DIY lux face, hand, and diaper cream homemade from whipped coconut & shea butter!

I love, love love this stuff!  I cannot get enough of it.  You know it has to be good if I am bothering to make it with 5 kids and homeschooling! Ok it doesn't hurt that it is really fast and easy and works for a plethora of uses.  Yes I did say plethora! Pretty sure I learned that word from the movie "The Three Amigos" in the early 90's.   Anyway...this all natural moisturizer is not only highly effective, free of unwanted chemicals and additives, but it is made from 2 of natures most amazing products coconut oil and shea butter.  

Coconut oil and shea butter are some of the best possible ingredients when it comes to skin care!  If you aren't familiar with coconut oils miraculous healing powers be sure to read my earlier post  "One of nature's best healers! 20 NEW reasons to love coconut oil!". I can't go on with this recipe without letting you first know why it is so fabulous for your skin.  This combo is unlike most commercial moisturizers in that most commercial moisturizers are filled with water so the lotion becomes ineffective as soon as the water dries on your skin.  They are also often filled with additives, and petroleum byproducts that are carcinogenic and can suffocate skin causing breakouts.  Coconut oil and shea butter on the other hand are rich and truly moisturize your skin down at the deepest levels where they are even responsible for strengthening the underlying tissue .  They are both excellent at treating acne as they kill off bacteria and acne is a bacterial infection   Coconut oil also helps remove the dead, dry, flaky layers that causes rough and dull skin.  Convinced? Not yet?  Well African Shea (pronounced shay) butter has been proven to reduce the appearance of lines, scars and stretch marks as well as ease a host of skin irritations such as psoriasis, eczema, and sunburn.  WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE!

So here it is... your super simple 2 ingredient beauty wonder,,,

Combine 1 cup African shea butter and 1/2 cup coconut oil. 

Mix on medium high with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes till you get a nice whip cream texture.  I make  big batches to jar in several containers so I have diaper cream, body butter, and portable hand cream.

That is it!  Now you have an AMAZING face, body, hand and diaper cream that moisturizes at the deepest level, clarifys skin, strengthens the underlying tissue, reduces the signs of aging, scars, lines and stretch marks while treating eczema, psoriasis, and other irritations!  I buy my coconut oil at Costco for a very inexpensive $22 for 78 ozs and the African shea butter I got from amazon for around $18 for 32 oz. with shipping.  I will never go back to a commercial face or diaper cream again!  My face feels amazing after using this.  I use it every morning and night.  I used it on my baby when he was a newborn with a terrible rash that nothing would touch!  The secret was this cream plus a few shakes of corn starch each diaper change.  It is all we ever use now.  You can use it as chap stick, hand cream, body butter, for stretch marks, for acne, sun burn cream etc....  Let me know how it works for you!

Fun kids color wheel art and science project! Guest post by Everyday Art

Today I have a fun guest post for you from Everyday Art, a great crafty, yummy, DIY blog!  Enjoy, and make sure to go check out their blog for more creative ideas!

Every year about this time I start to really, REALLY crave color. Like clockwork, every January I start scheming about decorating with yellow or orange or something bright just to liven things up a bit. It's been a little better this year because my kitchen is south-facing and everything is white and light blue, so it feels nice and light and airy. 

That being said, I still think more color this time of year is great. So, the kids and I made this fun food-dye color wheel the other day. It was a great little science and art project. (What could be more fun that mixing art and science?!!?)

It was such fun, and I couldn't believe how patient the kids were (ages 3 and 5), just staring at the colored water move slowly up the paper towels and mixing together. We learned about color-combining  and the color wheel. We also learned a bit about osmosis, diffusion, and siphons.

Here's what you need to make this fun color wheel:

6 clear cups

6 paper towels

red food dye

blue food dye 

yellow food dye

Here's what you do to make the color wheel: 

1) Fill 3 cups with water and mix in red food dye into one, blue food dye into the second and yellow food dye into the third. 

2) place the cups in a circle as shown above with an empty cup in between each of the 3 you already made with the primary colors in them. 

3) fold the paper towels into about 1-inch strips and place each end into adjacent cups. (I snipped off a bit of each paper towel to make them shorter.)

4) Watch as the dyed water seeps up the paper towels and combines into the empty cups to make the secondary colors of orange, green and purple.

After all the colors had mixed, we took them out of the circle shape and made rainbows and such with them. Fun little science project with the girls. Certainly added more color to our day!

Let me know how it goes if you guys try it! Happy weekend!

Top 10 DIY homemade gifts for every boy on your list!

