Bath Blend of the Month - Healing Salt Blend

This recipe contains baking soda which is used to cleanse and detoxify the body, and a blend of essential oils that are known for their cold-symptom-helping qualities. Since January is the height of flu season I thought this blend might be just what you need, especially after a stressful holiday season.

Healing Salt Bath Blend

• 1 cup Epsom salts
  1 cup sea salt
  1 cup baking soda
  
  
  25 drops eucalyptus essential oil
  17 drops lavender essential oil
  10 drops tea tree essential oil
  10 drops pine or cedar essential oil
  5 drops peppermint essential oil

Directions:Measure out the salts and mix them together well, making sure to break up any clumps. I find that a large, wide, stainless steel bowl works best for blending the salts. Add the essential oils. Mix everything together well. Scoop the salts into jars or other air-tight containers.

Note: The essential oil blend is pretty flexible. If you don't have one of the oils, you can leave them out, or sometimes even substitute. The eucalyptus is the main part of the blend. The lavender is there to round it out a bit and give a bit of "relaxing" quality. Tea tree is a great anti-bacterial and anti-viral. Pine and peppermint are used for loosening up your nasal passages.

To Use: Add 4 to 6 Tablespoons to a running bath and soak away your symptoms.

Cleaning Sprays - Spring Cleaning Occasional Series #5

Okay it is time for quick cleaning so we can get outside and enjoy the spring weather.  Here are three great liquid cleaners you can use to wash the windows so you can see the garden, clean the kitchen and bath so you can enjoy the garden and swab out the toilet so you can enjoy the smell of the garden!

courtesty of Hattatt

Window Cleaner

It seems like an old wives tale to clean your windows with newspaper, but it works.  For shiny windows, use sheets of newspaper (black and white only) to scrub and shine.  Be careful, though, the newspaper ink may darken your hands, but it shines the windows without streaking.

Juice from one fresh lemon

2 cups water or club soda

1/2 teaspoon peppermint essential oil

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Mix all ingredients and pour into plastic spray bottle. Shake well before using.

Cleaning Spray

This recipe came from Sandy Maine of SunFeather Soap Company.  She is an author of several books on cleaning and is someone I met in my Yahoo Herb group.

1 teaspoon sodium lauryl sulfoacetate*

1 teaspoon borax

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 cups hot water

1/4 teaspoon eucalyptus essential oil

1/4 teaspoon lavender essential oil

3 drops tea tree essential oil

Mix all ingredients together and stir until dry ingredients dissolve. Pour into spray bottle for use

and long-term storage. 

To use: Spray as needed on any surface except glass. Scrub and rinse with a clean, damp cloth.

Toilet Bowl Spray Cleaner

1/4 teaspoon sodium lauryl sulfoacetate*

2 tablespoons baking soda

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 teaspoon orange essential oil

1 teaspoon grapefruit essential oil

½ teaspoon tea tree oil

2 cups water

Mix all dry ingredients in a 4-cup bowl. Then combine the vinegar, water, and essential oils in a glass  measuring cup.  Slowly pour the liquid into the bowl of dry ingredients.  Be careful it will foam up. Let this mixture rest for 10 minutes before pouring into a spray bottle to use.

To use: Spritz in and around the toilet bowl and swab out with a brush.  Will kill germs and leave a fresh scent.

* Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate is a powdered granulated material derived from coconut and palm oils and is a versatile ingredient to use in powdered bubble baths, cream and paste shampoos, cleansing creams and bath bombs due to its excellent foaming agent. Especially great as a soap replacement for sensitive skin.

You can order this product from a place called Ingredients to Die For that has all the makings for cleaning, soaps, and cosmetics.

Stinky Shoes - Spring Cleaning Occasionally Series #5

I am not one for wearing shoes.  If it were not for the snow and cold, I might never wear them at all.  As it is I still wear clogs in the winter if there is no snow and if the temps are higher than 20 degrees.  Now just because I where clogs rather than tennis shoes does not mean that I do not have to deal with perspiration odor.  So these three recipes have all worked for me.  The Sage & Citrus one that I share first came from the book "The Naturally Clean Home" by Karyn Siegel-Maier.  She gives lots of recipes for crafting chemical free cleaning solutions, so check it out.  

