Home made Toothpaste

Trying to get rid of as many chemicals as possible from our daily life has led me to give home made toothpaste a go. I researched many recipes online, searching for all the pros and cons, looking for the simplest ingredients with the most benefits and found this one works best for us.

These are the four ingredients I have gone with, most of the recipes I have seen start with equal amounts of bicarbonate of soda and coconut oil. so, if you use one tablespoon of coconut oil you will need one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and mix together. Bicarbonate of soda is also used in conventional toothpaste for the cleaning abilities it has and coconut oil, from what I have read, is anti bacterial, anti fungal and has some tooth and gum benefits.

This is what it looks like after mixing, at this point we added a teaspoon of ground xylitol to make it slightly sweeter but this is optional really and either a few drops of peppermint oil or extract of peppermint. Some recipes use stevia instead of xylitol, both come naturally from plants and both have some benefits. This makes a firm toothpaste and the consistency depends a lot on the temperature in the house due to the coconut oil.

Then store, at first I used the little pots you can see above as I only made up a small amount but having decided we really like it and intend to keep using it I have now made it in a larger quantity so it is being stored in a small mason/kilner jar. Due to sensory problems I have never really liked the way conventional toothpaste foams up in your mouth and this home made toothpaste doesn't foam at all. I have also found the taste mellows slightly after the first day, it was a little zingy the first day I made it.

** If you have been thinking about doing something similar, I would recommend researching both the ingredients in conventional toothpaste and the many home made recipes out there.

New Arrivals

We have wanted some chickens for a few years now and finally this week saw this dream come true when we welcomed three young chickens into our family and I thought I would introduce you to them here. My husband managed to build the coop from some new pallets he was given you can read about it here if you want to, he is currently making some minor adjustments to make the run area larger, although they will be spending some time free range in the garden.

This is a photograph my eldest daughter's boyfriend took of our girls just after they arrived, I think they are wondering what is going on and are just as curious about us as we are about them. Firstly I'll introduce you to my youngest daughter's favourite one, she has named her 'Ginger', she is an amber ranger and the smallest of the three.

Ginger

My eldest daughter and my son both like our largest chicken best, she is a bluebelle and my son has chosen to call her 'Zelda', she is quite bossy with the other chickens but a little shy with us.

Zelda

The last one is our speckledy hen, according to the children this one is mine to name so say hello to 'Dotty', she is the bravest one and was taking corn from our hands the very next day.

Dotty

We have only had them a couple of days and already they just seem to fit right in, the children appear to be new 'chicken experts' and my youngest daughter calls them 'her girls'. I will never forget the squeals of delight when she found that they would take corn from her hand and it was soon declared 'the best day ever'.

Dotty

They are point of lay chickens, which means they are young and haven't started laying eggs yet, we have a few weeks to wait until that happens, so there is enough time for us all to get to know each other better. Really cannot wait to see how excited the children are when the first egg arrives, much squealing I expect!

Here is our self appointed chicken guardian, although I suspect he is only here to sun himself as he did not look too impressed with the very large birds that are now at the bottom of the garden and has been keeping his distance. Well, that was our exciting news this week, will keep you posted when the first egg arrives.

wire bending

Recently when we were experimenting with the wire bending for the frame of the wooden hearts, I got a little carried away and decided to explore this project a little further, as you do. So began by twisting garden wire into a heart shape, very easy to do with thick gloves and a pair of pliers, I'm also thinking of doing spirals.

This is what I ended up with... it will be a plant support and I am going to be hanging something in the middle with the name of the seedling on but haven't quite got that far yet. As it has a rounded top you won't accidentally poke yourself in the eye whilst gardening either unlike normal canes.

I also had a go at writing with wire as you can see above.... it's a bit shaky but it is definitely still readable... just about. I have used a much thinner, red wire for this and pushed the end into a small piece of wood so that it stands up alone and can be used as a quirky photograph or memo holder.

Although I am tempted to fix the wire to the top of our family pin board along with the two little photographs.

First Sewing - Felt Heart

My youngest children have been asking quite a lot lately for me to teach them how to sew, knit and crochet. They are very young so I thought I would begin by making some threading cards so they could practice the actions of sewing before moving on to making the felt hearts with real needles.

As it was coming up to Valentine's day we made our threading cards out of red paper hearts which were then laminated. Any picture could be laminated for the budding sewing enthusiast, it could be something that sparks their interest or even a drawing of their own. If you don't have a way to laminate paper, any plastic or stiff card could be used like a box or a picture from an old board book. Holes were then punched all around the outside for the stitches.

Shoelaces would be the ideal thing to use for the stitches, the rigid ends make a good needle substitute but we didn't have any colourful ones to hand so we have used wool instead. I wound a piece of sticky tape around the end of the wool tightly to try to imitate the end of a shoelace and to make it stiff for easy threading. If you look at the end of the pink wool in the above picture you will see what I mean. They played around with these cards for a while, getting a feel for how the stitches looked and made many different patterns.

Then we moved on to the 'real sewing', a cookie cutter was used to draw the heart shapes in the felt and two hearts were cut out and put together for each child. Using quite large chunky needles and wool as  thread, they both managed to do a simple running stitch all the way around the heart. Each heart was stuffed and had a piece of ribbon stitched to the top to finish off.

