Pink sea salt is known to be the best)
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup brown sugar (the dark kind is preferable)
• 1-3 drops of any essential oil if scent is desired

Mix these elements well and put the mixture in a shower-friendly container.  After you’ve rinsed off, apply to your skin with a circular motion, then rinse and gently towel-dry.  With its olive oil base, this scrub makes post-bath moisturizing unnecessary.

Essential Oil Ambrosia Scrub

This is as exotic as the last recipe is no-frills, though in the end it’s simply a sophisticated variation on the base of all natural scrubs:  a highly moisturizing, invigorating, yet light skin experience. The ingredients are:

• ½ cup fine Bolivian pink salt
• 1 ounce papaya oil
• 1 ounce cherry kernel oil
• 15 drops rose otto essential oil
• 30 drops sandalwood essential oil

You may want to replace the costly essential oils with sandalwood and red rose fragrance oils, but as the Bolivian salt gives the scrub a delightful pink glitter. Substitutions will subtract from the full experience.

Masks

Maybe no other member of the skin care family provides the same sense of deep rejuvenation than face masks—yet they are the most likely to contain an arsenal of synthetic and/or animal-tested products.  Fortunately, homemade vegan alternatives are simple to make, and rely almost exclusively on ingredients you’d find in a healthful breakfast: oatmeal, orange juice, yogurt, and coffee.

A perfect illustration of the elegant purity of vegan masks is the strawberry and rice milk variety.  Simply mash 6 strawberries and ½ tablespoon organic rice milk into a thick paste, apply to your face, and let stand for 15 minutes before rinsing.  As strawberries are packed with salicylic acid, this is one of the very best home-grown ways of eliminating outbreaks of acne.

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer from Los Angeles. She specializes in a variety of health topics, from covering special needs, holistic and alternative therapy issues, to blogging about fitness, beauty and skin care. 

Calendula Salve

A while back I was changing Amare's diaper and she was squirming around like usual. She was grabbing at my diaper changing supplies and grabbed the diaper rash cream that I was using at that time. It was open and she was, as most babies do, about to put it in her mouth. I noticed the second before she ingested the diaper rash cream and scooped it away from her. At that time, I started to read the warnings and such and was shocked to read "If swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control center right away." My entire world came to a screeching halt. What the **** am I putting on my baby? Poison? What? Omg! I immediately knew I needed to find a better way. After searching for a bit I came across this extremely easy salve recipe. I had to order the beeswax online because I live hours from any type of store that might carry it. So for all you mamas out there that are looking for a more natural homemade way to treat your babies buns here you go:

**this salve can also be used by all members of the family, even the pets. Salve is great for burns, scrapes, minor cuts, and bug bites**

Ingredients: (organic if possible)
1/4 cup of dried calendula petals
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup beeswax pastilles
10 drops of lavender essential oil
1 piece of cheesecloth
1 piece of string

Directions:
Combine the dried calendula petals with the 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil and let steep for two weeks..Yes weeks....

Take cheesecloth and put it over a clean container to drain the oil into and leave the petals behind like this:

 Warning! Pour very SLOWLY. You don't want to lose your precious oil by pouring to fast!

 Be sure to squeeze out every last drop of oil goodness! :)

Pour your oil into a saucepan and warm over low heat.

 Add your 1/8 cup of beeswax.

 Let beeswax melt a bit.

 Add 10 drops of lavender essential oil.

Stir to melt beeswax quicker; avoids salve from heating up too much.

 Once all the beeswax is melted pour into your container. I am currently using a small Stonewall Kitchen container that once had Maine Maple Champagne mustard in it. I just love the way it looks, and it is easy to open quickly.

 Leave covers off overnight to cool completely.

Enjoy!