mr. monkeysuit

what's been cooking + a mini prize

Do you remember a while back I had a little bit of a melt down about all the chemicals they put in cosmetics and beauty products? Well I ordered a bunch of stuff from Mountain Rose Herbs, determined to make my own chemical-free products. Here is what arrived in the post:

 

And here is what I made with it:

Or at least some of it, because thankfully there is a ton left. I love this stuff. Honestly when it arrived I thought oh crap, here we go again. I've gone and bought a load of things that I don't know what to do with. But after some extensive reading of Organic Body Care Recipes by and a chocolate muffin. I rolled up my sleeves and got cooking.

First off the bat were geranium bath melts. So yummy they look like you could eat them and actually most of the ingredients are edible. One of the nice things about Mountain Rose Herb products is that they are food grade as well as organic. It feels good that something you use in the bath is not dangerous if swallowed because the kids sometimes inexplicably get thirsty in the bath.

Next up was this orange scented body butter which Andy almost ate (off the the electric whisk I was using to make it fluffy)....he thought it was butter cream. Like I said, nice to have a safety factor round your kids.

By then I was on a roll, so I made some lavender and rose face wash, some black tea hair rinse and some basic hair conditioner.

I finished the session with some oatmeal and chamomile bath bags and some lavender salt scrub.

Everything was so simple to make and is lovely to use and I am reminded how many basic kitchen staples have other uses. Salt, sugar, olive oil, oatmeal, baking soda, tea....all of these things I had in my kitchen cupboard. (One thing I didn't have, that mercifully MRH has a plethora of, is containers.)

I know there must be lots of other common household tips out there, so if you have a favorite I'd love to hear about it. 

So now to the mini prize: what you'll get is basically a sample size of everything I made in a cute reusable pouch.

orange body butter::lavender and rose face wash::basic hair conditioner::lavender salt scrub::geranium bath melts::oatmeal and chamomile bath bag. (I'll also include a list of all the ingredients I used in case anyone has any sensitivities.)

 

For all those who are not particulalry interested in natural beauty products, this little draw is especailly for you. I was a non-beleiver and I am ready to attempt my first conversion with this prize. So come on you shea-butter heathens, this one is for you!!

All you need to do is leave a comment.

I'll be back on Monday to announce the winner. Have a great weekend.

and the winner is......

(drum roll)

Kirsten, of the beautiful blog Kleas was the first name drawn followed by Ana Lilia of the very cute blog with the same name.

Congratulations!

And while I have you all here.....thank you, you lovelies for all your well wishes about my t.v. appearance. Definitely a little muppet-y but kind of fun. Andy keeps nagging me to put up a link but I am not sure I need the world to see it. It is under consideration though.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I'll be back tomorrow with a new quilt (I hope) and a link (possibly).

celebration give-away

Well it's a funny thing this blog world. A couple of months ago I stumbled across Hollyhocks (via a fabric shop) and because we live in the same area we started emailing back and forth. Last week, out of the blue, I get a phone call asking if I want to be on local t.v. because they are doing a segment on bloggers in the community. Of course you can guess who suggested my name. (Thank you, Vicki!) There will be other craft bloggers interviewed, like Polka Dot Bug (who makes the cutest baby bonnets ever) and if you are interested there is a handy list of more local bloggers. 

It airs today on the 5pm news and I am more that a little worried I will look like a total muppet. But anyway, in honor of my 30 seconds of fame and to welcome any newcomers to my blog, today we are going to have a little give-away.

There are two prizes. First off:

A little tote bag made by me, stuffed full of fabric scraps, ribbons, lace and buttons.

The second prize is a summery place-mat set for two complete with matching coasters.

Anyone can enter, old friend or new, people with or without a blog ....all you have to do is leave a comment and I will will pull names out of a hat on Thursday.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

And the winner is...

Nada . Congratulations. I'll be sending out the prize asap. If you haven't seen Nada's blog craft monkey you should definitely go and check it out. I have just read through all of her archives....again. I remember her blog from when it first started and I left a comment/ question asking about her life in a yome . I think it sounds like a fascinating life and I would love to hear even more about it.
Thank you all for entering. It was a lot of fun getting all those comments!
Back later this week, with lots more red goodness.

apologies and a prize

Sorry to have been so long without posting, or even explaining my absence but I got labyrinthitis. I know, I know, what the hell is it and why the weird name ? It is basically an inner ear thing that means your balance goes all screwy....right now I feel like I am gently rocking, as if I were on a yacht in St.Lucia. Kind of. Well it seems to be clearing up a bit but one of the side effects has been that I really didn't like looking at a computer screen for too long. But now I am back and here is the long promised prize....

Here it is, two quilted place mats, matching reversible coasters and not one but TWO needle felted mushroom centerpieces. It is a mushroomy world of goodness waiting to be delivered to one lucky winner. And I think it would be a perfect Valentines Day table setting, so very red and polka dotty.

All you need to do is leave a comment, names in a hat and I'll announce the winner on Tuesday morning.

Good luck and I'll be back to posting more regularly (including the book from the last post) just as soon as the damn room stops spinning.