The children were so excited about this project and very pleased with the results, I have to say I love them as much as they do. A perfect first sewing project to keep forever, very simple and very beautiful.

They are now hanging in pride of place on our pin board for all to see.

Wooden Hearts

It is nearly Valentines day and we have been doing a few heart related crafts, many of these seem to involve sticks this year. This first heart was made with bendy twigs and copper wire, any wire or string would do here but if you are interested in getting some free copper wire from broken electrical things there is a guide here (you may need to scroll down).

This photograph shows what I started with, first pick two large sticks and bend into a heart shape, wrapping the ends with the wire to get the basic shape.

Then to create the interior design, sticks were bent and wired in place where they touched another stick, I went for a swirly pattern.

To add a finishing touch I have wired some wooden beads into the pattern and added a hanging ribbon. Here it is hanging on the wall, although I may end up putting this in the garden as a tree hanging or small garden trellis, copper ages well outdoors and goes a lovely verdigris colour.

I also tried another heart using the sticks that were left over from drying eucalyptus leaves, these sticks had an interesting colour but were much harder to work with as they weren't very flexible.

This time I started by bending some garden wire to the shape of a heart and used a hot glue gun to stick small pieces of the twigs into the shape of the heart.

I haven't quite achieved the woven twig look that I was aiming for as the stick was very brittle but it is very simple to make. I also have to show you the wooden heart my husband made. It is gorgeous and you can see how he made it here.

That's it for now although I will be back soon to show you the hearts the children made.

Natural Deodorant

Since reading an article a couple of years ago about the hundreds of chemicals we have in our lives, many of these we liberally apply to our skin every day, I have been on a quest to get rid of as many as I can. The latest change has been deodorant, you have probably read a lot about the dangers of these chemicals (a quick search will tell you all you need to know) and I have decided to try a more natural approach. So I have given up wearing deodorant.... I saw you all take a large step back, but it has been a pleasant surprise. I collected quite a few home made recipes but decided to try the crystal deodorant first as one was on offer.

Here it is... it is made from natural mineral salts, the one above has been shaped to fit into a roll on container and it also comes in a natural crystal shaped form, which I am tempted to try next as it will look good on the window ledge. I have been using it for six months and it has barely got any smaller, maybe just half a centimetre so the five pounds I spent will last a long time. You have to apply it very liberally to a wet armpit but it really works well for me, much better than any conventional deodorant that I have tried.

I know it sounds weird... and believe me it still sounds weird to me, but I am never going back. My nose is very sensitive and with normal deodorant, I didn't smell that fresh even after short periods of time, plus it left me sneezing and with rashes. The crystal doesn't make you smell all pretty like exotic flowers, in fact it doesn't make you smell of anything... my armpit now smells and feels exactly like the rest of my skin. It works by stopping the bacteria growth which causes the smell, it doesn't stop you sweating.

I have also tested this whilst working out to give it a bit of a challenge, I got my poor husband to smell my armpits after cycling 40 kilometres at quite a fast pace and he agreed, no smell. A double win as not only have I managed to get rid of the chemicals but saved a lot of money in the process.

Doll's House Furniture

I promised some of you a look at the doll's house that my lovely husband made for my daughter for Christmas. The soft furnishings have all been hand made by me, and as yet the house has only had a basic finish but we are hoping to add to it as time goes by and my daughter's tastes change. You will find some photographs of the beautiful house here, go on have a quick look... I'll wait.

This is the attic room of the house, it has been decorated as a children's bedroom and play room, I think it is my daughter's favourite room so far. The pretty wall stickers were a chance find in a local pound shop, the bunting fits exactly into the space. My husband made all the furniture in a chunky but durable style to make sure that they survive vigorous toddler play, and again those handy stickers were added to the ends of the beds for cuteness. All the bedding was hand stitched, foam was covered with old candy stripe sheet material to make the mattress and the pillows and bench pad are made with checked gingham. The quilt covers have been made so that they are double sided in case she feels like a change, quite simply by sewing two squares of fabric together and stuffing them. One side is purple checked gingham and the reverse side from a different fabric, you may notice this on the bed with the doll in more clearly. The little rug was just a knitted square using very small needles and fuzzy wool so that the effect is that of a rag rug.

This is the lounge set again my husband went with a simple, chunky set for now and I made the sofa cushions in my daughter's favourite colour, the fabric is actually from one of her much loved t-shirts which was recently outgrown. The little cushions are crocheted in a matching colour by simply doing a ring then one further row twice and sewing the little circles together.  The flat screen TV was made using the case of an old mp3 player, glued on a wooden stand with a cartoon photograph, laminated and stuck inside. I am quite pleased with how this turned out because it looks very realistic.

As you know, the house was a Christmas present, so it only seemed right to add some seasonal decorations. The tree is made from a cone of green felt, glued onto a stick and in turn into a wooden base, then decorated with ribbon and sequins.

A wreath for the front door was also made by twisting and gluing an old branch from an artificial tree into a circle, adding a few tiny pine cones and ribbon to hang it with. That's it for now.... what do you think?