Every year I try to be creative and make most of my gifts.  Not just for friends but for my kids aged 2-8, my parents, my sister and even my husband!  I try to start in Nov.  If I don't get started getting them done I try to at least be compiling ideas.
Here are my current favorites and most of these I am currently working on for my 8 yr old or my 2yr old.

BEST DIY GIFTS FOR BOYS..

Fort Kit

LOVE this idea and already made my son one this year for Christmas complete with cool bag and with the downloaded tag from above.  Complete directions found HERE from Saltwater-kids.  You can also download the fort tags which in my opinion really add the final touch! PS you can make a cool girly version as well!

Cutest Sock Monkeys EVER

Full directions and pattern found HERE at craft passion.   I am trying to make two of these for Christmas for my 2 year old son and my coming new born. The eyes and ears make them SO cute!

Guys leather cuff bracelet

What a great simple idea!  I am making one for my sons, myself and sister!  Find a clear easy tutorial HERE at The Red Kitchen My girls shouldn't get to have all the fun dressing up!  My two year old is always wearing their necklaces and crowns, so I think it is time for him to get his own guy jewelery.

Guys nail cross necklace

I saw this at Molly Dodd listed as a summer camp craft.  There are no directions but it looks straight forward enough.  I love it because it is a visual reminder of  what Christ did for us as well as being pretty awesome.






Lego Tray

This clever idea from Some What Simple is perfect for my oldest son and my oldest daughter!  We are making them each one.  This enables them to keep a project they are working on and transport it out of a bedroom when a sibling needs to nap, or keep it out of reach of curious hands.  My daughter has recently gotten into the "Friends" girly lego kits and can play for hours!  When she is done though she doesn't want to put it all up as she is playing with it still so this is perfect!  I just bought the lego flats at amazon pretty cheap.

DS travel pouch 

I really like this DS travel pouch with spaces for games.  Keeps it all organized and together.  There is a full tutorial to print off but I hope you speak French as it is not in English.  I am still debating if I will be able to get to this one, but hope to!  I would make one for my daughter and son! Check out the tutorial HERE at By Gabs.

Super Hero Costume

This is the set I made for my Cruz (hence the C super cape)!  I know he will love it!

Find the mask tutorial HERE at Swanky Press   I used it as a guide and added thunder bolts to the sides. Check the eye holes to make sure the little one who will wear then will be able to see.

I used this tutorial from The Train to Crazy to make the cuffs, because how cute are they!  I just made mine with thunderbolts to match the mask and made everything out of blue and red felt.  Really easy project that really adds to the costume!  My girls always dress up so I wanted my son to be able to join the fun!

Hobby Horse or Stick Horse

My little cowboy would love this!  In fact I have one in the works right now.  I know there is only 6 days or so till Christmas so I better get on it!! This one has a great tutorial at  Light Blue Grey.  I love all the details she uses!

This one by Dandee-Designs is really cute too!  She has a great mane tutorial and her horse doesn't take many supplies.  I  think it turned out so cute!  I need to finish mine!!

DIY Dinosaur Fossil Kit
 
My son LOVES the fossil kits you buy that you chip away to find the dinosaur bones and then put it all together.  This is a similar idea, from Paper Vine NZ and it looks so simple!  I would like to find a dinosaur 3 d puzzle to use on the inside and probably won't bother with the mold.  A loaf pan would work great.  You can just hide the dinosaurs or dinosaur pieces all over.  As he gently chips away at the block he is rewarded with discoveries and you are rewarded with hours of silence!  A rare joy for mothers of boys!

DIY Art Station

Last but not least a fun was a bit hit with our son a few years ago.I made a space for both my son and daughter and filled it with fun glitter, pipe cleaners, glue, crayons, markers, etc.. Check out my post for more details HERE. 

Need more ideas?  Check this older post "Need to save some cash? Homemade gifts and online secrets for savings!"
Hope you enjoyed these ideas!  What are you making the boys in your life?  Love to hear more ideas!

DIY Handmade Doctor Play Kit (tutorial). GREAT kids gift!

I love a handmade holiday.  The gifts are so memorable and your kids know you really thought about them while you labored over a great gift.  It sure is cheaper as well!  With 4 kids aged 2-8 girls and boys I have been scouring the internet for ideas and come up with quite a few great ones! This one is great for the boys or girls, and they can all play together.  So here it is... the completed doctor kit.

