Posts Tagged With: Herbal Gifts

Some Sweet Foot Lovin’ For Mother’s Day

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Mama Rosemary

This time of year we are always busy preparing something for those loveliest of people…  Mommies.

This May we are making foot soaks for pampering hard-working feet and to go with it?  The cutest footprint butterflies!

Footprint Butterflies

We started on our butterflies yesterday.  They are really easy to make and the kids love it!  I think mostly because they get to have their feet painted and who wouldn’t get a kick out of that?  It tickles and it is silly!

For time purposes I drew the butterfly’s body for each child with their chosen color, though you could certainly have the child do this part.   Then they drew in the face.  We got some cute facial expressions!

With the butterfly body all set up, I had the child choose the colors for their butterfly’s wings and I asked them how they wanted their feet painted ~ all the colors on each foot?

Or one foot painted one color and the other foot another? With the kid sitting in a child-size chair, the fun began… we painted their feet and pressed them down on paper.

Lots of giggles ensued and with many other little ones watching on, we had a fun morning together.  Doing just one foot at a time made it easy to keep the mess under control.  I helped them place their foot in the right spot to make butterfly wings.

Then we finished with a quick rinse in a tub of water and I wiped their feet off with a towel I had on hand.

Foot Soaks

This coming week we are going to make foot soaks to go along with our butterflies.

Here is the recipe we are going to use:

  • 1 cup of Epsom salts
  • 1/2 cup of baking soda
  • 1 Tbs of ground ginger
  • 1 Tbs of lavender blossoms
  • A 4 to 8  drops of essential oil ~ I will let the children choose their favorite for their mommy from lavender, cedarwood, cardamom, ylang ylang, rose geranium, spearmint and rosemary.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir.  Tie off your bag with a pretty ribbon or twisty tie.  Add a label with information about the ingredients and how to use it.  This recipe will make enough for one to two mommies.  Increase the proportions as needed.  Easy Peasy!

Note:  Using a foot bath is easy and relaxing.  Just use a bowl or basin with enough room for your feet.  Fill it with warm water.  Put your feet and then your foot soak in and relax.  I like to keep a towel nearby to dry off with and a nice foot oil or shea butter to put on afterwards.  Then top off with some snuggly socks!  Heaven.  Heaven for Mommies….

The Gift

Often I will use simple brown paper bags at the preschool.  For gifts there is nothing better.  I let the kids decorate the bags and then we wrap up our gifts.  For Mother’s Day, I plan to package them all up something like this:

Shared On: It’s Playtime!, Tender Moments, Eco-Kids Tuesday, The Kid’s Co-op, Kid’s Get Crafty, Friday’s Nature Table

Categories: Aromatherapy For Kids, Bathing, Essential Oils, Herbal Gift Ideas, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Lesson Plans For Preschool And Home, Mother's Day, Playing With Herbs | Tags: , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Grapevine Magic

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Mama Rosemary

During high school I had a brief but very enjoyable sojourn into wreath making.  I was inspired to make wreaths after seeing them at our local craft fair, Molly McGee’s, which my mom and I frequented together each Holiday season. This was a passion for me and I reveled in placing delicate dried flowers, eucalyptus and ribbons around gracefully woven together grapevine finding the perfect position for each item.  As I journeyed around the wreath, placing and gluing each botanical the wreath would magically transform and surprise me with its result.

 So I was really excited to find mini grapevine wreaths at a local kid’s sale this fall because these wreaths were the perfect size to make into something magical with the kids at school.  This is a great project for all ages.  My girls and I also did this together at home and we had a great time together.

I always do my best to engage the kids as much as possible with the projects we do.  So I started them off with something they always love, glue.  Each child received a wreath, a Q-tip or paint brush and some Elmer’s glue.

painting with glue

I had them “paint” the glue all over the wreath and then we sprinkled glitter, ground cinnamon, and lavender blossoms all over the wreath.  My hope was to make the wreath smell good and sparkle.

sparkled and scented

After the wreaths dried it was time for the hot glue gun.  For decorating their wreaths the kids chose from some of the most lovely and fragrant dried botanicals: cinnamon sticks, star anise and tiny pink rose buds.  Working with each child I had them show me where they wanted to put things and then I glued them on with the hot glue gun.

star anise and baby roses

As magical as they are, hot glue guns can burn, so an adult should be in charge of using them.   At home, I did let my 6-year-old use the hot glue gun on her own  for the first time for this project.  After we talked about how to use the glue gun safely and with me watching closely, she did just fine.

hot gluing

I was surprised at how excited the kids were about this project.  As I started working with the first child a crowd gathered around the table where we were working.