This recipe gives my shoes an herby smell that most people assume is from the garden and I rarely admit to anything else.

Sage Citrus Sneaker Tamer

If your sneakers advertise the fact that you've been working hard, this recipe will help you keep the news to yourself.

2 cups dried sage

1 1/2 cups dried lemon balm

2 cups cedar chips

1/2 cup baking soda

2 tablespoons grated orange rind

10 drops rosemary essential oil

5 drops lemon essential oil

Combine the dried herbs, cedar chips, baking soda, and orange rind in a glass or ceramic bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon. Add the essential oils and stir to blend. Place half of the mixture in a clean sock and tie the open end shut. Stuff another sock with the remaining mixture and tie off. Place a stuffed sock in each sneaker overnight or when not in use.

I use baking soda and clay kitty litter (the cheapest kind you can get with no fillers or odor reducers is fine) to craft shoe deodorizers.  They impart the herbal scents and work great at absorbing the odors present.  I get mine at the dollar store.

Mint Shoe Odor Remover

With this recipe you get the germ fighting aspects of thyme and lemon grass.

2 cups natural clay cat litter

1 cup baking soda

1 cup calendula flowers

1 cup lemon grass

1 cup peppermint or spearmint leaves

½  cup thyme leaves

10 drops peppermint essential oil

10 drops wintergreen essential oil

10 drops eucalyptus essential oil

Combine the cat litter and baking soda in a glass or ceramic bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the herbs and mix again. Add the essential oils and blend. Place half of the mixture in each of two clean socks and tie the open ends shut. Place a stuffed sock in each sneaker overnight or when not in use.

Stinky Shoe Sachet Blend

Makes 4 sachets

2 teaspoons essential oil of sandalwood

1 teaspoon essential oil of tea tree

1/2 teaspoon each essential oils of lemon and grapefruit
1/4 teaspoon each essential oils of spruce and lavender
4 cups natural clay cat litter
4 clean socks
4 rubber bands

Stir the oils into the cat litter in a glass jar with tight fitting lid.  Cover and let the mixture age for a week. Divide the mixture evenly between 4 socks and close them each with a rubber band. Place a sachet in each shoe and leave overnight. You may reuse the sachets for as long as the scent lasts.

How Tuesday - Making an Herbal Serum

This is a treatment for all skin types that works very well on oily skin.  Even oily skin needs some light moisturizing.  The spices in this mixture help with counteracting bacteria and toxins on skin’s surface which collect more easily if your skin is oily.  I made this for my husband to use around his beard where his skin would be dry while the rest of his skin was always oily.

This is a quick and easy item to make and very easy to complete. 

All you need is:

1 small cinnamon stick

2 Tbls. jojoba oil

2 drops tea-tree oil

2 drops cedarwood essential oil

2 drops grapefruit essential oil

Along with a mortar and pestle, a jar with a tight fitting lid and a final product jar, preferably with dropper.

Lightly crush the cinnamon into small chips using a mortar and pestle.  Place the pieces in a small container with a lid.  Add the jojoba oil and steep for 10 days. 

Strain out the cinnamon using a funnel and a coffee filter. 

Squeeze out as much oil from the pieces of cinnamon as possible.  This will give you a nicely clear oil.  Place this oil in a smaller lidded container.

Add the essential oils.

Tea Tree essential oil will give you many anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties.  it is considered a healing and disinfectant wonder-drug. It also boosts up immunity.  It has a very robust aroma. 

Cedarwood essential oil in aromatherapy skin care extends to acne, dandruff, dermatitis, eczema, fungal infections, greasy skin, and ulcer.

Grapefruit essential oil handles cellulitis, dull skin, toxin build-up, and water retention. this oil has a sweet and tangy aroma which off sets the stronger Tea tree oil.

Once you have all the oils in the infused jojoba oil, shake vigorously.

Keeping the mixture in a small bottle with a dropper makes it easy to use.  Place a few drops on your fingers and allow it to warm between your fingertips and lightly massage into clean slightly damp skin.

This stuff is great for extra dry spots, like elbows, ankles, heels and such as well as an all over moisturizer for those with oily skin as a little goes a long way.

The Backyard Patch is thinking about offering this item for sale.  Is it something you might be interested in?
We have many other Bath / Spa items available on our Etsy site.