I think it cost me a total of $4.50!  I found most of the stuff around the house, got the 2 surgical masks from the hospital for free when I was there for an ultrasound, printed stuff off and bought only the bag and stethoscope   Would you believe the stethoscope was only $3 brand new off Amazon!  They had other colors, but some of the other colors cost twice as much (same exact stethoscope), so I thought blue looked fine.  I love that it really works!  The bag was $1.50 at the thrift store and has the great doctor bag shape i was looking for.

Here is a closer look at the contents.  I printed off the labels you see above from the link below and attached to empty containers we had around the house.  I love the vintage uniform look.  The doctor badges I printed off from a great link I posted below that allows you to add your own photo and customize the text.  The silver bottle is a spray bottle filled with water for "wound care" or other imaginative play.  I added some band aid stickers that I printed from the computer onto sticky paper cut them out and put them in a band aid box.  The cotton balls and Q-tips they can use to "clean wounds", and doctor up their siblings or stuffed animals.  The plastic syringes we had as well as the medicine dosser.  You can also get a better look at the monogramed bag tag that I used to girly it up for my Bella.

I added a ear bulb for fun, a water balloon filler as otoscope for inspecting ears, some play money we had to pay the doctor, an ace bandage for wrapping up those sprains and broken bones, surgical masks, and of course the real working brand new stethoscope!  I made both my daughters a badge as I know they will both want to be the doctor at some point in the game.

I put it all together in this really cute doctor shaped bag and added a cute little laminated initial tag to give it a little more feminine appeal since it was for my daughter.  I may add a red felt cross to the front of  the bag on the black.  We will see.

Vintage medicine labels found free HERE at Eat Drink Chick.

Official Doctor badges created for free HERE at  Big Huge Labs

I am still thinking of adding a small clip board, white shirt for a lab coat (cut of the sleeve's cuff and the tail and hem), and file folder for official doctor papers to include...

Printable x-ray images like those found Here from Net Places, and free printable customizable eye chart from Eye Chart Maker.

I know she will love it!  I expect to get hours of play from all the kids out of this one!

 If you happened across a pair of kids crutches at a thrift store that would be pretty fun for the kids too!   I am sure I will find little things from now till Christmas to be adding in as well.  Hope you found some inspiration for a handmade kit for the kiddo in your life!  Love to hear if you  make one and how it goes! 

Free Thanksgiving Printables and Craft Ideas for the Kids!

I love the holidays!  What a fun time to make crafts, color, and create with the kids!  Being that I have 4 kids and one more due on Christmas I know how important it is to make some family time and just play together. With that inspiration I put together this huge list of fun things to do, create, or print off!  Hope you enjoy it!

Fun Thanksgiving Printables and Crafts

There are TONS of fun things in this free downloadable pack. crafts, busy sheets, printables and more!  So check it out at Amanda Parker and Family.  She even has a lot of free adult thanksgiving printables!

Free Printable Thanksgiving Mazes

The mazes found HERE at busybee kids crafts come in varying levels of difficulty!  The one you see is marked medium recommended for age 5, but they go up to "Super Hard" age 8 and up!  Should keep your little ones busy while you are cooking away!

Thanksgiving Kids Table

If you are feeling ambitious there are several fun crafts you can do with the kids to set the kids table.  Find them HERE at Fiscars.

Find all this fun stuff Bella Grace Party Designs.
Pilgrim Blessings Mix


  Have fun putting these cute little treats together in a bag for friends.  Find it HERE at Organic Families

Free Printable Coloring Sheets

From free printable

Print from

Find this and tons more at neverland tinkerbell coloring pages

Free Bible Based Preschool Printables, and Crafts.

Find them all HERE at Christian Preschool Pritables.


These are HERE at Christian Preschool Printables too.

How About a Bit of Thanksgiving Trivia?


Both found HERE at Prettie Parties.

Color by Number Turkey's

Find a few of them HERE at Criss Cross Apple Sauce Learning

Make some Fun Treats and Party Favors!

Instructions and details at The Pink Ink Doodle


I know these are sugary but they sure look like fun to make!  Find them here at 7th house on the left.

What fun these look like! I love the tags as well! Get directions from Paper Turtle.

How About a Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt?

Found here from Family Fun Magazine
Or create your own photo scavenger hunt making it more difficult and including adults!  Simply print off a list and send everyone out in teams with digital cameras!  First team back gets the first slices of pie!

Still Need More Ideas, Coloring Sheets, and Printables?  Check out my Last years Post Filled With Fun Stuff for You and the Kids!


All these and more found on my previous post Thanksgiving Printables

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

If you looking for Thanksgiving recipe ideas check back soon as I plan on posting all my decadent but healthier go to recipes!  I always love new recipes but some just can't be beat!