Onlookers exclaiming, “Ms. Angela, what is that?”

“When will it be my turn?”

“Can I watch?”

I love it when they get excited!

As we worked together, the wreaths began to take shape under the guidance of each child.  And just like when I made my own wreaths long ago the results were a delightful surprise. Each one came out differently, unique like their little creators.  I think the wreaths are great and the kids were so proud!  We topped them off with a little ribbon for hanging and viola!

We used these in our Holiday gift bags but this would make a great craft anytime of year.

What you need for this project

  • grapevine wreath
  • star anise
  • cinnamon sticks
  • dried rose buds
  • ground cinnamon and/or other sweet ground spices
  • lavender blossoms
  • glitter
  • glue
  • hot glue gun

Other ideas for adding to a wreath

  • dried orange
  • dried apple slices
  • cloves
  • dried cranberries
  • Any other dried pretty or cool looking botanical

Have fun and happy crafting!

Shared on: Natural Living Link Up , It’s Playtime!, The Kid’s Co-op

Categories: Cinnamon and Spices, Herbal Gift Ideas, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Lesson Plans For Preschool And Home, Playing With Herbs, Roses, Something Fun, Winter Holidays | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments

Lovely Teacher Gifts

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Mama Rosemary

Over the years our family has been truly blessed by all the wonderful teachers that have taught our children.  Amazing souls that have nourished and cared for our children, striving to do their best with each interaction.   Having guided and taught my kids with love, insight and a firm hand;  every single one of these people has not only passed on the required material but have also imparted their own unique wisdom and gifts to my children.  This is a most precious gift.

Our supply of gifts all done.

My kids and I love to make something special to give to these amazing people as a small gesture to tell them thank you and that we really do appreciate them.  The holidays provide a perfect reason to gift our teachers.  In years past we have made everything from cookies to hand painted picture frames to bath salts to tiny terrariums planted in glass balls.  This year we  made a selection of herbal body care items complete with lavender spritzers, lotion bars and candy cane bath salts.  It is a small little something for someone who gives so much every single day.

Lavender Aromatherapy Spritzers

These are astoundingly easy to make and people love them!  Win, win!  We used lovely 1 ounce cobalt blue bottles filled with water to which we added 5 drops of lavender essential oil and viola!  That is it.  So simple.  I chose to use lavender because it is generally considered to be a very safe essential oil and it is almost universally loved.  little hand printed labels with a happy holidays message from our family completed this little gift.  We made a lot of these spritzers to hand out to all the people at the school who are often forgotten but make such a big difference in the girls’ day to day experience.  People like the bus driver, librarian and the sweet lady who walks my kindergartener from her class to the bus every day.

Lotion Bars

The lotion bars we made came from Rosalee de la Forêt at Learning Herbs.   This is the first time I have made lotion bars and it was great fun.  My oldest daughter who is almost 10 really enjoyed helping out with these and watching them set up.  My hands are always crispy dry when I leave from working at the preschool because I wash them at least 20 times while I am there!  So I think the teachers will like these a lot and hopefully provide some much needed relief.  For the full recipe click here to visit Learning Herbs.

The girls and I gently infused calendula and rose petals into the grapeseed oil we used.  Calendula and rose are both so beautiful and healing.

Once we had melted all the oil, butters and wax together we did the spoon test.  We took a very small amount of our melted solution and placed it on a metal spoon.  Then we put that in the fridge for a few moments to hasten its cooling  This is a great way to check out what consistency your finished product will have before you pour it into molds.

We found the consistency to be quite hard so we added another ounce of shea butter into the mixture, did another spoon test and the consistency was perfect.  The bars are still hard but they yield their moisture when held.  We decided to scent our lotion bars with cardamom essential which is smells absolutely amazing, never mind that I love cardamom, and lavender essential oil too.  Combined with the chocolate scent of cocobutter and the deep honey fragrance of beeswax, the bars smell amazing.  When we were looking them over this morning, my youngest who was gazing at them from eye level, said “Mommy why do these smell so good?”

Candy Cane Bath Salts

Making these bath salts is such a visually beautiful experience because of all the colors and layering.  To make your own layered candy cane bath salts click here to get the recipe and read about my adventure in making these at the preschool with lots of excited little children.  When my kids heard what I was doing with the preschoolers at the school, they wanted to make these baths too.  So we did and we had a blast making these together.

We updated the recipe a bit by adding some beautiful course coral Himalayan salt crystals to the reddish pink layer in the salts.

We used a 1/4 cup measuring cup for each kind of salt and just layered them into the jars with equal proportions.

What are you giving to teachers?  Anything homemade?  My girls and I would love to hear about it.

Blessings and Happy Holidays!

