Lovely Fresh Herbs

I happily admit that I’m one of those non-preservative, non-artificial, non-modified foods, organic, vegetarian, natural, recycling, environmental, Eastern medicine types.

For longer then I care to admit to, I’ve made herbal things: soaps, bath stuff, flavored oils and vinegars, lip balms; and embraced Acupuncture (my messed up shoulder and arm are very grateful), herbs, and natural supplements. Prescription medication is always a ‘choice of last result’ for me.

I drive my family nuts.

So anyway, I thought I’d take a few minutes and share a few recipes and resources for those of you that just might want to spoil yourselves…  but be forewarned, once you make these yourself, you’ll never be able to look at a store version again.

Herbal Bath Scrub – In a Bag!
There are two ways to make these, you get to decide which you like better.  Personally, I prefer the bag, but hey – it’s all good.

You Need:

• Either a 3″ x 5″ muslin bag with draw string (Dharma Trading sells these) or
• Cheesecloth about 5″ square (you’ll also need some string or crochet thread to tie it shut)
• Slow cooking oatmeal; 1/2 cup per herbal bag
• Soap flakes; grated natural soap such as Ivory or a nice glycerin; 1/2 cup per herbal bag
• Freshly dried herbs. Okay you can use older dried herbs… I just like drying my own (told you I drive my family nuts) You’ll need between 1-2 tablespoons of the herbs per bag depending on how full you make it.

Making It:
Now comes the difficult part. Mix together in a glass bowl the oatmeal, soap flakes and herbs. Transfer this mixture to your ‘bag’ or the center of your cheesecloth square. Snug the ties on the bag or pull up the corners of the cheesecloth and tie securely with the string.

To Use:
Wet your bundle while soaking or showering and gently rub over your body! It helps clean, removes icky dry/flaking/old skin, and smells wonderful. Just hang it up to dry between uses.

Herb Variations:

• Restful: chamomile, lavender, rose petals,
• Awake: peppermint, mint, orange, lemon, costmary
• Happy: lemon balm, mint, rosemary, basil

Of course you can always use what ever herbs you like – this is only a guideline. Another advantage of doing-it-yourself.

Muslin Bags with Drawstring

Variation on a Theme
Want a slight variation on those bags? Well, just leave out the soap flakes and oatmeal and add lots of herbs instead.

Now hang that herb bag under the faucet in your bathtub so the water hits it as the tub fills. You can also use it as a simple skin scrub.

Witch Hazel
Is there anyone that doesn’t have a bottle of witch hazel in their ‘fridge – especially during the summer? It feels so good smoothed over your face in the heat.

Be aware that there really is a difference in witch hazel – splurge and get the $4 bottle instead of the $1.75 one. You can get it from your local health food shop or favorite organic store. It seems silly I know, but you will notice a difference.

Get a couple of smaller empty bottles (with or without spray tops) – and divide up the witch hazel into them. Add 1 – 2 tablespoons of dried herbs to the bottles. Experiment! Neem, chamomile, calendula, lavender….  what ever you want to use. Let sit for a day in the ‘fridge before using, then spritz (or rub) and cool to your hearts desire!

Sources:
Muslin bags and other wonderful stuff – Dharma Trading. I’ve been buying from them for well over 23 years now. http://www.dharmatrading.com.

Herbs and essential oils – San Francisco Herb Co. I have almost as long a track record with these nice folks.  http://www.sfherb.com.

Well it’s time for me to play again – I just have to convince the fur-kids that the herbs are not catnip; they keep trying to steal everything…

–Annie

Here are a few ideas to get you started on different ways to use them.

Most of the presents or little-somethings I give are handmade – and here’s a perfect example. The picture below is a lace bag holding a special blend of potpourri I created. After adding a couple of ribbons to close the bag, I tied on four of the Flutter By colorful charms.

Isn’t it just great looking!  I am so happy with the way it turned out.

A Wedding Favor

For something a bit more elegant, here’s a Wedding favor created for a Maid-of-Honor and Bridesmaids.

The bag was made from a mid-weight silk and I created the outer-lace layer with a very delicate beaded lace panel I’ve been holding on to forever.

A gorgeous satin beaded bag holding a “thank you for being a part of out day” gift, tied with a silk ribbon and embellished with one of the A Wedding Colorful Charms. Simply lovely.

 A Baby Shower Gift from the New Almost Grandma!

As much as I’d like to, I simply cannot take credit for this incredible Diaper Cake!  A good friend spent a weekend creating it for her daughter’s baby shower; it will be her first grandchild.

