Found this lovely blog that I thought might be of interest to my followers, as we're all creative people :D
Kreativling
It's really inspiring, with many great ideas for all kinds of excellent arty projects.
Another fantastic find is here at
Arctida . Her handmade jewellery is stunning, the photography inspired, and quality of the overall blog content means that you're sure to keep returning time and time again.
For those of you with Etsy stores,
Craftcult offers many Etsy related applications and widgets to increase exposure for your handmade goodies. I haven't had a proper chance to look around the site yet, but it looks very interesting indeed.
Happy wanderings my friends, feel free to comment and add your favourite places on the web.
You've been there yourself, right? You suddenly become inspired;an idea takes hold and you have no idea where it's taking you, or indeed what the outcome will be, but you just HAVE to find out.
Well, that happened to me today. My clary sage essential oil that I'd ordered arrived *hoorah* and I set about trying to create a smokey, masculine blend for the men in our lives.
I picked out some other oils that I believed would be suitable(namely lavender, sweet marjoram, cedarwood atlas, and patchouli) and added a drop here, a smidge there, until I was happy with the blend. As I do with every experimental blend I create, I mixed the oils into a tablespoon of vegetable oil and put it to one side to enable the scents to marry together.
Later on I began running myself a bath, and as I hadn't used a face mask for a few weeks, decided to conjure one up using a very simple base of bentonite clay, and cornflour.
I use bentonite as my skin has a tendency to be a little temperamental, and bentonite absorbs the excess oil without being too harsh, and the addition of the cornflour means that when the mask is mixed into a paste it is ultra smooth and easier to apply.
Anyway, I digress.
I wanted to add a few drops of essential oil to the mask, but couldn't decide which to choose, until I spied the premade blend I'd made earlier in the day. All the oils I'd used were skin friendly, so why not? I added a teaspoon of the blend to the clay mix,followed by enough water to make the mask into a smooth paste. It smelt divine(not at the top of my list of priorities as the mask is meant to be of therapeutic value rather than for scent alone, but it does help!) and so I retired to the bathroom to have a soak and try it out. I applied the mask to my face, massaging the clay gently onto the skin until I had an even layer on, then sat back while the mask did it's work.
Having waited 10 minutes or so, I cleaned the mask off and examined the results. Wow, wow, wow! My skin felt SO smooth, and looked really healthy. I can't stop stroking it!
I think I may have stumbled upon a recipe worth testing and developing into a saleable product to add to the Simply Angelic range. I love these little discoveries, how they shape us and our future.
Woohoooo, I am officially an happy bunny.
Gosh I love this soap, really, REALLY love it.
As you can see, there are lines going down the soap from where the dessicated coconut I placed on top has caught on the cutting blade, but that is a minor problem, IMHO. I honestly believe this is my favourite soap, so far.
Posted by
Titanium Wild
7:58:00 am
......of the Clary Sage essential oil I ordered is torture. I want it NOW godamnit!
Clary isn't an oil I've used before, but it intrigues me, so I took the chance and ordered some, along with my staple oil of lavender, which I couldn't be without.
I've read that Clary is a bit of a marmite oil, you either love, or detest the scent. I'm hoping it'll be the former!
Now, I have plans for this little beauty.
First and foremost, I have read good things about it's use in hair care products, so I hope to make a shampoo bar, and eventually a liquid conditioner. Clary is meant to strengthen hair, which would be great as mine is far too temperamental for my liking.
Clary will also hopefully have a role to play in helping me sleep. I'll be using it sparingly in this regard, but will report back with the results as soon as I've tried it out.
Can't wait for it to arrive!!
Showing off my packaging for my aroma-melts.
I'm pretty happy with it, although I need to source some slightly larger organza bags as currently the 6 melts contained within fit a littletoo snuggly inside.
Retailing at around £4 for 6 melts, these will be on sale in my Etsy store very soon.
With what you may ask?
Coconut cream.
Or, more specifically, my latest soap, a coconut cream Castille, scented with geranium, bergamot and mandarin essential oils.
Traditionally, a true Castille is made from simply olive oil, lye and water, and is known for it's unique feel which is due to the high oleic fatty acid content of olive oil. Some people, myself included, find this feel to be, um, slimy, and not overly pleasant. However, olive oil soaps are known to be incredibly mild, so, being stubborn by nature, I wanted to see if I could find an ingredient that would still keep to the traditional recipe as much as possible, but that would cut down on the slime factor somewhat!
Coconut cream was 'that' ingredient.
I made a small 4 bar batch, and am so glad that I did. What a beautiful soap it has turned out to be with a thick, lotion-like lather......and NO slime! As a bonus, it smells absolutely divine.
Usually Castille soap is cured, and considered much better for it, for months rather than weeks, as is the norm with other cold process soap.
With this in mind, I cannot wait to see just how good this lovely soap feels in around 3 months time.
 |
| uncut Castille fresh out of the mould. |
A very quick post in honour of some fabulous Deviant Artists.
Feast your eyes upon this little lot.
Enjoy.
This little pot of wonder contains my latest creation, Simply Angelic's All Purpose Beauty Balm.
Unfragranced, and coloured only by the ingredients used, it is suitable for even the most sensitive skin.
It can be used either as a traditional balm on sore or chapped skin, or as a gentle alternative to alcohol based make-up removers.
One of the main ingredients of this balm is Calendula oil, known for it's superior skin soothing properties. Calendula itself is known to have anti-inflammatory properties that make this herb ideal for adding to skincare formulations.
Other key ingredients used in our Beauty Balm include beeswax, mango and avocado butters, peach kernel oil and meadowfoam seed oil.