Shared on: Natural Life Link Up, The Kid’s Co-op

Categories: Aromatherapy For Kids, Herbal Gift Ideas, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Lavender, Seasonal Herbal Crafts, Winter Holidays | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Super Fun Homemade Gift Idea for Little Ones

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Mama Rosemary

Playdough, need I say more?  

Maybe it is just me and my obsession with the stuff.  I do seem to talk about it a lot and make it often.  But in my opinion, playdough is really one of the best homemade gifts for little kids.  I smile every year when I make up a big batch of Christmas playdough to send off in the mail to all the sweet young ones in my life and of course I always make extra for my own kids to play with, though this year they seem less interested.  So sad, I guess they are growing up!

Last night we made up a special batch to send off.  We used lots of fun things to make it smell and sparkle like the Holidays.

ground cinnamon, copious amounts
ground cloves
beet root powder  for color
pink rose petals
orange essential oil
lots of different colors of glitter

Once it was all cooked up and had cooled off we portioned it into plastic bags to keep it fresh and then wrapped it with sparkly tissue paper.  This will make a fun addition to gifts we send off in the mail and makes me smile to think that maybe it is a becoming a tradition!

For detail instructions on making your own lovely playdough check out my Herbal Playdough entry, it has full instructions and lots of ideas!

Categories: Aromatherapy For Kids, Herbal Gift Ideas, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Play Dough, Seasonal Herbal Crafts, Winter Holidays | Tags: , , , , | 4 Comments

All Natural Candy Cane Bath Salts

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Mama Rosemary

“Ms. Angela, what are we making today?”

With a bit of my usual trepidation (I never know how the kids will respond to my plans) and lots of excitement I tell them that we are going to make holiday gifts today.  We are going to make candy cane bath salts!  Much to my delight, gleeful cheers and twirls reward me as the children celebrate the project we are about to do.

Measuring, Mixing and Magic

We settle into a circle on the carpet and begin creating our gifts.   We begin filling the two bowls laid out in front of us.  Each bowl gets sparkly epsom salt and sea salt along with some baking soda.  To one bowl we add a few drops of peppermint essential oil, this will become the white part of our candy cane.

We look at the other bowl together and I ask the kids, “How are we going to make this red for our candy cane?”

Looks of concentration settle on their faces and then seconds later, almost as one, they tell me, “Stir it, that will make it red.”

I hadn’t expected that.  It was so innocently cute and reminded me that completely magical things are still a very real possibility for these kids.  Not wanting to burst their bubble I move along and suggest that we add something to make it red, or well, at least pink.  We add crushed red rose petals and beet powder for color and spearmint essential oil for scent.  The kids think this is great and want to stir it up right away.  Passing the bowls around the circle we stir and smell the happy minty fragrance excitedly watching our creation take shape.

Mixing Magic

Recipe

  • 2 cups Epsom salt
  • 2 cups sea salt
  • 1 cup baking soda
  • red rose petals
  • beet powder
  • spearmint and peppermint (optional) essential oil

Mix the salts and baking soda together and divide evenly between 2 bowls.  In one bowl add up to 3 drops of peppermint essential oil.  The peppermint is optional because it can burn especially for those with really sensitive skin.  In the other bowl add enough crushed red rose petals and beet powder to make the salt pinkish red.  You will probably need about 1/4 cup each of rose petals and beet powder.  Add more for a deeper color and more contrast in your final product.  Then add 15 to 20 drops of spearmint essential oil.  Spearmint essential oil is much milder than peppermint.  The roses mixed in with mint has an amazing smell.  Rosey mint, there is just something about it that I love…

Creating the Candy Cane

Now for the fun part, layering the bath salts!  Take a bag or a jar and place one color of salt in the bottom.  Make sure the salt is level and hold the jar or bag  steady.  Then add the other color of salt to create a layer, or candy cane stripe.  Repeat until your container is full.   I enjoy making this bath with kids because of the pattern that appears when the kids layer the salts.  They really enjoy watching the candy cane form.

That is it!  Tie with a ribbon (if you are working with kids, letting them choose a ribbon adds a bit of extra pride in their accomplishment) and you have a fun, lovely all natural gift to share with someone special.

Enjoy!

My kids and I made these at home too and improved the recipe a bit by adding pink Himalayan salt crystals to the red layer  .  Visit “Lovely Teacher Gifts” for a pretty photo of this amazing salt.

Shared On: The Kid’s Co-op, Natural Living Link Up

Categories: Aromatherapy For Kids, Herbal Gift Ideas, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Lesson Plans For Preschool And Home, Peppermint, Playing With Herbs, Roses, Winter Holidays | Tags: , , , , , | 7 Comments

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