Nancy used 115 disposable diapers, washcloths, bibs, small stuffed animals, pacifiers, picture frames, ribbons, diaper pins, booties, some of our baby buttons and the Baby Time colorful charms. And she has the nerve to say she isn’t creative! WOW – I was just blown away…. and so was everyone else at the shower.

Fun Pre-Teen Project (actually it’s for anyone)

How about a quick and easy-to-do project for a pre-teen or young teen birthday party or sleep over?

For the necklace I took three different colors of 1/8″ satin ribbon ( you can use 1/16″ too) – cut the lengths at least twice the diameter of your neck; measure to be sure..

Tie one or more of our Ladies Night colorful charms to the ribbon – add knots evenly spaced along the length of the ribbon. Simply tie loosely behind your neck to secure.

To make the earrings we used two colorful charms, two fishhook earwires and two jump rings. Attach one jump ring to each charm; then attached the same jumpring to each fishhook earwire. Close the jump ring.

That’s all it takes!

I bet you can come up with a whole bunch of other ideas on how to use these great embellishment charms…. we’d love to see pictures – email us at emily@wwwearables.com and we’ll add them here!

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This year was an exercise in extreme stress for me, so I really, really needed to unwind and do something I simply love.

I succeeded too.

Rather then blather on here, I’m going to give you the short story and just post the photos.

These are satin/silk scarves with fringes, the patterns were created with a devore’ or burnout process, the dyeing was done with a new dye (I’m still researching it to see if I can offer it here), that allowed me to created a two-color effect without losing my mind.

There are 12 scarves, each draped over a mannequin to better see the effect.  I cannot tell you how happy I am with them!

If you want to learn more about this ridiculously simple process just visit our Fiber Etch section – and if you want a jump-start into creating your first scarf, we have a great satin/silk scarf kit that even includes the Fiber Etch.

These scarfs really did make terrific Christmas gifts this year.. and sometime I’m even going to remember to make one for myself!

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All I could think was: HALLOWEEN!

First let me share a picture of a ‘witch’ we helped create using these buttons…. she is just too cute (and one really patient kid too).

Just put the buttons in the sun – or under a lamp – for even as short as 10-minutes and they’ll glow for you. If you keep them in the light for an hour or more, you can expect 5 or 6 hours of glow time. Perfect for trick-or-treating or that Halloween party.

Yes, all us adults are going to use them too!

Glow-in-the-Dark Button Bracelet

I used two packages of the buttons – you can use less or more, completely personal preference – and some round, black elastic.

I cut a piece of the round, black elastic a little more then double my wrist measurement and opened up the two packages of buttons.

Taking one of the buttons in hand, I threaded it on the piece of elastic. It made more sense to me to move it to the middle and work from side-to-side, then starting on one end.

Because I did want this to be the middle point, I stacked two button – the 5/8″ and then the 3/8″ on top of it. Thread the elastic from the bottom of the 5/8″, then through the 3/8″ – back down the other hole in the 3/8″, and the 5/8″.

I scooted them until they’re were pretty much centered. The elastic stretched (well duh, Ann), but the buttons aren’t going to be moving unless you manually drag them along it.

Since this was my starting point – and the middle – I tied a double slip-knot underneath the larger button. Trust me, that knot is not coming out!

With two sizes to play with, I alternated singles, doubles, and both sizes; don’t like the way it looks – just slide the button off the elastic and try again. Child’s play!

Okay, I was pretty happy with the amount of buttons on the elastic here…. and it was a good mix of highs-and-lows for variety too.

It was time for one more double slip-knot. I tied it firmly behind the last large button. This is the only other time I knotted anything. The round elastic is very durable and the buttons weren’t moving once threaded into place.

Clip the ends close to the knot. I daubed on a little Fray-Check: the just because factor. You can use a dot of glue on the knot if you like too.

And here it is being worn – and glowing great!  This is a super fast and easy project that would be perfect for a group of kids to do. No mess, no fuss, inexpensive and fun to do. I think we have a winner….

Glow-in-the-Dark buttons can be found right here.

And in anticipation of Halloween – how about a little Cat Bowling game? No cats were harmed, they were all ‘Spared’!

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Then I saw it – a special body scrubbing loofah. It was made out of some nylon material, long, with handles on each end so you could use it single-handed. I was in love!

Okay, I was in love until I saw the $35 price tag.

When my heart started beating again, I decided that the next stop was the fabric store. Here my “sisters-in-saving-money” is my $2.50 version of a really terrific body loofah: step-by-step.

Your Loofah

I bought two different colors of illusion netting; 72″ wide, 1-1/2 yards each. My completed body bath loofah is 33″ long – plus handles, and 9″ wide. You can make this as long-and-wide as you like of course; I decided to make mine a bit wider then standard.

This would give me enough for 2 complete body loofahs. I used illusion netting because it’s soft and gentle on the skin. Regular netting – unless you’re someone with scales instead of skin – is just too harsh.

Gently press the netting if it’s too crinkled, you’ll have better results and less chasing the ends if they’re nice and smooth.

Cut a piece 4 layers thick by 1 yard (36″) long. Trim the ends so that they’re even; I pinned one side after trimming so that I could safely move it to trim the other size.

Fold under about 1″ on each end – again, I pinned this as I did it, to hold everything together.

Fold your netting in half – along the long edge. As you line the short ends up, you can remove those pins holding under that 1″, and re-pin holding it all together.

Go to your sewing machine and sew – using a 2.5 length straight stitch – 1/8″ from the edge on each long side. Do not sew across the short ends at this time.

Now, sew a single ‘let’s hold everything together’ line down the middle – just eyeball it, you don’t have to measure.

Remove all the pins and put this piece aside for right now, time to work on the handles.

Cut two strips from your illusion netting – 4″ wide and 4 layers thick.

My Helper

I’m pausing to show you my assistant.

This is Molly… Molly the Monster, Molly the Menace, Molly – Mommy’s little darling.

This is the little girl that terrorizes her 13 and 14 pound big-brothers… and who loves to sleep under the covers – purring herself silly – with Mom.

I absolutely adore this little ball of fur.

Fold your handle netting about 1″ in on each long side – and then in half.  In other words, you’re going to end up with a 1″ piece.  Start at the middle and work your way to either end; much simpler to do that way.

Back to the sewing machine, and again sew 1/8″ along each long side.  When you’re done, trim the handle to a length of 12″.

Slip the ends of the handle into the short sides of your loofah base. Put them in about 1″ – and as far to each long side as you can!  Pin the short end closed now.

Sew an 1/8″ from the edge, down the sides about 1″ – across the base, back up the side. Go back and reinforce the handle area and across the top. No rules, just make sure it’s all secure.

I added two diagonal rows of stitching down the length of the body loofah – again just to make sure all the layer’s behave themselves.

That’s all it takes: $2.50 and about 1-hour of your time! It’s strong, customizable (length, width, color), washable, dries fast, and you can make a bunch as gifts too.

And people actually wonder why we sew….

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Your Mitten

Trace around your hand on tissue or tracing paper. Add at least an extra 1″ all the way around your hand when you do this. I use paper when need to trace or transfer markings. You can get it on a roll very cheaply and it lasts forever.

Pin your pattern to at least 8-layers of illusion netting. This will give you 4-layers per side for your mitten.

Set your sewing machine for a 2.5 straight stitch, and sew along your traced pattern line through the netting. Take a couple of extra stitches at the junction of the thumb so that it’s not a V – more like a U-shape; it will lay nicer this way when you turn it.

Tear off all the tracing paper; the close straight-stitches will make it easy to remove.

Trim your edge to 1/4″ to 3/8″ wide – trim carefully at the V/U of the thumb area.

Clip the V/U at the thumb junction, and turn the mitten right side out. Pin all round to hold the mitten flat.

Sew about 1/8″ all round the outside edge of the mitten.  (Yes that is one of those Plexiglas sewing tables. They’re from DreamWorld – I’ve had four custom tables for my different sewing machines; I can’t imagine not using one, they’re that terrific).

After you’ve clipped threads and removed all the pins, we’ll finish the bottom edge. Turn up the open end about 1/2″, and pin securely. I used a 3.5 width x 1.5 length zig-zag stitch to sew this turned-under edge into place. You might want to run a simple straight stitch along this open end before turning it under if you’re having problems with the different layers of illusion netting behaving themselves.

TA-DA!  One handy-dandy mitten loofah custom made just for you – by you.  Just like the body loofah, the mitten is gentle, dries fast and is fully washable. You might want to add a loop to it for hanging…. you’re bound to have a little netting left over!

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I’ve tried to find the original source or event that these were taken at, but so far, no luck. That means you can just allow yourself to amazed. And we thought we were doing good to make a balloon animal!

I cannot even image doing this! Wow.  And I just got a link sent to a whole bunch of other balloon works – very worth looking at! More Balloon Creations.

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Because of all the pewter charms and buttons I horde… I mean offer for sale, expanding the line into having those great little 6mm colored bells seemed perfect.

That meant I also found some wonderful Sterling Silver charm bracelets and fishhook earrings, jumprings and split rings to add too. Then I slapped my hands and sternly ordered myself to stop, at least for the moment.

Okay, so I stopped adding… but now I got to play.

My sister Kelly came down to visit for the long Thanksgiving weekend, so besides pretty much losing our voices because of non-stop talking and laughing, we played with the new toys.

These are some pictures of the earrings we made (she and I both made a set of the three styles – we might be sisters but that doesn’t mean we don’t want our own things!).

All they took were:

• A set of the fishhook earwires
• As many jumprings as we decided to use: total of 24 for the bells, 12 for the Christmas lights, and 2 for the holiday charms
• The embellishment of choice: 11 bells for each earring, 5 Christmas light buttons for each earring and 2 holiday charms
• We used 2 sets of thin-nosed pliers to open-and-close the jumprings (saved our fingers)

The first set – the bells – took the longest as we had no idea what we were going to do, about 30 minutes total. After that it went much faster.

Fast, easy and wonderful to keep or give away. Did I mention inexpensive too? My kind-of holiday play time!

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I know a lot of folks that have the exact same reaction – usually followed by a good case of panic for the upcoming holiday season. I can relate.

Last year we started creating fast-to-make Free Holiday Ornament patterns to download in PDF format. The original series was Cats and Dogs, and since then we’ve added All Baby Things and Hope and Remembrance.

Make them out of fleece or have the kids do them from felt! Nice and quirky – they’re going to make you smile.

A few weeks ago while paying bills I realized it was getting on that time of year again. I know their’s a correlation between those two items… anyway, I wanted something that could make up fast, didn’t cost an arm-and-a-leg, and still look good.

I don’t want much do I?

Well it took a bit, but I figured it out. If you’ve opened a catalogue lately, you’re going to see Wine Glass Charms staring at you – pricey Wine Glass Charms.

I think they’re great… especially when I realized I had everything I needed to really personalize them. Well Duh Ann! Glad you woke up kiddo.

We’d already put together 13 different sets of themed Pewter Charms and had them on the Wearables site, and I’m discovering more I’ve just ‘got to have’ all the time. (If there’s some theme we haven’t created yet, but you’d really like, let us know) These are perfect to use for Wine Glass Charms.

All I needed to do was get the rest of the components and write up some instructions. I could so do that!

I ended up putting together kits for sets of 6 Wine Glass Charms; with extra split rings and 24 extra crystal glass beads. You didn’t think I was going to use acrylic did you? Not a chance. All you need to do is add your favorite charms.

Quick, easy, and inexpensive – I think we have a winner here. Besides, I’ve already made 24; I’m on a roll.

PS: You can learn all about them if you just Click Here.

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My fabrics were always my own hand dyes – I mean if you’re going to do it, I figured I’d do it all. Besides with the fur-kids help, I’d usually end up with some rather unique patterns on the fabrics; a cross between furry tails and my planned (yeah right, planned) effects.

I’d use linens, cottons, and poly blends; several kinds of salts, wintergreen rubbing alcohol, and hand-applied dyes. I’ve never gotten into vat style dyeing, I apply my dyes to the fabric one at a time with a brush or some other hand technique.

Then we get to the beads or fancy threads – sometime both. Hand sewn beading effects: seed and bugle bead patterns, bead fringes and rayon cording. Decorative threads: candlelight, heavy metallics, sliver, and yarns couched in seams and over specific sections.

I played. A lot.

Mostly I created two-piece garments, a jacket and skirt with a plain blouse as to not detract from the outer garments. The one rule I adhered to, mind you this was my rule – not any of the competitions, was that the garment had to be wearable, not what I considered a costume.

I needed to be able to wear it out in public and feel comfortable. It might be only for a really nice evening out, but it was still completely wearable. I quite simply did not want to put forth all that effort, all that time, to not be able to wear it in a real world situation. I need to enjoy my creations, not hang them in a garment bag forgotten.

Well after about four years of competing and not winning, I asked one of the judges why. If there was a techique I was messing up, I wanted to know!

Nope. The response was my pieces were technically wonderful, but not ‘flashy’ enough. My one hard-fast rule, doomed me to a non-winning status.

So what did I do? I decided to stop competing and sew for my own enjoyment instead. And you know what? I haven’t regretted that decision once.

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